Barrier * Comedy routine

It was already afternoon when Tobirama left Tetsugaku's residence.

Tobirama then went to the Hashirama residence.

The house Hashirama was located in the northern part of the Senju Clan Compound. It was more than twice the size of Tetsugaku's six-story hut, with two courtyards in the front and back. A row of nandina plants grew under the eaves, and there was a stone well in the corner.

When I pushed open the Tobirama, the courtyard was quiet except for the rustling of the bamboo leaves in the wind.

He went straight to the side room, opened the door, and tossed the scroll he'd brought back from the Land of Land of Hot Water onto the tatami mat. The scroll rolled twice before hitting some other clutter piled in the corner with a dull thud. Tobirama didn't even look at it, closed the door, and left.

Anyway, the Big Brother didn't dare to say anything.

He returned to his room, washed his face, changed into clean clothes, spread out the documents that Land of Hot Water had brought back on the table and read them through. After confirming that nothing was missing, he got up and walked towards Mito's courtyard.

Mito's courtyard is her Workshop, located on the west side of the Senju Clan Compound, right next to the training grounds.

The low, buzzing sound coming from inside could be heard from outside the courtyard; it was the unique sound of the Barrier Ninjutsu in operation.

Tobirama pushed open the half-closed courtyard gate and saw Mito sitting on the veranda, with a six-foot-long scroll of paper spread out in front of her, covered with densely packed magical symbols and geometric lines.

She held a pen in her hand, quickly marking something on the edge of the drawing, her brow slightly furrowed, unaware that Tobirama had entered.

Several teacups and half-eaten Rice Balls were placed under the eaves, clearly untouched since morning.

"Mito- nee." Tobirama stopped at the edge of the corridor.

Mito looked up, saw it was him, let out a sigh of relief, put down her pen, and stretched her wrist.

"You're back? How's it going in the Land of Hot Water?"

"It's alright." Tobirama sat down on the veranda. "Nothing serious happened."

"Hashirama? He must have gambled a lot, right?"

Tobirama couldn't help but laugh out loud, "You really know him well."

"After all, you're husband and wife," Mito looked at him, "So you gambled?"

"Don't worry, we're watching. We won't let him lose everything."

"It would be better if he lost everything!" Mito scoffed. "He's a good person in every way, how did he get addicted to gambling?"

Tobirama shrugged and changed the subject, "Still working on the blueprints?"

"Hmm." Mito nodded. "Oh, right, you've come at the perfect time. Could you watch a place for me?"

She pushed the blueprints toward him, her fingertip pointing to a key point in the technique.

"I've calculated the Chakra flow here several times, but I still feel there's something wrong. The flow weakens at the end, which shouldn't be the case. I've modified it several times according to the rubbing of the detection technique, but it's always just a little off."

Tobirama the node, traced the line with his finger, and then looked at the label next to it.

"You've collected two circuits here, but the main circuit only follows one path," he said, pointing to another spot. "Connect this to the main circuit, making the two paths run parallel, and the Chakra at the end won't diminish."

Mito stared at the spot he was pointing to for a while, then suddenly slapped his knee.

"Yes, that's it." She immediately picked up a pen and sketched a few lines on the drawing. "Our Tobirama is really quick-witted."

Tobirama raised an eyebrow smugly. "Don't you know who I am?"

Tobirama didn't rush to leave; he sat on the veranda and watched her draw for a while.

On Mito's blueprints, the design of the Barrier was completely different from that of ordinary protective arrays.

She planned to design a Barrier style where Barrier those with specific tickets could enter, and those without tickets would be refused Barrier, like an invisible net that could keep all unwelcome people out.

As for why?

"I would be heartbroken if such a beautiful place like the Amusement Park were destroyed again."

These are Mito's exact words.

Mito's design concept is actually not complicated, and it is similar to the principles of existing detection techniques.

The core idea is to bind the passage command to the Barrier, allowing only those with specific credentials to pass through.

The rubbings are readily available. If it's just for testing, she already modified a version back in the early days of Konoha, so it can be used directly.

The problem is, she wants more than just detection; she wants Barrier that combines detection and defense.

The Amusement Park covers a huge area; the planned area and supporting facilities alone span a large forest on the east side of Konoha. Defensive Barriers are inherently designed to prevent the dispersion of Chakra, so the amount of Chakra required to cover the entire Amusement Park and the complexity involved are simply too great. Moreover, the number of visitors is expected to increase dramatically in the future.

