Madara and Izuna also came to Mingye's side. Hashirama watched as the three giant snakes formed a triangular enclosure around the entire area. He knew that even if he gave it everything he had, he couldn't get his clansmen out of there unharmed. He relented and looked at the three Uchiha brothers. "Tell me, what will it take for you to spare my clansmen?"
"Kill yourself!"
"Third brother!"
Mingye spoke to Hashirama before Madara could, and Madara frowned at him. Although he disapproved of Mingye's methods, he couldn't bring himself to rebuke his younger brother to his face. Mingye showed no signs of putting on an act. He fixed his gaze on Hashirama and spoke again.
"Big brother, I mean it. Don't think I'm joking. I'm completely serious! Hashirama, do you know what I'm planning next? Do you know the Hatake Clan? While we were planning to ambush you here, the Hatake Clan and three or four smaller clans were already heading straight for your clan's base. Surprised? The Senju Clan's hiding place has been in my hands all along. I gave the order not to kill anyone, but have you ever considered what I'm going to do?
"You're exhausted. Even if I let you go now, what could you do? The Senju of the Forest had no other choice the moment they decided to save the Kurohabaki Clan. The Uchiha Clan has no need for your surrender. Your clan is destined to perish at my hands. I was faster than you, just as we said back in the woods. We share the same dream, but only one of us can reach it and make it reality!"
Hashirama fell silent. If Mingye was telling the truth, then the Hatake Clan's ninja might already have the women, children, and elderly of his clan under their control. There was no time to summon other allied ninja forces for help. The deadliest part of Mingye's lightning-fast strike was that it had left them no way to fight back. The moment the Kurohabaki ninja appeared at the clan's base and his father decided to send reinforcements, Mingye had taken control of the entire battle.
He lowered his head, his mind racing as he tried to find a way out of this dead end. Tobirama's departure wouldn't break the stalemate anytime soon. Hashirama could even imagine what would happen if Tobirama tried to seek help from the other clans in the Land of Fire: Mingye would ruthlessly slaughter the women, children, and elderly back at the clan's base, along with Hashirama's clansmen here. Mingye's goal would no longer be to force Hashirama to die by his own hand, but to uproot the entire Senju Clan. Hashirama stopped himself from dwelling on it. Either he died or his clan perished. That was Mingye's simple goal, and Hashirama had no way to thwart it. He looked at Mingye bitterly and spoke again.
"Mingye, I never realized how far behind I was. I never thought you could accomplish so much in less than a year. If I die, will you really spare my clansmen?"
Mingye knew Hashirama must have figured out what he would do next. Even he hadn't expected such a simple trick—a feint followed by a covert strike, something anyone could see through—to prove so devastating and impossible to counter. Looking toward the source of Hashirama's chakra, Mingye delivered his final ultimatum.
"Correct. Except for Tobirama, I won't deliberately slaughter another member of your clan!"
"You won't spare Tobirama?"
Hashirama's last shred of hope vanished at Mingye's words. He knew what Tobirama aspired to, and it seemed Mingye understood him just as well. Ever since they first met several months ago, Mingye had been making plans to kill Tobirama. It was as if he had wanted to kill Hashirama and his brother from the very beginning. Hashirama could only smile bitterly at Mingye's single-minded determination, while also admiring his cunning.
Mingye didn't give it much thought. Hearing Hashirama's mutter, he sneered in disdain. "You know better than I do what Tobirama is capable of. I won't feel safe until he's dead!"
Hashirama stared at Mingye in silence for a long while. At last, he made his decision. He took off his armor and drew the long sword from his waist. He didn't look at his clansmen below the wooden wall or listen to their pleas to keep fighting. With a long sigh, he turned to Madara, who had been silent, and spoke.
"Of course. You have to root out every last one. I should have realized that long ago. It seems you're the one who came closest to achieving your dream after all!"
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"
Hashirama was a step too slow to kill himself. A ten-zhang-high wave suddenly surged into the air. In this dry wasteland, water churned into a towering tide. Even Manda was swept away in an instant. On top of the monstrous wave, Mingye sensed Senju Butsuma's presence—a wildly violent chakra, tinged red.
"Eight Inner Gates!"
The ninjutsu unleashed by that immense chakra instantly shattered the seemingly perfect situation. Mingye didn't bother threatening Hashirama any further. Right before Hashirama's eyes, he summoned a messenger and issued an order to the Hatake Clan, thousands of miles away: kill them all.
