*Chapter 205: A Trip to Ryūchi Cave*

Ai's muscles twitched slightly as he saw the Second Hokage appear. It was hard to believe.

Konoha was so underhanded that they actually summoned the dead to fight against them.

The Second Hokage's reputation spread across the Five Great Nations, but it wasn’t a good one.

After all, the Second Hokage wasn’t exactly a good person. In Konoha, he merely set precedents by founding the Ninja Academy and even establishing the Anbu.

This guy was a respectable figure, but his methods were extremely underhanded.

Ai realized he had underestimated his opponent this time—encountering the Second Hokage was unexpected.

There was no way they could advance on Konoha now.

These people were so despicable.

But!

If Kaido could handle the Second Hokage, they could still continue the fight.

However!

What if Konoha was really that shameless and summoned the First Hokage?

The Second Hokage was already standing before them—could the First be far behind?

Ai felt his scalp tingle and glanced at the fully recovered Killer Bee. He was already thinking about running away with his brother.

The surrounding ninjas recognized the Second Hokage as well, and their faces lit up with joy.

They hadn’t expected even the Second Hokage to be resurrected with Edo Tensei. If that was the case, what did they have to fear from the other four Great Nations?

They would charge forward and drive these invaders out, maybe even counterattack their countries.

“...”

Amidst the chatter around him, Tobirama Senju's expression remained unchanged.

He had no idea how much strength Konoha had left, but surviving this battle seemed unlikely.

Just facing the Cloud Village alone had Konoha at full force. What if two more villages joined in?

Unless Danzo resurrected his brother with Edo Tensei, Konoha was in serious trouble.

Hmm!

Danzo was probably already working on that.

Tobirama's eyelids twitched, recalling that he hadn’t stopped Danzo from continuing with Edo Tensei earlier.

Oh well! Even if his brother was resurrected after the battle, it wouldn’t be so bad to take a walk around the village and see how much had changed.

The village had changed so much over the years.

Sigh.

The Second Hokage let out a small sigh. He had left two swords for the village.

One was the Uchiha clan, and the other was the Senju clan.

But Hiruzen Sarutobi had been so wary of those two powers that he had thrown both swords away!

He had made a grave mistake back then, driven by fear.

Even giving the position of Hokage to the Uchiha…

Forget it.

“Hmm! Seems like the explosion was a bit more powerful than a cannonball.”

A voice came from the smoke, drawing Tobirama's cold gaze.

He looked into the smoke and saw a massive shadow stepping forward.

Kaido had explosive tags plastered on every joint of his body, and even five Water Dragon Jutsu didn’t faze him?

Tobirama realized the situation was getting tricky. It wasn’t as simple as he had imagined.

“Oh! Another dead man? You Konoha people have no other tricks left, huh? Just sending dead men to fight?”

Kaido's gaze fell on Tobirama, and he felt a surge of anger.

He felt insulted. These people were sending nothing but corpses against him.

No matter how much he hit them, they wouldn’t stay down, and they'd revive after a short time.

This was just wasting his time—couldn’t they come up with something new?

Didn’t they have any normal tactics?

“Your body might be stronger than my brother’s,” Tobirama said seriously, staring at Kaido.

His defense seemed comparable to that of his brother.

“Hmm! Who’s your brother?” Kaido squinted down at Tobirama and asked.

“Are people in the ninja world so ignorant nowadays? Have they forgotten the Ninja God, Hashirama Senju?”

Tobirama's lips curled into a smile as he coldly stared at this monster.

“Bang!”

A giant spiked club came crashing down from the air.

It smashed into the ground where Tobirama had been standing, leaving a small crater.

“I’ve never heard of any ‘Ninja God,’ but you sure have guts to call yourself a god.”

Kaido sneered, clearly unimpressed.

Such arrogance was rare.

“That’s not self-proclaimed. It’s the title the entire ninja world gave my brother.”

Tobirama's figure emerged from behind Kaido, calmly watching him.

With the speed of the Flying Thunder God technique, Kaido’s attacks could never touch him.

This guy might be strong, but the speed of Flying Thunder God was unmatched in the ninja world.

“No need for my brother to step in—you’ll die here.”

A vortex began to swirl in Tobirama’s hand as he spoke gravely.

Danzo's Edo Tensei wasn’t fully developed, but even at thirty percent power, it was enough to deal with these monsters.

The key was hitting Kaido's vital points. Explosive tags couldn’t even scratch him, so Water Release wasn’t going to work either.

“Enough with the chatter!”

Kaido’s face showed annoyance. These guys were more irritating than the rookies who challenged him.

At least the rookies were full of fighting spirit, eager to make a name for themselves across the seas.

Some were even interested in his territory and the Road Poneglyphs he guarded!

