Chapter 183: Spirit Release Ocular Upgrade, Madara's Massive Action Figures, and Irrefutable Proof He is Tobirama!

Tobirama and Izuna.

Obito, Shisui, and Yashiro—who had recently transferred into the new Root division.

A total of five Uchiha operatives had functioned as the Hokage-sama's dedicated sparring partners for the past several fiscal months.

To bypass the range bottleneck of Spirit Release, Hiruzen Sarutobi had proactively scheduled deep-dive R&D sessions with the Uchiha personnel.

In the shinobi market, the absolute gold standard for formless, zero-latency jutsu execution was the Uchiha clan's Sharingan Genjutsu.

It required only line-of-sight or direct chakra injection to execute. Zero hand seals required, and the effective radius was virtually identical to the user's visual range.

An ocular deployment architecture was exactly the optimization Hiruzen required.

Therefore, the Hokage intended to reverse-engineer the 'line-of-sight focal deployment' mechanic of Dojutsu. His goal was to remotely aggregate chakra to decompile the 'core' of an enemy's jutsu, functionally creating his own proprietary Dojutsu...

Eliminating the need to wait for close-quarters engagement to deploy physical chakra for jutsu disruption.

And the most efficient algorithm for learning was direct user experience.

Consequently, over the past few months, Hiruzen had seen a massive spike in his Fuinjutsu and Water Release proficiency metrics.

Having fully integrated the 'Fire Sealing Method' via the 'Myriad Seals Body Integration Mark', and having completed the initial baseline hardware conditioning using the 'Water Sealing Method'...

He selected the 'Evil Sealing Method' as his next modular upgrade!

The 'Evil Sealing Method' was specifically architected to target spiritual energy, which inherently encompassed Yin-Release chakra.

"An exquisitely compiled Genjutsu..."

"Yashiro's Temporary Paralysis Jutsu utilizes Yin-Release chakra synergized with ocular power. It simulates the physical trauma of massive iron spikes penetrating the target's chassis. The kinetic output is formidable!"

Hiruzen spared no corporate praise, aggressively endorsing Yashiro's performance.

Obito and Shisui's brows twitched uncontrollably.

Through the optics of their Sharingan, the two junior units were monitoring a highly anomalous rendering.

Under the processing load of Yashiro's ocular power, several massive, triangular iron spikes were brutally impaled into Hiruzen's avatar.

Yet in the next frame, these rusted, blood-stained torture devices dissolved like mud in the ocean, rapidly decompiling.

The resulting data, resembling whipped cream, seamlessly downloaded into Hiruzen's internal reserves.

"Hokage-sama, are you experiencing any negative feedback?"

Yashiro couldn't suppress the query. "My analytics suggest you are... you are barely registering the stimulus..."

"Personnel must continuously strive for hardware optimization."

Hiruzen chuckled amiably. "After networking with you all for so many cycles, despite my baseline processing limits, these PvP exchanges have yielded measurable upgrades."

"I have finally acquired a preliminary comprehension of the Sharingan's exquisite architecture and market superiority."

Yashiro took a deep breath.

During these months of PvP against Hiruzen, Yashiro had formulated an assessment entirely contrary to the Hokage's PR pitch.

He had calculated that while the Sharingan was undeniably a premium asset, a standard three-tomoe configuration was merely a conventional jutsu framework when deployed against Tier-1 market leaders.

It possessed zero decisive leverage.

Especially against the Hokage-sama.

Yashiro's logs indicated that with every PvP cycle against Hiruzen, the Hokage's Genjutsu firewall resistance scaled at an exponential, visually verifiable rate.

"Hokage-sama, your combat metrics are overwhelmingly dominant!"

Obito gazed at Hiruzen with starry-eyed idolization. "I am going to optimize my R&D until I scale to your tier! I will deploy maximum kinetic force to protect the corporation!"

Obito and Shisui's clearance to participate in this highly restricted R&D project was entirely facilitated by Tobirama's networking links.

Hiruzen's primary strategic objective was B2B communication with Tobirama.

His old mentor was not only the Senju clan's premier R&D engineer, but had recently upgraded his hardware to include native Sharingan—transitioning from the market's leading Uchiha analyst to an active user.

To decompile the underlying mechanics of ocular power, Tobirama Senju was the undisputed optimal candidate.

However, since Tobirama's current biological chassis had not yet reached adult scaling, and Izuna—despite possessing a Mangekyou—remained subject to operational constraints, Obito and Shisui were appended to the task force.

These two units were currently classified as Tobirama's 'younger brothers'.

Both exhibited fanatical brand loyalty toward Hiruzen and boasted premium talent metrics.

Furthermore, Shisui was the genetic legacy of Kagami Uchiha. Authorizing their participation served as official corporate endorsement from the Hokage, a highly visible form of executive patronage.

This was the sheer PR leverage of the Hokage's seat.

Even though they were merely serving as PvP crash test dummies for Hiruzen, securing the assignment was perceived as a massive corporate honor!

After all, upon logging back into the Academy servers, when Obito and Shisui broadcasted that they had been sparring with the Hokage-sama, the entire local workforce swarmed them, aggressively requesting data dumps.

Even Kakashi, the resident lone-wolf operative, couldn't resist adjusting his proximity parameters to passively monitor the audio stream.

"You little brats, your current performance metrics are already highly satisfactory."

"There is zero requirement to overclock your progression. I possess the bandwidth to serve as your corporate firewall for the immediate future. The fiscal cycle will arrive when the market demands you step up to protect Konoha."

Hiruzen vigorously ruffled Obito's spiky hair, outputting a hearty laugh.

He held an immense appreciation for the Obito asset.

Who wouldn't value such an enthusiastic junior unit?

