Bonds ≠ Love, You Know

Seeing this, Aoba's throat suddenly tightened, and a sour ache churned in her chest.

She was just about to thank him when Mina, curled up beneath the blankets, suddenly gave a soft hum, her voice still thick with lingering sleepiness.

"Izuna, what are we eating today~?"

Her soft question mingled with a long yawn. Mina rubbed at the reddened corners of her eyes and slowly crawled out from under the blankets, her mumbling little mouth still glistening with drool.

"Mina, I brought your favorite fish balls today, and a new flavor of milk for Little Kosuke."

As he spoke, Izuna reached into the Lunch Box, took out a bowl of milk, and handed it to Senior Aoba beside him.

Then he carefully brought out Mina's favorite fish balls.

"Look, they're still steaming."

Following Izuna's movements, Mina noticed her mother kneeling nearby as well.

Seeing her mother holding her awake little brother and watching her with a meaningful smile, Mina's face, already slightly flushed from sleep, instantly turned as red as an apple.

Even the joy of having her mother home was briefly eclipsed by her embarrassment.

Seeing this, Kosuke could not help muttering to himself.

He had known that people in the Hokage world started dating young in his previous life, but he had not expected them to start this young!

This was fucking criminal!!

Damn you, Uchiha Madara! Your sweet, soft little brother was about to stop loving you!!

"Achoo!"

A five-year-old child training in a training ground suddenly sneezed for no apparent reason.

No way!

Was my sister destined to become a widow??

Thinking of this, Kosuke helplessly opened his mouth and began babbling, flailing his arms and legs to tell his mother that he was hungry.

"Oh~ my dear Little Kosuke, sorry! Mommy got so caught up watching your sister that she forgot about adorable Kosuke. Whew~ here, Little Kosuke~ careful, it's hot~"

Kosuke looked at the pottery bowl drawing near, smelled yet another different kind of milk, and mechanically opened his little mouth.

Again!

Izuna, just you wait! Different milk every day, huh?!

Uchiha Madara!

Uchiha Izuna!

Time flew by, and three years passed in the blink of an eye.

Three years earlier, the Uchiha First Elder had led a team in a surprise attack on a Senju Clan stronghold and won a resounding victory.

On the subsequent main battlefield, Uchiha Clan Head Uchiha Tajima personally joined the fray, leading his clansmen to crush Senju Butsuma's forces.

They pressed their advantage and killed three Senju Clan elders who were fleeing in disarray.

After that battle, the Senju Clan was severely weakened, while the Uchiha completely cemented their position as the Ninja World's foremost clan.

The victorious Uchiha clansmen received an enthusiastic welcome upon their return.

They raised the clan banner high, and their cheers echoed throughout the Clan grounds as the entire clan immersed itself in the joy of victory.

For the next two years, the Ninja World strangely fell into silence.

All the clans of the Ninja World seemed to share an unspoken understanding. So long as a mission had anything to do with the Uchiha clan, no one and no clan would accept it, leaving it hanging there untouched.

"Little Kosuke, you're drawing again. For the past three years, whenever you had free time, you'd sit off to the side alone, scribbling nonsense."

"By the way, what exactly are you drawing? Ninjutsu hand seals? Doesn't look like it."

Uchiha Kosuke reached out and pushed away the head gradually edging closer, irritation appearing on his face.

"If you don't know, then don't bother me. Do you think everyone's like you, clawing at other people's front doors from the age of three?"

"Uh..." Uchiha Izuna speechlessly pulled his head back. "What do you mean, clawing?! I was clearly bringing food for you and your sister!"

"Sure, sure, sure! You needed to claw at my front door to bring food? Was the door knocker bigger than your head just for decoration?"

Kosuke set down his brush and looked teasingly at Izuna, who was three years older than him.

He waited to see how Izuna would explain himself.

"Wasn't I afraid of waking you and Mina? Last time, I was just a little too loud, and she refused to speak to me for days."

Kosuke had wanted gossip, only for it to land on his own doorstep. Black lines immediately covered his forehead.

"You... you little brat, you've been eyeing my sister since you were three??!!"

"Uchiha Madara!! Don't think you look cool just because you're standing on my courtyard wall! Take your delusional little brother and get him out of my sight!"

Seriously! Couldn't the Clan Head's family produce even one normal-minded person?

One had been showing off since childhood, while the other had been clawing at other people's doors since childhood.

Kosuke slammed his palm against the table before him and glared furiously at Uchiha Madara, who stood on top of the courtyard wall with his arms folded.

Yet Uchiha Madara seemed completely unfazed. That calm, composed expression of his only made Kosuke grit his teeth in irritation.

At eight years old, Uchiha Madara had already begun showing the potential to become the King of Pretenders.

Kosuke did not know whether Madara's later title as the Dancing King had anything to do with the taijutsu he had trained since childhood.

In any case, the more Kosuke looked at those two brothers now, the more annoyed he became.

Why did this feel completely different from the deep bond between brothers described in his previous life?

He was truly speechless!

In response to Kosuke's complaints below, Madara slightly opened his previously closed eyes, his calm gaze falling on his younger brother Izuna.

He was deeply puzzled as well.

The adorable little brother who had once constantly pestered him to take him along for training seemed to have become a completely different person in such a short time.

Could it be that, because he had often gone out to train alone when he was five, that adorable little brother had developed the strange habit of clawing at other people's front doors?

Suddenly, as though sensing something, Kosuke sharply tilted his little head.

But he still failed to avoid it. A fair little hand gently landed on his head.

"Little Kosuke, what nonsense are you spouting all day?"

A slightly reproachful voice sounded beside his ear.

Kosuke turned to look at his sister, Uchiha Mina, and nearly rolled his eyes into the sky.

"Sis, look at yourself. Mom only taught you Chakra extraction this morning. Instead of staying in your room and properly practicing Chakra extraction, what are you doing running out here?"

Feeling her younger brother's piercing scrutiny, Mina's hard-won attempt to put on an elder sister's air instantly collapsed.

After waiting for quite a while and seeing his sister shrink her neck without saying a word, Kosuke shifted his scrutinizing gaze back to Izuna.

It would have been better if he had not looked. The moment he did, his temples began throbbing.

The urge to draw a blade surged into his heart.

"Uchiha Izuna!!!" Kosuke roared, veins bulging on his neck. "Where are those little eyes of yours looking?! No, can you stop making that perverted face?!"

Several crows perched on the eaves instantly flapped away in all directions, while a few black feathers spiraled gently down into the courtyard.

"Hahahaha~"

Izuna, snapped back to his senses by Kosuke's roar, guiltily raised a hand to rub his forehead, wearing a fawning smile.

"It's just that we were taught the Chakra extraction method this morning, and I figured Mina had probably been taught it too. She'd definitely have something she didn't understand and come ask you, so I brought my older brother to your house."