Natsu Yuu didn't waste time. He snapped his fingers and activated World Teleportation again.
He returned with Tobirama to Naruto World 2.
It was the same patch of woods, the same battlefield ruins.
When Tobirama returned, his mind reeled. Everything he had just witnessed felt like a dream!
Had he and Elder Brother really traveled to the future together and witnessed a "Nine-Tails rampage"?
Could it all have been an illusion?
No, no, that would have been far too lifelike!
Tobirama glanced at "Immortal Natsu Yuu" beside him, then at Kinkaku's body, crushed into a bloody pulp in the distance. He shook his head with a wry smile.
It was obvious that all of it had been real, not some illusion or dream.
"Please wait a moment, sir."
Tobirama took a deep breath, drew his sword, and used the Body Flicker Technique to flash to the center of the battlefield, where Ginkaku lay dying.
Without hesitation, he brought his blade down and took Ginkaku's head, killing the bastard for good.
Even setting aside that they were enemies, Tobirama despised a brute who betrayed his own village and leader!
"Phew—!"
Tobirama shook the blood from his sword, then used his sensory ability to search the entire battlefield. Only after confirming no enemies remained did he put his weapon away.
He also collected the five Six Paths Tools left behind by Kinkaku and Ginkaku, then returned to Natsu Yuu's side.
He thanked him again, with utmost sincerity:
"Thank you, sir! Without you and Elder Brother, I might really have died here."
Natsu Yuu waved a hand casually, indicating that there was no need to thank him.
"May I ask if there's anything you need me to do?"
Unlike the guileless Hashirama, Tobirama got straight to the point.
He had no doubt that Natsu Yuu was powerful enough to take him and Elder Brother through time with ease. But even the most powerful beings didn't feel unconditional love for others.
And they were even less likely to help others without expecting anything in return.
He wanted to know what this Sage of the Dao Path wanted. What did he seek?
Could he and Konoha afford the price?
He couldn't rest easy until he found that out!
At this,
Natsu Yuu didn't answer right away. Instead, he asked:
"Have you found the answer to my earlier question?"
What question?
Tobirama suddenly remembered.
[Was it really right to stay behind and buy time at the cost of your life?]
Half an hour ago, Tobirama would have answered without hesitation: he had made the right choice.
To protect the promising younger generation, to pass on the Will of Fire and the Hokage Position, to ensure that the news made it back to the village...
He had so many reasons, and he couldn't abandon any of them.
Most importantly:
As Hokage, as the Second Hokage who had inherited Elder Brother's will, he could never abandon his students and subordinates and flee alone...
But now,
after visiting a world thirty-four years in the future and seeing Hiruzen and Konoha as they would become,
the sharp and perceptive Tobirama had naturally noticed the signs.
His answer began to waver.
Natsu Yuu smiled faintly and spoke plainly:
"I'm sure you noticed. The future Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, is quite different from the Hiruzen you know now, isn't he?"
Tobirama nodded.
The difference between them was enormous, though it wasn't just a matter of their appearances changing.
It was a deeper change in their temperament and convictions...
"Monkey really has changed a lot..." Tobirama murmured.
He had died young, and had no idea what Hiruzen had gone through in the following thirty-odd years to become so "cautious and timid."
"That's where it started."
"It started with this battle."
"Senju Tobirama, you stayed behind alone to buy time, and you did save Hiruzen and the others."
"But the cost was enormous."
"Your death shattered Hiruzen's convictions and courage!"
Watching the Second Hokage, the man he had admired and respected most, die horribly at the enemy's hands while he and the others were forced to flee and save themselves—
That was a blow not every ninja could withstand.
Or rather:
It wasn't just Hiruzen.
Of Tobirama's other personal guards, apart from Kagami Uchiha, who had already fallen in battle, and Torifu Akimichi, who had been killed by the Nine-Tails,
the remaining few—Hiruzen, Koharu, Mitokado, and Danzo—
had all been broken by this battle, body and spirit.
