He didn't need help

"Bzzz-"

"Bzzz-"

"Bzzz-"

Yanbai lay on his bedding atop the tatami, tossing and turning for a long time as the irritating buzz of mosquitoes filled his ears.

"Ugh... I was wondering where bomber planes came from in the Warring States era... Oh, it's mosquitoes. So annoying. All of you, get lost-"

Yanbai rolled over and pulled the covers over his head.

"Bzzz-"

Damn it-

Yanbai flung off the covers and took a closer look. What mosquito? It was clearly a... fat mouse with gleaming eyes.

The mosquito noises had come from it.

It probably thought it would get smacked if it woke Yanbai with its own voice, so it had learned another "foreign language": "It wasn't me that woke you up. It was a mosquito."

Yanbai wore the expression of the Subway Old Man.

"Cherry Ink, what is it now? You've been coming back to your family home a lot lately. Is the food in the Uchiha Clan that bad?"

In Yanbai's mind, he had already married this mouse off to Madara as his pet, though Madara had no idea.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak..."

The little mouse chittered anxiously.

"Ah~ That kid was being hunted, and Madara went to save him? Mm, no big deal. He won't die..."

Yanbai breathed a sigh of relief and buried himself under the covers again, saying in a muffled voice, "Madara's still young. He needs training. Without life-or-death battles, he won't get stronger. I don't want to see the great Madara turn out to be a weakling. All right, I'm going to sleep. Good night."

"Squeak, squeak, squeak~" The little mouse placed its forepaws on the mound of Yanbai's covers, as though trying to push him awake.

"Cherry Ink..."

Yanbai's voice drifted out from beneath the covers. "Don't save him. To someone as proud as the great Madara, suddenly offering help without his consent is actually an insult."

At that, the little mouse lowered its forepaws and stared blankly at the mound beneath Yanbai's covers.

"If he wants someone to guide him, you can help. But the fighting... he has to handle that himself."

Then Yanbai said, "You said Madara reached the forest where we used to meet, right? Then let him use the traps we set up before..."

Even if Madara Uchiha were on the verge of death, Yanbai could not leave the Clan Grounds tonight.

Because of the clothes, Butsuma Senju suspected that he had a romantic connection with someone from the Uchiha Clan.

The Senju Clan Leader's Residence appeared peaceful, but there were surely plenty of people stationed inside and outside the courtyard.

The moment Yanbai made a move, those people would quietly follow him wherever he went.

If Yanbai appeared before Madara like that, Madara would have to face not only his pursuers, but also an encirclement by the Senju Clan.

Against the Hagoromo Clan alone, Madara might narrowly escape death, though the danger would be immense.

But against the combined elites of two clans, it wasn't that Yanbai looked down on Madara...

The truth was that the current Madara Uchiha was powerful compared with others his age, but he had yet to reach the point where he could take on ten thousand shinobi alone.

He could manage one-on-one fights. Being swarmed was a little harder.

Yanbai would not make things worse through well-intentioned help. All that remained was to trust Madara Uchiha, because he was Madara Uchiha.

Madara Uchiha reached a spot relatively close to the cliff and searched for a certain large tree from memory. Placing his bloodstained hand against its trunk, he murmured, "Brothers of the forest, sorry for disturbing you. I am Yanbai's close friend, Madara Uchiha..."

When Madara Uchiha mentioned "Yanbai," the forest, which should have been sleeping, seemed to come alive.

Countless pairs of glowing green eyes shone in the darkness.

The wind carried the rustle of leaves, the chirping of insects, and the startled cries of night birds, blending into strange layered sounds that relayed something from near to far.

Precocious as he was, Uchiha Izuna was still a child. The strange phenomena around them left him trembling. "Brother, what are you doing?"

"Showing goodwill to the forest," Madara Uchiha said quietly. "We're guests who have announced ourselves. The Hagoromo Clan coming after us are uninvited guests, so they'll certainly be treated differently. But... that's all."

"Aren't you going to ask him for help, Brother? His name is Yanbai?" Uchiha Izuna had heard it perfectly clearly.

"There's no need." Madara Uchiha looked back toward the pitch-black forest ahead with cold arrogance. "Izuna, enough talk. Find the medicine first, then we'll plan how to face the enemy. If they come, I'll fight them to the death. If they don't, we'll have escaped disaster."

Izuna understood how dire their situation was and obediently did as he was told.

Following his memory, Madara Uchiha retrieved supplies he had stashed in several tree hollows. Back when he sparred with Hashirama, Madara had brought plenty of prepared medicine for injuries because he hadn't wanted to keep accepting Yanbai's kindness.

But Yanbai had not accepted it, so the supplies had remained there.

After some simple bandaging, Madara Uchiha caught his breath.

The forest did create some obstacles for the uninvited guests, but they only slowed their steps a little, giving Madara Uchiha a brief respite.

After an unknown amount of time, killing intent tainted the peaceful mountain breeze. The Hagoromo Clan... had come after all.

"Hmph... Facing two members of the Uchiha Clan, and you still dare to come here alone? Do you look down on us brothers because we're so young?"

Madara Uchiha's blood-red eyes fixed on the darkness ahead, where ordinary eyes could see nothing. He murmured, "Since you're so eager to die, I'll grant your wish-"

Suddenly, a figure leaped up ahead, rising straight into the air before sweeping both hands directly downward.

Madara Uchiha had been watching his surroundings vigilantly all along and had already finished forming hand seals before his opponent moved.

"Fire Release: Dust Concealment Technique!"

A cloud of scorching dust suddenly spread beneath the night sky.

The dust hit the ground with a whump, then burst apart, sending smoke billowing in every direction.

The cold night air instantly grew hotter. Strange crackling sounds rang out as erratic explosions erupted within the dust.

The dust concealed Madara Uchiha's figure while also obstructing his opponent's vision.

But that wasn't all.

Within the vast cloud of dust, Uchiha Izuna unleashed an enormous fireball.

Boom-!

The dust, mixed with moisture carried by the mountain breeze, instantly erupted in a violent explosion.

Neither brother dared remain where he was after releasing his attack. Both slipped into the darkness.

Sure enough, their opponent had used some unknown technique to evade the ninjutsu attack and break out through the smoke.

"Only geniuses who survive become powerful. But there are far too many geniuses in this world who die young. Wouldn't you agree, you two young clan leaders of the Uchiha...?"

The hostile newcomer was still alone. He was the Hagoromo Clan's vanguard, their young clan leader, Hagoromo Nobuyuki.

Madara Uchiha's expression grew grave, and he said nothing.

No one knew which shinobi clan had first set this ugly precedent, or when they had begun targeting one another's gifted youths.

Killing geniuses before they could grow had become a trend, making the already bitter impasse between the shinobi clans even harder to resolve.