In the deep crater, the scorched earth was still giving off white smoke.
The paper scraps that thirty thousand Explosive Tags had repeatedly torn apart were gathering together at an agonizingly slow pace.
Most of those scraps had been charred by the heat, making their regeneration frustratingly slow.
Deep in the hidden passage, amid a pile of rubble, Orochimaru wiped the dust off his face.
He looked at the mangled remains at the bottom of the crater, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.
Ordinary Konoha Jonin really would struggle against that group of Uchiha outside.
Let alone Chikage, who had not even moved his stool from beginning to end.
"What a troublesome young man."
Orochimaru muttered under his breath.
He reached back and drew a specially made kunai from his Ninja Tool Pouch.
A sheet of white paper covered in bizarre seals was tied to the end of its handle.
It was a Control Talisman used to suppress a reincarnated person's consciousness and forcibly implant combat orders.
Orochimaru turned the kunai around, aiming it at the pitch-black coffin slowly rising before him.
A huge character meaning "Second" was carved into the front of the coffin.
Orochimaru bit his thumb and forcefully smeared his blood into the groove at the coffin's center.
"Come forth, Second Hokage."
"Use the forbidden technique you created to dispose of those Uchiha who gave you such headaches."
Orochimaru drove the kunai bearing the talisman hard into the sealing slot at the top of the coffin.
The black coffin lid let out a piercing scrape.
Dazzling blood-red patterns lit up across the coffin's surface.
Sprawled in the muddy water, Danzo watched this unfold, his single eye filling with almost maniacal delight.
"Teacher! Second Hokage!"
"Kill them all! Crush every last one of those damned Uchiha bastards