10 years old

A hit of blurriness took over as he staggered slightly. Mukuro instantly knew what had happened, his sharingan had upgraded. However, he wasn't happy about this, his weak body could barely handle the increase of chakra due to his new upgrade. It was too fast. He knew that this upgrade would be limited by his physical body and it was a recurrence of the exact same situation he had months ago.

He had just barely trained his body so he could fully utilise the one tomoe sharingan yet another tomoe had appeared. Still, he could only accept the situation and train harder. He would need to take some time to get used to the change and find his limits. He wouldn't want to get exhausted in the middle of the battlefield surrounded by enemies.

Calming himself down, he activated his sharingan and immediately felt the strain it had on his eyes causing him to deactivate it. He knew that he would have to start training more harder to make sure nothing like this happened. He had just turned eight and he already had a two tomoe sharingan. The strain didn't make his eyes unusable, but he couldn't continuously keep it active for long periods of time.

He knew how the others would react, and it was the same as when he first activated. His family was elated, and pride was plastered all over Tajima's face. He left the house in a jolly atmosphere, Mukuro knew that he just went to brag about it to his friends. Madara and Izuna left the house with Madara going to the battlefield and Izuna to the training field, leaving Mukuro alone.

Although it was said that it was a battlefield, it was just small skirmishes for the two clans, a place to train the younger generation. True wars were only fought when the two clan's interests collided. For now, Mukuro took a break from the training and went for a walk around the Uchiha clan. A smell invaded his nose as Mukuro's eyes started sparkling. Making his way in the direction of the smell, he ended up in front of a small bakery.

Although wars were commonplace, the shinobi still needed a time to relax and citizens that took refuge under clans would start shops like the bakery in front of him. Entering the store, what immediately drew his attention was the sweets that were freshly made. Making his way towards them, the shopkeeper immediately knew what the latter wanted.

"How many do you want, young one?"

Being drawn to a particular sweet, Mukuro paid for a bag of them and left the shop with a satisfied smile. Munching on them, he happened to pass a park where the children of civilians were playing. Seeing their happy smiles, Mukuro felt a certain yearning in his heart yet he knew that life he yearned for was a happy yet weak one.

Looking at their innocence, he knew that it was something he would never have. The smiles present on the kids seemed to coincide with Izuna's as Mukuro started to make his way home. Thinking about Izuna, he felt like he was missing something when his younger brother appeared in front of him.

"Mukuro-nii-san, it's not fair you're having those sweets by yourself."

Mukuro just smiled as he ruffled Izuna's hair. This time Izuna didn't swat away his hand as he wanted the sweets. Giving him the packet, Mukuro left the boy who immediately dug into the sweets. He just ate one sweet when he put his hand back in only to find it empty.

Another shout was heard within the Uchiha clan grounds alongside the laughter of another child,

"Mukuro-nii-san!!!"

Moments like this were what warmed Mukuro's heart as he went back to his lodgings. Time passed as Mukuro trained and got stronger and stronger. Before he knew it, he was ten years old and was just returning from the battlefield. Although there was still immaturity on his face, his eyes spoke of something else. Not until he left the battlefield, did he deactivate his sharingan. It was still a two tomoe sharingan but Mukuro was happy. In the past two years, he had trained his body the most, and the weakness he had was long forgotten. Now even if he awakened his three tomoe sharingan, he wouldn't have the same disadvantages he had with his previous upgrades.

He would also occasionally meet with Hashirama and spar with him and Madara. To defeat Hashirama though, Madara and Mukuro would have to team up. Mukuro couldn't use his sharingan or any jutsus as the spar was purely taijutsu. Although Madara had the strength he was still lacking in speed while it was the opposite for Mukuro. Hashirama though had dreadful endurance and was able to keep his ground even when facing the two.

Even though the two would sometimes win, it was only due to tiring Hashirama out and they would be extremely tired, barely able to catch their breaths.

Mukuro entered his house and found that the atmosphere was quite sombre. He didn't know why but he saw the awakened sharingan of Madara and instantly knew what had happened.

- Earlier that day -

Madara and Hashirama were currently looking at their father and younger brothers in a confrontation.

Seeing their fathers jump up and throw a weapon at their younger brothers, they both threw the stone in their hands to intercept them. Landing in front of them, Madara looked at Hashirama,

"I'll never forgive the one who tried to hurt my brother, no matter who it is…"

"Same here!"

"Hey Hashirama…"

"What is it?"

