"Gah!!!"
Inside the Kamui Dimension, the Masked Man—who was just trying to catch a harmless afternoon nap—was jolted awake by yet another nightmare.
What the hell did he just dream about? Was it a sequel? A continuous loop?
After Kakashi took his balls in the first dream, he was "saved" by Madara again, told again that Kakashi and Rin were in danger, and rushed over to the scene.
Then he saw something straight out of a horror movie.
Kakashi was holding a knife, digging out Rin's heart along with a massive chunk of her chest, and slapping it into a Sealing Scroll.
The scene was too terrifying, too shocking for him!
What exactly was that bastard Kakashi trying to do?
Was transplanting his balls not enough? Did he want to transplant Rin's organs onto himself too?
Was he trying to achieve some kind of unholy trinity of body parts?
Although he knew it was a dream the Masked Man didn't let his guard down.
Dreams reflect one's subconscious thoughts, but the problem was he hadn't had such twisted thoughts before.
So why would he have such a specific, gore-filled dream?
There was only one possibility: this was information being transmitted directly from the Sharingan he left with Kakashi.
The Masked Man didn't know what the hell was happening on Kakashi's end, but since it caused him to have such a perverted, gore-filled nightmare, he had to go to Konoha to investigate and clarify the situation immediately!
....
Mountain Villa, Outside of Konoha.
"Yakumo is coming back to Amegakure with us. Once she recovers her health, we can think about the Tailed Beast matter. Does Konoha have a problem with that?"
Makoto turned his gaze to Tsunade.
"Agreed."
This time, Tsunade finally didn't raise any more suspicions or arguments; she just straightforwardly agreed to Makoto's suggestion.
Yuhi Kurenai seemed like she wanted to say something, but she hesitated.
She really wanted to accompany Kurama Yakumo as her guardian.
But her responsibilities weren't limited to just Yakumo, she was also the Jonin leader of Team 8.
Among the three members of Team 8, Shino was quite mature and calm, but the other two?
Kiba and Hinata clearly weren't capable of handling things independently yet.
She couldn't abandon three people for the sake of one right now.
That would be irresponsible.
"Sigh." Hashirama was squatting in the corner, growing mushrooms of depression.
"What's wrong with him?" Makoto found it strange.
"Heh... with the Masked Man's identity basically confirmed, Big Brother found that he couldn't refute my statement about the 'inherently evil Uchiha' anymore."
When Tobirama said this, his tone carried a hint of sick satisfaction!
"Sigh." Hashirama looked up dejectedly at his younger brother and didn't even try to argue.
Because it was true.
He never expected that the Uchiha boy described by Kushina—the one who aimed to become Hokage, was sunny and innocent, and helped elderly women cross the street—could commit such atrocities.
Logically speaking, based on what Kushina had described, even if Obito didn't love the village, there should have been no bad blood between them.
Yet the guy mercilessly killed the Fourth Hokage and his wife, and caused the deaths of countless people in the village.
If it were because Konoha had wronged him—like how Nagato's parents were actually killed by Konoha ninja—that would be somewhat understandable.
But the problem is, Rin Nohara wasn't killed by Konoha directly.
This wasn't about revenge.
Was it for his "cause" then? To capture Tailed Beasts and create the Ten-Tails?
That didn't make sense either!
Makoto had clearly told them that the Akatsuki Organization's original plan to collect Tailed Beasts and revive the Ten-Tails needed to follow a specific order.
They had to start collecting from the One-Tail.
So the Masked Man couldn't possibly have been capturing the Nine-Tails for the plan's sake, choosing to "sacrifice family for righteousness."
Hashirama racked his brains but couldn't come up with a single reasonable explanation for the guy's actions.
In the end, he could only despairingly accept his younger brother Tobirama's theory of "the inherently evil Uchiha."
"First Hokage, since we're on this topic... guess what I'm thinking?" Makoto chuckled lightly.
"What are you thinking?" Hashirama looked at Makoto in confusion.
"I'm thinking about all those Tailed Beasts you captured. Each of them had emotions, personalities, and principles, yet they were all sealed away in jars, becoming sources of hatred."
"Tailed Beasts have emotions and principles? Are you joking?" Tobirama expressed surprise.
"When you were resurrected by Orochimaru via Impure World Reincarnation in Amegakure, didn't you sense the Seven-Tails Chomei's chakra there? The Seven-Tails is coexisting harmoniously with its Jinchuriki."
"...Now that you mention it, we did."
Hashirama and Tobirama exchanged glances, confirming it with each other.
Although they hadn't deliberately tried to scan for it, their sensory abilities were just too good to miss it.
Plus, since the Seven-Tails and Fuu were chill with each other, there was no need for heavy chakra-suppression seals, so the Tailed Beast Chakra's presence was completely exposed.
"Can Tailed Beasts really make up with humans?" Both Hashirama and Tobirama looked genuinely curious.
Even Hashirama Senju, the sunny Asura reincarnate who habitually thought the best of everyone, had told the Nine-Tails "your power is too great, I must seal you."
Here, "too great" wasn't compared to him and Madara, but to ordinary people.
This showed that in Hashirama's eyes, the Nine-Tails was still a mindless, uncontrollable beast, and possessing such insane strength would only bring disaster, hence it needed to be locked up.
But now it seemed this might not be the case.
After Makoto's brief explanation, Hashirama slapped his forehead in regret.
"So you mean I was wrong? I should have sworn brotherhood with the Nine-Tails to fight Madara together! Then I could have asked it to help protect Konoha after my death!"
It could only be said that under Makoto's guidance, Hashirama Senju had finally learned to extrapolate and understand how to improve others' favorability.
Indeed.
Back then, the Nine-Tails was controlled by Madara's Sharingan and hated Madara the most.
If Hashirama had just properly tried to win over the Nine-Tails like a tsundere heroine after releasing it from control—back when it wasn't yet filled with hatred from being sealed—it could have been completely tamed.
If the Nine-Tails could sacrifice itself using Baryon Mode for the next generation's Asura reincarnation (Naruto), then being moved by this generation's Asura reincarnation (Hashirama) could certainly have made it Konoha's willing guardian beast.
"Indeed. The current Tailed Beasts are filled with hatred toward all ninja due to being sealed in cages. To regain their recognition now, we must start from negative favorability and work our way up step by step—it's extremely difficult."
"Moreover, Jinchuriki themselves don't have much goodwill toward Tailed Beasts. The psychological and physiological pressure brought by Tailed Beasts makes it very hard for Jinchuriki to even want to win them over."
Makoto explained the mechanics of the struggle.
"No wonder you're using Tailed Beasts from the Illusionary World as replacements. Those Tailed Beasts really are good children... well, good animals." Hashirama sighed deeply.
"..."
Tsunade listened nearby, feeling somewhat familiar with this situation.
First, mistaken perceptions turn favorability negative... and now she has to slowly rebuild it step by step from negative...
...Wasn't this exactly her current situation with Makoto?
'Fuck, Is this some kind of Senju clan tradition?'
"Ahem. Since matters are settled, if you're not in a hurry, why not rest in Konoha for a few days before leaving?"
Thinking of this, Tsunade extended an invitation to stay.
"...Let's stay for a few days. Me and my brother would like to see Konoha again. And I can help with one more thing."
Tobirama Senju made the request to Makoto.
This was kinda strange.
The Second Hokage clearly had some other purpose in mind!