Chapter 63 - Attack on the Way Home

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"The northern landscape, a thousand miles of ice, ten thousand miles of snow..."

"Second Grandpa, you already said that this morning," Tobirama interrupted Akio's poetic recital.

"Tobirama, I almost forgot you were here. Before I left just now, you glared at me, didn't you?" Akio suddenly remembered.

"Second Grandpa, Shukaku, Shukaku..." Hashirama shot Akio a look.

Akio's expression changed, and he fell silent.

But Tobirama had already opened the floodgates. "Second Grandpa, did you really steal Shukaku from the Land of Wind? Why didn't you tell me earlier? At this Five Kage Summit, the Kazekage nearly started a fight with us. In the end, we had to promise to return the One-Tail unconditionally just to settle things." He sighed. "Big Brother's about to disgrace the Hokage name."

Akio quickly shifted the blame. "It was your brother who tricked me into going to the Land of Wind. If I hadn't captured Shukaku, wouldn't that have made me look bad…?"

Tobirama turned to glare at Hashirama again—only to be shocked that Hashirama dared to glare right back.

For a moment, Tobirama was speechless. That's when he remembered—it was both of them who had conspired to trick Akio into going to the Land of Wind.

Akio glanced around and sensed something. "Tobirama… don't tell me you were in on this too…?"

Hashirama quickly interrupted, "It's fine now, Second Grandpa, it's all in the past. The Five Kage Summit ended smoothly, and that's what matters..." With that, he and Tobirama simultaneously accelerated, leaving Akio behind.

"Wait for me! You two actually ganged up to trick your Second Grandpa!"

As the chase continued, the three of them left the Land of Iron, leaving the snow-covered world behind and entering a dense forest.

Akio was panting heavily. He realized, to his dismay, that his stamina still didn't match Tobirama's—let alone Hashirama's.

"You two beasts… you didn't even wait for me..." Akio could no longer see the two ahead of him. Just as he was about to catch his breath and activate his Kagura Shingan (Kagura Mind's Eye), a loud boom came from up ahead.

He rushed forward a few steps and found a large scorched patch of earth in front of Hashirama—clearly from an explosion tag. But this kind of attack obviously had no effect on Hashirama.

As for Tobirama, he had already engaged the enemy. His Raijin no Ken (Sword of the Thunder God) struck the attacker's arm, but couldn't even leave a wound. The two were momentarily locked in a stalemate.

The attacker stood over eight feet tall, a rare giant in the shinobi world, with his face hidden behind a black mask.

"So just because someone wears a mask doesn't mean they're Hatake Kakashi. They might be Kakuzu..." Akio muttered. Upon recognizing Kakuzu, he wasn't too surprised.

Kakuzu, upon seeing Akio arrive, let out a cold snort and forced Tobirama back.

"Senju Hashirama, Hokage of Konoha—bounty: 100 million ryō. Senju Tobirama, his younger brother—30 million ryō. Konoha elder Uzumaki Akio—20 million ryō. I'll be taking all of them..."

The three fell silent. For a moment, the air was dead. Where did he get this confidence?

After a while, Akio broke the silence. "Why am I worth less than Tobirama?"

"Though you're the least valuable, I'll start with you to save time..." Kakuzu didn't answer the question, and instead began weaving hand seals rapidly.

Akio readied himself to defend—but something about the jutsu seemed familiar.

"Earth Style: Hiding Like a Mole Technique!"

Then, Kakuzu burrowed underground and fled at high speed.

Akio twitched, then looked toward Hashirama and Tobirama. "He's running away, isn't he..."

Hashirama scratched his head. "Ah, haha… probably, yeah..."

"Second Grandpa, let's go after him!" Tobirama called out.

"Let it go, Tobirama, it's not worth the effort. Let's just head back," Hashirama sighed, holding Tobirama back.

Before Akio's eyes, a familiar line of text flashed:

"You have witnessed and participated in the Naruto World side quest: 'Kakuzu's Assassination Attempt on the First Hokage.' Witness Points +2."

Akio sighed and shook his head. In the original Naruto storyline, Kakuzu was a long-lived, money-obsessed shinobi who once fought Hashirama and later managed Akatsuki's finances.

It was later revealed during his battle with Kakashi's team that he had once fought the First Hokage—a fact that shocked many at the time. But as the story progressed and Hashirama's overwhelming power was shown through Edo Tensei, the entire incident became more of a running joke—people assumed Hashirama simply let him live.

However, based on what Akio had just observed, this Kakuzu was already nearing Tobirama's level. Compared to his future self, he probably wasn't that much weaker. If Akio hadn't been present, Kakuzu might have been able to exchange a few blows with Hashirama.

"Looks like that Earth Grudge Fear technique really has a lot of side effects… Immortality might come at the cost of actual growth. If not, a near-century-old Kakuzu with all five chakra natures mastered would be absurdly powerful..." Akio mused, then smiled. "Good thing I've got my golden finger."

After this little episode, none of the three were in the mood to argue anymore. Hashirama looked slightly downcast.

Akio thought for a moment and quickly understood—it was likely because of the attempted assassination. Despite successfully ending the Warring States Era, attacks and plots still persisted.

Tobirama noticed it too and offered some comfort. "That guy was likely part of the Takigakure (Hidden Waterfall Village) assassination squad—not one of ours."

"Takigakure?" Hashirama looked even more upset. Seeing the confusion on their faces, he explained, "One of my Wood Clones saved some people from Takigakure recently… Their village was just forming at the time..."

"While capturing the tailed beasts, the Seven-Tails, Chōmei, was in Takigakure's territory. My clone saw a group of people about to be killed by it, so I stepped in and saved them..." Hashirama trailed off, realization dawning. "Wait... were they trying to capture the Seven-Tails?"

Akio sighed. Their Hokage sure had a natural airhead streak.

"Takigakure's fairly strong among the smaller villages. They probably have their own intelligence network. You captured their Seven-Tails and sold it to the other four great nations. Once they found out, of course they'd want revenge..."

Hearing this, Hashirama scratched his head and gave an awkward smile. "Alright, the assassination makes sense... I'll consider us even now."

Akio and Tobirama sighed. Takigakure likely wouldn't let this go so easily—they'd need to remain vigilant in the future.

When the trio returned to Konoha, Hashirama was preparing to summon the elders and announce the successful conclusion of the Five Kage Summit—and the alliance formed with the other four great nations.

But what greeted them was a slightly chaotic village. Whether civilians or shinobi, everyone was rushing around in a state of unease.

Back at the Hokage Tower, the head of the Nara clan approached them immediately. "Lord Hokage, you're finally back! While you were gone these past two days, Konoha was on the verge of chaos!"

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