Haniyasu

July 2, 6:06 PM.

In the dense forest of Konoha, Tsuchi and Madara descended from a spatial vortex.

At the end of the line of sight stood a large pavilion. Madara recognized it at once—it was the same location from the illusion Tsuchi had shown him last night, where Naruto and Shin had clashed.

Tsuchi had already scouted the area beforehand and marked the spatial coordinates nearby, but they were still some distance from the battlefield.

Madara asked, "Why not go directly there?"

Tsuchi said, "As a witness, I need to take some precautions first."

As he spoke, his left eye turned toward Madara, flashing a crimson light.

—Haniyasu!

"Whoosh!" Madara's entire body was enveloped in a hazy gray aura.

"Is this a concealment ability like the Second Tsuchikage's kid Mujin Mesai?"

"Not exactly the same. Mujin Mesai can evade the five senses and Chakra perception, but it can still be detected through physical means. Haniyasu, on the other hand, renders one immune to physical perception, Chakra perception, Sage perception—every possible means of detection! Because this technique erases 'presence' itself!"

With that, Tsuchi also applied Haniyasu to himself.

It was worth noting that Utsuro-ryu in his right eye and Haniyasu in his left were the innate Dojutsu Powers of Tsuchi's Mangekyo Sharingan.

It was precisely with these two abilities that Tsuchi had managed to slip through undetected in his early years, moving through the key battlefields that would decide the ninja world's future, making many unseen preparations without anyone ever noticing.

Madara said, "Such a convenient technique? It must have a weakness!"

Tsuchi replied, "Yes. This is a technique that only works flawlessly for a 'witness.' Its weakness is that the user must restrain themselves and cannot leak any killing intent toward the outside world; otherwise, the concealment effect is immediately lifted."

Madara's eyes darkened. "I see. If you can't show killing intent, then its application in combat is severely diminished."

Tsuchi smiled faintly. "Actually, if you control your killing intent well enough, you can still silently take someone down. But for a powerhouse like you, even if someone infiltrated silently to your back, you could counter instantly, right?"

Madara couldn't help but think of that filthy black figure.

Bringing up the dead, huh...

Still, he wasn't truly angry at Tsuchi. First, Tsuchi hadn't mentioned a single word about Black Zetsu.

Second, if he were to be angry, it would be at his past self.

"Tsuchi, I'll say this upfront. If we come up empty-handed, you know the consequences, don't you? I, Madara, don't tolerate nonsense."

Tsuchi met Madara's gaze, neither servile nor arrogant. "Don't worry. Unless absolutely necessary, I never do things without confidence. And so far, there hasn't been such an 'absolute necessity.'"

Hah... So the implication is that even if we fall out, he has the backbone for it?

Madara wasn't angered by these words; in fact, he admired this junior even more from the bottom of his heart.

Because every word and action of his came from the mindset of a true strongman!

"Whoosh!" The vortex spun, and Tsuchi and Madara landed atop a large tree.

On the clearing in front of the pavilion.

Naruto was sitting on a rock, accompanying a young girl, while Sasuke leaned against the pavilion's entrance.

"..." Seeing Naruto's back, Tsuchi lowered his gaze and said to Madara, "We've arrived just in time."

Madara stared at the scene, perfectly overlapping with the illusion, his eyes unable to hide his shock. "So it really is like this..."

Tsuchi shifted his gaze from Naruto to the young girl and said to Madara, "That's Sarada, Sasuke's daughter. The reason she's here—to save time, I omitted it from the illusion. In short, because Sasuke is always away on missions, he's neglected his family."

"By chance, she saw a photo of Sasuke with a female subordinate from his Hawk days and began to suspect that her biological mother might be someone else. She ran off to find the truth. She and Sasuke just reconciled inside the pavilion, but she probably can't accept that her father didn't recognize her at first. Naruto is comforting her now..."

After hearing this, Madara said, "I'm not particularly interested in these family matters. Whether Naruto and Sasuke's strength has really declined to the pathetic level shown in the illusion—that's what I care about most..."

"Here they come!" Tsuchi glanced at the black vortex suddenly appearing on the pavilion's eaves and looked down at his watch.

6:32 PM.

Madara turned his gaze and saw a bald man in an Akatsuki robe and a boy with an onion-shaped head emerge from the vortex!

The bald man's exposed scalp was covered in Sharingan, all of them Mangekyo, their patterns deep black inverted triangles.

