In the end, Ryo didn’t bring out any bizarre dark-cuisine creations to torment his younger brothers’ stomachs.
Aside from being somewhat bland and slightly overcooked, the grilled fish was perfectly edible, which finally allowed Madara to relax.
However, as he watched Ryo skillfully removing fish bones for Izuna, his curiosity resurfaced.
“Brother, is that also something you’re doing with Chakra Sensing?” “Mm, that’s right.” Ryo handed the deboned fish to Izuna.
“Since I can’t see my surroundings, I have to maintain my sensory perception almost constantly.
It’s actually pretty useful, though it consumes a fair amount of chakra.
“If you want to learn it, Madara, I’ll teach it to you after I’ve refined it a bit more.
Though whether you’ll be able to learn it easily depends on whether you have talent as a Sensory Shinobi.” “A Sensory Shinobi, huh…” Madara took a bite of fish.
“In that case, wouldn’t it be better to teach Hiro too?” “Hahaha, even if I don’t bring it up, Hiro will come looking for me eventually.” Ryo laughed.
“That guy never passes up a chance to become stronger.
“Besides, catching him secretly watching my training sessions has become a regular occurrence.” Madara recalled the clan rumors about Uchiha Hiro constantly fighting people—getting into a small brawl every few days and a major one every week.
He fell silent once more.
How exactly had Brother managed to earn the respect of someone that crazy?
As Uncle Keishi said, Madara thought while tossing the remaining fish bones and roasting stick into the fire, there’s still a lot I can learn from Brother…
Though I don’t think there are any lunatics like that among my own peers.
Well, whatever.
They’re all so weak it’s painful to watch anyway.
No point worrying about it.
After that, Madara asked a few more questions about training before taking Izuna to wash up by the river.
Then the two brothers said their farewells and headed home.
Once they were gone, however, the smile on Ryo’s face faded.
He looked rather troubled.
“I thought he’d ask more about how to get along with clan members…
but Madara’s personality isn’t exactly the type that easily accepts others either.” “What a headache.” After worrying over his younger brother’s future development, Ryo instinctively reached into the cloth pouch sewn inside his clothing and took hold of the crow egg stored there.
He began the daily chakra guidance routine he never missed.
Recently, aside from dealing with the necessities of survival, the thing occupying most of Ryo’s attention was undoubtedly the two crow eggs he had received from Uchiha Yugo.
According to Yugo, his own chakra natures—Wind, Fire, and Lightning—were all highly aggressive and unsuitable for nurturing Summons.
He had only entrusted the eggs to Ryo because Ryo was a Sensory Shinobi capable of extremely precise chakra control.
Otherwise, Yugo would rather have found a way to acquire a fully grown Ninja Cat from the Cat Village for him— even though he was allergic to cat fur.
After all, if Yugo raised the eggs himself, they would eventually become two more useful Ninja Crows.
There was no reason to waste them on someone incapable of properly nurturing them.
After finishing the chakra guidance process and confirming that his chakra hadn’t damaged the eggs’ life signs, Ryo finally let out a sigh of relief.
Carefully placing them back into the pouch against his chest, he muttered: “So I have to keep doing this for at least another ten days…” “Summons really are a hassle.” “If I’d known I’d survive in the end, I shouldn’t have stabbed myself like that just because I was afraid the Senju Clan would find my corpse and dig out my eyes…” “Half of my old habits have to be rebuilt from scratch.
Even someone who likes training shouldn’t have to go through this much…” “No, no.
Pull yourself together.” “The flaws in my current sensory method are still too significant.
It burns too much chakra, and I have to maintain physical contact with the environment to use it properly.
It still needs improvement.” “At the very least, I can’t keep spending over sixty percent of my chakra reserves just from having a normal meal with my brothers.” “Ugh…
thinking about this stuff all day is exhausting…” Ryo flopped backward onto the ground, looking thoroughly drained.
