Tanjiro turned his head abruptly, his piercing gaze directed towards the source of the voice.
Due to his continuously declining condition, he could no longer maintain the 'Mark' and the 'Transparent World' state.
At this moment, from behind a big tree under Tanjiro's gaze, Orochimaru slowly walked out.
He sized up Tanjiro, his tone still teasing: "Seems your condition is terrible. Those Akatsuki people are quite troublesome, right!"
Tanjiro stared firmly at the opponent.
Orochimaru continued: "Feasting on fear? This shouldn't be a Demon's ability, right? I'm starting to get curious about what exactly happened to you!"
Tanjiro's face sank.
He remembered clearly that among the ninjas who fought him in the previous great battle, this person in front of him was not present.
Then, his brows suddenly furrowed: "Why do you have the aura of a Demon on you? Can't be wrong. Although very faint, mixed in some power, I won't sense this aura wrong!"
Orochimaru laughed: "This is the result I gained from researching your bodies. Not bad, right? By the way, what was the name of that guy I tortured to wish he were dead? 'Upper Rank Four'? Or 'Upper Rank Five'? Forget it, just a lump of meat anyway. Let's describe it with the label 'Subject 002' I gave it!"
Undoubtedly.
What Tanjiro sensed on Orochimaru was the aura of the modification fluid.
Although Orochimaru changed his body once using 'Living Corpse Reincarnation' before, he injected the modification fluid again afterwards. So his new body was also modified by the modification fluid.
And the essence of the modification fluid was extracted from Demon's flesh and blood. So even with Jugo's special flesh and blood added, mixed with natural energy and chakra, a little bit of aura unique to Demons still remained.
This was different from 'Blue Spider Lily No. 1' developed by Shinji.
'Blue Spider Lily No. 1' developed by Shinji, because of the addition of Blue Spider Lily, completely erased the aura of Demons, becoming a pure strengthening cell, physique-enhancing potion. So Ryuzetsu and Chino, who injected 'Blue Spider Lily No. 1', were not sniffed out by Tanjiro for Demon aura.
Realizing the opponent had successfully utilized the power of Demons, Tanjiro took a step back, full of shock: "So you are the 'Lamp Bearer' here!"
"Lamp Bearer?"
Orochimaru was somewhat confused in his heart, but his face didn't show it, still maintaining his usual teasing expression.
Tanjiro seemed certain of his guess, his expression becoming hideous: "No wonder you could find me!"
Orochimaru smiled: "Oh, do you still have any trump cards?"
Tanjiro laughed wildly: "You don't understand the Master's power at all! Self-righteous fool, the moment you appeared in front of me, you already lost! You and your pathetic world, accept the fate that will inevitably descend!"
Before his voice fell, bursts of black smoke emerged from his body. Then, his declining power began to climb rapidly!
If Yakumo, Ranmaru, Hiruko were here, they would be surprised to find that in just a short instant, Tanjiro's power recovered to the peak state when he was in 'Infinity Castle' before.
No, even a notch stronger than his peak state of burning full body chakra and flesh and blood power!
"Tsk tsk, truly amazing power! No wonder you could single-handedly cause such huge casualties!" After sighing with emotion, Orochimaru raised his arms and began to form hand seals slowly: "To deal with monsters, better let professionals handle it!"
Tanjiro waved his sword, saying coldly: "Useless, those ridiculous ninjutsu of yours can't stop me..."
However, before Tanjiro finished speaking, coffins rose from the ground one by one, lining up in front of Tanjiro.
Looking at the coffins marked with 'First', 'Second', 'Third', 'Fourth' on the lids in turn, Tanjiro frowned slightly.
Bang bang...
As the coffin lids fell to the ground, four Hokages walked out of the coffins stiffly.
Orochimaru with a smile on his lips formed hand seals again: "This time we are dealing with a Demon threatening the Ninja World. Please, everyone bearing the name of 'Hokage', don't slack off!"
While smiling, Orochimaru released the restrictions on the four Hokages' intellect, giving them full authority.
Hiss hiss hiss...
Accompanied by steam emanating from their bodies, the four 'Reanimated' bodies gradually became vivid.
The First Hokage's attention was instantly attracted by Tanjiro opposite, saying in a deep voice: "What evil power!"
The Second Hokage was somewhat dissatisfied: "Orochimaru, you are quite bold, daring to release control over us!"
The Fourth Hokage looked blankly at the Third Hokage: "Third Hokage-sama, why are you?"
The Third Hokage looked solemn: "Orochimaru, did you break my 'Dead Demon Consuming Seal' so quickly? Is Danzo assisting you?"
Obviously, the Third Hokage being 'Reanimated' by Orochimaru meant his soul had been successfully released from the Death God's stomach.
And the one who could do this was obviously only Shinji who controlled the village.
The Third Hokage's arrangements were not hidden from the few Anbu he trusted most. After all, no one wanted their soul to truly sleep forever in the Death God's stomach. So even the Third Hokage who planned to perish together with Orochimaru left clues to break his 'Dead Demon Consuming Seal'.
So after taking power, Shinji didn't spend much effort to find the Death God mask hidden by the Third Hokage and secretly handed it to Orochimaru.
Orochimaru laughed: "Teacher, now is not the time to catch up. The Demon in front of you personally slaughtered hundreds of ninjas not long ago. Regardless of stance, he is a monster that we ninjas must eliminate!"
The Fourth Hokage frowned: "Such a strong smell of blood!"
The Third Hokage's gaze also turned to Tanjiro opposite: "'Upper Rank One' huh? Actually has such might?"
Orochimaru began to retreat while smiling and saying: "By the way, the opponent also possesses an ability to feast on fear. The fear emitted by everyone will become the opponent's food!"
The First Hokage looked indifferent: "I can overcome fear!"
The Second Hokage curled his lip: "I'm a dead person, I have no fear! But if it's anger, I have plenty here!"
The Fourth Hokage smiled lightly and shook his head: "Bearing the name of 'Hokage', I dare not fear."
The Third Hokage spoke last: "Just a Demon!"
Tanjiro obviously also sensed the weirdness, because facing these four people, he really couldn't sense even a trace of fear.
One must know that even Orochimaru, who always maintained a teasing face in front of him, would follow biological instinct and emit weak fear.
Retreating to a distance, Orochimaru clapped his hands: "I won't hinder everyone!"
Swish swish swish...
With the sound of breaking wind, Yakushi Kabuto, Jugo, Guren, and Tayuya appeared, landing in four different directions, forming hand seals simultaneously: "Ninja Art: Four Violet Flames Formation!"
Instantly, purple barrier walls constructed a huge cube, enveloping the four Hokages and Tanjiro inside.