It was laughable how Hiruzen, for so long, truly believed he had gained the power of prophecy, and had grown smug from repeatedly escaping danger with its help.
Now, looking back, he felt nothing but utter despair.
Why had he never questioned why, after supposedly gaining the ability to foresee the future, his situation had only grown worse?
"By the way, here's a scenario you haven't predicted yet, right?" Shin deliberately brought up the most painful topic.
As soon as he spoke, a vivid image suddenly flashed through Hiruzen's mind.
It was the scene of his wife and his son dying in despair and anguish.
The feeling of having witnessed that scene firsthand, along with the voices ringing suddenly in his ears, made his entire body freeze. After a long pause, as if all the strength had been drained from him, his legs gave out, and he collapsed to his knees with a thud.
"I know I wronged you. I have no excuse. I deserve it," Hiruzen sobbed. "But my wife and son know nothing of what I've done. Please, I beg you, spare them."
He genuinely didn't want his sins to bring ruin to his wife and child. Because they really were innocent. They knew nothing of what he had done and had never been involved.
At this moment, things like pride, dignity, or dragging others down with him no longer mattered. He had completely surrendered.
"Whether I spare them or not will depend on how you act when you meet Tobirama," Shin said, clearly enjoying the situation.
Seeing that he still couldn't escape this fate, Hiruzen closed his eyes in despair.
He had no other choice.
Besides, he had indeed betrayed his teacher's expectations. The things he had done chilled even his own spine when he recalled them, he was filled with regret.
Some things eventually must be faced. It was time to give his teacher an answer.
If his repentance and death could save the lives of his wife and child, then even being slain by his teacher's own hand would be something he deserved.
As for Konoha... With Tsunade around, he wasn't worried. Even if just for Tsunade's sake, Shin wouldn't do anything extreme.
But thinking this, he couldn't help but find it ridiculous.
He, who had long fed off the village like a leech, who had sold out the village's interests and information, who had gone so far as to suppress the village's future just to keep his position, how did he have the nerve to claim he was concerned for the village?
As his thoughts drifted, Shin had already opened a scroll in front of him and placed a white humanoid corpse on the ground. After taking a deep breath, he began rapidly forming hand seals.
Finally, the time had come to meet that bastard.
As the hand seals were completed, the White Zetsu began to undergo a strange transformation, as though something was forcing its way out from within the body.
After a while, the White Zetsu's form continued to shift until it eventually transformed into a figure Hiruzen knew all too well, Tobirama!
At this moment, Tobirama appeared to be around thirty years old. He wore old-fashioned battle armor, had short, signature silver-white hair, sharp red eyes, and his face was as stern and cold as ever.
The only flaw was that his skin lacked the color of the living, ashen and covered in fine cracks all over his body.
His eyes were closed, as if he were asleep, but it seemed he could awaken at any moment.
Seeing his teacher again, Hiruzen couldn't help but shed tears, tears of both excitement and deep regret.
Excitement, because he had truly missed his teacher all these years.
Regret, because he knew he had failed to live up to his teacher's expectations.
Hiruzen felt he didn't even have the face to see his teacher again. But now, seeing him in person, he actually felt a strange sense of relief.
Things had come to this point, there was nothing left to run from or hesitate over. Whatever consequences awaited, he was ready to accept them all.
Shin's feelings, however, were entirely different from Hiruzen's.
He had thought that seeing Tobirama again would stir up all kinds of complicated emotions. But in reality, his heart was unexpectedly calm.
It felt as if meeting Tobirama was just an old, unfinished event, nothing particularly significant.
After taking a moment to steady his emotions, and as chakra surged into the body, Tobirama suddenly stirred, and then, his eyes opened.
"What's this?" Still disoriented after being revived, he looked first at his own hands, trying to make sense of things, before turning to the two figures in front of him.
"You're… Hiruzen?" Tobirama immediately recognized Hiruzen and exclaimed in surprise, "Did you die too? No… wait."
After quickly assessing his own condition, he realized the truth.
It wasn't that Hiruzen had died, he himself had been brought back to the world of the living. And the method? One he himself had created long ago...
"Edo... Tensei, huh? What are you up to? Why would you use Edo Tensei to bring me back? Has something catastrophic happened to Konoha?"
"Sensei…" Hiruzen, eyes brimming with tears, didn't answer directly, mostly because he didn't know what to say.
"I asked you a question. Why aren't you answering?" Tobirama's tone was as commanding as ever, clearly displeased, and his gaze turned cold.
"Why are you two having such a heartfelt chat?" A voice with a slightly irritated tone suddenly cut in, drawing Tobirama's attention.
"And who are you?" No longer paying any mind to the tearful Hiruzen, he now turned to Shin, brows furrowed.
Earlier, he had ignored the unfamiliar man in order to understand the situation. But now he could clearly feel the intense, dangerous aura emanating from this person.
"You don't remember me," Shin said calmly. "But I've never once forgotten you."
As he finished speaking, a flash of red gleamed in his eyes, the pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan instantly appeared.
"Hm? Mangekyō Sharingan?" Tobirama's eyelids twitched. "So, you're one of those naturally evil brats from the Uchiha clan."
"You're the one who used Edo Tensei to bring me back, aren't you? What is going on?"
If Hiruzen hadn't been standing right there, he would've attacked the moment he saw those eyes.
Although he refrained for now due to the unclear situation, the way he looked at Shin was filled with suspicion and hostility.
An evil Uchiha who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, by any measure, this was someone to be cautious of. Had the emergence of a second Madara, the very thing he'd always feared, finally come to pass?
And everything about this situation felt wrong... deeply wrong and disturbingly unnatural.
Though he hadn't grasped the full picture yet, he was already preparing to strike at any moment, depending on how Hiruzen answered.
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Completed at Chapter 278!