Secret Chamber

In the end, Hashirama left in a hurry without taking a single bite of his meal. Regarding the matter Qile had just proposed, he neither expressed agreement nor gave a clear refusal.

Furthermore, he even left behind his dice—items he usually treasured and kept by his side at all times—forgetting them on the dining table.

Clearly, when Madara voiced his refusal to serve as the Second Hokage, it dealt a massive blow to Hashirama.

After all, Hashirama had always firmly believed that only by working hand-in-hand with Madara could they lead Konoha toward prosperity.

Madara's mood was naturally no better. Ever since he uttered those resolute words, his face—already stern and rarely given to smiling—had become as cold as an iceberg, covered in a frost that left no room for expression.

On the other side, Qile, who had already eaten his fill, was still preoccupied with the idea of going to train with Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others.

However, faced with the oppressive and stifling atmosphere, he had no choice but to bite the bullet, put on a fawning expression, and sit down beside Madara.

Qile carefully picked up the teapot, poured a cup of hot tea, and presented it to Madara with great respect, saying with a hint of ingratiation, "Lord Clan Head, it's like this: since I have nothing to do during the day, I'd like to go outside the clan grounds to train with some others. Of course, I'll take Yeling and Kagami with me. I wonder what you think of this?"

As he spoke, Qile kept stealing glances at Madara's face, terrified that one wrong move would provoke him and earn him a few lashes.

To his request, Madara tilted his head slightly and cast a casual, indifferent glance at Qile, but he did not utter a single word, nor did he make a simple gesture like nodding or shaking his head.

Instead, he calmly picked up the teacup before him and took a small, leisurely sip.

Seeing this, Qile hurriedly reached out again, carefully refilling the tea that had been sipped away, and then watched Madara with eager anticipation, saying urgently, "Of course, respected Lord Clan Head, please rest assured! I guarantee that I will never let anything interfere with my daily training."

"Every morning, I will wake up early to practice hand seals, and in the evenings, I will practice stance training and sword swings. But I'm just so bored during the day, so you see..."

Hearing this, Madara remained indifferent and replied casually, "Do as you please."

In his view, Qile was still young, and focusing on physical conditioning and hand seals was enough; there was no need to rush into more profound and complex ninjutsu.

Moreover, he had already made thorough arrangements, assigning reliable people to be responsible for Qile's safety.

Therefore, Madara had no real concerns about Qile's desire to leave the clan grounds to look around; after all, he was just a child, and it was normal to be a bit playful.

From beginning to end, he never suspected that Qile truly wanted to go out and train with others...

Upon receiving Madara's permission, Qile was instantly overjoyed, his face beaming with undisguised excitement.

However, in stark contrast to his extreme agitation, Madara slowly raised his right hand and tapped his fingers against the tabletop.

Seeing this, Qile immediately understood, quickly grabbing the teapot from the table to respectfully refill Madara's steaming cup once more.

Madara drained the cup in one gulp and left behind a single sentence before walking away: "Yeling, take him to find a sword style he likes. Starting tomorrow, ensure his posture is as standard as possible."

Guided by Yeling, the two arrived before a room, and Yeling turned to say softly, "Young Master Qile, you must go in alone from here." As she spoke, she handed the candle she had been holding to Qile.

Qile looked at the tightly shut door and then back at Yeling. "Grandpa Madara actually has a room like this in his house?"

As soon as he pushed the door open, a faint, musty smell wafted out. The room was pitch black, and even with the candle in his hand, Qile could barely see a thing.

"I will wait for you outside the door." With that, Yeling gently pulled the door shut.

As the door closed, Qile was left alone in the room, the only light provided by the candle in his hand. Unable to see clearly, he had no choice but to activate his Sharingan.

Under the enhancement of the Sharingan, the dark environment suddenly became clear. He was finally able to see the true appearance of this so-called "room."

However, it would be more accurate to call it a secret chamber than a regular room. The entire space was completely enclosed, without even a single window.

Looking around, he saw six or seven tall shelves neatly arranged in the chamber. Each shelf was divided into three levels: top, middle, and bottom.

Yet, even with such a multi-layered layout, the number of scrolls placed on the shelves was staggering, with every level packed to the brim.

Looking at the mountain of scrolls, he secretly speculated that if his guess was correct, these scrolls must contain all sorts of ninjutsu.

He slowly began to walk toward one of the shelves. As he approached, he noticed that the side of the shelf was engraved with the character for "Fire."

It seemed that this shelf contained only ninjutsu scrolls related to Fire Release.

He shrugged slightly, holding the candle that provided his dim light with both hands, having no intention of reaching out to flip through those scrolls.

After all, Grandpa Madara had already made it very clear that he was here to find something related to swordsmanship, not to browse other types of scrolls.

Of course, he didn't do this because he was particularly disciplined or completely uninterested in those scrolls.

In reality, he knew that every single scroll was sealed with a small-scale sealing jutsu; without undoing the seal, the scroll couldn't even be opened, so even if he wanted to look, he couldn't.

Thinking of this, Qile couldn't help but take a few steps back, looking at the large shelves before him, and reached up to scratch his head with his right hand.

In his heart, he didn't believe that all these numerous ninjutsu before him were created by the Uchiha clan itself.

If his guess was correct, a significant portion of them must have been copied by clan members using the Sharingan...

However, he had no great interest in exploring such matters at the moment. Thus, he turned and walked toward a shelf he hadn't checked yet. Sure enough, just as he had expected, the side of that shelf was engraved with the character for "Sword."