A Two-on-One War

"Clan Head, according to feedback, at the same time, Uchiha Aoba went to the Medical Unit requesting to join and successfully became a civilian Medical Ninja within the clan."

At this moment, Uchiha Senmei, the head of the Medical Unit, looked at the deeply contemplative Clan Head. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to speak up about Aoba's matter.

"A Medical Ninja, huh?" Tajima's pupils refocused, landing on Uchiha Senmei. "Has Aoba's eye been examined?"

"During her onboarding, the Medical Unit conducted a re-examination and found that her right eye is indeed on the verge of blindness, and this condition won't last much longer."

"Won't last much longer... I see. Then let her serve as a civilian Medical Ninja within the clan."

The reason there had been no gossip or scrutiny within the clan when the couple took on a long-term infiltration mission and brought back a young child after its completion was entirely because all the high-ranking Uchiha knew Aoba's identity and chose to overlook it.

"Everyone, go prepare. War will break out soon. I hope this war will end quickly."

Soon, the six elders' figures left the Council Hall, leaving Tajima alone sitting quietly in place.

"Older brother, how about we go train at Mina's place instead? I'm sick of looking at these three little runts right now, and there's a training ground behind her house too."

Fan, Feng, Yan, and Qing? I think you just want to go see your Mina, don't you?

Are we really that annoying?

The three little ones looked at each other in confusion.

"Have you forgotten the miserable experience from a week ago? Being chased three streets by 'Mad Dog' Kosuke swinging a blade—feeling pretty proud of yourself, huh?"

Speaking of Kosuke's household, Madara's expression suddenly turned a bit unnatural.

Just imagine—him, the esteemed eldest son of the Uchiha Clan Head, the cream of the crop among his peers, being chased three whole streets by a little brat with a blade!!

Three streets!!

If Izuna hadn't grabbed his hand and held him back, would I, Uchiha Madara, have ended up so humiliated?!

"Uh, fine, we won't go. But why bring up getting chased and slashed in front of your little brother? Look at these three runts—how hard are they laughing?"

"To borrow Little Kosuke's words, they're laughing like wriggling maggots!"

Watching the three little ones writhing on the ground in laughter, Madara genuinely feared they might dig a big hole in the dirt.

"Enough. All of you, stand up. If you don't finish throwing fifty Senbon, no food!!"

Laughing, huh? Let's see if you can still laugh then.

"What are you staring at? You have Chakra now—do you want to be like them? See that pile of Senbon? Go. If you don't finish throwing them, same as them—no food!!"

Izuna turned his head to look at the stacked Senbon. The number had to be at least several hundred.

He instinctively swallowed, then looked back at his brother, who stood with arms crossed.

Was this something someone his age could handle?

"Get moving! Are you waiting for me to help you?"

Seeing the four little ones dawdling, Madara's tone rose a few notches.

Time flew by swiftly, and before they knew it, it was the fifth year since Kosuke's birth.

During these two years.

First, following Kosuke's request, eleven months ago, Aoba submitted a request to the clan through the Medical Unit to exchange her eyes.

Aoba's request quickly reached Tajima's ears, and he entrusted Medical Ninja to deliver the former Clan Head's left-behind Three Tomoe Sharingan into her hands.

Gazing at the two Three Tomoe Sharingan delivered to her, Aoba's thoughts briefly drifted into memory.

Father...

"Mom~"

Kosuke's affectionate call instantly snapped Aoba out of her reverie.

A gentle smile returned to her face as she pretended nothing was wrong, looking at Kosuke and Mina.

"Mom's fine. Little Kosuke, now that the clan has sent these two Sharingan, should I swap them in now?"

"Mom, how is your grasp of Medical Ninjutsu now? The nerves in the eye are incredibly complex—can you perform the eye swap on your own?"

Seeing the worry on Kosuke's face, warmth welled up in Aoba's heart.

Then, a confident curve lifted the corner of her lips: "Don't forget, I was once the clan's most outstanding Intelligence Ninja."

Seeing his mother's composed demeanor, Kosuke still had lingering concerns but said no more.

He nodded solemnly, indicating she could proceed with the eye swap, and instructed: "After the swap, try to use the Mangekyo's Dojutsu to nourish these new Sharingan."

One year later, war with the Senju broke out once again.

However, this time, the Uzumaki clan joined the battle as reinforcements for the Senju, jointly attacking the Uchiha clan.

With the addition of the Uzumaki, the Uchiha high command, aiming for a swift victory, jointly discussed a wartime policy.

All children in the clan who had reached the age of eight, after mastering two C-rank offensive jutsu and one C-rank escape jutsu, were to be conscripted and sent to the battlefield.

Even Uchiha Madara, as the eldest son of Uchiha Tajima, took his younger brother Uchiha Izuna and joined this war.

Uchiha Mina was no exception; their figures stood together among the ranks setting out for battle.

Clad in his vermillion wooden plate armor, Madara never missed a chance to posture.

Ever since he'd happened to overhear Kosuke remark, over the past year, that his daily behavior reeked of posturing, he'd fallen completely in love with the word.

Without even understanding its meaning.

He just fell in love with it like that.

Posturing!

Isn't this a term tailor-made for me?

At the time, Kosuke had been utterly speechless.

Could it be that the King of Posture was about to be born from my own hands?!

Then, on the night before the expedition, Kosuke found Madara, who was packing up supplies.

He returned the scroll he'd borrowed for two years.

"That matter—I need to conduct experiments to clarify the unknown effects of the modified route. This time you're heading to the battlefield. If you get a chance, capture some people and bring them back. I need them to verify this method."

As for telling Madara to be careful on the battlefield?

Forget it!

A blockhead who's one of the main characters—the moment his blood runs hot, he'll charge straight at Hashirama's presence. You want me to tell him to watch his safety?

That sentence might as well be whispered into Izuna's ear instead.

"Remember, same as before: don't practice on your own! If anything goes wrong, I won't have the ability to handle it."

"In short, even if you go to my mom, it won't work. A spit, a pit—a promise is a promise!"

Seeing Kosuke like this, Madara tucked away the two scrolls and turned to leave.

Madara's cold voice still drifted through the air: "Got it."

Only when the reflection of Madara's figure had completely faded from Kosuke's eyes did he spread his hands, turn, and head back home.

However, this war did not end quickly as Tajima and the other higher-ups had expected.

Instead, it grew fiercer, racing straight toward an endless darkness.

One night, Tajima, who had rushed back to the clan grounds from the front lines, suddenly arrived at Kosuke's home and held a long private talk with Aoba in the living room.

The next day, nearly all of the clan's able-bodied forces were taken to the front lines by Tajima.