Kushina's shout drew Minato and Kurama's attention outward. Through the seal, they saw Jiraiya lying outside, covered in blood and barely alive.
Kurama burst into laughter. "Hahaha! It must've been my chakra that did it! What a weakling."
"Jiraiya-sensei..." Minato murmured, watching the severely injured man unconscious on the ground. A complex mix of emotions and worry churned inside him.
After a moment of hesitation, he turned to Menma. "Menma, could you go out and heal him? He was injured while teaching Naruto. We can't just ignore him."
Minato still harbored some resentment toward Jiraiya for failing to care for his descendant properly, but he also knew the Third Hokage had been the one pulling the strings, involved in the deception and interference. Jiraiya was just as clueless as Minato had been about what was really happening to Naruto.
Menma glanced at him but didn't reply. Instead, Menma turned her gaze to Kurama, then formed a few hand seals and summoned a twisted shadow clone that stood awkwardly in place.
"Since I promised you'd get a temporary break from that cage, I'll keep my word," Menma said. "Link your consciousness to this shadow clone's chakra, and I'll send it out. Do whatever you want after that—I won't interfere."
Kurama stared down at the shadow clone. It lacked any of Menma's will and wasn't even worth considering as combat power. Yet her face lit up with excitement. She stuck out her tongue and exhaled sharply.
"It's a shadow clone I can actually control completely!" Kurama cheered. "I thought you'd use one just to take me for a stroll, but I didn't expect—"
She cut herself off mid-sentence, realizing she'd sounded too eager. Acting like a lapdog was undignified. She immediately pulled her tongue back in and wiped the grin off her face, reverting to her usual aloof demeanor.
"Hmph," she grunted. "You've really gone to a lot of trouble. Creating such a specific clone… I guess I didn't misjudge you this time."
As she spoke, Kurama used her claws to carefully protect the seemingly fragile shadow clone, handling it like a precious treasure.
"Don't worry," Kurama said, voice dropping to a sincere whisper. "I'll be on your side from now on. If you need to borrow my power, I'll lend it to you—everything I have."
Since they couldn't devour each other, Kurama wasn't worried. On the contrary, their chakra was almost identical, and they shared the same negative emotions. It felt less lonely than before, like she'd finally found a companion.
Thinking this, Kurama secretly glanced at Menma.
Unfortunately, Menma didn't feel the same way. The coldness on her face made her involuntarily purse her lips.
Seeing the small movement, Menma seemed to realize something and spoke a warning. "Remember to change your appearance. Don't wander around outside with my face on, or you'll regret it."
This shadow clone was utterly useless. If it weren't for Naruto's past experience with Shadow Clone Jutsu summoning these kinds of mindless clones, she really wouldn't have been able to create one. In a sense, Naruto was actually quite talented—but not in proper ninjutsu.
"Hmph, I wouldn't stoop to using your handsome face," Kurama retorted defiantly, looking like she was about to assert herself as Menma's father. "If I were to use anyone's face, it'd be someone else's."
Warned by Menma, Kurama bristled. But before Minato could speak, Kushina immediately slapped Kurama's thigh, shouting in full support.
"Become Minato's appearance!" Kushina yelled. "Then go beat Hiruzen Sarutobi up! Oh, and don't let Danzo and his Root get away with it!"
Minato: "..."
"It's Root," Minato muttered, resigned. "Oh well. I don't care if they see my face, as long as it doesn't interfere with Menma's plan."
Minato had completely come to terms with it. He wasn't on the village's side anymore. Besides, the chakra he'd specifically reserved was originally meant to help his child anyway.
"Hmph, I was just saying that," Kurama snarled. "But you actually dare to flatter yourself? How shameless."
Although she'd allied with Menma, Kurama harbored no goodwill toward Minato or Kushina. She also felt indifferent toward that cowardly Naruto outside. So her words were exceptionally venomous and utterly disrespectful.
While talking to them, Kurama had already coated the shadow clone with a large amount of chakra. A moment later, the clone transformed into a man with spiky black hair, wearing black inner armor and red shoulder and chest guards. His gaze was arrogant, looking down on everything.
Menma: "????"
The moment she saw Kurama's transformed appearance, her lips twitched.
That's… Uchiha Madara? The thought stayed in her mind, unspoken.
Kurama, on the other hand, was extremely satisfied, a wicked amusement on her face.
She hadn't dared become Minato, fearing Menma would use the opportunity to beat her up for impersonating his father. She didn't want to become the Sage of Six Paths either, because the old man had been kind to her. After much deliberation, she'd chosen Uchiha Madara—the person she hated most.
For no other reason than to go out and perform a "A fool and his pride" act for everyone.
"That expression is so cool!" Kushina whispered, watching the Nine-Tails tranform into Madara. "It feels just like my eldest son."
As for the younger son, that was, of course, Naruto outside.
Minato didn't feel anything about it, since he'd never even seen Madara.
"Alright, that's settled then," Menma said. "Being Madara is fine. No one knows him anyway. Even if they do, it doesn't matter—they can't find him."
After saying this, Menma disappeared and reappeared in the mindscape. At the same time, she immediately activated the personality switch.
---
Outside, Naruto was clutching Jiraiya, whose stomach had a gaping wound, screaming in bewilderment.
"Perverted Sage, don't die! This isn't my fault! You were the one who insisted on breaking the Five Elements Seal!"
A few minutes earlier, Jiraiya had said he couldn't use the Nine-Tails' power because of an extra seal on his abdomen. Just as the Sage was helping him break the seal, a terrifying beam of light suddenly erupted from Naruto's stomach. It sent the unsuspecting Jiraiya flying hundreds of meters, leaving him like this.
"You can't cheat me like this, Perverted Sage!" Naruto howled.
He'd barely finished screaming when he found himself back in his mindscape. At the same time, Menma's voice rang out.
"Stop howling. Let me use your body."
"Menma! How come you're coming out on your own initiative?!" Naruto shouted, trying to snatch the body back. "Aren't I the main personality?!"
Sensing the suction, Menma frowned and snapped irritably.
"If you want him dead, then go ahead and take it," Menma growled. "It'll be a good opportunity for you, you coward, to have some fun!"
---
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