[Mission Rank: A-rank]
[Mission Details: Reconcile the Chakra Reincarnations of Indra and Ashura.]
"Are they telling Sasuke and me to go fight at the Valley of the End?"
Naruto stared at his mission scroll. When he had experienced the life of "Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha had each lost an arm after unleashing Chidori and Rasengan in their final clash. Only then had their feelings finally reached one another.
Their memories had unfolded within each other's consciousness, and the two had finally reconciled when Sasuke said, "I acknowledge you."
Remembering how battered they had been afterward, with both of them left with only one arm, the thirteen year old Naruto clutched his head and rejected the idea with every fiber of his being.
"No way!! Sasuke and I are only thirteen!! We haven't even dated anyone or eaten all the delicious ramen we want! I don't want to lose an arm when I'm still this young, dattebayo!!!"
Since the younger Team Minato was still living in Kakashi's ancestral home, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had kept the habit of meeting there whenever they needed to discuss something.
Whenever they had nothing better to do, some of the extremely bored ancestors would also drop by to tease them.
"If you lose an arm, then you lose an arm. Just graft on a new one using White Zetsu and Hashirama Cells."
The one who made replacing an arm sound so effortless was none other than the ancestor of the Uchiha Clan, Madara Uchiha.
These days, Madara had nothing to do except bicker with Hashirama and watch Tobirama argue with Izuna. His life was even more leisurely than retirement. He was so bored that he had considered asking the Fourth Hokage for a few missions so he and Hashirama could travel around for a while.
Naruto still shook his head furiously after hearing Madara's suggestion.
"No way, no way! If Sasuke and I lose our arms over a mission like this, my mom will definitely beat me to death!"
Imagining how Kushina looked when she was angry, Naruto swallowed hard and shuddered.
Ever since he had gotten a mom, he finally understood why Shikamaru and Kiba always looked so terrified whenever their mothers were mentioned.
The more Naruto thought about it, the more frightening it became. His face turned pale as he clutched his head and firmly rejected the idea.
Naturally, Sasuke had no desire to worry his parents or his older brother either. Like Naruto, he refused their ancestor's "kind suggestion."
Young Kakashi studied the mission scroll in Naruto's hand.
"The Chakra Reincarnations of Indra and Ashura mentioned here aren't limited to you and Sasuke, are they? According to the information we learned earlier, the reincarnations of Indra and Ashura also include First Hokage-sama and..."
He turned toward Madara Uchiha.
Madara, who was sitting cross legged beside Hashirama Senju, froze. He clearly had not expected the mission to involve him as well.
"Madara..."
Upon hearing that he needed to reconcile with his fated rival, the First Hokage gave Madara Uchiha an ingratiating look.
Even Madara felt awkward beneath Hashirama's pleading gaze, which resembled that of an enormous lapdog. He instinctively leaned backward.
"You're too close, Hashirama."
Ever since Madara learned that, in one parallel world, he and Hashirama had reconciled and founded their village through a marriage alliance, he had consciously or unconsciously begun maintaining the most basic polite distance between two men whenever Hashirama was nearby.
Unfortunately, Hashirama had no such concerns. The farther Madara leaned back, the closer Hashirama moved, like a Saint Bernard desperate to snuggle against its owner.
Fortunately, Tobirama Senju was away helping Kabuto Yakushi conduct further research into the Edo Tensei Reincarnation technique. Otherwise, seeing his older brother act so pathetically would have provoked another furious argument.
"By the way, isn't Izuna here?" Naruto looked around, but he did not see the figure who looked so much like Sasuke beside Madara.
"Izuna went to the Uchiha clan grounds," Madara Uchiha replied.
Naruto had saved Madara's three younger brothers during the Warring States Period. Then, under Young Obito's guidance, Madara had fulfilled his brothers' dream of living safely in Konoha.
Having found redemption, Madara was now exceptionally tolerant of the six children from Team Kakashi and Team Minato.
Madara had always liked children, even though children rarely seemed to like him. Perhaps it was partly due to the influence of Indra and Ashura's chakra, but he especially appreciated Naruto's open and straightforward personality.
He also felt a degree of guilt toward Young Obito, so he treated the two of them more leniently than the others.
When Izuna had first arrived and discovered that the Uchiha Clan had been annihilated, he had been deeply shaken for quite some time.
Now that he had returned to the Warring States Period, traveled around, and witnessed Madara's original reason for founding Konoha, he had developed a different kind of bond with the village. These days, he frequently visited both Konoha and the Uchiha clan grounds.
He used the Second Hokage's money to buy food and drinks without feeling the slightest bit guilty.
It had even made Tobirama Senju wonder whether he should start charging royalties for the ninjutsu recorded in the Scroll of Seals.
"The Chakra Reincarnations of Indra and Ashura are Old Man Madara and Old Man Hashirama, along with Sasuke and me." Naruto pondered how they could complete his A-rank mission. "Why don't all four of us go to the Valley of the End and have a fight?"
Sasuke said, "What happens if the mission truly requires us to reenact the fight between the other versions of you and me? How would we deal with losing our arms? We need to find a way to trick the 'rules' into deciding that we completed the mission."
"Do we have to do it in order?" Young Obito asked, unwittingly increasing the difficulty for everyone. "Should our ancestors and First Hokage-sama fight first, followed by Naruto and Sasuke?"
"But I really don't want to fight Madara at the Valley of the End again."
Hashirama Senju crouched pitifully on the floor.
