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Xuan looked at Madara in surprise. He hadn't expected a six-year-old child to already be considering these things. He could only say, As expected of Uchiha Madara.
After Uchiha Tajima's speech concluded, all the clansmen marched directly to the battlefield. Just as he had said, blood debts must be paid in blood.
The Senju and Hyuga clans clearly hadn't expected the Uchiha's retaliation to come so quickly and fiercely. Caught off guard, their frontlines completely collapsed.
Inside Uchiha Xuan's small cabin, Xuan sat alone, cross-legged at his desk. Even after transmigrating for so long, he still wasn't used to the traditional kneeling posture here.
Spread out before him was a large map. The red arrows representing the Uchiha clan had thrust viciously into Senju territory, tearing open a massive gap.
Xuan tapped his fingers rhythmically against the desk, considering the shifting tides of the battlefield.
If Xuan were in command right now, he would absolutely feign a decisive, all-out battle with the Senju. He would leave behind mostly Chūnin and Genin as a deterrent to keep the Senju from acting rashly, while secretly dispatching all of his elite Jōnin to launch a surprise attack on the Hyuga clan. The goal would be to completely cripple the Hyuga within three days.
The advantage of this strategy was twofold: not only would it sever one of the Senju clan's arms, but it would also serve as a bloody warning to other ninja clans—this is what happens if you dare to side with the Senju.
With their external support eliminated, the Senju clan's overall strength would fall back to the same level as the Uchiha's. Combined with the first-strike advantage the Uchiha currently held, they would inevitably seize total control of the battlefield. By then, whether to fight or to make peace would be entirely up to them.
Rolling up the map and putting it away, Uchiha Xuan shook his head and stood up to head outside. These were just his idle thoughts; it wasn't his place to make decisions. The only right path was to increase his own strength. As long as he could reach the heights that Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara would achieve in the future, the concept of a "clan" was nothing but a joke.
However, the war did not develop according to Uchiha Xuan's vision.
The people of this era seemed to possess only a single brain cell; all they knew was head-on collision. Uchiha Tajima, in particular, was a total brute. He might have been a good ninja, but he was absolutely not a good leader.
He chose to clash with the Senju head-on while diverting a portion of his ninjas to defend against the Hyuga. He wanted to crush the strongest threat—the Senju—first, and then turn around to clean up the other clans.
The result was obvious. The Senju were not an easy bone to chew. They mobilized all the ninjas in their clan and blocked wave after wave of the Uchiha's assaults. On the other side, the Hyuga clan frantically attacked the Uchiha's defensive lines, trying to enter the main battlefield to join forces with the Senju and encircle the Uchiha.
The three clans turned the battlefield into a chaotic mess. No one was willing to back down, and they ended up locked in a brutal stalemate for two whole years.
Time flew by, and two years passed in the blink of an eye.
During these two years, Uchiha Xuan focused entirely on improving his strength without any distractions. He read through a massive number of Uchiha clan Jutsu scrolls, and his power advanced by leaps and bounds. Among the new generation of Uchiha, almost everyone had been thrashed by him at least once. Even Izuna, who used to be roughly on par with him, couldn't last more than five moves against him now.
Except for... Uchiha Madara.
When it came to Uchiha Madara, Xuan truly didn't know what to say. He had originally thought that even without the System, his talent of awakening the Sharingan at age one would make him the number one genius in the history of the Uchiha clan.
But no matter how fast he improved, during his spars with Uchiha Madara—without using his Sharingan—he could only manage to fight to a draw. In fact, in some aspects, he was even slightly inferior.
Faced with this reality, Xuan could only sigh in admiration. As expected of Indra's reincarnate.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
Within the training grounds of the Uchiha clan compound, two massive spheres of fire collided, erupting into a thick cloud of smoke.
Two young figures moved rapidly through the dense fog, accompanied by the sharp clashing of kunai. Their movements were incredibly fast, and their Taijutsu was exceptionally skilled. They simply didn't look like children who possessed the strength appropriate for their age.
On the edge of the training grounds, a group of Uchiha children, mostly around five or six years old, watched the field with excitement, shouting cheers—though it was unclear exactly who they were cheering for.
Bang, bang... Clack, clack...
The smoke cleared slightly. Following the sound of clashing weapons, the two figures were revealed. It was Uchiha Xuan and Uchiha Madara.
