Revenge: A Duel Between Young Clan Leaders

"Could this be considered a blessing in disguise? But... the price seemed far too steep!"

Madara tore his attention away from the changes in his eyes. He had gained a pair of eyes that could repair themselves, but the cost had been his brother's life.

"Then if I put the eyes I took out back into you... Wait! These eyes..."

Madara opened his palm. The eyes he had gouged out only moments ago had already changed completely.

"Where are my Mangekyō Sharingan?!"

Uchiha Yuan was dumbfounded as well. They had clearly still been Mangekyō Sharingan when Madara removed them. Yet in such a short time, they had turned into a pair of black eyes.

"Let me see."

He took one eyeball and channeled Chakra into it through his palm. It was just an ordinary eyeball, and judging by how unfocused the pupil was, it was nearly blind at that.

"Why did this happen?!"

Madara found it hard to accept. There had clearly been two pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan. Even if his own pair was nearly blind, they had still been Mangekyō Sharingan!

Uchiha Yuan stroked his chin in thought, his mind racing. Could this be the true way to awaken the Eternal Eye? Perhaps brothers had to kill each other because only one person could possess the Eternal Eye, while the other person's eyes lost their ocular power and became ordinary eyes.

But did they really have to kill each other? Couldn't they just sit down and talk it out? They were brothers, no matter what.

But as Uchiha Yuan thought about it, he suddenly understood. Selfless sacrifice sounded simple enough, but who would willingly sell their max-level account so their brother could top up VIP? Unless it was true love.

"Then Itachi must have misunderstood Madara's meaning later on. Izuna died because he was killed, but Itachi understood it as needing to kill the other person for the remaining one to awaken the Eternal Eye."

For ordinary blood brothers, expecting them to sacrifice themselves selflessly for each other was probably impossible. But the Uchiha Clan was a clan of brother-obsessed people. If Uchiha Yuan told Madara to gouge out his eyes and let him play with them, Madara would not hesitate in the slightest.

After cleaning up the scene and confirming that no belongings had been left behind, the two brothers walked out of the hospital room hand in hand.

"Big Brother, send word to your big Hashirama in a couple of days. In one week, I'll personally lead a team into another battle!"

"Yuan, what do you mean?"

"The outside world is watching to see what the Uchiha Clan does next. If we remain silent, that means we've lost. Then Hashirama speaks up again and says the two clans should unite, and that makes peace, right?"

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Heh, but I promised Second Brother I would avenge him."

"You! Third Brother!"

Madara looked at his only remaining brother and truly did not want him to set foot on the path of revenge.

"Big Brother, don't try to stop me. Whether I succeed or fail won't affect the final plan between you two. At most, it will just delay things for a while."

"Then how do you intend to fight?"

Uchiha Yuan brushed aside the long hair beside his ear. The gesture made Madara feel rather uncomfortable.

"The clansmen can just watch from behind. The two of you can even observe if you want. Tobirama and I will fight to the death, and 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 this was something he could not stop. If, as the elder brother, he could not avenge his brother, and then tried to stop his other brother as well, what kind of brother would that make him?

"Oh, right, Yuan! Find time to get that hair of yours cut."

"Huh? Why?"

"...You're my little brother!"

"? Big Brother, what are you emphasizing? This is just a side effect of my genes. It'll be gone after a while."

Uchiha Yuan was well aware of his occasional little physical mannerisms. It was not as though he could change them whenever he wanted. Who knew why the Yuki Clan's genes had a nine-to-one ratio of female hormones?

That night, Uchiha Yuan had dinner with his cat in his room. The cold, desolate room looked somewhat lonely.

"You're feeding this to me, nya?!"

"Come on, this fried rice is pretty good."

"I want fish, nya!"

"Where am I supposed to get fish in the middle of the night?! Just make do with it."

Little Kuro pawed at her food bowl and licked her paw, instantly losing all appetite.

"I'm not eating, nya! Hmph!"

Uchiha Yuan chewed his fried rice, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"What did you say?"

"I said! I... I'm not hungry yet, nya..."

Uchiha Yuan withdrew his pressure and continued eating the fried rice one bite at a time.

"Every bite of food comes with difficulty. As for this kind of food, I don't believe you've never eaten anything worse before. If you find it hard to swallow now, think more about the past. Haven't you ever gone hungry?"

"I have, nya..."

After that, the man and cat fell silent and quietly finished their fried rice. Uchiha Yuan looked at the moon, checked the time, then picked up Little Kuro and left the Clan Land.

By then, Madara had already met with Hashirama, and the two chatted idly.

"I never expected something like this to happen at the very end. If we'd noticed earlier and stopped it in time, it would have been better."

"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?"

"Then 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 Yuan emerged from the woods. In truth, he had been listening for a while. These two had done a fine job of keeping themselves clean between the lines.

"I don't know why the two of you can treat the hatred and emotions people possess as though they were so insignificant. Peace! Peace! Do you really think forcibly binding all the clans together will bring peace?"

"Uchiha Yuan! 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 intervenes. In my duel with Senju Tobirama, no matter who lives or dies, it will have no effect whatsoever on the alliance between our two clans!"

"How can you guarantee that?"

"I'll explain before the battle begins. You'll understand then."

With that, Uchiha Yuan turned and left, not caring how the two viewed him.

As he walked, Uchiha Yuan assessed his current strength. He might not surpass Madara with the Eternal Eye, but matching him evenly would not be a problem. As for fighting Tobirama, he was confident he could kill him in five exchanges.

"I can no longer feel any suppressive force when facing Hashirama Senju. In other words, the foundation and potential of my body are already on par with Hashirama's."

With mastery over Chakra of every attribute, countless ninjutsu at high proficiency, a Mangekyō Sharingan nearly immune to genjutsu, and cells fused with a vast number of genes, Uchiha Yuan could now be considered one of the Shinobi World's notable powerhouses.