Madness

The group began its return to the village.

The Shadow Guard Squad had returned to the shadows to escort them, leaving Tobirama alone in the open.

As for Saito Shizumo, aside from the four laborers carrying his sedan chair, he was accompanied by a large number of samurai and attendants.

His entourage was far grander than that of Tobirama, the Hokage.

Tobirama shook his head. After briefly examining the people around him and finding nothing unusual, he walked alongside the group.

To accommodate Saito Shizumo, an ordinary man, Tobirama did not increase their pace and returned at the same normal speed they had used on the way here.

Even so, the people around him had to stop and rest after walking for a while.

Time passed second by second, and the silhouette of the Land of Fire's capital had long since vanished beneath the sunlight.

The four laborers carrying the sedan chair were drenched in sweat from exhaustion.

Suddenly, one of the bearers stepped into a muddy patch and fell. The entire sedan chair immediately lost its balance and overturned onto the ground.

Saito Shizumo's pig-like shrieks immediately rang out from inside the sedan chair. Then he flung open the curtain and began berating the laborers without end.

The four laborers hurriedly dropped to their knees and begged for mercy. They strained to lift the sedan chair, but could not raise it no matter what they did, and could only endure Saito Shizumo's growing fury.

Tobirama Senju, who had been watching from the side, sighed softly and prepared to step forward to help.

However, just as Tobirama reached the overturned sedan chair and prepared to set it upright, something unexpected happened!

The eyes of the four laborers, who had been submissive and servile just moments ago, became filled with a resolve to die the instant Tobirama Senju approached.

Without wasting a word, they formed a hand seal at top speed and activated the technique within their bodies.

In an instant, strange black blood gushed from all four of them.

"Hmm?!"

Tobirama's pupils contracted. The moment he realized what it was, he felt an intense threat.

With no time to say anything, he smashed through the sedan chair's window, grabbed Saito Shizumo, and immediately used the Flying Thunder God mark he had placed along the road to teleport away.

Behind them, the four laborers' bodies had already become unrecognizable. As rings of trigram seals appeared across them, four spheres of expanding black blood swallowed the entire space.

Reverse Four Symbols Sealing, an S-rank sealing technique.

The caster carved the Four Symbols Mark within their body. At the cost of their own death, they could seal all surrounding matter inside their corpse.

Even Obito would have had to retreat into the Kamui dimension upon seeing this technique.

This was Danzo's strongest killing move prepared for Tobirama Senju.

Four Root suicide soldiers whom he had trained for many years dared to assassinate even the Hokage under Danzo's orders.

Only Lord Danzo was qualified to become Hokage! For Konoha, Hokage, please die!

At the moment of their deaths, the four men looked toward Tobirama Senju's former position with eyes full of anticipation, only to see empty space. They died with overwhelming unwillingness...

"Even this failed to kill the Hokage?" Watching as the plan was about to succeed only for the target to vanish, the Root ninja hiding in the shadows was dumbfounded. He was the black-clothed man who had previously guided the assassination team from another country.

"Yes, the Flying Thunder God. Did you forget that I invented that technique?" A voice beside him answered his question.

When he turned around, a flash of blade light plunged his vision into darkness.

Saito Shizumo trembled all over, his eyes tightly shut as he waited for death. He waited and waited, yet nothing happened.

When he opened his eyes, he saw only the Hokage beside him. Instantly understanding everything, he hurriedly cried out to his savior, "Lord Hokage, th-th-thank you so much! I never expected those four laborers to be..."

"I know. No explanation is needed."

Tobirama Senju cut him off. He had not expected Danzo to be this mad, willing to send four suicide soldiers carrying the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing to kill his own teacher.

He had underestimated Danzo's lack of limits, and underestimated Danzo's desire for the position of Hokage.

"Lord Hokage!"

"It's wonderful that you're all right!"

At that moment, his three guards rushed over.

Who knew how shocked they had been just now? At a moment they had never expected, the four laborers had unleashed a strange secret technique against the Hokage.

Fortunately, the Hokage was immensely powerful. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

"Lord Hokage, we failed in our duty. We did not discover anything abnormal about those four laborers. Please punish us."

The three men said this with their heads bowed low.

"We'll discuss punishment after we return. For now, return to the village!"

Tobirama was furious. Beneath his Hokage hat, his eyes were filled with icy severity.

He was going to make his move.