Many nobles are already sending invitations to the Hokage Building, and children and adults from commoner families often look towards the Amusement Park. The only large Amusement Park in Konoha is attracting more people in the surrounding area than expected.

If it's only for checking the access permissions of a small number of people, then it might be possible to do so.

However, if you want the Barrier to cover the entire park, maintain the stability of the technique over such a large area, ensure that every entrance and exit can accurately identify tickets, and not consume too much Chakra, the difficulty will increase exponentially.

The larger the Barrier, the more difficult it is to control the attenuation and dissipation of Chakra during transmission; the more nodes there are, the more complex the mutual interference between techniques becomes. If one node malfunctions, the entire area may become ineffective.

Tobirama noticed a palm-sized model placed against the wall in the corridor, a small outline of the Daimyo's Residence made of bamboo strips and paper, but it was completely blank.

But when he reached out, a thin membrane of Chakra appeared, and a faint ripple appeared on the membrane he touched.

"Don't touch it," Mito said without looking up. "I spent all morning adjusting that; I'm not responsible if you get hurt."

Tobirama withdrew his hand, watching the ripples on the thin film slowly smooth out and eventually disappear without a trace, and couldn't help but admire them.

"Sharp."

Mito hummed in response, accepting his praise with obvious satisfaction.

Tobirama to take his leave.

"They're gone."

Take care.

After leaving Mito's courtyard, he reviewed the matters at hand and then went to the Hokage Building to go through all the documents that Rokuhiko had handed him.

After confirming that everything was proceeding smoothly, he looked at the sky.

He estimated that it occurred around 2 PM.

He activated the Flying Thunder God, and when he reappeared, he was standing on the stone steps in front of the Inn in the Land of Hot Water.

The familiar warm air rushed towards me, mixed with the faint shouts of vendors from the distant market and the salty smell of the sea.

Tobirama pushed open the inn door and went inside.

The house was empty.

The hall was quiet. Several used teacups sat on the low table, the teapot had gone cold, and there was no sound of footsteps in the corridor.

He stood at the door and listened for a while; he was probably the only person in the entire hotel.

Tobirama wasn't surprised.

Hashirama and Madara often go out.

If Madara goes out, he'll probably stop by various tea shops or Izakayas to sit, drink tea, and eat sweets. Sometimes he'll bring some back for Izuna to try, and if they like it, the two of them will go together.

If Hashirama goes out, he's most likely going to a casino. Madara would be forced to go out in those situations as well.

When Hashirama went to the casino, Madara would first wander around nearby, and only go in after Hashirama was thrown out by the casino staff to win back the money he had lost.

He watched this process from the sidelines once, and it made him recall that he used to do it often in the past.

Now it's Madara who's taking care of his Big Brother.

Looking at Madara's calm and composed face, Tobirama couldn't help but feel admiration.

To be fair, he was a pretty good friend, actually going along with his older Big Brother's antics. If it were him, he would have gotten impatient after doing it once or twice, but Ban showed no signs of that at all, remaining as calm as a green-haired turtle.

So in this respect, I'll reluctantly admit that he is indeed kind.

Tobirama walked to the low table, intending to pour himself a glass of water. Just as his hand touched the teapot, he noticed a visiting card on the table.

The invitation card was already spread out on the table, inviting several people to Yuasa-za at Atago Shrine to watch Kabuki.

He opened it and glanced at it; the signature was from someone in the Uzumaki Clan. The date was today.

Looks like they went there today.

I wondered if Izuna had received the notification. Tobirama tucked the invitation into his Tobirama, turned and left the inn, heading towards Atago Shrine.

By the time Tobirama Yuasa-za, the performance on stage had already ended.

Thunderous applause and cheers erupted from inside the tent. Flowers and sticky rice were thrown from the audience, landing at the feet of the performers and almost covering the stage with a thin layer.

Izuna sat in his seat, his expression blank.

He felt incredibly bored.

This story, supposedly a tribute to him, recounts how Oda Nobunaga was betrayed and how he died.

The story is complete, but it's as long and tedious as a documentary, like a diary entry.

The dialogue between the characters is bland and uneventful, and the betrayal feels abrupt and sudden, without any foreshadowing or prior knowledge. The reason for the betrayal is only mentioned at the very end.

A segment featuring Oda Nobunaga's singing was inserted in the middle, seemingly an attempt to imitate him and add weight to the story, but the singing was so long and tedious that it only made him feel drowsy.

