The Land of Whirlpools was only a tiny country. At a shinobi's pace, crossing it took no more than a moment, and before long, the party arrived at Uzushiogakure, its capital and military stronghold.
Unlike the ordinary people they had encountered earlier, almost all the villagers of Uzushiogakure had vivid red hair, a distinctive sign of pure Uzumaki Clan blood.
At the sight of outsiders, especially outsiders from the Senju Clan, these redheads wore intensely hopeful expressions, their eyes as moist and pleading as puppies'.
Tobirama, who knew the Uzumaki Clan's ways all too well, immediately brought out scrolls packed with food as gifts. Shingetsu swore that these redheaded Uzumaki's eyes glowed green at the sight of it!
She hardly knew whether to laugh or cry. Just how poor were these people?
"Are you Lord Hashirama?"
Several redheads whose hair had already faded, clearly advanced in years, stared at Hashirama. When he greeted them warmly, they responded in great excitement:
"L-Lord Hashirama, is it really you? Wonderful! You've finally come!"
At the sight of the legendary Hashirama Senju, these diehard supporters of the old clan chief grew misty-eyed and nearly shed tears of joy. They thought Hashirama had come to rescue their clan chief and marry that tigress, Princess Mito, while he was at it.
But intimidated by Princess Mito and the fists of her loyal followers, they did not dare spell it out. Hashirama, who did not know these old men at all, completely missed their hints. He simply kept grinning foolishly and offering his congratulations on Mito becoming clan chief, infuriating the few remaining loyalists so badly that they nearly dropped dead on the spot.
"Everyone, it turns out they're Lord Hashirama and Lord Tobirama!"
After hearing the exchange between Hashirama and the old men, a young redhead