In the shadows, a single eye stared through a crack, fixed on the enormous white figure looming beyond Konoha.
On the ground, everything trembled. The distant, muffled crash of collapsing buildings sounded as though some ancient beast were devouring the earth.
Danzo's fingers tightened around the armrest. The tremors from afar made his shoulders tense, but he immediately forced the unease back down and replaced it with a cold, mocking chuckle.
A member of Root silently knelt before him, speaking in a hushed voice.
"Lord Danzo, should we intervene?"
Danzo turned away and planted his cane on the floor with a dull thud.
"There's no point in our intervening anymore," he said gravely. "This isn't a battle we can take part in."
He walked to the chair and slowly sat down. For the sake of that goal, this was a sacrifice Konoha had to make.
"I told you, Orochimaru," Danzo said, the corner of his mouth curling into a sneer. "You won't be able to stay arrogant for long."
Meanwhile, Lin Zi kept dodging the snake heads as they struck at him.
Yamata no Orochi's eight heads whipped at him from every direction like enormous lashes.
Lin Zi moved like a slippery white snake, darting between the ruins. Every time a snake head slammed down, it left a deep crater, and the blast of wind stung his cheeks.
"So being big makes you special?"
Lin Zi spat and his pupils darted rapidly, tracking the movements of all eight heads.
One head lunged from the side in a sneak attack, its jaws wide open and corrosive venom dripping from its fangs. Lin Zi didn't retreat. Instead, he slammed both hands against the ground.
"Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation!"
Rumble! The ground sprang to life, and countless enormous stone hands burst from the earth, clamping shut around the snake head's jaws like a bear trap. No matter how it struggled, it couldn't bite through them.
"Stay down!"
Lin Zi leaped onto the restrained head. His right arm hardened in an instant, and his fist, wrapped in Senjutsu energy, slammed into its crown!
Bang!!!
The blow made the head shudder violently, sending scales flying. Yamata no Orochi let out a deafening cry of pain.
The other seven heads turned toward him at once, fury surging in their slit pupils.
"We're not done yet!"
Using the recoil to launch himself into the air, Lin Zi twisted aside and dodged another head snapping at him.
He formed Hand Seals as chakra gathered furiously in his mouth.
"Sage Art: White Rage Technique!"
A red dragon of light roared from his mouth and shot straight into the open jaws of another snake head!
A blinding flash and piercing shriek erupted inside the head. It was left bloody and mangled from the inside out, its eye bursting as pale snake bones thrust through its flesh.
Yamata no Orochi's massive body writhed wildly, its eight bony spines gouging even deeper furrows into the ground.
Lin Zi landed on the ground, one foot on a scale that had just broken off Yamata no Orochi. Corrosive green smoke still curled from its edge.
He brushed the dust off his knees and looked up at the enormous white figure, his golden, slit-pupiled eyes full of disdain.
"I thought you'd be stronger. If that's all you've got... you can't even hurt a single hair on my head."
The snake head at the very center of Yamata no Orochi suddenly split open.
Original World Orochimaru slowly emerged halfway from its gaping maw. His long black hair whipped in the foul wind, and his face wore that nauseating, all-knowing smile.
"In this form," he said, spreading his arms as if embracing his own masterpiece, "I can't suffer any fatal injuries. In a sense, I've attained the ultimate immortality. So how exactly do you expect to defeat me?"
"Yeah, I know."
Lin Zi answered calmly, not even bothering to assume a fighting stance. He folded his arms and looked around with his snake-like eyes. Ruined walls and rubble surrounded them, with the brightly lit homes of Konoha farther away.
"You should know, too," he suddenly said with a smile that sent a chill down Orochimaru's spine, "where we are right now, don't you?"
Orochimaru, inside Yamata no Orochi's mouth, visibly froze.
He followed Lin Zi's gaze. In the night, the outline of Konoha looked like a sleeping giant. They were already standing at the tip of its nose.
The smile on Orochimaru's face stiffened for a moment. He hid the hint of gravity in his eyes and forced his expression back into a vicious grin.
"The wailing of a loser..."
"Whether it's wailing or not, you'll find out soon enough."
As the eight snake heads launched another frenzied assault, the ground throughout Konoha began to shake!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The crashes of the striking heads thundered like war drums, jolting villagers from their beds.
Babies wailed and women screamed. Someone shoved open a window, saw the eight-headed serpent looming over the distant ruins, and collapsed on the spot.
"What is that?"
"A snake! A huge snake!"
"Konoha... Is Konoha going to be destroyed again?!"
