That evening, Senju Mori and Uzumaki Chizawa finally crossed the entire Land of Frost and arrived at the Land of Lightning, where the Hidden Cloud Village was located.
Compared to the arduous journey of rushing all the way, finding Senju Tobirama became an extremely easy task after successfully infiltrating the Land of Lightning.
Or rather, there was no need to specifically search.
One of the warring parties was Senju Tobirama, who continuously used large-scale Water Release Ninjutsu, even completely changing the surrounding terrain, while the other party was the Gold and Silver Brothers, who possessed Nine-Tailed Chakra.
Under Uzumaki Chizawa's Kagura Mind's Eye, the battlefield, also located at the border of the Land of Lightning, was as eye-catching as a sun fallen to earth.
"Such dense Tailed Beast Chakra! This should be Kinkaku... Ginkaku's Chakra can no longer be sensed! And... yes! It's Clan Head Tobirama's Chakra!"
"Clan Head Tobirama is fighting Kinkaku!"
Uzumaki Chizawa closed his eyes tightly, made the Ram hand seal, and activated Kagura Mind's Eye to continuously sense the situation in the distance.
"Very good."
Senju Mori couldn't help but smile and leaped towards the direction Uzumaki Chizawa indicated... Speaking of which, ever since Kinkaku and Ginkaku used their semi-Tailed Beast transformation to greatly increase their speed, Senju Tobirama had been unable to continuously widen the distance between himself and them by relying on short-distance Flying Thunder God Technique.
The Second Hokage himself knew very well that his Chakra reserves could absolutely not compare to these two inhuman monsters, who already possessed a special bloodline and had even eaten Tailed Beast meat raw.
If they continued to wear each other down, he would be the first to run out of Chakra.
So, dozens of miles from the Land of Lightning border, he was finally caught by the Gold and Silver Brothers and resolutely chose to engage them in battle.
By now, the battle between the two sides had already entered a white-hot stage.
"Rumble—"
As Senju Mori approached the battlefield, the sound of raging water had already faintly begun to transmit, interspersed with deafening explosions... There was no need to get any closer; simply standing on a slightly higher branch of a giant tree and looking out, Senju Mori discovered a particularly prominent body of water in the forest ahead.
The peak battle of the current Ninja World was right before his eyes!
Leaping down from the treetop, Senju Mori landed softly back on the ground.
"Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique..."
The Earth Release Ninjutsu, perfected to the extreme, was activated instantly, and his entire body slowly sank into the ground... When Senju Mori resurfaced, the fierce battle was already close at hand.
Senju Tobirama seemed to transform into streaks of white light, constantly flickering among the trees.
Looking further, one could see that he only needed to make two or three simple hand seals, and an incredibly skilled Water Release Ninjutsu could be successfully activated.
Sometimes he would construct an impenetrable defense with a circular water curtain, and other times he would summon a giant water dragon to bite and attack... Compared to Senju Tobirama's artistic fighting style, Kinkaku's fighting style was much more barbaric.
Covered in a Tailed Beast cloak, he agilely dodged most of the Ninjutsu, while the remaining small portion he directly endured with his body.
In addition to demonstrating astonishing speed and destructive power, he also occasionally wielded the basho fan, and his simple attack methods gave him a Ninjutsu casting frequency almost on par with Senju Tobirama... "Water Release: Torrent!"
Before Kinkaku could notice him, Senju Mori emerged from underground and quickly began to form hand seals.
The highly compressed water stream formed a straight line in the air, like a horizontally slashing Ninja blade, striking the unsuspecting Kinkaku from behind with astonishing speed.
Although its name was unremarkable, this was a genuine high-level Water Release Ninjutsu, involving both nature transformation and shape transformation of Water Release Chakra.
The sudden sneak attack gave Kinkaku no time to dodge; the highly compressed water stream was sharper than a blade, directly cutting through a portion of his Tailed Beast Chakra cloak.
The moment it touched Kinkaku's body, it exploded with a roar, and the originally thin water curtain transformed into a large-scale Water Release Ninjutsu, sweeping Kinkaku's body directly away.
Senju Mori's gaze, however, slightly darkened.
