Chapter 44: The War Ends.
"Orochimaru, you are the challenger here!"
The crushing weight of peak Kage-level presence slammed into Orochimaru's heart like a physical hammer! All trace of condescension vanished from his eyes, replaced by sheer, horrified awe at the power radiating from this young man before him.
"Move!"
Rubik's low command was barely a whisper before his body erupted into action, a storm of molten fury hurtling toward Orochimaru! The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, though still reeling from the shock, relied on decades of battle-hardened instinct to snap back to focus. His Adamantine Staff blazed with formidable power as he met the transformed First and Second Hokage head-on!
The old man knew it then—the tide had turned.
Orochimaru faltered. He retreated like a slick eel, his body blurring backward while a flash of cold light shot from his mouth—the legendary, unbreakable Kusanagi Sword! Its razor edge tore through the air, laced with chilling chakra, aiming straight for Rubik's throat! Not a killing blow—just a desperate bid to force him back, to buy a moment's breathing room.
But Rubik's Sharingan had already traced the arc of the blade.
"Boil Release: Unrivaled Strength!"
His right fist became a blazing shell of superheated steam and molten rock. With the combined amplification of the Eight Gates and Boil Release, his power soared to nightmarish heights. No trickery. No feint. Just a single, devastating punch.
Clang—CRACK!!!
The Kusanagi let out a tortured shriek! Orochimaru felt an overwhelming, irresistible force surge through the blade, and then—his skull fractured. He was flung backward like a stone from a catapult, smashing against the purple barrier with a sickening crunch, spitting blood, his serpentine eyes wide with disbelief!
"Pfft... c-cough! Impossible!!"
He clawed his way up, trembling, his snake-like pupils locked onto the swirling elements around Rubik—lava, gale-force winds, searing steam. His voice twisted with raw, fractured shock.
"Lava Release?! Boil Release?! And that power... you... how do you possess so many Kekkei Genkai?! This defies all logic!! It's not natural! You're breaking the very rules of this world?!"
Rubik strolled forward, unhurried, a mocking smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
"Rules? Hah. Rules are made to be broken!"
As he spoke, his hands wove together in a deceptively simple, ancient hand seal.
Orochimaru's face went pale. Horrified, he realized his own body was... slowing down. Invisible threads, born from somewhere on his face, were winding around his entire form, trying to seize control!
"Wh—when?! What did you do to me?!"
He frantically channeled chakra to resist, but the binding force clung like a parasitic leech, refusing to let go!
Rubik's finger idly tapped the air toward Orochimaru's pallid cheek, his smile carrying the savor of total insight.
"Remember that little 'friendly greeting' in the Forest of Death? My fists aren't just for punching, you know."
His tone was casual, as if discussing yesterday's weather.
"A mere 'puppet seal'—tiny, insignificant. For someone of our caliber, unless you specifically search for it, it's practically undetectable. The price? Well... just this paltry loss of control."
He paused, his crimson Sharingan gleaming with absolute dominion.
"But it has an amusing 'quirk'—the more chakra you pour into it, the tighter the bind! A pretty useless trade-off for most people. I'd call it a mediocre jutsu."
Rubik spread his hands, his grin growing wider.
"For me, though... chakra is the one thing I'll never run short of!"
BOOM—!!!
An ocean of chakra—nearly infinite in its vastness—surged through the seal and flooded into Orochimaru's body! That faint, harmless mark transformed in an instant into golden shackles, locking down his chakra pathways, his muscle responses, every fiber of his being!
Orochimaru froze like a fly trapped in amber. He couldn't even twitch a finger!
Seizing the opening, Rubik didn't hesitate. He slammed both palms to the ground!
"Summoning Jutsu: Sealing Scrolls!"
Two enormous, ancient scrolls materialized beside him in a puff of smoke. At the same time, the golden chains of his Adamantine Sealing Technique lashed out like living dragons, defying the intangible nature of the Edo Tensei bodies, and coiled instantly around Hashirama and Tobirama Senju—who were still locked in combat with the Third!
"Now, Lord Hokage!" Rubik barked.
