In reality, Uchiha Madara was so easily subdued partly because of an information gap. Number Two's abilities did not belong to the system of this world and functioned without any chakra fluctuations, which was why Madara had fallen into the trap so easily.
"Hashirama! Quickly release your technique!" Madara, suppressed by the torii gates, roared at Hashirama.
He was truly speechless regarding his single-minded teammate. Not only did he fail to help, but he was also a pure liability.
"Oh, right," Hashirama responded, moving to clasp his hands to release the technique.
But in the next instant, Hashirama's mind suddenly blurred. His body swayed, and the release of the Gracious Deity Gates was interrupted.
In his mind, the figure of a white-haired woman slowly emerged, gradually taking over his consciousness. Instantly, only the silhouette of this white-haired woman remained in Hashirama's mind. All other thoughts were blocked; he couldn't form a single idea, as if a computer had lagged and crashed.
His movements stopped, and he stood frozen on the spot.
"Success." In the distance, Number Three approached Number Two, dragging Black Zetsu along.
"Why did it take so long this time?" Number Two asked Number Three.
They had encountered opponents of this level before, but Number Three had clearly spent much more time on this one.
"This person is dead; his memories and thoughts are anchored to his soul, which is why it took more time than usual," Number Three explained. "Of course, it's also because this guy isn't weak."
"A dead person?" Number Two frowned.
"Yes, it's likely a resurrection technique unique to this world," Number Three replied.
"That's quite interesting... After we get that item from the moon, let's return to this world and seize this technique as well," Number Two said.
"Mhm." Number Three agreed with the idea.
"Number Four is about to arrive." Suddenly, Number Two looked in a certain direction.
In the direction he was looking, thousands of people seemed to be running, their footsteps echoing loudly.
...
"It failed..." Orochimaru murmured softly while watching the scene at the Hidden Rain Village from a distant mountainside.
"The First Hokage... failed...?" Minato Namikaze, glowing gold in his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, was in disbelief.
The stories of the God of Shinobi were basically told to every ninja in the world since childhood. Otherwise, a certain Mr. Kakuzu wouldn't have bragged about himself so much...
"Orochimaru, who are those two guys?" Tendo Pain walked up to Orochimaru and asked.
After this battle, Nagato had gained a new understanding of the powerful hidden forces in the shinobi world. Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, who were incredibly strong after the Impure World Reincarnation, were one thing; these two unknown enemies were another.
It was clear that neither were figures the Akatsuki could oppose. Just one of those unknown individuals was enough to crush the team he had spent years building... it made him wonder about the possibility of achieving his goals. Could the Tailed Beast weapons he was collecting really defeat these people?
He couldn't help but feel doubtful. At the same time, putting Hashirama and Madara aside, he was extremely curious about the identities of those two unknown enemies. He believed Orochimaru, who had brought the support, might know something...
"I don't know," Orochimaru shook his head.
He was just an employee; how would he know who those people were? He was simply doing what his boss told him to.
[Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama have been defeated.]
Immediately after, Orochimaru sent a message to Lexon via the information link of the Impure World Reincarnation. In any case, it was always right to find the boss when something went wrong. Years of working had deeply ingrained this thought in Orochimaru's mind. It was just a bit hard to accept that the boss always pretended not to hear him whenever he rambled about the Gedo: Art of the Rinne Rebirth.
"So many children..." Kisame Hoshigaki, who was also observing the scene, spoke up.
"And every single one of them is moving very fast!" Minato Namikaze, being the most sensitive to speed, said with a solemn expression.
"Is this an army from some organization?" Kakuzu looked on in shock, seeing that the speed of those children was not inferior to his own. A team formed with such strength could already crush the entire shinobi world...
"Terrifying..." Even Orochimaru couldn't help but let out a low gasp.
"Ha! Beneath my art, it doesn't matter how many of these guys there are!" Deidara, having regained his mobility, sounded quite confident.
However, he did have the capital to be confident. The large-scale explosion caused by his self-destruction skill, his ultimate art the "Patrick Star," was not something numbers could stop. But all of this was predicated on him blowing himself up. This alone was enough to prove that he already felt he couldn't compete with the others. Besides, there was no telling what kind of defensive abilities those people might have...
"Someone else is coming," Kisame noted.
He saw a figure descending from the sky above the Hidden Rain Village.
"That is..." Minato Namikaze couldn't quite see clearly.
"It's Uchiha Lexon," said Uchiha Itachi, who had been silent until now.
Reflected in his spinning Mangekyo Sharingan was a figure wearing Konoha Anbu clothing and a cat-faced mask. Having known the man for years, he naturally recognized his posture.
"Uchiha Lexon?" Nagato, controlling Tendo Pain from behind the scenes, frowned slightly.
This guy hadn't shown up since his failure to capture the Eight-Tails, nor had he attended any Akatsuki meetings. If Kakuzu hadn't been covering for him and saying Uchiha Lexon was still earning money for the organization, he would have kicked the guy out of the Akatsuki long ago.
"Now that he's here, there shouldn't be any more problems." Orochimaru's feminine features returned to a normal expression, no longer wary of the unknown enemies.
As Lexon's subordinate, he could be said to be the person who understood Lexon's power best. He was even fully aware of the fact that Lexon could transform into the Six Paths Mode. Naturally, he held immense confidence in Lexon. Why else would anyone think Orochimaru had worked for free all these years and planned to keep going? It wasn't because he couldn't beat—ptui! It was because he believed in the boss's ability, right?
Tendo Pain hearing Orochimaru's words, couldn't help but glance at him.
Was Orochimaru really that confident in Uchiha Lexon? Nagato was puzzled. He suddenly remembered that Orochimaru had left the Akatsuki around the time Uchiha Lexon failed to capture the Tailed Beast a few years ago... Connecting the two...
Could it be... that Orochimaru had become Uchiha Lexon's partner? Orochimaru had been coveting the eyes of the Uchiha clan since long ago... had the two struck some kind of deal? Nagato's thoughts raced. Even thoughts of some unspeakable behind-the-scenes deal between the two began to surface.
Never mind that for now; he would focus on getting through this incident first... He stopped thinking and looked toward the Hidden Rain Village.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]