"Orochimaru, it seems I've won." Natsuro stood over the still-recovering body of the Second Tsuchikage, his voice calm.
"Indeed, Natsuro-kun. I always believed you would achieve ultimate victory," Orochimaru replied with a smile, his eyes glinting. "However, Natsuro-kun…"
He glanced at Natsuro's attire, the ceremonial robes of the Sixth Hokage, now dirtied from the tumultuous battlefield.
"During your recent battle, you avoided any physical contact. If you had engaged directly, wouldn't it have been simpler?" Orochimaru inquired.
He was genuinely puzzled. When Natsuro had fought the Third Raikage, he hadn't hesitated to clash head-on. But now, every time a direct collision was possible, he had chosen to dodge instead.
What was the real reason? Orochimaru couldn't figure it out.
"Perhaps. But confronting individuals like the Uzumaki clan with their sealing techniques, Konoha's White Fang with his swordsmanship, and Might Duy… No one would choose to go head-to-head with someone using the Eight Gates. And as for the Uchiha, their Sharingan is too unpredictable. You never know what trump card they'll pull, like Izanagi." Natsuro responded nonchalantly.
In truth, Natsuro was merely a shadow clone, a fact he kept to himself.
Upon hearing that, Orochimaru nodded in agreement. He had seen the power of the Eight Gates firsthand; meeting it head-on was indeed foolish. As for the Sharingan, he couldn't have agreed more.
If it weren't for the unpredictability of the Sharingan, he wouldn't have needed to erase Itachi's consciousness, nor would he have dared not to reanimate the legendary Shisui Uchiha, possessor of Kotoamatsukami.
So everything Natsuro said made sense.Orochimaru also cast a deep glance at him, this man seemed to understand all the individuals Orochimaru had reanimated quite thoroughly.
They weren't even from the same generation. Perhaps he had studied the old records in depth? Maybe he was just very interested in historical shinobi? Orochimaru could only assume so.
"But Natsuro-kun, was it really a good idea to make the entire Allied Forces retreat?" Orochimaru suddenly chuckled.
"Why not?" Natsuro replied.
"Tsk, tsk. I understand, you believe the Allied Forces have no value here, and that they'd suffer high casualties. That's why you withdrew them. But…"As Orochimaru spoke, a seemingly endless army of White Zetsu slowly emerged behind him.
"Faced with this…" Orochimaru's tone was teasing, "what will you do, Natsuro-kun?"
"And you must be exhausted, right? I must say, Natsuro-kun, your chakra reserves are immense. You've been using one devastating jutsu after another, and yet you still show no signs of fatigue." Orochimaru added, somewhat amazed.
In his eyes, unless one was a Jinchūriki on the level of the Nine-Tails, no one could last this long in combat.
In his eyes, unless one was a Jinchūriki on the level of the Nine-Tails, no one could last this long in combat.
"Maybe," Natsuro acknowledged.
In truth, his chakra was almost depleted, but…
That only applied to the clone. The real body's chakra was still intact. All the original needed to do was create another shadow clone, then swap them using Flying Thunder God Mutual Displacement: the clones could switch places instantly. During the transition, his secondary soul would briefly leave the current clone and re-enter the new one once it stabilized.
And just like that, a fully restored spiritual shadow clone once again appeared in front of Orochimaru.
Unfortunately, even though this exchange happened right in front of him, Orochimaru didn't realize that the clone standing before him had been replaced.
"If the Allied Forces were still here, they might have been able to hold back this White Zetsu army. But now, you, who are nearly out of strength…" Orochimaru said, very curious to see how Natsuro would resolve this dilemma.
Natsuro gazed at the endless tide of White Zetsu soldiers.With a force this massive, even his Sage Art ~ Lightning Release: Kirin might not be enough to wipe them all out.
So…
"Then watch closely," Natsuro said with a smile.
Figuring this was only a show, Orochimaru leaned back, anticipating his next move.
Hearing that, Orochimaru was momentarily surprised. Then he smiled as well.
After all, he didn't truly want to help the masked man win this war. What he was far more interested in… was seeing just what Natsuro could do now.
At that moment, Natsuro appeared high in the sky.
The White Zetsu army, sensing danger, launched various ninjutsu toward him.
However, their attacks were far too weak.
Natsuro casually raised a wind barrier, instantly blocking them all.
Even Fire Release techniques, those tiny flames were smothered by the fierce wind before they could burn.
Behind the wall of wind, he extended one hand and a black orb began to materialize above his palm.
Had Black Zetsu been present, he would have been astonished, recognizing it as a power humans shouldn't possess.
Unfortunately, Black Zetsu wasn't present. And neither Orochimaru nor the White Zetsu army recognized what Natsuro held. Still, Orochimaru could sense something ominous in that black sphere.
Not that he cared, his true body wasn't here.
What stood here was a reanimated Second Tsuchikage, whose destruction meant nothing. He could always be revived again.
As Orochimaru nonchalantly pondered this, Natsuro finally finished forming the Exploding Truth-Seeking Orb.
Feeling the immense power within, Natsuro couldn't help but marvel.
As his mastery over the five natures grew stronger, so too did the orb's destructive force.
Unfortunately, he rarely had the chance to use this technique, which made testing its power difficult.
But now, as he looked down at the endless sea of White Zetsu, he smiled.
In the next moment, he flicked his finger, sending the floating orb hurtling toward the center of the enemy ranks like a cannonball.
