Izuna left with his chin high and his chest puffed out. As he passed the elders, delight filled him, as though they had knelt before him too.
Indra never cared about such trifles. He even stopped to wait for Izuna, then beckoned him over when he saw how smug the boy had become.
Izuna immediately ran up and took Indra's hand, and the two of them, one big and one small, went home hand in hand.
Only after they left did the two doctors appear.
"You can't go wrong listening to me. Otherwise, we'd both be kneeling too."
The two approached the elders kneeling in reflection. Seeing that their injuries were severe but none were life-threatening, the doctors were utterly speechless.
If they had come any later, the wounds would have already scabbed over.
The First Elder had suffered the worst injuries. His chest was a bloody mess and his ribs were broken, but they were merely broken, not displaced. With a ninja's powers of recovery, he would be up and about after a few days of rest.
The only one missing a part was the Fourth Elder. He had lost a tooth, and it was a fucking wisdom tooth.
Aside from being deeply humiliating, the injuries only looked frightening.
After applying medicine and bandaging them, the two doctors saw that all four were still kneeling and asked in confusion, "Elders, are you still going to kneel? Nobody's watching. No one would know if you got up."
"Get lost! My knees itch!" The Second Elder was the first to explode.
Was it that he didn't want to get up?
He simply couldn't.
That unfilial son of the old bastard Uchiha Tajima had used some unknown sorcery to bind his knees firmly to the ground. He couldn't get up at all.
Back at the Clan Leader's Residence, Indra propped the Gunbai and his tachi together in a corner, then left his room to look for Madara, only to discover he wasn't home.
Seeing Uchiha Chiri cooking in the kitchen, he asked, "Where's Madara?"
"Young Master Madara went out shortly after you left." Uchiha Osamu put the two fish on separate plates, then carried them to the table with a bowl of rice.
Hearing that Madara had gone out, Indra returned to his room and sat at the square table, staring at the open book while his thoughts had already wandered to Madara Uchiha.
[Host, your emotional fluctuations alone could awaken an Uchiha's eyes. What are you so angry about?]
"Madara went to see the reincarnation of that lump of Asura's chakra again. I clearly changed his thinking, yet I still couldn't stop his destiny."
Indra wasn't angry over some fated encounter at all. He was angry because Madara had gone to find Hashirama instead of staying home to train with him, calling him Nii-san all the while.
To him, that meant Hashirama mattered more than he did.
In Indra's eyes, the reasons didn't matter, nor did right and wrong. What mattered was the attitude.
[This system believes you're overthinking it. Perhaps... he simply has ideas of his own.]
The Wish System switched the view to the bank of the Naka River.
Madara and Hashirama traded solid blows, one shouting that his older sister was the prettiest, the other shouting that his younger sister was the prettiest.
Every compliment was followed by an insult aimed at the other.
Under Indra's influence, Madara had combined the Uchiha's naturally mocking tone and arrogant expression with Indra's vicious tongue, infuriating Hashirama until he lost his composure.
Their taijutsu was evenly matched, but neither held back as they fought to win the title of prettiest for his own sibling.
Hashirama was driven entirely by anger. He would say ten things, only for the other boy to fire back a single retort that stabbed him right in the heart.
To avoid alerting other ninja with the commotion, they kept the contest purely to taijutsu and used no ninjutsu.
Once their stamina ran out, they lay on the ground, gulping down air.
Madara's mind was filled with Nii-san's teachings: if fighting wouldn't kill you, fight like you meant to die.
And there was having his heart ripped out in genjutsu-twice, at that...
He suddenly sprang off the ground and onto Hashirama, seized the bowl-cut fringe over his forehead, and punched him square in the forehead.
"You're always going on about your little sister. Bring her out if you've got the guts! I've never seen anyone prettier than my big sister."
Thump, thump, thump!
He landed several more punches on Hashirama's head, then finally ran out of strength and lay down a few meters away to rest.
Hashirama clutched his forehead and howled, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Invincible, you're too underhanded! We agreed not to hit each other in the face!"
But Madara Uchiha had closed his eyes and didn't see his miserable state at all. He didn't think he had done anything wrong either, and said disdainfully, "Don't you have that bowl lid covering it? Nobody will see when you go home. Besides, with your hairstyle and clothes, nobody's going to pay attention to you anyway."
Thinking of how easy Nii-san's hair looked to grab, he resolved to grow his own hair long.
"Your personality's awful. Don't tell me you really have no friends."
Hashirama wore an expression that begged to be punched. Although he felt he hit it off with the boy before him and they shared the same dream, his personality really was terrible.
Madara remained silent. He only had brothers, not friends.
Was it because of his bad personality?
No. Even someone as demanding as Nii-san hadn't said he had a bad personality. It definitely wasn't his problem.
"Hey, Invincible, will we really get to see peace?" Hashirama suddenly asked very seriously.
"I will. As for you..." Madara Uchiha sat up. Damn Senju. When seduction failed, he started fishing for information. Nii-san was right-none of those despicable Senju were any good. "Someone might kill you any day now."
"Huh? No way! If someone with a personality as rotten as yours won't drop dead, there's even less chance I will. Besides... girls probably don't like someone like you!"
Hashirama once again wore an expression that begged to be punched. He was sick to death of the matchmaking at home. If he was suffering, his good friend certainly couldn't get off easy.
"Hasn't your dad arranged any matches for you?"
"No. Do I need matchmaking?" Madara raised his chin arrogantly. His father couldn't control him now. Matchmaking was out of the question. At worst, he could hide behind his big brother. As long as his big brother remained unmarried, he had a shield. "Can matchmaking make me stronger?"
"Uh, you should be old enough to go to the battlefield. Doesn't your family want you to leave any offspring?" Hashirama was momentarily at a loss for words. Did that mean he was the only one suffering through matchmaking?
"Can't I just do my best to come back from the battlefield alive?" Madara Uchiha was utterly speechless. Had this Senju really been sent to deal him a devastating blow?
Why did he seem a little dim?
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck Madara.
Offspring?
If the Senju had no descendants, wouldn't that solve the problem of their descendants continuing to fight?
"Uh, what if-and I mean what if-you get injured? And can't have children anymore?" Hashirama Senju really wanted to pry open his friend's skull and see why he could be so self-assured. Did his family not assign him a partner?
Perhaps he was merely an ordinary member of some clan.
At that thought, he couldn't help feeling disappointed.
"You make a very good point."
A calculating gleam flashed in Madara Uchiha's eyes. Those Senju really were despicable. They actually wanted to end the Uchiha bloodline on the battlefield. He had to report this intelligence to the clan.
Before you continue