HSU: Ch. 299

After the war officially began, the Uchiha clan district became much quieter. Most of the Uchiha ninjas had gone to the battlefield. Those who remained were mostly the elderly, the weak, the sick, or the disabled.

But at this moment, the Uchiha clan district was safer than ever. No one set their sights on this place, because a true powerhouse was here.

As the embodiment of a ninja's power, someone whose name alone could stir up bloodshed and chaos, every move he made was watched with intense interest.

Madara was a very pure Uchiha.

Ordinary Uchiha? As long as they weren't dead, they'd keep pushing themselves to the brink.

Madara? Even death wouldn't stop him from doing that.

Before long, he got bored of rocking in the chair in the backyard of Setsuna's house.

As for the current clan leader of the Uchiha, ever since Madara heard about him from Setsuna, he had no intention of interacting with that person. With his hot temper, he'd probably end up hitting someone. So, he had been staying at Setsuna's house.

Boredom was boredom. Anywhere else would be boring too. After all, Hashirama had gone off to fight in the war.

Madara, who could sit in one spot for decades, was a patient man. There was no one in this shinobi world who could make him lose that patience.

Until one day, Yosuke, who came with the idea of mooching food and drink off Setsuna, brought a friend with him. From a young age, having received teachings from his father, he remembered one thing: You can be greedy, but you can't eat everything by yourself.

But his older sister, Saeko, was very scared of the weird man who always stayed at Setsuna's house. As a result, Yosuke shamefully became a selfish little brat who ate alone. He was very unhappy about this. He wanted to eat together with Setsuna, but the old man said his teeth weren't good enough. So he could only invite that weird Uchiha to eat with him, this way, he also got to play with armor, which was awesome.

The weird Uchiha had a strange expression at the time. So did Setsuna. Later, the weird Uchiha said he wouldn't eat, but he agreed to let Yosuke sit on his lap and eat.

Yosuke felt he shouldn't take advantage of him like that.

After playing a few more times, he finally came up with a great idea. He went to find Sasuke. That way, he wouldn't be eating alone anymore, and he could still enjoy tasty food and play with toys.

Perfect!

But for Sasuke, this was the beginning of his "tragic" days. He remembered that day very clearly.

---

Yosuke, you totally screwed me over!

At this moment, in the training ground, Sasuke was practicing the shuriken handling technique. He had been practicing for a long time.

Time wasn't the issue. But if every time he gave his all and the feedback was something like, "Are you throwing poop?"

That really crushed his spirit.

"What are you doing?" A voice came from behind him.

Crap, he was too slow!

He could almost already picture what kind of "baptism" he was about to receive.

Standing behind him was Madara. He gazed with a complex expression at this child who resembled Izuna far too much. Of course, his expression remained cool and stoic.

"Why did your movements slow down?"

"I'm sorry…"

Though he expected to be scolded harshly, Sasuke didn't hesitate to admit his mistake. But this attitude didn't gain Madara's approval. Instead, Madara frowned.

"I asked why your movements slowed down. Are you used to apologizing so easily?"

Sasuke had always been the bold and fearless type as a kid, but for some reason, this old clan patriarch made him nervous.

"Uh… I got distracted just now…" he answered honestly.

"Why would you get distracted for no reason?" Madara pressed, not letting it go.

He really is like a grandma! Sasuke couldn't help but think.

"It's just that, you were standing behind me watching. I felt uncomfortable."

"If you don't like people standing behind you, then make yourself strong enough that no one can stand behind you," Madara said, his expression softening slightly. "Exploiting others' habits is part of being a ninja. Wanting to be comfortable all the time? That's something you only earn once you're strong enough."

"Oh…" Sasuke nodded, indicating he understood. But his eyes still drifted unconsciously to the side.

"Why are you looking over there?"

At that moment, Madara fully the grumpy parent type. But when he got angry, Sasuke actually didn't feel scared. It reminded him perfectly of the time his mother caught him messing with her calligraphy brush.

