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The Third Hokage's life slowly faded away, while Orochimaru stared fixedly at his now-purple hands, utterly unable to accept reality.
He, who so deeply loved researching ninjutsu, he, who so desperately craved immortality—how could he accept that from this day forward, he would be unable to perform any ninjutsu?!
"Hiruzen!!!"
Orochimaru roared incessantly. Yet, the curtain had already fallen. No matter how furious Orochimaru was, this had become an unchangeable reality.
...
Meanwhile, after bypassing Jiraiya's obstruction, Kagaya and Kisame quickly reached the vicinity of the Hokage Office and smoothly located the people they were looking for.
One man, one woman. Both appeared to be at least in their sixties or seventies, well into old age.
The man wore white clothes and glasses, giving off an intellectual air. The woman also wore white, with earrings dangling from both ears. She narrowed her eyes, looking at the two figures at the doorway.
These two elders were none other than Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado.
Upon seeing Kagaya and the others barge in, Homura was the first to shout,"Who are you people? Do you not know where this is?!"
Kagaya, pressing a hand against his left eye, looked at Homura with a mocking expression. "What's this? Have you two old fogies forgotten things so easily? Don't you remember who I am? And of course, I know where this is. But what does that matter? Four years ago, weren't you two also here, discussing how to exterminate my clan? Now, I'm planning how to kill you in the very same place. Is that wrong?"
Koharu frowned slightly. Discussing exterminating a clan four years ago? It seemed the person before them was... "You are a survivor of the Uchiha clan? By the looks of it, not Itachi. Then... could it be that little brat who defected years ago?"
Kagaya snapped his fingers. "Correct answer. So you do remember me. That's good. At least you won't die confused; you'll understand why you're dying."
As he spoke, Kagaya instantly activated his Sharingan, appearing beside Koharu. He slapped an explosive tag onto her neck.
"Katsu!"
"BOOM!"
A cloud of smoke erupted, blowing out one of the Hokage Office's walls.
Kagaya didn't typically use explosive tags. Using one this time was mainly out of momentary curiosity. He thought, since he'd never used them before, he'd give it a try, to see if he could finish the enemy in one strike.
However, Kagaya was disappointed.
With his Sharingan active, Kagaya saw everything clearly through the smoke.
"A shadow clone, huh?"
These two old bastards weren't fools. Upon hearing someone was heading straight for the Hokage Office, they had left behind a clone and hurriedly fled themselves.
Kisame chuckled. "So, Mr. Kagaya, you can't even distinguish a clone now?"
Kisame had detected the two inside were clones the moment they entered, which was why he hadn't made a move.
Kagaya laughed wryly at himself. "That was my oversight."
The moment he saw those two, a surge of impulsiveness had clouded his judgment, causing him to neglect verifying their authenticity.
"But... do they really think they can escape like this?"
Kagaya walked to the edge of the blasted-out wall and leaped down. "They haven't gotten far. I can still sense their chakra signatures. Let's chase them!"
Homura and Koharu had only started running when Kagaya and Kisame were practically at their doorstep. They simply couldn't have gotten far. Even Kagaya could still sense their presence.
Kisame grinned widely. "Of course. My Samehada hasn't tasted blood since we entered Konoha. That simply won't do."
The two leaped out of the Hokage Office, chasing after the fleeing Homura and Koharu.
However, something about their escape direction made Kagaya almost laugh out loud. The two were heading straight for the Forest of Death!
It seemed they intended to seek the Third Hokage's protection. But if Kagaya's guess was correct, after such a long battle, the Third should have already begun performing the Dead Demon Consuming Seal. He might even be dead by now.
If that were the case, who were they going to seek protection from?
...
Elsewhere, on the streets...
Homura and Koharu were running frantically. "Koharu, we don't need to flee like this!"
Homura spoke to Koharu beside him.
Like the Third Hokage, the two of them had also followed the Second Hokage in their youth. Their skills were not weak. There was no need to flee in panic simply because someone was attacking.
But Koharu shook her head in denial. "No. You heard the Anbu report. The person coming is Uchiha Kagaya, the one who defected several years ago. Since he dares to come seek revenge against us, he must have confidence. We haven't been in combat for too many years; our skills have inevitably declined. It's unwise to confront them head-on."
Homura spoke anxiously, "Then what do we do? Keep running like this? Hiruzen is still dealing with Orochimaru. Even if we reach him, Hiruzen might not be able to spare the effort to help us. If anything, going there might just create more trouble for him."
Koharu let out a disdainful snort. "Orochimaru was, after all, Hiruzen's student. If Hiruzen hadn't been soft-hearted back then, Orochimaru would have been killed by him long ago. It should be the same now. Orochimaru cannot possibly be Hiruzen's match. By the time we get there, Hiruzen might have already dealt with Orochimaru."
Homura was momentarily speechless. Upon careful thought, he could only nod in agreement.
"That's true..."
The overwhelming gap in strength Hiruzen had over Orochimaru back in the day was still fresh in both their memories. Thinking about it carefully, neither believed Orochimaru could defeat Hiruzen.
In fact, their thinking was correct. In a one-on-one fight, Orochimaru in his current state truly might not be the Third Hokage's match. After all, Orochimaru spent most of his time researching ninjutsu and didn't put much effort into enhancing his own personal combat prowess.
However, unfortunately, Koharu and Homura were unaware that the forbidden jutsu, "Impure World Reincarnation," had been mastered by Orochimaru, who had used it to summon the First and Second Hokage. Although the reincarnation technique wasn't yet perfected, and Orochimaru, fearing loss of control, had thoroughly erased their consciousness—resulting in them perhaps only exhibiting around ten percent of their true power—even that ten percent, combined with the First, the Second, and Orochimaru himself, was more than enough to give the Third Hokage a very hard time.
In a one-on-one, Orochimaru indeed wasn't the Third's opponent. But who said anything about playing fair? If the Fourth Hokage's body hadn't been unavailable, Orochimaru would have summoned him too.
Therefore, Koharu and Homura could never have imagined that the Third Hokage, in whom they placed such high hopes, was now lying motionless before Orochimaru, completely dead. Even his soul had been taken by the Shinigami, condemned to never reincarnate!
And Orochimaru stood beside the Third's body, cursing incessantly—one moment cursing the Third, the next cursing Danzo.
If he had known killing the Third would cost him his hands, he, Orochimaru, would never have taken that damn Danzo's mission!
Damn Danzo!
Damn Hiruzen!