Chapter 8: Do You Know the Truth Behind Uchiha Madara Being Abandoned by His Clan?

Chapter 8: Do You Know the Truth Behind Uchiha Madara Being Abandoned by His Clan?

New Year's Day is an important festival for the people of Konoha Village, second only to the Hokage Inauguration Ceremony.

Dawn.

Uchiha Fugaku donned an intricate black kimono. After offering incense at the family shrine, he returned to the bedroom and noticed the heavy karaginu (a type of formal jacket) Mikoto was wearing, "Hmm? Didn't I tell you yesterday? You should stay home and rest well. The hatsumōde (first shrine visit of the year) is too strenuous."

"It hasn't even been three months yet... Besides, as Fugaku-kun's wife, it would be too impolite not to participate in the clan's New Year hatsumōde!" Mikoto, despite her pregnancy, had applied light makeup. She asked, "Have you seen Itachi just now?"

Last year, Itachi had dutifully dressed and waited in the main hall for his parents. Children have little resistance to New Year festivities, often more eager than adults to participate in rituals. Participating in adult activities signifies parental recognition that they've grown up.

This year seemed different...

Kitahara was curled up under the covers, stubbornly refusing to get up.

Beside him, Uchiha Itachi, dressed in a child's kimono, knelt beside the small quilt, "Kitahara, wake up! The first day of the New Year is the clan's hatsumōde, let's go together!"

"Caw!"

The crow's muffled cry came from under the blanket. Getting up in winter...

Itachi wore a troubled expression, his small brow furrowed, pushing Kitahara through the blanket, "It's the first day of the New Year, you can't sleep in!"

The Uchiha clan's hatsumōde involves all clan members, regardless of age or gender, visiting the Naka Shrine on the first day of the year to worship the deity. As a clan famous for Fire Release and the Sharingan, the deity they worship is somewhat peculiar: the Naka River God... Likely dating back to the Warring States period when farming was difficult, they probably sought the River God's blessing for abundant rain.

...

Five minutes later.

As Uchiha Fugaku's family stepped out, the throng of Uchiha clan members heading towards the shrine on the street respectfully parted, clearing a path for them. The clan head looked quite imposing. Someone even shouted loudly, "Lord Clan Head, many people are waiting at the shrine! Please hurry!"

Fugaku's mouth twitched slightly...

"Dad is highly respected..." Uchiha Itachi said, while cupping the sleepy Kitahara on his shoulder. The sleep-loving crow had finally been pestered into getting up.

"..."

Uchiha Fugaku didn't answer. Instead, Uchiha Mikoto had a smile in her eyes, "It's just like last year... Looks like it will be quite tiring again this year!"

Even someone as dense as Kitahara felt something was strange.

As they moved with the crowd, Kitahara noticed the event wasn't particularly solemn. Many youths and children wore simple house clothes... But the clan head's family was dressed noticeably more elaborately.

Someone was even wearing ninja attire!

It was a boy with large eyes. People seemed to instinctively give way when facing him, clearly indicating he wasn't someone to mess with... This guy...

"You like Ninja Crows too?" The boy stood beside Itachi, seemingly not out of place at all. He looked at Itachi and Kitahara, his clear, youthful voice reaching their ears, "I'm Shisui, Uchiha Shisui."

The little boy tensed his face, "Uchiha, Itachi."

"Well, relax a bit." Uchiha Shisui bent down, putting an arm around the younger boy's shoulder, "Dressing so formally for the New Year hatsumōde? Right, you are the clan head's son after all..."

"Itachi, stay with Shisui and go a bit slower!" Uchiha Fugaku turned his head, saw Shisui beside Itachi, and continued helplessly, "Sorry to trouble you, Shisui. Mikoto and I need to get there quickly to start the hatsumōde..."

Shisui nodded towards the couple, "Don't worry, I'll take good care of him."

As the Uchiha clan's rising genius, Uchiha Shisui graduated from the Academy in his first year. With an exceptionally high mission completion rate, he was permitted to take the Chunin Exams and was promoted to Chunin... Of course, most importantly, Uchiha Shisui already possessed the three-tomoe Sharingan!

Crucially, he was currently only eight years old... The Uchiha clan believed he would inevitably awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan...

The acknowledged future number one master of the Uchiha...

The two future Uchiha met as if by fate. The younger boy was clearly not in high spirits, head bowed in dejection, "It's all my fault, I forgot Dad has to be the first to worship the deity..."

"Caw..."

It was clearly the crow on his shoulder sleeping in.

Hearing Itachi's words, the older boy couldn't help but laugh loudly, "Hahaha... Lord Clan Head won't blame you! If someone couldn't resist being the first to worship the deity, he'd be even happier than in the past!"

Both the little boy and the crow with crimson eyes looked at Uchiha Shisui with curiosity.

"The Clan Head definitely hasn't told you!" Uchiha Shisui didn't keep them in suspense. He looked towards the Naka Shrine situated on the hill and softly recounted the Uchiha clan's tradition.

"According to legend, in a very distant era, probably even before the Warring States period! The Naka Shrine once had male priests (kannushi) and shrine maidens (miko), who held high status. The former presided over the worship; the latter distributed purified water. But later, with the rise of ninjas and the advent of war..."

"The powerless priests and maidens vanished... Later, the role of presiding over the Naka Shrine hatsumōde fell to the clan head's family, with the clan head replacing the priest, and the clan head's wife replacing the maiden... It was a very arduous task."

"Towards the end of the Warring States period, the Uchiha clan grew stronger and stronger, with more and more members. The hatsumōde process was thus greatly simplified... However, a new problem arose... The clan head at the time, Uchiha Madara, was the one who ended the era of war alongside the First Hokage and founded Konoha."

"He had no wife, and he was a very willful person."

"The New Year hatsumōde is a grand event that unites all clan members. Every member opposed his decision to cancel the collective hatsumōde in favor of individual worship, yet the role of the maiden was very important."

"Uchiha Madara decided that on the first day of the New Year, whichever clan member arrived first at the Naka Shrine to worship, he and his wife would become the ones to preside over the New Year hatsumōde."

"Because the clan head at the time had no heir."

"During that period, many powerful individuals in the Uchiha clan wanted to preside over the hatsumōde to gain immense prestige and thereby campaign for the next clan head position... So the clan grew increasingly prosperous... with more and more people..."

Pausing here, Uchiha Shisui sighed helplessly, "Later... the position of clan head was never vacant. Presiding over the New Year hatsumōde for so many clan members became a chore... Everyone reverted to the old ways, tacitly agreeing the clan head would preside... The few exceptions were only when the clan head's family had urgent matters and couldn't preside..."

"..."

Both Kitahara and Uchiha Itachi felt their worldviews shaken. This attitude of dumping the dirty, tiring work onto the clan head... Could this truly be the Uchiha way? No wonder Fugaku's expression wasn't great when they left the house...

Could the reason Madara defected from Konoha, besides the clan yearning for peace, also be because he liked avoiding a pile of messy, tiring chores, and as a result, the Uchiha clan no longer recognized him as their leader...?

"Don't make that face!" Uchiha Shisui smiled, took Itachi's hand, led him up a step, and continued, "After all, this is also the responsibility of being the clan head! Future Itachi, don't try to escape it either!"

(End of this chapter)