Uchiha Madara disdained the idea of joining forces with Konoha's shinobi. However, after arriving within the sphere of Konoha's influence, in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, the two sides established a tacit understanding of sorts through the mediation and connection of Uchiha Obito.
Nevertheless, Uchiha Madara was in no rush to make a move. After all, he was currently in an Impure World Reincarnation state.
Though he possessed an immortal body, in a certain sense, he was also extremely vulnerable because his power ceiling was hard-capped within that specific range.
While he was indeed stronger than Senju Hashirama at present, the margin was limited. Even Hashirama had been unable to suppress that Fifth Kazekage.
Therefore, he had to be resurrected into his full, peak living state before he could stand a genuine chance in a true battle against the Fifth Kazekage.
Konoha, under the leadership of Senju Tobirama, had agreed to this tacit understanding, but they mostly harbored the desire to see him and Aoki Shiraishi perish together—a fact Uchiha Madara saw as clear as a mirror.
Furthermore, it wasn't just Senju Hashirama's side; even Uchiha Obito harbored similar underlying intentions, didn't he?
However, having suffered massive losses in his previous interactions with the Kazekage, Obito had developed a certain subconscious dread. At this point, Madara couldn't count on the guy to play any useful role anyway.
Black Zetsu was also weighed down by heavy worries. Uchiha Madara's remaining in hiding wasn't a bad thing; with their current interests perfectly aligned, Black Zetsu also hoped to provide more assistance to Madara.
Returning from the Kumogakure front lines, Black Zetsu spoke in an exceptionally grave tone: "Killer Bee's location has been locked down."
"Obito, go and handle the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki first."
Taking advantage of the final decisive phase between Konoha and Sunagakure, Uchiha Madara directly ordered Obito to deal with the Eight-Tails first.
The Eight-Tails Jinchuriki was a crucial chess piece that they absolutely had to secure right now.
In factual reality, Killer Bee had nowhere left to run. Following his massive battle against Hagoromo Masato, though he wished to plunge deeper into the northern territories of the Land of Lightning, he remained consistently within Zetsu's range of surveillance.
Uchiha Obito's assault was exceptionally sudden. After the power of Kamui tore away several of the Eight-Tails' tentacles, he finally succeeded in capturing the already battered and exhausted Killer Bee, using a sealing jutsu to extract the Eight-Tails from within his body.
As for Killer Bee himself, Uchiha Obito sealed his corpse inside a scroll after securing absolute control over the Eight-Tails.
Inside Konoha's main headquarters, a vast number of sealing barriers were being continuously deployed. The defensive grid overseen directly by Senju Tobirama was prepared almost entirely in accordance with the traditional defensive battle array models of the Warring States period's Senju clan.
"Saru, apart from the Kazekage himself, how many Kage-level opponents does Sunagakure currently have that we need to watch out for?"
"There are as many as over a dozen..."
Excluding Unohana Retsu, Kikyo, and the others, Shira, Arakawa Arashi, and Arakawa Kashi had all arrived on the battlefield one after another, completely blocking off Konoha in a surrounding stranglehold.
Compared to the Land of Lightning's Kumogakure and its northern wilderness which offered room for retreat, the Land of Fire and Konoha—situated at the very center of the shinobi world—had virtually no directions left to flee to.
Sunagakure was now systematically advancing and compressing the perimeter step by step. A massive number of puppet brigades and a colossal fleet of aerial puppets locked onto the entirety of Konoha, exerting a terrifyingly oppressive weight on everyone.
"Has Uchiha Sasuke still not been found?"
Suddenly, Danzo turned his gaze toward a visibly distracted Uchiha Itachi, clearly intending to use this matter to make trouble for him. However, he was instantly barked down by Senju Tobirama: "Danzo, shut your mouth!"
"Yes..."
Though Danzo was Konoha's Scapegoat King and refused to show even the Third Hokage any face, he held immense reverence and dread for his mentor, Senju Tobirama. The Second Hokage's voice carried a faint trace of dissatisfaction, and Danzo instantly behaved himself.
