"We won." Tsukihime said, "The ghost admitted defeat in public. According to the clan rules, the challenger wins, and the defender retreats."
"That's enough." Boruto closed his eyes and let out a long sigh of relief.
Tsukihime stared at him with complicated eyes.
"Are you crazy?" she asked suddenly, with a hint of trembling in her voice, "In order to win, you even risk your life? You don't even need to give up your arms?"
Boruto smiled.
The smile was very weak, and the cut at the corner of his mouth made him frown slightly, but it made Tsukihime feel inexplicably nervous.
"I had no intention of coming back alive." He said softly, "As long as I can win and qualify, what does it mean to have fewer arms? Winning is enough."
"Nonsense!" Tsukihime slammed the medicine bowl on the table, and a few drops of soup splashed out. "You promised me that you would live! You said so!"
"I'm alive." Boruto opened his eyes with clear vision, "Although I'm missing an arm and have become a disabled person, I'm still alive, right?"
Tsukihime gritted his teeth and wanted to refute, but found that he couldn't.
She knew that Boruto was telling the truth.
He is indeed alive.
But is this way of living... this way of living that is willing to dismember oneself in order to win, really considered "living"?
"Drink the medicine." She picked up the bowl and said in a stiff tone, "After drinking it, have a good sleep. There are many things to do tomorrow."
Boruto took the bowl and drank it down. The medicinal soup was extremely bitter, which made his whole face wrinkle into a ball, but he didn't even frown.
"By the way," he suddenly remembered something and put down the bowl, "Where's Hui? Did he see that battle?"
Tsukihime nodded. "I saw it. He has been sitting on the highest viewing platform."
"What did he say?"
"He said..." Tsukihime hesitated, seeming to be considering his words, "He said you were very interesting."
Boruto sneered, "Interesting?"
"He also said," Tsukihime continued, his voice lowered a bit, "He will fight you personally in the next trial."
Boruto said nothing.
He closed his eyes again and felt the Golden Chakra flowing slowly in his body.
Although the right arm is broken, the Chakra circuit is still there. And...
He could clearly feel that there were more black lines in Chakra. They were wrapped around the golden Energy Core like vines, greedily absorbing his emotions.
That's not a good thing. That's a sign of depravity.
But it's not a bad thing. Because only this kind of power can resist Hui.
"Tsukihime." He suddenly said.
"Huh?"
"Your brother... how did he die?"
There was a long silence in the stone chamber.
It took so long that the wick of the oil lamp exploded into a flower.
"He was stabbed through the heart by Hui." Tsukihime finally spoke, his voice as soft as smoke, "But before that, he had a chance to kill Hui."
"Why not kill?"
"Because he hesitated." Tsukihime clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white. "Hui deliberately exposed a huge flaw. My brother saw it. It was a trap. But he still hesitated."
"He thought Hui would admit defeat, thought it was the mercy of the strong, and thought that as long as he showed enough strength, this farce could be ended."
"As a result, Hui took advantage of his hesitation and stabbed him with his backhand, directly piercing his heart."
Boruto opened his eyes, with golden light shining slightly. "That's why you hate Hui."
"It's not just hate." Tsukihime raised his head, with cold fire burning in his eyes, "I hate my brother's weakness, his innocence, and my own incompetence."
"If I had been stronger, if I could have prevented that trial, if he could have struck before he hesitated..."
"There are no ifs." Boruto interrupted her with a cold tone, "The past cannot be changed. A dead person is dead."
"I know." Tsukihime lowered his head, his bangs covering his eyes, "So I can only become stronger."
"Strong enough to kill Fai."
Boruto looked at her and suddenly asked a heartbreaking question, "Can you really kill him?"
Tsukihime raised his head suddenly, his eyes blazing with determination. "Yes."
"Even if I risk my life, I will kill him."
Boruto smiled, and there was a hint of bitterness in that smile, "Then we are the same."
The two looked at each other, and there was a certain unspoken understanding in the air.
That's not friendship, nor is it love.
It was two desperate people who accidentally found the comfort of each other as companions in the endless darkness.
For the next three days, Boruto has been resting and recovering.
Tsukihime comes every day to deliver medicine and tell him the news happening outside.
"Hui summoned all the clan members above Gold Mode." The next day, she brought a surprising news, "He was going to hold a "hunting game."
"What game?" Boruto asked.
"Put a hundred ordinary tribesmen, that is, civilians who have not turned on Gold Mode, into "Despair Forest" outside the city." Tsukihime's voice was as cold as ice, "Then let ten Gold Mode hunters go in and hunt them."
"Whoever kills the most will be directly qualified to be promoted to Platinum Trial."
Boruto clenched his remaining left hand, cracking his knuckles. "He treats people as prey?"
"Yes." Tsukihime said, "In the Ōtsutsuki Clan's eyes, the weak are resources. And among those one hundred people... there is my cousin."
Boruto looked at her. "Are you going to save her?"
"I can't go." Tsukihime shook his head with a sad look on his face, "My Gold Mode is still unstable. If you try to enter by force, you will only die or even harm her."
She looked at Boruto, with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "But you can."
Boruto was stunned. "Me?"
"You defeated the ghost, which proves that your strength is close to platinum. Even if you are missing one arm, you are more than enough to deal with ordinary Gold Mode hunters." Tsukihime said eagerly, "And in your current state, Hui will not regard you as a real threat. He will only think that you are a lunatic who wants to increase your presence."
"You can sneak in and save people during the chaos."
Boruto was silent for a few seconds.
"Why should I save her?" he asked, his voice terrifyingly calm.
Tsukihime gritted his teeth. "Because you promised to help me."
"I promised to help you kill Hui," Boruto said coldly, "But I didn't promise to help you save people. That's extra work."
"Boruto!" Tsukihime's voice was high-pitched and filled with anger, "She is only twelve years old! She is a child!"
"So what?" Boruto turned his head, his eyes as cold as iron, "Here, people die every day, what does it mean to be twelve years old? Yesterday I saw a few babies being thrown into the Colosseum."
Tsukihime was stunned.
She looked at Boruto and suddenly realized that she could not recognize him.
This young man's eyes were too cold, as cold as Hui, as cold as those aloof gods.
"You..." she murmured, "You have changed."
Boruto stopped looking at her and stared at the shadow on the wall. "I haven't changed. I just recognized the reality."
"Here, kindness is courting death. Excessive compassion will only make you die faster."
Tsukihime stood up suddenly, turned around and left.
When she reached the door, she stopped, turned her back to Boruto and said, "My brother thinks the same way. He thinks killing is meaningless, and he thinks humanity should be preserved."
"So he died."
"But I won't. I will survive by any means necessary until I kill Hui."