Orochimaru straightened up after briefly adjusting to his new body. He flexed his hands, the sensation foreign yet strangely exhilarating.
If he could continue inhabiting White Zetsu vessels, perhaps he would never need to hunt for new bodies again.
But compared to the thrill of this discovery, there was a far more important task at hand—completing the mission Senju Haruto had given him.
"Well then, I'll begin."
Orochimaru glanced at the White Zetsu vessel for confirmation. Seeing that Haruto raised no objection, he began the preparations to perform Edo Tensei on Namikaze Minato.
In truth, Orochimaru had long since obtained cells from the Fourth Hokage.
The reason he had been unable to summon him before was that Minato's soul had been sealed within the belly of the Shinigami.
"Come to think of it… you should be able to perfect Edo Tensei by now, shouldn't you?" Haruto asked, unable to hold back his curiosity.
"To perfect the technique isn't the difficult part," Orochimaru explained as he drew the complex seal patterns onto the floor. "The true challenge lies in control. If the resurrected shinobi is far stronger than the caster, it can become a dangerous liability."
"You have someone else in mind for resurrection, don't you?"
Haruto nodded slightly, not denying it.
Deep down, he knew the truth: his strength had long since surpassed Orochimaru's—not just by a margin, but by entire dimensions.
If he himself performed Edo Tensei, reviving a shinobi at their peak would be no problem at all.
And yet, a reluctance weighed on him.
Though the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, had created Edo Tensei, it had been forbidden for good reason—it defiled the dead, dragging them back against their will.
Even Tobirama, faced with death at the hands of the Gold and Silver Brothers, had never considered using the technique to resurrect his beloved elder brother.
Moreover, before Haruto crossed into this world, he had been raised with the belief that the dead should rest in peace. To disturb the departed was a line he would not cross lightly.
But if it was Orochimaru who cast Edo Tensei, then Haruto felt no such burden.
Perhaps it was simply human nature—most people ate meat, yet could not stomach the act of killing themselves.
Still, no matter how he rationalized it, Haruto's heart whispered the same truth: there were indeed people worth resurrecting.
After all, this was the Marvel world.
Here, many had perished who deserved another chance.
Orochimaru, of course, could not guess what thoughts lay in Haruto's mind. Once the preparations were complete, he clasped his hands together and began weaving seals.
"Impure World Reincarnation!"
With the technique activated, the White Zetsu vessel began to peel apart, its body dissolving into paper-like fragments that swirled upward, gathering together, their color shifting.
And then—
The Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, emerged.
"…This place…"
The newly revived Minato immediately looked around.
He had no memory of Haruto.
But Orochimaru's presence quickly drew his gaze.
Though Orochimaru had once vied for the position of Fourth Hokage and later betrayed Konoha with his forbidden experiments, he had still been a student of Hiruzen Sarutobi, one of the fabled Sannin alongside Jiraiya.
So Minato still addressed him politely: "It has been a long time, Orochimaru-sensei."
"It truly has, Namikaze Minato." Orochimaru's lips curved in a faint smile.
"What's going on here? I remember the night of the Nine-Tails' attack—"
But before he could finish, Haruto cut him off.
"To put it simply—we found a way to undo the seal of the Shinigami and used Edo Tensei to bring you back."
Minato's eyes narrowed, studying Haruto. "And you are…?"
Haruto paused, realizing the issue.
Though Minato had left a fragment of chakra within Naruto, it was not the same as a shadow clone. His understanding of Naruto's life and growth—and of the present—was limited.
"You may call me Senju Haruto, the Fifth Hokage of the Land of Fire."
"…The Fifth Hokage of the Land of Fire?" Minato's pupils contracted, his face registering shock.
He had believed himself to be the youngest Hokage. Yet this man stood before him, even younger than he had been.
But the wording puzzled him.
The Hokage of the Land of Fire?
Wasn't it supposed to be the Hokage of Konoha?
And Fifth? That meant the Third had either stepped down—or passed away.
A storm of questions swirled within his heart.
"The daimyo system is history now. The Land of Fire and Konoha have been fully unified under the rule of the Hokage…" Haruto's voice trailed off. "But that's a matter for another time."
"For now, the reason we revived you was because of the Nine-Tails sealed inside you."
"The Nine-Tails?" Minato echoed.
He remembered clearly splitting the beast's chakra in two, sealing one half within himself.
But why would Haruto go so far as to resurrect him just for that?
Haruto, seeing his confusion, offered a brief explanation of the current situation.
"…Naruto had his tailed beast extracted?"
Minato's expression darkened in shock.
Back then, his wife Uzumaki Kushina had lost her life for that very reason—because the Nine-Tails had been torn from her.
And now Naruto was walking the same path.
No.
Not this time.
Whatever it took, Minato would rewrite the ending.
"Where is Naruto now?" Minato demanded, his voice urgent. He wanted nothing more than to rush to his son's side immediately.
But despite his title as the Yellow Flash, he needed a marked seal to use Flying Raijin. And this place was far from Konoha.
With Naruto now stripped of the Nine-Tails, Minato could no longer sense him.
He had no choice but to ask.
"He's in the village," Haruto replied.
But Naruto wasn't the only problem in Konoha.
There was also Uchiha Itachi.
His Mangekyō Sharingan was not eternal. Each use damaged his body further, and years of relying on medicine had taken their toll. His life was burning out fast.
At most, two or three years remained before Itachi's end.
And that was a waste.
With his intellect and his skill, letting him die like this would be a tragedy.
If he could be given Eternal Mangekyō… then even surpassing Madara would not be impossible.
Haruto's gaze slid briefly toward Orochimaru. Perhaps, with Tsunade's medical expertise combined, Itachi could be saved.
And if not… there was still Stark, Strange, and countless powers in the Marvel universe that might hold a solution.
"Come to think of it…" Haruto mused, "if Orochimaru were to mass-produce Sharingan, and equip the White Zetsu army with them…"
"Then awaken just a fraction of the Mangekyō's power…"
"An army of one hundred thousand Susanoo…"
The image alone sent a thrill through his chest.
The sheer scale of it would be awe-inspiring beyond imagination.