The Journey Home · Madara's Gaze

The embers of battle had yet to cool completely. The stench of blood mingled with the smell of scorched earth, weighing heavily on everyone's hearts.

The Uchiha shinobi moved swiftly and silently, efficiently searching every corner of the fortress for any intelligence scrolls or supplies that might be valuable. They dealt with the corpses, whether enemy or ally, with minimal ceremony—the enemies were gathered and burned, while their comrades were carefully wrapped in sealing scrolls to be taken back to the clan compound for burial.

That was the way of the Warring States period: cruel, but necessary.

Uchiha Sou helped with the cleanup, but most of his attention remained caught up in his astonishment over the earlier "unintentional interference." He instinctively kept his mind even more guarded, avoiding unnecessary thoughts, while paying closer attention to the subtle connection between his Dojutsu Power and the surrounding environment.

He discovered that when he deliberately kept his mind calm, like a still well, the feeling of being "out of place" in the world, as though he could gently nudge something, diminished until it was almost imperceptible. But whenever his emotions shifted—whether from killing intent, wariness, or even intense focus—that subtle sense of "interference" became a little clearer.

Was this more like a passive, domain-like influence based on his emotions and will, rather than an active skill?

He still couldn't fully understand it, but at least he had a preliminary sense of how to perceive and control it: controlling his emotions meant controlling the ability's switch and its intensity.

"Move out!"

Izuna's cool voice rang out, interrupting Sou's thoughts.

They had finished gathering intelligence, and there was no reason to stay. The Uchiha squad withdrew as silently as they had arrived, leaving behind a burning fortress and towering columns of black smoke as a bloody declaration to the Senju Clan.

The mood on the journey back remained oppressive, but compared to the grim resolve of their departure, fatigue and gloom had begun to creep in. Even in victory, the pain of losing their comrades lingered. The squad traveled silently through the dense forest, moving faster and remaining on the highest alert, prepared for a possible pursuit or retaliation.

Uchiha Sou stayed at Izuna's side. He kept his Double Tomoe Sharingan active, but no longer processed information at full capacity. He used it only to maintain basic awareness and detect danger, while continuing to practice sensing that subtle feeling of "interference" when his mind was calm.

He discovered that while moving at high speed, if he could predict tiny changes in the terrain a fraction of a second ahead—like a low branch jutting across their path or a loose stone—he didn't even need to use that special ability. A minute adjustment of his body or a slight pulse of Chakra was enough to let the clan members behind and to his side naturally avoid the minor obstacles, making the whole squad's movement smoother and stealthier.

This guidance wasn't forced. It was a nearly instinctive, subtle cue based on precise prediction. It seemed to be another way of using those eyes in combination with that special perception.

Izuna had obviously noticed. During a brief rest, he walked over to Sou and handed him a canteen.

"Your eyes are more useful on the battlefield than I expected." Izuna lowered his voice, a hint of curiosity in it. "It's not just perception and prediction... You seem to make it easier for those around you to work together?"

Sou's heart tightened slightly. He knew Izuna's powers of observation were exceptionally sharp. He took the canteen and drank, using the moment to gather his thoughts.

"I can just see a little more clearly and spot minor problems ahead of time." He chose an explanation that came closest to the truth while concealing the core of it. "I'm trying to make things easier for everyone."

Izuna glanced at him. His sharp Three Tomoe seemed capable of seeing right through people, but in the end, he only nodded and didn't press further. "A good instinct. Keep it up. It could save a lot of lives when it matters most."

"Yes." Sou secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The squad continued on, and at last, the Uchiha Clan Compound came into view. When the clan members left behind to guard it saw them return—especially the bodies of their comrades being carried at the rear of the squad—the mood grew somber and heavy with grief once more.

The raid had succeeded, but it had come at a cost.

The clan head, Uchiha Tajima, came out in person to hear Izuna's brief report. When he heard that they had destroyed the enemy's stronghold and obtained intelligence on the border defenses, a trace of satisfaction appeared on his grim face. But when he heard the casualty count, that satisfaction was swiftly replaced by cold resolve.

"For the glory of the Uchiha, their sacrifice was worthwhile." Tajima's voice held no warmth. "Give them a proper burial. Double the compensation."

