HSU: Ch. 280

Even in the shinobi world, there were people known as "squinty-eyed weirdos."

Madara never squinted. The Uchiha clan, known for using the Sharingan, were typically wide-eyed warriors. But at this very moment, he felt the urge to squint.

This child wasn't afraid of him?

Impossible.

Ever since he asserted his dominance in the shinobi world, everyone feared him, except for the idiot standing next to him. This fear had nothing to do with like or dislike, it was an instinctive reaction that came from a massive disparity in power.

Chakra users were like an entirely different species compared to ordinary people. But even among chakra users, the gap between individuals could be vast.

Don't ask why, just grind like your life depends on it.

Suddenly, he looked toward another child.

That little girl named Saeko, unlike Yosuke, she clearly didn't have the same courage. When she saw Madara looking at her, she shrank back behind Hikari in fear.

He was pleased.

Good. That's the normal reaction. So it's not his problem—it's...

He turned his gaze back to Yosuke, who still stared back at him with confused eyes.

He felt that… Something was definitely off here!

"What's your name?" Madara asked.

But Yosuke had already lost interest in him. Reluctantly, he stood on tiptoes and touched Madara's plated skirt armor one more time, letting out a satisfied sigh. Then he turned around and skipped back to Hikari.

"Mom, I'm hungry," he said, looking up at her expectantly. In his world, he had two mothers, and he didn't think there was anything strange about that. Even if someone told him most people only had one mom, he'd probably just feel that having two made him even more awesome.

Hikari understood what he meant. He wanted to go to Setsuna's house now, for cake. Because every time, Setsuna would prepare his favorite flavor. The problem was... well, understanding was one thing, but she didn't dare leave right now. So she quickly grabbed Yosuke's hand again, and gently led both children to the side of the road to respectfully make way for the two great figures.

But she had already missed the perfect moment to step aside.

Now, it was Madara who didn't want to move.

He walked step by step over to Hikari, or rather, to Yosuke.

He glared, but Yosuke's head was filled with images of Setsuna's wrinkled face and hands holding a cake.

His craving was intense.

The more he thought about it, the hungrier he got. His face was glowing with joy.

Madara never had he been ignored like this. This child… was very special, and he had always taken interest in discovering special talent. Of course, he wasn't going to take offense at being ignored by Yosuke.

"You said you recently joined the Uchiha clan?" he turned his gaze back to the woman in front of him. "How many years has it been?"

"Ten years," Hikari replied shyly. "My husband is a very good man. Because of him, I had this opportunity."

Ten years? And that still counted as recently joined?

Madara and Hashirama both started questioning themselves.

Was the generational gap between them and the people of this era already that big?

"Who is your husband?" he asked. He wasn't really interested in the answer, but he needed to keep the conversation going, because he was interested in the child.

"My husband is Masashi," Hikari replied timidly. She hoped these two powerful figures would go easy on her for Masashi's sake.

Surely they'd know who Masashi was, right? Even though she wasn't involved in the shinobi world, she knew that Masashi was a big name in the ninja community, especially in Konoha.

As expected, she saw a change in the expressions of the two legendary figures. But… it wasn't quite the reaction she had imagined?

"Hahahaha!" Madara suddenly burst into loud laughter.

Hashirama hadn't expected to hear Masashi's name here either. He felt a bit nostalgic, but Madara's sudden laughter struck him as way too loud.

"Hey! Madara! You're laughing too loudly, you're disturbing others!"

Madara's laughter cut off instantly. Expressionless, he turned his head to glare at Hashirama, who was glaring back with complete self-righteousness. Knowing Hashirama's personality, he decided to act like he didn't exist.

He turned his gaze back to Yosuke.

"Kid, become my student!" Madara declared.

Hashirama was stunned on the spot. In all of his memory, Madara had never taken a student. It was not that he didn't teach others, he simply never formally took a student.

Hikari was also completely shocked.

Could she maybe sit in on the classes too? Sure, she was way over the age limit, but she still felt like she could maybe keep up.

Of course, she was joking.

She snapped herself out of her wild thoughts and quickly bowed.

"I'm sorry, but if Yosuke is to become someone's student, his father will have to decide."

"No problem. You said your husband is Masashi? Perfect. I get along very well with him. I'll speak to him directly about this," Madara said. He was clearly itching to laugh again, but knowing that Hashirama was right next to him, he held it in.

