Obito was tempted.
The truth was, gathering the Ten-Tails was far from easy for him now, in fact it was almost impossible.
Even without Aoba, Konoha's power had grown terrifyingly strong.
Take Kakashi, for example. Now that he had both Mangekyō Sharingan with Kamui, combined with Hashirama's cells, he was almost invincible.
As long as Kakashi hid the Jinchūriki inside Kamui's dimension and used Flying Thunder God, Konoha was already in an undefeatable position across the entire shinobi world.
And on top of that, Konoha had another Flying Thunder God user.
Obito clearly remembered that guy, he could even teleport a Tailed Beast Bomb, making him even more ridiculous than Kakashi.
Just these two Flying Thunder God users alone were enough to give Obito a massive headache.
But Konoha wasn't just these two threats.
The strange and powerful technologies from Konoha's research lab had just taken down Hashirama. Even Obito had to admit he was wary of it.
Yet, at the same time, he couldn't trust Aoba either.
This guy's track record was too flawless.
Obito had suffered multiple losses against him, and it had given him a lingering fear of Aoba.
Just then, Obito's expression suddenly changed.
"You're stalling for time!"
At that moment, Obito finally sensed something was off.
The Rinnegan greatly enhanced sensory abilities, but the research lab was filled with sealing techniques that interfered with his perception.
Because of this, he only realized at the last moment... The entire laboratory had been silently surrounded by a barrier.
Obito immediately spread his hands, preparing to unleash Shinra Tensei to flatten everything.
But just then, Aoba raised his hand, making a gesture.
That made Obito hesitate.
Because with that motion, Obito could clearly sense that the barrier hadn't completely closed.
There was still an exit left open.
"Obito."
"Yes, I was stalling for time."
"But at the same time, I need to make one thing clear, everything I told you earlier wasn't a lie."
"Obito, I can give you what you want.
"I can even offer you more.
"But the question is, what can you offer me in return?"
Obito fell silent again.
Meanwhile, at Konoha's Research Facility
Kakashi and the others had successfully captured Hashirama.
This was a huge event, so much so that Tobirama himself personally came forward.
He wanted to study exactly what had happened to his older brother and how he had ended up like this.
But at this point, Hashirama was missing half his body.
He wasn't dead, but he was 99% of the way there.
The only reason he was still alive was likely due to Asura's chakra keeping him going.
"Medical team, keep him alive. But do not heal him."
Tobirama coldly issued his order.
Kakashi and the others exchanged uncertain glances.
"We cannot allow my brother to fully recover.
"If he does, it will be too dangerous for the lab."
"We need to take advantage of this opportunity to extract his chakra and analyze it.
"I want to know exactly what the so-called Asura's power is and why it has affected my brother."
With that, Tobirama fully embraced his mad scientist persona.
His target was now the Asura chakra within Hashirama's body.
The research team immediately moved in to assist the medical team, working together to extract chakra from Hashirama.
However, the problem was, despite Hashirama losing more than half of his body, his chakra was still dissipating rapidly.
They were only able to extract a small amount.
And most importantly, the extracted chakra seemed completely normal.
There was nothing special about it.
Tobirama's brows furrowed.
"Something's not right... This level of chakra alone wouldn't explain why my brother changed like this. Asura's power should be far beyond this level."
Then, his expression darkened.
"Prepare the forbidden jutsu team. We will examine his soul."
If it wasn't in the body, then the answer must lie in the soul.
Konoha's research facility already had ways to analyze the soul, but the process was excruciating and had a low success rate.
It was not yet a perfected technique.
But Hashirama was different.
Simply put, compared to the other experimental subjects, he was far more durable.
Tobirama's expression remained icy cold.
He had already been deeply furious about his brother defecting from Konoha.
To him, Konoha had never been stronger than it was now.
This was the future he had always envisioned, a Konoha that dominated the shinobi world, invincible and unmatched.
Everything Aoba had done had perfectly aligned with his vision.
In Tobirama's mind, his brother and the old era's shinobi should be enjoying this new age peacefully.
Yet, Hashirama had changed.
Into someone he could barely recognize.
Tobirama couldn't accept that.
And now, with this opportunity in front of him...
He was determined to find out why.