Oden had appeared before dozens of swords that had turned into snakes attacking the third.
He took the third Hokage and flickered away, dodging their attack. He had felt that the third Hokage was totally drained of chakra and stamina, he wouldn't have been able to dodge.
Oden got ready for another attack... but it didn't come.
Suddenly the smoke started receding, and when it disappeared and they were able to see again, they noticed that the barrier, Orochimaru, and his underlings had disappeared.
Anbu suddenly appeared beside the Hokage.
"Hokage-sama we've lost sight of Orochimaru." The highest-ranked one said.
"It's fine, none of you can catch up to him if he wants to escape." The third said, his face was slightly pale.
"Go and help the civilians, I'll take care of the Hokage," Oden commanded.
The Anbu was unsure of what to do, but the third simply nodded and they flickered away.
"Is there a reason why you chased them away, Oden-kun?" Hiruzen asked.
"Yes, let's first go to your office and then speak Oden said as he helped the elderly man. He didn't want the others to see their Hokage in a weakened state so he simply use body flicker to hurry towards the Hokage tower.
On the outskirts of Konoha, a shadow clone of Oden had appeared near the fight where the two Jinchuriki had fought and found them laying on the ground.
"They saved me from my pit of loneliness..." Naruto spoke as he lay two meters from Gaara.
"And they understand me... I couldn't live without them... I love them!" He said, barely able to talk as he was exhausted.
"Love?" Gaara questioned.
Oden walked out and showed himself as Sasuke also arrived nearby.
Sasuke got ready for an attack but let his guard down as he saw it was a familiar face.
"It's you.. the 15-year-old Jonin.." Sasuke said, slightly familiar with the person that was being compared to his older brother. Sasuke was also familiar with the rival clan of Uchiha.
"You've done good Sasuke, and you as well Naruto." Oden said with a smile.
Sasuke scoffed slightly, as it didn't feel good to be appreciated by someone about his own age.
Two people suddenly appeared near Gaara. They were Temari and Kankuro, the sister and brother of Gaara.
They were on the defensive as they stared at Oden.
They remember him from one month ago when he had stepped forward to defend the Hyuga princess, showcasing his aura and scaring every genin there.
"Sasuke, go capture Gaara." Oden finally said with his usual nonchalant tone. He had an idea as he saw Gaara and his siblings.
Hearing the command, the siblings got even more vigilant, ready to protect their brother.
Sasuke looked at Oden with a weird face but turned towards the siblings ready to fight.
Seeing the desperate look on the sibling's faces, Oden felt it was time to act a bit.
"You two, get out of the way, today Gaara must die for his crime," Oden said.
"No, Gaara didn't do it because he wanted to!" Naruto suddenly shouted.
"Please don't kill him, he's the son of Sunas Kage, he's very valuable." Temari tried to reason with tears in her eyes.
"Hmm... at least one person needs to die for the crime of invading Konoha... are any of you willing to take his place?" Oden asked.
"I am!"
"You can take my life instead!"
Both siblings spoke at the same time without hesitation. They had grown up Without being able to protect Gaara, and they always felt guilty for not being able to be the support he needed, if they could go back and redo it, they would make sure their brother knew how loved he was... alas, he grew up to be someone they feared, yet they knew lonely he was and how his fearful appearance was his way of protecting his heart from pain.
Gaara looked at his siblings with wide eyes...
"Hmm, you're willing to give your lives in your brother's stead, so this is love huh?" Oden said what he knew Gaara needed to hear.
Gaara was shocked to the core, he had always believed that his heart was in pain, and only love could heal it... but he also believed that he could never receive love from anyone...
Neither of the siblings said anything as they just stood in front of Gaara ready to die for him.
"How about we make a deal," Oden said.
But none of them answered, just listening.
"Your father is dead, and Sunagakure is left without its Kazekage, so how about you go back and become Kazekage? Then try to rebuild the relations between our village as atonement for attacking us?" Oden finally said, making all eyes widen as they stared at him.
"So what do you say, do you agree or do you choose death?" Oden asked again.
Gaara looked at his siblings and his eyes became slightly teary.
"I agree.. I'll do my best!" He finally said as his face fell down.
"Good, then this is a secret between us! Sasuke, Naruto, keep this a secret!" Oden said as he chased away the siblings carrying Gaara with his hands as if chasing away stray dogs.
Sasuke simply nodded and Naruto shouted in happiness.
Then Oden puffed away.
Almost every clan received help from Oden's shadow clones. Almost every street had an Oden running around helping in whatever way he could.
Not far from Konoha, two people were walking towards the village. They each wore a black cloak dotted with red clouds and on top of their head, they had straw hats big enough to shade most of their faces and help hide their identities.
"How does it feel to return home after such a long time?" One of them spoke in a teasing manner.
"... Nothing..." The other spoke, as if he would die if he shared too many words.
"if you want... we can take this chance to cause havoc..." The first one spoke again.
"...Let's keep to our mission..." The other one spoke.