— — — — — — —
At this moment, Uchiha Madara crossed his arms and scoffed, "If you ask me, with our strength, we could have made a move long ago!"
"A year ago, I already felt that your strength had reached the Six Paths level, but you insisted you hadn't fully condensed the Truth-Seeking Balls, so you wouldn't count it as true Six Paths power."
"Well, now you've finally reached that level, right?"
"If you had waited any longer, I might have just condensed the Truth-Seeking Balls myself and broken through to the Six Paths level, hmph!"
"Haha! It's always better to be careful! Things turned out just fine, and we didn't lose much time," Hashirama laughed, trying to smooth things over.
"Everything is under control, which is the best outcome, isn't it?" he added. "Besides, there's nothing forcing us to rush."
"That's true," both Tobirama and Izuna nodded in agreement.
"Hmph!" Seeing even his younger brother agreeing, Madara snorted but then turned to Kaito and said, "Since you're ready to wrap things up, let's start with the Akatsuki."
"I'll have them begin hunting down the Jinchuriki and initiate the Eye of the Moon Plan."
"Sounds good!" Kaito nodded, then added a reminder, "But if possible, try not to show yourself. If you must, avoid using your real identity."
"Unless absolutely necessary."
"That way, it'll be easier for me to win over the people from the four great ninja villages, and our plan will be harder to expose."
After all, they couldn't assume everyone else was stupid.
It was well known that Madara had been killed years ago and then revived through Edo Tensei, only to be imprisoned in Konoha.
Only the Contractors were aware that Madara and the others had been fully resurrected.
If Madara suddenly appeared as the mastermind behind Akatsuki, it wouldn't take long for people to suspect Konoha was pulling the strings.
Of course, they could always make an excuse—simply stage Madara's "escape" from Konoha to make it seem more believable.
Hearing this, Madara looked exasperated. "Do we really need to go through all that trouble?"
But a moment later, he waved his hand dismissively. "Fine! Let's do it your way. But let me prepare things on my end first—I'll make sure my 'escape' looks convincing."
Madara wasn't reckless—he was quite sharp when it came to strategy.
"Alright! Then later, Hashirama and Madara can put on a fight to make it look real," Kaito suggested.
"Works for me!" Hashirama grinned.
"Agreed," Madara nodded.
Both of them exchanged glances, their eyes full of excitement.
It had been a while since they'd had a proper battle. This was a great opportunity.
Kaito noticed their expressions and quickly warned, "Remember, this is just for show—don't go all out. If you two destroy the village, don't blame me when I make you rebuild it from scratch."
"I'll make you work twice as hard on the repairs, got it?"
After all, most of the village was built by Hashirama and Madara. Surely, they wouldn't want to ruin their own work.
"Uh..." Hashirama and Madara paused, exchanging awkward glances.
"Fine, we'll hold back! Madara, let's find another time for a real fight," Hashirama said.
"Alright!" Madara smirked.
Kaito then added, "If you two want a proper battle, you can go to the Pirate World or the Space-Time Gate."
"I can even create a designated battle arena in the Gate."
"As long as I set the right rules, no matter how strong you are, you won't be able to damage the space itself."
"Huh?" Hashirama and Madara both froze for a moment before staring at Kaito in disbelief. "You could do that this whole time?!"
If they had known earlier, they wouldn't have held back all these years!
"Uh... you never asked," Kaito said, shrugging.
How was he supposed to know they were dying for a real fight?
Madara and Hashirama were momentarily speechless.
To be fair, they had never thought to ask before.
"Then I'll leave it to you to set up a battle arena in the Space-Time Gate main dimension!" Hashirama requested immediately.
"Yeah!" Madara nodded. "And make sure it has certain rules—like an automatic teleportation feature that triggers if someone is about to die."
"That way, we can fight without holding back."
Hearing this, both Tobirama and Izuna exchanged glances, their eyes gleaming with excitement. They then said to Kaito, "Kaito, this space should be open to all Contractors."
"If possible, it'd be great to have multiple battle arenas with different power levels and settings."
"We could divide them into different ranks based on strength."
"And if we could have viewing platforms where people can safely watch fights up close, that would be perfect."
That way, Contractors could freely challenge each other to duels or even death matches to gain battle experience.
And by watching others fight, they could also learn and improve, benefiting everyone.
"That makes sense. Alright!" Kaito agreed after a moment of thought. "That's actually pretty simple for me."
"I'll create several battle arenas of different levels in the Space-Time Gate main dimension, where people can spar, duel, or even fight to the death."
"Honestly, I should've thought of this sooner—I just overlooked it."
"Give me a moment..."
With that, Kaito focused his mind, channeling his power into the Space-Time Gate.
Using his control over space and the available materials, he quickly constructed ten battle arenas of varying sizes and specifications, along with viewing platforms and other necessary facilities.
Once everything was set, he sent a message through the contract runes to inform all Contractors.
Then, turning to the others, he said, "It's done! You can all use the arenas whenever you want!"
Right then, everyone received the message and processed the information.
Hashirama gave Kaito a thumbs-up. "That was fast! Now, Madara and I can fight whenever we want without holding back. Haha!"
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