Haseo's performance in the jungle was far more seasoned. His skills in vigilance, route-finding, and movement rivaled those of experienced ninja—if one excluded the multiple uses of chakra.
Very soon, he found his own earlier footprints and "pieced together the clues," making his way back to where The Second Hokage had been cremated.
"There's no sign that anyone else has been here." At first glance, Haseo immediately made this judgment... previously, he had never imagined returning to this place again.
The massive hollow tree had turned to ashes along with The Second Hokage's remains, mixed with the autumn rain that had fallen days earlier, forming a gray sludge that coated the ground. If anyone had come near here before, they would have certainly left footprints on it.
However, his conclusion went unnoticed—or rather, received no response at all. Sansho, Homura Mitokado, and Kagami Uchiha simply stood motionless, silently accepting the situation.
This unknown wilderness was the last place The Second Hokage had stayed—the site of his burial. His charred remains were now mingled with plant ash on the earth. For Sansho and the others, even an accidental step onto this ground would be considered disrespectful and sacrilegious... none wished to disturb The Second's eternal rest.
Reflecting further on Tobirama Senju, who had echoed across the Ninjutsu World since the Warring States Era, finally passing away peacefully in such an obscure location, leaving behind a body that couldn't even be recovered, ultimately accompanied only by a quiet young boy—though for the Hokage himself, this death might not have been entirely without regret, at least he died having fulfilled his wish. But for his family and disciples, it truly was an unbearable grief.
Haseo quickly sensed their emotions from their expressions, then turned his head and said to Sakumo Hatake, "Sakumo, come with me. Let's go search for Kinkaku and Ginkaku's corpses."
"But..." Sakumo hesitated—was it appropriate to act so independently? In this ninja squad, the authority to issue orders did not belong to Haseo.
"Let's go." Yet Haseo disregarded Sakumo's hesitation, firmly pulling him away from this place.
At this moment, it was better to leave the three of them alone for a while longer.
Previously, Haseo had been carried unconscious into the tree hollow by The Second Hokage, so using the tree hollow as a reference point, he didn't know the exact location of Kinkaku and Ginkaku's bodies. But they must have been nearby; considering The Second Hokage's condition back then, there was no way he could have moved Haseo over a long distance while the latter remained unconscious.
Therefore, taking the site of The Second Hokage's sacrifice as the center, Haseo and Sakumo Hatake began searching outward in a fan-shaped pattern. Before long, they located the two corpses.
"Judging from the degree of decomposition, these two don't really look like people who died almost a week ago."
"Quickly approaching the corpses, after examining them separately, Sakumo Hatake said... At this point, there was no telling who was Kinkaku and who was Ginkaku... The smell coming from the bodies wasn't severe. The image of insects and ants devouring their remains deep into the forest simply didn't materialize.
Thinking for a moment, Haseo said, "Maybe it's because they absorbed some preservatives while they were alive."
He recalled how these two had once swallowed part of the Nine-Tails' chakra. It likely had strong antibacterial properties.
"Would any ninja actually preserve their own body while still alive?" Sakumo expressed serious doubts about Haseo's speculation. However, the fact that these two bodies could remain intact until now must have been related to their physical constitution; he just couldn't determine exactly why.
Sakumo continued, "You stay here. I'll go call the team leader."
The official team leader was Homura Mitokado, but in reality all decisions were made through discussion among the three—Sakumo, Haseo, and Homura. At this point, they should have finished mourning The Second. It shouldn't be an issue for Sakumo to bring them over.
Meanwhile, Haseo stayed behind, searching thoroughly for various items... One reason why Kinkaku and Ginkaku possessed such formidable combat power when they were alive was because they had absorbed part of the Nine-Tails' chakra. Another reason lay in their possession of multiple powerful ninja tools.
The sword and gourd destroyed by The Second Hokage were two of those tools. Haseo collected the fragments of these two items first. However, since they had already been completely destroyed, these tools lost their original functions and became mere scrap metal.
It remained uncertain whether Kumo would even collect such souvenirs...
Sakumo Hatake came and went swiftly. Before long, he brought the other three people back to this location. At this time, Sansho and the others had already calmed down emotionally. At least nothing unusual showed on their faces anymore.
"So these are Kinkaku and Ginkaku? Are we sure about that?" When they arrived, Sansho asked with a furrowed brow as he looked at the two unrecognizable corpses.
Under these circumstances, determining their identities solely based on facial features and physical characteristics would indeed be difficult.
"There's no doubt — they're the ones." Homura Mitokado first examined the fragments of ninja tools collected by Haseo, then spoke confidently, "These are the ninja tools used by Kinkaku and Ginkaku. They're called [Seven-Star Sword] and [Benihisago]."
Next, he approached one of the corpses and lifted up its arm, displaying a light golden rope wrapped around it. "[Kokinjo]! So this corpse must belong to Kinkaku... Unexpected that neither Cloud nor other villages' ninja found them earlier."
Their movement speed hadn't been particularly fast — not unlike better-late-than-never kind of pace — yet somehow they managed to find the bodies untouched. Before seeing the bodies, they had worried someone else might beat them to it. Specifically speaking, six days had already passed since the attack at the Alliance Ceremony, and at least three days since Kinkaku and Ginkaku fell in battle against The Second. Thus, the fact these two bodies hadn't been discovered by others yet was truly a stroke of luck.
This had a lot to do with how the Second Hokage managed to stall. The alliance ceremony was being held within the Land of Lightning when Kinkaku and Ginkaku, along with an elite group of ninja, launched a surprise attack—Raikage was killed on the spot. The Second Hokage escaped with his disciples, intentionally drawing attention before splitting up and going separate ways. In the end, he fell in battle in the Land of Rice Fields. You could tell he'd been fighting while constantly pulling back all the way, holding out alone for three full days before finally achieving a last-ditch one-for-two victory.
"The previous stretch of rainy weather really came in handy," Sansho explained. "Not only did it hide the Second's battle route, but even the fire meant to burn his body went unnoticed because of the poor visibility from the rain... Still, who could have imagined they'd end up dying so far away unless they saw it with their own eyes?"
The forest still showed clear signs of the downpours from days ago; the rain had hidden much of the Second's battle with Kinkaku and Ginkaku—but that was just one piece of the puzzle. Just as Sansho said, who could possibly predict beforehand that under such an extremely disadvantageous situation, the Second Hokage would manage to drag the fight all the way to the Land of Rice Fields?
That was truly a battle fought alone, with no chance of backup—an endless struggle full of despair, yet also carrying comfort and hope.
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