The Anbu reacted far faster than the civilians. Shadows darted from rooftops, treetops, and sewer entrances, their voices beneath their masks unnervingly calm.
"Evacuate the civilians! Head for the underground shelters! Hurry!"
"Notify Lord Hokage! Now!"
In the direction of the Hokage Office, a burst of golden light suddenly shot outward like a shooting star flying backward, streaking straight toward the outskirts of the village.
Minato Namikaze hadn't even fastened his Hokage Cloak properly, and Kushina's warmth still lingered against his chest.
He'd been home for less than half an incense stick when he sensed the devastating chakra beyond the village. The Eight Branches Technique! He could never mistake that cold, slimy stench of snakes.
There wasn't time to go back and look in on his wife. Resolving himself to die if necessary, he formed Hand Seals and unleashed the Flying Thunder God Technique!
"Third!"
Minato's voice tore through the night from within the golden light.
"Here!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi leaped from a rooftop on the other side, his Adamantine Staff sweeping through a sharp arc in his hand as his combat clothes snapped in the wind.
The two of them shot toward the battlefield like cannonballs, one from each side.
On the ground, Tsunade and Jiraiya were already sprinting.
Tsunade ran so fast that her steps left shallow craters in the earth. As Jiraiya ran, he tore open the scroll on his back, veins bulging on his forehead.
"That bastard Orochimaru! So he really was lying to us?"
Jiraiya's roar brimmed with anger and a pain of betrayal too deep for words.
"Idiot!"
Tsunade smacked the back of his head without breaking stride.
"Couldn't you sense the two chakra signatures?!"
Jiraiya froze, then immediately focused and sensed them.
Sure enough, two familiar but distinct signatures of cold, snake-like chakra were entwined above the ruins. One belonged to Lin Zi, warm yet carrying Ryūchi Cave's distinctive revitalizing quality. The other also had a serpentine quality, but was filled with icy malice.
"Original Orochimaru is back!"
Jiraiya's pupils contracted.
"Yeah! It can only be that!"
Tsunade gritted her teeth, the Yin Seal on her forehead shining brightly.
"Pick up the pace! If that bastard intends to hurt Konoha, I'll tear him apart!"
They became two streaks of light, smashing through the air as they raced forward.
But Minato was faster than either of them.
Golden light burst at the edge of the ruins. Minato Namikaze landed on one knee, the hem of his Hokage Cloak lifted by the shock wave.
He looked up, his bright blue eyes contracting sharply.
The sight before him was beyond anything he could have believed possible.
Beneath the pale moonlight, on top of the ruins—
Lin Zi, in Sage Mode, stood before Yamata no Orochi, Natural Energy coiling around him. He gripped the Kusanagi Sword, infused with Senjutsu energy, and drove it deep into the crown of Yamata no Orochi's seventh head!
Inside the central head of Yamata no Orochi, Original World Orochimaru was covered in blood, his face twisted as the eight heads thrashed madly, churning the earth into chaos.
Two Orochimarus.
They were biting each other.
Minato stood frozen, forgetting even to breathe.
"Fourth Hokage! What are you standing there gawking at?"
Lin Zi was standing on Yamata no Orochi's seventh head, both hands gripping the hilt of the Kusanagi Sword. He yanked it free.
Splurt! A gush of foul black blood sprayed out. Lin Zi flicked the blood from the blade and turned to look at Minato, who was still standing there, with exasperation.
"Get the Sealing Jutsu ready! We can't kill this thing. We can only seal it!"
"Who are you calling a... 'thing'?!"
Inside Yamata no Orochi's central head, Original World Orochimaru's face twisted out of shape.
No one had ever called him that in his life, let alone another version of himself!
Consumed by rage, his chakra surged wildly. The scales covering Yamata no Orochi's body snapped upright all at once, gleaming like countless sharp white blades drawn simultaneously in the moonlight.
"I'll tear you to shreds!!"
Orochimaru roared as Yamata no Orochi writhed violently. A section of its body, as thick as a house, swept sideways.
The air shrieked as the blast crushed the ruins in its path to dust, hurtling straight toward Minato Namikaze!
"Jiraiya-sensei should still be on his way!"
Minato's pupils contracted. His body instantly turned into a streak of golden light.
He barely slipped beneath the serpent's body. The gale sent his Hokage Cloak snapping, and several strands of blond hair were cut off by the force of the wind, drifting through the air.
He landed on one knee and called out to Lin Zi.
"We'll hold it off for a little while! Once Jiraiya-sensei gets here, we'll seal it together!"
Before you continue