The Despicable Tobirama Senju

Same as always.

The moment Madara and Tobirama met, the air and atmosphere immediately grew tense.

Especially without Hashirama there to act as the lubricant. If the two met alone, they could start fighting at any moment.

Natsu Yuu had even prepared himself—if either of them made a move, he would immediately teleport them away.

They could talk again after they had calmed down.

Yet this time, both sides actually restrained themselves.

Though Madara was displeased, he chose to endure it.

If this really was Tobirama from the future, then he did need to let him off for now. At the very least, he had to get the information he wanted first.

Elder Tobirama from World 2 had also changed his mindset and become indifferent toward many things.

After all, the Madara before him was not the Madara he knew. He could treat this as his first time meeting this annoying bastard; it was not worth making a huge fuss over.

Besides, he had to give Sage of the Dao Path some face, didn't he?

"Sir, why did you bring this guy here? Where's my Elder Brother?"

Tobirama looked at Natsu Yuu, hoping he would hurry up and send this evil Uchiha leader away.

"I made a deal with Madara and brought him here for a look. Perhaps you'll need his strength too."

Madara looked at Natsu Yuu, then at Tobirama, then out the window.

At last, he steadied his emotions and turned serious.

"This really is the future?"

"Yes."

"How far in the future?"

"Konoha sixteen years from now—the first year after Hashirama's death."

"So this is the future Hashirama visited last time? The Hashirama of this world really is already dead?"

A faint trace of sorrow appeared on Madara's face, almost impossible to detect.

Only then did he finally understand why, after returning, Hashirama had insisted on keeping him at all costs, even making him inherit the Hokage Position.

The pain of losing someone dear truly was unbearable.

Even if the one who had died here was not the "Hashirama" he knew...

At the same time, the last trace of Madara's suspicion toward Natsu Yuu quietly vanished.

This guy really could bring him through time into the future! Sage of the Dao Path truly lived up to his name!

Because Madara was certain that he had not been caught in Genjutsu.

Then there was only one possibility. This truly was the future, truly Konoha sixteen years later!

Now that he knew he had arrived in Konoha in the future, Year 17, Madara had already heard Hashirama explain the general situation here. Of course, he did not know the more specific details.

After all, Hashirama had not stayed for very long back then.

"So this Tobirama was supposed to die at the hands of those two beasts from Kumogakure? And in the end, Hashirama luckily saved him?"

Madara's first words immediately maxed out the hostility.

As for Tobirama's original fate, Madara found it both laughable and tragic.

That Tobirama, so arrogant and so full of himself, had actually died at the hands of two beasts?

Hahaha!

Once he returned, he could use it to mock the Tobirama from his own world.

Tobirama's face instantly darkened as well. He wanted nothing more than to seal Madara's filthy mouth shut!

What kind of words were those? What kind of words?!

He had merely been careless and failed to dodge.

He had been ambushed!

Damn Madara Uchiha! If you have the guts, come fight me for three hundred rounds!

Wait...

He seemed unable to beat him.

Forget it. He would endure a little longer.

He was the Second Hokage. He would not stoop to the level of a rogue ninja like this.

After a massive storm of thoughts in his head, Tobirama ultimately swallowed it down once more.

It was a pity Elder Brother wasn't here—otherwise, he would have pounced on him and bitten him directly!

Natsu Yuu did not join in the two men's bickering.

Once everyone learned in the future that Madara had been ambushed by that dutiful son Black Zetsu and had his heart ripped out, who knew who would end up laughing at whom?

After a brief round of teasing, Natsu Yuu turned to the serious matter first.

"Tobirama, how are things on your end?"

"Everything is proceeding according to plan. Other than Hiruzen and the other six, no one knows that I'm still alive."

"Both Konoha and the entire ninja world basically believe that Kinkaku and Ginkaku and I perished together."

Speaking of this, Tobirama perked up considerably.

In fact, during those three idle days earlier, Natsu Yuu had not been idle either. His number of teleports refreshed every day, and he would occasionally visit [World 2] and [World 4].

