"You don't need to tell me."
Tobirama scooped up the still-squabbling Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane from the ground and rushed past Menma, bolting for the exit. "Everyone, evacuate immediately!"
Even without Menma's warning, Tobirama had already planned to pull everyone out. He didn't want to be forced to recognize Menma's true identity by seeing something he shouldn't.
He was Edo Tensei sacrifice material. Back when he was alive, his strength couldn't hold a candle to Hashirama's. If Menma found out his cover was blown, there wouldn't be a snowball's chance in hell of resisting or escaping.
As Tobirama and the others retreated, Menma seemed to realize something and let out a soft chuckle.
"Hashirama Senju... your power is too overwhelming. It needs to be sealed away. If that idiot Kurama heard that, he'd be ecstatic."
Even using a Chunin's body as a vessel—one tier above the Genin sacrifices from the original timeline—Hashirama's reanimated strength still ranked among the absolute top tier of the current shinobi world. That made him an unstable variable.
Menma hadn't had many opportunities to make a move within Konoha before, but now that Hashirama was outside, delivered right into his hands, he wasn't about to hesitate.
Menma quickly left the base, heading toward the distant sounds of battle. As he got closer, however, the fighting grew quieter, sounding like it was wrapping up.
"Can those two artists actually pull this off?"
The odds were slim, but it didn't stop Menma from hoping. The one tail's worth of chakra he'd given them had seriously boosted their power. Even if they couldn't win, they should've been able to hold their ground if they played it safe... what a load of rubbish!
Menma could now see the battlefield from a distance. He immediately spotted Sasori, his upper body still mounted on his puppet, and Deidara, whose face was etched with defiance. The ground around them was littered with broken puppet fragments and earth chewed up by explosions, looking like a dog had mauled it.
"Damn it, my art hasn't lost!" Deidara insisted.
"If you weren't already dead, my art would've killed you a hundred times over!"
If Hashirama weren't an Edo Tensei corpse that could only be sealed and not killed, Deidara would have already proven his art with a C0 self-destruction. That's why he was so resentful, convinced his defeat was solely because he couldn't actually kill his opponent.
Sasori, also being held captive, stayed silent while subtly loosening the chakra core in his chest. The moment Hashirama looked at Deidara, Sasori ejected the core outward at high speed.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
But that wasn't the sound of the core escaping. It was the sound of branches swaying.
Seven or eight branches sprouted from the wooden golem's clenched fists, locking the core firmly against Sasori's chest.
Hashirama, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke. "I have no intention of taking your lives, so stop the tricks. Just come back to Konoha with me."
"If you reveal what you know about Akatsuki, Konoha will grant you a degree of freedom once this is all sorted out."
"Freedom?" A familiar voice echoed in Hashirama's ears.
His pupils shrank to pinpricks, his expression turning deadly serious.
"I think they'll be fine. You're the one who needs to worry about whether you'll still be free, First Hokage."
"Menma!" Hashirama was instantly shrouded in purple chakra.
He threw a punch loaded with terrifying power, slicing through the air toward Menma.
Menma, anticipating the blow, easily dodged with a backward leap, landing on the wooden hand gripping Deidara.
"The source of that Tailed Beast chakra... it really is you."
"Why?"
His attack missed, Hashirama stared at Menma with a storm of complex emotions. Wasn't the compensation Konoha gave him and Tobirama after taking power enough? Why choose this worst-case scenario path?
"There's no 'why.'" Menma shrugged, a picture of nonchalance. "I'm just following my instincts. It's what I want. That's all there is to it."
He was making it clear he'd act according to his own will. Even if the shinobi world burned to ash, he'd satisfy his own desires first.
"No principles, just chasing his whims? Recklessly doing whatever he pleases?"
Hashirama's brow furrowed. He'd never realized just how dangerous Menma could be. Putting it nicely, it was pursuing freedom. Putting it bluntly, it was lawlessness and unchecked destruction.
While the two traded cryptic words, Deidara and Sasori breathed a collective sigh of relief seeing Menma show up.
Deidara cut in, shouting, "Menma! About damn time!"
"Get me outta here! I'm not losing this one!"
Sasori, standing nearby, immediately snapped in a low, scolding tone.
"Quit whining, Deidara. We're outmatched against this first-gen Edo puppet."
"First mission fails, and we get bailed out by the new boss. Making a scene isn't art."
Deidara was annoyed, but he still respected Sasori, a veteran of the art world. He snorted irritably.
"Hmph, I know! But my art still hasn't lost!"
Sensing Hashirama's increasingly dangerous glare, Menma leaped between them. Beneath his mask, his eyes shifted from azure to crimson. Then, a magnificent, Straight Tomoe pattern appeared.
"Alright, shut it. This guy's out of your league. Stay the hell back."
Whoosh! Whoosh!
As he spoke, two enormous, jet-black skeletal arms silently materialized from Menma's sides. One of them gripped a longsword. With a strike of impossible speed, he severed the wooden golem's hands holding the two men. Another massive black arm caught them as they fell and tossed them clear.
"Whoa... that jet-black power... this isn't the Tailed Beast chakra from before!"
Deidara and Sasori, unfamiliar with the Susanoo, were stunned. Just moments ago, they'd hacked and blasted at the wooden golem, barely scratching it. Now, with a single move, Menma had torn both its hands off.
But Hashirama was even more shocked than them. His serious expression froze, then his eyes widened in sheer disbelief.
"This chakra... it's a dōjutsu!"
"This is... Susanoo?!"
"No... impossible!"
"You're not Menma! Who the hell are you?!"
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