Start with a Zanpakuto and build the strongest Mist Village.

"The First Hokage once distributed the Tailed Beasts. In order to alleviate the country's economic problems, the impoverished Land of Wind kept Shukaku, which was originally its own tailed beast, and sold the Seven-Tails."

"I always thought this story was a bedtime story, but I never expected it to be true. Moreover, the village of the Seven-Tails that we bought is the Takigakure village in the Land of Waterfall, which is adjacent to the Land of Grass!"

"what?!"

Minato Namikaze stared wide-eyed at Orochimaru in astonishment: "Lord Orochimaru, you want to... but Takigakure is a village on friendly terms with us..."

"So what? Don't forget, opening the Box of Bliss requires a massive amount of chakra. We can't possibly have Kushina charge the Box of Bliss."

"As for the excuse... the small ninja village failed to seal the tailed beast due to its poor sealing skills, causing the tailed beast to go berserk and disappear... isn't that reasonable?"

Orochimaru spoke softly, and Minato Namikaze fell silent before nodding.

Indeed, compared to having Kushina Uzumaki charge the Box of Paradise, Minato Namikaze would undoubtedly choose the Seven-Tails from Takigakure!

"Let's split up and act quickly, or we won't last long. The Seven-Tails of Takigakure is still sealed in the vessel. I'll go get it, and you take care of Kusagakure and seize the Chest of Bliss!"

After saying this, Orochimaru didn't wait for Minato Namikaze to reply before his figure turned into a wisp of white smoke and disappeared from the spot.

Minato Namikaze silently gazed at the Hidden Grass Village before him, gripping the Flying Thunder God kunai tightly in his hand.

The next moment, his figure also disappeared from the spot.

"Everything... is for the village!"

……

For low- to mid-level ninjas, the Flying Thunder God Technique is indeed an unstoppable force.

In the blink of an eye, the Kusagakure ninjas guarding the Box of Bliss hadn't even had time to react before their bodies were torn apart and they perished.

Minato Namikaze, holding the Flying Thunder God kunai, slowly walked across the path paved with blood and corpses, and stood in front of a huge square box.

The box was entirely gray-black and enormous. On its four sides were carved four human faces: joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, exuding a mysterious and evil aura of chakra.

"Can you really help Konoha break out of its current predicament...?"

The Box of Bliss seemed to understand his heart. As Minato Namikaze murmured, he vaguely felt that the demon-faced sculpture trembled slightly for a moment, making the hideous and terrifying demon face even more terrifying!

"Intruder! Come quick!"

"Damn it, that guy's target is the Chest of Elysium!"

"Hurry up!"

A cacophony of noises came from outside. Minato Namikaze shook his head and branded the Flying Thunder God Technique onto his body. Before the Kusagakure ninja arrived, he and the Box of Paradise vanished from their spot.

When the Kusagakure group arrived, the Chest of Bliss was nowhere to be found.

However, compared to Minato's smooth sailing, Orochimaru's operation encountered some trouble.

The Land of Grass and the Land of Waterfall are adjacent to each other, and there is not much distance between the two countries. With Orochimaru's speed and accurate targeting, it would only take him an hour or two to reach the Land of Waterfall.

However, he encountered a little trouble halfway through the journey...

"It seems like we've encountered some kind of powerful organization..."

Looking at the three people in matching black robes with red cloud patterns blocking his way, Orochimaru's face showed a solemn expression.

"The legendary bounty hunter Kakuzu, Sasori of the Red Sand who assassinated the Third Kazekage, and..."

"Those eyes, they must be the Rinnegan!"

Orochimaru, dressed in a Konoha Jonin uniform, licked his lips: "So, the rogue ninjas wanted by all the major ninja villages have gathered together. It seems that even in the corners where the war has broken out, dark things are happening."

"There has never been any darkness; the birth of dawn is the will of God."

A detached voice came from Pain's mouth, his pale purple Rinnegan staring blankly at Orochimaru.

