Hashirama Senju was the reincarnation of Asura's Chakra, but that was now a thing of the past. With Hashirama's death, Asura's Chakra fell into dormancy.
The chakra of Ashura and Indra was passed down through bloodlines, and their reincarnations shared a certain connection.
For decades after Hashirama's death, there were no signs of Asura's Chakra awakening. It was only after Uchiha Madara breathed his last that Indra's Chakra reincarnated as Sasuke, and Asura's Chakra reincarnated as Naruto.
Sasuke's birthday was July 23rd, while Naruto's was October 10th—a clear sequence of events.
It was almost as if the moment Madara died, Sasuke was born shortly after, and the Asura Chakra, which had been inactive for decades, quickly found its new host.
Though the traces remained, the wind carried echoes—Asura's Chakra sought a new vessel, but that didn't mean Hashirama, or "Big Pillar," was completely devoid of it.
The spiritual influence lingered. His soul still carried remnants of Asura's Chakra, albeit faint.
When he saw Ino, he felt an inexplicable closeness, which he attributed to blood ties—though that wasn't the case.
Big Pillar's plea for help left Ino hesitant.
Forging a connection with Asura was far more practical than "befriending" the elusive Shinigami. The Shinigami were barely clinging to existence, captured and used as tools by ninja. But who was Asura? The son of the Sage of Six Paths! And the Sage himself was still observing the Shinobi World from the boundary between yin and yang.
Asura had indeed reincarnated into Naruto, but Big Pillar wasn't just some wandering ghost. Helping him would likely draw the attention of the Sage of Six Paths.
In the eyes of the village's higher-ups, she was already a capable figure among acquaintances—and an acquaintance among the capable. Should she take the next step and become a familiar, capable presence in the Sage's eyes?
Ino weighed the pros and cons repeatedly. She absolutely had to witness the Third's Reaper Death Seal—wasn't that why she had come all this way? At the same time, she needed to maintain good relations with the First Hokage. She quickly made up her mind, though she still needed to cover her tracks.
She turned to Shikamaru. "I want to go help the Third Hokage. If—"
Shikamaru blinked, then immediately straightened up. "Go. If... if they blame you later, just say it was my idea. It's fine—worst case, I'll get scolded a bit."
He had sensed that his clan wasn't enthusiastic about rescuing the Third—his father was the one calling the shots. Personally, Shikamaru wanted to save the Third. If it was possible, he would.
Now that Ino was going against the clan's wishes to aid the Third, he supported her. He made it clear—if the clan came down on her, she could shift the blame onto him.
Choji didn't understand what they were talking about, but seeing how serious they both were, he nodded firmly. What was there to fear? The Ino-Shika-Cho Formation stood together!
"Go. We've got things here," Shino said, his spirits noticeably lifted—perhaps because he rarely had such responsibility entrusted to him.
Sakura had no idea what Ino was planning but nodded along with the others.
"Summoning Technique!"
Ino summoned the Slug Sage, this time controlling her chakra output to summon only a single human-sized slug.
The sudden appearance of such a strange creature startled Sakura.
"Lady Katsuyu, my body might get injured later. Please heal me promptly," Ino said.
Katsuyu looked around before replying in a gentle, sisterly tone: "Understood, little Ino. I must say though, your Hidden Leaf Village really goes through too many disasters."
This was a bit awkward to respond to, so Ino could only force a dry laugh. This was nothing! Just wait and see! There were still many long days ahead.
In the original timeline, Ino had used Hinata's Byakugan to remotely control Obito. Now with the higher-level positioning from Asura's Chakra, the effect would naturally be even better.
She assumed her stance and told the First Hokage she was ready.
The First Hokage bore the title of God of Shinobi. When it came to understanding ninja techniques and chakra, even Orochimaru couldn't compare to him.
With just a thought, he forcefully broke free from the Edo Tensei control.
Orochimaru reacted with lightning speed, immediately forming hand seals to regain control of the Edo Tensei. He had only granted the First limited power to begin with, and had been extremely cautious. Given just two seconds, he could have regained control.
But he was ultimately a step too late. Using the Mind Body Switch Technique, Ino utilized Asura's Chakra's positioning to transfer her consciousness into the First Hokage's Edo Tensei body.
"Child, my current power is limited as I need to focus on resisting the technique's control over me. I'll leave my body to you," the First quickly divided responsibilities with Ino—one handling internal resistance while the other controlled external actions.
When Orochimaru realized the First had escaped his control, he acted decisively.
Like a snake, he forcefully slipped through the Third Hokage's staff shadows before leaping up, a specially crafted kunai appearing in his hand. He intended to rewrite the technique formula in the First's brain—no more mental battles, just a complete reboot.
As the distance between them rapidly closed to just five meters, the First Hokage's eyes snapped open again.
The foundation of Vapor Explosion was the Water Clone Technique, while the essence of Edo Tensei was a Summoning technique.
The First Hokage's reawakening meant his soul had been summoned back through the Summoning technique.
Edo Tensei required a living person as a vessel for the soul. From Ino's perception, this body's original quality was terrible. She couldn't identify who the host had been, nor did she care.
The original host's consciousness, Big Pillar's consciousness, and Ino's consciousness were now layered together like nesting dolls.
After accommodating Big Pillar's soul, this body possessed six chakra natures: fire, wind, lightning, earth, water, and yang. The yin nature was absent—she guessed this was because the First's Yang Release was overwhelmingly strong.
The body also had Wood Release Chakra. In theory, just like how Orochimaru could use Sasuke's Kekkei Genkai after taking over his body, she should be able to use this body's bloodline limit. But Wood Release relied on Asura's Chakra, and they were currently in this nested state, plus the technique was quite complex.
Ino found herself in a state where "the body understands, but the mind doesn't." No matter how talented she was with ninja techniques, she couldn't master Wood Release in just one second.
Facing Orochimaru's furious assault, she could only rely on her own techniques first.
If Yamato could use Water Release and Earth Release, then naturally so could the First.
"Water Release: Water Severing Wave!" Ino took a deep breath, then fired a silver water jet like a high-pressure water cannon straight at Orochimaru.
Second Hokage: "???"
Third Hokage: "???"
Orochimaru was still figuring out how to modify the sealing formula in the First's head when the Water Severing Wave suddenly reached him. Caught off guard, he had no time to dodge—the water jet pierced clean through his forehead, leaving a gaping hole. Ino then swiftly slashed sideways, slicing off a third of his skull.