Opening and closing with "Madara Uchiha," Sasuke Uchiha wouldn't even bother with a single "Clan Leader"—this made the guard ninja frown continuously.
After confirming that Tajima Uchiha was gone for good and likely already preparing for his next reincarnation, Madara Uchiha naturally took control of the Uchiha Clan, becoming the clan's de facto leader at a young age.
Well, you couldn't really say "young age"—in fact, many ninja clan leaders at this time were Madara's age, or had even become clan leaders when they were younger than Madara.
Regarding his cold and indifferent biological father's defeat, Madara Uchiha felt no sadness, but rather more emotions of disappointment in his failure. However, during this period, he still buried his grief deep in his heart... partly for his third brother who was still drifting, and partly for the already deceased Shichimi.
Given this, though the Uchiha Clan had rarely enjoyed a period of calm without internal strife during this time, the village was actually shrouded in a subtle atmosphere of low pressure.
The clan leader seemed unhappy, so everyone else was nervous too.
Under these circumstances, even if Sasuke had come with a smile, the guards wouldn't give him a warm reception—let alone when this person had a sour face and an especially "arrogant" demeanor.
What "Uchiha ninja returned from the future"—this must be an Uchiha ninja who'd studied mysticism, right? This would count as a disgrace to the Uchiha.
But there was no choice—only this way could Sasuke prove he was really Sasuke. That was just his personality.
For example, Kakashi taught him for so long, even teaching him his prized Chidori. Praising him with "truly caring for you" wouldn't be excessive, right? But Sasuke never once called him "sensei."
He clearly acted submissively under Orochimaru, but want him to verbally call him "lord"?
Hmph, dream on. At worst, he just wouldn't avenge the Uchiha—that was his bottom line.
Even when being kept, he wouldn't change his nature, maintaining his independent personality—truly the Uchiha's little fairy.
So what if Sasuke was cold-faced here? What if he didn't respect the clan leader? This guard had no way to deal with him anyway.
As an Uchiha ninja, the guard clearly understood how superior eye power suppressed inferior eyes, so he could only be angry without being able to accomplish the feat of capturing this disrespectful person before the clan leader.
Fine, all for the sake of the Mangekyō.
"You wait here, I'll go report."
"Where's Madara? I'll go with you."
"You..."
Report? Make Sasuke wait in place? Of course he directly followed behind the other party, and this ninja still had no way to deal with him.
Honestly, Sasuke should thank Yūshin for taking out Tajima. If the Uchiha were still under Tajima's leadership instead of Madara's, with Sasuke's domineering attitude, he would never be able to leave the Uchiha Clan alive today...
No, given those people's regard for the Mangekyō, perhaps Sasuke could leave, but his eyes would have to stay.
The poor guard was followed wherever he went, so ultimately Sasuke really did meet Madara Uchiha... All for the sake of the Mangekyō Sharingan—this wasn't just saving face, Uchiha ninja were indeed willing to recognize Mangekyō holders as their clansmen.
Otherwise, a whole bunch of Uchiha ninja would have rushed out to "warmly welcome" Sasuke by now.
At the entrance to the clan leader's residence within the Uchiha village, Sasuke didn't even give the other party a chance to knock and report. After pushing the door open and walking in, he instructed without looking back:
"You can leave now."
This unlucky guard ninja was instantly furious. Was there even one decent human word coming out of your mouth?
Never mind being an Uchiha ninja—even a neighborhood security guard couldn't be ordered around like this by someone who wasn't even a resident.
Just as he couldn't help but was about to take action, Madara Uchiha finally appeared.
"What's happening?"
Then Madara's gaze fell on Sasuke, and the surprised expression on his face was fleeting:
"I remember you—that Uchiha ninja beside Yūshin. We're enemies, not friends. Why are you here?"
Madara Uchiha was very reluctant to mention Yūshin's name, because currently Tobirama Senju wasn't anything special, so Yūshin was his number one most hated person.
"Madara Uchiha, I have something to discuss with you. Privately."
Sasuke completely ignored Madara's question, only saying what he wanted to say. After speaking, he even slightly tilted his head, using his chin to gesture at the guard ninja behind who didn't understand the atmosphere and wouldn't leave voluntarily.
Madara frowned. You dare speak like this—do you know I could slap you to death?
Fortunately, after being scolded by Yūshin, Madara's psychological tolerance had improved considerably, so he magnanimously didn't bother with this little brat's arrogance.
After all, besides being arrogant, little brats had nothing else, so they could only be arrogant.
"Clan Leader, he..."
Madara gestured that the guard didn't need to explain further, then waved for him to withdraw.
