In the dense forest of the Land of Hot Water, Hiruzen, wearing his monkey mask, was moving through the trees with Danzō following behind.
"Hiruzen, do we really not need to go and support the Hokage-sama?" Danzō asked softly.
Hiruzen's tone was a bit relaxed as he replied, "There's no need. We'll just do our own thing. The enemies chasing them are just the two brothers, Kinkaku and Ginkaku. There's no way Hibari and the Hokage-sama could lose to them!"
Danzō was silent for a moment, then he said, "I can only hope everything goes smoothly..."
Pausing for a moment, Danzō continued, "Based on recent events, is Tobirama-sensei planning to have you succeed him as Hokage?"
While moving through the treetops, Hiruzen replied, "Perhaps. Hibari mentioned this to me a few days ago. But this is something anyone can ask, but I, of all people, cannot ask Sensei about it, can I?"
Upon hearing Hiruzen's words, Danzō's mind was filled with many thoughts. In the end, he smiled somewhat helplessly and said, "I've lost to you again in the end. I really wanted to contend with you for the position of Third Hokage as well..."
In truth, if you were to ask who truly inherited Tobirama's 'core philosophy', it wasn't Hiruzen, but rather Danzō.
Tobirama was cautious of the Uchiha clan, and Danzō also fundamentally distrusted the Uchiha clan. When Tobirama was Hokage, he upheld his 'ruthless' principles, and Danzō would also become a truly 'ruthless' person in the future.
However, Tobirama still chose Hiruzen as his successor. On one hand, it was because of the Sarutobi clan. On the other hand, it was because he saw that Danzō had a fatal flaw: his ambition was great, but his abilities didn't match it, and he was too extreme.
Although these traits had yet to be fully revealed by Danzō Shimura, and perhaps he himself hadn't realized them, Tobirama had already seen them.
Even if Danzō had a thousand advantages, he possessed the two most unacceptable flaws for a Hokage. So Tobirama decided that he was not a suitable person to be Hokage, and ultimately chose to train Hiruzen.
It must be said that Tobirama was very good at judging people. The future Danzō did indeed become extreme. If he had really become Hokage, who knows what he would have done to Konoha? Whether for good or bad, the overall atmosphere of Konoha would have become dark, oppressive, and even ruthless. A Hokage can be ruthless, but the people in the village cannot.
Furthermore, his actions during the Five Kage Summit, after he became acting Hokage for a while, showed that his ambition was great but his abilities didn't match. He wanted to use Shisui Uchiha's Sharingan to control General Mifune of the Land of Iron to seize control of the Allied Shinobi Forces. In the end, his plan was exposed before he even got started. Then he went on to make an outrageous statement, saying that he would unify the shinobi world by any means necessary to achieve true peace...
In the end, he was killed by Sasuke before he could even make it back to Konoha after making that statement. He was truly a person who failed at everything he tried.
Hiruzen chuckled after hearing Danzō's words and said, "Danzō, you're only one step behind. Perhaps you'll have a chance to catch up with me in the future. Come on."
"Don't get too ahead of yourself, Hiruzen. I'll catch up to you sooner or later," Danzō also said with a laugh.
At this time, although the two were competing with each other, Danzō hadn't yet gone down the dark path, so he never hid many things from Hiruzen, his best friend, such as his ambition to become Hokage. After all, that wasn't anything to be ashamed of.
Leaving Hiruzen and Danzō to their friendly rivalry, the two brothers Kinkaku and Ginkaku also chased deep into the forest.
Stopping his movements, Ginkaku frowned and said hesitantly, "Kinkaku, the trail stops here, and the situation around here feels a bit off... Could it be an ambush?"
Kinkaku also stopped his movements. He looked around and then said, "This is the spot. The trail of one person changed into the trail of two people. Perhaps they split up... An ambush is unlikely. Does that Tobirama really think he can beat us even with a body that can't even walk straight?"
As soon as Kinkaku's words fell, four purple flame walls instantly rose from all sides of the forest, sealing the area. Seeing this, the Kinkaku and Ginkaku brothers, who had fought on countless battlefields, instantly recognized the formation!
"Four Violet Flames Formation!!!" Ginkaku exclaimed in shock.
As soon as his words fell, he suddenly felt an unknown sense of threat erupt from the bottom of his heart. This feeling had saved his life countless times, so he instinctively yielded to it, lunging forward and rolling on the ground to move away from his spot.
As Ginkaku made this move, Kinkaku also followed the sound and looked at Ginkaku. At the spot where Ginkaku had just been standing, Tobirama, who was holding a short blade and had almost slit Ginkaku's throat, was standing there.
At this moment, where was the feeble, staggering weakness that Tobirama had shown before?
