Izuna, restore the glory of the Uchiha!

Back at the hotel, it was already late at night.

Izuna let Koichi go back to his room to rest. He could finish the complicated meeting minutes and paperwork tomorrow.

He went back to his room, washed up, and originally planned to go to sleep.

However, his biological clock, ingrained by long hours of intense work, left him wide awake. His body, used to staying up late, was unusually excited past his normal bedtime. Izuna tossed and turned, and had to get up and find something to do to induce sleep.

Ban's family letter would be very suitable.

Just like when Izuna went on a long trip, as long as Madara and he couldn't see each other every day, writing a daily, rambling letter home was his unwavering pastime.

Madara has been away from his clan's territory for five days, embarking on his monster-catching journey. If we simply count the time he writes one letter a day, Izuna should have at least four letters home by now.

However, the long distance, coupled with the fact that the clan's transit station was specially set up to avoid exposing Izuna's journey, greatly increased the time cost of delivering letters, so that Izuna currently only has two letters written to him by Madara.

Of course, even with only two letters, the skill of writing a diary-like account remains undiminished, and the hypnotic effect is as expected.

Looking at these words, full of life but devoid of any substance, Izuna's lips curled into a slight smile.

As Madara traveled further and further away from the clan's territory, Izuna couldn't help but feel a growing concern for his brother's safety.

Well, that does sound a bit like worrying about nothing.

Objectively speaking, Madara Uchiha's Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan and the Hashirama cells within his body were steadily growing, and his inexhaustible eye power and continuously increasing self-healing ability made him almost invincible in the ninja world.

It seems there's really nothing to worry about.

However, Izuna was still worried about the possibility of an accident. This was the Warring States period, where strong people were not few and far between, and all sorts of insidious secret techniques were constantly emerging.

Madara is going to hunt tailed beasts again. If he gets injured and is ambushed by someone who appears out of nowhere, Izuna will have no one to complain to.

As he read Ban's family letter, he pondered his countermeasures by candlelight.

Asking Madara for his location directly would inevitably spoil the fun, and the delay in sending letters home is too great. Just a few days of travel time has already caused a significant delay. If something really happens, by the time he realizes something is wrong, Madara will probably be long gone.

Summoning beasts is actually a pretty good means of instant communication.

Using the location sensing ability of summoned beasts, Madara's movements were relayed to Izuna. The key point is that Madara rarely leaves the clan's territory, so it's reasonable for those little cats to be a bit more attentive and wouldn't arouse suspicion.

Izuna acted immediately.

He carefully put Ban's letter aside, picked up his brush, ground ink, and wrote a letter to Grandma Cat in a flowing and elegant style.

The letter overflowed with concern for his elder brother, while also expressing his anxiety about being unable to control the situation due to geographical constraints. He expressed his gratitude for having the ninja cats report Madara's location and situation without his knowledge, and finally hoped that Granny Cat would keep a close eye on Madara for his sake.

After writing the letter, seal it properly.

Izuna rarely used summoning techniques. He bit his finger, pointed his five fingers downwards, and slapped the ground with his blood as a pledge.

"Spiritual communication!"

With a "bang," a puff of white smoke dissipated.

A black cat, wearing a kimono on its upper body and a nightcap on its head, appeared in front of me, half asleep.

It looked tired, its eyelids drooping, clearly having been woken up by Izuna. Originally, it wanted to throw a tantrum and simply undo the summoning spell and leave—this cat wasn't about to work overtime when it should be sleeping.

But when it struggled to open its eyes and saw that it was the generous Lord Izuna who had summoned it, instead of those bored brats from its clan who always had nothing better to do than invite it out to play hide-and-seek, it immediately snapped out of its daze and respectfully said:

"Meow! Lord Izuna! Summoned late at night, what are your orders, meow?"

Izuna didn't bother to point out its sycophancy; he simply handed the letter to it.

"Take this letter to Grandma Cat as soon as possible!"

"Meow! Yes, ma'am!"

The black cat picked up the letter, and then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Looking at the empty room, Izuna sighed, hoping that Granny Cat could make arrangements as soon as possible.

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Izuna and Koichi left the town and began their journey home.

Meanwhile, in a nearby inn, Hashirama Senju was fast asleep, curled up in his blankets, showing no sign of leaving.

He rarely gets to come out like this. Without official documents, elders, or nagging, he naturally can't just go back so easily. He's determined to have a great time.

To Izuna's surprise, Granny Cat's reply arrived in his hands shortly after he returned to his clan's territory.

The messenger was still the same black cat.

However, this time it wasn't wearing pajamas, but rather very formally, as if it were a diplomat visiting a friendly tribe. This undoubtedly made Izuna believe that the reply could actually be sent even faster.

But he soon realized why the black cat was dressed so formally.

"Lord Izuna, this is Grandma's reply, meow! Please take a look!"

Izuna took the letter, unrolled the scroll, and as his gaze moved downwards, his brows gradually furrowed.

The cat-eye monitoring solution he proposed was indeed taken very seriously by Granny Cat, and she did send Cat Ninja to implement it.

At first, Ban was quite surprised by the ninja cat that had suddenly appeared beside him, but as a pet to relieve boredom during his travels, he did not reject it and would even share his dry food in a friendly manner.

However, as Madara searched for the Nine-Tails' trail, his pace quickened, and even ordinary ninja cats couldn't keep up with his speed.

The poor kittens ran themselves ragged, but dared not jump onto the chieftain's shoulder as ornaments.

Finally, after exhausting several groups of ninja cats, Granny Cat had no choice but to dispel the summoning, thus declaring the mission a failure.

Seeing this, Izuna understood. The black cat had come dressed in all its finery to apologize.

Izuna placed the letter on the desk and rubbed the black cat's fluffy head.

"It's alright, thank you for your hard work. I underestimated my brother's speed. I'll think of another way."

With tears welling in its eyes, the black cat was filled with admiration for the magnanimous Izuna-sama.

"Waaaah... Izuna-sama is so kind, meow!"

They hung the prepared scroll containing the reward around its neck and sent the black cat away.

Izuna leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.

Ban's whereabouts are indeed elusive, and conventional methods seem to be completely ineffective.

However, he couldn't just give up on this matter. If Black Zetsu took advantage of the situation, all his hard work over the past few months would be wasted.

Feeling somewhat agitated, Izuna got up from the comfortable ergonomic chair and paced around the office, pondering a solution.

Koichi sat at a desk on the side, engrossed in processing documents while listening to the interaction between his master and the black cat—he had, of course, moved from Izuna's office to the clan chief's office.

Seeing Izuna troubled by this matter, Koichi had a bold idea pop into his head, but it sounded somewhat rebellious, so he hesitated and remained silent.

Izuna turned his head and saw what was happening.

"What good ideas do you have? Tell me."

He was really worried about what to do.