Reflections after the battle

By the time the Senju troops returned to camp, it was completely dark.

Ryuto sat beside a campfire at the edge of camp, idly poking the fire with a twig.

Sparks crackled and leaped upward.

Footsteps approached, and Hashirama Senju came over with a jug of water and two bowls, then sat down beside him.

"Didn't go eat?" Hashirama poured a bowl of water and handed it to him.

"Not hungry." Ryuto took the bowl and drank a mouthful.

The water was warm.

Hashirama poured himself a bowl too, took a long drink, then looked at the fire.

"Still thinking about what Madara said?"

Ryuto said nothing and kept poking the fire.

"He was right," Hashirama said.

Ryuto looked up at him.

"I said, he was right," Hashirama repeated. "You really didn't have any killing intent on the battlefield."

Ryuto tossed the twig into the fire.

"I know."

"But do you know where the problem lies?" Hashirama asked.

"Where?"

"The problem isn't whether you have killing intent," Hashirama said. "The problem is that you haven't even figured out why you're fighting."

Ryuto frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"On the battlefield today, you saved people, knocked people out, and blasted people away." Hashirama counted them off on his fingers. "But you never aimed for a vital spot. Not once."

"I..."

"I'm not blaming you," Hashirama interrupted. "I'm saying your reason for fighting is different from everyone else's."

He paused.

"The Uchiha fight to win, to prove they're strong. The Senju sometimes fight to survive, and sometimes to protect the people behind them. What about you? What do you fight for?"

Ryuto opened his mouth but couldn't get the words out.

Why?

When he first crossed over to this world, all he wanted was to survive.

Later, his village was destroyed, and he wanted to grow stronger and end this age of chaos.

But when it came to each individual fight...

"I don't know," Ryuto said. "I just... don't want to kill anyone."

"Why not?"

"Because it's wrong," Ryuto blurted out. "Killing people is wrong."

Even he froze after saying it.

What kind of reason was that?

In the Warring States period, killing was as ordinary as eating and drinking.

Hashirama looked at him and suddenly smiled.

"Do you know what my first time on the battlefield was like when I was young?"

Ryuto shook his head.

"I was just like you," Hashirama said. "I couldn't bring myself to do it either."

He picked up a twig and copied Ryuto, poking at the fire.

"I was about... sixteen or seventeen then. It was my first head-on clash with the Uchiha. An Uchiha ninja charged at me, and I bound him with Wood Release. He couldn't move, so he just glared at me, his eyes red."

"And then?"

"Then I froze," Hashirama said. "I knew I should kill him. On the battlefield, if you don't kill someone, he'll turn around and kill your comrades. But I just couldn't raise my hand."

"What happened after that?"

"Then my younger brother, Tobirama, rushed in from the side and stabbed him to death," Hashirama said. "Blood splashed all over my face."

The fire gave a crack.

"I didn't eat that night either," Hashirama continued. "I just sat by the river, washing my face over and over. I washed it several times, but I kept feeling like there was still blood on it."

Ryuto said nothing, waiting for him to continue.

"Later, I figured it out," Hashirama said. "Killing is wrong. But sometimes, if you don't kill, more people will die."

He looked at Ryuto.

"I'm not saying you should become a crazed killer. I'm saying you need to think clearly about what you want to use the power in your hands for."

"Protecting people?" Ryuto asked tentatively.

"Yes, protecting people." Hashirama nodded. "But protection isn't just something you talk about. It comes at a price. Sometimes, that price is getting blood on your hands."

Ryuto lowered his head and looked at his hands.

Those hands had sent more than thirty people flying today.

But they hadn't killed a single one.

"Madara said you wouldn't live long without killing intent," Hashirama said. "That's half right and half wrong."

"How so?"

"Being softhearted on the battlefield really does make it easy to die," Hashirama said. "But if you're strong enough to control the situation, then you have the right to choose not to kill."

He pointed at Ryuto.

"You already have that potential. Your Ki, your speed, your ability to recover... if you really train them to their peak, you might actually be able to fight just to decide a winner, without deciding who lives and who dies."

