One Piece: I am Imu
Chapter 382: When the Underworld Invades Itself

Chapter 382: Chapter 382: When the Underworld Invades Itself

Roughly ten minutes earlier—

That was when Aramaki had just begun battling Hiruzen, Shimura Danzō, and Jiraiya.

Orochimaru had been observing the exchange from the sidelines the entire time.

His idea was simple: if the combined efforts of those three could put Aramaki under some pressure, then he wouldn’t mind jumping in to show off a little of his own strength.

But after just a minute or two of watching, he could already tell—even with him joining in, their chances of victory wouldn’t improve much.

The sudden severing of his connection to Ryūchidō had made things worse

As a result, his most proficient ’snake-style’ jutsu were now completely unusable.

Orochimaru had never imagined that Ryūchidō would cut ties with him so unilaterally.

Never in the history of the shinobi world had such a thing been heard of.

It left him wary, not just of Ryūchidō, but of all the sage regions.

Even the Sage Modes passed down from those sage regions had begun to feel suspect to him. In the end, he figured it would be better to develop his own unique Sage Mode.

Of course—

In Orochimaru’s observations, he suspected that even if he had been able to summon snakes from Ryūchidō, they still wouldn’t be a match for Aramaki.

The same went for Jiraiya.

So what if he summoned all kinds of giant toads?

They’d probably fare no better than the Monkey King Enma did against one of Aramaki’s full-powered punches.

That said, he had noticed that Aramaki seemed to show some hesitation or caution toward Sage Techniques—so at least that intelligence had now been confirmed.

The real problem was that, aside from Jiraiya, no one else on the field could use Sage Mode.

Minato did know how—but unfortunately, both his legs had been crippled, and he was still lying in a hospital bed in Konohagakure.

Orochimaru doubted even Tsunade could heal those injuries.

The bones in Minato’s lower legs had been shattered and pierced clean through, leaving deep holes. The surrounding muscle and nerves were all necrotic and lifeless.

Given all these factors—

Orochimaru made a snap decision: "You all hold the front line—I’m going to get reinforcements."

While the four others engaged in fierce combat up ahead, he slipped away unnoticed, acting on the plan he’d previously discussed with Shimura Danzō.

Back when Danzō had told Hiruzen in the Hokage’s office that he needed to ’go prepare’,

What he really meant was: return to the Root base and wait for Orochimaru’s arrival.

"Summoning Technique!"

Hearing the distant rumble of battle, Orochimaru remained calm and unhurried as he bit down on his thumb, drawing blood.

He then slammed both palms onto the ground.

[Boom!]

A puff of white smoke exploded outward.

As the smoke dispersed, two burly figures appeared on the ground, seemingly still asleep.

Most notably, the two looked almost identical.

These two were Fūjin and Raijin—a pair of twin brothers who had just recently come of age. Both were chūnin from Konohagakure.

In terms of personality—or more precisely, intelligence—they were the textbook definition of ’simple-minded’.

Especially when it came to food. Their appetite and craving for meals were so extreme that even the Akimichi clan couldn’t keep up.

As for physical strength—

These brothers’ physiques were so powerful that not even Akimichi youths using Partial Multi-Size Technique could necessarily overpower them.

As for why Orochimaru had taken the time to preemptively place them under his control and summon them to the battlefield—

It was to use them as sacrificial offerings.

That’s right.

He was about to perform a forbidden technique created by the Second Hokage.

The Edo Tensei Technique—a jutsu that could summon the souls of the dead back to the world of the living and reincarnate them into physical vessels.

Orochimaru extended his tongue to moisten his dry lips.

"What a shame. With proper training, they could’ve become top-class warriors."

He glanced at the brothers—still sleeping soundly, smacking their lips now and then as if savoring some dream feast—and gave a small, sinister smile.

"Sweet dreams, you two~"

He then retrieved a scroll about 10 to 15 centimetres wide from the ninja tool pouch tied at his waist and tore it open in front of him.

[Bang!]

The next moment—

Two long, thick syringes filled with a pale green fluid materialized in midair with a puff of smoke.

Orochimaru casually reached out and grabbed them with both hands, then bent down and slowly injected the contents into Raijin and Fūjin.

The syringes contained a nutrient solution designed to preserve cellular vitality—along with cells from the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama.

Within ten seconds, Raijin and Fūjin began to react violently.

At first, their faces twisted in pain even while asleep. But as the agony intensified, both of them suddenly opened their eyes, their bodies convulsing uncontrollably as they let out piercing howls of anguish.

Orochimaru paid no attention to it. With an expressionless face, he crouched down and activated the cruel jutsu.

"Edo Tensei!"

A black array of Edo Tensei seals had already been drawn on the ground.

As he slammed his right palm onto the earth, the brothers Raijin and Fūjin, still writhing in pain, were quickly buried under layers of soil.

[Buzz! Buzz!]

Two bright blue columns of light suddenly appeared out of nowhere above him, descending precisely onto the bodies of Raijin and Fūjin.

The soil that had nearly reached their faces was instantly pressed back down, and their expressions—contorted in agony only moments earlier—relaxed almost at once.

This sudden shift caused Orochimaru to frown deeply.

Because this had never happened before during an Edo Tensei summoning.

However, when the dazzling blue light flared up once more and then faded away,

Orochimaru saw Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama successfully materialize.