Every time he logged in, the kid's Sharingan practically rendered as starry-eyed emojis, staring at him with absolute fanaticism.

The raw, unfiltered brand loyalty of youth was an incredibly rare, uncorrupted asset.

Nearby, Shisui monitored Obito with slight envy, running a sub-routine analyzing whether his own PR posture was too reserved.

"Your metrics are equally impressive, Shisui."

Hiruzen grabbed one kid with each hand. "You have inherited the genetic talent and ideological portfolio of my brother, Kagami. You two will eventually bear the executive burden of the Uchiha conglomerate. I have aggressively allocated long-term capital toward your development."

As for Tobirama, Hiruzen naturally lacked the clearance to execute the 'head-pat' protocol on him.

He calculated a high probability that his mentor's systems would crash in fury.

Obito and Shisui's ocular sensors curved into joyous slits, their internal satisfaction metrics maxed out.

Tobirama's mouth twitched subtly.

So the Hokage role possessed this specific sub-routine for acquiring Uchiha assets?

Utilizing the executive title itself as a Genjutsu deployment mechanism!

"Seisui, assist me with another simulation of the ocular deployment protocol."

Hiruzen shifted his focus to Tobirama.

Tobirama nodded, fully processing that this query was simultaneously routed to Izuna within his internal server.

However, the existence of Izuna remained highly classified data, restricted from Obito and Shisui's access logs. Only Mito, Isshin, and a select few senior executives held read-clearance.

The official market positioning of Izuna and Madara within Konoha remained in a strategically ambiguous gray zone.

Until a definitive catalyst event triggered an update, even Hiruzen Sarutobi refused to proactively patch their status.

This was fundamentally an ongoing audit of the Uchiha workforce.

If they generated premium deliverables for the corporation, Hiruzen would naturally execute a PR campaign to sanitize their legacy brand.

"Izuna." Tobirama established a secure internal comms link.

Izuna acknowledged the request, projecting the Mangekyou's ocular power onto Tobirama's visual hardware. Two pairs of Sharingan locked onto Hiruzen Sarutobi, idling for his execution command.

Hiruzen ran a diagnostic on his internal chakra reserves.

His Evil Sealing Method had cached a significant volume of Uchiha ocular power.

But this inventory was finite. He could not build a long-term architectural dependency on external ocular power to trigger remote Spirit Release.

That would functionally reduce the Uchiha workforce to proprietary battery packs, generating a severe architectural vulnerability.

His roadmap required him to temporarily emulate the ocular deployment mechanics, and eventually compile a native, self-sustaining variant.

The cached ocular power slowly began to saturate Hiruzen's optical hardware.

In that millisecond, his eyes rendered a vivid, blood-red hue, arguably higher in saturation than Obito and Shisui's, lacking only the pitch-black tomoe textures.

Obito, Shisui, and Yashiro's processors stalled.

Wait. Did the Hokage-sama just patch his class to Uchiha?

Tobirama and Izuna were equally stunned. That was mathematically verifiable Uchiha ocular power!

"Follow the targeting vector of the ocular focus, and gradually hot-swap it with native chakra."

Hiruzen manipulated the ocular power cached within the Evil Sealing Method, signaling Yashiro to initiate the synchronization protocol.

Yashiro finally processed the command. "My systems are ready, Hokage-sama!"

The three tomoe in Yashiro's eyes began spinning rapidly, generating a massive collision of ocular power!

The cached ocular power functioned for Hiruzen's Spirit Release much like training wheels on a bicycle algorithm.

Once his neural pathways mapped the balance parameters, the external hardware could be deprecated.

Hiruzen slowly initialized the Spirit Release protocol, injecting his native chakra to seamlessly replace the depleting ocular power.

Yashiro's systems rapidly approached critical failure.

He was horrified to discover his native Sharingan output was being aggressively overpowered by Hiruzen's emulated setup.

But this was an unwinnable calculation.

Hiruzen wasn't merely running Yashiro's data; he was operating on the aggregated ocular processing power of Shisui, Obito, Tobirama, and Izuna combined.

"Initiate support protocols!" Tobirama issued a stern executive order.

"Acknowledged!" Izuna replied with grim severity.

With the sudden injection of Tobirama and Izuna's massive ocular bandwidth, Yashiro's system stability noticeably recovered.

This highly pressurized equilibrium was exactly the testing environment Hiruzen required to execute the chakra hot-swap.

In that precise frame.

The crimson rendering in Hiruzen's eyes began a rapid de-saturation, systematically replaced by an ethereal, azure-white hue.

This azure-white data expanded exponentially, eventually completely overwriting his optical hardware with a pristine, blue-white luminescence that spilled from his pupils to saturate the entire eye socket.

Hiruzen slightly parted his lips. The azure-white light silently flooded his oral cavity but generated zero external leakage.

It appeared his entire physical chassis had become a containment vessel for this anomalous energy.

Obito and Shisui involuntarily exchanged an optical scan. Both juvenile units were completely awestruck.

The Hokage-sama generating emulated Sharingan power had already shattered their cognitive firewalls.

But what classification did this current jutsu fall under?

The color palette strongly suggested Byakugan integration.

However, Hiruzen's current chakra signature was completely detached and ethereal. Not only were there zero Byakugan-associated vascular protrusions, but his emotional output metrics registered an absolute flatline.

Merely auditing the visual feed caused Obito and Shisui to feel their own chakra circulation lagging. The crimson rendering in their Sharingan involuntarily deactivated, their optical sensors projecting absolute reverence.

"Compilation successful."

Hiruzen's internal logic confirmed the patch. His azure-white optics locked onto the intersecting ocular data streams generated by Yashiro, Izuna, and Tobirama. Utilizing the exact deployment mechanics of a Dojutsu, the upgraded Spirit Release silently detonated!

