Tobirama fired off one point after another, leaving Danzō stunned.
The emotions surging within the Darkness of the Shinobi rapidly dissipated, replaced by sweat gathering on his palms and back.
He suddenly realized that he had simply fallen from one obsession into another.
He had lost the composure that Konoha's intelligence chief was supposed to possess!
"I know you want to do something extraordinary..."
"But Ōnoki and the Third Raikage alone aren't enough reason for one of Konoha's Hokage advisors to fall into this kind of self-destructive state."
"Focus on staying alive and hold out until Hokage-sama comes to reinforce us."
"Once we return to the village, swallow your pride and go to Orochimaru. Have him figure out a way to help you master the Tsuchigumo Clan's kinjutsu, Fury..."
"That forbidden technique you've envisioned, combining the eye of a typhoon with natural energy—turning that into one of Konoha's hidden trump cards is something genuinely worthwhile."
"What you should be doing is finding ways to support Hokage-sama when he encounters an enemy too powerful to defeat, not taking the lazy way out by chasing shortcuts like this!"
"You're the Second Hokage's disciple. At the very least, the enemy you prepare for should be someone on Uchiha Madara's level—or even stronger. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"And the shinobi world really does have enemies like that hidden within it. If one of them attacks Konoha, that's when you should step forward and protect the village!"
Tobirama spoke with heartfelt gravity.
He really was laying his heart bare for Danzō...
Danzō stared at Tobirama, his entire body trembling.
At that moment, Seisui seemed to overlap perfectly with his teacher. His tone, his way of thinking, even the breadth of his perspective—it wouldn't have been an exaggeration to say Tobirama had possessed him.
Izuna sighed.
Now he understood why Danzō could look at his face and mistake him for someone else...
Seisui truly was "Izuna on the outside, Tobirama at the core"!
At heart, he was exactly like that bastard...
"Not bad..."
At that moment, Uzumaki Ashina suddenly emerged from beneath the ground. Tilting his head, he regarded Tobirama through the Rinnegan in his eyes and grinned.
"Trying to blow yourself up with the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique in front of me is pretty funny."
"Bandage boy, I'll stand right here and swear on the Uzumaki name that I won't dodge. Go ahead and see whether you can seal me. I'm looking forward to your performance..."
"Interesting. I never thought the words of an Uchiha would remind me so much of that thief."
Tobirama and Izuna's hearts both skipped a beat!
'So Uzumaki Ashina really is the mastermind!'
'Senju Tobirama even brought him back? Isn't he afraid Ashina will turn on him?!'
Danzō reacted with extraordinary speed.
He knew about Ashina's relationship with Konoha, but appearing under these circumstances was enough to classify him as an enemy.
Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!
Wind Release chakra was compressed to its absolute limit, forming a razor-sharp blade of wind that instantly slashed toward Ashina!
"Not bad..."
Ashina barely lifted his eyelids and extended one hand.
Shinra Tensei!
An invisible yet overwhelming repulsive force instantly blasted Danzō's wind blade away. It carved one deep fissure after another across the earth, yet failed to harm Ashina in the slightest.
This was the power of the Deva Path!
"The same kinjutsu as that mysterious Warring States powerhouse!" Danzō immediately reacted, but his thoughts became tangled.
Wasn't that mysterious man supposed to be Tobirama-sensei?
This old bastard should only be one of his pieces. So why did he also know Tobirama-sensei's kinjutsu?!
Danzō, Tobirama, and Izuna each had their own interpretation.
But after being scolded by Tobirama, Danzō had also started coming back to his senses. His thinking rapidly drew closer to Izuna's, and he began to believe that Tobirama-sensei was putting him through an even more elaborate test.
Ashina sighed.
There really wasn't anything he could do about this...
'Damn that Senju Tobirama. Giving me abilities like these is basically forcing me to take the blame for him, isn't it?'
'Disgusting! Back then, saying "Senju Tobirama and dogs are forbidden from entering Uzushiogakure" was still too lenient...' Ashina thought helplessly as he felt the control over him tighten even further.
But he had no choice...
When living under someone else's roof, you had to bow your head!
'According to the plan, I need to drive them deeper toward the center of the Land of Earth...'
'Hiruzen needs to send troops to reinforce them. Once Iwa and Kumo's forces gradually close in around them, I'll withdraw. That'll also create the stage for Obito to misunderstand and think "the Hokage is dead"...'
