"Kid, you're a pretty good cook." Madara Uchiha ate the grilled fish he had taken from Xue Ge, clicking his tongue in admiration between bites.
Xue Ge had no complaints about Madara Uchiha shamelessly stealing his food. He simply picked up another fish to grill.
Keeping someone happy made them less likely to stab you.
"Who taught you to cook like this? Which clan are you from?"
"I figured it out myself."
"Hm?" "I didn't have much good food to eat before, so I'd catch fish in the river and grill them."
"Because of the war?" "..."
Xue Ge didn't know how to answer. He had only done it for a change of flavor and a little amusement while working in poverty relief.
But Madara Uchiha went ahead and settled on his own explanation. "That's nothing unusual for a war orphan. When I was little, I even caught frogs and ate them raw. There was nothing else to eat."
"Which village are you a ninja from?"
"..." For once, Madara Uchiha fell silent for a moment.
Perhaps he should have said he used to be a Konoha ninja... but was he really a rogue ninja? Sometimes he asked himself that question, too. Was he a rogue ninja of Konoha, or the Shura of the Warring States?
What did Konoha really mean to me? Heh, heh, heh...
"I'm just a man with nowhere to call home. None of that matters." Madara Uchiha waved a hand, then wolfed down the fish and held his hand out to Xue Ge.
"It's not done yet, and I need to eat, too." Xue Ge glanced at Madara. "Can't you cook?"
"Of course I can. Who grilled yours just now? I just can't usually be bothered with all this fuss. It's a waste of time," Madara said bluntly. "Hurry up and grill it for me. I'll teach you a few Ninjutsu."
"..." Xue Ge gave Madara a strange look.
"Hm? What's that look for? Don't tell me you're worried I'll teach you something like the Three Body Technique?" Madara frowned. "Do I look that shameless?"
"..." Xue Ge fell silent for a moment. "I have Wind Release and Lightning Release chakra."
"Hmm... Wind Release and Lightning Release. That's a little troublesome."
Madara raised an eyebrow. It wasn't that he couldn't use them, but they certainly weren't his specialties. When it came to Ninjutsu, he was almost exclusively a Fire Release specialist.
"Then will you learn Genjutsu?" "...My body's impaired. I can't." "Hm? A little disability like that is enough to stop you? What a weakling." "..."
Xue Ge mostly let the foul-tempered old man's words go in one ear and out the other.
"...At least argue back. You're just going to agree? Hey?" Madara covered his face, unable to bear the sight. "As expected, children living in a false peace are all this stupid."
Silence settled over them again.
After glancing at the somewhat listless Madara and considering it for a moment, Xue Ge decided to bring up a topic himself.
"...What do you mean by false peace?"
"Hmph. Finally speaking up on your own. You're not quite a corpse yet." After his habitual insult, Madara expressed considerable displeasure at Xue Ge's question. "You're a war orphan, and you still need to ask me what false peace is? Isn't the peace we have now false?"
"Has there ever been peace?" Xue Ge's flat question immediately made Madara straighten his back.
He stared intently at Xue Ge. "What did you say?"
"...Has there ever been peace?" "Say that again." "...?"
Xue Ge stopped what he was doing and looked at Madara in confusion. "I said... has there ever actually been peace?"
Honestly, from Xue Ge's perspective, could a world where ninja openly went out on assassination missions from time to time, and where ninja from different nations could legally fight one another, really be called peaceful?
Konoha was indeed peaceful, but that was only Konoha.
"...Heh, heh, heh... heh, hahahaha!" Madara burst out laughing. "Exactly! Kid, you're much smarter than those fools who are content with the way things are!"
"What we have now isn't peace at all. That so-called peace was nothing but Hashirama's wishful thinking! The Five Great Nations coexisting peacefully? Complete bullshit! The consensus needed for peace can never be achieved through compromise! That idiot Hashirama understood none of this!"
"You... knew the First Hokage well?" Xue Ge guessed that the Hashirama this man mentioned must be the First Hokage.
"Well? Of course I knew him well. We were sworn enemies!" Madara said bitterly. "For the sake of a false peace, he abandoned our true dream and even betrayed his closest friend... Hashirama..."
At the mention of Hashirama, Madara's agitation cooled. He clenched his fist and let out a long breath.
Looks like Shura had quite a grudge against Hashirama. Did the First Hokage often make enemies outside the village back then?
Xue Ge watched Madara's reaction and silently speculated.
"Hmph, forget it. Let's stop talking about that idiot. Kid, tell me why you think the Shinobi World isn't peaceful now. It should have been a while since the Great Ninja War ended."
...Does the absence of a Great Ninja War count as peace?
Xue Ge felt that the other man's worldview seemed a little different from his own-or perhaps his own worldview was finally beginning to diverge from the beliefs of this world.
"The balance between the Five Great Nations is just a matter of weighing gains against losses," Xue Ge said, tentatively offering his thoughts. "Maintaining the status quo benefits them right now, so there's no Great Ninja War. I don't think that's peace."
"Yes! Yes! You're absolutely right!" Madara almost wanted to applaud Xue Ge. Here was an heir to his ideals!
Until the day he died, Hashirama never realized that the peace during his lifetime came from his strength alone. Yet he refused to believe me. Of course he did. He lacked the eye that could see the truth.
So leave our childhood dream to me, Hashirama.
Madara looked at Xue Ge, growing even more certain that this boy was connected to the prophecy. Even if he wasn't the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, he was surely someone connected to the so-called "all things in creation." Otherwise, how could a six-year-old brat reason so clearly?
Most brats his age were still thinking about romance. Many people never understood matters of war and peace even by the time they died.
With so many coincidences coming together, Madara was increasingly certain that this boy would be a key part of his path toward realizing his dream.
"Then let me ask you, kid. What do you think it would take to achieve true peace?" Madara looked eagerly at Xue Ge.
Xue Ge's expression darkened slightly. Why was he getting even more carried away?
Asking a little kid how to achieve true peace-are you sure your brain still works properly? No, this Shura looked unhinged from the start, muttering about some Demonic Statue of the Outer Path... There really does seem to be something wrong with his head. Have I
run into a cultist?
At a loss over Madara's question, Xue Ge searched his mind for a long while before finally shaking his head.
He wasn't capable of answering an ultimate question like that.
Madara was a little disappointed, but not too discouraged. He hadn't expected to get the answer directly from Xue Ge in the first place. Perhaps when the prophecy's so-called "all things in creation" appeared, he would naturally understand how to achieve true peace.