Chapter 270: Good evening, Mr. Xuanwu

After being scolded, Shinnosuke retreated dejectedly and complained in his heart: You were not much better than me just now, huh.

Orochimaru licked his eyes with his tongue in a signature move and asked, "Teacher, are you sure that the masked man is Uchiha Madara?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen picked up his pipe again, lit it and started smoking. "I think it's about right. The image of Susanoo described by Xuanwu is too similar to what the Second Hokage told us. The fire escape technique they are good at is also very similar. Even the shape of their Mangekyō Sharingan is exactly the same."

Orochimaru asked, "If that's the case, why are you only 10% sure? Isn't that a sure thing?"

Danzo answered Sarutobi Hiruzen's question on his behalf, "Because you have never seen the First Hokage, much less felt his Wood Release power that was enough to level the ninja world. I don't believe that anyone could fake their own death and escape from the First Hokage, even if that person was Uchiha Madara."

As if to confirm Danzo's statement, Utane Koharu, who had calmed down, also said, "Yes, I don't believe it either. Hashirama-sama could not have failed, and the Second Hokage personally confirmed Uchiha Madara's death and brought his body back to Konoha for research, so Uchiha Madara cannot still be alive. I am more inclined to believe that someone has obtained some of Uchiha Madara's power by some unknown method."

Xuanwu originally wanted to say a few words, but he really couldn't join in this topic. After all, he had a quarter of the same blood as Uchiha Madara in his body. Logically, he should call him grandpa when they met.

Grandpa?

Lord!

and many more!

Xuanwu suddenly realized a problem: When I was fighting with the masked man before, he called me "Sun Zei" all the time and asked me to call him grandpa. I always thought that he wanted to take advantage of me verbally and irritate me so that I would reveal my flaws. Now think about it, that can't be the case!

There is one more thing. If I think carefully about the battle just now, although the masked man was quite ruthless, I did not feel his strong murderous intent. When I almost hurt him, he praised me instead. The most important thing is, when those four fire escape shots hit my chest, I clearly felt that the last two shots were not as powerful as the first two. At first I thought it was because his chakra was not enough, but now I think that is not right. No way!

The most important thing is, after he drove the Gundam, if he had fought seriously, I would have been seriously injured at least, but he started playing with it. No way!

"No way!"

These three words popped out of Xuanwu's mouth uncontrollably.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had been secretly observing Xuanwu since he said the name Uchiha Madara, asked, "Xuanwu, do you have any new discoveries? Why do you say no?"

Xuanwu then realized that he was so shocked by his own thoughts that he spoke out of turn. Facing everyone's gazes, he sighed inwardly and said "bad".

He had no choice but to say something, so he pretended to be confused and said, "Oh, sorry, Sandaime-sama, I disturbed you. I was just thinking that if that man was really Uchiha Madara, I wouldn't be able to hold out until you guys came. Although I am a little confident in my strength, I am not arrogant enough to think that I could hold out for so long against the enemy of the First Hokage. If that is true, then how strong must I be? So I said no unconsciously."

His words helped to lighten the dull atmosphere in the Hokage's office.

Yes, if the masked man was really Uchiha Madara, Xuanwu would have been reduced to ashes long ago, how could he have the chance to talk to them here.

The Third Hokage secretly despised himself: Damn, I was scared by that bastard and ignored this point. Now that I think about it, the destruction of the Daimyo's palace does prove that the other party is quite strong, but if compared with Uchiha Madara, he is still far behind. That guy can split mountains if he disagrees with something.

The fear from his heart made Sarutobi Hiruzen subconsciously ignore the relationship between Madara and Genbu. He tried to find any reason to prove that the masked man was not Uchiha Madara, and Genbu gave him a good excuse.

"Xuanwu's words make sense. What do others think?"

The four little ones remained silent. Shinnosuke was too scared to speak because of his father's scolding. Danzo and Utane Koharu closed their eyes and thought.

Only Orochimaru was left, and he was also secretly staring at Xuanwu.

"Sarutobi-sensei, how do you explain the similarities between the masked man and Uchiha Madara? Especially the shape of his eyes?"

