For Senju Mori, if he wanted to shake Sarutobi Hiruzen's claim to Hokage, the two most critical forces beyond the Senju themselves were the Uchiha.
The Uchiha and Senju were Konoha's two strongest clans at its founding.
Even after losing Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama in succession, that balance of power barely changed.
When Madara defected, not a single clansman followed him, so the Uchiha's strength remained intact.
After Madara left, the Uchiha's strongest was Uchiha Kagami, a wielder of the Mangekyō Sharingan—yet Kagami was a fool indoctrinated by the Will of Fire.
If he returned alive, he might not persuade the Uchiha to support Hiruzen, but he could at least keep them from making trouble.
That would not do.
The Senju and Uchiha were at their peak. If they did not stir the waters now, only a slow death awaited.
To Mori, even forcing the Uchiha to vie for the Hokage's seat was better than letting them stay silent under Kagami's lead.
In any case, the Uchiha would never become Hokage. They failed even when Madara was around. Without him, they were even more sidelined.
Only by muddying the waters could Mori gain a greater chance.
…
A breeze passed. Light dappled through the trees.
Sunbeams filtering between trunks lent a touch of warmth. The woods looked peaceful, like the brief calm before a storm.
Two days on the road slipped by in the monotony of travel. Dawn of the third day arrived without notice.
Mori stepped out of last night's makeshift camp—a simple earthen hut shaped with Earth Release.
Ninja wielded chakra, a power beyond the ordinary, but they were still human.
Even as elite shinobi, he and Uzumaki Chizawa could not sprint to the Land of Lightning without sleep. Limited daily rest was essential.
They needed their strength for the battle to come after the journey.
After about four hours of rest, Mori felt fully restored. The stamina spent the previous day had returned.
He did not need breakfast. A single compact soldier pill could meet two to three days of food needs.
What mattered as much as rest was not food, but information.
Information from Kumogakure.
He was prepared.
Mori nicked his left thumb with a kunai, then pressed his hand to the ground. Black sealing script spread in lines all around.
"Summoning Technique!"
"Poof!"
In a puff of white smoke, a half-meter creature appeared, most of its body hidden under a black cloak.
The brown-black fur peeking out from its small head betrayed its identity.
It stood upright, black-bright eyes whirling with cunning.
A fluffy tail swayed behind it, its imagined texture tempting one to reach out and play with it.
Cute as it looked, this was no pet. It was a bona fide summoned beast.
Unlike the Uchiha's ninja cats, the future "Slug Sage" was not a contract beast every Senju could summon.
Mori had never heard of any current Senju with a Shikkotsu Forest contract, so he suspected that was something Tsunade would find in the future on her own.
The three great holy lands were hard to find, but if one did not seek sage arts or a powerhouse partner, locating an ordinary summoning tribe was simple.
Mori had contracted with the "Transforming Mujina" tribe.
They were almost noncombatants.
True to the name, even this special individual could only use simple Transformation techniques.
But while weak in battle, these small summons excelled at concealment and intelligence gathering and relay.
Perhaps because a new audience—Uzumaki Chizawa—was present, the mujina did not stop its act. It turned its back slightly and intoned mysteriously:
"Who summons the great Faceless—"
Before it finished, Mori fished a small stone from his pouch.
That instantly hooked the mujina's attention.
"You even prepared an offering for Lord Kirimaru! You—"
It dropped the performance at once, bounding over on chubby paws, rapt as it took the glittering stone from Mori's hand.
It was a ruby.
This was not a bribe. For creatures who lived underground, shiny things were irresistible.
"Any new intel, Kirimaru?"
While Kirimaru accepted the gem with delight, Mori rubbed its head.
As always, the fur felt superb—cool and silk-smooth beneath the fingers.
Clutching the ruby tight, Kirimaru still answered:
"Today's the day Kumogakure and Konoha sign the treaty—"
"But those Gold and Silver Brothers you mentioned show no signs of a coup. They even went to the Raikage Building for a meeting this morning."
"As for the details of that meeting, no clue—chirp—"
For the mujina, intelligence gathering was easy. Village barriers rarely tracked ordinary animals.
Though it spoke with a strange verbal tic, a talking mujina like Kirimaru was rare. Most were indistinguishable from wild beasts.
Animals without chakra were unlikely to trigger Kumo's barrier team.
After a brief exchange, Kirimaru vanished again in a puff of smoke.
'Looks like the brothers plan to strike during the alliance ceremony,' Mori thought.
Armed with the latest intel, he did not rush to move. He took out a folded map.
Unfolded, a bold line and several points showed their route and rest stops.
The two had left the Land of Fire and were now in the narrow Land of Hot Water.
The Lands of Hot Water and Frost lay between Fire and Lightning. They had ninja villages of their own, but their strength was negligible to the two great powers.
When war broke out between Kumo and Konoha, these middle countries naturally became battlefields.
Mori marked their current position, then pointed for Chizawa:
"From Kumogakure to fully leaving the Land of Lightning takes about a day. We can arrive in the Land of Frost ahead of them. We'll choose the battlefield there."
According to Kirimaru's report, the Third A had been deliberately sent away on a mission and was not in Kumo.
Their pursuers would likely be Kinkaku, Ginkaku, and their elite troops. Even so, lingering in Lightning's territory was too risky.
Mori's plan was to intercept and kill Uchiha Kagami in the Land of Frost, then enter the Land of Lightning to find Senju Tobirama's trail—or his body.
He had no intention of saving Tobirama. Bringing the body back to Konoha would meet the final objective.