"You've got some nerve!"
Uchiha Izuna looked at the teachers and students lying on the ground, wailing in pain. His Sharingan flared to life, and he drew the weapon at his waist.
"Put that child down, and I might still leave your corpse intact!"
"I know you're furious, but don't be so hasty, Izuna. Take a look at this."
The black-robed man held an unconscious child in his arms. He cut his own fingertip, but the wound vanished instantly and appeared on the child's finger instead.
"Any damage done to me will be transferred to someone bearing this mark. Are you sure you want to threaten to kill me?"
He swept an arm out, indicating that everyone on the ground was his captive.
"There are nearly a hundred children and teachers here... Until every last one of them dies, I can neither be injured nor killed. I am in-vin-ci-ble."
Damn it, using children as shields and weapons! He's even more underhanded than that white-haired Senju! What do I do? How can I deal with this?
The man had indeed struck Uchiha Izuna where he was most vulnerable. Unable to attack, Izuna's eyes darkened as he readied a genjutsu.
As though sensing his thoughts, the black-robed man spoke in a flippant tone.
"Genjutsu won't work on me, Izuna. You wounded me badly during the war, and I've been blind ever since! Heh, you probably don't even remember me, but I certainly remember you."
"Heh, thanks to the secret technique Lord Black Zetsu taught me, even this weak body can fulfill my lifelong wish. But I'm no sicko who enjoys killing. I've come for revenge. Your life is all I want. Kill yourself, and I'll stop."
"Ridiculous. Who knows whether you'll keep your word!" Uchiha Izuna was stalling for time.
"Do you think I'm you?" The black-robed man lifted the child by the scruff of his neck and gave him a shake. "As a show of good faith, hurt yourself once, and I'll let him go."
Izuna hesitated, the weapon in his hand trembling slightly.
Seeing that Izuna still hadn't moved, the black-robed man sneered.
"Oh? That afraid to die?"
He picked up a kunai from the ground and threw it with abysmal technique.
Uchiha Izuna's body instinctively moved to dodge, but he forcibly stopped himself. The kunai sank into his left arm unimpeded, and blood immediately streamed down. The wound wasn't deep.
"Heh, I'm a generous man. I suppose that counts."
The black-robed man tossed the child over.
Uchiha Izuna caught him. Watching the black mark on the child's forehead gradually fade, he breathed a sigh of relief, then raised his head to stare coldly at the black-robed man.
"So you do keep your word, at least."
The black-robed man's actions had shaken his resolve. Although Uchiha Izuna had no memory of this man, he had killed and gravely wounded plenty of people on the battlefield. Someone seeking revenge was certainly plausible.
Konoha is thriving now. Madara, that big idiot, and White Hair can protect it, even without me...
I can be sacrificed.
His gaze gradually grew resolute.
Less than five minutes passed between Tobirama Senju noticing something was wrong and finding the scene at the Ninja Academy, but by then, it was all over.
Uchiha Izuna lay on the ground, drenched in blood, with sobbing children gathered around him.
"Ah, White Hair... You sure took your time..." Izuna spat blood, his eyes dull.
"Shut up. You can still be saved." Tobirama Senju slapped a blood-staunching talisman onto him and raised a hand to activate the Reverse Flying Thunder God Technique, intending to bring Hashirama Senju, a master healer, over.
"Don't save me. Unless I die, these children's... cough, cough... can't be lifted."
Uchiha Izuna caught his arm and pointed at the golden mark on his own forehead, then at the black marks on the children's foreheads. His expression was utterly at peace.
"I helped Madara build Konoha. I have... no regrets left. But you'd better not try anything underhanded from now on. Madara isn't as sneaky as you. Don't bully him... Leave my eyes to him. You can study them for a while, but..."
"Shut up, you bastard. I told you, you can be saved."
Tobirama Senju ignored his bullshit and listened as a tearful teacher rapidly explained what had happened. He pressed his fingertips to the forehead of a child bearing a cursed seal, examining it for a way to undo it.
