Genma arrived near the Senju clan's village leading a four-man medical shinobi squad, headed by the elderly Master Yakushi of the Kurohitomi clan.
It couldn't be helped. Setting aside his profound medical expertise and a lifetime of clinical experience, the old gentleman's mere appearance was deeply impressive. He perfectly embodied the aura of a veteran traditional doctor of the shinobi world, radiating a benevolent, life-saving presence from the inside out.
"Lord Genma, please wait a moment."
As Genma's group approached the entrance of the Senju village, a two-man squad of Senju shinobi stepped forward to meet them.
"My Lord, I am Senju Okayetsu, the captain of the village guard," the leader said. "Please wait here for a moment while I fetch Lord Hashirama to welcome you."
Genma's mind raced, and he immediately extended his hand for a handshake. "Greetings, Okayetsu-san. Is it convenient for Lord Hashirama to come out and meet us?"
"Of course. We Senju are certainly not lacking in courtesy and etiquette," Senju Okayetsu replied.
As their hands clasped, Genma felt a subtle, deliberate squeeze from the man's knuckles. With that, he confirmed the man's hidden identity. Regardless of whether the Senju clan possessed Five Elites or Six Elites, this Senju Okayetsu was highly likely one of them.
On the surface, having Hashirama come out to greet Genma was a matter of protocol. When a leader of Genma's stature arrived at the Senju village, the Senju clan had to receive him with someone of equal standing. But what was the reality?
Genma had been invited by Hashirama himself, which meant Hashirama would naturally feel responsible for his safety. Given Hashirama's straightforward sense of justice and stubborn, linear mindset, there was absolutely no doubt about this. If anyone in the Senju clan harbored a conspiracy against Genma, Hashirama would put a stop to it. Even if things went south, Hashirama would hold the moral high ground. Backed by unparalleled strength and unassailable logic, Genma would be completely safe as long as he stayed by Hashirama's side. After all, how could you turn around and assassinate someone who had come to treat your wounded? It defied all reason. If forced into such a corner, Hashirama wouldn't hesitate to slap his own father's face to do what was right.
Furthermore, Genma even had an informant on the inside. Watching Okayetsu's retreating back, he felt the empowering sentiment of having won people's hearts. With Hashirama covering him out in the open and the Senju Elites supporting him from the shadows, coming to the Senju clan felt almost like returning to his own hometown.
A short while later, Hashirama hurried over to Genma, with Okayetsu and the other Senju shinobi following closely behind him.
"Genma, you arrived just in time."
"Speed is of the essence in warfare... How is Tobirama's condition?" Genma couldn't exactly admit that he had caught wind of the situation and prepared to set out even before receiving Hashirama's letter.
"Not good. His injuries are quite severe."
"Don't worry. The medical shinobi I brought are highly skilled. This old gentleman is Master Yakushi, the leader of the Kurohitomi clan."
Upon hearing their background, Hashirama's eyes immediately lit up. "Master Yakushi, and everyone in the medical team, thank you so much for being willing to help... Genma, you've been a lifesaver." Wasting no time, Hashirama immediately led Genma's group into the Senju village.
There was no need for Genma to hide his presence on this trip. As they entered the village, many Senju clansmen gestured and whispered about the newcomers. Okayetsu kept greeting familiar faces while discreetly explaining Genma's background and purpose. While Tobirama's injury remained a closely guarded secret, there was no harm in letting the clan know that Genma had brought a medical team to the Senju.
The ordinary Senju shinobi held a very favorable opinion of Genma. Many admired the philosophy of his Yinghuo organization, remembering how hard Yinghuo had worked to save Senju shinobi during their last joint operation. Furthermore, both of the Senju clan's future successors maintained an excellent relationship with Genma. It was perfectly accurate to say their relationship was friendly and steadily progressing toward a quasi-alliance or a full alliance. Consequently, upon learning of the situation, the Senju clansmen naturally welcomed Genma's arrival.
Since Hashirama was walking at a brisk pace, Genma couldn't stop to exchange pleasantries with the other shinobi. Instead, he simply nodded and smiled at those welcoming him as they made their way directly to Tobirama's medical ward.
Upon entering Tobirama's room, Hashirama quickly cleared out any unnecessary personnel. Once only Genma and his inner circle remained, he invited the medical shinobi forward.
Hashirama himself never feared injury due to his absurdly resilient physique. However, he was not a medical ninja—different fields were worlds apart, and he lacked the ability to treat Tobirama himself.
Tobirama was deathly pale, and his condition looked genuinely grim, though he still seemed relatively conscious. His gaze locked onto Genma first, then scanned the medical team. When he failed to spot the person he hoped to see, a flash of disappointment crossed his face.
Genma instantly understood what Tobirama was thinking and felt a bit speechless. Turning to Hashirama, he spoke in a tone of absolute certainty, "Don't worry, there's no way this guy is going to die."
You brat, your motives aren't pure at all.
Frankly, speaking this way about a critically injured patient was somewhat discourteous to the family, but Hashirama was never one to sweat the small stuff. Sensing the absolute confidence in Genma's voice, a flicker of a smile finally broke through his otherwise solemn expression. "That's good, that's good then."
