Hashirama and Madara were completely unaware that they had become the backdrop for thousands of people. Sitting not far from the sealing site, they recovered their chakra to ensure the sealing ritual proceeded smoothly.
They took the prepared ingredients from the logistics squad, threaded them onto skewers, and arranged them around the bonfire, preparing a lavish outdoor barbecue for the busy shinobi.
If one stood atop the demon god's head and looked down, the scattered bonfires below bloomed with all their might across the dusk-darkened ground, brilliant sparks of light belonging to the human world.
Sitting beside the bonfire, Uchiha Madara's gaze passed over Hashirama, who was shaving wooden sticks with a kunai, and settled on the azure Tailed Beast chakra being pulled from the Two-Tails behind him.
Madara was in an exceptionally good mood. He clenched his fist and lightly struck the armor over his chest, the hum of steel reaching his ears with the vibration.
The scar on his chest, restored as if it had never been there, was continuously fusing his chakra with Hashirama's. He could feel his strength steadily increasing.
Now that all the Tailed Beasts had been sealed, his plan could proceed accordingly. The only slightly troubling matter was that they had already been fused for so many days.
Their chakra changed every second, yet his eyes had not changed at all.
At the thought of the Ten-Tails inside the moon being revived in his hands, of that world-destroying power appearing once more in the Shinobi World—
Though it would be incomplete, it was enough to make his blood surge.
He looked at Hashirama and pondered inwardly: of the nine great Tailed Beasts, each sealed into twenty portions, how many should he take?
Sensing the scorching gaze, Hashirama paused in the middle of sticking the