Orochimaru instinctively felt something was wrong, but it was too late. The flames had already engulfed his entire body.
The black flames quietly ignited on his body. Orochimaru didn't even feel the process of the black flames being released.
He tried to pat out the fire on his body with his hands, but wherever he touched, the fire burned even more vigorously and couldn't be extinguished. The burning sensation on his skin made him extremely annoyed.
Orochimaru immediately performed Hand Seals to recall the Second Hokage from afar. He wanted to use the Second Hokage's Water Release to put out the fire on himself, but it still had no effect.
"Orochimaru, give up! This special black flame can burn all the targets in front of me until they are completely burned out."
After saying that, Itachi shifted his gaze to the Second Hokage and the First Hokage. The flames of Amaterasu were roasting their immortal bodies in the inferno. Their flesh was disappearing at a visible speed and then recovering at a visible speed.
As a result, the two of them were also controlled by the black flames and couldn't move.
Amaterasu was simply the bane of Impure World Reincarnation.
On the contrary, Orochimaru let out a miserable scream in the flames. The excruciating pain all over his body forced him to find a way to escape quickly. He immediately formed hand seals with both hands.
Like a snake shedding its skin, he left behind the skin that had been roasted by Amaterasu and separated his true form from it. His true form stood up, wet all over. He pushed the sticky hair in front of his forehead to the side, his eyes full of anger, like a volcano about to erupt.
He didn't know if it was because he had touched the black flames at the beginning, but the feeling of his hands being roasted by the raging fire just wouldn't go away. He twitched his fingers slightly, and the heart - wrenching pain made the veins on his forehead bulge and cold sweat pour down.
This Itachi Uchiha had repeatedly obstructed him. Even the Impure World Reincarnation he had specially developed now seemed to have lost its power. How could he not be angry?
Even though Orochimaru's hands were injured, he still had many ways to attack. He opened his dislocatable lower jaw, and rows of poisonous needles emitting a faint blue - purple light were fired densely. Itachi wanted to get up and dodge.
However, the successive attacks of Amaterasu also put a great burden on his body. He was already suffering from a terminal illness, and after using Amaterasu, his body became even weaker.
He coughed up a large mouthful of blood violently and stared at Orochimaru beside him with extremely fierce eyes.
"Not good!"
The Third Hokage standing beside him noticed Itachi's exhaustion. He immediately held his staff horizontally in front of him and spun it, blocking the incoming poisonous needles. After a series of clear metallic sounds, the poisonous needles fell to the ground.
Looking at Orochimaru, who was also sweating profusely and had lost his previous arrogance, the Third Hokage couldn't help but sigh. What on earth had happened to lead to such a situation today?
He remembered that Orochimaru's parents had died when he was a child. Although he had great ambitions, in this war - torn era, he was a once - in - several - decades talent. So he had allowed such an Orochimaru to grow freely.
The Third Hokage's gaze swept towards the distance of the barrier. There was thick smoke rising from various parts of the village, and if he listened carefully, he could still hear the shrill cries of children. He knew that he couldn't be soft - hearted any longer.
"Orochimaru, the way you are now is partly my fault. My incompetence and soft - hearted have led to this situation. So, no matter what, I will stop you! As your teacher, I want to say sorry. I'm not a qualified teacher... As a teacher, I failed to detect the dark and twisted thoughts in your heart in time and correct you. As the Hokage, I didn't nip the evil in the bud. In either sense, I'm unqualified."
The Third Hokage swung the Ruyi Jingu Bang in his hand and smashed it heavily on the ground. Facing Orochimaru, he no longer felt the previous confusion and heartache.
He clearly knew that it was now a fight to the death.
Orochimaru seemed to have heard the funniest joke and laughed out loud, looking up at the sky.
"You old fool, stop glorifying yourself! You are never a qualified teacher or a qualified Hokage! You just used your weakness as a guise and dumped all the dirty work on Tanzō. When I did something that disappointed you, your first reaction was to abandon me. From start to finish, you've been doing the most cowardly things under the pretext of being merciful!"
The Third Hokage's expression twitched slightly. He never expected to be evaluated like this in others' view.
"Orochimaru, at the end of your wits, don't blame everything on the Third Hokage. You ignored all the warnings and insisted on researching forbidden ninjutsu, sacrificing countless lives. It's really despicable that you got angry when you were discovered!"
"Haha, quite a few ninjutsu projects were first authorized by the village and the Hokage before they were carried out! Why is it called taking lives when people die in my research, but not when lives are sacrificed in the name of the village?"
"Stop being so unreasonable. At least they volunteered! And your reputation for abducting people for live experiments over the years is utterly stinking!"
Orochimaru shrugged indifferently. Although the pain in his hands was unbearable, he would never show the slightest sign of weakness at this time.
"Are you sure? As far as I know, Tanzō provided me with plenty of experimental subjects. Isn't he a representative of the village's high - ranking officials?"
Apparently, Orochimaru showed no remorse for using live experiments in ninjutsu development and was even proud of it.
"You're rotten to the core!"
After saying that, they no longer talked and engaged in a fierce battle again. Orochimaru's Kusanagi Sword struck the Third Hokage's abdomen directly. Orochimaru's burned hands put him at a disadvantage in the battle and restricted his movements. He was heavily beaten by the Ruyi Jingu Bang in the form transformed into the Monkey King.
Surprisingly, the battle ended in a draw. Both sides were lying on the ground, gasping for breath.
Although all three of them were at the end of their strength, Orochimaru was in a worse situation! He didn't have much strength left to deal with the two of them. Especially when he saw the villagers more and more systematically dealing with the enemies, Fugaku Uchiha led a group of people running over. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, he looked at the Third Hokage with a sinister expression.
"Old man, you're really lucky. Even this couldn't get rid of you. But if Konoha continues to develop under your leadership, it won't be long before it's destroyed!"
After saying that, he shouted loudly to his subordinates outside the barrier.
"Let's get out of here!"
Hearing the order, the four Sound Ninja immediately released the seal, stepped forward to support the weakened Orochimaru, and led him away.