Shimura Danzō: Teacher Tobirama Senju, You're Still Researching Ninjutsu in the Pure Land?!

Just as Fugaku Uchiha thought this, the flames of his Great Fire Annihilation were about to be crushed apart, making him even more anxious.

At that moment, the Uchiha clan guards who had been following them made their move. They rapidly formed hand seals and unleashed Fire Release Ninjutsu, finally managing to push the waterfall back.

Only then did Fugaku Uchiha breathe a sigh of relief. But he quickly sensed the unusual gazes behind him, and an inexplicable sense of shame rose within him. He clenched his fists.

Damn it!

That bastard who used Water Release Ninjutsu.

As long as you're not the innately evil Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, I, Fugaku Uchiha, patriarch of the Uchiha Clan, swear that I'll kill you!

"Keep moving."

Just as Fugaku Uchiha was burning with humiliation and fury, the Third Hokage gave the order.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Everyone continued onward using the Body Flicker Technique.

At the same time, Roman, located in the heart of the Forest of Death, finally finished forming the forty-four hand seals for the A-rank Water Release Ninjutsu, Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique. He let out a long breath.

This damn Water Dragon Bullet Technique has forty-four hand seals. It's way too long!

But this torment of forty-four hand seals was finally over!

Roman immediately took a deep breath, puffed out his cheeks, and gathered most of the Chakra in his body into his throat.

Then he spat it out with force.

Boom, boom, boom...

A massive torrent of water filled the Void, forming a colossal dragon with distinct scales, lifelike features, and an endless body coiling through the sky.

The water dragon gleamed beneath the blue sky, looking vividly alive!

"Roar!"

The instant it appeared, it followed Roman's will and charged viciously toward the damp traces left behind after Hinata Hyuga used the Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique.

The dragon's body swept over broken trees and crushed them to pieces.

Its claws merely brushed against trees, yet tore them out by their roots.

The dragon roamed through the Forest of Death, leaving the entire forest even more devastated.

Boom, boom, boom...

The earth trembled, and the Void quivered.

All of this made the Third Hokage's group, who were rushing over from afar, realize that the mysterious shinobi who had kidnapped Hinata had likely unleashed another ninjutsu from a distance.

Hiruzen Sarutobi gave Hyuga Hiashi a look, and Hiashi immediately understood. He activated his Byakugan.

The veins around his eyes bulged fiercely!

The Byakugan's exaggerated perception was fully unleashed. In the distant forest, he saw a dragon? A dragon made of water?

An A-rank Water Release Ninjutsu, Water Dragon Bullet Technique?

No, that wasn't right... A normal A-rank Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique could never be this enormous, unless it was Lord Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage. But Lord Tobirama Senju had long since...

As Hiashi thought, he sank into profound confusion.

Hiruzen Sarutobi quickly noticed and spoke in a deep voice. "Hiashi, what did you see?"

Hiashi jolted and promptly replied, "A water dragon."

Hiruzen Sarutobi said, "Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique?"

Hiashi said, "No. It's far more exaggerated than a normal Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique. It's like the Water Release Ninjutsu the Second Hokage would use if he had returned to life."

Hiashi's words made the many shinobi present think of the enormous and abnormally powerful Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique from not long ago.

Could it be... that another person had emerged in the shinobi world whose mastery of Water Release Ninjutsu rivaled the Second Hokage?!

Meanwhile, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, remained outwardly calm, but inwardly he was deeply alarmed.

Someone whose Water Release Ninjutsu mastery rivaled the Second Hokage, rivaled his teacher Tobirama Senju? How could such a person possibly exist?!

Could it be the forbidden technique Teacher Tobirama Senju had developed, Impure World Reincarnation?

But the problem was that Teacher had long since classified that technique as forbidden and recorded it in the Scroll of Seals... and only Danzo and I have seen the Scroll of Seals.

Could it be Danzo?

As Hiruzen Sarutobi considered this, he looked at Danzo. Only after confirming that Danzo's expression was normal did he think to himself.

It probably wasn't Danzo.

After all, no matter what, the Second Hokage had been Danzo's teacher.

Danzo shouldn't be capable of such a treacherous act against his teacher and ancestors.

Yet just as Hiruzen Sarutobi quietly erased Danzo from suspicion, Danzo himself was far from calm.

Why is Hiruzen Sarutobi looking at me? Does he suspect that I, Danzo, dug up Teacher Tobirama Senju's corpse?

How could that be!

Am I the kind of person who would betray my teacher and ancestors?

I only dug up Teacher's older brother.

That is, the grave of Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage and founder of Konoha.

But that was also for Konoha. For Konoha's future, Wood Release was essential. Digging up First Hokage Hashirama Senju's grave to study Wood Release had been a necessary measure.

Wait... the person who researched Wood Release was Orochimaru.

When I worked with Orochimaru back then, I gave him a chance to secretly examine the Scroll of Seals. Could he have learned the forbidden technique, Impure World Reincarnation, from it, dug up Teacher's corpse, and used Impure World Reincarnation on Teacher's body?!

And this time, he came back to research the Byakugan?

As Shimura Danzō thought this far, his heartbeat began to accelerate.

The reason was simple: he believed that Orochimaru, an S-rank rogue shinobi, truly was capable of doing such a thing for immortality and for researching the Byakugan.

At that moment, the distant water dragon appeared. Its scale was incomparably vast, just like the Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique Teacher had used by the ocean!

Wait... it wasn't merely similar. The person using ninjutsu in the Forest of Death was very likely Teacher Tobirama Senju in a state of Impure World Reincarnation!

Whoosh!

In that instant, Shimura Danzō was drenched in sweat.

Unlike Shimura Danzō, the Shinobi Hero Hiruzen Sarutobi also saw the incomparably enormous Water Dragon Bullet. Yet he did not retreat in the slightest. In an instant, he rapidly formed hand seals, created clones, and unleashed Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet and Earth-Style Wall!

As the Shinobi Hero and Professor of Ninjutsu, the power of the techniques he used naturally far surpassed the same techniques used by other shinobi.

The Fire Dragon Flame Bullet, for example, transformed into a genuine flaming dragon rolling through the sky. The surrounding temperature soared, and even the heavens were dyed red.

The Earth-Style Wall became a true city wall!

One technique attacked, while the other defended. They complemented each other perfectly!

However, the instant those two great techniques encountered the absurdly massive water dragon, two water bullets spat from the dragon's mouth made the fire dragon cry out in anguish and caused the city wall to collapse.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes widened in shock. He wasn't surprised by the techniques' power, but by the fact that the enormous Water Dragon Bullet could actually fire water bullets on its own... It possessed intelligence like a Tailed Beast?!

Unbelievable!!

Beside him, Shimura Danzō fiercely shrank back at the sight. By now, he was becoming increasingly certain that the caster in the forest was Teacher Tobirama Senju.

After Teacher Tobirama Senju died, he had still not stopped developing ninjutsu. In the end, he had researched an even more advanced version of the Water Dragon Bullet Technique in the Pure Land, a technique at the level of S-rank ninjutsu!

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