Conspiracy by the Stream

Conspiracy Beside the Stream

Uchiha Yuan always viewed everything through the lens of the greatest malice, because he firmly believed that human nature was inherently evil.

An infant's innocence stemmed from the weakness of its limbs; the moment teeth grew, the first to suffer harm was its mother.

My body is severely damaged now, and my foundation is hollowed out to the extreme. Without a year or half, I probably won't be able to get out of bed.

I heard that cheap old man took Senju Butsuma down with him, which means the current Uchiha clan head is Madara, and Izuna is the young head. By the time Madara's Mangekyō is about to go blind, Izuna will practically be skewered to death by the Flying Thunder God Slash.

Uchiha Yuan calculated silently. He still had quite a long time before the founding of Konoha, so being paralyzed in bed for a year or half didn't seem to affect things very much.

Oh right, and my Mangekyō... uh.

The moment he wanted to check the abilities of his Mangekyō, he suddenly realized there was no chakra in his body to drive it, and he instantly gave up in disappointment.

Without chakra, I really seem to have become a useless person, sigh...

In the ninja world, lacking chakra was more agonizing than watching others make money, and his body had not an ounce of strength. Eating required someone to feed him, and at this thought, he couldn't help but sigh with loss once more.

"Clan head, young clan head."

"Mmm, how is Yuan?"

"Lord Yuan just woke up."

Turning his head, the voice outside the bedroom door was exceptionally familiar.

With a creak, the bedroom door opened.

"Yuan!"

"...Big brother, second brother."

"How is your body recovering?"

As soon as Madara entered, he strode over, looked at his emaciated younger brother, and felt quite distressed in his heart.

"I'm fine, big brother. Resting up for a bit will do."

Hearing Uchiha Yuan say this, Madara let out a heavy "mm", yet Izuna beside him gave a waah and threw himself before Uchiha Yuan, crying right then and there.

"Third brother! It's your brother's fault for not taking good care of you! Blame second brother!"

"..."

The corners of Uchiha Madara's mouth twitched, though he didn't know what to say. Uchiha Yuan was also utterly speechless; looking at his second brother, who was lying across the bed crying like a tearful person, he said:

"Second brother... I'm fine, I didn't die or anything. Being able to survive is already a supreme blessing."

"Wuwuwu! It's all because your brother is useless!"

"...Stop crying."

Uchiha Yuan had a flash of inspiration and changed the subject, asking:

"Right, since I've temporarily become a useless person like this, the clansmen over there..."

"Hm?"

Izuna blinked, failing to understand the meaning of these words, but Madara beside him understood immediately.

"Don't worry. You fought the Kaguya clan head to the bitter end and preserved the lives of so many clansmen; right now, your prestige can be said to be even higher than mine as big brother. No one will speak ill of you anymore. If any clansmen still speak ill of you in private, I'll let them taste the power of the Mangekyō."

Uchiha Yuan's worries were instantly resolved. Although staying within the clan wasn't necessarily safe, it was still better than going out to fight and kill directly.

"That'll do, then. Right, since we suddenly have three pairs of Mangekyō now, big brother, do you have any thoughts?"

Uchiha Madara glanced at Uchiha Yuan's body, his expression revealing nothing of what he was thinking.

"You don't need to trouble yourself with these things. Just focus on recovering from your injuries."

"Alright... then."

Afterwards, the three brothers exchanged a few more polite pleasantries, and before long, it was time for Uchiha Yuan's chakra intake.

"Then the two of us will be leaving first. There are still quite a few affairs within the clan."

"Alright, big brother."

Following that, Madara nodded to the several clansmen who had already arrived outside the sickroom and left with Izuna.

These few clansmen were all Chunin, and gathering their chakra amounts together was not a small figure.

Yet after feeding it all to Uchiha Yuan, it failed to stir up even the slightest ripple; Uchiha Yuan's body was seemingly like a bottomless pit.

In truth, having Izuna or Madara transmit chakra would have been better, but the two of them were the top combat strengths within the clan and needed to remain in peak condition at all times, so this sort of task could only be left to some clansmen of Chunin strength.

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

Though he was sitting in a wheelchair—speaking of this wheelchair, he was actually the one who invented it.

In the morning, Uchiha Yuan felt that although his body lacked strength, performing simple turns and bending his waist had become very easy. He therefore told the female clansman who tended to him to push a wheelchair over, as 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 wheels even be attached to it? How do you sit on it?"

Uchiha Yuan looked at the female clansman's expression; it didn't look like she was lying. Could it be...

"Bring paper and a pen."

Following that, with Uchiha Yuan's blueprint, the wheelchair was easily hammered together by hand by the clansmen.

Although it was crafted entirely out of wood, it could still be put to use to some extent.

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

"Reporting to my lord, they are earned through various channels, such as the several iron mines under our Uchiha's name, as well as shops and the like in various towns."

"Oh? What does our Uchiha family mainly sell?"

"Um..." Uchiha Haru thought about it. The main things sold were... "Exploding tags? And kunai, shuriken, and things like that."

Uchiha Yuan frowned. Were these things guaranteed to sell in those ordinary people's towns?

"What about ordinary commodities?"

"For ordinary ones, that would be salt, cloth, and things of that sort."

Uchiha Yuan nodded and asked no further.

Haru pushed the wheels, pacing back and forth a few hundred meters outside the sickroom. From time to time, clansmen caught sight of Uchiha Yuan and greeted him from afar.

Uchiha Yuan was deep in thought and found himself constantly interrupted, putting him in a somewhat poor mood. He had Haru push him back to the sickroom.

Deep in the night.

Having finished processing the piled-up family affairs, Uchiha Madara stood up and stretched his muscles. Feeling a sudden premonition in his heart, he leaped instantly out of his room, his figure fading into the dark night.

Beside a stream several dozen miles away from the Uchiha Clan Grounds, Hashirama Senju sat cross-legged by the riverbank. A moment later, his ears twitched slightly, and he promptly spoke up:

"You've come, Madara!"

"Madara! Why are you looking for me so late?"

Madara emerged from the darkness, the two of them sitting opposite each other across the banks.

"Madara, I have now completely seized control of the Senju authority. Have you figured out how to achieve peace?"

"Hah, Hashirama... Peace is nothing more than an illusory dream. What are you going to use to achieve it?"

"Madara, I am now the Senju clan head. As long as I give no orders, the Senju will no longer participate in any conflicts. As long as—"

"Too naive!"

Madara interrupted harshly:

"So what if you're the clan head? The conflict between the Senju and the Uchiha has lasted for hundreds and thousands of years; which clansman bears no blood feud? I can let it go! You can let it go! Those clansmen—how do you expect them to let it go?! By relying on this mouth of yours?!"

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

"Then what about after we die?"

"Can't you nurture a new clan head? Although people die and corpses decay, as long as the spirit and willpower endure, as long as someone inherits them, peace is not out of reach!"

One had to admit that when Hashirama got serious, he really was quite eloquent. Madara sat on the ground in silence; could the dream of their childhood truly be realized now?