He had also discussed matters with Elder Tobirama here and proposed a "Faked Death Plan."

After weighing it up, Tobirama decisively chose to adopt it.

After all, Tobirama himself knew that if he did not die, it would greatly affect the ninja world's subsequent development.

It would also render much of the future intelligence they had obtained ineffective.

It was better to conceal the truth for now and announce that Tobirama had fallen in battle.

Then, they could use the intelligence from the future to secure even more benefits and advantages for Konoha!

Hearing Tobirama's response, Madara became somewhat interested as well.

A faked death to get away? That's a fine plan!

Wait, could the me in this world have faked his death too? Could he still be alive?

Madara suppressed this excited speculation and continued asking, "What is the current state of this [First Shinobi World War]?"

In fact, the [First Shinobi World War] could roughly be divided into two halves.

First half: After Hashirama's death, the four hidden villages swiftly assembled their armies and attacked Konoha. Tobirama inherited the Hokage Position and used the Forbidden Jutsu [Impure World Reincarnation] to summon a massive army of the dead, blocking the four nations' joint invasion. In the end, he used the might of the Flying Thunder God to crush the Four Nations Alliance, intimidating the ninja world and earning the title of [First God of Speed in the Ninja World].

Second half: After being defeated by Konoha under Tobirama's leadership, the Four Nations Alliance fell apart.

Seeing that Konoha was still such a tough nut to crack even without Hashirama, everyone naturally gave up on joining forces.

Afterward, [Sunagakure] withdrew into itself and stopped participating in the war, focusing on researching the weaponization of tailed beasts.

[Kumogakure] attempted to form an alliance and negotiate peace with [Konoha], but Kinkaku and Ginkaku sabotaged it, resulting in the sudden deaths of both the Second Raikage and the Second Hokage.

[Iwagakure] and [Kirigakure] fought each other to the bitter end, until the Second Tsuchikage and the Second Mizukage perished together.

As for now, the war had already entered its second half.

If Tobirama did not die, Konoha's overall strength would still be the greatest.

Then Mu, the Second Tsuchikage of this world, and Hozuki Gengetsu, the Second Mizukage, might not necessarily fight a decisive battle, much less perish together.

As long as either of them lived, they would be a major threat to Konoha!

This was also one of the real reasons Tobirama had released news of his faked death.

"So, what do you plan to do?"

Tobirama paused, glanced over the intelligence on the table, and said with excitement in his eyes, "According to the intelligence, [Iwagakure] and [Kirigakure] are gathering their armies and preparing to fight a decisive battle in the [Land of Iron]."

"There is a high chance that the Second Tsuchikage and the Second Mizukage will perish together in that battle."

"Taking advantage of this opportunity, I will join forces with [Sunagakure] to launch a surprise attack on [Iwagakure]'s heartland and seize the chance to wipe out [Iwagakure] in one stroke!"

After learning that several more Shinobi World Wars would break out in the future, one after another, and after witnessing the [Nine-Tails' Rampage], Tobirama had long abandoned the [Tailed Beast Deterrence System] and given up his illusions about peace.

He only wanted to weaken the other Four Great Hidden Villages as much as possible while he was still alive, or even wipe out one or two of them.

That way, he could accumulate more advantages for Konoha.

Perhaps then Konoha would be able to withstand Hiruzen and the others' future squandering and mismanagement?

Hearing this, Madara immediately said disdainfully:

"Just as expected of the despicable Tobirama Senju—your head is filled with nothing but schemes and tricks."

"Evil Madara Uchiha, you have the nerve to say that? If you hadn't betrayed Konoha and fought Elder Brother to the death, how could my elder brother have died so soon?!"

"The incompetent only know how to blame others. Or are you saying that without me, Konoha should have been destroyed?"

Madara, who had just wiped out Iwagakure, was not about to indulge Tobirama in the slightest.

He wished he could argue Tobirama to death.

In his eyes, why would destroying a tiny Iwagakure require so many twists and turns?

Wasn't he alone enough?

Useless Tobirama, nothing but a good-for-nothing!