Chapter 27: Even Legends Die! Part Two!

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The men seemed sure to hit the barrier before Hiruzen's staff grew enormous, knocking them away from the barrier. Orochimaru frowned as Danzo signed as he breathed in deeply. Before spitting out mini balls of wind. Orochimaru deflected one with Kusanagi and was knocked off balance. He managed to weave around the next slide to his back. But was shocked as Hiruzen was above him. Holding onto the end of his staff as he weaved hand signs with a smile.

"I'm glad you're so durable, my pupil! It allows me to install you with lessons! Lightning Style: Lightning Quake Flash!" Hiruzen called with a smile as his hands fired off a bundle of lightning. Orochimaru grunted in pain as the lighting smashed him into the ground while shocking him violently. Orochimaru prepared to swap his body as his skin turned black. But his eyes widened when he couldn't. On his shirt lay a seal of some kind. Danzo had bonded a seal to his body! Until he removed it, it seemed he would be unable to heal. Before the Snake could counter this Hiruzen slammed his enlarged staff viciously crushing him even further. The staff then turned back into Emna who ground and pound into the Sannin viciously. He then threw him into the air. Orochimaru furiously flexed his chakra at the seal as Danzo looked to finish him off.

"In the next life, I hope you learn loyalty scum. Wind Style: Vacuum Serial Waves!" Several large waves of wind flew from Danzo's mouth cutting Orochimaru into several pieces. There was silence as they waited for Orochimaru to rise. Seven long seconds went by before Orochimaru appeared behind Danzo. Who barely manages to duck the slice to his face. Blood flowed down his face as he slid away. Orochimaru pursued, ducking a long-range thrust from Hiruzen's staff and attempting to slice Danzo in too. But the advanced-aged man managed to stumble back only receiving a minor cut on his torso. Hiruzen flew in as the staff shrunk and landed a bone-crushing knee to Orochimaru's face. Sending the man sliding back bonelessly. The two merely seemed to stretch as the man spat himself out yet again now panting harshly.

"Sarutobi if you need me to take point with your pitiful stamina. I of course understand." Danzo stated as he subtly signaled he was at sixty-five percent of the chakra reserve left. Hiruzen laughed merrily as he signaled back fifty-five.

"You underestimate me, old friend. I feel young teaching my students again." Hiruzen countered with false merry.

"A comedian as always sensei." Orochimaru hissed. "You grow arrogant with age, old man! Without the other fossil here you'd be dead already!"

"I assumed you taught him shinobi don't make excuses?" Danzo asked.

"He's my problem child."

"Jiraiya?"

"Clown."

"Tsunade?"

"Bit of a brat honestly."

"So you do know."

"I find it best to pretend not to."

Orochimaru growled at this. The rage filled him yet again. Even now he was being overlooked! His mind reminisced even as his anger grew. The Uchiha was a bit much, he would admit. Danzo, while cooperating with him, investigated. Someone had manipulated the Uchiha, he reasoned. Someone of considerable power and way. Blatantly admitted to trying to do the same with Itachi and Shisui Uchiha for a similar goal. Yet someone else had set up. Hiruzen believed it was some odd play to claim innocence from Danzo. But he had been right. Orochimaru had arranged for the Uchiha to attempt a coup. Then leaked the knowledge to Hiruzen. They had all met in secret and decided to jail them. At first, Orochimaru merely did it blindly. Looking to hurt the Leaf as they had to him. But his mind as always had found another route. He even more than wanting greatness sought knowledge. Primarily with jutsu, though any chakra-related phenomena often worked. In the chaos of crushing the Uchiha, he had managed to gain several Sharingan. He had considered using them but Kakashi Hatake was a prime example of the price of this. So for now he sat upon them. Orochimaru had to accept the truth. Jutsu is a beautiful and flexible art. But it simply wasn't enough to gain the knowledge he yearned for. So he had turned to science. Inspired by the soldier pill and the Akimichi's unique pills he sought to make a steroid to increase his power. He developed many but most simply did not seem worth the trouble to use in combat. Until he met Ikam. The man was arrogant and murderous. But with his unique knowledge, Orochimaru had finally developed a combat steroid. He then had Ikam offer it to any traitorous Leaf he could find. Easy enough with a village as broken as that. Mizuki had been an excellent choice. Just average enough to get a feel for the drug. And the man had held off three Genin near his original level on his own. He assumed the gates boy probably finished him off. An intriguing technique but not worth the cost even for him. Once he had received the body, improvements had been made. Before it seemed Mizuki had lost his mind somewhat. It took some tweaking but now his Cursed Energy Shot was ready. Losing the only noticeable flaws.

"Well done, I see why you're both considered legends. You always did warn me sensei my arrogance may very well become my downfall. I suppose in that sense you did teach me something… kukukuku." Orochimaru spoke in between pants. Clearly near the end of his rope from the sustained assault of his elders. He suddenly drew a syringe that both men recognized; they both rushed forward hoping to stop him from injecting the drug.

