When Jiraiya discovered that Rei Kaguya's clone was leading him and Kakashi Hatake through a dense mist so thick that they could not see their own hands, then began heading into a pitch-black underground area, his ninja instincts automatically raised his vigilance.
Although he knew very clearly that, with Rei Kaguya's current strength, if he truly wanted to do something to them, there was no need to go through such troublesome procedures, being a little cautious could at least give him some psychological comfort.
But when they passed through a winding path illuminated by dim, swaying candlelight and arrived at the experimental plaza located beneath Kirigakure, the three figures that had long since been waiting there still made Jiraiya reveal a shocked expression.
There was no need to mention Rei Kaguya's other clone. Since Rei could use clones to sort through documents for the historical restoration and research team, he could naturally use clones to handle affairs in other departments as well. In a place like this, where even its existence carried a mysterious air, it was only natural for him to have a clone stationed here.
As for Orochimaru's presence, that was even more expected and reasonable. As a famous missing-nin of Konoha, and someone who had personally conducted so many inhumane human experiments, even after joining Kirigakure, he had no reason to stop conducting the experiments that interested him. Moreover, Kirigakure was not like Konoha, where the existence of all human experimentation had to be publicly forbidden…
But what truly shocked Jiraiya and Kakashi Hatake was the middle-aged black-haired man wearing armor from the Warring States Period, a man with a face that every Konoha ninja knew very well.
"F-First Hokage-sama!?"
Hashirama Senju, who had only just finished a conversation with Rei Kaguya's clone, looked at the forehead protectors on Jiraiya and Kakashi Hatake's heads. He raised his brows in surprise, then asked Rei Kaguya beside him in an utterly unexpected tone,
"Um, after the Third Shinobi World War you mentioned, did Konoha perhaps form an unbreakable alliance with Kirigakure? Otherwise, based on what I know of Byakuren and Kirigakure's way of doing things, Konoha ninja should not be able to appear openly in a confidential location of Kirigakure like this."
"Rather than an alliance, it would be more accurate to call it… half a vassal agreement?"
As Orochimaru greeted the dumbstruck Jiraiya, he smiled darkly and said,
"After all, just a few months ago, Konoha was nearly destroyed by Madara Uchiha's successor. Under circumstances where their own strength suffered heavy losses and they had to ask others for help, the agreement Konoha could sign with the flourishing Kirigakure was naturally only something with a semi-vassal nature, was it not?"
"What!? Madara's successor!?"
Hashirama Senju's eyes widened abruptly. He asked Orochimaru with a face full of disbelief,
"How is that possible!? Madara clearly, clearly died at the Valley of the End! I personally confirmed his corpse!"
"But according to the records left behind by the Second, after Madara Uchiha's body was recovered, it mysteriously vanished."
Orochimaru spread his hands, smiling eerily.
"You should understand very well, should you not? The Second was not like you, someone with flawless character and conduct. When the corpse of someone as powerful as Madara Uchiha was placed in front of him, he, who developed many forbidden techniques, including the Impure World Reincarnation, could not possibly restrain his desire to conduct in-depth research on it… Yet he, who placed Konoha above all else, only left behind a record saying the corpse vanished. Why do you think that was?"
"Madara… did not die?"
"Not only did he not die, he also secretly controlled our Third Mizukage of Kirigakure, leaving us with a dark age known as the Village of the Bloody Mist."
Rei Kaguya, standing beside Jiraiya, sneered as he spoke.
Faced with a development that surpassed his understanding, yet one that clearly had quite a bit of evidence proving it was true, Hashirama Senju furrowed his brows tightly. While trying hard to calm himself, he looked with complicated emotion at the two people wearing Konoha forehead protectors and asked,
"Ninja of Konoha. The intelligence stated by these two from Kirigakure… has its truth been verified?"
Facing the First Hokage's question, Jiraiya had no time to reminisce with Orochimaru beside him, nor did he have time to protest the use of Impure World Reincarnation to disturb the First Hokage's posthumous peace. Instead, after carefully organizing his thoughts, he nodded with a heavy expression.
