Konoha: Starting the Game as Yoriichi

The crowd automatically split into two groups. The Konoha ninja squads consciously gathered behind Kakashi and the other jonin. On the other side, regardless of whether they were Orochimaru's own confidants or ninja from the Sand Village, they all stood in clear opposition to Konoha. These people knew very well that among everyone present, only Orochimaru was their sole support.

However, many of the Sand Village ninja looked at each other, feeling very strange. Huh. Where did our Lord Kazekage go? Why hasn't he stepped forward to command us to continue the battle?

With this question in mind, a sharp-eyed ninja suddenly discovered a hunched-over corpse on top of the Hokage Tower. It was none other than the body of Konoha's Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

He was dead. The Third Hokage was dead.

A gentle breeze blew past, kicking up the dust from the ground, but it could not sweep away the horror in the hearts of the crowd.

They were stunned. Many people were stunned. Looking at the scene before them, the atmosphere fell into a dead silence.

Some Konoha ninja had already heard the news of Lord Third's death in battle, but they had still held onto a sliver of hope, believing it was just a rumor, that it was fake. The number one powerhouse of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, the man revered throughout the ninja world as the "God of Shinobi," Lord Third Hokage... how could he possibly have died in battle because of this small-scale turmoil?

Clinging to this侥幸 (jiǎoxìng) - slim hope - they had rushed over, only for this scene, the sight of Hiruzen Sarutobi's corpse, to make their hearts sink. A kunai was stuck in his chest, blood dripping from it. He had just been casually left on the roof, unattended.

A painful fact, one they were unwilling to accept no matter what, was laid bare before them: the Third Hokage was truly dead.

And because of this, many people mourned as if they had lost their own parents.

But unlike the sad, silent atmosphere on the Konoha side, the Sound and Sand ninja were naturally elated. Especially the Sand ninja; they naturally assumed this was the battle achievement of their Lord Kazekage, with at most a little help from Orochimaru.

Now, the leaders of the two great hidden villages were gone—one had vanished, the other had fallen in battle. Everyone naturally focused their attention on the figures at the forefront of the two camps.

Orochimaru, and—

Hatake Kusuo.

Everyone stared with complex expressions at this young man in red, holding a katana. Although he looked young, only in his early teens, no one dared to underestimate him or step forward to provoke him.

Nonsense. They weren't idiots. Just by looking at the destruction of the surrounding environment, they knew just how terrifying the sword in this boy's hand was. He was too strong. A person who could carve deep trenches dozens, even hundreds of meters long with a sword... how could they possibly hope to block him? Even if they all charged up together, they probably wouldn't be a match for a single one of his slashes.

Absolutely... he is absolutely a Kage-level powerhouse.

Such a young Kage-level powerhouse... everyone was terrified.

Kusuo just stood at the forefront, holding his sword, silent. He, alone, suppressed the opposing camp so much that no one dared to speak. What an aura!

Kusuo took a slight step forward. Immediately, the Sand and Sound ninja swallowed hard and took a fearful step back. Kusuo took another step forward, and they retreated again, until their backs were against a wall and they could retreat no further. Only then did these ninja fearfully raise their weapons.

They were panicking. They couldn't help but panic. The enemy was a Kage-level powerhouse. How could people like them possibly be a match for him?

Looking at these ninja who were clearly scared silly, Kusuo didn't pay them much mind. He just casually swept his gaze over them, and those he looked at trembled like chaff in the wind, nearly wetting their pants.

Sensing their reaction, Kusuo shook his head with a look of disdain. Although he didn't like the bullshit "Will of Fire" that the Third always talked about, he had to admit that in terms of unity and willpower, the Konoha ninja were truly second to none. In comparison, these genin and chunin from the Sand and Sound villages were nothing but a disorganized mob.

Moreover, after the four Sound ninja who had cast the Four Violet Flames Formation were killed by the aftershock of his one slash, there was no one left who could deploy a proper barrier. In contrast, on the Konoha side, the sealing squad and the barrier squad were all performing their duties, coordinating with each other to protect their surroundings.

Looking at the completely defenseless formation opposite him, he knew that with a single swing of his sword, he could immediately kill a large number of them.

And so, he moved.

Kusuo's expression was impassive. He made two simple movements.

Grip the sword, and draw.

SWISH!

Clean and decisive, one slash flew out.

A terrifying slash. A sword aura dozens of meters long roared forth like a soaring dragon.

Dodge... can't dodge.

What happened next, under the terrified gazes of the crowd opposite him, was that Orochimaru's figure flashed and vanished, not making a move, directly abandoning them to their fate.

Schlick!

One slash. A magnificent, crimson-gold slash, as graceful as a startled swan. All the ninja who couldn't dodge in time were cut to pieces. The scorching solar flame even instantly charred many of their bodies, and the sound of sizzling filled the air. A burnt smell washed over them. Everyone covered their noses.