"Why is Yosuke allowed to eat?" Sasuke finally couldn't hold it in anymore.

Yosuke had been sitting on the side for over half an hour, happily munching on a bag of roasted peanuts.

Crunching away, smack smack, loudly.

Hearing Sasuke call him, Yosuke looked up, confused, and glanced at the two in the training ground. After thinking for a second, he got it. He hopped off the bench and ran over to Sasuke, panting as he held out the bag.

"Here, you can have some."

"I wasn't asking you for food."

Yosuke blinked, then seemed to realize something. He turned and offered the bag to Madara.

"Here, you can eat."

Yosuke was confident, this time he wouldn't mess it up.

"I'm not eating," Madara said with a stern face. "Call me sensei."

"Huh?"

"Just call me sensei."

Madara felt that today's Uchiha kids were… beyond words. But accepting Yosuke as a student was a must.

On one hand, he was the son of Masashi. On the other, Yosuke's strong appetite had initially made him suspect a medical problem, but after checking… He found that Yosuke had an exceptionally strong life force. Which meant he had extraordinary talent for Yang Release.

Having spent decades underground with the White Zetsu, Madara had developed a deep understanding of physical energy, and he knew just how powerful that kind of energy could be when combined with the Sharingan. He also had a fairly clear view of the current battlefield situation in Konoha. By his estimate, within a month, those small rural villages would be dealt with.

Those who should surrender would surrender. Those who should die would die. At that time, Hashirama and the others would return.

He was extremely patient now. After all these decades, he could easily wait a few more. He hadn't taken Obito's eye, because he believed it should be left for Yosuke.

And for Obito's other eye, a proper battle between the Uchiha and the Hokage faction was inevitable.

That would be when he made his move.

After finishing training Sasuke and watching him flee with Yosuke as if escaping danger, Madara wasn't angry at all. He had already gained a thorough understanding of Sasuke's family situation.

First of all, Sasuke's father was an idiot, his handwriting was atrocious, and the worst part was, he had led Sasuke astray.

Sasuke's mother was a very typical Uchiha woman, nothing particularly notable. Madara, being an old relic from the Warring States period and deeply patriarchal, didn't think much of women, except his own mother, of course. After all, he was a textbook example of a double standard.

But Sasuke's older brother? Absolutely unqualified. All he knew how to do was spoil his brother.

If the father was an idiot, then the older brother was downright brain-dead. What kind of big brother acts like that!?

In short, Sasuke had grown up in a family completely lacking in any kind of competitive pressure.

For an Uchiha to truly grow, both internal and external pressure were essential. Take Madara himself as an example: externally, he had Hashirama as a rival and best friend; internally, he had his younger brother. From Izuna's perspective, the same was true, only his rival was Tobirama. This constant environment of competition helped both Madara and Izuna push themselves to improve day by day.

Sasuke did have a rival, some brat from the Uzumaki clan. But Madara didn't think much of him.

An Uchiha's rival should either be a Senju, or another Uchiha. Anyone else was an outlier.

Looking at Sasuke's youthful and energetic back as he ran off, he thought, This child needs a proper rival.

He might even be the reincarnation of Izuna. He couldn't just stand by and watch him be ruined by his environment. Clearly, it was time to begin his disciple's training in earnest.

For today, he decided to let Sasuke off the hook and not force him to correct his handwriting.

Still, it was puzzling, why couldn't the kid just write properly?

With his Body Flicker Technique, he disappeared from the training ground. The few remaining Uchihas watching from the sidelines also withdrew their envious gazes and began discussing the clan leader's godlike ability to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.

After all, Madara hadn't banned other Uchihas from watching while he trained Sasuke. It was just that there were very few ninjas left in the clan grounds, only a couple of jonin at most. The rest were either retired due to injury or still too young to serve on the front lines.

