"Oh?"
Hearing the other party call out his name, Senju Tobirama didn't seem surprised. He just looked at the young man with a hint of scrutiny, his left hand resting on the sword hilt: "You recognize me?"
Aizen Sōsuke's gaze swept over the center of his forehead protector. The symbol there had changed from the Senju clan emblem of the Sengoku period to the Konoha Ninja emblem. The few figures behind him, though slightly immature, could be identified.
The era the other party belonged to was naturally self-evident.
"Second Hokage."
"At least in our history, that's how it's recorded. Few people in all of Konoha would fail to recognize your appearance."
He smiled slightly, nodding politely to the other party: "Teacher Tobirama must have already realized that we are not people of this era."
As he spoke, he pointed to the forehead protector on his arm and the Konoha vest, which was clearly a uniform, and briefly introduced: "We are currently pursuing a high-level researcher in Rouran Country. The other party stole highly confidential Hashirama cells and integrated them into his body, causing this Dragon Vein turbulence, which led to a temporal shift."
"Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself."
He said apologetically: "Nice to meet you. I am Jonin, Aizen Sōsuke, from year 55 of konoha."
"These two are my teammates."
The young man's voice was gentle and sincere, naturally giving people an unintentional sense of affinity, and his action of introducing himself first showed full sincerity.
Clearly.
Regardless of Senju Tobirama's attitude, at least his two disciples behind him had already relaxed. After hearing his words, they opened their mouths in astonishment: "year 55 of konoha?!"
"Teacher Tobirama even became the Second Hokage?"
"Hashirama… cells?"
The young Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura were currently just a short, naive youth and a scarred, gloomy man. Following behind their teacher, they looked even more guileless, blurting out their thoughts uncontrollably.
This series of sudden information clearly made them lose some composure, and they were a bit overwhelmed for a moment.
However, the other party's frank attitude made them not doubt the truthfulness of his words. They were just surprised that this young man, who looked about their age, came from such a distant future.
Not only them, but even Senju Tobirama couldn't help but be startled upon hearing this, his brows furrowing even more tightly.
Was the light that suddenly burst from the Dragon Vein seal just now really the power of time and space?
It actually brought them so far in one go.
Also, Hashirama cells…
His foolish disciples behind him might not have realized the seriousness of the problem, but how could he, who experimented with his own elder brother every day, not understand what the Village of later generations had done?
This must be coveting his elder brother's overly powerful strength, and following his example, they used his elder brother's corpse for research!
He just didn't expect that with his elder brother's formidable vitality, he would have already died in just forty years?
He originally thought that a guy like that monster might live for two hundred years in one go.
"Aizen Sōsuke."
"I've noted that name."
"The accidental intersection of future and past time and space is a rare opportunity."
"Next, I will help you pursue that criminal — during this process, you wouldn't mind telling me about what happened in the future, would you?"
Although Senju Tobirama had a myriad of thoughts in his mind, not a single emotion showed on his stern face. He strode over to Aizen's side, his tone flat.
As if he didn't put the various problems that might arise from temporal interaction in his eyes at all.
And indeed, that was the case.
Unlike the rule-abiding Minato Namikaze, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and others, he was never a stable character.
If not for that, he probably wouldn't have researched forbidden Ninjutsu related to souls, the Pure Land, and space, which sounded like they could cost one's life.
"Since it is the command of the Second Hokage, your subordinate will naturally obey."
Aizen said, then suddenly smiled, pushing up his thick-rimmed glasses: "Of course, this is also because your subordinate is somewhat curious about the historical and temporal impact brought by information."
"I hope you don't mind, sir."
Just this one sentence clearly earned the Second Hokage some favor, causing a slight smile to appear on Senju Tobirama's stern face: "It seems you are also from a research background?"
"Before Teacher Tobirama, how dare your subordinate call himself a scholar? I am merely an ordinary research Ninja."
"However—"
Aizen Sōsuke said, raising his head to look at the sky enveloped by the colossal stone towers all around, and smiled: "Before we discuss these topics, we may need to resolve some minor troubles first."
"Hmph."
