"
"I didn't do much. I just provoked them a bit with my actions and killed a few people. If it's only to this extent, they'll swallow this bitter pill."
"Eh—suspicious." Uchiha Kenji handed the bamboo tube, less than the size of a finger, to Ling. "You never used to smile so happily after killing someone... Have you gone crazy from holding it in for too long?"
Hearing this, Madara, who was cleaning his knife, also looked up at Ling. Indeed, as Uchiha Kenji said, Ling had a happy smile on his face—hmm, and there seemed to be a faint smell of alcohol.
Madara silently retracted his gaze. After throwing the unreliable guess of [extremely excited because he successfully managed to have a drink] out of his mind, he pricked up his ears to listen to the conversation between the two.
"Although being a ninja for a long time has caused some problems, I'm not that far gone," Ling chuckled softly. "But you might not believe the reason why I'm so happy."
Uchiha Kenji frowned. "What? Is there anything you say that can't be believed?"
"Hehe... I'm so happy because I met the Senju clan."
Madara almost jumped up in shock. Uchiha Kenji covered his mouth, looking utterly stunned, and murmured to himself, "Oh no, no! Ling has finally cracked under the pressure and gone crazy..."
"Hey, Madara-chan (a cute way of addressing Madara), if he goes berserk later, you have to help me hold your brother back. You know, with your brother's brother complex, even if he goes crazy, he'll never lay a hand on you, but I'll be in big trouble."
Madara, who had just opened his mouth to ask something: ...So who's Madara-chan!
"I told you guys you wouldn't believe me..." Ling shook his head with a smile. "How should I put it? I really met a very interesting Senju—hahaha."
"What on earth could be interesting about those annoyingly burly Senju guys..." Uchiha Kenji put his hands behind his head and disdainfully curled his lips. "Ling, did you really hurt your head?"
"Who knows—" Ling drawled. "I really hope I don't meet him again, that interesting Senju brat... After all, if he grows up, the world will definitely become very interesting, right?"
Madara was taken aback and his expression became confused. "If it's interesting, shouldn't you want to meet him again? Why do you say you don't want to?"
"Because without a doubt, the Senju and the Uchiha will only meet on the battlefield. When Ling says this, it means he has the intention to kill and also recognizes that kid's talent..."
Uchiha Kenji showed a malicious smile. "Tsk tsk tsk, it seems you really take a fancy to that alleged interesting Senju. Once he's on your radar, if you meet him on the battlefield, he probably won't even be able to escape."
"If he can last until I run out of chakra and can't sense anymore..." Ling didn't deny Uchiha Kenji's words. "Then he's just lucky."
But Madara was even more confused. "Then why don't we just go there now and kill them all? Why wait until later?"
"I don't want to fight a battle where I won't get any benefits whether I win or lose. Besides, the team leader who covered his whole body with Explosive Tags should have retreated by now, right?" Ling laughed. "If it weren't for the young Senju he's taking out for training, he'd probably be following my trail to find me by now—after all, his killing intent was quite strong."
Madara: Seriously? Covered with Explosive Tags?
"Madara, there's no need to be so surprised. This is indeed a common tactic used by the Senju," Uchiha Kenji explained. "Although I don't want to admit it, with the physical strength of an adult Senju, that kind of attack would at most result in serious injuries. It wouldn't even count as being on the verge of death. Plus, their Mystical Palm Technique is relatively more advanced..."
Anyway, Madara, stay away from the Senju when you want to get close to them in the future. I was a bit slow to dodge last time when one of them got close to me, and I had to lie in bed in the clan for over a month before I could get up again."
Madara nodded to remember but still looked confused. "But if big brother knows about this, the Senju shouldn't be able to hurt you, right?"
"Yes, indeed," Ling nodded slightly. "Although I can't see now, dealing with a Senju of similar age isn't a big problem—but there's an unwritten or rather an understood rule between the Senju and the Uchiha.
That is, as long as there is no mission conflict, neither the Senju nor the Uchiha will deliberately attack each other's teams taking children out for training. In fact, this is something all ninja clans tacitly agree on.