In the past, such a lineup would have been far too weak to defend the clan grounds. But now that Madara was around, even though no one really knew what he was planning, everyone was sure of one thing, he wouldn't show an ounce of mercy to anyone with ideas about attacking the Uchiha. So despite being nearly empty, the Uchiha clan grounds remained peaceful.

Fugaku even went to the Hokage Building every day without a care in the world, clocked in at the Police Force, and didn't return home until after 9 PM. Coming back early wasn't a good idea anyway, whenever Madara saw him, his eyes and nose practically screamed, "Get lost." He knew full well that the clan leader simply disapproved of his philosophy of leadership, so he made a point of avoiding Madara altogether to keep from getting on his nerves.

As for Madara teaching Sasuke? He wholeheartedly supported it. Of course, he wasn't entirely careless, he'd kept Obito's Mangekyō Sharingan eye safely stored away.

When Madara next appeared, he was already outside Setsuna's house. Hands behind his back, he leapt into the backyard.

Knock on the door? Not a chance. Ever since his falling out with Hashirama, he only blew doors open.

After landing in the courtyard, he walked straight over to the reclining chair, sat down like he owned the place, and started rocking back and forth comfortably. The rhythmic creaking sounds of the rocking chair began to echo through the backyard.

---

Inside the house, Setsuna immediately recognized the sound, it meant Madara was back. He hurriedly dashed out of the room and headed straight for the backyard. Just as he rushed into the courtyard, coincidentally, Black Zetsu also emerged from the ground.

The entire process of Obito being captured, detained, and executed had happened quickly, and Black Zetsu hadn't managed to retrieve Obito's Mangekyō Sharingan in time. There was no helping it, this was Konoha, and he didn't act recklessly under the noses of the Senju brothers.

Now that the major players were all out fighting, he figured it was finally time to figure out who had possession of Obito's Mangekyō Sharingan. Today, he had finally confirmed the answer and came to report to Madara.

But as soon as he surfaced, a large foot came flying straight at him. Out of habit, he was about to knock the attacker down, but before he could make a move, he recognized who it was.

So he took the kick to the face. He had no choice, the attacker was Setsuna, one of the very few people in the village whom Madara still cared about.

"Oww!"

Setsuna felt his foot smash into something and almost stumbled. He quickly regained his balance with his agile body and looked down.

"It's you."

"Easy there," Black Zetsu grumbled. "Watch where you're going when you're in such a rush."

"Got it," Setsuna replied with a beaming smile.

Seriously, who randomly pops in and out of the ground like that? Would walking like a normal person kill you?

Well, he couldn't say that, this was Madara's will incarnate, after all.

As he had grown older, his temper had grown more explosive. He only acted kind in front of children. And in front of Madara, that was the one person he respected the most.

Madara's will incarnate? That counted as half a person worth respecting.

Watching Black Zetsu sprint toward Madara, his mind drifted with thoughts.

He knew all too well about the shady dealings between Black Zetsu and Obito. Fugaku and Masashi hadn't kept him in the dark about any of it. But he had never brought it up in front of Madara. He was very satisfied with the current state of the Uchiha clan and firmly believed that the younger generation, led by Masashi, would protect the clan and ensure a safe future for the next generation. As for this "will incarnate" business, it was probably just some kind of ninjutsu. After all, once it developed its own will, going off-track wasn't that surprising.

There was no way Madara would ever harm the Uchiha clan.

---

In the backyard, Black Zetsu came to a stop beside Madara.

Madara, still rocking in his chair, opened his eyes and looked at it.

"One of Obito's eyes was taken by Fugaku. The other is still with Kakashi. Many in the village think Kakashi shouldn't be expected to give it up, considering how many years it's been…"

Black Zetsu reported everything he had found out.

After listening to the report, Madara waved his hand at Black Zetsu, signaling that he could leave.

Without another word, Black Zetsu burrowed back into the ground.