After the intervention of the Sage of the Six Paths in the Impure World Reincarnation—
Hashirama and Uzumaki Mito opened their eyes in confusion and began to survey their surroundings.
"Hey, Tobirama—you got brought back too?!" Hashirama cheerfully waved at his brother, greeting him with enthusiasm. But the moment their eyes met, the smile froze on his face.
Tobirama did have red eyes—but within them, there was a pattern that should not have existed: the Mangekyō.
What… was going on?
More importantly, Tobirama looked unmistakably alive—his body radiated vitality—and he was even in Sage Mode!
Hashirama's expression hardened. His brows furrowed sternly, and he said in a grave voice, "Tobirama… so you really went this far!"
"I warned you long ago—not to covet the power of the Uchiha, and not to meddle with the boundary between life and death…"
"It seems after I died, you've done a lot of outrageous things!"
He turned sharply to Uzumaki Mito, flustered and distressed. "Mito, when did you pass away? Why didn't you stop him?!"
Uzumaki Mito was just as stunned, staring intently at Tobirama…
"Tobirama, you really took over Kazuki's body…"
She fixed her gaze on him and muttered, "This doesn't add up. With your personality, if you were planning to possess an Uchiha, there's no way you would've waited until Kazuki was that old to act…"
In the blink of an eye—
Uzumaki Mito's eyes flew wide open. "I get it now! You're trying to confuse me, aren't you? You were worried I'd figure it out and interrupt your possession of Kazuki with a sealing technique—so you waited until after I died to make your move!"
"Well done, Tobirama… You've even learned to scheme against me!"
She scanned the nearby Konoha shinobi, and her anger surged uncontrollably.
Tsunade's eyes were swollen from crying, and the Uchiha nearby all looked ready to explode with fury...
The Forest of Death itself resembled a battlefield from the Great Ninja Wars, scorched and torn apart by powerful jutsu.
Who was Konoha fighting?
It wasn't hard to tell—on one side stood Senju Tobirama, and on the other were the Uchiha, Root, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and others...
A glance was all it took to figure it out: this must be the aftermath of an internal conflict in the village after Tobirama possessed Kazuki!
"Hiruzen, you used the Impure World Reincarnation to summon the two of us—was it to stop Tobirama?"
Uzumaki Mito glanced coldly at Sarutobi Hiruzen's deeply conflicted expression and said icily, "Well done. Now that Tobirama has obtained the power of the Uchiha, ordinary jutsu won't be enough to deal with him…"
"You really would need to summon both me and Hashirama to deal with him!"
Senju Hashirama, though unfamiliar with this 'Kazuki', immediately realized he must be an Uchiha—
And not just any Uchiha, but one clearly respected by Mito, Tsunade, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and so many other Konoha shinobi.
Yet Tobirama had possessed him...
Hashirama was devastated. With a sharp clap of his hands, he entered Sage Mode in an instant, then pointed angrily at Tobirama and roared: "Tobirama! How many times have I told you—stop treating the Uchiha with so much hostility!"
"Once they joined Konoha, they became part of our village! What kind of Hokage are you supposed to be?!"
"Even if you are my little brother—if you've done something like this, you'll have to pay the price!"
Senju Tobirama stood motionless, numbly enduring the scolding from Hashirama and Mito.
At last, he understood why his reputation had gone down the drain…
It was all rotten from the root!
Senju Hashirama and Uzumaki Mito… they were practically his original PR nightmares.
The other Konoha shinobi, especially the Uchiha, couldn't help but feel a sense of warmth after hearing the scolding from the First Hokage and his wife.
That was the true will of fire—no favoritism, even for your own brother or husband's younger brother!
Sarutobi Hiruzen kept a straight face, struggling not to let the corners of his mouth curl upward.
See? Even if Tobirama was misunderstood, I wasn't the only one who thought so!
Didn't Hashirama-sama and Mito-sama think the same?
Truth be told, after Tobirama had explained his story with Kazuki, most—including Sarutobi Hiruzen and Tsunade—were halfway convinced. Then, when the idea of asking the
Nine-Tails to verify whether the Sage of Six Paths' chakra was inside Kazuki came up, they were just one step away from confirmation.
But now, after hearing what Hashirama and Mito had to say…
Everyone struggled to keep a straight face. Any guilt they had about possibly wronging Tobirama faded away.
Don't say we judged you unfairly—
Your big brother and sister-in-law think the same. If you want to blame someone, blame your own reputation!
Senju Tobirama fixed his gaze on Sarutobi Hiruzen's twitching mouth and said coldly, "My dear student, if you really can't hold it in—go ahead and laugh."
The words dear student—
They hit Sarutobi Hiruzen like a bucket of cold water.
Truthfully, from the moment he resurrected Uzumaki Mito and Senju Hashirama, he had already realized Tobirama had been wrongly accused.
