Being suddenly called a clan servant by an Uchiha left Minato Namikaze a little stunned.
Young Obito could not help covering his face.
Sasuke also felt awkward and cast an apologetic look toward Kannabi Bridge Minato-sama.
"Hey! Weird old man, who are you calling a servant, dattebayo?!"
Naruto pointed angrily at Tajima Uchiha.
"I, Naruto Uzumaki, am not the servant of idiot Sasuke and idiot Obito, dattebayo!! Anyway, who exactly are you two?!"
Naruto looked at Tajima Uchiha, who was obviously one of Sasuke's clansmen. "Just like Dad guessed, it's great that one of Sasuke's clansmen gets revived every 24 hours, but..."
He turned toward Butsuma Senju, who was dressed in dark red armor.
"That stubborn, bad-tempered old man over there, who are you?! Are you one of Sasuke's clansmen too?!"
Being mistaken for an Uchiha made Butsuma Senju's face turn green with anger, while Tajima Uchiha burst into exaggerated laughter.
But neither of them missed the surname Naruto had used when introducing himself.
"The Uzumaki Clan?!"
How was someone from the Uzumaki Clan mixed up with the Uchiha?!
Butsuma Senju could no longer hold back and demanded, "Where are the Senju now?!"
Senju...
Minato Namikaze looked at the old man across from him, and on closer inspection, realized that the shoulder of his armor bore the Senju Clan's double-pronged crest.
Why had someone from the Senju Clan been revived too?
Seeing Minato fall silent, Tajima Uchiha snorted coldly. "Maybe they were wiped out?"
Just as the two were about to start arguing again, Minato Namikaze quickly said, "There are two seniors from the Senju Clan currently living with us. As long as you both promise not to start fighting or damage the house and its furnishings once we get there, we can take you to them right now."
Butsuma and Tajima both frowned hard. The Senju and the Uchiha were living together?
What did that mean? Had the Senju wiped out the Uchiha, or had the Uchiha wiped out the Senju? If they were living peacefully, how had two boys only thirteen or fourteen years old awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan so early?
"We'll go with you," Tajima Uchiha said.
Butsuma Senju did not object. Compared to the two of them fighting, understanding the situation before them was clearly far more urgent for men who had spent their whole lives fighting for their clan's honor.
"Tajima Uchiha."
"Butsuma Senju."
The two old Clan Heads from the Warring States Period gave their names one after the other. They were not children, after all. Hiding their surnames was pointless, especially with an opponent who knew them inside and out standing right beside them.
Minato then introduced himself and the three children in turn: Minato Namikaze, Obito Uchiha, Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki.
On the way back to the old Hatake estate, Tajima Uchiha asked Obito and Sasuke why they had awakened their Mangekyō Sharingan.
The two of them remembered the reasons they had awakened their Mangekyō Sharingan, and for a moment, their expressions turned gloomy and downcast. It was too complicated to explain, so in the end, they summed it up as follows.
Obito said, "I had a dream where I started the Fourth Shinobi World War."
Sasuke said, "I had a dream where I killed my older brother."
Tajima Uchiha knew both children were hiding something. Since he understood better than anyone that awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan required an extremely painful experience, he did not press further.
Butsuma Senju sneered. "Awakening it by killing your own older brother is one thing, but awakening it because you dreamed you started a Shinobi World War?"
"The Fourth Shinobi World War," Tajima Uchiha said, changing the subject. "So that means there were three before it? If I understand correctly, a Shinobi World War should mean the hundred clans of the Ninja World slaughtering one another indiscriminately, right?"
Just the thousand years of bloodshed between the Uchiha and Senju had already left countless debts of blood behind. If all the clans of the Ninja World descended into a free-for-all war, it would only take a few years for ninja to disappear from history entirely.
From the style of Butsuma Senju and Tajima Uchiha's clothing alone, Minato could already guess that the two of them had died before Konoha was founded, during the Warring States Period.
"I believe the two of you lived during the Warring States Period. After the Uchiha and Senju formed an alliance, founded Konohagakure, and achieved great success, the Land of Water also established Kirigakure, while the Land of Earth established Iwa Village, the Land of Wind established Sunagakure, and the Land of Lightning established Kumo Village."
"The Senju and Uchiha formed an alliance?!!"
"How is that possible?!!"
Minato did not use the Flying Thunder God Technique. He deliberately led the two of them back on foot so he could explain some basic, important matters along the way.
"In short, after Konoha was founded, the One Nation, One Village system recognized by the Daimyō began, marking the start of a new era," Minato said.
Butsuma Senju and Tajima Uchiha listened in stunned disbelief, only half convinced by the blond young man's explanation.
Naruto had slept through most of his history classes, and Obito was not much better.