The syringe injected the serum into the Sannin before either could stop it. The swell of chakra stopped them in their tracks. Enma quickly jumped into Hiruzen's hands as a staff as Danzo fired off shuriken. Both nearly instantly recovering, from their momentarily flinching at the level of the chakra level of the Sannin now. Orochimaru cackled as he dropped Kusanagi and rushed the two. Danzo attempted to jump back and fire off a jutsu but Orochimaru appeared behind him kicking him into the ground so hard it created a hole.

"My physical enhancements are quite thrilling kukuku!" He caught a staff thrust that now seemed slow and pulled Hiruzen in. Enma being the clever bastard was reformed into monkey form and pulled the Sannin into a full Nelson. Hiruzen rushing forward with murder in his eyes. Orochimaru smirked as he flexed out of the Nelson and kicked Emna across the clearing. Hiruzen fired in with a jumping roundhouse that Orochimaru caught and slammed the man into the ground. Sealing with one hand he prepared to finish him off before dodging a wind ball. His eyes flicked to the barely standing Danzo. He smirked as he shifted towards him firing off with glee "Ninja Art: Sound Wave!" He called as a powerful blast of sound fired toward Danzo. It tore through his body with ease. Destroying his robe and showing off a discolored arm. Before either could even react Danzo seemed to reform. As if an illusion faded and now revealed a healed Danzo, though his robe was still torn. Both men were stunned into silence as Danzo's arm revealed pale skin that seemed to almost glow at night. With nine open, Sharingan glared from the man's arm. The tenth one was slowly closing as he fired off a jutsu. So shocked was the Sannin he barely dodged this before he shot off. Wanting to crush the annoyances with his own hands. Before he could break the neck of Danzo, Hiruzen somehow appeared in between with a grimace. Obviously somewhat exhausted from the long bout of combat.

"Earth Style: Mud Wall!" A large wall appeared which Orochimaru painfully flew through. This led into a monstrous haymaker from Emna sending him flying back and slamming into the remnants of Hokage Manor, with a crunch of bone. He hatefully spat himself out and glared at the two. The two stared back, tensing before Orochimaru merely smiled. Hiruzen had no time to react as Manda burst from the ground managing to bite the old man in half. Another of Danzo's Sharingan closed as Hiruzen formed back. Hirzuen seemed surprised but quickly fired off another jutsu at Manda. "Wind Style: Fujin's Fang!" A large tooth-shaped gust of wind formed slamming through the large snake. Manda screamed in pain as he poofed away. Hiruzen ducked as he dodged a kunai thrown from his former student watching in horror as Danzo was beheaded by the absurdly quick flying Kusanagi. But once again Danzo reformed a little bit away from his death and stabbed the Sannin from behind. Orochimaru spits out yet another body for himself. But he was fatigued. He jumped back staring intensely. Yet he smiled still.

"So the rumors were true kukuku. The Uchiha truly did have a technique capable of rewriting reality itself!" He roared happily.

"Izanagi. It allows a user of the Sharingan to rewrite reality for a time. In my case each death you cause I rewrite." Danzo stated simply. Hiruzen stood with him but was infuriated by the revelation.

"If you want sensei I'll allow you to kill him before I kill you." Orochimaru offered with a wide smile.

"Danzo will pay for his crimes, make no mistake. But that will be after you receive punishment!" Hiruzen shouted and focused on the snake. In truth, he was exhausted. It was fortunate Danzo's trick seemed to give them an edge.

"Oh Danzo, you think I haven't heard of a technique as fascinating as Izanagi?" Orochimaru taunted. "You can use it for a few seconds to control reality at the cost of your eye's sight and a massive amount of chakra. The extra eyes in your arms… you're spamming it using extra eyes! Each use costs you one eye. I imagine you have seven more uses. KUKUKUKU! I SEE I WASN'T THE ONLY ONE WHO BENEFITED IN TRAGEDY!"

"Correct. Using this benefit I'll aid the leaf by writing the end of your story!" Danzo screamed defiantly. He went to weave hand signs as Hiruzen charged forward to close the distance. But with the amp, the drugged Orochimaru merely met Hiruzen charge with a smile. He slammed an uppercut into Hiruzen's chin. The old man stumbled back open for a leg kick. Kusanagi, still moving on its own, pierced through Danzo's heart. But Danzo faded once again now above Orochimaru already finishing a jutsu. "Wind Style: Great Wind Breakthrough!" The stolen technique slammed the Snake into the ground hard. Before The Snake could escape another flame dragon slammed into the wind holding him down causing a massive explosion. Hiruzen and Danzo both jumped back landing on the small amount of Hokage manor that still stood from the three destructive battles. Looking down as the smoke cleared they could hear the snake heaving himself out still. So both barely reacted as the snake crushed both their throats from behind.

