The coffins rose one after another from the ground, each containing various famed shinobi inside. All of them radiating intense aura that alone could make most freeze in fear. 

Kabuto hadn't summoned entire army, as there were only five coffins present on the cliff, but it was clear he wasn't taking him lightly. 

Kakuzu expected Kabuto to have already gathered quite number of shinobis, so there was no telling what he could have up his sleeve. He could only make assumptions as to whom else he could have reanimated, but he didn't remember much.

It was clear that Kabuto was some time away from fully assimilating Orochimaru’s cells though, and he hadn't yet stabilized his body. With that in mind, and sage mode out of the picture, Kabuto personally was not much of a threat to him. But Kabuto’s main strength didn't lay in his physical abilities. He was kind of person who managed to utilize resources in his disposal to the maximized and surpassed his limits.

And if he was given enough time to override Orochimaru's control and learn Senjutsu, he would become incomparably stronger than his previous self. With the help of Jugo’s cells, he would be able to indefinitely us Sage Mode. Not to mention, what combination of various genetic modifications could achieve. With that in mind, Kakuzu couldn’t let Kabuto to grow any longer.

Kakuzu riled up his chakra and approached Kabuto with a rapid speed. The red chakra had enveloped his body. He could see Kabuto bringing his palms together and followed by appearance of the coffins that simultaneously shielded Kabuto from his attack. Unfortunately, Kabuto couldn't completely stop him from casting the technique.

Coffins begun to open up one after another. First to be revealed was fourth Kazekage, the person who Orochimaru assassinated – Rasa. Second coffin housed Deidara, an explosion Release user. Those two weren't something Kakuzu couldn't deal with. He had prepared extensively for this, after all. And even if Kabuto improved the technique, Edo Tensei still couldn't replicate full strength of an individual. And he had prepared countermeasures for the immortality.

Kakuzu was not overly worried. It didn't seem like Kabuto would summon his entire army just to deal with him. And Satori was about tear Manda II in half. Who was more than enough to lessen his load.

That was, until next coffin opened up. When the lid slid of, it revealed lifeless vessel of Itachi Uchiha. However, it wouldn’t even take a second for him to step out of Coffin. Kakuzu was not fast enough to reach Kabuto in time. And reanimations were about to open their eyes and engage in free for all. 

Moment, he saw Itachi, he knew that he was in trouble. Defeating all those reanimations, alongside Itachi Uchiha would be a fool's dream. He had only small amount of time to act. And the outcome of the battle might be decided by right this second.

Kakuzu commanded spirits in vicinity to gather. Satori ignored the giant serpent wrapped around it's body, rose up from the sea and dove in towards Kabuto, releasing burst of firestorm in order to distract him, even if for just a moment.

Red chakra was concentrated around Kakuzu's right arm. Then it exploded outwards and shot towards the coffin where itachi was in. Before jutsu was fully completed, before a reanimated could open their eyes and walk out of their coffins, vessel of Itachi Uchiha was impaled with a red chakra that exploded from inside, splitting the body into pieces. The spirits with the various engraving on their threads appeared, rushing towards Itachi. The red chakra then split off from it's sides, divided into the spears that shot towards nearby Coffins. Deidara and Sasori, who were next to Itachi's, shared a similar fate. However, it couldn't extend fast enough to impale two remaining ones in time.

Suddenly, a sickle went flying towards Kakuzu. He dispelled the chakra hand, as the remaining reanimations had managed to emerge from the coffins. Keeping it would only be a waste of chakra. 

Kakuzu dodged the sickle, which next went flying towards the coffin that housed the body of Itachi. Sound of metal hitting something hard was heard and the sickle was deflected. Three human sized cocoons intertwined by the black tentacles stood in place where reanimation were just a moment ago. Those cocoons were the Spirits that had the sealing Kanji engraved onto them. Breaking them open wouldn't be easy. And just in case, Kakuzu had selected the ones with the earth affinity. Sealing itself possessed countermeasures so it wouldn't be torn open from the outside. And on top of that, the spirits had activated Diamond Morph technique. Kakuzu wasn't giving Kabuto any chances to retrieve his pieces.

With the main piece out of the picture, Kakuzu had put Kabuto in a difficult situation. Retreat wasn't an option any longer. 

Person who wielded the sickle was Hanzo the Salamander, who had been the fifth summoned.

