Claim Your Own Power

At dawn the next day, Madara got up early. It was a habit he had developed over the past six years while caring for his younger brother.

Now that Tang San had gone away to study, Madara consciously took on the task of cooking.

"Why are you up so early?" Madara asked Tang Hao, who was sitting before him, puzzled.

Tang Hao stood up and dusted off his clothes. "Starting today, there's no need to cook. We're eating out."

"Where are we supposed to eat without money?" Madara sneered.

"If you don't have money, then you eat the way people without money eat!" Tang Hao still looked as lazy as ever.

It made one wonder whether he had even fully woken up.

"Come on. Follow me." Tang Hao casually carried his wine bottle and headed outside, showing no concern over whether Madara followed.

Madara and Tang Hao had completely incompatible temperaments. When Tang San had been around, he could still act as a mediator and smooth things over. But now...

Madara had barely stepped outside when Tang Hao grabbed him and casually tucked him under his arm.

Before Madara could resist, Tang Hao took off into the air with him.

The ability to fly! Looks like you've been hiding quite a lot!

Madara showed no panic at all as he was carried into the sky. After all, when he had achieved the Six Paths in his previous life, he had flown as well.

Madara looked down at the earth from the sky. The village below quickly shrank to the size of a fingernail before being flung far beyond the horizon.

The scenery on the ground changed rapidly. The trees grew denser, while signs of human habitation became fewer and fewer.

Tang Hao soon reached their destination: a primeval forest rarely visited by people. He descended from the sky, then casually tossed Madara onto the ground.

Madara rolled several times after landing to disperse the impact, but he still looked extremely disheveled.

That was obviously retaliation!

"Did we come here to eat grass?" Madara frowned as he looked at the surrounding forest.

"Get ready. It's time to hunt your First Spirit Ring." Tang Hao glanced at Madara.

As Tang Hao's words fell, even Madara could not help but feel delighted. He understood very well what a spirit ring meant to a Spirit Master.

"Think carefully. What kind of ability do you want your First Spirit Skill to lean toward?" Tang Hao reminded him from the side.

"I know." Madara nodded.

My First Spirit Ring?

Madara sat where he was and fell into deep thought. This was the first cornerstone on his path to becoming stronger. He had to consider it carefully.

Awooo!

Howls echoed through the mountains and forest, startling countless birds from the trees. The sound was drawing closer and closer to them. Clearly, they were coming for the two of them.

Ghostly black shadows darted swiftly through the forest, all hiding in the grass around Madara and Tang Hao in ambush.

In an instant, the rustling of leaves rubbing together filled the area, like the final calm before a storm.

Pairs of blood-red eyes shone greedily from the grass. It looked as though they could rush out at any moment, tear Madara and Tang Hao to pieces, and devour them.

The two sides faced each other silently, the air thick with tension. Yet Madara was not worried in the slightest. He trusted Tang Hao's strength.

Just as Tang Hao had said, they had come to eat for free, not to become free food delivered to the table.

Before long, several of them could no longer endure their hunger and lunged forward first.

Only then did Madara clearly see what these Spirit Beasts looked like. They were wolves with vivid, fiery-red fur.

It seemed to serve as a signal. The other Fire Wolves also surged in from all directions like a tide, ready to drown Madara and Tang Hao.

"Hmph! Suicidal beasts." Tang Hao did not take them seriously at all.

At this critical moment, Tang Hao still had the leisure to ask Madara, "Are you afraid?"

"How could I be afraid?" Madara turned and revealed a cruel smile. "I'm feeling excited instead!"

On one side, a pack of wolves watched them hungrily, with life and death hanging by a thread. On the other, the two of them chatted and laughed as though the vicious Spirit Beasts before them were merely insects that could be crushed without effort. Such a bizarre scene was truly unfolding before their eyes.

"Get lost!" Tang Hao lightly stomped his foot, but when it landed on the ground, it was as though a small earthquake had occurred.

The nearby Fire Wolves were flung away like tattered sacks.

At the same time, Tang Hao released his aura without holding anything back.

In an instant, all the red wolves tucked their tails between their legs and whimpered softly, as though the end of their pack had arrived.

The red wolf pack was no longer as savage as it had been while hunting. All that remained was timidity and fear.

Awooo!

The leader, which was clearly a size larger than the other red wolves, was likely the Red Wolf King. It raised its head and howled at the sky.

Tang Hao frowned, and the aura of a Titled Douluo instantly suppressed the Red Wolf King until it could not move.

Yet the other red wolves seemed to have heard their leader's command. Each ran faster than the last, scattering in all directions like birds and beasts.

Only a few remained, still lying prone where they were, too afraid to move.

"What a cunning bunch of beasts. They don't even care about their companions." Tang Hao seemed somewhat displeased.

They were probably sacrificing a small part to save the entire pack by severing their tails to survive!

Madara rather admired these Spirit Beasts. They would stop at nothing to survive; that was how Spirit Beasts ought to be. Only then could they adapt to the natural law of the weak being prey to the strong.

"These are Fire Wolves. Their abilities should be fairly suitable for fire-attribute Spirit Masters," Tang Hao explained to Madara with due diligence.

"My First Spirit Ring will be this one," Madara said unhurriedly.

Tang Hao disagreed. "It doesn't match your martial spirit!"

"I have my reasons. This one."

Although it was not especially compatible with Madara's eye martial spirit, Tang Hao had reason to believe that Madara would never joke around with his own future.

Tang Hao nodded. "Since you've decided, go kill that wolf now. It's probably around three hundred years old."

"No! I want that Wolf King. It has character. I like it!" Madara said, looking at the Fire Wolf King crouching on the ground, too afraid to move as it concealed the savage killing intent in its eyes.

This time, Tang Hao could not stand by any longer and objected, "You cannot possibly absorb a five-hundred-year Spirit Ring successfully."

Impossible? Madara loved challenging the impossible most of all! Back in the shinobi world, everyone had believed it was impossible to take on the Five Kage and the Allied Shinobi Forces alone.

The reason Madara dared to do this was not arrogance. Although he had learned about the issue of Spirit Ring age limits, he still felt that a five-hundred-year Spirit Ring was just right.

He possessed a body tempered since childhood, an unyielding iron will, and Chakra—a secret art this world did not possess.

He had more than enough to challenge the impossible.

"It seems you've made up your mind." Tang Hao nodded reluctantly in agreement. He knew that once Madara set his mind on something, not even ten oxen could pull him back.

For some reason, Tang Hao suddenly felt a headache coming on. This kid was far too troublesome.

"Also, could you let it go? Naturally, I should take what is mine with my own hands." Madara said, cracking his knuckles.

"Are you getting a little carried away?" Tang Hao asked with some displeasure, taking a swig of wine.

Carried away? It should be called untamable! After all, I am Uchiha Madara!

A tiger was only king of beasts when it lived in the wild. Raised in a city, it was nothing more than a big housecat.

Madara did not want to be raised.

Relying on someone else's strength to achieve his goals was an insult to Madara!

Tang Hao had no choice but to release the Fire Wolf King first. After all, with him watching nearby, nothing could go wrong.

Let me see how you dance! A trace of madness that did not belong on a child's face surfaced on Madara's young features.

"Awoo!" Released from the pressure of Tang Hao's aura, the Fire Wolf King looked back at Tang Hao with lingering fear.

Then it turned to Madara, who was walking toward it as casually as if he were taking a stroll.

It knew it could not escape. But before it died, it hoped to tear Madara to pieces.

"Ha ha ha ha!" Madara laughed loudly. Then the smile vanished from his face in an instant, replaced by astonishing killing intent.

Now, begin!