Hiruzen persuaded me to die

A heavy silence hung in the air.

No one moved.

Not the Konoha shinobi, nor the Mist ninja standing across the battlefield.

Because before them—towering in the center of the battlefield in crimson samurai armor—stood the unmistakable figure of Senju Hashirama, the First Hokage. His eyes were vacant, his skin cracked like old porcelain, but the power radiating from him was unmistakable.

Kakashi Hatake stared in stunned disbelief.

"That armor... it's him..."

He remembered standing atop the Valley of the End, gazing up at the colossal statue carved into the cliff—the same armor, the same expression.

"It really is the First Hokage..."

Beside him, Uchiha Fugaku looked equally shaken. There were detailed portraits of Hashirama in the Uchiha archives. The face, the aura—it was undeniable.

And that technique...

Wood Style: Nativity of a Sea of Trees!

Only one shinobi had ever wielded that power so effortlessly.

"How can this be?" Fugaku whispered.

"Why would the First Hokage be here?"

"And why is he... attacking us?!"

The Konoha shinobi around them murmured nervously, their voices thick with dread and confusion.

Down below, the Mist shinobi were just as shocked.

"Is that... Konoha's First Hokage?""Senju Hashirama? The God of Shinobi?"

An elder from the Hōzuki clan stared wide-eyed.

"I've read about him. Even Second Mizukage, Gengetsu-sama, feared him. He was like a god in human form!"

The young shinobi next to him fidgeted uneasily.

"Wait, if he's fighting for us... then…"

Suddenly, the battlefield's mood began to shift.

The Mist shinobi, though still wary, began to believe.

"The First Hokage is on our side?""Why are we even fighting then?!"

Their morale surged. Konoha's mightiest ancestor had appeared—but against them.

Above, standing on the back of a massive ink eagle, Hyuga Naraku's face was calm, though his eyes blazed with clarity.

"This is no miracle," he said coldly.

He motioned to the cracks on Hashirama's face.

"He's been reanimated—brought back using the Edo Tensei. A forbidden technique found in the Scroll of Seals."

Kakashi's eyes widened.

"Edo Tensei? Then… that means—"

"Sarutobi Hiruzen," Naraku said grimly.

There was no one else who both had access to the Scroll of Seals and the audacity to summon Konoha's founding god as a weapon.

"That traitorous Hokage dares to soil the First's legacy like this?" growled Uchiha Shisui, his fists trembling.

"Hashirama Senju—he ended the Warring States Era. He founded this village. And now he's being used… against us?"

The sheer blasphemy ignited a fire within the hearts of every loyal shinobi present.

Suddenly—

"Yo, Konoha shinobi!"

A sharp voice cut through the chaos.

Hoshigaki Kisame stood at the edge of the island battlefield, grinning beneath his wild blue hair, Samehada resting lazily on his shoulder.

"Your First Hokage's on our side. Still feel like playing hero?"

Unlike Naraku, Kisame assumed this Edo Tensei had been performed by that masked man—who claimed to be Uchiha Madara. It made sense.

Who else but Madara could summon his lifelong rival to the battlefield?

Naraku smirked.

"Oh, it's far from over."

He raised his hands and formed a rapid series of seals.

"Wood Style: Nativity of a Sea of Trees!!"

With a thunderous rumble, the earth beneath the Mist shinobi erupted.

A second wave of massive trees—thicker and more ferocious than before—shot up from the ground, engulfing the island like a growing forest.

"Retreat!"

Branches lashed out, sweeping Mist shinobi off their feet. Dozens were trapped instantly as vines coiled around them, glowing faintly.

"Damn it! These trees—they're draining chakra!"

A captured Mist jonin screamed as the life was siphoned from his body.

"Back, now!"

Kisame hacked at the roots with Samehada, barely managing to escape.

Terumi Mei launched her Boil Style: Skilled Mist Technique, melting the entangling branches long enough to retreat.

"That's... not just Wood Style. That's Hashirama's level!" she shouted.

Even she, one of the Five Kage, was shaken.

Zabuza Momochi, bladeless and surrounded, cursed under his breath. His Decapitating Carving Knife was no longer with him—stolen long ago by one of the Seven Swordsmen who defected.

He slashed at the forest with a kunai, but it was hopeless.

"Dammit! Why does he have Wood Style too?!"

On the Konoha side, the response was electric.

"It's the Fifth Hokage!""Lord Naraku used Wood Style too?!""I thought it was a rumor—he really inherited it!"

Even Fugaku stood stunned.

"It's... authentic."

Only the Uchiha clan, after decades of bitter defeat, could recognize this jutsu for what it was.

The true Wood Style.

"I thought Hashirama was the only one…"

He trailed off, unable to believe what he was witnessing.

Meanwhile… inside the Kamui dimension.

Uchiha Obito, Zetsu, and Sarutobi Hiruzen watched the unfolding battle through a swirling portal.

"How?" Obito muttered."How does Hyuga Naraku know Wood Style?!"

Sarutobi frowned deeply.

"There's a Konoha Anbu—codename Yamato. He was the only successful subject of Hashirama cell implantation."

Obito scoffed.

"Don't tell me Naraku learned that much from Yamato."

The silence that followed only deepened Obito's scowl.

"He must have transplanted Hashirama's cells himself," said Black Zetsu, emerging half-formed from the wall.

"Those who survive the transplantation often develop partial Wood Style. But this—this is not partial."

Obito knew firsthand. He'd once received Hashirama cells.

The most he could manage was Wood Style: Cutting Technique.

But this? This was Tree World Birth. Full-scale.

Only two people had ever used that jutsu in history: Hashirama Senju, and Uchiha Madara.

"Tch," Obito snarled. "Send ALFY."

Back on the battlefield, a strange, grotesque form emerged from the ground beside the reanimated First Hokage.

Its body was pale and plantlike, swirling with white textures. A spiral-shaped face opened with a single eyehole.

Spiral White Zetsu ALFY had arrived.

He raised one arm in an exaggerated, cheerful wave.

"Yo! So, what does it feel like being back, hmm?"

"...No? Nobody? Not even a chuckle?"

Dead silence.

The Konoha shinobi were speechless.

Fugaku, having spotted the eyehole, briefly mistook him for the masked man.

But... that ridiculous voice, the absurd posture...

"Yeah, definitely not Madara," he muttered.

Naraku's gaze sharpened.

He could tell instantly—this was no ordinary Zetsu.

"This isn't just for show," he said.

"He's going to merge with the First."

Just as he spoke, Spiral Zetsu grinned and spiraled around Hashirama's body like a creeping vine—fully wrapping the reanimated body.

Hashirama's chakra flared.

"So that's your plan, Hiruzen."

Naraku exhaled slowly, eyes glowing.

"You're using Spiral Zetsu to unlock the full power of the First Hokage's body… even without his consciousness."

The air grew still.

He turned toward the Konoha forces.

"Focus on the Mist shinobi. Leave this one to me."

His voice was calm, but firm.

"And do not approach my battlefield. This fight… will be too dangerous."

To be continued…