Shin and Madara

Shin looked at Madara with surprise; he hadn't expected a six-year-old child to already be considering such things. He could only say, as expected of Uchiha Madara.

After Uchiha Tajima finished his speech, all the clansmen set off directly for the battlefield. Just as he had said, blood debts must be paid in blood.

The Senju and Hyuga clans clearly had not expected the Uchiha's retaliation to come so quickly and fiercely. Caught off guard, their front lines collapsed completely.

Inside Uchiha Shin's small cabin, Shin sat cross-legged alone before a table. Having transmigrated for so long, he still hadn't grown accustomed to the kneeling posture here.

In front of him lay a large map, where red arrows representing the Uchiha clan had fiercely pierced into the Senju territory, tearing out a large gap.

Shin's fingers tapped rhythmically against the tabletop as he considered the shifting situation on the battlefield.

If Shin were in command now, he would absolutely create the illusion of a decisive battle with the Senju, then leave behind most of the chunin and genin as a deterrent to keep the Senju from acting rashly, while secretly dispatching all elite jonin to launch a surprise attack on the Hyuga clan, striving to cripple them within three days. The benefit of this would be not only severing one of the Senju clan's arms but also intimidating other ninja clans—this would be the fate of anyone who dared to side with the Senju.

Once the Senju clan lost their external support, their strength would return to the same level as the Uchiha. Coupled with the initiative the Uchiha had already seized, they would surely dominate the entire battlefield. At that point, whether to fight or negotiate would be entirely up to them.

Rolling up the map and putting it away, Uchiha Shin shook his head and rose to head outside. These were just thoughts; it was not his place to make such decisions. The right path was still to improve his own strength. As long as he could reach the heights that Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara would one day attain, the so-called clan would be nothing more than a joke.

The trend of the battlefield did not develop according to Uchiha Shin's vision.

People in this era seemed to be single-minded, knowing only how to clash head-on. Uchiha Tajima, in particular, was a complete brute; he might be a good ninja, but he was definitely not a good leader.

He chose to clash head-on with the Senju, splitting off a portion of his ninjas to defend against the Hyuga, intending to take down the strongest—the Senju—before turning to deal with the other clans.

The result was obvious: the Senju were not an easy bone to chew. They also mobilized all the ninjas within their clan, blocking the Uchiha's wave after wave of offensives. On the Hyuga side, they were also frantically attacking the Uchiha's defensive lines, wanting to join the battlefield and unite with the Senju to surround the Uchiha.

The three clans became a chaotic mess on the battlefield. No one was willing to stop, and they remained deadlocked, surprisingly holding that stalemate for two full years.

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

During these two years, Uchiha Shin focused single-mindedly on improving his strength. He pored over a vast number of Uchiha clan ninjutsu, and his power advanced by leaps and bounds. Among the new generation of Uchiha, almost everyone had been beaten by him at least once. Even Izuna, who used to be close to him in strength, couldn't last five moves against him now.

Except for... Uchiha Madara.

Regarding Uchiha Madara, Shin truly didn't know what to say. He had originally thought that even without a system, his talent of awakening his eyes at one year old would make him the greatest in Uchiha history.

Yet, no matter how fast he progressed, in his sparring matches with Uchiha Madara, he could only manage a draw if he didn't use his Sharingan. In some respects, he was even a notch weaker.

For this situation, Shin could only sigh: as expected of the reincarnation of Indra.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

Within the training grounds of the Uchiha clan compound, two massive balls of fire collided, erupting into a thick cloud of mist.

Two still-young figures moved rapidly through the mist, the sound of kunai clashing ringing out. Both of them were fast, their taijutsu incredibly skilled—not at all the level of strength a child of this age should possess.

At the edge of the training ground, a group of Uchiha children, mostly five or six years old, watched the field with excitement, shouting cheers, though it was unclear who they were rooting for.

Bang, bang... slap, slap...

As the smoke cleared slightly, the sound of weapons clashing revealed the two figures: Uchiha Shin and Uchiha Madara.

"You've improved quickly, Shin, to be able to fight me to this extent!" Taking advantage of the exchange, Uchiha Madara praised him, his left hand moving to launch a dense volley of shuriken.

