A group of Ninjas stood there in stunned silence for a long time.
Slap!
"Didn't you say Uchiha Tensei perished along with the vanguard? Then how is he standing here perfectly fine?!"
Ōnoki slapped one of the surviving Rock Ninjas and demanded an explanation.
"Th-This… but he clearly self-destructed! What is going on?"
The Rock Ninja who had survived the explosion was equally bewildered.
Immediately, all the Ninjas drew their kunai and swords, staring warily at Uchiha Tensei.
"Uh… I might have overdone it. Bye."
After casually greeting them, Isamu activated Kamui and disappeared before Ōnoki and the Rock Ninjas could even react.
It wasn't that he feared them.
With his current strength, there was simply no point wasting time on such insignificant opponents.
Ōnoki and the Rock Ninjas could only watch helplessly as Uchiha Tensei vanished before their eyes.
Only after he was completely gone did they recover from their shock.
"Damn Uchiha Tensei! Does he think we don't even exist?"
"Entire army, advance into the Land of Fire and pursue Uchiha Tensei!"
With a wave of his hand, Ōnoki officially launched the invasion.
Meanwhile, Isamu arrived two kilometers ahead of Senba and quietly waited.
"Meeting my son for the first time really does make me a little excited."
Standing alone, he felt a faint sense of anticipation.
Before long, Senba arrived.
His Mangekyō Sharingan was active, and fury radiated from his entire body.
"Are… are you Father?"
Looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar man before him, Senba asked hesitantly.
The familiarity came from the face.
The unfamiliarity came from the white robes and the distant, transcendent aura surrounding him.
"Anger makes people lose their reason. No matter what happens, you must maintain your rationality. A person without reason is destined to fail."
"Come with me."
Isamu spoke calmly before turning and walking toward Konoha.
Although he was excited to see his grown son, he didn't show it.
Instead, he simply walked forward.
For some reason, Senba's emotions gradually calmed.
Without understanding why, he followed behind.
The father and son walked side by side in silence.
Neither spoke.
Yet both seemed to cherish the tranquility of the moment.
"Did your mother leave Konoha with Shizune?"
After some time, Isamu finally broke the silence.
"Yes."
"After suffering one blow after another, Mother became completely disappointed in both Konoha and the war. She left with Uncle Dan's niece, Shizune."
Senba nodded and explained.
At that moment, he finally remembered who the man before him truly was.
This was the person hidden beneath his family's basement.
His real father.
"I see."
"I didn't expect Tsunade would still choose this path."
"For all these years, I don't feel I've wronged anyone. Yet the person I've failed the most is your mother."
Isamu sighed softly.
His heart was filled with guilt when he thought about Tsunade.
Senba remained silent for a moment.
He didn't feel it was his place to interfere in matters between his parents.
After some thought, he asked another question.
"There is something I've always been curious about."
"Grandmother and the elders always said that at your peak, you were practically invincible."
"If that's true, how could you have been injured so severely?"
"Hmm…"
"How should I explain it?"
"I suppose you could call it repaying a debt."
Isamu stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"Repaying a debt? What debt?"
Senba looked confused.
"Think of it as repaying your grandfather's kindness."
"You know the relationship between the Uchiha Clan, the Senju Clan, and Konoha, right?"
"After my father—your grandfather, Madara Uchiha—left Konoha, your grandfather Hashirama didn't hold it against us. He still allowed the Uchiha Clan to remain in the village."
"That was a kindness."
Isamu continued calmly.
"Uh… what does that have to do with your injuries?"
Senba wasn't particularly interested in the history of the Uchiha and Senju.
After all, he had always walked his own path.
"Don't rush. Let me finish."
"After your grandfather left, the Uchiha Clan no longer had anyone capable of supporting its reputation. Even Uchiha Kagami, who possessed considerable talent, leaned toward Konoha."
"After the First Hokage passed away and the Second Hokage took office, the Uchiha were gradually pushed out of Konoha's center of power."
"The once-proud Uchiha Clan fell to the bottom."
"At the time, the clan was divided into two factions."
"One was the Martial Faction, loyal to your grandfather."
"The other was the Moderate Faction, a group with no ambition who only knew how to obey."
"During my growth period, I met the Great Elder of the Martial Faction, Uchiha Shinyō."
"He and the entire faction supported me wholeheartedly and eventually pushed me into the position of Clan Head."
"To restore the Uchiha Clan's glory, I led dozens of clan Jonin and directly ignited the Second Great Ninja War, challenging the Five Great Nations simultaneously."
"What?!"
Senba was stunned.
Challenging the Five Great Nations with only dozens of Jonin?
It sounded like a myth.
Besides, wasn't the Second Great Ninja War supposed to have been started by Hanzō of Amegakure?
"At that time, I swept through all Five Great Nations and came within a single step of victory."
"Only your grandfather Hashirama could exchange a few moves with me."
"Even the man known as the God of Shinobi could not stand against the ultimate power of the Uchiha."
"I nearly erased the Five Great Villages from existence."
"But then an accident occurred."
"And because of that accident, I abandoned everything."
Isamu glanced at Senba.
"An accident?"
"What kind of accident could make you give up something you'd pursued for so long?"
"Did an even stronger enemy appear?"
Senba asked.
"No."
"The accident was you."
"You?"
Senba pointed at himself in disbelief.
"At the peak of my strength, my perception reached an unimaginable level."
"Through that perception, I discovered your existence."
"You brought the Uchiha and Senju bloodlines together."
"You connected two families that had hated each other for generations."
"Because of you, I finally let go of my prejudice toward your grandfather."
"To repay Hashirama's kindness, I used a forbidden technique."
"I restored the villages I had destroyed."
"I resurrected the people who died in the war."
"And to prevent future generations from becoming targets of the Five Great Nations, I extracted everyone's memories of the war."
"That is why nobody remembers that I once started the Second Great Ninja War."
After saying everything in one breath, Isamu fell silent.
"So it was because of me…"
"You abandoned the goal you'd been chasing."
"You restored entire villages, resurrected the dead, and erased memories."
"A technique capable of doing all that must have demanded an unimaginable price."
At this point, Senba finally understood how his father had ended up in such a state.
"Of course."
"There is no perfect technique in this world."
"The more heaven-defying the technique, the greater the price."
"When I used that power, I fully expected to die."
"I never imagined I would survive."
"Perhaps fate decided to show me a little mercy."
Thinking back to that moment, Isamu couldn't help but sigh.
At the time, he truly hadn't expected to live.
Yet somehow, against all odds, he had survived.
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