"Since I started with a tiger, I should take down two from each carnivore species present in my domain." With the decision made, he connected his senses with his Domain and started to kill animals who were on the last leg of their lives, showing them a bit of mercy.
Half an hour later, he was standing with his head held high. In front of him were twenty Shadow Animals, all in pairs of different species. Behind him were the corpses of the animals that he had converted into his Shadow Animals.
Looking at his animals, he saw a pair of mountain cats, mountain tigers, mountain gorillas, mountain bears, vultures, foxes, cougars, wolverines, sharks, and ravens, all with black fur or feathers, glowing purple skin, and blank white eyes.
With a thought, all the corpses were sent back to where he found them when they were alive. Then, looking at his Shadow Animals, he said, "From now on, whenever I do some hand signs and slam it on the ground while shouting "Summoning Jutsu", one of you will appear in front of me with a puff of smoke." Seeing them nodding at him, he smiled and said, "The one who will be appearing as my summoned beast will be selected by me, according to the situation. Got it? Good, now get back into my Shadow. We're going to find a good specimen for your ranks."
As soon as the Shadow Animals went into his shadow, he switched himself with a rock at the border of his Domain and the Land of Rice Fields. When he stepped out of his domain, the first thing he felt was the overwhelming power he had inside his domain.
Shaking his head, he muttered to himself, "You're invincible inside your Domain, but outside of it, you're like anyone else. One precise shot, and then you're dead. So get strong, fast."
With a resolution made, Keisuke started his journey towards the area where he died last time. The place where the remains of Tobirama Senju were taken away by the Grass Ninja. Since he knew it would take two months for Tobirama to die, his pace was slow, taking in the scenery, breathing the non-polluted air, hunting the wild carnivorous animals he encountered, turning them into his Shadow Soldiers, and hunting deer or rabbits for meals—a leisurely pace.
Almost one month passed since he set out to the place where he died before his regression. When he reached the place, he ordered his shadow birds to do reconnaissance while he stayed inside the shadow of his Shadow Bear. 'Thanks to my Shadow Soldiers, I was able to go unnoticed easily. Send out a shadow bear, hide in my shadow realm, and travel at high speed. Better than those high-speed trains, to be honest.'
He stayed inside his realm in luxury, roasting rabbits, smoking venison, eating different types of fruits, and sleeping in a modest bed made out of clay and animal furs. To drink fresh water, he sent out his shadow gorillas to fill up his water bottles. Like that, he stayed in his shadow realm for another month, waiting for the second Hokage to come here on his last leg.
While waiting for the Hokage to arrive, he thought things through again. 'From what I remember, the ones who killed Tobirama were also Kage-level ninja, and they had a lot of Jonin-level ninjas, and Tobirama killed most of them and gave the rest life-threatening injuries that killed them later. Why don't I add them in to my army too?
Suddenly, his eyes gleamed, and he muttered, "He's here."
Keisuke closed his eyes and connected with his shadow vultures that were flying over the area and observed Tobirama as he sat down on the ground, leaning against the largest tree. After some long time, the breathing of Tobirama stilled, but Keisuke didn't go out immediately. Instead, he made his shadow vulture land near Tobirama and ordered it to gouge out his eyes to get some reaction.
"Just as I suspected." Keisuke muttered as he watched Tobirama open his eyes and scrutinize the vulture that was standing in front of him.
Then, seemingly peering through the vulture's eyes and looking at Keisuke, Tobirama said in a weak but cold, calculating voice, "I don't know who you are or what you want. But I know you are here and that you have surrounded me with your summoned animals or something." He took a long breath and continued speaking, "If you are here to kill me, then let me see your face. If you're not, then at the very least introduce yourself."
Inside the shadow realm, Keisuke said with a smirk, "What a tenacious man. He's holding onto his life with his sheer will." Then, scratching his chin, he said, "I can meet him, but I can't let him see my face."
With the decision made, he let the shadows cover him and turn them intoto a full-body shadow armor with a cape and sword. Nodding his head, he exited the shadow realm through the shadow of the vulture and stood before Tobirama.
Seeing an armored knight stepping out of the shadow of the vulture, Tobirama thought, 'Is it an unknown kekkei genkai, or is it similar to the shadow jutsu of the Nara Clan?' Then, looking at Keisuke, Tobirama said, "Are you from the Nara Clan?"
"No." A one-word reply, nothing else.
After his reply, both of them didn't say anything more and stood there in silence, and the first one to break the silence was Tobirama, who asked, "Aren't you going to kill me?"
"No." Another one-word reply.
Tilting his head upward to face Keisuke, Tobirama asked, "Then why have you surrounded me?"
"You have a lot of questions for a dying man." Keisuke said with a chuckle.
Tobirama didn't say anything and just observed the towering knight standing in front of him. After a few moments, Tobirama concluded, "You are waiting for my death so that you could take my head and collect the bounty for it. Or, you want my dead body to do experiments."
Keisuke shook his head and told Tobirama with mirth in his voice, "I am waiting for your death, but I'm not here to collect your head to get the bounty on your head or to take your body and do experiments with it." Chuckling, he said, "No, I'm just here to watch the last moments of a powerful man who ruled Konoha with an iron fist."
Tobirama squinted his eyes and said, "You are telling partial truths."
"Better than a lie or the whole truth." Keisuke said with a mocking tone, and that was the last thing Tobirama heard in his life.
Tobirama Senju died with his eyes open in the Land of Frost.
Bowing to the dead body, Keisuke prayed for the departed soul. Then, straightening his body, he extended his hand and said, "Arise."
Like the first extraction with the tiger, the shadow of Tobirama resisted the call of its monarch. Seeing this, Keisuke only had a smirk while thinking, 'I don't have the same mastery as Ashborn and Sung Jinwoo, so I need all three tries to extract a strong-willed shadow.'
"Arise." Keisuke tried again, and this time there was a small reaction, but he still resisted.
So Keisuke tried again. "Arise!"
Very slowly, the shadow was extracted from Tobirama, and a new shadow soldier was added to his shadow army, this one having the power of a General level at its birth. The purple-skinned, black-armored shadow knelt in front of Keisuke and said, "My liege. Your orders."
Keisuke smirked and said, "I am leaving you the command over the shadow soldiers. Go and hunt down your killers and inform me. After the mission, I'll name you."
"Yes, my liege." Then, glancing at the dead body, the general asked, "What will you do to the body, my liege?"
"What do you think I should do? Should I burn it into ashes and send it to Konoha, or send the whole body to Konoha?" Keisuke asked his first shadow general.