Speedrunning Naruto to the Top

"Edo Tensei!"

They were still in the same hall as before. Kabuto found yet another prisoner, and Orochimaru skillfully performed the Edo Tensei technique.

Spiral-shaped runic scripts spread outward, quickly crawling onto the prisoner whose hands and feet were bound, and whose mouth was sealed with a talisman.

The prisoner's eyes showed utter terror, and he made muffled sounds through his sealed mouth.

Then a large amount of white dust, defying gravity's constraints, floated upward and enveloped the prisoner's entire body, turning him into a white mummy.

However, the mummy showed no further changes—unlike before when Edo Tensei summoned the souls of Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō. There were no silhouettes or outlines gradually overlaid with color.

Instead, this mummy trembled violently and then collapsed on its own. Countless bits of white dust fell away.

Witnessing this, Orochimaru, Sasuke, and the others were slightly taken aback.

"What's going on?" Sasuke asked, furrowing his brow as he looked at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru did not answer immediately, similarly creasing his brow. After a moment, he turned to Sasuke and asked, "You're sure you killed Uchiha Obito?"

"What do you mean?"

"Edo Tensei can't fail unless someone blocks the gateway to the Pure Land," Orochimaru explained. "Even for the so-called God of Shinobi, Edo Tensei can still summon that person's soul. A mere Uchiha Obito couldn't possibly resist the Edo Tensei summons."

"Since Edo Tensei failed this time, there are only three explanations:

1. He's not actually dead, and his soul hasn't entered the Pure Land.

2. This head isn't really Obito's, so there's no medium, making it impossible to summon his soul.

3. The third possibility…"

Here, Orochimaru paused briefly, narrowing his eyes and continuing, "Someone else who also knows Edo Tensei has already summoned Obito's soul first."

"The Akatsuki leader?" Sasuke muttered that name.

The grand clash between the puppet army and the Edo Tensei army had shaken the entire ninja world. Everyone—shinobi and civilians—knew that aside from Orochimaru, there was another person in this era who had mastered Edo Tensei.

Having no idea that Uchiha Madara could also use Edo Tensei, Sasuke naturally assumed Nagato had preemptively summoned Obito's soul. After all, nobody knew better than Sasuke whether Obito was completely dead.

He clearly remembered forcing Obito to resort to Izanagi, capturing his soul via Sasuke's Spirit Transformation Technique, which created an opening for the wooden clone to finish him. Obito should indeed have died for good, yet apparently he was resurrected.

With this thought, Sasuke's expression darkened. Without so much as a goodbye, he used that black-hole-like technique again and stepped inside.

Kakashi, regaining some composure, promptly followed him.

Watching the black hole vanish, Kabuto couldn't help muttering, "What a rude guy."

"Uchiha are all like that," Orochimaru said casually, not at all offended. He added perceptively with a laugh, "They're proud, they admire power, they look down on the weak, and revere the strong. Once they awaken their eyes, that personality gets even more pronounced."

"To the extreme, their pride makes them too arrogant to lie; they show every thought on their faces—very straightforward."

"Though it can be frustrating, it can also be comfortable, since you don't need to scheme around them. As long as Izayoi-kun remains who he is, Sasuke-kun will be Konoha's strongest enforcer—a partner we can trust."

Kabuto stood there in a daze.

"All right, let's finish packing," said Orochimaru.

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto responded.

…

Uchiha Obito felt like he had just fallen asleep, dreaming of the girl he had adored in childhood. But before he could utter a word, someone forcibly shook him awake.

He blinked and saw that he had emerged from Kamui Space into a mountainous region of the Land of Rivers. Before him stood not the cold, merciless Sasuke but a vexed-looking Uchiha Madara.

"I… I'm alive again?" Obito asked dazedly.

"No, you're just being kept here by my Edo Tensei," Madara retorted, unfeeling.

"Edo Tensei?"

Obito looked down at his own hands, remembering his battle with Sasuke. "So I really died at Sasuke's hands?"

