Taking Tobirama Senju Completely in Hand

"I'll carry four of them. Two of you each carry one, and leave one person on watch. That's the arrangement."

Kawadera Uchiha volunteered to carry four people, treating the journey back as basic training for the Eight Inner Gates.

The others had no objections. Only the ninja hound Akamaru barked twice. It seemed to want to carry someone too, but unfortunately, no one cared about its opinion.

After tying the four people and four snakes together, Kawadera Uchiha slowly rose to his feet to test the weight.

It was manageable.

Half an hour later, Kawadera Uchiha finally understood why Might Guy shouted every day in the original story.

It was too exhausting. Without yelling, he really couldn't keep going.

To avoid complications, they moved quickly.

Sweat covered Kawadera Uchiha's head, and the muscles in his waist were painfully sore as he shouted:

"This is youth! Hurry! We have to get back to camp before noon tomorrow!"

To make up for his weakness in taijutsu, Kawadera Uchiha was truly going all out.

When they stopped to rest, Kawadera Uchiha, the most exhausted one, earned the precious right to take a break.

While the others weren't paying attention, he used two wooden sticks to pry open the captured captain's eyes.

Entering the Sea of Consciousness, Kawadera Uchiha asked, "Second Hokage, do you want to know who wants Nawaki Senju dead? Do you have any discreet methods for extracting information through interrogation?"

"The first choice would be the Yamanaka Clan's secret techniques. They can read other people's memories and extract intelligence even from corpses."

"That's not realistic. My surname isn't Yamanaka."

"The second is the Mind Reading Technique I developed after studying the Yamanaka Clan's secret techniques. It was recorded in the Scroll of Sealing. I don't know whether it has been passed down."

"Mind Reading Technique?"

Kawadera Uchiha thought of Aoba Yamashiro from the original story.

That ninja had mastered a Mind Reading Technique similar to the Yamanaka Clan's secret techniques and had read the intelligence in Kisame's mind.

Kawadera Uchiha asked, "I'm curious. When you say you 'studied the Yamanaka Clan,' do you mean dissection, or..."

After waiting for a while, Tobirama Senju remained silent, and Kawadera Uchiha understood.

The Yamanaka Clan's secret techniques were not Kekkei Genkai. Given enough time, Tobirama Senju could reproduce all the secret techniques of the Ino-Shika-Cho Clans.

"The secret techniques of the other two Ino-Shika-Cho clans, you also..."

Tobirama Senju said, "Ino-Shika-Cho is Konoha's most tightly knit small faction. Should they ever harbor ill intentions, if I have deciphered their secret techniques, I can certainly dismantle them."

He had to admit that Tobirama Senju thought far ahead. Kawadera Uchiha said, "Second Hokage, give me the Mind Reading Technique. I'll find out who wants Nawaki Senju dead."

"No. Everything I give you can only be a mission reward. You have yet to complete the mission of protecting Konoha, so I cannot give you the Mind Reading Technique."

"What?" Kawadera Uchiha said, "If you won't give me the Mind Reading Technique, how am I supposed to help you find out who wants Nawaki Senju dead?"

"If you don't find out who wants Nawaki dead, how can I give you the Mind Reading Technique?" Tobirama Senju said:

"The Mind Reading Technique is an A-rank secret technique. With it, you can gain an enormous intelligence advantage."

"Second Hokage, aren't you afraid that the murderer hiding in the shadows will continue targeting Nawaki Senju?"

"Little Tsunade is already on guard. This time, you escorted a fake Nawaki; that was Tsunade's arrangement. I believe in her. As for you..." Tobirama Senju emphasized once more:

"Unless you complete the mission, I will absolutely not give you any ninjutsu."

Kawadera Uchiha decisively left the Sea of Consciousness.

Tobirama Senju's will was too firm. Even as a remnant soul imprisoned by Kawadera Uchiha, he remained neither servile nor overbearing and refused to surrender the initiative.

He would have to figure out how to investigate the intelligence himself.

