Uchiha Obito… Tsunade naturally still remembered that Namikaze Minato had once had such a student. But Obito should have died several years before the Nine-Tails' attack. At that time, Minato had not yet become the Fourth Hokage.
Tsunade was shocked that Yagoromo had said such a name. But to be honest, she did not doubt the accuracy of this information to the point of disbelief.
She did not even ask how Yagoromo had obtained this intelligence, because she knew Yagoromo would explain it next. Leaving aside the expression he wore when he said those words, given his personality, even if one day he could not figure out how he himself had died, he would never be wrong about even a single word concerning the cause of Kushina's death.
This part of Yagoromo that differed from ordinary shinobi was also one of the things Tsunade liked about this junior of hers. Although extinguishing one's own emotions was one of the basic codes of shinobi, Yagoromo had always treated that rule as utter nonsense. This point undoubtedly suited the Tsunade of the past very well, and suited the Tsunade of the present even more.
Emotionally speaking, Tsunade and Yagoromo's relationship could already be considered quite good. Over the years, the shinobi world's greatest medical-nin had almost become his personal doctor. The reason for that was certainly not merely the vague relationship of him being a Konoha junior.
Occasionally scamming Yagoromo a little was precisely proof that she did not treat him as an outsider.
Perhaps it was because her identity as the princess of the Senju clan and Konoha, as well as the granddaughter of the First Hokage, had given Tsunade a different environment while growing up. Even at her current age, she still had all sorts of willful traits. After all, this princess was someone who could even butt heads with a little kid like Konohamaru… But fundamentally speaking, Tsunade was an extremely straightforward and free-spirited person. In a certain sense, she was the same as Yagoromo.
"You knew about this a long time ago?"
Tsunade was not fixated on whether the information was true or false. Instead, she cared about when Yagoromo had learned of it.
"I should say that from beginning to end, I've always known," Yagoromo said.
Why was he willing to tell Tsunade part of the truth? It probably was not as simple as just wanting to bring her back to Konoha. Some of the reasons behind it might be things even Yagoromo himself had not noticed.
"However, I have never given Konoha a detailed explanation of this matter…"
"Back then, my original plan was to stay by Teacher Kushina's side the entire time before she gave birth. Given the characteristics of the Eight Trigrams Seal, if anyone had designs on the Nine-Tails, they would naturally make their move at that time. So as the delivery date approached, the Konoha shinobi responsible for security and defense naturally became increasingly tense. Of course, that included me as well."
"But no matter how you think about it, and no matter how perfect a strategy you believe you have prepared, there will always be openings. So the enemy seized upon a blind spot in our thinking. The date of the attack was not Teacher Kushina's delivery date, but one month earlier."
"That night, before I had figured out anything about the situation, a Flying Thunder God technique formula that had already been tampered with transferred me outside Konoha's range. Then, at a distance that was not exactly close, I encountered the strongest enemy I had ever faced."
"The strongest enemy?"
At the time of the Nine-Tails' attack, Tsunade had already left Konoha. Perhaps she had heard the general outline of what happened, but she could not possibly know the detailed process, especially not in the way Yagoromo was describing it now.
"They truly were the strongest enemy. To describe it accurately… standing before me at the time were six enemies. The number of people wasn't the key point. The key point was that all six of them possessed the same special eyes."
"The Sharingan?"
Tsunade guessed according to the logic of the situation. Since Yagoromo had mentioned the name Uchiha Obito earlier, she naturally thought that six Uchiha had ambushed him.
In reality, things were not that simple. Even with Yagoromo's strength at the time, he probably could have beaten six ordinary Uchiha until crap came out of them.
Moreover, to achieve his purpose, Yagoromo exaggerated certain parts of his story.
"The Sharingan? Slightly different. A level higher than the Sharingan. No, perhaps I should say they were the ultimate dōjutsu."
"They were the Rinnegan."
Tsunade naturally understood what the Rinnegan was, so Yagoromo's words made her eyes widen. That made this young-looking old lady appear somewhat cute.
"You mean there were six pairs of the Sage of Six Paths' eyes?"
That seemed far too inconceivable. No matter what, Yagoromo should not have been able to survive against six pairs of Rinnegan.
"On the surface, they were indeed six pairs of eyes. But in terms of ability, each pair only felt like one part of the Rinnegan's power. Afterward, I thought it over. In reality, only when the abilities of all six pairs of eyes were combined did they truly amount to the power of a single pair of Rinnegan…"
"So, in terms of the battle's scenes and process, although I erased all six of those people in the end, I do not believe the true Rinnegan disappeared with them. Just as the ocular power of the Sharingan can control tailed beasts, the six enemies I dealt with were very likely nothing more than humanoid puppets controlled by the Rinnegan."
"And after that, while I was heavily injured and on my way back to Konoha, I encountered the heavily injured Uchiha Obito…"
"Uchiha Obito was the Fourth Hokage's student, and also a Konoha shinobi. Why would he do something like this?" Tsunade asked.
In response, Yagoromo shook his head. It was not that he could not state the rough reason, but now was not the time to say such things.
However, it was also reasonable that Yagoromo would not know everything clearly. Thus, Tsunade continued, "No matter what, in other words, the people who instigated the Nine-Tails' attack are still alive even now? Then what is their goal?"
"It's not that they might still be alive. They are definitely still alive. Moreover, they have already formed an organization. As for their goal, it should be collecting the tailed beasts…"
"Collecting the tailed beasts? From the Nine-Tails' attack to collecting all the tailed beasts?"
Collecting the tailed beasts was not the goal, but the process. Yagoromo continued, "Lady Tsunade, have you heard the legends of the Sage of Six Paths?"
"Which one?"
For a shinobi of Tsunade's background, she had heard countless legends about the Sage of Six Paths.
"The one about him saving the world."
"The one where the Sage of Six Paths destroyed the monster known as the Ten-Tails and thereby saved the world?"
"Yes. The Sage of Six Paths defeated the Ten-Tails, sealed its body, and divided its chakra into nine parts, which became the current nine tailed beasts. Based on that account, this organization's purpose in collecting the tailed beasts goes without saying…"
"To revive the Ten-Tails!"
Tsunade herself spoke the answer aloud.
"No matter how you look at it, the entire shinobi world is now facing an enormous crisis. At a time like this, Lady Tsunade must return to Konoha. Whether the enemy truly intends to revive the Ten-Tails, and whether they can actually revive the Ten-Tails, still cannot be confirmed one hundred percent. But there is no doubt that they are collecting the tailed beasts. Just a few days ago, this organization invaded Sunagakure in order to obtain Shukaku…"
Yagoromo did not assert every single thing absolutely. But phrasing it as a rhetorical question made it even more persuasive.
The current shinobi world could at most be considered to be standing in Haruki's position. But if it took one more step forward, then it would become Makoto after his harem ending had failed.
The meaning behind Yagoromo's words to Tsunade was actually very clear: judging from the current situation, the whole world was about to be finished. Were you, old lady, still going to keep wandering around outside in such bourgeois comfort?
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