Three months passed in the blink of an eye.
"Kid, are you planning to leave?"
In front of the luxurious mansion worth three hundred million ryō, Uchiha Madara looked at Renya, who carried a travel bag on his back, and murmured softly.
A fleeting trace of reluctance flickered in his eyes.
"Yes, Madara-sama," Renya nodded.
He had lived in the Land of Iron for several months—it was about time to return to Konoha.
After all, someone back home was still waiting for him.
It had been months since they'd last seen each other—he wondered if that old man was eating properly.
And Danzo... he wondered if he was handling the position of Hokage well.
"Hmm," Uchiha Madara responded faintly.
Renya was the only junior he truly acknowledged—and more importantly, his key partner in executing the "Eye of the Moon" Plan.
Now that the kid was leaving, it was only natural he felt reluctant.
You could say Tobirama had ridiculous luck—actually managing to adopt Renya of all people.
The Senju clan's ancestral tombs must be smoking by now.
He planned to go take a look at those graves someday, see if any had actually burst open.
"Hahaha! Renya, take care on the road!" Senju Hashirama beamed, the corners of his mouth stretching nearly to his ears.
As long as Madara and Renya—the two walking natural disasters—weren't together, the chances of the Shinobi World's destruction would at least drop a little.
In his eyes, the "Eye of the Moon" Plan was nothing but an evil scheme to destroy the world!
The worst part was that both his best friend and the most promising junior he admired were involved in it...
If possible, Hashirama naturally didn't want either of them to become enemies of the entire world.
But there was nothing he could do.
Almost no one in the shinobi world could stop two Mangekyō Sharingan wielders—especially Madara's.
All he could do was pray that the "Eye of the Moon" Plan would never succeed.
"Got it, Hashirama-san."
Renya's expression twisted strangely—he couldn't shake the feeling that Hashirama-san couldn't wait for him to leave.
Could it be that his presence was getting in the way of their... two-man world?
At that thought, Renya shuddered.
The terrifying bonds of Konoha friendship.
If someone said there was nothing between those two, who would actually believe that?
"Renya, the sun's still high—you'd better get on the road early,"
Hashirama said, not noticing Renya's increasingly odd expression.
"When it's dark, you won't be able to see the road clearly..."
Renya's face froze into an "as expected" look, internally cursing.
Oh, good grief.
He's practically rushing me off—just so the two of them can enjoy some sweet, cozy time together in the courtyard after I'm gone, huh?
Hashirama-san, you could at least pretend to be subtle!
"I'm heading off then—I won't disturb you two any longer," Renya said quickly, turning away.
"I'll come visit you later..."
If he didn't leave soon, Hashirama-san might actually start shooing him out.
Better to be sensible and get going.
Hashirama-san and Madara-sama would now live their blissful, godlike days together, while poor Mito-san would sit at home wiping away tears in silence.
"Hashirama, you seem a little too eager to see Renya leave,"
Uchiha Madara turned, frowning slightly at the corners of Hashirama's mouth that were twitching upward uncontrollably.
This guy's every thought showed right on his face—how pure could he be?
Hashirama froze, his smile instantly stiffening.
He'd been so focused on getting Renya to leave that he'd forgotten to control his expression.
"Haha, what are you talking about?" Hashirama scratched his head awkwardly. "I'm just worried it'll get late, and Renya won't make it far before dark."
Yes, that's it!
He just wanted Renya to get home early—not that he wanted him gone from Madara's side…
"It'd better be like that," Madara snorted coldly.
Hashirama's panicked look clearly screamed "liar."
The man was probably already scheming how to stop their "Eye of the Moon" Plan again.
But Madara didn't call him out on it. He simply chose to turn a blind eye.
If it were anyone else trying to interfere in his plan, he wouldn't hesitate to kill them without mercy.
But this was Hashirama.
As long as Hashirama didn't cross Madara's bottom line, he would pretend not to see.
Of course, if Hashirama did cross that line someday... whether Madara could truly bring himself to kill his dearest friend was anyone's guess.
"Hehehe..."
Hashirama realized Madara wasn't pressing further and grinned inwardly.
Madara was so easy to fool!
"Madara, are we still going out to eat for lunch?"
"Sure."
Before leaving, Renya had given them a large sum of money for living expenses.
Showing filial respect to lonely old men was the right thing to do.
The two of them were now nowhere near short on cash—even if they ate at the most expensive restaurants every day, they could keep that up for quite a while.
So long as Hashirama didn't blow it all gambling, that is.
Once he hit the gambling tables, even a fortune wouldn't last him long—he was a fat sheep waiting to be sheared!
Thankfully, Renya had been smart enough to hand the money to Madara-sama for safekeeping.
Now, if Hashirama wanted to go gambling, he'd have to apply to Madara-sama for funds first.
...
After four months, Renya finally returned to Konoha once more.
The first thing to do, naturally, was to visit his old friend at the Hokage's Office.
He wondered if Danzo had managed to become a competent Hokage by now.
"Danzo, I told you, you're being too extreme!"
"Now Sunagakure's demanding that Konoha provide an explanation and compensation—"
"Explanation? Konoha has never needed to explain itself to anyone!"
"And compensation? Hmph! Once the Kazekage's dead, I'll personally burn it and send it to him!"
"Danzo, acting like this will only drag the village into ruin! We should offer reparations to Sunagakure to stop things from spiraling out of control!"
"Enough, Hiruzen! I am the Hokage!"
Renya had just reached the office door when he heard the heated argument inside.
And that classic line—
Your regret.
Next would surely be Hiruzen's harsh retort, followed by him storming out in fury.
Sure enough, an angry voice rang out from inside.
"Danzo, you'll regret this!"
Hearing that, Renya smiled in satisfaction.
Perfect!
Even though their roles were now reversed, the vibe was exactly the same.
At its core, it was still the same ideological clash between the two.
Click—
The office door opened, and Hiruzen's furious face froze in shock.
"Renya—you're back?!"
"Yeah, just got in," Renya replied calmly, not the slightest bit flustered at being caught eavesdropping.
"What were you two arguing about?"
He pretended he'd just arrived and hadn't heard a thing.
"Renya, please talk some sense into Danzo for me!" Hiruzen said with exasperation. "Ever since he became Hokage, he refuses to listen to any of my advice!"
Back when Danzo had only been acting Hokage, they used to discuss everything and adopt the best ideas together.
But now that he'd officially become Hokage, he'd dropped all pretenses—completely forgetting his roots.
He wouldn't listen to a word of Hiruzen's counsel, ruling unilaterally and stubbornly.
At this rate, Konoha was doomed!
And the extremist Danzo was the root cause of it all!
"Let me see what's going on, then," Renya said, following Hiruzen into the office.