The three figures of Fujin, Hashirama, and Tobirama shuttled from one place to another as they were engaged in a high-speed close combat battle.
“It’s much easier than this one expected.” – Fujin muttered with a relieved look, at the same time he berated himself for panicking just because the two people in front of him are Shodaime Hokage and Nidaime Hokage.
‘After all, there is no way Orochimaru would dare to revive the two Hokage close to their full combat power, right?’ thought Fujin as he dodged another one of Hashirama’s Chakra-enhanced punch.
And after a short exchange of blows, Fujin soon realized that he was right. Whether in terms of power or in terms of speed, neither of the two Hokage is close to their top form. In fact, they both are quite inferior to Fujin in terms of strength and speed.
Although, their coordination is very good, which is the only thing that is allowing them to keep up with Fujin.
“In that case, let’s take this up a notch.” – muttered Fujin after understanding the limits of the two Edo Tensei Hokage.
Immediately afterward, his moves became fiercer, and the strength in each of his blows increased sharply.
A jab in the stomach of Hashirama, a quick dodge of Tobirama’s kick by leaning backward, then a sharp reverse kick to Tobirama which was dodged by Tobirama, a backward flip to dodge a three-combo blow from Hashirama, and finally a full-powered uppercut under Hashirama’s chin causing him to fly backward and the very next second a combo of sweeping kick and roundhouse kick to Tobirama sending him flying all the way.
Boom Boom crack crack
Amidst the sound of cracking of the wood and breaking the walls; Hashirama and Tobirama that were blown away by Fujin crashed into the walls of the shrine after passing through several rooms, and there were some obvious depressions in the bodies of the two Hokage, which clearly showed how much power Fujin had in each of his strikes.
On the other side, Orochimaru who was standing on the head of the large green snake muttered in a surprised tone, “Damn, can’t afford to be hit by him, the power in each of his strikes is even higher than Tsunade’s.”
As the controller of the two Edo Tensei Hokage, Orochimaru is naturally aware that these two Reanimations cannot be compared to the real thing in their peak state.
There are multiple factors responsible for this, but the strength of the sacrifices used and the limitations Orochimaru personally imposed are the main reasons.
Because the development and research of Edo Tensei are still not completed, and since, various aspects have to be considered, so Orochimaru has only used sacrifices that are at most at the level of low-tier Jonin to revive the two Hokage.
And coupled with the fear that the two Hokage might undo the binding, Orochimaru specifically added a lot of many seals in order to keep the two under his control. Although all these measures allow Orochimaru to perfectly control the two Hokage, their strength is also weakened quite a lot.
So, the current strength of the two Hokage is not only much inferior to their peak state but also weaker compared to the time they were revived using the White Zetsu clones.
But even with all these constraints, they are still much stronger than the state when the two fought against Sandaime Hokage, on an analogical basis, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Tobirama is at the level of Elite Jonin, while Hashirama is at the level of a Kage, and with both of brothers working together they are capable of suppressing even the likes of Raikage.
Orochimaru himself isn’t confident enough to be able to defeat the two. So, the fact that Fujin was able to dominate the battle fairly easily, greatly surprised Orochimaru and also made him vigilant of that tyrannic strength.
“Now then.” After sending the two Hokage flying away, Fujin waved both of his hands fiercely. Immediately, Iron Sand appeared out of the ground and wrapped around Hashirama and Tobirama firmly, restricting their movements by binding them inside Cocoons made of Iron Sand.
After having dealt with the two Hokage, Fujin’s gaze turned towards Orochimaru and Kurenai who stood on the head of the giant green snake.
Feeling the killing intent from Fujin, even Orochimaru, who has never been afraid of anything, was a little dazed. His heart trembled, and his joking expression changed.
And on the side of Orochimaru, Kurenai who also observed the short battle was surprised and can’t help but mutter in admiration, “So strong!”
Whoosh
Fujin’s figure flashed, he leaped high into the sky, and instantly, a pair of Blac Iron Sand Wings spread behind his back, allowing Fujin to float high into the sky.
On the back of the green snake, Orochimaru and Kurenai involuntarily raised their heads and looked at Fujin high above in the sky.
The pair of Huge Black Wings behind him, combined with the Black Cloak with Gold threading, and a mask of Wind pattern covering the face gave an elusive look to Fujin in the night. Kurenai was a little dazed when she looked at the other party, and for a moment she even had an illusion that the other party might be a fallen angel of the dark night.
Whoosh
While Orochimaru and Kurenai looked at Fujin floating high into the sky, his figure suddenly disappeared and appeared on top of the head of the Giant Green Snake, and without wasting even an instant, Fujin condensed an Iron Sand Spear in his hand and stabbed into the heart of Orochimaru without care whether Orochimaru would die or not.
“You…!” Before Orochimaru even realized it, Fujin was already standing in front of him, and an Iron Sand Spear was piercing through his heart, and by the time he realized it, his expression changed into horror as he slowly lost consciousness.
Kurenai was also taken aback, ‘He… He killed Orochimaru so easily?’
