The Three-Tails and Six-Tails stared up at the Nine-Tails before them in disbelief.
The two of them had been dealt with by Mito while they were unconscious and passively recovering.
So even without sealing vessels to contain them, exquisite Fūinjutsu had suppressed them until they were only about half the size of a person...
The chakra within their bodies was practically frozen.
Even so, at their current size, they were actually still bigger than the Nine-Tails...
But the problem was, the Nine-Tails, in its little fox form, was standing on Mito's shoulder!
It had even dropped down from the sky, clearly not under anyone's control.
One look was enough to tell that it had been freely roaming around outside and had only rushed back in a hurry after someone notified it...
"No..."
"Why are you outside?"
"Weren't you captured by Uchiha Madara? I heard you were later subdued by Senju Hashirama, and then sealed away by the strongest kunoichi of the Uzumaki Clan..."
"I always thought you had it the worst out of all of us!" The Three-Tails' face showed an almost human expression of confusion.
Among the nine Tailed Beasts, the One-Tail could be considered relatively lucky. It had been locked inside a teapot at the Wind Temple.
Since there was no jinchūriki keeping it under constant personal control, it actually had relatively more freedom within the vessel's inner space.
The rest of the Tailed Beasts had basically all suffered...
As for the Nine-Tails, the battle between Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara had been far too famous. The story of one beast getting beaten down by both of those supreme monsters had spread throughout the shinobi world. Even the Tailed Beasts had heard about it...
The Six-Tails nodded repeatedly.
"Exactly! You got beaten up by both the Shura of the Shinobi World and the God of Shinobi!"
"And back when we attended lessons, you were always the least attentive. All you ever did was sleep or doze off... If the tanuki were the one saying all this, that'd be one thing!"
The Nine-Tails' expression immediately darkened.
They hadn't seen each other in so long, yet its brothers' emotional intelligence was still this terrible!
One glance was enough to tell that they hadn't made any progress in hundreds of years. They hadn't learned how society worked, nor had they thought about learning ninjutsu.
Their beastly nature clearly hadn't been shed at all!
"Where did you even hear all that?!"
The Nine-Tails crossed its arms.
"Let me tell you, Uchiha Madara was the one who begged me to help him back then! Without yours truly, his Susanoo wouldn't have been able to stand against Hashirama's True Several Thousand Hands!"
"I only reluctantly lent him my power because his attitude was sincere, and because his goal was to debate the Nindō of peace with Senju Hashirama..."
Mito listened with an amused smile, remaining silently on the sidelines.
However, she had once again picked up a crucial piece of information from the Nine-Tails.
There seemed to be countless connections between the Tailed Beasts and the Sage of Six Paths.
Ever since the Nine-Tails had begun interacting with the outside world, wandering around the village and coming into contact with more people, the amount it had spoken with humans during this period had probably surpassed everything it had said over the previous thousand years combined.
And the more it talked, the more inevitable it was that something would slip out. After all, the Nine-Tails wasn't exactly cautious by nature.
Sometimes, when showing off how old and experienced it was, it would let a thing or two about the Sage of Six Paths slip. The same occasionally happened during its casual conversations with Mito...
At first, Mito had assumed the Nine-Tails was simply bragging.
But judging by the Three-Tails' and Six-Tails' answers and instinctive reactions, the credibility of those claims was rising exponentially.
'So the Sage of Six Paths really existed?'
'And not only that, it seems he even taught these Tailed Beasts?'
The thoughts flashed through Mito's mind.
'Hiruzen also asked me before about the Uchiha's Sage Stone Tablet. The techniques recorded on it really are ancient methods. Looking at it this way, perhaps they really could have been passed down by the Sage...'
Mito committed the matter to memory.
Meanwhile, the Nine-Tails seemed to realize that it had let something slip as well, and began frantically signaling the Three-Tails and Six-Tails with its eyes.
The Sage of Six Paths had said before that it would be best not to tell the shinobi world about his family...
"Even if you and Uchiha Madara cooperated willingly, didn't Senju Hashirama capture you afterward anyway?"
The Three-Tails and Six-Tails spoke in unison.
The two of them genuinely thought the Nine-Tails was bragging!
{Mito, back me up here. Please, please...}
The Nine-Tails communicated with Mito within their mental world while outwardly declaring with complete confidence: "Capture me? You two are ridiculous! I heard the First Hokage's Will of Fire and agreed with it!"
"Compared to Uchiha Madara, I came to approve of Senju Hashirama more, so I joined Konoha!"
The Three-Tails and Six-Tails looked utterly baffled.
What kind of three-lord-serving turncoat was this?!
The Sage of Six Paths, the Uchiha, and the Senju—you'd really gone through all three, huh?
"But didn't you end up locked inside someone else's body afterward? You call that 'joining'?" the Three-Tails asked in a muffled voice.
