I Am Tobirama Senju!

Darkness, bottomless darkness.

Without a shred of light, there was no feeling of time passing.

One second? Or a year? Or perhaps countless years?

Cheng Lu could not open his eyes, but his consciousness remained active. He could only think yet could not move, a sensation that drove him to despair.

Am I... dead? Or alive? No one could answer this question for him.

He only remembered being hit by a dump truck, his vision going black, and that darkness had never brightened since.

Naruto?

Senju Clan?

Kinkaku and Ginkaku?

Passing on the title of Hokage?

Memories that did not belong to him rushed in like a tidal wave, almost bursting his consciousness.

Vaguely, he seemed to hear someone speaking.

Konoha

At the scene of the Chunin Ninja Exams, all the attending spectators fell under the Temple of Nirvana Technique cast by Kabuto Yakushi, as countless white feathers drifted down from the sky.

Above the roof, a purple barrier enveloped the entire surroundings, with Tayuya, Kidomaru, Jirobo, and Sakon stationed at the four corners of the roof, the four of them maintaining the operation of the barrier.

Inside the barrier, Hiruzen Sarutobi looked solemnly at Orochimaru, who had removed his disguise.

"Hiruzen teacher, Konoha has already decayed. Let this wind of mine set Konoha's windmill spinning."

Orochimaru said with a sinister lick of his long tongue, though his eyes held not a shred of carelessness.

The old man before him—how much of his youthful strength remained? If the opponent were ten years younger, he would never have dared to launch the Konoha Crush Plan.

"Is that so? Orochimaru, my disciple, this old man would like to see whether the ninjutsu you have learned has reached my graduation requirements."

Hiruzen Sarutobi said calmly.

The atmosphere at the scene fell into an eerie silence.

The next instant.

Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately charged toward Orochimaru, forming hand seals as he shouted:

"Ninja Art: Tile Shuriken." The roof tiles instantly flew toward Orochimaru as if they possessed life.

"Too naive!" Orochimaru dodged easily with a slight sidestep.

"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!" Though the name was snake hands, the launch point was Orochimaru's long tongue. His already very slender tongue instantly transformed into a python, lunging to wrap around and bite Hiruzen Sarutobi's neck.

Just as Orochimaru wore an evil smile, Hiruzen Sarutobi's body turned into a pool of muddy sludge.

Earth Clone? Orochimaru thought things were bad, using a Body Flicker Technique to dodge the shuriken thrown by Hiruzen Sarutobi from behind.

"Earth Release: Earth Flow River." An earth dragon formed of mud and stone swept toward Orochimaru.

"Combination Ninja Art: Earth Dragon Flame Flow!" The fire dragon and earth flow mixed together, the color of the flames within even reaching an intense white. This was the superior chakra control performance of a ninjutsu professor proficient in five attribute ninjutsu.

The high-temperature pyroclastic flow immediately submerged Orochimaru's figure, from which an ear-piercing scream rang out. Yet as the ninjutsu ended, Orochimaru appeared in his original spot completely unharmed.

"Truly impressive..."

Seeing that Orochimaru was unharmed, Hiruzen Sarutobi showed no surprise. With a faint smile, he removed his Hokage robe and conical hat, revealing the armor underneath. He had been prepared long ago!

The two stared at each other for a moment.

"Hiruzen teacher, playtime should come to an end." Orochimaru smiled evilly and rapidly formed hand seals with both hands.

"Summoning Technique: Impure World Reincarnation."

Orochimaru stared fixedly at Hiruzen Sarutobi, spitting out a hoarse, deep voice.

Suddenly, a rumble sounded.

Three black ghostly auras emerged beneath his feet. In the aura on the left, a coffin engraved with the character "First" slowly rose.

Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a bad premonition rise in his heart:

"Using the Summoning Technique for defense? This move is..."

At that moment, the second coffin engraved with the character "Second" in the aura on the right of Orochimaru likewise rose up.

Just as Hiruzen Sarutobi was pondering how to respond, a third coffin engraved with the character "Fourth" popped out in front of those two coffins.

"I must stop the third one!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi quickly brought his hands together, pressing down hard toward the third coffin.

The third coffin was actually pushed back down by Hiruzen Sarutobi like that.

"Oh? Did the summoning of the Fourth fail?" Orochimaru's figure, hidden behind the two coffins, looked somewhat surprised.

"However, Hiruzen teacher... no, Third Hokage, what will you do facing these two people?" As Orochimaru's words fell, the lids of the two coffins fell to the ground with a thud.

Inside the coffins, two figures wearing Warring States period armor caused the two ANBU ninjas watching from outside the barrier to look greatly alarmed.

"First Hokage-sama! And... Second Hokage-sama?!"

The atmosphere in the arena instantly became incomparably heavy.

Yet no one noticed that the Second Hokage inside the coffin, Tobirama Senju, had already quietly opened his eyes.

Cheng Lu—no, it should be Tobirama Senju—after quietly glancing at the surrounding situation, could not help but look startled.

I actually reincarnated into Tobirama Senju, who was reanimated by Orochimaru?! This thought, which filled him with incomparable excitement, arose in Cheng Lu's mind.