War and Peace

Senju Kyogawa's family sat down to eat together again, but the atmosphere at this meal was unbearably awkward.

Senju Butsuma had always been the sort of person who never discussed serious matters at the dinner table, so no matter how he felt, he wouldn't lose his temper now.

As a result, Senju Kyogawa couldn't enjoy a single bite of his meal. He sat there on pins and needles. Senju Butsuma's expression was as indifferent as ever, so Senju Kyogawa couldn't read anything from that consistently unreadable face.

What Senju Kyogawa didn't know was that Senju Butsuma was also incredibly awkward right now—awkward enough, perhaps, to dig a seaside mansion out of the floor with his toes.

Senju Kyogawa could only comfort himself with the thought that maybe nothing was wrong.

Senju Hashirama, however, seemed completely unaffected. He kept enthusiastically eating, giving Senju Kyogawa a thumbs-up every so often and praising his cooking for getting better and better.

Senju Tobirama also finished the agonizing dinner in silence. As far as he was concerned, this meal might have been even more uncomfortable than lunch.

At last, dinner was over. Senju Butsuma put down his chopsticks, his expression stern. He looked as though he was about to start lecturing Senju Kyogawa and the others.

Senju Kyogawa immediately sat up straight, ready to face Senju Butsuma's judgment.

"Kyogawa, from what that Uchiha boy said today, you know both of them?" Though Senju Butsuma phrased it as a question, his tone was certain. He clearly already knew the answer and was only asking as a formality.

"Yeah." Seeing that there was no point denying it, Senju Kyogawa answered readily.

He hadn't expected Senju Butsuma's first accusation to be directed at him rather than Senju Hashirama.

After saying that, Senju Butsuma fell silent, as though he didn't know what else to say.

After a long pause, he said stiffly,

"Don't associate with those Uchiha boys anymore. I'm afraid they'll trick you."

A huge question mark appeared over Senju Kyogawa's head: ???

Was he serious?

"And you, Hashirama. If you keep seeing Uchiha Madara, I might have to consider breaking your legs," Senju Butsuma added, glaring at Senju Hashirama.

"If you trust the Uchiha, they'll steal information from you when you've let down your guard and grown careless."

"Look, Uchiha Madara and Izuna Uchiha first tricked you into trusting them, then used you to awaken their Sharingan. The Uchiha Clan are all wicked, malicious people. You must never trust them."

"You heard those two Uchiha say today that they wanted to cut ties with you. They were just playing with your feelings."

Senju Butsuma spoke with conviction, apparently trying to scare Senju Kyogawa into giving up on continuing to associate with the Uchiha Clan.

Senju Kyogawa's mouth twitched. He was speechless and couldn't help thinking,

Dad Butsuma, you can get away with telling Hashirama this stuff, but this won't scare me...

"No, Madara isn't like that... He was clearly hurting today too..." To Senju Kyogawa's surprise, Senju Hashirama took Senju Butsuma's words seriously and stubbornly argued back.

But Senju Hashirama only made Senju Butsuma angrier. His eyes blazing with fury, Senju Butsuma said, exasperated,

"How do you know? His clansmen killed your younger brother and gravely wounded Kyogawa, and you still trust him? So many of our clansmen have paid in blood to teach you this lesson, and you still trust him?"

"No one knows what that boy is plotting. If you're deceived, you'll put the entire Senju Clan in danger!"

Senju Butsuma's voice was stern and left no room for argument. When Senju Hashirama met his furious gaze, it was as if he had been burned. He lowered his eyes and answered in submission,

"Yes... Father..."

Senju Kyogawa watched the scene unfold before him. He knew that everything was the fault of the age they lived in.

Friendship between young people should never have been questioned. But in this misguided era, the friendship between two boys who shared the same ideals was ultimately buried beneath the bloody feud between their clans.

Senju Butsuma and Uchiha Tajima were not wrong, either. They were simply fulfilling the duties of clan leaders: assuming the worst about everything the other side did, as they might be enemies. It was how they protected their clansmen, and how they protected their inexperienced children.

But Senju Kyogawa couldn't accept this era. He couldn't accept this reasoning.

If he wanted to change the era, establishing a village wouldn't be enough.

Perhaps, just as he'd joked before, he needed to establish a Shinobi Country—a powerful nation belonging to shinobi, strong enough to stand against the daimyo and nobles. Only then might he change this wretched world and its twisted systems.

But people's beliefs couldn't be changed overnight. Perhaps it would only be possible to gradually change the way civilians and shinobi thought after a Shinobi Country had been established.

Senju Kyogawa felt he couldn't just sit back and do nothing anymore. Perhaps he should start making preparations.

But before Senju Kyogawa could make any preparations, war broke out again.

This time, the war came out of nowhere, sparked by an inexplicable conflict between the Senju and Hagoromo Clans.

That's right—it was inexplicable. The Hagoromo Clan suddenly picked a fight with the Senju Clan over a mission. A clash between a few people escalated into a local conflict, and eventually became a war between the Senju and Uchiha Clans.

The Uchiha Clan, often at odds with the Senju Clan, seized the opportunity to interfere and joined the war.

From then on, the war became a conflict between the Senju, Uchiha, and Hagoromo Clans.

In this situation, the Senju Clan was at a disadvantage, since they were facing two enemy clans. What's more, although the Hagoromo Clan was no match for the two great clans, the Senju and Uchiha, they had numbers on their side. After all, as the saying went, three cobblers could outwit Zhuge Liang. There was strength in numbers...

This was Senju Kyogawa's second time on the battlefield.

Compared to his first time, Senju Kyogawa had gained plenty of experience. For example—

He could now kill an enemy without batting an eye, thanks in no small part to his strong mental preparation.

Before heading to the battlefield this time, Senju Kyogawa had spent a long time preparing himself mentally. He kept reminding himself: if he didn't kill them, the enemy would come and kill him. The thought had practically become an ingrained mantra.

And that mantra had indeed helped him a great deal on the battlefield. At least now, Senju Kyogawa wasn't afraid at all.

However, this time, Senju Kyogawa still didn't fight on the front lines. He saw himself as a medical ninja. If he could help it, he still didn't want to become an executioner who took other people's lives.

If he had a choice, Senju Kyogawa wanted to be someone who saved lives.

Even if the Senju Clan members he saved might go on to become weapons that killed others.