"To call oneself a god, what arrogant words!"

Orochimaru sneered. He had originally planned to go directly to Takigakure to retrieve the Seven-Tails to help Konoha, but he never expected to make such a great gain on the way!

Kakuzu and Sasori are irrelevant. If he can obtain the legendary eyes of the Sage of Six Paths, then what war could possibly be unending?!

"I'm quite curious about you all right now, but the mission is urgent, could you please step aside for a moment?"

"Get out of the way?"

Kakuzu's eyes gleamed with a green light: "Orochimaru, you're hailed as one of the Legendary Sannin, your head is worth a fortune."

“Indeed, curiosity can kill.” A mocking smile appeared on Sasori’s face. “Given the current situation in Konoha, if we lose you as our general, the entire village will probably fall into complete chaos.”

"So, you're going to stand in my way?"

"I can't help it, I really want to see Konoha get utterly defeated by Iwagakure and Kumogakure."

Sasori stepped forward, his icy gaze fixed on Orochimaru's Konoha headband. Some unpleasant memories seemed to resurface in his mind, and his chilling killing intent was undisguised: "I'll deal with this guy. You can't make a move."

"……Can."

"I only want people to exchange for money, nothing else matters."

With his two companions retreating behind him, Sasori's gaze toward Orochimaru grew increasingly cold. The scroll opened, and the puppet Third Kazekage immediately appeared!

"He actually created a human puppet from the strongest Kazekage? Truly worthy of being called the genius puppeteer, Sasori of the Red Sand..."

"Praise cannot stop death from coming, Orochimaru."

"Magnet Release·Satetsu Shigure!"

"Wind Escape·Big Breakthrough!"

The jet-black iron sand attacked Orochimaru like a raging storm. Orochimaru suddenly formed hand seals and spewed out a surging gust of wind to forcefully block the iron sand.

And in the dark.

A figure dressed in a white haori, with a large "six" embroidered on the back, stared at the match that had already begun in front of him and couldn't help but click his tongue.

"It looks like I've witnessed some incredible battle!"

Chapter 119 Sixth Division Captain Hozuki Gengetsu!

Under Sasori's exquisite control, the Third Kazekage's puppet, fearless of death and unaware of pain, possessed combat power no less than it had in life.

Wind Release is countered by iron sand, and the poison cannot affect the human puppet.

Orochimaru's signature techniques are practically useless against this guy.

After several exchanges, Orochimaru suffered repeated defeats and showed signs of weakness!

"Magnetic Release: Iron Sand Binding Attack!"

A large amount of iron sand began to be compressed at high density, instantly forming a giant, pitch-black weapon that roared toward Orochimaru.

Faced with such a terrifying attack of iron sand, Orochimaru bit his finger, then quickly formed hand seals and slammed his palm to the ground.

"Spirit Spell: Rashomon!"

Beneath the white smoke was the grotesque Rasengan, its gaping maw a defensive barrier summoned to absorb all attacks.

"boom!!"

The iron sand slammed heavily against Rashomon, creating a deafening roar. A swarm of snakes surged out from behind Rashomon, instantly engulfing the Third Kazekage's puppet!

Click, click!

The suicidal attack of the snake swarm caused the Third Kazekage to noticeably jam the parts on the puppet.

"Once the puppet gets into the swarm of snakes, it won't be easy to control, right?"

"When did it become your place to criticize puppetry?"

Sasori of the Red Sand remained expressionless as his fingertips danced, and a large amount of sand iron chakra appeared on the body of the Third Kazekage puppet.

The next moment, countless iron sands erupted, sending countless snakes flying. Dense iron sand spikes spilled out, instantly covering the entire open space!

"Sand Iron Boundary Law!"

"Is this the strength of the strongest Kazekage...?"

Orochimaru's expression was strange, but there was no fear on his face.

"Do you know Sasori? I was the highest commander of Konoha in the war against Sunagakure. After winning the war against Sunagakure, I personally accepted the surrender of the Fourth Kazekage."

