Furthermore, to compensate for the flaws in Hashirama's body—for instance, the fact that he didn't possess all elemental affinities and lacked Yin Release—it would be impossible for him to create Truth-Seeking Orbs.
Hashirama lacked sufficient Yin energy, so Orochimaru implanted the Yin-attribute Ryūchi Cave Cursed Seal into his body.
The erosive nature of the Cursed Seal would be negated by the immortality of the Edo Tensei body; theoretically, Hashirama and Tobirama could now perform the Senjutsu of Ryūchi Cave.
That should be 'Yin' enough!
Yet, despite treating them so well, Tobirama had actually come close to killing him just now.
As expected, it was the right choice not to let Hashirama and Tobirama maintain their consciousness like Hiruko and the others.
They were the founders of Konoha; their only metric for action was whether you were harmful to Konoha.
If harmful, kill!
Turning shame into anger, Orochimaru stood up and used Hashirama as a shield while scolding Tobirama: "Lord Second Hokage, if you kill me, you'll both have to return to the Pure Land."
Hashirama nodded. "That's right, Tobirama. If Orochimaru dies, we won't have the chance to deal with Madara."
"Hmph!"
Tobirama snorted, a cold sneer in his heart. Edo Tensei was developed by him; how could he not know the weaknesses of this jutsu?
If the caster performs the hand signs to release the Edo Tensei, the Edo Tensei body returns to the Pure Land.
However, there is another scenario: if the reanimated person knows the signs for Edo Tensei, they can perform them to break the summoning contract with the caster, completely escaping control.
It is a perfect Ninjutsu.
And since Tobirama was the developer of the Edo Tensei, how could he not know the signs?
For now, Tobirama did not intend to weave the signs; he still wanted to play along with Orochimaru and continue acting as a puppet under his control!
The Slug Sage watched the three argue quietly from the side, neither interjecting nor reminding Hashirama to follow it to practice ate Senjutsu.
It simply waited for Hashirama with great patience.
Suddenly, the Slug Sage's expression became very strange, even furious.
Because the Slug Sage is connected to its clones, it sensed what Ryou had done to Katsuyu.
Anger, pure rage!
Rumble!
In an instant, violent winds rose within the Shikkotsu Forest, and white mist churned wildly.
The Slug Sage's mountain-like main body radiated a heavy, suffocating pressure; the ground cracked with fine fissures, and the towering fungal trees shook incessantly.
The entire Shikkotsu Forest trembled under the Slug Sage's wrath, leaving nothing between heaven and earth but a heart-stopping oppression.
Orochimaru was directly frightened back into his true form, transforming into his human-snake state.
This chakra... it was too vast, feeling as if he were facing a continuous range of a hundred thousand mountains.
It was powerfully suffocating! Thousands of times stronger than Tobirama!
Is this the Great Sage that represents the past?
Hashirama and Tobirama watched with extreme shock, not because of the Slug Sage's strength,
but because the Slug Sage was angry. One must know that in the Senju Clan's scrolls, the Slug Sage was recorded as the best-tempered among the three Great Sages.
It likely hadn't been angry for over a thousand years!
But now, it was furious!
What on earth happened?!
Hashirama quickly said, "Great Sage, please stop! You're going to destroy the Shikkotsu Forest!"
The Slug Sage slowly calmed down and apologized to the three: "My apologies, I've frightened you."
The three breathed a sigh of relief. Especially Orochimaru; Hashirama and Tobirama were dead and couldn't feel the Slug Sage's pressure as intuitively.
Orochimaru truly felt like he was about to die.
He gasped for air heavily; a world of this level was no longer something Orochimaru's rank could participate in.
He might as well go back to the bronze tier and stomp some noobs!
Though his expression said that, in his heart, Orochimaru desperately craved power. Only by obtaining power and learning all Forbidden Jutsu could he secure a place for himself in the Shinobi World.
Instead of how it was now—where a expert releases their aura and he's forced to kneel and shine their shoes!