Thinking that meant his Edo Tensei had not failed, he let out a quiet sigh of relief.

As for that strange blue light—this wasn’t the time to pursue an explanation.

He chalked it up to some strange phenomenon caused by using the cells of the First Hokage to summon the man himself.

He’d study it properly later, when there was time.

"First and Second Hokage—the situation is urgent. I’ll try to keep it brief, so please refrain from asking questions for now."

With a calm smile on his face, Orochimaru began to explain the circumstances.

But before he could finish, Tobirama suddenly cut him off with a cold tone.

"We already know the details. The fact that you managed to learn my Edo Tensei is impressive. And fortunately, you’ve chosen to use it at a critical time. But let’s skip the small talk—for now, we need to focus on defeating Aramaki."

"Uh..."

Orochimaru froze on the spot, speechless as he watched Hashirama and Tobirama vanish instantly.

What the hell was that?

How could these two dead men possibly know more about the current situation than I do?

Every other soul he’d ever summoned with Edo Tensei had emerged confused and disoriented.

This left Orochimaru completely bewildered.

Still, he quickly followed after them. He wanted to see for himself just how powerful these two past Hokage really were.

And maybe find a chance to let Aramaki know—those two were summoned by me.

At that very moment—

In the Pure Land.

Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo hovered in the air above the ’Ninja Sect’.

With his Rinnegan, he gazed solemnly into the starless night sky.

Because a massive circular black hole had appeared there—clearly growing larger by the second.

It was all black, yes—but both he and the great shinobi of past generations gathered below him could easily distinguish between the natural night sky and the unnatural void forming above them.

Not just because of the color—

But because of the scorching heat and pungent sulfuric stench wafting from the black hole’s depths.

That smell, upon entering the Pure Land, turned into dark red firelight, which only made the expanding hole even more conspicuous.

It was an eerie coincidence.

He had just sent the souls of Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama into the human world, using the summoning medium provided by Orochimaru’s Edo Tensei.

And now, this had appeared in the sky.

"Other invaders from the Underworld?"

Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo’s shock in this moment was no less than that of Hiruzen Sarutobi or Shimura Danzō when they first learned of the World Government.

He had always assumed that any external threat to the ninja world would come from beyond the stars—from other clans of the Ōtsutsuki lineage.

But he had never once considered the possibility that the Pure Land itself could be invaded.

"Could that alien civilization known as the World Government have grown so powerful that it now dares to launch invasions against both the Human Realm and the Underworld?"

At that moment, the black hole seemed to have reached its maximum size and stopped expanding.

With firelight swirling across the sky, the hole now looked like a pitch-black eye staring down upon the entire Pure Land.

"Something is coming through."

Across the various corners of the Ninja Sect, the reincarnated souls of powerful shinobi from past generations watched as swarms of figures surged forth from the massive black hole in the sky.

The most striking among them—

Were glowing clusters formed from countless red butterflies, as well as towering soul-forms of giants nearly 20 meters tall.

Upon seeing this—

Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo immediately cast a grand-scale barrier over the entire Ninja Sect, repelling any invading souls that attempted to fall into its interior.

Then, he prepared to seal off the black hole in the sky with another barrier.

But the moment the barrier materialized in midair, it was blown apart by a scorching blast of energy erupting from the black hole.

This made Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo realize—his opponent’s power was not inferior to his own!

Very soon—

Ninja stationed at the outermost perimeter of the Ninja Sect saw, with their own eyes, the moment the glowing red butterflies touched the ground.

As the red light flared—

They each transformed into strange humanoid beings—bodies dark gray, with flames blazing from their hearts and eyes, letting out guttural howls from their mouths.

These ’humans’, though not as fast as shinobi, were far quicker than ordinary people.

With their clawing limbs and crazed, mindless behavior—

If the people present hadn’t all been elite jōnin at minimum, they might’ve actually been frightened.

Of course, even now, they were stunned—

Not by the enemies’ strength, but by their numbers.

The glowing red butterflies seemed endless, constantly pouring out of the black hole and landing on the ground to become these... things.

Fortunately, it appeared they were unable to pass through the soul barrier erected by the Sage of Six Paths.

That brought a collective sigh of relief from the resurrected shinobi of past generations.

Even though their chakra could be replenished instantly in the Pure Land, no one wanted to face an infinite tidal wave of enemies.

And yet—

When a new figure stepped calmly past the barrier, the shinobi realized the seal hadn’t blocked everything.

This figure had six demonic eyes—each with a crimson sclera and golden iris—growing from his face.

He wore a deep violet-black kimono and gripped a sword sheath at his waist, covered in embedded eyeballs.

It became clear then that Hagoromo had not intended to face all the invaders alone.

These reincarnated legendary shinobi had always been meant as his army—prepared to face the threat of future Ōtsutsuki intruders.

Though this attack had come unexpectedly, it provided the perfect opportunity to test their effectiveness.

"Still, those four might be a bit of a problem..."

Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo narrowed his eyes, staring at the four figures that had emerged from the black hole but remained floating in the sky—showing no intention of descending.

The pressure radiating from their souls was on par with Senju Hashirama in his normal state.

Among them, one man stood out—

Clad in a bright red coat, with an upturned mustache and a wide, brilliant smile stretching across his face.

He was undoubtedly the strongest of the four!

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I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> /TitoVillar

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