"It's over."
Orochimaru's tone was flat, without the slightest fluctuation.
After Senju Hashirama unleashed the Wooden Golem and Wood Dragon techniques, the battlefield had completely collapsed into a one-sided slaughter.
Even though Kakashi, Guy, Yamato, Uchiha Izumi, Hyūga Hiashi, and Sarutobi Hiruzen had joined forces, their combined might could not withstand the overwhelming pressure of the First Hokage.
And as if that wasn't enough—under Hashirama's relentless assault, Hiruzen could no longer maintain the barrier that suppressed Tobirama. The Second Hokage burst free, and despair only deepened.
Watching his comrades fall one by one, a heavy shift took root in Hiruzen's heart.
At first, he had planned to hold out—just stall for time—until Senju Haruto could return. But with the situation now, how could he place hope on a chance that might never arrive?
At this rate, everyone here would die.
"Orochimaru…"
Hiruzen's voice was calm but resolute as he spoke the name of his most brilliant—and most tragic—disciple.
"I must put an end to you here."
"No… Lord Third, I can still—"
Guy stumbled forward, his body swaying, battered but unyielding. He forced himself to Hiruzen's side. Though Edo Tensei was terrifying, Guy knew if he opened the Eighth Gate, there was still a chance to flip the battle.
"That would kill you!" Kakashi snapped, his voice sharp.
The truth was cruel. Opening the Eighth Gate of Death would indeed grant Guy explosive, god-like strength—power dozens of times greater than a Hokage. But such power came at the price of his life.
Even if Guy could somehow blast his way past Hashirama and Tobirama, cutting down Orochimaru in an instant, Edo Tensei would not end with Orochimaru's death.
Such a sacrifice… would be meaningless.
To stop Orochimaru, sealing techniques were the only answer.
"I'll think of a way to stall him, buy time until Haruto arrives." Kakashi braced a hand on his knee, forcing himself upright, refusing to fall.
"No."
This time, Hiruzen shook his head.
As a man of keen perception, he knew: if Haruto were on his way, his immense chakra would have already registered in Hiruzen's senses.
The fact he hadn't… meant Haruto could not make it here in time.
And Orochimaru, Hiruzen could feel it—he was no longer toying with them. A heavy killing intent poured from him like venom.
Orochimaru was ready to end everything.
Boom! Boom!
Hiruzen's hands formed seals, his chakra dividing evenly. Two shadow clones flickered into existence.
This time, he was not only going to face Orochimaru himself. He would also seal away Hashirama and Tobirama.
"All of you—fall back."
His low command brooked no refusal. Kakashi and the others could only retreat.
Hiruzen's fingers moved swiftly through another string of seals.
Standing atop the Wooden Golem's head, Orochimaru narrowed his serpentine eyes as he caught the familiar sequence.
"That hand sign… could it be the Dead Demon Consuming Seal Haruto mentioned?"
"The very same jutsu Namikaze Minato used to seal the Nine-Tails."
A faint crease formed between Orochimaru's brows. For the first time, he sensed Hiruzen's true resolve.
The real battle was about to begin.
As Hiruzen locked the final seal, a surge of indescribable chakra burst from his back, twisting into form—an enormous, fearsome Shinigami with a horned mask of wrath.
"Kakashi-senpai… what is that jutsu?"
Yamato's throat tightened. From the spectral god, a dreadful, suffocating aura rolled over the battlefield.
"That is the Dead Demon Consuming Seal," Hiruzen explained evenly.
"A forbidden technique, passed down by the Fourth Hokage. The very one he used to seal the Nine-Tails."
He paused. "But to use this jutsu… one must pay with their life."
"What?!" Kakashi, Guy, and Yamato's voices overlapped in shock.
To them, hope lay in enduring until Haruto's arrival. If they could just hold out, perhaps all could yet be saved.
But Hiruzen only shook his head.
"It was my failure that birthed this disaster. It was my mercy that allowed Orochimaru to fester and grow into this threat. This tragedy is mine to end."
"As his teacher, it falls to me to sever this sin."
"And besides—you've seen it yourselves. Even if Haruto does return, facing the might of the First Hokage… he may not be able to stop Orochimaru."
His voice wavered—just slightly—as his mind drifted to a night years past.
The Nine-Tails' attack.
Back then… if only he had been more decisive. If he had used this very technique instead of Minato—perhaps the village's greatest tragedy could have been avoided.
That regret, that guilt toward Minato's sacrifice, had weighed on him for years.
And now, it gave him strength to decide.
With no more hesitation, Hiruzen lunged forward alongside his clones—one from the left, one from the right, and himself from the front.
The two clones moved to bind Hashirama and Tobirama.
The original Hiruzen—straight for Orochimaru.
But Orochimaru knew this jutsu well. He had studied its every secret. There was no way he would allow Hiruzen close.
Hashirama and Tobirama were his most prized pawns—if they were sealed, he could no longer use Edo Tensei through them.
"Come then, my dear teacher! Let us finish this once and for all!"
Orochimaru howled, sending his will snapping through Edo Hashirama and Tobirama.
Both unleashed shadow clone techniques of their own—one birthing a legion of Wood Clones, the other of Shadow Clones.
With their endless chakra and physical clones, even Hiruzen's perception faltered. Which were the originals?
"Tell me, sensei," Orochimaru sneered. "Would you prefer to face the First Hokage with his Wooden Golem… or without?"
His twisted laughter echoed as Hashirama's and Tobirama's clones overwhelmed Hiruzen's shadows, snuffing them out in an instant.
Hiruzen lost the chance to seal them.
But in that moment—he seized another.
Gathering chakra to his feet, he vaulted up the massive golem's body, rushing straight toward Orochimaru.
"Seal!"
A deep growl burst from his throat. From the seal etched across his abdomen, a spectral blue arm shot outward, plunging into Orochimaru's body and seizing hold of his soul.
"Even if I cannot take the First and Second… I will drag you down with me!"
Hiruzen's roar shook the air as he pulled, straining every last shred of his being to rip Orochimaru's spirit free.
And then—something happened he could never have anticipated.
As the soul tore free, the body before him warped, its face and features twisting, reshaping—becoming someone else entirely.
And from behind him, that familiar, rasping voice slithered forth:
"Sensei… you truly have grown old."