The Fading Bond

Chakra surged around him like boiling oil. The candles in the tent burst into sparks, which, caught in the violent airflow, condensed into tiny fire serpents that crackled sharply!

The hide tent creaked under the strain, while dust leaking through its seams formed a swirling wall of mist between the two men.

"Kosuke, you'd better put that tongue away." Madara's voice was like a blade tempered in ice, each word clipped and deliberate. "Don't use your filthy schemes to speculate about the bond between Hashirama and me!"

"A bond?!" Kosuke suddenly burst into laughter, his voice filled with bone-chilling coldness. "Last month! Because of this 'bond' you keep talking about! You nearly got trapped to death inside an Uzumaki Sealing Technique barrier! If I hadn't led men in and fought like hell to tear open a gap and force our way through..."

The smile vanished from Kosuke's face. He violently tore open his armor and inner lining, exposing a vicious scar beneath his collarbone. "Look at this scar! Your 'best friend's' Wood Release gave it to me—it sliced right past my heart!"

For the first time, intense turmoil appeared in Madara's eyes. The violent Chakra fluctuations around him seemed to sink into a swamp, turning sluggish and strained.

"Listen, Uchiha Madara..." Kosuke's voice lowered, yet it carried endless rage and sorrow.

"Boom!"

An even more violent, denser wave of Chakra than Madara's erupted from Kosuke like a black tide!

In an instant, it swept through the entire tent!

The next second, Madara's tent was crushed by that terrifying pressure. Like fragile paper, it was ripped apart and pulverized! The supporting wooden poles turned to dust and wreckage, scattering in the raging current of air!

"Right now, I know exactly what you're thinking!" Kosuke's voice pierced through the roar of Chakra, cold enough to freeze bone. "But fucking remember this! Your surname is Uchiha!! Not fucking Senju! Until you possess the absolute strength and status to disregard every voice in the world..." His voice suddenly rose like thunder striking level ground. "Then fucking obey every order from the clan!!"

The clan members who had already been alerted stood around them, their faces pale beneath the wash of Kosuke's terrifying Chakra, trembling where they stood.

At some point, Izuna had appeared nearby. As he watched the sudden clash between his brother and Kosuke, his Eyes were filled with confusion and shock.

What was wrong with these two today...?

Did they take the wrong medicine or something?

Kosuke's gaze swept over him, and he suddenly sneered. "And you, Izuna!" With a flick of his wrist, a Kunai became a flash of cold light, grazing past Izuna's ear before burying itself deep in a nearby tree trunk with a thunk. "Don't fucking think you're invincible just because you learned one powerful ninjutsu! If you dare show off and dart around the battlefield again, I'll hang you from the Clan Stele and dry you into jerky! Do you hear me?!"

Izuna nearly jumped at the sudden roar and the Kunai that had flown past his ear. A retort instinctively rose in his throat, only to die the instant he met the blood-thick, almost tangible ferocity in Kosuke's eyes. A chill shot up his spine.

He had seen that look before...!

It was the look Kosuke had worn when he charged out of an encirclement through a mountain of corpses, gripping Izuna by the collar with one hand!

It was a madness and brutality hotter and wilder than the Sharingan, belonging solely to the depths of Uchiha blood!

Kosuke turned back and glared viciously at Ban.

"If you can't discipline him, then fucking say so, and I'll do it for you! You act like a mute all day long, not even letting out a damn fart!"

Agitated, Kosuke smashed the low table before him with one palm. Splinters scattered everywhere in the violent Chakra currents.

He stared fixedly at Madara before him, a flicker of disappointment passing through his eyes.

After a long while, Kosuke slowly rose to his feet, turned toward the crowd, and swept a sharp gaze over Izuna and Mina, who stood nearby with their heads lowered.

"Listen up! Whoever mistakes softness for mercy on the battlefield, I'll personally nail you to the Clan Stele!!"

"Understood, Lord Kosuke."

Kosuke's gaze fixed on Madara's face again. "Madara, if you feel like you can't hold on..." He deliberately emphasized the words "can't hold on." "Then get the hell back to the clan. Since you've awakened the Sharingan, you can cast a genjutsu on yourself and enjoy all the bonds you want inside it! But don't let what happened last time happen again on the battlefield. War really does kill people."

Just as he turned to leave with Mina and Izuna, Madara's Adam's apple shifted, and he let out an almost inaudible "Squeak."

A breeze swept scraps of tent cloth past his ears, and some extremely faint syllable slipped out amid the sound of dust.

Kosuke's body abruptly staggered, and he nearly dropped to his knees.

"Madara! You did that on purpose, didn't you?!"

His voice suddenly turned crazed, the knuckles of the hand gripping his sword hilt going pale blue-white.

The moment Kosuke turned around, Madara looked up at him. His Two Tomoe Sharingan was calm and still, as if that murmur just now had merely been an illusion.

"Fuck! Fine, then!"

Seeing that look in Madara's eyes, Kosuke was so angry that he laughed.

Back in the tent.

Mina silently handed over a clean cloth, but Kosuke tossed it onto Izuna's head instead. "Why the long face?"

He kicked the boy's greaves. "Tomorrow, go to the range and practice three hundred Shuriken throws. Miss even one, and you'll lick every piece of ninja equipment clean for me."

"Yes!" Izuna answered mournfully, but when he lowered his head, he saw blood seeping from Kosuke's right hand.

"Kosuke, your wound..."

"It won't kill me."

With Mina's help, Kosuke removed his Black Armor, revealing the bandages on his right shoulder soaked red with blood. "More importantly..." He suddenly turned his head toward Izuna, who was standing in the tent. "Be more wary of the white-haired ones on the battlefield. Don't get yourself killed by such useless carelessness."

The next day—three quarters into the Hour of the Rabbit.

At the temporary command headquarters of the Uchiha camp, Uchiha Tajima had been arranging the missions for the next few days since early morning.

As the sun rose, white mist steamed from the hide tents.

Just as the temperature inside the tent was about to reach forty degrees, Madara and Kosuke were finally assigned a mission.

They were to head to the eastern sea region near the Uzumaki Clan and gather intelligence.

"Clan Head, can't you avoid sending me on a mission with that guy... He needs some time alone."

Tajima did not even raise his head. "Some people were still awake at midnight last night."

As he spoke, he used the tip of his blade to lift a Scroll. "There are three Chakra abnormalities in the eastern mountains. You and Madara will each lead a team and go together. Once you've dealt with them, proceed to the eastern sea."

"Let him lead." Kosuke reached for the Scroll, only for Tajima to smack his hand away with the flat of his blade. "I'm not good at coaxing children."

"This is an order." Tajima raised his eyes, his clouded pupils reflecting the dark circles beneath Kosuke's eyes. "Also, keep an eye on Madara. The Clan Elders have recently been talking about him and the Senju..."

Looking at Madara, who stood off to the side like a block of wood, Kosuke nodded helplessly.