While three of the medical shinobi examined the wound on Tobirama's chest, the elderly Master Yakushi stood to the side, leaning on his cane and narrowing his eyes as he observed. After watching for a while, the veteran doctor straightened up and said, "Rest assured, he can certainly be treated. However... to stimulate rapid cellular regeneration, a massive amount of chakra must be consumed. The patient alone won't be able to handle it, so we'll need an external source of chakra. The demand is immense. I am unsure if the Senju clan can provide such a volume."
Huh? Was that even considered a problem here?
Hashirama rolled up his sleeve, exposing his forearm as if he were stepping up for a voluntary blood donation. "Master, how much chakra do you need? Take as much as you want."
"Relying on you alone? Will that be enough?"
"It'll be fine, Master. Go ahead and proceed without worry," Genma assured Master Yakushi, putting his mind at ease.
"Very well, saving the patient comes first. Let us begin..." Yakushi then turned to Hashirama. "If you find yourself unable to hold out, we will swap you with someone else."
Genma turned his head away, barely suppressing a snort. With Hashirama's absurd chakra reserves, even if Tobirama were whittled down to nothing but a skeleton, Hashirama could probably reconstruct his entire flesh and blood from scratch using sheer, raw chakra.
The subsequent actions of the Kurohitomi medical shinobi went exactly as Genma anticipated. They converted Hashirama's chakra into life energy, stimulating rapid cellular regeneration in Tobirama's wound and his ruptured internal organs underneath. Although the chakra came from Hashirama, the treatment essentially forced Tobirama's body to repair itself—a specialized biological "3D additive" technique using resources from the same genetic source. Thus, the Kurohitomi clan's method was infallible and arguably the optimal solution.
Due to the complexity of the injuries and the precision required for internal organ repair, the Kurohitomi shinobi proceeded with deliberate pauses. All in all, after over two hours of grueling work, the surgery finally concluded. When it was over, the medical shinobi showed clear signs of exhaustion, and Hashirama arranged for someone to lead them to a nearby room to rest.
As Master Yakushi shuffled away, leaning heavily on his cane, he couldn't stop muttering under his breath, "You live and learn... I truly witnessed something mind-boggling today..."
How on earth can a human's chakra reserves be so preposterously massive? It completely defies common sense.
Once the treatment ended, the medical team was thoroughly exhausted, while Hashirama looked entirely unfazed. As for the patient, Tobirama looked completely revitalized in an instant. Though he couldn't get out of bed and walk just yet, he felt as though he had fully recovered.
Genma had watched the entire process with great fascination. This method lacked the instantaneous, exaggerated effects of Hashirama's or Tsunade's personal healing factors, but watching the reconstruction take place step by step made it seem far more technically sophisticated.
"Don't get ahead of yourself either," Genma remarked. "As far as I know, forcing cells to divide at such a high speed through artificial stimulation will undoubtedly shorten your lifespan."
However, neither brother cared about such a warning. How many shinobi ever died of natural causes anyway? Surviving was a victory in itself; who had the luxury to fret over a minor loss of lifespan?
By now, only Hashirama, Tobirama, and Genma remained in the room. Finally, Tobirama spoke up, "Genma, the person who attacked me... was that Uchiha shinobi we met back at your place."
Uchiha Sasuke?
Genma shook his head and said, "He never really had anything to do with us; we just happened to be operating together at the time. He stayed in Yinghuo Village for a few days, but he never joined our ranks... Back then, I went out to fight Uchiha Madara, while he just went along to get a look at him. He hasn't shown his face for a year now. I actually thought he was dead." He paused before adding, "That guy harbors hostility toward you. I warned you about him before."
Right after Sasuke went off the grid, Genma had informed Tobirama about his background and warned him that Sasuke's hatred for him ran incredibly deep. Without a doubt, that had been a disclaimer—and now, that disclaimer had proven its worth.
Fortunately, the Senju brothers were not petty. They knew Genma wasn't to blame. While the Yinghuo organization had ties to certain Uchiha members when it was first established, Tobirama wouldn't mistake an incidental association for a formal subordination. Moreover, he would never suspect Genma was involved in Sasuke's ambush, because Genma couldn't possibly pull off the things that guy was capable of.
"Genma, let me warn you," Tobirama said. "That guy is currently much stronger than you are."
"Huh?" Don't go cursing me just because you lost a fight, Genma thought to himself.
"It's Senjutsu," Hashirama interjected at that moment. "I'm certain I didn't misjudge it. That Uchiha shinobi can manipulate natural energy and utilize Senjutsu... In that sense, his innate talent might even surpass Madara's."
"Senjutsu... what is that?" Genma furrowed his brows, thinking to himself that he had almost slipped up. If he acted like he knew what Senjutsu was, wouldn't he look suspicious and tied to Sasuke again?
Is it Ryuchi Cave? How on earth did Sasuke manage to link up with the Ryuchi Cave of this era? Is he just fated to be with snakes? At this rate, he might as well change his name to Uchiha Xu Xian.
