Chapter 76: The Gallant Spirit of a True Man

Han had already lived in the Hidden Stone Village for more than thirty years, yet not a single soul understood his dreams. The bonds he’d formed there were less moving than just two sentences from Baimu. If anything were to be called a soulmate, this was it!

The two of them, kindred spirits, sat by the stream and began pouring out their hearts to one another, passing a jug of sake between them as they listened to Han’s story.

When Han was still an infant, the Five-Tails, King Mu, was sealed inside him, making him the village’s Jinchuriki. To prevent assassins from other villages targeting him in his childhood, this should have been a closely guarded secret. Yet King Mu, a proud and untamable tailed beast who yearned for freedom, fiercely resisted being confined within a human vessel. The sealing technique used by the Hidden Stone was weak, and so the beast would rampage often. Scalding steam would pour from Han’s body, burning his infant skin to a crisp, while the beast’s immense chakra constantly healed his wounds. Thus, from a tender age, he suffered unspeakable agony on the edge of life and death, his skin left with irreparable scars.

His mother’s heart ached for him. Ignoring the scalding steam, she would hold Han in her arms, just so he would have somewhere to take shelter from the pain. She told him, “A true man must endure all suffering.”

“Ah, the pity of mothers everywhere…” Ah Fei was moved to tears.

As Han grew older and reached the age to attend the ninja academy, perhaps King Mu had grown weary, for his rampages became infrequent. Han saw so many children his own age for the first time and was overjoyed to play with them. It was autumn and winter then, so he could still wear thick cotton clothes, gloves, and a mask to cover his burns. The children’s minds were simple and they paid him no mind.

But as the weather turned warmer and the others shed their coats, Han had to keep his thick clothes to hide his scars. That was when the teasing began. Mischievous children waited for him to lower his guard, then ripped off his mask and gloves…

His face looked as if it had been scalded with boiling oil, his skin wrinkled like tree bark. After the initial shock passed, Han became the target of ridicule and rejection. All his companions abandoned him.

That day, his mother told him, “A true man must endure loneliness.”

“A real man should drink heartily! Cheers!” Baimu said nothing more, simply raised his cup.

Children are often the cruelest. Adults may hide their thoughts behind masks, but children’s malice is pure, untainted by self-interest.

From then on, Han was branded a monster. Everyone bullied him, threw stones at him, and he became the one everyone despised. Still, he bore it all in silence, until one day, his beloved pet—a rhinoceros beetle hidden in his pencil case—was crushed to death by the class monitor.

He lost control. The tailed beast rampaged once more, scorching the entire classroom with searing steam. Though the ANBU assigned to protect him intervened at once, many were still badly burned.

That day, his mother told him, “A true man must learn to be gentle.”

“You should have fought back sooner!” Baimu toasted him again. Roshi’s own youth was no better than Han’s, but his fiery temper meant no one dared look him in the eye. Of course, that only left him isolated on the village’s edge.

After that incident, no one dared bully Han again, but everyone still treated him as a monster. No one would speak to him. He endured the loneliness in silence until, at thirteen, a radiant light appeared in his life.

A blind girl…

An accidental encounter.

A girl who could not see Han’s face.

A girl who was not afraid of him.

The two became close friends, and gradually, Han fell in love with her.

She said she wanted to see the forest.

So Han knocked out the ANBU guards watching over him and took her to the border of the Land of Fire. Those were the happiest days of his life.

Then, with her own hands, she stabbed a paralyzing senbon into Han’s body. Awaiting him was a squad of ANBU with no identifying marks.

It was the first time he fully transformed into the tailed beast. He didn’t even know what happened; when he regained consciousness, only mangled flesh and pools of blood remained.

“This had to be Danzo Shimura’s doing! I’m going to write twenty thousand words condemning him!” Baimu smashed his cup in fury, slapping Han’s armored shoulder heavily. “Brother, your life is truly too tragic. And when you got back, did your mother tell you that a real man doesn’t need women? That only sissies play with girls?”

“No… I wandered the Land of Earth for a long time before returning to the village. But my mother was gone. My defection had enraged the Tsuchikage. Only my mother defended me, even at the cost of her life, stopping the Tsuchikage from issuing a kill order. She believed I would never become a rogue ninja…”

From then on, Han had no family in the shinobi world. He hid inside his cold armor, shunning everyone’s gaze. All the while, he spoke of being a true man, concealing his gentle heart.

“Oh, such a great mother! Cry! Cry with me!” Ah Fei bawled uncontrollably.

“Real men don’t shed tears.” Han, eyes red, took a deep swig of sake.

“You are a true man!” Baimu raised his cup to him.

After several rounds of drinks,

“You said just now that my armor has flaws?” Han suddenly asked.

“Indeed. If I’m not mistaken, you use pipes to eject steam, boosting your speed and strength, right?” Now serious, Baimu leaned in.

“Mm. When I was a child boiling water, I noticed that Steam Release could blow the heavy lid off the pot. So I studied how to convert steam into propulsion, and eventually built these steam-powered mechanisms into my armor,” Han nodded.

“A truly ingenious idea, but without guidance, you’ll fall behind the times. Even true men need friends to inspire them.” Baimu gave him a thumbs up.

“You know about armor too?” Han was surprised. These days, everyone in the shinobi world pursued speed and powerful jutsu. Equipment was being simplified, the old Warring States armor falling out of favor, and even the girls wore less and less. Research into body armor was practically nonexistent. Han had spent over a decade tinkering before creating this simple steam-powered suit.

“No one understands armor better than I do,” Baimu replied with a look of assurance.

“Could you share some insights with me?”

“Of course! Aren’t we friends now?”

“Friends…” Han fell silent.

“You already know steam can generate immense kinetic energy. But using it only to support taijutsu—that’s too narrow a vision. What if you turned that steam power into cannons…?”

“Paper and pen!” Baimu demanded, and from Ah Fei’s stomach—where he kept everything but dung—he produced them.

As he spoke, Baimu’s hand moved madly, sketching his vision of a true mecha.

“The armor must be thick—thicker than anything! Don’t worry about mobility; as long as the armor is thick enough, you can stand there and no one will be able to bring you down.

“The more turrets the better, the bigger the caliber the better—under 460mm, all men are equal!

“No need for fancy movement—just fire!

“If one shot doesn’t do it, fire again!

“Enemy too fast? Blanket them with fire!

“They can fly? Put turrets on the head!

“Caliber is justice, tonnage is victory!

“More rivets and steam! The biggest turrets!

“Millions of stars, millions of turrets!

“More rivets and steam! Turrets above all!

“Millions of turrets, millions of glories!

“Every single shot fired is the romance and glory of a true man!”

…

Han was utterly stunned by Baimu’s advanced ideas, clutching the blueprint in his hands as a blazing, manly passion ignited in his chest…

A true man’s armor—that’s what it should be!!!

“I, Han, shall call it the Yamato!”

“Are you a demon?” Baimu asked, tilting his head, expressionless.