Naturally, the people in the chat had no idea what Ryu meant by "my wife just had a baby."
By now, though, they were already used to his random nonsense.
Besides, kids in the ninja world matured early. For an eleven- or twelve-year-old to talk about finding a wife was not exactly shocking.
…
Ryu looked up at the Hokage Rock, and a question suddenly popped into his head.
[Furukawa Ryu]: By the way, Second Hokage—you had more than one student back then, right? So why did you end up choosing old man Sarutobi?
[Senju Tobirama]: That's right. I had several disciples, and they were all excellent. But the one most suited to become Hokage was still Sarutobi.
[Furukawa Ryu]: Because he was the one who stepped up during the crisis at the end?
[Senju Tobirama]: Hmph. You know quite a bit for a brat. Yes, that was part of the reason.
[Furukawa Ryu]: I'm curious. If the one who'd stepped forward back then had been Danzō instead, what would you have said? Would you have made Danzō Hokage?
The chat fell silent for a moment.
Clearly, the Second Hokage was actually thinking about the question.
A long while later, Tobirama finally replied.
[Senju Tobirama]: I probably would've said… "Good, Danzō! Very brave! Sarutobi, Konoha is in your hands. From this day on, you are the Third Hokage. Danzō, with me!"
"Pfft—"
Ryu completely lost it and burst out laughing.
[Senju Tobirama]: What are you laughing at this time? Did you think of something funny again?
[Furukawa Ryu]: No, no, not this time. This time I'm laughing at Danzō.
[Senju Tobirama]: What about Danzō?
[Furukawa Ryu]: Danzō spent his whole life believing that if he hadn't hesitated for that one second back then, the title of Hokage would've been his.
[Furukawa Ryu]: He regretted it for the rest of his life. If he found out that even if he had stepped forward, you still wouldn't have chosen him… I really wonder what kind of face he'd make. Just thinking about it is hilarious.
[Senju Tobirama]: Sigh. It's all in the past now. It's not that I was biased toward Hiruzen. It's just that Danzō was too calculating. He was never fit to be Hokage.
Ryu only smiled and said nothing more.
Inside, though, he was muttering nonstop.
As expected, even someone as shrewd as Tobirama could misjudge people.
Too calculating? Please. If we're talking scheming, who the hell in Konoha was deeper than old man Hiruzen?
…
After turning left and right through several streets, Ryu finally arrived near the Academy.
There were more and more people around now.
A bunch of little kids heading to school filled the streets, ranging anywhere from six or seven to eleven or twelve years old.
They walked in groups, chatting excitedly about things like whose shurikenjutsu had improved lately and whose chakra had grown stronger.
In short—
All of it sounded like child's play.
[Senju Hashirama]: What place is this? It looks like… the Academy?
[Furukawa Ryu]: That's right. The Academy founded by the Second Hokage. I study there too.
[Senju Hashirama]: Hmm… The Academy really was a great idea, Tobirama. I thought all you knew how to do was invent forbidden techniques.
[Senju Tobirama]: Shut up!
[Senju Tobirama]: Still, from the looks of it, the Academy has grown much larger than it was when I was alive.
[Namikaze Minato]: The Second Hokage's creation of the Academy was a great contribution indeed. It allowed children from civilian families to receive an education too and gave them the chance to become excellent shinobi.
[Uchiha Madara]: Heh. What a joke.
[Senju Tobirama]: Madara, what are you sneering about now?!
[Uchiha Madara]: Academy? Excellent shinobi? From what I can see, this is just a place for children to play ninja.
[Senju Tobirama]: Bastard, Madara! How dare you look down on the Academy I created?!
[Uchiha Madara]: Did I say anything wrong? Those two brats who just passed by must've been at least ten or eleven, and they were discussing how far they could throw a shuriken—ten meters? If that's not children playing ninja, then what is?
[Uchiha Madara]: And look at Ryu. Before he received our gifts, he probably couldn't even use the Three Basic Techniques properly.
[Senju Tobirama]: Ryu isn't representative. Judging from his level, he was probably dead last at the Academy.
[Furukawa Ryu]: The hell? You two can argue all you want, but why drag me into this? Keep it up and I'm muting both of you.
The corner of Ryu's mouth twitched.
Those two really had hit the mark.
Before he had transmigrated into this body, Furukawa Ryu had been one of the Academy's worst students—
Basically fighting Naruto for last place.
Even so…
Do I not have any pride at all?!
And besides—
He was strong now, alright?
Forget anything else.
In this Academy, if he wanted to beat someone up, he could beat up whoever he pleased.
The more he thought about it, the more annoyed he got.
Ryu was already tempted to mute both of them on the spot.
[Senju Tobirama]: Ahem. Friendly fire. Friendly fire.
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