After all, for any biological population, descendants are crucial for inheritance. So, unless a clan decides to wipe out another and makes preparations, ninja clans rarely target each other's children.
Moreover, creating non - mission - related killings will only give rise to more unnecessary hatred and bring no benefits at all. So I always try to avoid it—but avoiding conflicts doesn't mean showing weakness, okay?"
Madara: Man, it's so complicated.
"Alright, alright, talk less to Madara. The little guy has just started taking missions. He hasn't even been to the battlefield yet. Can he understand all this?" Uchiha Kenji ruffled Madara's hair. After getting a murderous look from the kid, he withdrew his hand. "Let's go back—quickly hand in this mission so we can take on the next one."
Ling tilted his head and looked at Uchiha Kenji. "Kenji, are you still taking missions all the time?"
"Well—after all, I feel the same when looking at the road or at people. Staying in the clan all the time is useless. It's better to take on a few more missions and have some fun." Uchiha Kenji grabbed the hair at the back of his head and let out a long sigh. "At least I can hear some interesting Baji."
Ling had a faint smile on his face. "How about taking a break from missions and training with me after we go back this time? You're not short of money, right?"
"I don't want to—" Uchiha Kenji looked extremely disgusted. "Anyway, you're definitely going to be approached by Chiho when you go back this time. I'll interrupt my missions and train with you after I finish the mission after the next one—before that, you go and deal with that troublesome woman first."
"
"Chiho...," Uchiha Ling's mouth twitched slightly. "Could it be that she still hasn't given up even after all this?"
"Um... Who's Chiho?"
"One of your big brother's crazy admirers," Uchiha Kenji's mouth twitched. "The reason you haven't met her is that Chiho took on a mission a few days ago. Otherwise, with this crazy woman around, it would be a question of whether you and I could even have a chance to be around your big brother's precious first - time experience."
Hearing this, Ling frowned immediately. "What are you talking about? Don't lead my little brother astray."
So, Uchiha Kenji just nodded gravely at the shocked Madara and didn't bring up the topic again.
Madara also returned to the clan with the two of them, full of curiosity about Uchiha Chiho. However, contrary to Uchiha Kenji's expectation, they weren't stopped by Uchiha Chiho at the mission hall.
"Hiss—this shouldn't be! How could Chiho not be here?" Uchiha Kenji shook Ling's shoulders exaggeratedly. "Oh my god, oh my god, Ling! Chiho didn't even stake you out this time! Oh my god!"
"Well, there's no need to make Chiho sound so scary..."
But even though he said so, Ling also felt relieved inside. Among his peers, apart from Uchiha Kenji, only Uchiha Chiho could make him not know how to handle the situation.
Different from Uchiha Kenji, who straightforwardly expressed all his emotions and did all sorts of things because of his excessive emotionality, Uchiha Chiho was a quite excellent female ninja who knew well how to act appropriately—her foresight even exceeded that of many of her peers.
If it weren't for the clan elders excluding Uchiha Chiho on the grounds that [women would become vulnerable when giving birth, and the clan leader couldn't have any weaknesses], Ling believed that with her abilities, she was also eligible to compete for the position of the next clan leader.
So when he was still the heir, Ling always deliberately dragged Uchiha Chiho along for training, hoping to have one more reliable right - hand man in the future. However, but!
Ling never expected that his training activities, which were completely devoid of any personal emotions, would be misinterpreted by Uchiha Chiho as his pursuit of her. After he explained the situation, she wasn't even embarrassed. Instead, she publicly stated that she'd use him as the standard when looking for a partner in the future, and she'd confessed to him more than once.
It was precisely because of Uchiha Chiho's active pursuit that he had attracted a lot of unnecessary animosity. His first direct conflict with Uchiha Yakuki was right here.
So when he heard that Uchiha Chiho wasn't here at this time, Ling truly felt relieved. He really didn't know how to handle it—at least give him a little more buffer time.
But this mixed feeling of relief and heaviness quickly turned into pure heaviness when they arrived at the door of their house, all due to Madara's puzzled words—
"Big brother, there's a very pretty female clan member waving at us in front of our house."