"And the other half?"

"The other half is that Madara can't understand why you fight this way." Hashirama smiled. "To him, fighting is fighting. It's about winning, about conquering. But he doesn't understand that you can fight for other things too."

Yamano Tarō's face flashed through Ryuto's mind.

That honest, good-natured village chief had been wounded and nearly died protecting the villagers.

Then the devastation at the Uzumaki Clan Grounds flashed through his mind.

Those young clan members had fallen to the ground, never to rise again.

"I don't want to see that happen again," Ryuto said.

"See what happen?"

"Innocent people dying." Ryuto clenched his fists. "The people in the village, those young Uzumaki... they did nothing wrong, but just because they were born in the Warring States period, they had to die."

"So you want to end this age of chaos?"

"Yes."

"Then have you thought about how to end it?" Hashirama asked.

Ryuto froze.

How would he end it?

By talking people into submission?

By changing their hearts?

"With power," Hashirama answered for him. "Only with enough power can you make everyone stop and listen to you."

"But power also makes people want to conquer and rule," Ryuto said. "Madara is an example."

"That's why the key isn't power itself, but the person using it," Hashirama said. "You use power to protect people. Madara uses it to conquer people. The same thing, used differently, produces different results."

Ryuto stared at the fire, his mind a jumble.

He didn't want to kill.

He wanted to protect people.

He wanted to end this age of chaos.

Those things seemed to contradict each other, yet they also seemed to fit together.

"I think... I'm starting to understand," Ryuto said slowly.

"Understand what?"

"I need to get stronger," Ryuto said. "Strong enough to control the battlefield, strong enough to make both sides stop fighting. Only then will I have the right to say, stop fighting and listen to me."

He raised his head and looked at Hashirama.

"Until then, I might... still have to kill. To protect the people I want to protect."

Hashirama smiled and patted his shoulder.

"That's right."

"But I don't enjoy it," Ryuto added. "Killing is killing. It's nothing to be happy about. If I kill, it's because I have no choice."

"That's enough," Hashirama said. "Remember what you just said. No matter how strong you become, never forget it."

The two fell silent again for a while.

The fire was almost out.

"Oh, right," Hashirama suddenly said. "You looked pretty impressive when you were saving people today."

Ryuto blinked.

"What?"

"When you caught that Senju kid who almost got hit by a Kunai." Hashirama gestured. "You shot over, caught him, and turned around, all in one smooth motion. The men were all stunned."

Ryuto was a little embarrassed.

"I just acted on instinct..."

"That's a good thing," Hashirama said. "Saving people is harder than killing them. To kill, you just need to be ruthless enough. To save someone, you need speed, precision, and brains."

He stood up and stretched.

"All right, get some sleep. You've still got training tomorrow."

"Hashirama," Ryuto called after him.

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

Hashirama waved a hand and left.

Ryuto sat alone beside the fire, watching the last sparks slowly fade.

His mind was still turning.

Killing intent.

Protection.

Power.

Those words circled around and around, slowly piecing themselves together into a picture.

A picture of the path he would take.

"Ending war through war..." he murmured.

It sounded pretty melodramatic.

But it seemed that this was the only path he could take.

He stood up, brushed the dust off his pants, and headed toward his tent.

As he passed the medical tent, he heard sounds still coming from inside.

Several wounded Senju ninja lay inside while medical ninja tended to their wounds.

Ryuto stopped at the entrance and glanced in.

A young ninja with bandages wrapped around his arm was boasting to the people beside him.

"You didn't see how fierce Lord Ryuto was today! He rushed over in a flash, threw two punches, bam, bam, and sent three Uchiha Jonin flying!"

"Keep making things up. Three, really?"

"It's true! I saw it with my own eyes!"

Ryuto smiled and kept walking without going inside.

He returned to his tent and lay down.

Images of today's battlefield still filled his mind.

Madara's scarlet eyes.

"Killing intent..."

Ryuto closed his eyes.

The next time they met, he might really have to strike to kill.

Not to conquer.

But to protect.

He rolled over and went to sleep.