Reanimation

"I intend to seal away the forbidden jutsu he was researching and destroy this Underground Laboratory along with it, so he doesn't get any crooked ideas in the future."

"It's just that a lot of the experimental equipment inside looks quite valuable; it would be a waste to just destroy it all."

Hashirama looked at the two of them:

"Toji, Chiru, go and take inventory. Anything the hospital and the Ninja Academy can use, move it out. I'll destroy the rest later."

"Understood!"

Undertakers?

No, professional liquidators would be more accurate.

As Toji and Chiru walked into the laboratory, a cold, decaying stench rushed to meet them.

Chiru couldn't help but hold her breath. "If a person stayed in a place like this for too long, they would probably truly fall into darkness."

Environment can change a person.

Toji nodded in deep agreement. "You're right."

His own underground laboratory, aside from not having claimed any lives yet, was every bit as gloomy, oppressive, and terrifying as this one.

It was a good thing Toji wasn't the type to be changed by his environment.

Because he himself was already of the most depraved sort.

Although their actions at this moment were somewhat undignified, it really was like a pair of mice falling into a rice granary.

Chiru picked out quite a few pieces of relatively basic equipment, but Toji went straight for the high-end, precision devices that even he, with all his embezzlement of hospital funds, hadn't been able to afford.

"Tobirama Senju is truly the Ninja World's greatest inventor; he's certainly wealthy."

Toji moved the equipment he had his eye on, one by one.

As he walked, he arrived beside an experimental table and caught sight of a corpse that had yet to be processed.

Toji's gaze sharpened as he noticed the summoning jutsu markings remaining on the surface of the body.

Hashirama hadn't explicitly stated what forbidden jutsu Tobirama was researching.

But based on Toji's understanding of Tobirama, among all the forbidden jutsus he would master in the future, the only one requiring human experimentation during its development was Reanimation.

Reanimation was, in essence, a summoning jutsu.

However, in Toji's memory, the final version of Reanimation did not display such markings. It was only because it was still in its embryonic stage that such obvious traces of the jutsu formula remained.

Hashirama hadn't destroyed these markings.

Whether it was because he was thick-headed or because he trusted Toji too much, it was hard to say.

And Toji, naturally, would not betray that trust.

"An unexpected windfall."

Thanks to the enhancement of his dual Yin Release, Toji's memory far exceeded that of an ordinary person; he could truly be said to have a photographic memory.

He quietly memorized the entire set of summoning markings.

Perhaps after the experimental notes were destroyed, even Tobirama, the designer himself, might not have as deep a memory of this prototype formula as Toji did.

Toji stood by the experimental table and began to study it.

This string of summoning markings was equivalent to the underlying architecture of Reanimation. As long as one could decipher the logic of the jutsu that connected to the Pure Land based on this, one could summon the dead to fight for them.

The theory wasn't difficult.

But actual development was far from simple; the key lay in "Space-Time Talent"—the ability to sense the existence of the Ninja World's Pure Land.

Toji thought about how many Japanese films and shows featured similar abilities, and the one most similar to Reanimation was probably the "Heroic Spirit Summoning" from the Type-Moon series.

Heroic Spirits corresponded to the dead, and the Throne of Heroes corresponded to the Pure Land.

"Could I use incantations instead of hand seals?"

"Appear, you who traverse the wheel of suppression, guardian of Konoha."

Toji thought with a touch of dark humor; this could actually be considered a direction for development. Who knew, maybe the summoning incantation would even be heard by the Sage of Six Paths.

Because of his intervention, Tobirama's Reanimation research had been forcibly interrupted, and the relevant experimental data would be completely destroyed by Hashirama.

And with the prototype summoning formula in his hands, he was theoretically already standing at the forefront of Reanimation development.

This was a forbidden jutsu that required three generations—Tobirama, Orochimaru, and Kabuto—to finally complete.

Relying on his own strength, how far could he go, and what kind of brilliance could he bring forth?

"Reanimation, huh..."

Toji stared at the corpse before him, the light in his eyes flickering uncertainly.

Outside the Underground Laboratory.

Hashirama asked, "Has everything been cleared out?"

Toji reported, "Yes, all the usable equipment has been moved. The high-precision instruments were sent to Gospel Hospital, and the standard apparatus was sent to the Ninja Academy to serve as teaching aids."

"Good. In this way, Tobirama hasn't done entirely wrong; at least the mistakes he made can help patients and students."

Hashirama sighed with a bitter smile, then said in a deep voice, "You two, step back."

Having already witnessed Hashirama's strength, Toji immediately took Uchiha Chiru and retreated a safe distance.

Immediately after, Hashirama clapped his hands together: "Wood Style: Small Wood Human Technique!"

The surrounding trees grew wildly, coalescing into a small wooden figure no less in size than a first-stage Susanoo, with a ferocious wooden dragon coiled around its body. Under Hashirama's control, the wood figure entered the Underground Laboratory and began to demolish it indiscriminately.

A moment later, seeing that the demolition was mostly complete, Hashirama clapped his hands again: "Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!"

The ground trembled noticeably.

Countless tree roots surged and churned, tearing the entire Underground Laboratory to shreds in the blink of an eye, transforming the surface into a lush forest park.

The level of secrecy was comparable to grinding something in a shredder and then burning it to ashes.

In short, Tobirama's laboratory had completely vanished from this land.

Toji watched Hashirama's back, burying his deep longing within his heart.

The God of Shinobi's mesmerizing Wood Style.

"With this, it is finished."

Hashirama sighed, turned around, and said to the two, "Thank you both for your hard work today."

"Please do not spread word of today's events. Tobirama has gone astray, and I will educate him properly when I return. I ask this of you as an older brother."

Having said this, Hashirama bowed deeply to the two of them.

"Yes! Lord Hokage!" Uchiha Chiru was moved by Hashirama's sincerity.

As for Toji...

He was fundamentally unmoved.

Hashirama truly had all his talent points invested in combat, with his political IQ being essentially zero. If he really didn't want two outsiders to know about this, he shouldn't have brought them to the scene in the first place.

But then again, the "simple" villagers of Konoha were very susceptible to Hashirama's sincerity.

Just as they were susceptible to his own sincerity and kindness.

The group went their separate ways.

Hashirama returned to the clan to discipline his younger brother; Uchiha Chiru went to the Ninja Academy to distribute the teaching aids; and Toji returned to the Zenin basement to set up the newly acquired high-precision instruments.

Dusk.

Confined to the clan grounds by Hashirama, Tobirama gazed forlornly at the setting sun.

Senju Toka did not know what her husband had experienced, but she accompanied him quietly by his side. Tobirama glanced at her, gently draped an arm over her shoulder, and the two watched the sunset in silence.

Having someone important to lean on.

Tobirama's spirit gradually returned to him, and he had thought of much along the way.

Was he truly wrong?

Even though he had been soundly beaten by his older brother and had his childhood memories stirred, Tobirama did not feel he was wrong in his heart.

He did not resent Hashirama.

He understood that the two brothers shared the same original intention: to protect those around them and to protect this newly established village.

It was simply that their paths were different.

His older brother walked in the light, while he had to sink into the darkness to build a line of defense for Konoha that could not be seen by the public.

For this purpose, sacrificing the lives of a few criminals was necessary!

Having thought it all through, Tobirama felt enlightened, and he secretly made a decision in his heart:

[The development of Reanimation must continue.]