Chapter 45 – The Dead Return, and the Professor Faces His Teachers
"Otherwise, once word spreads to the other villages, Konoha will be completely on the back foot."
The same scene played out across the village.
With the major clans and ANBU sweeping the streets, the Sand and Sound invaders were rapidly losing ground.
Or rather—from the very beginning, none of the real players had ever taken the Sand or Sound seriously.
The title of "Number One Hidden Village" wasn't just for show.
Inside the Four Violet Flames barrier, atop the arena roof.
Hiruzen looked at his former student.
"Your plan has failed."
Orochimaru answered with a raspy chuckle.
"Them? They were never the core of the plan."
"So I'm the target? Then let this old teacher give you one last lesson today."
Hiruzen tossed aside his hat and cloak, revealing battle-ready robes.
"In the face of absolute strength, schemes are nothing but parlor tricks!"
The moment the words left his mouth, chakra erupted from both men.
The roof beneath their feet cracked under the pressure alone.
The next instant, they moved.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
"Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation!
"Such… overwhelming chakra!"
"It's like the air itself is crushing us!"
Outside the barrier, the helpless ANBU swallowed hard.
Even through the wall, the suffocating killing intent pressed down on their hearts.
Once the fight began, no one could look away.
Kage-level battles weren't something you saw every day.
Inside the barrier.
Orochimaru knew exactly how strong his teacher was.
He had zero intention of fighting fair.
"Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation!"
The roof shook.
Two coffins rose from the ground in succession.
A third began to emerge.
"Using summoning as a shield, huh."
Hiruzen's eyes narrowed.
He couldn't let the third coffin finish.
He flashed through hand seals, wrestling control of the technique.
The third coffin slowly sank back into the ground.
But his expression didn't lighten in the slightest.
Two coffins remained.
And they belonged to the absolute worst possible people.
"This is bad…"
The lids slid open.
Two faces—familiar yet impossibly distant—appeared.
Outside the barrier, every shinobi went pale.
"No way… those two are…?"
Their eyes shot to the Hokage Monument.
Two of the carved faces matched perfectly.
The First Hokage.
The Second Hokage.
The atmosphere became heavier than lead.
Every shinobi in the village remembered the title given to the First:
The God of Shinobi.
"It… it can't be real."
"They've been dead for decades…"
The reinforcements tried to reassure themselves.
But before they could finish the thought,
Orochimaru slid the control talismans into the corpses' heads.
In seconds, lifeless flesh regained color.
Dead bodies returned to the youthful prime Hiruzen remembered so fondly.
And dragged him straight back to his own genin days.
"They really do look just like back then…"
Hiruzen's voice was thick with nostalgia.
Orochimaru smiled in satisfaction.
"Can you feel it, Sensei?"
"The joy, the accomplishment of harming someone who once called you 'teacher'?"
He gazed at Hiruzen like a child showing off his favorite toy.
"This entire stage was prepared so you could experience that same joy."
"Now then—please enjoy yourself to the fullest!"
With a final Tiger seal, Orochimaru stepped back.
He left the battlefield to the three generations of Hokage.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was a veteran of countless wars.
Age had made him cautious, even timid.
But tonight, with Konoha burning, the old "Professor" had to reawaken the "Shinobi no Yūsha"—the Hero of the Shinobi.
He silently apologized to his two teachers in his heart.
Then he charged forward to meet the undead legends.
Impure World Rei
ncarnation was terrifying.
A technique of resurrection, of immortality.
Yet in the end, it was still just a special summoning art—not true revival.
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