Chapter 6

When Mingye and Izuna returned stealthily to the clan compound, they found Madara walking out of the house alone, looking extremely displeased. Mingye grinned wickedly and waved the scroll that sealed the giant bear in front of Madara.

"Big brother, there's bear meat sealed inside this. Want to try some?"

"Hmph! Not in the mood!"

Madara shoved Mingye aside and stalked toward the edge of the compound with a pout and a scowl. Izuna caught Mingye before he could fall, then stared after his brother's retreating back in confusion while Mingye immediately complained about the rough treatment.

"Did he take the wrong medicine? The guy doesn't even want meat!"

Izuna glanced at Madara, then at their father's study behind them, and sighed helplessly. "Maybe Father scolded Big Brother again."

Mingye knew the only person who could put his brother in a foul mood was Uchiha Tajima, the head of the Uchiha clan and their father. He tossed the scroll to Izuna and said, "I'll go check on Big Brother. You take the meat to Father and have him prepare it. There's so much that it needs to be divided properly."

Izuna nodded, aware that Mingye was worried about their elder brother, and promised, "All right! I'll save the best piece for Mother and Xiao Si!"

"Mother just gave birth to Xiao Wu, and he's already a month old." Mingye reflected that his mother had borne another son. Including the nearly five-year-old Xiao Si, he now had five younger brothers. Even in these chaotic times, the bonds of family brought him genuine happiness.

"Hahaha! I'm really looking forward to it. Once Xiao Wu grows up, the five of us brothers will roam the shinobi world together. We'll be invincible!" Izuna laughed heartily, picturing the five of them dominating the shinobi world with no one daring to challenge them.

"Tch! Keep daydreaming. I'm going after Big Brother!" Mingye shook his head at Izuna's idiotic grin. Standing next to him was too embarrassing, so he quickly turned and headed in the direction Madara had gone.

Thud... thud... thud... thud...

Beside a river, Madara propped his robe on a branch, picked up a stone, and began skipping rocks. Because his mood was poor, no matter how carefully he tried, he could never make a stone skip four times across the ten-meter-wide river and reach the far bank.

Just then, a stone flew past him from behind, sailed straight across the river, and landed in the trees on the opposite side. Madara turned to see Mingye smiling at him.

"What are you doing here?"

"The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Skipping stones is a game, but if you can't get three or four skips to reach the other side, why not try a different method? It might feel easier." Mingye had watched Madara keep failing to skip stones across and finally grew impatient. He picked up a stone, threw it directly to the far bank, walked up to Madara, and threw another one into the grass on the opposite side before speaking.

"How do you know I don't want to change how I think? It's just that there's nothing else we can do right now!" Madara stared at the stone in his hand, looking dejected.

"What happened?" Mingye had never seen Madara this depressed and was genuinely curious.

"Have you heard of the Takigawa clan?" Madara walked to the river's edge and watched the fish swimming freely in the clear water.

"I think so. Ah, I remember—the small clan that wanted to pledge allegiance to us. I heard they have quite a few members." Mingye nodded. Because of his influence, Madara had told Tajima his true thoughts, and Tajima seemed inclined to use Madara's words to gather smaller clans and minimize Uchiha casualties. Of course, the plan had been twisted, and Tajima had cut most of Madara's original proposal.

The first clan to "eat the crab" appeared to be the Takigawa clan, a group with over thirty shinobi. Although their numbers were decent, they only had one jōnin; the rest were all genin. Compared to the Uchiha, who had more than ten jōnin and whose chūnin with awakened Sharingan could challenge jōnin, they were nothing but ants.

"Just now Father gave the order to wipe out the entire clan tonight." Seeing that Mingye remembered the Takigawa clan, Madara grew even more irritated. He gritted his teeth and clenched the stone in his hand as if trying to crush it.

"You're joking, right?" Mingye had been listening with a smile, but when Madara mentioned wiping out the Takigawa clan, his expression turned serious. It made no sense. Why would Tajima want to destroy a clan that had willingly offered its allegiance? Were they spies? That seemed unlikely. A clan of over a hundred people, including shinobi—who would dare send them all under the Uchiha's blade?

"Heh... I wish I were." Hearing Mingye's disbelief, Madara gave a bitter laugh. His ideal was to bring peace to the world, yet when he had voiced that ideal, the father he respected most had offered no support whatsoever.

"Why?" Mingye could tell from Madara's demeanor that he wasn't lying. He sat down on the ground and asked in a low voice.

"Father wants me to see reality. In this world, besides the clan, no one can be trusted. In this world, besides the Uchiha, everyone else should be slaves who obey orders." Madara wanted to roar at the sky, but it felt as though his throat were blocked; no matter how hard he tried, the sound wouldn't come out. His heart was filled with frustration, wanting to escape all the complications, yet he didn't know how to take the first step.

"Big Brother, have you ever wondered why we can't change Father's mind?" Mingye asked while watching the flowing river.

"What do you mean?" Madara looked at Mingye in confusion, seeking an answer.

Mingye's face remained expressionless as he tossed another stone toward the far bank and explained, "Maybe it's because we're not as strong as Father."

"So wait until you're strong enough to accept other clans without fearing their betrayal at any moment, then do what you want to do." "That's right! As long as we become stronger, we can do whatever we want!"

Madara glanced at Mingye, silently repeated the words in his heart, and then threw another stone.

"Hahaha! As the eldest brother, you can't even skip a stone properly. Idiot! Idiot!" Seeing the stone skip three times before falling back into the water, Mingye froze for a moment, then clutched his stomach and pointed at Madara, laughing loudly.

"Mingye, you're dead!" Madara kicked Mingye to the ground and glared at him.

"Idiot! Idiot..."

Smack... smack...

Mingye was about to keep mocking Madara when a stone suddenly flew between them, skipped several times across the water, and landed on the opposite bank. Both turned to see a boy with a bowl cut who looked extremely honest standing in their line of sight.

Perhaps unnerved by Mingye's intense gaze, the bowl-cut boy instinctively took a step away from him and said shyly, "When you throw it, you have to have an upward pull, like this."

The bowl-cut boy picked up another stone and, under Madara and Mingye's watchful eyes, threw it again. Just as he had said, the stone skipped several times across the water before landing on the far bank.

Madara was extremely proud. Being mocked by his own younger brother was one thing—he was used to it and had built up immunity—but now some strange outsider, this ridiculously childish-looking kid, dared to lecture him. He put on a stern face, picked up another stone, rubbed it in his hands, and declared loudly, "Of course I know something this simple. If I were serious, I could throw it across too!"

Just as he was about to throw the stone, Madara suddenly realized something was wrong. Why was he competing with a stranger? Then he remembered that this forest was Uchiha territory. He was certain he had never seen this boy among the children of the commoners who lived here before. He raised an eyebrow and asked with a sideways glance, "Hey! Who are you?"