In the mindscape, the Nine-Tails was still crying.
"I refuse to accept this!"
"Tailed Beasts have dignity too!"
"You ninja, every last one of you treats me like a source of chakra!"
"Madara used me to fight, Hashirama sealed me away, and Konoha made me into a Jinchūriki!"
"All I want is a little freedom! Why is that so hard?!"
Hashirama sighed and took half a step forward.
The Nine-Tails immediately shrank back.
"Don't come any closer!"
Hashirama stopped and said helplessly, "All right, I won't come closer."
He looked at Madara and said quietly, "Madara, why don't you say something?"
Madara's face was cold.
"He's cursing me."
Hashirama felt even more helpless.
"But you scared him into crying just now."
Madara: "..."
He looked at the Nine-Tails, who was sobbing for breath behind the iron gate. For the first time, something more complicated than impatience appeared on his face.
He was good at fighting a Tailed Beast.
But comforting a Tailed Beast who had broken down crying?
That was ridiculous.
Madara was silent for a moment. At last, he deactivated his Mangekyō and said coldly, "Enough."
The Nine-Tails stopped crying for a moment, his claws still resting on his face.
Madara looked at him.
"I didn't come here to control you this time."
The Nine-Tails sniffled, disbelief written all over his face.
"Really?"
Madara frowned.
"Would I, Madara Uchiha, have any reason to lie to you?"
The Nine-Tails was about to retort, but when he saw Hashirama beside Madara, he forcibly swallowed his words.
Madara continued, "I'm only here to warn you."
"This brat is still a Jinchūriki. If you take this chance to run wild, you'll cause trouble for the tavern mission."
"So behave yourself."
The Nine-Tails glared at him.
"That's it?"
"That's it."
"You won't control me?"
"No."
"You won't beat me up?"
Madara's face darkened.
"As long as you don't cause trouble."
The Nine-Tails looked at Hashirama.
Hashirama immediately waved his hands.
"I won't lay a hand on you either."
"I just followed Madara in to take a look."
The Nine-Tails stared at the two of them for a long while before his tails gradually relaxed.
But he remained huddled behind the iron gate, unwilling to bring even half his body closer.
Madara looked at him cowering there and snorted.
"The strongest Tailed Beast."
The Nine-Tails' fur immediately bristled.
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
Madara said flatly, "Nothing."
Hashirama hurried to smooth things over.
"All right, all right. Now that we've cleared things up, it's time we left."
The Nine-Tails was visibly relieved to hear they were leaving.
But he still talked tough.
"Go! Get out of here!"
"I don't want to see you!"
Madara glanced at him.
"Remember what I said."
The Nine-Tails immediately shut up.
Hashirama smiled awkwardly.
"Nine-Tails, we'll talk again when we get the chance."
The Nine-Tails' entire fox face twisted.
"There won't be a chance!"
"I'm not talking!"
"Don't come back!"
Madara couldn't be bothered with him anymore and turned to leave.
Hashirama followed, and the mindscape gradually warped.
Outside.
In a clearing deep in the back mountain, Naruto was still lying unconscious on the ground.
Hashirama held the Scroll of Seals firmly in his hands.
Madara opened his eyes, looking somewhat displeased.
Hashirama opened his eyes too, his expression still a little awkward.
He looked down at the Scroll of Seals in his arms, then at Madara.
"The mission's complete. Let's go back."
Madara held out his hand.
"Give it to me."
Hashirama blinked.
"What?"
"The Scroll of Seals."
Madara spoke as though it were only natural.
"I'll take it back and give it to the boss."
Hashirama immediately hugged the scroll tighter.
"Wait, I'm the one holding it."
Madara sneered.
"I'm the one who dealt with Mizuki."
Hashirama frowned.
"But the boss said to retrieve the Scroll of Seals, not burn down the mountain."
Madara's face darkened.
"Without me stepping in, would that trash have died so quickly?"
The corner of Hashirama's eye twitched.
"The problem is, the boss also said not to cause too much of a commotion."
He pointed into the distance.
"Look over there."
They both turned their heads.
On the outskirts of the back mountain, flames soared into the sky.
Madara Uchiha's Majestic Destroyer Flame was still burning, lighting up vast stretches of forest. Rolling waves of heat swept toward Konoha on the night wind.
Hashirama took a deep breath.
"And you call that not much of a commotion?"
Madara's face was expressionless.
"It's smaller than Susanoo."
Hashirama fell silent for two seconds.
From a certain point of view, that was actually true.
But he couldn't admit it.
"Anyway, I should be the one to take the Scroll of Seals back."
Madara reached out and grabbed the other end of the scroll.
"No."
Hashirama tightened his grip too.
"Madara, don't grab it."
"Let go."
"You first."
Each held one end, and neither would give way.
Naruto was still unconscious, completely unaware that the two legendary figures beside him were arguing like children over who would turn in the mission.
The Anbu's presence was drawing closer in the distance.
Hashirama lowered his voice.
"The Anbu are coming."
Madara snorted.
"Then let's go."
"I'll go if you let go."
"You let go."
The two of them pulled the scroll taut.
The next second, Hashirama suddenly slipped and started to fall backward, still clutching the scroll.
Madara's gaze turned cold, and he threw a punch.
Bang!
Hashirama was sent flying, scroll and all, crashing through two trees before slamming into the distant woods with a boom.
"Madara!"
Hashirama's voice came from within the cloud of dust.
Madara's expression changed slightly.
He had struck on instinct and hadn't expected Hashirama to go flying with the scroll.
He immediately gave chase.
"Give me the scroll!"
Their figures disappeared one after the other into the depths of the back mountain.
Not long after they left, Hiruzen Sarutobi arrived with the Anbu.
"Lord Third!"
An Anbu landed beside the scorched ground, his voice urgent.
"There are traces of a large-scale Fire Release here!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the vast blaze before him, his face as black as the bottom of a pot.
Half the back mountain had been set ablaze.
Trees crackled as they burned, and tongues of flame raced about on the wind. If the fire wasn't brought under control soon, it could reach the edge of the village.
Hiruzen Sarutobi gripped his pipe tightly, a vein throbbing at his temple.
He didn't need to ask to know that this was no Fire Release an ordinary ninja could produce.
Among Konoha's active ninja, few could unleash a sea of fire on this scale.
And when he thought of Hashirama and Madara, who had disappeared that night...
The answer was staring him in the face.
"Madara Uchiha..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi ground out the name through clenched teeth.
An Anbu beside him asked cautiously, "Lord Hokage, the Scroll of Seals..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi forcibly suppressed his anger.
"Put out the fire first!"
"I'll continue searching for the Scroll of Seals!"
"Bring in every ninja who knows Water Release!"
"We can't let the fire reach the village!"
The Anbu answered in unison.
"Yes!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the sea of flames, his chest tight with frustration.
He had been swindled out of a hundred thousand ryo.
The Scroll of Seals had been stolen.
And the mountain behind the village had been burned to this state.
Being Hokage tonight had sent his blood pressure through the roof.
Meanwhile.
At the Undead Tavern.
Zhang Yu had already closed the viewing perspective and was sitting behind the bar, waiting for them.
Before long, hurried footsteps sounded at the entrance.
Bang!
The tavern door was pushed open.
Hashirama rushed in clutching the Scroll of Seals, leaves and dust clinging to him, looking somewhat disheveled.
Madara followed close behind, his crimson armor marked by several scorched patches.
Both were panting, and they had evidently argued plenty along the way.
As soon as Hashirama entered, he shouted, "Boss! Mission complete!"
Madara grabbed the other end of the scroll.
"I completed it."