Happy New Year

Kneeling on the ground, clutching his eyes, Sosuke's sweat continuously dripped down his cheeks.

Though he looked relaxed, in that instant he had nearly strained every ounce of strength, almost letting the enemy break free from the genjutsu.

Fortunately, his tenacity held firm, and in the end, he succeeded in taking down his target.

[System Notification: Successfully killed Takigawa Hiroshi. Earned 130 points.]

"The points really did increase." That man was a bit stronger than the other two, so the points earned directly broke through the hundred mark.

But in the end, he was just an ordinary chunin. If he had been stronger, the points might have pushed toward a thousand.

[Points: 343]

"343 points... I wonder what kind of good stuff I can buy with that."

Supported by Hagoromo Kaoru, Sosuke wobbled to his feet, his gaze never leaving Uchiha Madara's battle.

He had indeed misjudged Madara's strength—more accurately, he hadn't expected the guy to hold back so much in their usual spars.

After all, holding back at every turn was far harder than going all out. It showed that Madara's raw power far surpassed the two of them.

Facing Dancing King's relentless, ferocious onslaught of blade strikes, Senju Katsuhito could only grit his teeth and defend desperately, unable to understand why he was losing in Taijutsu.

"Just who are you?!" Senju Katsuhito roared.

To this, Uchiha Madara had no intention of answering. He never made a habit of wasting words on a dead man.

He had only a few younger brothers, and one by one, they had all died out in the field. That was why Madara strictly forbade it, hoping Izuna wouldn't step onto the battlefield too soon.

Even when it came to revenge, he never thought of including Izuna, afraid that his last remaining brother might meet an accident.

Not far away, Sosuke watched the battle intently. From the state of both sides, Madara's victory was probably just a matter of time.

Things unfolded as he expected. Three minutes later, Madara slashed off the enemy's arm, ignoring the scalding blood splattering all over him, charging forward like a madman with his blade.

"Go repent in hell."

A single decapitating strike, clean and swift. Bathed in blood, Uchiha Madara was like a demon from the underworld.

"Alright, stop playing cool." Sosuke sat heavily on the cart, looking like he had no intention of getting up anytime soon. "Send someone to pick up the supplies. How about a seventy-thirty split?"

The last sentence was directed at the girl beside him.

As the saying goes, there is no road in the world until legs make one.

Hagoromo Kaoru's legs were fair, smooth, and slender. He meant that the Hagoromo Clan seemed to hold many secrets, and he'd have to thoroughly explore them someday.

Ah, he meant have a thorough exchange of words.

Anything connected to the Otsutsuki Family was never simple. The mysterious Hagoromo Clan from the original story must have hidden some secrets inside, or why would they have vanished from the ninja world for no reason?

"Okay."

"Agreed."

Kaoru and Madara both spoke up, accepting Sosuke's distribution plan.

Soon, ninja from the Hagoromo Clan arrived, and the lost goods were finally recovered.

She wanted to invite the two to her home for a short stay, but Madara, considering the commotion within his own clan, politely declined her invitation.

"You two must come find me sometime." Hagoromo Kaoru held an ancient book, excitement flickering in her eyes. "I love studying ancient history. I stumbled across some clues in the clan. Maybe we could form a team and go exploring."

As she spoke, she cast a somewhat hopeful gaze at the spiky-haired youth, the emotion in her eyes unspoken but clear.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Sosuke rubbed his chin with interest, his bandaged left hand slapping his buddy's shoulder hard. "Hey, she's talking to you."

"Don't worry, we're already friends." Madara smiled, stood up, and left the Hagoromo Clan's stronghold.

Behind him, Sosuke gave her a look that said "I can't help you," thinking to himself, girl, don't waste your effort. No one's ever heard of Dancing King taking an interest in women.

"Friends, huh." Hagoromo Kaoru smiled without saying more. Making her give up wasn't that simple.

The Uchiha and Hagoromo Clans were on good terms, their relationship very close. Who could say what the future held?

In any case, Hagoromo Kaoru was full of confidence in herself.

At this moment, she had no idea that years later, a bowl-cut youth would appear—that guy was Uchiha Madara's destined person.

Her hopes were fated never to come true.

The two left the town and slowly made their way back toward their clan's territory.

What could they do? Sosuke was injured, and besides, now that revenge was complete, there was no need to rush like madmen.

"Thank you." Madara expressed his silent gratitude.

Through this incident, their relationship heated up quickly, evolving from study buddies into good friends who could pull off mischief together.

Before leaving, he also thought that Hagoromo Kaoru could never be more important than Senju Hashirama. Now it seemed her status might not even match his own.

"Never thought my rival would be myself."

Having done bad deeds together, they naturally had to face the clan leader's punishment.

Seeing Sosuke injured, Tajima expressed appropriate concern and confined him to the house for a month of reflection.

As for their poor Young Clan Head, he seemed far less fortunate.

As the mastermind, Madara was sentenced to a full three months of confinement, during which no one—not even Izuna—was allowed to visit him privately.

This sparked extreme dissatisfaction in Izuna, and the very next day, he went to argue with his father.

The result was predictable: the Clan Head grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and tossed him straight out of the estate.

By the time Uchiha Madara was released from confinement, the New Year was already quietly approaching.

During the New Year, Sosuke received two invitations—one from his uncle, and one from Uchiha Madara.

The former was a weasel; the latter, to be honest, he wasn't too keen on getting close to Uchiha Tajima.

His instincts told him to stay as far away from that man as possible.

Casually using training as an excuse, Sosuke managed to brush off both invitations.

But he never expected that, as he prepared to spend the New Year alone and welcome his first New Year in the Hokage World, Madara and Izuna would kick open his door, bearing delicious food.

That's right—whoever he learned it from, the young Madara had developed the habit of kicking doors open since childhood.

No wonder his first move when he was resurrected from the Impure World was to kick away the wooden board in front of him.

"Hmph, it was big brother who insisted on coming. I didn't want to spend the New Year with someone like you."

Izuna was as tsundere as ever, never able to say nice things properly.

Perhaps aside from his big brother, there was no one else in the world who could make him humble himself.

With a slight smile, Madara lifted his heavy robe and sneakily pulled out a small flask from inside.

"Alcohol?" Sosuke's eyes lit up—he hadn't expected to get his hands on this stuff today.

"Hehehe." Perhaps infected by the New Year's atmosphere, the Dancing King today seemed much livelier than usual.

After a few cups of wine, he couldn't help but wobble around the living room. Sosuke only regretted not having a camera on hand, or else he could use it to hold the Dancing King hostage in the future.

"Ah, let's just relax today." Not long after, the six-year-old Uchiha Sosuke successfully got drunk.

But just before he passed out, his mind was still occupied with his improved Chidori technique.

And the exchange issues in the System Store.