Now was absolutely not the time to press the lone survivor of the Uchiha clan. There was still an Uchiha Madara lurking outside, and this Uchiha Itachi was glaringly obvious to be of the exact same breed as his past student, Uchiha Kagami. What was the point of pushing him so excessively?
Regarding the Uchiha clan's annihilation, Senju Tobirama had consistently harbored regrets. He had never expected the friction between the Uchiha clan and the village to ultimately escalate to such a bloody extreme, which was fundamentally a consequence of his own past administrative missteps.
Back then, following the passing of his elder brother Senju Hashirama, shinobi from other nations attempted to take advantage of the void.
Tobirama succeeded to the position of Hokage, stepping forward to protect the village and its inhabitants. His utilization of the Flying Raijin Jutsu struck absolute terror into the hearts of foreign shinobi.
The shinobi world, which had once fallen into turmoil due to the successive passings of Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama, was temporarily deterred and suppressed by Senju Tobirama's powerful space-time ninjutsu.
Upon ascending to the seat of Hokage, Tobirama nurtured the tiny seedling of Konoha established by his brother into a massive tree. Due to Tobirama's rigorous efforts, the Senju clan secured an even higher right of speech within the village.
To resolve internal worries and foreign threats, Tobirama demonstrated supreme political acumen: internally, he established the Konoha Military Police Force, with its primary positions staffed entirely by members of the Uchiha clan. This simultaneously expressed trust toward the Uchiha while allowing the administration to observe the Uchiha's every movement.
From that moment onward, the Uchiha clan's prestige and authority within Konoha reached their absolute zenith.
Externally, Tobirama established the Anbu, directed solely by the Hokage to reinforce centralized authority—making it the very first specialized intelligence unit among the Five Great Nations.
The single most influential legacy Senju Tobirama brought to the entire shinobi world, however, was the establishment of the Konoha Ninja Academy for the sake of inheriting the Will of Fire.
Today, countless exceptional shinobi hailed from this very institution. Tobirama's administrative practices were eagerly emulated by the ninja villages of other nations, exerting a profound and lasting impact on the entire shinobi world.
The Second Hokage, Tobirama, established the Konoha Ninja Academy, where the young Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo Shimura, Uchiha Kagami, Torifu Akimichi, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane studied as classmates of the same graduation year, directly led by the Second Hokage Senju Tobirama.
This strategic move was designed to ensure that even after the Senju clan gradually phased out of Konoha's highest echelons of power, the entire institutional framework established by the Senju clan for Konoha Village could be perfectly inherited and sustained.
Although Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others were not biological bloodline members of the Senju clan, they were, in structural essence, the true political faction of the Senju lineage.
Uchiha Itachi's strength was immense; at least among the Uchiha clansmen Tobirama knew, he was an entity second only to Uchiha Madara, standing as an even more exceptional talent than his past rival, Uchiha Izuna.
With such a powerful hidden card at their disposal, Danzo actually went out of his way to offend him at a time like this?
Senju Tobirama genuinely felt that this student of his had grown old, and his intellect was severely lacking... Although he himself had been Konoha's original Scapegoat King in the past, this second-generation Scapegoat King was truly...
In factual reality, habitually targeting the Uchiha clan was a deeply ingrained reflex for Danzo. His sudden reprimand just now was merely his customary petty maneuvering to bully the Uchiha.
Of course, this went hand-in-hand with his daily routine of opposing the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Uchiha Itachi possessed an exceptionally mild temperament and usually wouldn't say anything when targeted, but this time, since it involved his younger brother, he was actually incredibly tense internally.
During the period of Sasuke's disappearance, Itachi had used specialized sensory tracking, but he could only confirm that Sasuke was currently alive and well; beyond that, he knew absolutely nothing else.
Senju Tobirama had countless variables to weigh. Suddenly, he looked toward Jiraiya, who had just returned: "How is the current generation's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki managing his control over his power right now?"
Although Jiraiya was technically his grand-disciple, Senju Tobirama still held immense respect for him.
After all, he was one of the very few shinobi in Konoha currently capable of utilizing Sage Mode, and he concurrently held the dual inheritances of both Ryuchi Cave and Mount Myoboku.
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