Madara looked at Sasuke's Mangekyō, then continued:
"Come with me."
In the Uchiha, the Mangekyō Sharingan indeed equaled a special access pass.
After arriving at a reception room, Madara sat down casually and gestured for Sasuke to sit across from him.
"What's your name?"
Sasuke was just about to say his name, but fortunately he had listened to some of Yūshin's previous words. He knew that in the war-torn era, there was no reputation of an "Uchiha Sasuke" circulating.
"For certain reasons, my name is inconvenient to reveal. You can call me 'Hawk.'"
Sasuke was rarely clever this time. Maybe hiding his name was the key to avoiding being killed on the spot by Madara.
"Tch, someone who hides their identity."
With Sasuke's personality, he naturally couldn't be bothered to make up a name, and "Hawk" was obviously a code name.
"So what do you want from me?"
Madara asked again. Sasuke's first appearance was beside Yūshin, so Madara naturally didn't trust Sasuke, and he had no intention of small talk... Never mind clan relations—if Madara's clan concepts were that narrow, he would have already taken action to clean house.
"Can we guarantee that our conversation here won't leak out?"
Sasuke paused slightly, then was rarely cautious once.
Madara became increasingly dissatisfied. If you have something to say, just say it—why so wishy-washy?
"My residence is surrounded by a powerful detection barrier. No one within the barrier can escape my eyes."
This was still thanks to Yūshin.
Even though he was ambushed and slashed by Yūshin, Madara still looked down on Yūshin's strength. However, there was one ability of Yūshin's that Madara had to admit was unparalleled in the ninja world—Yūshin's stealth and assassination abilities.
Though Madara didn't say it aloud, because they were enemies, after returning to the Uchiha village, Madara still implemented many anti-fire, anti-theft, anti-Yūshin measures.
Because of these measures, Madara invisibly gained many benefits—at least he no longer had to endure White Zetsu's surveillance without any privacy at all times.
You had a barrier but still pretended to coincidentally appear at the door just now? Sasuke also felt Madara wasn't that straightforward in his actions, but now wasn't the time to worry about such things.
So he nodded and said:
"Listen to me. I'm an Uchiha ninja who traveled from the future to this era. Based on certain experiences of the Uchiha Clan later, I have no choice but to intervene and change some things... I need your assistance."
Sasuke's way of speaking was problematic. Though he felt he was just stating facts, his "opening move" easily made people misunderstand it as "I'm magnanimously telling you the following things"—a condescending or even charitable attitude.
Madara just felt he was wasting time. How many genjutsu did this person fall under to be able to say such nonsense?
"Listen to me. Next, the Uchiha will fail in battle against the Senju Clan. You'll be defeated by Hashirama Senju, and your brother will die in battle against Tobirama Senju."
"But you'll gain the Eternal Mangekyō because of this, then fight Hashirama again and fail again..."
"Finally, the Uchiha will have no choice but to merge with the Senju. With the two clans as the main body plus some other ninja clans, they'll establish Konohagakure."
"The purpose of establishing this village is to seek peace and end the chaotic world, but because of the Second Hokage... that is, the village leader... and the Fourth Hokage's oppressive policies, the Uchiha's situation becomes increasingly miserable..."
"The Uchiha were exterminated?" Though he didn't believe it, Madara still asked along with the conversation.
Now it was Sasuke's turn to remain silent, because he didn't know how to describe just how miserable the Uchiha's fate was.
"Young man, the current Uchiha constantly faces the danger of extermination. Your clever arguments sound more like fairy tales."
Madara Uchiha was such a confident person—how could he possibly believe he would be defeated by Hashirama Senju? Before the real decisive battle began, Madara always thought Hashirama Senju was at most evenly matched with him.
As for Izuna and Tobirama Senju—what did the latter have? Izuna had the Mangekyō. Someone with the Mangekyō losing to Tobirama Senju... For some unknown reason, the mocking smile on Madara's face immediately faded.
Sasuke's description of the Uchiha Clan's later experiences lacked details. He couldn't even provide information like Izuna dying to the Flying Thunder God—how could he convince anyone?
But he wasn't Orochimaru either, so you couldn't expect him to know so many ninja world secrets.
"I can show you my experiences through genjutsu."
Seeing Madara Uchiha didn't believe him, Sasuke came up with another bad idea.
Want to invade my brain? Madara became even more suspicious:
"How about this—I'll use genjutsu to probe the information in your mind. That would be more convenient."
Now it was Sasuke's turn to shake his head. No way—could he trust Madara not to tamper with his mind? Only now did he realize how bad his idea was.
