Madara Uchiha froze for a moment. He had thought it was something important, but his father only wanted to ask about his awakening the Sharingan. He was a pure-blooded Uchiha. Was awakening it really such a big deal?
"Mm, I heard you already have three tomoe. Not bad." Out of the corner of his eye, Uchiha Tajima glanced at Indra, who stood beside Madara Uchiha without the slightest intention of leaving.
Naturally, Indra had no intention of leaving. He needed to keep an eye on Madara Uchiha at all times to stop anyone from leading him astray.
As Madara Uchiha's father, Uchiha Tajima bore most of the blame for how naive he was.
?
Madara Uchiha's head was full of question marks. He had no idea what his father wanted with him. If he wanted to test his strength... his father wasn't in any shape for that right now, was he? He was still injured!
"Father, was there anything else?"
"No." Uchiha Tajima's expression cracked. He practically forced that single word through his teeth.
"Oh, then I'll go train with Big Brother." Madara Uchiha sensed that his father had something on his mind but couldn't let his big brother know about it. Odds were it wasn't anything good.
Since it wasn't anything good... there was no need to find out.
The two left the study. Indra glanced at the sky; the sun had already set. He walked into the kitchen and lifted the lid of the rice jar, his mouth twitching. Hah. It was cleaner than Uchiha Tajima's face.
Indra took a deep breath and mentally cursed Uchiha Tajima's ancestors, only to realize he had cursed himself. His expression darkened further.
Remembering the fish Izuna had blasted out of the water, he took two stones from the Ninja Tool Pouch at his waist and formed hand seals with one hand. Some grilled fish and birds appeared on the table.
Madara Uchiha's gaze fell on the stones on the table. He pushed the food aside, picked up a stone, and examined it carefully. It was just an ordinary stone, no different from the ones he used to skip across the water.
"A spatial seal?"
When he thought about how it had been used to store grilled fish, he figured the clan elders would be furious if they saw it.
"Mm. Want some? Izuna grilled them." Indra picked up a grilled fish and waved it in front of Madara. "With the Great Fireball Technique."
Madara Uchiha was speechless. So this is how you use jutsu. You've even led Izuna astray.
Madara Uchiha picked up a grilled fish, checked that it was cooked all the way through, and took a bite. He resolved to finish the whole thing, no matter how terrible it tasted.
Once he tasted it, he found that the fish was still crisp on the outside and tender inside. It was delicious. Just what he would expect from fish grilled with the Great Fireball Technique.
"Ah, so the Great Fireball Technique really is a cooking jutsu!"
Madara Uchiha stared blankly at the grilled fish in his hand. He had never imagined that the Great Fireball Technique's true purpose was barbecuing.
"Mm, there are plenty of records in the books." Indra selected a slightly more charred fish; he liked that fragrant, crisp exterior. "The grilled fish tastes good."
Roast porcupine would actually taste even better.
After all, the first time he had used this technique was to roast a porcupine. That was why he had called it the Great Fireball Technique.
Wonderful. These unfilial descendants turned it into a combat ninjutsu and didn't even improve it. Just wonderful!
Indra was so angry he felt like biting through the fish bones.
Madara Uchiha still held the stone, but his thoughts had already drifted to the Land of Whirlpools a thousand miles away.
"Big Brother, do you still have any of those Uzumaki Clan ninja you robbed...?"
He wanted to learn this kind of spatial Sealing Jutsu, but he couldn't go to Nii-san for everything and make Nii-san think he was as useless as their father. That left only the Uzumaki Clan, who specialized in Sealing Jutsu.
"Huh?" Indra was baffled. "Do I look like someone that low?"
"Aren't you?" Madara Uchiha gave him a strange look. You captured Senju to farm, used Yamanaka to give pigs, cattle, and sheep psychological treatment, and even rounded up Uchiha to perform for money. What wouldn't you do?
Indra was speechless.
"I want to learn Sealing Jutsu." Madara Uchiha was a little embarrassed. In the past, his father had only taught him Uchiha swordsmanship and fire release, barely teaching him anything else.
But his big brother taught him all kinds of things, and they were practical too, so the ninjutsu he learned was no longer limited to what the Uchiha had.
The Uchiha specialize in fire release, but there's nothing wrong with me using Water Release in one hand and Lightning Release in the other on the battlefield, then blowing out some Wind Release, right?
Nii-san can use them, so why can't I? If it exists, it must make sense.
"The Uchiha have records of it." Indra wiped his hands, boiled a pot of water, and poured some into a cup. He blew on the rising steam and took a small sip.
Drawn by the aroma of grilled fish, Uchiha Tajima limped into the kitchen. Seeing the table covered in grilled fish and birds, he pulled out a stool and sat down. "Why didn't you two unfilial sons call me over to eat?"
"Izuna grilled these." With lightning-fast hands, Madara Uchiha snatched up four grilled fish and put them away in Izuna's room, saving them for him to eat as a late-night snack when he returned.
"Mm, smells good." Uchiha Tajima gnawed on a grilled bird. The cooking was excellent. Ever since he had lost his wife, it had been a long time since he had eaten anything hot and flavorful.
Watching the way he ate, Indra glanced at Madara Uchiha, his eyes asking, Want to find yourself a stepmother?
Madara Uchiha closed his eyes and rubbed between his brows with his fingertips, indicating that he did not.
"Hey, aren't you two taking me a little too lightly, exchanging looks right in front of me?" Uchiha Tajima held a bird wing in his left hand and a leg in his right, eating without a shred of dignity.
"You're out of rice." Indra poured a cup of hot water and pushed it toward Madara, saying unhurriedly, "I was asking your son whether he wanted to find himself a stepmother."
Pfft-
Uchiha Tajima spat out the bone he had been sucking and coughed repeatedly. He shot Indra a vicious glare, took a deep breath to calm himself, and reluctantly explained, "There's a grain shortage this year. Even money can't buy it."
Madara Uchiha covered his face. He had never known Nii-san liked telling such deadpan jokes. It wasn't that their father didn't want another wife. The problem was... he had injured his manhood while trading blows with the Senju Clan Head on the battlefield. He couldn't!
If a man with that kind of injury took a wife in her prime, the Second Elder would definitely scold him for wasting resources.
But seeing that "thirst for knowledge" in Nii-san's eyes, he couldn't bear to leave him puzzled. He could only sacrifice his father. His father had no dignity left in front of Nii-san anyway, so a little more wouldn't matter.
Thus, he cheerfully cleared up Nii-san's confusion. "Big Brother, not long after Izuna was born, Father went to the battlefield. When he came back that time, he'd injured his manhood..."
"Oh, so you're impotent." Indra remained expressionless. Though his voice held no emotion, it sounded mocking to Uchiha Tajima.
"Hey, you unfilial son! Aren't we discussing this year's grain shortage?" Uchiha Tajima slapped the table in fury, grabbed a grilled bird, and shoved it into his mouth without even spitting out the bones.
"So have you figured out where to get grain?"
That one question from Indra forced the words on the tip of Uchiha Tajima's tongue back down his throat.
Before you continue