With a single, never-before-seen Wood Release technique, he had crushed nearly fifty elite Jonin in one fell swoop.
Though the element of surprise played a part, it would have been impossible without terrifying power as a foundation.
"Anyone else object? Let's continue," Hashirama said grimly.
The thousand Senju ninja around him were silent as cicadas in winter. The sheer power of the Deep Forest Emergence and the sight of the training ground's environment altered by a single jutsu was all the proof they needed.
"Tobirama, what do you think...?" Senju Yuma asked his nephew in a low voice.
"Let's do as big brother says this time," Senju Tobirama sighed.
From Hashirama's expression, he knew it was a lost cause.
But after witnessing the terror of the Wood Release, Tobirama couldn't help but feel a secret glee.
With such power, their fight against the Uchiha had undoubtedly gained another trump card.
The other Senju felt the same as Tobirama. Amid their disappointment, there was also a secret joy.
*Vice-Clan Head Hashirama has become so strong!*
*Even if we give up this chance, we'll definitely win in the future!*
Seeing no one else object, Hashirama circulated his chakra and retracted the wooden vines back into the soil, giving the Senju ninja another spectacle to marvel at.
*Incredible!*
Senju Yuma thought to himself, *It seems I'll have to abdicate my position as clan head within two years.*
***
Izuna was still unaware of what had transpired within the Senju clan.
Tonight, he had once again donned the spiral mask and the black cloak that concealed even his hair.
This time, the target he had to fool... no, to lull into a false sense of security, was his main enemy: Hagoromo Masanari.
The surname "Hagoromo" always made Izuna subconsciously connect it to Kaguya Otsutsuki's son, Hagoromo Otsutsuki.
But after numerous battles, he had not found the slightest trace of the Otsutsuki clan in them. He figured it was probably just a coincidence.
***
The five-clan alliance's encampment was not integrated; their camps were adjacent to one another.
After all, these clans had their own share of friction. Though they were temporarily bound by mutual interest, having them eat and live together would inevitably cause trouble. You might run into the person who killed your friend or relative over a meal.
"Clan Head, your meal is ready."
In Hagoromo Masanari's tent, a logistics ninja entered carrying a roasted leg of meat and a bowl of soup.
Hagoromo Masanari, who was scrutinizing a map on his desk, simply muttered, "Put it down," and continued to stare at the map.
An unknown amount of time passed before Hagoromo Masanari finally looked up and reached for the soup. He took a sip. It was long cold.
"You've been working hard, Clan Head Hagoromo."
The sudden voice made Hagoromo Masanari's pupils shrink. He subconsciously flung the soup bowl in the direction of the sound.
*Smash!*
In the right-hand corner of the tent, the masked man had appeared at some point. Seeing the bowl fly toward him, he raised a black-gloved hand and shattered it with ease.
"Who are you?!"
After saying this, Hagoromo Masanari's next instinct was to call for the guards outside the tent to rush in.
"You'd best not shout. If word of this gets out to the Fuma and the other three clans, everything will be ruined."
This sentence made Hagoromo Masanari's brow furrow tightly. After a moment's hesitation, he refrained from shouting and said coldly, "Don't change the subject. Who are you? How did you get in?"
"If I wanted to harm you, Clan Head Hagoromo, I would have done so while you were looking at the map. Well, you can call me 'Tobi.' I can't tell you my family name for now..."
"Tobi" spoke, then raised his right index finger and pointed it at Hagoromo Masanari. "But you can really lower your guard. I'm on your side."
***
Hagoromo Masanari was undoubtedly Kage-level. Anyone who could become a clan head during the Warring States period, even of a small clan, was no ordinary person. It was impossible to believe a stranger after just a few words.
"The Fuma, Saito, Watanabe, and Kikawa clans are all deeply dissatisfied with your proposed division of the spoils," Izuna said in a raspy voice. "They've already sent secret envoys to ally with the Sarutobi and Shimura clans to the northeast. Their plan is to deal with my Uchiha forces first, then finish off the Hagoromo."
Izuna continued, "At that point, they'll have two great clans' territories to carve up. I came to you to stop them."
"Impossible!" Hagoromo Masanari's pupils constricted as the word escaped his lips.
In any era, not just the Warring States, the one thing people hated and found hardest to accept was betrayal. The future ninja villages' visceral hatred for rogue ninja was a clear testament to this.
"Impossible?" Tobi sneered. "Think about it, Lord Hagoromo. Is it really impossible?"
The mocking tone made Hagoromo Masanari's brow furrow deeply. His arrangement had been for the Hagoromo to take forty percent of the Uchiha's northwestern lands after their conquest, with the other four clans splitting the remaining sixty percent evenly. It seemed like the Hagoromo were getting the lion's share, but Masanari felt it was his due. After all, he had always prided himself on the Hagoromo being a great clan on par with the Hyuga, second only to the Uchiha and the Senju. Of course they deserved that much.
Suddenly, a thought struck Masanari. "And the Sarutobi and Shimura? Did they agree?" he asked quickly. For decades, the Sarutobi and Shimura clans had maintained a neutral stance toward the Uchiha and the Senju, much like the Ino-Shika-Cho alliance. They hadn't gone to war with either side for a very long time.
"That Furukawa fellow is taking a wait-and-see approach, but Keizo is quite tempted," Izuna said with disdain.
Hagoromo Masanari's mind raced. *This mysterious masked man addresses the heads of the Sarutobi and Shimura clans by their given names, not their full names. Does that mean he knows them, or perhaps has a close relationship with them?*
"I have no concrete evidence to offer," Izuna said, his form dissolving into shadow. "I just came to give you a warning, Lord Hagoromo. Be wary of the four clans under your command." As he vanished, he muttered to himself in a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz, "I can't be away for too long..."
After the masked man was completely gone, Hagoromo Masanari suddenly spoke. "Naoyasu, did you hear that?"
From behind the tent flap where Izuna had been standing, a man of about thirty emerged. The armor he wore bore the Hagoromo clan crest. He was Hagoromo Naoyasu, the Hagoromo clan's finest jonin and the captain of Masanari's secret guard.
While the Hagoromo clan lacked a Kekkai Genkai like the Uchiha's Sharingan or the Hyuga's Byakugan, they, like the Senju, had their own special strengths. The Senju clan's specialty was their terrifyingly large chakra reserves—Senju Hashirama's, in particular, was like a bottomless well; on the battlefield, his chakra seemed inexhaustible. The Hagoromo clan, on the other hand, possessed extremely powerful sensory abilities. Theirs was a unique gift, characterized by exceptionally keen hearing.
And though Hagoromo Naoyasu's overall combat prowess hadn't reached Kage-level, his sensory skills were master-class, perhaps even on par with the current Senju Tobirama's. The masked man's final whisper before leaving, quieter than a mosquito, had not escaped his ears.
"My lord, the man just said he can't be away for too long."
"'Can't be away for too long... can't be away for too long...'" Hagoromo Masanari repeated the phrase, then looked up. "With your senses, you couldn't detect how he appeared?"
"It definitely wasn't the Body Flicker Technique," Naoyasu replied. "It's a completely new ninjutsu. By the time my senses registered him, he was already inside the tent."
"He's no ordinary shinobi... Naoyasu, what do you make of his identity?"
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