"Could this be considered a blessing in disguise? But... the price seemed far too great!"
Madara pulled his attention away from the changes in his eyes. He had gained a pair of self-repairing eyes, but the cost had been his brother's life.
"What if I put the eyes I took out back into you... Wait! Why are these eyes..."
Madara opened his palm. The eyes he had only just dug out had completely changed.
"Where are my Mangekyō Sharingan?!"
Uchiha Gen was somewhat dumbfounded as well. When Madara had removed them, they had clearly still been Mangekyō Sharingan. Yet in that brief moment, they had turned into a pair of ordinary black eyes.
"Let me see."
He took one eyeball and sent Chakra through it with his palm. It was indeed just an ordinary eyeball. Judging by how unfocused the pupil was, it was nearly blind as well.
"Why did this happen?!"
Madara found it hard to accept. They had clearly had two pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan. Even if his own pair had been close to blindness, they had still been Mangekyō Sharingan!
Uchiha Gen stroked his chin and thought, his thoughts racing wildly. Could this be the proper way to awaken the Eternal Eye? Perhaps the reason brothers had to kill each other was because only one person could possess the Eternal Eye, while the other's eyes lost their ocular power and became ordinary eyes.
But did they really need to kill each other? Couldn't they sit down and talk it out? No matter what, they were brothers, weren't they?
Yet as Uchiha Gen thought about it, sudden realization struck him. Selfless devotion sounded simple enough, but who would be willing to sell their max-level account just so their brother could top up VIP? Unless it was true love.
"Then Itachi must have misunderstood what Madara meant. Izuna died because he was killed, but Itachi interpreted it as needing to kill the other person for one of them to awaken the Eternal Eye."
For ordinary biological brothers, asking them to selflessly sacrifice for each other would probably be impossible. But the Uchiha Clan was a family of brother-obsessed people. If Uchiha Gen told Madara now, "Take your eyes out and let me play with them," Madara would not hesitate.
After cleaning up the scene and making sure no belongings had been left behind, the brothers walked out of the ward hand in hand.
"Big Brother, send a message to your big wooden fellow in a couple of days. A week from now, I'll personally lead the team into another battle!"
"Gen, what do you mean?"
"Everyone outside is watching to see what the Uchiha will do next. If we remain silent, that means we lost. Then Hashirama can speak up and say the two clans will unite, and that will bring peace, right?"
"Wouldn't that be good?"
"Heh. But I promised Second Brother I'd avenge him."
"You! Third Brother!"
Madara looked at his only remaining brother and truly did not want him to walk the path of revenge.
"Big Brother, no need to say more. Whether I succeed or fail will not affect the final plan between you two. At worst, it will just be delayed a little."
"Then how do you want to fight?"
Uchiha Gen brushed back the long hair by his ear. The sight made Madara feel rather uncomfortable.
"The clansmen only need to watch from the rear. Even the two of you can stand by and observe. Tobirama and I will fight to the death. No one can stop us!"
"...Fine. I'll tell Hashirama tonight."
Madara looked at his third brother with mixed feelings. His little brother had grown up. He knew he could not stop this. As the eldest brother, he could not avenge his younger brother. If he then tried to stop his other younger brother, what kind of elder brother would that make him?
"Oh, right, Gen! Find time to cut your hair."
"Huh? Why?"
"...You're my brother!"
"? Big Brother, what are you emphasizing? This is only a side effect of my genes. It'll be gone after a while."
Uchiha Gen was well aware of the little movements his body occasionally made. They were not things he could change just because he wanted to. Who knew why the Yuki Clan's genes had a nine-to-one ratio of female hormones!
That night, Uchiha Gen had dinner with the cat in his room. The cold, desolate room looked somewhat lonely.
"You're feeding this to me, meow?!"
"Well, this fried rice is pretty good."
"I want fish, meow!"
"Where am I supposed to get fish this late at night? Just make do."
Little Kuro pawed at the food bowl and licked her paw, instantly losing all appetite.
"I'm not eating anymore, meow! Hmph!"
Uchiha Gen chewed his fried rice, a dangerous glint in his eyes.
"What did you say?"
"I said! I... I'm just not hungry yet, meow..."
Uchiha Gen withdrew his pressure and continued eating the fried rice one bite at a time.
"Every grain of food comes with difficulty. As for this meal, I don't believe you haven't eaten anything worse than this before. Now you find it hard to swallow, so think more about the past. Haven't you ever gone hungry?"
"I have, meow..."
After that, neither man nor cat spoke again. They silently finished the fried rice. Uchiha Gen looked at the moon, sensed the time, then picked up Little Kuro and left the Clan Land.
By then, Madara had already met with Hashirama. The two chatted idly, one sentence after another.
"I never expected something like this to happen at the very end. If we had discovered it earlier and stopped it in time, things might have been different."
"It would have been useless. Nearly all of my brothers' deaths were connected to your Senju. Izuna would not have listened."
"Does your third brother really have to do this? Doesn't he know it will put both of us in a difficult position?"
"What do you expect him to use to let it go? To watch his family die before his eyes and do nothing?"
"Sigh..."
"Someone's coming."
Uchiha Gen emerged from the woods. In truth, he had been listening for a while. Between the lines, these two had done a pretty good job of washing their hands clean.
"I don't know why you two can treat the hatred and emotions people naturally possess so lightly. Peace! Peace! Do you really think forcibly tying all the clans together will bring peace?"
"Uchiha Gen! What do you mean by that?!"
"Your vision is too narrow, Hashirama Senju. In the end, you will pay for your stupidity. One week from now, I hope neither of you interferes. The duel between Tobirama Senju and me, regardless of who lives or dies, will have no effect on the union of our two clans!"
"How can you guarantee that?"
"I'll make it clear before the battle begins. You'll understand then."
With that, regardless of what the two thought of him, Uchiha Gen turned and left.
As he walked, Uchiha Gen assessed his current strength. He might not have surpassed Madara with the Eternal Eye, but fighting him evenly would not be a problem. As for Tobirama, he was confident he could kill him within five exchanges.
"I can no longer feel any suppressive pressure when facing Hashirama Senju. In other words, the foundation and potential of my body are already on par with Hashirama's."
Mastery over Chakra of every attribute, proficiency in countless ninjutsu, a Mangekyō Sharingan almost immune to genjutsu, and cells fused with a vast amount of genetic material—Uchiha Gen could now be considered one of the strongest figures in the Shinobi World.
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