After sealing the Nine-Tails, Uchiha Yuan felt his power rapidly fading—it must have been the side effect of drinking the special milk from Tom and Jerry. Yuan estimated that in around twenty minutes, his strength would completely vanish and it would take a full day to recover.
The Nine-Tails had caused massive destruction in Konoha tonight. The village was in chaos—perfect for exploiting the situation. Yuan didn't want to waste the opportunity.
"Minato-senpai, I want to go check out Root," he said, turning to Namikaze Minato.
"Root? Danzo, he…"
"No need to worry about Danzo. The Nine-Tails already dealt with him."
Minato sighed. He wasn't stupid—he knew full well it was Yuan who had taken Danzo out before joining the fight.
Still, Minato had no fondness for Danzo. His death wasn't the problem—it was how to deal with the Third Hokage and the two advisors afterward.
"I understand your concern, Minato-senpai. That's exactly why I want to check Root. Danzo must have left plenty of incriminating evidence. If we collect those, it should be enough to shut the mouths of the Third Hokage and those two old geezers.
And if that's not enough... I'll find a way to make sure they never speak again. As for the Third—"
"Yuan! No matter what, you must not act against the Third Hokage!" Minato interrupted sternly.
Yuan held Minato's gaze for several seconds without responding.
"Yuan, I know you dislike the Third. But regardless, he was once the Hokage. He served for many years, if not with merit, then with effort.
Right now, the power under my command is much greater than when I first took office—and I have your support.
As for the Third Hokage, he lost many ANBU tonight, and Danzo... was taken care of by... the Nine-Tails. I should be able to consolidate power soon.
The Third Hokage is no longer a threat. Just treat him like he doesn't exist—let him live out his final years in peace."
After some thought, Yuan replied, "Fine, Minato-senpai. I promise—as long as the Third doesn't make trouble again, I won't move against him."
With that, the two reached an agreement. Yuan then called on Hyuga Asana to join him as they headed for Root.
Along the way, Yuan noticed Asana had been maintaining her Sage Mode since returning to Konoha—it had been over half an hour. Which meant she had sustained it for over thirty minutes straight without it deactivating.
He recalled that in the original series, Kabuto's Snake Sage Mode also never deactivated.
Could it be that Snake Sage Mode has no time limit?
Yuan posed the question to Hyuga Asana.
She shook her head. "Snake Sage Mode does have a time limit. If I keep using senjutsu chakra non-stop, I'll lose it after ten minutes at most.
But after reaching a certain level, you can replenish natural energy while fighting. That's why I can sustain it longer—like I am right now."
"I see. So does using it continuously place a strain on your body?" Yuan asked again.
"Of course it does. But not for the perfected Snake Sage Mode. I'm still short of that, so I can only maintain this state for an hour at most. Any longer, and I risk being assimilated by nature energy."
Yuan nodded and instinctively sped up. They had to reach Root and finish what needed to be done while they still had strength.
The two quickly arrived at Root.
Inside, the place was already in chaos. The curse seals on the Root operatives' tongues had been lifted—which meant Danzo had been killed.
Without his command, many of Danzo's brainwashed followers were lost and confused.
Upon hearing this, Homura Mitokado, who happened to be in Root, realized something was wrong. After a moment's hesitation, he ran into one of the labs.
Meanwhile, Yuan and Asana directly destroyed the Root entrance and forced their way in.
The Root ninjas, though disoriented without Danzo's orders, still charged forward without hesitation.
Yuan and Asana showed no mercy—anyone who attacked was killed on the spot.
"Uchiha Yuan! Hyuga Asana! How dare you break in like this? Are you betraying the village?" Homura Mitokado emerged from the lab, his face cold and accusing.
"I'm here on the Hokage's orders to collect Danzo's belongings," Yuan replied calmly.
"Belongings? What did you do to Danzo?"
"Don't misunderstand. Danzo died while defending the village from the Nine-Tails. We didn't do anything to him."
"Lies! Danzo went to the Uchiha clan compound! He couldn't have died to the Nine-Tails! You Uchiha clearly killed him! How dare you lay hands on the Hokage's advisor! Just like Tobirama-sensei said—your clan is inherently evil!"
"Tobirama Senju? Hah." Yuan sneered with scorn.
"What do you mean by that? Are you disrespecting Lord Tobirama?" Mitokado demanded.
"That's right. In my opinion, many of Senju Tobirama's policies were harmful to the village."
"You... You dare!" Homura was stunned that Yuan would openly question the Second Hokage.
"To be honest, I think many of the Second's policies were just symptoms of his own shortcomings.
Elder Homura, you should know that Konoha has always been a coalition of clans.
Whether clans joined Konoha out of fear of the Senju and Uchiha, or of their own will, the First Hokage never broke them apart.
But when Tobirama took over, he saw these clans as threats and started systematically weakening their power and influence.
The ANBU were established to strengthen centralized Hokage authority. The ninja academy was created to erase the gap between clan and commoner shinobi. Am I wrong?"
Homura immediately objected, "Lord Tobirama simply wanted to bring clans and the village closer together, not weaken them!"
