During these past two years, due to Lady Chiyo's, a high level puppetmaster from The Land Of Wind, and Hanzo's use of poison, Tsunade, one of the Sannin, started pushing for a change in Shinobi team formations.
'Every three-man team needs a medical ninja.'
Her idea was simple, but put in practice, was extremely effective combined with her proficiency in finding antidote for poisons. Konoha immediately made this formation the status-quo for their shinobi as it drastically boosted survival rates among their soldiers.
It wasn't long before the rest of the shinobi world took notice and partially followed suit.
This was the information Zero received from Hanzo before he left.
'I don't this really changes anything unless I let my enemies heal in front of me.'
Zero could be seen leisurely walking along a road, heading towards the last known location of a powerful shinobi affiliated with Konoha.
Dressed in a standard rain shinobi outfit equipped with a poncho and respirator, Zero didn't even look as if he was waltzing through a warzone.
He was completely at peace.
'Dan Kato huh? Brief said he uses some kinda spiritual type jutsu, didn't specify. Heard it's dangerous though. Hm. Wonder how Orochi is gonna take to someone else invading my soul.'
Zero chuckled as he continued his journey, traveling through a rainstorm to reach his goal.
A short time later, Zero immediately spotted a few Konoha shinobi hiding in some trees, seemingly waiting for others to pass by.
This was the location the scouts claimed Dan Kato was seen last.
'If I'm guessing right...those shinobi aren't there to collect a toll. Judging by their formation, they should be guarding something. It would be nice if that 'something'...is a camp. Well, only one way to find out...'
Drawing Kusanagi from its sheathe, Zero deliberately continued walking until he reached directly in front of the trees the shinobi were hiding in, then he turned towards them.
"Hey. Is Dan Kato here?"
Immediately drawing their swords, the Shinobi shouted, "The Dragon is here! Everyone, attack! I'll hold him o-"
WHOOSH!
Blood splattered as Zero cut off the man's head, caught it and threw it another Shinobi who was running away to alert the rest of the camp, causing him to explode into pieces.
'Hm. This new arm isn't so bad.'
Whipping the blood from his blade, Zero stood on the branch of a tree and watched as the Konoha shinobi started surrounding him with a certain someone in the middle.
It was a man with long purple hair, a serious expression on his face, and a kunai held backwards in his grip.
"Yeah...you're the one. You match the description perfectly. I assume you must be Dan Kato?"
The man got into a fighting stance, holding his kunai in front of him as he responded, "Should I be overjoyed or dismayed that the Dragon Of The Rain knows my name? It doesn't matter anyways. You won't be leaving here alive."
As soon as he said that, another figure landed at his side. This time, a woman. In fact, it was quite a familiar woman.
"Ah, Tsunade. We meet again. How many times has it been now...three...four?"
Suddenly, a kunai appeared at Zero's neck, with a man holding it standing behind him.
"Five. But I'm afraid our little friendship has come to an end, Dragon. It's time for you to die."
Zero knew this voice anywhere. If was a man that Zero had met multiple times on the battlefield, but everytime they ended in a draw or the man's retreat.
"Orochimaru. Nice to see you again, too."
Zero looked around and made a mental note of how many Shinobi surrounded him.
Combined with the two Sannin and Dan Kato, they were a total of 40 competent shinobi ready to take his life at a moments notice.
Seems as if he was the one that had walked into a trap.
"This time, we'll wipe that smug look from your face, Dragon."
Tsunade gritted her teeth as she got into a fighting stance, her eyes locked on Zero. The scenes of her dismembered fellow shinobi never left her mind and her anger only worsened with each mangled corpse Zero left behind in his wake.
"Then, let's get this started."
Bracing his neck on the kunai, Zero twisted his body to the side, slitting his own throat as he slashed Orochimaru across his chest. Of course, his wound was healed immediately.
Orochimaru immediately substituted his body into several snakes that tried to restrict Zero's body.
"Not good enough."
Zero slashed the snakes into pieces in a flash, his eyes immediately locking on to Orochimaru performing hand signs on a far away tree branch.
Before he could rush him, multiple jutsu could be seen flying towards Zero from the other shinobi surrounding him, essentially pinning him down in the middle of them.
They were sure that even the mighty dragon would be injured by this attack.
Standing strong on the tree branch, Zero pulled his robotic arm back and surged his chakra into it, causing purple light to surround it.
Before he left the village, Zero remembered something that Amado Sanzu had told him about his body.