Looking at the number of people on the other side, besides a very small number of elite chunin and a few squad-leader-level individuals who had survived, the vast majority of the ninja had been completely wiped out by this one slash.

[Ding! Current Role-Play Percentage: 61.21%.] Note: This number is inconsistent with previous progression.

The system's prompt sounded in a timely manner. Along with the further unlocking of the Yoriichi Tsugikuni template, Kusuo felt a warm current flow through his body. In his mind, his understanding of the entire world seemed to have become much clearer.

He had become stronger again.

Kusuo's expression didn't change, but he was secretly delighted. As expected! The latter half of the role-play percentage is used to improve the template's strength in all aspects.

When he had completely unlocked all of Yoriichi Tsugikuni's skills, he had already felt himself touching another limit. That was the limit of breaking through the strength of the Demon Slayer world and adapting to the strength of the Naruto world. And for every ten percent increase in his role-play percentage, the system would add a corresponding ability.

He flexed the sword in his hand slightly. A formless sense of control arose spontaneously. The current him could now unleash 1000 slashes in a single second. The strength and scale of his slashes had also become much grander. Before, with a full-power strike, the length of his sword aura could at most reach a height of seventy or eighty meters. A casual slash could reach thirty or forty meters. This height was already more exaggerated than many Susanoo; some lower-level Susanoo were only a dozen or twenty meters tall.

Of course, this didn't mean he could cut through a Susanoo with one slash. He knew in his heart that he had to increase the strength of his sword aura again to achieve the ideal effect. At that time, his sharp slashes would be more condensed, and even a perfect Susanoo, he could cut off half its body with one strike.

But there were more important things to do now.

"The rest is up to you," he said faintly to Kakashi and the other Konoha ninja behind him, then, holding his sword, he went straight for Orochimaru.

And Orochimaru, as if he had been deliberately waiting for him, had a sinister smile that sent a chill down one's spine.

"Lord Orochimaru, kill him! Avenge everyone!" a Sound-nin with a headband said, struggling in a pool of blood.

"That's right, Lord Orochimaru! Kill that brat! Let him see your power!"

It had to be said, Orochimaru had many such extremely loyal subordinates. Whether they were low-level genin or chunin who formed the backbone of his forces, they were all, without exception, completely loyal to him.

But Kusuo just glanced back at them briefly. These arrogant people immediately fell silent as if it were winter. As if they had been targeted by a prehistoric beast, as if they had been plunged into an ice cellar, they didn't dare to say another word, afraid that Kusuo would unleash another slash.

Orochimaru seemed to be waiting for something. Kusuo knew in his heart that his body from the Living Corpse Reincarnation had been forcefully severed by the Crimson Blade, and his soul had not yet fully integrated with his main body. But he was willing to give Orochimaru this time. For no other reason than that he had just unlocked more of his role-play percentage and really wanted to find a powerful person to test what level he was currently at. And Orochimaru, who was in his prime, was undoubtedly the best choice.

Finally, Orochimaru seemed to have adapted to his body, and a sinister smile began to play on his lips again. "You will regret your arrogance." Orochimaru had guessed Kusuo's intention. But, so what?

Kusuo pointed his sword at Orochimaru's neck and made a throat-slitting gesture with his other hand.

"Hoh hoh..."

Suddenly, Orochimaru moved. His robes billowed from a surge of chakra, rustling loudly as his hands quickly began to form seals.

"Striking Shadow Many Snakes!"

A sky full of black snakes drilled out from his sleeves, covering the entire street in the blink of an eye. The world-covering venomous snakes turned the entire area into a sea of serpents, making one shiver as if they were in a snake pit.

The Sound Village ninja saw this and pumped their fists in excitement. "Great! As expected of Lord Orochimaru! With so many venomous snakes, let's see where that brat can run!"

The Konoha ninja watched as one venomous snake after another slithered on the ground, and they were all terrified. Some of the more timid ones even dropped their weapons.

"Th-this is the strength of a Sannin?"

The scale of the jutsu was too powerful. The sea of black snakes wasn't just countless in number—as if Orochimaru had summoned tens of thousands of them in an instant—but even their size was amplified. Each one was as thick as an adult's wrist. Ten or eight snakes of this size might be manageable. Even a hundred might be fine. But to start with thousands upon thousands of venomous snakes... even someone without a phobia would be scared silly.

Kakashi frowned. Lightning instantly wrapped around his hand as he watched the ground with extreme caution. However, Orochimaru's target from beginning to end was only one person: Hatake Kusuo.

Hiss!

Countless venomous snakes finally surged upwards. Kusuo was directly enveloped into a snake ball dozens of meters in diameter, with countless snakes tearing at him from within...

"Such a terrifying jutsu, can that boy survive?"