'That kid is going to be devastated! Looks like another pair of Mangekyō Sharingan are about to appear...'
'He's probably still training at home right now!'
While thinking, Ashina made a grasping motion toward Aburame Shikuro with one hand.
Banshō Ten'in!
A powerful gravitational force dragged Shikuro uncontrollably toward him, but the Aburame Clan's wielder of poisonous insects reacted immediately.
Nano-sized venomous insects spread across the surface of his body. Taking advantage of Ashina's pull, Shikuro seized his arm as chakra erupted throughout his body, attempting to drive the insects into Ashina's flesh...
But the nano-sized poisonous insects that had always worked without fail suddenly proved useless!
Ashina seized Shikuro by the throat and smiled.
When he had still been alive, even with sealing techniques that could close off the body, he would have needed to be wary of the Aburame Clan's poisonous insects...
But now he was an Impure World body modified into a Six Paths puppet. Biological toxins had become drastically less effective against him, to the point that he could practically ignore them.
"An Impure World Reincarnation?"
'So Uzumaki Ashina isn't the mastermind after all?'
'It really is Senju Tobirama!'
Tobirama and Izuna's hearts shook as they watched Ashina's damaged arm continually break apart and regenerate.
'That should do it. Don't seriously think this old man wants to attack the shinobi of Hiruzen's village...' A sharp glint flashed through Ashina's eyes.
Although Madara's control over him had strengthened, a powerful shinobi could always find ways to pass along subtle information in the middle of battle.
Ashina had deliberately chosen Shikuro as his target in order to expose the fact that he possessed an Impure World body.
"Off you go!"
A burst of repulsive force sent Shikuro flying, though he wasn't badly injured.
Danzō's eyes sharpened.
Tobirama took a deep breath. Once Izuna's power settled over him, he and Yashiro attacked from opposite sides!
Ashina merely gave a crooked grin.
Ferocious Adamantine Sealing Chains erupted from behind him and effortlessly intercepted Tobirama and Yashiro's sword attacks.
"Kid, don't think that just because you resemble Tobirama, you actually are Tobirama!"
"You're still just a fake. Even calling over that turnip Uchiha Izuna won't help you..."
"People are always saying I'm muddleheaded, but from where I'm standing, you lot are even more confused than I am."
As Ashina spoke, he effortlessly dismantled their attacks.
The skillful combination of repulsion and attraction, paired with the defenses of his Adamantine Sealing Chains and Fūinjutsu, plus the sensory power of the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, came together to display the overwhelming strength of what could only be called the "Uzumaki iron fortress."
They couldn't break through!
"Nobody has appeared in the shinobi world who's truly on the same level as Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara. The Hokage might count as a little more than half a step into that tier, but as for someone who could defeat all three of them, I don't think anyone like that exists right now..."
"Only someone from that tier could beat me. Everyone else is simply not on my level, whether they're Senju or Uchiha. Second place is still second place..."
"Unless they resort to dirty tricks..." Ashina muttered quietly before spreading both arms.
Enhanced: Shinra Tensei!
The repulsive force expanded even further, violently blasting Tobirama, Yashiro, and Danzō away in an instant!
"I'm doing this for your own good. Don't try breaking out in my direction..."
"Iwa and Kumo's encirclement is closing in from this side. Ōnoki and the Third Raikage are both here. You'd better figure out how to hold on. Don't get yourselves captured before the Hokage arrives to reinforce you..."
Ashina spoke with a mixture of truth and deception.
"One more warning: don't use the Flying Thunder God Technique! Your marks might keep disappearing..."
His mission was to continue driving Tobirama and Danzō deeper into enemy territory, but he couldn't let them run straight into Iwa and Kumo either.
He had to maintain a delicate balance.
The key was that just as Konoha was about to clash with Kumo and Iwa, Madara would have his puppet Kage from previous generations reveal themselves and mediate the war.
They would give him that much respect!
Because if this continued much longer, the test of Konoha's Will of Fire would be over...
The difficulty was far too low!
Madara had decided to use his Crimson Organization to take control of Kumo and Iwa, dividing the shinobi world into two opposing halves!
"Move, Seisui!"
"That old man was already an iron turtle back in the day. Now he's practically invulnerable!"
The exact same thought surfaced in Tobirama and Izuna's minds, and they stopped wasting time fighting Ashina.