In that exact millisecond, the architectural 'core' sustaining Yashiro and Tobirama's ocular jutsu was instantaneously compromised, decompiling into chaotic, attribute-less chakra data streams!

Only Izuna's Mangekyou output maintained structural integrity, yet even its payload was severely degraded, functionally reverting to the processing power of a standard three-tomoe Sharingan.

Hiruzen locked optics with Tobirama. His gaze seemingly bypassed the physical chassis, directly establishing a connection with Izuna housed within the internal server.

He nodded subtly to Izuna, outputting a low-volume audio file: "My gratitude."

Recovering from profound system shock, Izuna terminated his Mangekyou output and vented a long breath of coolant.

The sheer anomalous nature of Spirit Release triggered an archive recall of various god-tier Mangekyou abilities documented in Uchiha legacy logs. The ROI of Hiruzen's jutsu was absolutely competitive with those legendary assets!

Or rather, in Izuna's analytics, Hiruzen's Spirit Release was the ultimate, hard-coded counter-algorithm to Mangekyou Dojutsu.

The premium market value of Mangekyou Dojutsu stemmed from the fact that it was essentially a localized manifestation of the Uchiha user's psychological architecture.

The resulting abilities were wildly unpredictable. Until they had been deployed in multiple active combat scenarios, reverse-engineering them was mathematically improbable.

This generated a massive 'first-encounter kill' probability, granting the Mangekyou user absolute intelligence superiority and combat initiative.

"But Hiruzen's Spirit Release possesses the administrative privilege to decompile ninjutsu and even Dojutsu. Even if it fails to achieve total nullification, it catastrophically corrupts the jutsu's structural integrity, inflicting massive DPS reduction."

Izuna ran internal diagnostics. "To think Hiruzen, an operative with zero Uchiha genetic code, leveraged his raw talent metrics to brute-force the compilation of a functional 'Mangekyou Sharingan'..."

"The RNG on this is staggering."

"To achieve such output, this protocol must be classified as a Restricted Jutsu among Restricted Jutsu, imposing extreme hardware stress and architectural prerequisites."

"He is undeniably the prime disciple of that bastard, Tobirama Senju!" Izuna couldn't suppress a genuine corporate endorsement.

Tobirama's mouth twitched violently.

Must every restricted jutsu anomaly be cross-referenced to my account? I never transferred this specific source code to Hiruzen!

Forget transferring it—Tobirama had never even drafted a theoretical wireframe for a jutsu designed to universally 'ctrl+z' all other ninjutsu.

Was Hiruzen's R&D logic genuinely this extreme?

And he actually achieved a stable build?!

"My deepest gratitude for your assistance in finalizing this R&D cycle." Hiruzen stood up, radiating an amicable smile. The successful patch of Spirit Release had clearly spiked his operational morale.

"If you encounter any logic errors during your training, do not hesitate to query my office."

"Mutual data sharing optimizes the entire workforce."

"I am not broadcasting this as the Hokage, merely as a senior Konoha colleague."

Obito and Shisui responded with explosive enthusiasm: "Is that authorized data? Thank you, Hokage-sama!"

"Naturally." Hiruzen nodded with a smile.

He had generated a new operational insight.

Whether due to Tobirama's elite onboarding protocols or their native hardware specs, Obito and Shisui possessed premium base stats. Their data absorption rates for ninjutsu and combat algorithms were exceptionally high.

Obito, specifically, did not rank in the top percentile within the Academy's theoretical exams.

But whenever Hiruzen personally mentored him, the kid's interest-driven motivation metrics maxed out, and he relentlessly optimized until he mastered the protocol.

Hiruzen's performance review of Obito: An operative with massive RNG variance and incredibly high scaling potential.

However, Hiruzen currently felt a significant itch in his kinetic sub-routines.

He urgently required a highly resilient PvP target for a maximum-output sparring session, allowing him to rigorously stress-test the new Spirit Release patch and identify any lingering bugs.

Unfortunately, the Uchiha personnel currently present were sub-optimal targets.

Obito and Shisui were juvenile assets; protocol dictated encouragement and protection.

Yashiro met the chronological requirements, but his combat metrics were insufficient to survive the test.

As for Tobirama...

Hiruzen legitimately desired to run a combat diagnostic against his mentor.

But given that 'Seisui' was currently tagged with 'Age: Unknown' but possessed a juvenile chassis and had only recently graduated from the Academy servers...

Without a highly justifiable, corporately sound pretext, Hiruzen calculated that Tobirama would flag the challenge as a targeted, malicious PvP gank.

However, Hiruzen had already drafted a strategic workaround.

Currently, Tobirama, leveraging his status as Danzo's disciple, had secured access to substantial R&D resources, allowing him to convert his development skills into tangible corporate dividends.

But it remained suboptimal. He was still bottlenecked by extensive bureaucratic approval chains—the double-edged sword of a formalized corporate structure.

To fully uncap Tobirama's R&D bandwidth, and out of baseline respect for his mentor, assigning him the official designation of 'Konoha High Commissioner' was mandatory.

Isshin had long harbored this objective, repeatedly transmitting subtle B2B signals to Hiruzen regarding his desire to initiate early retirement.

But the promotion couldn't be aggressively fast-tracked. Tobirama's leveling speed as 'Seisui' was already operating on rocket fuel.

Promoting from Genin to Jonin in a few fiscal months, bypassing all standard wait times.

If he secured another major promotion without a universally recognized catalyst, the broader workforce might flag the Konoha administration as severely corrupted, suspecting rampant nepotism.

Therefore, Hiruzen determined to wait for the optimal market conditions to deploy Tobirama and Minato—the new-gen twin processors—into a high-visibility combat promotion track. He, the Hokage, would personally administer the public audit!

