"What?! Did you say Senju Hashirama is attacking us?!"
Takigakure, High Council Meeting Room.
"Elders, it's absolutely true. I really saw the God of Shinobi enter the village," a Takigakure shinobi reported.
He didn't know what the higher-ups had previously discussed. He simply delivered the news so they could prepare accordingly.
After all, the one arriving was the God of Shinobi!
The upper echelon felt as if the sky had collapsed.
"That damn Kakuzu! It's bad enough that he failed the mission, but now he's betrayed the village!" A middle-aged man clenched his fists.
He had even shared intel with Kakuzu before. Who would've thought that bastard would turn out to be a backstabbing traitor!
Though the scroll Kakuzu had taken contained nothing, that was the intel he had gathered.
Because Senju Hashirama had no weaknesses, the intelligence was blank.
"W-What should we do now?" The white-haired elder's face turned pale as paper.
Senju Hashirama coming to Takigakure—there was no doubt what he was here for.
Just days ago, they had sent someone to assassinate him.
The high council had only wanted to vent some frustration, maybe even get Hashirama to kill Kakuzu for them—nothing more.
They truly hadn't expected Senju Hashirama would come knocking on their door!
With the power of the God of Shinobi, destroying Takigakure would be as easy as flipping a hand.
Regret now flooded their hearts.
"At this point, our only option is to insist this was Kakuzu acting alone and had nothing to do with the village!" another elder proposed.
"I believe as long as we show a good attitude and sincerely apologize, Senju Hashirama won't give us a hard time!"
The God of Shinobi was famously kind-hearted in the shinobi world.
Surely he wouldn't hold a grudge over something this small...
"Sigh… seems like that's our only choice."
...
Takigakure, on the street.
Renya swept his gaze around, sighing, "This place is so backward."
Even though Konoha was only recently founded and still under development, a great ninja village was still a great ninja village—no small-country village could compare.
The streets of Takigakure were lined with a few shops selling daily necessities, but the selection was limited. They barely encountered anyone along the way, making the place feel deserted.
"Renya, let's leave as soon as we finish gathering supplies," said Senju Hashirama. He clearly didn't find anything interesting here either.
As they finished packing away their purchases, both of them simultaneously turned to look in the same direction.
Three white-haired elders were hurrying toward them, followed by dozens of shinobi.
Renya could tell these ninja weren't very strong—mostly chunin, with only two jonin among them.
He grew curious—what were these people planning?
Could they actually be trying to mess with Senju Hashirama?
But with this kind of lineup… were they just delivering themselves to be slaughtered?
While Renya was still puzzled, the leading white-haired elder nervously opened his mouth.
"H-Hashirama-sama?"
Senju Hashirama scratched his head. "Old man, do you know me?"
Seeing that Hashirama responded, the elder's knees buckled and he immediately knelt on the ground.
"Hashirama-sama, please spare us!"
The rest of the group quickly followed suit and dropped to their knees.
Senju Hashirama: "???"
What's going on? Why are all of you kneeling?
Renya gave Hashirama a complicated look.
"Hashirama-ojisan, have you been doing bad things behind my back?"
"Renya, don't talk nonsense." Hashirama glared at him in annoyance.
Then he quickly stepped forward to try and help the elders up.
"Please, get up, everyone."
"Hashirama-sama, please spare our lives!"
"Hashirama-sama, we know we were wrong!"
The group showed no intention of getting up and kept kowtowing and begging for mercy.
While Hashirama was at a loss, Renya stepped forward and activated his Sharingan, fixing his gaze on the lead elder.
The elder instinctively looked up at the feet that had suddenly appeared in front of him.
Then he met a pair of scarlet eyes.
Caught off guard, he fell into Renya's genjutsu.
With Renya's current ocular power, invading the old man's mind was easy.
This method could easily turn the target into a vegetable, but given their suspicious behavior, Renya had no qualms.
They clearly weren't good people.
Memories of what had transpired in the council chamber began surfacing.
Renya's expression grew strange after he saw everything.
So Kakuzu wasn't bluffing—he had really gone to assassinate the God of Shinobi.
If they hadn't taken a wrong turn, they might've actually run into Kakuzu.
"Renya, what's going on?" Senju Hashirama, having seen Renya's actions, couldn't help but ask.
"Takigakure's upper echelon sent people to assassinate you. Our arrival made them think the plan failed, so they came out begging for mercy…" Renya explained.
The faces of those kneeling on the ground instantly went ghostly pale.
They hadn't expected there to be someone proficient in genjutsu beside Senju Hashirama.
Now their previous plan was completely exposed.
The elder who had been under genjutsu finally snapped out of it.
Realizing what had just happened, he buried his head even lower.
"Hashirama-sama, please have mercy!"
"We were just momentarily blinded by foolishness. Please give us another chance!"
"Takigakure is willing to submit to Konoha!"
The Takigakure leaders kowtowed frantically, begging for their lives.
Renya slowly drew the katana at his waist and turned to Hashirama.
"Hashirama-ojisan, how do you want to deal with them?"
As long as Hashirama gave the word, he would eliminate them without hesitation.
These people had tried to kill both him and Hashirama-ojisan—they had no right to keep living.
Upon hearing Renya's words, the Takigakure elders slammed their heads against the ground even harder.
"Hashirama-sama, please spare us…"
Senju Hashirama looked at the pitiful, pleading figures on the ground. His heart softened.
"Forget it, Renya. Let's go."
With that, he turned and walked away.
Hashirama was a kind and magnanimous man. He deeply understood the value of life and was unwilling to take it lightly.
Even when facing people who had tried to assassinate him, as long as they hadn't caused irreversible harm, he chose to forgive.
Renya didn't say much. He silently sheathed his blade and followed Hashirama.
He knew the only reason Hashirama could afford to act this way was because he possessed overwhelming strength.
He was confident enough to handle any assassination attempts and didn't see the assassins as a real threat.
As long as he could ensure his and his village's safety, Hashirama would remain compassionate and forgiving.
To spare enemies who had tried to take his life—only Hashirama would do such a thing in the shinobi world.
If it were any other shinobi, not wiping out Takigakure entirely would already be considered merciful...
The high-ranking officials of Takigakure collapsed to the ground as they watched Hashirama and Renya leave, their faces filled with the joy of surviving a disaster.
So close—so close to death!
Fortunately, they had gambled right—Senju Hashirama had really let them go!
"Hahaha! Surviving great danger means great fortune ahead!"
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(Chapter for the review)