The Eight Trigrams Seal Was Finally Chosen

Hibari's eyes shifted. He answered quietly, "An A-rank Ninjutsu with no hand seals—the Rasengan. I came up with it myself a while ago."

"Heh... Rasengan...?" Blood trickled from the corner of Madara's mouth again. His voice was faint. "You created it yourself? Hibari, you brat... You sure learned a lot from that bastard Senju Tobirama."

"I haven't neglected my Fire Style either, Lord Madara." Hibari's lips curved into a small smile.

Uchiha Madara struggled to raise his hand, but in the end he rested it on Hibari's head. This time, Hibari didn't dodge. He let the now-weak hand rest there.

"You still haven't grown any taller... That's why I underestimated you, Hibari." Madara managed to tug at the corners of his mouth, forcing out a faint smile.

Senju Hashirama stood behind Madara, his expression still resolute, but there was no hiding the grief in his eyes. The sword in his hand had already pierced Madara through the back, and its sharp tip now protruded from his chest.

Blood trickled down the blade, dripping onto the ground with soft plips. The few spots on Hibari's face had been splattered there just moments ago.

"You've changed too, Hashirama." Madara sighed, his voice wavering.

His body felt weaker and more painful with every passing moment, and he knew it all too well—in the past, Senju Hashirama would never have stabbed him so decisively. But now, the truth was right before his eyes.

"The village..." Senju Hashirama spoke, his voice heavy, with a slight tremble beneath it. "Anyone who wants to make an enemy of the village, who wants to make an enemy of us... no, of my village, I'll treat them as an enemy.

"Just like you said, Madara, we both clawed our way out of that chaotic era. How could we possibly go easy on our enemies?"

He understood the situation perfectly. The Five Great Nations and the five villages kept each other in check, and with him standing guard, they had barely managed to maintain this fragile peace. He wanted that peace to become more stable and last longer.

That was why Konoha absolutely couldn't fall. Otherwise, this delicate balance would shatter in an instant, war would break out, and their good days would be over.

For that, he had to harden his heart. Here and now, he had to end the life of his old friend with his own hands.

Madara's eyelids began to droop. The tomoe in his Sharingan slowly faded, leaving only ordinary black eyes. His knees buckled, and he pitched forward, falling straight toward Hibari with his head slumping onto Hibari's shoulder.

The movement nearly drove the blade protruding from his body into Hibari's chest.

"You've got it all backward... Hashirama." Madara rested his forehead against Hibari's shoulder and spoke in his ear, his breath faint. "Peace... isn't something you can get so easily. Sooner or later, all of this will become darkness and swallow everything."

After saying that, he fell silent.

Hibari was closest, so he could clearly feel it—Uchiha Madara, whose name had shaken the Shinobi World and who stood alongside the "God of Shinobi," Senju Hashirama, was truly dead this time.

Senju Hashirama should have been exhausted too, but his legs only gave way briefly. He swayed, yet managed to stay upright and didn't pass out.

Hibari watched him and felt a bit relieved. Had he really changed something, after all?

But that was just a thought. Senju Hashirama didn't look badly injured on the outside, but inside, he was in terrible shape. His foundation was damaged, and he'd expended a great deal of life force to heal himself and sustain his chakra. Whether he could recover from it was hard to say.

"Lord Hashirama... Lord Madara..." Hibari looked at the weakened Senju Hashirama and spoke softly.

A flash of pain crossed Senju Hashirama's eyes. He nodded without a word. Of course he knew that he had killed Uchiha Madara with his own hands.

Just then, Sarutobi Hiruzen appeared with a swift whoosh.

The moment he took in the scene, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. What the hell was going on? He'd only been a few steps behind, and Hibari had actually helped the Lord Hokage take down Uchiha Madara??? That was absurd! There had to be some kind of misunderstanding!

But there was no time to ask questions. He hurried over and supported Senju Hashirama, then turned and shouted at Hibari, "Hibari! You reckless brat, causing trouble again! Are you all right?!"

Hibari still had one hand supporting Uchiha Madara's corpse. He answered casually, "I'm mostly fine. Just broke one arm..."

Only after confirming Hibari wasn't in any mortal danger did Sarutobi Hiruzen relax. He turned to Senju Hashirama and asked, "Lord Hokage, Lady Mito is handling the Nine-Tails. What should we do with Uchiha Madara's body?"

Senju Hashirama glanced at Madara, whom Hibari was supporting, and fell silent for a moment.

"Bury him here," he said quietly. "Don't let this get around."

Uchiha Madara had attacked Konoha this time, and countless villagers and shinobi had witnessed it. Tobirama had confirmed it too.

Before, although he had left the village suddenly, he had at least still been a Konoha shinobi. But after what he'd done today, everything had changed—he was now a traitor to the village.

Naturally, the body of a traitor couldn't be given an elaborate funeral. Besides, he'd never been popular among the villagers. If they brought him back, who knew what kind of absurd, upsetting mess might break out?

Though Senju Hashirama had personally ended the life of his old friend, he couldn't bring himself to leave him out in the wilderness.

Even if they weren't friends, Madara had once been a great figure who shook the world. Leaving him to rot would be going too far.

So he decided it would be best to bury him right there. As long as the few people present kept quiet, no one would disturb the dead man's rest.