Shin's figure flickered, turning into a black shadow as he dodged all the shuriken. That's because I'm afraid of scaring you guys, Big Brother, he thought, rolling his eyes. I haven't even used my Sharingan; otherwise, I'd crush you in a minute.

While thinking this, his hands performed a completely different set of actions, completing a one-handed seal in under a second: "Watch out, Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique."

Nine shuriken were released in succession, automatically igniting with chakra flames as they streaked toward Uchiha Madara from multiple directions.

"One-handed seals! Did you see that? It's Shin-sama's signature one-handed seal! So cool!"

Several four or five-year-old Uchiha girls gazed at Uchiha Shin with adoration. This world worshipped the strong, and as one of the two strongest of the Uchiha generation, Shin naturally couldn't avoid being idolized by some.

"A bunch of ignorant little girls, my brother is the strongest!" Uchiha Izuna roared, his face full of anger. These infatuated fools—Uchiha Shin was just a bit handsome, but when it came to dominance, how could he compare to his own brother?

The flames instantly formed a perimeter around Madara. Even in such a moment, Madara remained exceptionally calm. He spun like a top, dodging seven of the Phoenix Sage Fire projectiles. Facing the final two, he released his kunai, and with two ding sounds, he knocked them down.

"Heh!" A profound smile hung on the corner of Shin's mouth. Uchiha Madara felt a jolt of alarm, suddenly sensing a scorching heat behind him. Before he could react, with a boom, he was swallowed by seven Phoenix Sage Fire projectiles.

"Big Brother...!" Izuna cried out, his eyes full of worry.

"Ha, the Phoenix Sage Fire Technique—as long as your chakra control is sufficient, you can autonomously control the trajectory of the flames," Shin said with a hint of pride. After all, the opponent was Uchiha Madara, a god-tier figure of the future ninja world.

However, his pride didn't last long. When the Madara in the flames turned into a log with a poof, Shin's smile stiffened on his face.

"Substitution Technique! When?"

"Well done, Big Brother." Beside him, Izuna was full of excitement, roaring his support. Not only that, he cast a provocative look at the girls.

"People are often at their most unguarded when they are at their most triumphant. You've lost, Shin!"

Uchiha Madara's voice rang out behind Shin. Almost simultaneously, a kunai was pressed against his neck.

"Shin-sama...!" the group of little girls outside the field cried out in worry.

"Are you still not going to admit defeat?" Uchiha Madara asked, puzzled. The kunai was already at his throat, yet Shin hadn't surrendered. As far as he knew, Shin wasn't the type to stubbornly hold on.

"Admit defeat? Are you joking?"

Shin's calm voice came from behind Uchiha Madara. At the same time, the Shin in front of Uchiha Madara turned into a puff of white smoke and vanished.

"Clone Technique? When did he weave the seals!"

He thought this to himself, but his hands didn't stop for a second. Threads flew behind him, and he completed the ninjutsu seals in an instant: "Fire Style: Fire Dragon Technique!" A massive wave of fire ignited the threads, sealing off all space behind him as he leaped forward rapidly to create distance.

"Using the Fire Dragon Technique to ignite chakra threads and seal all attack routes—to be able to make such a response in an instant, as expected of Madara," Shin said, genuinely admiring the fire dragon before him.

Madara panted twice and laughed: "Likewise, likewise. When did you use the Clone Technique?"

"To begin with."

The offense and defense between the two shifted in the span of a few breaths. The group of Uchiha clansmen outside the arena watched in stunned silence; were these two truly ninjas of their own generation? The gap in ability was simply too vast.

Even Izuna and that group of young girls fell silent, staring blankly at the arena.

"Let's call it a day here," Madara said, loosening his body.

"Fine by me," Shin agreed. Since Madara no longer wished to fight, there was no need for him to persist.

Just then, the main gate of the clan grounds was suddenly pushed open. A blood-soaked Uchiha clansman stumbled in, looking as though he had rushed straight from the battlefield. Ignoring everyone else, he sprinted directly toward the meeting hall, where the Third Elder, the person currently in charge of the clan, was located.

"Let's go take a look!" Madara signaled with his eyes. Shin nodded, and the two followed instantly.

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