Uchiha Madara.
That was the last person Black Zetsu expected to show up.
Compared to Emiya Shihara, Uchiha Madara was a piece Black Zetsu had already resigned to losing—discarded in its grand game. Yet here he was, showing up at the worst possible moment.
This felt…
Wrong.
Madara wasn't supposed to know about any of this. He shouldn't even be aware of Black Zetsu's existence, let alone know anything about Emiya Shihara. So why had he come here, and why now?
In theory…
There was no reason for Madara to be here.
But in reality…
He had a reason he couldn't ignore.
Madara had gone to Konoha's hospital in secret. He wanted to check on Hashirama Senju.
And there, lurking in the shadows, he had overheard a conversation he wasn't supposed to hear.
Hashirama was sitting up on his bed, newly awakened. Beside him sat his wife, Uzumaki Mito. Their relationship had always been one of mutual respect, bordering on formality—but that formality did not diminish their harmony.
After all, there was no hiding Hashirama's recovery from Mito.
Tobirama, ever respectful toward his sister-in-law, had immediately informed her of his brother's awakening. She had been guarding the Nine-Tails in the forest behind the village, but upon hearing the news, she rushed to the hospital to see her husband with her own eyes.
There was nothing unusual about that.
Uzumaki Mito had always been understanding and supportive. She knew her husband's bond with Uchiha Madara was as deep as brotherhood.
When she arrived at the hospital, she sensed the turmoil within Hashirama—how much he was still tormented by the fact that he had personally killed Madara. She had come to console him, to help him find peace with that decision.
Truthfully—
Before Madara had tried to destroy Konoha—
Uzumaki Mito had never harbored ill feelings toward him.
As Hashirama's wife, she had always respected his close friendship with Madara. She had never looked down on her husband's friend, and she knew just how deeply that friendship had once run.
Naturally…
Their conversation turned to Madara.
Hashirama was straightforward in nature. He never hid his thoughts.
As he sat there with his wife, he spoke of the resolve he had forged during that final, fatal battle with Madara—the resolve to protect the village, no matter the cost.
"In that moment…
I knew I had to kill him…"
"I had to do it to protect Konoha. No matter the cost."
"Even if it meant killing a friend… a brother… even my own child. That was the resolve born from my will to protect the village."
"Compared to that… my friendship with Madara no longer mattered. He would never understand why I had to do what I did."
Outside the room, Madara listened in cold silence.
Inside, Mito frowned, deeply troubled.
Guarding the Nine-Tails day and night had drained her chakra and worn her down. The fatigue showed in her eyes.
And with her husband barely out of his coma, her mind had grown heavier still.
Yet even in exhaustion, Mito's spirit remained strong. She struggled to make sense of her husband's words—trying to determine whether his convictions were truly right.
"To protect the village… he's willing to sacrifice anything?"
She felt uneasy.
She knew all too well how her husband had long mourned the loss of his friendship with Madara.
And now…
She feared for his soul.
Was everything truly worth sacrificing for this so-called protection of the village?
His friends. His brother. His child. Weren't these the very people he once swore to protect?
Hashirama had fought with Tobirama again and again, refusing to raise a hand against Madara during the Warring States era—because he treasured their bond.
He had even come close to killing himself in front of Madara once, all to preserve Tobirama's life.
And now?
Now he was willing to sacrifice them all… for the sake of the village.
But wasn't the whole point of founding Konoha to protect those very people? To shield them from the pain of war?
Something about Hashirama's logic…
Felt terribly wrong.
But Mito, weary and spent, couldn't grasp the full weight of the contradiction.
"Hashirama."
She spoke softly, fear rising in her voice.
"If protecting the village means accepting any cost… what happens if that cost one day becomes too great to bear?"
Hashirama hesitated only a moment.
Then, recalling the pain of killing Madara with his own hands—a pain that eclipsed even death—he answered with grim resolve.
"If it's for the village…
There's no cost I won't accept."
Mito's eyes widened.
She had seen something terrifying in that moment.
This way of thinking…
It was terrifying.
If Hashirama's ideology were to be passed down, what horrors would the future hold?
When people speak of sacrifice, they usually mean their own lives.
Those who die for the village are hailed as heroes.
But what if that sacrifice extended beyond the self?
What if it meant sacrificing—
The companions who fought at your side.
What if, in the name of protecting the village, someone were to kill their own friend?
On the surface, they might seem to have succeeded in preserving peace… but could they ever wash away the blood of the one who once trusted them?
No…
Surely that couldn't happen.
Surely not.
Hashirama only killed Madara because Madara had attacked the village with the Nine-Tails, threatening innocent lives. Even Mito could not forgive that cruelty.
But what about the next sacrifice?
What if it were a family member?
What if someone, claiming to protect the village, killed their own kin?
No.
Impossible.
Konoha could never fall that far.
Even during the blood-soaked Warring States period, shinobi fought to protect their loved ones. No one would ever harm their own family.
Mito, with her simple and moral outlook, allowed her thoughts to stop there. She dismissed her anxiety.
"I'm probably just overthinking it…"
She sighed, letting the matter drop.
"I must be too tired…"
Hashirama, noticing the exhaustion on her face, gently changed the subject.
"How's the Nine-Tails? I brought it back to the village because I feared it would go wild. Is it still behaving?"
"…It's manageable,"
Mito said, recalling the unruly, mischievous fox.
She knew they couldn't keep the Nine-Tails locked away forever. Its power was too great. Sooner or later, they would have to find a permanent solution.
"If you truly intend to keep the Nine-Tails sealed… keeping it in the forest behind the village is too dangerous. It could break free at any moment."
"The only truly safe solution is to seal it inside me. Only the chakra of the Uzumaki clan can keep it completely restrained."
"But doing that…"
"Would make the Nine-Tails more violent, wouldn't it?"
"If the seal slips… it might attack the village."
Hashirama's voice grew heavy with guilt.
"And if that happens… the villagers might see you as a threat."
"I…"
Mito's voice dropped to a near whisper.
"I'll simply keep myself out of sight."
"I'm sorry…"
"It's all right…"
In the quiet room, husband and wife maintained their fragile peace.
Outside, Madara rolled his eyes. Having been single for most of his life, he found their conversation excruciatingly dull and was about to slip away.
And then—
One line stopped him cold.
"Speaking of which…"
"That doctor Tobirama brought in was… strange."
"Even I don't know who he really is, but his medical skills are astonishing. I'm not too worried now…"
Madara's figure vanished into the night.
Perfect.
Exactly what he needed.
He had been searching for someone capable of performing the transplant—someone to graft Hashirama's flesh onto his own body.
And now, by sheer chance, he had found that very person.
Even better—
If this mysterious doctor were to disappear, it would send the entire village into a panic.
After all, Hashirama's condition was a tightly guarded secret.
And secrets like that…
Would demand Tobirama's full attention.
As long as the doctor remained missing, he would be a sword hanging over Konoha—threatening to expose that the First Hokage had only ten years left to live.
Tobirama wouldn't have the bandwidth to study the corpse Madara had left behind in that secret chamber. He would have no choice but to mobilize every ninja in Konoha to find that doctor—and focus all his remaining energy on stabilizing the village before the end came.
And once Madara had the doctor…
Once the transplant was complete…
He looked at the flickering candlelight in Emiya Shihara's window, his lips curling into a mocking smirk.
"Heh…"
"Hashirama…"
"Compared to what I truly desire, our so-called friendship was never that important to begin with."
"Hashirama."
"I've made up my mind."
"To kill you for the sake of my dream."