In Konoha, they wiped out the Sarutobi clan at the start.

Chapter 394 A Devastating Price

Gaara, riding on sand, extended a sand tentacle towards the One-Tailed Beast from afar, saying, "Shukaku, please."

"By, my Ottoto, big brother is here to save you. (Thunderous Strike, Level Chiyo Mai)"

Using Gaara's sand as a point of leverage, the Raikage unleashed the Lightning Instantaneous Body technique, slicing off one of the Eight-Tails' exposed octopus tails.

The two attacked simultaneously, while the remaining fourth generation had already left the Flying Thunder God mark on them and Sasuke.

The plan was to relieve the siege of Wei by attacking Zhao, taking advantage of the fact that Chiya was distracted by Gaara and the Raikage, to rescue Sasuke and then take the two Kage away.

Unfortunately, they seem to have miscalculated.

"Sasuke, you only have yourself to blame for not knowing what's good for you. I've completely lost patience with you." Chiya completely ignored Gaara and the Raikage, holding Sasuke's Kusanagi sword and aiming it at Sasuke's heart.

"No, Chiyo, no!" came the second generation's terrified cry and horrified gaze.

With a soft thud, Qianye plunged the knife inside.

Erzhuzi's eyes widened, and he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. In his gradually dilating pupils, an incredulous light and resentment flickered.

He never expected that this guy, who usually toyed with him but never really hurt him, would actually make a move against him.

Qianye ignored Erzhuzi and, after sensing the situation briefly, casually drew his Kusanagi sword and kicked him off the thousand-meter-tall Buddha statue.

Tobirama, like a piece of trash, was also kicked down by him.

The enormous Buddha statues are far beyond the mountains; they look close, but are actually quite far away.

"That is..." Orochimaru, who was heading towards the Buddha statue, suddenly felt something fall from above. Looking up, he saw two dark shadows flash overhead, one after the other.

In the instant they passed overhead, Orochimaru finally saw who it was. It was Sasuke and the Second Hokage.

The second generation, who was riddled with black rods and turned into a hedgehog, was alright, since he was a reanimated body.

And even if that weren't the case, no one would care about the old man's life or death.

But Sasuke is different; he's someone Orochimaru treats like a father.

"Oh no!" Orochimaru exclaimed in alarm. "Sasuke, is your reign of terror about to end?"

Seeing that Sasuke's chest was stained with blood and he had fallen into a coma, Orochimaru did not hesitate at all. He turned around and chased after Sasuke in the direction he was falling.

Unfortunately, his speed was nowhere near the speed at which Erzhuzi was falling.

At that height, even if one wasn't injured beforehand, falling from that height would likely result in being smashed to pieces.

Just when Orochimaru thought Sasuke was definitely dead, there was a sudden bang in front of him, and a giant tongue emerged from the smoke, taking advantage of the unconscious Sasuke.

As the smoke dissipated, the silhouette of a giant snake with forelimbs, resembling Wanshe but larger than Wanshe, was revealed.

Above the giant serpent's head, a man and a woman, two figures in black robes, stood prominently.

"You are...?" Orochimaru stopped in his tracks, a look of surprise on his face.

"Lord Orochimaru, it's been a long time." They took off their hoods, revealing two faces that Orochimaru recognized.

"Yes, it's been a long time. Kabuto, Nonou." Orochimaru's face showed a faint smile.

He stepped forward, looked at the Second Hokage who had fallen to the ground and not been caught, creating a deep crater, and a gloating smile appeared on his lips as he sneered, "Oh dear, isn't this our most respected Second Hokage? Looks like your sneak attack failed."

"That's not necessarily true." The second generation snorted coldly, glancing sideways at the direction of the Thousand-Hand Buddha statue.

"Shukaku, please."

"Bi. Hang in there, I'm coming to save you."

Taking advantage of the moment when Sasuke was distracted by the Thousand Nights Blade, Gaara extended his sand tentacles and grabbed at Shukaku.

The Raikage then severed one of the Eight-Tails' octopus tails.

In response, the One-Tailed Beast and the Eight-Tailed Beast naturally cooperated.

The One-Tailed Fox wisely contributed some of its chakra. The Eight-Tailed Fox, on the other hand, used an octopus clone, attempting to use the same technique it had used against Sasuke to allow its main body to escape via its octopus tentacles.

"Fourth Hokage!" Gaara, having obtained a portion of the One-Tailed Beast's chakra, did not greedily seek credit and hurriedly called upon the Fourth Hokage to take him away.

"Got it." The Raikage severed one of the Eight-Tails' tentacles. The tentacle twitched, confirming that his younger brother was inside. Seeing that Gaara had also been captured, the Raikage was overjoyed.

Just as he was about to ask the Fourth Hokage to take him away, the giant hand that had been holding the Eight-Tails suddenly released its grip, and with a flick to the head, sent the Raikage flying without a trace.

Looking at the eight tails again, they had somehow transformed into an octopus tentacle and were falling towards the ground.

The octopus tentacle that Raikage had severed landed lightly in the Buddha statue's giant hand, where it was grabbed again and transformed into its Eight-Tails form, constantly uttering Killer Bee's chanting and cursing, "Bastard, idiot, let me go!"

"You think you can escape this time just by using your octopus clones? You've probably forgotten that I saw through your trick last time, Killer Bee."

Qianye glanced intently at the direction the octopus tentacles had fallen, a slight smile playing on his lips. He controlled the Buddha statue to pull out the divine tree, then leaped up and soared towards Ban's direction.

The earthquake trembled, and the area within a radius of tens of kilometers in the direction where the Buddha statue stood collapsed, cracking in a spiderweb pattern.

"What happened? Did the sky fall and the earth crack?"

This was disastrous for the Allied Shinobi Forces. Many fell into the crevice and were buried in the rubble.

Before they could react, the sky suddenly turned completely dark, and a dark shadow that blotted out the moonlight passed overhead.

Jiraiya immediately used a ninjutsu to wrap Naruto in his hair.

Kakashi then shouted at the yellow earth, "Mr. Yellow Earth!"

"I understand." Huang Tu understood instantly, quickly forming hand seals and slamming them onto the ground. "Earth Release: Earth Core."

A single square of ground encompassed almost the entire allied force before sinking, thus preventing their complete annihilation.

Time passed, though it was unclear how much. The tremors finally stopped, and when everyone came to their senses, they discovered that the terrain had completely changed, and even the divine tree was gone.

"What on earth is going on?"

All the surviving members of the coalition were terrified. At that moment, a shadow of fear enveloped everyone.

Fortunately, there's always a way out.

With a loud bang, the Fourth Hokage arrived with Gaara, the heavily injured Raikage and Tsuchikage, and the octopus clone left behind by Senya.

"Minato." Jiraiya was taken aback. He glanced at the octopus tentacles and sensed the One-Tailed Chakra on Gaara. His face lit up with joy, and he exclaimed with delight, "You succeeded?"

"Ah. It's a stroke of luck amidst misfortune. At least we managed to obtain some of the One-Tailed and Eight-Tailed chakra, but there was a price to pay."

The Fourth Hokage used his remaining left hand to press on Gaara and the octopus tentacles in turn, extracting the chakra unique to the One-Tailed and Eight-Tailed. His gaze swept over the Raikage and Tsuchikage, who were in a coma, and the image of Sasuke being stabbed through the heart by Chiya flashed through his mind.

One dead and two injured—the price is far too high.

As for the Second Hokage resurrected through Edo Tensei, he has long been forgotten.

(End of this chapter)