NOVEL NEXT You are not Hokage
By the time Sato's group had reached the main battlefield, Tobirama had already broken the first Hokage out of his mind control.
Actually, Sato was sure that Tobirama had sent a shadow clone to do this, even before Tobirama had met them. If this wasn't the case, Hashirama would still be fighting against Hiruzen and not Shukaku.
Tobirama also knew that he couldn't hide this when Hashirama used wood golem openly; this was one of the main reasons why he had left Sato's group alone.
"No matter what Tobirama says, he still loves his big brother. Tobirama gave himself just enough time to talk to us and then quickly broke Hashirama's mind control."
Sato mumbled with a smile as he flickered onto a pillar and stopped. His group stopped right behind him.
Sato looked back and saw that Asuma, Kurenai, Anko, Kiba, and Ino Shika Cho were all here. He gave them one hard look and asked.
"Don't you have anything better to do than hide behind me? Go and do something useful."
"Anyway, your second hokage seems to think I am very harmful; you shouldn't stay with bad people like me."
Sato's sarcastic taunt made the Konoha ninjas blush with shame. But one look at the battlefield immediately destroyed their desire to leave.
"Ahaha, I think I will stay with you guys. To monitor you, of course, I am not hiding."
"And don't take what Hokage said to heart; he is old and a little crazy."
Anko was the first to throw in the towel. There were so many kages and a tailed beast running around here that Anko, who already had weak loyalty to Konoha, didn't want to risk her life.
The rest of the Konoha ninjas just laughed awkwardly and looked somewhere else. They clearly didn't want to leave either.
Looking at the hesitant group, Sato chuckled internally. He purposely gave them a chance to leave, as he knew they couldn't leave at this time.
Now that they were here, how can Sato let go of these talents? Both Kurenai and Anko were on his radar.
"Fine sheesh. Stay behind me so you don't get hurt."
Sato waved them away with a look of disgust, but his words were quite warm. Which made the Konoha ninjas smile involuntarily.
"You are hard-mouthed but soft-hearted; how could the Hokage misunderstand you so much?"
Anko muttered under her breath, but Sato heard this loud and clear, thanks to his cat ears. Yet he didn't look surprised.
'Bingo, first make them feel wronged, then show them some love. This builds a sense of gratitude and dependency. These guys have walked right into my trap.'
Sato smiled softly. From his sarcastic words to his acts of kindness, all of this was an act—an act to trap these Konoha ninjas's minds.
Tobirama was indeed right; Sato was dangerous and not worth trusting. Sadly, Tobirama wasn't skilled enough to uncover Sato's facade before everyone.
"Look, look, it's happening! The second hokage has sealed the fourth kazekage, and is now angry at the third hokage."
Samui excitedly pointed towards the two Hokage; by this moment, an argument had already started between them.
"Monkey... I heard what happened in Konoha after my death. Do you have something to say for yourself?"
Tobirama looked at Hiruzen with pain; he didn't expect his own student to do so many horrible things.
Hiruzen heard his teacher questioning him, and he turned red from shame, but when he looked around instinctively, he saw Konoha, Cloud, and Sand ninjas peeking at him. Which made him turn from red to green.
"We can talk about it later, teacher; I was forced to do somethings."
Hiruzen said in a low voice, everyone was looking at them right now; his reputation was on the line!
But Hiruzen's actions disappointed Tobirama; he could see the Third Hokage was much more concerned about his image than he was about his horrible acts.
Tobirama kept no secret of his dissatisfaction and frowned tightly.
"You disappoint me too much, monkey. Do you still want to hide your actions? Are you still dreaming about keeping your Hokage position after all this?!"
At the end of his words, Tobirama was fuming with anger. His angry shout at the end made the area silent.
Hidden sand, clouds, and leaf ninjas all knew the previous Hokage didn't agree with the current Hokage's way of ruling.
Even Hashirama could tell Tobirama was upset. Normally he would go and break up the fight, but when Tobirama got like this, Hashirama tended to stay away.
"Teacher, please, I am the hokage of Konoha. This is tarnishing Konoha's image."
Hiruzen held back his increasing bitterness and tried to reason with his teacher, but Tobirama was disgusted at his student's inaction.
Even now, after all of this, Hiruzen hasn't said a word to defend himself. Which means Hiruzen thought everything he did was right.
From experiments on Senju to Konoha's talents getting killed one by one, Hiruzen considered all of this necessary.
"You have lost your way, monkey. You are no longer fit to be the hokage."
The second Hokage sighed and shook his head, but his words made Hiruzen freeze in shock.
"Teacher! Konoha needs me right now. Without me, Konoha can't survive in this era."
Hiruzen exclaimed; he was almost desperate to convince his teacher, but his blood ran cold when Tobirama remained silent and stuck to his decision.
Hiruzen gave his teacher a silent look, then turned towards Hashirama. Hashirama opened his mouth to speak, but then he shook his head.
"I don't know what happened, but I am sure there must be someone capable enough to become the fifth Hokage."
"You are the old third Hokage; it won't hurt to burn yourself for the next generation."
This was the final straw for Hiruzen and a lot of Konoha ninja. It was clear that the two Hokage thought Hiruzen wasn't fit to be the Hokage anymore.
"I did everything for Konoha. Teacher. You left me in a village full of strong noble clans, who didn't listen to me. I couldn't have remained the hokage unless I weakened them."
"Me and Danzo did everything for Konoha's stability."
Hiruzen's eyes became shadowed; he had really tried his hardest to keep Konoha going, as long as it was under his rule.
But Tobirama didn't even need to argue anymore. Hashirama himself felt a problem with Hiruzen's statement.
"Third Hokage, this is not the reason me and Madara built Konoha. If there are people better than you, they should be the hokage by default."
"The answer isn't to suppress them; it is to work together. We built Konoha as one big family; it is not a place of power struggle."
Hashirama seriously told the third Hokage, which made the third Hokage turn silent for a while.
The atmosphere was tense, Konoha ninjas were nervous. They didn't know who they should listen to if the three Hokage started fighting against each other.
There were also sand and cloud ninjas waiting like wolves on the side. Konoha was in great trouble; if one of the Hokage didn't back down, Konoha would have to start killing each other.
