Seeing Tobirama praise Hiruzen, Danzo's jealousy immediately flared. He cleared his throat a few times, trying to draw Tobirama's attention.
However, everyone present was busy answering Uchiha Madara's questions, so no one paid him any mind.
"Uchiha Madara, these Rinnegan are yours, right?"
Orochimaru smiled lightly and took out the Rinnegan he had seized from Zetsu.
"What about Nagato? What exactly is going on here?" Madara's arm, due to the Edo Tensei, had already begun to regenerate.
But because Orochimaru, the user, controlled it firmly, Madara could not resist.
Although he didn't directly answer Orochimaru's question, Madara's reaction showed that Orochimaru's guess was correct. So he continued speaking:
"Zetsu is indeed the will of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya. That's true. The stone monument you saw has also been verified—it had been altered. Everything you arranged, in the end, can only allow the other party to revive from the seal."
Orochimaru laid out a set of documents he had prepared in front of Madara. At the same time, Zetsu's evasive expression indirectly confirmed Orochimaru's words.
It took Uchiha Madara a long time to process all of this.
His expression visibly began to collapse, and even his Edo Tensei state was affected.
Seeing Madara on the verge of a complete breakdown, Orochimaru hurriedly channeled chakra to reinforce the Edo Tensei technique.
As expected, this technique still needed modification to be effective in actual combat.
"Orochimaru, you went through all the trouble of using Edo Tensei to summon us, not just to break Madara's defense, right?"
Although Tobirama was happy to see Madara lose his composure, he strongly disliked the abuse of Edo Tensei, especially the summoning of himself.
"That's right. This time, I summoned all of you to verify certain speculations and to get some answers from you directly."
Orochimaru spoke his purpose frankly.
First, the owner of the Rinnegan—Madara—had already confirmed that.
Second, Tobirama's research. Some of his results had gone missing after his sudden death. Orochimaru wanted to know where these research findings were stored.
Seeing that Orochimaru's actions were ultimately for the shinobi world, Tobirama revealed the locations of some of his secret research facilities.
"Madara…" Feeling a bit bored since no one paid attention to him, Hashirama walked over to Madara to comfort his friend.
"Get lost, Hashirama." Madara, in a foul mood, ignored him. Looking at Black Zetsu in Danzo's hand, Madara wanted to tear him apart.
Startled by Madara's rebuke, Hashirama retreated to a corner and resumed his self-isolation mode.
"So, who is the current Hokage?" Tobirama, conversing with Orochimaru, asked this question after hearing that the Fourth Hokage had stepped down.
Hashirama perked up his ears, eager to know the answer.
"Cough, it's me…" Danzo, ignored for so long, felt ecstatic and hurried forward.
"Wait, you're Danzo? Why do you have Uchiha chakra?!" Tobirama had just begun sensing Danzo's chakra and felt familiar energy, along with various other traces.
"Not just the Uchiha—why do you have my brother's cells too?!"
Tobirama's rapid-fire questions left Danzo dumbfounded.
Wasn't this supposed to be his moment to boast that his son was the Hokage?
How did it turn into an interrogation?
Danzo took a moment to answer all of Tobirama's doubts and then proudly announced the answer he had been preparing: "The current Hokage is my son—"
"What are you doing?" Takeshi's voice interrupted Danzo's response.
Everyone turned to see Takeshi standing at the door.
"Fifth Hokage, when did you return?"
Sakumo was surprised by his appearance and went forward to greet him.
"Not long ago, just enough time for a quick fight. By the way, aren't you the First and Second Hokage? Oh, and Uchiha Madara, Orochimaru, you didn't take my words seriously, huh?"
Seeing the summoned shinobi, Takeshi wasn't particularly surprised and even correctly named them all.
After arriving in the village, he couldn't find the Fourth Hokage and others. Asking Shikaku, he learned they were all in the research bureau.
"Monkey, this is the Fifth Hokage? Why is he just a child?"
Tobirama frowned, displeased at Takeshi's flippant tone.
