Hokage's Mistake: The True Face Beneath the Mask

The rooftop war turns existential. Orochimaru's Reanimation Jutsu stands the First and Second Hokage against their student, faces apologetic, bodies enslaved — and Sarutobi, naming each jutsu of theirs as it comes, understands that mercy is no longer on the menu. The episode lays out the Reaper Death Seal's terms in advance: a summoned death god, the user's soul as payment, the target's soul as prize. The Professor, too old to win and too responsible to lose, chooses the technique that kills both ways.