"What Giant Orochimaru? Never heard of him. I think you're just a lousy imposter using my name."
The sudden appearance of this man calling himself his uncle made the Fourth Hokage's Orochimaru visibly angry.
But just like his title, "Lord of Cold," no matter how furious he felt inside, he didn't show it.
He was already thinking about escaping.
The guy in front of him clearly didn't come with good intentions. Even that sneak attack, Hidden Shadow Snake Hands, had caught him off guard.
Since this enemy was tricky to deal with, he figured it was better to avoid direct confrontation.
The Fourth Hokage's Orochimaru had made up his mind. He would find a chance to slip away, then gather some Root ninja and come back for revenge.
"Whether I'm a fraud or not... why don't you try and find out?"
The Fifth Hokage's Orochimaru remained calm.
He knew himself all too well, and just from the look in the Fourth Hokage's Orochimaru's eyes, he could tell the guy was already planning to run.
He chuckled inwardly.
If it came down to a direct fight, he was confident he could beat the version of himself from more than ten years ago.
But it might take some time—after all, his best skill had always been survival.
These escape techniques were effective, but facing them himself... he couldn't help but find them a bit disgusting.
So if the other side wanted to run, that was great.
Because if the guy didn't try to flee, how would he get the chance to end this quickly?
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
The Fourth Hokage's Orochimaru had already set everything up and launched another attack with a wave of his hand.
He knew this move wouldn't really work against the opponent, so he opened his mouth and spat out a long sword—Kusanagi.
Grabbing the sword, he lunged forward.
"I knew it would be like this."
Faced with the enhanced version of Hidden Shadow Snake Hands—Hidden Multi-Snake Hands—the Fifth Hokage's Orochimaru remained as calm as ever, effortlessly severing the connection between the venomous snakes and the Fourth Hokage's Orochimaru. He then engaged him in close combat with his bare hands.
With over a decade of accumulated strength, the Fourth Hokage's Orochimaru simply wasn't a match for the Fifth.
No matter how fierce his Kusanagi Blade struck, the Fifth Hokage's Orochimaru always found a way to dodge.
And it wasn't just pure evasion—after each successful dodge, the Fifth would occasionally summon venomous snakes to counterattack.
The Fourth Hokage's Orochimaru treated these snakes with extreme caution.
Just earlier, a single touch had poisoned him, forcing him to decisively sever one of his own hands to stop the toxin from spreading.
That was just from a touch—if he got bitten, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Fortunately, the Fourth Hokage's Orochimaru was highly knowledgeable about venomous snakes, and with his slithery movement style, the two Orochimarus found themselves evenly matched for a moment.
"That should be enough."
After clashing for less than two minutes, the Fourth Hokage's Orochimaru sensed the right timing. He deliberately exposed a weakness and allowed himself to be bitten by a snake.
"Such potent venom..."
He clutched his chest dramatically and collapsed to the ground.
At the very moment he hit the floor, a small white snake slithered out from his sleeve and darted down the corridor toward the depths of the lab.
"Trying to escape?"
The Fifth Hokage's Orochimaru let out a low chuckle. Picking up a kunai, he immediately gave chase.
After a few dozen steps, he judged the distance to be just right. He hurled the kunai forward, and it struck true—pinning and killing the little white snake in an instant.
But right then, the mouth of the Fourth Hokage's Orochimaru's corpse suddenly opened wide.
A long, white serpent shot out like lightning.
Its head—was Orochimaru's own face.
"Jie jie jie~ This is my escape route, you fool."
The Fourth Hokage's Orochimaru let out a strange laugh as he fled.
He knew that as long as he could get away, he could gather his forces and eliminate this imposter who dared to pretend to be him—and even tried to take advantage of his identity.
Unfortunately, he had no idea that all his actions were clearly being watched by the other party.
At this moment, he was already close to the exit.
Just one more turn, and he'd be out.
"You really are mischievous."
"That's impossible! How are you in front of me?"
As he turned the corner, the grin on the Fourth Hokage's Orochimaru's face froze instantly.
He stared in disbelief at the Fifth Hokage's Orochimaru standing ahead.
The whole person (or rather, snake) was dumbfounded.
He had clearly been behind him—how did he end up in front?
It didn't make sense.
"Hehe, game over."
Dealing with his human form might be tricky, but dealing with his snake form? That was too easy.
The Fifth Hokage's Orochimaru didn't even need much effort.
He grabbed the weak point of the Fourth Hokage's Orochimaru and, with just a slight squeeze, knocked him unconscious.
After that, he swaggered into the deepest room of the laboratory, dragging the Fourth Hokage's Orochimaru behind him.
Time slowly passed.
When the Fourth Hokage's Orochimaru groggily woke up on the hospital bed, a raspy voice echoed beside his ear.
"The surgery was a success. You are now the one and only third gender in the entire ninja world."
Fourth Hokage's Orochimaru: ???
Third gender?
What the hell does that mean?
Don't tell me—
The Fourth Hokage's Orochimaru suddenly shuddered and reached with his left hand to his chest.
Hmm.
Soft.
And very big.
He quickly reached down and touched below.
Hmm, that thing was still there.
Then, under the encouraging gaze of the Fifth Hokage's Orochimaru, he followed the feel of that thing and reached further down.
"You bastard, are you looking to die?"
"Ahahaha~ So what if I am? It's not like you can kill me anyway! Bleh bleh bleh~"
Seeing the Fifth Hokage's Orochimaru sticking out his tongue and acting like a complete troll, the Fourth Hokage's Orochimaru got really pissed off.
The more he thought about how he probably couldn't actually beat the other guy, the angrier he got.
"I can still stay here for an hour. In this one hour, we can have some real fun."
"What do you mean we can have fun? Damn it, you just want to mess with me one-sidedly!"
"Haha, well, I was just afraid that if I said it too bluntly, you'd get mad. Though honestly, even if you do get mad, it's useless—there's no way I'm letting you off."
Damn it, this is so infuriating!
(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻
While the two Orochimarus were busy "messing around" with each other, the Konoha forces led by Namikaze Minato and Shimura Danzo had already arrived at the gates of Amegakure.
Six Paths Madara and Six Paths Hashirama didn't show up openly.
They only contacted Namikaze Minato in secret to let him know they had arrived.
"This rain is really heavy."
Soaked in the fine drizzle, Minato knew this was the Rain Tiger at Will Technique cast by Nagato.
The moment they stepped onto this land, Nagato had already sensed their presence.
Danzo, on the other hand, had no clue about any of this.
Relying on his age and status, he was busy lecturing Minato.
"I told you, just leave everything to me. It's just a small-time group from Amegakure. You don't need to show up yourself. You're Konoha's Hokage, after all—every word and action of yours represents the village."
Listening to Danzo's nagging, Minato smiled but said nothing.
In his eyes, Danzo was about to die soon.
Either he would die at Nagato's hands.
Or he would die at the hands of Madara or the First Hokage.
Why bother arguing with someone who was about to die?
Minato Namikaze wasn't that petty.
****
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