A Conspiracy by the Stream

Uchiha Gen viewed everything with the greatest possible malice, because he had always believed that human nature was inherently evil.

An infant's innocence stemmed from the weakness of its limbs. Once it grew teeth, the first person it harmed would be its mother.

"My body is severely damaged right now, and my reserves are badly depleted. I probably won't even be able to get out of bed for a year or so."

"I heard that my cheap old man died together with Senju Butsuma. That means Madara is now the Uchiha clan head, and Izuna is the young clan head. By the time Madara's Mangekyō Sharingan is nearly blind, Izuna will probably be stabbed to death by the Flying Thunder God Slash as well."

Uchiha Gen silently calculated. There was still a long time before Konoha was founded, so being bedridden for a year or so did not seem like it would matter much.

"Right, and my Mangekyō Sharingan... ugh."

Just as he wanted to inspect the abilities of his Mangekyō Sharingan, he suddenly realized he had no Chakra in his body to activate it and reluctantly gave up.

"Without Chakra, I really have become useless. Sigh..."

Without Chakra in the ninja world, he felt worse than watching someone else make money. His body did not have an ounce of strength either; he even needed someone to feed him. The thought made him sigh dejectedly once more.

"Clan Head, Young Clan Head."

"Mm. How is Gen?"

"Lord Yuan just woke up."

He turned his head toward the door. The voices outside sounded particularly familiar.

With a creak, the door opened.

"Gen!"

"...Big Brother, Second Brother."

"How is your recovery?"

Madara strode over as soon as he entered. Seeing his younger brother's emaciated state, he felt deeply upset.

"I'm fine, Big Brother. I just need to rest and recover."

Hearing Uchiha Gen say that, Madara gave a heavy grunt. But Izuna, beside him, wailed and threw himself in front of Uchiha Gen, bursting into tears.

"Third Brother! Your brother failed to take care of you! It's all Second Brother's fault!"

"..."

The corner of Uchiha Madara's mouth twitched, but he could not really say anything. Uchiha Gen was equally speechless. Looking at his second brother crying into the bed, he said:

"Second Brother... I'm fine. It's not like I died. Surviving was already an incredible stroke of luck."

"Waaah! Your brother is just useless!"

"...Stop crying."

An idea suddenly came to Uchiha Gen, and he changed the subject.

"Right, I've temporarily become useless after this. What about the clan members...?"

"Mm?"

Izuna blinked, not understanding what he meant, but Madara immediately understood.

"Don't worry. You fought the Kaguya clan head and preserved the lives of so many clan members. Your prestige is now even greater than mine, your elder brother's. No one will speak ill of you again.

"If any clan member dares to speak ill of you in private again, I'll let them experience the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan."

Uchiha Gen's concern was immediately resolved. Staying within the clan was not necessarily safe, but it was still better than going out to fight for his life directly.

"That's good. By the way, we suddenly have three pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan now. Do you have any thoughts, Big Brother?"

Uchiha Madara glanced at Uchiha Gen's body, his expression revealing none of what he was thinking.

"You don't need to worry about that. Focus on recovering."

"Alright..."

The three brothers exchanged a few more pleasantries. Before long, it was time for Uchiha Gen to consume Chakra.

"Then we'll be leaving first. There are still quite a few clan affairs to handle."

"Alright, Big Brother."

Madara then nodded at several clan members who had arrived outside the sickroom before leaving with Izuna.

These clan members were all Chunin. Combined, their Chakra was no small amount.

Yet after all of it was fed to Uchiha Gen, it did not even cause a ripple. Uchiha Gen's body seemed like a bottomless pit.

It would actually have been better to have Izuna or Madara transfer Chakra to him, but the two of them were the clan's top combat forces and needed to remain at their peak condition at all times. Thus, this task could only be left to clan members with Chunin-level strength.

In the blink of an eye, several more weeks passed, and Uchiha Gen was already able to get out of bed.

Though he could only sit in a wheelchair. Speaking of which, he had invented the wheelchair himself.

That morning, Uchiha Gen felt that although his body still lacked strength, simple movements like turning over and bending down had become easy. So he asked the female clan member attending him to bring over a wheelchair. He wanted to go outside and bask in the sun.

"A wheelchair? Lord Yuan, what is a wheelchair?"

Uchiha Haru asked in confusion.

"It's a chair with two wheels."

"A chair... can have wheels attached to it? Then how are you supposed to sit on it?"

Judging from the female clan member's expression, Uchiha Gen did not think she was lying. Could it be that...

"Bring me paper and a brush."

With Uchiha Gen's blueprint, the wheelchair was quickly handcrafted by the clan members.

Though it was made entirely of wood, it was at least usable.

"Haru, where do our clan's food and silver come from?"

"In reply to my lord, we earn them through various channels. For example, several iron mines under the Uchiha name, as well as shops in certain towns."

"Oh? What does the Uchiha mainly sell?"

"Um..." Uchiha Haru thought about it. Mainly... "Explosive tags? And kunai, shuriken, and things like that."

Uchiha Gen frowned. Could those things really sell in towns inhabited by ordinary people?

"What about more ordinary goods?"

"For more ordinary goods, there's salt, cloth, and things like that."

Uchiha Gen nodded and did not ask further questions.

Haru pushed the wheelchair around outside the sickroom for several hundred meters. From time to time, clan members spotted Uchiha Gen and greeted him from afar.

Uchiha Gen had been thinking about something, and being interrupted repeatedly put him in a bad mood. He had Haru push him back to the sickroom.

Late at night.

After Uchiha Madara finished handling the piled-up clan affairs, he stood and stretched his muscles. Suddenly sensing something, he immediately leaped out the door, his figure vanishing into the darkness.

Beside a small stream dozens of li from the Uchiha Clan Grounds, Hashirama Senju sat cross-legged by the river. Before long, his ears twitched, and he spoke.

"You came, Madara!"

"Madara! Why did you call me out so late?"

Madara emerged from the darkness, and the two sat on opposite banks.

"Madara, I have now completely taken control of the Senju. Have you thought about how we can achieve peace?"

"Heh, Hashirama... Peace is nothing but an illusory dream. What will you use to achieve it?"

"Madara, I am now the Senju clan head. So long as I do not give the order, the Senju will no longer take part in any conflict. As long as..."

"You're too naive!"

Madara cut him off sharply.

"So what if you're the clan head? The conflict between the Senju and Uchiha has continued for hundreds, even thousands of years. Which clan member does not bear a blood feud? I can let it go! You can let it go! But how will you make those clan members let it go? With that mouth of yours?!"

"Madara! Rules are made by the strong! As long as you and I are alive, do you think anyone would dare defy us?"

"What about when we die?"

"Won't you train new clan heads? People may die, and corpses may rot, but so long as the spirit and will endure, so long as someone inherits them, peace is not beyond reach!"

It had to be said that when Hashirama became serious, he was truly quite eloquent. Madara sat silently on the ground. Could their childhood dream really be realized now?