Two Clan Leaders Perish Together

"Clan Leader, how can this be?"

The Senju elder looked anxious; how could he possibly allow the Clan Leader to go to his death?

"This is an order. All clansmen, hear me: retreat immediately."

Senju Butsuma's command allowed for no defiance. His unquestionable tone made the elder realize his resolve.

"Retreat."

The Senju elder turned away with difficulty, leading the remaining clansmen in flight and leaving their backs to the Clan Leader.

"Uchiha Tajima, come and fight!"

Senju Butsuma's immense chakra erupted completely, his blade coated in a layer of pale yellow wind-attribute chakra.

The Uchiha ninjas surging forward could already feel the terrifying, razor-sharp aura.

"Fall back, all of you. I will handle this."

Uchiha Tajima saw that his opponent was determined to die; at this moment, sending his clansmen to fight would be nothing more than sending them to their graves.

"BOOM!!!"

The battle between the two caused their chakra to leak outward, sending terrifying shockwaves rolling in all directions.

This was Senju Butsuma's swan song, and in many ways, it was Uchiha Tajima's final dance.

In the Uchiha ancestral hall, a group of high-ranking Uchiha members stood with heads bowed in black mourning attire.

Uchiha Izuna knelt before his father's coffin, tears streaming down his face in silence.

He had never imagined that their last parting would be a final farewell.

Uchiha Madara was also deeply shaken, his eyes vacant as he stared into nothingness, lost in his own thoughts.

Uchiha Yang knelt silently to the side, burning paper money for his uncle, hoping he would fare better in the afterlife.

He could feel that the kindness his uncle had shown him was genuine.

He never expected that their last meeting would be their last.

He remembered the plot seemed to mention him dying together with Senju Butsuma, but it never specified which encounter it would be.

Indeed, the battlefield was a place where one could die at any moment.

"Madara, you wouldn't want Uncle to have died in vain on the battlefield, would you?"

Seeing the high-ranking members looking at Uchiha Madara with words caught in their throats, Uchiha Yang decided to speak up.

At a time like this, he was the most appropriate person to break the silence.

"What should I do?"

Uchiha Madara turned his head stiffly, his eyes filled with confusion.

"Become the Clan Leader, lead the clansmen, and achieve final victory over the Senju Clan."

"This is the responsibility you must shoulder. The expectations of the clansmen, the future of the clansmen, and the prosperity of the clan—it all rests on you alone."

Uchiha Yang patted him firmly on the shoulder, his expression grave.

This was his first time painting a grand vision and feeding someone "chicken soup for the soul," and the feeling was truly wonderful.

"I implore the Young Clan Leader to pull yourself together. The clansmen are all waiting for you outside."

Great Elder Uchiha Sei looked at Uchiha Madara with a sorrowful face.

This war had caused heavy casualties, and grief and hatred had spread to every member of the Uchiha clan.

They all hoped the Young Clan Leader could lead them to take revenge on the Senju scum.

The shackles of hatred had long since locked generation after generation; hatred would not disappear with time, but would only be inherited by the descendants.

As for the struggle for power, while it could not be avoided within the Uchiha clan, it was limited to minor matters.

On major issues, everyone seemed to share a tacit understanding, following the ancestral rules passed down through generations to maintain the stability of the clan.

The succession of the Clan Leader was not a matter of lineage alone.

It was determined by the recognition of the clansmen, and the position was inherited by the person with the most talent and strength who had awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

Uchiha Madara had always been the leader of the younger generation, and his strength was deeply recognized by the clansmen.

On the night the clan grounds were attacked, Uchiha Madara had single-handedly held back the main force of the attackers.

He had even faced an Uzumaki elite jonin who possessed several Clan Leader-level sealing scrolls, preventing the enemy from causing massive destruction to the grounds or harming the clansmen.

A Clan Leader-level sealing scroll contained the power of a full-force strike from a Clan Leader.

This was the terrifying power of the Uzumaki Clan.

The position of Clan Leader was not something Uchiha Madara had particularly coveted.

But as he stood up and walked outside, and the gazes of the clansmen converged upon him, Uchiha Madara felt the weight of that heavy responsibility—all the hopes of the clan rested upon him.

Uchiha Yang stood beside Uchiha Madara, observing the gazes the clansmen cast upon him.

It was a form of trust and reliance beyond imagination.

Perhaps at this very moment, they all believed that Uchiha Madara could lead them to victory over the Senju Clan.

Except for himself, no one knew that in the future, the Uchiha would be utterly defeated by the Senju Clan, even resorting to the shameful act of mass surrender.

Perhaps at that moment, Uchiha Madara had also come to a realization.

The clansmen who had trusted him back then had almost all died in battle; the Uchiha who surrendered were an Uchiha with their spines broken.

"We implore the Young Clan Leader to succeed as Clan Leader. For the sake of the sacrificed Clan Leader Tajima and the countless clansmen who have perished, lead us to take revenge on the Senju scum."

Great Elder Uchiha Sei, holding the Inherited Gunbai in his hands, knelt on one knee before Uchiha Madara and held the fan aloft, shouting loudly.

"We implore the Young Clan Leader to succeed as Clan Leader. For the sake of the sacrificed Clan Leader Tajima and the countless clansmen who have perished, lead us to take revenge on the Senju scum."

"We implore the Young Clan Leader to succeed as Clan Leader. For the sake of the sacrificed Clan Leader Tajima and the countless clansmen who have perished, lead us to take revenge on the Senju scum."

Second Elder Uchiha Rei, Fourth Elder Uchiha Fu, Fifth Elder Uchiha Ri, over a dozen elite jonin, and the rest of the clansmen followed suit.

As for the Third Elder, he had already followed the Clan Leader in a heroic death, having sacrificed himself on the battlefield.

Uchiha Madara was not the type to hesitate. Seeing the crowd, he reached out and took the Inherited Gunbai, raising it above his head with an air of absolute dominance.

"From this day forward, I am the Clan Leader."

In that instant, Uchiha Yang saw Uchiha Madara's Sharingan flicker; that flash of red light did not seem to be the Three-Tomoe, but rather the Mangekyo.

Seemingly realizing something, Uchiha Yang looked toward Uchiha Izuna. Sure enough, that pair of Mangekyo Sharingan appeared in his eyes. At this moment, he was the only one who noticed this scene.

It seemed that their uncle's death had indeed dealt a heavy blow to the two brothers, but it had also brought them new power: the Mangekyo Sharingan.

At the same time, within the Senju Clan, Senju Hashirama had also successfully succeeded to the position of Clan Leader.

The era belonging to Uchiha Tajima and Senju Butsuma had ended, and in its place would come the incredibly frantic End of the Warring States.

After this war, which had lasted for three years, the two battered behemoths had returned to their dens to lick their wounds.

The news that the leaders of both clans had perished together spread throughout the entire Shinobi World.

Some even greedily hoped to tear a piece of flesh from the two wounded giants.

The resources controlled by the Senju and Uchiha clans were simply too vast.

Ninjas did not just need to eat; they required various resources to assist them in becoming stronger.

Cultivating a single ninja was enough to drag a well-off family into poverty.

Everything related to ninjas was extremely expensive; even a common C-rank ninjutsu could fetch a high price.

Ordinary people simply could not afford such consumption.

After successfully assuming the position of Clan Leader, Uchiha Madara arranged a series of orders for recuperation.

Only after taking office did he discover that the clan could no longer withstand another prolonged war.

However, there were still voices within the clan regarding the Uzumaki Clan, the culprits behind the attack on their clan grounds.

Thinking of the revenge plan Uchiha Yang had mentioned to him, Uchiha Madara was filled with anticipation.