It's My Turn?

Amidst the tangled rocks and wild forest, several figures flashed past at breakneck speeds, completely surpassing the limits of ordinary humans; if they were to participate in an athletic meet, they could easily take home the gold.

"Katon! Great Fireball Technique!"

"Earth-Style: Earth Wall!"

Swish, swish, swish!

Boom!

The searing fireball slammed into the earthen wall, kicking up a massive cloud of dust, but once the wind blew through, the clearing was completely empty.

It was broad daylight, yet the sounds of slaughter filled this realm; blood splattered, screams echoed endlessly, and corpses began to pile up.

Yet amidst this battlefield, two slightly callow youths were merely muddling through the skirmish.

Because while everyone else was unleashing all sorts of lethal ninjutsu, these two were actually locked in close-quarters combat with kunai.

"Hashirama!"

"Madara!"

Although the two of them fought fiercely and shouted at the top of their lungs, apart from a bit of dust on their bodies, they bore no other injuries.

If not for the fact that both held the status of eldest son of their respective clan heads, one would have suspected they had accepted bribes from the other side.

The combined headcount of both sides barely reached a thousand. Viewed from above, it looked entirely like a brawl between two villages, but in reality, with just this small number of people, the destructive force they unleashed was completely no less than an army of several thousand or tens of thousands.

That was because they all shared a single identity: shinobi.

Over a thousand years ago, the God of Shinobi, Hagoromo Otsutsuki, founded the Ninja Sect, scattered chakra to all corners of the world, and personally taught ninjutsu to his two sons, Indra and Asura.

Ever since then, due to the intervention of this extraordinary energy, countless factional disputes emerged across the world. Among them, the Ninja Sect lineages passed down by Indra and Asura—the Uchiha Clan and the Senju Clan—were the most powerful.

Yet due to various reasons, the two clans refused to yield to one another, and their strife had continued to the point where it was impossible to tell who had struck first or who had started it.

Hatred and conflict had long since penetrated deep into their bones and bloodlines, impossible to reconcile.

The great battle between the two clans lasted for nearly three hours before each side gathered their wounded and returned home to lick their wounds.

A conflict like this happened every few weeks if it was fast, and up to a hundred times a year at most, practically becoming routine.

The length of the interval depended on their own casualties. If casualties were low, then once their injuries healed, they would continue fighting a few days later; if casualties were too heavy, they would conserve their strength, head back to father a few more pups, and then continue the fight.

Within the Uchiha Clan Grounds, located in the very center and safest part of the clan's hospital, a youth with a head wrapped in thick layers of gauze frowned.

Two spiky-haired figures stood outside the room with anxious expressions on their faces.

Finally, after a long while, a medical worker dressed in white emerged from the room.

"How is my younger brother!"

Uchiha Izuna eagerly grabbed the person by the shoulders, shaking them fiercely and demanding loudly.

"I... Izuna-sama!"

Recognizing who had arrived, the medical worker was startled and stammered for a moment.

"Speak! How is my younger brother!"

"Izuna!"

Slap!

Uchiha Madara wore a solemn expression as he placed a hand on Izuna's shoulder, pulling him back, and after offering an apologetic nod to the clansman, he asked calmly.

"Ueki, how is my younger brother Uchiha Yuan right now?"

"Young Clan Head, your brother is fine, but the injury to his head is a bit deep. However, his condition has currently stabilized. As for whether it will leave any lingering ailments, we'll have to wait until he wakes up—"

"Hmm."

Hearing this news, Uchiha Izuna let out a huge sigh of relief, and only upon hearing that there was no danger to his life did he allow the medical worker to leave.

Although Uchiha Madara didn't show much on the surface, he, too, had been holding his breath inside. Originally, he had five brothers, but now only the three of them remained. If Uchiha Yuan were to go as well, then only he and Izuna would be left to depend on each other.

In the Uchiha's traditionally brother-obsessed family, a younger brother's weight was comparable to a real father's, sometimes even more important than a real father's. (Take Itachi Uchiha massacring his clan yet sparing only Sasuke for reference.)

"Alright, what Yuan needs right now is rest. Let's not go disturb him."

"Hah, I know, Big Brother."

Inside the hospital room, Uchiha Yuan's brow was tightly furrowed. Even though he was unconscious, the pain shooting through his brain was not the least bit diminished.

Hiss! Why is my head hurting more and more?

Lu Ziyuan thought somewhat uneasily. He shouldn't have drunk so much booze before going to sleep, and it was even draft beer—why did his head feel like it had been cracked open?

Right! Who sent me back? I remember drinking alone in the shop to drown my sorrows, didn't I?

This is impossible! My head feels like it's about to explode; how is anyone supposed to sleep?!

He abruptly opened his eyes, yet everything before him left him somewhat dazed, because he discovered that this didn't seem to be his own home. Could it be that he had been kidnapped? But... he was in the center of the city, what kidnappers had the guts to do that?

His nostrils caught a whiff of a disinfectant scent that was somewhat similar to formalin yet not quite the same.

He moved to push himself up with his hands, but the movement tugged at his wound, the piercing pain causing him to draw in a sharp breath.

"What the hell! Hiss! What happened to my head?!"

Lu Ziyuan touchingly and shockingly felt his head wrapped in gauze, and this clear pain could not be wrong.

"I got my head cracked open? Who did this! I f***ing drill your ancestors eight times over!!"

"Hiss!"

After easing for a long while, he finally leaned against the pillow to slowly half-lie down, scanned the surrounding furnishings, and silently pondered what kind of place this was.

Hmm? How come someone pasted ping-pong paddle wallpaper on the wall directly in front of him? No!!

Lu Ziyuan's pupils contracted, and his Blood Wheel Eye stimulated involuntarily, with two black bean-like tomoe circling within it.

That was not a ping-pong paddle! That was the clan crest of the Uchiha family from Naruto! But suddenly thinking of something else, his mood calmed down again.

I didn't expect this family to still be Naruto fans. For such an old anime to still have people obsessed with it, they must be die-hard hardcore fans.

Thinking of this, his heart calmed down. Since they watched anime, it meant the owner of this house shouldn't be a bad person either, let alone someone who watched Naruto.

Lu Ziyuan turned his head sideways, looking at the sky outside through a window propped open by wooden sticks. What a quiet and peaceful environment~ Even the air was so fresh with so little dust. This place should be very far from a big city, right?

Sigh~ He also didn't know where this was, whether he was rescued or what on earth happened, and there wasn't even a person to come and explain things to him, plus...

Growl~

"My stomach is hungry. If I shout loudly, will someone bring me food?"

His head hurt so much he couldn't sleep, and he didn't know how the wound was bandaged either—how could they not even use anesthetic?

After dazing a while longer, Lu Ziyuan was truly so hungry he couldn't take it anymore. His head hurt, his stomach was still hungry, and half a day had passed without a single person coming to take a look.

"Is anyone there! Someone's going to starve to death!"

"Hurry up and come!"

After finishing a few pig-slaughtering screams, Lu Ziyuan quietly waited for someone to come and feed him, except...

"Cough cough, how come this throat of mine... is so tender?"