[Timeline: Second Hokage Era]
[Year: 17th Year of Konohagakure]
[Unification Progress: 21%]
"Tobirama, are you okay?"
After batting away the Tailed Beast Bomb, Hashirama immediately spun around to check on Tobirama, activating his medical ninjutsu to heal him.
Feeling the powerful Yang Release chakra flowing through Hashirama's healing jutsu, Tobirama finally confirmed it—this was truly his elder brother, the living, breathing God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama!
"Big brother, it's really you!"
The longing in Tobirama's heart flooded out like a dam bursting.
Most shinobi were just like ordinary people—they never treasured what they had until it was gone, only then filled with regret and remorse.
Back when his brother was alive, he hadn't felt much about it.
He'd basically ruled with an iron fist, even daring to publicly call out the other Five Kage to their faces.
Hell, most of the time, the First Hokage Senju Hashirama barely managed the village's political affairs at all—it was almost entirely Tobirama handling everything single-handedly.
In everyone else's eyes, Tobirama was far more hardline, cold-blooded, and domineering than Hashirama.
But only Tobirama himself knew—he'd merely been operating under the shadow of his brother's legendary reputation, which allowed him to play the tough guy.
It wasn't until his brother actually died...
When he inherited the position of Second Hokage, the pressure came crashing down like a tidal wave from both inside and outside the village. Only then did he truly realize his limits, understand his own inadequacy.
Because of that, he could only act even more hardline.
Tobirama's contributions to the Leaf Village were immense. During his tenure as Second Hokage, he established numerous institutions and organizations.
He founded the Konoha Military Police Force to reduce destabilizing factors within the village.
He established the ANBU, directly commanded by the Hokage, strengthening centralized power.
He built the Konoha Ninja Academy, cultivating generation after generation of talented shinobi for the village.
And so on...
All of this demonstrated his superior political acumen. These systems were subsequently copied by other ninja villages across the nations, producing a profound impact on the shinobi world—essentially laying the core framework for ninja villages for decades to come.
But fundamentally, all of it was to solve internal and external threats, to compensate for the destabilizing factors caused by losing Senju Hashirama, that colossal Buddha protecting Konoha.
Sure, it had an effect—a big one, even.
But unfortunately, it still couldn't prevent the outbreak of the First Great Ninja War.
Especially the Hidden Cloud Village—they were dying to know: after losing Senju Hashirama, just how many tricks did Konoha have left up its sleeve?
Did they still deserve to occupy the most fertile, most strategically advantageous core territory in the entire shinobi world?
The results spoke for themselves.
At the cost of the Second Raikage, the Second Hokage, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, and numerous Cloud Village elites all dropping dead, the war finally ended.
However.
At this moment, thanks to Kai and Hashirama's intervention, that ending had already been rewritten. At the very least, Senju Tobirama could no longer die at the hands of Kinkaku and Ginkaku.
The entire World #2's timeline would inevitably undergo massive changes because of this.
...
"Tobirama, it's me!"
Hashirama nodded firmly, and looking at his brother who had aged so much, he too was filled with emotion.
"Big brother, you're not dead?"
"But... your body was clearly..."
Tobirama snapped back to reality and immediately asked in confusion.
He had personally sealed Hashirama's corpse and sent it to the Shikkotsu Forest for preservation.
How could his brother appear here?
Could he have been revived by some forbidden jutsu?
Something like his own Impure World Reincarnation?
But this was way too realistic! This powerful chakra, this terrifying life force—this was a perfectly flawless resurrection!
And he even seemed younger than before?
Did such a heaven-defying forbidden jutsu exist in the entire shinobi world? How come he didn't know about it?
"The situation is... a bit complicated. I'm not the elder brother you're familiar with, but I am indeed your elder brother."
"???"
Tobirama became even more confused. Was his brother playing some kind of riddle game with him? Did he even have the brain cells for that?
While the two were talking.
In the distance, Kinkaku was growing increasingly berserk.
Having almost completely lost his sanity, he couldn't even recognize Senju Hashirama. Dominated only by the aggregate of hatred's chakra, he thirsted to destroy everything in sight.
He even attempted to attack Senju Hashirama.
Hashirama glanced at the half-Tailed-Beast-transformed Kinkaku like he was looking at an annoying fly.
Without wasting words.
He clapped his hands together and activated Wood Style.
Wood Style: Hotei Technique!
A massive wooden hand shot up from the ground, and like pinching a baby chick, it instantly grabbed the Tailed Beast Kinkaku.
"ROAAAAR—!"
Kinkaku struggled frantically, resisting with all his might, unleashing power capable of shattering mountains and crushing boulders.
Unfortunately, he couldn't budge the wooden hand even slightly.
This was power that could even throw hands with a Perfect Susanoo—far beyond what a half-dead Tailed Beast Kinkaku could compete with.
The Wood Style giant hand continued to constrict, the immense force squeezing Kinkaku until he howled in agony.
