Chapter 540: The Owner of This House (Patreon)

Konohagakure — Kenway Compound

"We're not here to fight," Madara said, keeping his raised hand deliberately empty as the morning wind pulled several strands of hair across his face. "Alaric told me to come here."

"…"

"…"

Haku did not move.

The frost surrounding his boots remained spread across the roof tiles in a thin, crystalline sheet, while the hand resting near his Kusanagi stayed exactly where it had been before Madara spoke. Itachi stood slightly behind him, his Sharingan turning slowly as he watched both Uchiha without allowing Madara's statement to change his posture.

"…"

"…"

For several seconds, neither answered.

Izuna tilted his head.

Even without sight, he could feel the skepticism pouring from the two men in front of him.

Madara noticed it as well, and because of it, his expression became faintly irritated.

Haku finally broke the silence. "Alaric told you to come here."

"Yes."

"To this compound."

"Yes."

"With him?"

Madara glanced toward Izuna. "No."

Haku's eyes narrowed.

"Now That's convenient."

Hearing this, Madara's eyebrow twitched.

Itachi studied the exchange while his attention periodically returned to the barrier. The defensive architecture surrounding the compound had not merely failed to react to Madara and his companion. It had actively accommodated them.

The distinction mattered.

If Madara had forced his way through, alarms would already have reached everyone inside. If he had somehow bypassed the barrier entirely, Haku would have felt the disruption because portions of the compound's security recognized his chakra as a secondary administrator.

Neither had happened.

The barrier had opened.

Haku knew it.

That was the only reason there was still a conversation instead of a battlefield.

"You understand why I'm not taking your word for it," Haku said.

Madara's lips flattened. "Your barrier allowed me inside."

"Alaric's barrier."

"From the looks of it you can apparently modify it."

"Yes."

"Then ask it."

Haku stared at Madara and the latter stared back.

Izuna sighed quietly beside him.

Itachi's gaze moved toward the blind Uchiha again. The stranger had still not introduced himself, yet the familiarity in the way he reacted to Madara continued bothering Itachi. Whatever their relationship was, the younger-looking man possessed none of the reverence someone might ordinarily show the legendary Madara Uchiha.

If anything, he sounded tired of him.

Haku slowly lifted his free hand, and two fingers touched the roof, then chakra entered the compound before the barrier responded.

For everyone else, nothing visible occurred, but Haku felt several authorization layers rise beneath his awareness. The two unfamiliar arrivals were registered within them.

Madara Uchiha.

Authorized.

The second signature had no name encoded into the barrier.

That was unusual.

Yet the instruction surrounding it was unmistakable.

Authorized alongside Madara.

No hostile response unless the individuals initiated violence against protected residents.

Haku's expression changed by only a fraction.

Madara caught it.

"Well?"

Haku lifted his fingers from the roof. "The barrier says you're allowed here."

Madara lowered his chin slightly. "So we have resolved this."

"No."

Madara's eyes narrowed.

Haku continued in the same calm tone. "We have established that Alaric allowed you to enter. We have not established why Madara Uchiha is suddenly here, or who the man beside you is."

Izuna raised an eyebrow.

Madara just looked toward him. "I told you this would happen."

"You told me we would enter quietly."

"We did enter quietly."

"You entered a rooftop occupied by suspicious shinobi."

"They came to us."

Haku's eyes narrowed further.

Itachi almost felt sympathy for Izuna without knowing who he was.

Then another chakra signature appeared.

A yellow flash erupted several paces behind Haku.

FWOOSH!

Madara's Rinnegan moved immediately.

A blond man materialized on the rooftop with one hand already resting upon the handle of a tri-pronged kunai. His blue eyes passed over Haku and Itachi first, confirming both remained unharmed, before settling upon the two newcomers.

Minato Namikaze became perfectly still.

Madara looked at him, and recognition took only seconds.

The blond hair, the Hiraishinc and the same face carved upon the Hokage Monument.

"The Fourth."