"Although no one has seen Madara Uchiha himself so far, judging from matters such as the Third Mizukage being controlled by Sharingan genjutsu, one descendant of the Uchiha clan displaying the ability to use Wood Release after returning from a false death, and that same person being extremely skilled at controlling the Nine-Tails, there is indeed a very high possibility that Madara Uchiha survived the Battle of the Valley of the End and lived in secret until now."
"A child of the Uchiha clan used Wood Release…?"
Hearing this news, Hashirama Senju's expression instantly became even more depressed. He turned to Rei Kaguya and said rather awkwardly,
"This truly is… embarrassing. Even when I was alive, I was unable to make the Uchiha and Senju clans intermarry. In the end, Madara, whom I thought was already dead, was the one who achieved the fusion of Senju and Uchiha power?"
"You do not seem to mind seeing such a thing, First Hokage…"
Rei Kaguya raised his brows and asked with pointed implication,
"Normally, as the possessor of the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai, after learning that someone stole your Kekkei Genkai, should you not feel anger?"
"Because the hatred between the Uchiha and Senju clans was deep-rooted. Although Madara and I temporarily suppressed it, there were still many clansmen on both sides who hated the other."
Hashirama Senju sighed. The expression on his face revealed helplessness and a headache toward the anti-Uchiha faction led by his younger brother, Tobirama Senju. He adjusted his breathing and continued,
"After Madara left the village, I wondered whether mutual intermarriage could deepen communication and understanding between the Senju and Uchiha clans little by little, slowly dissolving the old hatred accumulated between us… Unfortunately, whether within the Senju clan or the Uchiha clan, opposing voices occupied the greater majority. In the end, this matter could not be carried out."
"However, if I could have lived a little longer, and if Madara had not returned with the Nine-Tails to destroy Konoha, then perhaps after another ten or twenty years, there might have been a possibility of realizing it."
"That really is a hypothesis that makes us outsiders from other villages break out in cold sweat."
Rei Kaguya, standing beside Hashirama Senju, took a slight step back and made a somewhat exaggerated gesture of fear. Meanwhile, the Rei Kaguya clone that had brought Jiraiya and the others here stepped forward, his expression amused.
"Then, since you made such a hypothesis, First Hokage-sama, may I also make a hypothesis?"
"Please?"
Hashirama Senju, who did not understand, tilted his head and gestured for Rei Kaguya's clone to continue.
"Then I will be direct."
Rei Kaguya's clone cleared his throat and asked Hashirama Senju with a serious expression,
"Suppose, and I mean suppose, that the time when Madara Uchiha and you fell out was delayed by several years, and your younger brother Tobirama Senju also suppressed, as much as possible, the hostile voices in the village toward Madara Uchiha and the Uchiha clan for the sake of the greater situation… Would you and Madara Uchiha have considered joining hands to unify the entire shinobi world?"
"Unify… the shinobi world?"
Hashirama Senju froze in place. After savoring the question for quite some time, he uncertainly asked Rei Kaguya in return,
"Why would you ask such a topic, Fourth Mizukage?"
"Because if there is no need to consider the subsequent issue of governance, I alone can accomplish such a thing."
Rei Kaguya's clone crossed his arms before his chest and calmly spoke arrogant words that made Jiraiya's face turn dark, yet left him unable to refute them.
"Although I have never fought you or Madara Uchiha at your peak, I believe that compared to the two of you, my strength should not be inferior… What I can accomplish alone should be much easier for the two of you together.
"Furthermore, that was still the chaotic Warring States Period. The present situation, where hidden villages stand everywhere, had not yet formed. There was no foundation for ninja clans to cooperate closely with one another either. With the strength of you and Madara Uchiha, you should have been fully capable of unifying the world and creating a brand-new unified order different from anything before it."
"We are ninja. Why would we unify the world?"
Hashirama Senju frowned deeply and asked back in utter confusion.
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