Chapter 082: Summon

While Wang Bo observed and experimented with the Sharingan, his subordinates did not idle.

After a brief cleanup of the battlefield, they quickly approached Konoha with their prisoners. The ninjas who had fled back earlier had already reported the battle to the leader of Konoha, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Upon learning of Konoha's defeat, the aged Hiruzen Sarutobi nearly died from a cerebral hemorrhage.

But he quickly calmed down.

To crush the enemy, he had mobilized seven or eight thousand ninjas at once, never expecting they would be routed.

This was an unprecedented defeat.

Since Konoha's founding, it had experienced the First Shinobi World War and participated in the Second and Third, but each time Konoha emerged victorious.

Never before had it suffered such a thorough and devastating defeat.

He, the Third Hokage, would surely be nailed to the pillar of shame.

But worse, after Konoha's defeat, although some ninjas escaped, most became prisoners of the enemy.

And the enemy was steadily advancing, leaving Hiruzen Sarutobi in a dilemma.

In truth, given Konoha's foundation and the returning ninjas, if he mobilized all available forces, he could easily raise an army of ten thousand and fight the enemy to the death.

But the problem was that the enemy held thousands of prisoners.

Among them were Jiraiya, Asuma Sarutobi, Kakashi Hatake, Shisui Uchiha, and other high-ranking figures.

To put it bluntly, the enemy had seized Konoha's lifeline.

If he adopted a policy of resistance, these people might be executed to boost morale. But if he didn't resist, Konoha would have to submit. For a time, Hiruzen Sarutobi was caught in an increasingly difficult dilemma.

He had actually considered a sneak attack to rescue the captured ninjas, since his side had numerical superiority while the enemy was few.

But the problem was that he had learned the reason for Konoha's defeat: besides the overwhelming strength of the man Igarashi, more important were his subordinates.

Dozens of jonin, each mastering sage techniques and able to enter Sage Mode at any time.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was no stranger to Sage Mode; after all, during the Third War, his disciple Jiraiya had used this power, and the First Hokage had it as well.

It could be said that dozens of jonin entering Sage Mode could be treated as dozens of Kage-level fighters.

That was terrifying.

Even in Konoha's heyday, there were no more than ten Kage-level fighters.

Even if these Kage-level fighters were only propped up by Sage Mode and still fell short of a true Hokage—he could take on several of them alone—

the problem was that he was only one, while the enemy had several dozen. Just their numbers could overwhelm him.

Not to mention that these people held an overwhelming advantage against jonin.

Hiruzen Sarutobi understood this all too well.

Now, forcing Konoha to face dozens of Kage-level fighters plus an unfathomable Wang Bo was simply too much.

For a time, Hiruzen Sarutobi was tearing his hair out. He simply had no capable subordinates.

Now Hiruzen Sarutobi deeply missed his three students. Although Jiraiya was still captured, it would be wonderful if Orochimaru and Tsunade were here.

Of course, if Sakumo Hatake and Minato Namikaze were also here, that would be even better. If the Uchiha and Senju clans were still strong, that would be perfect—he would fear no enemy.

But unfortunately, he no longer held any good cards.

Orochimaru and Tsunade Senju were absent; the Senju and Uchiha clans had withered away; though the Hyuga clan remained, he did not think highly of them.

Minato Namikaze had died in battle, and Sakumo Hatake had been driven to death by his own invention.

Counting it all up, he had no one left.

Under these circumstances, he had no idea how to fight the enemy. Though Konoha held an absolute numerical advantage, the lack of high-end combat power was too great.

Unless the First Hokage were resurrected, Konoha's chances of victory were too slim.

But surrendering—Hiruzen Sarutobi could not bear it.

Konoha had not been destroyed under the First, Second, or even Fourth Hokage, but it would be destroyed under the Third—how could he accept that?

He had toiled for Konoha his whole life, only to become a surrender advocate—that would be too disgraceful for a Hokage.

After death, how could he face his teacher and the First Hokage?

Just then, Hiruzen Sarutobi thought of a way.

The Scroll of Seals.

This forbidden scroll, kept by successive Hokages, contained techniques that caused great harm or even death to the user. Most of these techniques were invented by the Second Hokage.

Among these forbidden techniques were the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, the Eight Gates, the Mutual Explosive Tags, the Flying Thunder God Technique, the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, and the most dangerous of all, the Impure World Reincarnation.

This technique extracts a certain amount of flesh from the deceased, uses a living body as a vessel for the dead soul, summons the soul from the Pure Land to the living world, attaches it to the vessel, and covers the living body with dust to transform it into the deceased's former appearance.

Although the reincarnated are dead and their strength, speed, and skills fall short of their living selves, they compensate for this flaw with their inability to be killed by ordinary means and their inexhaustible chakra and stamina, which grant extremely high fault tolerance.

If he used this technique to summon the First, Second, and Fourth Hokages, as well as Sakumo Hatake and others, could it help Konoha survive this crisis?

Though summoning Minato would be somewhat difficult, it was not impossible.

He had some Uzumaki clan artifacts here that could summon Minato Namikaze.

At this thought, Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart stirred.

To be honest, disturbing the slumber of these great figures was truly inappropriate, but he really did not want to be a Hokage who surrendered.

So after much deliberation, Hiruzen Sarutobi went ahead and did it.

He found several death row prisoners in Konoha's prison, used their bodies to perform the Impure World Reincarnation, and summoned the allies he needed.

A few seconds later, one man after another stepped out of coffins.

The first to open his eyes was none other than a man with long black hair, wearing a black tight-fitting combat suit with red layered armor on top.

On the layered armor at his left shoulder was embroidered the Senju clan emblem. On both wrists were red iron bracers. In his youth, Hashirama had worn a white silk band as a forehead protector, also embroidered with the Senju clan emblem.

This man was none other than one of Konoha's founders, the First Hokage, the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju.