Shirou Emiya's Secret (Please Vote)

No...

What did he mean, was his mouth dry or not?!

Was whether his mouth was dry really the issue right now?!

Just as little Jiraiya tried to argue loudly, Sarutobi Hiruzen raised a hand and pressed down on his head. He even took him and the other children to a shop and bought them a cup of Chestnut Juice.

"All right, all right."

"I'm a ninja from the village."

Sarutobi Hiruzen rubbed little Jiraiya's white hair as he gently handed him the Chestnut Juice. Taking the opportunity, he started chatting with the children. "Sounds like you haven't attended the village's Ninja School yet. Are you not five years old this year?"

"I'm already five!"

Little Jiraiya clutched the Chestnut Juice in his arms and shouted indignantly, "I can enroll this year! I'll definitely pass the entrance test!"

It had to be said.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was quite approachable.

No, rather than that, Sarutobi Hiruzen was not arrogant. He was willing to lower himself and mingle with these children, quickly earning their respect.

Especially after the children heard that Sarutobi Hiruzen was a ninja who had traveled outside for ten years, their eyes filled with admiration.

"Hmph..."

Young Danzo gave Sarutobi Hiruzen a disdainful glance.

What they needed to do now was hurry to the Hokage Building and report back, not waste time dawdling here with these children. Ninjas were not here to play house with kids!

Fortunately.

Sarutobi Hiruzen did not delay them for long.

He merely took the opportunity to ask the children about the village's recent changes. It seemed that Konoha had recently been preparing to select the Second Hokage.

It seemed...

The First Hokage's condition truly was not good...

Just then.

The people sent to receive them arrived as well.

After learning that Shirou Emiya's group had returned to Konoha, Tobirama Senju immediately sent people to receive them. However, he already knew full well what Shirou Emiya's group had gained, because Tobirama Senju often sent people to exchange information with them.

"Sure enough..."

"Even Lord Shirou..."

"Couldn't find the God Tree Remnants?"

When Tobirama Senju met Shirou Emiya, he did not look particularly disappointed. Over the past ten years, he had also secretly sent people to search for the God Tree Remnants.

All of Konoha's Anbu had been assigned missions to search for the God Tree Remnants. However, they had never known what exactly the God Tree Remnants were, and the things they brought back were often quite strange. Usually, they simply found ways to transport back bizarre flowers and trees.

Unfortunately...

None of them had been the God Tree Remnants.

Once someone had been disappointed too many times, it became difficult to hold any hope for the future. Even someone like Tobirama Senju was no exception.

"It seems the Ninja Sect has already cleared away the God Tree Remnants..."

Shirou Emiya sighed. He was somewhat disappointed that his journey had yielded nothing, although its most important objective had already been accomplished.

"Then..."

"Is there no other way?"

Tobirama Senju frowned and waved for everyone else to leave. A rare heaviness appeared in his expression. "Lord Shirou, lately my brother's condition has become abnormally vigorous. He looks full of life, but I fear his life may already be nearing its limit. This year, he has stopped leaving Konoha to search for Madara's whereabouts..."

By his usual habits, Hashirama Senju never stayed in Konoha for long. He was always searching the Shinobi World for Madara Uchiha's whereabouts, rarely returning even when younger generations of the family were born.

Yet Hashirama Senju had become extremely strange this year. Ever since returning to Konoha, he had not gone out again. It would have been one thing if he merely enjoyed gambling himself, but he even took his little granddaughter gambling every day.

This was not normal.

Anyone could sense how strange the situation was.

"His body is like a tree."

Shirou Emiya had long anticipated Hashirama Senju's condition. He spoke softly, "On the surface, it always appears full of vitality. Even every leaf is lush and green."

"Yet this tree has drained its own life force to remain evergreen, allowing its strength to stay at its peak all this time..."

"Precisely because of that, he can never return to the state of an ordinary person. His unparalleled healing ability makes him impossible to kill, while cells that grow and divide without limit consume his lifespan, carrying him and his immense power toward the end of his life..."

"A long-lived tree."

"Withering and flourishing once a year is the natural order."

"People are like trees as well. They can never remain in a flourishing state forever."

"As I said before, whether the God Tree Remnants or Yang Power, both would merely use external force to forcibly make up for his lifespan, maintaining this vigorous state of life..."

"Is there really no other way?"

Tobirama Senju's eyes darkened slightly.

Over the past ten years, Tobirama Senju had done many things to ensure that Konoha could continue to exist after his elder brother passed away.

But his brother had always cared for and protected him since childhood. Even someone as cold-tempered as Tobirama Senju found it difficult to bear the pain of losing his closest family.

"..."

Shirou Emiya fell silent.

Yet Shirou Emiya's silence made Tobirama Senju realize something, because he knew that if Shirou Emiya were truly helpless, he would definitely say so directly.

"Lord Shirou!"

Tobirama Senju spoke in a low voice, wanting to question Shirou Emiya. He had already formed a certain guess, and his heart began beating faster. "You must still have a way to save my brother's life, don't you?"

"I can't be certain."

"Because this is not a medical method."

Shirou Emiya did not choose to speak frankly, nor was he willing to tell Tobirama Senju. "This is the final method, and there is a high chance it will fail. I cannot tell you either, because this is a top secret of the Netherworld Pure Land. It concerns the secret of the dead..."

"!!!"

Tobirama Senju's expression changed abruptly.

As someone who had developed Impure World Reincarnation, Tobirama Senju had also studied the destination of the dead's souls. He knew that the souls of the dead generally returned to the Underworld.

But...

The Underworld did not contain only the dead.

This information about the Underworld came from the Uzumaki Clan.

As distant relatives of the Uzumaki Clan, the Senju Clan maintained close contact with them. They had always been allies who relied upon one another.

Tobirama Senju had spent his life researching mysterious and unpredictable techniques, so he had naturally studied the forbidden techniques of the Uzumaki Clan. From those forbidden techniques, he learned that the Underworld also contained the strange Death Reaper.

Tobirama Senju also knew that powerful members of the Uzumaki Clan could borrow the Death Reaper's power. At the price of their own souls, they could perform the strange Dead Demon Consuming Seal, sealing powerful enemies within the Death Reaper's body.

This Dead Demon Consuming Seal was also the bane of Impure World Reincarnation, because it sealed a person's soul inside the Death Reaper.

In that case...

Impure World Reincarnation naturally could not summon a soul that had been sealed away.

As the creator of Impure World Reincarnation, Tobirama Senju understood some of the strange matters surrounding the dead. His curiosity toward the Netherworld Pure Land was no less than anyone else's.

Tobirama Senju's power could not reach the Underworld, but he hoped to learn more of its secrets. It was simply in his nature to keep everything within his grasp.

"I should still be able to help, right?"

Tobirama Senju lightly furrowed his brow and spoke as though casually. "If it concerns the Netherworld Pure Land, I know at least a little..."

"For example..."

"The reason I could revive Lord Shirou was because I could summon Lord Shirou's soul. After Lord Shirou died, his soul returned to the Netherworld Pure Land."

"Some dead souls are not in the Pure Land, but inside the Underworld's Death Reaper. Their souls are sealed inside the Death Reaper and can never return."

"..."

A faint flicker passed through Shirou Emiya's eyes.

This guy really had the nerve to say such a thing...

Was disturbing the peace of the dead's souls somehow a good thing?

Did he think that maintaining Impure World Reincarnation indefinitely would not affect the dead's souls?

If Shirou Emiya's soul had not been strong enough, then had it been anyone else reincarnated through Impure World Reincarnation, their soul power would have long since been exhausted.

Still...

This guy really was a genius...

He had actually already researched the Death Reaper of the Underworld...

Unfortunately...

The final method did not come from the Death Reaper.

Shirou Emiya did not care about the Death Reaper that humans feared.

Because he had obtained the Sage of Six Paths' power, Shirou Emiya's soul and Chakra were not constantly confined within the Underworld. Even his soul could move freely.

Naturally...

He came into contact with the Death Reaper.

The Death Reaper, which should have governed souls, possessed no intelligence whatsoever.

This Death Reaper of the Underworld could not even perform the most basic task of harvesting souls. Whenever it occasionally encountered Shirou Emiya's dead soul, it would charge at him, only to be beaten up before instinctively fleeing. The next time it saw Shirou Emiya, it would still charge at him again without remembering a thing...

No wonder...

A being without any intelligence...

Often allowed its power to be used by ninjas in the living world. Though exploited by ninjas, those moments were also its rare chances to happily harvest souls.

Still...

Its lack of intelligence was truly a fatal weakness.

There were so many geniuses in the Shinobi World. Sooner or later, someone would devise a way to escape the Death Reaper. Someone would probably soon learn how to exploit the Death Reaper and slip away perfectly without paying the price.

"So you even know of the Underworld's Death Reaper?"

Shirou Emiya let out a long sigh and spoke softly. "However, the Death Reaper will not save anyone's life..."

"Not the Death Reaper? Then could it be..."

Tobirama Senju's curiosity grew even stronger.

"Stop trying to learn secrets from me."

Shirou Emiya frowned, his expression gradually turning solemn. "During these ten years in this era, I have seen too much deception and concealment. Some secrets cannot be spoken no matter what."

"I will only tell Hashirama."

"And only Hashirama when he is on the verge of death."

"No matter what, I cannot tell any other living person."

Because...

This was his final test.

Shirou Emiya's eyes were somewhat lifeless. This was his final test of that god who existed between life and death.