The two captives gave up after a few attempts. They already knew they couldn't break free again, so they might as well save their strength and wait for an opportunity.
Hashirama made no effort to hide his curiosity. Perhaps he also sensed no ill intent from Bai Sui. "What kind of jutsu is this? I didn't see you form any Hand Seals. Is it a jutsu that requires no seals?..."
All along the way, the two chattered noisily as they floated through the air, held captive by Bai Sui. Ki enveloped them, carrying them behind him.
Bai Sui didn't walk either. He rose into the air and flew over the river toward the place where he'd stayed before.
"Is this Earth Release? I've heard of a technique called Light-Weight Heavy Rock. They say you can fly with it once you've mastered it. Is that what this is? By the way, where are we going?..."
"Shut up, Hashirama! You're so noisy!" Bai Sui hadn't said a word before Madara, floating beside Hashirama, finally lost patience with his rambling and forced him to stop.
They soon reached a small wooden cabin. One look at the traces around it told Hashirama and Madara that Bai Sui had stayed there for much longer than a day or two. And when Bai Sui released his hold on them in front of the cabin, they began to understand what he'd said earlier.
The wooden door opened by itself. Bai Sui gestured for them to come in, then went inside first. After exchanging a glance, the two followed him in.
Once they were seated, Bai Sui brewed another pot of tea and brought out some fruit and pastries. He didn't eat any himself, but he had plenty stored in his dimensional storage space.
The two had keen eyes and noticed the food had appeared out of nowhere. At first, they thought it was an illusion, but after testing it several times, Madara confirmed it wasn't. After all, he was sure no illusion could fool an Uchiha.
Out of caution, neither of them tried the food. Bai Sui didn't mind; it wasn't important.
Bai Sui told them about some of the things he'd seen on his travels, including many tragedies. Normally, these weren't things one would tell two children, but the boys before him were sons of clan leaders. They were mature for their age and had personally witnessed plenty of horrors.
It was precisely their own experiences that had made them think—about their futures, the future of shinobi, and the future of the Ninja World.
After hearing about some of the things Bai Sui had encountered, Hashirama grew somber, evidently lost in thought. Then his expression gradually hardened, as if he'd made up his mind.
"I've decided! I'm going to build a village shared by all the ninja clans. In this village, children won't have to kill one another. We'll build a school for them, too, where they can learn and train, so they can grow up strong. It'll be a village where we don't have to send children to the front lines to risk their lives!"
Madara seemed moved, though his voice remained stiff. "Only you would say something so foolish. But... it's not a bad idea."
When they had finished, the two looked toward Bai Sui, evidently hoping for approval from an outsider.
Bai Sui nodded. "It really is a good idea. But I have a question. The reason ninja clans send children to the battlefield now is that there aren't enough adults, right?"
Hashirama nodded. "That's right. At first, there was no need to send children to the battlefield. But later, so many adults died that they couldn't keep up the fight, so they had the children help shoulder the burden."
Bai Sui picked up the thread. "If that's the case, then even if you build a village, won't the children still be sent to the battlefield if too many adults die? There'll just be more adults, and more of them will have to die before the children are sent to fight, right?"
Madara objected, "How could that happen? A village formed from several ninja clans would inevitably be incredibly powerful. Who could stand against it? Unless..."
Bai Sui nodded. "Exactly. If a village this powerful appeared, what would the other clans do? Just wait for it to wipe them out?"
"No! Our village won't start wars!" Hashirama protested heatedly. "We're not building it to wipe out the other clans. We're building it so children won't have to go to war!"
"You're right, but that's only how it looks from your perspective. What if you looked at it from the other clans' point of view?
"Suddenly, a powerful village appears that could easily wipe you out. It hasn't attacked you, but you know how strong it is. And perhaps, over the years, you've even had blood feuds with some of the families in the village. Do you think your clan could feel safe? What would it do?
"It would naturally look for a way to feel safer. There are only a few ways to do that: join the village if you can't defeat it, and become part of it; move far away from the village and relocate your clan; or strengthen your own forces. And the easiest way to gain enough strength to stand against the village in a short time would be to form another village. Why would that be surprising?
"As for why no one has chosen this quick path to strength before, it's simply because the clans don't trust one another. They keep each other in check, so they can only form loose alliances instead of truly living together." Bai Sui continued his explanation, following Hashirama's train of thought.
Madara had been unhappy that Bai Sui was pouring cold water on his friend's idea, but he was intelligent and didn't argue pointlessly. Nor would he say something like villages would never fight one another.
"Then do you have any advice?" During their earlier conversation, Bai Sui had told them his age. The two had doubts about it, but faced with the difference in strength between them, they'd more or less accepted it.
Bai Sui said, "I wouldn't call it advice, but I do have a few immature ideas.
"If you're already thinking of forming a village from several ninja clans, why not think bigger? What if all the clans came together? Why not unite the entire Ninja World and make it one country?
"Everyone would belong to the same country, with the country itself keeping each clan in check. Conflict would be unavoidable, but its severity could be controlled to some extent. At the very least, there wouldn't be a war engulfing the entire Ninja World like there is now.
"Have you ever wondered why the clans fight one another? It's simply because resources aren't evenly distributed among them. Often, one clan discovers that another has something it needs.
"Even if these problems couldn't be eliminated by establishing a unified country, the country could redistribute resources to some extent, sending supplies from well-off areas to poorer ones. Wouldn't that help ease tensions, at least a little?"