"You've improved really fast, Xuan! To think you can fight me to this extent!" Madara praised mid-combat. With a flick of his left hand, a dense swarm of shuriken shot out.
Xuan's figure blurred, turning into a black shadow as he dodged every single shuriken. He rolled his eyes internally. That's because I'm afraid of scaring you guys, so I haven't activated my Sharingan. Otherwise, I'd beat you down in minutes.
Though he thought this, his hands moved in a completely different pattern. He completed a one-handed seal within a second. "Watch out. Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"
Nine shuriken were launched in rapid succession, automatically igniting with Chakra flames. They flew toward Uchiha Madara from multiple directions.
"A one-handed seal! Did you see that? It's Lord Xuan's signature one-handed seal! So handsome!"
Several four- and five-year-old Uchiha girls stared at Uchiha Xuan with faces full of worship. This world worshipped the strong, and as one of the two strongest in his generation, Xuan naturally attracted his fair share of admirers.
"A bunch of ignorant little girls! My big brother is the strongest!" Uchiha Izuna roared, his face flushed with anger. These boy-crazy idiots. So what if Uchiha Xuan is a little better looking? When it comes to sheer presence, how can he compare to my brother?
The flames instantly surrounded Madara. Even in this situation, Madara remained abnormally calm. He spun like a top, dodging seven of the fiery projectiles in a row. Facing the final two, he released the kunai in his hand. With two sharp clinks, he knocked them out of the air.
"Heh!" A profound smirk tugged at the corner of Xuan's mouth. Uchiha Madara's heart jumped. He suddenly felt a searing heat behind him, but he didn't even have time to react. With a boom, he was swallowed by seven Phoenix Flowers.
"Big brother...!" Izuna cried out, his eyes filled with worry.
"Ha! The Phoenix Flower Jutsu—as long as your Chakra control is high enough, you can autonomously alter the trajectory of the flames." Xuan's tone carried a hint of smugness. After all, his opponent was Uchiha Madara, a future god-tier figure of the ninja world.
However, his smugness didn't last long. When the Madara within the flames vanished with a poof, turning into a log of wood, Xuan's smile froze on his face.
"Substitution Jutsu! When?!"
"Beautifully done, Big Brother!" On the sidelines, Izuna was thrilled, roaring his support. Not only that, but he also shot a provocative glare at the group of girls.
"People are usually at their most careless when they are the most smug. You lose, Xuan!"
Uchiha Madara's voice rang out from behind Xuan, and almost simultaneously, a kunai was pressed against his neck.
"Lord Xuan...!" The group of little girls outside the ring cried out in worry.
"Are you still not going to surrender?" Even with a kunai to his throat, Xuan showed no signs of yielding. Uchiha Madara found it strange; as far as he knew, Xuan wasn't the type to hold on stubbornly to a lost cause.
"Surrender? Are you joking?"
Xuan's calm voice echoed out—shockingly, it came from behind Uchiha Madara! At the exact same moment, the Xuan standing in front of Madara vanished in a puff of white smoke.
"A Clone Jutsu? When did he weave the signs?!"
While Madara thought this, his hands didn't stop for a fraction of a second. Threads of wire flew out behind him, and he completed a sequence of hand signs instantly. "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" A massive wave of fire ignited the wires, sealing off the entire space behind him, as he rapidly leapt forward to create distance.
"Using the Dragon Flame Jutsu to ignite Chakra wires and seal off all attack routes. To be able to react like that in an instant... as expected of Madara," Xuan said, looking at the fire dragon in front of him with genuine admiration.
Madara panted twice and smiled. "Right back at you. When did you use the Clone Jutsu?"
"Right at the very beginning."
The offense and defense between the two of them had switched in a matter of breaths. The group of Uchiha clansmen watching from the sidelines were dumbfounded. Are these two really ninjas from the same generation as us? The gap is way too massive.
Even Izuna and the group of little girls fell silent, staring blankly at the field.
"Let's stop here for today," Madara said, stretching his body.
"Alright," Xuan agreed. Since Madara didn't want to fight anymore, there was no need for him to insist.
Just at that moment, the main gates of the clan compound were suddenly shoved open. A heavily bloodied Uchiha clansman stumbled inside. He looked like he had just rushed back from the battlefield. Ignoring the children, he bolted straight for the main meeting hall—the place where the Third Elder, who was currently managing the clan's affairs, was located.
"Let's go take a look!" Madara gave a meaningful glance. Xuan nodded, and the two instantly followed after him.