"What is it, Hashirama?" Tobirama lifted his gaze, speaking slowly.
Hashirama's heart sank. His brother used to call him "Elder Brother," just as the Uchiha brothers did among themselves…
But ever since Tobirama had revealed his hidden power, he no longer addressed him that way—
Now he simply, rudely, called him by name!
"I… I just wanted to see what you're working on… and I want to know about the things you mentioned, Tobirama—like the Senju stone tablet, the negotiations between the two clans, and… your situation with Izunai…"
Though he minded it in his heart, when faced with Tobirama's Mangekyō, Hashirama only scratched his head awkwardly, speaking with some embarrassment: "After all, I am still your elder brother, and the head of the Senju clan…"
"I can't know nothing at all."
Tobirama nodded knowingly. "I understand… As for your first question about the Senju stone tablet—it's right here. Only… you'll need to wait a bit, I haven't finished."
"Huh?" Hashirama was stunned.
So you're actually making the Senju stone tablet right now?
Wasn't that supposed to be an artifact of ancient times?
You're forging a fake!
"All right—the final stroke!" Tobirama's finger markings flared, and in an instant, countless black seal-script like writhing serpents surged into the stone tablet.
At that moment, a brand-new Senju stone tablet was complete!
Just like the Uchiha tablet, thanks to Tobirama's layers of ocular power and sealing techniques, the Senju tablet now possessed the same ability to reveal content progressively under the gaze of a Mangekyō Sharingan.
"Mm… it looks too new. Needs to be aged…"
Tobirama gathered chakra and sprayed a corrosive liquid across the stone surface.
At once, the tablet took on a worn, weathered look.
He studied it, still unsatisfied, then after a moment of thought, raised a gale in his palm and let it scour the surface of the tablet.
The freshly-made stone, after this treatment, now looked as though it had slumbered underground for a thousand years before being unearthed—almost indistinguishable from a relic of the ancient era.
Hashirama gaped, dumbstruck at the sight.
And then, Tobirama began carefully repairing parts of the surface, adjusting it so it wouldn't look overly ruined.
"Tobirama, what are you doing? You're making a fake tablet! You're deceiving the Uchiha clan!"
Young Hashirama felt as though his brain were about to explode—the weight of information before his eyes was simply too much.
"Besides… if you're faking it, why would you renovate it again after finishing?"
"Of course it's a fake. What else would I be doing, giving birth to a child?"
Tobirama snapped impatiently. "Any forgery is bound to have flaws. The safest way is to refurbish it afterward, so that those imperfect details have an excuse."
"In this way, the marks of repair cover the traces of aging. Don't underestimate the insight of the Mangekyō Sharingan—I have no desire for Izunai or Madara to see through it."
Hashirama's eyes widened in sudden realization. So that was it!
But at once he grew more anxious. He rushed forward, loudly demanding: "Tobirama, this is wrong! If we are to form an alliance with the Uchiha clan, how can we deceive them?"
"Whether or not I've deceived them… even if I have—can you think of a way to make the Uchiha and the Senju truly sit down and negotiate? Or do you prefer to be an honest man and throw away everything I've worked for, only to lead our clansmen into another blood-soaked battlefield where they fight to the death?"
Facing Hashirama's accusation, Tobirama showed not the slightest panic. Calmly, he countered: "If the head of the Senju clan decides so, then by all means, expose everything to the world…"
"Only, after learning the truth, the Uchiha clan will likely never stop fighting the Senju until both are utterly destroyed."
"But don't worry too much. I already possess the Uchiha's power. Even if full-scale war breaks out, I am confident I can annihilate them while keeping the Senju's casualties under one-fifth of our strength."
Tobirama narrowed his eyes at Hashirama, raising his palm like a blade, about to strike the stone tablet before him to pieces!
Hashirama's mind raced with flashing visions.
On one side, if Tobirama's plan went through—Senju and Uchiha would set aside old grudges, feast and sing together, uniting their strength to end the chaos, to build a peaceful village where children no longer marched to war, but could finally live out complete childhoods.
On the other side—if nothing changed, Senju and Uchiha would remain as ever, locked in hatred. After Senju Butsuma and Uchiha Tajima fell, the clans would drown themselves in endless slaughter, consumed in a millennium of vengeance with no escape.
The contrast was so great that Hashirama's eyes turned red.
In a flash, he lunged forward and gripped Tobirama's arm tightly, shouting with solemn force: "Tobirama, calm down! This tablet is the foundation of peace—it must not be destroyed!"