Plus, Wood Style inherently had an extremely strong suppressive effect on Tailed Beast chakra—especially against a knockoff like this.
Soon, all the Tailed Beast chakra was forced back into Kinkaku's body by the Wood Style.
It directly broke Kinkaku's 'half-Tailed-Beast transformation,' returning him to human form and restoring his sanity.
But Hashirama didn't stop—instead, he continued applying pressure.
He gave Kinkaku absolutely zero chance to beg for mercy or make excuses.
"BOOM—!"
Having lost the protection of his Tailed Beast cloak, Kinkaku was instantly crushed into a pulp by the wooden hand, dead as dead could be.
Seeing this.
Only then did Hashirama release the Wood Style giant hand. Looking at Kinkaku's corpse, his face was full of killing intent, without a trace of his usual goofiness.
Anyone who dared attack his precious little brother had to die—no exceptions!
"Big brother..."
Tobirama's head shrank back slightly. Only he knew just how terrifying his brother was when truly enraged.
The title God of Shinobi wasn't earned by sweet-talking—it was forged by wading through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Loving peace and advocating for peace didn't mean Hashirama would show mercy to enemies.
All the people Naruto and Sasuke killed in their entire lives combined didn't equal what Hashirama killed in a single day during the Warring States period!
Not to mention, this was Hashirama fresh from the end of the Warring States era, not the elderly Hashirama who'd sheathed his blade for over a decade.
"It's fine."
"He tried to kill you. Death was too good for him!"
Hashirama withdrew his killing intent and turned back to Tobirama, continuing to heal him while comforting him.
His expression returned to its usual gentle demeanor.
Just then, Kai strolled over leisurely from the distance.
"Big brother, who is this person?" Tobirama immediately asked.
He was somewhat curious about Kai, who wore strange clothing and didn't have any headband.
But with his brother right beside him, his courage had swollen back up—he wasn't afraid of anything.
"This person is..."
Hashirama paused. Even now, he still didn't know Kai's name, having only addressed him as "sir" and "your excellency" this whole time.
"Kai. You may address me as Sir. Of course, you can also call me the 'Sage of Kai Path.'"
Hashirama's heart leaped with joy. Was this gentleman finally revealing his identity?
Sage of Kai Path? Sage of Six Paths? So he really was an existence on that level!
At this point, Hashirama was completely convinced of Kai's identity.
At the end of the day, time-space travel was simply too mind-blowing—it completely transcended the realm of ninjutsu. Besides believing, Hashirama had no other choice.
And Tobirama was even more shocked.
What kind of person was so arrogant as to dare claim they were on par with the legendary Sage of Six Paths?
But when he saw Kai's Rinnegan, along with his brother Hashirama's attitude, even if he had a mountain of doubts, he could only swallow them back down.
"Big brother, what exactly is going on between you and this gentleman?"
Hashirama looked toward Kai, who nodded, indicating he could tell World #2's Tobirama the truth.
After all, if they wanted to complete the mission of unifying the shinobi world in the future, they would need this Second Hokage Tobirama's groundwork anyway.
So Hashirama immediately gave a simple explanation of the current situation.
Tobirama was completely stunned after hearing it.
'The brother in front of me isn't the one who died, but one who traveled from the founding year of Konoha? Just to save me? I'm definitely going to die at the hands of Kinkaku and Ginkaku?'
This series of revelations was too massive. The second half was barely acceptable—after all, if Hashirama hadn't appeared, he probably really would have died here.
But the first half was too absurd.
A brother who traveled from over a decade ago? This wasn't some ninjutsu—this was basically a divine miracle!
But everything before his eyes was so real that Tobirama had no choice but to believe it.
At the same time, he became even more wary and vigilant toward this self-proclaimed Sage of Kai Path—though there was also a hint of gratitude for the life-saving favor.
...
"Senju Hashirama, you don't have much time left in this world. If there's anything you want to ask or discuss, hurry up and talk with your brother."
Kai reminded him.
Hashirama froze, then immediately became serious.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Since he'd already saved Tobirama, he might as well take advantage of this chance to ask more about future events.
At least he could avoid many mistakes and make Konoha's development more stable.
"Tobirama, can you tell me what exactly happened over these years?"
Tobirama held nothing back and immediately described the causes and process of the First Great Ninja War.
When he confirmed that his own death was the direct cause of the war's outbreak, Hashirama panicked even more, urgently asking:
"That's not right—even if I died, there's still Madara!"
"With him around, how would the other four nations dare to start a war?"
"This..."
Tobirama froze, unable to help but hesitate.
"Tobirama, what happened to Madara? Don't tell me he died before I did? Speak up!"
Tobirama had no choice but to answer reluctantly.
"The second year after the village was founded, Madara left Konoha alone. Ten years later, Madara captured the Nine-Tails and attacked the village. You fought Madara, big brother, and ultimately killed him at the Valley of the End..."
Hashirama was shocked: !!!∑(°Д°ノ)ノ