As a turtle, it had a rather straightforward personality and liked getting to the bottom of things.
The Six-Tails wore a plainly skeptical expression, waiting to see how the Nine-Tails would try to talk its way out of this one.
The Nine-Tails' eyes darted around.
"See? This is exactly what you don't understand! But for a stupid turtle like you, I suppose it's only natural that you wouldn't understand yours truly!"
"How did it go back then...?"
"Tailed Beasts and shinobi can cooperate. Only by joining forces can both sides build peace. That's why I willingly partnered with Mito—to overcome the various shortcomings of being a Tailed Beast and learn how to control chakra."
The Nine-Tails brought its hands together.
Its Tailed Beast chakra was sculpted with extraordinary precision into two lifelike fists. One after another, they knocked the Three-Tails and Six-Tails on the head, leaving a Fūinjutsu mark on each of them.
The Three-Tails and Six-Tails were both stunned!
What the hell? The Nine-Tails had stopped relying on brute force and actually learned chakra shape transformation and Fūinjutsu?!
Of course, the Nine-Tails couldn't actually do this on its own.
Although it had improved somewhat with Mito's help, it was still a long way from being able to imbue its chakra with sealing techniques.
Mito was the one pulling the strings.
{Mito, give me another one!}
{Help me out!} The Nine-Tails reveled in the expressions on the Three-Tails' and Six-Tails' faces while urgently pleading in its mind: {I patrol the village every day. I've earned this...}
Mito smiled inwardly.
She had noticed that ever since the Nine-Tails' main body had fallen dormant and it had begun appearing through a clone, its reduced chakra making it take on the appearance of a young fox, even its way of thinking had somehow become more adorable...
At the very least, it was much easier to get along with than when it had been a giant fox. It no longer bared its fangs at the slightest provocation.
Tailed Beasts truly were strange life-forms...
{All right, all right...}
Mito spoke as though coaxing a child. {You've earned it!}
The Nine-Tails frowned. Mito's tone sounded far too kindly. It felt like she was treating it like a little kid...
But before it could think any further, a surge of chakra began flowing through its body. The Nine-Tails hurriedly pressed its hands together again, assuming the posture of forming a hand seal.
One savage crimson-gold chain after another came roaring out from the Nine-Tails' back!
Uzumaki Kekkei Genkai—Adamantine Sealing Chains, Tailed Beast Chakra Simulation Version!
"Well?!"
Although the Nine-Tails itself was surprised, it still burst into delighted laughter.
"The Uzumaki Clan's sealing Kekkei Genkai! You two might be ignorant, but surely you've at least heard of it?"
This time, the Three-Tails and Six-Tails stopped arguing. They stared at the Nine-Tails, dumbfounded.
Good grief...
You really can do it!
So all those stories circulating through the shinobi world were just rumors? The Nine-Tails hadn't been beaten up one after another by Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama. Instead, both of them had asked for its help, and after carefully choosing between the two, it had ultimately decided to join Konoha?
The Three-Tails couldn't help clicking its tongue.
It had always thought that the One-Tail, who knew ninjutsu and Fūinjutsu, had been the smartest one during their lessons. But now it seemed that the Nine-Tails, who got along worst with the One-Tail, was actually the craftiest of them all...
The Six-Tails was equally shocked.
Back then, the Sage of Six Paths had repeatedly told the Nine-Tails to pay attention during lessons, but the fox had always acted disdainful.
It had believed that it was the strongest even without any of that, and that so-called ninjutsu was nothing but a bunch of pointless tricks...
Yet after entering the shinobi world, it had apparently started studying all of it?
This fox was too crafty!
It had been secretly studying behind everyone's backs!
The Three-Tails and Six-Tails exchanged a glance. They even began to wonder whether, back then, the Nine-Tails had only looked like it was sleeping while its fox ears had actually been perked straight up...
It had heard everything! And committed it all to memory, too...
"Just look at the two of you..."
The Nine-Tails shook its head, savoring the pleasure of seeing its brothers so shocked.
"All these years and you haven't improved at all. Honestly, you're making me worry myself sick!"
The corners of Mito's lips couldn't help curling upward.
The Nine-Tails really could be adorable sometimes in its little fox form...
"You're still lost in the delusion that having Tailed Beast Balls and enormous bodies somehow makes you strong..."
"Look across the entire shinobi world. You could easily find more than ten shinobi capable of taking you down now!"
"What were the principles of Ninshū back then? Mutual understanding, mutual assistance. The whole point was for us to join an organization that suited us, help others, and receive their help in return..."
The Nine-Tails spoke with deep disappointment.
"And look at you two! One hiding in a valley, the other crawling around in the sea, spending every day without the slightest thought of improving yourselves. And in the end, some mere Third Mizukage controlled you for all these years! You've completely disgraced us Tailed Beasts!"