Minato's eyes sharpened. "You know me."

"I know of you."

Madara paused.

Then his Rinnegan examined Minato more carefully.

He could see and feel the Heartbeat, body heat, and living chakra pathways.

No Edo Tensei and no false vessel.

Madara's expression shifted. "You are alive."

Minato caught the subtle disbelief.

"That seems to be becoming a theme around here."

Izuna turned toward his voice.

"Another dead man?"

Minato blinked.

Madara glanced at his brother. "Yes."

Izuna sighed.

"I am beginning to think death means very little in this era."

"It usually means quite a lot," Minato replied carefully. "But apparently not in this household."

Before anyone could decide how to answer that, another presence approached from below.

Then two.

Then three.

Sasuke landed first.

His sandals struck the roof several meters from Itachi while his Sharingan activated almost immediately.

He saw Madara.

His entire body stiffened.

"You… you should be Madara."

Madara's attention moved toward him.

That chakra again, the second Uchiha.

Now that Sasuke stood close enough, the spiritual resonance was unmistakable.

Indra.

Madara's Rinnegan narrowed with interest.

Sasuke noticed.

"What?"

"…" Madara did not answer.

Izuna, however, slowly turned his blind face toward Sasuke. "That one feels strange."

Sasuke's expression darkened.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Izuna tilted his head as though listening to a distant sound. "Your chakra feels Uchiha, but there is something beneath it that feels…"

He paused.

Madara supplied the answer quietly. "…Old."

Sasuke looked between them.

Itachi's expression changed.

Madara knew something.

Before the tension could concentrate around Sasuke, Naruto came over the opposite edge of the roof with considerably less elegance.

He landed in a crouch, nearly slipped on Haku's frost, caught himself with one hand, and immediately pointed toward Madara.

"Who is he? What is he doing here?"

Kushina landed behind him a moment later and grabbed the back of his shirt before Naruto could move closer. "Maybe don't rush the legendary Uchiha with the Rinnegan before we know why he's standing in our house."

Naruto looked over his shoulder. "I wasn't rushing him."

"You were pointing."

"That's not the same thing."

"It usually becomes the same thing with you."

'So they already know me… or know of me,' Madara watched them.

The familial resemblance among the three chakra signatures now made sense.

His gaze moved from Minato to Kushina, then Naruto.

The Nine-Tails residue within Naruto was impossible to miss at this distance.

'Interesting.'

Izuna shifted beside him. "How many people are here now?"

Madara counted.

"Haku, Alaric's student. Itachi. The Fourth Hokage. The red-haired woman. The blond boy. The other Uchiha."

Naruto's face twisted. "Hey, I have a name."

Madara looked at him.

Naruto straightened.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

Madara's gaze dropped fractionally toward his abdomen. "I know what you are."

Naruto's expression hardened while Kushina's hand left his shirt.

Minato subtly shifted his weight.

The atmosphere tightened once more.

Izuna felt it and sighed.

"Again?"

Madara did not respond.

Kushina looked toward the blind man beside him.

Unlike the others, she studied Izuna with less suspicion and more confusion. The resemblance between the brothers was obvious at close range. Their chakra carried the same ancient Uchiha character, though Izuna's felt younger and cleaner, lacking the monstrous layers Madara had accumulated throughout his unnaturally long existence.

"Who are you?" Kushina asked.

Izuna's mouth opened.

Madara sensed movement around the compound before his brother could answer.

More shinobi had noticed the disturbance.

Not close enough to identify individually yet, but enough that remaining on the rooftop would only continue drawing attention.

His irritation deepened.

Alaric had told him to come to the compound.

Alaric had not told anyone living in the compound that Madara Uchiha would arrive with his resurrected brother.

That omission was beginning to feel deliberate.

Haku's gaze moved across the gathering group before returning to Madara.

"You said Alaric sent you here. What exactly did he say?"

Madara exhaled through his nose.

"He told me to bring my brother to the Kenway Compound and wait for him."