He sat there, maintaining a polite and proper smile on his face, but inwardly he was cursing wildly.

This kind of thing can be called a tribute? If this were in the world he came from, it wouldn't even be considered a midnight blockbuster.

He'd seen far better things than this, and now he was sitting here watching a bunch of people applaud and cheer for something like this.

He suddenly missed the television.

Before the show ended, the host and the lead actor, dressed in black, walked out from the side of the stage and gestured for everyone to be quiet. He was wearing a white kimono, had a thin face, and a loud voice.

"Thank you all for coming. This performance was inspired by the New The Tale of the Heike, the famous play performed by Uchiha Izuna in the Capital of the Land of Fire."

He paused, his gaze sweeping towards the back of the audience.

"And the esteemed person we are paying tribute to today is right here."

Izuna's back stiffened.

The host raised his hand, pointed in his direction, and smiled broadly.

"Lord Izuna, please come to the stage."

Izuna: "... Oh, do I have to go on stage?"

Enma and the others were all looking at him, especially the guy named Kyōnosuke of pride and anticipation.

Okay! So you're the one who betrayed my position!

Well, what's done is done. Let's go on stage.

Izuna stood up, straightened his clothes, and with that formulaic smile he had perfected, walked through the audience and onto the stage.

The applause rang out again, even more enthusiastic than before.

Izuna stood on the stage, surrounded by dozens of eyes. He nodded slightly and greeted those around him.

Once he was standing still, the host began to speak at length about the tribute elements in the play, such as "an echo of the era of Oda Nobunaga and the Tale of the Heike," "a tragic song of a hero at the end of his road and the dawn of a new era," and "inspired by your performance."

As Izuna listened, he nodded, thinking to himself, "Isn't this level of homage a bit too low? I didn't see it at all."

The host finally finished speaking, turned to him, and asked expectantly, "Lord Izuna, what do you think of our play?"

What else can Izuna do?

He roused himself and gave a perfectly timed, formulaic smile, "It's fine."

The host's eyes lit up, as if he had received a tremendous compliment. "Since you're already here, would we have the honor of hearing your exquisite singing once more?"

Izuna blinked. "Hmm, you mean the aria from the Tale of the Heike?"

"Yes!"

Izuna did not answer immediately. He stood on the stage, bathed in sunlight and gazes, and remained silent for a moment.

He could easily get by by singing a couple of lines from the Tale of the Heike. He knew that part very well; he could sing it off the cuff and even with his eyes closed.

The problem is, he had just watched a terrible play and was in a really bad mood.

Moreover, he felt that if they actually sang the Tale of the Heike, these people would probably just think it was "good" and "impressive," and then go back to performing their own long and tedious stuff.

That's so boring.

He smiled, his eyes crinkling.

"The Tale of the Heike? You're going to sing that? That's so boring," he said. "How about this, I'll tell you a comedy routine."

"Crosstalk is..."

"Ah, right," Izuna recalled the local terminology, "Is it called manzai?"

The stand-up comedian didn't actually know, but Izuna's pronunciation wasn't quite right, and he called out the name correctly, "Mansai! You can do this kind of thing too!"

The audience erupted in excitement.

"Wan Cai! He's actually Wan Cai?!"

"Wan Cai is... a new story?"

"Does Lord Izuna have a new story to tell?"

Is it outside of the Tale of the Heike?

"That performance was impressive enough, what will you sing next, Lord Izuna?"

The murmurs of discussion surged through the tent like a tidal wave.

Tobirama found Hashirama and Madara and sat down next to them.

Hashirama was craning his neck to look at the stage, his face full of interest. Madara leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, his expression indifferent, but his gaze remained fixed on Izuna.

"Ah, Tobirama, you've arrived?" Hashirama a low voice. "You've come at the right time, Izuna is about to go on stage!"

Madara, however, seemed somewhat worried. "Is Izuna really ready?"

Tobirama sat down without making a sound, simply looking at the stage.

He was very curious about what Izuna was planning to do this time.

On the stage, Izuna created several clones.

Izuna himself stood on the side of the stage, holding a Biwa in his arms, and plucked the strings twice to tune it.

He separated one of them and used Transformation Technique, which transformed it into --

"Huh?" Hashirama looked in surprise at the person who appeared after the smoke cleared. "Tobirama, it's you."

Tobirama was also somewhat surprised; would he really ask him to be his Manzai Partner?