Actually, even if Madara carefully examined Sasuke's mind, he wouldn't believe the contents, because there were countless methods for forging memories.
Only now did Sasuke realize his dry words had no persuasive power. He faced a "how do I prove I am me" dilemma.
Sasuke's purpose was to make the Uchiha stay away from the Senju and Konoha, but Madara didn't even need to ask to know the so-called purpose.
Madara Uchiha became clever at this moment. He immediately figured out what this ninja was here to do... to sow discord between the Uchiha and Senju, thereby profiting the Fireflies organization.
Did the relationship between Uchiha and Senju need sowing discord? They were already as bad as they could get. How could Madara possibly lead the Uchiha to submit to the Senju? This joke wasn't funny at all.
It could only be said that this "Hawk's" purpose was reasonable and logical, but he was so stupid it was boundless, making up an incredibly absurd story.
Because Yūshin had already done this once—during their last encounter. If he hadn't drawn Hashirama Senju into it, his grave would already have meter-high grass by now.
So what now, wanting to use the same trick again to utilize Hashirama's combat power? Did Madara Uchiha not understand the principle of learning from mistakes?
No matter—once I deal with Hashirama Senju... Hmph, in the face of absolute strength, all ghostly tricks have nowhere to hide.
These thoughts circled through Madara's mind, and he fully appreciated his own great wisdom.
At this time, Sasuke was getting somewhat angry. He was clearly telling the truth—why wouldn't this person listen at all?
This was truly incomprehensible. He'd never encountered such a stubborn person—like a donkey... Sasuke didn't realize he was looking in a mirror.
Well, this was somewhat wishful thinking. If Madara weren't stubborn and set in his ways, he wouldn't be Madara Uchiha.
"You..."
"For the sake of the Sharingan, I allow you to leave here, but absolutely don't appear near the Uchiha Clan a second time."
Too much wasted time. After this exchange, besides feeling the Fireflies organization's fear of him, Madara gained nothing.
Sasuke took a deep breath, then exhaled. As he stood up and was about to leave, he suddenly turned back and left one final statement:
"You'll understand in the future that everything I said was fact. I hope you won't regret it then."
Regardless, this counted as a well-intentioned reminder, because Madara would indeed eventually understand that Sasuke's words weren't fabricated nonsense, but "prophecy."
But given his unique word choice and speaking tone, Madara was already regretting... regretting having just said he'd let the other party leave.
After slinking away from the Uchiha village, Sasuke didn't give up on his plan. Since he couldn't get Madara's help, he could only think of other methods.
The honor and disgrace of the entire clan rested on him alone. Sasuke had a sense of mission in his heart—how could he speak of giving up?
At this time, Sasuke compared this Madara Uchiha with the Madara he'd encountered in later generations, and easily detected that the latter was a counterfeit product...
After all, their personalities and the feelings they gave were completely different. The Madara just now couldn't possibly be fake, while the Madara he'd previously encountered had always been secretive... Sasuke wondered if he was too easily deceived.
But notice that Sasuke was unreliable in his actions, very linear in behavior, and lacked flexibility...
Damn it, why didn't you first mention some timely, valuable intelligence, then gradually gain Madara's trust? Coming up with mystical nonsense right away—who the hell would believe that?
Ha-go-ro-mo Clan!
Regarding the Hagoromo Clan being attacked, Sasuke hadn't mentioned a single word.
However, when he came to the Uchiha, it was already the second day during daytime. By this time, saying anything was actually somewhat late.
When the Uchiha Clan received related intelligence after some more time, it was even later than late.
The most intense, decisive battles had already ended. One could say "the dust had settled." If the Uchiha took action at this time, they couldn't even catch warm corpses.
What was the point of supporting then? Forget it.
Madara Uchiha originally found the Hagoromo Clan very displeasing anyway.
...
On the other side, time synchronized with reality—the fourth day morning.
Though the battle had ended, due to the wounded, quite a few ninja hadn't yet withdrawn from the battlefield.
Such a big commotion had attracted other powers' attention?
Let them look. What could they do? Would they dare attack forces that had annihilated the Hagoromo Clan?
At this time, Tobirama Senju led someone to Yūshin's side.
This person wasn't tall, with short black hair, a well-proportioned build, wearing gray clothes and armor. He looked very capable, but otherwise seemed unremarkable.
"Yūshin, let me introduce you. This is Lord Sasuke Sarutobi of the Sarutobi Clan. He just arrived here and wants to get to know you."
Yūshin: "..."
Isn't this my never-before-met dear big brother?
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