"I'll be waiting for your good news, then!"
Haru nodded, and the thread of will carried by his eye power vanished and returned to his body.
At that moment, Haru was still controlling Susanoo and trading blows with Mito.
Their attacks were brutally straightforward.
Every strike landed with crushing force.
"Mito, you're finished!"
Haru laughed wildly.
With that fragment of will back in his body and his talk with Kurama complete, he felt this fight was already in the bag.
"What do you mean?"
A bad feeling rose in Mito's heart.
By her estimate, if this kept dragging on, she would eventually outlast Haru's chakra and eye power.
When that happened, victory would be hers.
"Mito!"
"Stealing my chakra?"
"Give it back!"
Kurama's harsh voice exploded inside her mind.
The tails that had been bound by chains within the seal began trembling.
The chakra that had been eroding the seal for years burst out all at once, and within seconds four or five chains snapped apart completely.
Cracks spread across the remaining chains too.
Kurama roared as he tore against them, already ripping open one corner of the seal and fighting for control of his own chakra, growing stronger by the moment.
Damn it!
Why now?
When had this fox's chakra eroded the seal this far?
Mito was horrified.
She immediately began drawing on the seal's power to suppress Kurama.
The Nine-Tails absolutely could not be allowed to break free.
New chains reappeared, trying to bind him all over again.
But Kurama was not an easy tailed beast to deal with.
He was the strongest of the nine.
Back when he was first sealed, Hashirama had played a major role in subduing him.
Now that he finally had a chance to turn things around, he was determined to throw everything into chaos.
For all he knew, this could be the day he escaped.
He might not even need to wait all those extra years.
As for whether Mito lived or died, was that really something a tailed beast ought to care about?
Every jinchuriki in the world deserved to die.
Every last one of them treated tailed beasts as tools of war.
Their consciences were rotten.
"Trying to seal me again? It won't be that easy!"
Kurama kept struggling.
Mito no longer had the luxury of focusing on Haru and was forced to put all her strength into fighting Kurama for control.
What a perfect opening.
Haru could clearly feel Mito's presence weakening.
The power of her Nine-Tails transformation was steadily shrinking too.
Kurama was doing his job.
And that made this the perfect moment to beat a drowning dog.
Haru smashed a punch into the Nine-Tails' face and followed it with a full sequence of military-style strikes that left Mito dizzy and disoriented.
But Mito could only endure it.
If Haru defeated her, she definitely would not die.
Her identity alone guaranteed that.
Hashirama's widow, the mother of the Senju Clan Head, Konoha's Nine-Tails jinchuriki. Any one of those titles was a death exemption in Konoha.
Kurama was different.
The moment a tailed beast escaped from its jinchuriki, the jinchuriki's life would come to an end.
Damn it! That fox bastard!
Mito cursed inwardly.
That damned fox had definitely reached some kind of agreement with Haru. There was no way this timing was a coincidence otherwise.
No.
She could not keep tangling with Haru anymore.
She had to suppress Kurama with everything she had.
Mito raised a hand in a gesture to stop and dropped out of her tailed beast transformation, preparing to surrender.
"I surr..."
Haru's eyes widened.
He read her lips instantly.
She was about to surrender.
Without the slightest hesitation, Haru dismissed Susanoo at once, dropped from the air, and slammed a punch into Mito's face.
"I wa..."
"I want to fight you to the death?"
"Good! Mito-sama, what I admire most is a woman with spirit. Don't worry!"
"I firmly believe in equality between men and women. I could never discriminate against a female comrade. I've seen your resolve now, and I'll give this my all!"
As he spoke, Haru drove another punch into Mito's stomach, knocking the breath out of her and preventing her from speaking.
Then another punch.
He had hit the right side of her face before.
Now he needed symmetry.
Though age had left a few wrinkles on Mito's face, time had not taken much from her. It was obvious at a glance that she had once been a great beauty.
But Haru had no intention of showing mercy.
Beauty would one day turn to dust anyway.
A beautiful girl in this world was no different from a flower. It would either be trampled by passing feet or wither with time, then rot into ugly fertilizer and return to the earth.
The teachings of the Great Love Venerable still echoed in his ears.
Take my face-breaking fist!
Before long, Mito's face had swollen horribly.
She looked like a pig's head.
"I said I surrender!!!"
"Huh? What?"
"Ah, that was my fault. But really, Mito-sama, you should've said so sooner."
Haru instantly stopped, put on a concerned expression, helped Mito up, and filled his face with apology.
But the smile at the corner of his mouth was impossible to suppress.
That felt amazing.
He had held it in for so many years. If he could not beat Tobirama, then beating Mito up was a pretty good substitute.
After all, the Uchiha and the Senju had never really been on good terms.
"I said surrender my ass!"
Mito's eyes blazed with killing intent.
If Kurama were not still causing havoc inside her, she would have fought Haru to the bitter end even if it cost her life.
Damn it, this brat bullied women too much!
He had not hit anywhere else.
He had gone straight for her face until she looked like a pig's head.
Even if Mito no longer cared that much about beauty at her age, there were limits. She still had her pride!
"Mito-sama, this really isn't my fault. You were too slow."
"I know a little medical ninjutsu. Want me to treat you?"
Haru's smile was practically breaking through now, but he still tried to look serious.
"Get lost!"
"You innately evil Uchiha brat!"
"The Hokage seat is yours now, so stop bothering me!"
"..."
Mito seemed to have returned to the fiery temper of her youth and kept cursing him nonstop.
Haru wore an innocent expression, turned around helplessly, and started walking toward Inabi to bring the Uchiha the good news.
After so much preparation, he had finally succeeded.
From this day on, Konoha would move according to Uchiha will.
"Hahahahahaha!!!!"
As he walked, Haru finally lost control and burst into loud laughter, which only made Mito's cursing grow louder, since her hearing was still sharp.
Even if you want to laugh, can you go farther away first?!
"Nine-Tails, was it?"
"You dared pull something like this on me?"
"You're dead!"
Now that her hands were free again, Mito turned all her attention to Kurama and prepared to vent all her anger on him.
"Hahahaha, Pig-Head Mito! How'd you end up beaten into that state by a brat? You've gotten weak!"
"..."
Kurama's mocking laughter completely ignited Mito's fury.
She immediately began suppressing him with all her strength.
In the end, Mito naturally won.
She was still very much in her prime and nowhere near running dry yet.
"You like running your mouth, do you?!"
"I'll beat you to death!!!"
Inside the sealing space, Kurama was bound up all over again.
Mito's hair floated in the air as several chains lashed his backside again and again, making him howl in pain.
"Haru, you little bastard, this is all your fault!"
"If you don't keep your promise, I won't let you off!!!!"
Kurama bared his teeth and roared in agony.
"Don't mention Haru to me. I'll beat you to death!!!"
"You bastard!"
(End of Chapter)
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