"I don't know, but his entire body is completely surrounded. It's really hard to imagine how he could escape."

"Dammit! We don't dare to rashly help either, otherwise if we hurt our own people, it'll be troublesome."

"So many venomous snakes, just how did Orochimaru do it?"

At this moment, the hearts of all the Konoha ninja were tied to Kusuo's situation. The survivors from the Sand and Sound villages were the same; they also focused all their attention on the snake ball. In any case, there were only two Kage-level powerhouses present. Whichever one died, it went without saying that the remaining people would be buried along with them.

Orochimaru clapped his hands together, continuously pouring a massive amount of chakra into the jutsu. The tide-like swarm of snakes, like a plague of locusts, climbed onto the central position. He was already feeling suspicious. The scale of the snake ball was still constantly expanding, so why was the chakra absorption rate still so exaggerated?

The next second, Kusuo gave him the answer.

SWISH!

A sword light as brilliant as daylight. In an instant, with a humming sound, it immediately minced all the surrounding venomous snakes. His body was as if covered in a translucent holy light. An elliptical light screen made Kusuo appear like a god, so powerful.

That was... a spectacle created by swordsmanship so fast it was astonishing.

Kusuo's hand, swinging the sword, was a blur of afterimages, flying up and down. At a speed of up to a thousand slashes per second, he deeply annihilated every venomous snake that dared to approach him.

"What?" Orochimaru was forced to stop his hand seals, his face filled with shock. This light-speed sword swing operation had truly scared the well-informed Orochimaru. It was a pity he hadn't received the report from the small squad in the Forest of Death beforehand, otherwise he would have known that Kusuo could already use this move when he single-handedly thrashed the One-Tail.

The crowd in the rear began to discuss amongst themselves.

"Hiss..."

"Am I dreaming?"

"That's... that's fake, right?"

"Why can I see Kusuo's entire body, but I can't see the movements of his arms?"

"Is that a sword aura a human can even unleash?"

"Just how many slashes per second did he reach? Fifty? A hundred? Three hundred?"

"Or... even more?"

Whether it was the Konoha side or the enemy side, everyone was stunned by this sword aura barrier. It was terrifyingly powerful. Hatake Kusuo, who had been given the moniker of "monster." The shock in their hearts was no less than that of the small squad that had observed him swinging his sword through the Sand Eye in the Forest of Death. At that time, they had been just as shocked.

But Kusuo's sword-swinging speed had gone up another level. From 800 slashes per second to the current 1000 slashes per second.

The severed limbs, internal organs, and blood of the snakes were all splattered in the sky. The huge impact sprayed them onto the faces of the Konoha, Sand, and Sound ninja. The stench was so pungent it could almost make a person faint.

Kusuo wrinkled his nose, his brow furrowing slightly.

"Sun Breathing, Third Form—Raging Sun's Crimson Mirror!"

He stopped his rapid sword swings, took a deep breath, and then slashed with his sword.

Sizzle!

An elliptical sword aura intersected in the sky. Like a sea of fire under the sun, it then spread out in all directions. Everyone ducked their heads, barely dodging this slash. When they stood up again, they were shocked to find that the buildings in a hundred-meter radius had all been completely destroyed. The once dense and prosperous building clusters of Konoha were now just a field of ruins, still emitting white smoke.

The power of the remaining sword aura slowly dissipated, the residual ultimate solar flame property change forming a sea of fire. The fire, surrounding them like a sun-like dazzling red mirror, evaporated all the snake limbs, internal organs, and blood foam in the air. Even the foul stench was swept away.

"Hah~," Kusuo sighed. "The smell is finally a bit better."

At these words, the entire crowd was no longer calm. Such a world-shaking slash... and you just used it to get rid of a bad smell? Good heavens. If they hadn't reacted quickly enough to duck, they probably would have been cut in half at the waist, dying an incredibly unjust and憋屈 (biēqū) - pent-up - death.

And yet, the buildings in a radius of several hundred meters had all been leveled by this one slash. And you're telling me it was just to get rid of a smell?

Not only were they cursing in their hearts, but Orochimaru, on the side, his face was terrifyingly cold. His golden, long, vertical pupils, like those of the coldest-blooded animal, looked at Kusuo's figure with extreme bloodlust.

A provocation. An extreme provocation.

To have such terrifying sword speed yet not take the initiative to attack, but instead wait for him to cast his ninjutsu. A slash carrying heavenly wrath, yet its target wasn't him, but just to use the sword aura's attached property change to get rid of an unpleasant smell in the air.

This act of completely disregarding him had thoroughly enraged Orochimaru. He stared at Kusuo, his gaze growing colder and colder. As one of the Sannin, Orochimaru had his pride. Although he knew Kusuo's strength was great, he would absolutely not allow a boy in his early teens to trample on it like this.

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