Tobirama pressed his lips together. Deep down, he disagreed, but he had no way to refute her. He could only force down his discontent and stand silently to one side.
Just then, Hashirama, who had been murmuring in his unconscious state, fluttered his eyelids and slowly opened his heavy eyes.
Newly awake, his gaze was vacant and bewildered. He was utterly weak, his entire body wracked with unbearable pain, and the brutal final scene at the Valley of the End kept replaying in his mind.
He turned his head with difficulty to look at Mito Uzumaki beside him. His expression was dreadful, his voice dry and hoarse, filled with deep uncertainty and agonizing pain.
"Mito... I just had a dream."
"I dreamed... that I killed Madara with my own hands."
"Tell me it wasn't real!"
He still clung to a sliver of hope, still deceived himself, still subconsciously wished that all that brutality had been nothing more than a nightmare.
He did not want to have truly killed Madara!
Hearing this, Tobirama immediately stepped forward and spoke rapidly, eager to comfort his elder brother, absolve him, and strip away his guilt.
"Brother! It wasn't your fault!"
"Madara insisted on causing chaos, on attacking Konoha, on going down the wrong path!"
"You did it to protect the village, to protect peace! You had no choice! You did nothing wrong!"
"So, brother, you don't need to feel any guilt!"
Tobirama was accustomed to weighing costs and benefits, to dividing things into right and wrong.
In his value system, as long as something was done for Konoha, every means was justified and every sacrifice was only natural.
There was no need for guilt.
But before he could finish, Mito Uzumaki gently raised her hand and cut him off.
Mito's expression was calm, her