Sasuke Uchiha, who ranked first overall, explained to Tajima Uchiha and Butsuma Senju, "After the One Nation, One Village system was implemented, ninja villages became symbols of a nation's military power. After the death of the First Hokage, the first leader of Konohagakure, war broke out immediately. The Five Great Shinobi Countries then triggered the First Shinobi World War, the Second Shinobi World War, and the Third Shinobi World War."
Young Obito himself came from the Third Shinobi World War, so he understood the cruelty of war all too well.
On top of that, they had all witnessed the despair of the Fourth Shinobi World War in the illusion.
"But right now, we're in the peaceful era after the Third Shinobi World War," Naruto said, his round, bright eyes open wide as he grinned at the two men from the previous era. "The Fourth Shinobi World War probably won't happen either, so you can enjoy this peaceful world!"
Peace.
That word was something hidden deep in the hearts of Butsuma Senju, Tajima Uchiha, and every ninja of that era, something they did not even dare to mention.
Butsuma Senju thought back to one dusk long ago, when he had watched his son's wooden coffin slowly being covered with earth, and his eldest son Hashirama had said those words to him.
"Isn't this just a group of adults joining forces to drive a child to his death?!!"
"I don't even know how many enemies I've made! I can't even say my surname when I go outside!!"
"A ninja world like this is absolutely a mistake!!"
If only...
If only Hashirama, Tobirama, Kawarama, and Itama could all have lived in this era.
As a father, Butsuma Senju lowered his eyes.
He did not know why he and Tajima Uchiha had been revived, but if such an opportunity truly existed, it should have been given to Kawarama and Itama instead. Those two children had not even lived to see twelve. They had never even known the taste of good wine.
For once, Tajima Uchiha did not trade a few sharp words with his old rival.
He also thought of his five children, three of whom had not even lived to the age of the two Uchiha boys before him. To a ninja, the honor of the clan mattered more than anything.
But life held so many beautiful things. As husbands and fathers, they had never even had the chance to experience them before being buried beneath the earth.
When they arrived at the old Hatake estate, there were three buildings.
One was Kakashi's family home, one was the Missing-nin guesthouse, and the third was the residence of the Uchiha and Senju ancestors, as well as the First Hokage and Second Hokage.
Thinking that if these were ninja from the Warring States Period, the First Hokage and Second Hokage might have heard of them, Minato Namikaze brought the two men they had picked up straight to the third building.
Sasuke, Naruto, and Obito served them tea and red bean cakes.
Because sugar-refining techniques had not been easy to come by, sweets had been precious rarities during the Warring States Period.
Seeing the boys casually serve two generous portions of sweets, Tajima Uchiha and Butsuma Senju understood that in this peaceful era, ordinary people and ninja alike lived relatively happy lives.
At the very least, it was far more prosperous than the Warring States Period.
"I never thought the day would come when I'd sit across from you at the same table, Butsuma Senju."
"Hmph. Times really have changed. I never thought the Senju would actually form an alliance with the Uchiha."
Having already died once, Tajima Uchiha and Butsuma Senju now cared more about what changes history had undergone, how many of their clansmen remained, and how they were living.
As for whether the Senju had beaten the Uchiha, or the Uchiha had beaten the Senju, neither of them felt as strongly about it as they had imagined they would.
Minato Namikaze went to the doors of the First and Second Hokage and knocked.
The brothers lived across from each other. With a ninja's hearing, if one person's door was knocked on, the other would certainly hear it too.
When he told them that ninja from the Warring States Period had been revived, obvious surprise flashed across the faces of Hashirama and Tobirama.
"Besides the Uchiha, Senju clansmen were revived too?!"
As they spoke, the brothers put on the yellow-green clan robes that had once belonged to the Senju and followed Minato Namikaze downstairs to the reception room.
The moment the paper-covered wooden door slid open and they saw Butsuma Senju and Tajima Uchiha, all four of them froze in place.
"Dad!! / Father-sama?"
"Hashirama! Tobirama?!"
From the way they addressed each other, Minato Namikaze, Naruto, Sasuke, Obito, and the others realized that the Senju clansman from the Warring States Period they had brought back was actually the father of the First Hokage and Second Hokage?!
Naruto's brain suddenly came online. "Wait, wait, wait! That old man just mistook Sasuke for Izuna Uchiha, right? Right?!" He pointed at Tajima Uchiha, who looked just as shocked after seeing Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju.
"If this guy is the father of the First and Second, then are you Madara and Izuna's dad?!"
Now that he had pointed it out...
Minato looked at the First and Second, then at Tajima Uchiha.
Hashirama quickly straightened his posture in front of Madara's father and greeted him politely.
It had to be said that when the First Hokage wore a serious expression and did not slump into gloom at random, he still looked rather intimidating.
"So according to you, Madara and Izuna are both all right too?"
Hashirama nodded desperately. "They were here yesterday and the day before yesterday. If I'd known you would be revived today, I would've done anything to keep them here for two more days!"
Just imagining Madara's expression when he saw his father would be pretty funny, and definitely worth looking forward to!!
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