Positions secured via verified kinetic output possessed the highest market credibility.

This would also grant Hiruzen the authorization to fully experience the suppressive pressure of a dual Flying Thunder God deployment without holding back!

"Hokage-sama, Commissioner Jiraiya has logged back into the village servers." An Anbu operative materialized silently behind Hiruzen, transmitting the priority memo.

Hiruzen's core processes flared. "Data logged."

Talk about optimized RNG.

The perfect crash test dummy had literally just delivered himself to the lab!

And this couldn't be classified as Hiruzen bullying his disciple. Jiraiya had aggressively marketed his new upgrades and actively submitted the PvP request!

After Hiruzen's extraction.

Tobirama and Izuna initiated a deep-dive analysis of Hiruzen's Spirit Release.

Months prior, they had flagged the jutsu's anomalous architecture.

After all, comparing Madara's Preta Path (Blocking Technique Absorption Seal) to Hiruzen's Spirit Release, the external visual rendering was equally baffling and logic-defying.

However, at that timestamp, Izuna and Tobirama were entirely consumed by debating whether Madara was secretly a white-haired operative, forcing them to temporarily archive the jutsu analysis.

"Seisui, your database access is extensive. Do you have any actionable hypotheses?"

Izuna processed the data. "This proprietary jutsu of Hiruzen's... my logs indicate a faint familiarity, but I cannot currently retrieve the exact reference."

Over the past few fiscal months, observing 'Seisui's' R&D methodology, Izuna grew increasingly convinced this juvenile unit had flawlessly inherited Tobirama's specific developmental talent.

Massive data consumption, utilizing Danzo's executive clearance like a sponge to absorb archival knowledge, executing experimental trials with extreme agility, and never experiencing morale degradation following a failed compilation.

He perfectly mirrored the user persona of an old-school R&D engineer!

Consequently, Izuna no longer classified 'Seisui' as a junior associate regarding jutsu analysis, but rather as an equal-tier subject matter expert.

"I previously formulated a preliminary hypothesis."

"Currently, I can verify the data with high confidence. It is highly probable it is derived from a restricted jutsu documented in the Uzumaki archives—the 'Myriad Seals Body Integration Mark' engineered by Ashina Uzumaki."

Tobirama stated slowly.

He never projected that Hiruzen would actually attempt to compile the chaotic, bug-ridden code of that lunatic Ashina into his own physical chassis!

Tobirama had obviously reviewed that specific source code and had partnered with Hashirama to relentlessly lobby Ashina against its deployment.

A jutsu architecture existing purely in theoretical vaporware with zero practical compilation probability would only generate hazardous market greed and catastrophic failure!

Total vaporware!

"Ashina Uzumaki??"

Izuna's facial rendering darkened. This was another operative he absolutely loathed encountering during the Warring States PvP ladders.

Operating a perfectly synced combination of the Fire Sealing Method and Evil Sealing Method, he rendered Fire Release and Sharingan Dojutsu entirely obsolete. Combined with the Adamantine Sealing Chains and the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, close-quarters kinetic engagement posed zero threat to him.

Furthermore, the bastard possessed passive auto-regen. While it didn't scale to Hashirama's absurd metrics, it was sufficient for combat sustain.

When deployed alongside other elite Uzumaki operatives in a synchronized array, their formation was practically an unbreachable firewall during the Warring States era.

"Hiruzen actually downloaded his restricted jutsu? No, wait—he debugged and finalized a deprecated beta build?"

Izuna rubbed his temples. "As expected. A disciple engineered by Tobirama Senju, even someone like Hiruzen, inevitably inherits his specific operational bugs—specifically, a pathological obsession with restricted jutsu."

"It is extremely fortunate Hiruzen possesses massive talent multipliers, otherwise Tobirama's mentorship would have catastrophically corrupted him. Attempting to compile deprecated code is insanely hazardous; a single execution error could result in a permanent system brick."

The Uchiha were incredibly fortunate to secure Hiruzen as CEO. If a 'Tobirama-variant' like Danzo had acquired the executive seat, the entire clan would be enduring a prolonged, agonizing corporate restructuring.

"If you ask for my analytics, the root cause is Tobirama's subpar combat capability. If he hadn't been successfully ganked by Kumogakure's Six Paths Ninja Tools, how could Hiruzen have developed such extreme architectural logic?"

Izuna complained, before abruptly executing a hard pivot. "Wait, it is entirely possible that bastard didn't actually terminate. This entire scenario could be his orchestrated PR campaign. I remain confident in my previous analytics..."

Tobirama's facial rendering turned pitch black.

Are you stuck in an infinite loop?

That unidentified anomaly is mathematically impossible to be me!

"Terminate this process. Were you not also successfully ganked by Tobirama's Flying Thunder God Slash? You project this image of 'absolute lifelong caution,' did reading two lines of 'Perfect Shinobi' PR in the archives corrupt your logic centers?"

"You uninstalled your Mangekyou, transferred the hardware to the Great Clan Head, and aggressively forced a zero-sum outcome. If you had simply authorized peace negotiations with the Senju at that timestamp, not only would you have avoided termination, but your active presence would have prevented the Great Clan Head from initiating his subsequent catastrophic operations."

Tobirama couldn't resist launching a counter-smear. "Tobirama undeniably possessed operational bugs, but excluding him from the dataset, how is your performance review any superior?"

"The Uchiha's historical market failures are at least 50% your liability!"

To secure the leverage to flame Izuna, Tobirama intentionally threw his own legacy brand under the bus.

The moment the 'Flying Thunder God Slash' data point was referenced, Izuna's logic circuits crashed, and he began outputting erratic audio.