Without further intelligence, accurate analysis was impossible.
For now, their only option was to wage guerrilla warfare and wait for reinforcements.
But it was obvious that this would take a long time...
With communications cut off, Konoha would need time just to notice that something was wrong, and reinforcements from the village couldn't arrive immediately either.
The Iwa-Kumo alliance was on the defensive and held an overwhelming geographical advantage.
Even though Konoha was extremely powerful now, if the enemy's jinchūriki had all recovered their combat strength, launching an all-out frontal assault would still come at a painful cost...
Judging from Ashina's behavior, the Iwa-Kumo allied forces would undoubtedly have prepared troops in advance specifically to block Konoha's main army...
So this would be a difficult trial.
'Damn Uzumaki Ashina. Did he even interfere with the Earth Grudge Communicators? It must be some kind of large-scale jamming barrier. Looks like he has plenty of accomplices...'
Tobirama still didn't know that Konoha was preparing to advance its information infrastructure.
But Ashina had already taught him an early lesson:
Information security demanded special attention!
Tobirama, Danzō, and the others formed up.
Using a strategy of "keep the core together, let the perimeter skirmish," they continued moving in the opposite direction from Konoha, sinking ever deeper into enemy territory.
A single squad would now have to endure a joint pursuit led by the Third Raikage and Ōnoki...
They had to be prepared to hold out for a very long time!
After all, Hiruzen was the Hokage.
No matter how deep his bonds with them were, he couldn't launch a reckless frontal assault that caused unacceptable losses among Konoha's forces just to rescue them.
Their lives mattered...
But so did the lives of every other Konoha shinobi.
...
Konoha.
Hokage Building.
Two hours after Tobirama and Danzō lost contact.
Hiruzen, who had been working out how to absorb nine different kinds of tailed-beast chakra, was feeling somewhat irritated.
Even for him, this was a difficult problem.
He not only had to stabilize all nine forms of chakra inside his body, but also fuse them into a single whole.
'Trying to do this outside the body would be even harder. The tailed beasts' chakra all share certain fundamental traits, but there are also barriers preventing them from merging. Looks like I'll have to do it inside my body...'
'I'll have to use my own body as a shell to keep the chakra from escaping, then forcibly use Fūinjutsu and my own chakra as external pressure to make them merge, piecing them together one at a time...'
'My body is strong enough that I can at least attempt it. Anyone else would suffer massive internal bleeding just from the pressure generated by all that tailed-beast chakra...'
The method Black Zetsu had written on the Six Paths stone tablet for fusing "the chakra of the nine tailed beasts" had been noticed by the Sage of Six Paths.
Hagoromo had then slipped in a few additions of his own afterward, denying that this was the correct path of training.
But Hiruzen hadn't followed everything the Sage of Six Paths told him...
Because with Spirit Release, Hiruzen was extremely sensitive to the structure of chakra.
Having reached a point where he could touch upon some of its fundamental structure, Hiruzen had discovered that the chakra of the tailed beasts truly did share something in common.
Fusing them into one would most likely benefit the development of the chakra palace within his body.
Exactly what that benefit would be, Hiruzen couldn't say.
He merely had a vague sense that there was some connection between his Kekkei threads and the fusion of the tailed beasts' chakra into a single whole...
So there was no harm in trying!
Even the Sage of Six Paths hadn't expected that a shinobi would genuinely attempt to use his own physical body as a substitute for the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path!
After being shown a fair path forward, Hiruzen hadn't simply lowered his head and followed it exactly as instructed.
He was still testing his own ideas...
But at that moment—
Orochimaru rushed inside with an extremely grave expression, Hizashi following close behind.
"Sensei, something's happened!"
"We've lost contact with Seisui and Danzō. The Earth Grudge Communicators have also stopped working, and our aerial forces have observed major movements in Iwa and Kumo's formations."
"They've massed a huge number of defenders along the front!"
"My guess is that Seisui and the others walked into an ambush and the Flying Thunder God Technique isn't functioning properly. Kumo and Iwa have wanted leverage they can use to force us to withdraw for a long time. That would explain why they're making such a massive move now..."
Hiruzen shot to his feet!
Danzō...
Tobirama-sensei...
Both of them were precious bonds he could never afford to lose.
Nothing could be allowed to happen to either of them!
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