Kakuzu rushed towards Hanzo, not wanting to give Kabuto more time. He clashed with the scythe, and effortlessly deflected it. He whistled in surprise. It seemed his opponent was weaker than he had initially expected. And who could blame him? After all, even if weakened, it was Hanzo he was talking about. A person who gave Sanin trio their title and someone who’s name was greatly feared even after his death. In his prime, he might be able to put up some fight. But he now realized that Hanzo in front of him was just a husk of his old self. And it was not just because he was a reanimated puppet. Nor because he was old, even. 

No, the true reason why this version of Hanzo was so underwhelming was because he wasn't same person who made Sanin retreat in shame. Rather, it was a person who spent rest of his life pathetically running away from his mistakes, until the day he was murdered like a dog by Nagato. The ferocious personality of Hanzo was gone, and while the fraction of it that he could muster might make regular shinobi shake with fear, it was laughable for person of Kakuzu's level. Gone the legend that Hanzo once was. There was only withered old man standing in front of Kakuzu.

Kabuto controlled Hanzo and blocked a kunai swung at him with some difficulty, next hit was even harder to parry, and next, he barely did so. Kakuzu sighed in both disappointment and relief. His next swing pushed Hanzo back several meters. Before Kakuzu could finish him off, a wave of sand came flying towards him. However, he had managed to damage the reanimation enough for his spirits to deal with him.

Before Hanzo's hands were reformed, dozen black creatures jumped out behind him, shooting numerous  fire and wind bullets at him. While Kabuto was more concentrated on controlling Rasa's sand to simultaneously defend himself and attack Kakuzu, he managed to dodge the attacks, but suddenly a kunai severed Hanzo's left leg and was unable to get away from the dozen or so monsters that jumped on him.

Kabuto clicked his tongue in annoyance. Who the hell was this lunatic and where had he come from? How dare he interfere with his plans? Now he couldn't retreat even if he was able to, as losing Itachi would be a tremendous loss.

It seemed Rasa wouldn't last much longer under enemy's relentless attacks either. Unfortunately, he couldn't stand idly and hope sand would bury his problems six feet under.

Left with no other choice, he controlled Rasa to create giant sand barrier around him, while puppet tried everything in his power to delay his opponent. Then, he brought his palms together again, summoning more reanimations. 

This time, he was able to complete the jutsu without being disturbed. The reanimations walked out of their coffins, lifeless eyes staring forward. Since that person was so determined to seal away Itachi, he shouldn't be that strong. While those weren't more useful that Itachi, they should be able to at least stall him. That, or his grand plans would pretty much end here.

The sand started to fall apart, and view outside was slowly revealed. Kakuzu was holding up mostly disintegrated Rasa, while one of those peculiar creatures was sealing him away. 

Kakuzu looked at the seven shinobi in front of him and sighed. Fortunately, he managed to get rid of Itachi, so he had some breathing room. But looking at the people Kabuto had summoned, he wondered how was this freak so quick to gather this much force.

Rasa was no means a weak, but there was simply nothing he could do against opponent who physically outmatched him to this degree. Kakuzu already held formidable power before, but with addition of new heart, Kyubi's chakra cloak, and spirit puppets, his strength had increased massively. Itachi was a different matter, however, and if he didn't have mirror and blade, maybe he might have some chance against him, but there were no what ifs in a battle. Being fair was opposite of what being a ninja represented, after all.

Out of the seven Kabuto summoned, Kakuzu wondered why would he include someone like Kimmimaro. Boy was talented, but he was far outmatched by pretty much everyone here. Paku of the sand was an interesting choice, as orbs of fire circling behind her could be bothersome if he wasn't careful. Haku and Zabuza could only play role as a distraction, but he guessed Kabuto threw them in just in case. However, next three weren't someone he could take lightly.

They were all shinobi from Kumogakure. Left and right stood Kinkaku and Ginkaku, the gold and silver brothers, who were surrounded in similar chakra cloak as him, but man in the middle was the one who could truly be considered a threat. The man who was famed with his absolute defense and lighting fast attacks. 

Third Raikage, even with his lifeless gaze, proudly stood in the middle of the group. His aura flared up, and blue hue enveloped his body. 

Meanwhile, Kimimaro placed his hands on the ground. 

Kakuzu felt huge concentration of chakra flowing underground. And the next moment, forest of bones exploded from the earth, rapidly consuming large area around Kakuzu.