Chapter 417: Madara's Furious Denunciation of Bullying Culture
The masked man and Uchiha Madara.
One pursued his ambitions for the sake of love.
The other, for the sake of the world, was now sacrificing love.
During this period of what could only be described as a "grand dating battle" with Chiyo, Madara hadn't come away empty-handed.
To his surprise, he discovered that the villagers of the Sunagakure Village were far more "humane" than those of the Konohagakure Village.
Of course, he and Senju Hashirama currently appeared in their original forms, and they were accompanied by the highly respected Chiyo. Anyone with a functioning brain wouldn't dare cause trouble for them.
But from various details, Madara could still see the difference.
The Sunagakure Village was currently very harmonious.
Not just toward them, but also toward other ninja and villagers, there was little to no malice.
After learning that the current Kazekage was the One-Tail's jinchūriki, Madara decided to gather some intelligence in preparation for collecting the tailed beasts after his resurrection.
What he learned was surprising.
Gaara had indeed been bullied as a child.
And at that time, Gaara had also been a murderous maniac.
It almost made it seem as if the sunagakure villagers were willing to risk their lives just to uphold a "ninja way of bullying."
But that wasn't actually the case.
First, Gaara's father, Rasa, personally took the lead in bullying him, even encouraging others to do the same.
Second, unless they had Rasa's orders, no adult actually dared to bully Gaara.
Those who tried were mostly ignorant, fearless children. And once the adults found out, those kids were dragged back and beaten into behaving.
Unlike in the Konohagakure Village, where, from adults to children, everyone bullied whoever they saw.
Regardless of the other person's strength, regardless of whether that person might snap and slaughter their entire family, they still insisted on practicing this "ninja way of bullying."
They were practically like a pack of bloodthirsty villagers.
If you didn't know better, you'd think they were like characters from certain recent novels, where everyone had a "[divine quota granted by the gods]" and as long as they were "[killed by someone from the righteous faction, they could reincarnate into another world as a wealthy elite]."
Otherwise, it was impossible to explain why the villagers of the Konohagakure were so obsessed with bullying.
And when discussing this topic, one person inevitably came up.
The White Fang, who had been bullied by the Konohagakure villagers to the point of suicide, and who was also Chiyo's enemy.
"Truly a kind and great ninja. He broke the rules to save his comrades, wasn't understood, and instead of harming others, he… sigh, what a pity."
Hashirama sighed with emotion.
"Wrong. Sakumo Hatake was a coward."
Madara snorted coldly, directly refuting him.
"Hey, Madara, that's going too far."
Hashirama frowned.
Even if he wanted to align with Chiyo's views to impress her, he couldn't just twist right and wrong like that.
"Hashirama, you hold Uchiha Itachi in high regard, don't you? You think he bore the darkness of the village just like you did…"
"Then have you ever thought that if Sakumo truly cared about the village and its future, he should have borne that darkness as well?"
Madara spoke slowly.
"What do you mean?"
Hashirama sensed that Madara wasn't just speaking to please Chiyo this time, there was something more behind his words. He immediately grew serious.
"If he truly cared about the village and wanted to make it better, the first thing he should have done was go to the Hokage and let the Hokage handle it…"
"?"
Hashirama froze.
Not immediately go on a killing spree?
Was this really Madara?
Could love really change a person?
"If the Hokage couldn't deal with it, or chose to brush it off, then the second thing he should do would be to kill, as quickly as possible, all those who spoke ill of him."
"That sounds right."
Hearing this, Hashirama instantly relaxed, patting his chest in relief.
Madara glanced at him in confusion and continued: "Then he should go assassinate that useless Hokage who failed to act. Regardless of success or failure, only then would he qualify as a true hero."
"Otherwise, he would be nothing more than a complete failure. As for suicide, that's cowardice of the lowest kind."
"Right, right, that's more like it."
Hearing lines that sounded like something Madara would say, Hashirama finally felt at ease.
Then he suddenly processed what had just been said, his expression changing as he waved his hands.
"No, no, that's not right! Madara, how can you say something like that!"
"What's wrong with it? By doing that, he would sacrifice his own reputation to send a message to future generations: if anyone dares treat a war hero like this, if they push a war hero too far, they'll all end up dead."
"Only then could you create real deterrence against those inherently malicious villagers of the Konohagakure. Honestly, even with such deterrence, I doubt they would truly take it seriously."
"Perhaps only through generations of 'White Fangs' continuing to kill could the village's culture be corrected. That is what a true war hero looks like. Not someone who is bullied into a cowardly suicide, encouraging the bullies and making them even more brazen in tormenting others!"
Madara shouted sternly.
Listening to him, Hashirama suddenly felt that it made a disturbing amount of sense.
The key point was that Madara's argument perfectly followed the same logic Hashirama himself had used when killing Madara, and the logic behind Itachi's massacre, "bearing the darkness for the sake of the village."
"But… this still isn't some unforgivable evil, right? Killing them over this… isn't that a bit too extreme?"
Hashirama frowned deeply.
He had already struggled with this idea a few days ago back in Konohagakure.
Those children had indeed bullied Madara and contributed to the village's toxic culture, but they couldn't really be called "great evils."
Was it really right to solve this with indiscriminate killing?
Was there truly no way to resolve it through education?
"Hashirama, haven't you realized yet? It is precisely these small evils that give rise to the darkness of the ninja world."
"Can you guarantee that every ninja in the future will grow up like Might Guy, cheerful and carefree, giving a thumbs-up even when bullied, or like Sakumo, a coward who hangs himself quietly at home after being bullied, not even daring to do it in public for fear of troubling others?"
"Can you guarantee that?"
"If, in the future, even one normal person is bullied and forced to leave the village you protect, what will you do? Will you deal with it the same way you dealt with me, by killing them too?"
"And what if one day the Konohagakure is weaker than them?"
"Then the village will be destroyed because of your decisions! It's you, Hashirama! You allow the tumors within the Konohagakure to remain, while eliminating the healthy cells that try to remove them!"
As Madara grew more and more agitated, Hashirama inexplicably felt a sense of guilt rising within him.
Madara was so emotional, as if speaking from personal experience.
Could it be that when Madara left Konohagakure back then, it was also because he had been bullied?
But who could have bullied Madara at that time?
…Tobirama?
(End of this chapter)