"A simple clone." He taunted.

The two faded in above, both unleashing crushing kicks to the Snake's skull. Sending the Sannin flying through the building and collapsing on top of him. The two land on the rubble. To see the other two battles had concluded. None of their men were standing. Neither were the Orochimaru's.

"It seems your little Anbu has gotten better. I never expected they'd manage to kill my favorites!" He screamed angrily as he flew from hand signs. The two older men attempted to move but stumbled and fell to their knees. They simply had nothing left and the Snake seemed to still be going strong. "But you can't keep up anymore! Fire Style: Great Blaze Ball!" An absurdly large fireball flew toward the two incinerating them where they stood. Orochimaru flinched as he realized the illusion.

"Foolish to think the Sharingan was merely for one purpose. With them, I can wield genjutsu to fool even the likes of you." Danzo whispered as Orochimaru felt a kunai where his heart would be. Danzo sent wind chakra into the blade and bisected the Sannin. Orochimaru flew out of the mouth of the top half. But this achieved little as Hiruzen's staff once again slammed into him in giant form, crushing him. He threw the staff back hard enough to send it flying. Before either old man could react, snakes bit into their ankles. Holding them in place as Orochimaru beheaded both. They faded back in behind him and without missing a beat he cut as they faded in bisecting both. They then fade in from above. But snakes flew from the Sannin and bit into the men pumping them full of venom. They then slammed the men down as Orochimaru walked forward and checked Danzo's arm to see all the Sharingan's closed.

"Excellent paralyzed by my lovely snakes and out of fight. Anything to say? Perhaps a preference on who dies first?" Orochimaru asked gleefully.

"Curse you Orochimaru! I should've killed you when I had the c-" Kusanagi sliced threw his lower jaw ending his statement with a sickening crunch and splat. Hiruzen to his credit didn't beg nor attempt to scream as Orochimaru stabbed the victim repeatedly viciously. Twisting the blade after stabbing into his heart. Hirzuen died silently with a tired sigh.

"Tragic truly kukuku. Any words for you Danzo?" Orochimaru asked as he raised the blade over his head.

Dazo merely offered a small smile. "Today will be yet another failure for you, Orochimaru." The Sannin smiled back before viciously hacking the man relentlessly. Chopping him into pieces and coating himself with blood. He rose from his work with a smile. Looking around he saw multiple ninjas attempting to bypass the barrier. How cute they were. In this form, he very well could slaughter a lot of them. But he had achieved his goal. This should stop them from bothering Ikam and himself for a while. He shifted his eyes looking for signs of his subordinates. Kimimaro or what was left of him was left smiling next to an Anbu member also smiling. He frowned at this, unsure what there had been to smile about in failure. Guren's scene was odd. Plenty of dead Anbu and he could smell her blood. Perhaps her body had been destroyed. He sunk into the ground as the barrier started to fade. Losing them both was unfortunate but he had replacements in mind. Perhaps it's time to recall Kabuto. With roars of anger and despair the Sannin escaped this battlefield unaware his subordinate did as well.

Various shinobi rushed into the bloody scene as the barrier disappeared. Screaming and sobs were heard as they realized they had lost both legends. Some went off hoping to find the Sannin and avenge their Kage. Others lost to grief simply shouted, cried, raged, or some form of all three. Others seemed stunned. But before any decisions could be made the two men seemed to fade in from nothing. The various shinobi immediately celebrated the pleasant surprise.

"Thanks for the chakra Sarutobi. I didn't have enough to pull off a Kotoamatsuki to convince him of our death without it. Shame to lose nine Sharigan in one day but necessary in this case." Danzo commented. The bandages removed from his face now revealing a blind Sharingan.

"You realize you will be facing significant charges?" Hiruzen asked, standing next to the man.

"I made the mistake, I am prepared to pay for it," Danzo answered simply. "You'll find most of the Root gone though. I may not be necessary to the future of the Leaf but the Root is. Hopefully, they'll learn from my mistakes."

"You won't face death, my old friend. Not after this but you will be imprisoned immediately! And any who have left the leaf will be treated as traitors!" Hiruzen yelled as he stood. His eyes were focused but pain was in his eyes. "This will be indefinite for the charge of treason!" The crowd of shinobi hesitated before several restrained Danzo. "I want all clan heads and civilian members of the council in for a meeting yesterday!" The men hustled off, eager to help now that they were aware they were fine. Hiruzen watched sadly as Danzo was escorted away. He knew he was within his right. But as always his old friend left him feeling conflicted. Working with the Snake, then betraying him to no personal benefit.

"What are you thinking, old friend?" He asked out loud. Silently wishing for the wisdom many have credited him with.