"Stop talking and rest. Save your strength. I might be able to undo this cursed seal."
He patted Uchiha Izuna's arm reassuringly. After studying the strange black, eye-shaped cursed seal for a moment, he frowned and pressed his fingers to the golden cursed seal on Uchiha Izuna's forehead.
This Technique Formula? This arrangement? Strange. There's no activation formula at all. How do they link up and activate?
Although working backward to unravel them would be difficult in so little time, there was no way the effects of the Technique Formulas in these two cursed seals transferred injuries as everyone claimed.
According to Tobirama Senju's calculations, the golden cursed seal served no purpose whatsoever. It was merely a tattoo-like mark, while the black cursed seal...
It seems to use physical pain to strengthen the body, much like the Eight Gates I saw in that incomplete ancient text. But the surge of latent potential that boosts attack power after opening the gates has been replaced with nourishment for the body... This isn't a harmful Technique Formula. It's actually a beneficial body-conditioning Technique Formula? How strange.
His expression turned peculiar.
"This cursed seal..."
"Ah, Tobirama Senju. You're far too clever."
A young child's voice interrupted him.
The sound of a blade piercing a temple from the side rang out alongside a low, muffled grunt.
"Too much wisdom brings its own ruin..."
The attacker was none other than the little boy the black-robed man had first used as a hostage and tossed over-the boy who had been crouching nearby all this time, crying with his hands over his eyes and a bandage covering the wound on his hand!
An eerie smile spread across his face. His movements decisive and vicious, he pulled out the dagger, wiped the red-and-white fluid from its blade, and put it away in his system inventory.
Cell collection complete. Next step-
The little boy lifted his clothes. Rows of specially treated explosive tags, concealed from advance detection by the Sharingan, hissed beneath them.
"!"
There are children everywhere. I have to move him!
Tobirama Senju seized the boy's arm. His mind instinctively sought out the Flying Thunder God destination he trusted most, and a moment later, the technique activated.
"Tobirama? What brings you... Huh?"
BOOM!!!
The stone Madara Uchiha had sent skipping across the river shuddered at the blast and sank straight into the water.
"That round doesn't count! You cheated!"
He turned around indignantly, then his expression froze. His hand went to the weapon at his waist. "An enemy attack? Hashirama, are you all right?"
Behind him stood a vast grove of trees Hashirama had created, with a wooden sphere at its center.
The sphere slowly opened. Hashirama Senju was in a sorry state, his clothes blasted into tatters and his scorched skin rapidly regenerating. Tobirama Senju had fared much better. He was merely covered in dust and soot, with only minor surface injuries.
"Big Brother, if you'd blocked it with Wood Release just now, neither of us would've been hurt."
"Huh? Hahaha, I panicked and forgot..." Hashirama Senju scratched the back of his head, looking deeply regretful.
The instant he arrived through Flying Thunder God, Tobirama Senju let go and followed up with a flying kick. Startled by his sudden appearance, Hashirama Senju instinctively coordinated with him, hauling him backward by the collar before preparing to use Wood Release-no... turning around to shield him from the explosion.
"Luckily, there weren't too many explosives." Tobirama Senju shook out his right hand, which had been caught in the explosive tags' blast. His face grave, he beckoned to Madara Uchiha. "Come here. Something terrible has happened to Izuna."
"!" Madara Uchiha appeared beside him with the Body Flicker Technique, his expression dark.
"You..." Looking at his expression, Tobirama Senju worried that Madara Uchiha might tear the place apart in rage if he teleported him over. He glanced around. They were in a forest far from the village. After a moment's silence, he said, "Wait here. I'll bring him over."
With that, he vanished again. Shortly afterward, he returned through Flying Thunder God with a blood-soaked Izuna.
"Izu... na?"
The black-haired young man lay motionless. Several deep wounds on his body had stopped bleeding. Tobirama Senju had hastily treated his temple upon teleporting back, so it no longer looked quite so horrifying.
But his whole body bore the pallor of death.
Before you continue