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Tobirama Senju had actually been forcing himself to hold on all this time. His injuries were severe, and he was relying entirely on the last bit of chakra he had left.

Normally, with the chakra he had remaining, he could handle the situation. However, he had encountered something abnormal.

Amid his dizziness, he instinctively lowered his head to look at the wound in his abdomen. Had he misjudged the injury earlier?

"I've lost too much blood... No, that's not it. It's... my chakra..."

His weakness was certainly related to blood loss, but the main problem was that he should never have engaged in close contact with Yuzhen.

Only because Tobirama Senju had "restrained" him were the two able to come into close contact, giving Yuzhen the opportunity to drain his chakra.

After continuous fighting, relentless pursuit, and blood loss from his injury, Tobirama Senju was in terrible condition, and his senses had become slightly dull.

It was a fatal mistake. His insufficient chakra reserves left him unable to react in time. Once he lost the last of his chakra, it became difficult for him to maintain his condition.

He had been forcing himself to hold on. Now, he simply could not hold on any longer.

With a clang, the long blade slipped from his grip and fell to the ground.

Yuzhen easily broke free of Tobirama Senju's restraint. He slowly straightened up, then turned around and pressed down with one hand on the swaying "Second Hokage."

"You were too careless. Fortunately, I'm a good person, so I won't hurt you. But I know you're stubborn and tend to think about everything in the darkest way possible, so... you don't have to die, but you owe me your life."

Before he could finish speaking, Tobirama Senju had already begun rolling his eyes back.

So Yuzhen released the hand pressing on Tobirama Senju's shoulder, and the other man slowly collapsed to the ground, already as unconscious as he could possibly be.

See? In theory, this was when Tobirama Senju was best able to understand what people were saying.

"Get two people over here. Carry him somewhere else and treat his wounds," Yuzhen said.

Two ninjas came over. They carefully carried Tobirama Senju into a nearby shack and, following the principle of handling him gently, placed him on a crude wooden bed...

They were clearly treating him like some kind of precious, fragile artifact.

Well, to them, Senju really was quite rare.

The two then worked together to remove Tobirama Senju's armor and clothes. They began examining his wounds, carefully cleaning and bandaging them.

To be honest, without a professional medical ninja, the camp could provide only limited assistance to the wounded. However, since the injured person was Tobirama Senju, simple measures to stop the bleeding were enough. At a time like this, they could fully trust the Senju Clan's vitality and recovery ability.

"So this is someone from the Senju Clan? Really? This is my first time seeing one alive."

"Whoa, he's really white..."

"Yeah, so white."

"Huh? A little acorn."

Hmm? Wasn't there something strange about their conversation? Yuzhen could not bear to listen, so he moved as far away from them as possible.

Hayasaka Ryunosuke followed him over and said, "Captain, I didn't expect that technique of yours to actually work on a Senju ninja."

Yuzhen was not particularly pleased with himself. He simply told the truth. "I caught him off guard, and his condition was exceptionally poor... That technique can only work the first time it's used."

The changes in Yuzhen had been obvious these past few days, and everyone could sense them. However, since it involved his personal strength, they had no way to ask about it.

In any case, Yuzhen's increased strength was good news for everyone.

Ryunosuke nodded, then asked, "But Captain, is he really a ninja from the Senju Clan?"

Yuzhen thought for a moment and decided to tell the truth. "He definitely is. And... if I remember correctly, this ninja's name is Tobirama Senju. He's the second son of the current Clan Leader."

"Senju... the Clan Leader's son?" Hayasaka Ryunosuke's expression immediately changed. "Captain, how do you know him?"

No matter how he thought about it, Yuzhen should never have had any contact with the Senju Clan.

Faced with the question, he merely shook his head lightly and did not answer.

Questions asked from below did not entitle anyone to a detailed explanation from above. Whether Yuzhen explained certain matters or not was entirely up to him.

Seeing that he did not answer, Ryunosuke naturally had no intention of pressing him for details.

"Captain, is there any way we can use this Clan Leader's son to further seek an opportunity to build closer ties with the Senju Clan?" Ryunosuke immediately began considering the possibility.

There was no denying that he was quick-witted. The moment he heard Tobirama Senju's identity, his thoughts had already spread to the matter of "clinging to a powerful patron."

"Don't make things so simple. Tobirama Senju at this age can't decide anything for the Senju Clan." Yuzhen shook his head again. It was not that easy to fleece a great clan.

Seeing Ryunosuke looking as though he wanted to speak but hesitated, Yuzhen asked, "What are you thinking?"

"Let me think... Hmm, how about a marriage alliance?" Ryunosuke cautiously offered his suggestion.

"..."

Yuzhen had actually been prepared to hear a terrible idea, but he had not expected Ryunosuke's suggestion to be this terrible.

"Ryunosuke, the only woman in our camp is Granny Takamatsu."

Sister Takamatsu was already over forty. A woman in her forties certainly had the right to pursue love, but having the right to pursue love did not mean having the right to commit a crime.

Tobirama Senju happened to be fourteen. The two seemed somewhat mismatched.

Ryunosuke could not help looking toward Sister Takamatsu, who was searching the camp for bandages, and began wondering whether the Senju boy had a mother complex.

Yuzhen stopped paying attention to his deliberately solemn subordinate. He turned around and called out to everyone:

"Does anyone want to experience the chakra of the Senju Clan?"

The next day, rain began falling at dawn and showed no sign of stopping.

Tobirama Senju suddenly woke from his coma. He abruptly sat upright and instinctively reached for his weapon.

Naturally, his hand found nothing. The violent movement tugged at his wounds, and the intense pain from beneath his ribs and in his abdomen made him suck in a sharp breath. Cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

The patter of rain entered his ears. As a cool breeze blew over him, his mind instantly cleared considerably.

Looking around, he found himself lying beneath a crude shack that was open to the wind on all four sides. A thin, tattered blanket covered him. When he lifted it, he saw that he was wearing nothing but a pair of pants, while the injured areas on his upper body had already been wrapped in bandages.

His forehead protector, Ninja Tool Bag, and clothes had been neatly folded and placed on a wooden stump to his right. His long blade lay beside the stump.

The memories of yesterday surfaced in his mind. In a daze, he pieced together what had happened to him.

Unfortunately, he had fallen into the hands of unfamiliar ninjas. Fortunately, he did not know that yesterday he had been treated like a rare animal and carefully examined by everyone.

"Oh, you're awake."

Noticing the movement, Yuzhen immediately appeared. He was still carrying the large scroll from the previous day.

This was certainly not a coincidence. In fact, he had been watching this area the entire time, which was why he could appear the moment the other man woke up.

It could only be said that Tobirama Senju was still too young and inexperienced. If this had been the mature version of Tobirama Senju, he definitely would have continued pretending to be unconscious upon waking.

He might have figured out his circumstances in a more covert manner, or pretended to be harmless before taking the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on the camp's leader.

Although he would one day evolve into an old geezer, the Tobirama Senju of today was merely a young man with a much simpler mind.