That's right.
When the Second Hashirama became the Jinchūriki of the Ten-Tails, he skipped over the Mangekyō Sharingan stage and directly awakened the Rinnegan.
This situation left Tobirama completely speechless.
Just before, they had been going on and on about how awakening the Rinnegan required certain conditions.
Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan might not be absolutely necessary, but at the very least, the Mangekyō was a must.
And then, in the blink of an eye, the Second Hashirama awakened the Rinnegan without even going through the Mangekyō Sharingan phase.
Tobirama was thoroughly embarrassed.
Still, the fact that the Second Hashirama awakened the Rinnegan was, overall, a good thing.
So Tobirama decided not to dwell too much on the "how" for now.
"Second Grandpa, did Grandpa really awaken the Rinnegan?"
"Yes."
"How is that even possible? Do we Senju have Uchiha blood or something?"
The one who found it hardest to accept all this was Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage.
She knew well—those Rinnegan eyes Nagato had were originally Uchiha Madara's.
Thinking about it like that, since the Uchiha's kekkei genkai is the Sharingan, awakening the Rinnegan from that didn't seem too far-fetched.
But for a Senju to awaken the Rinnegan? That was just completely absurd.
She'd never heard of the Senju Clan having any eye-related kekkei genkai.
"This is a bit complicated. I'll explain it all in detail when we have more time."
Tobirama Senju didn't know how to respond to Tsunade's words.
Was he supposed to say: "Your Grandpa has Uchiha Madara's blood flowing in his veins?"
If he really said that, what would that make Hashirama?
"…Um, Second Hokage, I was already prepared just now—why didn't you let me use the Eight Gates?"
The conversation with Tsunade had just ended when Might Guy walked over, rubbing his back.
"You know the side effects of the Eight Gates better than I do."
"Yes, Lord Second, but I've long since accepted that."
As he spoke, Might Guy suddenly gave Tobirama a big thumbs-up and grinned, flashing his dazzling row of glowing teeth.
"With us here, there's no need for you to open the Eight Gates."
"What a shame though… I finally had the chance to go all Eight Gates, and now I missed it…"
Looking at Guy, who suddenly seemed down for no reason, Tobirama was truly speechless.
Opening all Eight Gates could literally kill a man, and yet this guy looked genuinely disappointed?
Unbelievable.
Honestly, Guy really lived up to his name as Konoha's Noble Beast. His brain just worked in... interesting ways.
Off the battlefield, Tobirama was already left speechless by Might Guy.
On the battlefield, Fifth Madara was about to be driven speechless by the two fakes standing before him.
Becoming the Ten Tails' Jinchūriki had placed Madara in the strongest position he'd ever been in.
But before he could even flex a little, two imposters suddenly jumped out and started pummeling him.
What made it worse—he might actually be losing to these two fakes.
"You bastards, don't get too full of yourselves, you two fakes!"
Normal taijutsu didn't do much damage to either side, but the insult behind this kind of attack was strong.
After getting kicked away by Second Madara, Fifth Madara was absolutely furious—his anger was about to explode through the sky.
"Stop calling us fakes all the time. Hashirama and I are the real deal."
"The real deal?"
Hearing that, Fifth Madara laughed in anger.
He pointed at Second Madara, then at Second Hashirama, and said, "Forget you. I can feel the Uchiha bloodline in you. But him? He awakened the Rinnegan, and you still dare to call him the real Senju Hashirama?"
"Sorry, Madara. I don't know why I awakened the Rinnegan either."
Second Hashirama scratched his head, looking a bit embarrassed.
Even he felt that awakening the Rinnegan was kind of ridiculous.
"Idiot, what are you apologizing to him for?"
Second Madara knocked Second Hashirama on the head, clearly annoyed.
"Eh? Don't tell me you're jealous of yourself?"
"I—"
If the situation wasn't so tense, Second Madara really wanted to beat Second Hashirama up.
What did he mean by jealous of himself?
He was a dignified man—how could he be jealous of another man?
"You two stop messing around and hurry up and deal with him!"
Seeing that Second Madara and Second Hashirama were getting sidetracked like a comedy duo, Senju Tobirama couldn't help but yell at them.
"My little brother's right. Madara, let's stop messing around for now."
"."
Second Madara didn't respond, but judging from his expression, he was clearly annoyed by Second Hashirama's behavior.
Just as the two were about to deal with Fifth Madara, he suddenly burst into laughter.
"Heh heh heh heh… hahaha hahahahaha~"
"You really think you can take me down?"
"Even if you do defeat me… you can't stop what's coming."
Suddenly, Fifth Madara shot into the sky. With one hand forming a seal, he shouted loudly, "Infinite Tsukuyomi!"
"Damn it."
The moment Infinite Tsukuyomi appeared, Tsunade and the others turned pale in shock.
But Second Madara and Second Hashirama remained calm.
"You both have the Rinnegan, so you're immune to Infinite Tsukuyomi… but the others aren't."
Fifth Madara floated in the sky, laughing wildly.
As long as his dream could come true, what did it matter if he died?
Besides… he might not even die.
"Hashirama, it's your turn."
"…Alright."
Seeing everyone around them falling into illusions one by one under the power of Infinite Tsukuyomi, Second Hashirama didn't hesitate.
He pressed his hands together and activated the unique Rinnegan technique.
"Asukabe."
In an instant, a gentle rain began to fall over the battlefield.
Those who were soaked by the rain were smoothly freed from the illusion of the Infinite Tsukuyomi. At the same time, their injuries and chakra were slowly recovering.
Fortunately, Second Hashirama was currently in the Six Paths mode as the Jinchuriki of the Ten Tails.
If he had been in his normal state, there was no way he could have spread the rain over the entire battlefield.
And precisely because the rain could only cover the battlefield, there was nothing he could do about the ninjas in other parts of the ninja world.
But that didn't really matter.
The battlefield had gathered the vast majority of the elite forces from the ninja world.
As long as these people were saved, even if Ōtsutsuki Kaguya appeared in the end, she would still face the dilemma of having insufficient chakra.
At the very least, she wouldn't be able to freely cast whatever jutsu she wanted like she did in the original story.
"Impossible... Why can you break my Infinite Tsukuyomi?!"
Second Hashirama's Asukabe directly broke Madara's mental defenses.
He had worked so hard and done so much just to put everyone into the illusion and realize peace for the ninja world, hadn't he?
His plan was just about to succeed, yet it was destroyed by this Senju Hashirama—who appeared out of nowhere—with the Rinnegan, no less.
At that moment, Fifth Madara's mental state truly collapsed.
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