Neither Hibari nor Sarutobi Hiruzen objected. Sarutobi Hiruzen quickly formed hand seals and called, "Earth Release: Moving Earth Core!"

As soon as he spoke, the ground in a secluded spot nearby rose and sank, forming a pit just big enough for one person.

Hibari endured the stabbing pain in his right wrist as he helped Uchiha Madara upright, then laid him flat on the ground. Looking at Madara's eyes, which seemed to still be open, he couldn't help sighing.

Even though he knew the man would come back to life sooner or later, seeing him lying there dead still left Hibari feeling uneasy.

He reached out, intending to close Uchiha Madara's eyes.

But the moment Hibari's palm covered them, a sudden, inexplicable craving surged through his body, and his own eyes began to itch.

The sensation came and went quickly, though. As soon as he moved his hand away from Madara's face, the craving and the itch in his eyes vanished without a trace.

"How strange..." Hibari stared at Uchiha Madara's face, baffled and confused.

Could the Mangekyō Sharingan be responsible? Was something wrong with him?

His mind wandered through all sorts of wild guesses. But this wasn't the time to dwell on them. Hibari pressed down with his hand and finally closed Uchiha Madara's eyelids.

Just then, Senju Hashirama summoned the last of his strength and staggered over. He bent down and lifted his old friend from the ground.

Swaying with every step, he walked to the pit they had prepared and laid Uchiha Madara's body inside with his own hands. Then he covered it with earth himself.

Hibari watched quietly from the side. With his still-functioning left hand, he channeled Medical Ninjutsu chakra over his sprained right wrist, easing the pain and treating the injury.

At the same time, he kept turning over that strange sensation in his mind—the itch in his eyes and the instinctive craving.

Looking back now, a thought had begun to creep into his mind: he wanted to dig out Uchiha Madara's Mangekyō Sharingan...

But the moment this dangerous thought surfaced, he forced it down with all his reason.

Leaving aside how despicable it would be, just thinking about the consequences was enough to make his scalp tingle: Uchiha Madara would come back to life sooner or later. When he opened his eyes and realized they were gone, wouldn't he hunt Hibari down to the ends of the world? Hibari had to admit that even if Lord Madara were blind, beating him up would probably still be child's play.

Besides, Lord Hashirama and Teacher Hiruzen were standing right there. How could they possibly let him dig up a grave and steal the eyes?

"Besides," Hibari thought, glancing back in the direction of Konoha, "Madara isn't the only one with a Sharingan. What's the rush? I'll figure it out eventually."

After burying Uchiha Madara in the Valley of the End, Hibari, Senju Hashirama, and Sarutobi Hiruzen returned to where the Nine-Tails was.

Uzumaki Mito had already laid dense arrays around the Nine-Tails Fox, and the ground was covered in complicated sealing script.

Hearing footsteps, she turned around. When she saw that the three she'd been worried about had returned, she finally let out a long breath of relief.

Although her husband, Senju Hashirama, was pale as paper, and Hibari had taken a hit too, at least they had all come back in one piece. The worst hadn't happened, and that was enough to make her thankful.

"Grandma Mito, need a hand?" Hibari asked with a grin.

Uzumaki Mito glared at him at once. Her tone was reproachful, but her concern was impossible to hide. "You little rascal, you'd be a huge help if you just gave me less to worry about! I'll settle the score with you when we get back to the village."

Hibari could only smile awkwardly. He didn't dare go over and say anything else.

Senju Hashirama could still walk and talk, but his body was already at its limit.

To avoid wasting time, Uzumaki Mito quickly checked the technique. Then her expression turned stern, and chakra surged violently around her.

"Eight Trigrams Seal!" she cried, forming hand seals.

The Eight Trigrams Seal was made by combining two Four Symbols Seals. Ever since the Five Kage Summit ended and it had been decided that the Nine-Tails would be brought into Konoha, Uzumaki Mito had known that she would probably become its Jinchūriki.

For that reason, she had studied a great many Sealing Jutsu and ultimately settled on the Eight Trigrams Seal.

There was no denying that the technique was well suited to dealing with the Nine-Tails. She wasn't the only one to choose it, either. Later, when Uzumaki Kushina and the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, sealed the Nine-Tails, they used the same technique.

As a secret sealing technique passed down by the Uzumaki Clan, few people in the world knew how to use it, let alone how to undo it.

At Uzumaki Mito's command, the Nine-Tails Fox was drawn into the sealing array, then pulled into her body. But at that critical moment, the Nine-Tails suddenly awoke. It realized it was about to be stuffed into someone else's belly and immediately understood what was happening.

"Damn humans! I'll kill every last one of you sooner or later!" the Nine-Tails roared, then vanished completely.

The two Four Symbols Seals merged into an Eight Trigrams Seal. It rotated twice over her stomach, then disappeared.

Hibari had wondered whether Grandma Mito would feel weak afterward, but she acted as though nothing had happened. She casually touched her stomach and said, "The Lord Hokage's injuries can't wait. We'll talk about it once we're back. Let's go!"

Hibari and Sarutobi Hiruzen exchanged glances and nodded at the same time. Without a word, Sarutobi Hiruzen hoisted Senju Hashirama onto his back.

Senju Hashirama struggled and said, "Little Monkey, put me down..."

But Sarutobi Hiruzen lowered his voice and replied, "Lord Hokage, don't push yourself right now." Then he took off running toward the Hidden Leaf Village.