A Complete Reversal

That evening, Danzo personally brought all the materials on Impure World Reincarnation to Shiraishi's residence.

Danzo said little. He set down the materials and left at once.

Aside from becoming Hokage, Danzo had gained access to more information about the village. He had also discovered that the village's situation was even worse than he had imagined.

This did not make Danzo consider abandoning the war. Instead, he began making plans for the rest of it with even greater caution.

After Danzo left, Shiraishi began studying the materials on Impure World Reincarnation in his living room.

In essence, the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu was a Summoning Technique involving the dead.

It had been classified as a Forbidden Jutsu because controlling the souls of the dead went against mainstream moral values.

Shiraishi spent less than an hour reading through all the materials, and gained a basic understanding of Impure World Reincarnation.

Danzo had told Shiraishi that Impure World Reincarnation was incomplete, but that was actually a misconception.

From the perspective of Tobirama Senju, who had created Impure World Reincarnation, the Forbidden Jutsu was a complete technique that fully met its creator's needs.

Tobirama Senju had created Impure World Reincarnation primarily to use in combination with Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags. By covering the dead with Explosive Tags, he could create something like a human bomb and launch precise attacks over a wide area.

But the Impure World Reincarnation that Orochimaru and Kabuto used in the anime Shiraishi remembered was entirely different. They focused on the individual strength of the people they summoned, treating them like summoned creatures to fight for them.

For Shiraishi, the basic version of Impure World Reincarnation created by Tobirama Senju was already good enough. He had no need to summon the dead to fight for him.

Shiraishi's original reason for studying Impure World Reincarnation was to summon spirits existing in the space between life and death, and thereby learn about that realm.

So, after gaining a preliminary understanding of the principles and technique behind Impure World Reincarnation, Shiraishi immediately put his plan into action.

Under the cover of night, Shiraishi first went to Konoha Cemetery and quietly took away the remains of several dead people.

Then he went to the Root base and took two prisoners of war from other villages. Both had already been drained of all useful information and were being kept as test subjects, awaiting death.

In a sense, death would be a release for the two of them.

Shiraishi brought them to an uninhabited forest on the outskirts of the village, near the Barrier.

Following the instructions in the materials, Shiraishi drew the symbols on one of the prisoners and on the ground around him.

Then Shiraishi placed the remains he had just dug up, stepped back a few paces, and began forming hand seals.

This body of Shiraishi's had not originally possessed much Chakra. But after he took it over, his powerful soul had endowed it with an enormous amount.

Normally, as a demonic cultivator who cultivated the true scriptures and circulated his true essence and Dharma Power, he had no need for Chakra.

Tonight, as he attempted the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu, this was only the second time Shiraishi had extracted Chakra.

An enormous amount of Chakra surged out of his body and swirled around him, cracking the earth beneath his feet.

Shiraishi began forming hand seals: Tiger, Snake, Dog, Dragon. Finally, he brought his hands together, and Chakra flowed toward the Summoning Technique's runic formation in front of him.

Seizing the opportunity, Shiraishi released his powerful spiritual sense to observe the formation's response.

As the Chakra flowed in, the mysterious symbols that outlined the formation began to exert some obscure, inexplicable influence.

Shiraishi's spiritual sense could feel a crack filled with the aura of the dead opening out of nothingness. Drawn by the remains, a soul slowly drifted out, fell from the air, and entered the prisoner serving as its vessel.

The dust around them was drawn by an invisible force, gradually enveloping the prisoner and taking on the appearance the summoned soul had had in life.

A man with spiky white hair, dressed in dark blue armor in the style of the Warring States period, his eyes closed.

Looking at the figure before him, Shiraishi smiled with satisfaction. His first attempt had been a great success: he had successfully summoned the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.

Without giving Tobirama Senju time to regain consciousness, the Ten Thousand Soul Banner flew out of Shiraishi's soul. Two wisps of black smoke emerged from the banner, transformed into chains, bound Tobirama Senju's soul, and dragged him into the banner.

The success of his first attempt had given Shiraishi valuable experience. He walked over to the other unconscious prisoner.

The next morning, a confidential meeting of the village's leadership was underway in the Hokage Office in the Hokage Building.

Only four people attended the meeting, which Danzo had called himself.

Danzo, in the Third Hokage's body, sat in the Hokage's seat. The two advisors, along with Hiruzen Sarutobi, whose body he had swapped with, stood before his desk.

Sitting in the Hokage's seat with Hiruzen Sarutobi watching gave Danzo an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

"Did you have something to discuss, Hiruzen?" Mitokado Homura asked.

Danzo sat up straight, placed both hands on the desk, and said, "I've given the peace talks with Iwagakure the day after tomorrow some thought, and I feel our stance has been too weak."

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu were both taken aback. Neither had expected Hiruzen to suddenly change his position at such a critical moment.

"Hiruzen, we've already laid the groundwork for our negotiations with Iwagakure. If we suddenly change our position now, the peace talks could collapse," Mitokado Homura advised.

"Hiruzen, the front against Hidden Cloud needs reinforcements. If we don't make peace with Iwagakure, it'll be hard to spare troops to support it," Utatane Koharu quickly added.

"I disagree, too! The village can't afford any more losses. We should reach an agreement with Iwagakure as soon as possible, concentrate our forces on the front against Hidden Cloud, and end the war as quickly as we can."

The voice made both advisors turn in surprise.

They looked at "Danzo" nearby, then at "Hiruzen Sarutobi" sitting in the Hokage's seat, utterly stunned!

What was going on today?

Hiruzen, who usually insisted on peace talks, had suddenly changed his stance and wanted to take a tougher line with Iwagakure.

Meanwhile, Danzo, the village's hardliner who had always insisted on continuing the war with Iwagakure, was opposing Hiruzen's position and arguing in favor of peace talks.

It was a complete reversal!

"Hiruzen, Danzo, you two..." Mitokado Homura looked from Danzo to Hiruzen, his face full of surprise.

"Hmph!" Danzo slammed the desk and stood up, glaring at Hiruzen Sarutobi. "Danzo, I'm the Hokage! I'll decide whether we hold peace talks!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi refused to back down. He strode forward until he was right in front of Danzo, his eyes full of resolve. "The peace talks with Iwagakure must not be sabotaged!"

The two advisors looked on, dumbfounded. Watching Danzo and Hiruzen, they could hardly believe their eyes.

At last, they looked away and turned to each other, both filled with confusion and surprise.

What on earth had gotten into those two?