Getting on the Senju Clan's wagon meant offending the Senju Clan's enemies.

He vaguely sensed that there was a force in the village that wanted to erase the Senju Clan's influence and sweep the Senju Clan completely into the trash.

The Senju Clan already seemed to be on the verge of collapse. The wagon he had climbed aboard might very well overturn in a ditch first.

"Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique!"

Kawadera Uchiha used a genjutsu, attempting to glimpse the thing this captain feared most and obtain intelligence from it.

The captain, unconscious from snake venom, had a change in his eyes as the most terrifying scene surfaced in his mind.

That scene played over and over again.

His spine went cold. He turned his head and saw Orochimaru's deathly pale face.

Even though a venomous snake had already bitten his throat, he felt no pain at all, because the blood throughout his body seemed to have frozen.

All he could see were Orochimaru's cold, vertical pupils.

Being watched by Orochimaru was the thing this jonin feared most.

Even Kawadera Uchiha became afraid of Orochimaru's vertical pupils.

No matter how Kawadera Uchiha circulated his chakra, all the Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique showed him was the scene of this man fearing Orochimaru.

Had this captain been scared stupid?

After using the genjutsu several times, Kawadera Uchiha had no choice but to give up on obtaining intelligence through genjutsu.

Every field had its specialty. Genjutsu was not suited for this.

Just then, explosions suddenly sounded from the perimeter!

An enemy attack?

Kawadera Uchiha's first reaction was not tension, but opportunity.

Tobirama Senju refused to give him the Mind Reading Technique he had gained by dissecting the Yamanaka Clan. Wasn't this opportunity arriving at just the right time?

If Seigetsu Senju's squad suffered serious losses, Tobirama Senju would no longer be able to sit back calmly.

He had to take Tobirama Senju firmly in hand. Otherwise, Tobirama Senju would think he was really the Hokage in the Sea of Consciousness.

He instantly came up with a plan: pretend that carrying four people during the day had exhausted him, act powerless here, and wait until Tobirama Senju could no longer stand watching. Then Tobirama Senju would assign him a mission, and he could trade it for the Mind Reading Technique.

Just as he was reveling in the plan, more than ten kunai suddenly shot toward him.

"Hm?"

His ninja blade left its sheath. He blocked some kunai to the left and right, then dodged the rest.

Of the four bound people, one was struck in the leg by two kunai.

Kawadera Uchiha thought someone was trying to silence them.

Someone had held back Seigetsu Senju, while someone else had broken through the outer defenses and rushed straight here.

That killing intent clearly meant to perish together with Kawadera Uchiha, or to silence the captives so they would not fall into Orochimaru's hands.

Kawadera Uchiha immediately cut the ropes with his ninja blade, carried only the captain on top, and leaped away from the spot.

This captain was the strongest and knew the most intelligence. At the very least, Kawadera Uchiha had to keep him alive to complete the mission Orochimaru had assigned.

After leaping away and fleeing into the distance, he suddenly realized something was wrong.

No one cared about the poisoned captives lying on the ground. Three people were charging straight at him!

In the distance, the battle was exceptionally fierce. Explosive Tags, barking dogs, chirping insects—the rest of the squad had all been held back.

Kawadera Uchiha did not hesitate and directly threw away the captain.

In the Sea of Consciousness, Tobirama Senju hurriedly asked, "What are you doing?! Only by delivering this captive captain to little Orochimaru can we find the mastermind!"

"What does the mastermind have to do with me? Is anything more important than my own life? Unless... unless you give me a major mission!"

The captive captain crashed to the ground, and Kawadera Uchiha jumped onto a tree branch.

Yet the three ninja ignored him and continued charging at Kawadera Uchiha.

Kawadera Uchiha was dumbfounded. I already gave you what you wanted. Go silence him! Go complete your mission! Why are you chasing me?

Could it be... they came for me? Did I offend someone?

In the Sea of Consciousness, Tobirama Senju suddenly stopped worrying. The evil Uchiha was about to suffer a huge misfortune.