After Orochimaru intervened, the clarity vanished from the Third Kazekage's eyes, and he attacked Zou Hyuga again.
Zou Hyuga dared not let his guard down. He repeatedly scattered the gathering iron sand with Eight Trigrams Palm. Thanks to senjutsu, his strikes were immensely powerful, rivaling the taijutsu of a ninja using the Eight Gates Released Formation.
Amid a series of sonic booms, the Third Kazekage went through repeated cycles of shattering and reforming.
With the Third Kazekage in his way, Zou Hyuga also found it difficult to get close to Orochimaru.
Orochimaru was a ninja equally proficient in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. His swordsmanship alone was at jonin level, not to mention that he wielded the indestructible Kusanagi Sword.
Even the Vacuum Palms Zou launched from a distance were easily sliced apart by Orochimaru.
As the stalemate continued, Zou Hyuga considered how to force Orochimaru out of the fight. Even now, he was still holding back some of his strength. If he wanted to, he could easily blast the Third Kazekage's human puppet to pieces.
He had not used techniques such as the Tailed Beast Bomb, either.
But doing so would undoubtedly be foolish. Recklessly exposing his strength would bring him no benefit.
He was now in much the same frustrating position as Guy, capable of opening the Eight Gates Released Formation, facing the Six Paths of Pain. He could defeat his opponent easily, but could not kill him for good.
As far as he remembered, aside from sealing jutsu, the only way to deal with Impure World Reincarnation permanently was with Truth-Seeking Orbs.
Truth-Seeking Orbs could affect not only the body, but also the soul, annihilating it outright.
Just as Zou Hyuga was about to go a step further and use a Tailed Beast Bomb, something changed in the