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"The Nine Tails is drawing closer." Tobirama looked at the Hokage.
"And it's our mission to stop it." Hashirama gripped his katana. “We must not allow it to approach the village.
“What are our options?” Mito asked. Her mastery with seals gave way for several options, but deep down she anticipated the worst ones.
“We fight. If we cannot defeat it, we have to seal it away.” Tobirama stated, his expression steel.
“What about Madara?” Hashirama’s hair blew in the wind.
Tobirama scoffed “He made his choice when he left the village and brought that monstrosity with him. He’s half way down in his own death bed with that decision-”
“Do not speak of him that way!” Hashirama’s words sliced through the air. Tobirama only glared at him “You cannot excuse this, elder brother. He must be stopped. Even if it means his death.”
Hashirama gritted his teeth, but could not think of anything to defend Madara further.
Something caught Mito’s attention. “Look!” she pointed her finger at a mass moving across the hills. “What is that?” she asked, feeling unnerved with its presence.
Tobirama observed the mass. It was black and had several tails sprung from its back swatting at the surrounding trees. They withered at the touch of its appendages. “Nothing good.” he stated, his eyes narrowing in anticipation.
Hashirama examined the chakra. He shivered. There was so much negativity and darkness in it. Something corrupted this being to the point of it taking the form of a monster. The trio was on guard as the creature drove closer, desecrating anything in its way. It stopped as it approached them, it’s red eyes dark and animalistic. It’s coat was wiggling, and, upon closer inspection, the trio realized they were black worms.
“What is this thing?” Mito wondered, holding her kunai up in defense. Tobirama stood in front of her to shield her. Hashirama glared at the abomination, sensing a disturbing subtle truth behind it.
The being roared, shaking some of the worms off itself. The ground beneath them died upon impact. Hashirama shuddered.
“We have to kill it before it can reach the village.” Tobirama called out to Hashirama, who stared at the being. “Something is wrong here…” he stated.
“What do you mean?” Mito inquired.
“I sense something beneath it.” Hashirama took a step forward. “It’s in pain. So much pain.”
“You mean something caused this creature to take this shape?” Tobirama looked at the black creature “It’s not a safe gamble, brother.”
“i’m not saying it is, Tobi. But I have to see what it is.” Hashirama leaped towards the beast. His wood release he cast held its arms and appendages in place, no matter the struggle it put up. Hashirama then used the wood to stand atop the beast’s head, it’s red eyes trying to pierce him to death in it’s helplessness.
“Who are you, really?” Hashirama said, activating his healing chakra. The black worms dispersed at contact, revealing bright orange fur underneath. Hashirama gasped in shock.
“It’s the Nine Tails!” he called out to his companions.
“The Nine Tails.” Tobirama repeated. This was bad. They knew it was drawing closer, but this poisonous abomination it became was going to be a huge problem. He then heard Hashirama’s alarmed voice “Where is Madara, Tailed beast?!”
Tobirama halted. Hashirama was right. According to what they knew, it was Madara who led the Tailed beast back towards them. If so, where was he?
“Answer me, you vile thing!” Hashirama screamed at the red eyes, the little compassion he had fading away.
“Hashirama, watch out!” he heard Mito’s voice echo before a wave of black chakra hit his wood release, breaking it into pieces. He landed sloppishly beside the two shinobis. “Be careful. It’s not coherent. Do not expect any answers. We’ll just have to see for ourselves.” Tobirama called out to him.
The corrupted beast then spat out something. Black chakra ate away at it, but after a while the worm-like manifestation faded away. Hashirama gasped. It was Madara's war fan. It was charred and cracked. "Madara!" he cried out. Tobirama and Mito looked at him in shock.
The beast roared, black worms shaking off and hitting everything in their way. Hashirama bore an angry face as he shook the black chakra off him, which ate his armor.
"Madara!" he called out once again, and leaped towards the Nine Tails' jaws.
"Elder brother!" Tobirama called out and was about to follow suit, but had to step back as more of the poison manifestation of chakra fell at his feet. Mito had a worried expression on her face, seeing her husband disappear into the horrific mass.
Hashirama dove through the corrupted chakra's outer layer, praying that Madara was still alive and there somewhere. He blindly pulled the worms aside, digging through deeper into the body of the beast.
He then caught the glimpse of teal. His eyes went wide. It was the necklace he gave to Madara a while ago. He pulled another worm to the side, and at last reached out to grab Madara. His body was half absorbed into the body of the Nine Tails’ dark chakra. Hashirama called out to him, detaching his face from it. Madara opened his eyes, which were unfocused. Then, as if he woke from a dream, his eyes found Hashirama's face. "Hashirama..." he whispered. There was fear in his voice. It made Hashirama’s heart ache to hear it. "Hold on, I'll get you out of here." he said, holding onto Madara's half assimilated form.
Then the Nine Tails roared, and shook its body to drive the invader out. It released even more chakra to expel the Hokage out. Hashirama felt himself lose his grip on Madara.
"Madara!" he screamed out as his body was ejected from the Nine Tails.
"Hashirama!" Madara called at him as the black worms engulfed him and drew him back into the tailed beast’s body.
Hashirama's body hit the ground, hard. Tobirama barely had the time to grab him and move away before the claw could get them both.
"Madara is in there!" he barely spoke. Tobirama's eyes narrowed even further. This was a bad turn of events.
"What do we do then?" Mito called out, her chains ready to cast at the being.
Tobirama glanced between her, his injured brother, and the corrupted beast that half assimilated the rouge Uchiha. "We protect the village." his eyes hardened.