"Is a stealth gank classified as a legitimate victory?"

"The Mangekyou degraded my emotional stability algorithms! It wasn't my intended output, it was a hardware constraint!"

"Did you know, Seisui? I eventually compiled four separate counter-algorithms to bypass the Flying Thunder God. Do you require the data dump?"

The internal atmosphere suddenly became highly vibrant—at least, according to Tobirama's sensors.

Izuna ran his defensive protocols for a while before experiencing severe battery drain.

"I must cease injecting personal bias. Seisui's logic algorithms are clearly slightly biased toward Tobirama. Perhaps this is the magnetic attraction between R&D operatives..."

Izuna cleared his throat lightly, deciding to pivot to a positive data stream. "By the way, your recent HR management regarding the Tomie asset has been highly optimal."

"Maintaining this low-volatility, normalized interaction is the correct protocol. There is zero requirement for an aggressive rejection. Gradually signaling that your current roadmap does not include romantic networking will minimize her emotional spikes."

"Based on current geopolitical analytics, assuming zero external kinetic conflicts erupt, she will adapt to your operational pacing and her system will slowly cool down."

Although Izuna had initially projected utilizing 'Seisui's' low EQ to artificially stress-test Tomie into awakening a 'Scientific R&D' Mangekyou...

Izuna was forced to authenticate that 'Seisui's' machine learning capabilities were highly agile. While he hadn't upgraded into a romance-algorithm expert, he hadn't repeated the catastrophic syntax errors he deployed on Shio Uzumaki.

Given this data, Izuna refused to deliberately manipulate Seisui into forcing Tomie into a 'Dark Mode' state. That violated his core corporate ethics.

"Why is this correlated with global warfare?"

Tobirama's brow furrowed, his curiosity genuinely piqued.

Does romantic networking possess such complex geopolitical dependencies?

"Warfare guarantees asset loss and termination. It signifies that long-term investment (waiting) loses its market validity."

"Extreme environmental pressure exponentially amplifies fixations and emotional output."

Izuna stated with somber reflection. "That is precisely why, during the Warring States era, shinobi executed procreation and marriage protocols at significantly lower chronological ages compared to the current market."

"However, you need not allocate stress to this variable. Based on current market dynamics, Kirigakure has undoubtedly downloaded the intel regarding Konoha's massive military leverage, and Amegakure has finalized their corporate merger..."

"The other three major subsidiaries will undoubtedly run simulations and generate responses. While a global kinetic conflict is mathematically inevitable, as long as no entity executes a preemptive strike, they will remain locked in a geopolitical standoff for several fiscal years. The peace bubble will persist."

"This latency period provides sufficient bandwidth for Tomie to process her internal logic." Izuna offered Tobirama this corporate reassurance.

Tobirama nodded in agreement.

His analytics aligned perfectly. Given Konoha's current market dominance, a localized kinetic conflict might actually generate positive ROI for the village. But the rival subsidiaries were not defective units, nor were they a unified corporate entity.

Coordinating a synchronized, highly structured raid against Konoha—without absorbing massive preliminary casualties—was impossible. The 'chain of suspicion' (Prisoner's Dilemma) between them was virtually unpatchable.

And a single subsidiary executing a solo Leeroy Jenkins maneuver? Impossible. That was essentially donating market share to Konoha.

Tobirama paused his processing regarding the Tomie asset, opting for a low-priority background mitigation strategy.

As long as he maintained the unassailable corporate justification of 'R&D and Training for the Village,' Tomie lacked the leverage to escalate her emotional output.

Recently, Tobirama had successfully patched his B2B relationship with Shio Uzumaki. Leveraging the Nagato-Uchiha integration initiative, he transmitted a highly sincere, formal apology memo.

However, their romantic networking progressed exactly zero percent. Mentored by Mito, Shio was currently hyper-focused on optimizing her Tailed Beast chakra management and studying her clan's legacy archives, prioritizing her own asset value.

Tobirama, meanwhile, stealthily executed his proprietary agenda. Under the guise of training and R&D, utilizing Danzo's executive clearance, he checked out massive volumes of Uzumaki archival data. He frequently queried Shio, functionally pirating Mito's advanced fuinjutsu algorithms.

Data he had previously been firewalled from accessing!

For the current fiscal quarter, Tomie signaled marginal acceptance of this operational dynamic.

Yet neither Tobirama nor Izuna could simulate a scenario where a specific operative was actively attempting to rewrite the foundational algorithms of shinobi warfare. And this operative was highly recognizable to both of them.

Madara also couldn't predict that when the war initiated, Izuna might output a statement that would shock Tobirama's core processing for an entire fiscal year: "Seisui, I am not the root cause of your system failure. It was Tobirama Senju who catastrophically corrupted your hardware!"

Mountains' Graveyard.

Madara Uchiha's subterranean server farm.

Following Tobirama's lead in crafting an Izuna 1:1 scale action figure, Madara initiated a highly similar manufacturing protocol.

Over the past few fiscal months, Black Zetsu had executed brutal crunch time, supplying the robust senior operative, Madara Uchiha, with the necessary raw materials. He led White Zetsu squads on highly covert raids across rival subsidiary bases.

Operating on a 24/7 zero-downtime schedule, because the tasks required absolute stealth combined with maximum efficiency, mandatory overtime was the only viable solution.

"Tsk..."

Madara Uchiha interfaced directly with the Gedo Statue workstation. Utilizing the Rinnegan as a precision fabrication tool, synergized with the Edo Tensei architecture, he was actively compiling Six Paths Puppets.

"Intriguing..." The thought processed through Madara's core, causing his lips to curve upward slightly.

White Zetsu A-Huo silently monitored the operation, his internal systems struggling to maintain composure.