Hashirama approached the Slug Sage's Senjutsu Clone and asked curiously, "Great Sage, who made you so angry?"
The Slug Sage replied, "It is your grandson-in-law—Uchiha Ryou."
Tobirama was stunned. "Ryou?!"
Hashirama focused more on Tsunade: "Wait, little Tsunade is already married!"
Orochimaru had feared that the news of Tsunade being captured by Madara would make the two Hokage lose their composure, so he hadn't told them about her.
But now that the Slug Sage had brought it up, Orochimaru had to explain this matter to the two Hokage who now had a grandson-in-law.
"It's like this, you two—"
Orochimaru then proceeded to tell the two Hokage about Tsunade being captured and her subsequent marriage to Ryou.
Upon hearing this, Tobirama erupted with a massive amount of chakra: "What? Tsunade married someone from the Uchiha Clan? How can this be allowed?"
Tobirama didn't have the same formulaic hostility toward the Uchiha as the rest of the Senju Clan, but he wasn't exactly lenient either.
He had put the Uchiha in charge of the Konoha Police Force to keep them away from the Village's center, precisely to monitor them closely and deepen the rift between them and the Village.
By marginalizing them forcefully, the Uchiha would eventually explode in their silence, at which point the Anbu would naturally handle them.
Tobirama approached Orochimaru, grabbing his shoulder and demanding, "How does the Uchiha still exist? What have my disciples been doing?"
Tobirama had died during the First Shinobi World War, which was nearly 30 years ago.
How could the Uchiha still exist?
He had the Anbu monitoring them and told his disciples to be wary of the Uchiha; wasn't the hint obvious enough?
Knowing Danzo, he expected him to squeeze the Uchiha to death.
How did his granddaughter end up falling into the hands of an Uchiha?
Hashirama walked over and grabbed Tobirama's collar. "Tobirama, what do you mean by that?"
Tobirama didn't back down from Hashirama, asking in return, "Brother, aren't the Uchiha enough trouble? Madara aside—he's just a scourge."
"But Uchiha Ryou was of Konoha's new generation. The Village raised him, yet he actually became a rogue Shinobi. Truly the naturally evil Uchiha."
"I could tell back at the Shinobi Academy; those were eyes destined to cause trouble."
Hashirama shouted at Tobirama, "Tobirama, you are too prejudiced!"
"Ryou's parents were heroes who sacrificed themselves for the Village. His defection must be because of your policy of marginalizing the Uchiha."
Both Tobirama and Hashirama had seen Ryou.
Many believe Hashirama died of heavy injuries after the battle with Madara at the Valley of the End, but that is incorrect.
The Battle of the Valley of the End was in the 2nd year of Konoha, which was after Hashirama distributed the seven Tailed Beasts to the other Villages.
Tsunade's birth date was in the 13th year of Konoha. In the original work, Hashirama had seen Tsunade and even taught her gambling.
Ryou was born in the same year as Tsunade; when he attended the Shinobi Academy, Tobirama was still the principal.
Tobirama sneered. "What prejudice? In my world, there is no good or evil, only positions."
"The Uchiha are a clan of love; once they lose their greatest love, they fall into extremes. Madara was like that, and so is Ryou!"
"Once they awaken the Sharingan, they are destined to fall into darkness!"
"This isn't my prejudice, it's science. When a member of the Uchiha Clan awakens the Sharingan, their brain produces a kind of evil chakra."
Orochimaru countered Tobirama: "Second Hokage, since you rejected them from the start, why did you still use them?"
"Ryou is where he is today because of your discriminatory treatment of the Uchiha."
"You had those disciples of yours ostracize the Uchiha. Ryou clearly possessed talent equal to us Sannin, yet he was always kept beneath others."
"It was only after seeing the truth of Konoha that he woke up. Konoha is the Senju's Konoha, not the Uchiha's Konoha."
"Second Hokage, you are a coward. You feared Madara's power, and you feared the Uchiha producing another person like him!"
"You saw the same clarity in Ryou that Madara had, and you feared him becoming a second Madara!"
"Insolent!"