The once highly respected Third Hokage, Naruto's strongest mentor.
Judging by the bitterness on his face, seeing his old mentors again brought no joy.
Instead, he was filled with guilt and embarrassment.
It was a strange reunion.
When the First and Second Hokages were resurrected and returned to Konoha, they happened to find Sarutobi Hiruzen sweeping the streets.
The scene was awkward.
Tobirama held his forehead, Hashirama sighed, and Madara's face was full of sarcasm.
In the end, they brought the Third Hokage to Hokage Rock.
They didn't say much, which made Sarutobi uncomfortable until he eventually knelt down.
But after kneeling, the pressure disappeared completely.
Just like that.
He was a sinner.
Kneeling was right, and it brought him some relief.
"Take a good look at this village—it's like our child."
Hashirama smiled at Madara, eyes full of ambiguous meaning.
Here we go again.
Tobirama squinted and instinctively moved aside.
Ever since the Warring States era, these two had been fighting and loving. He sometimes doubted whether his brother's marriage to Mito was purely political—Senju needed Uzumaki's sealing techniques, and Uzumaki needed Senju's power, nothing more.
Unfortunately, if not for his grandson, neither of these two powerful allies would have survived the Warring States period.
Even so, the Uzumaki Clan was eventually wiped out.
He glanced back silently at his once-prized disciple.
Danzo was dead, Koharu and Homura were dead.
Only Sarutobi Hiruzen remained.
"Do you have anything to say?"
Tobirama stepped forward slowly and asked.
Want to say something?
Sarutobi's face darkened.
It seemed he had never imagined this day would come.
Facing his mentors again, he felt only guilt and had no words.
"Then I'll ask another question."
Tobirama sighed, "After all this time in the village, do you understand what it truly means to be a village?"
Perhaps Sarutobi still hadn't understood the true purpose of sweeping the streets.
It wasn't meant to humiliate him.
Yukika hadn't used endless methods to humiliate him.
So Tobirama knew that this street-sweeping punishment was Yukika's way of giving Sarutobi one last chance to understand the true meaning of the village.
Senju Tobirama understood this well.
"The village…"
Sarutobi lowered his head in thought.
He used to think that sacrificing some lives for the village was acceptable—even sacrificing himself was fine.
But on second thought, wasn't the purpose of building a village to protect everyone in it?
If sacrifices were made at the cost of villagers, his methods had violated that original intent.
"How long has he been sweeping? Asking him this now is clearly making things hard for him."
Yukika's figure appeared slowly, interrupting Sarutobi's thoughts.
"Yukika."
Tobirama's gaze locked onto his grandson.
His source of pride.
"Do you think you can just sit here and play mahjong?"
The nostalgic atmosphere was completely broken by Yukika's words, leaving Madara, Hashirama, and Tobirama all a bit awkward.
They hadn't sat down and chatted like this in a long time.
They realized that some things didn't need war; free discussions and expressing opinions were the true purpose of establishing the ninja village.
"Isn't Minato still scheming against the other villages? The battle orders haven't even been issued yet—it's boring."
Hashirama smiled, "But I made plans to go gambling with Tsunade, though she doesn't seem to be home."
Of course.
Tsunade's gambling addiction had been a problem since Hashirama's time.
Yukika rolled his eyes. Speaking of which, she recently lost her pocket money.
No big deal, though. All the casinos in Konoha were owned by the Senju, so the money was recycled, and Tsunade had fun.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a figure appeared.
Sometimes, people couldn't resist talking, and Tsunade would suddenly show up.
That was the special bond between Yukika, Tsunade, and her sisters—whenever Yukika sensed her and sent a signal, she could teleport instantly.
It was a special technique using the Tenseigan, one of its unique abilities.
The power of the Tenseigan wasn't so simple, and Yukika was still exploring it.
"Hey, Grandpa and Grandpa are here? Are you playing mahjong?"
Tsunade looked around curiously.
Hashirama and Tobirama both sighed and facepalmed in unison.
Sure enough, the siblings were in sync.
"That's right."
Getting smacked on the head, Tsunade suddenly remembered something and rushed to Yukika's side.
"Shengyu-sama seems to want to discuss something with you."
"It's about the Three Great Sacred Lands."
The Three Great Sacred Lands.
Yukika smiled, understanding immediately.
Just as he expected, as he prepared to unify all the ninja forces on Earth, the local powers finally couldn't sit still.
He had been waiting for the Three Great Sacred Lands to make a move.
Comparatively, Mount Myoboku was the most hostile to Yukika, often playing tricks in secret.
But now that their reliance on the Sage of Six Paths was gone, they had no choice but to negotiate.
"Tell Shengyu I'll be waiting at the Senju Clan. Don't expect me to go to them."
As someone about to reach the peak of the ninja world and become its ruler, Yukika wouldn't visit the Three Great Sacred Lands—they weren't qualified to summon him.
…
What surprised Yukika was how quickly the Three Great Sacred Lands' people arrived.
And their representatives shocked him.
The Great Toad Sage from Mount Myoboku, the one who had tricked Hagoromo into sealing Kaguya.
Shengyu, the only real body from Shikkotsu Forest, since no one in the ninja world had the chakra to summon her true form—what others saw were just her clones.
And the White Snake Sage from Ryuchi Cave, which Yukika hadn't expected because of their usual arrogance.
Seated on his throne, Yukika swirled his wine glass, gazing down at them with amusement.
The three sages naturally didn't dare act high and mighty and stood there nervously in human form.
Gamamaru's expression was particularly conflicted, and his eyes were full of fear when he looked at Yukika.
That fear came from the depths of his memory—death, recently reawakened.
Perhaps Yukika had forgotten, but every time he used the "Ungrateful Son" clone, he easily killed Gamamaru. After Yukika left, the system restored everything, but Gamamaru retained the memory of dying, growing numb to it over time.
He was truly scared of dying again.
Even when the Sage of Six Paths wanted to borrow Mount Myoboku's power to destroy Yukika, Gamamaru immediately refused.
His choice had been wise. Better this than ending up like Hagoromo and Hamura, who abandoned everything while Kaguya rose.
This change in mindset left Gamamaru too scared to resist. So when Shengyu found him, he came to the Senju territory without hesitation, with only one goal: to beg for forgiveness and protect Mount Myoboku.
"Exactly, Master Yukika," Shengyu spoke again. "We hope to coexist peacefully with everyone in the ninja world. Even if you need the power of the Three Great Sacred Lands, we will not refuse—as long as it's within reason."
That was the stance of the Three Great Sacred Lands.
They wouldn't invade, and when the Senju needed them, they'd help.
"Do you think I need your power?"
Yukika swirled the wine glass calmly, the red liquid inside like blood.
It was awkward at the bottom.
They didn't seem to have anything Yukika really needed.
"We will teach the Senju Clan Sage Techniques for free, allowing them to use natural energy."
The White Snake Sage's offer was extremely tempting.
Sage Techniques and body skills.
Two unique abilities capable of harming Six Paths-level beings.
Sage Techniques used the earth's core energy—exactly what Yukika needed.
"Actually, you don't have to act this way."
Yukika suddenly smiled. "You seem to think of me as some alien evil overlord ruling Earth."
"But what I want to say is—"
"From the beginning, my goal has always been to stop the Otsutsuki Clan from invading Earth."
"Kaguya too."
"So, let's talk from a different perspective."