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Chapter 80 is out on patreon
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The clash between the two Kage-level powerhouses came and went like a summer storm.
When the tremors finally ceased fifteen minutes later, Xuan turned around and returned to the clan compound with Izuna and the others.
The little maid was naturally delighted to see Xuan return so quickly. Xuan didn't say much; he simply washed away the dust of the journey and slept soundly until noon the next day.
Upon waking, he casually ate some food prepared by Senya Hotaru and stormed directly out of his house. His target was clear: Uchiha Madara's residence.
He had made up his mind to cause a scene. Faced with the wooden door typical of the Warring States period, he didn't bother knocking. He kicked it straight open. The thin layer of cedar wood shattered instantly, ending its lifespan in a shower of splinters.
"Uchiha Madara, get your ass out here!"
Xuan charged in with a ferocious expression, looking around wildly. Madara's room was the same model as his own; it wasn't particularly large. After all, they were still children and hadn't been allocated independent mansions yet.
The living room was small. The bedroom door was wide open, the kitchen could be seen at a glance, and the bathroom door was locked tight.
Xuan spent five seconds searching for Uchiha Madara. Unfortunately, there was no trace of him.
However, there was a kid kneeling in the living room, sipping tea and pretending to be an adult. It wasn't Madara, but his younger brother.
"Izuna, where is your brother?"
Xuan sat cross-legged directly opposite Izuna, his eyes filled with menace.
Izuna gave a hollow laugh. "I don't know. I haven't seen him."
"Then why are you in his room?"
"...He told me to watch the house for him, to prevent you from smashing it in a rage."
"When is he coming back?"
"I don't know."
"Where did he go?"
"I don't know."
"Did that Hyuga powerhouse slap him to death yesterday?"
"You're the one who got slapped to death! My big brother wouldn't die even if you died!"
"You little brat, are you looking for a beating?" Xuan raised an eyebrow, tempted to rush up and educate this kid. But after a second thought, he decided there was no need to lower himself to a child's level.
"Fine. I'll wait right here. I don't believe he won't come back today. Even if he doesn't come back today, he'll come back tomorrow. I don't believe he can hide for a lifetime."
Izuna nodded solemnly. "My brother said that if you want to stay, he'll let you have this place. He'll find somewhere else to sleep."
Giving up easily wasn't a virtue Xuan possessed. Naturally, he wouldn't be dismissed by a few words from Izuna. He closed his eyes and sat there quietly, looking as if he really intended to wait it out.
Izuna secretly stuck out his tongue, thinking to himself, Big Brother, you're on your own. This is as much as I can help you.
With his eyes closed, Xuan replayed the recent events in his mind. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got.
Originally, there was no problem with him investigating the matter. There was also no problem with encountering an enemy ambush. But the System just had to issue that trolling mission, forcing him to charge headfirst into the enemy's encirclement.
Only afterwards did he realize that the clan had known everything all along. They had fundamentally used him as bait to lure the enemy out.
He analyzed the entire incident over and over again. He realized that because the clan had suffered a defeat and the Third Elder had made a foolish mistake, he had underestimated the entire Uchiha clan.
Thinking about it now, it made sense. If the Uchiha were truly as incompetent as he had thought, how could they stand at the peak of the Warring States period?
Take the main battlefield, for instance. They were fighting on two fronts, holding off the pressure from both the Senju and the Hyuga clans simultaneously. They had maintained this stalemate for two years. If the Third Elder hadn't been foolish enough to get sneak-attacked by the Hyuga, who knows how long that stalemate would have lasted.
Just based on that strength alone, no second clan in the entire Warring States period could achieve such a feat.
Then there was his uncle, Uchiha Tajima.
Thinking carefully, Tajima wasn't without his strengths. Although he might be slightly slow on the uptake regarding certain conspiracies, his personal strength was tyrannical, and his prestige within the clan was high. He could unite the power of all clansmen and make the Uchiha's defense impregnable.