Tobirama arched his brows with a strange expression, his voice dripping with sarcasm: "Not deception, not forgery—are you sure?"
Hashirama's stern face instantly faltered, turning awkward once again.
Tobirama yanked his arm free from Hashirama's grip, feeling a deep satisfaction as he watched his elder brother.
Since childhood, this elder brother of his had never been very honorable in the way of martial virtue…
Time and again during his boyhood and youth, whenever Tobirama pursued reasonable research into forbidden techniques, Hashirama would resolutely oppose him—casting aside his usual gentle nature, and resorting to brute force to suppress him.
In the original timeline, when Orochimaru resurrected Tobirama and Sasuke began spouting arrogant words, Tobirama had intended to strike him down—only for Hashirama at his side to rein in his younger brother, siding with an outsider against his own kin.
That moment was a microcosm.
But now, the roles had reversed.
When Hashirama questioned Tobirama with talk of honesty and forgery—
Tobirama tore the veil wide open!
He bluntly told Hashirama: Yes, it's fake. So what?
Do you want the truth, and see the Senju and Uchiha clans slaughter each other? Or take the false and have both sides become one family?
Tobirama was using a sharp negotiating tactic.
By declaring that he was fully prepared to annihilate the Uchiha clan, that peace itself was of no consequence, he made the fake stone tablet—so intolerable to Hashirama at first—suddenly seem trivial.
"Tobirama, that's not what I meant, I only thought…"
Young Hashirama's face flushed red. He realized that even his famed monstrous strength no longer seemed a match for Tobirama.
If he tried to suppress him by force, as in the past, it would no longer work.
And besides… Tobirama's words left him with little to argue.
If a single lie could bring peace between the Uchiha and Senju, was it not worth it?
"Moreover, I haven't deceived the Uchiha clan…"
Tobirama pointed to his Mangekyō Sharingan and spoke softly: "Why do I know the tale of Asura and Indra? Why do I know those ancient secrets?"
"It isn't because of any records in the Senju clan archives—but because of my dōjutsu."
"My Mangekyō Sharingan can look back into the past, to witness fragments of what once happened upon this land. The reason I could awaken such a power is likely tied to my obsession with studying history and the ancient forbidden arts preserved in old texts."
"So yes—you may call this Senju stone tablet I created a forgery… but what it records is still the truth."
"I stand upon the shoulders of countless Senju and Uchiha ancestors, and I have seen Indra and Asura use the shinobi world as their chessboard, condemning us descendants to die like weeds…"
"That is why I must stand and put an end to it all."
Tobirama locked eyes with Hashirama and said slowly: "Hashirama, if you truly believe what I'm doing is wrong, then stop me… I cannot sit by and watch the shinobi world sink into war any longer!"
"I must make everyone taste peace!"
Young Hashirama looked into Tobirama's blood-red eyes, his heart thrown into chaos.
Wait—how had he suddenly become the villain trying to block peace in the shinobi world?
He had only asked why Tobirama forged a fake stone tablet—he didn't even know about this dōjutsu that could see into the past!
This was utterly unfair…
And seeing Tobirama in this state only made Hashirama all the more certain of his brother's atavistic bloodline… With that extremity of temper, wasn't he exactly like Madara?
Turning hostile at the flip of a switch!
"About this matter—it was my mistake just now. I support you one hundred percent!"
Hashirama drew in a deep breath, racking his brain to find a lighter topic, then cautiously asked: "Tobirama, when are you planning to hold the wedding with Izunai?"
"What kind of scale should we prepare for? Personally, I think it should be grand!"
At that moment, Tobirama froze.
What—wedding?
Was this really happening…?
He had only been joking!
...
The Uchiha compound.
Uchiha Madara sighed, staring out at the bright moon with deep worry.
Two days had passed since the negotiations with that bastard.
Izunai had shut herself away in her room ever since, refusing even to see her own brother. He had no idea what she was doing.
"Was he lying to me? Or did he truly… like me all along?"
Burying her head under the quilt, Izunai wrestled with feelings she had never known before.
"He even awakened his Mangekyō for my sake? But if he were deceiving me, why would his ocular power resemble mine so closely?"
"But if he wasn't lying… does that mean I really have to marry him? I lost our wager, I lost that battle against this bastard!"
"No! How could I possibly marry Senju Tobirama!"
She muttered the words, but in her mind rose the image of Tobirama's Mangekyō Sharingan—
And the way he had fought her, moving with calm ease, his gaze almost gentle.
Men like that seemed rare in the shinobi world…
Or perhaps—
Among those who barely met her standards, he might be the only one.
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---