Chapter 17
He began using his copies to guide his brothers. When Hashirama struggled with a particularly large-scale Mokuton creation, Itama, hidden nearby, manifested a copy of a wise, old Senju woodworker from his library. The copy appeared as if lost, struck up a conversation about load-bearing structures and the flow of grain, offering analogies that perfectly addressed Hashirama's block. The copy then wandered off and dissolved. Hashirama, inspired, succeeded.
He did the same for Tobirama, using a copied scholar to debate fuinjutsu theory, pushing Tobirama's ideas toward what would eventually become the Flying Raijin. Itama became the unseen hand, shaping his brothers' greatness not through direct intervention, but through perfectly timed, ghostly mentorship.