Not far from the border of the Land of Lightning, Sarutobi Hiruzen and his team had just taken down the pursuing Cloud Ninja when Tobirama Senju appeared in front of them with a swift *whoosh*.
"Sensei, your Flying Thunder God Technique is really something," Hiruzen remarked.
"If you want to learn it, I can teach you," Tobirama offered.
With that, Tobirama walked behind Sarutobi Hiruzen and wiped away the Flying Thunder God seal on his back with his right hand.
"Forget it. This technique is too difficult. I doubt I can learn it," Hiruzen admitted.
"It's up to you. If you ever change your mind, come find me anytime." After saying this, Tobirama glanced at Danzo Shimura and the others and added, "The same goes for you. If any of you want to learn the Flying Thunder God, I'll teach you when we're back in the village."
Unlike Hiruzen and Akimichi Torifu, who were aware of their own limits, Danzo Shimura was far more confident.
"Thank you, Sensei. When we return to the village, I hope you will teach me diligently."
"Don't worry, I will," Tobirama assured him.
Under Tobirama's leadership, the group quickly left the Land of Lightning and stepped into the Land of Fields.
On the way, Tobirama approached Sarutobi Hiruzen and asked, "Is Kakuzu behaving himself?"
"He seems okay, I guess," Hiruzen said, scratching his head. He continued, "When the Cloud Ninja were chasing us, it looked like Mr. Kakuzu had thoughts of leaving the group. But before he could act, Lady Mito unleashed some Nine-Tails chakra, and we quickly dealt with those Cloud Ninja. Then, you showed up, Sensei."
"Got it," Tobirama nodded.
To him, it was understandable that Kakuzu would consider leaving the team, especially with the Second Hokage not around. Against someone like Kagami Uchiha and Sarutobi Hiruzen, Kakuzu might not win, but he could probably escape.
Mito Uzumaki might have sensed Kakuzu's intentions too, which was why she released some of the Nine-Tails' chakra to make him abandon the idea of running.
After all, no matter how fast you run, can you be faster than a Tailed Beast Bomb?
Kakuzu was so cautious with his life that he wouldn't joke about risking it.
"Teacher, can you tell me how you dealt with the Third Raikage?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen's question piqued everyone's interest.
They also wanted to know how Senju Tobirama managed to handle the brute that was the Third Raikage.
"I didn't deal with him."
"Huh? Aren't you afraid he'll keep chasing us?"
"I'm not worried because I summoned my brother to keep him occupied."
Tobirama's brother?
Wasn't that the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama?
"You summoned Hashirama? With Reanimation Jutsu?"
"Yes."
Uzumaki Mito subtly moved closer to Senju Tobirama, somewhat hesitant as she asked, "You didn't tell him about me, did you?"
Back in the day, after marrying Senju Hashirama, Uzumaki Mito had always presented herself as the perfect image of a refined lady, the ideal wife in everyone's eyes.
It wasn't until half a year ago, when she followed Tobirama to the Land of Lightning and defeated the Gold and Silver Brothers, that she revealed her true nature from before her marriage.
She was genuinely worried that Hashirama might find out about her real self.
"Don't worry, sister-in-law, I didn't mention you to him."
"Good, that's a relief."
"However..." Seeing Mito's sigh of relief, Tobirama thought for a moment and then added, "It won't be long before I can fully revive my brother. When that time comes, whether you keep up the act of being the gentle wife in his eyes or stay as you are now is up to you."
"What? Hashirama is about to be revived? How did your progress become so fast?"
Those who could enter the Hokage's office naturally knew what Tobirama intended to do with cloning technology.
Hearing that he planned to revive Senju Hashirama wasn't particularly surprising.
However, Mito was puzzled.
Just a while ago, she had asked Tobirama about it, and it seemed that due to issues with Hashirama's cells, the development of the clone hadn't been progressing well. How did he suddenly find a way to suppress Hashirama's cells in just a few days?
"Yes, if everything goes smoothly, it should be within the next month or two."
Using Kagami's cells, Tobirama had discovered that balancing and neutralizing Hashirama's cells with Uchiha cells was feasible.
It was a bit unfortunate that Kagami's cells weren't strong enough. The body cloned from the combination of both was still somewhat weak.
If he could get Uchiha Madara's cells, that would perfectly solve this problem.
He believed the Third Hokage wouldn't disappoint him.
In a couple of days, he would be able to go over there and get Madara's cells.
"If I didn't hear wrong, you're planning to resurrect the First Hokage?"
The conversation between Mito and Tobirama had passed, but Kakuzu still had many questions.
When he heard Tobirama summon Hashirama and have him hold off the Third Raikage, his heart couldn't help but tremble.
Then, when he heard that in another month or two, Hashirama would be fully revived, Kakuzu could no longer hold back.
He knew very well how powerful Hashirama was.
After all, he couldn't even defeat the man's wood clone. If Hashirama hadn't valued him back then, Kakuzu probably wouldn't be alive now.
"Yes, I know you have many questions. When we return to Konoha, I'll answer them one by one."
"All right."
Kakuzu nodded.
The situation left him with no choice but to wait until they reached Konoha and hoped Tobirama would explain everything.
Two days later, when Tobirama and the others returned to Konoha, most of the shinobi world had already heard that the Third Raikage's plan had backfired.
He tried to ambush (capture) and kill (seize) the Second Hokage of Konoha, but ended up losing many of his Cloud Shinobi.
It was a huge failure.
At the same time, many people learned that the Second Hokage had gone to the Land of Lightning to capture a rogue ninja named Kakuzu.
Everyone was speculating about what this rogue ninja had done to offend Konoha so much that the Hokage himself led a team to capture him.
What could he have done to deserve this?
Overall, Kakuzu became famous throughout the shinobi world in a very strange way.
"News spreads fast."
After returning to Konoha, Tobirama and the others took a brief rest before heading to the Third Hokage. They successfully obtained a rib from Uchiha Madara.
Upon returning, an ANBU member immediately informed Tobirama of everything that had happened in the past two or three days.
"Kakuzu-san, what do you think?"
In the Hokage's office, Senju Tobirama had promised to clarify things for Kakuzu, and he kept his word.
After sealing the rib bone properly, he called Kakuzu in.
"I don't have any particular thoughts."
"I see."
Senju Tobirama pondered for a moment, his expression serious as he looked at Kakuzu and continued, "Originally, I intended to assign you as a temporary ninja instructor to strengthen the training of the Chunin in the village. However, now that Kakuzu-san's status as a rogue ninja has been exposed, it won't be appropriate for you to appear openly in the village, so…"
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