"Killed by someone two generations younger… You're absolutely worthless," Madara admonished with displeasure. "Even that Itachi kid who didn't transplant Hashirama's cells is stronger than you, who had near-infinite ocular power. Did you think Kamui was invincible? Now look: you ran into a technique similar to Kamui but which counters it. You couldn't even flee back to me and just got wiped out."

Obito paid no heed to Madara's scolding but asked, "Is this my real body or a White Zetsu clone?"

"It's a White Zetsu clone. Your corpse no longer exists," Madara replied. "If it weren't for a bit of your flesh in the cursed mark, I might not even have been able to revive you with Edo Tensei."

Obito stayed silent for a moment. Then he quietly said, "Thank you."

"You can say 'thanks?'" Madara said, arching a brow. Then, seeming to realize something, he mused, "Looks like you met someone in the Pure Land."

Still, Obito said nothing. Indeed, Madara guessed right: in that world of the dead, Obito had seen Rin again.

Originally, he had begged Sasuke not to kill his soul just so he could see Rin once more, but deep down he dared not face her. Since learning the truth behind Infinite Tsukuyomi, Obito both wanted to see her, Minato-sensei, and Kushina, yet dreaded that they might never forgive him. In the end, he remained timidly evasive.

"All right, since you're alive again, let's get back to work." Madara resumed pitching dreams. "Edo Tensei has one advantage: infinite chakra and eye power. Now you don't even need my Yang chakra to help. You can scour one strange dimension after another. Once we find and deal with that Otsutsuki Isshiki, and after I become the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki, I'll resurrect you and your precious people all at once."

At that, Obito's Edo Tensei-black eyes finally lit up a bit.

A swirling black hole formed beside him, and both men vanished from the Land of Rivers' mountains, continuing their search through hidden dimensions behind the real world.

…

To Izayoi and Madara, this entire incident was only a minor episode. Reaching their level, the ninja world seemed merely a playground. Even if the Five Great Shinobi Villages or Kage-level battles turned rowdy, it amounted to children playing house.

If Madara did not care about the world's welfare and lasting peace, he could have become its tyrant long ago. But he did care. With Infinite Tsukuyomi exposed as a sham, his dream still lingered on creating true peace by becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki—and ridding the world of the Otsutsuki.

This neatly served Izayoi's aims as well. Since the Sage of Six Paths had yet to appear to Madara, Izayoi would use Madara as his pawn to hunt down Otsutsuki Isshiki.

Aside from the miniaturizing Isshiki, the only known threat was the Otsutsukis.

Hence, once Sasuke got to work in the Anbu, Izayoi also got busy. He transplanted Obito's right eye onto Danzō, letting that body gather two Kamui. Then his wood clone, disguised as Otsutsuki Sharen, used the Nine-Tails for energy while employing Kamui to probe dimension after dimension.

When the real body was bored, it rarely visited the Hokage's office, staying home to cultivate his Sage Body. Having upgraded from Six Paths Aptitude (Red) to Transcendent Aptitude (Multi-Color), Izayoi finally experienced how crucial potential's upper limit was.

When he still had only Six Paths Aptitude (Red), even with complete Yin-Yang Release and Chakra Rosaries, remodeling each cell to incorporate physical/spiritual/natural energies was painfully slow. After all, a person has 130 trillion cells; even if it were possible to remodel a trillion cells a day, it would still take 130 days. Let alone that remodeling a trillion cells in one day is absurd.

Thus, even with all his might, forging a Color-level Sage Body took time. But now, Izayoi felt such remodeling so effortless, as though switching from hand-digging to an excavator. By August, when the third stage of the Chūnin Exams arrived, Izayoi's main body finally paused.

Leaders of every major ninja village, including Nagato, had come to Konoha at Izayoi's invitation. The only no-shows were from Kumogakure and Iwa, for reasons of pride or old grudges. They sent future-Kage delegates Darui and Kurotsuchi; Gaara came as well. Mei Terumī, the Mizukage, arrived in person. Yet none of them made much fuss. They remained overshadowed by Izayoi and Nagato.