But these guys… they were all so arrogant.

They acted like challengers, but they didn’t have the spirit of one.

They were all so full of themselves, as if they didn’t even see him as a threat.

Why did these people seem even more arrogant than anyone else he had met?

“Boom!”

Kaido’s eyes flashed red, and his figure blurred as he disappeared.

The next moment!

Like a speeding train, Kaido charged straight at Tobirama.

Boom!

The ground was torn apart as Kaido swung his club, leaving a hundred-meter-long trench.

But Tobirama was no longer there!

“The fastest in the ninja world, huh? Your tricks are useless against me!”

Tobirama calmly stepped out from another direction, looking at Kaido.

This guy’s speed might be impressive, but compared to Flying Thunder God, it was still too slow.

Flying Thunder God was a space-time ninjutsu, while Kaido was relying purely on physical speed.

There was a huge difference between the two.

“Wahahaha! What a strange ability! Coming here has really opened my eyes.”

“These past days, I’ve seen all kinds of weird powers!”

Kaido grinned and unleashed his full Observation Haki.

Dealing with these guys didn’t usually require his full power.

None of them were worthy opponents, and their movements were slow enough to be seen with the naked eye—there was no need for Haki.

But seeing this so-called fastest ninja had piqued Kaido’s interest.

“Boom!”

In an instant, Kaido swung his spiked club at Tobirama.

But halfway through, Kaido stomped in mid-air, twisting his body and charging in the opposite direction.

The club, crackling with lightning, roared through the air.

“Boom!”

The ground shook as Kaido’s feet smashed into a pile of rubble.

“Hey, you’re not getting away this time.”

Kaido looked down at the shattered remains of Tobirama.

So arrogant just a moment ago, now utterly destroyed.

Although the guy had tried to escape, Kaido had sensed his movements and adjusted his attack.

“Can he sense?”

Mito Uzumaki pondered as she looked at the massive crater.

Such power!

Even the Akimichi clan’s ninjas wouldn’t be able to match that.

This guy’s strength was beyond absurd!

They needed to find a way to restrain him.

“Lord Jiraiya, we’ve received word that the Sand Village ninjas have broken through our defenses at the Wind Country border.”

“Lord Jiraiya, the Rock Village ninjas have breached another of our defenses in the Land of Fire.”

“Lord Jiraiya, warriors from the Land of Iron have entered our country as well.”

At this point, Jiraiya was completely overwhelmed.

Every front had collapsed!

Even the Land of Iron, which had always remained neutral, was now getting involved.

Although he wasn’t sure what their intentions were, Konoha’s current state wasn’t encouraging.

They couldn’t be coming to help. After all, what could they gain by helping Konoha?

“This...”

Jiraiya was at a loss, glancing at the battlefield.

He saw Tobirama’s body being obliterated by Kaido.

And in another direction, Ai was leading his forces, fists clenched, advancing toward him.

Konoha was in such a state!

To be honest, Jiraiya didn’t see much reason to even try saving the village anymore.

They were vulnerable on all fronts.

Could Konoha really be saved?

“Konoha’s in serious danger!!”

Kakashi stood on a mountaintop, looking at the battlefield through binoculars.

Though he could see with his Sharingan, he preferred to conserve chakra.

Even though the transplant of Hashirama’s cells had boosted his chakra reserves, Kakashi still remained cautious.

“Whether it’s in danger or not, what does it matter to us? Still, I didn’t expect Orochimaru to be slower—Konoha managed to summon the Second Hokage first.”

Raijin frowned and looked at the Second Hokage, saying, "Orochimaru is still gathering materials, but Konoha's speed is a bit faster."

However, it was clear that Konoha was still using the earliest version of Edo Tensei created by Tobirama Senju. After Orochimaru's improvements, ordinary ninja could only use about 60-70% of their strength, while White Zetsu clones could use up to 99% of their strength.

"It seems Konoha is wasting talent by letting someone so useful slip away," Raijin remarked.

"After the battle ends, their souls will return to the underworld. Can't you intercept them then?" Kakashi casually suggested.

"If I could intercept them, I'd let you and your father have a proper reunion," Raijin replied. "Forget it, I’ll just go down myself and extract their souls."

"The redheads will be here soon too! Why don't you come with me to Ryūchi Cave and Shikkotsu Forest?" Raijin added. "Might as well see how difficult it really is to learn senjutsu."

In the end, Raijin decided to personally descend to extract the Second Hokage's soul. After all, there was no other way—just a little time wasted.

"Learning senjutsu? Should we take a few snakes with us?" Kakashi pondered, rubbing his chin with a gleam in his eye. He was in need of a strong summon, and the snakes of Ryūchi Cave had caught his interest.