Fujin said lightly, “Put away the act, you aren’t fooling anyone with that crappy performance of yours.”
Listening to Fujin’s words, Orochimaru’s expression changed back, and the corner of his mouth twitched in annoyance, “I used to think that you are just the most inconspicuous guy in Amatsukami and the rumors about you being stronger than Homusubi and Suijin were false and deliberately spread, but it appears that I was mistaken and I underestimated you.”
After finishing his words, Orochimaru’s body turned into mud and collapsed.
Fujin hovered above and rushed in the direction of the two Hokage, he could see that Orochimaru was rushing in that direction in order to free the two Hokage from the Iron Sand binding.
Orochimaru also noticed that Fujin has noticed his intention, and muttered, “Let me see what will you choose.”
Immediately afterward, he weaved the hand sign, and the huge green snake under Kurenai’s feet disappeared in a poof of white smoke.
“Huh…? Aaahhh!” Kurenai exclaimed as the sudden disappearance of the Giant Green Snake caused Kurenai’s body to suddenly lose her footing, and because both her hands were tightly tied behind her back, and her Chakra was sealed so Kurenai started to fall to the ground.
The length of the Giant Green Snake was at least 100 meters long, and before disappearing about half of its body was erected above ground, so the moment it disappeared Kurenai fell to the ground from a height of at least 50m.
Because hands are tied behind her back and Chakra is sealed, if Kurenai were to fall on the ground from such height, it would mean instant death.
Fujin of course understood this, and with a sigh, he turned back and flew in Kurenai’s direction.
As Kurenai saw the ground approaching closer and closer, she also understood that it wasn’t the ground, but rather death, and she closed her eyes in fear, ‘There is no way I would survive this fall.’
But suddenly, her body which was only half a meter above the ground was stopped.
Just as Kurenai’s body was about to land on the ground, Fujin leaped towards the ground and caught her in his arms.
“What…?” Feeling the sudden jerk and realizing that she hasn’t yet died, Kurenai opened her eyes only to find that Fujin held her in his arms, and the rope that had bound her hands was also cut open by him at some point.
After saving Kurenai, Fujin asked, “Are you okay?”
Kurenai froze for a moment, although she doesn’t think that she knows the other party, for some reason, it seemed as if this member of Amatsukami really cared about her.
Seeing Kurenai frozen and not responding, Fujin thought that Orochimaru might have used some mind-controlling Jutsu on her, a little worried, Fujin observed her body with his Byakugan and asked again while lightly slapping her cheek, “Hey, are you all right?” he asked this because although he could see that her chakra was sealed, there was nothing else wrong with her body.
The stunned Kurenai immediately recovered, pushed Fujin’s hand to the side, and tried to get away from him, only to realize that they are still in midair and if she makes any extra movement, she would definitely fall to the ground.
“Wait a second.” – Fujin realized that perhaps Kurenai felt uncomfortable, he landed on the ground and allowed her to stand on her own two feet.
As soon as Kurenai landed on the ground, she asked Fujin, “I am fine, but who are you and why bother saving me? I don’t even know you!”
Just as Fujin was about to make up something in order to divert the conversation, suddenly an earthquake came and the ground trembled.
Because of the sudden earthquake, Kurenai lost her balance and fell on top of Fujin.
“I… I am sorry.” Kurenai apologized with an embarrassed expression given that she even dragged Fujin as she fell.
Fujin did not care, he moved Kurenai aside, got up from the ground and looked in the direction from where the earthquake came, and muttered, “It appears that we are in trouble.”
With Fujin’s support, Kurenai also got up, and asked, “Wh… what’s the trouble?”
Before Fujin could reply, the sudden change in the surroundings answered her question, as one after another, trees started to rise from the ground. And the trees that were originally present in the surroundings also came to life and started to grow wildly.
The appearance of Wood Release means Orochimaru managed to remove the Iron Sand Covering the two Hokage, and Fujin understands that he must make haste, “Hold me tight.”
Without giving Kurenai any time to react, Fujin held her and rushed out of the forest.
The Edo Tensei form allows them to continuously use Chakra without any worry of running out of it, and a forest is Hashirama’s home ground, therefore, if Fujin were to remain in the forest he might be at a territorial disadvantage as even with his Iron Sand, it would be a bit difficult to resist an endless stream of Trees.
Whoosh
So, without any more wait, Fujin again unfolded a pair of Black Iron sand wings and immediately after that, he took off the ground in order to get out of the forest.
However, the trees that were growing out wildly started to weave a big net, trying to trap Fujin and Kurenai inside a cage.
As Fujin shuttled through the forest while carrying Kurenai, Hashirama, and Tobirama, also started to flexibly chase after him, and soon pounced at him from different directions.
…
Orochimaru, who was following the three from a safe distance looked at the four with interest, “Is Fujin really here because he intends to protect Yuhi Kurenai?”
He knows better than anyone that the current Kurenai cannot put up a fight even a little bit of fight, so she is complete baggage in the middle of combat.
And Orochimaru has ordered the two Hokage to kill Kurenai. There is only one reason for doing this, Orochimaru wants to test Fujin’s real intentions.