On the ground at his feet, a Flying Raijin Technique formula covered by fallen leaves was also spotted by the sharp-eyed Kinkaku. Connecting the dots with the Four Violet Flames Formation that had just risen, there was no doubt: this was a trap, and the prey was the two of them who had walked right into it.
"You're the first person to instinctively avoid my Flying Raijin Technique formula, Ginkaku..." Tobirama said softly, looking at Ginkaku, who was slowly getting up from the ground.
A cold sweat trickled down Ginkaku's forehead. If he had been even slightly slower, he would have been gutted. Even if he had survived by some chance, he would have been severely injured, a burden to his brother Kinkaku!
"The Four Violet Flames Formation. You're not thinking of taking on the two of us by yourself, are you?" Ginkaku said, looking at Tobirama in a deep voice.
As soon as his words fell, a bolt of lightning flashed out, colliding with Kinkaku at an extremely fast speed. Kinkaku was also extremely familiar with this lightning. A surge of fury instantly rose in his heart.
His arm had been severed by this guy!!!
Unlike before, Hibari and his team didn't have any identifiers back then. But at this time, Hibari was wearing a bird mask on his face and a set of Anbu clothes. Kinkaku recognized his figure with just a glance and roared, "So it was you, Senju Hibari!!!"
"Die!" Hibari also roared, the Lightning Release chakra on his arm becoming even more dazzling.
All of Kinkaku's old and new hatred for Hibari came rushing back. At the same time, as an 'old rival' who had fought Hibari once, he would not underestimate Hibari's strength; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to face the fact that he'd lost an arm.
In just a moment, Kinkaku entered his crimson half-tailed beast state. He didn't hold back at all against Hibari's lightning-infused fist. A large amount of Nine-Tails chakra was condensed in his hand, and he charged at Hibari's fist!
"Raging Lightning Bolt!!!"
"Fox Fire Rage!!!"
Bang!
With a loud bang, Hibari and Kinkaku's fists collided. A powerful shockwave instantly erupted from the point of impact, and the powerful recoil sent both of them flying backward.
While Hibari and Kinkaku were causing such a huge commotion, Tobirama had no intention of wasting words. This battle had been planned for a long time. They were very aware of the intelligence on the Kinkaku and Ginkaku brothers, so they knew very well that they absolutely could not let the two of them fight together, especially with those troublesome Sage Tools.
So the plan for this operation was for him, Tobirama, and Hibari to both release two shadow clones to set up the Four Violet Flames Formation, first to seal off Kinkaku and Ginkaku's movements and prevent them from escaping.
Then, one person would hold back one of them. The goal was to prevent the two brothers from teaming up. Hibari had his sights set on Kinkaku, while Tobirama was targeting Ginkaku.
At this moment, it was a test of who, among the four, would be defeated first. If either Hibari or Tobirama were to free up their hands first, it would effectively cement their victory in the battle. The same was true for Kinkaku and Ginkaku.
The two brothers were very confident in their own strength, and they also had a lot of faith in each other. But the problem was that Hibari and Tobirama were also very confident in their own strength.
In terms of confidence, Hibari didn't think Tobirama would lose in a one-on-one fight, and Hibari himself had proven his strength by breaking one of Kinkaku's arms, so Tobirama was also very confident in his ability.
It was precisely this situation that turned the inside of the Four Violet Flames Formation into a gladiatorial arena for the heroes!
Tobirama's movements were extremely fast. Without any delay, he stomped his foot, activated the Flying Raijin Technique formula, and vanished from his spot. The next second, he appeared behind Ginkaku, his short blade piercing towards Ginkaku's back with a decisive momentum.
When he hadn't seen the Flying Raijin Technique before, Ginkaku was able to instinctively dodge it once. With a warning this time, he wouldn't be so easily hit. He stomped his foot, and the Nine-Tails chakra on his body erupted. A tail formed from condensed chakra directly swung backward, lashing out and forcing Tobirama back two steps.
However, before he could even turn around, he already heard Tobirama's voice!
"Water Release: Water Dragon Fang Explosion!"
As soon as the voice fell, a large amount of water suddenly erupted from the ground at Ginkaku's feet, sending him flying into the air. Then, the powerful water formed countless small dragons that shot up from the ground, continuously striking him in mid-air.
This was not all. It seemed that Tobirama wanted to defeat Ginkaku in one go. After sending Ginkaku into the air, he stomped his foot and leaped into the air as well. He didn't need to form any hand signs; he just let out a low shout, "Water Release: Severing Wave!"
Following this, a swirling water column appeared around his arm. In an instant, it condensed into a spear-like shape. Tobirama swung it with force, and the Severing Wave was sent flying toward Ginkaku.
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