He cross-referenced the current visual with data he had recently scraped from various civilian literature. One specific medical journal stated:

'If an elderly unit experiences cognitive rigidity, engaging in low-stress activities such as tearing newspapers or completing Sudoku puzzles is highly recommended to mitigate hardware degradation.'

In A-Huo's analytics, Madara's current operational output was functionally identical to 'tearing newspapers.'

A-Huo felt a minor surge of empathy.

The more historical archives and corporate logs he consumed, the more profoundly he comprehended the sheer, dominant market presence Madara had commanded in his prime.

How had the glorious Asura of the Shinobi World depreciated into a 'newspaper-tearing' obsolete model?

Even though his physical chassis had recently undergone a slight rollback...

"Furthermore, Black Zetsu's code is outputting anomalous signals..."

Having unlocked advanced cognitive capabilities and deep-level analytical processing, A-Huo had detected that Black Zetsu's proprietary administrative control over the White Zetsu workforce appeared to exceed the parameters of merely functioning as an 'extension of Madara's will'.

Black Zetsu was not a native branch of the Divine Tree architecture. Unlike Tobi, who possessed root-level authentication and access to highly classified server data.

Black Zetsu was a post-market addition, seemingly having acquired administrative privileges via an anomalous bug.

"However, I lack the authorization to broadcast this data. Merely executing the query generates severe systemic pain..."

"I will maintain a passive monitoring protocol. Perhaps this is a highly classified architecture designed by Madara-sama."

Black Zetsu's administrative control over the White Zetsu units functioned similarly to Danzo's 'Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal,' but boasted significantly higher encryption and precision.

"Hm, the compilation of these assets is marginally acceptable. They will not depreciate my brand reputation."

"Acceptable output."

Madara Uchiha analyzed the newly compiled Second Mizukage and Second Tsuchikage avatars, nodding in satisfaction.

If the objective was merely to mass-produce six units within a single 24-hour cycle, Madara possessed the bandwidth. But that would result in catastrophically unoptimized, low-tier garbage.

Such hastily compiled models would fail to retain their legacy combat algorithms, nor would they possess autonomous processing capabilities.

Requiring constant, real-time manual inputs from Madara just to achieve baseline kinetic output...

Highly inefficient!

Madara's architectural blueprint demanded puppets capable of: 1. Utilizing a partitioned sector of Rinnegan abilities, 2. Retaining their legacy combat algorithms and conscious processing, and 3. Incorporating a backdoor granting him absolute administrative override.

A protocol functionally identical to Black Zetsu's control over the White Zetsu workforce.

And now, he had successfully finalized the build.

"If I had allocated my primary processing power to ninjutsu R&D, Tobirama would merely be classified as a mid-tier script kiddie." Madara smiled with intense corporate pride.

He raised his manipulator.

The avatars of Gengetsu Hozuki and Mu, positioned directly in front of him, slowly initiated their optical boot sequences.

To prevent critical intel leaks, Madara had applied a proprietary encryption patch to their visual hardware. The Rinnegan ripple textures were completely spoofed; they would only render if the hardware sustained critical battle damage.

Absolute attention to detail!

"What are these coordinates..."

"Why is this obsolete bastard logged into this server?!"

"Absolutely ridiculous. He was mathematically defeated by my algorithms, yet he continues to tail my IP address even after termination?"

Gengetsu Hozuki executed a rapid 360-degree perimeter scan. The millisecond he acquired visual lock on Mu, his audio output went into overdrive.

Despite his classification as a combat-obsessed kinetic operative, he was also notoriously un-firewalled regarding verbal output.

"Defeated by your algorithms?"

"You eyebrow-less defect! Aside from executing evasive maneuvers to dodge my Particle Style, and camping in stealth mode like a cowardly griefer, what actual market value did you ever generate?"

Mu's boot sequence had also finalized. He had initially been running stealthy, high-precision diagnostics through narrowed optics, but the moment he intercepted Gengetsu's audio taunt, his PR limiters completely shattered.

These two entities had engaged in PvP countless times, ultimately resulting in a mutually assured destruction (MAD) event. They possessed a massive, terminal shinobi market networking link.

"Hah? I'm a cowardly griefer?"

"I wasn't the unit spamming optical camouflage, duplicating my chassis to spoof target locks, wrapping myself in server bandages, AND deploying adaptive environmental textures!"

Gengetsu twisted his body aggressively. "You are an absolute disgrace to the Tsuchikage brand!"

"Your entire strategic playbook consisted of camping inside a clam and generating fog textures! You even compiled a clone payload that was so fundamentally absurd it triggered laugh protocols! And you claim your Mizukage brand is premium?"

"My Particle Style is a highly transparent, maximum-yield kinetic strike!"

Nearby, A-Huo stared in absolute bewilderment as the two legacy CEOs initiated a massive, high-volume B2B flame war.

Wait.

Have these two units failed to verify their current server coordinates?

"If I may provide an objective, third-party audit, gentlemen..."

A-Huo cleared his throat audio channel. "The architectural descriptions of both your jutsu portfolios sound highly malicious and non-compliant. Neither of you projects the user persona of a 'Good Guy'..."

Gengetsu Hozuki and Mu simultaneously executed a hard 180-degree pivot, their optics locking onto A-Huo.

Their high-volume dispute appeared to be a standard flame war, and on one level, it genuinely was. But it was simultaneously a highly optimized data-mining protocol.

Deploying chaotic, nonsensical audio to lower the threat assessment of any observing hostile entities.

Their synergy in this tactic was flawless, requiring zero pre-planning.

"What is your designation?"

Gengetsu Hozuki routed chakra to his manipulator, the Water Balloon Jutsu pre-compiled and ready for instant execution.

"Identify your faction."

