In the nearly collapsed underground chamber, only the dancing flames remained steady.
Tobirama reined in his rampaging chakra and listened to Sasuke and Hiruzen's conversation. It was as if he had witnessed the Uchiha Clan of this world heading toward its own destruction.
A thousand thoughts and feelings became a single sigh.
When Rikusei served as Third, he had aggressively weakened the shinobi clans.
He had started with his own clan, launching a separation movement much like the one in the modern world. The weakening campaign gradually spread to every shinobi clan in Konoha.
But after Rikusei's death, a power vacuum emerged.
The advisers, eager to win the support of the various clans, joined forces with Fourth Hokage Minato, who could barely hold things together alone, and overturned Rikusei's policies in one fell swoop.
Once the Uchiha had regrouped, they became Konoha's strongest clan.
Their Kekkei Genkai, the Sharingan, represented immense strength—and that made them difficult to control.
Most Uchiha who awakened the Sharingan developed a touch of neurosis. That wasn't a problem in battle, but it made them ill-suited for politics.
"Restore the Uchiha Clan to its former glory"—it sounded like an inspiring slogan.
After Minato's death, the council led by Hiruzen had stoked the ambition within the Uchiha Clan, guiding them toward their own destruction with hardly any effort.
Shisui, Itachi?
The names Hiruzen had just murmured brought Tobirama out of his reverie. He had heard them both in the modern world's chess club.
One was Kagami's descendant. The other was Fugaku's son, who had awakened the Mangekyo without drawing on the God Tree's original energy.
Visible melancholy spread across the furrows etched into Hiruzen's face. Tobirama, whose mental age was nearing a hundred, knew this hadn't been his intention.
Hiruzen had simply grown old, his strength failing