Joy Turns to Sorrow

Pain Adjustment Card!

Senju Kyogawa froze in delight, then couldn't help jumping up and laughing silently.

Right now, Senju Kyogawa wanted nothing more than to throw his head back and howl, sharing his joy with the whole world!

[You really do get what you wish for, hahaha!]

Jingchuan might actually be a lucky bastard.

Senju Kyogawa thought that he would never have to fear Senju Butsuma's demonic training again!

In the days after obtaining the Pain Adjustment Card, Senju Kyogawa immediately turned his pain sensitivity down to zero. Even Senju Butsuma was baffled by how Senju Kyogawa suddenly seemed unafraid of pain and trained as if he wanted to kill himself.

But accidents always came out of nowhere.

During training, Senju Kyogawa suddenly gathered his strength and charged at Senju Butsuma. Of course, Senju Butsuma wasn't going to stand there and let him crash into him. His excellent instincts as a ninja made it easy for him to dodge.

However...

Senju Kyogawa accidentally failed to rein in his momentum and crashed headfirst into a tree—the one behind Senju Butsuma.

With a loud BANG! the birds in the tree scattered in an instant, chirping as they wheeled through the sky.

Senju Kyogawa had charged at Senju Butsuma on a reckless whim, his mind not entirely clear. He had put all his strength into the attack.

So even though Senju Kyogawa couldn't feel pain, the impact still left him seeing stars, and he passed out.

The instant Senju Kyogawa hit the tree, a crack appeared at the point of impact. The next moment, the tree—which stood twice as tall as Senju Butsuma—came crashing down.

It fell toward Senju Kyogawa.

Senju Butsuma reacted quickly, grabbing Senju Kyogawa and hauling him out of the way. Otherwise, there would have been a "meat pancake" on the ground.

A hole had been knocked into the center of Senju Kyogawa's forehead, and blood was gushing out. It soon soaked his entire face, making him look utterly miserable.

The medical personnel who came to treat Senju Kyogawa couldn't help remarking that he really knew how to get himself killed.

After receiving professional treatment, Senju Kyogawa soon woke up, thanks to his strong healing ability and robust physique. Aside from feeling a little dizzy, he had no other discomfort.

[I probably have a concussion.] Senju Kyogawa curiously touched the layers of bandages wrapped around his forehead, calmly thinking as waves of nausea washed over him.

[Looks like I can't turn my pain sensitivity all the way down to zero from now on.]

After this incident, Senju Kyogawa finally understood how troublesome it was to lose the ability to feel pain completely.

During the time he couldn't feel pain, Senju Kyogawa had clearly suffered more injuries, and more serious ones. Even though he couldn't feel them, they would sometimes leave him weak in the muscles, which not only hindered his training to some extent but also affected his daily life.

As Senju Kyogawa thought this over, he tried to comfort Senju Hashirama, who was sprawled over him, crying so hard that his nose was running.

"Waaah, how did Jingchuan get hurt so badly? Does it still hurt? Waaah..."

Senju Hashirama wrapped his strong arms tightly around Senju Kyogawa, nearly squeezing him to death.

"Cough, cough—let, go!" Senju Kyogawa struggled to wriggle free of Senju Hashirama's embrace. With strength like that, anyone who didn't know better would have thought Senju Hashirama was trying to murder him.

Hearing "[Cuddle Points +6]" felt great, but Jingchuan was more afraid of being squeezed to death by Senju Hashirama.

Rejected by Jingchuan, Senju Hashirama became even more depressed. His whole body drooped, and with that strange hairstyle, he looked like a gloomy mushroom.

[If I got squeezed to death, would Senju Hashirama commit seppuku like in the Japanese dramas I watched in my previous life?] Senju Kyogawa thought at an inopportune moment.

Maybe it was a lingering effect of hitting his head, but Senju Kyogawa's thoughts were all over the place. Whenever he started thinking about something, his mind would wander off elsewhere.

Looking at his silly eldest brother and little brother who'd been knocked silly, Senju Tobirama couldn't help rubbing his forehead inwardly. He felt keenly that his responsibilities as the second son of the Senju Clan were immense.

Senju Tobirama sent away the brothers who had come to visit and ordered Jingchuan to rest properly.

With no one else to bother him, Senju Kyogawa could finally get a good night's sleep. He had to think about how to spend these wonderful days without training from Senju Butsuma.

Dreaming of tomorrow, Senju Kyogawa finally fell into a peaceful sleep.

His dream was strange and shifting. Senju Kyogawa felt as if he were drifting on the sea, his feet never touching the ground.

He couldn't open his eyes, as though they were stuck shut, and only the sensation of falling that filled his body felt real.

Suddenly, Senju Kyogawa felt as if someone had wrapped their arms tightly around him. At last, he stopped falling.

"Roar—" In a daze, Senju Kyogawa seemed to hear a beast roaring furiously. Even when he tried as hard as he could to open his eyes, all he could see was a swath of orange and a field of ruins.

Senju Kyogawa jolted awake and clutched the bedsheet beneath him. He had already forgotten the specific details of the dream, but the feeling of dread still lingered in his heart.

Noticing that his face felt damp, Senju Kyogawa raised a hand to touch it and found it wet with tears.

[I was crying? What kind of dream was that?] Senju Kyogawa wondered. But the harder he tried to remember what had happened in the dream, the faster the memories seemed to fade.

Before long, Senju Kyogawa could no longer remember anything about the dream, and even that trace of heartache vanished without a trace.

Senju Kyogawa stopped trying to puzzle out the dream and drifted back into a deep sleep.

The days without training suddenly became hard to endure. Senju Kyogawa had nothing to do and felt bored.

His four older brothers were already full-fledged ninja and had started taking missions. During the day, Senju Kyogawa could hardly ever see them.

And it wasn't just them. The Senju Clan Territory was practically deserted during the day. Most of the ninja had gone out on missions, and those left behind were either young children training or people building up the clan grounds or keeping them running.

During his recovery, Senju Kyogawa wandered aimlessly around the clan grounds. Everyone there was so busy that they had no time to pay him any attention.

Perhaps because Senju Kyogawa had behaved himself during the several months since he'd been allowed out, without causing any trouble, everyone who had never seen his strange flames gradually let go of their reservations and became less hostile toward him.

However, whenever Senju Kyogawa approached, they still instinctively avoided physical contact with him. That left him with no way to earn more Cuddle Points.

That day, Senju Kyogawa was once again wandering aimlessly around the clan grounds.

"Medical ninja! Someone get a medical ninja!" A panicked male voice suddenly reached Senju Kyogawa's ears, startling him out of his daze.

Senju Kyogawa turned to look and saw several men gathered around someone covered in blood.

The injured person clearly needed treatment, but unfortunately, the Senju Clan's medical team had all been sent out that morning. Not a single medical ninja was left in the clan grounds.

Senju Kyogawa clearly saw the men's faces turn desperate when they heard that there were no medical ninja on duty in the clan grounds.