"Of course, I'm not saying this to make any sense. It's just that when we were accepting the surrender document, my snake horde unexpectedly collected something extraordinary outside Sunagakure."

The right hand is marked with the character '未'.

A strange light appeared on the ground in front of Orochimaru, and a wooden coffin slowly emerged from the ground, appearing before everyone.

"I must thank Iwagakure and Kumogakure for getting the old man's permission; otherwise, I really wouldn't dare to use this forbidden technique, which I haven't fully mastered yet."

"What……"

The eerie words made Scorpion narrow his eyes, but when he clearly saw the figure walking out of the wooden coffin, an expression of disbelief and shock immediately appeared on his face.

Kakuzu behind him also looked completely incredulous.

Although Payne remained expressionless, Nagato, several miles away atop a massive machine, also looked somewhat bewildered.

"This kind of thing..."

"What's wrong, Nagato?"

"Something unexpected happened. I didn't expect Orochimaru to actually possess such a forbidden technique..."

"Will there be any danger?" Xiao Nan asked in a low voice.

"It wasn't dangerous, just a bit surprising."

Nagato shook his head calmly.

This kind of manipulation of souls is indeed a terrifying technique for others.

However, it meant nothing to Nagato, who possessed the Rinnegan.

"The power of the gods is unmatched, but Konoha, which prides itself on justice and peace, secretly researches and masters this art of manipulating souls... Heh heh, this world has indeed become so corrupt that there is no hope left!"

"I never expected something like this to appear. It's truly incredible."

In the shadows, the captain of the Sixth Division, dressed in a pure white haori, was filled with curiosity and excitement: "This must be the forbidden technique that the Fourth Hokage mentioned, created by the Second Hokage to manipulate the souls of the dead. I didn't expect to see it on my first mission."

"It's a good thing it was me who came. If it had been the captain of the second division, I'm afraid he wouldn't have been able to carry out these missions calmly."

"But speaking of which, I think the Fourth Hokage also has this technique, right? Should we give it a try?"

"What exactly is this!"

Looking at the familiar figure before him, Sasori of the Red Sand had a gloomy expression.

"Can't you tell? This is the Third Kazekage you killed," Orochimaru said with a grin. "I just summoned him back using a forbidden technique. After all, to fight the strongest Kazekage's puppet, you have to use the strongest Kazekage."

"This guy..."

"Is it Sasori? You actually dared to turn me into a human puppet." The Third Kazekage stared expressionlessly at the massive sand and iron formation in front of him, and at the red-haired Sasori: "This time, it won't be like last time."

Orochimaru slowly placed the cursed kunai into the head of the reanimated Third Kazekage, and the Third Kazekage's body immediately emitted the special aura of the reanimated form.

That is a manifestation of the soul forcibly merging with this physical body.

"Come on, Scorpion, your human puppet and my forbidden technique... which one is superior?"

"Iron Sand Barrier!"

The Third Kazekage formed hand seals, and a sand and iron barrier, no less powerful than that of the human puppet Kazekage, roared forth.

Iron sand against iron sand!

The strongest against the strongest!

"Next up are the two of you."

Orochimaru turned around and looked at Kakuzu, who was still in shock, and Pain, who was expressionless: "Since neither of you is willing to step aside, then I will take care of you guys one by one."

"You think you can take care of us? You're really talking big, Orochimaru."

Kakuzu snorted coldly, then suddenly raised his hand and aimed it at Orochimaru.

His arm, beneath his black robe with red cloud patterns, was broken off, and countless dense black lines, like a storm, attacked Orochimaru.

Orochimaru's pupils contracted, and his entire body bent at a 180-degree angle as the black line suddenly attacked, forcibly dodging it.

"Interesting, it's getting more and more interesting..."

The black lines receded, and Orochimaru shakily straightened up. He stared at the figure whose black robe with red clouds had been removed, revealing a body that looked like a rag doll, full of patches and several masks. His eyes lit up.