"I knew Madara's back was his weakness, yet I deliberately stood behind him and stabbed him with my sword. I was despicable, underhanded, and won dishonorably. Although I don't regret doing it, it has remained one of my greatest regrets for the rest of my life..."
"All right, that's enough! Just shut up already!!!"
Madara knew perfectly well that beneath Hashirama's innocent exterior, the man was saying those things deliberately. Even so, the tactic worked on him every time.
"I had my own motives back then too. I bit off a piece of your flesh because I wanted Hashirama Cells, so I was also at fault. Are you satisfied now? Sit properly!"
Madara ran a hand through his long, wild black hair, completely unaware that Hashirama had coaxed him into reflecting on his own actions.
Sasuke Uchiha stared at him speechlessly, unable to accept that the two of them were both reincarnations of Indra.
Naruto marveled at the First Hokage's special method for handling an Uchiha.
So retreating to advance really was the best way to deal with Sasuke and the rest of his Clan!
Everyone present had noticed it. Only Madara Uchiha seemed slow to realize that Hashirama had led him by the nose. Once he did, he became so annoyed that he refused to speak.
[You don't need to each lose an arm.]
Just as everyone was at a complete loss over Naruto's new A-rank mission, the Nine-Tails inside him yawned lazily and spoke.
[You only need to form the Seal of Reconciliation using a special method.]
"Huh?! Why does Kurama know that?!!"
[Idiot. Just do as I tell you.]
Despite saying that, the Nine-Tails offered a little more explanation.
[When I allowed you to experience the life of another Naruto, I discovered that Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha fought a fierce battle in that world. What ultimately made Sasuke Uchiha abandon his idea of a 'revolution' was Naruto Uzumaki's determination to never give up on him, even at the cost of his own life. When their chakra intertwined, they also came to understand each other's past, thoughts, and feelings completely.]
[The Old Man of the Six Paths hoped chakra would become a bond through which people could understand one another. Very few people, however, are truly capable of achieving that.]
A trace of loneliness appeared in the Nine-Tails' eyes.
[Humans can fabricate words to serve their own goals and interests. They can also deceive others by taking things out of context or deliberately shifting the focus.]
[Chakra is different.]
[Only when chakra intertwines can people truly connect with one another and understand each other's emotions, experiences, thoughts, beliefs, and will.]
Naruto's blue eyes widened as he listened.
"Kurama, you really understand chakra!"
[Of course I do. I am a mass of chakra.]
"But if you can think about things like this and understand humans so well, then you stopped being just chakra a long time ago, didn't you?"
[!!!]
The Nine-Tails' personality really did resemble that of an Uchiha. Naruto's words immediately struck a nerve.
Over the course of more than a thousand years, Kurama had been waiting for the same recognition Naruto Uzumaki had always sought. The kind of acknowledgment the Rikudō Sennin had once given them.
He wanted others to acknowledge that they, these masses of chakra, possessed minds of their own and lived in the Ninja World just like humans.
Naruto relayed the Nine-Tails' words to everyone present and explained how they could entrust their chakra and consciousness to each other.
When Hashirama Senju heard that this method could allow him and his fated rival to share their thoughts and feelings completely, he immediately became eager to try it.
Madara Uchiha, on the other hand, looked deeply uncomfortable. Resistance was written all over his face.
But Madara's awkward expression only made Hashirama even more eager to understand his fated rival's thoughts, experiences, and will.
Then, just as they had promised when they were children, they could be completely honest with each other, drink the bonding sake that would make them brothers, and finally achieve true reconciliation.
"Madara! Let's go to the Valley of the End and reconcile right now!!"
Hashirama had somehow made reconciliation sound like a wedding ceremony. Throughout all of history, he was probably the only person capable of doing that.
Tobirama Senju, who had merely come downstairs for a glass of water, was utterly speechless at his older brother.
Thank goodness Mito-san had not been revived. Otherwise, no amount of Wood Release would have been enough to repair the house.
Kabuto Yakushi, who had followed him, pushed up his thick glasses and silently thought that Tobirama-sama truly had it difficult.
He felt sorry for him.
When Ashura heard that the mission involved the younger generations reconciling, he dragged his older brother Indra along to watch, ignoring all resistance.
In the end, Tobirama and Minato could not escape being used as transportation. They used the Flying Thunder God Technique to bring everyone to the Valley of the End.
Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha stood facing each other and formed the Seal of Confrontation. Between them, the waterfall resembled an impassable barrier.
"I don't know why, but this really does feel like the perfect place to fight you," Naruto said to Sasuke with a smile as he looked up at the enormous statues. "Preferably while you're not obsessing over anything, of course. Then we can have a calm, straightforward fight."
"Hmph. You've got some nerve, dead last." Sasuke snorted with laughter. "But I do want to fight you. I thought we'd have the chance during the Chūnin Exams."
Neither of them could have imagined that the Chūnin Exams would end without them ever reaching the finals, all because the entire world had been rewritten.
It appeared that the mission scroll had failed to account for this altered world. As a result, the Chūnin Exams had proceeded without incident and ended well before October.
The most tragic part was that all three members of Team Kakashi were still Genin.
Naruto had even complained to his father, the Fourth Hokage, about it.
But once the Chūnin Exams were over, they were over. There was no way to arrange another one solely for them.
Obito also felt guilty. He had never expected his wish to cost Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura their chance to become Chūnin.
"It's only a title. You don't have to care about it that much," Adult Obito said, comforting the three of them. "I'm still only a Chūnin myself. Didn't I manage a whole group of S-rank Missing-nin before?"
A Chūnin...