"What did you say? Big brother!"
Though he wanted to argue that his brother was spouting nonsense again—who else could this man be but Madara Uchiha?—Tobirama Senju held back. Out of trust in his elder brother, he didn't immediately claim that the man before him was Madara Uchiha.
Faced with Hashirama Senju's immediate question, "Who are you?" Obito Uchiha felt a flicker of panic. He had never faltered in his role as Madara Uchiha before, but he hadn't expected to be exposed before even speaking a word to Hashirama Senju.
He forced himself to remain calm. "Have you lost your memory?"
Subtext: I, Madara Uchiha—the one who skipped stones with you as kids, then clashed with you using Susanoo against the Great Buddha as adults! And now you ask who I am?!
But his defiant act was quickly shattered by the piercing response from the Edo Tensei Hashirama.
"You are not Madara! What is your purpose in deceiving Tobirama by pretending to be him?!"
Perhaps it was because this man had disguised himself as Madara and tried to deceive Tobirama through conversation, but the Edo Tensei Hashirama's face, smeared with grime, took on a chilling expression. He didn't even change his facial expression, making it all the more unsettling.
"...."
Obito wasn't speechless from fear—he genuinely didn't know what to say!
If this were Kakashi, he'd be going on a rant with hundreds of unique insults by now!
What do you mean, "impersonating Madara Uchiha to deceive your brother"? My mission is to deceive YOU, damn it!
Seeing the Madara imposter remain silent, Hashirama subtly shifted into a battle stance.
Considering his combat strength—without revealing Kamui—he had no advantage at all. The Adult Obito quickly waved his hands in an attempt to clarify. "Wait, let me speak before we fight."
"Speak."
Adult Obito pulled out a mission scroll from behind him. "This contains an A-rank mission. I have urgent business that requires the reward for this A-rank assignment."
He unfolded the scroll, letting the First and Second Hokage read it clearly.
[Mission Rank: A-rank]
[Mission Details: Impersonate Madara Uchiha and engage in dialogue with Hashirama Senju.]
Only a few people had such scrolls: Obito Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and the missing-nin living next door—Kabuto Yakushi, Itachi Uchiha, and this world's Adult Obito.
Tobirama Senju instantly recognized his identity.
"You're the Obito Uchiha of this world, manipulated by Madara? The one who killed the Fourth Hokage? I believe you were his student, correct?"
A half-second of awkward silence followed. Manipulated by Madara, responsible for the death of the Fourth Hokage, and his student. Each description felt like a heavy blow, striking Obito Uchiha directly.
"It seems that's indeed the case." Watching the other make various goofy expressions while using Madara Uchiha's face, Tobirama Senju sighed. "You must already know that both you and Madara were manipulated by something called Black Zetsu, right?"
This was something Tobirama and Hashirama had learned from Minato Namikaze, who had come from the Kannabi Bridge Timeline.
Recalling how everything this junior—once heir to the Will of Fire and a dreamer of becoming Hokage—had endured was connected to his own Prophecy, Hashirama sighed.
"Come inside."
He led his younger brother, Tobirama, and Obito—still appearing as Madara—through the door.
Though not exactly meek, Obito no longer carried Madara's arrogance—the attitude of being the sole ruler of heaven and earth. Instead, he followed the two Edo Tensei Hokage into their room, his posture slightly tense as he sat.
After all, he was a war criminal who had failed in four battles, a former Missing-nin of Konoha. Facing two Hokage, he couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy.
Obito reverted to his true form.
The two Hokage now saw his real face...
Spiky black hair, the most notable feature being the loss of his left eye, with the right half of his face twisted by strange scars and patches of unnatural pallor on his neck.
He was clearly a man with a story, and they had already heard that story from another world's Minato Namikaze.
Looking at this Uchiha youth—neither enemy nor ally, neither friend nor foe—the two Hokage lowered their eyelids.
"First, as the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha's close friend, I apologize to you."
Moments later, Hashirama's opening words caught Obito off guard.
"Had our generation resolved the issues between Madara and me, sparing you later generations from this burden, perhaps you would now be living in the village like another young successor—carrying out missions to gain experience and merit for becoming the next Hokage."
That other successor was the young Kakashi Hatake from this world.
Hashirama had already heard their story.
These words struck a chord in Obito's heart. Had he not been chosen, he might have received the Hokage's hat from Minato-sensei shortly after the Chūnin Exams, becoming the next Hokage of Konoha.
After that, a long silence fell.