The rooftop went silent.

"…"

"…"

Itachi's Sharingan focused instantly upon Izuna while Sasuke stared.

Minato caught the wording as well.

Kushina's expression changed.

Naruto looked from Madara to the blind Uchiha.

"Your brother?"

Izuna's shoulders lowered slightly. "Finally."

Itachi's mind moved faster than anyone else's.

Madara Uchiha.

A younger brother.

Blind.

An ancient Uchiha chakra signature.

A face bearing unmistakable resemblance.

Eyes absent.

Clan history supplied the name before Itachi consciously wanted to accept it.

His Sharingan widened.

"No…"

Izuna turned toward him.

Itachi's voice became quieter. "Izuna Uchiha."

Madara watched him while Izuna smiled faintly.

"At least one of you knows your clan history."

Sasuke's face went blank.

Naruto looked toward him.

"Who?"

Sasuke did not answer while Itachi remained frozen.

Minato's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

Kushina looked between the brothers.

Haku's expression became something approaching disbelief.

Madara almost enjoyed the silence.

Then Haku looked at him again. "Alaric resurrected him."

Madara's mouth curved. "Yes."

That single word created another wave of stunned silence.

"W-Wait a second," Naruto recovered first. "Another one?"

Everyone looked at him.

"What?" Naruto raised both hands. "He already did it with Mom and Dad!"

Madara's gaze snapped toward Minato, then at Kushina… then Understanding arrived. 'Ah, that explaines it…'

He looked toward the two resurrected adults before turning his Rinnegan slightly toward the sky.

Alaric had told him that returning the dead was not especially difficult.

Apparently, the man had been understating nothing.

Haku released a slow breath.

The situation remained dangerous, yet enough pieces had begun fitting together that immediate combat no longer made sense.

Then Kushina's chakra stirred.

She had finally registered the weight of the sentence Madara used earlier. "Wait."

Madara looked toward her.

"You said Alaric told you to bring your brother here, and wait for him."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"…" Madara paused.

Because Alaric had promised Izuna Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan eyes after extracting five years of service from Madara Uchiha.

Explaining that aloud to this group somehow felt unnecessarily irritating.

"He has business to finish."

Haku's eyes narrowed. "What business?"

Madara looked at him. "That is between Alaric and me."

Haku's hand moved closer to his weapon again.

Madara's patience finally thinned.

Izuna sensed it. "Nii-san."

"I know."

"No, I do not think you do."

Before Madara could respond, Minato disappeared.

FWOOSH!

He reappeared behind Madara.

At nearly the same instant, Haku shifted to the opposite side.

Itachi and Sasuke separated, positioning themselves at different angles instead of standing together where one attack could catch both.

Kushina moved Naruto back half a pace as chakra chains stirred faintly beneath her sleeves.

Madara's Rinnegan swept around the rooftop.

Izuna felt every movement through chakra and sound.

For the first time since arriving, both brothers understood exactly how completely surrounded they had become.

Haku stood near enough to attack without warning.

Minato's Hiraishin formula rested on several locations across the compound.

Itachi and Sasuke both carried Sharingan.

Kushina's chakra possessed enough vitality that Izuna could almost feel it pressing through the roof.

Naruto carried something enormous beneath his own.

No one had attacked… not yet.

Madara stared around the circle.

Then, very slowly, he raised both hands.

Izuna heard the movement of cloth… then he sighed and raised his hands as well.

Naruto blinked.

Sasuke's Sharingan narrowed.

Minato's posture remained ready.

Madara looked at all of them with the expression of a man granting an unreasonable concession.

"While I could kill all of you now and be done with all this tension," Madara said calmly, keeping both hands above shoulder height, "I can't because I'm currently employed by the owner of this house."

No one spoke.

The silence became absolute that even Haku blinked.

Itachi's Sharingan stopped rotating for a fraction of a second.

Sasuke looked as though he had misheard him.

Minato's brows rose.

Kushina stared openly.