For so many years, aside from the back-and-forth battles with the Senju, his win rate against other clans had been exceptionally high.
"Sigh, Confucius was right. 'I must examine myself three times a day.' Arrogance and conceit are unacceptable," Xuan reflected internally.
With his naturally cautious personality, he should have noticed the clues earlier and deduced the truth of the matter. Unfortunately, ever since he defeated that Jōnin last time and exchanged points for the Flying Thunder God Jutsu, he had fallen into a trap of his own making. He thought that with the Flying Thunder God protecting him, no one in the Warring States could hurt him. He had been subconsciously lulled into a false sense of security, which led to this situation.
Just think about it: if the clan hadn't known about this, and he had stepped into the enemy's trap blindly, it would have been incredibly dangerous. If the enemy lying in ambush inside that house had been an Elite Jōnin, Xuan would have likely had to pay the price of severe injury just to escape, let alone turning the tables and killing them.
"In the future, before my strength reaches the height of Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara in the original story, I must never be careless. This is the Warring States period; countless people have died from being schemed against. I can't afford to capsize in a gutter."
As Xuan was pondering this, a scream suddenly came from the doorway. "What the hell?! My door!"
Xuan opened his eyes instantly, glaring furiously at the figure in the doorway. He stood up and sneered, "Oh good, you actually dared to come back. I thought you were going to hide until the end of time."
Izuna's expression turned sour immediately. Why did Big Brother come back so suddenly? This wasn't part of the plan we discussed yesterday!
Uchiha Madara looked equally furious. "It's my house; why wouldn't I dare to come back? As for you, smashing my door for no reason—are you looking for a fight?"
Madara's anger was mostly feigned. After all, he was the one in the wrong. He had originally planned to hide for a few days, but his father had ordered him to deliver a message personally, so he had to bite the bullet and return.
originally, according to the plan, he was supposed to lead his men to surround them the moment Hyuga Tamamo and her group appeared. However, remembering how Xuan had pitted him last time, he decided to delay the attack. He recalled that Xuan had that move where he turned into crows, so he figured there wouldn't be any major problems—at least he wouldn't be instantly killed.
What he hadn't expected was that this kid would scatter kunai all over the ground and use a Ninjutsu that he had never even heard of, let alone seen. Xuan had actually managed to escape from under the noses of three Elite Jōnin. Not only that, but he also effortlessly slaughtered five Chūnin in the process.
That battle record left Madara completely dumbfounded. His jaw had practically hit the floor. It wasn't until Xuan used the Flying Thunder God to leave that Madara finally led his men out to surround the Hyuga clan members.
He had originally brought five Elite Jōnin. When Hyuga Tamamo sent Hyuga Kazama away, Madara had quietly sent Uchiha Kageaki to follow him, fearing Xuan might meet with an accident. Of course, when he gave the order, he specified that if Xuan could handle the Jōnin himself, Kageaki was not to interfere.
However, even if he was in the wrong, expecting Uchiha Madara to bow his head and apologize was impossible. He was simply not born to be someone who bowed his head.
"You still dare to act tough!" Xuan laughed out of extreme anger. It was the first time he had met someone who could act so self-righteous after screwing someone over.
Uchiha Madara flipped his hair and let out an extremely arrogant, tsundere snort.
Xuan gritted his teeth secretly. Suddenly, he rushed forward two steps and punched Madara square in the face, knocking him to the ground.
"I came here to fight!" Xuan shouted.
Uchiha Madara felt a burning, stinging pain on his right cheek. His brain paused for a second, unable to process the reaction. Did I just get hit? I actually got hit?
His eyes immediately turned fierce. He scrambled up, disregarding everything, and threw a backhand punch in return.
The two of them instantly started wrestling on the floor. No Ninjutsu, no Chakra. Just punching and kicking each other with reckless abandon. They didn't look like two ninja prodigies at all; instead, they looked like two common street rascals having a brawl.
Izuna watched this scene blankly. Finally, he tiptoed past the two boys rolling around on the ground and sprinted away as fast as he could.