CHAPTER 176: CHAPTER 176

Not only was there a barrier trapping Hozuki Mangetsu and Sarutobi Hiruzen, but the four Otogakure ninja at the corners had also activated barriers around themselves.

If just one of those four could be knocked out of place, the whole barrier would collapse.

Hozuki Mangetsu raised his eyes and stared warily at Orochimaru in front of him.

But this barrier wasn’t something that could be easily broken. Down below, the presence of Shukaku was already enough of a problem.

If they couldn’t either get the tailed beast out of the arena or stop it soon, there would be a huge number of deaths on the second floor.

It wasn’t just them in the Chunin Exam arena. The feudal lords and other guests under Genjutsu were still lying unconscious in the stands.

By locking them in here, Orochimaru may have limited their movements, but he also stopped them from having to worry about protecting the crowd.

The three stood off against each other, and the air inside the barrier felt like it had frozen.

Orochimaru stood across from them, his narrow snake-like eyes slightly squinted, calmly watching the two in front of him like he had everything under control.

"Not planning to make a move? Afraid those useless people outside might get in the way?"

"Even you too, Fourteen? I thought only Sarutobi-sensei would play it safe like this."

Orochimaru’s raspy voice echoed, cold and creepy.

As an unexpected guest, Mizukage Hozuki Mangetsu could have gone straight for the Otogakure ninja at the corners.

But instead, he chose to stay and face Orochimaru directly.

Was this kid just too confident? Or was Orochimaru being underestimated?

"First time visiting for diplomatic talks and this is what I walk into. Talk about bad luck."

"One after another, all I hear is ’young this, young that.’ Even I’m starting to lose my patience."

"Is acting like an old man really that fun?"

He was clearly being looked down on.

As Hozuki Mangetsu finished complaining, the tension between the three of them suddenly spiked.

Chakra built up around them so quickly that the tiles on the roof cracked with a loud *crack-crack*, and deep lines spread across the surface.

Outside the barrier, the nearby Anbu and Hozuki Suigetsu paused, surprised. Even they had to stop for a moment from the pressure.

There was no mistaking it—this was a clash between Kage-level fighters. The amount of chakra they were releasing felt overwhelming.

Hozuki Suigetsu quickly glanced at his older brother. From the look of things, it seemed the one being targeted was that weird snake guy.

"Looks like he’s holding up alright."

Suigetsu remembered that guy—he had been beaten and forced to retreat by just three Genin.

So how could someone like that pretend to be the Kazekage and trap both the Mizukage and the Hokage with a barrier?

Was that guy really that strong?

Suigetsu was starting to have doubts, but he snapped out of it and immediately kicked the distracted Anbu in front of him out of the way.

Taking on Anbu head-on with just him and Haku was definitely tough.

Anbu were all at least Jonin-level, and these were elite ones, the kind who rushed in to protect the Hokage.

Luckily, most of the Anbu were busy outside, so there weren’t that many of them here.

Otherwise, Suigetsu and Haku would’ve been knocked off the roof already.

"You sure talk a lot. But let’s see if you really deserve to be called Mizukage."

"I’m not going to hold back, so don’t disappoint me."

Orochimaru’s eyes moved back and forth between the two people in front of him.

"Perfect. Depending on how complete your ninjutsu is, I’ll consider whether or not to take you back to the Ninja Academy and rebuild you from scratch."

Sarutobi Hiruzen responded calmly, not backing down at all.

Then he suddenly threw a shuriken forward. As it spun through the air, he quickly formed a series of hand signs.

"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

In an instant, the single shuriken split into hundreds, flying straight toward Orochimaru.

Hozuki Mangetsu lowered his head slightly and held his hands like guns, firing several shots at Orochimaru.

Water bullets shot out from his fingertips at high speed, heading straight toward Orochimaru.

"Water Style: Water Gun Jutsu."

At almost the same moment, Orochimaru stood still, not dodging at all.

He ignored all the incoming attacks and pressed his hands together, shouting loudly,

"Summoning Jutsu: Reanimation!"

A strange smile crept onto his face.

Two large wooden coffins quickly rose from the ground, and a third one was still emerging.

He used the coffins as a shield to block the attacks flying at him—after all, they were just made of wood.

Something felt wrong.

The moment Sarutobi Hiruzen saw the two coffins, a bad feeling hit him hard.

He had to stop the third one from coming out!

The storm of shuriken flew toward the two visible coffins, but just as one wave was about to hit—

A few water bullets knocked them off course. *Bang bang.* The bullets skimmed past the third coffin’s wooden surface and shot away.

The third coffin paused for a second, then continued rising from the ground.

"What?!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn’t believe it—Hozuki Mangetsu had messed up at the worst possible time.

If Hiruzen had attacked alone, maybe the third coffin wouldn’t have made it.

This Mizukage really wasn’t that reliable—not even able to pull off a proper combo attack.

Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned but couldn’t openly blame another Kage standing next to him.

Even though he was annoyed with Hozuki Mangetsu, this wasn’t something he could say out loud. He just pressed his lips together.

"Oh? My aim was off. Too many shuriken flying around,"

Hozuki Mangetsu shrugged playfully, smiling as he apologized, flashing his sharp shark-like teeth.

As if. If a village leader couldn’t even handle basic teamwork, he might as well quit and go home.

Still, when he saw the numbers on the coffins—One, Two, and Four—he couldn’t help being curious.

Those numbers, and the people strong enough to match them, clearly meant these were the past Hokage.

Facing off against the former Hokage? Now *that* sounded fun.

Let’s not even talk about the First and Second—they were already legends and considered the standard for Kage-level strength.

Mangetsu was more interested in the Fourth Hokage. That guy became Hokage at a young age too—though he died pretty early, too.

Those two old guys always called him too young, but their own village had a Hokage just as young. Classic double standards.

Bring them all out. Let’s see what they can do.

And besides, Reanimation Jutsu was something every nation had been curious about for a long time. Orochimaru had been secretly researching it forever.

Getting a chance to see it up close—who would turn that down?

Might as well let Hozuki Mangetsu see just how far this crazy jutsu could actually go.

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