Naruto's mouth fell slightly open.

Madara Uchiha.

The Ghost of the Uchiha.

The man whose name had become inseparable from Hashirama Senju, the Valley of the End, the Rinnegan, and generations of shinobi nightmares.

Employed.

Izuna lowered his head while his hands remained raised before a long sigh escaped him. "Nii-san, we don't need to fight anyone."

"Hm?" Madara turned toward him. "That's what I said."

Naruto's face twisted immediately.

"No, you said that in a threatening way."

Madara looked at him.

Naruto pointed accusingly despite Kushina's earlier warning. "You literally started with 'I could kill all of you.'"

"It established that I was choosing restraint."

"It established that you're insane."

Madara's eyes narrowed but Naruto did not back down.

Izuna's mouth twitched.

Kushina pressed her fingers against her forehead.

Minato looked suspiciously close to smiling.

Itachi's composure had recovered, though some of the hostility in his stance finally loosened.

Haku remained cautious, but even he seemed to recognize that Madara's strange declaration was probably the closest thing they were going to receive to reassurance.

Madara looked around at the gathered household.

Alaric's student.

Two surviving Uchiha.

The resurrected Fourth Hokage.

An Uzumaki woman with monstrous chakra.

Their son, who seemed incapable of recognizing when silence was the safer option.

And somewhere deeper inside the compound, still more people were beginning to wake.

He slowly lowered his hands.

Izuna followed.

Madara exhaled.

"This is going to be a long wait."

Kenway Keep — Philadelphia — The Holy Commonwealth of Pennmere

Morning sunlight spilled through the tall windows of the Kenway Keep, catching along the polished wood of a broad desk that had almost disappeared beneath reports.

Kassandra sat behind it with one elbow resting near a stack of personnel files.

She had been reading for long enough that the tea beside her had gone cold.

Vanguard demanded more attention than usual whenever Alaric disappeared.

Not because the organization ceased functioning without him. Reuben, Thulani, and Shakoka were capable captains, while Jonathan Hugh ensured the wider machinery of the Commonwealth continued operating with an efficiency that occasionally made Kassandra wonder whether the man secretly possessed more than twenty-four hours in a day.

The problem was that Alaric had a habit of leaving behind questions.

He had been gone for several days.

No crisis had followed and Pennmere remained stable.

The Spanish situation had not suddenly transformed into catastrophe, supply reports remained favorable, and the Vanguard continued training as ordered.

None of that prevented Kassandra from being irritated.

She turned another page and saw one Vanguard Captain.

Edward Oldgate.

Her green-hazel eyes moved through the latest evaluations.

Speed.

Endurance.

Command response.

Firearm proficiency.

Close combat.

Crest integration.

"Hmm…" She hummed quietly. "That is better."

Another document sat beneath it.

Henry Avery.

Kassandra compared the newest numbers with those recorded after the pair had first been accepted into Vanguard training.

The difference was substantial.

Oldgate's physical output had improved enough that several earlier limitations no longer appeared relevant. Avery's tactical scores had climbed at the same time his conditioning improved, which suggested he had not simply relied upon the Asura's Crest to carry him through the training.

Kassandra leaned back slightly.

"Hm."

She drew Avery's file closer.

"These two have improved by a long shot."

Her finger moved along one of the reports.

Oldgate had apparently requested access to training facilities at hours when most of the compound should have been asleep.

Avery had done the same on different nights.

Kassandra's mouth curved.

"So that's what you've been doing."

She flipped between the reports.

Reuben remained ahead in overall command performance.

Thulani's combination of adaptability and battlefield aggression continued separating him from newer members.

Shakoka remained terrifying in direct combat, particularly after Alaric's recent training emphasized dealing with groups rather than individuals.

Oldgate and Avery were not there yet, but they were trying.

Kassandra rested her chin lightly against one hand. "You must both be training at night to catch up with the captains."

Her tone carried approval.

Vanguard needed that hunger.