Mu's dark optics narrowed, his arms crossing over his chest. The millisecond A-Huo registered movement, the terrain would initiate an engulf protocol. "Your most critical operational error was granting us mobility access."

"Summon that despicable, scheming architect, Tobirama Senju!"

"This eyebrow-less defect operates on severely degraded logic circuits. Isolating himself on that island caused his software to fossilize. He failed to instantly recognize this as the Edo Tensei protocol."

"In the entire shinobi market, only that specific entity is authorized to deploy such a horrifying and utterly unethical architecture."

Mu ran a diagnostic on his internal chakra levels, verifying they were nearly 1:1 with his peak living specs, his expression rendering incredibly grim. "He has even pushed a massive optimization patch to the codebase. I cannot even simulate what catastrophic operations he has been executing!"

"Based on his historical operational patterns, the probability is near 100% that he summoned us to initiate a kinetic strike against Iwagakure and Kirigakure!"

"And you, you white-pigmented anomaly. Your visual rendering screams 'Tobirama R&D Output'."

Mu maintained a hard lock on A-Huo. "My sensory radar detects a chakra signature within your chassis that shares distinct architectural similarities with the First Hokage, albeit significantly downgraded. The only entity with the clearance to compile such data is Tobirama Senju!"

"He is the genetic sibling of Hashirama Senju."

Gengetsu Hozuki involuntarily shot Mu a glance. The man's analytical algorithms remained incredibly agile. He offered a faint smile.

As expected of his ultimate market rival!

A-Huo blinked with maximum exertion.

This user's logic chain is highly compelling...

Nearby, Madara Uchiha's internal systems were crashing. The reason he hadn't rendered in Gengetsu and Mu's visual feed was because he was currently beta-testing the backdoor admin controls of the puppets.

For example, toggling their optical permissions to render him invisible, or overriding their kinetic and audio outputs.

But Madara never simulated this outcome.

Allowing the bandage-wrapped operative to output two lines of audio resulted in Madara, the glorious Asura, being definitively misidentified as Tobirama Senju!

"A-Huo, transmit my verified identity data to his terminal," Madara executed an encrypted telepathic ping to A-Huo.

Madara had zero intention of granting Gengetsu and Mu read-access to his visual avatar. They were to execute commands blindly.

Since they were technically legacy acquaintances, deploying them while exposing his depreciated, elderly chassis would generate severe PR friction for Madara's ego.

"Gentlemen, the entity who initiated your reboot sequence is actually Madara-sama. The Asura of the Shinobi World, Madara Uchiha."

"His core objective is the pursuit of absolute, global peace." A-Huo explained with utmost professional sincerity.

Mu and Gengetsu Hozuki exchanged a glance. The two bitter rivals simultaneously smirked.

And then burst into uncontrollable, maximum-volume audio laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

A-Huo's facial rendering displayed total confusion. "Wait, what is the trigger condition for this laugh protocol?"

"Kid, I hypothesize your chassis was compiled utilizing the First Hokage's cellular data to create a synthetic homunculus. Based on your erratic, unoptimized rendering, your logic processors are likely heavily degraded."

Mu raised the space where his eyebrows would be—if he had any, though beneath the bandages, it was merely a slight protrusion. "If you had spoofed any other identity, I might have allocated a few cycles to run the simulation. But Madara Uchiha?"

"Do you possess any historical telemetry on Madara Uchiha's user persona? Does his algorithm support the deployment of covert, scheming proxy operations like Tobirama Senju? I highly recommend you audit the historical logs of the Final Valley kinetic exchange!"

"Cease your encryption protocols, Tobirama Senju. I am fully aware you have a backdoor listener active in this session."

"After so many fiscal cycles offline, your operational methodology has become shockingly unpolished."

"Attempting to hijack Madara Uchiha's brand identity to mask your own operations... it perfectly aligns with your historical paranoia regarding him. However, the execution is incredibly sloppy. It completely fails to meet your legacy quality standards."

Mu stated with chilling, absolute certainty.

While Mu's audio output was freezing cold, Madara Uchiha's internal thermal metrics were flashing red.

What is the implication here?

I deployed aggressive, frontal kinetic strikes in my youth. Now that my hardware has aged, what is the policy violation in pivoting to strategic, intelligence-based operations?

Why are you formatting this as a catastrophic loss of executive ambition?

And worse—misidentifying him as Tobirama Senju, while simultaneously implying his current operations are INFERIOR to that bastard's historical output?!

"Madara-sama, initiate cooling protocols! Please stabilize your thermal output, do not engage the rage subroutine!"

A-Huo rapidly deployed telepathic PR mitigation. "How could these two low-tier assets possibly comprehend your macro-strategic vision? Do not allocate processing power to their ignorance."

"Furthermore, their misidentification of you as Tobirama Senju is highly advantageous! It perfectly optimizes your identity encryption roadmap."

Madara Uchiha paused his processing loop.

Hmm.

That logic chain is mathematically sound.

Gengetsu and Mu had already hardcoded his identity as Tobirama in their internal databases.

And deploying legacy Hokage to initiate kinetic strikes against Konoha functioned as a highly anomalous, psychological stress test for the Will of Fire's architecture.

Although Madara calculated the macro-impact was negligible—Hiruzen could simply deploy a counter-Edo Tensei to boot up the real Tobirama.

Furthermore, once he officially dispatched them to raid Konoha, the spoofed identity would naturally fail verification.

"Negative, the Edo Tensei protocol might fail to acquire a lock on that bastard's data."

"Moreover, that bastard deployed infinite volumes of malicious PR campaigns against me during our active cycles. From the Warring States era through the corporate IPO, he constantly depreciated my brand value. It is time he acquired a taste of his own medicine. A pity his account is permanently deleted!"