Senju Tobirama snorted coldly, raising his head to look at the sky.
In the air, mechanical puppets connected by Chakra threads were floating around, encircling their two groups of people, forming a huge encirclement net.
"Is this the person you are tracking?"
"Nothing special."
Almost the instant Senju Tobirama's voice fell, the puppets in mid-air seemed to be provoked by his contemptuous tone, suddenly emitting a series of piercing jet sounds.
Long tails of flame, propelled by immense recoil, caused these armored puppets, each over two meters tall, to suddenly swoop down towards the group, transforming into streaks of afterimages like Kunai.
Slender blades quickly extended from both sides of the puppets' arms.
"Hiruzen! Danzo!"
"Deal with them!"
"Yes!"
As soon as Senju Tobirama gave the command, the two figures behind him immediately turned into afterimages, swinging their katana at astonishing speed.
Aizen's group also rushed out, each darting towards the hundreds of puppets, charging left and right through the dense cluster.
These seemingly numerous puppets were no match for the combined attack of these two formidable groups, often being cut into pieces in just a few moves, scattering into fragments.
However, as they began to fight, the number of puppets emerging from the surrounding pipes grew larger and larger.
Senju Tobirama's sensory Ninjutsu was so keen that he immediately noticed that the fragments on the ground still had vitality, and there was even a faint sign of fusion.
Before everyone could continue fighting, he decisively chose a passage and ordered: "This way!"
No sooner had he spoken than he was already darting ahead in that direction, leaving the puppets behind with his highly skilled Body Flicker Technique.
The others naturally had no intention of lingering in battle. After smashing the puppets they were entangled with, they immediately followed behind Senju Tobirama, pursuing him in the direction he had flown.
Although these puppets were numerous, their speed was far inferior to the group's, and soon they were left far behind.
While running, Aizen Sōsuke keenly noticed that Senju Tobirama seemed quite familiar with the internal paths of this Country of a Thousand Towers.
Even though the time and space he was in was different from his era, he could always find small paths to enter from dead ends.
After many twists and turns, they quickly left the puppets behind among the pipe pathways built around countless giant stone towers.
Only after the puppets' traces were completely out of sight did Senju Tobirama's speed gradually slow down, his tone quite disdainful: "Automated puppets, mere parlor tricks."
He said, casually probing: "Is the one who made these things also the person you are pursuing? Your era can't even make microwave equipment to counter these low-level puppets, can it?"
"I'm very sorry, Teacher Tobirama."
Aizen's tone seemed somewhat perplexed: "We have just been transferred to this time and space, and we haven't yet figured out what connection this place has with the thief who stole the Hashirama cells."
"Which direction does this path lead to?"
"From here all the way down is the source of the Dragon Vein seal." Senju Tobirama waved his hand indifferently, "I've been to Rouran Country a few times. The previous seal was personally set by my elder brother, and I don't know why it showed some abnormalities."
"Now it seems to be a problem caused by your side."
"Speaking of which, which time and space is this?"
Aizen replied: "From the mouth of that Rouran Country person just now, your subordinate only learned that this place is roughly in the period around year 45 of Konoha. The ruler here is not this generation's Rouran Queen, but a minister named Anrokuzan."
"Additionally, in terms of weaponry and Ninjutsu techniques alone, we are roughly no different from your era."
"No difference?!"
The moment Senju Tobirama heard the last sentence, he immediately became alert, his brows furrowing involuntarily: "Did I not establish the Ninja Academy and the Konoha Research Institute later?"
"Or did I die very early, and my successors didn't inherit my policies?"
As he spoke, his gaze swept over the two disciples behind him with a hint of displeasure, making the young Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura instinctively shrink their necks as if they sensed something.
"That cannot be blamed on Lord Hiruzen."
Aizen Sōsuke said, nodding gently in Hiruzen Sarutobi's direction: "Mainly because ever since Lord Hashirama died, our Village has continuously faced war threats, and most of the funds have been spent on personnel and military aspects."
"The internal complexities are truly intricate."
Hearing someone come to his rescue, Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart relaxed considerably, and even his gaze towards Aizen became much more benevolent.
