The 'civil war' between Takemi and Takeshiki finally concluded.
This battle caused significant changes to the topography of some areas in the Land of Earth. But regardless, this news brought relief to many.
"I never thought Jiraiya's guess was correct. Takemi can indeed deal with Ōtsutsuki Takeshiki."
Inside an Anbu base, Hiruzen looked at the First Hokage and Second Hokage with some excitement.
"Yin-Yang Release is truly incredible, it can even handle god-like beings."
"Monkey, I think you shouldn't be overly optimistic."
Looking at the smiling Hiruzen, Tobirama shook his head.
"Jiraiya's report was very clear. It's merely dealing with him, not defeating him. And Takeshiki's attitude was also very strange."
"Evolution, what does he mean by that?"
Hashirama asked curiously, Jiraiya's relayed information was very clear.
"Takemi is constantly evolving? And that guy is trying to entice Takemi to do something bad?"
"The path of the strong is lonely. In some sense, we have indeed become a burden to Takemi."
Tobirama glanced at his older brother, shaking his head with great displeasure.
"I don't know what he means. Perhaps he finds this world too boring and hopes someone can bring him some fun, or perhaps it's for another purpose."
"Whatever it is, Jiraiya made it clear that Takemi wasn't swayed in the slightest." Hiruzen spoke with a smile, which earned him a glare from Tobirama.
Tobirama said, "Even if he were swayed, what could we do?"
Hashirama said, "Hey, why are you still so annoying, you bastard?"
Hashirama was displeased. He slammed the table and demanded, "Are you doubting Takemi? You bastard—"
"Doubt him? Do I even have the qualifications to?"
Tobirama looked at his older brother with disdain, then shook his head and said, "My point is, Takemi is firm, but we also need to strive not to hold him back, lest we become his stumbling block."
"Tch, so that's what you meant…"
"Otherwise? He is our Fifth Hokage. I think it's necessary for us to fulfill his every desire as much as possible."
"That 'every,' isn't that going too far?"
"Too far? Even if you came back to life, you might not be his match."
"…"
Hashirama was left speechless by the retort. He glanced at the document out of the corner of his eye and could only sigh.
Leaving aside the battle with Takeshiki, the mere fact that Takemi kicked Susanoo to pieces and True Several Thousand Hands pummeled Madara were already incredibly unbelievable feats.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, Hashirama seemed to remember something.
"It's rare. You didn't even mention Madara's problem?"
"What's the point in talking about him?"
Tobirama swept a glance at Hashirama, then shook his head.
"He's merely a product of the old era. I disdain to speak too much of him. Let's just wait for them to return. Didn't Takemi say he had many other gains?"
"Tch."
Hashirama snorted lightly, but then couldn't help but laugh.
"Madara, you finally got what was coming to you today."
"…"
Tobirama paused, then turned and left with a cold expression, though he was secretly overjoyed.
"Madara, you finally got what was coming to you today?!"
"Are you satisfied with the 'Izuna' I trained?!"
Inside the Mount Myōboku temple, the Great Toad Sage's hazy eyes were now fully open.
"Evolution?"
"Did you just say, evolution?"
"Hey, you old fool, did you even listen to me?!" Shima's face darkened, and she instantly lost her composure.
"I've already explained everything three times, three times! And you're still asking?!"
"Repeating important things three times is good, isn't it?" The Great Toad Sage smiled nonchalantly.
"And be considerate, I'm over a thousand years old, you know."
"Tch."
Shima snorted unhappily, and Fukasaku immediately played the peacemaker.
"Alright, alright, it's nothing major. This time, we witnessed Takemi's abilities, but Takeshiki was very strange. Great Sage, what do you think?"
"I don't know either."
However, to Fukasaku's dismay, the Great Toad Sage shook his head in confusion.
Fortunately, after a moment of thought, he slowly began to speak, "The so-called evolution, in the eyes of the Ōtsutsuki, is probably a leap in life level. To them, everyone else besides the Ōtsutsuki are merely lower beings."
"Lower beings? Are they that arrogant?"
"Exactly. Only Takemi, perhaps by accident, completed a transformation, with his life advancing to a higher level. That's why Takeshiki would look at him differently."
"No wonder he alone can master so many Kekkei Genkai, even Kekkei Tota, and even Yin-Yang Release…"
The old toad was indeed a being of a thousand years. He quickly grasped the crux of many matters.
This made both Fukasaku and Shima nod their heads, though neither of them noticed the old toad sage's distress.
Evolution has never been a simple matter. Most importantly, he had never witnessed human evolution, even after a thousand years.
So what exactly did Takemi's evolution signify?
"It's a pity, he dislikes toads. Otherwise, if he came to Mount Myōboku, I could learn more?"
The Great Toad Sage sighed, but quickly his eyes turned serious again.
"But what does it matter? Hamura and Hagoromo were once the children of the Rabbit Goddess."
"No matter what, Takemi is one of us. Mount Myōboku can offer everything to help him…"
"That child, he actually…"
However, compared to the old toad's thoughts, the expressions of the two old men in the Pure Land were much stranger.
They had always been very curious about what kind of trouble Takemi would stir up.
Would he continue to cause trouble using the Ōtsutsuki Takeshiki identity, or would he try something else entirely?
But then, they saw that this kid actually fought himself.
The spectacular clash, the mountain-shaking and tsunami-like energy bursts, left both of them speechless.
Even a fixed match wouldn't be played like this. It was fortunate that no one else could get close enough to see clearly.
These two fought spectacularly, but it was nothing but recklessness.
Such a performance left the two old men at a loss for words for a while, until Hamura finally spoke.
"Perhaps, we truly can't keep up with the times."
"Young people, perhaps they like to play."
Hagoromo was silent for a moment, then finally replied with a grimace.
"But no matter what, with him, both the current Indra and Asura have changed sufficiently, and his strength is also growing stronger and stronger."
"Presumably, this is the result of continuously developing his bloodline power. With such power…"
"In the future, whether it's mother or a greater crisis, we will have a better grasp of the situation."