Uchiha Tajima had noticed it too. Why had his unfilial son recovered faster than him despite being more badly injured, while he had to spend nearly a week in bed before he could move?
At that moment, he felt as though needles were pricking his back. The stares of the Uchiha elders made his skin crawl.
"Clan head, you handled this badly. Whatever grudges you had with the previous generation, why take them out on a child? If the Kaguya weren't contacting him, you should have brought him home. Surely our great Uchiha clan could afford to raise one child. If you couldn't, you could have sent him to my house. Two of my sons died in battle, and another is away on a mission. I have no children left at home."
The Third Elder, who had remained silent until then, stepped forward to offer a few "fair words."
"And you haven't given that child any resources all these years. That really was going too far." The Fourth Elder, who had just been stabbed, rose from the ground and brushed off the dust, glaring at Uchiha Tajima with his three-tomoe eyes.
"If we'd raised that child with the Uchiha's resources, his talent would surely be even greater than it is now. We Uchiha own up to what we do. So you fathered a child-what of it? The Kaguya may not measure up to the Uchiha, but they're still a bloodline clan. It's not as though we couldn't accept that."
The Second Elder, who had fought the hardest earlier, joined the condemnation too.
Uchiha Tajima was speechless. ...That wasn't the tune you were singing back then.
"Enough. Xia is an Uchiha child, after all." The First Elder interrupted their argument in the street, sparing his brother a little dignity. But then he added, "Tajima, don't be too harsh on that child. After all, there's no fatherly affection between you."
Uchiha Tajima was speechless again. ...Humiliating. Even after becoming clan head, he had been subjected once more to the humiliation he had suffered fourteen years ago.
These old fossils had simply spotted that unfilial son's value. If those medical techniques were used on the entire Uchiha clan, who knew how many clansmen they could save on the battlefield?
Now they wanted him to approach that unfilial son and coax information about this ability out of him.
Absolutely not!
"Hmph, didn't that unfilial son say it himself? He didn't stab the Second Elder because he had no money. The Fourth Elder only got that lucky because he had money. Go buy it from him!"
Uchiha Tajima folded his arms, utterly unconcerned that people had already begun gathering to watch. He had embarrassed himself enough already; a little more hardly mattered. Anything was better than having that unfilial son constantly call him an unfilial descendant and a useless fool.
With anyone else, he would have dared to take a tougher stance. But that unfilial son really would turn on him.
Besides... he felt that this unfilial son was a little mad. He always gave him the unsettling impression that he could drag everyone down to hell with him.
It wasn't that he feared death. Rather, as an Uchiha, dying anywhere other than the battlefield would be utterly meaningless.
Meanwhile.
Indra sat in his room and counted the spoils he had looted. A mere few tens of thousands of ryo.
Poor!
The Uchiha were so poor!
He had left behind such immense wealth, yet his descendants had fallen this far. It made him want to destroy them.
"Looks like I can't stay here. They're too poor."
Indra muttered to himself, only for Madara Uchiha, who had followed him over, to overhear. He was still holding the bloodstained tachi.
"Um... well..."
Meeting his Nii-san's eyes, Madara Uchiha felt inexplicably uneasy.
"Need something?" Indra frowned. Little brothers were the most annoying things, especially this descendant who had been deceived his entire life and then had his heart punched out from behind. Now he had become his little brother.
Though he had been deceived too and had no right to judge him, it still irritated him.
"Uh, I wanted to ask when you train. I'd like to join you."
Madara Uchiha was a little embarrassed as he said it. He was sensitive enough to notice that his eldest brother didn't seem particularly fond of him.
This was all Father's fault. If he'd brought his eldest brother home earlier, he wouldn't have been twelve before he even learned he had one.
"I want to train with Nii-san too." Izuna poked his head out from beside Madara Uchiha and blinked his big eyes, so adorable that no one could refuse him.
"You want to get stronger?" Indra asked.
"Yes. I want to get stronger and protect my little brothers." Madara Uchiha's voice was firm. Looking at Indra, he added with considerable embarrassment, "And... and you, too."
Indra was speechless. ...Had this reincarnated lump of chakra gotten too full of himself, or could I no longer lift a blade?
Why did all my descendants seem a little wrong in the head?
Madara Uchiha realized that his powerful eldest brother was looking at him as though he were an idiot.
"Hey, what's with that look?"
Just then, Uchiha Tajima returned, bringing the ninjutsu and ancient texts the Uchiha had collected.
"These are the things I promised you earlier."
After speaking, he gave his sons a meaningful look. Whether one person read them or several, they were still being read. He hoped the children would be clever enough to catch on.
"Mm, understood. Bring me a report on the movements of the other clans every day, especially the Senju." Indra unrolled the enormous scroll, and books and ancient scrolls filled more than half the room.
He raised his eyes to glance at the foolish little brothers standing in the doorway and said, "Help yourselves."
As for Uchiha Tajima, he didn't spare him a proper glance.
To him, these foolish little brothers were still young. This unfilial descendant had simply led them astray.
Why would I hold anything against children?
Izuna pulled Madara into the room, found a comfortable spot, and picked out a ninjutsu to study.
Uchiha Xing and Uchiha Yue followed close behind, occasionally stealing glances at Indra as he read intently.
Only Madara Uchiha felt thoroughly ill at ease, but he was soon drawn into the studious atmosphere.
Watching the children get along, Uchiha Tajima revealed a father's kindly smile. Indra caught sight of it, however, and felt that this unfilial descendant had no sense whatsoever. He frowned and said coldly, "Standing there won't make you any stronger, and you're blocking the light. Do something useful. Go brew a pot of tea."
Anger rose in Uchiha Tajima's heart at Indra's words, but... there was nothing he could do. After a brief bout of impotent rage, he snorted coldly and left, telling a servant to bring them some water on his way out.
There would be no tea. He couldn't even afford to drink it himself.
Uchiha Xing and Uchiha Yue exchanged a glance, then looked at Indra with shining eyes and asked tentatively, "Big brother, do you want to take Father out and become clan head yourself?"
"We wanted Madara to rebel in a few years, but he said he couldn't beat Father." Uchiha Yue even winked at Madara Uchiha. They were all their older brothers, after all. Whoever rebelled, they would follow.
Every day was nothing but training upon training. Who knew when their tedious lives would finally end?
Indra's hand paused as he turned a page. He slowly raised his head to look at the two little rebels, then shifted his gaze to Madara Uchiha.
That look made Madara Uchiha's skin crawl, and he hurriedly explained, "They just don't want to train. Don't listen to their nonsense."
Indra assessed the cultivation speed of this reincarnated lump of chakra. "At your current training level, you'll be able to rebel in another five or six years."
He didn't care who led the Uchiha. He would always be the strongest.
Before you continue