“Practice sparring?” Madara blinked.
“Right now?” “Yeah, right now.” Ryo patted Izuna on the back, signaling for him to climb off, then stood and walked toward an open patch of ground.
“You seem pretty restless, Madara.
There’s no better way to blow off steam than a spar.
“As for the rules…” Ryo continued, “if you can make me move my feet even once after the match starts, you win.
If that happens, I’ll grant any request you make.
On the other hand, if you lose your weapon or admit defeat, then I win—and you have to stay here and eat dinner with me.
How about it?” Madara silently glanced at the suspicious lump of charred black matter beside the campfire.
His expression grew a little more serious, though his heart was still weighed down by worry.
“But, Brother…
you’re not even using a weapon.” “Hahahaha!
What’s this?” Ryo laughed loudly, resting his walking cane on his shoulder.
“You want me to use a weapon?
Do you really want to experience my cooking skills that badly?” Madara stared at the suspicious charcoal-like object on the ground for a few more seconds before quietly drawing the short blade at his waist.
“Then please instruct me, Brother.
I’ll be coming at you seriously.” “That’s more like it.” Ryo beckoned in Madara’s direction.
“Come at me with everything you’ve got!
Let me see how much you’ve improved!
Izuna, why don’t you call the start?” Izuna sat down on the rock Ryo had occupied earlier.
Looking at the two brothers facing each other, excitement gradually appeared on his face.
“Okay!
Ready—start!” The moment Izuna’s voice fell, Madara threw several shuriken.
The shuriken flew at strange angles, surrounding Ryo from all sides while targeting his vital points.
Yet Ryo showed no sign of panic.
His feet remained rooted to the ground while the walking cane in his hand swept precisely toward the incoming weapons.
What confused Izuna was that Ryo wasn’t striking at the shuriken themselves.
Instead, he aimed behind them.
Just as Izuna began to worry, the shuriken abruptly changed direction the instant the cane passed through.
Only then did he notice the nearly invisible wires attached to them.
And that wasn’t all.
Using the cane to catch the wires, Ryo swiftly twisted his wrist and wound them around the shaft.
Then he pulled sharply.
Madara, who had been charging straight at him, immediately stumbled.
Before Madara could react, Ryo smoothly transferred the cane to his left hand.
At the same time, chakra gathered along the fingers of his right hand and sliced across the cane, severing every wire wrapped around it.
Then his left wrist twisted.
Amid a chorus of clattering shuriken hitting the ground, the tip of the walking cane accurately struck Madara’s left shoulder, knocking him flat onto the ground.
“Not bad.
A good tactic.” Ryo chuckled, returning the cane to his right hand.
“Unfortunately, you didn’t think it through well enough against a Sensory Shinobi.
Want to go again?” Madara sprang to his feet with a kip-up.
At last, fighting spirit appeared in his eyes.
“Again!” From that point onward, Izuna became the witness to Madara’s many creative defeats.
Just as Ryo had promised, he never moved his feet even once.
He defended solely with the walking cane in his hand.
Later, when Madara began incorporating ninjutsu into his attacks, Ryo merely added movements of his upper body.
Even so, he effortlessly avoided every strike.
He even had enough spare attention to tap Madara’s vital points with the cane while offering verbal pointers.
When Madara charged in for the thirtieth time, only to have his offensive casually dismantled yet again—and his weapon knocked from his hand after Ryo exploited an opening— he finally clutched the back of his head where he’d just been struck and muttered gloomily, “What the heck…” “You’ve already done very well, Madara.” Ryo laughed softly without changing his position.
“But hiding a kunai for a surprise attack?
Tricks like that won’t work on me.” Madara clicked his tongue and pulled the concealed kunai from his sleeve.
His expression became even more dejected.
“…I lost.” “So amazing!
As expected of Brother!” Izuna’s eyes sparkled.
“How did you know Madara had another kunai hidden away?
I didn’t notice anything!” “Partly because I know Madara well,” Ryo replied with a smile as he walked over and ruffled Madara’s hair, “and partly because of a little trick involving chakra that Sensory Shinobi can use.” “Alright, stop sulking.
You’re still young, Madara.
Once you’re allowed onto the battlefield like I was, your abilities will surpass mine.” Madara looked up at him and muttered unhappily, “As if that’s possible…” Ryo merely smiled.
Then he rolled up his sleeves with renewed enthusiasm.
“Alright!
Sparring’s over!
Time to try your big brother’s cooking!” Unlike Izuna’s excited response, Madara immediately panicked.
“N-No, Brother.
Maybe I should cook instead?” “Honestly, Madara, have a little faith in your brother…” Ryo clearly understood his concern, and his tone turned somewhat dejected.
“There’s no way I’d feed my little brothers something like that.
“Sure, when I first started training, I made plenty of disasters and even gave myself food poisoning a few times.
But I’m not some kind of monster.
If I wasn’t confident, why would I invite you two to stay for a meal?” “…But didn’t you once set the family kitchen on fire while cooking?” Ryo: …
That was a fair point.
“Don’t worry, Madara!” Ryo gave a thumbs-up after a brief moment of silence.
“There’s no kitchen here for me to burn down!” Madara: …
That somehow made him even more worried.
Watching Ryo tap his walking cane along the ground as he headed toward the riverbank, the unease in Madara’s heart only continued to grow.
To this day, he could not forget that incident.
He had simply been practicing ninjutsu at home when a terrifying surge of chakra suddenly erupted nearby.
A towering blaze had swept toward him without warning.
If Father hadn’t been right beside him and brought the situation under control in time, Madara would have ended up in the Medical Department that day purely because of the fire Ryo started in the kitchen.
The most outrageous part was that Ryo had actually managed to preserve the finished dish.
Unfortunately, the dish had nearly made Uchiha Tajima vomit on the spot when he tasted it.
After that day, in order to keep Ryo out of the kitchen, Uchiha Tajima made sure meals were prepared for the family no matter how busy he was.
Madara had also worked extremely hard to learn how to cook.
Yet after mastering the skill himself, he became even more puzzled by what had happened back then.
What exactly was inside a kitchen that required a ninjutsu powerful enough to cause that much destruction?
Watching from afar as Ryo stood in the river spearing fish with a longsword, Madara’s expression became indescribably complicated.
“Let’s wait and see.
If the finished product looks too dangerous, I’ll cast a genjutsu on Izuna and eat it myself.
Hopefully I’ll still have enough time afterward to get Izuna home before making it to the Medical Department…”