Uchiha Tajima ultimately failed to leave behind any last words.
Amid Madara and Izuna's heart-wrenching cries, the last light in the eyes of this hero—who had led the Uchiha Clan through years of struggle for survival in the blood-soaked Warring States—faded completely. He fell upon the cold earth, not far from his lifelong nemesis, Senju Butsuma. The tangled enmity between these two titans had finally reached its end in such a tragic fashion.
Silence.
A deathly silence descended over the shattered battlefield.
Only the night wind, wailing as it swept past charred trees and crumbling walls, and the quiet, barely suppressed sobs broke the stillness.
Grief hung like a dense fog, enveloping every Uchiha. The clan leader had fallen in battle. This meant more than the loss of a leader; it was the collapse of a spiritual pillar. Especially amid the war with the Senju, it was an unquestionably devastating blow.
Uchiha Madara slowly sank to his knees before his father's body, which was growing colder by the moment. The wounds on his shoulder and abdomen still bled, but the numbness brought on by the poison was insignificant compared with the heart-rending agony he felt now. He lowered his head, his long black hair falling to hide his expression.
Yet everyone could feel the bone-chilling, unnerving Chakra radiating from him. Even hidden in the shadows of his hair, his newly awakened Mangekyō Sharingan emanated an ominous, powerful aura, like the gaze of an abyss.
Izuna knelt on the other side, tears slipping silently down his face as he clutched one of their father's hands, already stiffening. His shoulders trembled with suppressed grief. The Three Tomoe in his eyes had gone dim, filled with immense sorrow and confusion.
Uchiha Sou stood a little way off, watching the suffocating scene. His heart felt heavy too. Though Clan Leader Tajima had been stern and cold, he had truly been the backbone of the Uchiha. His death heralded tremendous uncertainty for the future. But Sou's gaze rested mostly on Madara. The oppressive force of those Mangekyō was stronger than ever before.
That was power bought with the death of a loved one and the most extreme pain... The price was too great.
After a long while, Uchiha Madara slowly raised his head.
His hair slipped aside, revealing Mangekyō Sharingan that were calm now, yet colder than ten thousand years of ice. No tears remained in them, only dead silence, hatred, and resolve, all burning with a dark flame.
He reached out and gently closed his father's eyes, which had never shut in death. Then, slowly and with great difficulty, he rose to his feet.
His body swayed from the pain and poison, but Izuna and another elder who had hurried over immediately caught him.
"Madara, your injuries..." the elder said with concern.
"I'm fine." Madara's voice was hoarse as sandpaper, yet carried an unquestionable authority. He pushed away their support and stood firm on his own, sweeping his gaze over all the Uchiha shinobi who had survived.
Grief, rage, fear, and confusion were written on every face.
Madara's Mangekyō turned slowly. His strange gaze seemed able to see into everyone's heart.
"My father... and every clansman who shed their last drop of blood for the Uchiha..." Madara's voice was not loud, but it reached every person present, cold and forceful. "Their sacrifice will not be in vain."
"Senju Butsuma is dead! But that isn't enough! The pain and hatred the Senju Clan has inflicted upon us must be repaid with their blood, tenfold, a hundredfold!"
His voice rose gradually, infused with boundless hatred and an almost insane obsession.
"From this day onward, I, Uchiha Madara, will inherit my father's will and lead the Uchiha into a new era! An era in which every enemy trembles, and every humiliation is washed away with fire and fear!"
"The Uchiha's honor will be defended by these eyes! Anyone who dares stand in our way will be crushed completely!"
There was no rousing speech, only a cold declaration and palpable killing intent. Yet the mighty Dojutsu Power of the Mangekyō, and the strength and resolve Madara now displayed—far beyond anything he had shown before—were like a shot of adrenaline, surging into the hearts of his shaken clansmen!
Their grief began to turn to rage, and their confusion gave way to hatred.
"Lord Madara!" "We'll follow Lord Madara!" "Avenge Lord Tajima! Kill every last Senju!"
The surviving Uchiha shinobi dropped to one knee, raising cries of vengeance to their new clan leader and those eyes that symbolized a new power. Even the elders who might have objected chose silence and submission after sensing the unfathomable strength of the Mangekyō and Madara's determination.
Izuna looked at his older brother, his eyes filled with complicated emotions: grief, support, and a hint of unspoken worry. But in the end, he stood firmly at Madara's side, making his position clear.
Uchiha Sou lowered his head along with the others. He could feel that the reins of the Uchiha Clan had passed completely into Uchiha Madara's hands. And the path Madara had chosen was undoubtedly more radical and bloodier. Those Mangekyō were the clearest guide along that road.
Over the next few days, the Uchiha Clan Compound was consumed by profound grief and tense preparations for war.
The funerals for Tajima and the fallen were solemn and grand. Madara forced himself to endure his injuries and presided over the ceremony, his expression cold throughout. Only when he looked at the coffins did his Mangekyō reveal a trace of deep, searing pain, but it was quickly buried beneath even more intense hatred.
The poison wound on his shoulder and the injury to his abdomen began to heal rapidly under the relentless treatment of the clan's medical shinobi, thanks to his constitution (his Hashirama Cells had not yet fused, but Madara's natural constitution was already exceptionally strong) and sheer willpower. His awakening of the Mangekyō also seemed to have made his Chakra and vitality more abundant and active.
After the funeral, Madara immediately consolidated the clan's power with an iron fist. Every dissenting voice was forcibly suppressed. The entire Uchiha Clan began to operate at full speed like a war machine fueled by hatred, setting its sights on the Senju Clan, which had also fallen into grief and chaos after Butsuma's death.
The clouds of war did not disperse when the two clan leaders died at one another's hands. Instead, they grew heavier with the wounded yet more dangerous tiger, Uchiha Madara, ascending to the throne, heralding the approach of an even bloodier conflict.
During those days, Uchiha Sou grew even quieter. He worked to improve his strength while watching everything with a cold eye.
He saw how Madara had changed, becoming colder and more autocratic. The power of his Mangekyō was unfathomable, but when he used them, Madara seemed to bear some kind of burden. At times, he showed the faintest trace of fatigue.
He also saw Izuna's unreserved support for his older brother, as well as the deeply hidden worry in his eyes over his brother's condition.
The smoke of a new era had risen. And as the spiral of hatred accelerated, Uchiha Sou felt that his own meager strength and special ability were like a lone boat in a raging storm.
He had to grow stronger faster, and understand and master his power sooner. Otherwise, whether facing the powerful Senju enemies outside or the chariot of vengeance Madara was driving toward the unknown within the clan, he could not be sure he would survive—let alone change anything.
Once more, he turned his attention inward, toward that unfathomable "Causality."
Perhaps beyond this path of hatred and destruction, where everything seemed certain, there was still a sliver of... another possibility?
He needed to find it. Before everything became irreversible.
Before you continue