The Third Hokage replied, "In fact, there is one thing I haven't told you. After the Second Hokage brought back Uchiha Madara's body for research for a few days, the body inexplicably disappeared. So is it possible that the masked man was the one who stole Uchiha Madara's body that year? After getting Madara's body, he transplanted Madara's Sharingan, which gave him abilities similar to Madara's."

Wow, Sarutobi Hiruzen’s self-hypnosis ability is not just awesome, it’s simply awesome. Xuanwu gave him a big thumbs up in his heart.

Orochimaru continued to raise objections, "Even so, it doesn't eliminate the possibility that the masked man is Uchiha Madara."

Danzo gave Orochimaru a thumbs up here.

...

After the two argued for a while, neither could convince the other.

In desperation, the self-hypnotized Third Hokage stopped arguing with Orochimaru because he was afraid that what he had in mind would be shattered.

Finally, he gave the order: "In any case, the masked man has seriously threatened the safety of the Fire Nation and must be hunted down. This is why I called all of you here. Now I declare that the four families of Sarutobi, Ino, Shikaku and Cho will set up a special department to secretly investigate the masked man. Sarutobi Shinnosuke will be the head of the department, and Shikaku will be responsible for assisting him."

“Hi.” Times 4.

After accepting the task, Shikaku asked, "Hokage-sama, should we tell the other four nations about this? It should be easier to find the masked man if the five nations join forces."

The Third Hokage pondered for a while and decided to keep it secret for the time being. "Let us find it ourselves first. The matter has not been determined yet. There is no need to cause panic in the ninja world."

After being stopped by Sarutobi Hiruzen, Orochimaru stopped talking and turned to look out the window, wondering what he was thinking.

"Alright, that's it. You guys go down first. I'll discuss the details with Danzo and Koharu."

Just like that, Xuanwu and the others said goodbye to the Hokage's office, and only the Big Three were left in the room.

Sarutobi Hiashi completely changed from his usual amiable image. His eyes were full of coldness and his face was extremely gloomy. The temperature around him dropped several degrees because of his gloomy aura.

"Danzo, I allow you to temporarily double the size of the Root and triple the funding for the Root, but you have to promise me that you will send all of these extra people to find the masked man. You must find him for me!"

...

After walking out of the Hokage building, Orochimaru came to Xuanwu and sent the others away, and asked quietly: "Xuanwu-kun, who do you think that masked man is?"

Xuan Wuzhuang was dumbfounded and said, "Ah? You guys don't know who it is, so how can I know? But next time you see him, remember to run fast. That guy is very fierce. It will probably take you, me, Jiraiya, and Tsunade to fight together to have a chance of winning."

"Oh, really? Thank you for your concern, Xuanwu-kun. But do you really not know the true identity of the masked man? Don't lie to me, Xuanwu-kun."

"How could I possibly lie to you, right? I would never lie to you, my friend."

Orochimaru stared at Xuanwu for a long time, and only let him go when he was almost annoyed by him. "Okay, I trust you for now. I'm leaving now."

Detective Snake said this and turned away.

Only after seeing him leave did Xuanwu breathe a sigh of relief. Walking on the road leading to his home, he kept wondering if the masked man was really Uchiha Madara.

The deeply rooted thinking of the original work told him that Uchiha Madara was indeed dead, and was not resurrected until the Fourth Ninja World War by Kabuto Yakushi, and that the person named Afei was someone else.

But today's battle made him confused. This Ah Fei and that Ah Fei are not alike in any way!

It was not until he reached the doorstep of his home that he temporarily gave up thinking: Forget it, don't think about it, what is coming will come, there is no point in being afraid of it.

After opening the door, the room was pitch dark.

"This little brother, he didn't even leave a light on for me."

How could he know that Minato didn't come back at all, but went to the hospital to treat the ribs broken by Madara.

After returning to the bedroom on the first floor, Xuanwu took off his clothes, threw back the quilt and fell asleep. He was too tired today, so he would deal with the chest injury tomorrow. Anyway, with his self-healing ability, maybe it would heal by itself tomorrow.

At this time, a shy and whispering voice sounded from the other side of the bed, "Mr. Xuanwu, good evening."

......