After Obito Uchiha finished speaking, everyone turned their gaze toward Hashirama Senju and Ashura.
Then, they looked at Naruto Uzumaki. If the mission scroll indicated that Sasuke Uchiha and Madara Uchiha were the reincarnations of Indra, then based on this information, deducing that Naruto Uzumaki and Hashirama Senju were the reincarnations of Ashura seemed like a logical and natural conclusion.
Ashura rubbed his head, feeling a touch of awkward shyness.
"Uncle Hamura also said my brother's reincarnation is Sasuke, while mine is Hashirama Senju and Naruto Uzumaki. I don't know this Madara you speak of, but since the mission scroll says he's my brother's reincarnation, that must be it, right? Hahaha."
But this direct substitution wasn't something everyone could accept...
For example, Hashirama Senju's younger brother, the Edo Tensei Second Hokage, couldn't accept the idea that Hashirama and Madara were brothers.
The reincarnated Hashirama himself felt a bit wistful. If Madara were still alive, he'd be itching to share this news with him—telling him that besides Izuna being his brother, he and Tobirama could also be considered his brothers, more or less. He'd ask Madara:
"How surprised are you to suddenly have two older brothers? Thrilled? Happy?"
Thankfully, Hashirama Senju's dangerous thoughts never reached his brother's ears. Otherwise, given his "equivalent" approach, Tobirama swore he'd berate him until he was depressed for days...
Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances.
They seemed momentarily incredulous at this revelation, yet simultaneously felt it was only natural—like uniquely bonded brothers who shared unparalleled synergy in critical moments, yet appeared distant in everyday life.
The Fourth Hokage, reincarnated through the Edo Tensei, surveyed Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, then glanced at the First Hokage, finally fixing his gaze on the brothers Indra and Ashura.
"If souls continue reincarnating in the form of chakra, it likely stems from unresolved attachments in their previous lives. Thus, even after physical death, they remain entangled through reincarnation."
He paused, then turned to the more approachable Ashura.
"Is there some unresolved grudge between you two?"
Ashura scratched his face.
"Unresolved grudges... well, I'm not dead yet, so it's not like I can talk about unresolved..." His words trailed off, his gaze drifting toward his brother Indra with deliberate, almost unconscious glances. He seemed eager to speak yet fearful that Indra might object.
The young Obito Uchiha whispered to the boy Kakashi beside him,
"Hashirama-sama's fear toward his younger brother must be inherited from that Ashura soul, right? That Ashura seemed really afraid of his brother."
"Mhm." Young Kakashi replied. "But you'd better not say that out loud. Tobirama-sama is glaring at you."
Ashura hastily waved his hands, afraid these people would continue misunderstanding his brother Indra.
"It's not that there's anything we can't say," Ashura explained.
"It's just unnecessary to sit everyone down and recount our childhood stories. I think it's better to share them during a casual chat when the opportunity arises."
"Mhm."
Hashirama Senju nodded. They needed time to process this unexpected revelation. Plus, being summoned back from the Pure Land as deceased individuals had already brought them information far beyond their comprehension—it was hard to absorb everything at once.
Minato instructed the two teams to rest first.
"I'll check with Itachi and Kabuto Yakushi if they have any A-rank or C-rank missions available."
"Ah! Right! This is also crucial!" Naruto remembered that Kakashi-sensei from another world was still imprisoned within the 'Masked Man's' eye! And that Kakashi-sensei urgently needed to return to his original world to be revived!
"What's the situation?"
The Edo Tensei Fourth Hokage inquired.
Kannabi Bridge's Minato Namikaze sighed, his heart filled with nothing but helplessness.
"During the Third Chūnin Exams—before you were all brought to this world via the Edo Tensei —Obito had an A-rank mission."
"Was it also a mission involving time travel?"
"Yes. The mission required Obito to battle the Masked Man—that is, this world's Obito—for over fifteen rounds."
Hearing this, Tobirama Senju rubbed his chin, somewhat perplexed.
"I could understand an S-rank mission like preventing Orochimaru from placing the cursed seal on Sasuke, or an A-rank mission to stop him from killing the Third Hokage. But a mission demanding to fight someone for over fifteen rounds? I've never encountered such a thing in my career."
"I never encountered such a mission during my tenure either," stated the Edo Tensei Fourth Hokage.
Minato from the Kannabi Bridge nodded.
"That's precisely the whimsical nature of these mission scrolls. Both the missions and the mission rewards are utterly illogical, yet we have little recourse. After all, we've certainly reaped considerable benefits from these scrolls."
"However, due to this unpredictability, after Obito and Kakashi completed that mission last time…"
"What happened? They must have time-traveled to some future or past time, right?"
"That's correct, but we don't know exactly when they traveled. At that time, both Obito and Kakashi were trapped in the Masked Man's Dōjutsu space..."
The mission scroll belonged to Young Obito, but at the time, he was inside Young Obito's Kamui Dimension. As a result, the mission funds, along with the entirety of Young Obito's Kamui Dimension, were transported to another parallel world.
"Obito's Kamui Dimension is very unique. It doesn't connect with the Masked Man's Kamui Dimension. He and Kakashi were trapped in the Masked Man's Kamui Dimension, while the Masked Man himself went out to observe the situation in that world..."
Minato Namikaze said, "But a moment later, the Masked Man returned with the corpse of that world's Kakashi. Afterward, the Masked Man left again and killed that world's Danzō Shimura."
When Minato said this, both Young Obito and Young Kakashi nodded eagerly.
"That photo of Danzō Shimura was taken by me at that time!"
Obito continued, "When we returned from that world, there was a high chance my other self would have been discovered by Minato-sensei. I think that's why he pushed Kakashi and me out of Kamui's Dimension and retreated back himself."
The photo of Danzō Shimura's gruesome death had already been seen by the previous Hokage summoned through Edo Tensei.
So, in comparison, the fact that Kakashi's corpse was brought back into Kamui's Dimension attracted far more attention.
The Edo Tensei Fourth Hokage, Minato, found it hard to imagine that his final student would perish so early.
But then it struck him: if the Masked Man was included in the count, then 'Obito'—the one everyone had originally believed to be dead—might actually be the one who survived the longest...
But immediately afterward, Minato from the Kannabi Bridge timeline sighed helplessly. Young Kakashi sighed as well, and Sasuke stared at the ceiling, unable to accept that Uchiha could produce such an oddball.
Naruto told his Edo Tensei father, "The most important thing is, after everyone analyzed it, Kakashi-sensei from that world didn't need to die! Even if he had, someone would have figured out a way to revive him!"
...
Hearing this, the others were left speechless.
Edo Tensei Tobirama said, "What about that Obito Uchiha you mentioned, the one Madara exploited? What's become of him now? Did you just leave that corpse in the Mangekyō?"
Young Obito didn't dare to reveal that the person was inside his own eyes. He only told Naruto that if Minato-sensei's world still had A-rank missions, he could contact the Masked Man to have him retrieve the corpse.
"I'm not mocking you," Edo Tensei Tobirama sighed, "but can you control the flow of time in your Kamui Dimension? If not, then let's forget the whole thing."
Obito didn't understand and gave the Second Hokage an adorable head tilt that nearly made the old man choke.
"You two—master and disciple, father and son—truly inherit that same natural airheadedness..."
Edo Tensei Hashirama placed his hand on his younger brother's fur collar and smiled at the young people across from them. "Tobirama's asking if your Kamui Dimension keeps things fresh. Can corpses really stay preserved that long?"
...
The question left the soul suffocated. The remaining members of Team Minato, Team Kakashi, and the Edo Tensei Minato fell into a sudden silence.