The ideal effect of this move was to maintain its original compressed form, only exploding into the wildly surging mass of water as seen now when it could no longer cut.
"Mori? Why are you here!"
Senju Tobirama also noticed this Water Release Ninjutsu immediately, and upon seeing the caster, even his usually expressionless face couldn't help but show obvious surprise.
No matter how he thought about it, there was no reason for this kid, Senju Mori, to cross half the Ninja World, inexplicably running from Konoha Village in the Land of Fire to appear before him at this delicate moment.
Senju Mori did not reply, appearing focused on casting the Ninjutsu.
It seemed that facing a powerful opponent like Kinkaku made him very nervous, leaving him no time to attend to other matters during the battle.
But in his eyes, obscured by the mist raised by the Water Release, a hint of gloom couldn't help but flash.
He seemed... a bit too early.
After assassinating Uchiha Kagami, Senju Mori rushed with Uzumaki Chizawa, fearing that Senju Tobirama would be killed by Kinkaku and Ginkaku too early, and even his body and six paths sage tools would be recovered by the subsequent Kumogakure forces.
As a result, he didn't expect that upon arriving, not only were there no traces of the Kumogakure pursuit squad, but Senju Tobirama's condition also seemed quite good?
Is this white-haired old ghost so fierce?
Not only did he single-handedly fight the Gold and Silver Brothers for an entire day, but he also killed Ginkaku without injury?
But in the very next moment, the hint of gloom in Senju Mori's eyes vanished instantly, as if it had never appeared.
On the side of Senju Tobirama's waist, there was a bloody gash, and even faintly lingering crimson Tailed Beast Chakra could be seen within it... According to Senju Mori's understanding of the human body, that was precisely the location of one of the kidneys, and it was even possible that the abdominal aorta had been affected.
Although the destruction of a single kidney would not directly cause death, as a richly supplied organ, the kidney could easily lead to excessive blood loss and massive hemorrhage, especially when combined with the erosion of Tailed Beast Chakra... As the water mist dissipated, Senju Mori's expression, in just a few seconds, seamlessly transitioned from shock to anger and then to worry.
"Clan Head Tobirama! How could you—"
"Don't get distracted, first help me deal with this guy."
Senju Tobirama was indeed a ruthless individual who had survived the Sengoku period; despite such severe injuries, his expression remained unchanged. A normal person would have been doubled over in pain by now.
Even after careful observation, Senju Mori only noticed that his complexion was noticeably pale, but this subtle change was well hidden by his white hair and special white metal forehead protector.
"Yes, Clan Head Tobirama."
After confirming Senju Tobirama's injuries, Senju Mori refocused most of his attention on Kinkaku.
The Tailed Beast Chakra cloak combined with his special physique, suspected to be a descendant of the Six Paths Sage, gave him almost incomprehensibly superhuman defensive power.
After enduring one of Senju Mori's Water Release Ninjutsu, he surprisingly showed no obvious injuries.
At this moment, Kinkaku had already stood up again, his face, enveloped by the Tailed Beast Chakra, appeared even more ferocious, and his eyes had become vertical slits like a fox's.
Given this, it might not be as abnormal a defense as imagined; it was more likely that the wound had rapidly healed under the influence of the Tailed Beast Chakra.
However, with Kinkaku's current appearance, Senju Mori even doubted whether he still possessed clear will and sanity.
"A Senju brat, huh... I'll kill you too!!!"
Words filled with malice, coupled with that harsh voice that seemed squeezed from between his teeth... Although unpleasant, Kinkaku successfully proved that he still retained a complete, clear consciousness.
"It seems I need to be faster, sharper..."
Silently contemplating ways to optimize his techniques, Senju Mori's hands continued to form seals without stopping.
There was no need for Senju Tobirama to strategize; Torrent was already Senju Mori's strongest single-target offensive Water Release Ninjutsu. Since even this couldn't shatter Kinkaku, his main job should be to restrict the opponent's movements.
Leaving the final fatal blow to the true Water Release master, the Second Hokage.
Let alone a mere Tailed Beast cloak and special physique, Senju Tobirama's abnormal level of Water Release, if it hit the target squarely, could even cut the legendary God Tree's branches in half.