Establishing authority within the clan

[Sigh...]

Looking at the three boys, their faces still childish, Madara Uchiha sighed inwardly. Even when he had defected from Konoha, he would never have taken in subordinates as foolish as these three.

"You take pride in being children of the Uchiha Clan, don't you?"

Madara Uchiha looked indifferently at the three boys surrounding him. Although they stood more than a head taller than him, in his eyes, they were nothing more than three harmless ants.

"Of course. Our Uchiha Clan is the strongest clan in Konoha. As the clan leader's son, you refuse to go on missions with your own clan and instead spend your time with those losers from the Hyuga Clan and Aburame Clan. Aren't you ashamed?"

The leader of the boys cornering Madara Uchiha was a muscular youth with short, spiky hair and a scar on his face. His name was Uchiha Nobuo, and Uchiha Ajin was his older brother. During the Third Shinobi World War, Uchiha Nobuo had wanted to fight alongside his brother, but Madara Uchiha had taken that opportunity instead. In Uchiha Nobuo's mind, Madara Uchiha had stolen a precious chance for him to hone his skills.

After graduating from the Ninja Academy, the boy who had stolen his chance to train had openly started hanging around members of the Sarutobi Clan. Naturally, Nobuo resented Madara Uchiha even more. That was why he had gathered the others today and cornered Madara Uchiha in an alley—to teach him a lesson.

"So strength is what you base your pride on, correct?"

"Of course. Now we'll let you experience the strength of the Uchiha Clan."

Seeing Madara Uchiha remain completely unfazed despite being surrounded by the three of them infuriated Uchiha Nobuo. As he finished speaking, a black tomoe appeared in each of his eyes, and his irises turned blood-red.

As Nobuo revealed his Sharingan, black tomoe and blood-red irises also appeared in his two companions' eyes.

As elite young members of the Uchiha Clan, all three had awakened their Sharingan, though they could only use the one-tomoe Sharingan for now.

You awaken a single tomoe and dare to boast about showing people the Uchiha Clan's strength? These brats really are laughable.

Judging by their appearance, Nobuo and his companions were around fourteen or fifteen, yet they had only awakened the one-tomoe Sharingan. Their talent was clearly ordinary. Back in Madara Uchiha's day, he had already been able to awaken the Mangekyo at their age.

Madara Uchiha bent forward slightly, then pushed off the ground with his right leg and vanished before their eyes.

"What's going on? Did either of you see where that kid went?"

Even with their Sharingan activated, they had failed to catch any trace of Madara Uchiha's movement. That alone was strange enough to shock them. Before they could find him, his voice sounded behind their heads.

"I'm behind you."

At the sound of Madara Uchiha's voice, Nobuo immediately spun around with a spinning kick. His reaction showed that he could respond quickly in a fight. Unfortunately, his opponent was Madara Uchiha.

A small, slender hand appeared in front of Nobuo's leg. It belonged to the seven-year-old Madara Uchiha. Tiny as it was, it stopped Nobuo's spinning kick dead.

After blocking Nobuo's kick, Madara Uchiha turned sideways and slipped in close. With his Sharingan, Nobuo could already see Madara Uchiha's next move, but even though he could see it, he could not react in time.

In the blink of an eye, Madara Uchiha's knife-hand strike slammed into his shoulder. Nobuo felt his entire body go limp and collapsed to the ground.

Madara Uchiha could not see an opponent's chakra pathways and strike their acupoints directly as someone with the Byakugan could, but he was still capable of injecting chakra to temporarily immobilize an enemy.

Throughout his attack on Nobuo, Madara Uchiha had stayed in his companions' blind spots. Only when Nobuo crumpled to the ground did they realize what had happened. Before their shock could fade, Madara Uchiha's attacks were already upon them. In almost an instant, he had defeated all three Uchiha Clan boys, despite their active Sharingan.

"The Sharingan is certainly the key to the Uchiha Clan's power. But if you rely on it alone and neglect to develop your own strength, you're nothing more than pathetic weaklings, even with those eyes. You take pride in the Uchiha Clan's strength, yet you're so weak yourselves. Are you worthy of bearing the Uchiha name? When the day comes that members of the Hyuga Clan or Aburame Clan defeat you with your Sharingan active, you'll be the ones disgracing the Uchiha Clan."

Madara Uchiha had precisely controlled his attacks, leaving the three boys limp but conscious. When they heard what he had to say about them, their youthful pride flared. Although they knew he might be right, they still cursed him in anger.

Thud!

Seeing that the three brats were about to start insulting his family, Madara Uchiha immediately drove his shuriken deep into the ground beside their heads. Once they realized he truly had both the ability and the resolve to kill them, the boys obediently shut their mouths.

"Now that I've finished this mission, I'll be staying home for a while. Tomorrow, at this same time, I'll be waiting at the Uchiha Clan's Third Training Ground. Taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, shuriken—if you think you can beat me together in any of them, you're welcome to challenge me. And if you know any other Uchiha around your age, feel free to bring them along to compete with me. Since you admire the strong, I'll prove to you that I'm the strongest in the Uchiha Clan."

Madara Uchiha checked the time. Today was the day he returned to the village, and Sasuke was probably getting impatient waiting at home. Not wanting to keep Sasuke waiting any longer, Madara Uchiha arranged to fight the three boys again tomorrow, then left. He intended to win them over.

Madara Uchiha was not worried that the three boys would fail to show up. Young boys' thoughts were easy enough to guess, especially when they were as rash and straightforward as these three.

The next day, Madara Uchiha brought Sasuke Uchiha to the training ground, where the three boys had already been waiting for quite some time.