Sasuke watched in morbid fascination as chakra gushed unstoppably from Utatane Koharu's frail form. Her old bones creaked through a short, macabre dance, before ending abruptly with her arms splayed outwards.
"Agh… argh!"
The air turned unnaturally chilly as an unseen presence gathered behind Koharu, yet even with the insight granted by his Sharingan, Sasuke could only make out wavering shadows and vague shimmers, which might as well have been tricks of the eye, for all he knew.
A sideways glance showed Kabuto and Guren wholly intent on the old woman, blind to the monstrous outline that loomed at her back. Orochimaru, Neji, and Nanashi alone seemed to be looking past Koharu rather than at her. Like him, they appeared to glimpse only the faintest outline of something only waiting to be seen…
"That would be the Shinigami," Orochimaru explained, guessing at what the Dōjutsu holders might be thinking. "It appears only to its summoner, and to its victim just before the sealing."
"Ugh…"
As though struck by an unseen kunai, the front of Koharu's robes split open of their own accord, and blood spurted from her belly… and with a final, guttural croak, she keeled over. Sasuke looked on coldly as her life slowly came to an end, her lifeblood seeping into the cracks of the rotten floorboards.
"One down," he murmured. "Two to go…"
Just as it had been with Itachi, watching her die by her own hand left him deeply unsatisfied. She was one of the chief architects of the Uchiha clan's tragedy, one of the three who had profited most from scavenging his family's treasures like a hyena… but at the very least, Mitokado Homura and Shimura Danzō still lived.
They still had time to die by his hand.
Sasuke briefly wondered how Orochimaru had come by Koharu and her guards, given that she usually remained within the village's relative safety. Had something big occurred in the Hidden Leaf that required her to visit some important dignitary, or perhaps Orochimaru himself? Whatever the case, she lay dead now…
The sharp clap of Orochimaru's hands snapped him from his thoughts.
"Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu!"
The four Root operatives tasked with Koharu's protection began screaming and writhing as their bodies disintegrated into what appeared to be heaps of shredded paper, dust and ash. The piles of biological matter swelled and stretched outwards, from which four heads and sixteen limbs emerged, shrieking as their wayward souls floating aimlessly about the room were seized by the jutsu and forcibly incarnated into prisons of undead flesh.
"Behold!" Orochimaru declared in triumph. "The four previous Hokage!"
Uzuki Yūgao stared in abject horror as the features of the First, Second, Third and Fourth Hokage drew themselves on the four undead golems before her very eyes. Once again, Orochimaru had desecrated the souls and memories of the village's heroes! She could only imagine the extent of the damage they would be forced to unleash back onto the Hidden Leaf…
Still, Yūgao couldn't help but wonder who would have been the fifth person to be summoned, had she been sacrificed along with the four others… the Fifth Hokage was still alive, after all.
"They look a bit scaley and flakey to me," Guren commented. "I'd say they need some moisturiser."
The Second Hokage turned his head as far as Orochimaru would let him and stared reproachfully at the Third Hokage.
"It's that disciple of yours again, Hiruzen," Senju Tobirama said. "That snake Orochimaru…!"
"I don't get it," Senju Hashirama said, eyes flitting to the side. "What's going on, exactly?"
"I suspect Orochimaru figured out how to undo the Reaper Death Seal," Sarutobi Hiruzen said ruefully. "How long has it been, Orochimaru? Does the Hidden Leaf still stand? Answer me, you ungrateful disciple of mine!"
As much as Hiruzen wanted to believe in the Hidden Leaf, he had failed to seal Orochimaru away in any meaningful measure. He could only hope his other two disciples had managed to return to the village before it crumbled entirely to rubble, for there was no one else there that could hope to stop that snake.
"Naturally, this criminal surrounds himself with Uchiha scum," Tobirama said sarcastically, nose wrinkling in disgust at the sight of Nanashi's and Sasuke's scarlet eyes. "Monkey, you certainly did a fine job raising that disciple of yours…"
Sasuke bristled at the Second Hokage's less than kind choice of words, but Nanashi remained impassive.
"Tobirama, I thought I told you to stop saying such things!" Hashirama roared. The First Hokage revolved to face his little brother, completely ignoring the binding restrictions woven into his Edo Tensei form, which were supposed to stop him from moving without permission; causing Orochimaru to blink in shock. "I just know your thoughtless words will stir some kind of trouble one day!"
The Third Hokage's eyes widened in recognition.
"Is that really you, Sasuke!?" Hiruzen blurted out. "And those eyes… Neji?"
It was then that Orochimaru removed his human skin mask and grinned at his old teacher with Sakura's face.
"Is that the Harunos' daughter!?" Hiruzen roared. "Orochimaru, what the hell have you done this time!?"
Hashirama, who had wandered off without permission to inspect the Fourth Hokage more closely, froze at the fury in the Third's voice. He was normally a fairly happy-go-lucky sort, and a decent judge of character by his own reckoning. This time around, he had detected no malice in Orochimaru, and since his summoner hadn't bothered implanting him with a mind-controlling kunai, he'd chosen to hear him out before acting… but Monkey's tone changed everything.
Orochimaru, Sasuke, Neji, Nanashi, Guren and Kabuto nearly fell to their knees as oppressive chakra laden with killing intent impregnated the atmosphere. Orochimaru raised a hand in the tiger seal in an attempt to rein in the First Hokage, and Sasuke's and Nanashi's eyes reflexively spun into their kaleidoscope forms, much to the Second Hokage's horror.
"This chakra…" Neji groaned, veins bulging around his eyes. "It's so dense I can barely see in front of me…!"
"How can there be someone with even more chakra than that idiot Naruto…" Sasuke said through gritted teeth. "He's not human…!!"
"Kill them all, Hashirama! The village won't be able to stop Orochimaru and two Mangekyō Sharingan holders at once!" Tobirama called, still rooted to the spot like a lamppost. He waggled his finger, the only part of himself that he could still move even slightly, adding his killing intent to his brother's. "Once the caster's dead, we'll be free, and I'll cancel the summoning for us!"
But against all expectations, Hashirama toned down the oppression.
"The Mangekyō Sharingan, eh?" Hashirama said wistfully. He looked at Sasuke and Nanashi mournfully. "To have experienced such tragedy, at your young ages…" He glared at Orochimaru. "For their sakes, I'll hear you out, since you don't seem to harbour any ill intentions towards Konoha this time," he said in a low voice. "But I'll have you explain this new face of yours afterwards, and if I'm not happy with your answer…"
"But of course," Orochimaru said with Sakura's mellifluous voice. "Sasuke-kun, I believe you had some questions for the Hokages? Ask away…"