As Kazuki and Kaguya continued to deepen their bond at an accelerated pace…
The other forces within the shinobi world had not been idle.
Uchiha Madara was racing against time to restore his body to its peak state.
Uchiha Obito, meanwhile, was absorbing the power of his purified bloodline through Black Zetsu's refinement, while studying Orochimaru's research into life-force-based ninjutsu.
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki had arrived in Iwagakure—dressed as a monk, his eyes gleamed with a dark golden light.
He intended to seize the two villages Kazuki had left in ruins—and then heal them—so he could use them as pawns in the charge against Kazuki's seal!
Having already set his sights on Kazuki and Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, Isshiki—who sought to reconstruct his perfect body—wasn't shy about consuming some of his precious true form's power.
Because this, too, was a necessary cost.
As long as he could obtain Kazuki's body and refine Kaguya into pure chakra...
He would become even stronger than he had been at his peak!
At this very moment—
Inside the Hokage Building of Konohagakure—
Senju Tobirama, Senju Hashirama, Uzumaki Mito, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and others were gathered for a meeting.
A certain morally questionable Second Hokage sat at the center, explaining a forbidden jutsu he had been pondering recently.
Senju Tobirama's Mangekyō Sharingan emitted a chilling aura, and he said in a deep voice: "To seal the Sage of Six Paths, relying on conventional techniques alone is far from enough!"
"In the desert of the Land of Wind, there's a hidden energy source within the earth, known as the Ryūmyaku. According to my prior investigations, it possesses space-time properties…"
"We must harness the power of the Ryūmyaku to create a new type of sealing jutsu—one that will banish the Sage of Six Paths residing in Kazuki's body to an alternate space-time dimension!"
Tobirama waved his hand grandly.
"Only then can we put an end to this problem once and for all!"
"That concludes my proposal. All in favor? All opposed?"
"Tobirama, I'm not against it, but… won't this just create trouble for another timeline?"
Senju Hashirama voiced his concern hesitantly.
"Shut up, big brother!"
Tobirama brushed off Hashirama's opinion impatiently, but when he saw Uzumaki Mito nod thoughtfully, his heart surged with satisfaction—
"I hereby declare the Exile the Sage of Six Paths project officially underway!"
...
A few days later.
Land of Wind. Great Desert. Rōran.
Senju Tobirama flicked the blade in his hand, letting the blood splatter casually onto the ground.
Before him, curled up near the Dragon Vein and attempting to use its power to conquer the entire ninja world, Anrokuzan was reduced to ashes by the raging Will of Fire burning within Tobirama—before he even had the chance to reveal his ambitions.
Senju Hashirama furrowed his brow and said in a deep voice, "Tobirama, we came here to borrow its power, not to invade… couldn't we have at least talked to him first?"
"There was nothing to talk about, Brother. The malice in his heart couldn't escape these eyes of mine."
Tobirama waved dismissively and glanced over at Uzumaki Mito.
"Right, Sister-in-law?"
Uzumaki Mito looked at Tobirama's pair of Mangekyō Sharingan and nodded helplessly.
Although she was no longer the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, the special Edo Tensei that revived her had preserved the power she had in life—including her ability to sense malice.
From just one brief encounter, she had already precisely sensed the deep malice within Anrokuzan's heart…
But before she could even voice it, Tobirama had already locked Anrokuzan in a genjutsu. A follow-up Flying Thunder God Slash ended the fight in a flash.
"Hashirama… Tobirama was right," Mito said as she shook her head, addressing the man beside her.
Hashirama opened his mouth as if to say something but ultimately let out a helpless sigh.
Ever since Tobirama awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan and discovered the remnant power that Kazuki had left within him…
He had become far more assertive than before—especially on serious matters, where he once hesitated to argue with Hashirama or Mito. Now, his spine was unnaturally straight and unyielding.
This strange shift in Tobirama gave the Senju couple a peculiar sense of déjà vu…
Wasn't this the classic Uchiha temperament?
Once they gained power, their personalities would inevitably shift—becoming more self-centered, more extreme, less inclined to listen to others… even those closest to them.
It had to be said—even someone like Senju Tobirama couldn't escape the subtle influence of Uchiha blood and ocular power.
'Unbelievable… Tobirama, of all people, now staring me down with Sharingan. Just like Madara…' Hashirama thought to himself with a strange expression.