Hashirama broke it. "Tell us about your mission and purpose, Obito Uchiha."
"My other self had an A-rank mission," Obito began. "The mission reward was time travel to the era when Konoha was crushed by Pain."
"Crushed?!"
The word was hard for both Hokage to accept.
Obito continued: "Pain possessed the Rinnegan. He used it to command six distinct clones, each with formidable abilities."
Tobirama nodded. "I hear you were the only one who traveled through time. Did you kill Danzō Shimura?"
"I did," Obito confirmed. "I know many of Danzō's crimes, having been his accomplice many times. But that's beside the point. The point is, Kakashi died in that world. At the time... my mind wasn't functioning right. I brought his body back."
Hashirama's bangs twitched. "You brought his corpse back?"
"And then?"
"...Then I learned that Kakashi in that world would be revived afterward. He lived through the Fourth Shinobi World War, apparently playing an absolutely crucial role on the battlefield. Later, he became the Sixth Hokage."
…
This time, even Senju Hashirama felt a sense of suffocation. This was pushing another world to its doom!! The Sixth Hokage hadn't even taken office yet, and now he couldn't be revived because of the 'hero' he'd longed for eighteen years? How could this be?
Tobirama's nerves twitched. He wondered if this young man's sanity just slipped away whenever he wasn't playing the role of Madara Uchiha.
"Where is the body now? Do you have a way to send it back?"
"It's in my Kamui's Dimension. As for a way... we can only try to complete as many A-rank missions as possible and see if we can return to that parallel world and send him back."
He sounded quite aggrieved. If one didn't know better, they'd think this person wasn't the would-be boss of the Fourth Shinobi World War, but rather a Chūnin who had failed a D-rank mission.
"How likely do you think it is to return after completing all your mission scrolls?"
"Tobirama, that really stings."
"I'm stating facts, big brother! Denial won't help!"
"But couldn't you phrase it more tactfully?"
The younger brother, facing his own brother, clearly felt at a disadvantage.
Tobirama didn't see it that way. "What good is tact? He's already ruined the other world."
He sighed, pressing his hand to his forehead. "I wonder how Obito Uchiha from the other world would feel if he knew he'd been set up like this... and that the one who set him up was his own counterpart from another parallel world..."
"....." Obito Uchiha was utterly speechless. He was already annoyed enough—could these two just stop bickering?
"Tobirama, Tobirama, stop it. You're driving him to shut down completely."
"Don't act like everyone else shares your gloomy disposition!" Tobirama couldn't help but sigh whenever the topic turned to the Uchihas or his own older brother.
"Anyway, let's prioritize the A-rank mission first. The Fourth and the other Minato are already researching parallel world travel. I'll join them later."
"Also, that little frog we saw earlier seems to have similar abilities. We should test all three avenues. Go ask Naruto Uzumaki if he can summon that frog again."
"!!"
The latter two methods, especially the frog matter, were completely unknown to the Adult Obito. Hearing the Second Hokage's words, it suddenly clicked for him! He couldn't wait to have his counterpart in this world help him have a proper talk with Naruto.
"But since you're here," said Edo Tensei Tobirama, "complete the A-rank mission you've been assigned first."
Adult Obito looked at Hashirama Senju and said, "I possess all of Madara Uchiha's memories. I've impersonated him for fifteen years without ever being exposed."
So where exactly did things go wrong? Why did Hashirama Senju see through his disguise so easily?
The black-haired Hokage, bearing the features of his younger self, tapped his forehead thoughtfully for a moment.
"It's probably just a feeling. If it were really Madara, I'd sense it."
Obito: "..."
Is this some kind of beastly super-intuition?!
"Brother, this young man is confused. Could you explain it in simpler terms we can understand?" Tobirama Senju tried to help Obito.
Hashirama: "I can't quite put my finger on it either. It's just that whenever I see Madara... well, I always instantly know it's him."
Bleeding from the effort. An A-rank mission indeed—turns out it's not that easy to pull off. Obito was thoroughly impressed by this First Hokage.
"Think again—did you guys set up some secret code when you were kids?" After addressing his older brother Hashirama, Tobirama Senju turned to Obito: "But since we know Madara can't appear in this world for now, and Big Brother has his guard up, your mission should be even harder to complete, right?"
Obito Uchiha was utterly speechless. He had finally gotten the chance with the Edo Tensei Hashirama, thinking the mission was in the bag. But he had underestimated the bond between the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha. What the hell was he supposed to do now?!