"Run!"
Before the words had completely fallen, Senju Tobirama and Senju Mori used their respective methods to leave their original positions, leaving only the ancient towering tree, which had stood for countless years, to bear the attack, being brutally split in two by the giant Chakra fox tail.
"How pitiful."
Reappearing not far away, Senju Mori, with only his head emerging from the ground, couldn't help but sigh, then quickly submerged again before another attack arrived.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Kin-Gin in his Six-Tails state transformed into a massive demolition machine, tearing apart the ancient forest, yet Senju Mori and Senju Tobirama didn't suffer even a single hit.
Those two bastards who mastered fast movement abilities were truly disgusting; however, compared to Senju Mori's unflashy but exceptionally skilled Earth Release, Senju Tobirama left a considerable pool of blood at his original spot every time he used the Flying Thunder God Technique to flicker.
The gaping wound left from killing Gin-Kin was causing him continuous, heavy blood loss.
The subsequent injuries from the battle with Kin-Gin, his Chakra nearing depletion... various negative statuses were constantly worsening Senju Tobirama's condition, and the insane attacks from the Tailed Beast-transformed Kin-Gin forced him to move quickly again and again... After only eight or nine minutes, the Chakra cloak on Kin-Gin's body had almost lost its color, returning once again to its initial crimson state, and even thinner than it was at the beginning.
Beside him was a deep gully that seemed to stretch endlessly, the terrifying destruction caused by a small Tailed Beast Ball.
Although this move actually caused no harm to Senju Tobirama and Senju Mori, it nearly drained the Tailed Beast Chakra of Kin-Gin, the pseudo-Jinchuriki.
As the Tailed Beast cloak around Kin-Gin gradually dissipated, a high-pressure water stream, shot from an unknown corner, flashed past.
The Water Release Ninjutsu, like a high-pressure water cannon, was astonishingly powerful, cutting through the weakened Kin-Gin as easily as a hot knife through butter, splitting him into two irregularly shaped halves.
The advanced Water Release Ninjutsu from Senju Tobirama, which Senju Mori estimated to have at least an S-rank learning difficulty, "Water Release: Severing Wave," became the true final blow of this battle.
Senju Tobirama, who had taken Kin-Gin's life, also seemed to lose all his strength, leaning weakly against the base of a giant tree trunk, one of the few intact large trees remaining in the nearby forest.
Compared to his nearly depleted Chakra and stamina, what was worse was that the wound on Senju Tobirama's lower back was no longer bleeding much.
Senju Tobirama was not a monster like his brother; such a massive wound, of course, couldn't heal naturally in a short time. This was clearly a sign of excessive blood loss!
In contrast, Senju Mori, who had only participated in this last short segment of the battle, apart from taking a claw from Kin-Gin in his Six-Tails state, his condition hadn't deteriorated much.
Out of some curiosity, Senju Mori specifically picked up the "seven-star sword" next to Kin-Gin's corpse, on which was written — "Protect."
This was the "Kotodama" that Kin-Gin had recorded during the previous battle, belonging to Senju Tobirama — that is, the word he had spoken most often in his life.
"It's not Uchiha, after all..."
Senju Mori muttered with a hint of disappointment; he had guessed wrong.
"Stop doing those pointless things, it's over. Let your companion come out."
Senju Tobirama said with his eyes closed. He spoke very slowly; for him now, even speaking seemed to be an unbearable burden.
Senju Mori knew that he was doomed; even if Tsunade from twenty years later traveled back, she might not be able to save Tobirama in his current state.
The companion Tobirama referred to was, of course, Uzumaki Chizawa.
Senju Mori had not allowed him to participate in the recent battle, having instructed him to hide a little further away early on.
This was a staunch Uzumaki Clansman he had painstakingly won over, and considering his more support-oriented role, it would be a huge loss if he were accidentally killed by the berserk Kin-Gin.
Senju Mori gave Tobirama a slightly surprised look, knowing that this Clan Head was actually a sensor Ninja, but he hadn't expected his sensory range to be so vast.
Senju Mori didn't decline, directly closing his eyes and refining a little Chakra, then gathered it in his throat and sprayed it into the sky.
In Senju Tobirama's perception, the dense Chakra mass, like a mist of water, was as conspicuous as a giant flare.
"That's somewhat interesting."
Tobirama merely commented briefly.
Soon, Uzumaki Chizawa arrived. Looking at Senju Tobirama, who was on the verge of breathing his last, this young Uzumaki Clansman was somewhat shocked, somewhat relieved, and somewhat at a loss.
However, he quickly adjusted his emotions and greeted him with a respectful tone:
"Clan Head Tobirama."
Senju Tobirama pulled at the corner of his mouth with some effort. Actually, he would have preferred to hear the titles "Hokage-sama" or "Second Hokage."
That would have implied Uzumaki Chizawa's appearance was in the capacity of a Ninja from Konoha's allied nation—the Land of Whirlpools—rather than an ally of the Ninja Clan, the Senju Clan, or even merely due to a private friendship between two young men.
But never mind; a dying man shouldn't think so much.
"Chihaya's son?"
What should have been a question, when spoken by Senju Tobirama, turned into a declarative statement.
"No wonder Mori could find me; it's not strange with your help."
Senju Tobirama, with only a few minutes of life remaining, still possessed considerable presence. Although his speech was somewhat labored and slow, his tone was no different from when he sat in the Hokage's Office Building.
"When did you depart?"
Senju Tobirama looked back at Senju Mori, asking the question he was most concerned about.
He wasn't a fool; whether or not Uzumaki Chizawa helped lower the difficulty, Mori's motive for being here was the biggest and most central question.
He didn't believe that Senju Mori, this kid, had specifically come to save him.
"We left Konoha about four days ago, but I was originally just on a mission near the Land of Frost."
"It was only when the alliance ceremony was disrupted, and you were attacked by the Gold and Silver Brothers, that we made the temporary decision to rush to the Land of Lightning."
It takes about four days to travel from Konoha to Hidden Cloud Village. Their current location is still within the Land of Lightning, but already relatively close to the Land of Fire border, about three days' journey from Konoha.
Senju Mori departed four days ago, spent about half a day setting up and ambushing Uchiha Kagami, and the rest of the time was mostly spent traveling.
Counting the time, Hiruzen Sarutobi and his group had probably already escaped to the Land of Hot Water.
Speaking of which, although Hiruzen and Danzo were still young at this time, their strength was already quite good, plus Uchiha Kagami's Mangekyo Sharingan... Koharu was a medical Ninja, so she's beside the point, and Homura and Torikaze were certainly not weak either.
If they had all stayed to fight the Gold and Silver Brothers and their Ninja troops head-on, although it was highly probable that two or three would die, Senju Tobirama himself should have been able to return to Konoha without any problems.
To actively choose to sacrifice himself to protect the new generation, was this Senju Tobirama's Will of Fire...? Senju Mori, deep in thought, looked down and saw Senju Tobirama's questioning gaze. He simply explained frankly:
"My summoning beast had infiltrated the Land of Lightning beforehand. It observed your alliance ceremony with the Second Raikage throughout."
"However, the Kin-Gin Brothers' coup was indeed beyond my expectation."
Senju Mori appeared sincere, but in reality, he was completely fabricating lies.