"NOOOOO!!!!"
A miserable scream echoed across the rooftop, silencing the battlefield for a moment.
Everyone looked over simultaneously.
"Orochimaru, you must stay calm! You absolutely cannot do something like that!" Jiraiya wailed, clutching the barrier.
"This is wrong! Even if it's for the sake of our past as comrades, I beg you to abandon this idea... If that's not enough, I'll kneel for you! I'll do anything!"
Jiraiya's face was full of sorrow and despair as he shouted at Orochimaru from outside the Four Violet Flames Formation.
His intense grief left everyone confused.
"Monkey," Tobirama Senju turned to Hiruzen, looking impressed. "You just said Orochimaru, Tsunade, and this Jiraiya are all your students, right?"
"You've chosen your students well. This Jiraiya is particularly outstanding."
"Compared to that Orochimaru... your student here genuinely respects me. I never expected someone to react more strongly than I would myself when I'm being targeted."
Tobirama nodded in approval. "He understands the dignity of a Kage."
"You flatter me, Tobirama-sama," Hiruzen smiled superficially while sweating bullets.
Inwardly, he wondered: 'When did Jiraiya develop such deep feelings for the Second Hokage? Did he owe him money?'
"Jiraiya," Orochimaru turned calmly toward the wailing sage. "This has nothing to do with you, does it? Why are you crying?"
"Who says it has nothing to do with me!" Jiraiya reacted defensively, clenching his fists.
"Think carefully, Orochimaru! If you make the Second Hokage use the Shadow Clone and Transformation Technique to work in the Red Light District... how many innocent girls will lose their jobs because of this?!"
"How will they survive?! What will happen to the economy?!"
"And... HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GO THERE AFTER THIS!!!"
Jiraiya collapsed to his knees, utterly tormented.
"Every time I want to drink and have fun with beautiful women... will I have to beat them up first to confirm they're not the Second Hokage in disguise?!"
"If I don't do this... what if! Eventually! I end up sharing a bed with Nidaime-sama..." Jiraiya shuddered violently.
"I can't live like that! It destroys my research! It destroys my dreams!"
"..."
Tobirama Senju: "..."
"Monkey."
"Yes, Nidaime-sama?"
"This is the 'good student' you taught?"
"..."
Hiruzen looked away.
'Weren't you just praising him a moment ago?'
"Where's Tsunade?" Tobirama asked, desperate to change the subject. "Is she dealing with the enemies outside? Surely my grandniece is more competent."
This Impure World Reincarnation was too restrictive and his sensory abilities were suppressed.
"Tsunade isn't in the village," Hiruzen sighed. "I sensed a few days ago that something might happen, so I sent ANBU to find them."
"Jiraiya was in the Red Light District. Tsunade was gambling in Tanzaku. I don't know if she received the message."
"..."
Tobirama closed his eyes.
"One disciple is fooling around with women in the Red Light District. Another is gambling away in Tanzaku. And the slightly better one is studying my forbidden jutsu among a pile of corpses..."
"Yep, Konoha is doomed," Tobirama concluded.
"Tobirama," Hashirama chimed in. "Actually, Tsunade's fondness for gambling isn't Monkey's fault. Moreover, I think the last part is the most serious problem..."
"Brother, shut up!" Tobirama snapped.
...
On the other side.
Makoto continued his negotiation with Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru," Makoto criticized, walking around the resurrected Hokage like he was inspecting merchandise.
"The materials you prepared for this Edo Tensei are too poor. Next time, customize some better vessels."
"For example," Makoto pointed at Tobirama. "Install two Sharingan in Nidaime-sama's reincarnated body. He'd love that."
"Oh, right. If you're worried about affecting the Red Light District economy," Makoto added casually.
"You could also transplant a womb inside him. Let Nidaime-sama help nurture a newborn for the Uchiha clan. So, he can repay his debt to them."
Instantly, a murderous gaze fell upon Makoto.
Tobirama's chakra spiked so hard that the roof tiles cracked.
"That's great! That's great!" Jiraiya shouted from outside, wiping his tears. "Let's go with that one! Please don't cause trouble in the Red Light District! Make him a mother instead!"
The murderous gaze shifted to Jiraiya instead.
"That's enough. Stop talking," Orochimaru hissed.
He maintained his hand seals with a drop of sweat rolling down his forehead.
Those reincarnated through the Impure World Reincarnation have their power weakened, but the souls residing in them remain the original versions.
Normally, Orochimaru used a consciousness-erasing seal to turn them into mindless puppets.
But Makoto had stopped him.
Now, the First and Second Hokage were fully conscious.
And the Second Hokage—the creator of the technique—was actively trying to break the "source code."
Especially with Makoto who keep provoking them.
"It's incredible," Orochimaru marveled, despite the strain. "Despite the control and weakening... Nidaime-sama is breaking through the suppression."
"Do you think it's possible... because of the Uchiha?" Makoto asked, smirking.
He felt that if Orochimaru didn't regain control, Tobirama might use the Flying Thunder God to teleport Makoto's head off his shoulders.
It wasn't surprising.
Tobirama's hatred for the Uchiha was a limitless fuel source.
In the original timeline, Tobirama admitted his Flying Thunder God was slower than Minato's. Yet, when facing Obito—an Uchiha—he surpassed his limits and moved faster than Minato could react.
His jutsu were literally powered by racism.
All jutsu developed by the Second Hokage were designed to counter the Uchiha.
Shadow Clones fooled the Sharingan.
Flying Thunder God to countered their reaction speed.
Edo Tensei to used their corpses.
"You evil brat!" Tobirama gritted his teeth, his body glowing with chakra. "You must have been bewitched by the Uchiha! Let me help you..."
He was seconds away from breaking the control.
"Tobirama-sensei, please calm down!"
Hiruzen hurriedly intervened. "He's just speaking nonsense! The Uchiha have already been wiped out! There are no Uchiha left to bewitch him! How could they make you do... that thing!"
"..."
The air froze.
In doing so, Hiruzen inadvertently dropped a nuclear bomb of information.
"WHAT?!"
Hashirama Senju's eyes widened in shock and heartache.
"WHAT?!"
Tobirama Senju stopped struggling.
His eyes also reflected shock and... pain?
"Who did this?!" Tobirama took a deep breath. His gaze was sharp as daggers, meeting Hiruzen's eyes.
"Monkey! Explain yourself!"
This was too extreme! Even for him!
Tobirama hated the Uchiha's emotional instability, so he marginalized them.
He policed them.
But genocide?
Even in his worst-case scenarios, he had only considered implementing something like the Caged Bird seal to restrict them.
Or perhaps using a whip to make them work.
But someone actually wiped out the entire clan?
"They were precious assets of Konoha!" Tobirama roared. "Their eyes are weapons! Their chakra is elite! Who destroys their own weapons?!"
"If absolutely necessary, you eliminate the radical adults! You keep the children! You raise them to be loyal weapons from birth! That is a basic resource management!"
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