“Maybe I’ll rest for today?” “At least for today, I don’t want to spend any more time developing new techniques.” “Without paper or a brush, having to rely entirely on thought experiments and practical testing is mentally exhausting.
But I can’t afford to waste time either…” “Hmm.
Maybe I’ll do something that doesn’t require much thinking.” “Like molding chakra or training taijutsu.
I’ll definitely need both in the future.” “Though if it’s taijutsu, I’d still need to integrate sensory perception into it…” “Yeah.
Let’s just work on chakra molding.” “I’ll clear my mind a little.” With that, Ryo sat cross-legged once more.
After taking several deep breaths, he entered a meditative state and began molding chakra.
After returning home with Izuna, Madara reported both his mission and Ryo’s current condition to his father.
Uchiha Tajima listened carefully.
He felt both relieved and concerned, though he didn’t show either emotion outwardly.
Instead, he simply answered several of Madara’s training questions before sending him off to rest.
The following days passed peacefully.
Madara began accompanying adults on missions alongside other children his age.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Akihiko and the others had fully recovered from their injuries and resumed accepting missions.
However, Madara gradually noticed something strange.
Many of Ryo’s peers—some familiar, some unfamiliar—would secretly sneak off to the Naka River Highlands .
Then they would return cursing and complaining.
As though they had arranged it beforehand, none of them ever went at the same time.
Yet every single day, someone would head up the mountain.
One particularly noteworthy detail was Uchiha Hiro.
Despite being the most troublesome and rebellious member of Ryo’s generation, he never once went to the Naka River Highlands after learning that Ryo had resumed training.
Instead, he silently started spending his time helping out at the Medical Department—a place he normally avoided at all costs.
This made Madara somewhat worried about Ryo’s situation.
However, during one trip to the Medical Department to collect mission supplies with his team, he happened to overhear Hiro sarcastically mocking several clan members for recklessly challenging people to taijutsu fights beyond their capabilities.
At that moment, Madara immediately relaxed.
After all, when Hiro started verbally blasting everyone in range and the people being mocked could only stand there awkwardly without arguing back, it was obvious they hadn’t gained any advantage from challenging Ryo.
As long as Brother wasn’t the one suffering, Madara felt reassured.
So he focused wholeheartedly on completing missions.
That said, there was one thing that constantly gave him headaches.
His teammates were terrible.
Many of the mistakes they made were incredibly simple.
The kind that could be avoided with even a little common sense.
Yet they still charged forward as though their brains had been stuffed with mud.
Being weak was one thing.
People had different talents.
That couldn’t be helped.
But even after the team leader clearly explained what they should do, these idiots kept making the same mistakes over and over.
Did the Senju eat your brains or something?!
After being dragged down by his teammates’ stupidity several times in a row, Madara gradually learned how to keep a permanently cold expression.
Before every mission, his first task became thoroughly intimidating his fellow teammates.
Even after obtaining permission for independent missions, he still patiently participated in several more team assignments.
But when their foolish mistakes nearly drove him insane once again, he decisively abandoned the team-play approach altogether.
He swore that if he ever voluntarily teamed up with clan members again, he’d be a complete idiot— excluding Brother and Izuna, of course.
Of course, all of that was still in the future.
At present, Madara was still trying his best to tolerate his teammates and salvage disastrous situations whenever possible— even if he had already cursed them out a hundred times in his head.
During this period, Uchiha Yugo also visited Ryo on the mountain.
Because he wasn’t particularly suited for combat, Yugo had been busy handling logistics and support work.
Unlike the others, however, he clearly hadn’t gone there to challenge Ryo.
After all, nobody who climbed the mountain intending to spar had ever succeeded in bringing Ryo back down with them.
Yet when Ryo finally descended the mountain alongside Yugo, he immediately became the center of attention among his peers.
Not because of Ryo himself.
But because of the two fluffy dark-feathered creatures perched proudly on his shoulders.