"Maybe it just isn't possible for us to reach that…"

Hashirama just looked at Madara as an uneasy feeling sprouted in his heart,

"…that pipe dream of ours…"

"Madara…What are you…?"

"No matter how brief it was, but it was fun…Hashirama."

This time Tajima's voice was heard from behind him,

"Three on three?"

Tajima didn't take his eyes off the three, Senju Hashirama, Senju Butsuma, Hashirama's father and Senju Tobirama, Hashirama's younger brother and the future second hokage.

Butsuma was around Tajima's age and their combat abilities were equal. He was a man of tall stature and possessed black eyes and shoulder-length black hair kept back out of his face by a piece of light green cloth tied around his forehead. He also had a prominent jawline and wore red armour with the Senju symbol at the front and on both sides of the shoulder plates, accompanied with mesh armour underneath his attire. In addition, he wore a sword over his right shoulder accompanied by a tanto on his left shoulder guard.

Tobirama was about Izuna's age and their combat abilities were also equal. He was a fair-skinned boy with silver, shaggy hair and red eyes. He wore green armour over a simple black suit. This armour was constructed from numerous metal plates, formed into multiple protective guards along his body with fishnet armour around his wrists and shins. This clothing was accompanied by sandals and a happuri which was engraved with the Senju's emblem.

Tajima continued,

"Can we take them, Madara?"

"No…"

Madara was sure with his words,

"Hashirama is stronger than me. If Mukuro was here then it is a different story but if we fight, we'll lose."

Izuna looked shocked at this revelation,

"Stronger than even you, elder brother?"

Tajima looked satisfied with Madara's analysis,

"I see, quite impressive. Let's retreat."

Madara had just turned around as he answered Hashirama's questioning,

"My brothers were killed by Senju while yours were killed by Uchiha…So there's no need to show our guts to each other, our next meeting will be on the battlefield as enemies, Senju Hashirama. I'm…Uchiha Madara."

Saying this, Madara turned around only for Hashirama to see his newly awakened eyes.

Elation was present on Tajima and Izuna's face while shock was plaster on Butsuma's face. The two groups ended up retreating as they saw that there was no benefit of fighting and they would rather not take the risk. Tajima and Butsuma were fathers after all and both had lost two sons. They didn't want to take the risk.

Hashirama watched Madara's back get further and further as he also turned around to leave with Butsuma and Tobirama.

- Back to the present -

Madara noticed Mukuro returning but didn't say anything. It was only until Mukuro neared him did he speak out,

"Mukuro, remember that dream of ours…"

Mukuro nodded as Madara continued,

"…you were right, it was a stupid dream."

Mukuro stayed silent,

"He is a Senju and we are Uchiha…"

Sighing lightly, he left a silent Mukuro behind.

Mukuro lightly sighed as he went to his accommodation and took off his armour and the like. Now he carried an additional tanto on his back for smaller range fights. With certain opponents, the naginata would be useful when thrown as a surprise so he needed a replacement weapon.

The next day, Mukuro was in a nearby clearing as he put out his right arm on front of him while his palm faced upwards. He internally shouted,

'Rasengan!'

Suddenly, chakra accumulated just above his palm and formed a circular ball, slightly larger than his palm. Ramming it onto a nearby tree, the tree split in half due to the pure destruction the chakra ball caused.

Mukuro then did the handseals Monkey → Dragon → Rat → Bird → Ox → Snake → Dog → Tiger → Monkey. Internally shouting,

'Chidori!'

Lightning coalesced in his left hand as he ran forward and drove it into a tree. This resulted in a similar destruction however this time it included a slight burnt smell.

Mukuro had learned these two iconic techniques during the two years and he was trying to accomplish another technique. Once more doing the handseals for Chidori, he tried to coalesce the armour around his body. He wanted to achieve something like the lightning chakra mode the Raikage's used. However, he had barely covered his body and the lightning dissipated.

He never knew how much chakra he had as there were no ranks like genin or chunin to compare to. What he did know was that it rather high for an Uchiha and it was larger than some adults. He had also been able to finally balance his physical and spiritual energy allowing his chakra to reach new heights.

'Finally, its time.'

He had left a note saying that he would be doing this, and he was just slightly excited to see the results of this.

Biting his right thumb to draw out a little blood, he did the handsigns Boar → Dog → Bird → Monkey → Ram and slapped the ground with his right hand,

"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

With a flash of smoke, Mukuro had disappeared from his position. Mukuro expected to feel sick but he felt nothing, but just the change in atmosphere.

Looking up, darkness entered his eyes as a large white figure looked surprised seeing his back.