Yuki Seisui's words landed like a devastating blow to Shukaku's soul.
All the way back to Konoha, Shukaku remained completely dispirited, its head hanging low.
"We're back," Yuki Seisui said as he looked at Konoha's massive gates and let out a long breath.
This period outside the village had truly been miserable—no good food, no good sleep.
After sighing once, Yuki Seisui leapt down from Shukaku's body.
Sarutobi Hiruzen had already arrived at the village entrance with several others to welcome them.
Konoha's current situation wasn't great, but this overwhelming victory—along with Yuki Seisui bringing Shukaku back—changed everything.
At a moment like this, it would have been strange for him not to show up and make his presence felt.
Moreover, Konoha desperately needed the victory from the Sand battlefield to stabilize morale.
Seeing Yuki Seisui jump down from Shukaku's head, Hiruzen immediately stepped forward and laughed loudly.
"The hero has returned!"
As his words rang out, the surrounding civilians and the shinobi still stationed in Konoha erupted into cheers.
"Hero! Hero!!"
"Hero! Hero!!"
"Hero! Hero!!"
Hearing the cheers behind him, Hiruzen smiled warmly at Yuki Seisui, then looked up at Shukaku, towering over twenty meters tall.
But after getting a good look at Shukaku, Hiruzen frowned slightly.
He had seen tailed beasts before. Back when Konoha had just been founded, the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, had captured several of them.
Though Hiruzen had been young at the time, he had seen them with his own eyes.
In his memories, tailed beasts were unruly, uncontrollable, and the very embodiment of disaster.
Yet this One-Tail, Shukaku… no matter how he looked at it, it seemed more like a hopeless, burnt‑out creature that had completely given up on life.
Noticing Hiruzen's expression, Yuki Seisui followed his gaze and immediately understood what he was thinking.
Yuki Seisui rubbed his chin, pondered for a moment, then said, "It might have something to do with what I said to it."
"But honestly, this Shukaku is pretty weak," he added, shaking his head.
"Can't even handle a little bit of psychological damage."
Hiruzen looked at him strangely. From Yuki Seisui's words, it sounded like "a little damage," but based on what he knew of this boy, it definitely wasn't little at all.
Sensing Hiruzen's questioning gaze, Yuki Seisui coughed lightly. I'll explain later.
"For now, I think we should send the wounded to the hospital first," Yuki Seisui said, pointing at the injured from the battlefield behind him.
"That's reasonable," Hiruzen nodded slightly and gave an order behind him. "Liuyun, make the arrangements."
At his words, a ninja dressed in a form‑fitting nurse's uniform stepped out from the crowd.
She was the head nurse of Konoha Hospital—there was no one better suited to handle this.
Sure enough, under Liuyun's direction, everyone was calmly and efficiently escorted to the hospital.
After that, Hiruzen walked at the front, while Yuki Seisui, Uchiha Haru, and Minato followed behind.
As for Shukaku, it trudged along at the very end, still wearing an expression like the world had lost all meaning.
Even Uchiha Haru couldn't stand it anymore. She quietly leaned toward Yuki Seisui and whispered, "Weren't you a bit too harsh earlier?"
"It looks like it doesn't even want to live anymore."
As she spoke, she pointed at Shukaku, who was following step by step behind them.
Yuki Seisui glanced back, then shook his head.
"It'll be fine once we let Kurama out to play with it for a bit."
"Are you sure?"
Yuki Seisui and Uchiha Haru were speaking softly, but Minato was right beside them and heard everything clearly.
When he heard Yuki Seisui say they'd let the Nine-Tails out to play with Shukaku, Minato almost lost his composure.
Back on the Sand battlefield, he hadn't seen or heard everything—but he wasn't blind or deaf.
He knew at least a little about the feud between the One-Tail and the Nine-Tails.
After all, Shukaku's constant shouting of "stinky fox" had echoed across the battlefield.
"You're sure they won't start fighting the moment they meet?" Minato asked, looking at Yuki Seisui with a strange expression.
"What do you know?" Yuki Seisui shot him a helpless look.
"Back where I come from, a great man once said: fighting is affection, scolding is love."
"Don't be fooled by how Kurama and Shukaku start swinging the moment they meet—their relationship is actually pretty good."
"Really?" Minato still looked unconvinced.
This time, Yuki Seisui wasn't lying.
No matter how the Nine Tailed Beasts acted toward each other, they were all born at the same time.
They grew up together under the Sage of Six Paths.
It was like two brothers who had grown up together since childhood—no matter how badly they bickered in front of others, their bond was solid.
To outsiders, it might look like they constantly insulted and mocked each other.
But in reality, they were close enough to sleep naked in the same bed.
That was more or less the relationship between Shukaku and Kurama.
Or rather, it was the relationship shared by all nine tailed beasts.
As the three chatted, they followed behind Hiruzen, circling a large portion of the village before stopping at the entrance of a forest.
"Ahem." Hiruzen cleared his throat and looked up at the dejected Shukaku.
"This is the place we've prepared for you to live."
"Try to stay inside as much as possible."
"If you get bored, you can send a chakra clone into Konoha to look around and have some fun."
"No one will stop you."
After saying this, Hiruzen looked at Shukaku expectantly.
But Shukaku ignored him entirely. After Hiruzen finished speaking, it simply let out a long sigh.
"I'm going to sleep. Don't bother me if there's nothing important."
After that, Shukaku sighed deeply once more.
"Sigh…"
Only after Shukaku disappeared into the depths of the forest did Hiruzen frown and turn toward Yuki Seisui, remaining silent for a moment.
"…It doesn't have mental problems, does it?"
Yuki Seisui scratched his head and replied uncertainly, "Probably… not?"
"It just took a bit of a hit. It should be fine."
Hiruzen took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself. No matter how shocking the truth is, I must remain calm.
"So what exactly was this 'hit'?"
"Wait a moment!" Yuki Seisui waved his hand, then clapped his palms together.
Everyone suddenly felt their viewpoint rise.
When they looked down, they saw themselves standing on orange‑red fur.
Yuki Seisui grabbed Uchiha Haru and jumped straight down from Kurama's head.
Minato and Hiruzen followed, leaping down as well.
Just as Hiruzen was about to ask again, Yuki Seisui turned toward Kurama and spoke.
"Old Kurama, Shukaku's in the forest and looks pretty depressed. You can go beat it up a bit—cheer yourself up."
Kurama had just been summoned and hadn't even had time to look around when it heard Yuki Seisui's outrageous words. Its eyes lit up immediately.
If Kurama had hobbies, they would be eating, sleeping… and beating up Shukaku.
Their rivalry went way back—every meeting ended in a fight anyway.
Now that Shukaku was in a bad mood, this was the perfect chance for Kurama to have some fun.
"Kid, you really get me!"
"I'm going right now!"