Chapter 22: Kurama, it seems you haven't been doing so well all these years.

In truth, Tobirama Senju had arrived a bit late.

Tobirama had intended to rush over the moment the incident began, but upon noticing that Madara Uchiha’s Susanoo was in an extremely weakened state and seeing his own elder brother already on the scene, he immediately clarified his priorities.

He had to prevent Madara Uchiha from escaping Konoha!

To seal off any potential escape routes for Madara, Tobirama spent some time organizing the village’s Anbu ninjas, dispatching them to various sectors to intercept the rogue shinobi. It was only after making these arrangements that he hurried to the scene, hoping to have Shiyuan Emiya release his cursed seal. Once he recovered his strength, he could quickly pursue and finish off the weakened Madara—this was the perfect opportunity to kill him once and for all!

As it turned out... he had arrived a step too late. Shiyuan Emiya had already stepped in to stop the Nine-Tails' rampage.

Standing there, Tobirama realized that this might actually be the most favorable outcome for Konoha, as the village was not currently at its peak. His brother, Hashirama Senju, had not yet fully recovered; his sister-in-law, Mito Uzumaki, was weakened from suppressing the Nine-Tails; and he himself, the fastest ninja of his era, had his chakra restricted by the cursed seal’s energy. If Shiyuan Emiya was willing to help, it could not have been more opportune.

"Sasuke!"

Watching the battle between the Nine-Tails and Shiyuan Emiya, Tobirama no longer worried about the beast and called out loudly, "Take some men and assist the Anbu squads in searching for that guy, Madara. We will join you as soon as we finish dealing with the Nine-Tails!"

"Understood!" Sarutobi Sasuke quickly responded.

"Tobirama..." Hashirama, watching Shiyuan Emiya battle the Nine-Tails, noticed the man’s profile and whispered, "Although his state is quite strange, I feel as though I’ve seen him when I was a child. Is it really not just my imagination?"

"..." Tobirama fell silent. How could his brother even ask such a question? Had he forgotten the childhood days when he would sneakily lie by Shiyuan Emiya’s crystal coffin, only to be sternly lectured by their father?

"Brother," Tobirama said, wishing to move past the topic of Shiyuan Emiya and instead bringing up the man he loathed most, "What exactly is going on with that guy, Madara?"

That man... how did he escape death? Or perhaps... was this a conspiracy all along? Tobirama suspected that after faking his death, Madara had been watching Konoha from the shadows; otherwise, he could never have found this place. Tobirama even guessed why Madara had come to the place where Shiyuan Emiya resided, concluding that there must have been a conflict between them—perhaps Madara had intended to kill or abduct Shiyuan Emiya!

If that had happened... Konoha would have been in grave trouble. After all, only Shiyuan Emiya knew the truth about his brother’s condition, and the hope of healing his brother rested solely with him. News regarding his brother could never be leaked; otherwise, other covetous ninja villages would surely make their moves. If Madara had succeeded, it might have sparked an unprecedented war, dragging every ninja into the fray.

"..." This time, it was Hashirama’s turn to fall silent. After a moment, he looked back at the Nine-Tails. "Let’s resolve the Nine-Tails issue first. After today, I want to leave the village for a while to track down Madara and find out what he is planning... If he intends to harm Konoha again... I will kill him at any cost."

On the other side of the battlefield, the fight between Shiyuan Emiya and the Nine-Tails was nearing its end.

"ROAR!" The Nine-Tails let out a shrill, piercing cry! It had not even had the chance to release a Tailed Beast Bomb!

"Quiet down for a moment!" Shiyuan Emiya suddenly landed on the ground. He raised his left hand, curling his fingers toward the Nine-Tails, which was now within arm's reach. "Earth Style!"

Countless rocks and soil surged from the ground, rapidly converging to envelop the Nine-Tails' body!

"ROAR!" The Nine-Tails struggled violently, its ferocious claws swiping toward Shiyuan Emiya! Yet, Shiyuan ignored the lethal claws that could strike at any moment. His fingers remained tightly curled, and the earth continued to surge forward. A pitch-black cursed seal emerged from beneath his feet like a barrier, its energy flowing like water over the rocks, staining them with an eerie, dark hue.

