"Chief!"
"Okay."
"Master Patriarch, you're back?"
"Mhm."
…
Usually, when Madara returned to the compound, the clan's members would keep their distance or greet her with cold indifference. This time felt different. Even the common folk she passed-those distracted by Akira's words-were calling out to her with enthusiasm.
Madara had risen through brutality and strength alone. She wasn't used to this kind of welcome.
Pulling herself away from the crowd, she reached the mansion only to be intercepted by someone even worse-Izuna's smile was wide and blinding.
"Sister, your friend is amazing! When are you bringing him back?"
Madara replied without thinking, her mind spiraling too far ahead already. "Ah? Bring him home to meet the parents? I'm not ready for that…"
"What?" Izuna froze in place.
"I thought those scrolls in your room were his gifts," he continued quickly. "Thanks to those scrolls, we won without any casualties. Now the clan treats me differently too-they're actually friendly for once."
He was getting excited now and stood up without noticing Madara's rising tension.
"Well enough."
Her response came flat. Madara barely looked at him. The thoughts running through her head weren't about victory; they were about Akira. The better he proved himself tactically, the slimmer Uchiha's chances became.
"Is that really 'well enough'?"
Izuna raised his tone, hands gesturing wildly in mock outrage. "Do you get what that man did? He didn't even show up on the battlefield-and we crushed Senju! We've lost every single time until now!"
He started pacing across the room like it helped him think faster.
"They say even Senju Akira showed up this time-but he didn't last either! Your friend wiped them without lifting a finger! You know how terrifying the Three Senju are!"
Izuna lowered his stance and leaned in toward her as if telling her state secrets.
"The guy defeats three monsters and walks away clean. Nobody's ever done that."
He laughed suddenly, throwing his head back. "And they call that brat 'wise and resourceful'? What bullshit."
Madara stared at him from beneath lowered lashes-annoyed and silent.
She couldn't keep listening to this anymore-he was praising Akira too much right in front of her face. The same Akira she'd been trying very hard not to think about.
"Oh."
It was the most neutral sound she could make without snarling outright.
Her indifference made Izuna groan dramatically. "How could you say that! If Lord Akira heard you…"
He trailed off with theatrical sighs, shaking his head at her in mock disappointment. "No wonder your attitude is so lazy…"
Madara ignored the jab, but Izuna stepped closer again-his eyes gleaming now with some nonsense idea.
"Onee-sama, what does he like? Money? Ninjutsu? Women?"
He counted on his fingers before she could answer.
"We've amassed wealth already-that's not hard. And we've stockpiled enough ninjutsu thanks to those scrolls." He grinned and pointed toward himself proudly. "As for women? Come on-we're Uchiha!"
Madara remained silent-but her irritation was beginning to boil under the surface.
"We're unbeatable when it comes to looks! Doesn't matter their age-we've probably already matched his type. What about that hot girl from the Enoki family? Or the Toujo twins…"
Izuna kept listing off names until he noticed the murderous aura radiating from Madara's direction-and stopped immediately. Her eyes were narrowed now, dangerous in the worst way.
His mouth snapped shut-but it was too late.
He scanned her slowly from head to toe-then audibly gulped when realization struck him.
"Sister… you're wearing lipstick?"
Madara gave him nothing but silence-that made it worse.
"I remember you said you'd talk to Lord Akira after battle." He leaned back slowly, as if giving her space would soften the blow. "W-Wait… are you trying to seduce him?"
"I've seen beauty traps before! Why don't we try using the Eurasian clan's daughter first-"
"What did you just say?"
Her chakra spiked instantly-the air vibrated around them as [Mangekyo Sharingan] flared into life alongside half of [Susanoo]. An entire ribcage of chakra twisted upward from behind her body in full threat posture.
Izuna turned white as snow and took one step back carefully.
"Uh-I just remembered I had somewhere to be-"
He sprinted off mid-sentence before Madara could throw anything else in his direction.
Silence returned briefly until Izuna poked his head back into view through the open doorframe again.
"How about using the twins first?"
Boom!
Half the door exploded outward in splinters as Madara hurled her tea cup straight through it-narrowly missing his face by inches.
"I-I'll skip dinner tonight!"
His footsteps vanished quickly into the distance after that.
Left alone again finally, Madara collapsed onto the tatami mat and stared up at nothing in particular. Her head spun with memories sharper than she liked to admit-thoughts dragged back to just hours ago and what she'd nearly done-
"It's his fault. He should've given me a love letter instead of those damn scrolls…"
"A kiss isn't anything serious… right?"
"Why would I want to kiss that idiot anyway?"
Madara whispered to herself under her breath-but then snorted out loud at her own question. A second later, she laughed-shoulders moving loosely against the floor as her withheld tension finally slipped out through her lips.
"Hahaha…"
Victory hadn't even mattered-it had just been him taking care of her clan again. That was worse somehow than losing…
"If we lose… we lose."
Her fingers curled around her stomach loosely as she exhaled harder than before.
"The worst that happens is I follow his clan home instead…"
She closed her eyes-and admitted softly:
"He'd look after my Uchiha better than I ever could…"
Her cheeks warm again against her will-she gritted her teeth and pulled her hair over her face like blinds shutting out light from inside her skull.
"Fucking idiot…"
…
On the other side of the estate, Izuna paced furiously-scroll clutched in hand and mind spinning hard enough to spark heat in his temples. He'd intended to prepare gifts-to charm Akira back here with treasures from across Uchiha holdings-but stumbled face-first into trouble instead.
Just outside the gates-a group of elders approached him quickly with stone-flat expressions.
"Did we get new reports?"
"Read this."
One of them handed over a small scroll-unsealed and marked with intelligence priority stamps Izuna recognized instantly as high-level sources.
His hands trembled lightly as his eyes moved across line after line of handwritten ciphered text-but it only took seconds before he recoiled from it entirely.
"This… This isn't possible! You're saying Lord Akira is really-"
"The information came from our deepest operational cells," the elder said flatly. "It's accurate."
Wordless and pale now, Izuna turned on his heel and ran full-speed back toward Madara's room without even saying goodbye to any of them.
When he burst inside, Madara didn't flinch-didn't even glance up from the second cup of tea she had just poured herself calmly onto another tray.
"Sister-is Senju Akira your friend?"
"Looks like you figured it out."
Her answer came without sarcasm or apology-just certainty-and that made it worse somehow.
Izuna's lips twisted defensively before he yelled suddenly-
"Why?"
Madara turned toward him at last-and said nothing for several seconds before speaking again flatly-
"He wanted me to win for once."
"…What?"
Izuna stared wide-eyed-but there wasn't time for answers before Uchiha elders began filing into the residence behind him, one by one, their faces already locked in stone-cold horror from what they'd overheard outside-
And what they'd now been forced to understand.
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