Back in his timeline, Senju Hashirama sat up suddenly, his eyes wide.
"The meeting… I'm back?"
He blinked a few times, adjusting to the familiar wooden beams of the Senju residence ceiling. His body felt just as weak as before—but his mind was alight with everything that had happened in the chat group.
At his side, Uzumaki Mito looked over with calm amusement.
"Back? Back from where?" she asked gently, clearly unfazed. She had long since grown used to her husband's strange outbursts and unpredictable musings.
Tobirama, seated by the edge of the bed, raised an eyebrow.
"Brother, you're speaking strangely again. What do you mean 'back'? I haven't gone anywhere."
Hashirama glanced at them both in surprise. So much had happened… and yet, here, in the real world, it had passed in the blink of an eye.
So the chat group doesn't affect time flow in reality. Interesting.
He turned to look at Tobirama—his real, younger self. Compared to the sharp and battle-hardened Tobirama in the chat group, this version of his brother still had a slight youthful sharpness to him.
But what amused Hashirama most… was knowing just how cunning this boy would become.
That final plan Tobirama had come up with in the chat—using Hiruzen and Danzo as sacrificial pawns under the pretense of appointing a successor—was so cold-blooded, so strategic… and so Tobirama.
He burst out laughing, unable to help himself.
"Brother?" Tobirama looked genuinely puzzled now.
Hashirama waved him off. "No, no—it's nothing. Say, I heard you've taken on some students recently?"
Tobirama perked up instantly. "Ah, yes! Three of them, actually."
He held up three fingers with pride. "Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzo, and Uchiha Kagami. That last one—you'd like him, Brother. A Uchiha with real loyalty to the village."
Hashirama gave a crooked smile. If only you knew…
He nodded thoughtfully. "I see. Well, I'd advise… keeping an eye on those first two."
Tobirama frowned. "Hm? Why?"
Hashirama didn't answer directly. He just stared out the window with a distant look. "Call it a hunch."
Despite his confusion, Tobirama nodded without protest. His brother's instincts had rarely failed him.
And that very day, acting on Hashirama's vague warning, Tobirama personally revoked the privileges of the Sarutobi and Shimura clans.
Both families were stunned.
Even more so when their prodigal sons—Hiruzen and Danzo—were personally expelled from Tobirama's team.
Back at their clan compounds, the patriarchs had wasted no time grabbing bamboo canes and chasing the two shinobi around the yard.
"You two brats! What did you do?!"
"Tobirama-sama's furious! We're doomed!"
"No more missions, no more grants—our clan reputation is in the toilet!"
Hiruzen and Danzo didn't even have time to explain.
—Meanwhile, in Another Timeline—
Back in his proper place, the real Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, opened his eyes slowly.
He was standing once more in the Hokage office.
So much had changed in his heart… and yet only a moment had passed here.
So, time doesn't flow while we're in the chat group… how convenient.
But his moment of calm didn't last.
His sharp eyes immediately fell on two people standing at the front of the room—Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo.
Tobirama's face darkened instantly.
Danzo nudged Hiruzen with his elbow and whispered, "Why's the teacher glaring at us like that? Did we do something?"
Hiruzen shrugged. "I have no idea, but… it's not looking good."
Tobirama's scowl vanished in a blink, replaced with his usual composed expression.
He stepped forward and addressed the room calmly.
"I have an announcement."
Everyone in the room straightened.
"The position of Third Hokage," he said clearly, "will be passed to Sarutobi Hiruzen."
The room exploded in whispers.
Danzo's eyes went wide. "What?!"
Even Hiruzen's mouth dropped open.
He quickly bowed. "T-Thank you, sensei! I won't let you down!"
Danzo, however, couldn't contain himself. "Wait—why him? Why so suddenly?!"
Tobirama ignored him.
His cold stare was enough to shut the young shinobi down. Danzo took a step back, silent but visibly seething.
This isn't fair. Why is he Hokage and not me? I'm just as good… better, even!
Tobirama, meanwhile, folded his arms and continued issuing orders.
"You and Danzo will attend the alliance ceremony with the Cloud in one month. As the new Hokage, Hiruzen will represent Konoha."
The two bowed again. Hiruzen looked overwhelmed, but pleased. Danzo, on the other hand, looked like he'd just swallowed a handful of poison.
Go on, Tobirama thought to himself, walk straight into destiny. Let's see how this ends…
—Elsewhere, in the Present Timeline—
Inside the Hokage office, Tsunade sat back in her chair, still recovering from the whirlwind of the Hokage Chat Group meeting.
Everything around her was as she had left it. The only proof the meeting had happened was the lingering clarity in her mind—and the renewed hope in her chest.
"Three months," she whispered. "Just wait three months. Once the mutual aid system activates… I can save the village."
But then her eyes drifted to the mission file left on her desk—the one Jiraiya had compiled before heading to Amegakure. The one he never returned from.
Her expression darkened.
"If only I'd known sooner…"
She clenched the file tightly, anger and sorrow rising within her again.
"If I had just joined earlier…"
The Hokage Chat Group had given her hope. But it had also reminded her of just how much had already been lost.
—Back in Kaizen's Timeline—
Kaizen Arashi, the Fourth Hokage of a parallel world, stretched in his office chair.
The light from the chat space had faded, and he was back where he'd started—staring out at the peaceful Hidden Leaf Village through the Hokage Office window.
"Three months," he said to himself with a smile. "Then we bring in the fifth member."
And with that, the real story would begin.
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