When Menma spoke, Naruto immediately fell in line. He stopped trying to wrestle for control, terrified that his struggle would actually get Jiraiya killed.
But then, the meaning of Menma's words hit him. Naruto's inner voice cracked with disbelief.
"Menma, you—you're going to save him?!"
"My god! This is the first time you've come out to save someone instead of killing them!"
Before Menma could even respond, Naruto's face twisted into a messy, tear-stained grin of pure relief.
"I knew it! I knew I could guide you to the path of righteousness and kindness!" he sobbed happily. "This is amazing, Menma! You're finally reformed!"
"From now on, we'll take turns using the body! Half the time each! I promise I won't lock you out anymore, I swear!"
Menma's brow twitched violently, his eye throbbing as he ruthlessly suppressed a surge of irritation. Idiot.
Inside the mental realm, Kushina's lips twitched, and she tugged on Minato's robes again.
"Is that really our kid?" she asked, baffled. "Why does he act so... goofy? He's nothing like his brother."
Before Minato could answer, Kurama scoffed, its voice dripping with disdain.
"Hmph. There's nothing 'cute' about that brat. He's just plain stupid. He sympathizes with the enemy in the middle of a fight, gets mad at his teammates for being effective, and lets himself get tricked every single time."
"If my kid was that pathetic, I'd strangle him myself."
Kurama mostly slept, but it paid close attention whenever the others came out to play. It knew Naruto's infuriating personality better than anyone. Honestly, it was surprised Menma hadn't snapped and erased Naruto's personality permanently yet.
"You're the one who's gonna get strangled!" Kushina roared, her red hair flying as spikes of chakra erupted from her body. "I'll crush you with my Adamantine Sealing Chains right now!"
Minato quickly stepped between them, his hands raised placatingly. "Kushina, calm down! Naruto represents the gentle, innocent, and kind side of him. It's a human beauty that someone as twisted as Kurama could never understand."
Kurama sneered. "A twisted monster like me doesn't understand? So you're saying even Menma doesn't get it? That he's just a vicious beast too?"
Minato frowned, realizing he'd stepped right into a trap. "That's not what I meant."
"Then what do you mean?" Kushina snapped, grabbing Minato by the hair and yanking his ear. "Explain yourself!"
No one insulted her children. Not the fox. Not her husband.
While domestic chaos reigned inside the seal, Menma acted in the real world.
He completely ignored Jiraiya, who was bleeding out on the ground. Menma's hands flew through hand seals. With a sharp pop, a Shadow Clone appeared.
It looked exactly like Madara Uchiha—black armor, long wild hair, and the Nine-Tails' vertical pupils.
The moment it manifested, the Nine-Tails Madara clone gasped, filling his lungs.
"Inhale... ahhh. The scent of reality."
He took another breath—salty with blood—and nostalgia washed over him. He crawled on all fours toward the nearest patch of grass, acting more like an ape than a man.
"This sky... this water... this soft grass... and that mountain with the hole in it."
"Freedom! I can finally feel it again!"
Menma stared at the clone's antics with dead silence.
Inside the seal, Kushina stopped yelling abruptly. She stared at the projection of the clone with a look of pity, shaking her head as she patted Kurama's massive heel.
Naruto, watching from the back of his mind, felt his brain short-circuit. A guy who looks like a total boss is acting like a wild animal?
Is he nuts?
Naruto shuddered and urged Menma frantically. "Let's just take Perverted Sage to get treated! Don't mess with the crazy guy! You know how it is—lunatics kill people without a second thought!"
Kurama, seeing Kushina's reaction and the clone's behavior, realized it had made a fool of itself. It quickly forced the clone to stand up straight, trying to mimic Madara's posture, crossing its arms and looking down its nose at everyone.
"Hmph," it grunted, channeling Madara's arrogance. "What are you looking at? Want to try dancing too?"
"Whoa! He's so cool!" Naruto whispered enviously.
Menma's eye twitched. He ignored the clone entirely.
Instead, he extended his right hand, chakra crackling around his fingers as he formed a claw in mid-air, pressing it against the seal on his stomach and twisting.
In an instant, ink-black liquid slithered down his skin. The Eight Trigrams Seal opened.
A massive eruption of crimson Nine-Tails chakra exploded out, swallowing Menma's body. Crimson tails sprouted rapidly—first one, then two, then three. But within a second, the violent crimson hue shifted, settling into a calm, golden-red glow.
Nine-Tails Madara's clone let out a hearty laugh of approval.
"Ha-ha-ha! As expected of the one I chose! You didn't even need me to separate it—you devoured all that hatred easily."
"Just candy," Menma scoffed, his expression bored. "This hatred is barely a snack."
But the dark red, blood-red vertical pupils burning in his eyes betrayed him. It wasn't as easy as he pretended.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
In a blur, two giant chakra hands—golden-red and massive—snatched Minato and Kushina from the seal. A moment later, a Shadow Clone of Menma appeared beside them. Before they could speak, the clone vanished, taking them to safety.
"Fine. You can come too," Menma muttered.
He looked at Nine-Tails Madara, who was still posing. A Shadow Clone appeared, grabbed the original Nine-Tails' consciousness, and transported him to Haku's location—the spot bearing the Flying Thunder God mark.
Silence fell.
Naruto finally realized what was happening.
"Wait! Who were they?! Where did you take them?!"
"And the last two... why does my heart feel like it's pounding?!"
"Menma! Don't ignore me! If you ignore me, I'll get seriously angry!"
Menma was used to Naruto's screeching and tuned it out. He glanced at the destroyed mountain in the distance, then down at Jiraiya, who was pale and bleeding heavily.
"The mountain is gone," Menma muttered to himself. "And Konoha's reinforcements still haven't arrived?"
"Whatever. You're just unlucky enough to die here."
He shrugged and let go of the control.
Naruto resurfaced, absolutely furious and bewildered.
"Menma! You lied to me again!" Naruto screamed into the void. "You said you came out to save Perverted Sage!"
"And who were those people?! Why is my heart beating so fast?! Speak up! Stop playing dead!"
"Aaaaah! I'm losing it!"