Zoro is very glad that Minato sends a clone here to pick him up because he doesn't know how to go back to Konoha. Gaara is also still in shock by everything he has just heard from Zoro, so he can't guide Zoro back to Konoha.
"Alright, let's go back quickly. I still want to beat some asses." Zoro is excited to fight more people.
"Wait, Zoro-kun! Can you at least tell me what happened here?" Minato's clone is looking at the shocked Gaara.
"Really? Is it time for that? Let's just go back for now. I can explain everything later, as much as you want."
".... Fine." Minato's clone sends the giant toad back before teleporting back to the village with Zoro and the unresponsive Gaara.
They teleport right behind the real Minato who is still chasing the trio Akatsuki. Zoro raises an eyebrow when he sees the ridiculous situation. It's really strange to see Minato, Jiraiya, and Fugaku struggling against the likes of Kisame, Kakuzu, and Hidan.
Zoro is surprised to see that Akatsuki is involved in this plan because it's too early for them to act so brazenly like this. So he thinks that they have a hidden agenda. But that's not his concern now. His concern is seeing Minato's group struggling this much.
He knows that those 3 aren't easy opponents, but he thinks that Minato should be able to solo them. Even he can face them alone with a strong confidence to win. Yet Minato, the man who held thousands of shinobi alone in the war is struggling now when he is with Fugaku and Jiraiya, 2 powerful shinobi.
But then Zoro sees that the trio Akatsuki are attacking the surroundings instead of Minato's group. There are many civilians around that can be victims, so Minato's group is focusing on protecting the people and their village, making them unable to fight properly.
"Hmm, I see, they are stalling time to keep Minato here." Zoro can sense that there are so many battles happening all over the village. These 3 are keeping Minato's group here so the other attackers can move more freely.
"Pfft! The Yellow Flash can't even chase 3 people who can't even run that fast. Can't do anything without your marks on them, huh, Mr. Hokage?" Zoro mocks Minato while running behind the real Minato after the clone dispels itself.
"If you're here, then why don't you help us instead of mocking me like that?"
"Well, I'm sorry, Mr. 4th Hokage, I'm just joking. Let me show you how it's done then." Zoro shrugs his shoulders before grabbing Wado Ichimonji's handle.
"One Sword Style Acting Draw: Death Lion's Song!" (Ittoryu Iai: Shi Shishi Sonson!"
Zoro suddenly disappears from his spot and before anyone knows it, he has already stood 3 meters behind Kakuzu.
*Click!*
Right when he finishes sheathing his sword that makes a clicking sound, Kakuzu's body is cut in half. His speed and power really surprises everyone there because none of them has ever seen he moves this fast.
Minato is the most surprised because he can see that Zoro is even faster than Raikage. If Minato isn't used to super fast movements, he would have thought that Zoro was teleporting. Even Fugaku's sharingan can just barely keep up with Zoro's speed.
Jiraiya at the trio Akatsuki can't even see his movement. They only realize it after he cuts Kakuzu's body in half. He is just that fast and they won't believe it if they know he only uses his physical power to gain that speed without using any chakra at all.
But for now, they are more surprised to see Kakuzu's body is recovering. Black tendrils come out of his chopped stomach and reconnect both halves of his body. It doesn't take that long for him to return to normal.
"So that's the infamous forbidden jutsu from Takigakure, something Earth whatever thing. The immortality part is surely nice, but it sure doesn't look good, it looks disgusting instead. I'd rather die than have a body like that." Zoro really doesn't like the tendrils that make up Kakuzu's body.
"Who is this green head?" Hidan doesn't know who Zoro is, which surprises Kisame.
"He is the Green Reaper." Kakuzu only says that much but it's enough to surprise Hidan.
Zoro has his own nickname in Akatsuki because he has killed some of their members in the past. Of course, the members that joined Akatsuki after Yahiko's death, so the real criminals, not those who joined Akatsuki to make peace in Ame with Yahiko, Nagato, and Conan.