"There was a reason I pushed for so many modifications to be made to your body. After you told me about your fighting style, I realized that you lack defense. Not against physical attacks, but more against elemental and more abstract jutsu. So...I designed your entire body to do one single thing. Counter. Heh. I actually developed a name for this ability. I call it..."
WHOOSH!
Swinging his fist upwards, a thin chakra barrier was projected around it as all of the jutsu, regardless of element, were sent back at their users at several times their original speed.
"Oh no-"
BOOM!
A massive explosion decimated the forest from the jutsus's obliterating their users.
"Slaying god. A fitting name, Amado."
But you battle wasn't over yet. Zero's eyes immediately locked onto Tsunade charging at him with clones from several directions.
Just as he was about to cut her down, a blue streak moving at an incomprehensible speed suddenly entered his body from above, paralyzing his movements.
"Tch!"
Within moments, he felt a presence trying to collapse his spirit, causing him to fall to his knees in pain.
"Finish him now!"
Tsunade pierced him in the neck with her kunai, kicking away Kusanagi while Orochimaru appeared out of the shadows, immediately running Zero through with a tanto.
"We pinned him down! Now, it's up to Dan!"
In Zero's pitch black soulscape, Dan Kato could be seen floating, looking at Zero's soul with an odd expression.
"Even in here, you still carry that smug expression, Dragon. Good thing it's over. In here, you can't fight back aga-"
Raising his hand, Zero interrupted Dan and said, "You shouldn't have come here. Now...it's out of my hands."
Dan was confused. What the hell was Zero talking about?
But, he continued to try to collapse Zero's spirit, hoping that he could kill this scourge upon Konoha immediately.
Suddenly, a series of massive snake-like, purple eyes appeared in the darkness behind Dan.
Sensing the disturbance, Dan turned around to find 2...4...8 pairs of eyes watching him.
"What?! What are you, Dragon!"
Dan quickly used a hand sign in an effort to cancel his technique...but he couldn't leave. He was trapped in Zero's body.
Any chance for escape was forfeited the moment he entered Zero's soulscape.
Yamatano-Orochi roared as it chomped down on Dan's soul and swallowed it with one gulp, it's eyes flashing with delight at the taste.
Looking down at Yamatano-Orochi, Zero calmly said, "One day I will be able to control your power. Then, we will be one and the same, Orochi."
Not expecting an answer, Zero closed his eyes and prepared to go back to reality, only to be suddenly stopped by Orochi's angered tone.
"You misunderstand, you insignificant mortal. If this was my true form, your body would've been gone a long time ago! I am but a precursor to the 'gift' your family bargained their souls for. A part of my soul put here as a slave to keep you alive until that damnable fox descends to take my place! So stop getting yourself in trouble, mortal!"
Orochi pushed Zero back out into reality with a shout, causing him to open his eyes in the real world.
Even though he wanted to think about what Yamatano-Orochi just said, Zero immediately realized that he was in a precarious position.
WHOOSH!
Zero grabbed Tsunade by the wrist and flipped over, throwing her to the ground while causing Orochimaru to let go of the sword that was stuck in his chest.
Pulling out the kunai from his neck, Zero parried Tsunade's punches, used her own arm to choke and pin her down, and started stabbing her repeatedly with the kunai.
"Tsunade!"
Tsunade started choking on her own blood as the kunai pierced several of her organs, causing Orochimaru to rush Zero with all of his might.
'Snake Extermination Jutsu!'
Several large brown snakes appeared out of Orochimaru's sleeves and immediately charged at Zero.
"Tch!"
BOOM!
Punting Tsunade away with a powerful kick, Zero jumped away and extended his arm, causing Kusanagi to appear in his grip with a flash of purple light.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
Zero turned the snakes into harmless pieces of meat as he charged at Orochimaru.
CLANG! CLANG!
The two clashed blades for a few milliseconds, but Zero's superiority in Kenjutsu quickly showed its head as he slashed Orochimaru across the abdomen three times with incredible speed.
"Urgh!!"
Spinning the sword around in his grip, Zero ran it through Orochimaru's neck, pulled it out and whipped the blood off his blade as he turned around to walk towards Dan's seemingly lifeless body.
"That's two down. Now to make sure you're dead."
SLASH!
Zero calmly beheaded Dan and sheathed his blade in the same motion, walking away as if nothing happened.
The only thing Zero could hear as he walked back to the rain village was...well, the heavy rain washing the blood off of his uniform.
The only thing he could think about at this time were Yamatano-Orochi's words.
'Snow and my daughter...bargained their souls for me? Why? They gave up their chance at a peaceful afterlife...for a killer like me...? Why...?'