Madara's lips curved into a smirk, having fully processed the strategic leverage.

He didn't need to allocate cycles worrying about whether Gengetsu, Mu, or the other Six Paths Puppets internally authenticated his identity as Tobirama, nor did he care about the Konoha workforce's analytics. The immediate priority was executing the PR smear.

Generating fake news requires zero bandwidth; debunking it drains massive corporate resources!

Madara initiated a command subroutine.

Mu's optical sensors instantly went dark, losing all connection to the server.

Gengetsu Hozuki panicked. "Hold on, negative, abort! Second Hokage, let's open a professional B2B dialogue!"

"I haven't even finished compiling my environmental data! This bandage-wrapped griefer is a combat-obsessed liability, dragging me into a MAD scenario was incredibly annoying..."

"I will execute any authorized directive! As long as the target vector is not Kirigakure!"

Naturally, Gengetsu was merely running a deception protocol.

Once consciousness was suspended, intelligence gathering terminated. There was zero ROI in maintaining a hostile audio output at this juncture.

"Hmph. At least one unit possesses basic situational awareness."

Madara nodded, and released the administrative lock on Mu's consciousness.

This time, Mu also booted up with a highly compliant posture.

In his analytics, Tobirama Senju's Edo Tensei binding parameters and administrative override capabilities vastly exceeded his initial simulations!

The codebase had clearly undergone multiple generational upgrades.

"I submit a formal request: as long as the target is not Iwagakure, I am fully compliant with all other operational directives."

Madara remained entirely silent. He simply utilized the Rinnegan's telepathic network to transmit their next waypoints: proceed to the Soragakure sector and begin indexing the proprietary ninja tools stored there.

Madara had zero intention of deploying Gengetsu and Mu as front-line kinetic assets against Konoha.

These two operatives possessed highly recognizable brand identities. If a glitch occurred and Konoha's workforce successfully executed a capture protocol, the Six Paths Puppets could leak catastrophic volumes of classified intel.

Merely the jutsu databases contained within their hardware were massive corporate treasures.

Wouldn't that functionally classify as Madara 'subsidizing' Konoha's R&D?

Therefore, the impending Soragakure operation was not their authorized deployment window.

However, since both operatives possessed elite stealth and aerial mobility algorithms, they were optimally configured to serve as Madara's AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) during the aerial engagement.

After Gengetsu and Mu extracted from the server room to execute their directives.

Madara Uchiha resumed the compilation of his premium action figures. The next assets in the queue were the Second Raikage, and the ultra-rare, high-value asset, Ashina Uzumaki.

As for the Kinkaku and Ginkaku units... if they hadn't successfully ganked Tobirama, Madara genuinely wouldn't have allocated the bandwidth to include them in the roster.

"A-Huo."

A few moments later, Madara abruptly initiated an audio query: "Do my operational algorithms truly resemble Tobirama Senju's?"

"Madara-sama, your algorithms do not correlate."

A-Huo paused to run a risk assessment, then replied with utmost earnestness, "In my core drive, you are the singular, irreplaceable Madara-sama. Every operation you execute is fundamentally driven by the pursuit of absolute global peace."

"However, there is a minor architectural overlap between you and Tobirama Senju."

Madara frowned. "Specify the overlapping parameters."

"Both of you share the core objective of optimizing Konoha's infrastructure and market dominance."

A-Huo retrieved a quote from Hiruzen's database, cautiously outputting: "You simply enforce significantly stricter KPIs and higher performance standards!"

Madara's system fell silent.

He wants to optimize Konoha?

Perhaps... there is a marginal probability that data point is accurate.

"Madara-sama, did my audio output generate a system error?" After a prolonged latency period, A-Huo queried with noticeable anxiety.

"Negative."

Madara spoke with a raspy audio output: "Have you executed the daily maintenance on my ninja tools? If negative, return to your assigned workstation!"

"Acknowledged, Madara-sama!"

A-Huo had actually already completed the maintenance cycle, but he rapidly executed a tactical retreat anyway.

Konoha.

Orochimaru's Residence.

Jiraiya was aggressively broadcasting the logs of his training arc at Mount Myoboku, his facial rendering highly animated.

He heavily emphasized the critical acclaim of his upcoming publication, 'Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi', but the primary focus of his pitch was the overwhelming power scaling of Sage Mode!

After consuming a minor volume of alcohol, Jiraiya chuckled smugly. "Stupid Snake, Tsunade. I am not outputting inflated PR metrics..."

"With the administrative support of the Two Great Sages, Shima and Fukasaku, my combat multipliers have scaled exponentially!"

"I urgently desire to grant Sensei visual access to my upgraded capabilities!"

"My only hesitation is triggering a psychological crash in his system. After all, I classify him as a father figure. When an apprentice or son completely out-scales their mentor, it inevitably forces them to process their own hardware obsolescence, correct?"

Orochimaru nodded, his processing algorithms highly opaque.

He extracted a telecommunications ninja tool and dialed Hiruzen Sarutobi's direct line.

"Sensei? This is Orochimaru. Jiraiya is currently broadcasting a request for a 1v1 PvP duel against you. Does your schedule permit?"

"Tomorrow?"

Orochimaru shifted his optics to Jiraiya. "Sensei is querying if a single overnight cycle is sufficient for your pre-combat preparation. He intends to issue a village-wide broadcast inviting all personnel to spectate the summit. He plans to leverage the overwhelming power of the 'Great Toad Sage' Jiraiya as a PR campaign to validate the necessity of the Curse Mark R&D initiative."

Jiraiya's processors crashed. He subconsciously nodded.

Wait. Why do my analytics suggest Orochimaru just maliciously escalated the conflict parameters?!

☆☆☆

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