"Kakashi. Eye."
Sasuke uttered only those three words, and Kakashi's Mangekyo had already locked onto Orochimaru's elongated neck. The spatial distortion bit into that stretch of pale flesh, forcing Orochimaru to angle his short blade aside.
Fugaku's sword slashed through the gap in the barrier, knocking the short blade away and pinning it into a stone pillar on the Viewing Platform.
The Third Hokage fell into a sitting position, supporting himself with the Adamantine Staff. He still tried to call out a Sealing Jutsu, but Sasuke reached out to stop him.
"Don't move. If you move now, it'll look in the Water Mirror like you're trying to steal the credit."
The Third Hokage's face turned ashen.
"What do you take me for?"
Sasuke turned his head toward him.
"A witness."
Orochimaru retracted his neck. Blood seeped from the wound, and the feigned composure vanished from his face.
"Sasuke Uchiha, do you really think dismantling the formation's focal point and suppressing the coffins means you can win?"
Sasuke did not answer. He only looked toward Yamada Naoto.
"Switch in the feed from the old southwestern drainage channel."
Yamada Naoto immediately changed scrolls.
The Water Mirror split in two, showing Orochimaru inside the barrier on the left and the depths of the old drainage channel on the right.
In the image, the main Sound Ninja force charged through the narrow passage, only to run headlong into the wall of flesh with which the Akimichi Clan had sealed it off. The Nara Clan's shadows stretched out from behind the torches, pinning the entire first row of Sound Ninja to the ground. The Explosive Tag traps behind them had been dismantled in advance, and Yamanaka Ninja sealed the poison mist canisters inside water vats.
The flesh on Orochimaru's face twitched.
"That isn't the Hokage