Who Are You, Really?

Chen's God Robe sleeves had been completely burned away by the fierce flames... yet his arms remained utterly unharmed!

Madara, already familiar with Chen's abilities, immediately saw through it: "Oh? Utsuro-ryu selects itself to reverse time, restoring the body to its state before injury? Seeing this ability in action makes it even more monstrous than I imagined..."

On another peak, Obito also remarked, "Utsuro-ryu... this technique has a mechanism more terrifying than Kamui. A Mangekyo's ability is determined by the user's conviction at the moment of awakening. Chen, I believe your awakening of Utsuro-ryu isn't just because of your strong sense of time. In the instant you witnessed your parents' deaths, you must have desperately wished time could go back, right?"

"This isn't good, Sasuke."

"Yeah. For now, let's assume it's a form of regeneration."

"If it's regeneration, there must be a side effect."

"Let's get serious, Naruto." Sasuke slowly drew the Kusanagi Sword from his waist.

"Yeah, just what I wanted!" Naruto clenched his fists.

"Watch out for that dojutsu that disassembled our techniques earlier! Let's settle this with taijutsu and swordsmanship as much as possible!"

"Got it!!"

Purple and gold light intertwined as they charged!

Naruto used fists and feet reinforced by Kurama's chakra as his weapons!

Sasuke used the Kusanagi Sword, crackling with Lightning Release, as his edge!

With shifting footwork, they pressed Chen with relentless attacks!

They're treating me like Momoshiki, huh...

Fine.

Chen's right eye flickered with crimson light as he engaged in a fierce taijutsu duel with Naruto and Sasuke on this forest clearing!

No matter how fast or fierce their attacks came, Chen easily evaded them!

Chen focused on dodging, but whenever he seized an opening and struck, his attacks carried a thunderous momentum!

Unable to avoid, Naruto and Sasuke had to either retreat or block with all their might!!

"Clang!" "Clang!" Both were knocked back by fists rushing straight at their faces!

"Naruto, did you notice?"

"Yeah, our fists slow down when they get close to him, but his fists speed up when they reach us! It's insane!"

"That's also an effect of that Personal Barrier!"

"But any dojutsu has its limits, and that Personal Barrier is no exception!"

"As long as we keep up the pressure, we can break through it!"

"And we will break it!"

Having once been the Six Paths, Naruto and Sasuke had absolute confidence in their chakra and foundation!

And their tactics proved correct!

So Chen wouldn't obediently follow their rhythm.

As the two charged again, Chen pressed a Sage Katsuyu Palm toward Naruto!

"Whoosh!" Naruto twisted his body in midair like an eel, dodging just as he had against Madara's Rinbo back in the day!

"That same trick won't work on me twice! If you want to hit me, at least grab me with a sudden Susanoo like before!"

Madara thought to himself, "It seems Naruto is gradually regaining his battle instincts."

Though the Sage Katsuyu Palm missed, it still slowed Naruto's advance!

Sasuke's Kusanagi Sword struck first!

Chen's right eye flickered sharply.

—Amaterasu-no-Mikoto!

"Crack!"

Watching his blade shatter into pieces, leaving only the hilt, Sasuke was startled: "That dojutsu of his can even disassemble physical objects not made of chakra! His attack on Naruto earlier was to create a one-on-one situation so he could precisely target my Kusanagi Sword!"

"Snap!" Chen's hand formed a crane-like grip, seizing Sasuke's wrist, shaking the hilt from his hand with a sharp tremor, then catching the falling hilt with his other hand like lightning and tucking it into his waist pouch!

The entire sequence flowed like water.

Then Naruto shouted, "Sasuke, switch with me!!"

"Whoosh!" Sasuke instantly understood, using Amenotejikara to swap Naruto, in a seized-wrist posture, right in front of Chen!

"Boom!" Naruto broke free of Chen's grip with brute force, his shoulder igniting a giant fist of Kurama's chakra, crashing down!

—Amaterasu-no-Mikoto!

"Crack!!"

The giant fist shattered...!!

But... it revealed the 'Mini Tailed Beast Bomb' clenched tightly within!

"The mechanism of dojutsu is still clear to me—it can only target one object at a time, right?"

--Amaterasu-no-Mikoto!

"Crack!" But the moment Naruto finished speaking... the Mini Tailed Beast Bomb dissipated into black specks of light!

"Unbelievable!" Naruto growled, and from the cloak of Kurama's chakra, several massive tails erupted, curving inward to form a sealed enclosure!

"Sasuke!!"

"Yeah, nice work, Naruto..." Not far away, Sasuke's Rinnegan focused, a trail of blood trickling from the corner of his eye, while the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan in his right eye also spun with light!

--Amaterasu!

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"Crack! Crack! Crack!"

Black Flame Spears burst forth from the earth, crisscrossing as they stabbed into the interior of the golden tails. Then, black flames bloomed within, engulfing the outer tails in turn, like a black-and-gold fire lotus blooming across the land!

Naruto pulled back and retreated to Sasuke's side, both of them staring at the death zone where no life could possibly remain!

