Indra, the Founder of Ninjutsu

Immediately afterward, electricity crackled and surged, blocking everyone's view.

Instinctively sensing danger, they swiftly retreated several hundred meters away.

The mound of earth that had appeared in the middle of Madara Uchiha's training ground slowly collapsed, revealing Indra inside, still holding a one-handed seal.

Uchiha Xing clung to his left leg, Uchiha Yue to his right. Madara Uchiha stood beside him, his face bloodlessly pale and the two tomoe in his eyes spinning rapidly.

"Big brother, are you sure we can learn this jutsu?"

Seeing that both his younger brothers were unharmed, Madara Uchiha deactivated his Sharingan and began questioning his eldest brother's jutsu.

"To use this jutsu, you need to know not only fire release, Water Release, and Lightning Release, but also Earth Release to keep yourself safe. And you need precise control over your chakra."

"Well, is it powerful? Can it wipe out a whole bunch of enemies?"

Indra felt a little guilty, but not much. It was only a four-nature release jutsu. Wasn't that just a tiny bit more trouble than using a single nature?

Madara Uchiha was struck speechless. Powerful didn't begin to cover it. It was far too powerful-the kind that could electrocute its own user to death.

"Hey, hey, hey! Is that really the point? The point is that this jutsu requires four chakra natures and precise control. Otherwise, it's practically suicide."

"Isn't that a basic requirement for a ninja? If you can't even control four chakra natures, you might as well go home and farm."

Indra raised his chin and snorted, making it clear that a ninja ought to possess every nature.

Although he liked using Lightning Release, that didn't mean it was all he knew. He simply thought jutsu of the other natures weren't as flashy.

"With our talent, we might not even be any good at farming." Uchiha Yue felt as though the sky had fallen. "We all have the same father. Why is there such a huge gap between us?"

"Because we don't have the same mother," Uchiha Xing answered, addressing that very practical question.

"But our mother was a ninja who had awakened her Sharingan, too." Uchiha Yue pouted, refusing to accept it. They were all human, so how could the difference be so enormous?

"I read in the intelligence records that twenty years ago, big brother's mother could beat the clan heads of several clans."

Uchiha Xing spoke softly, but neither Madara nor Indra missed their whispered exchange.

"Honestly, what am I going to do with you? This jutsu isn't suitable for everyone, and it's extremely dangerous."

Madara Uchiha pressed a hand to his forehead. He didn't want to undermine his eldest brother's confidence, either. Hearing that his brother had created all his own jutsu made his heart ache a little, and he inwardly cursed their father again.

"It's fine. You can add Wind Release if you want, too. Then you can use it while chasing the enemy."

Indra gave it some serious thought. Blowing the mist outward and combining it with Lightning Release seemed a little more flexible.

"Yes, yes, yes. The problem isn't the jutsu. It's the people learning it. Not many people possess all five chakra natures."

Madara Uchiha patiently explained. He could actually use it himself; it was just difficult to control, making it all too easy to hurt himself almost as badly as the enemy. He had already copied the jutsu with his Sharingan, too.

As for using it, it would be a good option if he were surrounded on his own.

Its only drawback might be that it consumed too much chakra.

No, the problem was that he had too little chakra.

"My lord, the food is ready!" An Uchiha ninja waved and called from a distance.

"Let's go eat!" Indra stopped thinking and decided to improve the jutsu after the meal.

"We're eating now?" Uchiha Xing and Uchiha Yue were rather surprised. Wasn't it a little early?

"Big brother eats six meals a day." Madara Uchiha rubbed his younger brothers' heads and explained their eldest brother's daily routine. "Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus morning tea and afternoon tea, and a late-night meal. Big brother stays up late reading."

"Huh? Big brother eats as many meals in one day as I do in three." Uchiha Xing and Uchiha Yue could hardly believe it. Was eating like that even allowed? Back home, wouldn't they get scolded for wasting food?

They were starting to envy their eldest brother's life out here on his own.

Sure enough, they needed to rebel against their father. Having their own brother as clan head was the most reliable option.

This eating habit had carried over from Uchiha Natsu's routine: as a baby, he had drunk milk six times a day.

The people looking after him had been orphaned youths with no experience caring for children. They had assumed he needed to eat six times a day, and so he still ate six meals a day even now.

Later, they had started eating six meals a day as well. To supply the milk, Kaguya had seized all the land around Asagiri Town, raised cattle and pigs, and hired some commoners to farm it.

Their lives were quite comfortable. At least they had never lacked food or drink.

The group arrived at a small shelter, where the food had already been laid out on the table. It wasn't lavish, but the combination provided plenty of nutrition.

A flatbread, a serving of roast meat, a plate of cold dressed vegetables, and a bowl of bone broth sat before each of them on separate dishes.

Every time Indra ate, he felt that perhaps not being very bright wasn't such a big problem after all.

He was actually a fairly good cook. In the past, he had always cooked for Asura and looked after him. Now, he didn't have to prepare his own food or drink at all.

"This is so good, so good, so good! If only Izuna were here." Uchiha Xing and Uchiha Yue decided to send Izuna a message as soon as they finished eating.

At the mention of Izuna, Madara Uchiha's eyes dimmed. With him away from home, Izuna must be eating cold food again. Ever since their mother had died, they hadn't had a single hot meal.

Every meal had been steamed rice with pickled vegetables. Occasionally, he would catch fish in the river and roast them for his younger brothers.

But even then, he had only cooked them through and added a little salt.

With his eldest brother, he ate three meals a day. Back home, he went hungry for six meals in three days.

He didn't want to go back to the clan grounds anymore.

After finishing his meal, Indra set down his chopsticks and washed his bowl and utensils with Water Release. "How are things going over there?"

"Fuliu has gone to negotiate. It's going quite well. In three days, all we need to do is wait at the border to surround them and kill them."

After finishing his meal, Uchiha Naoto went to ladle out another bowl of soup. Seeing him stir the soup in the pot with a long bone, Madara suddenly felt a wave of nausea.

"Y-you... the soup... it wasn't made with Jun Wuji's bones, right?"

"What are you thinking? You think you get to make soup with my bones? In your dreams! Those are lamb bones. Lamb bone soup!!!"

Kaguya Jun Wuji felt insulted and decided to push Madara hard during tomorrow's training. He would beat his bones right out of him and show him what human bones looked like.

Hearing that answer, Madara Uchiha felt much better, though his eyes remained fixed on the ladle.

"If you're full, come back to my tent and answer yesterday's question."

Indra moved straight on to lessons in avoiding scams. The main reason for Madara's failure was that he was kindhearted and too willing to accommodate others.

Madara Uchiha's scalp prickled. He silently followed Indra into his tent and knelt across from him.

"Have you thought it through?" Indra had already activated his Sharingan. If Madara couldn't answer, he would cast a genjutsu on him to knock some sense into him.