Butsuma Senju stared grimly at Yanbai, his voice seething with fury as he rebuked him. "You're far too willful, Yanbai! Why must you always follow your eldest brother? Is there no one else in the Senju Clan you care about?"
If Yanbai had obediently stayed in the clan compound today, some of the clansmen who had just succumbed to their injuries might not have had to die.
But Yanbai had been absent. He had gone looking for Hashirama.
And now, Butsuma Senju was more than merely angry.
His once sweet, obedient child had suddenly defied his father and even dodged that slap with ease.
It sent Butsuma Senju into a rage.
Yanbai looked at Butsuma Senju with lifeless eyes and said, enunciating every word, "Father, why should I care about any clansmen besides my brothers and you?"
That question struck a nerve. Butsuma Senju cried out furiously, "Do you know what you're saying?"
"Am I wrong?" Yanbai looked Butsuma Senju straight in the eye. "I'm only six."
Butsuma Senju roared, "No matter how old you are, you're a Shinobi of the Senju Clan! Even an infant must take up arms against our enemies and strive to become a Shinobi who can stand on their own!"
"You're blaming me for not coming back to heal them, aren't you, Father?" Yanbai looked at Butsuma Senju. "You only know that I can heal. Do you know what side effects this technique has on me?"
"Side effects?" Butsuma Senju suddenly calmed down, regarding Yanbai darkly.
At that moment, Butsuma Senju truly sensed that Yanbai had changed.
Their brief clash had lasted only an instant, but Butsuma Senju had already felt the difference in him.
"During treatment, I personally experience the suffering of countless wounded people. The agony of their injuries and near-death experiences, pain and terror beyond imagination, invade my consciousness in an instant. Why should I have to endure suffering that no ordinary person could bear?"
Yanbai was not entirely making this up. When copying other people's constitutions and skills, this was a necessary step toward imitating them more effectively.
However, as a GM, Yanbai's tolerance for pain was already beyond anything an ordinary person could imagine. None of it was a big deal.
It was simply the best explanation for why Yanbai was willing to follow Hashirama Senju and heal him, yet unwilling to take the initiative to heal anyone else.
"Do you know how much harm it does to me to heal countless dying clansmen in a single day? Countless different near-death experiences are transmitted into my consciousness at once. It's as though I'm dying over and over in my mind," Yanbai stated expressionlessly.
Butsuma Senju was not the only one whose eyes widened.
All the brothers were dumbstruck after hearing Yanbai's words.
"So... you..." Butsuma Senju looked so shocked that he could not form a complete sentence.
Yanbai's childish face was utterly cold. "Ah, yes. These side effects bring benefits as well as pain, of course. Right now, the people I care about are my brothers. If I stop caring even about them, Father, what do you think I'll do?"
Butsuma Senju's face hardened. For a moment, he did not know what to say.
Off to one side in the distance, a group of grieving Senju clansmen were burying their kin.
Before him stood his son, already on the brink of a mental breakdown.
In Butsuma Senju's eyes, being a Shinobi meant enduring pain that ordinary people could not bear.
But as Yanbai had said, he was only six.
Experiencing countless brushes with death every day-could even an adult necessarily withstand that?
But what did that matter?
Yanbai was Butsuma Senju's child, after all.
As clan leader, Butsuma Senju had to answer for the entire clan.
"This is your duty as a member of the Senju Clan," Butsuma Senju said quietly. "Don't run away. Face it bravely."
Yanbai showed no intention of backing down. "Father, ever since I was little, Mother taught me how to love. To love myself, love others, and love everything in this world..."
"Yes, we're social creatures. Only by knowing how to love ourselves can we gain confidence. Only by knowing how to love others can we build relationships. Only by knowing how to love everything in this world can we experience the beauty of being alive."
"I'm tired, Father. If I can't even love myself, how am I supposed to love anyone else? Don't bring up the Senju Clan."
"Don't bring up the clansmen who died. I didn't cause their deaths. They themselves did, along with you adults who wage these wars! You're the source of these tragedies-"
That last sentence enraged Butsuma Senju. His voice thundered with fury as he growled, "Shut up-"
Butsuma Senju wanted to charge forward and beat Yanbai.
But his four other sons instinctively stepped in front of Yanbai.
Butsuma Senju stared at Yanbai, his eyes brimming with bitter anger.
It was the anger of a father bitterly disappointed that his child refused to live up to his expectations.
All the children felt the unyielding force behind their father's anger.
Tobirama Senju spread his arms and looked up at Butsuma Senju expressionlessly. "Father, Yanbai has already endured countless near-death experiences. He must be suffering terribly. Please forgive him."
Butsuma Senju lowered his eyes. After a long silence, he finally said, "Take your younger brother somewhere to calm down."
Yanbai watched Butsuma Senju silently and did not argue again.
The five brothers sat in a circle around a tree stump not far from the cemetery.
"My heart is full of hurt and resentment. I've been bottling it up for a long time."
Yanbai's voice rang out amid the mountain breeze. "Rather than forcing ourselves to work hard at loving, we should allow ourselves to express hatred. Only after that hatred has been released and dissolved can love emerge and connections form."
Those words seemed to touch Hashirama Senju deeply.
"So this Shinobi world is wrong," Tobirama Senju said solemnly. "The adults are all fools. If they want to end the war, wouldn't signing a peace treaty with the enemy put a stop to the fighting?"
Itama Senju, however, looked at his older brother. "But wouldn't that mean... all the clansmen who were killed died for nothing?"
At those words, Yanbai spoke softly, as though he had just heard some enormous joke. "So, Itama, once the enemy clan is wiped out, our dead clansmen will come back to life, right?"
Itama Senju: "..."
Yanbai did not stop. "If wiping out the enemy clan can't bring the dead back to life, then continuing to fight will only add to the number of dead. As for revenge? There's no such thing. All we're doing is endlessly creating new grudges, then passing them down to our descendants alongside the old hatred, over and over until our own clan is wiped out..."
Tobirama Senju agreed with Yanbai. He looked at Itama Senju and said, "Itama, Yanbai is right. If you keep thinking the way you used to, you'll die. You're too impulsive."
Hashirama Senju agreed with Yanbai as well.
Taking revenge and fighting to the death only meant endlessly creating new grudges, passing them down forever alongside the old hatred.
"Once a peace treaty is signed, Shinobi would only need to suppress their emotions and establish strict rules to abide by it. That would prevent unnecessary fighting," Tobirama Senju continued.
Itama Senju looked about to say something else.
But Yanbai spoke quietly again. "Itama, do you still remember how Grandfather's grandfather died?"
Itama Senju: "..."
Yanbai continued asking, "Do you still remember how Grandfather's father died? Do you remember how Grandfather's brothers and sisters died? Do any of you remember? If they'd stopped fighting in Grandfather's generation, the clansmen who died recently wouldn't have had to die. Who still remembers how the older generations died?"
Those words seemed rather unkind to the older generations of Shinobi.
But wasn't that the truth?
Some generation had to bear the pain.
If everyone kept doing whatever they pleased, how could the world ever change?
"Could a true alliance... really be possible?" Hashirama Senju murmured uncertainly.
During the Warring States period, the average lifespan of Shinobi and civilians was around thirty.
What dragged that average down so drastically was the sheer number of children who died young.
Until their deaths, they never knew why they had been born, nor why they fought.
"Of course it is..." Yanbai looked at Hashirama Senju with certainty. "So train hard, big brother. Once you're strong enough, just beat the other side into agreement. Surrender first. If they won't accept our clan's surrender, keep beating them until they agree to let us surrender."
Hashirama Senju: "..."
The other brothers: "..."
Before you continue