Naruto: The Abstract Strategist of the Akatsuki

Casting for Chapter 120, Part 4: The Crimson Sun Formation

"So what do you want to be? A born-to-be thousand-armed old man?"

Upon hearing the Second Hokage mention him, Uchiha Hikaru pouted in displeasure.

"...Of course, we should be fully prepared."

Tobirama took a deep breath, comforting himself, telling himself not to argue with a child and to get back to work.

"I agree."

Orochimaru offered a word of support for the Second Hokage, grinning, "If my most respected Second Hokage had thought this way when negotiating with the Hidden Cloud Village, perhaps he wouldn't have died."

"Orochimaru, you!!"

Tobirama was both angry and frustrated.

Don't expose someone's shortcomings.

Why is it that now everyone wants to provoke him?

Could it be that they think their eldest brother is too naive and lucky, and therefore find it pointless to bully him?

"Alright, Orochimaru, the Second Hokage meant well. Let him speak. Under the current circumstances, how can we continue to improve our preparations?"

Bai Mo waved his hand, signaling the second generation to continue.

"Um."

Tobirama glanced at Bai Mo strangely, then at Nagato.

He thought to himself, "Didn't Bai Mo just call out to the leader of the Nagato clan?"

Judging from the situation, Bai Mo is the one who has the right to speak.

In your organization, who is in charge – you or him?

Tobirama was puzzled, but now was not the time to think about that; he had to get down to business.

"This thing contains a large amount of chakra. If it is not handled carefully and a violent outburst is triggered, its power will be enough to destroy everything around it."

Fortunately, this is the desert of the Land of Wind, so there's no need to worry about villages nearby.

But we can't escape it.

Therefore, we must take precautions.

Even if there's only a one percent chance of something going wrong, we shouldn't gamble on it.

Tobirama began to explain his thoughts.

The last sentence, "Don't gamble," seems to subtly allude to a grandfather and grandson who are both avid gamblers.

"You really shouldn't gamble."

Hashirama agreed with his brother earnestly, "Tobirama, use that one."

"That's right, brother, that's exactly what I think."

"However, we don't have enough people. Uchiha Hikaru and Nagato need to absorb chakra, so they can't take on the role. Orochimaru is fine, so there's one left..."

Tobirama looked at Bai Mo, "You probably can't do it, right?"

Bai Mo doesn't even have chakra, so naturally he can't unleash ninjutsu.

But how can a man say no?

Bai Mo suspected that the second generation was deliberately saying this out of ingratitude.

It seems he was too lenient in "The Amazing Paradise," not giving the naturally gifted Thousand-Handed Old Man more screen time.

Having received no reply from Bai Mo, Tobirama seemed to have already found the answer, looking at the two White Zetsu behind Orochimaru: "Orochimaru, call out Sarutobi again, and another one..."

"The Four Red Yang Formation?"

Orochimaru understood the preparations the Second Hokage wanted to make.

The Four Red Yang Formation is an upgraded version of the Four Purple Flame Formation used in his Konoha Crush plan.

It requires four Shadows to use, and the barrier's strength is dozens of times that of the Four Purple Flame Array.

Of course, when we say four Kage, we are actually referring to the amount of chakra at the Kage level as commonly understood.

After all, being a shadow is just a position.

Take the Eighth Hokage, Shikamaru, for example. If you asked him to use it, he definitely wouldn't be able to.

"That's right, there are two more sacrifices left. Orochimaru, did you bring any other Edo Tensei materials with you? Like the Fourth Hokage or something."

Tobirama nodded.

—Since Tsunade was the Fifth Hokage, it means that the Fourth Hokage is also dead.

"The fourth generation? He's strong enough, but he can't do it."

Orochimaru shook his head slightly. "The Fourth Hokage used the Reaper Death Seal, and his soul was swallowed and sealed by the Shinigami. Without breaking the seal, there is no way to resurrect him using the Impure World Reincarnation technique."

"So, you do indeed have the materials for the Impure World Reincarnation? What about the others?"

"I didn't bring it with me, but I can use a summoning spell to have the snakes in Ryuchi Cave bring it to me at any time. As for the others, to be honest, I haven't collected that many materials yet."

Orochimaru was just telling the truth.

His current research focuses on quality over quantity.

The Edo Tensei of Kabuto Yakushi in the Fourth Shinobi World War was the only large-scale one.

Back then, Kabuto Yakushi was a crazy tomb raider. He stole so much that he even turned the Impure World Reincarnation into a lottery gacha pool.

Even a bunch of useless extras can be resurrected using Edo Tensei to fulfill their dreams.

For example, someone who died only to find out that his wife had remarried, or someone who had a crush on Temari and died while on a C-rank mission—a mission where the enemy didn't include ninjas.

Such a person does not exist in Orochimaru's world.

Even his experimental supplies and lab mice wouldn't be worth such waste.

"That's a real shame. I should have taken a piece of his flesh when I killed Izuna."

Tobirama was slightly disappointed.

At that time, he had not yet developed the Impure World Reincarnation technique, so naturally he had no such idea.

If he were to obtain Izuna's physical materials and resurrect Izuna using Edo Tensei, he would definitely choose to resist and refuse to help.

Given Bai Mo's personality, he would definitely make Orochimaru control Izuna to sell himself in the brothel district...

Just thinking about it brings me joy.

Pity.

"That's settled then."

While Orochimaru was lost in thought with Tobirama, he had already instructed his summoning snake to bring over a document.

He took the scroll and removed the materials from it.

Adding the remaining three generations of demon pills used earlier, I continued with the Impure World Reincarnation.

"Aaaaah—Orochimaru, you traitorous disciple, are you never going to stop?!"

After the screams subsided, Hiruzen Sarutobi found himself resurrected by the Impure World Reincarnation technique, leaving him speechless.

In the afterlife, unless one has a strong attachment that allows them to remain conscious for a period of time, there is no concept of time or space.

Just like in the original work, the first, second, third, and fourth Hokage stayed in the Shinigami's stomach for so long, but when they were resurrected by Edo Tensei, they still didn't recognize the fourth Hokage.

However, the Fourth Hokage reconciled with Kurama.

It's unknown whether the Third Hokage ever reconciled with Orochimaru's hand, or whether he used Orochimaru's hand to do certain things when he was lonely.

"Teacher, don't worry. I came out this time because I want you to help. It's not that I asked you to come; it's your teacher, the second generation, who requested it."

Orochimaru began to explain.

"is that so?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced at his teacher, the Second Hokage, and when he saw that the Second Hokage did not refute Orochimaru's words, he realized that Orochimaru had not lied to him.

"This is... Orochimaru. Don't tell me this was also requested by the Second Hokage?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced at another reanimated character beside him, his pupils contracted instantly, and he glared angrily at Orochimaru.

"You could say that the Second Hokage needs a character who can use the Four Red Sun Formation. The Fourth Hokage can't be summoned from inside the Shinigami's belly, so I thought of this person."

Orochimaru gave Hiruzen Sarutobi a wicked smile.

"Impure World Reincarnation? The Third Hokage? Orochimaru? What's going on here?"

Kushina blinked, looking around in confusion.

"Another member of the Mito clan? But the Uzumaki clan has an innately large amount of chakra, so they can indeed serve as a part of the Four Red Yang Formation."

Hashirama saw the familiar red hair, but remained remarkably calm.

Seeing the light like spots—I was extremely excited.

Seeing Kushina who resembles Mito—I have no interest in her.