"Run!"
Before the words had even fully left his mouth, Senju Tobirama and Senju Mori vanished from where they had been standing—each using their own method of escape.
The only thing left behind was the massive, ancient tree beneath their feet, which took the full force of the blow. The gigantic chakra tail came crashing down, splitting the trunk cleanly in two.
"What a poor thing."
Not far away, Mori's head popped out of the ground, his body still buried beneath the earth. He couldn't help but sigh in mock sympathy—then, before the next strike could reach him, he sank back down again at lightning speed.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
In his Six-Tails-like state, Kinkaku had become a living demolition machine, tearing the ancient forest to shreds.
But despite his rampage, not once did he manage to land a single hit on either of them.
The two shinobi, each capable of high-speed movement, were infuriatingly hard to pin down.
Still, compared to Mori's plain yet proficient use of Earth Release, every time Tobirama used the Flying Thunder God Technique, he left behind a pool of blood at the spot where he had stood.
The grievous wound he'd taken while killing Ginkaku had never stopped bleeding.
Now, the added strain of constant teleportation and the toll of his battle against Kinkaku were pushing his body past its limits.
His chakra reserves were nearly gone, his injuries worsening by the minute—yet Kinkaku's relentless, beastlike assault forced him to keep moving again and again.
After barely eight or nine minutes, the chakra cloak around Kinkaku began to lose its color. It returned to its original crimson hue, now thinner and dimmer than before.
Beside him stretched a long, deep trench—carved into the land by a miniature Tailed Beast Bomb, a testament to its destructive power.
But the attack had done little to harm Tobirama or Mori. Instead, it had nearly drained the last of Kinkaku's tailed-beast chakra.
As the crimson cloak around him started to fade, a high-pressure jet of water suddenly shot from somewhere unseen.
It was so sharp, so fast—it sliced through the air like a heated knife through butter, cutting Kinkaku, now completely spent, into two uneven halves.
It was Water Release: Water Severing Wave (Suiton: Suidanha)—one of Tobirama's most advanced techniques, a jutsu Mori estimated to be at least S-rank in difficulty.
That strike became the true final blow of the battle.
After delivering it, Tobirama seemed to lose all strength. He slumped sideways, leaning weakly against the root of one of the few trees still standing in the ruined forest.
His chakra was nearly gone, his stamina spent—but what was worse was that the gaping wound on his side had stopped bleeding.
Tobirama was no monster like his elder brother. A wound like that could never heal naturally—the cessation of blood flow was simply a sign of severe blood loss.
By contrast, Mori—who had only participated in the last stretch of the fight—was in much better shape.
Aside from a single swipe he had taken from Kinkaku's six-tailed form, he was relatively unscathed.
Driven by curiosity, Mori picked up the Shichiseiken (Seven Star Sword) lying beside Kinkaku's corpse.
On its blade was engraved a single word: "Protect."
It was the word-spirit (kotodama) Kinkaku had recorded earlier in battle—the word that Tobirama, in his life, had spoken the most.
"So it wasn't an Uchiha word after all…"
Mori muttered in mild disappointment. He had guessed wrong.
"Don't waste time on such pointless things," Tobirama said weakly, eyes closed. "It's over. Bring your companion out."
His voice was slow and heavy. Even speaking seemed to cost him great effort now.
Mori knew—it was hopeless.
Even if Tsunade from twenty years in the future were here right now, not even she could save him.
Tobirama was, of course, referring to Uzumaki Chisawa when he mentioned "your companion."
Senju Mori had deliberately kept Chisawa out of the recent battle, instructing him well in advance to hide some distance away.
After all, this was a loyal Uzumaki clansman whom Mori had gone through great effort to recruit. Considering that Chisawa specialized more in support and sealing techniques, it would have been a huge loss if he were killed by a rampaging Kinkaku.
Mori gave Tobirama a slightly surprised glance. He knew that the Senju clan head was a sensor-type ninja, but he hadn't expected his sensory range to be this vast.
Without hesitation, Mori closed his eyes, refined a small amount of chakra, gathered it in his throat, and then exhaled sharply upward into the sky.
In Tobirama's sensory perception, the dense cluster of chakra—like a cloud of mist—was as conspicuous as a giant signal flare.
"Interesting," Tobirama remarked simply.
Before long, Uzumaki Chisawa arrived.
When he saw Senju Tobirama, now only a step away from death, the young Uzumaki's expression showed a mix of shock, relief, and helplessness.
But he quickly steadied himself, bowing slightly with respect.
"Clan Head Tobirama."
Tobirama tugged faintly at the corner of his mouth—a weak attempt at a smile. In truth, the title he would have preferred to hear was "Lord Hokage" or "Second Hokage."
That would have meant that Chisawa was addressing him not as an ally of the Senju clan, but as a representative of Konoha's allied nation, the Land of Whirlpools.
But now, it was clear the young man spoke merely as Mori's friend and fellow clansman.
Ah well.
A dying man need not worry about such things.
"You're Chihaya's son, aren't you?"
What should have been a question came out instead as a statement from Tobirama's mouth.
"No wonder Mori managed to find me. With your help, it all makes sense."
Even with only a few minutes of life left, Tobirama still carried himself with authority. His voice was slower and heavier now, but his tone remained as composed and commanding as it had been in the Hokage's office.
"When did you set out?"
Turning his gaze back to Mori, Tobirama asked the question that weighed on his mind most.
He wasn't a fool—whether or not Uzumaki Chisawa had made things easier was secondary.
Mori's true reason for being here was the real issue.
There was no way Tobirama believed that this kid had come all the way here just to save him.
"We left Konoha about four days ago," Mori replied. "But at first, I had only taken on a mission near the Land of Frost."
"When the alliance ceremony was sabotaged and you were attacked by the Gold and Silver Brothers, we decided on the spot to head for the Land of Lightning."
Traveling from Konoha to Kumogakure would normally take around four days. Their current location was still within the Land of Lightning's borders, though now closer to the Fire Country frontier—about three days' travel from the village.
Mori had departed four days earlier. Along the way, he had spent about half a day ambushing Uchiha Kagami, and the rest of the time had been devoted to continuous travel.
By his calculation, Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others should have already escaped to the Land of Hot Water by now.
Come to think of it, although Hiruzen and Danzō were still young at this point, both were already quite capable.
And with Uchiha Kagami's Mangekyō Sharingan, along with Koharu (a skilled medical ninja), and Homura and Torifu, who were also far from weak—
If they had all stayed behind and fought the Gold and Silver Brothers head-on, they probably would have lost two or three people, but Tobirama himself could likely have made it back to Konoha alive.
To willingly sacrifice himself for the sake of the next generation—
That, Mori thought, was the true embodiment of Tobirama's "Will of Fire."
As he pondered this, Mori looked down to find Tobirama staring back at him with a skeptical expression.
Resigned, Mori decided to explain bluntly:
"My summoning beast had infiltrated the Land of Lightning beforehand. It witnessed your alliance ceremony with the Second Raikage from start to finish."
"But I'll admit, the Gold and Silver Brothers' coup was beyond my expectations."
Mori looked perfectly honest as he said this—
though in truth, every word was a lie.