"The truth?!"
Now Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu could no longer keep their expressions composed either.
They had indeed suspected that something they knew nothing about had happened for their teacher to return alive from that battlefield, where death had hung by a thread. After all, if he could have easily defeated his pursuers head-on and escaped, he would not have needed to send them ahead and stay behind to cover their retreat.
Of course, it was also possible that their teacher had used some secret technique after they left, one so powerful and uncontrollable that he had needed them to leave first. That had been the explanation they considered most reasonable.
After all, Tobirama had been in very poor health when he returned, which fit the lingering side effects of using such a secret technique.
"Monkey, are you saying there was another reason our teacher made it back alive?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded and revealed the truth Tobirama had asked him to conceal back then.
"On the battlefield that day, our teacher intercepted the Cloud Shadow's Pursuit Force. Although they were all elite shinobi, the gap between them and our teacher was far too great. They were no match for him at all.
Then Kinkaku and Ginkaku arrived. Armed with the Six Paths Blades, the two of them pushed our teacher to the brink. And at that moment, Uchiha Izuna, whom our teacher had killed with his own hands years earlier, appeared.
Uchiha Izuna saved our teacher and helped him kill Kinkaku and Ginkaku. Afterward, though, Uchiha Izuna disappeared with the captured Six Paths Tools."
When he finished, the entire meeting room fell silent.
In the end, Danzo, still unable to believe it, broke the silence. He slammed a hand on the table and stood up.
"**Impossible! That's absolutely impossible!