They lost their courage and their convictions. They went from brave, battle-hardened elite ninja to cowards who cowered inside the village.
And this change didn't affect only them as individuals.
As Hokage and members of the village's High Council, every decision they made out of fear affected the entire village.
Throughout the Third Hokage's rule, Konoha became increasingly timid, shrinking back more and more.
As a result,
in the wars that followed, all of Konoha feared Kumogakure.
Then, after the Third Shinobi World War, in Konoha's fifty-fourth year, Kumogakure ambushed Konoha, kidnapped Hinata, and tried to borrow a Byakugan from the village for a little while.
Hinata's clan head, Hyuga Hiashi, had dared to fight back against Kumogakure and take her back.
But Hiruzen and the other Konoha leaders didn't dare pick a fight with Kumogakure. Instead, they forcibly suppressed the Hyuga Clan, driving Hiashi's younger brother, Hizashi, to kill himself—and then handed over Hizashi's body of their own accord.
Just thinking about it was infuriating—so infuriating it made one's blood boil!
It showed just how deeply Hiruzen and the others feared and dreaded Kumogakure.
That fear had never faded after the Second Hokage, Tobirama, was killed. It had lasted for decades, leaving Konoha in a humiliating state for decades!
Like a nightmare!
Tobirama understood. He didn't need much explanation; a little was enough for him to grasp the point.
He had been focused on saving Hiruzen and the others, and on preserving the Hokage Position and the village.
But he had greatly underestimated the blow his death would deal to them!
Putting himself in their place,
if the person he trusted and admired most, his Elder Brother Hashirama, were one day killed by an enemy from another village, while he escaped like a rat,
what would he become?
Would he still have the courage to challenge an enemy even his Elder Brother couldn't defeat?
Perhaps he would. Perhaps he wouldn't...
Even Tobirama couldn't be sure, let alone Hiruzen and the others.
He probably meant as much to them as Elder Brother Hashirama meant to him, didn't he?
No wonder!
No wonder Hiruzen had lost his courage and the ruthless resolve a Hokage needed. The problem had started with him—with this cowardly battle!
"I understand."
"Ah..."
"But I had no other choice..."
Tobirama sighed, sounding helpless.
Even though he now understood the enormous flaw in his decision, if he could choose again, he would still stay behind alone and sacrifice himself.
Even if it left Hiruzen and the others with nightmares and robbed them of their courage, that was better than taking them all to their deaths...
A cautious, timid Hokage was still better than leaving the Hokage Position vacant!
The next generation of Konoha ninja hadn't grown up yet...
"No other choice? You didn't dare stay behind with Hiruzen and the other five to fight the Kinkaku Force to the death?"
"That would've been too dangerous! I couldn't take that risk. The Kinkaku Force was too strong..."
"You mean the Kinkaku Force you almost wiped out by yourself?"
Natsu Yuu gestured toward the entire battlefield, his tone carrying a hint of mockery.
A badly wounded Tobirama had nearly wiped out the Kinkaku Force by himself. Add Hiruzen and the other five, who were at least Elite Jonin, and there was no way they wouldn't have defeated them.
In fact, they would have had a good chance of turning the tables and winning!
"This..."
"Senju Tobirama, is it possible that you're the one who's truly afraid?"
Natsu Yuu's words struck Tobirama like a heavy hammer, leaving him stunned.
"I..." Tobirama lowered his head, hesitating.
It wasn't only Hiruzen who had changed decades later. He had changed, too!
If he were the Tobirama of the Warring States period,
would he have negotiated a truce and alliance with Kumogakure?
Not a chance!
He would've been on them in a flash with Flying Thunder God, cutting them down one by one.
When had he learned to compromise? When had he become a dove?
When Konoha was founded?
At the First Kage Summit?
Or after Elder Brother Hashirama died?
He really had changed!
Before you continue