They had recruited quite a lot of members in the past. But Zoro has killed a lot of them because they have high bounties. As a bounty hunter, he can't let those money sources run around freely, so he hunted them.
Akatsuki still wanted to recruit him even after he killed many of them. But after many refusals, they finally gave up and tried to kill him because he is a threat to them if he doesn't join them. That's why Pain attacked him some years ago, to kill him, but it failed.
That's why Zoro became more infamous in Akatsuki because he could get away from their leader. Though they don't know that he only left the fight because Obito and Black Zetsu came which would make the fight much harder and his losing chance got higher.
He already saw Pain's skills too anyway, so he didn't feel he needed to stay for too long and fight more people. Furthermore, he didn't want to reveal his power too much to them. They hid their power, so he also hid his.
He hides quite a lot from them, that's why they are really shocked to see that he can move this fast. This surely makes Zoro an even bigger threat for them than he already is. His power is just too overwhelming.
"Alright, so, do you want to stay and fight me to find out who's stronger? Or you'll leave right now without doing anything else? Just so you know, I don't have a problem destroying anything here because I'm not someone from this village and don't have anything important here. Even if every building here is destroyed, it won't affect my life, so I don't care if you destroy anything else. I will still go to stab your hearts."
Zoro points at Kakuzu's chest while smirking to show that he knows how to kill Kakuzu. It makes Kakuzu flinch and he immediately says that they'll retreat. Kisame agrees with Kakuzu because he is someone who has fought Zoro, so he knows what's best to do in this situation.
Only Hidan seems reluctant because he doesn't know who Zoro is. He thinks that he can kill Zoro without any problem by relying on his immortality. But Kakuzu forces him to follow the order, so Hidan reluctantly agrees.
The trio Akatsuki members then leave the village quickly even though the plan isn't over yet. They send a signal to Orochimaru by throwing 3 paper bomb kunais into the sky, telling him that they are retreating.
Meanwhile, Orochimaru is almost done with his job. Unlike how it went in the story, Orochimaru actually overpowers Hiruzen now, mostly due to his higher mastery of Edo Tensei now and he also has the 1st & 2nd Hokage along with Rasa's Edo Tensei to fight Hiruzen.
Just fighting the 1st & 2nd Hokage is hard enough for Hiruzen, but then Orochimaru calls Rasa's Edo Tensei, making it even harder for Hiruzen.
Furthermore, Akatsuki is involved in this plan, so it's more thorough than when it was just Orochimaru's plan. After all, by discussing the plan with them, they could find the faults of his plan and fix them.
Furthermore, without Itachi cutting his arm, Orochimaru didn't need to leave Akatsuki to get a new host for himself to fix his arm. Akatsuki being hunted by Zoro also helped him because the organization actually supported his research to increase their power to avoid getting their members killed too easily.
That's why Akatsuki didn't have a problem when Orochimaru made Otogakure. They already have solid control of Ame and now they have another village under their reign. Otogakure can be used to do things for them, so they know it will be very useful.
Anyway, the current Orochimaru is more prepared to fight Hiruzen. Well, he needs to be very prepared because he also needs to expect that Minato will help Hiruzen. Thankfully for him, his comrades can hold Minato away from his fight.
As a result, he managed to defeat Hiruzen without losing his arms' functions. Hiruzen has called the Shinigami just like in the series. But he only has enough power to seal the souls of Hashirama, Tobirama, and Rasa.
He doesn't have enough power left to seal Orochimaru even though he intended to do so. That's why now, he is left powerless and only needs to wait for his death because calling the Shinigami means he needs to sacrifice his soul too.
Though it makes Orochimaru quite not satisfied because Hiruzen dies of his own miscalculation. He thought he would have enough power left in him to seal the 3 Edo Tensei and Orochimaru. But he could barely seal the 3 Edo Tensei and he almost failed at that too.
Well, still, Orochimaru is glad he used 3 Edo Tensei or he will be the Shinigami's victim instead, just like in the series. Now, he just needs to leave because Hiruzen will surely die and no one can save the old man.
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Chapter: 171. Dominating The Former Kages
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