Chapter 38: Reaper Death Seal

Compared to that technique...

What concerned them more was the current situation.

Shukaku was sealed, and Baki-sensei had fallen.

Next, it would be Gaara.

Kankuro gritted his teeth and threw a kunai wrapped with an explosive tag, which hissed and burned sharply in the wind.

But...

The attack was ineffective.

Naruto just raised his hand, and a flash of white lightning appeared.

"Hadō #4. Byakurai (白雷, Pale Lightning)."

It was activated and exploded in mid-air, rolling the smoke into a ball.

Temari moved, breaking through the black smoke.

The power that burst out in an instant brought her to Gaara's side.

But after losing that burst of power,

she could only barely stand, leaning on her fan.

However, she persisted, with fear and terror in her eyes, but no sign of retreat.

"You can't even stand in front of me. Why do you still come over?" Naruto put his hand back on the hilt of his sword and asked softly.

His aura became sharper.

He applied precise pressure with a clear target.

Temari, overwhelmed, sank to one knee.

But she clung to the tail of her fan, struggling to stand up again.

"You..."

Under the immense pressure, even speaking became difficult for her, and she almost had to roar to force the words out of her throat.

"I am Gaara's sister!"

She pulled up with all her strength, her legs trembling with effort.

Gaara, lying on the ground, stared blankly at Temari's back, lost in thought.

"If you want to hurt him, you'll have to deal with me first!"

She spoke forcefully, and with the last word shouted out, her struggling seemed to have an effect, and she stood up.

But...

Temari was stunned, looking at Naruto.

She was sure.

It wasn't her willpower that broke through the confinement of power.

The blond boy moved his hand away from the hilt of his sword, voluntarily withdrawing that mountain-like oppressive aura.

"Sister," Naruto smiled slightly, instantly stepping in front of her and raising his hand.

"That's a pretty good answer."

"I like it a lot."

"But we are opponents now, so please stay here for the moment."

The touch of his fingers on her forehead made Temari instinctively shiver.

"Bakudō # 1. Sai (塞, Restrain)."

Her body immediately felt strange, her arms twisting and binding themselves uncontrollably.

Naruto lowered his head, meeting the gaze of the red-haired Jinchūriki, and as they locked eyes, he spoke softly, "Gaara, someone loves you."

Gaara averted his gaze, silently shifting it to Temari.

Naruto disappeared in an instant.

He first went to the stands to release Karin from the genjutsu, then took her to the watchtower.

The rooftop was almost entirely occupied by a purple barrier.

Several Anbu ninjas waited outside the barrier. They had tried various methods, but were helpless against it, only able to watch the Third Hokage battle the rogue ninja Orochimaru without being able to assist.

Inside the barrier.

The trees twisted and intertwined.

Four figures stood facing each other on the highest branches.

Sarutobi Hiruzen faced three people alone.

One of them was Orochimaru, with yet another new face.

The other two had faces familiar to Naruto.

He looked at the Hokage Rock in the distance, matching the faces of these two to the sculptures on the rock—the First Hokage and the Second Hokage.

Weren't these two Hokages dead?

Why were they appearing here now?

And as enemies of the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen?

Thinking of those two "soul waves."

He had a vague bad feeling in his heart.

"Why are the First and Second Hokage here?" Naruto asked an Anbu member next to him.

The voice of the Anbu was low and grave: "It was summoned by Orochimaru using an evil forbidden technique."

"Pulling the souls of the dead back to the present world and manipulating them?" Naruto was not surprised by Anbu's answer; he had merely confirmed a highly probable assumption as fact. However, the resulting conjecture left him feeling anxious and uneasy. "Are these the only two Hokage?"

"Did Orochimaru try to summon anyone else?"

There were four Hokage in total in Konoha, and only one was still alive.

Two-thirds of the deceased were here...

The Anbu was somewhat surprised by his question but still responded, "Orochimaru seemed to attempt to summon a third deceased, but the Hokage-sama suppressed it."

The third deceased!

Naruto clenched his fists, his pupils dilating.

Anger ignited, burning intensely.

A grim suspicion had been confirmed.

This guy, who toyed with the souls of the dead.

How dare he!

Inside the barrier.

Naruto's arrival also drew the attention of the two individuals present.

"Oh my, that little Jinchuriki brat is here too." Orochimaru grinned savagely, "Sarutobi-sensei, who would have thought we'd have such an interesting audience?"

He licked his lips with his tongue.

"I'm really very interested in him."

"Those strange techniques..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's face became more solemn and grave: "Orochimaru, are you also targeting Naruto?"

Orochimaru turned his head aside: "Isn't he interesting?"

He instinctively reached for his chest.

The wound from their last encounter... still hadn't healed.

It was just an ordinary slash, yet it was so painful.

But they had only fought once.

Making it difficult for him to determine whether it was the effect of the technique or a special attack aimed only at him.

Sarutobi Hiruzen took a deep breath, glanced at Naruto, and then at the barrier that even the Anbu could do nothing about.

Facing Orochimaru forced him to confront an issue.

That he was old.

Fighting Orochimaru was already strenuous.

He had even summoned the previous two Hokage, and though they were not as powerful as they once were, they still undoubtedly possessed Kage-level strength.

If this continued, he would surely be killed by him.

Rather than waiting to die.

He made up his mind to use that technique.

Naruto was still young and needed a role model.

He just hadn't expected that at the end of his life, he would still have to rely on the power of the Fourth Hokage.

Sarutobi Hiruzen split into shadow clones.

He mobilized his chakra and formed complex hand seals.

Orochimaru mocked.

Naruto's eyes widened in disbelief as he looked inside the barrier, his gaze falling behind Sarutobi Hiruzen.

A tall, semi-transparent figure appeared behind him.

With two horns on its head and a hideous, terrifying demon face, it held a short sword in its mouth.

The power of the soul permeated the air.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's soul drifted out of his body, presented like a sacrifice before the spectral figure.

What is this?

"Orochimaru, I will not allow you to destroy the village." Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke, his voice now tinged with weakness, "Let me show you a technique you've never seen before."

"Also, let me show you..."

"The will of the Hokage, burning for the village."

As he spoke.

The ghostly figure behind him raised its hand high, its arm covered in tadpole-like curse marks.

An even more terrifying soul power condensed in its hand.

It swung downwards.

Piercing the soul of the summoner, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and grasping the souls of the two Hokage summoned by the Edo Tensei, pulling their souls out of their reanimated bodies.

The ghostly hand withdrew with the souls.

Leaving curse marks on Sarutobi Hiruzen's body.

It seemed as though the souls were sealed within him.

But the souls were not there.

In an instant, they vanished.

Damn it.

Naruto gritted his teeth, his gaze fixed on the purple barrier.

What a nuisance!

Too little could be seen through this thing.

~~~

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