"Impure World Reincarnation!"
Acting first, Senju Tobirama slammed his palms together.
Tadpole-shaped sealing marks slithered across the earth like living ink, forming a massive summoning array.
Four wooden coffins rose from the ground with a groan.
"Playing with the souls of the dead again, Tobirama. Disgusting as always."
Kinkaku sneered, almost gagging at the sight.
Tobirama's chakra paled beside the brothers' Nine-Tails-cloaked might.
Half the reason he had lasted this long was simple: Edo Tensei corpses never tire, never bleed, never die. Add to that a certain infamous companion technique…
His storage scrolls brimmed with explosive tags.
Tobirama had perfected a companion to Edo Tensei—
Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags.
Once attached, they spawned more tags indefinitely, detonating in endless waves.
Kinkaku and Ginkaku had been blackened by such blasts more than once.
"Disgusting? You two assassinated your own Kage and betrayed your village—you dare lecture me?"
Tobirama scoffed and directed the four Edo corpses forward.
Each was plastered with explosive tags—walking suicide puppets ready to swarm the Two Brothers.
Without the Nine-Tails chakra cloak reinforcing their skin and reflexes, Tobirama would have long since ended this with the Flying Thunder God, as he once did to Uchiha Izuna, Mangekyō wielder and younger brother of Uchiha Madara.
Space-time ninjutsu had a simple rule:
A single hesitation meant instant death.
"Banana Palm Fan!"
Kinkaku swung the red-and-white fan—one of the Six Treasures of the Sage.
It ignored chakra nature entirely.
One swing.
A sea of fire erupted.
The four Edo corpses countered with water dragons.
Steam exploded into a choking fog.
They continued lobbing jutsu endlessly—
fire, wind, water, earth—
a relentless barrage.
If even one corpse touched the brothers, the explosive tags would multiply and obliterate them.
But the Banana Palm Fan kept the undead at bay.
Ginkaku, meanwhile, fixed his beastlike gaze not on the corpses—but on the living targets: Tobirama and Uchiha Soren.
Tailed-beast chakra cloaked him, making genjutsu worthless.
Why rush?
Konoha was already killing itself.
In truth, the brothers were favoring Soren.
If Tobirama died, they could retreat.
Their true goal—assassinating the Second Raikage—was done.
Kumogakure's throne awaited them.
"Your turn, evil Uchiha brat."
Tobirama shifted his focus completely.
Two paths lay before him:
Use Flying Thunder God and retreat, regrouping with Konoha.
Kill Uchiha Soren here, take or destroy those Mangekyō eyes, and withdraw.
Duty made the choice.
He could not risk another Uchiha rising to Eternal Mangekyō.
Another threat on the scale of Uchiha Madara would doom the village.
Without Hashirama's Wood Release, Konoha had no counter.
With decades of ruthless battlefield instinct—
Tobirama chose to kill.
Kunai marked with FTG seals flew in clean, surgical arcs.
Soren reacted instantly.
Even with his confidence, he didn't dare treat Tobirama lightly.
The moment he arrived on the field, he dispelled Juno—
no distractions.
His blade intercepted the marked kunai—
cutting, deflecting, redirecting.
His left Mangekyō, Tenchō Risshon: All-Knowing Map, expanded to its utmost limit.
Every tree, every leaf, every swirl of chakra—mapped.
His right Mangekyō, Tenchō Risshon: Spatial Step, coiled, ready to shift at the slightest opportunity.
(He doesn't know I have spatial teleportation.)
(Space-time battles are decided in one heartbeat. I can't fail even once.)
Soren deliberately angled the kunai across the battlefield—
placing them exactly where he needed them.
Then he began talking.
Trash-talking.
Attacking Tobirama where it hurt most—his ideals.
"You Senju really are pitiful. Born under Hashirama—truly unlucky."
"With his overwhelming strength, he could have unified the world… but he builds a village instead."
"He dies, and the Cloud launches an attack immediately. How many Senju died because of his naïve ideals?"
A poisoned smile curled on Soren's lips.
"A general's incompetence kills legions."
Tobirama's brow twitched.
Soren pressed deeper.
"And you're the same. If I were Second Hokage, I'd mobilize every clan, crush Kumogakure in a single sweep, and establish absolute hegemony."
"Save thousands of lives in one move."
He spread his arms mockingly.
"Look at the Senju compound now. Empty."
"Where are the young men? The heirs?"
He stepped forward, voice dropping to a venomous whisper.
"If the Senju run out of heirs, the Uchiha wouldn't mind helping you repopulate."
"For example… Tsunade—"
"SILENCE! You evil Uchiha brat!"
At the mention of the last true heir of the Senju bloodline—Senju Tsunade—
Tobirama's killing intent thickened until even the mist shivered.
Soren smirked.
"Relax. Personally, I wouldn't mind being in-laws with the Senju."
"Our child would be the natural successor of Konoha. Unquestionable."
"Future Hokages could rotate between Senju and Uchiha blood."
His Mangekyō gleamed.
"And if that child awakened both Mangekyō and Wood Release?"
He tapped his temple.
"A born emperor."
"Don't you think that's a beautiful future, Lord Second Hokage?"
Tobirama's killing intent exploded.
"Wolf-hearted Uchiha brat. Stop DELUDING yourself!"
He steadied his breathing, eyes narrowing.
He tracked every kunai, every angle, every potential FTG trajectory.
He replayed the battlefield in his mind—
calculating.
A cold decision crystallized.
(Even if he knows the Flying Thunder God… killing him still only takes a single moment.)
Soren felt the shift in Tobirama's chakra.
The instant had come.
He gripped his blade.
The battlefield held its breath.
The next movement would decide everything.