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[Fifth Mizukage - Mei Terumi]: Lord God of Shinobi?!
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: …
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: …
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: Well…
Hashirama opened his mouth to speak.
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: Actually, I didn't feel like I was the one in control just now.
[Tobirama Senju]: Eh?
Tobirama froze.
[Tobirama Senju]: Wait a minute!
[Tobirama Senju]: Are you saying that the person fighting Uchiha Madara just now… wasn't you?!
Could it be—the one battling Uchiha Madara just now wasn't actually Hashirama?
As Tobirama raised this question, the group chat immediately exploded.
[Descendant Chat Group (^_-)]
[Fifth Mizukage - Mei Terumi]: ??? That wasn't the First Hokage fighting Madara?!
[Cowardly - Ōnoki]: ???
[Cowardly - Ōnoki]: That's impossible! That was Wood Style!
[Cowardly - Ōnoki]: The reanimated Lord Hashirama was clearly using Wood Style!
[Tobirama Senju]: If I'm not wrong, he even used Sage Art Wood Style!
Tobirama joined in, because—
That shouldn't be possible.
[Tobirama Senju]: Big Brother was reanimated. So if it wasn't him controlling it…
[Tobirama Senju]: Was he being controlled by someone else?
[Tobirama Senju]: But if that were true, he should've sensed it and tried to resist.
[The Man Who Kicked Madara with Eight Gates]: …
[The Man Who Kicked Madara with Eight Gates]: ??? Kakashi, what's going on?
[Kakashi Hatake]: …Don't ask me, I have no clue either.
Yeah.
Nobody knew.
It looked like Lord Hashirama defeated Uchiha Madara—who had summoned a 200-meter Susanoo—yet now it turns out… he wasn't even the one doing it?!
[Tobirama Senju]: Could there have been something wrong with the Edo Tensei?
[Tobirama Senju]: …But that's unlikely.
[Tobirama Senju]: I was reanimated myself, after all.
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: …
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: I really didn't feel anything. No control. No sense of being there.
[Tobirama Senju]: …
[Tobirama Senju]: Then did you at least feel your soul being summoned?
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: I remember asking you earlier, and you said there'd be a pulling sensation.
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: But I waited for a while—and felt nothing.
[Tobirama Senju]: This…
[Tobirama Senju]: I don't get it anymore.
Everyone was stunned.
[Minato Namikaze]: …
[Minato Namikaze]: Do you guys think there's a chance it was something like this?
[Tobirama Senju]: What is it, Minato?
[Minato Namikaze]: Hmm… I suspect this Edo Tensei Hashirama wasn't actually Hashirama.
[Tobirama Senju]: ??
[Minato Namikaze]: Remember during the Chūnin Exams?
[Minato Namikaze]: Orochimaru disguised himself as Anko, but Kitahara Kaede caught him and replaced him with a Wood Clone. No one noticed the switch, and the exams continued smoothly.
[Minato Namikaze]: So maybe it was the same thing just now—Kitahara Kaede used a Wood Clone to trick everyone.
[Minato Namikaze]: He fooled Madara… and us.
[Fourth Raikage - Ay]: So you're saying… my disciple Darui might not be dead?!
[Minato Namikaze]: …
Nobody bothered to respond to the Raikage.
Because—after that fight, the Hidden Cloud basically didn't exist anymore.
No point listening to a ghost ramble.
[Tobirama Senju]: …So… should we consider this?
[Tobirama Senju]: Kitahara Kaede intended to reanimate my brother, but something went wrong.
[Tobirama Senju]: So instead, he used his own Wood Clone.
[Tobirama Senju]: Could it be that Kakuzu actually lied?
[Tobirama Senju]: Kaede realized the deception, and to prevent Madara from noticing and causing chaos—
[Tobirama Senju]: He sent out his Wood Clone disguised as Big Brother, fooled Madara, and drove him away?
[Tobirama's Achievement - Izuna]: So… so that's how it is.
[Tobirama's Achievement - Izuna]: That means my Big Brother lost to Kitahara Kaede.
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: …
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: You know what… now that you say it, I kinda believe it too.
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: Yeah… that Edo version of me…
The live broadcast was still going.
And Hashirama continued:
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: That was actually a Wood Clone.
[Tobirama Senju]: …
[Tobirama Senju]: …Incredible!
Meanwhile—
Kakuzu had already left the Hokage's office…
…but he was holding two money boxes.
He walked to Ichiraku Ramen and left the boxes there.
"This is Kitahara Kaede's stuff," Kakuzu told them. "He'll come for it later."
"Also—two ramen to go," he added.
A while later, Kakuzu walked out carrying just the ramen.
He sighed.
"Sigh…"
"What the hell am I even doing?"
Yes.
What was Kakuzu doing?
At first, he was recruited by Pain, who promised wages and a seat at the table if he joined Akatsuki.
But now—even the 80 million ryo bounty…
He had to front the money himself.
Because Akatsuki had no cash.
So in the end, he joined the group, got no salary, and even had to bleed money himself?
This doesn't feel right, boss!
Well… at least he got 30 million back this time.
Still, Kakuzu remembered how he'd ransomed Sasori from the Sand Village:
"You offered 80 million for Sasori."
"I only took 60 million and told everyone I accepted 80."
"In return—you help me complete one mission…"
And that led to this. He used a fake hair strand to impersonate Hashirama and went to Konoha.
And in the end? Aside from eating two bowls of Ichiraku ramen—
He didn't make a single coin.
Because Akatsuki's funds?
Still his money.
Sure, they said he could reimburse the full amount later—but he'd need Pain to sign off first.
Kakuzu was definitely in a slump.
Meanwhile—Hashirama had a chilling realization.
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: …
[Tobirama Senju]: Big Brother? What's wrong?
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: How do I say this… I just thought of something.
[Tobirama Senju]: What?
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: Tobirama, when Madara activated his Rinnegan, you couldn't see his clones, right?
[Tobirama Senju]: Right.
[Tobirama Senju]: Madara is still as cunning as ever.
[Tobirama Senju]: He summoned clones I couldn't even see and beat me with pure taijutsu. No wonder I lost.
[Tobirama's Achievement - Izuna]: …
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: I think that ability came from the Rinnegan. A new power.
[Tobirama Senju]: A new power, huh?
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: Yeah. Madara was reanimated, and if I was also reanimated… who do you think would win in a head-on clash?
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