By now, they didn't think Chen would die—after all... as an awakener of the Mangekyo Sharingan, he at least had the 'Susanoo' technique to fall back on.

But there was no way he could come out unscathed like before!

"How's that?!"

"Even if it were Madara back in the day, this move would've given him a run for his money, dattebayo!"

"Crack!" The black-gold fire lotus split open with a gap, and Chen walked out from the scorched trail left on the ground. The upper half of his robe was already torn, but strangely, his body remained completely unharmed...

Chen said sincerely, "Not bad at all. Seeing you two get back into your groove, honestly, I'm pretty relieved..."

Sasuke's face tightened, thinking: What's going on? He didn't even use Susanoo. That ability to stay unharmed—if it were regeneration, there's no sign of any regeneration-related cells in his body, and the chakra reaction he's giving off isn't like Sakura's Byakugou Seal.

Could it be that strange sage art of his, related to the slug? No... instinct tells me that sage art itself shouldn't be this overpowered.

"Gulp." Naruto swallowed hard, sweat pouring down his back. "Monster. Uchiha Chen is a real monster!"

Chen lifted his gaze and said darkly, "Naruto, don't act like you know everything and slap your own labels on others!"

--Toyomiketsunomikoto!

"Gulp!" "Gulp!" Both Naruto and Sasuke were encased in dense water spheres, floating into midair!

"Gulp gulp." Sasuke held his breath, "It's the Water Prison technique he used with his right eye!"

"Gulp gulp!" Naruto focused, "This Water Prison exists independently without the user maintaining it manually!"

Madara: "I see... Toyomiketsunomikoto, is it. Techniques stored by this jutsu are complete in their mechanism, no longer requiring the user to sustain them individually."

Obito: "Yeah, that earlier Susanoo guardian spirit existed on its own without Chen's maintenance too!"

Inside the Water Prison, Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances, each seeing the resolve in the other's eyes!

They had to go all out!

"Boom!" "Boom!"

Kurama's golden giant form and Susanoo's dark purple frame burst through the Water Prison, rising with overwhelming force!

The two powers began to merge in an ascension toward unity.

Madara couldn't help but reminisce: "Beast Calamity, huh. That move I pioneered—they've really figured it out..."

Obito sighed endlessly: "Back then, that very move ended my time as the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki."

Madara mused inwardly: No joke, that move is the culmination of yin and yang forces, a symbol of absolute power. Chen, be careful—don't mess this up...

Strangely, Chen remained completely oblivious to the colossal entity taking shape before him.

He looked down at his watch.

5 hours, 13 minutes, 17 seconds.

"Time to send them home..."

Chen dashed sideways to the rear!

"He's trying to escape!"

Naruto condensed a Tailed Beast Bomb and then slapped his forehead: "Ah! I forgot he has the ability to annihilate objects!"

"Naruto, it's fine—use this move! He can't annihilate it!"

"Huh? I remember the Mini Tailed Beast Bomb clearly got...!" Naruto suddenly realized something, looked at the black flames still burning on the ground, and slapped his forehead again!

"Oh! The move we used combining Kurama's chakra tails with Kagutsuchi—he didn't break it down! Could it be...!"

Sasuke nodded and said, "That's right. His right eye's ability to break down techniques and objects is tied to the target's 'volume.' With the size of your full-fledged Tailed Beast Bomb, he can't annihilate it!"

"Just... blast it over!"

Naruto hesitated, "But what if we really kill him? He's a father. If possible, I want to give him a chance to turn over a new leaf!"

Sasuke said lowly, "Naruto, I need to tell you something. He hasn't used his left eye's ability at all so far!"

"Ah!" Naruto's expression turned stern. After the pain of reflection, he clenched his fist, condensed the Tailed Beast Bomb to its maximum size, locked onto Chen's retreating figure, and fired!

"Zzzz!"—Chen glanced back mid-sprint, light swirling in both eyes at once.

—Mizuha no Mikoto-no-Mikoto!

"Crack!!" The Nine-Tails' ultimate Tailed Beast Bomb, under Naruto and Sasuke's once again stunned gaze, disintegrated into countless black specks of light!

Chen halted before the 'century-old tree' encircled by the 'sword formation.'

He checked the time again.

5:13:25!

Madara, in his doubt, suddenly realized something and widened his eyes in shock: "Could it be... Chen, you're trying to..."

Without a shred of hesitation, Chen's right eye trembled with vermilion light!

—Omodaru!

"Whoosh!" Time flowed backward, black, blurred lines quivering.

The sword formation faded, and the stone that had filled the tree hole vanished!

The instant the lines stopped trembling!

"Crunch!!" Naruto, his face full of confusion, was impaled back onto the century-old tree by the great sword!

"Boom!" In the distance, the Beast Calamity suddenly collapsed half its golden radiance!

"Naruto...?" Sasuke stared blankly at Naruto, whose figure had vanished along with Kurama's Golden Cloak. A chill he had never felt before crawled from his spine to his scalp.

"Uchiha Chen... just what the hell are you?"

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