A gust of wind swept through the battlefield and it carried the scent of scorched earth. Orochimaru's lips curled into a slow, wicked grin and as he flicked his wrist, the Kusanagi blade appeared gleaming in his grip. 'We're truly down to the final clash. Everything now comes to whether or not Tobirama will fall into my trap.'
Suddenly, Gari who was standing near Orochimaru shot forward like a missile, zeroing in on Kakashi. Orochimaru, on the other hand, headed straight for Daichi, Shizune, and the unconscious Tsunade.
The clearing, already rife with tension, snapped taut like a bowstring as the two enemies split off to engage in combat.
'He's fast. Looks like Orochimaru is not wasting any time.' Kakashi's eyes tracked the enemy shinobi's abrupt movement and without hesitation he dashed forward, meeting Gari halfway.
Suddenly the former member of the Demolitions unit increased his speed and tried to catch the Copy ninja off guard. But Kakashi's lone Sharingan flared and he reacted instantly to Gari's increase in agility. 'His speed is impressive, even for a reanimation. I can't let him get near Daichi and the others.'
The reanimated shinobi from the Hidden Stone village had a grave expression and his body gave off a lethal intent. A swirl of chakra gathered on his fists and he was ready to unleash his special explosion jutsu the moment he made contact.
Kakashi could see the chakra flow and the attack that was about to come his way and he was ready. Lightning surged around his hand as he dashed forward, intercepting the former Stone shinobi with a precise strike aimed at his chest. "Lightning blade!"
Gari twisted at the last moment and barely avoided the full brunt of Kakashi's attack. The ground behind him erupted in a spray of stone and dust as the lightning strike flew from the Leaf Jonin's hand and carved through the earth effortlessly.
Without waiting, Gari lunged forward, swinging a fist infused with explosive chakra. Kakashi managed to evade and jump back, but the moment his foot touched the ground, Gari detonated the area beneath him, sending a shockwave that forced Kakashi to somersault midair.
As soon as he landed, he saw Gari already closing the distance again. 'I need to get him away from here.'
Kakashi dashed forward with a kunai in his hand. Lightning coated the knife and it was aimed at Gari's face.
The reanimated ninja tilted his head and dodged but what he didn't realize was that it was a feint. Kakashi immediately used his momentum and spun around. He struck Gari with a powerful kick the moment he was avoiding the attack.
"Gha!" The power of the kick made him bent forward and his eyes made direct contact with Kakashi's Sharingan.
'This is my chance.' This was the opportunity the silver haired Leaf Jonin wanted. The second the enemy made eye contact with his Sharingan, Kakashi put him in a Genjutsu.
Gari was instantly struck with a strong illusion and at that moment Kakashi grabbed Gari and immediately took the two of them away from near Daichi, Shizune and Tsunade. 'I need to get him away from here. I don't know what Orochimaru will try and I can't let my fight get in the way of Daichi's treatment.'
Kakashi and Gari landed several hundred meters away from their original location. 'This isn't too far since I can't waste chakra teleporting to greater distance. But this is still far enough that this guy won't be able to cause problems for them.'
Putting Gari in an illusion and taking him away from the battlefield only took about two seconds for Kakashi. The copy ninja immediately went forward with his next attack.
He took several explosive tags from his back pouch and placed them on Gari's chest and head. A moment later the tags began to burn and Kakashi swiftly jumped away from his enemy and put some distance between them.
BOOM!
An explosion covered Gari and destroyed his body. The area he was standing in was now a large crater. Kakashi cautiously took several steps forward and saw that Gari's body was down inside the new crater and was slowly regenerating.
At that moment someone appeared near Gari.
—-
With Tobirama: A short while ago.
Meanwhile even as Tobirama battled the Sand kunoichi, he was keeping an eye on Orochimaru. Seeing that he had taken action, Tobirama decided to end things quickly on his side.
'I need to catch him off guard. The best time would be when his attention is on someone else.'
The Second Hokage turned his attention to Pakura and he got serious. The Sand shinobi unleashed another wave of Scorch style orbs, but Tobirama blurred out of sight, dodging the attacks effortlessly.
Thanks to his teleportation seal, he instantly appeared behind her and his hands were already forming seals.
"Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu."
A sphere of water formed around Pakura, trapping her instantly. She struggled, but before she could retaliate, Tobirama placed an exploding tag against the water sphere's surface.
The tag instantly began multiplying and all of them suddenly lit. Tobirama immediately teleported away and the next moment, the water sphere and the trapped Pakura blew up in a violent explosion.
