Senju Hashirama watched his brother's violent reaction. He noted the fine sheen of sweat on Orochimaru's forehead and the control tags clenched tightly in the man's hands. The First Hokage's smile faded.
"So... that's how it is."
Hashirama scratched his head and offered an apologetic grin, shouting up toward Tejima Shinichi atop the Wooden Golem's head. "Hey, kid!"
"Sorry about this! We've been dead for years, yet some messed-up jutsu dragged us out to cause you trouble!" He thumped the red armor on his chest, producing a dull Thud! "But don't worry! Even though Tobirama and I are being controlled, our minds are still intact. We won't go for the kill!"
Tobirama gave hashirama an exasperated glance before turning his attention to Shinichi. "Listen, junior! This jutsu is Impure World Reincarnation—a forbidden art that sacrifices a living person to drag a soul back from the Pure Land and bind it! The caster implants control tags inside us to force our actions!"
He spoke at lightning speed, anxious that the boy might miss a crucial detail. "The jutsu ends if the caster releases it or dies! Alternatively, you can seal us. Also, a summoned person's strength is limited by the quality of the sacrifice, so we can't fight at full power! Don't try to beat us! Your target should be—"
"Enough!" Orochimaru snarled, tightening his hand seals.
Tobirama's body jerked violently. His words were abruptly cut off, a flash of pain crossing his face. Yet, his lifeless eyes stayed fixed on Shinichi, as if passing on the last of his will.
The smile vanished from Hashirama's face as well. He looked down at his cracked, reanimated body, then up at Shinichi in the distance with a complex expression.
At that moment, the Wooden Golem's massive head slowly lowered toward the center of the ruins. Tejima Shinichi stood atop it, gazing down at the two former Hokage.
"It's fine," Shinichi said calmly. "Lord First, Lord Second. With the strength your current bodies possess..." His gaze finally settled on the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama. "...it's still not enough to pressure me!"
Hashirama blinked, staring at Shinichi for a few seconds. For some reason, he sensed a familiar aura radiating from the youth—an aura much like that of an old friend.
"You..." Hashirama opened his mouth to speak, but Shinichi interrupted.
"Perfect. The timing is just right!" Shinichi slowly formed hand seals in front of his chest.
As he moved, two circular purple markings surfaced on his forehead. At the same time, pale-purple pigmentation appeared beneath his eyes, stretching to his cheekbones and etching an imposing outline across his face.
Sage Mode!
"This is...!" The controlled Senju Tobirama stared in shock. As the Second Hokage—a man who had developed countless forbidden techniques and deeply researched natural energy—he instantly recognized the senjutsu... "Sage Mode..."
After a brief daze, Senju Hashirama suddenly burst into hearty laughter. His laugh was clear and delighted, as if he had just heard the best news in the world.
"I see, I see! Indeed, with senjutsu under your control, the current us really can't pressure you! After all... Wood Release boosted by senjutsu..."
Controlling the Impure World Reincarnation, Orochimaru felt a wave of overwhelming shock wash over him.
"Senjutsu... it really is senjutsu..." His voice was hoarse, trembling in a way he didn't even notice. "How is this possible? He's only twelve... and he's had the Shikkotsu Woods contract for just a month!"
One month. From zero to such a stable Sage Mode? It was absurd.
Orochimaru had studied senjutsu himself. He had trained at Ryūchi Cave—and failed. That was exactly why he had taken a different path, resorting to studying Jugo's cells. So many gifted shinobi never managed to step past the threshold of senjutsu in their entire lives. And now, Tejima Shinichi, a twelve-year-old boy, had done it in a single month?
"No wonder..." Orochimaru rasped, his throat dry. "No wonder he told me to go all-out..."
He had assumed the strength Shinichi displayed while suppressing Shukaku in the Forest of Death was his full power. Now he realized it probably hadn't even been half. Or perhaps Shinichi truly had gone all-out back then, and he had simply grown too fast. Elemental jutsu fueled by senjutsu were on a completely different level from ordinary ninjutsu.
A strong premonition of danger surged within Orochimaru. The plan was slipping out of his control.
"How frightening... to possess such strength at such a young age." Senju Hashirama paused, his smile turning wistful. "If you keep growing like this, in a few years you'll surpass me at my peak."
He spoke lightly, but his words struck the listening Konoha shinobi like thunder. Surpass the First Hokage at his peak? The man who quelled the Warring States Period, subdued the Tailed Beasts, and was revered as the God of Shinobi?
Hashirama's sigh had barely faded before Orochimaru's sense of foreboding grew unbearable.
"Sink into eternal slumber!" Orochimaru roared. His arms whipped out, slamming two black control tags into the backs of Hashirama and Tobirama's heads.
Thwack! Thwack! The tags sank deep into the skulls of the two reanimated Hokage. Hashirama and Tobirama both grunted, the light of consciousness instantly vanishing from their eyes.
"That's it... just like that!" Orochimaru gasped.
But before he could even exhale, Shinichi murmured to himself. "Looks like it's time to end this farce."
"Orochimaru..." Shinichi's voice, amplified by senjutsu chakra, rolled across the battlefield. "I told you. If you want my body, you'd better hurry." His hands rose before his chest, slowly pressing together. "Otherwise..."
His palms met.
"...you won't even qualify to die by my hand!"
Clap. A soft sound echoed through the ruins. The next instant, the earth violently shook.
"Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands!"
Rumble!!!
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