"Madara, where did you go just now? Didn't you say you'd help cut the ribbon for my shop's grand opening today?" Hashirama asked, looking rather unhappy as Madara returned.
"Nothing much. I had something very urgent to take care of," Madara said slowly.
"Hehe, never mind, never mind. We haven't started yet anyway. I'm just happy you came, Madara," Hashirama said with a chuckle.
Konoha Hospital...
"Doctor! Doctor! We have an injured Tailed Beast!" a nurse shouted as she wheeled a mangled little orange-red thing into the operating room.
"An injured Tailed Beast? Oh, him. He's a regular. Just leave him there. I'll take care of him once I'm done with this one," the doctor said expressionlessly after a surprised glance at the familiar Tailed Beast on the bed.
"Holy shit, Gyuki? What are you doing here too?" Little Nine-Tails, who had been beaten so badly he needed manual censoring, struggled to turn his head toward the Tailed Beast the doctor was treating beside him in the same operating room.
"Ah, we were running short on ingredients at the shop, and one customer kept demanding squid. I... figured I could roast my own tentacles if I had to, since they'd grow back anyway. Who knew I'd end up burning myself?" Gyuki said helplessly.
"..."
A few hours later, the two fellow sufferers walked up to the nurses' station with their arms around each other's shoulders and struggled to hop onto the counter.
"Tailed Beasts? Fill out this Tailed Beast treatment log, then pay over there, and you're free to go," the nurse said, handing them a notebook without batting an eye.
The two little Tailed Beasts opened the treatment log with practiced ease.
``` [January 25, Konoha Year 41. Shukaku: grade-one disability.]
[January 24, Konoha Year 41. Son Goku: bitten