I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 33: The Crowd Has No Reason

"Let me think about it some more."

The thought of Kushina suddenly made Minato's resolve to graduate early and serve the village waver a little, though he didn't know why.

Was it because he liked her? Minato wasn't sure, after all, there was no spark between him and Kushina yet. Minato thought that perhaps he wanted to see Kushina truly integrate into the village.

Although she now has some friends compared to when Kushina first arrived in Konoha last year, they are limited to a few ninja girls, such as Inuzuka Tsurugi and an older Uchiha girl.

The boys in the class who had bullied or been bullied by Kushina, as well as boys from other classes and grades who were related to them, still showed their aversion to Kushina.

Minato was worried that if Kushina encountered any trouble after he left the Ninja Academy, he wouldn't be able to help her in time. Although he had been observing from the sidelines for the past year.

However, Minato felt that things were all under control, and at the very least, Kushina didn't suffer any losses in terms of fists.

Minato was conflicted. He and Tatsuma also arrived at the crossroads. They exchanged rice and other ingredients and then returned to their respective homes. Of course, they still had extra training that night as usual.

The two no longer wear braids, as it is no longer of any use to their training; their control over chakra is now quite advanced.

If they don't learn medical ninjutsu or puppetry, which require more refined chakra control, their level of chakra control is already sufficient, and further training would be very effective.

The two have already mastered the Needle Earthly Treasury Technique and the Chaotic Lion's Mane Technique, although they are still some distance from being able to apply them flexibly. However, there are currently no conditions for them to practice applying them in actual combat.

Moreover, it wasn't just these two ninjutsu. When Jiraiya returned last time, he also brought back another ninjutsu related to hair, called Needle Hell. Unlike Needle Jizo, Needle Hell transforms hair into thousands of needles and shoots them out.

It is somewhat similar to Jiraiya's later Sage Art: Hair Needle Thousand Needles, but without the support of Sage Chakra, its effect is average, though it is good for cover.

Both of them learned this ninjutsu, but due to insufficient chakra reserves and a lack of in-depth training in chakra transformation, its power was limited and not as good as the senbon thrown by hand.

Unfortunately, Tatsuma never drew any talents related to chakra form transformation or nature transformation. Perhaps these two things are not talents, but more like compulsory courses for ninjas.

Just like ninja tool throwing, Tatsuma had never picked up the talent for ninja tool throwing from anyone else. Minato Namikaze's talent was limited to that, and he could now clearly realize that it was a ninja tool throwing talent that complemented the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Over the past year, Tatsuma had actually considered developing the Rasengan, since it was the ninjutsu whose principles and training methods he was most familiar with.

Unfortunately, due to insufficient chakra and lack of proficiency in form transformation, he was still unable to create a Rasengan. However, he still insisted on spending some time each day trying to create a Rasengan to aid his training in form transformation.

That night, after finishing dinner, the two arrived at the training ground at the same time. Recently, the training ground had become lively, and many ninjas waiting in Konoha would often come to the training ground to train.

After all, it's impossible that only Tatsuma and Minato could see that the current situation is abnormal, let alone ninjas who have access to outside information.

After completing their daily routine training, Tatsuma and Minato began their sparring practice. Compared to when they first enrolled and could only use physical techniques, their fighting style has now become more varied.

Both are extremely proficient in the three techniques of ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu, as well as ninja tool projection. At least at the genin level, they have already mastered the E-rank and D-rank ninjutsu that Jiraiya gave them because they are easy to learn.

Of course, the two did not use the three hair-related ninjutsu that Jiraiya taught them, since for them at this point, the cost of these three ninjutsu was too high and the return too low.

As midnight approached, the two, panting heavily, finally stopped their battle. Recently, their match results, especially in actual combat, had been evenly matched by Minato.

Today, having secured another victory, Minato finally showed his first smile of the day. He then looked at Tatsuma, who seemed somewhat regretful and remorseful, and asked, "Tatsuma, why do you think war exists?"

"This question is too difficult."

Tatsuma rubbed his backside where Minato had kicked him, and then said, "But as things stand now, war is just a tool used to incite the will of the masses."

"The will of the group, what is that?"

Minato, who always heard strange terms and theories from Tatsuma, demonstrated his spirit of asking questions when he didn't understand. Tatsuma breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Minato was no longer fixated on the nature of war.

After all, he didn't know why wars existed. Was it for profit? A means for a small group to make a profit? Or something else entirely? There were just too many reasons, and it would be too troublesome to explain them all. Besides, Tatsuma knew that his conclusion might not be correct.

Minato was able to steer the conversation slightly, which pleased Tatsuma. He looked at Minato and said, "Group will is the shared emotion of a large group."

Whether instigated by malicious individuals or arising spontaneously, when emotions like anger, hatred, and greed become shared or even dominant within a group, war ensues.

"So how do we guide the will of this group? For example, how do we make them feel happy and joyful, or help them remain rational, after all?"

Before Minato could finish his question, Tatsuma shook his head and said, "Minato, how do you rank anger, sadness, joy, fear, and reason in terms of the speed and intensity of their spread within a group?"

After pondering for a while, Minato shook his head. It wasn't that he couldn't come up with an answer, but rather that he knew his ideas were unrealistic. Therefore, he wanted Tatsuma to tell him the answer directly.

Tatsuma understood Minato's meaning, so he said, "If I were to arrange them, I think it would be anger-happiness-fear-sadness."

Where is reason?

Seeing that Tatsuma seemed to have forgotten a certain arrangement option, Minato reminded him in time, but Tatsuma showed a "you're still too young" look and said: "No, Minato, there are rational individuals in a group, but the group is definitely irrational."

Just like how neither of us wants war to happen, nor do we want to be enemies, but once war breaks out and we are conscripted to the battlefield, will our wishes be valued in the face of the collective will?

Minato opened his mouth, but ultimately nodded helplessly. It wasn't that he believed Tatsuma's words were the truth, but rather that he simply couldn't refute them. After a while, he asked again:

"But why is anger the most likely emotion to become in a group? Why not happiness? And is there really no way to end war?"

(End of this chapter)