"What?" Madara Uchiha turned to his eldest brother. Seeing that his brother looked just as bewildered, he naturally pinned the blame on their father. Father must have thought I couldn't finish the mission and sent my other two brothers to take over. He immediately changed the subject. "Where's Liuhuo?"
"We hid him," Uchiha Yue said.
Uchiha Naoto deactivated his Sharingan. Feeling Indra's gaze on him, he rubbed his nose and tried to make himself less conspicuous. This had been his doing.
"Don't do it again." Indra let him off with a mild reprimand.
"Oh~" Uchiha Naoto hauled the Shimura ninja up and promptly kicked him twice. "Heh, behave yourself, or I'll skin you alive, fry you in oil, and feed you to the pigs."
Since he was in the wrong, and in a good mood besides, Indra walked over to Madara Uchiha, draped an arm over his shoulders, and ruffled his hair. With obvious reluctance, he said, "Hmph. Since you've gotten stronger, I rescued him for you."
The sudden touch made Madara Uchiha's ears flush red. He folded his arms and stubbornly turned his head away. "I haven't forgiven you."
"Mm. I'll train with you from now on." Indra rubbed his rather stiff hair, remembering Asura as a child. Asura had never been this awkward; whenever anything happened, Indra had always helped him.
Madara Uchiha, on the other hand, seemed to handle everything himself apart from training. He was much cuter than Asura.
Still, Indra was thinking about the method Uchiha Naoto had just used to awaken Madara's Sharingan. It might work well during training, too.
He just had to beat him within an inch of his life. Injuries didn't matter; drawing a few more Healing Talismans would take care of them.
Madara Uchiha suddenly shivered. He glanced at his eldest brother beside him, snorted, and turned his head away again.
Uchiha Xing and Uchiha Yue quickly led the way, huddling together to whisper.
"Hey, Xing, Madara and our eldest brother get along really well. Father tricked us." Uchiha Yue stole a glance behind him. Their brother Madara never wore that little expression, enjoying the attention while pretending he didn't.
That expression only ever appeared on Izuna's face when Madara praised him.
"I told you ages ago that something was wrong. We should've rebelled against Father sooner. Then neither of us would've had to suffer like this. Still, Madara awakened his Sharingan. Let's tell Izuna later and cheer him up."
Uchiha Xing completely agreed with his brother. Either way, they had to rebel against Father.
Among the brothers, leaving their eldest brother aside, Madara was the strongest, Izuna was the smartest, and the two of them were the most sensitive to power and politics. In other words, they weren't putting their cunning to good use.
Once they realized their father's love for them wasn't pure, and that he poured more of his heart into the Uchiha clan as a whole, they had wanted to rebel.
Their father's kindness depended on their value.
Madara's kindness came straight from the heart.
Their eldest brother... their eldest brother didn't even treat Father like a human being.
They reached a mound concealed by trees. After clearing away the cover, they revealed an opening only wide enough for one person.
Uchiha Naoto kicked the Shimura ninja. "Go pull him out. Can't you take a hint?"
With a dark expression, the Shimura ninja went to pull the person out of the hole without saying a word. He was afraid—truly afraid. The Uchiha were lunatics. One had even slashed their Heir, while the other had disregarded two younger brothers' lives just to awaken another brother's Sharingan. A moment later, and those two little ones would have stopped breathing for good.
Lunatics. They were all lunatics.
He couldn't afford to cross them. He really couldn't.
Indra stuck a Healing Talisman onto Uchiha Liuhuo. The man, who had been clinging to his last breath, woke immediately, though chakra depletion had left him weak. Seeing the group before him, he instantly grew wary.
Once he saw they were Uchiha, he relaxed completely. But a moment later, his gaze settled on Uchiha Naoto. He opened his mouth and asked uncertainly, "Naoto? You're still alive?"
"Hm?" Uchiha Naoto opened one eye and looked at Uchiha Liuhuo. One glance confirmed it, and he cried out, "My ninth younger brother? If I'd known it was you, I'd have let you die."
"Uh... no, Naoto, you've been missing for five years. Five whole years! We all thought you were dead." Uchiha Liuhuo was beside himself with excitement. Good grief, his brother wasn't dead! That meant he wasn't the only surviving son in their family.
Figuring that he was probably alive thanks to the eldest young master, he thanked him respectfully. "Thank you, Eldest Young Master."
"Let's go." Indra grabbed Madara Uchiha and turned to leave. He was quite fond of this lump of chakra now. As long as Madara behaved, he wouldn't have to have his heart ripped out.
Madara Uchiha felt embarrassed. Besides, this would undermine his dignity as an older brother in front of the others. Awkwardly, he said, "I'm not a little kid anymore. Stop touching my head."
"Mm. Rest for a few days, then I'll take you on a mission." Indra left his hair alone and led the group back to the mine they had captured.
Once they arrived, the Sarutobi and Shimura ninjas were even less willing to speak. They're fucking ruthless. The Uchiha even captured a Senju mine. Although the mine was already considered depleted, there were still deposits left to dig out.
"Have those two mine with the others. Once it's all dug out, we'll head back immediately." After giving that instruction, Indra ordered Uchiha Fuliu, "Pose as a member of the Chinoike Clan and hire the Ino-Shika-Cho Clans. Tell them the Chinoike Clan doesn't want to see any more Senju ninja in the Land of Lightning."
"Yes, Young Master." Uchiha Fuliu didn't leave. She hesitated, glancing at Madara Uchiha.
"Anything else?" Indra frowned. He felt that something had been off with her lately. She wasn't handling things as decisively as before.
"The madwoman locked in the basement in Asagiri Town has been extremely agitated lately." After speaking, Uchiha Fuliu withdrew from the tent on her own.
Indra began searching his memories for the woman locked in the basement. The relevant memory soon surfaced: she was Uchiha Natsu's mother's younger sister.
After Uchiha Natsu's mother died, that woman had gone mad. The way she looked at him always made his skin crawl. She was even crazier than the other Kaguya clan members.
She wanted nothing more than to drag everyone down to hell.
She hated Uchiha Tajima in particular, constantly shouting that he had deceived her older sister and had to pay with his life.
Uchiha Natsu himself had complicated feelings about this aunt. To keep her from getting killed out there while seeking revenge on Uchiha Tajima, he had ordered dozens of ninja to attack her together, then locked her in the basement. He visited her every few days.
Their time together, however, consisted of stabbing at each other's sore spots.
Kaguya... Arisa.
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