The wind sighed bleakly, and not a soul made a sound.
After Orochimaru transformed into the First Hokage, the entire scene sank into a deathly stillness. Aside from the unknowing breeze, no other sound could be heard.
A man's name cast a tree's shadow.
Though decades had passed and the ninjas had already changed through two or three generations, the name Senju Hashirama still loomed like a mountain over the entire Shinobi World.
Even the other four great ninja villages hostile to Konoha had to admit that as long as that man existed, Konoha's position could never be shaken.
And now, at the moment of Konoha's life-or-death crisis, this former God of Shinobi had actually appeared once again?
Aside from Araki, everyone present was so shocked they lost their voices.
"Is this... real or fake?"
Hikō's lips twitched slightly. No one knew whether he was asking someone else or talking to himself.
But the way he slowly retreated behind the others made his guilty conscience perfectly clear.
With nothing more than a figure whose truth was still hard to determine, he had frightened back numerous jōnin from Iwagakure and Sunagakure. The fame of the God of Shinobi was indeed no empty boast.
The first to react, however, was Tsunade.
If there was anyone among all those present who was most familiar with the First Hokage, it was naturally her, his own granddaughter.
"Gr... Grandpa?"
Tsunade covered her lips in disbelief, excited tears shimmering in her eyes.
"Ah... you are???"
Senju Hashirama turned his head, seeming still a little dazed.
And it was precisely that muddleheaded look that made Tsunade instantly confirm that this really was her grandfather, not some illusion Orochimaru had created with some bizarre ninjutsu.
So she pounced straight toward him.
"I'm little Tsunade, Grandpa!"
"Little... Tsunade?"
A