After passing three open sentries and five secret sentries, Hashirama brought Tobirama and Akira to a three, story building with no other structures within dozens of meters around it. The building was heavily guarded.
Had Hashirama not told him in advance that it was a study, Akira would have thought it was a prison for serious criminals.
After following Hashirama into the room, the first thing that caught Akira's eye was a huge sand table model.
On the sand table, someone had already inserted small flags representing each family into positions corresponding with the sand table map.
Behind the model hung a huge map covering the entire ninja world, showing the upcoming marching route for the Senju clan.
Blank walls surrounded them, lined with wooden shelves that stored various scrolls of different sizes. It was obvious those scrolls contained a wealth of secret military intelligence.
There were probably even greater secrets on the second floor.
Watching Akira look around, Hashirama couldn't help but feel a little proud.
"The things in my study were built and designed according to your suggestions. Akira, tell me what you think."
Looking at Hashirama, his excitement so obvious he was nearly wagging his tail, Akira found it difficult to reconcile his behavior with the image of a clan leader.
He decided to teach him a lesson.
"Let's start with this map. It's detailed, even showing mountains and rivers. Clearly, a lot of effort went into it."
"Right?" Hashirama wiped his nose proudly. Intelligence had always been his weakness, and he often faced criticism from Tobirama and Akira. This praise from Akira, even if about a simulation, felt good.
Except,
"But if I had to give it a score… I'd give it zero."
As soon as Akira finished speaking, Hashirama's expression froze slightly while Tobirama shouted directly:
"What?"
Although Hashirama had overseen the layout of the study, coordination and organization weren't his strengths. Secretly, Tobirama had taken charge of much of the execution.
Akira's score felt like a direct critique of Tobirama, a fact that made Tobirama's dislike toward him bubble up fast.
"There must be a reason for that zero score, right?"
"It's clearly Tobirama's work." Seeing Tobirama's reaction, Akira sighed and decided to deliver a warning, keep this overly suspicious man from becoming an obstacle in his plans.
Akira raised an eyebrow and began to comment, not on the room exactly, but on Tobirama himself.
"First off, this map. What are we doing? Planning to devour the entire ninja world? Worried our allies might be hiding daggers behind smiles?"
"If you actually have that idea, you should discuss it quietly in your room. Advertising your intentions with a full war map on display? People will think the Senju plan to become the next daimyo."
"So for the map, zero points!"
Tobirama broke into a cold sweat at that. Even though the Senju clan was currently powerful, they were reliant on funding from the daimyo to sustain any large, scale conflict. Losing that support would render them just another militarized gang with no one willing to stand beside them.
Hashirama wasn't disheartened by Akira's bluntness. He'd grown up getting roasted by both Tobirama and Akira. Besides, he knew Tobirama had done most of the actual work in secret, seeing him get knocked down a peg brought visible satisfaction to Hashirama's face.
"What about the sand table?"
Hashirama asked too quickly, Akira could guess what he was really hoping for. Hashirama was unbelievably powerful in combat but lacked common sense in planning or tactics.
Ignoring Tobirama's increasingly dark expression, Akira continued.
"Even though it's well, crafted and follows some of my original recommendations and advice..… I'm sorry, it also gets zero points."
"Reason?" Tobirama snapped out.
Akira responded without skipping a breath.
"Simple. The room's too small."
"The room… is too small?" Tobirama had expected any number of arguments, but not this one.
"Yes. What I asked for wasn't just a three-dimensional war map. It's supposed to be used for pre-war simulations and post-war reviews, not admired as some kind of display piece."
"People say one person's plan is limited; many people's wisdom makes it stronger. Pre-war simulations are how we pool knowledge for better tactics. Post-war reviews teach us why mistakes happen so we don't repeat them. This tool lets us mass-produce talented generals."
"But in this cramped room, how many people could gather? How many could learn? How many voices could contribute?"
"You completely twisted my original idea and change it inso somekind of decoration, so again: zero points."
Tobirama opened his mouth but couldn't find words to respond. Akira had nailed it. They'd built the sand table for ambush coordination and battlefield orientation, but nothing beyond that. Training tactics? Reviewing losses? Those ideas hadn't even occurred to them.
Hashirama considered tactics meaningless most of the time anyway, he preferred brute strength that could level mountains and end battles instantly.
Tobirama disagreed with that view, but with someone like Hashirama acting as their unstoppable vanguard, he'd reluctantly leaned into it over time.
Akira noticed Tobirama's hesitation and asked coolly.
"You think I'm talking nonsense?"
Tobirama stayed quiet, but his stiff posture and tense face said enough.
"How about a competition then?"
Tobirama's eyes lit up at those words, a chance to test Akira face, to, face? He looked eager already.
"How do we compete?"
Akira grinned now, for once letting satisfaction show in full force.
"Uchiha Madara."
"Uchiha Madara?" Hashirama and Tobirama glanced at each other in confusion.
"I mentioned this back in the forest, I met her. She chose not to kill me, so I gave her a book full of my tactics. Whether those tactics work… you'll find out in the next war."
Both brothers froze completely at that statement, what Akira had done sounded dangerously close to betrayal.
"You-"
"I did it on purpose," Akira interrupted sharply. "With me back, the Senju clan will become the strongest force in the entire ninja world."
"To ensure that power only gets used for peace, I won't allow trash like the Taketori clan among our allies. If I hadn't met Madara on the way back, I'd have found another way to deliver the plan anyway."
"Do you understand now?"
Hashirama was struck silent, with emotion building quietly beneath his stunned expression. This had always been his goal: peace through overwhelming strength and unity.
Tobirama remained quiet but unconvinced. From his view, there was no way strategy alone could overtake sheer power, especially not when Hashirama stood unmatched on their side of the battlefield and Madara alone stood against them on hers.
He scoffed under his breath but began calculating which clans could serve as disposable assets in future campaigns.
"Hmph. Let's see if your little plan stands against my brother's strength."
Seeing both brothers take his bait so smoothly made Akira smile wider than ever, but he knew he couldn't relax just because his trap had been sprung successfully. He had important goals ahead, and now was a good time to push them forward.
"The war is starting again soon, and my two older brothers are both monsters in their own right." (T/N: before anyone comment, at this point the MC and the senju duo is basically brothers, they grown up together and shits, so whenever the mc or the duo refered to each other as brothers and not cousin, i would not change it.)
"As your younger brother, I don't plan to get left behind."
"You know I couldn't learn any high, level techniques from the Uzumaki clan, I'm not picky about whether they're advanced or forbidden… Just give me eight or ten and we'll be even."
Tobirama & Hashirama: "…"
READ 45+ ADVANCED CHAPTER AT MY P@TREON!
at [email protected] /Zaneninjacat