Chapter 123: Tobirama
Whooom
Thick trees began sprouting all over the rooftop; their growth was super fast, and their coverage was super dense. Sato instinctively backed away, but he stopped when he remembered the flame barrier around the rooftop.
'That spooked me. I thought Hashirama was about to steamroll everyone; thankfully, they are trapped inside, and I am safely outside.'
Sato wiped his sweat; he was strong, but he wasn't confident in his chances when Hashirama and Tobirama were fighting at the same time.
Unlike canon, the Edo zombies here had their minds intact; their strength might be the same as canon, but their experience was at an all-time high.
Bang
And Third Hokage was experiencing all that firsthand.
Sato saw the third hokage get smashed into the flame barrier, which made the man cough out blood. Tobirama ruthlessly followed after Hashirama's strike, and cut the third hokage with a kunai.
Clang
Which he somehow blocked with his monkey King Enma summon. But this is when the fourth Kazekage snuck up and sent a tsunami of gold dust over his body.
"Heh, serves you right for making me look like a villain in front of the Hokages. Just die in there, old man."
Sato chuckled and sat down. He refused to help the hokage now. Before this, Sato was ready to help at Anko's request, but the third hokage set him up so badly. Sato was holding a grudge.
Tremble
But Sato's decision to stay out of this fight and enjoy the view was about to be broken soon. Just like the flame barrier was about to be broken because of one very important thing.
"Ohhh, the first Hokage is using wood release, and wood release absorbs chakra inherently. The trees are absorbing the barrier's chakra. The barrier is breaking down."
Sato shook his head and got up quickly. He had two options before him now.
Either wait here, and thus fight Hashirama and his brother, or run away because Konoha's problem has nothing to do with him.
"See you later, folks!"
Bzzt
Sato didn't take a single second before he decided to run; no way was he going to help the third after what that guy just did.
"Do you see that, brother? The Raikage ran away. Some allies of Konoha they are."
Tobirama coldly judged Sato's actions, all the while trying to kill the third hokage against his will.
"Let's not talk about this tobirama. He might have his own reasons."
"We should be happy Raikage isn't using this time to attack Konoha. Our village is at its weakest right now."
Hashirama had a different perspective compared to Tobirama. He could see the world at a much higher level.
Tobirama stayed silent, he still didn't approve of Sato running away. He didn't quite trust the hidden cloud, and Sato just broke the already fragile trust he still had.
Bang
Just then, the barrier was finally unable to maintain its chakra supply, and it collapsed onto itself. This freed the Edo zombies and gave the third hokage more space to move.
"Sorry brother, I will check the village. Maybe there are more threats."
Tobirama said this to Hashirama and he disappeared into thin air. Hashirama wanted to stop Tobirama, but he sighed after a few seconds.
"Tobirama, so you have understood how we are being manipulated, and you have also cracked the manipulation from yourself. But you refused to tell me the method to crack the control; is it so that I can't stop you?"
Hashirama smiled wryly. Then he concentrated on warning the third hokage on how to dodge his attacks. Hashirama might be forced to attack Hiruzen, but he would still help Konoha in any way he could.
Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Konoha, Sato met with his group, who were with Anko, Asuma, and Asuma's team.
Step
Step
Step
But currently, the group looked like they were facing a major threat. A man clad in blue armor was walking towards them.
"Second Hokage Tobirama, you don't look very controlled. Did you crack the manipulation technique Kabuto set on you?"
Sato asked with a small smile. Right now, he was standing before his team; he was guarding his men. As for Asuma and Anko, they were also hiding behind him because these two were shameless.
"I did, Raikage. Edo tensei is my technique"
Tobirama replied coldly and stopped a few meters before Sato. Sato hummed and looked around a bit before speaking.
"I don't see the first hokage and the fourth Kazekage here. Did you not tell them how to crack the manipulation? How curious."
"Maybe you are confident in taking me out. Or better yet, you want to check Konoha yourself and remove anything that seems like a threat."
"The first hokage would stop you from doing this, and the fourth Kazekage might attack Konoha instead. So you refused to free them. Am I right?"
Sato put the whole situation together piece by piece, and Tobirama simply stood there and listened to Sato calmly.
After Sato was done, Tobirama curtly agreed with the sentiment and asked a question.
"That is the right. I have a question for you fifth Raikage. Why did the Uchiha rebel, and why were you involved in this incident?"
Tobirama's thoughtful question didn't surprise Sato. Tobirama might be an Uchiha hater, but he was also a very cold and calculating guy.
Such a person would never jump to conclusions without first knowing the basic facts.
"The reasons are long, but sure, I will give you a brief summary."
"Third hokage has been in power for too long. He and the elders have systematically killed anyone who could have become hokage for years."
"Such talented people either end up dead, broken, or are forced to kill themselves. This practice helped the third hokage stay in power, but it also had a major problem."
Sato explained patiently, but Tobirama was already showing signs of anger. Not towards Sato but towards the third hokage.
"They were growing old, and talented Konoha ninjas were already dead. They were unable to control the noble clans of Konoha."
"Then your students thought of a great idea. They pressured the head of the Hyuga clan to kill himself in the name of peace using our name. This scared the noble clans."
"But, Uchiha, as you know, don't fear such things. They kept resisting suppression from the village. They were forced to fight against the whole village due to this."
Sato smiled and told Tobirama the twisted truth; a lot of it was true, but he was definitely glorifying the uchiha much more than they deserved.
"This is when talented Uchiha started dying; Konoha had started killing them secretly. One such victim was Shisui Uchiha."
"Shisui was poisoned and on the verge of death; he had no where to go as Konoha wanted him dead. So he came to me, his only friend."
Sato smiled sadly, as if remembering that incident.
"That day I went against my village and decided to help him save his clan. This decision almost cost me my Raikage position, but thankfully I succeed. All because I had a senju's help against Konoha."
Tobirama, who had been silent all this time, widened his eyes; he could no longer keep his cool and asked hastily.
"A Senju helped you go against Konoha? Who?"
Sato smiled and dropped the final high-intensity news.
"Tsunade Senju. She has experienced the things everyone has in Konoha. Everyone close to her is dead."
"According to our sources, Senju clan were mostly killed by Konoha themselves. For experiments and for profit. Well, that's the story, second Hokage."
"What do you think?"
Sato folded his hands and smiled at Tobirama. Tobirama was already silent at this point and was looking down.
He was contemplating the village's state and his next course of action.
Swish
That's why, the sudden appearance of Tobirama behind him and the subsequent flying thunder god slash to his back took Sato by complete surprise.
"Sato sama!"
Samui yelled in horror. Sato's back had a long, bloody slash on it. Which dyed his clothes red.
Bang
But everyone's panic quickly dissipated when Sato turned into a piece of wood and walked out from behind the trees.
"That's not very nice of you, old man."
Sato slowly narrowed his eyes, but Tobirama turned towards him and simply put his kunai back into his pouch. The exchange between these two leaders, confused the surrounding group of people.
Tobirama's sudden attack and Sato's body replacement technique looked planned; it looked like both of them were expecting this to happen.
But why, they talking to each other a second ago. And is a fight going to happen right here right now? If so, do they need to run? They had so many questions!
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