Her body was blown to pieces and after several seconds slowly began to regenerate. But before she could fully restore herself, Tobirama closed the distance with a sealing tag pinched between his fingers.
'Time to end this farce.' He pressed the special sealing tag to Pakura's chest.
Instantly, black sealing lines erupted across her body, spreading over every limb and immobilizing her in place.
The sealing symbols on her body glowed. Pakura tried to raise her arms, tried to mold chakra and form a new scorching orb, but the seal was too thorough, paralyzing her from within.
"Can't… Form…" she rasped, eyes wide but expression vacant. The reanimated body fell still, locked by Tobirama's special sealing technique.
'That's one down.' He wasted no breath, leaving Pakura pinned helplessly to the rocky ground. The seal prevented chakra molding, and her threat was neutralized.
At that time, Tobirama's senses flared. He detected Kakashi's battle and Gari's savage bursts of explosive chakra. 'Another reanimation. I should stop him as well before I undo the jutsu. Or Orochimaru might try something to circumvent me.'
With that thought he vanished from his spot and moments later appeared next to a defeated Gari.
Kakashi was taken back by the sudden arrival but he quickly composed himself. "Lord Second."
Tobirama stood near the reanimated body and looked up at the copy ninja. "Good work Kakashi."
"If you're here, I take it that Sand ninja is dealt with…"
"Yes. It's time to stop the Reanimation jutsu now." Tobirama nodded and replied. In seconds, Tobirama pressed another special seal tag onto Gari's writhing remains. Chakra-enforced lines raced across Gari's surface, halting any regeneration.
"You should get to the others, Kakashi." The Leaf Jonin nodded and quickly vanished. The Second Hokage made a hand-seal.
The tag on Gari began glowing and activated the seal's true function. The reanimated soldier's form shuddered, his blank eyes flickering as the undead jutsu forcibly disconnected and undone.
Gari's body crumbled and his spirit left the reanimated body. Soon a corpse no one recognized was in his place.
Simultaneously the seal on Pakura also glowed and dispelled the forbidden jutsu. Orochimaru's two reanimations were now undone.
With his work done, Tobirama disappeared from his spot.
—-
On the other side:
Just as Gari began his battle with Kakashi, Orochimaru also made a beeline for his targets. He quickly advanced upon Daichi, Shizune, and Tsunade's unconscious body.
Shizune stood up, her face pale, body trembling with fear the aftereffects of non-stop healing and exhaustion but her resolve was unshaken. 'I have to protect them no matter what.'
She readied a scalpel in one hand, forcing herself to appear braver than she felt. "I won't let you near them," she declared, her voice steady despite the fear gripping her heart.
Orochimaru's lips parted into a serpentine grin. "Shizune… you're quite audacious to stand against me in that exhausted state."
But before Shizune could respond or take action, a blur of movement intercepted Orochimaru's path.
"You know, it's kind of insulting to be just ignored on the battlefield like this." Jiraiya landed between them, his stance firm, his gaze filled with a dangerous resolve. "It's pretty pathetic threatening someone far weaker than you."
The Snake Sannin sneered as he looked at the man.
"I won't let you toy with her life. Like I said before, if you wanna get to Tsunade you'll have to get through me first, Orochimaru."
The Snake Sannin saw anger and hurt in the man's eyes but he also felt the killing intent coming from his former comrade. 'It looks like he really wants to kill me this time.'
A smile formed on Orochimaru's face. "So you're finally ready to do it huh. About time I suppose… If you had killed me when you had the chance, our dear Tsunade wouldn't be suffering so much right now."
The toad sage kept silent but his jaws tightened and his fists clenched a bit hard. "Yeah… It was my mistake. And I'm going to correct that mistake today."
Seeing Jiraiya confront the Snake Sannin, Shizune secretly let out a breath of relief. She turned her attention back to Daichi and his treatment and then paid attention back to the battlefield. 'He'll be able to keep her stabilized. I just need to make sure nothing gets to him.'
Orochimaru's grin widened. "Ah, Jiraiya. Always the persistent fool." He twirled the Kusanagi in his hand. "Very well, let's see if you've improved."
Jiraiya wasted no time. He launched a powerful kick, forcing Orochimaru to block with his forearm. The moment they made contact, Jiraiya slammed his other palm into Orochimaru's chest, sending him skidding backward. The snake Sannin barely had time to recover before Jiraiya's hands flew through a rapid series of seals.
"Ninja art: Needle Hell!"
Jiraiya's hair hardened and suddenly a barrage of needle-like hairs shot towards Orochimaru.
The Snake Sannin gathered wind chakra in his sword and swung it in the direction of the powerful and deadly needles.
