The Witcher - As Uchiha Madara! - Chapter 155 - A Small Talk.

[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]
Third Person POV

Northern kingdoms.

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...

Madara entered the hideout, being confronted by the griffin appearing in front of him, while Ciri followed closely, her green eyes fixed on him as intently as she could manage.
“You’ve arrived!” she exclaimed cheerfully, knowing he had been fine all along since she had seen him in her dreams meditating and training his chakra control in that cave.

“...” Madara nodded, patting Toto’s head as he walked in, passing by Ciri, who stared at him the entire time, studying him, wanting to question him immediately but restraining herself.

Madara touched her shoulder and gave her a smile as footsteps followed. Yennefer appeared, her intense eyes fixed on him, while Madara stared back with his dark eyes. She seemed hesitant.

“You’re okay... the war,” she said, unable to finish her sentence.

“The war is over... that’s all that matters,” was all Madara said, as though making it clear he wasn’t interested in discussing details.

Geralt appeared shortly afterward, silently observing the boy.
“You can’t just say that… that… it’s impossible to ignore... Everyone saw what happened... were you that giant blue figure? What kind of power was that… you killed more than 100,000 people…” Yennefer voiced all her thoughts, but no longer with the arrogance she used to have. If she claimed not to be afraid of Madara... she’d be lying.

Who in their right mind wouldn’t fear him after what happened? The power he displayed was beyond anything anyone else could achieve.

Ciri, without realizing it, stood agape upon hearing Yennefer’s words, while Geralt’s expression turned grim. He swallowed hard, looking at the boy, trying to see the monster within.

“That doesn’t matter now…” Madara replied, shrugging.

“Of course it matters... There will be a meeting among all the northern kings and the chapter of mages... you know you’ll become a target across the continent...” Yennefer said seriously.

“Maybe... but it’s not like I’ll be wandering around for a while... and even if they try to find me... they should know what I’m capable of.” Madara’s tone was firm.

“...” Yennefer still seemed unsure of what to make of the situation, but she sighed before continuing.
“You don’t seem to care about being hunted, do you? What do you plan to do now?” she asked.

“Go to the far north... Kaer Morhen was my initial goal, but I’m not sure, judging by Geralt’s look, if I’ll be welcome there,” Madara replied, shifting his gaze from the sorceress to the witcher.

“I don’t think Vesemir will allow that after what Yen just said,” Geralt stated in a neutral tone, visibly hesitant upon hearing of the mass killing.

“What?!” Ciri immediately protested.

“He shouldn’t do that...” Yennefer remarked, looking at Geralt.

“You can’t blame him... Vesemir is a reserved person... and he remembers well when Kaer Morhen was attacked many years ago... you can’t fault him for wanting to avoid another war at Kaer Morhen’s gates,” Geralt explained.

“Ciri was with me, and everyone knows that, so even she won’t be able to go to Kaer Morhen...” Madara replied, pointing out that they would search for her.

“...” Geralt did not respond, his serious expression deepening.

“But no one knows the children go to Kaer Morhen... Geralt... Ciri needs a place to stay, doesn’t she? And Madara can protect her... If we manage to keep it a secret that Madara is at Kaer Morhen, we can avoid a conflict for years...” Yennefer said in a softer tone, while Madara looked at her, slightly surprised by the sorceress’s effort to defend him.

“I’ll stay with Madara... No matter where he goes,” Ciri declared, unconcerned about the revelation that Madara had killed 100,000 people. Though she didn’t fully understand what had happened, she had no desire to part from her friend.

“...” Geralt seemed to be pondering, cornered by the situation. There was Ciri, and he had decided to embrace his destiny.
“I don’t think Vesemir will have a problem with you going to Kaer Morhen... we can talk to him,” he finally said.

“Anyway… I need a bath and a bed,” Madara simply said, starting to walk. After all the chaos, he was filthy and sweaty, needing to finally relax after the war.

Everyone watched as the boy walked past Yennefer and Geralt, heading to a part of the hideout with an underground waterfall, the same place Ciri would use to bathe when she was here alone.

The three of them watched Madara move away as Ciri stroked Toto, gently petting his head.

“I suppose I’ll organize my things then,” Yennefer sighed and walked off to clean up the mess she had made.

Geralt remained silent but also began to retreat, returning to his meditation. He tried to process what he had heard, questioning whether he had made the right decision. It seemed more plausible than anything else at the moment.

Ciri didn’t intend to interrupt Madara’s bath, so she went to Yennefer, who was beginning to tidy up the mess she had created while trying to use spells to locate Madara.

“What did you mean when you said he killed 100,000 people?” she asked, without hesitation, watching Yennefer. Even Geralt, a few meters away, glanced at them, curious to hear what Yennefer had been withholding for so many days.

“I’m saying your friend is very, very dangerous. More than anyone could imagine.” Yennefer sighed, still wrestling with conflicting thoughts. For a moment, she lost herself in her memories, recalling the scene of the giant raising his sword to cut through the battlefield and destroy two distant mountains.

