Chapter 258: An Unexpected Deal

Stop a couple of meters from the Kazekage, Shikamaru extended his hand and a black bone spike instantly appeared on it.

Rasa snorted and waved his hand, directing a wave of sand at the enemy, transforming it literally on the fly:

"Don't be arrogant you brat!"

“Any shinobi who ignores their own physical development will not live long. You should take a cue from Sasori. Shikamaru just chuckled as he let the gold dust crash into his own body. The sand quickly turned into spikes and they pierced his chest, head and stomach, completely hiding his entire body in their metal dust. Rasa abruptly extended his hand and clenched it into a fist:

- Burials of the Buddha! At the same moment, the dust compressed and began to crush the person in its trap.

A deadly move!

But, in the next moment, Rasa's face changed dramatically, all his golden sand began to melt literally before our eyes, turning into a dark liquid!

"What the hell..." The Kazekage grimaced.

Meanwhile, Shikamaru calmly stepped forward, his body now blazing with burning golden chakra. Trees and tiles in the area at the same time either caught fire or simply melted. The Kazekage's pupils clenched in fear, this was the first time he'd seen something like this!

Shikamaru shook the remaining liquid from his shoulder and shook his head.

“My body cannot be pierced by such nonsense... For you to understand, the strength of my skin is not inferior to steel alloy, and even if I use chakra... Believe me, you need either the powers of a Sage or something like that...” he threw out his fist. Rasa didn't even have time to react when a burning power crashed into his chest!

"Your mother!"

— Haaa! Blood spurted from his mouth, and he stared at his pierced chest in amazement. With one blow, he deprived him of hope for the future...

“N-no… I, can’t…”

Shikamaru stood calmly and grinned, his hand passed right through the body of the Kazekage, and the blood immediately burned out, and after that the organs began to burn. Crazy chakra burst into Rasa's body - he had only to accept his end ... His eyes turned red, and the groan that escaped from his mouth was muffled by emptiness. His whole body turned red, and then the brain could not withstand the load ...

This is the end.

The orange flames flared brightly, followed by Shikamaru simply withdrawing his hand. The body with a huge hole in its chest immediately fell to the ground, and then flared up even more. Although Rasa did not turn into a pile of ashes, he simply continued to burn like a funeral fire. The smell of scorched flesh scattered everywhere, quickly replaced by a disgusting burning. Shikamaru grimaced and turned away and went the other way. The Hokage had already begun to push, it was worth intervening.

As soon as he arrived at the opposite zone of the barrier, he immediately noticed an unpleasant sight. Hiruzen somehow fought off a rather brutal attack from the two past Hokage. Orochimaru, on the other hand, calmly watched from the sidelines and frowned nonstop, casting glances into the area of dense vegetation. In general, he already really did not feel the chakra of the combatants and no sound reached him, from this he became more and more worried, forcing the First and Second to attack with all their might. However, this time Hiruzen did not dare to use the forbidden jutsu, even spitting blood, he was still playing for time. To this, Shikamaru could only praise him, a very sensible move. The old man never behaved like a proud suicide. He recognized the strength of the younger generation and could calmly call himself weak in front of his own student. Although, the moment is not far away when he still breaks down and probably wants to personally deal with Orochimaru because of his own guilt...

"Well, not this time..."

Getting out of the curtain of trees, Shikamaru took out a special kunai and threw it towards Tobirama. He deftly dodged it, but immediately received a blow to the head with burning chakra. He absolutely did not expect the sudden teleportation!

As soon as Tobirama's head shattered into sawdust, Shikamaru was next to his teacher and took Hashirama's blows on himself.

- Heck! This bastard lost?! Orochimaru suddenly cursed. His worst fears have come true! The Kazekage fell, which meant a very serious problem...

- Useless trash! It was worth it just to slam!

Hashirama stopped, as did his summoner. The Sannin cast a venomous glance at his teacher and grimaced.

“You… Ha! You found yourself a good student, sensei... This kid is a real treasure.

Hiruzen just let out a chuckle, continuing to look at the First with concern. Orochimaru turned to Shikamaru and smiled.

Why do you need this village boy? You are the strongest here, what's the point of staying in this miserable swamp? Come with me, with my knowledge, you will become the strongest in the world! Together we will reach unprecedented heights. I'll give you immortality, I'll give you whatever you want!

— Really? Shikamaru put on an arrogant face again and laughed.

“From whom from whom, but, from you Orochimaru, I expected something better than useless promises. You should know, I will easily seal your dead from the Unholy Resurrection, and then I will begin to destroy all your bones, and this, please note, is not an empty promise - this is an inevitable future due to your nonsense! Do you understand that now, the fight is not at all in your favor? I thought you'd have a backup plan...

Orochimaru licked his lips and without any fear said:

I always have a plan! Even if I die today, it won't be forever.

— Ho? Do you trust in your Seals of Heaven?

The Sannin's face changed dramatically and he frowned.

"So it was you... You removed Anko's seal!"

Shikamaru only grinned in response and turned to Hiruzen:

“I think it’s worth finishing off his friends with a protective barrier.” I'll deal with him, let me do it for you sensei.

Hiruzen wiped the blood from the edge of his lips and briefly nodded, throwing a slightly sad look at Hashirama, and then at Orochimaru. Sighing bitterly, the Hokage didn't say anything, just moving towards the exit of the barrier. In fact, this fight for him became one of the most difficult in his life and he did not want to continue it at all ...

Orochi's eyes flashed with rage, he gripped his blade and growled:

Don't think it will be so easy! I came to this village and I will leave the same way, even if you did not let me finish off the old bastard, I will finish what I started one day!

Already about to send the restored Tobirama and his brother into battle, Orochimaru frowned as Shikamaru didn't attack.

— What did you think?

“Nothing, I’m waiting for the old man to go far enough and chop up your henchmen. - suddenly the barrier began to distort - this meant only one thing ... Hiruzen acted impressively fast!

As a result, after half a minute, the barrier completely collapsed. Shikamaru chuckled and turned to Orochimaru, getting straight to the point.

"Give me Minato's DNA and you can go."

- What? The Sannin's face changed and asked in surprise, "Are you serious now?"

"Of course," Shikamaru chuckled haughtily, "I respect researchers, even though I don't like innocent victims." For that matter, I don't like you. But, for the world of Shinobi, you are an important figure, and I have a lot of connections with this village, so forget about its destruction while I exist. In this world, there are things more important than revenge and immortality, but it's up to you to decide what to believe in... I don't care. I need a part of the Nine-Tailed Fox! Only you can possess Minato's DNA. Therefore, I say again... Even if you can escape using clever jutsu, I will find you and then I will take everything by force. Or give me the DNA now and you can leave.

Listening to the Anbu's screams and the echoes of the battle, Shikamaru grinned and looked at the snake's surprised face.

“Better hurry up.

“Hmmm… I must admit, I’m surprised. It seemed to me that you looked like an old man ... As it turned out, he never learned how to choose students. Orochimaru grinned wickedly, licking his lips.

- Curious...