After concluding that Danzo was at fault, Tobirama left first, carrying the elder to be temporarily imprisoned in the Konoha lockup. Hashirama, left behind, looked at Menma with a complex expression, wanting to say something. But Menma didn't give him a chance, turning and leaving immediately. Jiraiya was about to follow, but Hashirama stopped him.
As the confirmed next Hokage—even though he hadn't officially taken office yet—he already had to handle the formal duties. Danzo and the Shimura Clan were finished, but the matter wasn't over. There were still troublesome follow-ups to resolve: explaining things to the public, appeasing the people and ninja clans, distributing the Shimura Clan's remaining assets, and so on. These tasks would also be a good opportunity to hone and improve Jiraiya's professional skills.
Meanwhile, Menma didn't relinquish control of his body as usual after leaving. Instead, he found an open rooftop at random and sat on the edge of the eaves. Although the control of Kotoamatsukami had been released, Naruto Uzumaki didn't try to reclaim his body, nor did he act as noisily as usual.
Menma could roughly guess why. During the battle with Danzo, Naruto had kept trying to take over the body and hinder him, unaware that he was being controlled. Now, he'd retreated into his usual self-isolating state. Of course, Menma also thought it possible that the body-stealing battle had simply frightened him. After all, Menma hadn't demonstrated the ability to seize bodies before—Naruto usually just resisted for a few extra seconds.
"Alright, let's get down to business."
Menma didn't retreat into the mindscape this time. He planned to upgrade all his shadow clones outside. After spending over 60,000 Corruption Points to acquire Sage Mode bodies and taijutsu enhancements, he needed to boost the strength of his clones on missions—especially those inside the Akatsuki. With these physical upgrades, they should be able to withstand two more Shinra Tensei attacks without issue.
He dismissed the active shadow clones, received their memories, and formed hand seals.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu."
Puff! Puff! Puff!
Smoke flashed, and three clones appeared on the rooftop. Two had three tails—handling Four Star Village matters. One had eight tails—responsible for Akatsuki operations. After instructing them to use Flying Thunder God Technique to return to their posts, Menma turned his attention inward.
[Current Corruption Points: 0]
[Trust Level: 79% (75%)]
The Corruption Points hadn't increased, which wasn't unexpected. Naruto had been controlled by Kotoamatsukami and, during the battle, his emotions had sided with Danzo. But the Trust Level had risen by 1% and 5%—results Menma hadn't anticipated.
"Could it be guilt over his actions after the control ended?"
With this speculation, Menma closed his eyes and sank his consciousness into the mindscape.
Inside the sealed space, he saw Naruto lying on the ground, curled up in a ball with his knees drawn to his chest. Kurama, the Nine-Tails, was prodding Naruto with its index finger as he rolled around.
Seeing Menma appear, Kurama immediately withdrew its claw. It pointed at Naruto on the ground, waved its paw at Menma, and called out with a laugh.
"Menma! Get over here quick! This little guy's been turned into a shut-in again because he got controlled by the Mangekyou Sharingan~"
"Huh? Menma's here?" Hearing Kurama's call, Naruto sat up, wide awake. Then, processing Kurama's next words, he turned to the fox in anger.
"Controlled by the Mangekyou Sharingan?!"
"Kurama, you stinking fox, you lied to me! Didn't you just say it was because I'm too evil and stupid to be anything but a burden?!"
Hearing the accusation, Kurama raised its fox head defiantly. "Hmph, I was just saying something casually. Is that illegal? It's because you're stupid that you believed such an obvious lie!"
"Damn it! I'll never believe you again!" Naruto angrily turned his head away. But seeing Menma approach, his anger dissolved into dejection.
"I'm sorry, Menma. I've been a burden again."
Because Menma's act of switching places to take the hit had been so brief, Naruto hadn't even realized he'd been there. He thought Menma was just too strong to escape the control, while he was too weak.
"It's alright, Naruto," Menma said with a smile, patting his head. "As long as I control the body, it doesn't matter if I'm held back. It's all the enemy's doom anyway."
Hearing this, Naruto's eyes darkened. He always seemed to be a hindrance, waiting for Menma to clean up his messes. Maybe Menma was more suited to control the body and become the primary personality. But that thought was quickly banished. Then, remembering that Menma could now actively take over, he lowered his head anxiously.
"Menma, you can now actively take over the body. Does that mean you've become the primary personality too?"
"Fool, there can only be one primary personality. I'm not one yet." Menma's voice was gentle, but his eyes were cold—unseen by Naruto. "And have you forgotten what I said? Unless one day you willingly let me become the primary personality, you will always be the primary personality."
"Menma..." Naruto was deeply moved. He couldn't control his emotions and threw himself into Menma's arms. His inner guilt and unease vanished, replaced by a sense of security. It was so good to have a secondary personality like an older brother!
[Trust Level: 79% (79%)]
After both the drop and non-droppable trust dependence values reached the critical threshold for primary-secondary personality conversion, Menma finally understood the condition for reaching 80% and becoming the primary personality.
That was: Naruto had to willingly relinquish his primary personality and become the secondary personality.
Thinking of this, Menma patted Naruto's head again.
"Get out, Naruto. It's your turn to take control."
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