Because if Tobirama truly had harmed Kazuki, then logic aside, he would never have agreed to face Hashirama again—
And to someone who knew both brothers as well as Sarutobi Hiruzen did, that was all the proof he needed.
Even if his shield had arrived—
It seemed his sensei still had no intention of letting him off the hook.
Sarutobi Hiruzen jolted and quickly held back Senju Hashirama and Uzumaki Mito, who looked ready to attack. He hurriedly explained: "Hashirama-sama! Mito-sama! There's been a misunderstanding with my sensei. It was actually his idea to revive you both! He wanted to gather strength to confront the Sage of Six Paths and rescue Kazuki. Please—remain calm!"
Senju Tobirama stood with his arms crossed, coldly watching Sarutobi Hiruzen drenched in sweat.
What a monkey.
Moments ago, he'd been shouting his name, swinging the Adamantine Staff straight at his face, bombarding him with the Five Release Great Combo Technique—and he even tried to use the Dead Demon Consuming Seal...
And now he was calling him 'sensei' again?
"Just you wait, dear student…" Tobirama muttered inwardly.
Hashirama turned around with a blank look. How did this get tied up with the Sage of Six Paths?
Had the shinobi world gone completely insane?
He'd been dead for decades, and now Konohagakure was taking on the Sage of Six Paths?
Uzumaki Mito, however, remained wary. She fixed her eyes on Tobirama, still clutching the Adamantine Sealing Chains in her hands.
Only when Kushina arrived did everyone gather around for the final confirmation.
And when Kushina saw the revived Senju Hashirama, Uzumaki Mito, and Senju Tobirama—who now possessed Mangekyō Sharingan—her mind went completely blank.
What the hell is going on?!
Kushina glared furiously at Tobirama. "You're the Second Hokage—how could you do something like this?!"
Senju Tobirama took a long breath...
Maybe it was time to reflect. Why was it that every single Konoha shinobi who showed up today had something nasty to say to him?
Yes, he was using Kazuki's ocular power, and yes, it probably looked strange.
But was there no one—no one at all—who would trust his legacy as the Second Hokage first and question him later?
They all skipped straight past 'trust' and dove headfirst into suspicion!
Even Tobirama was starting to crack a little under the pressure. For once, he really did feel like the 'inherently evil Senju ghost' being condemned by the entire world...
"Kushina, can you let the Nine-Tails speak?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen gently tried to calm the flame-haired Kushina, hoping to restore some dignity to Tobirama.
"Hashirama-sama, Mito-sama, and Tobirama-sama all have questions for it."
Inside Kushina's body, the Nine-Tails really wanted to yell— "Not answering. Go to hell!"
But then it caught sight of Uzumaki Mito—who had sealed it for nearly 40 years without a single slip-up, Senju Hashirama—who even Madara couldn't defeat without help, and Senju Tobirama—whose Mangekyō Sharingan looked almost identical to Kazuki's…
The Nine-Tails, borrowing Kushina's field of view, looked around again.
And there they were: two more pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan—Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Yashiro.
Tired. So damn tired.
This village was no place for a tailed beast anymore. Even if Kushina ripped the seal wide open and told it to run, the Nine-Tails wouldn't move an inch.
This village... these shinobi... were too damn dangerous.
"Nine-Tails," Senju Tobirama stepped up to Kushina, his Mangekyō staring straight into her eyes, his tone ice-cold.
"You've seen Kazuki before. Did you sense any chakra or presence in him resembling that of the Sage of Six Paths?"
"Move aside, Tobirama,"
Uzumaki Mito stepped between him and Kushina, raising her hand to sense the chakra within both Kushina and the Nine-Tails.
Good. No signs of genjutsu from the Mangekyō.
"Nine-Tails, there's no need to worry. Just answer honestly—we'll protect you," she said.
She patted Kushina on the shoulder.
"This time, Hashirama and I will stand by your side."
Tobirama clenched his teeth silently.
Unbelievable. His sister-in-law actually thought he'd secretly use his eyes to manipulate the Nine-Tails?
What did she think he was—Uchiha Madara?!
Although, now that he thought about it, using the Mangekyō to control tailed beasts was one of its known abilities...
Maybe when the tailed beasts killed by Kazuki eventually revived, he could try it out sometime... purely as a research project, of course.
The Nine-Tails took a deep breath.
With this kind of pressure, it looked like lying wasn't really an option anymore.
At least if it spoke now, it could preserve a shred of dignity...
Because if those three pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan, Senju Hashirama, and Uzumaki Mito all decided to gang up on it—
well, the fox was as good as cooked.
Even the mighty Nine-Tails knew—if it kept resisting, its fate wouldn't be pretty.
In today's Konohagakure, the Nine-Tails had come to embrace the idea that 'a wise fox knows when to submit'.
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