"No wonder you managed to avoid my assassination… so it was the barrier."
After devouring Tenzo, Haruma once again slipped into stealth. Yet, he did not immediately leave the underground base. Instead, he stood in place, carefully sifting through Tenzo's memories, searching for the true purpose behind hunting him.
It was during this process that Haruma understood why Tenzo had been able to dodge his attack so quickly, and why he had immediately uttered the words "You're the intruder."
As it turned out, the Hokage Building was also under the protection of a Barrier Team. More precisely, the Anbu possessed their own Barrier Unit, constantly monitoring and guarding the entire tower. After all, the Hokage Building was not only the political heart of Konoha but also the storage site for the Scroll of Seals, the Forbidden Jutsu Repository, and all vital archives.
Any outsider who tried to trespass into its restricted areas would instantly be detected by the Anbu's barrier. And the underground base, of course, was strictly off-limits, not only to civilians but even to active shinobi.
The moment Haruma had entered, even though his body was transparent, the barrier team had sensed the intrusion.
Tenzo's earlier use of the communicator was not to rally subordinates to the Hokage's aid, but rather to order them to guard key sections of the building. What he had not expected was that the intruder's target was not the Scroll of Seals or the forbidden archives but himself, the strongest operative of the Anbu.
As a side note, the Scroll of Seals and the Forbidden Repository were not the same. Only techniques sealed personally by the Hokage were inscribed within the Scroll of Seals. To prevent Konoha's forbidden jutsu from vanishing should the scroll be lost, copies were kept separately in the repository.
It was from there that Orochimaru once obtained Edo Tensei and the Eight-Branched Technique by incapacitating the shinobi on guard and stealing from the repository.
But to Haruma, neither the scroll nor the repository held the slightest appeal.
If he had never acquired the devouring ability, then yes, such collections of techniques would have been priceless treasures to him. But with his power now, even if the Scroll of Seals were laid before him, he wouldn't bother to open it.
Learning from the scrolls meant long hours of practice, trial, and refinement. Whereas devouring a living, complete being allowed him to instantly obtain 100% of their power. Lifetime of experience, all included. The only effort required was the fusion of their physical and spiritual energies into his body. Once their memories were digested, his mastery would be equal to theirs.
After tasting the benefits of consuming living prey, Haruma no longer cared for corpses, let alone scrolls and repositories.
With Edo Tensei, part of his "Plan B," he would even be able to exploit loopholes, turning the dead back into the living, and devouring them as well.
Thus, any ninjutsu that required long training and insight no longer held any interest for him. Even if he wanted them, there was no need to steal from the Hokage Building in such a critical moment.
Once the Third Hokage died, Haruma only needed to seize the old man's corpse, retrieve his soul from the Shinigami's stomach, and summon him back through Edo Tensei to devour.
By then, Haruma would inherit not only the vast knowledge of the "Professor of Ninjutsu," who had mastered every jutsu in Konoha, but also all of the chakra natures of Hiruzen. Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, Water, plus Yin and Yang.
"Found it. As expected, he knew!"
While rifling through Tenzo's memories, Haruma quickly located the true reason he had hunted him.
He released his invisibility and swiftly formed a seal.
"Wood Release: Wood Clone Jutsu."
From his body extended thick wooden branches, which took shape not in mist but in solid form, manifesting beside him as a perfect duplicate.
This was no phantom, this was a true entity, indistinguishable from Haruma himself. Even the byakugan, sharingan, or even the mangekyo sharingan could not discern the difference.
This was one of the most formidable clone techniques in existence.
Wood Clone.
"Wood Release: Transformation Jutsu."
The wood clone wove seals of its own, its body sprouting branches that wrapped and reshaped it. In a blink, it had become Tenzo himself, so flawlessly lifelike that even those who knew him would be fooled.
And with Haruma possessing all of Tenzo's memories, the clone could act as a perfect double.
But Haruma had no interest in such deception.
Leaving the wood clone disguised as Tenzo, Haruma once again cloaked himself in invisibility and departed the underground base.
Meanwhile, the false "Tenzo" began making its own moves, rifling through Tenzo's memories and preparing to secretly eliminate the Barrier Unit then pin the blame on Root.
As for Haruma's true body, he slipped into a secret chamber, pried open a long-sealed chest, and allowed himself a faint smile at the sight of its contents.
Inside lay countless scrolls. If one brushed away the dust, a single emblem engraved on the chest would be revealed, an emblem known across the entire shinobi world.
The crest of the Uchiha Clan, once Konoha's foremost family, the greatest clan of the shinobi world, annihilated only five years prior.
The scrolls within contained records of the clan and the preserved bodies of certain Uchiha who had awakened the Sharingan.
Only some of them, of course. The rest had fallen into the hands of Obito Uchiha.
These remains, more than the Wood Release, had been Haruma's true goal in hunting Tenzo.
As a transmigrant, Haruma knew full well that the strength of Hashirama Senju did not come solely from Wood Release, but from the Sage's Body he had inherited.
That was the secret to why his Wood Release was unrivalled, trees brimming with vitality, impossible to burn, wounds that healed themselves, power that seemed inexhaustible. Whereas Tenzo's and Obito's wood was dull and lifeless, consuming chakra at great cost.
Without the Sage's Body, without the extreme of Yang Release, Wood Release in Haruma's eyes was worth less than the mangekyo sharingan.
For the mangekyo was immediate, overwhelming combat power.
With Edo Tensei, Haruma could resurrect these Uchiha corpses and devour their ocular powers, awakening his own mangekyo sharingan without ever enduring the trauma of loss.
Edo Tensei Uchiha retained their ocular abilities, this he knew with certainty. During the Fourth Great Ninja War, Itachi had cast Izanami, and Obito had passed down his mangekyo ultimate technique, Kamui, to Kakashi, even from beyond death.
More than that, Haruma suspected that his earlier devouring of Shisui's corpse had yielded only a single-tomoe Sharingan not merely because Shisui's eyes had been stolen, but because his soul had carried away much of his chakra and ocular might.
Thus, raising Uchiha from the grave through Edo Tensei and consuming their power was entirely feasible.