[Resurrection Confirmed — Edo Tensei: Tobirama Senju]
Natural life-force chakra—several times more powerful than when Uchiha Mikoto was revived—crashed down from the sky like the waterfall at the Valley of the End, slamming into the Second Hokage's wooden coffin.
A luminous green glow nearly lit up all of Konoha. In the blink of an eye, the coffin grew into a towering tree, like the First Hokage's Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence descending upon the land, sealing off the Ninja Academy completely.
The earth rolled. Chakra surged. This time it wasn't just Naruto Uzumaki—many people were knocked off their feet.
The resurrected Tobirama Senju checked his own chakra. It had returned to when he was under thirty—his most vigorous years, when chakra and stamina were at their peak?
"Monkey, explain the current situation to me."
He stepped out of the coffin and, with a few leaps, arrived before the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. Under the influence of Senju sage vitality, Tobirama looked barely in his early twenties, arms crossed as he stood there.
Hiruzen gave a brief account of everything that had happened since the start of the Chunin Exams. Even so, the three who had once served on the Hokage team still couldn't remain calm—after all, their teacher had been resurrected and looked younger than they did.
Tobirama, on the other hand, adapted effortlessly. No matter the era, the Second Hokage embodied a ninja's composure.
He looked at Naruto Uzumaki, who was sitting on the ground making a racket with endless "dattebayo, dattebayo," and said, "Just as expected of you, kid. You actually saved everyone's lives in that way—and even brought me back."
"Huh?" The Third Hokage looked utterly baffled. Why did Tobirama-sensei seem to know Naruto—and why was he praising him?
With both the Second and Third Hokage looking at Naruto, everyone nearby followed their gaze.
"What is it, Hokage Grandpa?" Naruto scratched his head. "Who's this clean-looking guy with fox eyes? What did we even revive? The commotion is way too big, y'know!"
"Ugh!" Black lines instantly formed over Tobirama's head. He couldn't help snapping, "If we're talking about looking like a fox, do you have any right to say that about me?!"
"Eh?" Naruto tilted his head blankly after being yelled at. With the whisker marks on his cheeks and his big round eyes, he really did look like a clueless little fox cub.
"Hmph! You really are a natural airhead!"
The Third Hokage: "..."
What is this? Why does it feel like I'm watching Tobirama-sensei yelling at Hashirama-sensei all over again…
Naruto temporarily forgot he was in the middle of a spat with Sasuke and nudged him. "Hey, why do guys who look cleaner than girls—like, prettier skin and all—also have worse tempers than girls, huh, dattebayo?"
"..."
At this point, no one present could even focus on the shock of the Second Hokage's resurrection anymore. Everyone had the same thought:
What the hell…
Taking a deep breath, Tobirama Senju—famous for his calm and self-discipline—felt a surge of anger similar to watching his older brother at the Five Kage Summit, smashing his head into the table while thanking everyone and saying, "Giving away the tailed beasts is fine too." If throwing a punch himself wouldn't have been beneath his status, he might not have been able to restrain his hand!
The Second Hokage refrained for the sake of dignity. Uchiha Sasuke had no such concerns. His punch was fast and ruthless—
"Ahhh! Don't hit my head!" Naruto clutched his skull. "What did my head ever do wrong today? It's already been injured three times, dattebayo!!"
The two boys' antics briefly dispelled the gloom in Uchiha Mikoto's heart, and she laughed softly. Sasuke blushed and complained, "Kaa-san~," then raised his fist again to hit Naruto.
Naruto dodged, still holding his head. "Anyway, who is that clean-looking guy who talks like Hokage Grandpa and keeps calling himself 'this old man'?!"
—Just how stupid could someone be?
"Even if you don't pay attention in class, there's a limit to ignorance!! He's the First Hokage's younger brother—the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju! You idiot dead last!!"
"Address me as Second Hokage-sama!!"
The two shouted at Naruto at the same time.
"Aaah!" Naruto yelped again, looking back and forth between Tobirama and the Hokage Monument in the distance. "He doesn't look anything like it, dattebayo! Is he really the one whose face I wrote 'idi—' Mmmph! Mmmph mmmph—dattebayo—mmm!!"
Iruka-sensei suddenly appeared and clamped a hand over Naruto's mouth, stopping him from finishing that sentence.
Iruka held Naruto down and apologized repeatedly to the Second Hokage.
The Second Hokage snorted. "Hmph."
Everyone in Konoha knew exactly what Naruto had been about to say. Scribbling "idiot" and "moron" on the Hokage Monument and past Hokages' faces to grab attention—that demon fox brat had done it plenty of times.
Still… hadn't the Third Hokage ordered Jonin Kakashi to revive the Fourth Hokage? Why did the Second Hokage come out instead? And what did "Edo version of the Second Hokage" even mean?
[The Fourth Great Ninja War — The Allied Shinobi Forces Assemble]
Before the Ninja Academy, images appeared once more, projected crookedly through the massive trees.
"Water Release: Severing Wave!"
With a single water technique, Tobirama sliced away the trees blocking the projection.
"So strong! That clean-looking—mmph!" Naruto Uzumaki, king of speaking his mind, was once again gagged—this time by Iruka-sensei and Uchiha Sasuke together.
["The captain has arrived!"]
[Figures dressed in all kinds of uniforms formed an enormous army within the image. As the camera pulled back, the watching shinobi of every village, ordinary villagers, feudal lords, and even Kage-level missing-nin realized that "enormous" didn't even begin to describe it. The vast force stretched for thousands of meters, packed tightly into column after column—fifty columns per unit, five units forming an indescribably overwhelming sea of humanity.]