"Die!" The Nine-Tails' claws descended viciously. One strike... just one, and it would tear Shiyuan Emiya to shreds! But its claws never reached him. The earth and stone transformed into a hill, trapping the beast entirely, with black cursed seals emerging across the surface. This seal became an unbreakable prison, completely binding the Nine-Tails and rendering it unable to move.

The Nine-Tails' head remained exposed, its teeth bared as it glared at Shiyuan Emiya, one claw hovering just a foot above his head.

"A truly familiar feeling..." Shiyuan Emiya looked at the ferocious Nine-Tails, a hint of nostalgia crossing his face. "It feels just like when we were younger—always falling short at the critical moment..."

"Too strong..." Hashirama remarked with genuine admiration, though, given his own strength, the comment sounded almost mocking.

"Indeed..." Mito Uzumaki could not help but echo the sentiment, though her words carried a similar tone of irony.

"To release such a powerful Earth Style ninjutsu without a single hand seal..." Tobirama noted, his praise highlighting the man’s prowess. "And to have the energy to weave the cursed seal into the technique while casting it..."

The ninjas of the ancient era... were they all this powerful? A mere medical ninja possessed such immense strength! And this was achieved even under the constraints of the Reanimation Jutsu!

However... it was not over yet.

Shiyuan Emiya walked up to the Nine-Tails. He raised his finger, pointing it at the beast’s head, and directly dispelled the Sharingan genjutsu, clearing the Nine-Tails' gaze.

"Release!"

"ROAR!" Even after being freed from the Sharingan’s control, the Nine-Tails was still consumed by rage. It seemed controlled by its own emotions, struggling desperately against the seal! The Nine-Tails! Whenever it encountered humans... it only felt an angry urge to kill! Because the chakra within it was a collection of hatred and pain.

*Snap!*

A snapping sound echoed by the Nine-Tails' ear. The sound was abrupt, yet it immediately caught the beast’s attention! The fiercest Tailed Beast in the world regained its reason in an instant, memories from the ancient era slowly reviving in its mind.

"Kurama, are you awake?" Shiyuan Emiya’s voice sounded familiar to the beast. The familiarity brought with it a sense of helpless exhaustion, reminding the Nine-Tails of the ancient days when, during a journey, some human would forcibly wake it from a deep sleep to pull a cart.

"Let me sleep a bit more..." the Nine-Tails habitually started to snort, but then it froze.

It realized! This was not the ancient era! In its memory, how could that long-dead human appear over a thousand years later? Even the Sage of Six Paths could not live forever... that small, fragile human should have been dead for ages!

"Shiyuan Emiya..." The Nine-Tails' pupils dilated as its focus sharpened. It stared at the figure before it, recognizing the familiar face of that once-small and fragile human. Its spirit trembled.

"It really is you!" the Nine-Tails roared. "How could you appear in this era!"

"Do you really remember me?" A look of surprise appeared on Shiyuan Emiya’s face. "I had almost forgotten that we were old friends..."

[SSS-rank mission commission: Quell the Nine-Tails' chaos in Konoha. Commission complete. Reward: Nine-Tails Chakra (SSS-rank chakra) and Tailed Beast Bomb (currently restricted by the Reanimation state and cannot be used).]

This was a power he had never obtained in the ancient era. Or rather, it was a reward that had been within reach, but one he had chosen not to take. Shiyuan Emiya had nearly become the world's first Nine-Tails jinchuriki, but for his own reasons, he had declined.

"You bastard, you actually forgot!" The Nine-Tails' eyes turned vicious! It was as if its deepest taboo had been touched. It glared at Shiyuan Emiya, as if it would break the seal and tear him apart the moment he said one wrong word.

"You’ve even learned to swear..." Shiyuan Emiya looked at the Nine-Tails with mild surprise.

"You... you wretch." The Nine-Tails glared at him with a twisted expression. "Do you think I don't dare to kill you?"

"Your chakra has become more malicious," Shiyuan Emiya remarked. "And the emotions influenced by that chakra have become extreme."

In front of everyone’s incredulous eyes, Shiyuan Emiya reached out his hand and symbolically scratched the Nine-Tails under the chin. "It seems you haven't had a very good time these past thousand years..."