Madara: How do you prove that will truly happen?

"He actually said my brain must be fried..."

Naruto looked puzzled. "Brain fried?"

"Ah, I even had Ino check me out afterward. My brain's perfectly normal."

"Anyway, Chen left. He wasn't willing to cooperate with us."

Shikamaru took a deep drag of his cigarette, steadying himself. "Maybe my words were a bit harsh that day, but I think if he truly knew the future and cared about the ninja world's safety, he should've been able to endure that level of 'humiliation' and move past it."

"Uchiha Chen either lacks the responsibility and resolve a ninja working for the world's safety should have, or he's guilty and has a guilty conscience. The facts prove it's the latter!"

Naruto didn't see anything wrong with Shikamaru's test or judgment of Chen. Back when the Fourth Great Ninja War ended, even Sasuke, whose contributions rivaled his own, had to first report to Konoha's prison and await sentencing before his merits offset his crimes. A ninja should have a ninja's conviction!

"Anyway, after that, Uchiha Chen vanished without a trace."

"Connecting his actions before and after, I've concluded that Uchiha Chen is an opportunist and a dangerous element of the Era of Peace! Someone who craves war to make a fortune!"

"People like that are everywhere. Your time as Hokage is precious, so I saw no reason to bother you with what happened in the reception room."

"But I never expected Chen to set his sights on Madara's corpse, and so blatantly at that."

"Mm." After hearing Shikamaru's account, Naruto was deeply disappointed. I was going to introduce Chen to Sasuke, let him know he still had a clansman. Never thought he'd be this kind of person. How disappointing...

He shifted gears. "None of that matters now. The question is, what does Chen want with Madara's remains?"

Shikamaru speculated. "Two possibilities. One, he's doing Impure World Reincarnation himself. That's less likely, because after the war, the scroll for that technique was permanently destroyed. Very few people in the world still know it. Unless Chen has ties to them... Kabuto's probably fine. The other... I'll hold my opinion for now."

Naruto nodded. "Mm. Orochimaru, huh... That is suspicious."

Shikamaru said, "The other possibility is more likely. Chen uses his underworld connections to profit from Madara's corpse. If Madara's remains surface, it'll probably cause a stir in the Underground World!"

"But either way, Chen's wishful thinking probably won't work. That coffin has a seal personally placed by Sasuke! The moment it's opened, Madara's corpse will be completely destroyed!"

With that, Shikamaru stubbed out his cigarette in the portable ashtray he carried and picked up the scattered documents from the floor.

Naruto called the squad leader back in. There was one thing he urgently needed to clarify.

"Did you see Chen's eyes? Were they ordinary Sharingan, or Mangekyo Sharingan?"

"Ordinary Sharingan!"

"Are you sure?"

The squad leader said with absolute certainty, "Positive! His eyes didn't have special patterns like Sasuke-sama's! Just Three Tomoe!"

Naruto weighed it in his mind. "With just ordinary Sharingan, he broke through the Guardian Barrier of the restricted area and took down an elite squad without injury... Conservatively, Chen has strength comparable to Sasuke's when he finished training under Orochimaru back then!"

Shikamaru said, "To be fair, we've let our guard down these past years. If that squad guarding the restricted area had been equipped with the latest results from the Konoha Science Unit—Scientific Ninja Tools scrolls—they could've handled him easily!"

"But one thing's suspicious. How did he know where Madara's remains were stored?"

Naruto mused, "The Sharingan has the ability to manipulate minds and gather intel. If Chen was determined, it wouldn't be hard. What's done is done. Now we need to deal with it..."

"Screech!" Suddenly, a sharp cry rang out from the sky outside the window!

Naruto stood and looked out. "That's Sasuke's Messenger Hawk..."

Shikamaru was startled. "A message from Sasuke, after all these years? Must be important."

He said to the Anbu squad leader, "Go rest for now. Tell everyone not to blame themselves. This incident has been a wake-up call for us!"

After the squad leader left, Naruto opened the scroll. As he read, his expression grew grave.

"What happened?"

"It's like this..."

"What? A Mangekyo Sharingan user? Laying an ambush, attacking Sasuke?"

"Yeah. He calls himself Shin Uchiha. And he's a kid!"

Naruto set down the scroll. "This is urgent. Looks like Chen's matter will have to wait. Shikamaru, tell the Barrier Team to change the barrier codes and have the Sensory Unit heighten alert..."

Shikamaru said, "Should we issue a wanted notice for Chen?"

Naruto thought it over. "Hold off for now. What he did is too sensitive. It's best we handle this internally first! Also, compile Chen's intel. I'll show it to Sasuke when I get the chance!"

0:32.

The image immersed in Madara's mind froze on the destroyed Konoha landscape. Boruto and Kawaki, covered in tattoos, stood facing off atop the shattered Hokage Rock!

—"The era of ninja has already ended!"

The food on the table had long gone cold.

Madara stared hard at Chen's eyes. "Give me an explanation!"

Chen said, "I 'used to' be able to foresee the future to a certain extent through dreams. In that genjutsu just now, I simply projected what I'd already foreseen to you using the Sharingan."

He'd prepared this explanation long ago. He couldn't reveal his identity as a time traveler, so "foresight" was the necessary cover.

But since Chen had crossed over before "Boruto: Naruto Next Generations" had finished, he didn't know the entire future. So he added "used to" as a prefix, leaving himself room to maneuver.

Foresee... the future? Madara wasn't as dismissive as Shikamaru. He'd seen Chen's heaven-defying abilities. If he could even reverse time, foreseeing the future wasn't too far-fetched.

But Madara wouldn't believe him easily.

"How do you prove the images you foresaw are the future?"

"Because I once foresaw the outbreak of the Fourth Great Ninja War in a dream, and then the Fourth War actually happened—the course and details of the war were no different from what I saw in the dream."

"Of course, the future foreseen in the dream occurred under the premise that I did not participate. Depending on the interference I make, the actual future will also shift."

"Words are empty. How do you convince me that this is the future, and not a scene you've woven with your profound mastery of genjutsu?"

Madara's stubbornness at this moment was less about doubt and more about unwillingness to accept.

Kinshiki, Momoshiki, even Urashiki, or even an existence like Isshiki—Madara could accept all of them!

What he could not accept was that the pair of unparalleled youths who had once suppressed him in his full Six Paths state at the end of the Fourth Great Ninja War—Naruto and Sasuke—would end up in the miserable state he had just seen in the illusion!

Their inaction indirectly dragged down Madara's own standing as well.

"Simple. If the events in the illusion actually happen in reality, that would prove it, wouldn't it?"

Chen replied calmly, lowering his head to glance at his watch.

0:58.

"This afternoon, the battle between Naruto and Sasuke against 'Shin Uchiha' shown in the illusion will take place as scheduled. Why don't we go witness it for ourselves?"

1:06.

Chen and Madara ended their night talk, finalizing a plan to witness Naruto and Sasuke's fight against Shin Uchiha that afternoon.

Chen descended into the [Otsutsuki Time Zone] nurtured by Omodaru.

A long white corridor, with white compartment doors lining both sides.

Chen stopped before one door, pushed it open, and walked in.

It was a small Japanese-style room, about four and a half tatami mats in size.

A frozen coffin sat quietly on the altar in the center.

After thawing it, Chen lifted the lid and gazed at Madara's remains inside.

—"It's time to prepare the 'material' I need to awaken the Rinnegan!"

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