Then, he swiftly retreated, he didn't feel safe staying nearby, even at this altitude.
Orochimaru blinked in surprise. Why did Natsuro suddenly fly away?
While he was still wondering, the Exploding Truth-Seeking Orb landed among the White Zetsu army.
The next moment, it began to expand.
In the blink of an eye, Orochimaru understood everything.The explosion had already enveloped him, even before he could hear the sound.
His body was consumed instantly, the explosion so powerful that sound itself seemed to lag behind, left behind by the sheer force of the blast.
Then came the thunderous roar.
Blistering fire tore through the air, and powerful shockwaves blew away everything in their path.It was as if the end of the world had arrived.
Heaven and earth trembled.
The blinding light from the explosion lit up the entire sky, so much so that even though it was broad daylight, people on other battlefields felt as though they were plunged into night, able to see only that overwhelming flash.
"What… was that?" a stunned ninja finally asked.
"That direction… I think it's where the Fourth Division was stationed." Another ninja recognized the location.
"So what the hell happened? Why is the impact so strong even from this far away?" someone shouted, struggling against the gale-force winds caused by the blast.
Soon, answers began to circulate.
It turned out the Fourth Division had already been withdrawn from the area, because too many Kage-level enemies had appeared, and the regular army could no longer contribute meaningfully.
Now, the only person still fighting on that battlefield was the commander-in-chief of the Allied Shinobi Forces—Konoha's Sixth Hokage, Natsuro Shindōkawa.
According to intelligence from the rear, the explosion just now had indeed been caused by the Sixth Hokage himself, and its purpose was to eliminate the White Zetsu army.
Upon receiving this information, morale surged among the shinobi forces. So, they still had such a powerful ally on their side!
If the explosion had been caused by an enemy, it would've undoubtedly crushed their spirits, because clearly, there was no way to survive an attack of that magnitude. Not even escape would be possible; death would be the only outcome.
But since it was caused by one of their own, it was nothing short of inspiring. Not only did it mean that he wouldn't turn that power on them, it also dramatically increased their chances of winning this war.
That said, some of the shinobi were already numb.
These were the ones who had witnessed the battle between Naruto, Sasuke, and the Nine Tailed Beasts. They'd thought that battlefield had already been insane, only to now be told there was an even greater level of destruction.
At this point, they couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath. Naruto and Sasuke were both from Konoha, and now the one responsible for this overwhelming explosion… was Konoha's Sixth Hokage.
All they could say was that this man truly deserved to have surpassed both Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha to become Hokage.
After watching Naruto and Sasuke fight, they had assumed those two were Konoha's peak combat power.
They never expected… there was someone even stronger.
But, why were all of them from Konoha?
Though still technically allied for the time being, some couldn't help but feel uneasy about the post-war situation. With these three individuals, Konoha might just be an unstoppable force across the entire shinobi world.
Even if the other four great villages joined forces, could they truly stand against Konoha now?In the past, they might've thought so. But now, all they could do was put a question mark next to that belief.
And it was a question with a likely answer, if the other villages didn't have some hidden trump card, then perhaps… they really weren't Konoha's match.
This explosion had swept across every battlefield, a testament to its immense power, its intensity was far beyond even a Tailed Beast Bomb!
This kind of power could easily be called the shinobi world's equivalent of a nuclear bomb.
If he hadn't evacuated fast enough, even his previous position would have been consumed in the blast.
And Natsuro knew, this wasn't even the orb's final form.
In his estimation, to fully maximize the orb's destructive potential, he would need to master the perfect method of creating a true Truth-Seeking Orb.
A burning light appeared in his eyes. To him, that goal wasn't unreachable. In fact, he had already explored most of the path to a perfect Truth-Seeking Orb.
He continued to ponder while waiting for the explosion's aftershock to fade.
With a blast of this magnitude, not even White Zetsu's legendary vitality could help, there was no way a single one had survived.
At that moment, a sudden thought struck Natsuro, was this kind of explosion what Deidara had spent his life pursuing?
If Deidara were still alive and saw this display, wouldn't he be so thrilled he'd drop dead on the spot? Or maybe even betray the Akatsuki right then and there just to become his disciple?
After a long while, Natsuro stretched lazily in midair.The explosion had finally ended, and he could at last see the battlefield's aftermath.
And he was a bit surprised.
Was that… a massive crater?
Even the small mountain that had once stood within the blast zone had completely vanished, gone without a trace.
Inside the crater, there wasn't a single White Zetsu corpse.With an explosion of this scale, leaving behind a body was nothing but a fool's dream.
"Orochimaru?" Natsuro called out nearby. He couldn't see any sign of the "Second Tsuchikage," not even the slightest sign of regeneration.
So had Orochimaru's Edo Tensei been destroyed as well?
After thinking about it, he nodded.
He remembered that when the Fourth Hokage's Edo Tensei body was hit by a Truth-Seeking Orb, it couldn't regenerate either.
But that had been a complete Truth-Seeking Orb imbued with the power of all creation, Yin and Yang.
His Exploding Truth-Seeking Orb was still flawed, and he hadn't expected it to affect Edo Tensei so severely.
So maybe… he had overestimated Edo Tensei?
And thus, this battlefield had finally come to a close.
Natsuro took one last look at the crater he had created. Once he confirmed the Second Tsuchikage couldn't recover, he turned and departed.
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