Kaguya Arisa

"Did something happen?" Indra sensed the change in Madara's mood and asked offhandedly.

Madara Uchiha handed Indra the letter, a hint of schadenfreude in his voice. "No, Nii-san. There's a beautiful new woman at home-for you."

Clatter!

The pen in Indra's hand fell onto the desk. He gave Madara Uchiha a skeptical look. "Maybe she's your new stepmother!"

"Here-Izuna's letters. Read them yourself." Madara Uchiha folded his arms and lifted his chin, looking thoroughly pleased with Indra's misfortune.

Indra picked up the stack of letters and read from the first page to the last, even activating his Sharingan.

Boom!

All the letters turned to ash in his hands as chakra erupted around him.

"You. Unfilial. Descendants!"

He practically spat those words through clenched teeth.

"Big brother..." The blast had knocked Madara Uchiha a meter away. "If you don't want the wife Father arranged for you, I'll have Izuna turn her down for you. Don't let your chakra explode like that. You'll alert the ninja here."

"Izuna's great at turning people down."

Seeing his elder brother's dark expression, he hastily added that explanation.

"That's enough for today. Go to sleep!" Indra stood and began shooing him away. He needed an outlet right now.

He wondered whether Uchiha Natsu's memories were affecting him. He was growing increasingly irritable.

"Huh? Now? I'm not sleepy." Madara Uchiha leaned back, propping himself up with his hands. His brother hadn't used genjutsu to put him through his paces today, so he couldn't sleep.

"You are."

Indra shot him a glare. One second, Madara was saying he wasn't sleepy; the next, he collapsed onto the tatami and fell asleep.

"Hmph. Still too green."

With that, Indra took off his outer robe and draped it over Madara.

Then he turned and walked toward the seemingly ordinary wardrobe in the room.

When he slid the wardrobe door open, a crude seal appeared on its inner wall.

Expressionless, Indra swiftly formed hand seals with one hand and slapped the seal without hesitation.

In an instant, the wall slowly opened like a secret door concealed in the darkness, revealing a narrow, steep staircase whose end lay out of sight.

Clack, clack, clack!

Indra's wooden sandals struck the stairs with crisp sounds that echoed through the silent basement.

At the same time, he extended his right hand, and a flame instantly sprang to life in his palm.

With a sweep of his arm, the flame streaked through the darkness and landed precisely on the oil lamps along either side.

The fire spread at once, illuminating the formerly dark basement.

The flickering light played over the surroundings, making the entire space look even more sinister.

A faint rustling came from somewhere nearby, sounding like metal chains being dragged.

Indra quickened his steps toward the sound and reached the depths of the basement, where a woman dressed in white leaned against a stone bed, chains piercing her shoulder blades.

Even in the dim light, the woman's face looked unnaturally pale.

Her disheveled long hair hung loose, hiding most of her face, but her expression was utterly deranged.

She was Kaguya Arisa, Uchiha Natsu's younger maternal aunt.

"Hehehe, you're still alive! Poor little thing. Has your father still not acknowledged you?" Kaguya Arisa licked her parched lips, her hoarse voice steeped in reckless madness.

Those words would certainly have enraged Uchiha Natsu. But although Indra possessed those memories, he did not care. He merely said flatly, "Your sister died, and she didn't even take you with her."

"She'd rather have children with that good-for-nothing Uchiha Tajima than let you know about her illness."

"She didn't love you!!!"

"You're lying! It was all that evil Uchiha's fault! He deceived my sister! You Uchiha are evil by nature!"

Veins bulged across Kaguya Arisa's forehead, lending her pale face a savage look. Panting heavily, she dragged the weighty chains behind her and lunged at Indra like a madwoman.

Just as the bone spikes protruding from her fingertips were about to touch Indra's neck, her entire body froze!

Indra then strolled over to a low table and sat down.

Two cups stood on the low table. Indra lifted the kettle and filled both with water.

Kaguya Arisa abruptly broke free of the genjutsu that had left her standing motionless. Her pupils contracted sharply as she stared fixedly at Indra, as though trying to see through his appearance into the depths of his soul.

Yet as the seconds ticked by, Kaguya Arisa gradually regained some of her reason and said with absolute certainty, "You're not him."

As soon as she finished speaking, she grasped the chains piercing her shoulder blades without hesitation and slowly pulled them out. Blood spurted after the iron hooks, staining her white robe red.

As though unable to feel pain, she continued forward without a change in expression, letting the blood flow without making any attempt to stop it.

When she reached Indra, she braced both hands on the low table and leaned forward until their faces were only a finger's breadth apart. Blood from her wounds dripped into the cup of water on the table.

In the deathly silence, it made an eerie drip, drip.

"Little Xia, why won't you look at me? Are you upset because the Uchiha won't accept you?" Kaguya Arisa stroked Indra's face with her bloodstained hand, forcing him to meet her eyes.

"Uchiha Natsu needed the Uchiha's approval. But I, Indra, do not. It is for me to decide whether they deserve mine."

Indra raised the cup of blood-tainted water before Kaguya Arisa. His eyes held no emotion, as though he had come here merely to drink a cup of water.

Kaguya Arisa took the cup, utterly unconcerned by the blood inside, and drained it in one gulp. The blood clinging to her lips made her skin look even paler.

"You can leave."

Indra did not share Uchiha Natsu's morbidly obsessive thinking.

The only reason she had been imprisoned in the basement was to keep her from losing her life trying to take revenge on Uchiha Tajima.

Piercing her shoulder blades had been intended to reduce her chakra use and prolong her life.

But her bloodline disease was especially severe, and after all these years, it had reached its final stage.

"Are you abandoning me too?" Kaguya Arisa's emotions seemed to grow unstable again. She embraced Indra, a Bone Blade already pressed against his back over his heart.

"I just don't want to feed a freeloader."

Indra lowered his eyes and placed one hand on her back. Slowly turning his head, he met her gaze. His three scarlet tomoe spun, and an enhanced hypnotic genjutsu knocked Kaguya Arisa out.

"He just didn't want you to die."

Indra placed a Healing Talisman on her, healing her wounds, but it had no effect on her bloodline disease.

He carried her out of the basement, but ultimately found nowhere in his room to put her. In the end, he sought out Kaguya Jun Wuji to have her cleaned up and find her a room.

He wondered whether Uchiha Natsu's emotions were affecting him. Somehow, he had developed an obsession with cleanliness.

"Big brother, you knocked me out with genjutsu just so you could sneak someone out." Madara Uchiha's cold voice drifted from the corner.