As the days passed, Yatagarasu and Mitsuashi gradually grew into their wings, while Ryo’s control over his body became increasingly refined.
After his Chakra Blade Staff was finally completed, he even took the initiative to descend the mountain and challenge Uchiha Hiro to a spar in order to test his current strength.
Because the match was conducted in private, however, very little information spread afterward.
The only thing people knew was that Hiro resigned from his position at the Medical Department with an extremely foul expression afterward and returned to taking missions.
Judging by his even more irritable attitude and venomous tongue in the following days, he clearly hadn’t gotten the better end of the exchange.
Madara, however, wasn’t an outsider.
What outsiders didn’t know, he knew perfectly well.
In fact, he had been there watching the entire match.
Perhaps because of the limits of his own experience, every exchange between the two seemed incredible in his eyes.
There was also one crucial difference between their fight and the sparring matches he usually witnessed at the Academy .
The moment he called for the match to begin, both Ryo and Hiro had completely treated each other as enemies.
Every move was aimed directly at the other’s vital points without the slightest restraint.
And they weren’t holding back.
The battle felt as though the two were mortal enemies with an irreconcilable blood feud.
The sheer killing intent made Madara shudder involuntarily.
Even after the match ended and that killing intent vanished without a trace, he remained stunned for a long time.
Eventually, Ryo personally escorted him all the way home before he finally calmed down.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Ryo began analyzing the fight with him and explaining how to precisely evade an opponent’s attacks before striking at their vulnerable points.
Madara listened attentively.
Still, he couldn’t help asking, “…Do you normally spar with your peers like that, Brother?” “Only when we’re testing our true combat abilities,” Ryo replied, shaking his head.
“Most of the time it’s just ordinary sparring.
“And even then, it’s only among a few specific people.
“At the moment, the only ones who engage in those killing-intent-filled combat drills are me, Hiro, Akihiko, Masaki, and Kenshi.” “Kenshi?” Madara tilted his head.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him around the people you usually spend time with.” “That’s normal.” Ryo smiled.
“Outside of missions, Kenshi spends most of his time…
taking more missions.
“And…” He seemed to recall something troublesome.
“Kenshi’s personality is a little extreme in both directions.
He’s not a bad person—in fact, he’s surprisingly straightforward—but he can be difficult to deal with sometimes.” Madara nodded.
Then another question immediately occurred to him.
“There are people even you have trouble dealing with?” “It’s not that I can’t deal with him…” Ryo coughed awkwardly and turned his head aside.
“It’s more that I don’t know where to start.” “Ahem.
Never mind that.” He smoothly changed the subject.
“How have things been going with your fellow clan members lately?” Thinking of his teammates, Madara rolled his eyes several times—taking advantage of the fact that Ryo couldn’t see him.
His voice, however, remained perfectly calm.
“It’s alright.
We just keep running into disagreements during missions.” “That’s normal.” Ryo nodded.
“You can’t expect everyone to think the same way.
“If there’s enough time, let everyone explain their ideas and discuss them together.
“But when time is short, a leader has to be decisive.
“The difficult part is earning everyone’s trust and obedience.” He continued: “Your reputation, your strength, and how much your teammates trust you all affect that.
“So don’t focus only on improving your own strength, Madara.” “I understand.
I’ll keep that in mind.” After a brief pause, he asked, “How do you usually handle situations like that, Brother?” “Me?” Ryo chuckled.
“When I’m leading, everyone follows my commands.
We haven’t really had any serious arguments.
“Even when disagreements happen, it’s usually after the mission is over and everyone’s discussing where to go relax.” “After all, I’m always the only one who wants to go to a tavern.” “So in those situations, I have absolutely no voting power.” Madara: …
(・_・) Putting aside the fact that everyone willingly follows your leadership…
So casually ignoring clan regulations after missions is normal for you?
The mention of missions seemed to energize Ryo.
“Speaking of missions…
have you killed anyone yet, Madara?” Madara snapped out of his thoughts.
“No…
not yet.” “Then you’ll want to be careful.” Ryo leaned back slightly.
“When people first receive missions involving killing, many of them can’t bring themselves to do it.
“Even those who force themselves often end up vomiting their guts out afterward.” “What about you, Brother?” “Me?” Ryo rubbed his chin.
“I didn’t really feel anything.” “If I didn’t kill them, they would’ve killed me.
“And at their core, shinobi are tools.
A tool being used to take lives isn’t strange at all.” Then his tone changed slightly.
“But Madara, remember this.” “Before you’re a shinobi, you’re a person.” “And as a person, you’re bound to have emotions.
“Even if people call us killing tools, you must never truly treat yourself—or others—as nothing more than tools.” “Do you understand?” “Not really…” Madara admitted honestly.
“But I’ll remember it.” After saying that, he lowered his head.
A brief silence followed.
Then he asked: “Brother…
are you ending your training?” Ryo nodded slightly.
A smile appeared on his face.
“Yeah.” “Yatagarasu and Mitsuashi can already help guide me now.” “It’s time for me to start taking missions again and see how things go.” “Then team up with me!” Madara suddenly raised his voice.
“We can do missions together!
And you can keep teaching me more things!” The abrupt enthusiasm startled Ryo.
But after a moment, he smiled and nodded.
“Sure.” He even asked Madara to prepare a set of travel gear for him so they could accept a mission together the next day.
The moment he received Ryo’s agreement, Madara became visibly excited.
He finally wouldn’t have to put up with those idiot teammates anymore!
Wonderful!
Hearing Madara humming a cheerful tune, Ryo shook his head helplessly.
“He’s still just a kid…” “Well, not that I’m much older.” The thought made him laugh.
But once the laughter faded, bitterness appeared on his face.
“I went to war when I was nine.” “Madara is still a year younger than I was back then.” “Is the war really spreading that quickly…?” He sighed.
“Why is peace always so fragile?” “I don’t want my brothers on the battlefield.” “Then don’t let them go, caw.” Accompanied by the fluttering of wings, a black crow descended from a ceiling beam.
“If they don’t listen, tie them up, caw!” “Yatagarasu…” Ryo lifted the crow into his arms.
“That’s not how it works.” “They’re my brothers.” “Just like you two, they’re family.” “When I say I don’t want them going to war, I mean I want to protect them.” He smiled helplessly.
“If I did what you suggested, wouldn’t I become the number one threat to their safety?” “Caw!
Yatagarasu is stupid!” Another fully grown crow swooped down from the beam and landed directly on Ryo’s head.
“If you want to protect someone, you should break all four limbs and lock them up!” “Lock them up!
Lock them up!” “Mitsuashi is stupid, caw!” Yatagarasu immediately raised his voice.
“Breaking their limbs is hurting them, caw!
That’s completely backwards, caw!” “Caw!
If you don’t break their limbs, they’ll run away!” Mitsuashi argued confidently.
“I heard Master talking with those losers before!” “That’s exactly how they treated their friend called Senju!” “Being treated like that isn’t friendship, caw!” “Caw!
That’s nonsense!” “Master said it himself!” ‘We should properly welcome these friends from the Senju Clan.’ “Family and friends should receive the same treatment!” Yatagarasu paused.
“…When you put it that way, that actually makes some sense, caw.” Ryo: …
Nothing about that makes sense!
And stop learning things after hearing only half the conversation!
Looks like I’ll have to be more careful about what I say from now on…
Or maybe I need to explain the importance of tone and context to them?
Ryo reached up and grabbed Mitsuashi off his head.
Holding one crow in each hand, he gently smoothed their feathers as they continued bickering.
His expression was full of helplessness.
Raising your own Summons really is a massive headache…