‘I felt nothing of the energy of chaos, yet there’s such power in that boy…’ she thought.
‘I want to build a world where there is no pain, a world without tragedies or wars.’ Once more, the words she had glimpsed in Geralt’s mind resurfaced unconsciously. ‘Maybe he really can do that with such power,’ she concluded.

“Madara isn’t dangerous!” Ciri murmured in protest, but Yennefer responded with a faint smile.

“Perhaps he isn’t dangerous to you. However, for the kings and queens of the continent, he has become—or will become—a threat once they hear what happened at Sodden Hill. Something like him shouldn’t exist in this world, and everyone will fear his power...” Yennefer stated seriously, her smile fading as she delivered the second part.

“I don’t care about others. To me, Madara is Madara!” Ciri protested again, firmly crossing her arms with a small pout.

“I’m sure he is, but that won’t change what others think of him... Still, know that you’re in a position many would envy. Not only will people want to kill Madara, but some will desire his power. And even… something more,” Yennefer added cryptically.

Ciri didn’t fully understand what she meant, but she frowned, puzzled by her words.

Meanwhile, Madara was relaxing under the waterfall, submerged in the small stream, the current flowing around him. He reflected on his own concerns and the future.

He pondered whether Kaer Morhen was the best place for him to stay, carefully analyzing his situation. He knew he would have to maintain a low profile from then on. It seemed wise to let people forget about him over time. After all, most would dismiss what happened at Sodden Hill as a myth or an exaggeration, while the witnesses who had been there would forever be marked by the sight of his destruction, unable to fully comprehend what it meant.

“Maybe I should travel across the continent, take on jobs here and there, even as a witcher…” he thought. “But that will have to wait. For now, I need to train over the next few years to become even stronger.”

He knew there were still things in this world—and beyond—that could threaten him. Demons, a member of the Otsutsuki clan, which wasn’t so unusual considering they came from space, and the dimension of limbo—these were challenges he would inevitably have to face sooner or later.

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw the griffin, which walked heavily toward the water at the entrance of the waterfall, separated by a wall from the rest of the hideout. Madara looked at it, and the griffin, in turn, stared back at him curiously. From this perspective, it seemed like a domestic pet, and Madara would be its owner.

The griffin approached the water’s edge beside Madara and simply leapt in, its body colliding with the water and splashing droplets everywhere. Madara had to turn his face away to avoid them.

When he turned back, he saw the griffin raising its head in the water. Madara observed the scene with a narrow-eyed gaze.
“He’s playing like a child… Ciri must have taught him these bad habits,” Madara thought, concluding that Ciri had been instilling some mannerisms in the creature while staying here with it.

After a while, he returned to another part of the hideout, pulling out an entire bed from his scroll to rest. It was his personal bed from his days as a noble, and the three others watched him intently.

“I’m going to rest for a while; we’ll continue our conversations later…” he announced. After all, it had been weeks since he’d last slept in a bed, ever since his journey through the mountains of Sodden Hill, battling grotesque creatures, shinobi, and a war had consumed his time.

No one disturbed him, and he slept peacefully for at least six hours, waking up in the mid-afternoon. As soon as he opened his eyes, he heard Ciri’s voice. She was wearing her training outfit and holding a steel sword.

“You’re finally awake!” she said in an animated tone.

Madara rose slowly and observed her, but Ciri continued:
“I set aside some food for you. It just needs to be heated, but I don’t think that’ll be a problem for you,” she said.

“Thank you,” he replied with a nod, picking up the food beside the bed. Without hesitation, he released a small flame from his mouth to warm it.

Geralt, who was nearby, gave him a suspicious look, finding Madara’s action bizarre. His expression seemed to question, ‘How can he breathe fire like that?’ but he remained silent.

Yennefer sat in a corner, reading a book. Though she noticed Madara was awake, she chose not to comment. Even the griffin lay calmly near the group, completely relaxed.

While eating the meal Ciri had prepared, Madara looked at her and asked:
“How has your training been going?”

Ciri grinned mischievously before answering.
“I’m getting much stronger and better at knife-throwing, but I still can’t unlock the powers you say I have. After all, it’s really hard to train here alone.” She paused and then asked excitedly, “Could you help me a bit? Maybe create a clone for me to practice with?”

Madara nodded and made a hand sign, summoning a shadow clone in a puff of smoke. The clone immediately knew what to do, and Ciri smiled excitedly as she moved to the center of the area to train with it, grabbing a sword before they began sparring.

Meanwhile, Geralt watched the interaction between the two, raising an eyebrow as he saw Ciri attacking the clone, which effortlessly defended and countered her strikes. He remained silent, observing.

Madara continued eating his meal by the bedside. He knew that soon it would be necessary to have a longer conversation about the future with the others. While the entire continent grew increasingly restless as news spread to every corner, the four of them remained hidden in the refuge.