Chapter 15

The Fourth Raikage watched the conversation in the livestream room with a cold smile.

If he had the chance, he truly wanted to thank the Third Hokage and Shimura Danzo in person,

if not for these two stirring up trouble in Konoha,

how could Konoha have continued to decline?

How many more years would the Hidden Cloud Village have had to wait for a chance to overtake Konoha?

Looking at the current situation across the entire shinobi world,

the Hidden Cloud Village was currently the most united, with the fewest internal problems of any shinobi village.

Perhaps…

this was a chance to surpass Konoha,

and become the most powerful shinobi village in the shinobi world.

……

In the scene,

a group of elders of the Senju clan met the icy gaze of the young Hashirama,

and they unconsciously averted their eyes.

In that instant,

they felt they were facing not a child of ten-odd years,

but a man-eating fierce tiger!!!!!

In the moment their eyes met the boy's,

they all felt their hearts clench and their breath catch,

as if they could barely breathe at all.

This kid…

his presence was actually stronger than his father Senju Butsuma's?

With a "clatter,"

a clan elder accidentally knocked the teacup he had placed on the table onto the floor.

The quiet atmosphere in the conference room was instantly broken.

And this elder also saw the gazes of everyone around him cast his way,

an expression of both shame and anger appearing on his face.

He had indeed been frightened by the boy's gaze just now.

This fact both shocked and shamed him.

But he still believed

that the situation remained in the hands of their council of elders.

"How dare you!!! … You… you…"

"Senju Hashirama!! What kind of look is that?!"

"Could it be you want to openly defy the council of elders' orders, start a rebellion?!"

Although he was trying hard to calm himself down,

the people around him still sensed his fear from his trembling voice.

"Hah…"

The young Hashirama did not retreat; instead, he took a large stride forward.

He took a deep breath.

"Honored elders… you are all old now."

"It is time to step down."

"The future of the Senju clan… should be handed over to us young people."

"Starting today, I believe the situation of the Senju clan should change somewhat…"

"Honored elders… I hope you won't blame me… I'm doing this for your own good, and for the good of our Senju clan…"

Watching the cold smile on the young Hashirama's face,

a sense of foreboding rose in the hearts of these elders.

"Wood Release!!! Deep Forest Emergence!!!!"

In an instant,

countless vines appeared on the ground.

Amid the coiling vines,

all the elders, utterly unable to resist,

were bound by those vines.

……

【Tobirama Senju: Big brother… I remember you back then… couldn't even use the most basic Wood Release clone, right?】

【Hashirama Senju: Hahahahaha!!! Yeah… this me is really far too much stronger than I was. Although I had already awakened Wood Release back then, that didn't mean I could use a Wood Release ninjutsu of this level…】

【Madara Uchiha: …Why do I feel… this Hashirama is even more arrogant than me.】

【Naruto Uzumaki: That's amazing!!! What kind of ninjutsu is Wood Release? I want to learn it too — why has it never been taught at the academy?!】

【Sasuke Uchiha: Bai Chi!!! You didn't listen at all in class, did you? This isn't a ninjutsu you can just learn — it's a Kekkei Genkai belonging to the First Hokage himself.】

【Hiruzen Sarutobi: The First's way of doing things… why does it look so much like Madara Uchiha…】

15. Starting today, I am the head of the Senju clan!!

【Congratulations to Orochimaru for choosing the correct answer!!】

Just at this moment,

a line of text appeared on the screen,

drawing everyone's attention.

It turned out Orochimaru had quietly made his choice without anyone noticing.

【Reward for Orochimaru: one portion of Wood Release cells (Beginner)!!!】

In an instant.

a set of information about Wood Release appeared in Orochimaru's mind.

He felt some changes taking place in his body as well.

"This... it's actually a perfect compatibility, not the slightest bit of dissonance..."

"This is far stronger than the Wood Release Yamato carries...!!"

"And this... is still only the beginner Wood Release cells."

"If one were to obtain the complete Wood Release... then..."

Even with Orochimaru's calm temperament.

at this moment he could no longer fully control his fanatical emotions.

Many years after the First Hokage Hashirama Senju had died,

he had already attempted Wood Release experiments countless times,

even Shimura Danzo had joined in!!!

But no matter what kind of test subjects they used,

the Wood Release experiments all ended in failure!!!!

And Orochimaru knew,

even though he had defected for so many years now.

Danzo was still carrying on with the Wood Release experiments,

he had never given up on materializing once more the power of the so-called God of Shinobi!!!

Among all the test subjects,

only one test subject named Yamato survived!!!

But whether it was Orochimaru or Danzo,

both of them knew,

Yamato's Wood Release and the First Hokage's Wood Release differed by far more than a world apart.