"Sealing Jutsu: Five Elements Seal!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi understood in an instant. Drawing on his last reserves, he moved in perfect sync with the chains' restraint, his hands flying through seals. Two powerful runes, brimming with the essence of the five elements, slammed precisely onto the bound Edo Tensei Hokages!
WHUMM—!!!
A blinding flash of sealing light erupted! Hashirama and Tobirama's reanimated forms thrashed violently, but the absolute suppression of the chains and the might of the Five Elements Seal proved insurmountable. They dissolved into twin streams of light, sucked mercilessly into the massive scrolls. The scrolls' surfaces blazed with symbols, then sealed shut, locked tight!
'Ding! Detected protagonist defeating Edo Hashirama and Edo Tobirama. Hashirama Senju Edo Tensei (50%), Tobirama Senju Edo Tensei (50%) — Experience Cards acquired.'
The cold system notification chimed in his mind, and Rubik's lips finally curled into a deeply satisfied smile.
Done.
Wood Style. Flying Thunder God. The pinnacle of the shinobi world's power—now his.
No Asura's chakra, though? Hmph. No rush.
His icy gaze swung back to Orochimaru, pinned in place like a lamb to the slaughter.
"Your turn, you slippery snake."
Orochimaru's eyes blazed with madness!
"GAAAH—! Snake Shedding Jutsu!"
A massive white serpent, slick with mucus, erupted from his mouth, carrying what remained of his life force, and shot like an arrow toward the barrier's edge, desperate to escape!
"Trying to run?"
Rubik snorted. His crimson Sharingan flared as he cast his genjutsu.
"Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes!"
Invisible ocular power pierced into the serpentine creature's spiritual world!
At the very same instant—
"Spirit Transformation Jutsu!"
The forbidden technique he'd acquired from the Third—this was the moment he'd prepared it for.
Rubik's soul burst forth as a brilliant streak of light, faster than any physical attack, ignoring all material obstacles, and plunged straight into the white serpent's body! His target: Orochimaru's soul—already frayed and brittle from countless uses of Living Corpse Reincarnation—hiding deep within!
"AAAAAAAHHH—!!!"
A soul-rending shriek, inhuman and agonizing, tore from the serpent's core! Like glass scraped raw, Orochimaru's already fragile spirit was viciously ripped apart under the precision assault of Rubik's Spirit Transformation Jutsu—a massive chunk of his very soul was torn away!
The white serpent collapsed like a broken puppet, twitching violently, black ichor mixed with soul-fragments spilling from its maw.
And Orochimaru's fading consciousness, riddled with searing pain and primal terror, clung to the last shreds of survival. Like a beaten, broken mongrel, he dragged his ravaged serpent-body with whatever strength remained, burrowing desperately into the earth, leaving a bloody trail and a chilling hiss as he vanished into the darkness.
The surviving Sound Four, seeing their master routed and their cause lost, turned to flee into the chaos.
"Secure them!"
But the ANBU were ready. Sealing formations flared to life, cutting off every escape route. The four were caught like fish in a net, subdued in an instant with no fight left in them.
With Orochimaru's ignoble retreat and the annihilation of the Sound's main forces, the battlefield slowly fell silent. The "Konoha Crush" plan—launched jointly by Suna and Oto—ended in total defeat for the invaders, and a pyrrhic victory for the Leaf, bought with a heavy cost.
The purple Four Violet Flames barrier faded, revealing the devastated stands beyond.
The dust settled.
The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, leaned heavily on his Adamantine Staff, his chest heaving, his aged face etched with exhaustion and the complex shadows of having survived the brink.
Beside him stood Rubik. The suffocating aura of lava, wind, and steam had fully receded. His expression was calm, as if the cataclysmic battle just past had been nothing more than a light warm-up.
Konoha's immediate crisis was over.
But Rubik's gaze drifted past the ninjas still clearing the battlefield, past the noise and clamor, and fixed on a distant, shadowed corner of the village—the headquarters of "Root."
A cold, silent killing intent bloomed in his eyes.
He remembered the message he had quietly sent out a month ago.
"She... should be arriving soon."
Rubik murmured to himself.
"Danzo, you festering old tumor that's plagued this village for years... it's time for you to rot in hell."