Senju Hashirama took over as Konoha's temporary leader, and the first thing he did was… damage control.
Half the village was still out searching for Raizen, mission requests were stacked to the ceiling, and clients were already complaining.
So Hashirama did the one thing he hated: he pulled half the search teams back.
Not because he was giving up — but because Konoha was on the verge of grinding to a halt. If the village fell apart before Raizen returned, what was the point?
He reinforced the outer ring of Konoha with ten-mile watchlines, building fresh outposts and stationing patrol squads. If enemy villages were sniffing around, Hashirama wanted their teeth broken before they reached Konoha's gates.
Next, he inspected the barrier Raizen had originally placed with the help of the Uzumaki clan. It was sturdy, but Hashirama wasn't taking any chances. He wanted it reinforced — doubled, if possible.
Only one problem:
Uzumaki Mito refused.
She wasn't angry. She was devastated.
A month without Raizen's chakra… without so much as a flicker… had hollowed her out. She just stared at the plans Hashirama brought and whispered:
"…I can't."
Hashirama didn't lecture her. He sat, spoke gently, reminded her of one truth:
"Konoha is Raizen's dream, Mito. If he returns and finds it in ruins… would he forgive us for standing still?"
That finally broke her silence.
"…Fine. I'll reinforce it."
The next day, construction began.
And slowly, even the doubters began to nod at Hashirama's leadership.
Meanwhile, far from the council chambers…
Madara stood alone in the Uchiha courtyard, the late afternoon light cutting sharp shadows across the ground.
"Raizen… what are you doing out there?"
He whispered it like a secret only the wind might answer.
Everyone else had started mourning.
Hashirama hid it better, but even he was fraying.
But Madara?
He refused to believe Raizen was dead.
They'd fought side by side since they were boys.
Madara had seen Raizen push past death too many times.
No corpse. No enemy body. No trace. Nothing matched the idea of "dead."
There were only two explanations:
Either Raizen was trapped somewhere…
Or Raizen was fighting something beyond their understanding.
And Madara was not the type to sit and wait.
"There's something in the Snowfields I missed."
Decision made, he went straight to Hashirama.
Hashirama didn't stop him.
"Find him, Madara," he murmured.
Madara disappeared into the night soon after — one man walking into the cold to find an even colder truth.
Hashirama watched him go.
For a second, he saw the three of them — himself, Madara, Raizen — running through the woods as children again.
But Konoha needed him.
Sentimentality had no place in leadership.
He forced himself back to work.
But even Hashirama didn't know everything happening beneath his feet.
In a quiet corner of the village, a figure wrapped in blue armor slipped into a hidden passage. The stone corridor stretched into the dark like the throat of some underground serpent.
Carved recently.
Maintained regularly.
Completely unknown to the public.
At the end of the hall, a masked shinobi knelt.
"Welcome back, Tobirama-sama."
The man in blue stepped into the lamplight — white hair, stern jaw, eyes sharp enough to cut steel.
Senju Tobirama.
"Report," he ordered.
The masked ninja guided him into a second chamber — wall-to-wall scrolls, coded reports, sealed directives.
He selected one, offering it with both hands.
Tobirama unrolled it.
Four characters stared back:
Not Found.
For a split second, the corners of Tobirama's lips lifted.
"…Good."
The masked agent straightened.
"My lord, no one has noticed this passage. It is built beneath Senju territory. Only our people can access it. And we've already stationed Senju shinobi inside Anbu. There is no risk."
Tobirama nodded, expression calming into something colder.
The surface world was Hashirama's domain — bright, hopeful, naive.
But underground?
In the dark, where hard decisions grew like roots?
That belonged to him.
And whatever Raizen's disappearance meant…
Tobirama wasn't about to let Konoha face it unprepared.