It was Shin Uchiha and his clone child!

Madara had already previewed Shin's composition and the course of this battle through the illusion.

Madara had only one purpose here: to confirm with his own eyes Naruto and Sasuke's current composition!

He silently hoped in his heart.

Right now, I'm convinced Tsuchi has the ability to foresee the future. But Naruto, Sasuke—you two were once existences that even gave me, Madara, a hard time. I hope you'll slap his face hard!!!

At the very least... don't let the embarrassment you showed in that illusion happen before my eyes!!!

Grind that garbage clown covered in Mangekyo into the ground with all your might, now!!!

"Shwoosh!" After appearing, Shin Uchiha locked onto the two on the ground, swung his Akatsuki sleeve, and shot out a barrage of ringed shuriken!

"Zzzt!" His Dojutsu activated!

The ability was "manipulation of marked objects"! All those ringed shuriken had been pre-marked with his Dojutsu Power, and under his precise control, they shot through the air toward where Naruto and Sarada were!

Naruto immediately sensed it and turned back with a cold glare!

"Clang! Clang! Clang!!" The right arm beneath the Hokage's cloak swept out, kicking up a fierce gale that scattered the trajectory of all the shuriken from behind!

"Heh~ Not bad, are you!" As Shin Uchiha's Dojutsu Power activated once more... the shuriken whose paths had been disrupted reversed course in high-speed rotation, flying back at the two with even more unpredictable trajectories!

"Boom!" To protect Sarada, Naruto unleashed Kurama's Chakra!

The golden fox head rose with a thunderous stance, once again blocking all the shuriken!

At that moment, the black cloak rustled loudly as Sasuke flashed into midair, charging toward Shin Uchiha!

"Heh, how about this!" Narrow Road Encounter, a smirk curling at Shin's lips, he casually flung out a vast spread of shuriken, manipulating their paths with his Dojutsu to scatter, then converge on Sasuke!

"Clang! Clang! Clang!" With swordplay of peerless skill, paired with the Sharingan's microscopic insight, Sasuke struck down every shuriken in an instant!

In a flash, Shin lunged into close quarters, blade meeting blade; he caught Sasuke's thrusting sword barehanded, while his clone children followed close behind, their large shuriken stabbing forward!

Between his bangs, the Rinnegan flickered... a single Amenotejikara swapped their positions, and he turned back with a Great Fireball!

"!?" Shin's Sharingan on the back of his head caught this, and he decisively used his Dojutsu to yank his clone child behind him as a shield, blocking the exploding flames!

But the fire's power was fierce, shoving his child hard into Shin's spine... "Ah!!" Shin screamed, clutching the Kusanagi Sword that remained in his hand after Sasuke swapped places with Amenotejikara, crashing toward the ground!!

Why emphasize that the Kusanagi Sword was in Shin's hand? Because there was a trick to it!

Before landing, the Kusanagi Sword in Shin's hand seemed to slip free, flying out, and Madara, who had spotted the trick, let a sharp gleam pass through his eyes.

Shin scrambled up, looking somewhat disheveled, and sighed with feigned admiration: "So that's it, this is your Dojutsu, huh? Uchiha Sasuke..."

Madara's gaze grew slightly restless.

So far, the battle's progression matched exactly what Chen had shown in the illusion...

This shouldn't be how it goes, what are you two dragging your feet for?

And, you really haven't noticed? What that guy did to the 'sword'?

Time is running out! Tell me this isn't real! You're toying with him, right!

Chen reminded him in time: "Keep your 'killing intent' in check, or Haniyasu will break free."

"Shunk!!" Suddenly... under the protection of Kurama's Chakra, Naruto's cross-shaped eyes went wide, utterly defenseless!

Stuck plainly in his abdomen was Sasuke's Kusanagi Sword!

In that instant, Madara and Chen both saw clearly what happened.

Shin, using the disheveled posture of his crash landing, successfully lulled Naruto and Sasuke into lowering their guard, then with his Dojutsu manipulated the pre-marked 'Kusanagi Sword', driving it straight through Naruto!

As the blade burst out from Naruto's back, blood splattered, and Sasuke and Sarada's shocked expressions froze in place—

"Heh." It was Madara's disheartened laugh.

Then... from the ground rang Shin Uchiha's arrogant taunt!

—"How about that? My Dojutsu's not worse than yours, is it, Uchiha Sasuke!!"