As luck would have it, Indra returned with the unconscious Izuna just in time to hear Madara Uchiha teaching. Anyone who knew what he was doing would realize he was teaching someone to extract chakra. Anyone who didn't would think he was practicing some dark art.
Madara had talent, but his ability to teach depended entirely on how well his student could take a beating.
If they could take a beating, their strength would improve by leaps and bounds. If he had to explain the theory, it was a complete disaster.
"Big brother, what happened to Izuna?" Madara Uchiha asked worriedly when he saw Izuna being carried back.
"He used too much chakra and passed out. It's nothing serious."
Indra placed Izuna in Madara's arms, sat down across from Uchiha Chiri, and told her, "Ask me if there's anything you don't understand."
"Nii-san, I followed your methods. I was taking teaching her to extract chakra very seriously."
Madara Uchiha refused to accept that. Her comprehension was clearly the problem, so how could he be blamed? Looking at Izuna in his arms, he decided to get him settled first, then come back and argue with his big brother.
"No. When you teach people in the future, don't mention me. You'll ruin my reputation throughout the Shinobi World."
Already out the door, Madara Uchiha puffed out his cheeks in anger. He ran to Izuna's room and got him settled, only to return and find Nii-san earnestly explaining chakra to Uchiha Chiri.
He sat down on the other side of the low table and listened attentively to his big brother's lesson too.
His big brother's teaching had always been thorough, and he could answer plenty of questions even their father couldn't.
But ten minutes passed, and Nii-san didn't acknowledge him.
Half an hour passed, and Nii-san was still only explaining the basics to Uchiha Chiri.
By evening, Uchiha Chiri could already extract chakra, but his big brother kept talking, showing no intention of paying him any attention.
Madara Uchiha left the room with a dark expression.
On the second and third days, Nii-san continued drilling Uchiha Chiri in the fundamentals of being a shinobi.
Now Madara Uchiha simply couldn't sit still anymore. With a stormy face, he left the clan compound and went to skip stones by the Naka River.
No, he was treating the stones like Nii-san and flinging them.
But after several attempts, he still couldn't get one to the opposite bank.
He was full of hurt and anger, with no idea whom to take it out on.
Another stone went flying, only to sink to the riverbed again, just like his mood.
"When you skip stones, you need to lift your hand a little."
A pebble skipped along the same route as his stone and reached the opposite bank. He turned his head and saw an honest-looking fellow dressed entirely in green, with a bowl cut and a guileless face, standing nearby.
The sight of him involuntarily brought his big brother's brutal lessons to mind.
He's here-the Senju who wants to seduce me!
Exactly like big brother said.
"Hey, who are you?" Madara Uchiha tactically put three meters between them. He wasn't afraid of being seduced; he was mainly afraid of getting beaten when he went home.
Nii-san's genjutsu really could torment someone until they couldn't even die.
"Me? For now, you could call me your stone-skipping rival." Hashirama Senju gave him a kindly smile that made him look incredibly approachable.
Without Indra's ideological lessons, Madara would have thought so too. But after being tormented by genjutsu every day and night lately, that smile looked like nothing but a demon beckoning.
"Hah. I'm not skipping stones. I'm paving the road to peace."
After all that harsh discipline, Madara Uchiha was completely immune to Hashirama Senju's type.
He still remembered the first time he'd rebelled a little and chosen to become friends with the other boy. In the genjutsu, he'd been stabbed in the back tens of thousands of times and had his heart ripped out just as often.
His body hadn't been injured, but the pain within the genjutsu had been real.
Now he wouldn't let anyone stand behind him. He even kept chakra over the back of his heart as a precaution against being stabbed, despite the extra chakra it wasted.
After all, it had left him traumatized.
"Uh... but your road to peace sank." Hashirama Senju wore an eminently punchable expression as he mercilessly exposed Madara's failed stone-skipping attempt and refusal to admit it.
"Hey, you're really annoying! It only failed to reach the other bank because you were standing behind me and distracting me."
Madara Uchiha's temper flared. He couldn't hit his big brother, and he couldn't hit his little brother. His father... his father had been beaten so badly by his big brother that he'd been crippled. Surely he could hit this bowl-cut bumpkin who seemed to be the Senju trying to seduce him!
They were near the Uchiha Clan Compound anyway. If he beat him to death, he wouldn't lose out. If he couldn't, he'd call Nii-san to rescue him.
Maybe if he got hurt a little, Nii-san would stop focusing exclusively on Uchiha Chiri.
"Sorry. I didn't know you had that problem." Hashirama Senju crouched on the ground with his arms around his knees, radiating dejection.
At the sight, Madara backed away again. It was too similar, far too faithful a recreation of the scene in the genjutsu.
If the faces in the genjutsu hadn't been blurred, he would have been certain he'd fallen under his big brother's genjutsu again.
So, before the other boy could stand up, he repeated a move he'd used in the genjutsu. Chakra burst from the soles of his feet, and a sliding tackle sent the bumpkin flying. He followed it with a spinning kick, then booted him into the river.
As luck would have it, he collided face-first with the corpse of a Hagoromo Clan member drifting downstream.
Fortunately, Hashirama Senju reacted quickly. He adjusted his posture and immediately planted his feet firmly on the water. After examining the dead man's clothing, he said, "A Hagoromo Clan shinobi. Looks like this place is already a battlefield. We... we... huh? Huh? Where'd he go?"
Madara Uchiha had already started running back to the clan compound the moment he kicked the other boy into the river. He needed to see Nii-san and tell him he'd encountered a damned Senju trying to seduce him.
Trying to kill his little brother and dig up his family's graves.
Back at the compound, he didn't even stop for a sip of water. He ran to the room, found no sign of Nii-san, then ran to the training ground.
There sat Indra, guiding Uchiha Chiri through her training while Izuna served as her sparring partner.
That sight killed any desire he had to share his news.
Indra glanced at Madara and beckoned him over. "Want to join them?"
"No. This kind of little-kid training isn't for me." Resistance was written all over Madara Uchiha's face. He snorted and went off to train alone.
Indra was speechless. Is he sulking?
After training ended, Izuna came racing over with a puppy in his arms. He held it up in front of Indra. "Big brother, look! I have a puppy too! Does that mean I'll have a way to awaken my eyes now?"
Indra patted his head, took the puppy into his arms, and gave it a few rubs. He remembered raising a dog with Asura when they were children, though he had done most of the caring for it himself.
"There's no need to rush. Once you're strong enough to lay the groundwork, I'll help you awaken your eyes."
"Really? Nii-san, you're the best!" Izuna jumped up and hugged Indra. The Sharingan, the Sharingan! I can have the Sharingan too! "Once I have the Sharingan, I can learn genjutsu too!"
"Genjutsu?" Indra put the puppy on the ground, walked over to the covered walkway, and sat down to give Izuna and Uchiha Chiri a supplementary lesson. "The Sharingan only strengthens genjutsu and provides a shortcut to using it. Even without the Sharingan, I can teach you if you want to learn."
After all, genjutsu really wasn't difficult. Even Asura had learned it back then. It was just a matter of one hand seal.
"You can use genjutsu without the Sharingan?" Izuna blinked, his eyes so eager for knowledge that they almost sparkled with little stars. "Nii-san, teach me! Please teach me!"
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