Seeing Hashirama Senju so enraged, the audience couldn't help but be moved by his deep bond with Uchiha Madara.
But a collective question arose in their minds.
Why are you only angry about Madara, but not about Uzumaki Mito?
"So, where can we buy such useful water?" Tobirama Senju stroked his chin, muttering to himself.
"What? Tobirama, what are you planning?!" Hashirama looked at his brother warily.
He knew all too well about Tobirama's hostility toward the Uchiha.
Could Tobirama be thinking of obtaining this water to do something to Madara?
But Madara was already dead!
Even if he were revived through the Impure World Reincarnation, the water probably wouldn't work on an undead body.
"Big brother, you've misunderstood. I just got some inspiration from a plot point in the story," Tobirama calmly explained.
"If we use specially treated water with Water Release, it might rival a Bloodline Limit."
Hashirama breathed a sigh of relief.
But he hadn't misunderstood anything.
Tobirama simply hadn't finished his thought aloud.
He was indeed planning to follow Kakuzu's example from the Limited Tsukuyomi World and use the Yin Female Water to spray people.
As for who he intended to spray, that went without saying.
"I know about this water," Tsunade chimed in. "After taking office, I reviewed a mission scroll. Team Kakashi went to the Snow Country not long ago, where ninjas can directly use Ice Release."
"It probably won't work," Orochimaru said, shattering their illusions. "According to the principle of automatic correction when transferring items to reality, even if this water is brought back using chakra, it will only become ordinary Hero Water from the Hidden Waterfall. It only manifests its opposite, gender-bending state within the Limited Tsukuyomi World."
"Hmm." Hashirama stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I understand what Orochimaru means. It's like when we performed Impure World Reincarnation on that young girl earlier. If we used Madara's cells from the Limited Tsukuyomi to revive him in reality, the real Madara would emerge, not that furry-loving pervert."
"Correct. Your intelligence always returns to normal when it comes to dealing with Madara, brother," Tobirama nodded.
Orochimaru's reminder was timely.
Tobirama had been so captivated by the story and eager to counter Madara that he had overlooked the established rules of the illusion.
It was a pity he couldn't use the Yin Female Water.
But on second thought, the regular Hero Water wasn't entirely useless.
The actual effect of Hero Water was to temporarily increase chakra at the cost of significantly reducing the user's lifespan.
For weaker ninjas, it was a desperate, double-edged sword.
But for powerful ninjas with vast chakra reserves, drinking it was underwhelming.
This was likely why the real-world Hidden Waterfall hadn't been conquered by the larger nations—if the water was just a flawed stimulant, the village wasn't worth the effort to invade.
However, what about weaponizing the side effects?
Could it work against the Ōtsutsuki Clan?
What the Ōtsutsuki Clan cared about most was their lifespan.
Planting the God Tree and consuming its fruit was entirely about converting chakra into life.
If they could extract the lifespan-draining properties of the Hero Water and spray it on an Ōtsutsuki, wouldn't that be a perfect countermeasure to them?
"After this is over, I need to go to the Hidden Waterfall to get some water for research. I want to test whether the Ōtsutsuki Clan has any resistance to it," Tobirama said to Orochimaru.
"A good idea," Orochimaru praised.
Makoto had once told them the story of the future Nine-Tails Jinchuriki activating Baryon Mode—a form developed by simulating solar fusion.
In that story, Baryon Mode not only surpassed the Ōtsutsuki in power and speed, but every physical strike also carried a lifespan-reducing effect.
It whittled down an Ōtsutsuki from twenty hours of life to just a few minutes, securing a strategic victory.
From this perspective, lifespan-reducing methods were a necessary tactical approach to deal with the hidden threat of Isshiki Ōtsutsuki.
...
Back in the illusion, Makoto was digesting [Konan's] story.
"You knew Madara wasn't dead?"
In her tale, [Konan] had directly mentioned the final showdown and Madara's feigned death.
"Yes, and we also know where Nagato's eyes came from," [Konan] sighed.
"...Alright, that actually makes sense," Makoto conceded.
Given how much intelligence the Akatsuki Organization had been gathering to overthrow the ninja world, it wasn't surprising they had uncovered the truth about Madara.
"So, you're saying Nagato could inherit and master the Rinnegan to the greatest extent because he's a direct descendant of Uchiha Madara?" Makoto asked.
"Not just Uchiha Madara," [Konan] shook her head.
"When Uzumaki Mito was Hashirama Senju's wife, she used the Yin Seal to preserve some of Hashirama's cells. After reverting to a male form, she transferred those cells from the Yin Seal into Uchiha Madara's body, helping him awaken the Rinnegan. At the same time, she also gave birth to Nagato's mother. So, Nagato is actually the direct descendant of Uzumaki Mito, Hashirama Senju, and Uchiha Madara."
"..."
'What the actual fuck..'
Aside from lacking Asura and Indra's transmigrant chakra, Nagato was practically the ultimate protagonist of this Limited Tsukuyomi World.
What else could he say? Nagato's genetic buffs were stacked to the maximum!
...
"It's time to head to the next location."
"Yeah, let's get ready to move."
The Tailed Beast Jinchuriki of the Hidden Stone Village were both located outside the village walls.
The Five-Tails Jinchuriki, Han, had slightly less mastery over his beast but still harnessed part of its power through rigorous training.
He had rendered great military service and was known as the "Steam Ninja."
The Four-Tails Jinchuriki, Rōshi, was at odds with the Tsuchikage, Ōnoki.
He had left to live and train by himself, cutting off contact with the village.
He was essentially an unannounced rogue ninja.
Makoto and the group's first target for this trip was the Four-Tails.
Rōshi's dwelling was easy to locate because the Four-Tails preferred volcanic environments, which were rare across the ninja world.
The Akatsuki had already identified several possible locations in advance.
After Konan informed Uchiha Hikari, they only needed to investigate each one.
'I hope the person this time is a bit more normal, like Fuu,' Uchiha Hikari prayed silently as she steered the Susanoo toward the volcanoes.