Akatsuki of the Land of Rain

Akatsuki of the Land of Rain

"It'd be best not to act rashly right now. Though your strength is infinitely close to that of a god, you're still just short of it."

A vortex appeared behind Deva Path Pain.

"This doesn't require your intervention. At the very least, we should confirm it. If the First and Second Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village have truly been revived, do you think they'll let us recover the remaining eight tailed beasts?"

Deva Path Pain didn't turn around. He was exceedingly familiar with that voice, while Konan beside him remained on guard, taking an attacking stance.

"Mm... In that case, I'll go. As for the tailed beasts, leave them to me."

He came and went in a hurry. After speaking, the masked man merged into the vortex.

At the border of the Land of Rain.

The masked Obito appeared. At the same time, Black Zetsu, clad in a black robe patterned with red clouds, emerged from the ground, revealing half his head.

"It probably wasn't resurrection. What do you think?"

Obito looked at Black Zetsu and voiced his guess.

"I know the Hidden Leaf Village has a forbidden technique capable of summoning the souls of the dead, granting them inexhaustible chakra and indestructible bodies."

Black Zetsu naturally knew it wasn't resurrection. What a joke. The only method in the current world was the Rinnegan's Outer Path — Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique, trading one life for another. Those two, however, were truly troublesome obstacles.

Just who was sabotaging things from the shadows?!

Black Zetsu cursed inwardly. He hated the person who had performed this technique in secret to the bone—though he had no bones.

"Other than Orochimaru, who else in the Hidden Leaf Village would study such forbidden techniques...? Go investigate. Perhaps they can be of use to us."

After giving the order, Obito vanished once more. Black Zetsu merely nodded before sinking back into the ground.

Hidden Leaf Village.

"Little Tsunade, you're already the Fifth Hokage. You should be in the Hokage's Office learning how to develop the village from your Second Grandpa, not arguing with me here!"

Hashirama Senju spoke with righteous indignation, undisguised disappointment in his eyes.

"Give me a break! You just want to drag Sen to the casino while I'm gone. Do you think I don't know what you're thinking? Grandpa, you're the First Hokage, so why aren't you working? There are mountains of documents waiting for you!"

Tsunade Senju refused to yield, blocking Hashirama Senju's path while shielding Uchiha Sen behind her with one hand.

"Listen to yourself. I've fought wars my entire life—can't I enjoy myself for once? You're the one who lacks ambition. All those youngsters below are watching you!"

"Ahem!"

Just as the two were arguing fiercely, a voice came from behind them. It was Tobirama Senju. To keep an eye on the two improper Hokage in the family, Tobirama had deliberately left Flying Thunder God Formulas on both of them.

"Uh, Tobirama, you came too..."

"Haha, Second Grandpa, you're done with work so early today...?"

The two greeted him awkwardly, only to see Tobirama Senju's face covered in frost.

"The two of you—one is the First Hokage, the other is the Fifth Hokage. Can't either of you act properly? I've reviewed the files Little Monkey left behind over the years. There are some matters I need to discuss with you."

Half an hour later.

"You're saying that when the Uchiha Clan was exterminated, most of the clan members' eyes had vanished?"

Hashirama Senju frowned deeply. The Uchiha Clan's Kekkei Genkai was wielded through their eyes, and most of the clan members mentioned in the records had awakened their Sharingan.

"Could Itachi Uchiha have taken them? To prevent anyone with ulterior motives from obtaining the Uchiha Clan's Kekkei Genkai? After all, even people outside the Uchiha Clan can use the Sharingan after transplantation."

Tsunade Senju spoke from the side.

"Hard to say. But I found something even more interesting. Before Little Monkey died, he had suspected that his good disciple Orochimaru might be coming for Sasuke Uchiha. According to the records, that man seems to possess a ninjutsu that lets him seize other people's bodies. It appears he can achieve immortality through that method."

Tobirama Senju analyzed, point by point, the clues he had uncovered while investigating the files over the past few days.

"That is utterly despicable! There are actually shinobi like that? Stealing other people's lives!"

Tobirama glanced at his mildly enraged older brother, feeling somewhat helpless. If his brother had even half this man's awareness, the Hidden Leaf Village would have unified the shinobi world long ago. Conciliation could not bring peace—he had understood that before his death.

"Brother, now isn't the time to discuss that. There is nothing simple about what lies behind this series of events. Orochimaru conducted human experiments in secret while he was in the Hidden Leaf Village. Who was covering for him? That person must have held a certain position within the village."

Tobirama looked at Tsunade Senju. As Orochimaru's former teammate, she should know something about him, more or less.

"Uh, I don't know. That guy was always very low-profile when he was in the village..."

Tobirama sighed and continued.

"This isn't over yet. I also investigated the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze's files and discovered something unreasonable. At the time, a man claiming to be Madara Uchiha had come to cause trouble and used the power of the Sharingan to release the Nine-Tails."

"Madara?!"

Hashirama Senju shot to his feet, disbelief written all over his face.

"Impossible. Absolutely impossible!"

Upon hearing this, Hashirama Senju shook his head violently. He had personally killed that man back then.

"That isn't the point, Brother. Listen to me first. The exact time when the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki gave birth was known only to the village's upper ranks. I suspect that someone has been plotting something in secret behind this whole string of strange events."

Tobirama Senju paused before speaking again.

"When you connect everything together—the Fourth Hokage's death, the research into the Uchiha Clan, even the possibility that your body was studied as well, Brother..."

"Once all these matters are laid out one by one, I realized that the person behind the scenes was researching these forbidden powers while plotting something else. Though I still don't know the truth, I already have a rough direction in mind..."

Tobirama lowered his head despondently. Though he was unwilling to believe the answer in his heart, all the evidence indeed pointed to that person...

"It was the disciple who was the only one absent on the day we returned, wasn't it?"

Hashirama Senju spoke. Seeing Tobirama's expression, he instantly thought of someone.

"Mm..."

Tobirama Senju nodded and added,

"Yes. And not only that—on the day after we returned, he took the headquarters shinobi out on a mission..."

At that point, they all understood. This was no mission; it was clearly a defection from the village...

"Enough. This isn't your fault. Perhaps you were right back then. I thought that distributing the tailed beasts and narrowing the gap in power between villages would bring peace to the shinobi world. I was too naive. Little Tsunade has told me about what the shinobi world has gone through all these years. It truly makes one sigh."

Hashirama Senju looked despondent, as though regretting his mistaken choices.

"So, Brother, you...?"

Tobirama seemed to hear something unusual in his words. If Hashirama Senju was truly willing to act, it was not too late.

"No. I'm already someone who has died. Now I only want to remain in the village. I originally intended to ask young friend Sen to undo our summons, but after thinking it over, staying in the village to protect this land isn't bad either. Besides, it's been a long time since I've had this much fun, hahaha!"

Hashirama Senju threw back his head and laughed as he walked out of the room. When he reached the doorway, he broke into a quick run, with none of the composure he had displayed moments earlier.

So... he was really just rushing out to drag people into high-stakes gambling...

"Little Tsunade, come to the office with me. You're the ruler in name, and you must take responsibility for this village. Your Grandpa and I don't know when we might disappear, so there are things you must face yourself."

Tobirama Senju was one of the rare people with a clear head. There were no eternal allies; who knew when a rift might arise between the village and Uchiha Sen? He and his brother could be controlled at any time.

There was a mountain of work waiting. That Little Monkey had left behind such a colossal mess. It's infuriating!