"Yes, Father." Izuna bowed.

After the report, the squad dispersed. The exhausted shinobi went their separate ways, some to tend their wounds, some to rest, and others to grieve for the friends and family they had lost.

Uchiha Sou was preparing to return to his quarters, get some rest, and review the day's battle and discoveries.

But just as he turned, an indescribably heavy pressure, as weighty as a mountain, suddenly descended from behind!

It wasn't killing intent, yet it was even more suffocating. It was as if some ancient, ferocious beast had fixed its gaze on him; in an instant, all the blood and Chakra in his body seemed to freeze!

He whipped around.

Not far away, beneath the shadow of a Honeysuckle Pine, a figure stood with his arms crossed.

Long black hair, a face as stern as stone, and three Tomoe slowly turning in blood-red eyes, filled with the cold indifference and overwhelming power of one who looked down on all living things.

It was Uchiha Madara.

No one knew when he had appeared there. It seemed he had been watching for quite some time. He wasn't looking directly at Sou. His gaze passed over the bodies being carried away, then the clan members whose faces were filled with grief and anger. Finally, that gaze, almost tangible, settled on Uchiha Sou, who had just come through a bloody battle and still reeked of smoke and blood.

Even though he had only been swept by the man's peripheral vision, Uchiha Sou felt his Double Tomoe Sharingan begin to spin faster of its own accord. It was as if it had encountered something of the same kind, yet far beyond him—a presence that both oppressed him and stirred an uncontrollable resonance within him.

Madara's gaze rested on him for about a breath.

That single look seemed to pierce through his skin, seeing the Double Tomoe that had only just evolved, still awkward but already showing extraordinary potential. It saw the immense toll on his eyes, yet the unusual activity of his Dojutsu Power, and perhaps... even faintly sensed that distinctive "fluctuation" that Sou himself still didn't fully understand.

He gave no indication of anything. No praise, no questions. It was like a lion glancing at a cub that had just learned to pounce.

Then Uchiha Madara withdrew his gaze and vanished soundlessly, as if dissolving into the shadows. The suffocating pressure faded along with him, as though it had never been there.

Only long after Madara had left did Uchiha Sou slowly release the breath he had been holding. A fine sheen of cold sweat had broken out across his back.

Was this the power of Uchiha Madara? Just standing there was enough to make it impossible to even think of resisting him?

And just now... had he noticed something?

Alarm bells rang in Sou's mind. Madara's perception and insight far surpassed Izuna's, perhaps even beyond anything he could imagine. Could he really keep his secrets hidden from him?

Yet at the same time, an even more fervent desire began to burn in his heart.

He yearned to possess that kind of power! To control his own fate, and even... to control the tangled Causality of this world!

He clenched his fists, his nails nearly digging into his palms.

Back in his quiet quarters, Uchiha Sou didn't rest right away. Instead, he activated his Sharingan again and stared at his palm.

This time, he no longer tried to influence external objects.

He began trying to examine himself more precisely, to sense the connection between the flow of his Dojutsu Power and that special feeling of "interference," and to try to actively, ever so faintly, "set" some kind of "cause" within himself.

For example, make his Chakra extraction speed increase by one percent over the next minute.

Or make the fatigue in a small muscle in his arm fade a little faster.

The effect was negligible, almost impossible to measure. It might even have been all in his head.

But he knew this was the right path.

External Causality was difficult to shift, but starting from within himself, practicing control over the smallest and most personal "cause and effect," might be the safest and most effective approach for now.

Outside the window, the sun sank toward the horizon, casting long shadows across the Uchiha Clan Compound.

A few new graves had been added to the compound. Grief and hatred were quietly settling and fermenting.

Inside the house, the boy gazed at the faint light in his hand. The Two-Tomoe Sharingan turned slowly in his eyes as he tried to catch and weave the unseen, intangible threads that might decide the future—threads of fate.

Uchiha Madara's gaze hung over him like a sword above his head. It had brought him an unprecedented sense of danger, but also given him greater motivation.

He had to grow faster. Before those eyes that looked down on everything truly took notice of him and perhaps saw him as an anomaly or a pawn, he had to gain enough strength to protect himself, and even... to contend with him.

The Warring States era allowed no room for the slightest slack.