He gave Yosuke, who still had no idea what was going on, a deep, meaningful look, then turned and walked away. But he didn't head toward the Hokage Building. Instead, he made his way toward Setsuna's home.

Hashirama glanced back but didn't immediately follow. After all, Madara wasn't going to pick a fight with Tobirama and Muzo again. A potentially dangerous situation had, thanks to his efforts, passed without incident!

Well… the kid had helped, too.

He gave Hikari a warm smile.

"Did we scare you earlier?" he said with feeling. "Your child is very brave. This is the first time I've seen a kid who wasn't scared to tears by Madara."

"I'm really sorry. He's been bold since he was little, and he still doesn't know any better." Hikari blushed deep red. She was the one who had nearly cried from fright.

As for Yosuke… He was already growing impatient because she still wasn't taking him to Setsuna's for cake.

He kept tugging her hand.

"Oh, he's really in a hurry," Hashirama said with a chuckle as he reached out to pat Yosuke's head. "So, your name is Yosuke, huh? I'm Hashirama. Nice to meet you!"

He really liked this tough, round-faced child. Even though Yosuke had seemed to do nothing earlier, he had been watching carefully the whole time, he would never have let any harm come to this mother and son.

Madara probably sensed that, too. That was likely why he didn't lose his temper.

However, despite Hashirama's kindness, Yosuke was not pleased. He did not like people patting his head. Any other Konoha kid would've been thrilled to be patted by the God of Shinobi, but not him.

Because he saw himself as a grown-up.

Kids had to share one cake among many. But he? He could eat two cakes by himself.

How could a grown-up let someone ruffle his hair? So he shook his head wildly, trying to dodge the pat.

But in Hashirama's eyes, this was the child acting playfully with him, so he gave him a thorough head rub, believing he was meeting the boy's "expectations."

After giving Yosuke a few more affectionate pats, he finally pulled his hand back and turned to Hikari.

"All right, I'll go catch up to Madara now. Can't let his temper get the better of him and start something. See you around!"

With that, he, too, headed toward Setsuna's home.

---

After seeing Madara and Hashirama jump over the wall one after the other, Setsuna began cleaning up the backyard.

His intentions were simple, he wanted to create a clean environment for when Madara returned, likely exhausted from his fun.

As he swept, he reached the area near the lounge chair. Remembering how much Madara liked that chair, he put his broom aside and began inspecting it.

To be honest, Madara had rocked that chair so much that it creaked constantly. That old thing really wasn't built to endure such abuse.

What if it suddenly gave way and he ended up flat on the ground?

He was getting old, and his eyesight wasn't what it used to be. He didn't quite trust the quality of the lounge chair, so he squatted down to take a closer look.

But he had started cleaning too early.

Just as he squatted down, Madara jumped back over the wall and returned. As soon as he landed in the courtyard, he saw the Setsuna squatting there, fiddling with the chair like a young man. Madara was momentarily stunned. He could see through most of Setsuna's thoughts, at his age, Setsuna didn't have many pursuits left in life. He just didn't want to have any regrets.

If he could reunite with old friends, he'd be even happier.

He felt that Setsuna needed to come to terms with his age.

That kind of move, squatting like that, could throw his back out. Back when he himself was old, Obito made him so angry his blood pressure skyrocketed, but he still had to hold it in. Otherwise, one wrong move and he might've died on the spot.

"Setsuna," Madara walked over, "what are you doing?"

"Madara-sama?" Setsuna turned around, a bit surprised. "I thought you had gone out for business, so I was checking the chair."

On the one hand, he had been so focused on inspecting the chair that he hadn't noticed Madara had returned.

On the other hand, he didn't expect Madara to be back so soon.

"No rush. I can take care of business anytime. I met an interesting kid. Stop checking that thing, come and sit," Madara said with a smile, and formed the Ram seal with his hands.

The ground in front of him rose, and wooden slats burst out, assembling into two lounge chairs. He hadn't rocked that chair for nothing, he was now very familiar with its structure. And he was quite sure that old chair was ready for retirement. He casually picked one and laid down on it, then beckoned to Setsuna and pointed to the chair beside him.

Faced with Madara's invitation, Setsuna wasn't just flattered, he was stunned.

