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"Bear witness and participate, huhā¦" Akio sighed and shook his head. "In the end, nothing changed at all?"
Even though he had just earned a full 50 Witness Points, Akio didn't feel the slightest bit happy.
He glanced over at Hashirama, who was still meditating to recover his strength, then scanned the battlefield. There was no sign of Uchiha Madara's corpse.
"So, everything turned out exactly like in the original timeline. Madara still went off to prepare his Eye of the Moon Plan?"
Akio let out a long sigh and plopped down on the ground, finally feeling the exhaustion set in.
He had only about 20% of his chakra left when he rushed here at full speed. Now, his reserves were nearly depleted, and even his Transformation Jutsu was starting to falter.
"Sigh, guess I'd better focus on recovering chakra firstā¦"
Over an hour passed. Akio had restored nearly half of his chakra when he opened his eyes again and saw Hashirama still meditatingāthough his complexion looked a little better now.
"This is the first time I've ever seen Hashirama this weakā¦ his vitality must be seriously drained. Too bad Chiyo's still just a little girl. Otherwise, I might be able to use Reanimation Jutsu to share some of my life force with himā¦ Not sure if that would even work on someone like him," Akio murmured to himself.
A moment later, Hashirama opened his eyes and looked at Akio. "Great-Granduncle, let's head back to the village!"
Akio nodded and glanced behind him. "What about the Nine-Tails?"
"We'll drag it back first and find a way to seal it," Hashirama replied.
"Seal it? You mean make it a jinchÅ«riki?" Akio muttered. "Oh right, I got a sealing vessel from that old monkā¦"
When the two returned to Konoha, crowds of villagers were already gathered at the gate. A battle of that magnitude had naturally drawn everyone's attention. The moment they saw Hashirama return, the whole place erupted.
"Thank goodness! The Hokage-sama is safe!"
"I knew Lord Hashirama would be fineā¦"
Voices buzzed from all directions. Hashirama smiled. "I'm alright, everyone. Please return to your homes."
As the villagers were dispersed, Tobirama and the clan heads stepped forward.
"Big Brotherā¦" Tobirama glanced at both Hashirama and Akio, hesitating to speak.
"Madara is dead," Akio said flatly on Hashirama's behalf. "We'll talk about the rest later."
A hint of joy flickered across Tobirama's face. Uchiha Akio, who had accompanied the group, turned pale. After a brief pause, he turned and returned to the Uchiha compound.
Hashirama reinforced the Nine-Tails' restraints with Wood Release and left it tied up at Konoha's gateāletting it enjoy the same treatment the other eight Tailed Beasts once received.
Everyone followed Hashirama to the Hokage's meeting room. With a solemn expression, Hashirama opened with a sentence that instantly changed the atmosphere.
"I'm planning to step down as Hokage. The position of Second Hokage will be decided through a new selection process."
"Brother!" Tobirama's face changed. "Youā"
"Hahaā¦" Hashirama scratched his head and smiled cheerfully again. "Don't worry, I'll still live another three to five yearsā¦ No need to look so serious."
Akio sighed. "So it's come to this after allā¦"
The room buzzed with chatter again. After a while, the Nara clan head spoke up, "Lord Hokage, if you step down, Lord Tobirama is the most suitable candidate for the Second Hokage."
"That's rightā¦"
"We agreeā¦"
Everyone quickly expressed support. In today's Konoha, aside from older veterans like Akio who had already stepped back, the only viable candidates for Hokage were Tobirama and Uchiha Akio.
Naturally, they chose Tobirama.
Hashirama nodded. "Let's set that matter aside for now. Next is the issue of the Nine-Tails."
"Until now, the Nine-Tails was under Madara's control. I'm suppressing it with my Wood Release, but I won't be able to hold it for long. We still need a way to seal it. Great-Granduncleā¦"
Just as he was about to ask if Akio had a method, the meeting room doors swung open.
"Hashirama, I'll seal the Nine-Tails inside myselfā¦" The one who entered was Mito. Though still looking like a young girl, the gentle smile Akio remembered was absent.
"Mito, youā¦" Hashirama's face changed. Touched, yet also conflicted, he shook his head. "That's too dangerous!"
"No need for that," Akio said with a grin, shaking his head. "Hashirama, did you forget the vessel I stoleāuh, borrowedāfrom the old monk?"
Hashirama froze, then broke into a wide grin. "The one used to seal Shukaku?"
Akio nodded. "I'll go fetch it."
Akio rushed home and returned with the sealing vessel. Together, they headed to the outskirts of Konoha.
The Nine-Tails was still bound tightly by Wood Release, showing no signs of waking.
"This makes things a lot easierā¦" Akio muttered, forming hand seals. "Sealing Technique: Adamantine Sealing Chains!"
He made another set of seals. "Sealing Technique: Tailed Beast Binding Seal!"
Two powerful seals locked the Nine-Tails in place. Akio nodded. "Hashirama, release your Wood Release. I can't proceed with the seal while it's active!"
Hashirama nodded and withdrew his technique. The Nine-Tails slowly regained consciousness.
"ROAR!!" It let out a shrill scream and then took in the situation. "Damn you, Uchiha Madara!"
Its eyes finally locked onto Akio, narrowing. "You again, old man!"
Akio's face twitched. It seemed the Nine-Tails still remembered being killed by him once. Butā¦
"Anyone else can call me an old man, but I draw the line at youāa thousand-year-old fox! Time to get in the bowlā¦" Akio held up the vessel. "Sealing Technique: Eight Trigrams Seal!"
The Nine-Tails struggled fiercely, but under Akio's level-eight sealing mastery, it was helplessāpulled steadily into the vessel.
Halfway through the process, however, Akio's expression changed. The remaining half of the Nine-Tails thrashed violently at the edge of the containerāit was full.
"What kind of crappy sealing tool is this?! It worked fine on Shukaku, but it can only hold half the Nine-Tails?"
"Don't tell me I have to become its jinchÅ«rikiā¦"
Akio muttered.
"Sealing Technique: Four Symbols Seal!" came a female voiceāMito. She had noticed Akio's dilemma and sealed the remaining half of the Nine-Tails into herself.
Akio's expression darkened. "So Mito became the Nine-Tails' jinchÅ«riki after allā¦"
He looked at the vesselāit now contained the Nine-Tails' Yang chakra. Mito, on the other hand, had sealed the Yin half.
Akio shook his head and approached Mito, who was now surrounded by the others.
Mito kept her eyes closed for five minutes before slowly opening them. She smiled. "No need to worry. I can easily suppress half of the Nine-Tails."
Hashirama let out a sigh of relief and turned to Akio. "Great-Granduncle, youā¦"
Akio's old face flushed. "That old monk's dumb vessel wasn't as good as advertisedā¦"
Hashirama shook his head helplessly. He knew all too well how unreliable his great-granduncle could be.
"Whatever. Sealing half of the Nine-Tails inside Mito should be fine. You hold on to the vessel for nowā¦"
Akio grinned. "No problem! Let me reinforce Mito's sealāSealing Technique: Four Symbols Seal: Reverse!"
The reversed Four Symbols Seal perfectly meshed with Mito's, forming a complete Eight Trigrams Seal.
At the same time, a message flashed before Akio's eyes:
*"You have witnessed and significantly altered a major branch in the Naruto timeline: the first Nine-Tails jinchūriki. Gained 5 (8) Witness Points."
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