Chapter 42: My Heart Has Only One Sun — Tobirama Senju (For Now)
Orochimaru's shock and caution lasted only a brief moment, and then that snake-like pupil exploded with even more naked greed.
Rubik didn't mind at all, and openly activated his own Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
Orochimaru gazed at the Sharingan that had haunted his dreams, sensed the immense Uzumaki clan chakra, and looked as though he had discovered the most perfect treasure in the world!
"Heh heh heh… hahahaha!"
Orochimaru let out a manic, excited laugh, his long tongue licking the air uncontrollably.
"Uzumaki… Uchiha… This is simply a masterpiece gifted to me by the heavens! I nearly missed it… You, you are the greatest prize of this trip!!!"
Rubik looked at Orochimaru's undisguised possessiveness and madness, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth. His scarlet Sharingan shifted slightly as he sneered inwardly:
'Fool, you're the "greatest prize" I came to Konoha for… Without your shoddy Impure World Reanimation, how else could I have had the chance to meet these two? But for now…'
"A child of both Uzumaki and Uchiha?"
A faint flicker seemed to pass through Hashirama's hollow eyes, carrying a sort of childlike wonder.
"I didn't expect their relationship to have gotten this close…"
His tone was gentle, as if lost in some distant memory.
"Hm?"
Hashirama tilted his head slightly, seeming confused by the sudden heavy atmosphere.
"Why is everyone so quiet?"
In stark contrast to his brother's optimism, Tobirama, who had a deep grasp of political maneuvering and the dangers of the human heart, instantly sensed something profoundly wrong from the eerie silence and the Third Hokage's pained expression.
His sharp red eyes fixed on Hiruzen, and his voice was icy and oppressive:
"Monkey! Tell me! What exactly happened to the Uchiha and Uzumaki clans?!"
Hiruzen's lips trembled, as if a thousand weights pressed down on his tongue. In the end, he could only lower his head heavily, his graying temples looking especially desolate under the purple glow of the barrier.
Seeing his teacher so distressed, Orochimaru relaxed, his nerves about Rubik's identity easing. The corner of his mouth curled up again, carrying a morbid delight.
"Heh heh heh… Since Lord Third finds it hard to speak, allow me, your unworthy disciple, to enlighten the two previous Hokages."
Orochimaru's voice was hoarse and brimming with malice, like a venomous serpent spitting its tongue.
"The Land of Whirlpools, founded by the Uzumaki clan, has long since fallen. The Uzumaki are now but a dying ember, existing in name only."
He paused, savoring the sight of Hashirama's suddenly rigid Impure World body, before delivering even more devastating news:
"As for the Uchiha clan… heh, of the entire clan, only three members remain today."
"Wh… what?! How could that be…"
Hashirama looked as though he had been struck by lightning. His Impure World body seemed to lose all color in an instant, frozen stiff, and the overwhelming aura of the "God of Shinobi" appeared to crack in that very moment.
Genocide… This was the tragedy he had dedicated his life to preventing.
Compared to his brother's violent reaction, Tobirama remained eerily calm—or rather, he had forcibly suppressed his fury beneath an icy exterior.
The decline of Uzushiogakure had been foreshadowed in his era, but total annihilation of the Uzumaki, and the Uchiha… this was beyond his expectations. His pupils turned into blades of tempered steel as he turned to the Third:
"Monkey, who destroyed the Uchiha clan?!"
Hirugen's throat bobbed as he tried to speak, ready to shoulder the blame himself, but Rubik's cool voice cut in first:
"It was Danzo! He's the root of all evil!"
His scarlet Sharingan locked onto the two previous Hokages. This was the moment he had been waiting for.
"He usurped the 'Root' you established and turned it into a death squad loyal only to him! He ostracized, schemed against, and even murdered the elders of the Senju line!
He didn't even spare their only remaining bloodline—a fifteen-year-old girl—squeezing every last drop of value out of her! And that girl's mother…"
Rubik's hand shot toward Orochimaru, who was controlling everything from behind, and his voice rose sharply:
"was personally handed over by Danzo to this traitor's experimental table!!"
"Rubik, you…"
Hirugen stared in shock, unsure how the boy knew so many secrets.
"The Uchiha… exterminated?! Danzo?! How could he… How could Konoha have become like this?!"
Hashirama's question was filled with disbelief, anguish, and fury.
Orochimaru and Rubik's gazes simultaneously turned to Tobirama. The Second Hokage's expression was terrifyingly dark, and the invisible pressure made the air within the barrier freeze solid.
Tobirama's gaze, like a cold probe, bored into the Third, his voice low as an abyssal echo:
"Answer me, Monkey. Where is Danzo now?! When Konoha was engulfed in war, when its villagers were in danger, where was this 'Root' leader?!!!"
'Probably in his basement, humming to himself and dreaming of becoming Hokage,' Rubik added silently.
"I… I…" Hiruzen was at a loss. Facing his mentor's interrogation, he couldn't defend his old friend and could only bow his head in shame once more.
"Monkey!"
Tobirama's voice suddenly sharpened, filled with bitter disappointment.
"You have let me down far too much!"
He glanced at his brother, who seemed dimmed by the shock, and spoke with finality:
"Precisely because you are the Hokage, you must carry out ruthless will when necessary! Danzo has become a cancer on Konoha. As his friend and as Hokage, how can you afford to be soft-hearted?! Have you forgotten how Big Brother dealt with those who threatened the village's peace?!"
He issued an unappealable judgment:
"Once this matter is settled, dispose of Danzo immediately! That is your duty as Hokage, and it is my final order to you—Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage!"
"And what about the two advisors?"
Rubik interjected at the perfect moment, his tone as casual as if discussing the weather.
"Rubik, you…"
Hirugen was utterly speechless. Which side was this kid even on?
"Koharu and Homura…"
Tobirama frowned, pondered for a moment, then coldly pronounced their sentence.
"If their crimes do not warrant such a penalty, they may keep their lives! But they will spend the rest of their days in confinement, atoning for their negligence!"
The cold, decisive ruthlessness of a seasoned politician was on full display in Tobirama.
"The Second Hokage is truly wise!"
Rubik raised his hands dramatically, as if about to applaud. At that moment, in his mind, Tobirama's personal theme music instantly switched from the tragic Wujiapo to the rousing If You Are in the Depth of Winter!
Orochimaru, who had been completely sidelined as a backdrop, finally ran out of patience. Though the revelation of Konoha's dark underbelly was certainly entertaining, the allure of the "ultimate specimen" right before him—Rubik Uzumaki, the fusion of two great bloodlines—was far too deadly to ignore any longer.
"Heh heh heh… It seems I've been thoroughly underestimated."
Orochimaru laughed coldly, forming hand seals once again. He poured powerful chakra into the Impure World bodies, forcefully suppressing the lingering consciousness of Hashirama and Tobirama, turning them back into pure weapons of slaughter.
"Don't you dare act recklessly!"
The Third Hokage, Hiruzen, roared in fury.
"Shut up!"
Orochimaru's eyes flashed sharply, and his hand seals shifted abruptly! A surge of even stronger control instantly flooded into the First and Second's Impure World Reanimation bodies!
"Attack!"
Orochimaru commanded hoarsely.