Only Naruto and Tobirama were in this patch of woods. Tobirama had previously designated it as a special meeting place for Naruto.
If Naruto had business at the Second Base, he was to find Tobirama here, but only after appearing inside the base and notifying the ninja assigned to guard duty.
The purpose was to provide three layers of security. The first was to prevent an enemy with bizarre abilities from impersonating Naruto Uzumaki to deliver false intelligence or infiltrate the base.
Naruto was often away these days, his whereabouts uncertain, which anyone with ill intentions could exploit. On top of that, their hypothetical enemy possessed the Rinnegan and Sharingan, something ordinary people could hardly handle. Naturally, Tobirama considered every angle.
Since the Second believed their enemy was an Ōtsutsuki with the Rinnegan, taking precautions against the Rinnegan was perfectly reasonable.
But why account for the Sharingan?
Tobirama would only give anyone who asked that question a meaningful look, then check whether they had any dealings with the Uchiha Clan.
Tobirama's wariness toward the Uchiha had never stemmed from anything else. At its root, he believed members of that clan were far too easily manipulated.
Gaining immense power through intense emotion ran completely counter to his understanding of strength.
Great power required a strong sense of self to keep it in check. Otherwise, it would only cause disasters more terrifying than those wrought by ordinary villains.
Especially lately, as his dissection of Urashiki Otsutsuki's body continued to deepen his understanding of these so-called "higher lifeforms," that conviction had only grown stronger.
The power displayed by the Ōtsutsuki Clan placed them above humans on a biological level, yet neither their thinking nor their behavior reflected a higher level of thought.
That mismatch was Tobirama's greatest reason for believing the Ōtsutsuki were