Fighting

The clash between the two Kage-level Experts came and went quickly. When the rumbling died away fifteen minutes later, Shin turned around and went home with Izuna and the others.

The maid was naturally delighted that Shin had returned so soon. Shin didn't say much. He washed off the dust and slept soundly until noon the next day.

After waking up, he ate some of the food Chiyo Hotaru had prepared, then rushed straight out. He had a clear destination in mind: Uchiha Madara's home.

He had already decided to make a scene. When faced with the wooden door typical of the Warring States Period, he kicked it without a second thought. The thin cedar door instantly splintered into pieces, bringing its life to an end.

"Uchiha Madara, get your ass out here!"

Shin stormed in with a murderous look on his face and searched everywhere. Madara's room was laid out just like his own, and wasn't very large.

After all, they were still children. They weren't going to be given independent mansions.

The living room was small. The bedroom door stood open, and he could see the kitchen at a glance, while the bathroom door was locked tight. Shin spent five seconds looking for Uchiha Madara, but unfortunately, he couldn't find him.

There was a boy in the living room, kneeling and pretending to be a grown-up as he drank tea, but it wasn't Uchiha Madara.

"Izuna, where's your brother?"

Shin sat cross-legged in front of Izuna and asked, his eyes full of menace.

Izuna laughed awkwardly. "I don't know. I haven't seen him."

"Then why are you in his room?"

"...He asked me to watch the house for him, so you wouldn't smash it in a fit of rage."

"When's he coming back?"

"I don't know."

"Where'd he go?"

"I don't know."

"Did that Hyuga powerhouse slap him to death yesterday?"

"You're the one who got slapped to death! My big brother would never die before you!"

"You little punk, you're asking for it!" Shin raised an eyebrow and was about to rush over and teach the kid a lesson. Then he decided there was no point in picking on a child. "I'll wait here. I refuse to believe he won't come back today. Even if he doesn't, he'll come back tomorrow. He can't hide forever."

Izuna nodded solemnly. "My brother said if you wanted to stay, he'd leave this place to you and find somewhere else to live."

Shin wasn't the sort to give up easily, so Izuna's words weren't enough to send him away. He closed his eyes and sat there quietly, looking as if he really intended to wait.

Izuna stuck out his tongue when Shin wasn't looking. Big brother, you're on your own. I can only help you this much.

With his eyes closed, Shin kept going over what had happened. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. There was nothing wrong with investigating the matter, and nothing wrong with running into an ambush. But the system had gone and issued such a ridiculous mission, sending him straight into the enemy's encirclement. Then he'd found out that his clan had known about it all along and had used him as bait to lure the enemy in.

He analyzed the whole affair again and again, realizing that the clan's defeat and the Third Elder's momentary lapse had made him underestimate the entire Uchiha Clan.

When he thought about it, it made sense. If the Uchiha were really as weak as he'd imagined, how could they have risen to the top of the Warring States Period? On the main battlefield, they'd fought on two fronts and still held off the Senju and Hyuga Clans for two whole years. If the Third Elder hadn't lost his head and let the Hyuga launch a sneak attack, who knew how long the stalemate might have lasted?

With that kind of strength, there wasn't another clan in the entire Warring States Period that could match them.

And then there was his uncle. On closer inspection, he wasn't without his strengths. Though he was a little slow to react to certain schemes, he was powerful and highly respected within the clan. He could unite the strength of all the clan members and had made the Uchiha Clan's defenses impregnable. Over the years, they'd fought the Senju Clan to a standstill, while racking up an impressive win rate against every other clan.

"Ah, Confucius was right. I need to reflect on myself three times a day. I can't afford to be arrogant and conceited." Shin admonished himself. Given his usual caution, he should have noticed the clues and pieced together what was going on.

Unfortunately, ever since he'd defeated that Jonin and learned the Flying Thunder God Technique, he'd assumed that it would protect him and that no one in the Warring States Period could hurt him. He'd let his guard down without even realizing it, and that was how he'd gotten into this mess.

Just imagine: if the clan really hadn't known about it, he'd have stepped straight into the enemy's trap. That would've been extremely dangerous. If they'd had an Elite Jonin waiting in that room, he might've escaped only at the cost of serious injuries, let alone killing the enemy.

"From now on, I can't let my guard down until I reach the level of Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara in the original story. This is the Warring States Period. Who knows how many people have been killed by underhanded tricks? I can't afford to get caught off guard."

As Shin pondered, a cry of dismay suddenly came from the doorway. "What the hell? My door!"

His eyes flew open, and he glared at the figure in the doorway. Rising to his feet, he sneered, "Well, look who finally came back. I thought you'd hide until the end of time."

Izuna's face fell. Why had his big brother come back all of a sudden? This wasn't how they'd planned it yesterday.

Uchiha Madara was furious too. "Why wouldn't I come back to my own house? You're the one who tore down my door for no reason. Are you looking for a fight?"

More than half of Madara's anger was an act. After all, he was the one in the wrong. He'd planned to hide for a few days, but his father had told him to deliver a message in person, so he'd had no choice but to return, ready or not.

According to the original plan, he should've led people to surround Hyuga Tamamo and the others as soon as they came out. But remembering how Shin had tricked him last time, he'd decided to postpone the attack. He still remembered Shin's crow-transformation move and figured he'd be fine, at least not killed instantly.

But he hadn't expected the kid to scatter Kunai all over the ground and use a ninjutsu that he'd never seen—or even heard of—before. Somehow, Shin had escaped the three Elite Jonin and even killed five Chunin along the way. Madara had been so stunned by the feat that his jaw had nearly hit the floor. Only after Shin used the Flying Thunder God Technique to leave had Madara brought his men out to surround the Hyuga Clan.

He'd originally brought five Elite Jonin. When Hyuga Tamamo sent Hyuga Kazama out, Madara had secretly sent Uchiha Keimei after them too, in case anything happened to Shin. Of course, when he gave the order, he'd also said that if Shin could handle the Jonin on his own, there was no need to help.

But no matter how much he was in the wrong, there was no way Uchiha Madara would lower his head and apologize. He simply wasn't the sort of person who could bring himself to do that.

"You've got some nerve!" Shin laughed in fury. This was the first time he'd seen someone act so righteous after setting him up.

Uchiha Madara tossed his hair and gave an extremely haughty snort.

Shin clenched his teeth. Then he suddenly rushed forward and punched Madara in the face, knocking him to the ground. "I came here to fight!"

Madara's face burned with pain. For a moment, he was stunned and couldn't quite process what had happened. I just got punched? I actually got punched?

Then his eyes narrowed. He got up and swung a punch back without holding anything back.

The two immediately started brawling. They used neither ninjutsu nor chakra, just punching and kicking each other with wild abandon. They looked less like two ninja and more like a pair of ordinary street punks.

Izuna stared at the scene, dumbfounded. Then he quietly crept past the two boys rolling around on the ground and bolted away.