"This mission was too dangerous!"
Tsunade glared at Hiruzen with dissatisfaction.
"If Grandma Mito hadn't been there, I, Kushina, Kazuki, and Rinka could have all died there. At that point, Konoha might have fallen into internal chaos even without the enemy attacking."
Hiruzen felt a blush of shame upon hearing this and smiled apologetically, "I apologize, that was my oversight."
"I also didn't expect them to send Bee to execute this mission."
"Otherwise, I would have personally intervened."
In fact, at first, Hiruzen had considered going himself, but as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he was stopped by Homura and Koharu.
Unless there was a major emergency, the Hokage could not leave Konoha. This was to prevent a repeat of what had happened with the Second Hokage.
The sacrifice of the Second Hokage had almost plunged Konoha into civil war.
Now, Hiruzen regretted it. He should have gone himself.
Fortunately, Mito had left a contingency on Kushina, otherwise, this time, the trouble would have been immense.
No one was a fool. Kazuki, Tsunade, Rinka, and Kushina were clearly sent as bait.
However, these individuals had special identities, and if something had truly happened to them, internal conflict might have erupted, as many in Konoha still did not fully accept him as the Third Hokage.
"Forget it!" Tsunade rubbed her temples.
She pulled out a storage scroll and threw it to Hiruzen.
Hiruzen took the storage scroll with a hint of suspicion, but out of trust in Tsunade, he accepted it. He then opened the scroll and, upon seeing a few White Zetsu, looked at Tsunade with renewed confusion.
They were just white figures. Hiruzen had seen all sorts of things over the years. There were even people in the Land of Water who looked like sharks.
Compared to that, these white fellows at least looked somewhat normal.
"Carefully sense the aura on them."
Tsunade crossed her arms and snorted coldly. "That Danzo fellow is getting more and more out of line, actually using the products of Wood Release experiments to monitor us."
"Moreover, their stealth ability is too great. Even the Byakugan couldn't detect them. If it weren't for the Nine-Tails's Chakra, we wouldn't have noticed their existence at all."
"I don't believe there isn't one of these around you."
"What? Wood Release experimental subjects?" Hiruzen shuddered.
He looked at the White Zetsu's bodies in disbelief, carefully sensing the aura on them. He felt a trace of Wood Release Chakra, and a shiver ran down his spine—it really was Wood Release.
Could it be that the Wood Release experiment had already succeeded, and Danzo just hadn't told him?
But he was the Hokage!
Even the funding for the Wood Release experiment came from his own frugal savings to support it.
Now, Wood Release experimental subjects had appeared, and Danzo hadn't even told him. Thinking about Danzo's character, Hiruzen was 120% suspicious of him.
"Besides you all, no one else could get my grandfather's cells, right?" Tsunade snorted softly.
"If it's not you all, then could it be my grand-uncle's experimental subjects from back then?"
"Alright, I'll leave this matter to you. I'm going home first."
"I hope you can resolve this matter properly, otherwise, your intelligence might be exposed to others without you even knowing."
Hiruzen fell silent. He understood what Tsunade meant. If the enemy truly possessed such powerful stealth abilities, it would indeed be very dangerous.
As for whether they were the Second Hokage's experimental subjects, Hiruzen felt it wasn't impossible, as they still highly respected Tobirama's abilities.
If he hadn't died so suddenly, perhaps the Wood Release experiment could have truly succeeded.
"Grandma Mito, we're back." Kushina excitedly headed towards Mito as soon as she entered the house.
Kazuki and the others quickly discovered that Mito was currently teaching Mikoto and Nawaki.
As for Hizashi, he didn't receive such treatment, or rather, it wasn't that Hizashi didn't receive such treatment, but rather that the Hyuga clan did not support Hizashi coming to Mito for training.
After all, Hizashi had a genuine Caged Bird Curse Seal on his head.
Who was the person in the Ninja World most likely to break the Caged Bird Curse Seal at present?
That would undoubtedly be Mito. Hizashi couldn't possibly not want to break the Caged Bird Curse Seal.
Even if Mito only had a one percent chance of breaking the Caged Bird Curse Seal, the Hyuga clan would still guard against such an event.
"Oh? You're back." Mito motioned for them to sit down.
She grabbed Kushina's hand and, after carefully sensing it, breathed a sigh of relief and said, "You've recovered quite a bit. You still need to rest a lot during this time."
Kushina quite liked the feeling of being injured. Kazuki had carried her the entire way, and he took care of her in various ways, which made her feel very at ease.
If possible, she wished she could stay on Kazuki's back forever.
Since she would be resting, Kazuki should also be resting. This kind of life seemed quite good.
It was too dangerous outside. Even Tsunade encountered danger, so it was better not to go out on missions.
Mito nodded in satisfaction, then turned her gaze to Kazuki beside her.
"You don't seem surprised at all."
Kazuki said, "After all, you are a master of Sealing Jutsu, and Chakra is a very mysterious energy, nothing should feel strange. Moreover, Second Hokage-sama researched all sorts of strange Ninjutsu, so it's hard to say there isn't a similar Ninjutsu."
Kazuki sometimes maliciously suspected Tobirama.
He wondered if Tobirama had researched the Uchiha properly when he trained Kagami.
If he could possess Kagami, Tobirama would probably not refuse. Perhaps Orochimaru's Living Corpse Reincarnation Jutsu was something Tobirama had similar thoughts about.
Tobirama might strongly dislike the Uchiha bloodline, believing himself to be contaminated.
However, through Kagami's body, he would be confident in suppressing the Uchiha.
To solve the Uchiha problem with an Uchiha, Tobirama would absolutely not refuse such a thing from happening.
The evil Tobirama would likely not refuse such a thing from happening.
For that purpose, he might even consider reincarnating as an Uchiha.