"How ironic, Asura, Father. You said only love could preserve peace, yet in the end, peace was won through power. It wasn't power you rejected. It was me!"
After his death, Indra had let his chakra reincarnate again and again in gifted descendants, while his soul drifted through the Shinobi World, watching Asura tear Ninshu apart and bring endless war.
Just as his soul was about to dissipate, white light enveloped him.
[Target bound: Madara Uchiha. Host, please complete the wish mission and change your fate of spending your entire life surrounded by betrayal and deception.]
An icy voice rang out in his mind.
Indra opened his eyes. Pain wracked his entire body, as though he had been gravely wounded, but the voice in his head left him utterly bewildered.
"Who's there? Why am I still alive?"
[This is the Wish System. Because your life held so many regrets, many people joined together to make a wish for you, granting you a chance to be reborn and change your fate.]
Hearing the voice again, Indra fell silent. After a long while, he accepted the fact that he was alive again and slowly said, "I'm not Madara Uchiha."
Wish System: ???
[You're not Madara Uchiha? If you're not Madara Uchiha, who are you?]
"My name is Indra." Indra was certain that this creature calling itself a system had found the wrong person. That was why he had come back to life when he should have faded away.
A shrill screech erupted in his mind.
[You're Indra? How can you be Indra? Help! I bound the wrong host!]
Silence followed.
A moment later, the system's voice sounded in his mind again.
[Host, I'm back. Since the mistake was mine and I've already bound myself to you, you will have to fulfill the wish to save Madara Uchiha.] [But before that, your soul was supposed to dissipate. Maintaining your current state will come at a price.]
"What price must I pay?" Having witnessed every change in the Shinobi World over a thousand years, Indra was very adaptable.
[Complete wish missions! Once you finish a mission, I'll give you additional compensation. If you agree, I'll arrange an identity for you using someone who has just died.]
"Agreed." Indra readily accepted. This time, he would make the entire Shinobi World submit to his power.
Indra closed his eyes again, and fragments of memories surfaced in his mind.
His identity was now Uchiha Natsu, the child of an impure bloodline left behind after the current clan leader, Uchiha Tajima, fell victim to a Kaguya Clan scheme during a mission. Born in summer, the boy had been carelessly named Uchiha Natsu.
Three days earlier, Uchiha Tajima had been ambushed on a mission and happened to encounter Uchiha Natsu. The two briefly joined forces to break through the encirclement, but Uchiha Natsu had been severely wounded by the Senju during the mission.
After absorbing the memories of this identity, Indra's expression darkened. For the past three days, only the personal guards Natsu had trained himself had cared for him. Uchiha Tajima had not visited even once.
If Uchiha Tajima had felt humiliated and killed the woman from the other clan after sleeping with her, Indra could at least have respected him as a man.
Instead, he had left his son outside the clan, hidden from the light of day. It was truly contemptible.
Especially since this man... was his own descendant.
"Unfilial descendants. Every last one of them is useless."
After cursing, Indra swiftly drew a Healing Talisman and stuck it to his forehead. Emerald light enveloped his body, and within a few breaths, all his injuries had healed.
He walked over to a mirror and saw a face identical to his own in his youth. Aside from being a little pale, nothing had changed.
"This seems to be my original body," Indra murmured to himself.
[That's right. After all, we're going to be together for a long time, and you're the ancestor of the Uchiha. If you're doing well, I'm doing well, and everyone's happy.]
Indra: ...
He stepped out of the room. Rhythmic drumbeats mingled with the sound of strings, while a noisy crowd drank and reveled. Indra cast them a contemptuous sidelong glance, then lifted a hand at the person who suddenly appeared.
Joy spread across Uchiha Fuliu's face when she saw that her young master had finally awakened. "Young Master Xia, thank goodness you're awake. But the clan leader's injuries are very serious. If something happens to him here, I'm afraid..."
"He isn't dead, is he?" Indra remained expressionless. He vaguely remembered that this body's injuries had been caused by getting caught up in Uchiha Tajima's troubles.
"Young master, the clan leader is also your father. You should at least go see him!"
A flicker of awkwardness crossed Uchiha Fuliu's face. She was almost used to the eldest young master's attitude toward the clan leader, and she had her own rehearsed lines for dealing with it.
"Hmph. Which room is he in?" Impatience flashed across Indra's face before his usual cold expression returned.
Seeing her young master relent, Uchiha Fuliu quietly sighed in relief, afraid that another display of their so-called fatherly affection and filial devotion would unfold.
As the go-between for Uchiha Tajima and Uchiha Natsu, she was terrified every time father and son met.
Pushing open the door, Indra caught sight of his useless descendant-no, his father in name-and his expression turned frighteningly dark. Fortunately, his self-restraint and temper were excellent.
Uchiha Tajima, who was lying on the tatami, slowly sat up when he saw him enter. "Looks like you're all right."
"Do you have any last words?" Indra sat beside him, brewed himself a cup of tea at the low table, and leisurely savored it.
That single sentence nearly finished Uchiha Tajima off. Anger surged within him, but as he looked at this unfilial son dressed in a lavish kimono, a boy who had lived in a pleasure house since birth, his feelings grew complicated.
Leaving him in such a filthy place had not been his intention. It was just that every time he saw him, he remembered the stain left on his past during the struggle for the clan leader's position.
The child had already been two when he became clan leader. By the time his position was secure, he had married and his wife was pregnant, so he had never thought of bringing the boy home.
Later, he discovered that this son possessed exceptional talent and formidable strength, but his temper was atrocious. He all but wanted Tajima to call him Father instead.
It left him, the clan leader, deeply embarrassed. Out of sight, out of mind-he had sent the boy far away.
He had never expected to run into him on a mission. The boy had already awakened his Sharingan, and had nearly been captured by the Senju because of him.
He therefore overlooked his unfilial son's disrespectful attitude. Taking a deep breath to suppress his anger, he said through gritted teeth, "You're old enough now. Come back to the Uchiha Clan Compound with me. There will be better resources for you there."
Indra stood to leave, unwilling to spare the man before him so much as another glance.
"Xia, as an Uchiha, you shouldn't let your talent go to waste in a place like this. Even without the clan's support, you've built up this much power. Of all my children, you have the greatest talent."
"Your younger brothers are also looking forward to having you home."
Uchiha Tajima took another two deep breaths and appealed to his emotions. The arrogance of a clan leader had vanished from his tone; instead, he sounded like a father trying to reason with his adolescent son.
Uchiha Tajima was not the only one who was angry. Indra was furious too.
A thousand years had passed, and they still hadn't wiped out Asura's descendants. Now, as clan leader, this man even had to leave his son's upbringing to others.
Unfilial descendants. Every last one of them.
Besides, Indra had been scarred by the very notion of younger brothers. He had even come to loathe them.
Asura had been the younger brother he was supposed to protect. And how had that ended?
The thought only made him angrier.
"Get out. Don't let me see you again, you useless fool. Uchiha Natsu is dead. My name is Indra."
Before you continue