"Now look at me..."
"I chose to join Konoha and help build the Will of Fire..."
"Do you know how many people would sincerely come help me if someone tried causing trouble for me now?" the Nine-Tails asked with the confidence of someone flaunting immense wealth.
The Three-Tails and Six-Tails asked with both awe and anticipation, "How many?"
"All of Konoha would come to my aid, because I'm a member of the village, embraced by the Will of Fire!"
The Nine-Tails curled its mouth into a smug grin.
"Wood Release, Mangekyō Sharingan, Adamantine Sealing Chains, Byakugan, Shikotsumyaku..."
"Medical ninjutsu, aerospace technology, the Three Sage Regions..."
With every new item the Nine-Tails rattled off, the Three-Tails and Six-Tails felt their heads spin a little more.
Konoha was that powerful?
"And there's the Hokage!"
"Let me tell you two, I'm about to become a Konoha Council Member. Do you know what a Konoha Council Member is?"
The Nine-Tails spoke mysteriously.
"It means I'm the kind of person who gets to attend meetings with the Hokage. He has to seriously listen to my opinions. You two should at least know who the Hokage is, right?"
Only then did the recently awakened Three-Tails and Six-Tails remember what had happened just before they lost consciousness.
A burly man clad in heavy black armor had first shattered the Third Mizukage who was controlling them with just a few punches. Then he'd picked both of them up and, with monstrous strength surpassing even the Five-Tails', used their heads like drums...
They had nearly been sent straight back to the process of re-forming themselves...
"You're even close with the Hokage?"
"Of course I know him! We chat and eat ramen together all the time. He's my friend!"
The Nine-Tails spoke animatedly, its face positively glowing.
Meeting old friends had made it especially talkative today. Its exuberant expression made it seem as though it had returned to those days when they had all sat beneath the Sage of Six Paths, joking and fooling around together.
"Let's put it this way. In Konoha, as long as you don't break the rules, if something happens, you can come to me and I'll get it handled..."
At this point, the Three-Tails and Six-Tails genuinely began to admire the Nine-Tails.
They had all thought it had ended up the worst off. Who would've guessed that this cunning fox had quietly struck it rich without ever thinking to give its brothers a hand!
"Then..."
"Then what about us..."
The Three-Tails and Six-Tails cautiously asked, "We fought the Hokage. About that..."
"I'll smooth that over for you two."
"You have to understand, I'm a Konoha Council Member. What I say carries weight in the village. I can personally vouch for your character. Besides, I already know what happened—you were being controlled by the Third Mizukage..."
The Nine-Tails spoke with complete nonchalance.
In reality, it wasn't actually a Konoha Council Member yet. What Hiruzen had said was that if it successfully persuaded the Three-Tails and Six-Tails to surrender, he would make it Konoha's hereditary "Guardian Beast of the Village."
But the Nine-Tails had somehow figured out a trick all on its own...
Borrow the status of Konoha Council Member in advance and use it to make its attempt to persuade the Three-Tails and Six-Tails more convincing.
That way, once it succeeded, everything would work out neatly for both sides, and it would get exactly what it wanted as well.
It might not be entirely in accordance with the rules, but this was wartime. Extraordinary circumstances called for flexibility.
Besides, Mito hadn't spoken up to object, which meant there was nothing wrong with it.
Interest visibly lit up in the Three-Tails' and Six-Tails' eyes.
Something occurred to Mito, and she thought to herself: 'I never expected the Nine-Tails to improve this quickly. It really is just as Hiruzen said. Reading more and continuing to learn are enormously beneficial even for Tailed Beasts.'
As Mito saw it, if the Nine-Tails had possessed this kind of eloquence when it fought Hashirama, perhaps it wouldn't have ended up sealed inside her in the first place...
Between a Tailed Beast and Hashirama, it was honestly hard to say which one was easier to talk around.
Given Hashirama's personality, if the Nine-Tails had claimed that its heart had always been with the Will of Fire, wouldn't it have had him wrapped around its little finger?
Mito found the thought amusing.
But the Nine-Tails was dissatisfied with the reaction of its two old brothers.
How were they still hesitating?
"Hey!"
The Nine-Tails suddenly roared and threw both arms outward.
"Let me tell you two this: if you want your lives as Tailed Beasts to change even the slightest bit, the only proper path is to join Konoha!"
"Other than Konoha, there isn't a single village with a Will of Fire capable of allowing Tailed Beasts and shinobi to live together in harmony..."
"Sarutobi Hiruzen is a man who inherited Senju Hashirama's will."
The Nine-Tails spoke meaningfully.
"And you can see traces of Ninshū's ideals in him... I can sense malice. You two should trust my judgment."
