"Hey, old man, what happened to you? Why do you look so drained?"
At breakfast the next morning, Renya looked at Senju Tobirama's pale face and sluggish demeanor, unable to stop himself from asking.
Just what kind of crazy stuff had this old man been doing in the lab last night to end up like this?
If someone didn't know better, they'd think he'd overindulged in pleasure or something.
Senju Tobirama was still lost in thought, replaying everything he'd seen in Renya's spiritual world.
That guy really had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan!
He had witnessed the power of Uchiha Izuna's and Uchiha Madara's Mangekyō Sharingan before, so he knew very well how terrifying those eyes could be.
Since that guy had awakened the Mangekyō, did that mean Renya had too?
After all, they were essentially the same person.
If that were true, why would Renya hide it from him?
Or perhaps... he hadn't awakened it yet.
In that mental world, that guy hadn't used any Mangekyō abilities — so whether it was real or not was still uncertain.
"Hey, old man? Old man?"
Renya's voice pulled him back to reality.
"Sorry, I was distracted just now," Senju Tobirama replied quietly.
His mental energy had suffered a severe blow — something that wouldn't recover in just a few days. At least ten days to half a month of rest would be necessary.
"I'm asking, what were you doing last night to end up like this?" Renya pressed, puzzled.
This clearly looked like overexertion of mental energy…
"A failed jutsu development — it backfired," Senju Tobirama explained.
Technically, he wasn't lying. Because he'd lost to that guy, his spirit had been badly injured.
He'd suffered from not having enough intel.
Who could have known that guy would be so troublesome even inside a spiritual realm?
Still, next time would be different.
"What kind of jutsu were you developing?" Renya asked curiously. "To leave you this exhausted?"
In the original timeline, this old man never developed any jutsu related to the mind or spirit, right?
Then again, that made sense — around this time in the original story, Senju Tobirama had already been killed by the Gold and Silver Brothers.
He'd been "logged off," so naturally he never had a chance to develop new techniques.
Thanks to Renya's interference, Tobirama hadn't exited the biological stage prematurely this time.
...
"A genjutsu-related technique," Senju Tobirama said, not wanting to explain further.
"Genjutsu?" Renya muttered under his breath. "Don't tell me it's meant to deal with the Uchiha?"
Though he hadn't spoken loudly, his words still reached the older man's ears clearly.
Senju Tobirama: "…"
This brat really guessed it right!
He was indeed trying to develop a new jutsu to fight that inherently evil Uchiha Renya within the spiritual world!
Who would've thought he'd get caught before he even started?
"Old man, you're not seriously planning to use that against the Uchiha, are you?" Renya asked again when Tobirama remained silent, realizing he'd probably hit the mark.
Come to think of it, this old man had already developed plenty of jutsu specifically to counter the Uchiha. A few more wouldn't be out of place.
After all, the Uchiha clan was always up to something.
If he didn't take precautions now, it would be a huge problem if they decided to rebel later.
But the current ninja world wasn't the same as in the original timeline — if the Uchiha rebelled too early, things would get complicated.
Uchiha Itachi hadn't even been born yet at this point.
As for the whole clan massacre… well, that was better left to the weasel.
That guy was a master of exterminating his own clan.
Right now it was Year 20 of Konoha. If he remembered correctly, Uchiha Fugaku should be born around this time, or perhaps already had been.
Uchiha Itachi was born in Year 43, and the average marriage age for shinobi was around twenty.
So Fugaku would've been born roughly these years.
He didn't know for sure — he wasn't exactly close to the Uchiha clan these days.
It's not like he could just walk up and ask them.
Even if he tried, there was no way they'd tell him!
After all, he was known as the Uchiha clan's traitor.
Maybe in the future he could find a way to stop Itachi from being born altogether.
Even though he'd left the Uchiha, who knew if the weasel would spare him during the clan's annihilation?
Thirty years from now, Renya would be in his fifties, his physical strength bound to decline.
The saying "age fears youth" applied everywhere.
And with Itachi's Mangekyō, at that age he'd have no chance of coming out unscathed.
Even if he couldn't be sure how much the plot had already changed because of his actions, it never hurt to stay cautious.
Uchiha Itachi's madness was pathological — he'd slaughtered his parents and clan for the sake of the village, sparing only his younger brother.
It was probably Uchiha Fugaku's parenting that made him that way — dragging a child to witness war at such a young age.
A boy that age should've been playing in the dirt, not pondering the weight of life and death. No wonder his mind snapped.
Especially since the Uchiha were already the clan most prone to psychological instability.
If worst came to worst, Renya could simply prevent Fugaku from ever being born — or make sure he never reached adulthood, or couldn't have children. That would solve the problem at its root.
That way, there'd be no tragic Uchiha clan massacre in the future.
Funny, isn't it? A clan that had stood strong for thousands of years in the shinobi world, destroyed by their own hand.
How pathetic...
"What are you thinking about, kid?" Senju Tobirama couldn't help asking when Renya stayed silent for too long.
This brat didn't actually think he was planning to wipe out the Uchiha, did he?
Though the Uchiha did have their issues, right now they weren't a real threat to the village. He just needed to tighten surveillance a bit.
If they ever did rebel one day, he'd only strike down the ringleaders — never the innocent.
Tobirama recalled the scene he'd witnessed in the spiritual world yesterday.
The Uchiha, wiped out by their own.
That guy had shown him that scene — what was he trying to imply?
Did he think Tobirama himself would destroy the Uchiha clan?
Utter nonsense!
Since the Uchiha had joined the village, they were part of Konoha.
It wasn't like he couldn't tell right from wrong.
If he'd truly wanted to act against them, he could've done so when Madara lost the war.
People said that the Senju and the Uchiha had built the village together — but in truth, the Uchiha had lost and been forced to join.
Hashirama had just wanted to preserve a shred of dignity for Madara, because of the dream they'd once shared as children.
And yet those Uchiha actually saw themselves as co-founders of the village?
Ridiculous.
...
"Never mind, old man. You're not going to the lab today?"
"No. I plan to rest for a few days."
Tobirama shook his groggy head.
"I'll go to the office to check how Danzo and Hiruzen are doing with the document reviews."
In his current condition, he couldn't possibly develop any jutsu to deal with that guy.
He might as well take some time to recover at home — and check how well those two were handling paperwork in the meantime.
Saying that, he got up and, despite his unsteady steps, walked out of the house.
Renya sighed softly as he watched him leave.
"Look at you… already half-dead and still thinking about politics."
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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