Hashirama Senju: So many people in the Land of Fire sing Makoto's praises. Tobirama, you're just not as good as him!

Chapter 482: I'm the Nine-Tails, not some tailed beast with no principles or self-respect like the Two-Tails or Seven-Tails!

"Then sorry for the trouble, Mito..."

Tobirama Senju nodded, feeling as though a weight had finally lifted from his heart.

With the village's defenses settled, he really had no desire to keep chatting. He intended to hurry back to his room and catch up on sleep.

Early tomorrow morning, he would have to sneak out of the village with his older brother, then rough it all the way to the Akatsuki Ninja Village. If he did not seize the chance to get some sleep tonight, he seriously wondered whether his chronically overworked body would give out halfway there, before he even caught sight of the village gates.

Yet he had barely turned and taken two steps when Mito Uzumaki stopped him from leaving.

Instead, at this very moment, she brought up another extremely thorny matter.

"Tobirama, don't leave just yet."

"About what you mentioned to me before... having me try to communicate with the Nine-Tails sealed in the basement, using a gentler approach to improve its opinion of Konoha and eventually reach some agreement to borrow its power."

"I tried following your suggestion. I'd say it failed. It didn't help at all."

"That damned Demon Fox is a beast that responds to neither kindness nor force."

"No matter how I threaten or entice it, it refuses to accept Konoha's terms. In its eyes, we Senju and the Uchi-

"-ha are all enemies who treat it like an animal to order around."

"Forget having it willingly protect the village in a crisis. I'm afraid the first thing it would do after breaking free of its seal is take revenge on Konoha."

Mito Uzumaki gave a cold snort as she spoke.

As the