Chapter 39: Evils

~Hashirama~

"Where are we, Sensei?" Hashirama asked as he saw the world around him completely shifted, with them no longer being inside of the land and him not seeing any trace of Madara.

"We are currently inside of the nexus of reality, a place where some Universes meet and coalesce into each other, forming miniature Multiverses inside of the larger Multiverse, each with separate rules.

I brought you here because I felt that unlike Madara, your soul is innately peaceful, something that I have rarely seen inside of our world. With that in mind, I decided to bring you here in a hope that you could see something that took me quite a decent amount of time to understand, the true dark side of Shinobi." Yao stated as the world around them morphed, with them being in front of some type of home with a man and a strange looking dog.

"In this world, people can touch upon a power known as Alchemy to achieve great results, yet this man chose to merge his daughter with his dog, an evil act that showcases his lack of empathy and care with him also doing the same act to his wife a few years prior. That is the evil that a person can possess." Yao sated with a somber look on her face.

Hashirama said nothing, though based on the balled up fist of his, you could tell that he was angry at the act.

He originally felt he had seen the extent that the evil in humanity could possess based on the hatred of their opposing Shinobi once they killed their Clansmen, yet here, he saw a level of evil so great that it made him wish to kill the man immediately.

The world morphed again, with Hashirama seeing an island that was on fire while also a little girl that was on a raft, with him seeing large ships off in the distance.

"In this world, the wish to bury the history of their world is so great that anyone that they even suspect of possessing the knowledge is to be purged without mercy. In this situation, an entire Nation was destroyed, from the Scholars and Archeologist, to the Civilains and Children, all because they wished to ensure that this knowledge never surfaces again. The only remainder of this place is that little girl, someone who was forced to watch the deaths of her friend and mother. This is the evil that the entire world can possess." Yao stated, with the world twisting a final time, yet this time, Hashirama found himself looking at a large Village.

 "This is an alternate timeline of our world, one that has an event that takes place many times across many timelines. Here, in the Village that your alternate self founded, a 13-year-old boy was tasked by one of the leaders to annihilate his entire Clan, a Clan I'm sure you know greatly." Yao said as she held Hashirama's hand and they walked the streets.

Hashirama saw the dead bodies laying on the ground, with him looking at one of their faces and realizing what clan they were from.

"The Uchiha.." Hashirama murmured.

"Yes. In this world, you eventually created your dream with Madara, yet instead of ending the chaos, it merely increased the scale of it. The dream to prevent young children from stepping on the battlefield only lasted during your time, as the following leaders needed all soldiers that could get their hands on.

The policies of your brother, followed by the governing practices of the leaders after that and an event that caused great panic led to civil unrest between the Uchiha and the Village, with them ultimately deciding to task the son of the current Patriarch to massacre his entire Clan on the sole promise that they would not harm his younger brother.

The young boy, one not properly guided and instead, used at nearly every stage of his life, chose his younger brother over everything. This forced a young man that would have been an ideal leader for this Village to become a Missing Shinobi, one to be hunted down at every turn.

Yet no one pays attention to the fact that he was a mere 13-year-old boy, one not even of the age where he should have to make such decisions, and that he was simply the result of a cruel world.

This is one of the ultimate views of evil in my opinion, as the greatest evil that I'm able to see, is the evil that takes the innocence away from children." Yao finished as she and Hashirama turning the corner, with it showing the boy responsible for this great crime placing his younger brother under a Genjutsu.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke." The boy said as tears came from his eyes after his younger brother passed out, with him then leaving.

The world twisted once again, with Yao and Hashirama finding themselves back at the Nexus of Realities.

"Do you think you can face the Evils of the world and maintain your view of peace, Hashirama?" Yao asked as she crouched down to the young boy and cupped his cheek, the same way a mother would her son.

Hashirama looked at her with tears in his eyes, his mind constantly making the unnatural comparison of whether that was Tobirama or Itama, and him committing the massacre.

However, as the tears fell, he grew a determined look in his eye as he stared at Yao.

"I will fight against those Evils, and I'll win. I'll stop everyone from needing to face them, because I'll be the one who has to." Hashirama said.

Yao merely smiled as she rubbed his head, with her bring the two back to their world while she thought only a single thing in her mind.

'I wish... that I could have maintained my peaceful soul after seeing such Evils, Hashirama. It seems in that regard, you may have already surpassed your teacher.'