It wasn't until he had heard half of it that he suddenly realized something, abruptly looking up at him, his eyes seeming to sparkle.
In contrast, Danzo Shimura looked up in disbelief, staring intently at him.
What do you mean, "Lord Hiruzen"?!
I didn't become the Third Hokage?!
And I lost to this monkey!
"Teacher, this—!"
"Silence."
I haven't even finished asking!
Senju Tobirama clearly had little patience for teaching students. He turned to Aizen and meticulously inquired about Konoha's history and the several wars that followed.
Of course, there was also the most important point.
His elder brother's cause of death.
The two groups of people walked forward under Senju Tobirama's lead, communicating information rapidly.
Senju Tobirama would often frown in deep thought for a while, then suddenly come to a realization.
In contrast, his two disciples behind him were both scratching their ears and cheeks, wanting to ask something but not daring to speak.
Meanwhile, Aizen observed the surrounding paths as he spoke.
He also had some thoughts in his mind.
Since Orochimaru knew his destination in advance and had set up such a complex problem as a temporal turbulence here, given his personality, would he really quietly wait for him to find him, or to find the core of the Dragon Vein power?
In a place like this, if one were to set up an ambush, the best position would be… "From that exit ahead, it's the original Rouran Palace, and also the source where generations of Rouran Queens sealed the Dragon Vein power."
Seeing the light at the corner of the passage ahead, Senju Tobirama casually explained.
However, before the group could even walk out of this exit, his voice suddenly dropped, and he looked at the exit with a slight frown.
Sure enough.
After the group walked out of this exit, what greeted their eyes was not a palace he was familiar with.
Instead, it was a steam factory, like a machine factory, filled with assembly lines and huge operating machines.
Hundreds, even thousands, of laborers pushed primitive motorized grinding wheels, slowly driving the conveyor belts of the assembly lines beside them forward.
Machinery embedded with various puppet mechanisms was assembled, joined, and finally combined into an automated puppet of the kind they had just seen, piece by piece, on this conveyor belt.
Just by looking at his expression, it wasn't so much shock at the suffering in this sweatshop, but rather outrage, as if he had seen a fool with a golden cane using this treasure to poke at feces.
Bastards!
Who, who on earth did this?!
Who is guarding the Dragon Vein power, this natural energy, and not using it, instead resorting to primitive human power?!
This was a natural rage from a tech fanatic!
"Hahaha."
Just as Senju Tobirama was filled with shock and anger.
A long laugh suddenly came from a high platform in the distance.
As the people on the ground looked up, they saw a portly nobleman standing quietly on the platform, looking down at Aizen and the others emerging from the passage.
As if he had seen a group of ants walking into a trap.
Standing on either side of him were Orochimaru and Minato Namikaze, among others.
"Lord Orochimaru."
"Indeed, as you said, a few inexplicable youngsters have trespassed into the forbidden land of our Rouran Country."
"Once our country's puppet factory begins to sell its products, three-tenths of the profits here will surely be delivered to your hands on time, Lord."
The man on the platform spoke confidently.
"That is my duty, Lord Anrokuzan."
Orochimaru, standing beside him, said calmly: "Protecting the property of various nobles is the duty of us Konoha Ninja, there is no need…"
Orochimaru's words were cut short as his golden snake eyes suddenly fixed on the white-haired, red-eyed figure at the entrance of the passage, and the two young men behind him.
With just one glance, he recognized their identities.
Not only that.
When he looked in Aizen Sōsuke's direction, he saw the other party with a half-smile, quietly meeting his gaze.
It wasn't just Orochimaru.
Even Minato Namikaze and the others, standing on Anrokuzan's other side, recognized the familiar figure at a glance.
"Is that… the Second Hokage?"
Almost the instant the four groups of people's twenty-four eyes met.
Orochimaru made a decisive move, not giving anyone any time to react, and suddenly shouted: "Minato! Attack!"
"The Second Hokage has already been controlled by his Genjutsu!"
The moment he shouted this, Orochimaru was already forming hand seals.
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"