Although the battle at Greenleaf Cliff seemed to have ended with the Senju being driven back,
the Uchiha had actually suffered far greater losses than the Senju.
Fortunately, Madara's final outburst had taken out a large number of low-ranking Senju shinobi.
"Now, we'll have to see how the Hyuga Clan performs."
Uchiha Tajima sat cross-legged, his eyes closed in concentration.
In truth, he was reviewing the entire course of the battle at Greenleaf Cliff.
"Father, you called for me!"
Madara pushed aside the tent flap without ceremony and sat cross-legged opposite Tajima, mimicking his posture.
Tajima showed no sign of reproaching Madara. Without opening his eyes, he said, "Madara, close your eyes. Think carefully about everything that happened before and after the battle at Greenleaf Cliff."
"What did we Uchiha gain? What did we lose? What did we do well? Where did we fall short?"
Madara was proud, but he knew full well that only those who understood self-reflection could keep improving and moving forward.
Fifteen minutes, thirty minutes, an hour, two hours...
Finally, after more than half a day, both Madara and Tajima opened their eyes.
Their gazes were sharp and fierce. The three tomoe slowly spinning in their eyes betrayed the unrest in their hearts.
Seeing a gaze so like his own in Madara's eyes, Tajima was deeply satisfied. "After this battle, the battlefields in the Land of Fire should remain quiet for a while."
"You've also reached the stage where your strength will grow rapidly. Attend more clan meetings when you have time, and learn from the elders how to manage the clan."
"With you here, I believe the Uchiha will flourish in the future."
Madara nodded. "In that case, I'll head back to the clan grounds by the Naka River."
Tajima watched Madara's retreating figure thoughtfully. "Boy, hand that golden light ninjutsu over to the clan!"
"With it, the clan's strength will rise by at least a whole level."
Madara's steps paused briefly. Then he left Tajima's tent, took a few trusted followers, and headed for the clan grounds by the Naka River.
"Jing Xiu, when do you think our big brother will be back?"
With his face bruised and swollen, Izuna's words came out somewhat muffled.
Jing Xiu held a steel spear and settled into his spear-training stance.
The people of the Shinobi World were different from those in the world of the Outcasts, after all.
An ordinary person here had a total of 130 trillion cells in their body.
An ordinary person in the world of the Outcasts had only 60 trillion.
So, although Jing Xiu was only five, his strength, cellular vitality, and the vigor of his blood and qi already far surpassed those of his fifteen-year-old self in his previous life.
At this rate, I only need to practice traditional martial arts until I'm seven for my physical foundation to reach the limits of an immature body.
By then, I should be able to start extracting chakra.
Holding a broad, level horse stance, his legs beginning to tremble, Izuna found Jing Xiu as annoying as ever. He simply closed his eyes and began imagining himself fighting side by side with Madara.
Some time later, dozens of fireballs came hurtling toward the two of them.
Anyone observing them with the Sharingan would have seen a shuriken flying at high speed inside each fireball.
Propelled by those shuriken, the fireballs flew just as swiftly.
An enemy attack? No...
Jing Xiu's first reaction was that an enemy had infiltrated the clan grounds by the Naka River, but he immediately dismissed the idea.
The steel spear danced in his hands like a silver dragon soaring through the sky, blocking, thrusting, circling, and winding.
Jing Xiu intercepted almost all the dozens of fireballs by himself.
The remaining five or six, however, sent Izuna scrambling.
His shoes caught fire too. In the end, he could only hop barefoot over to Jing Xiu. "My foolish little brother, you could clearly have stopped every one of those fireballs."
"Did you deliberately let a few through just to watch me make a fool of myself?"
Izuna also understood that Jing Xiu was giving him a chance to hone his skills.
At first, he had been ready to give it his all. But when he saw that those fireballs were little more than moving targets to Jing Xiu, he relaxed too.
He had never expected Jing Xiu to let several fireballs fly toward him just as he relaxed. That was exactly why he had ended up in such a sorry state.
Watching his two surviving younger brothers, one lively and the other composed, Madara felt joy well up uncontrollably in his heart. He could not hide the smile on his lips either.
Facing Jing Xiu, Izuna did not notice anyone approaching from behind.
The next instant, a strong hand seized Izuna by the scruff of his neck, leaving his fate in its grip.
His whole body was lifted into the air.
He had been a little panicked, but when he heard that familiar voice, tears began streaming down his face.
"Izuna, you're too careless. You need to learn more from Jing Xiu. Remember that, all right?"
Izuna paid no attention to what Madara had said. He merely reached back with both hands and grabbed Madara's wrist.
His body swung up into the air as though he were on a swing, made a full turn, and finally landed astride Madara's neck.
He wrapped both hands around Madara's spiky head and pressed his face against the top of it. "Big brother! You're all right! Thank goodness!"
For a moment, Madara was at a loss too.
He had never seen Izuna like this. He simply reached up and held Izuna's legs so that he would not accidentally fall off his shoulders.
He looked toward Jing Xiu, concern and guilt mingling in his eyes.
Jing Xiu smiled and nodded at Madara.
After the three brothers caught up, Madara tested Izuna's and Jing Xiu's combat skills as he always did.
Although Jing Xiu had not extracted any chakra, his taijutsu alone was already on par with that of an ordinary chunin from the Hyuga Branch Family.
Izuna had also learned quite a few C-rank Fire Release techniques. Combined with Jing Xiu's taijutsu, they caused Madara a fair amount of trouble.
Madara nodded in satisfaction. "Izuna, your hand seal speed needs improvement. Ideally, you should master one-handed seals."
Then he turned to Jing Xiu. "Are you still not planning to start extracting chakra? Our Uchiha chakra extraction technique is already among the best in the Shinobi World."
"The Golden Light Mantra may be mysterious, but chakra is the foundation of a shinobi."
Jing Xiu shook his head. "Soon. I worked it out, and I should be able to start extracting chakra in about two years, when I'm seven."
"Let's talk about you instead, Madara! You seem to have changed quite a bit since you left."
Izuna did not care about any of that. No matter how Madara changed, he would always be Izuna's beloved big brother.
"Let's go catch some fish! We'll have an all-fish feast tonight to celebrate big brother's return."
Jing Xiu and Madara exchanged a glance and both shrugged.
Jing Xiu and Madara caught fish while Izuna prepared to cook on the riverbank.
"So you've grasped the second level of the golden light."
"You've understood seeing without seeing, hearing without hearing?"
Madara nodded. "I clearly remember being badly injured while fighting Butsuma Senju. But when I woke up in that strange cave..."
"The wounds all over my body had mostly healed."
Jing Xiu reached out and examined Madara's body carefully for quite a while. He even had Madara send a wisp of chakra into his body.
Examining that wisp of chakra internally, Jing Xiu discovered that Madara's chakra seemed somewhat different.
Is this... innate qi? No, it's a little different. It must be what they call natural chakra!
Madara watched the contemplative Jing Xiu as he continued catching fish.
Only after a long while did Jing Xiu speak. "This should be a good thing. Have you heard of senjutsu?"
Splash!
Madara had just caught a fish a meter long, but the moment he heard "senjutsu," he lost focus. The fish seized the chance to slip back into the rushing waters of the Naka River.