Immediately after, Genma's attention shifted back to Hashirama. Since Hashirama could accurately identify Sasuke's Senjutsu, it meant this guy had likely mastered Sennin Mode long ago. Son of a gun, why has he never used it in battle before? Holding out on us, huh? Even a straight-shooting guy like you plays mind games?
"It's an alternative style of combat that blends chakra with natural energy. It's difficult to explain in a short time, but suffice it to say, it's incredibly powerful." Hashirama wasn't trying to withhold secrets, but it really wasn't something that could be cleared up in a brief conversation. From his perspective, since Genma didn't even grasp the concept of natural energy, how could he begin to explain it?
Genma nodded, pretending to understand.
Being able to manipulate natural energy was one thing, executing a couple of Senjutsu techniques was another, but entering Sennin Mode entirely was a different beast altogether. From what Tobirama implied, Sasuke seemed to have reached that final stage. The buff provided by Sennin Mode to a shinobi was utterly astronomical. Otherwise, Tobirama wouldn't have been so severely wounded, let alone believe that Sasuke's current strength surpassed Genma's.
Achieving Sennin Mode in just a single year? It sounded absurdly exaggerated... but Genma quickly reminded himself not to forget that Sasuke was essentially a walking cheat code, regardless of how subpar his strength had seemed when they first met. During the final war, the Game Master literally handed Sasuke a mod menu to max out his skills and stats. Compared to that, mastering Senjutsu in a year was nothing—it was just Ryuchi Cave's Senjutsu, after all.
Tobirama then briefly recounted the events of the ambush. "That day, we engaged a squad of Uchiha shinobi in a fierce battle. They fled after being overwhelmed. It was partly my own fault for letting my guard down; my focus wavered during the pursuit, and I was caught entirely off guard by that Uchiha's sudden assault. I got the sense that he operates outside the standard Uchiha clan hierarchy; he isn't aligned with Uchiha Madara's faction, yet he goes out of his way to rescue ordinary Uchiha shinobi... I can't quite fathom what his true motive is."
"Perhaps he simply possesses a primal sense of kinship toward his clansmen," Genma remarked, offering the factual truth under the guise of a guess. He then followed up by asking, "You were severely wounded but survived. What happened after that?"
"Then my brother arrived. You know how it is—he's not as fast as I am... but his timing was impeccable this time. He..."
Now that his younger brother was completely out of the woods, Hashirama's cheerful disposition returned. He laughed heartily, slapping Tobirama squarely on the shoulder. "I gave that fellow a solid swat with my Mokujin! I'm positive that strike landed square on him, but he was incredibly slippery and managed to escape in the end... A pity he couldn't save the other Uchiha before fleeing."
Managing to escape with his life from Hashirama was already a massive feat; expecting to save others on top of that was pure delusion. The name "Mokujin" sounded mundane enough—anyone uninitiated might mistake it for some small wooden trinket—but without witnessing it firsthand, who would ever guess that this monstrous entity could go toe-to-toe with the Nine-Tails? For Sasuke to take a direct hit from the Mokujin and survive was quite a badge of honor. Ordinary shinobi never received such high-tier treatment from Hashirama.
It was truly a shame for him, though. He had finally capitalized on a timeline where his strength surpassed Tobirama's, only to be thwarted by an unforeseen variable... To put it bluntly in a dark sort of way, the only reason the weaker Tobirama survived while the stronger Sasuke was heavily battered was simply because Tobirama had a living older brother.
"Tobirama, what will you do next time?" Genma teased. "Are you going to choose to just stay huddled under your brother's wings?"
"Haha! You make him sound like a little chick!" Hashirama roared with laughter. "Though, come to think of it, back when Tobirama was a kid..."
"Brother!"
Tobirama's sharp bark instantly cut off his brother's laughter, preventing the impending spectacle of the two brothers airing out each other's embarrassing childhood secrets. Frankly, even though Hashirama was the older brother, his childhood blunders were undoubtedly far more numerous than Tobirama's.
Having successfully shut down his older brother with the ultimate silencing technique, Tobirama turned back to Genma. "Rest assured, I didn't come away from that life-or-death battle completely empty-handed. Next time, I certainly won't lose."
Genma opened his mouth, but ultimately chose not to utter those words...
Hiraishin.
Since acquiring all five chakra natures, Genma's strength had grown exponentially over the past year. Yet, looking at the two beside him, Hashirama and Tobirama had already entered their fully realized, peak forms. Even Sasuke's rate of growth far outpaced Genma's.
One couldn't blame White Zetsu for a lack of dedication; with White Zetsu's assistance, Genma's power was rapidly approaching his personal ceiling. And yet... monsters like Hashirama simply didn't have a ceiling.
Diligent, painstaking effort could never compete with a casually activated cheat code. Moreover, Hashirama's cheats weren't some temporary power-up—he had been running those mods since the day he was born.
Oh, White Zetsu... what a tragic, meaningless death.
--
Support me & read more advance & fast update chapter on my patreon:
pat reon .com/yuuwand