"Run!"
Before the words fully fell, Senju Tobirama and Senju Mori each used their own methods to leave the spot. The ancient giant tree beneath them took the blow instead, a massive chakra fox tail smashing it clean in two.
"Poor thing."
Popping just his head from the earth a short distance away, Mori couldn't help remarking before sinking again as another strike came.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
In six-tail form, Kinkaku became a demolition machine, tearing the ancient forest to shreds, yet not once landing a hit on Mori or Tobirama.
Two pests with high-speed movement were infuriating. Mori's Earth Release was plain but practiced; Tobirama's every Flying Thunder God flicker left a broad splash of blood behind.
The savage wound he took killing Ginkaku was still draining him.
Add the damage from fighting Kinkaku, plus chakra nearly spent—
Everything was pushing Tobirama downhill, while the tailed-beast-frenzied Kinkaku forced him to flash again and again.
After barely eight or nine minutes, Kinkaku's cloak had lost its color, fading back to thin red, even weaker than at the start.
Beside him, a deep trench stretched out of sight—terrible gouging from a small Tailed Beast Bomb.
It had done little to Mori or Tobirama, but had nearly wrung Kinkaku's borrowed tailed-beast chakra dry.
As the cloak around Kinkaku thinned, a high-pressure jet of water lanced in from some hidden angle.
Like an industrial water cutter, it slid through him like a hot carving knife through butter, splitting the spent Kinkaku into uneven left and right halves.
It was Senju Tobirama's high-grade Water Release—what Mori guessed to be the S-rank "Water Release: Water Severing Wave"—that delivered the true finishing blow.
Having taken Kinkaku's life, Tobirama seemed to lose all strength and slumped sideways against the roots of one of the few great trees left standing.
Worse than his empty chakra and stamina, the wound at his flank had stopped bleeding much.
Tobirama was not his monstrous elder brother; an injury this massive could not heal naturally in short order. This was simply what catastrophic blood loss looked like.
By contrast, Mori—who only fought in the final stretch—wasn't too worn down aside from the swipe he took from six-tail Kinkaku.
Out of curiosity, Mori picked up the Seven-Star Sword lying by Kinkaku's corpse. It bore the word—"Guard."
That was the "word-spirit" Kinkaku had recorded for Tobirama—what he had said most often in his lifetime.
"So it wasn't 'Uchiha'…"
Mori muttered, disappointed at his wrong guess.
"Stop wasting time. It's over. Bring out your companion."
Tobirama spoke with eyes closed. His words were slow; even talking was a burden now.
Mori knew he was done for. Even if Tsunade from twenty years later appeared, she might not save him.
Tobirama meant Uzumaki Chizawa.
Mori hadn't let him take part in the fight, instructing him to hide at a distance.
This was a hard-won Uzumaki ally with a support role. If a rampaging Kinkaku killed him, the loss would be severe.
Mori glanced at Tobirama in mild surprise. He knew the clan head was a sensor-nin, but hadn't expected his range to be this wide.
Mori did not refuse. He closed his eyes, refined a bit of chakra, gathered it in his throat, and sprayed it skyward.
In Tobirama's senses, the thick mist-like mass of chakra was a flare in the sky.
"Interesting."
He offered only a brief comment.
Chizawa soon arrived. Seeing Tobirama on the verge of death, the young Uzumaki was shocked, relieved, and at a loss.
He quickly steadied himself and, with respect, greeted him: "Clan Head Tobirama."
Tobirama tugged his lips with effort. He would have preferred "Lord Hokage" or "Second Hokage."
That would have meant Chizawa appeared as a shinobi of Konoha's ally, the Land of Whirlpools, rather than as an ally of the Senju—or simply Mori's friend.
No matter. A dying man need not overthink.
"Chihaya's boy?"
What should have been a question came out as a statement.
"No wonder Mori found me. With your help, it makes sense."
Even with minutes to live, Tobirama's presence remained. Though slow and labored, his tone was the same as if he were in the Hokage's office.
"When did you set out?"
He turned back to Mori with the question that mattered most.
He wasn't blind. Even with Chizawa's aid, Mori's motive for being here was the issue.
He didn't believe the brat had come to save him.
"Left Konoha about four days ago, though I'd only taken a mission near the Land of Frost."
"When the alliance ceremony was ruined and you were attacked by the brothers, we decided on the spot to head into Lightning."
It took about four days to run from Konoha to Kumo. They were still in Lightning but close to the Fire border, about three-plus days from Konoha.
Mori had left four days prior, spent roughly half a day ambushing Uchiha Kagami, and ran the rest.
By his count, Hiruzen's group should be in the Land of Hot Water by now.
At their age Hiruzen and Danzō were already formidable; with Kagami's Mangekyō Sharingan, plus Koharu the medic, Homura, and Torifu—none of them weak—
If they had all stayed to fight the brothers and their elite, two or three might have died, but Tobirama likely could have made it back to Konoha.
Choosing death to safeguard the next generation—was that Tobirama's Will of Fire…
As Mori pondered, he looked down into Tobirama's questioning gaze and chose the straightforward answer:
"My summoning beasts infiltrated Lightning ahead of time and watched your alliance ceremony with the Second Raikage."
"The brothers' coup was the part I didn't foresee."
Mori looked utterly candid. In truth, he was lying through his teeth.