As Madara's words fell, Kou slowly lowered his head.
The wind rolled in from the distant sea, passing through the barren hills and brushing over his bowed head, making several strands of black hair before his forehead sway gently.
Silence lingered for a long time.
Madara did not urge him. He merely lost his smile and quietly watched Kou's lowered head with his mismatched purple and red eyes.
It was as if he were giving this junior he regarded as a "disciple" enough time to digest the cruel truth.
"Why..."
After a long while, Kou raised his head and looked calmly at Madara ahead of him, demanding coldly, "Why did you go this far? Back then, I shouldn't have been important enough for you to value me to this extent."
"Not important enough for me to value you to this extent..."
Madara repeated it quietly, then gave a soft laugh tinged with helplessness.
"Heh. You still always underestimate yourself. You really haven't improved much."
"To be honest, if it weren't for those eyes of yours, I would find it hard to believe that a brat like you was actually an Uchiha."
"After all—"
At that point, he shook his head and immediately corrected himself.
"No. Though there are many things about you that are different from others, when it comes to the arrogance of believing in your own ideas...
"You really are an Uchiha."
Kou showed not the slightest displeasure at that sharp assessment.
He merely stared deeply at Madara across from him, his heart filled with complicated emotions.
If this had been before, if anyone had dared to judge him like that, he would have sneered and retorted.
But now, after experiencing so much, he had long seen clearly the arrogance in his bones that belonged to both a