High Heaven Palace · Main hall
"How are the new clothes? Do they fit?"
Kou lounged in his chair, one hand resting on the armrest and the other propping up his chin. He looked Hashirama over from head to toe and nodded in satisfaction.
Hashirama stood in the center of the hall, his ink-black fighting outfit hugging his broad shoulders and back. Round bronze ornaments gleamed a muted gold beneath the lights, and two red silk sashes hung from his waist, swaying slightly with every movement.
With his upright bearing and the righteousness in his features, the outfit gave Hashirama the air of a grandmaster.
...Provided one ignored the utterly idiotic look on his face.
At that moment, Hashirama was fiddling with his clothes, solemnly pressing his palms together one moment, then clenching his fists and throwing a couple of punches at the air the next, grinning foolishly all the while.
His goofy antics lightened the atmosphere throughout the hall.
Watching from the side, Tobirama sighed in weary resignation.
"Brother!!"
"Huh? Here! I'm here!!"
Hashirama immediately snapped to attention. Rubbing the back of his head, he gave Kou a thumbs-up with a sheepish grin.
"I don't know much about clothes—Mito usually picks them out for me—but this outfit... looks absolutely amazing!
Thank you, Kou."
As he spoke, he couldn't help recalling Madara's suit of pitch-black heavy armor. He compared the two looks in his mind, then declared smugly:
"Yep, a hundred times cooler than Madara's!!"
"Oh, come now, you flatter me. Surely that's an exaggeration.
My taste is only twenty thousand years ahead of that old bastard's! Gahahahaha!"
"Ahahahaha!"
Hashirama and Kou burst into laughter in perfect unison, completely oblivious to Tobirama's increasingly dark expression.
Bang!!
"Brother! And you, Uchiha brat! Both of you, take this seriously!"
Apparently unable to