After reanimating the former Kages, Orochimaru was under heavy strain. His Edo Tensei was a far cry from the level Kabuto raised it to years later in the original story. Not only were the reanimated ninjas weaker, but he had a much more difficult time controlling them as well. He had exceeded his limits by summoning 15 rank S ninjas at the same time!

As a result, he could barely even move. Hiruzen's analysis was accurate. If Orochimaru got even a bit distracted, there was a high chance that he could lose control and the reanimated Kage would be able to act as per their will. Needless to say, he was well aware that all of them would try to kill him first without a shred of doubt in their hearts.

Even though there was a chance that they could destroy Konoha later and Orochimaru could be revived through the curse seals, he didn't want to let that happen. Hence, he hid behind the twelve reanimated Kages after summoning them. He expected Hiruzen to attack him as sealing the twelve Kage by himself was more or less impossible.

However, Hiruzen was equally concerned with stopping the reanimated Kage from the enemy villages. Even if they killed Orochimaru, the 12 former Kage could wreak havoc throughout Konoha before they were sealed. Hiruzen didn't want to see hundreds or thousands of Konoha ninjas falling.

Hence, to Orochimaru's surprise, Hiruzen had done the opposite, targeting the reanimated Kages instead of him! Hiruzen's main body stayed back and only moved towards Orochimaru when he wanted the reanimated Kage to move towards himself and give his clones an opening to seal them. What Orochimaru never imagined was that a single touch was enough to stop all the reanimated Kages!

His eyes widened as he completely failed to hide the shock on his face or understand what the hell had just happened! He involuntarily exclaimed, "What the fuck happened?"

Orochimaru had worked hard to collect DNA samples of all the former Kage. As a true researcher and someone obsessed with Ninjutsu, Orochimaru had longed for their DNA samples for a long time. He had access to the cells of Hashirama and Tobirama from Danzo when he was in Konoha. Getting Minato's cells was easy as well after his death.

However, getting access to the dead Kage of other villages was extremely difficult. Danzo had tried it long ago with his Root subordinates. However, the other villages were well aware of Tobirama's Edo Tensei jutsu and protected their dead very well. Even the elite Root ninjas couldn't reach it while sending rank S ninjas to such a place was too risky. As a result, Danzo never got his hands on them.

Since Konoha never displayed the Edo Tensei jutsu despite two deadly Great Wars happening in close succession, the other villages finally started relaxing. Combined with the fact that the Second and Third Great Ninja Wars had resulted in massive casualties, the villages decided to focus more on the living than the dead.

Hence, Orochimaru got the opening required to steal a few cells from their dead bodies. Of course, it wasn't easy. He didn't know the ins and outs of other villages. So, infiltrating them and sneaking into their graveyard was far more difficult than entering Konoha.

To make matters even more complicated, he had to do it sneakily. Had his actions been noticed, every major village and Kage would start hunting him down. While he wasn't afraid of them, they'd also increase security around their graveyards or destroy the dead bodies to prevent anyone else from doing what he did. That would be a huge loss of future research material for Orochimaru.

Hence, he had worked for several years to get the DNA samples of the Kage from other villages. However, there was one exception. Unlike other villages, Kumogakure didn't reduce the security around their graveyards. Orochimaru wasn't able to get the DNA samples of the previous Raikages.

He finally got the opportunity just before the invasion began. And, that opportunity was provided by none other than Fujin, who killed hundreds of Kumo elites following Hiruzen's plans and wreaked havoc inside Kumogakure using his Akuro identity.

Due to these events, Kumogakure became more engaged in improving the security of their village and finding the missing ninjas. Protecting their graveyards, which had never been attacked, took a backseat. Despite being busy with preparations, Orochimaru had spent a few days collecting their samples.

The reason for doing so wasn't just for the attack on Konoha. It was just that he had the perfect opportunity to get them. Since he had them, he decided to add them to the other Edo Tensei summonings he was planning to use in case his other preparations weren't good enough. Regardless, it was a very difficult task, something Orochimaru had spent a lot of time on. Yet, Hiruzen sealed twelve of the fourteen reanimated Kages in under a minute!

Speechless, Orochimaru wondered, 'Why did they all suddenly stop and how did his clones extract their souls so easily? What were those hand seals Sensei performed earlier?'

He gazed towards Hiruzen and their gazes met. The twelve Shadow Clones were dispelled after the souls of the Kages were sealed inside the God of Death. At that very moment, Hiruzen moved towards Orochimaru at blinding speed!

Just like in the original story, Gaara fell asleep and Shukaku and Gamabunta engaged in an intense battle. It was then that the moment Fujin's clone was waiting for arrived! It was the main reason why Fujin didn't dispel this clone to get his chakra back. Gamabunta's sword sliced through Shukaku's arm, sending the gigantic sand arm to the ground.

Fujin's clone thought, 'This is it!'

He immediately teleported to the Flying Thunder God mark closest to the arm and placed his left hand on Shukaku's arm! Due to it being just cut, it still had a decent amount of Shukaku's chakra inside it. It was about to return to Shukaku when it suddenly stopped, before being sucked into the seal on the left hand of Fujin's clone! Not even a minuscule amount of Shukaku's chakra inside the arm could escape!

Shukaku immediately glanced in that direction and realized, 'Ehh??? My chakra is being stolen!!!'

He wasn't the only one. Gamabunta noticed the sudden change as well and thought, 'Shukaku's chakra from that arm suddenly disappeared… Huh? What's that chakra signature? Who is it and when did that person appear here?'

Gamabunta failed to recognize the chakra signature. And, due to the gigantic arm, neither Shukaku nor Gamabunta could see who the person was. Even if they did, it wouldn't help them identify who it was. As for the other Genins, their attention was entirely on Naruto and Gaara. Pakkun didn't notice this strange event either as Fujin's clone had masked his smell entirely.

Shukaku immediately lost his cool, 'Disgusting humans! Sealing me inside a child wasn't enough humiliation? You still dare to steal my chakra? Eat my Drilling Air Bullet!'

Shukaku inhaled deeply and shot out a large, high-pressure air blast at his arm. It completely blew up the sand arm and destroyed the forest behind it.

Shikamaru picked up Sasuke and Lee and immediately hid behind the large trees. Pakkun and Temari hid similarly as the intense winds blasted through their area. Despite taking cover, each of them felt the intense winds and barely managed to stay on the ground.

Shikamaru thought, 'Man, what a battle! Why did he suddenly attack his arm though? Luckily, we weren't in the line of attack, or we'd be dead! Huh?'

Due to the intense winds, the sand restricting Sakura fell off. Shikamaru immediately caught her and retreated back to where Sasuke and Lee were.

Shukaku laughed exclaiming, "Steal that fucker! Hahaha! Now it's your turn toad!"

Naruto asked, "Steal? What is he talking about? Chief, is Sakura safe?"

Gamabunta ignored him and wondered, 'Did that person die so easily? His chakra signature disappeared right when the air bullet hit that area. Did he die or somehow retreat?'

Naruto shouted, "Chief! Is Sakura alright? That attack was in their direction!"

Gamabunta answered in an annoyed tone, "She is fine. All of your friends are safe. As long as he is defeated, everyone will be safe."

Naruto sighed in relief and their battle continued. A long distance away, Fujin's clone appeared out of thin air with a giant grin on his face. He thought, 'Though I couldn't get Shukaku, this is good too. Now, time to test that seal! I hope it works as intended...'