New Dōjutsu? So It Was Izanagi

Uchiha Yuan stared at the water's surface for a long time without speaking. The instant he threw out the Storm Rasengan, he sensed something beneath the water. It moved at incredible speed, dragging Tobirama underwater within those few seconds before sinking deep underground and vanishing without a trace.

"Mayfly Technique? Why!?"

Izuna beside him patted Uchiha Yuan on the shoulder, interrupting his thoughts.

"Third Brother! You've become so strong!"

"Not bad, not bad. Fifth in the world...?"

"Huh? What strange nonsense are you talking about now? But since there's no threat here anymore, let's hurry and help Big Brother!"

"Sure, but before helping Big Brother, I'd rather kill more of those ninja."

Izuna hesitated for a moment. In his heart, it was disgraceful for a strong person to attack the weak, but only for a moment. He chose to go along with Uchiha Yuan's decision.

"Fine!"

With Uchiha Yuan and Izuna, two Kage-level fighters with Mangekyō Sharingan, joining the battle, the tide of war began to shift dramatically. The Land of Fire's ninja coalition that had come to subjugate the Uchiha collapsed in less than ten minutes.

By then, Madara and Hashirama had reconciled as well. At least, when Uchiha Yuan saw them, the two were locked in a contest of strength while actually pressing close together and whispering to each other.

"Big Brother, it's time to go home for dinner."

"Hm? Ahem! It's Yuan. Is the war over?"

"Yeah."

Uchiha Yuan looked at Hashirama Senju atop the Wood Dragon, recalling how Tobirama had been rescued by Black Zetsu earlier. The waters of the Shinobi World were truly too deep for him to see through.

Madara dispelled Susanoo, jumped to the ground, and grabbed Uchiha Yuan's hand to leave. Hashirama turned to gather up his defeated clansmen. When the late-arriving Izuna saw this scene, he was immediately dumbfounded.

"Big Brother! Third Brother! We're not going to take down Hashirama Senju together? Why are we going back?"

Uchiha Yuan's forehead twitched with black lines. The three of them were going to take on Hashirama? Had Izuna not woken up yet? Who knew whether Hashirama had gone to Shikkotsu Forest to learn Sage Arts? If he pulled out the Thousand-Armed Buddha, the three of them would just be serving themselves up on a platter.

"Izuna, none of us are in very good condition right now. Besides, you know Hashirama Senju's constitution. There's no point in continuing this fight."

"This... all right."

Izuna was somewhat disappointed. How had the Senju produced such a freak?

On the way back, the three brothers chatted idly. Then Uchiha Yuan suddenly said:

"Haru died."

"That maid of yours?"

"Yeah."

"Can't you just arrange another one..."

"No. I'm just a little upset. I regret not getting here sooner."

Madara did not know that Uchiha Yuan had failed to arrive sooner because his own Shadow Clone had screwed him over. Reality was always unpredictable; no one could foresee what would happen in the next instant.

"You'll get used to it. That's just how the Shinobi World is."

When they returned to the Clan Land, some clansmen had already begun cleaning up the battlefield. Looking at the corpses strewn across the grounds, Uchiha Yuan had no desire to sleep at all and joined the cleanup crew.

A night passed, and the heavy rain stopped. Aside from some wounded people who had been unable to flee and became prisoners, all the bodies had been gathered together.

Uchiha Yuan changed into white clothes, placed an inverted triangular ornament on his head, and led the clansmen to gather at Naka Shrine.

Everyone lowered their heads and closed their eyes. At this moment, the sound of sobbing carried an indescribable meaning. Uchiha Yuan cried as well, crying bitterly, but his tears were not for the clansmen being buried before him. They were for the sorrow of this era.

After the prayers ended, Uchiha Yuan, Madara, and Izuna sat together behind the desk in the clan head's office, receiving reports compiled by the clansmen.

"This time... a total of 4,556 clansmen participated in the battle... 2,333 were killed in action!"

"Among them, the assault unit lost... 450 men! The medical unit lost... 800..."

"...Economic losses amount to approximately... 350 million ryō."

Uchiha Yuan listened in silence. The structure he had painstakingly built had nearly been shattered overnight, and the medical unit had been almost completely wiped out.

Medical ninja sounded like they only handled support, but in terms of actual combat strength, they could rank first in the clan.

The economic losses were not much of an issue. With those useful people still outside, it would be easy to find an opportunity to get some benefits for the Uchiha and recover.

"Ahem. Restore and rebuild the Clan Land as quickly as possible. Continue issuing compensation for casualties as usual. Take the money from the clan treasury first..."

After making the arrangements, Uchiha Yuan looked at his two brothers beside him, who had been acting like decorative mascots, and asked:

"This incident happened so suddenly. Do we have any clues?"

Izuna had yet to recover from the losses among their clansmen. This battle tonight had been nearly the largest war he had ever experienced. Even the Uchiha Clan Grounds had been breached.

Madara pondered for a moment, then gave Uchiha Yuan a meaningful look, indicating that he would ask the mastermind, the Senju, in a few days.

"Sigh. We had finally begun to prosper, yet now we've practically returned to square one."

"Yuan, don't dwell on it. We may seem to have suffered terribly, but weren't those ninja clans the same? The corpses piled outside the Clan Land alone have already exceeded four thousand. The burial pit hasn't even been finished yet."

"That's true. But once we recover from this, I'll personally settle the score with every last one of them!"

"..."

Madara opened his mouth but did not immediately voice an opinion. At that moment, Izuna, who had listened silently for so long, raised his head and looked at them both.

"Big Brother, Third Brother, the Shinobi World has fought for so long. Will there really be a day of peace?"

"There definitely will be!"

That was Madara's answer.

"There will be peace, but it won't last very long."

That was Uchiha Yuan's answer.

Madara and Uchiha Yuan looked at each other. Just as they were about to discuss their differing definitions of peace, another clansman entered from outside to make a report.

"Clan Head, Young Clan Head, Acting Clan Head, there is a situation that those below cannot decide how to handle. They need your judgment."

"Speak."

The clansman waved his hand, and five more people entered behind him. Among them was a purple-haired female ninja, while one clansman was being held under guard.

"Acting Clan Head, this man is named Uchiha Kaminari. During last night's battle, for some reason, he discovered a new Sharingan dōjutsu. But because he coveted military merit, conflict broke out within his squad."

The reporting clansman pointed at the guarded man as he spoke, then raised his hand and pointed at the purple-haired female ninja.

"Uchiha Naka and Uchiha Baru were also involved. They were both killed in the internal conflict, and both possessed Three-Tomoe Sharingan. This is Uchiha Chiri. In order to stop Uchiha Kaminari from continuing down the wrong path, she also used the new dōjutsu. However, she wants to plead for Kaminari on the grounds of the new dōjutsu's merit."

Uchiha Yuan's eyes lit up after hearing the report. Uchiha Chiri? That name sounded familiar...

"Big Brother, what do you think?"

Madara's face was stern. Killing clansmen in an internal conflict was an unforgivable crime within the clan. He intended to handle it according to the rules.

"Follow clan law. Anyone who kills a comrade will be executed!"