The Asura's Crest gave people advantages that ordinary soldiers could never reproduce, but Kassandra had never wanted it to create complacency. Reuben, Thulani, and Shakoka had earned their positions through experience, loyalty, and capability long before Oldgate and Avery entered the organization.

Catching them should be difficult.

Kassandra reached for another report. "…"

"Oh, that's good news."

The male voice came from directly beside her ear.

Kassandra moved before thought as her chair shot backward.

One hand caught the edge of the desk while her body pivoted away, and she crossed several meters so quickly that the papers she displaced had barely begun falling before she reached the opposite side of the room.

She turned.

No one stood behind the chair.

Her eyes narrowed.

Then recognition arrived.

Kassandra closed them.

"Alaric."

"…"

"…"

"…"

Her shoulders lowered slightly. "Stop playing games."

"Heh…" A faint chuckle came from somewhere she could not place.

Kassandra opened her eyes.

"I have been stressed for the last several days, and if you make me chase you through this room, I swear by Zeus that I will stab you when I catch you."

Another quiet laugh answered.

"Charming."

Kassandra turned toward the voice.

Nothing.

"You disappear without explaining exactly how long you will be gone," she continued, scanning the room while irritation sharpened each word, "leave me with military reports, trade disputes, Vanguard assessments, and three different people asking whether you intended to inspect the fleet before the next deployment—"

She was about go on and rant but stopped as she felt that warmth suddenly pressed against her back.

Two arms wrapped around her waist before Alaric rested his chin lightly near her shoulder.

"There you are."

Kassandra exhaled.

The tension that had followed her through the last few days loosened before she could stop it.

Her hands settled over his forearms. "You are insufferable."

"I missed you too."

Kassandra leaned back against him despite herself.

For several seconds, she simply allowed his presence to register.

It was solid, warm, and alive.

That last detail mattered whenever Alaric vanished toward the other place he still refused to fully explain.

She never knew precisely what waited there.

She knew enough to understand that he could disappear for days and return carrying the expression of someone who had treated catastrophe as an inconvenience.

Kassandra's thumb moved once across his wrist… then she paused.

Something smelled different.

Smoke was normal.

Alaric enjoyed cigars enough that the scent clung to many of his coats.

But this… this was not merely tobacco. There was burned fabric, hot metal, and dried blood.

Something faintly mineral beneath all of it, almost like stone after lightning struck nearby.

Kassandra's brow furrowed before she turned within his arms.

Alaric released her enough to allow the movement.

Then she saw him properly.

Her eyes couldn't help but widen.

The Vanguard coat was destroyed.

Not just damaged.

Destroyed.

One side had been burned so badly that entire sections of fabric were missing. What remained of the gold trim had melted in several places, leaving warped metallic beads along blackened edges. One sleeve had been torn and scorched nearly to the elbow, while other sections looked as though something unimaginably violent had repeatedly tried to rip the garment apart.

There were dried bloodstains near the collar, ash clung to one shoulder, but his trousers were little better.

Kassandra's gaze traveled from his boots to his face.

Alaric himself appeared perfectly healthy.

Of course he did.

Her mouth opened.

Alaric recognized the expression, and his smile became cautious.

Kassandra grabbed both sides of his ruined coat. "MALAKA!"

Hearing this, Alaric's eyebrows rose.

"What happened to you?!" Her voice filled the office.

Several servants outside the room undoubtedly heard it.

Kassandra pulled the destroyed fabric outward as though presenting evidence in a criminal trial. "What did you fight?"

Alaric chuckled.

That was the wrong response because Kassandra's eyes narrowed. "You think this is funny?"

"No."

"You are laughing."

"I know."

She looked down at the coat again, then back at him.

"You own enough wardrobe to clothe half your officers, and somehow you always return wearing the one that looks as though you crawled through a war."

Alaric scratched the back of his head.

"Um…"

"…"

Kassandra waited.

His fingers remained there while the grin on his face turned almost sheepish.

"Well…"