"This is kinda wild," Sasuke said, rubbing his chin as he finished listening to Naruto's story about Kurama.
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I thought it was pretty wild too. But Kurama said it was just shadow clone memory sharing, so nothing too crazy."
Sasuke looked at Naruto like he couldn't believe it. "Are you serious?"
Hashirama looked at Sasuke, confused, and tilted his head. "Memory sharing with shadow clones? That's basically the same as with wood clones. What's so hard to get about that?"
"Right, exactly!" Naruto nodded over and over.
Sasuke fell silent. Then, almost on reflex, he turned to look at Madara—only to see that Madara looked totally used to this kind of thing. In a calm voice, he said, "Wow. I think I've finally seen a brain that can rival Hashirama's. And the guy's actually serious."
Then he smiled slightly and looked at Sasuke. "Say whatever's on your mind. You can ignore Hashirama's input."
Sasuke got the message.
"Madara~" Hashirama's jaw dropped in disbelief.
Sasuke ignored Hashirama's antics, but just as he was about to speak, something crossed his mind. He turned to Madara and asked, "What about you? What do you think?"
"You're pretty cautious," Madara said with a faint trace of approval in his eyes, though it was so subtle it was hard to notice. "Well, I don't really care what a pet has to say, but I'll admit its strength now is impressive. It's grown way beyond what I expected, so let's just treat it like a real threat."
"You know that's not what I meant," Sasuke said, staring straight at him. "So... are you playing dumb?"
"Playing dumb?" Madara's eyes turned cold, and a strong pressure suddenly filled the entire training ground. "Is that so? This kind of thing matters that much to you? Then it just shows you're only at this level as an Uchiha."
That overwhelming pressure spread across the whole training field. Everyone there was far from ordinary, but this wasn't just raw strength—it was a crushing aura built up from years of experience and battles. Even Naruto and Sasuke felt the weight of it.
Sasuke frowned and instinctively prepared to fight back with sheer force. But just then, Hashirama stepped forward with a cheerful smile and said, "Come on, Madara, be a bit nicer to the juniors. We're not here to fight them."
As soon as Hashirama spoke, the heavy pressure disappeared instantly, like the sky clearing after a storm.
Naruto assumed Madara had pulled back his aura. He turned his head to check, only to see that Madara still looked cold and distant, and there was still a strong killing intent gathering around him.
It wasn't Madara who pulled back!
Sasuke looked at Hashirama. That goofy smile showed nothing at all, but with the Rinnegan in his eyes, Sasuke saw a huge figure standing behind Hashirama, like a towering wall blocking out all of Madara's pressure.
"So strong," Naruto muttered.
It wasn't about power—it was that unshakable confidence. The kind of confidence only someone like Senju Hashirama had.
"They're not like you two," Kurama said calmly. "So it makes sense you'd feel a bit overwhelmed."
Compared to Naruto and Sasuke, Hashirama and Madara had a much longer journey. They'd been through countless battles and ambushes and had grown through all of it. Maybe they weren't much stronger in raw power, but when it came to knowing how to use that power, they were easily at the top.
That kind of confidence only comes from fighting through endless life-or-death situations.
Naruto and Sasuke, on the other hand, hadn't really had any evenly matched fights since the Sage of Six Paths era.
Still, there was no need to worry about these two actually fighting. They'd been through this kind of face-off many times before. So just as Naruto and Sasuke were feeling nervous, the two of them pulled back their pressure at the same time.
Madara closed his eyes and shook his head. "As I thought, I just can't get along with you."
"Well, what's so bad about that?" Hashirama laughed out loud.
Still smiling, he turned to Sasuke and said casually, "We're both people who've already died. This world doesn't belong to us anymore. Even if Madara really does come back, I'll stop him without hesitation."
"This world doesn't need us."
He patted Sasuke on the shoulder, telling him to relax.
Hashirama might seem silly most of the time, but Sasuke felt a strange sense of comfort from those words. It was just like when Itachi smiled and talked to him—it made him feel safe without knowing why.
Sasuke smiled lightly and nodded. "Got it."
Maybe that's what made Hashirama, the First Hokage, so reassuring.
Naruto scratched his head, still not really sure what had just happened—but at least they didn't start fighting, so that was good.
Then he asked, "So what were you trying to say earlier?"
Madara opened his eyes and looked at Naruto, a confused look on his face. "Don't tell me... you're even more clueless than Hashirama?"
"Huh?" Naruto froze on the spot.
As Hashirama burst into laughter again, Sasuke couldn't hold back and rolled his eyes.
"You idiot. What Madara means is that Kurama might've been lying. He probably just didn't want to tell us the truth, so he made up the whole thing about shadow clones sharing memories."
Naruto was shocked: "Kurama lied to us?"
Kurama: "..."
This guy… forget it.
Hashirama finally stopped laughing and winked at Naruto. Sasuke clenched his fists, clearly debating whether he should help Naruto figure things out. Even Madara looked genuinely surprised at Naruto.
Yes, surprised. Madara lowered his arms, which had been crossed the whole time, and looked Naruto up and down. "How did a kid like you even become a ninja? Did you pull strings or something?"
Given his background in Konoha, that actually wouldn't be too surprising.
Let's see… he's the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki, the Fourth Hokage's son, the child of the second jinchuriki, the great-grandchild of both the First and Second Hokage, and the last of the Uzumaki clan. Honestly, getting in through connections doesn't sound too crazy.
Hashirama was the first to doubt it: "No way. How would Konoha let someone who failed the academy exam become a ninja? Even Hiruzen wouldn't do something like that… right?"
Even he didn't sound too confident.
Sasuke's lips curved into a smug grin. His tax-evading instincts kicked in: "Now that you mention it, this guy really didn't pass the exam. Then he went out for ramen with our teacher Iruka that night, and the next day, they suddenly announced he became a genin and joined Team 7."
He didn't say it straight—he let them figure it out.
Naruto shouted angrily, face dark: "That's not true! It's because Mizuki-sensei tricked me into stealing the Scroll of Seals that night, and then I teamed up with Iruka-sensei to defeat him. That's why they made an exception and promoted me to a ninja!"
"You stole the Scroll of Seals?" Sasuke was stunned for a second. Wow, that was a twist.
Is this… a self-exposé?
Never mind how a guy who wasn't even a genin managed to steal that scroll—just the fact that he didn't get punished and instead became a genin was already wild enough.
At this point, Sasuke didn't need to say anything else. Every "old fox" here understood what was going on.
"Oh~" Madara let out a meaningful sound, even showing a Sasuke-style "tax-evader" smile. "Konoha sure is an interesting village."
Hashirama went quiet, muttering things no one else could understand: "Hiruzen… when we get back, I'm asking Mito to double the seal on you. And you can help Tobirama test his new version of Edo Tensei."
Sarutobi Hiruzen: …Orochimaru, you traitor! Why did I go soft and let you go back then…
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