"You've learned Wood Release?"

Though he had once joked that if Masashi could learn Tobirama's Water Release, he might as well learn Hashirama's Wood Release, he was well aware of how high the bar was for that technique. Otherwise, why would Konoha have conducted all those Wood Release experiments?

Even among the Senju clan, there wasn't a second person who could use it back in the day.

"Mm." Madara grunted, "Just a petty trick."

Without saying another word, Setsuna gave a big thumbs-up. When it came to showing off, Madara did it best.

But… sitting side-by-side with Madara?

In the past, no one in the Uchiha clan would have even dared to think of such a thing. Let alone sitting beside him, even standing behind him was a privilege only Izuna enjoyed.

"We're both old men now, no need to be so particular," Madara said.

"Y-Yes… of course…" Setsuna's face turned red, and he cautiously walked over to the new lounge chair, then slowly sat down with a raised backside. As he leaned back, he felt like he had reached the peak of his life, he had no more regrets.

"You said you met an interesting kid?"

"Yes," Madara smiled. "I've decided, before I leave, I'm going to take him as my student."

"Oh? For you to be so impressed? Whose child is it?" Setsuna asked, full of curiosity.

If Madara were alive and decided to take on a student, it would be a major event. But since he was currently in Edo Tensei form and would eventually be released, it wouldn't cause such a stir.

A formal mentor-student relationship among ninjas was a long-term commitment. Students were typically taken in before the age of five, started formal training at five, and for the next ten years or so, would follow their teacher in both training and combat. A teacher wasn't just responsible for the student's development in ninjutsu, but also their daily life.

But a reanimated being obviously couldn't fulfill those duties.

Ever since this jutsu was invented, no Edo Tensei subjects had stayed in the living world for such an extended period.

Still, for someone to be worthy of Madara personally expressing interest, the child must be extremely talented, and deserved special allocation of clan resources. Giving extra support to gifted young ones during their foundational stage was a consistent policy across all ninja clans.

"You should know him, he's Masashi's son," Madara said. The more he thought about it, the more he felt confident about his decision. The best assistant, after all, was one personally raised from scratch. Otherwise, Obito was a perfect cautionary tale.

By the time he found Obito, he was already a chunin, the most critical formative phase had passed. He could only guide him based on Obito's existing personality and beliefs. But the underlying foundation was already set. And clearly, that didn't go well.

Despite having passed down all the Uchiha clan's techniques to him, Obito still turned out like that.

Some people become ninjas through their jutsu.

Some through intelligence.

And some just act on instinct.

Those who rely on jutsu alone, that was the lowest tier. And unfortunately, in his eyes, Obito belonged exactly to that category.

After this whole Edo Tensei experience, he had made up his mind: even if it meant delaying his plans, he would no longer tolerate any more unpredictable outcomes. If he continued to entrust things to Obito, then the Eye of the Moon Plan, the strategy he had long suppressed his true self in the shadows to prepare for, would be ruined.

It wasn't even impossible that the whole shinobi world might learn of it before the plan ever began.

Black Zetsu wanted him to personally win over Masashi, to that, he had no clear response.

As a manifestation of his will, Black Zetsu completely didn't understand the Uchiha. The only thing that could truly move an Uchiha was emotion.

Given Masashi's strength and everything he had done over the years, Madara could say with certainty: this man's heart could never be twisted.

He was nothing like the Obito of the past. But, if it was his child, then that would be different.

He just needed to act before Masashi realized what was happening. Strike first and take the initiative. The war between Konoha and the other villages would be the perfect opportunity.

He would definitely be on the battlefield.

And he would gain the best successor.

A smile spread across his face.

---

Meanwhile, about three streets away from Setsuna's home, Muzo had brought Tsunade into the Uchiha district.

In Konoha, aside from a few Hokage, the only person who was, in theory, allowed unrestricted access everywhere, was probably Tsunade.

"You should smile more," Muzo said cheerfully.

"Why did you bring me here?" Tsunade asked gloomily. Ever since she had become a student of Hiruzen, she hadn't stepped into Uchiha territory again.

Muzo laughed heartily. "You're too aloof, that's why you don't have enough friends. Don't worry, your I'm good at this. I'll help you find a reliable brother figure, someone who can support you in the future, and you support him. Face difficulties together."