Just moments earlier, the Nine-Tails had told the Sage of Six Paths to his face that it couldn't be bothered talking about Ninshū.
But faced with its idiot brothers, the Nine-Tails flexibly brought Ninshū back out as an endorsement so they could understand things faster.
The Three-Tails and Six-Tails both jolted.
Why are you yelling so loud?!
As for Hashirama's identity, virtually all the Tailed Beasts knew that he was Asura's reincarnation.
It wasn't because they could sense Asura's chakra.
Rather, Madara's identity as Indra's reincarnation had been far too easy to recognize. From his temperament to those eyes, he was practically identical...
Once Indra's reincarnation had been identified, naturally it wasn't difficult to determine who Asura's reincarnation was.
The Three-Tails and Six-Tails sank into thought.
'The Nine-Tails actually called the Hokage an inheritor of Ninshū's ideals, and then brought up Senju Hashirama?'
'Wouldn't that mean he's like both the old man and Asura?'
The Three-Tails cleared its throat.
"Well... but from what the Six-Tails and I remember, when he fights, he's actually a little like Uchiha Madara. He attacks fast and ruthlessly, and the armor he was wearing even had Susanoo carved into it..."
The Six-Tails nodded vigorously. "Right, Susanoo! I saw it too!"
The Nine-Tails froze.
The Hokage was supposed to be an inheritor of Hashirama's will, so why was he wearing armor decorated with Susanoo?
That sounded kind of terrifying...
"Well..." The Nine-Tails pondered for a moment.
"That's perfectly normal too! This is Konoha. The Uchiha and Senju, the Uzumaki and Hyūga are all here. As the village's supreme commander, the Hokage obviously can't favor one side over another..."
"He's more... fair."
The Nine-Tails sighed.
As a little fox that was constantly roaming around the village, the Nine-Tails naturally knew that Uchiha Madara's standing in Konoha had been restored.
Whether it was the accounts of historical figures posted on the notice boards or the displays lining the Ninja Academy corridors, Madara was introduced in considerable detail and in a positive light.
Thanks to Madara's cool appearance and somewhat over-the-top story, quite a few Ninja Academy students were fond of him.
However, when teaching about Madara's deeds, Ninja Academy instructors had been specifically told to emphasize the harm that extremism could bring to the village, so that the children wouldn't blindly imitate him.
The Three-Tails and Six-Tails paused.
More fair than the old man?
Although the Sage of Six Paths had always insisted that he had allowed Asura and Indra to compete fairly...
To be fair, the Tailed Beasts who had lived through those events back then all felt that the Sage of Six Paths had practically been one step away from personally entering the fray...
So while the Tailed Beasts certainly thought Indra was extreme and difficult to deal with, they could, in a sense, also understand why he had kept picking fights.
That kind of resentment wasn't easy to swallow!
The Tailed Beasts had even discussed the subject among themselves before. If the Sage of Six Paths had simply said outright that Asura would succeed him, Indra, as the eldest son, might not even have objected. After all, he believed that strength determined everything.
But the Sage of Six Paths had insisted on claiming that he was being fair, while quietly getting the other members of Ninshū and the Nine-Tails to tip the scales...
The Tailed Beasts felt that if they'd been in Indra's place, they probably would've been furious too!
It was like forcing Indra's head down, wronging him, and then demanding that he admit he accepted the outcome...
With his personality, how could he possibly do that?
"Do the Senju and Uchiha really get along peacefully?"
"Hmm..." The Three-Tails and Six-Tails exchanged a glance.
"That's right. And let me tell you something else..."
The Nine-Tails lowered its voice.
"After the Hokage conquered Kirigakure, he didn't go around slaughtering people. Instead, he brought the shinobi of Kirigakure and Konoha together with the people of the Land of Fire and the Land of Water, restoring, bit by bit, the order that the Third Mizukage had thrown into chaos."
"I've said enough now, haven't I?"
The Three-Tails and Six-Tails froze. Put that way, it really did sound like something Asura and the old man would do.
And yet his fighting style was ruthless and violent, just like Indra's...
In a thousand years, this was the first shinobi they had ever seen who combined traits from both sides and had even earned such high praise and recognition from the Nine-Tails.
"I..."
"I want to join Konoha too..." the Three-Tails finally said.
"Yes. Learn... learn that Will of Fire!" The slightly smarter Six-Tails was much quicker to say the right thing.
"Good!"
The Nine-Tails beamed, then hurriedly turned to Mito beside it. "Mito, can you help split off a little of their chakra to form clones?"
"I need to take them around Konoha and teach them the village rules. Otherwise, whether they're in the village or on the battlefield later, not knowing the rules could easily cause trouble."
This time, Mito was genuinely surprised.
Wait, had this fox really started treating itself like a Konoha Council Member already?
It had even learned about institution-building and education...
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