The gust created from the sword swing deflected the white needles away from him.
Orochimaru, in the midst of his fight with Jiraiya, suddenly staggered as he felt the disappearance of his summoned warriors. His golden eyes widened.
'Pakura and Gari. My connection to them has been severed. I can't sense them anymore… No. It can't be… The reanimation jutsu… was undone?'
Orochimaru barely had time to process the thought before Jiraiya capitalized on his distraction. Jiraiya's fist connected with Orochimaru's stomach, sending him skidding back several meters. "What's wrong, Orochimaru? Losing your advantage?"
The Snake Sannin's expression darkened, but before he could retort, Kakashi landed beside Jiraiya, lightning crackling in his palm. "Do you need any assistance with him?"
"If it were any other time, I would have said no. But right now we need to put an end to him quickly." The Toad sage declined Kakashi's help.
But before the battle could continue, Tobirama suddenly appeared behind Orochimaru, placing a firm hand on his shoulder. "You're coming with me."
Orochimaru's eyes widened in realization. "No-"
In an instant, Tobirama activated his teleportation jutsu, and both he and Orochimaru vanished from the battlefield. The spot where they stood sizzled with residual energy, leaving Jiraiya and Kakashi momentarily stunned.
The group barely had time to react before a distant explosion rumbled across the horizon, sending a tremor through the ground beneath them.
"Look!" Kakashi said. He pointed toward the distance, where the faint moonlight illuminated a horizon of broken terrain.
In the far distance, a brilliant boom erupted, accompanied by a roiling burst of smoke and debris rising into the night sky. An explosion. Even from there, the shockwave rattled loose stones underfoot, sending an ominous tremor through the plateau.
Jiraiya's eyes narrowed as he turned in the direction of the blast.
"What the hell was that?" Kakashi muttered.
Shizune's grip tightened around Tsunade's wrist as she checked her pulse again. Daichi, still kneeling beside her, didn't look up but felt the shift in the air.
Jiraiya exhaled sharply, scanning the horizon. "That must be where Lord Tobirama took Orochimaru.."
Kakashi let out a breath of air. "So either things went our way… Or it didn't."
"I guess we'll find out what happened soon enough." Jiraiya spoke up. He had faith in the Second Hokage's strength but he also knew Orochimaru was a crafty opponent.
Nearby, as Daichi was healing the unconscious Tsunade, he was also very aware of his surroundings. As he poured his medical chakra into his teacher's body, he sensed the small but fast movement coming from beneath the earth.
Daichi's senses sharpened and he could tell that whatever was coming from underground was heading straight for his teacher.
Instantly he stopped his treatment and took the Senju in his arms. "Move away!" He shouted to Shizune and jumped away from the spot with Tsunade.
Shizune didn't question the Leaf Genin and immediately followed suit.
Jiraiya and Kakashi who were a dozen meters away from them were startled by Daichi's warning and turned around towards them.
Just as the Genin jumped to safety, a Kusanagi sword burst out of the ground where Tsunade was mere moments earlier.
Kakashi looked at the Kusanagi and internally groaned. 'Oh come on. Just how many times do we have to kill the same person?'
Jiraiya was angry that Tsunade was almost hurt again. 'Damn it. He almost had her. If it weren't for Daichi... How in the world did he escape Lord Tobirama?'
Seeing Tsunade and Daichi escape, Orochimaru wasn't unhappy or disappointed. His true target was someone else.
He burst out of the ground beneath Shizune and quickly captured her. Several small snakes appeared out of the sleeve of his right hand and bit into the medic ninja paralyzing her while Orochimaru held her by her neck.
'No!' Jiraiya and Kakashi's eyes widened in horror as they saw Shizune becoming a hostage.
"That was very impressive, Daichi. There aren't many who can see my attacks coming. But too bad you couldn't predict who my prey was." Orochimaru chuckled as he looked at the boy.
—--------------
Author's Note:-
In both Kakashi and Tobirama's fights, they use explosion tags.
For Kakashi, it's to conserve his chakra. For Tobirama, it's kinda his battle style.
Tobirama thought Orochimaru was banking on Pakura keeping him busy and wanted to take the snake by surprise.
But Orochimaru was even more cautious and had a trap for Tobirama. He made it look like he was vulnerable. And after getting rid of the strongest ninja on the battlefield, he got himself a new hostage, to buy himself some time and to make sure the Leaf ninja made mistakes due to the high stake situation.
I hope you guys like the strategies I put in this leaf vs Orochimaru stage of this arc.
If you like my story and want to read ahead, then check out my P.a.T.R.E.0.N page. I've uploaded up to 30 additional chapters there.
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