“No, I can’t stay this angry; I must handle all of this quickly!” Senju Tobirama forced himself to calm down, not letting anger cloud his judgment. He couldn't be like the Uchiha Clan, controlled by recklessness.
First, this mission directly resulted in the loss of thirty-four Anbu members from two of his squads, and due to the deterrent of the Earth Spider Clan, he couldn't retaliate against the enemy. After all, the matters concerning the Earth Spider Clan could not be exposed, or else the darkness hidden within would be too great a blow to him as the new Hokage, and would certainly draw questions from the entire Village and his elder brother.
Not to mention, if he were to instruct others to attack other clan members in the Village, the fire will would directly collapse, and he himself would become infamous.
If things went wrong, his position as Second Hokage might even be directly stripped away, so this matter absolutely could not be exposed.
Senju Tobirama's mind was as cold as iron; he now understood that in the current situation, he had to make a choice.
For the sake of his reputation as Hokage, he had to find a way to make this incident appear as an accident.
For example, he could describe the Earth Spider Clan's Forbidden Technique as a natural disaster, and the Anbu members accidentally encountered it, which would be an unavoidable act of God.
Anyway, regarding the beginning and end of the entire affair, neither the Earth Spider Clan, nor the Uchiha Clan, nor himself, could bring these matters into the open.
Otherwise, it would only trigger an unimaginable war. But now, if they each took a step back, no one would provoke a dispute!
“That’s it!”
As Senju Tobirama's mind raced, he already had a so-called countermeasure, intending to present it as a natural disaster. Even if some matters about the Earth Spider were occasionally exposed, the worst possible outcome could be pushed onto Uchiha Ming.
It was Uchiha Ming, an elder of the Uchiha Clan, who wanted to become the Clan Head of the Uchiha Clan and invited him to help eliminate his enemies. And he, not as the Hokage, but as Uchiha Kagami's teacher, considered his disciple Uchiha Kagami's father when doing such a thing.
“Yes, that’s it. The naturally evil Uchiha Ming did all of this and deserves to be forever nailed to the pillar of shame!”
Senju Tobirama said coldly, and a slight smile involuntarily appeared on his face once he had figured out the solution.
But then, Senju Tobirama thought of others besides Uchiha Ming, and the smile on his face immediately turned bitter.
That scoundrel Uchiha Ming deserved to die.
Having done such a thing, it was no loss if he died; in fact, it even reduced a Clan Head Level expert for the Uchiha Clan.
But for the others, their deaths were too great a loss!
They were all elite Ninja, and more than half of them were members of the Senju Clan. How was he going to resolve this?
Senju Tobirama also felt a tingling scalp, thinking that he would surely be questioned by his elder brother Hashirama within the next two days.
“Fortunately, they are all my subordinates, and as a highly confidential organization, internal matters of the Anbu absolutely cannot be leaked. The news can be temporarily delayed for some time.”
“Secondly, the Anbu suddenly lost over 30 elite Ninja, which is a considerable loss. Not only that, these Ninja also have families and relatives, who will certainly be extremely angry and unable to accept this matter.”
“What’s worse, a large portion of them are pillars of our Senju Clan, which is undoubtedly a heavy blow to our Senju Clan.”
“And now, he has thrown all these people into this mess. How is he going to explain it to their relatives? This is simply an unsolvable problem.”
Senju Tobirama looked at the Anbu personnel information in his hand, unable to look directly at it, full of indecision.
In addition, Uchiha Ming, this elder of the Uchiha Clan whom Senju Tobirama had painstakingly trained into a confidant, was also an important chess piece for him to interfere with the Uchiha Clan. But now Uchiha Ming had also been thrown into the mess by him, which meant that his future interference with the Uchiha would become extremely difficult.
Thinking of all this, Senju Tobirama once again gritted his teeth in hatred for Uchiha Ming. He wished he could immediately tear Uchiha Ming into a thousand pieces to vent his hatred. But now, the other party had long since been turned to ashes, so there was no way to retaliate.
“Wait, although these people are dead, it seems like I can still get some information!” Just as Senju Tobirama was half-dead with anger, his expression suddenly froze, as if he had thought of something.
Then, he immediately went to the Anbu Training Center, a secret Anbu base. In front of a heavily guarded room within it, Senju Tobirama formed hand seals, opened the internal seal, and entered, taking out some scrolls.
The scrolls contained partial body tissues that every Anbu member had to leave after joining.
Initially, the Anbu did not have this system, but after Senju Tobirama researched the Edo Tensei technique, he specifically set this rule to ensure that Anbu intelligence could be successfully transmitted back to Konoha even if the person was silenced. Occasionally, it could also prevent traitors from appearing within the Anbu, allowing these body tissues to be used for tracking and secret assassinations.
Of course, all these actions of the Anbu were unknown to the outside world. Even within the Anbu, it was explained as needing scent tracking for rescue purposes.
After all, playing with corpse Forbidden Techniques and the like caused too much controversy; even Ninja found it unacceptable.
Fortunately.
“Now I am the Hokage, and as the Hokage, my power is infinite,” Senju Tobirama thought with certainty.
Soon, using criminals captured by Konoha, Senju Tobirama revived each Anbu member one by one and questioned them, but the final results were all the same: under a flash of white light, they all lost consciousness.
Clearly, as he had guessed, it was the Earth Spider Clan's doing.
However, Uchiha Ming…
“Right, Uchiha Ming walked at the very front of them, so he was probably the first to die. I guess there’s no need to question him, and besides, I don’t have his body tissues here!”
Senju Tobirama originally wanted to summon Uchiha Ming and curse him, humiliating him in various ways, but upon realizing he didn't have any of his body tissues, he gave up!
“No, I must continue to research the Edo Tensei technique; I must continue to promote this Ninjutsu.”
“When I completely perfect it, Earth Spider Clan, I will use your Forbidden Technique to destroy you then!” Senju Tobirama trembled all over, his fists clenched, and he said through gritted teeth, his crimson pupils filled with scarlet killing intent. In this short period, Senju Tobirama’s hatred for the Earth Spider Clan even surpassed that for his long-standing rival, the Uchiha Clan.
On this side, Senju Tobirama, whose two Anbu squads and the biggest elder spy within the Uchiha had been wiped out, felt a tingling scalp and wanted to cry but couldn't, swallowing the bitter fruit of his broken teeth.
On the other side, Uchiha Tenxiu had happily returned to the Uchiha Clan by noon.
He had no idea that due to the series of actions he had initiated, Senju Tobirama had suffered such a loss.
Otherwise, he would definitely be laughing his head off!
Upon his return at noon, Uchiha Tenxiu first secretly sent a message to Uchiha Raimon, instructing him to deal with Uchiha Ming's remaining belongings at home.
Uchiha Ming's elder's house, which had long been suppressed and had few people, and where even his son Uchiha Kagami lived outside the clan, was quickly and thoroughly cleaned by the secret Ninja, ensuring not a single strand of hair was left behind.
Afterward, Uchiha Tenxiu met with his trusted subordinates and talked with them to gauge their thoughts.
Later, some familiar people came to visit, including Uchiha Chiri.
Over the past few months, under the constant praise of Uchiha Tenxiu's many confidantes, Uchiha Chiri had become his little fan girl.
As soon as he returned, she would stick to him, calling him “Tenxiu-gege” constantly.
Uchiha Tenxiu hadn't expected this.
Therefore, Uchiha Chiri stayed at Uchiha Tenxiu's house alone until night.