Where Izayoi and Nagato sat at center stage, the rest scarcely had presence. In any case, they dared not complain, because each possessed enough power to annihilate them. They needed only endure.

"Was it you who reincarnated Uchiha Obito?" Sasuke asked as the third round of the exams began, standing beside Izayoi as his personal bodyguard.

"No. I'm no longer involved in such things," Nagato replied gently. "I've handed my Edo Tensei army over to Madara. He knows the jutsu too."

He added, "By the way, Itachi has left the Akatsuki. When I last saw him, his hair was mostly white, and his life force was fading."

Sasuke said nothing—his face unreadable.

"Let's enjoy the matches," Izayoi said with a smile.

With two god-tier Shinobi present, no one dared cause trouble.

When the final participants in the third-stage exam concluded, naturally Hanabi emerged victorious.

Thanks to daily bites draining Izayoi's chakra, plus absorbing the life force of the Grell Stone, her reserves greatly surpassed her age group—surpassing even a certain older Hinata from two years earlier. Coupled with Izayoi's personal tutelage in mixing gentleness with explosive power, a synergy of palm strikes with unstoppable chakra waves, every blow proved lethal.

Also, he'd taught her the Super Typhoon Serial Spheres. Facing her in the finals, Hydrangea (an Ame candidate) swiftly lost within a few moves.

Hence, "Hyūga Hanabi's" name swiftly spread throughout Konoha—and would soon spread across the entire ninja world. After years of no one graduating early, a new star emerged at Konoha. Everyone, from big villages to small, added her to the do-not-mess-with list.

When the Chūnin Exams ended, Darui, Kurotsuchi, Gaara, and Mei left that same day, while Nagato stayed on in Konoha for a while to see Jiraiya. Izayoi welcomed him.

Days later, a major announcement rocked Konoha, then the entire ninja world: Izayoi pardoned Orochimaru, rescinding his S-rank rogue ninja status and restoring him to Konoha as head of the Science & Technology Department.

Granting amnesty to the man who'd once tried to collapse Konoha and killed the Third Hokage, even with Izayoi's supreme authority, could have triggered massive public outrage—and harmed Izayoi's reputation.

So Izayoi dragged out Danzō, who had died years before, his name carved on the Memorial Stone as a "hero." He pinned every crime on him instead.

After that, people learned that Danzō had forced Orochimaru to continue human experiments after finishing Mokuton research, planting cursed seals on Root subordinates and kidnapping children for Orochimaru.

When the Anbu discovered it, Danzō framed Orochimaru. Orochimaru's plan to confront Hiruzen led to the latter's suicide technique. Orochimaru never intended to kill the Third; Hiruzen had forced a mutual doom in extremity.

Presently, Orochimaru had done "great service" unknown to the public, so Izayoi pardoned him. Exactly what "service" remained classified.

Almost immediately, Mitokado Homura and Koharu, who had been forcibly implanted with Danzō's cursed seals, testified in Orochimaru's favor. They had belonged to the same era's ruling council, so their words carried weight.

Thus, the people's anger shifted entirely onto the deceased Danzō. As more details of missing children came out, parents clamored for condemnation.

He lost his "Konoha hero" status. Lacking a corpse, his empty tomb was dug up and the headstone smashed.

In parallel, the Shimura clan became the scapegoat, with Sasuke leading the Anbu to investigate. A purge started, which various ninja clans applauded. Gradually, more dark deeds were exposed, so few had time to worry about Orochimaru's return; they only hated Shimura Danzō more.

Sarutobi, Mitokado, and Koharu's clans trembled in fear, worried the purge might spread to them. Even Kurenai sought out an appeal to friendship with her old teacher. Ultimately, by late August, the cleansing ended. When Orochimaru and Kabuto returned to Konoha, both bore a weary look on their faces.

~~~

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