"All right, Brother, Sister-in-law. It's time we start modifying the Dragon Vein."
Tobirama stared at the seal before him, his voice heavy.
"According to the plan—Sister-in-law, you'll be in charge of unsealing the Dragon Vein. Once Brother and I enter Sage Mode, we'll guide its chakra into the summoning array we previously prepared. Then I'll use my dōjutsu to inscribe the contract mark."
Tobirama's imagination was quite… unique.
After conducting some research, he discovered that the chakra of the Dragon Vein possessed an unstable time-space property.
So he intended to weaponize it like a 'single-use time-space bomb' against the Sage of Six Paths that resided within Kazuki.
If things went smoothly and Kazuki managed to suppress the Sage, then after unlocking the seal on the Blackwater Nine-Dragon Coffin, everyone could work together to find a better solution. That way, this extreme method might not be needed.
But if the situation deteriorated—if Kazuki's corruption by the Sage of Six Paths deepened, or they were even forced to fight against him—then this method would have to be deployed.
After all, even during the time they absorbed tailed beast chakra, Tobirama had clearly sensed Kazuki's chakra growing increasingly turbulent…
It was a sign of the Sage's growing influence.
So then—after subduing Kazuki—how could the Sage of Six Paths be expelled from his body?
Tobirama had found what he believed to be the best answer: the Dragon Vein!
A Sage of Six Paths strong enough to wrest control even from Kazuki was not someone they could handle in a head-on fight.
So… why fight at all?
Just dump him into another time-space dimension—like tossing trash out of the house—and banish the Sage of Six Paths from this ninja world!
When Uzumaki Mito first heard this plan, her expression turned rather strange.
It was almost exactly what she had once told Tsunade—
"Just toss your Second Granduncle out like garbage…"
Only this time, it was Senju Tobirama who was about to toss out the Sage of Six Paths!
As for whether this 'bomb' would affect Kazuki…
Senju Tobirama had already come up with a countermeasure!
First of all, the summoning contract with the Dragon Vein was established using Tobirama's dōjutsu.
And Tobirama's ocular power was essentially equivalent to Kazuki's—after all, this pair of Mangekyō Sharingan had been granted to him by Kazuki, derived from the Uchiha power he inherited.
Therefore, when the Dragon Vein detonated like a time-space bomb, Kazuki, as half its master, would possess a natural resistance to its effects.
In addition, Tobirama's ocular technique had the ability to resist external chakra interference, offering Kazuki additional protection from the blast.
Tobirama had both the confidence and determination!
For Kazuki's sake, he was willing to exhaust his ocular power to the very last drop—even at the cost of failure, or his own life…
"Commence the operation!" Tobirama gave the order.
With Uzumaki Mito—the strongest sealing master—taking action, and under the influence of Senjutsu chakra from the Senju brothers…
The Dragon Vein, which Anrokuzan had plotted for decades to harness, now obediently submitted to Tobirama's ocular marking—just like a tailed beast captured by the Uchiha.
The sealing process of the Dragon Vein continued...
From the outside, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
But deep within the earth, as the Dragon Vein was bound by the contract, mysterious and unfathomable time-space forces began emitting undetectable ripples.
And so, certain lifeforms that should have arrived in this time-space… did not.
For example: Namikaze Minato—who had not yet become the Fourth Hokage—and the young Hatake Kakashi.
At this point, shortly after the Third Shinobi World War had ended, it was precisely when Minato's original timeline team would have been dispatched on the Dragon Vein mission.
But Minato's team wasn't the only one traversing time and space.
There were others—like Ōtsutsuki Urashiki, who used the clan's sacred relic to launch a temporal raid in pursuit of the Nine-Tails…
And also those who pursued him: the adult Sasuke, now wielding the Rinnegan with six tomoe, and his apprentice, Boruto.
Now that the Dragon Vein had been interfered with, this trio from the future… might soon appear somewhere in the ninja world.
But Tobirama knew none of this—or rather, he didn't care.
Hashirama had once questioned his plan, believing that banishing a threat as dangerous as the Sage of Six Paths to another dimension—rather than eliminating him here and now—was an irresponsible act.
Tobirama admitted that his brother was right.
But even so—everything had to come second to saving Kazuki. Morality and ethics could wait.
The Dragon Vein's transformation was still underway…
And Tobirama struck first!
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