Chapter 858

In an instant, he made no attempt to hide the reason he'd brought two extra people this time, because his brother's exact words had been that Lin Cheng absolutely must not be allowed to act. Although the reason was something he could guess, some things just couldn't be said out loud!

"Lord Izuna, although I should really be addressing you as an ancestor, Lord Hashirama said it wouldn't be appropriate. I don't really understand it either, but I've come to deliver to you, Elder, the clothing and ninja tools the Uchiha household currently uses."

Uchiha's gaze finally left Sasuke's side, and when he turned to look at Izuna, his attitude was, at the very least, respectful.

But before he could explain how Hashirama had instructed him, Tobirama, standing nearby, was struggling to keep from laughing out loud because of certain images he'd imagined.

"That's right, Izuna looks so young, calling him 'Elder' is more than enough. Besides, he's not a direct ancestor, so don't get so hung up on it!"

Raising a hand to pat Uchiha on the shoulder twice, Tobirama headed out to the kitchen. Only after dodging Izuna's questioning gaze did he leave — he certainly wouldn't tell this fellow that even Uchiha Madara had already been set up; by then they'd be too busy arguing about seniority. Besides, Izuna and Madara hadn't left any direct descendants back then anyway.

"Suit yourselves. Since you're already here, follow me. As for anything this guy says, I don't want to believe a single word of it!"

Izuna turned and glared at Tobirama for a moment, then turned around and led Uchiha upstairs.

"I'm going too!"

Worried something might happen, Sasuke lifted his foot and quickly followed.

Back when the Uchiha clan was destroyed, she worried that if this Lord Izuna found out, her brother might be in danger.

"I hope they don't end up fighting down there, otherwise should I go up and keep an eye on things?"

Leaning against the outside of the kitchen, Tobirama looked up with some inner conflict — he had suddenly lost the desire to keep squabbling with Izuna like this.

Thinking about it, the Uchiha clan really was quite pitiful — only this one little household was left, and Sasuke had even turned into a girl. In the future Uchiha Madara could be revived too, but his brother — no, his sister — had dug the pit in advance: unless Uchiha Madara didn't revive, if he did revive he would inevitably be a woman.

When that time came, this fellow Izuna would probably have no choice but to accept it, just like him. So, in the Uchiha household, it seemed only this Uchiha Itachi was left.

"It's fine, actually. His true strength isn't as simple as how thin and frail he looks."

Inside the kitchen, Lin Cheng finally tossed Tobirama a reply.

Uchiha Itachi's combat power was very strong in the original storyline; it was just that he himself wanted to die, to the point that his illness had actually become terminal.

Now without the illness, and moreover for Sasuke's sake he absolutely wouldn't let himself die, so his intensity would only rise once again.

Besides, Sasuke was up there, so even if a fight broke out he wouldn't let Izuna gain much of an advantage — because he had to protect Sasuke, after all.

This was a sis-con who would even throw his life away for free!

"He's indeed not weak, but compared to Izuna he should still be a bit lacking. Although Izuna died early back then, he's spent all these years in the Pure Land, and he wasn't just sleeping…"

Tobirama was still uneasy, and he didn't believe that this Uchiha, a fellow not even twenty-something years old, could really be mentioned in the same breath as Izuna.

Although they bickered constantly day to day, how could his opponents possibly be weak!

"Actually, I've always been quite curious — about you killing Elder Izuna back then. Can you be sure there wasn't some other issue involved?"

Paying no attention to how the Uchiha upstairs were getting along, Lin Cheng suddenly asked a question that made Tobirama freeze.

Killing Izuna — this was something Tobirama had almost never doubted, because Uchiha Madara couldn't possibly have lied to him about this matter.

Although at the time he'd felt that fellow Izuna couldn't possibly have died, the fact was exactly that.

"Think back carefully — are you sure it was you who killed him?"

Lin Cheng, who was still busy cooking, reminded him again. For his part, he was quite certain of one thing: that fellow called Black Zetsu had to have been meddling.

But the specifics would have to be left for Tobirama and Izuna to figure out themselves, because they were the only two who actually possessed the direct memories of what the situation of that battle had truly been like back then.

"…I'll think about it again."

Even though he'd fought countless battles, Tobirama had never dared to recall that one particular fight from back then.

He hated the Uchiha — that would never change.

But that didn't mean his relationship with Izuna was only that of life-and-death enemies. Especially given that their brothers were friends and enemies at once, a dual relationship, all their fights over the years had actually held back from each other to some degree.

"Kid, how did you know about that?"

Izuna suddenly came down from upstairs and appeared directly behind Lin Cheng.

(Good grief) He'd heard very clearly from upstairs — this kid was suspecting that someone had tampered with that battle back then.

That death battle of his, he hadn't given it much thought before, but now he carefully used his Sharingan to replay the past within his mind.

After several attempts he finally confirmed: when the blow had struck him, some bastard had actually used the flat of the blade? How much did that guy look down on him — to use such a humiliating method was, quite simply, even more enraging than cutting him down directly.

But he wasn't about to do anything over it now. What he wanted even more to know was why his injuries afterward had worsened to such a degree. Now that his memories had replayed themselves for him, it seemed a crucial portion of the cause and effect was missing.