"And why does this child have my brother's cells and even chakra from the Uzumaki clan?"
Hearing this, Danzo scratched his head, feeling a bit guilty.
Takeshi paused, then turned to Tobirama: "I have Hashirama's cells? How come I didn't know?"
Then, Takeshi seemed to realize something and looked at Danzo.
He had a vague suspicion, though it was a bold one.
After a moment, Takeshi braced himself and asked Danzo: "Old man, could it be that our family is a branch of the Senju?"
"Traitor!"
…
After Danzo's guilty explanation, Takeshi finally understood that his father had secretly injected him with Hashirama-enhanced fluid without his knowledge.
You really know how to play, old man. Don't tell me you didn't almost blow me up.
Takeshi felt a sudden chill of fear.
Tobirama was also displeased with Danzo's excessive reliance on human experimentation.
Although he had also conducted various studies on the Uchiha clan, it was all to better understand his enemies.
Danzo's actions, however, were aimed at integrating those powers into his own body—a practice that was bound to backfire sooner or later.
Hashirama was even more speechless. He had thought that after so many years of development, the ninja world would show new progress, but instead, what he got was their study of him, a response both ridiculous and exasperating.
"Hahaha, Hashirama, your so-called ninja village model has indeed come to this step. No, this isn't really your fault. After all, with a Second Hokage as a predecessor, it's natural that future generations would imitate."
Madara finally showed the first smile since being reanimated through Edo Tensei.
"Shut up, Madara!" Tobirama snapped, visibly annoyed.
"In any case, if you summoned us just for this, then I think I've answered enough. Just release the Edo Tensei already!"
Tobirama didn't want to remain in the living world for even another minute. At this moment, all he wished was to return to the Pure Land.
As for this so-called Ōtsutsuki stuff they kept talking about, sorry, he hadn't studied any of that. His interest had always been solely with the Uchiha.
Takeshi ignored the group. Edo Tensei—he didn't want Orochimaru researching it, worrying that this amoral fool might cause some disaster.
Now that Sakumo was watching, he had fewer worries.
After leaving the research bureau, Takeshi went to Konoha Hospital.
Jiraiya's injuries were manageable. Apart from some recurring tears in his back, the rest were fine.
As for Naruto, he was even healthier.
With three people protecting him, he had only suffered minor scrapes while avoiding attacks.
"Um, Naruto… do you have a girl you like right now?"
Watching Naruto bounce around in the hospital room, Takeshi couldn't hold back and asked the question he had hesitated over for so long.
"Ah? Takeshi… isn't it a bit early to ask this now…" Naruto's face turned red, clearly embarrassed by the question.
"It's nothing. Just consider it a topic among guys, anyway there's no one else in the room." Uchiha Hikari had gone to eat, Jiraiya was in the next treatment room, leaving only Takeshi and Naruto in the hospital room.
"Even if you put it that way…" Naruto scratched his head, unsure how to answer.
"Alright, then I'll ask another question. When you have a child, will you bring them to see me?" Takeshi smiled, resting his arm on the table by the hospital bed, his hand supporting his face.
"That's even worse!" Naruto retorted.
This just jumped straight from dating to marriage and kids. That's way too fast.
"Rather than me bringing them to see you, wouldn't it be more likely that you'd come find them yourself?" Naruto teased, yet still voiced his thoughts.
Is that so… so that's why the genius didn't recognize me?
Takeshi kept smiling, though inside he felt an odd mix of nervousness and relief.
"Naruto, you know, until recently, my biggest dream was to become a wealthy man."
"Why are you suddenly saying this?" Naruto asked, struggling to keep up with Takeshi's rapid change in topic.
"It's nothing. Anyway, train well. In the future, I'll be relying on you guys to fight our enemies."
Takeshi stood up from the chair, walked to Naruto, patted his head, and waved as he left the hospital room.
Stepping out of the hospital doors, Takeshi looked at the dimming sky, arms crossed over his chest, lost in thought.
"The future… hm, we'll see."
He punched the air toward the sky and activated Flying Thunder God, disappearing from the hospital entrance.