"Oh? Then let me ask—what is the purpose of the ANBU?" Yuan pressed.
"To protect the Hokage, defend against external threats, and carry out classified missions," Homura answered.
"So you remember well, Elder Homura. Then you should also understand that the ANBU follows the Hokage's orders absolutely.
With ANBU, the Hokage can enforce orders without needing approval from the clans—effectively cutting them out of decision-making.
At the same time, you and that other so-called elder, along with Danzo, served as advisors to the Hokage—controlling village power on his behalf.
This way, the clans—who during the First Hokage's time were high-level decision-makers—were reduced to mid-tier executors under centralized rule."
Homura was momentarily speechless.
As the Second Hokage's disciple, he knew full well the real purpose behind Tobirama's creation of the ANBU—but he hadn't expected a younger generation like Yuan to see through it so clearly.
"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue? Seems like you're well aware of your teacher's dirty tricks too."
"Uchiha Yuan, even if you do understand Lord Tobirama's intentions, it's not your place as a junior to criticize him!"
"Hah! Now that you're losing the argument, you're pulling the seniority card?" Yuan scoffed. "Well then, why don't you go talk to Senju Tobirama yourself!"
As he spoke, lightning flickered over Yuan's body—he vanished using Lightning Body Flicker and reappeared before Homura, slashing down with his sword.
Clang! A metallic crash echoed as a white-haired middle-aged man blocked the attack in front of Homura.
Yuan paused in surprise when he saw the man, then grinned with amusement. He flickered back to Hyuga Asana and teased, "Tsk tsk! Isn't this the great Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama? Dead and still shackled by your own jutsu?"
Tobirama's face instantly darkened.
"You Uchiha brat—didn't your elders ever teach you to respect your seniors?"
"I'm usually quite polite—but not to certain people."
"So, you're displeased with me? I heard from Homura that you're one of the Uchiha. Is it because of my policies toward your clan?"
"No, no. It's natural for the Senju to target the Uchiha. That alone doesn't bother me.
What I resent is that your mistrust wasn't just aimed at us—you were suspicious of every clan, even your own Senju."
"You—!" Tobirama's heart trembled. Could it be… did Yuan know about that?
"Lord Second, I have to ask—how did you find the resolve to act against your own clan?"
Tobirama instead calmed down at this. With a blank expression, he replied, "What I did was for the village, and for the Senju.
Like the Uzumaki, the Senju have immense chakra and life force. But beyond that, compared to the Uchiha, we held no overwhelming advantage.
And as the clan that produced two Hokage, our status became too exceptional. When I was Hokage, I often heard clan members say the next Hokage should also be a Senju.
But my brother didn't build Konoha to make it a village ruled by the Senju."
"So that's why you broke up the clan—encouraged Senju members to marry commoners and blend in. You dispersed the clan, but preserved the bloodline. Am I right?" Yuan began to understand Tobirama's motives.
Tobirama nodded. "Exactly. I had to do it—to prevent the Senju from being shackled by political power and to ensure their bloodline would continue.
I did it in secret. Aside from the two elders in the Senju who supported me, no one should've known. How did you find out?"
"I once heard a saying—'if you don't want it known, don't do it.' You left traces.
In the original timeline, there wasn't much said about the Senju's disappearance, but there was one thing that stood out.
A girl named Kazamatsuri Moegi, a member of Konohamaru's team, was the first to naturally awaken Wood Release since Hashirama. That's… rather telling."
"Young Uchiha… seems you know more than I thought," Tobirama said seriously.
"What now? Planning to kill me to silence me?"
Tobirama didn't answer. Instead, he turned to the girl behind Yuan. "Young lady from the Hyuga clan, tell me what's been happening in the village."
"Lord Tobirama—" Homura tried to interject.
"Silence, Homura! As Hokage, I cannot base my view on your words alone. Hyuga girl, speak."
Hyuga Asana nodded and recounted the events of recent years in Konoha.
Upon hearing that Konoha had experienced not one, but two Great Ninja Wars after his death, Tobirama looked visibly regretful.
"Looks like my brother's ideals were wrong after all."
"That's right," Yuan added. "Where there are people, there is conflict. 'Understanding one another' will never truly bring peace."
Tobirama didn't respond. Instead, he looked toward Homura.
"Homura, the Hyuga girl just said that during the Second and Third Ninja Wars, neither you nor Hiruzen ever set foot on the battlefield—that it was other Konoha ninja shedding blood. Is that true?"
Homura broke out in a cold sweat. "L-Lord Tobirama, we did it for the village, we—"
"Hmph! I can't believe it. My disciples... making such disgraceful choices. No wonder these youngsters resent you."
"Lord Tobirama, they're slandering us! You can't believe them!"
"Slander?" Tobirama scoffed. "The village just faced a major crisis, didn't it? I sensed Nine-Tails chakra outside moments ago.
And yet, with so many powerful shinobi gathered here, why weren't they deployed to help?
In the village's hour of need, Danzo was busy targeting the Uchiha.
Is this what I taught you?!"
As Tobirama's chakra flared in fury, Homura collapsed weakly to the ground.
(To Be Continued...)