Hashirama watched Mingye's actions in silence, already suspecting what was coming. He felt neither anger nor grief. He had known this bitter outcome was inevitable the moment Mingye tried to force him to kill himself. Even if he and Tobirama died, how could Mingye possibly spare the entire Senju Clan? Mingye had simply been stringing him along.
After escaping the Uchiha ninja who had blocked his way, Tobirama brought his father, Butsuma, to a tree outside the iron prison. Butsuma placed a hand on Tobirama's shoulder, stopping him from fleeing farther, and spoke. "Put me down."
"Father, your condition is terrible. We need to find somewhere to treat your wounds right away!"
With Butsuma's hand on his shoulder, Tobirama could no longer move quickly. He did as his father asked and stopped, then looked worriedly at the foul-smelling wound in his abdomen as he spoke.
Butsuma smiled faintly, glancing at the wound on his abdomen. "The glories of this world are all fleeting. The Senju of the Forest must not fall into decline under my watch. Go rescue Hashirama, then take the clan and leave the heart of the Land of Fire as quickly as you can. The clan's recovery and rise will depend on you."
"Father, you'll be fine!"
Tobirama gritted his teeth as he tried to reassure Butsuma, who laughed and replied, "Tobirama, do you think I'm a three-year-old? I understand my injuries better than you do. This poison can't be cured. You know what it takes to cure the poison of Ryūchi Cave. Can you find those herbs for me within thirty minutes? Go find your big brother, Tobirama, and get out of here at once!"
"You'd better hurry, or Hashirama and the rest of your clan's ninja will all be killed!"
As Tobirama and Butsuma spoke, Uzumaki Aihara appeared behind them—the very man Mingye had supposedly killed in his surprise attack. He urgently warned them, and Tobirama, who had seen Aihara die at the hands of Mingye and Izuna, stumbled backward in shock.
"Aihara? But you were—!"
Butsuma smiled and patted Tobirama's shoulder, then looked at Aihara and praised him. "The Uzumaki Clan's sealing techniques are truly unfathomable. Aihara, you really kept your skills hidden!"
"If I came to the Land of Fire without any abilities, I'd have been dead long ago!"
Uzumaki Aihara hurried to Butsuma's side, gathered chakra in both hands, and pressed them against the wound in Butsuma's abdomen. A barrier formed over the wound and forced the black poison out of his body. But after finishing, Aihara looked at Butsuma with a grave expression, as if unsure how to tell him something. Butsuma read his expression and realized Aihara was troubled. As if he understood, he asked, "How much time do I have left?"
Uzumaki Aihara sighed. In all his decades of treating patients and studying medicine, he had never encountered such an unusual poison. It wasn't fatal on its own, but it completely sealed the victim's chakra. Even if the poison was removed, it left a strange chakra inside the victim's body. The more chakra the victim used, the stronger this chakra became, until it eventually made the victim explode like a balloon.
"I've never seen this kind of poison before! It seems there's only one way to cure it!"
Butsuma remained calm in the face of Aihara's words. He had already figured out Mingye's source of power when Mingye summoned the snake. The Senju Clan had access to a wealth of information, after all, including detailed knowledge of the three mysterious summoning grounds. Faced with even a renowned Uzumaki Clan healer like Aihara being unable to cure the poison, Butsuma immediately voiced the thought that had come to mind.
"Sage Method! If I'm not mistaken, this poison must be the venom from the White Snake Sage's fangs in Ryūchi Cave!"
Aihara neither confirmed nor denied it. He had never encountered Sage Method himself, so he didn't know much about it. With a sigh, he quietly pressed the Scroll of Sealing against Butsuma. When he was done, he shook his head and apologized. "I'm sorry, Butsuma. I can't cure this poison. At best, I can delay its effects. Unless we can find someone from Mount Myoboku, you have no more than three months to live!"
"That's enough. I don't need three months."
Butsuma stood up. Realizing the poison that had troubled him was no longer having any effect, he looked at Tobirama with pride and spoke. "You must get Hashirama out of here. Remember, don't even think about avenging me until you have a powerful force behind you!"
"Father!"
"This old man isn't so old that he needs his son to protect him!"
"Forbidden Technique: Gate of Wonder, Open!"
Before you continue