Uchiha Gen stared at the surface of the water in silence for a long while. The instant he threw out the Storm Rasengan, he sensed something beneath the water. It moved incredibly fast, dragging Tobirama underwater within those few seconds before sinking beneath the earth and vanishing.
"The Mayfly Technique? Why!?"
Izuna beside him patted Uchiha Gen on the shoulder, jolting him from his thoughts.
"Third Brother! You've gotten so strong!"
"Not bad, not bad. Fifth in the world...?"
"Huh? What strange thing are you saying again? 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 ninjas."
Izuna hesitated for a moment. In his heart, it was disgraceful for a strong person to attack the weak, but that hesitation lasted only an instant before he accepted Uchiha Gen's decision.
"Fine!"
With Uchiha Gen and Izuna, two Kage Level warriors with Mangekyō Sharingan, joining the battle, the tide of the battlefield began to shift dramatically. The Land of Fire ninja coalition that had come to subjugate the Uchiha collapsed in less than ten minutes.
Meanwhile, Madara and Hashirama had reconciled again. At least, when Uchiha Gen saw them, the two were locked in a contest of strength while actually pressed close together and whispering to each other.
"Big Brother, come home for dinner."
"Hm? Ahem! It's Gen. Is the war over?"
"Yeah."
Uchiha Gen looked toward Hashirama Senju atop the Wood Dragon, recalling how Tobirama had been taken away by Black Zetsu earlier. He truly could not see through the hidden depths of the Shinobi World.
Madara dismissed his Susanoo, jumped down to the ground, and took Uchiha Gen by the hand as he left. Hashirama, meanwhile, turned to gather his defeated clansmen. Izuna, who arrived late, was instantly dumbfounded by the sight.
"Big Brother! Third Brother! Aren't we going to take down Hashirama Senju together? Why are we going back?"
A mass of black lines seemed to appear over Uchiha Gen's head at those words. The three of us are going after Hashirama? Are you still half-asleep? Who knows whether Hashirama has gone to Shikkotsu Forest to learn Senjutsu yet? If he brings out the Thousand-Armed Buddha, the three of us would just be throwing ourselves to our deaths.
"Izuna, none of us are in very good condition right now. And you know Hashirama Senju's physique. There's no point in continuing this fight."
"This... all right."
Izuna was somewhat dejected. Why did the Senju have to produce such a freak?
On the way back, the three brothers chatted intermittently. Then Uchiha Gen suddenly said:
"Haru died."
"That maid of yours?"
"Yeah."
"Can't you just arrange another one...?"
"No. I'm just disappointed. I regret not arriving sooner."
Madara did not know that Uchiha Gen had failed to arrive sooner because he had been screwed over by his own Shadow Clone Technique. Reality was always unpredictable, and no one could foresee what would happen the next moment.
"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 Clan Land littered with corpses, Uchiha Gen had no desire to sleep at all and joined the cleanup crew.
A night passed, and the heavy rain ceased. Other than some wounded people who had been unable to flee and became prisoners, all the corpses had been gathered together.
Uchiha Gen 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 that moment, the sound of sobbing carried an indescribable significance. Uchiha Gen cried too, and cried bitterly, but his tears were not for the clansmen being buried before him. They were grief for this era.
After the prayers ended, Uchiha Gen, Madara, and Izuna sat together at the head of the table in the clan leader's office, receiving reports compiled by the clansmen.
"This time... a total of 4,556 clansmen participated in the battle... 2,333... 2,333 were killed!"
"Among them, the assault division lost... 450 men! The medical division lost... 800..."
"...The economic losses are estimated at... 350 million ryō."
Uchiha Gen listened in silence. The organization he had built up almost single-handedly had nearly been shattered overnight. The medical division, in particular, had almost been wiped out.
Medical ninjas sounded like support personnel, but when it came to combat power, they could rank first in the clan.
The final economic loss was not much of an issue. With those tools working outside, it would be easy to find an opportunity to secure some benefits for the Uchiha and recover.
"Ahem. Restore the Clan Land as soon as possible. Distribute compensation for the dead and wounded as usual. Withdraw the money from the clan treasury first..."
After making the arrangements, Uchiha Gen looked at his two elder brothers, who had been sitting beside him like decorative mascots, and asked:
"This happened suddenly. Do we have any clues?"
Izuna had yet to recover from the clan's losses. This battle had been one of the largest wars he had ever experienced. The Uchiha Clan Grounds had even been overrun.
Madara pondered for a moment, then gave Uchiha Gen a meaningful look, indicating that he would ask the instigator, the Senju, in a few days.
"Sigh. We had finally begun to prosper, and now we've nearly returned to square one."
"Gen, don't take it too hard. We may look like we suffered terrible losses, but weren't those ninja clans the same? There are already over four thousand corpses piled outside the Clan Land alone. The burial pit still hasn't even been fully dug."
"That's true. But once we recover from this, I'll personally settle the score with every one of them!"
"..."
Madara opened his mouth but did not immediately offer an opinion. At that moment, Izuna, who had been listening the whole time, raised his head and looked at the two of them.
"Big Brother, Third Brother, the Shinobi World has been fighting for so long. Will there really ever be a day of peace?"
"There definitely will be!"
That was Madara.
"There will be peace, but it won't last very long."
That was Uchiha Gen.
Madara and Uchiha Gen exchanged a glance. Just as they were about to discuss their differing definitions of peace, another clansman entered from outside to make a report.
"Clan Leader, Young Clan Leader, Acting Clan Leader, there is a matter the people below are uncertain about. We need your judgment."
"Speak."
The clansman waved his hand, and five more people entered behind him. One was a purple-haired female ninja, while another clansman was being held under guard.
"Acting Clan Leader, this man is named Uchiha Kaminari. During last night's battle, he discovered a new Sharingan dōjutsu for some reason. However, driven by his desire for military merit, his squad broke into internal conflict."
The reporting clansman pointed to the detained man as he spoke, then raised his hand to point at the purple-haired female ninja.
"Two others involved were named Uchiha Naka and Uchiha Baru. They were killed in the internal conflict. Both possessed Three-Tomoe Sharingan. This is Uchiha Chiri. To stop Uchiha Kaminari from making further mistakes, she also used the new dōjutsu. However, she wishes to plead for Kaminari based on the merit of the new dōjutsu."
After hearing the clansman's report, Uchiha Gen's eyes lit up. Uchiha Chiri? That name sounded somewhat familiar...
"Big Brother, what do you think?"
Madara's face hardened. Killing fellow clansmen in an internal conflict was an unforgivable crime within the clan, and he wanted to handle it according to the rules.
"Follow clan law. Anyone who kills a companion shall be executed!"
Before you continue