Madara leaped high into the air, landed on the cliff, and returned to Natsu Yuu's side.
In an instant.
Madara sensed a change in Natsu Yuu. The Chakra fluctuation around him had actually surged dozens of times over?
The total amount wasn't much, but compared to the negligible fluctuation before, the change was dramatic.
However.
Madara wasn't particularly surprised by it.
It wasn't as if anyone could increase their Chakra limit dozens of times in just ten minutes, right?
Most likely, it was just another trick by this "Sage of the Dao Path."
It wasn't strange for Madara to think that.
After all, he'd witnessed Natsu Yuu teleport away earlier without a trace of Chakra.
Was that an act back then, but not now?
It was like—
You'd clearly seen with your own eyes that someone wasn't carrying any weapons.
But in the blink of an eye, he pulled out a handgun...
Then, in the next instant, he pulled out a rocket launcher...
At that point, would you think the only thing he'd been hiding was a rocket launcher? Would you still wonder if he might pull out something even more terrifying?
Besides, with the Rinnegan and his unfathomable teleportation ability, Madara simply didn't believe the Chakra fluctuation Natsu Yuu showed was his true strength.
"Beautiful! Did you enjoy that little dance?"
"It was all right. But it was nothing compared to Hashirama. Only Hashirama could truly get my blood pumping!"
Madara folded his arms and snorted.
He could just about say he approved of Iwagakure—or, rather, of a few of its people.
At the very least, Tsuchikage Ishikawa, who was willing to die defending the village, and Mu, who was despicable but extraordinarily talented... had both left a fairly deep impression on Madara.
These ninjas had earned Madara's "not bad."
That was already exceedingly high praise.
In Madara's eyes, most ordinary ninjas were no different from the sand on the ground—utterly unworthy of remembering.
"What did you think of Mu's jutsu?"
Natsu Yuu asked eagerly.
He was curious, too: could Dust Release break through the defenses of Perfect Susanoo?
Judging by Madara's attentiveness to Mu during the fight, was it possible?
"It should be a Kekkei Tōta that combines Wind, Fire, and Earth Nature Chakra."
"It's certainly rare, and dangerous as well."
"If it were a little faster to activate, it'd be a perfect Forbidden Jutsu."
Madara rarely commented on jutsu,
but Dust Release truly deserved praise.
It was also one of the very few attacks in the entire world capable of breaking through Susanoo's defenses...
Of course.
Breaking through Susanoo's defenses didn't mean it could defeat him.
Besides, Mu wouldn't even get the chance to fully use Dust Release in front of Madara.
"What a shame. A jutsu that interesting is probably going to be lost."
"Not necessarily. That brat called Ōnoki, whom you saw a few days ago, is still around. He probably evacuated Iwagakure long ago. He might master this Kekkei Tōta someday."
Madara's eyes lit up as he remembered Ōnoki.
"That brat?"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you need me to kill everyone from Iwagakure? Including the old and young who escaped?"
Madara frowned slightly.
Though he was ruthless and cold, he was unusually lenient toward children.
After all, besides Izuna, he had several other younger brothers, all of whom had lost their lives to war when they were young.
If he could help it, he didn't want to kill children.
Natsu Yuu waved a hand to reassure him.
"No need. I'm not that twisted."
War was war.
But genocide was something else entirely.
Natsu Yuu didn't want to be a beast, much less a squid worse than one...
Hearing this,
Madara relaxed a little.
Then his gaze sharpened as he fixed his eyes on Natsu Yuu and got down to business.
"I've completed the deal. Now it's your turn to keep your promise."
Madara meant, of course, that he'd destroyed Iwagakure, and now that it was done, Natsu Yuu had to take him to the future so he could see for himself and confirm the truth about Infinite Tsukuyomi.
"No rush. We need to wait a little longer."
Natsu Yuu's answer immediately enraged Madara.
The killing intent and Chakra pressure he'd built up from the mountain of corpses pressed down on Natsu Yuu as he demanded sharply,
"Are you going to break your promise?"
Madara hated nothing more than lies and betrayal!
"What's the rush?"
"The battlefield hasn't been dealt with yet. Wait a moment."
Natsu Yuu explained calmly.
After his Chakra had surged, he could withstand Madara's Chakra pressure.
Of course, he was nowhere near as relaxed inside as he looked.
Madara withdrew his hostility.
Hearing that the battlefield hadn't been dealt with yet, he chose to hold back for now. He'd see what other excuses Natsu Yuu could come up with.
"How else do you need me to deal with the battlefield?"
"You don't need to do anything. I'll take care of it myself."
"Oh?"
Madara's eyes lit up.
Hearing that Natsu Yuu was going to act personally, he felt a little more genuine curiosity and anticipation.
This was a good chance to witness the power of the Rinnegan—or the true strength of this "Immortal Natsu Yuu."
However.
By now, all of Iwagakure had been reduced to ruins, with almost no survivors left inside.
Every ninja who could escape from the battlefield outside the village had already fled. Only several hundred gravely wounded ninjas, on the verge of death, remained.
What powerful enemies could there still be?
Was Natsu Yuu planning to go after those wounded people?
Wouldn't that be too pathetic?
Was this Immortal really such a letdown?
Natsu Yuu saw Madara's confusion, but couldn't be bothered to explain.
He'd understand soon enough.
It was true that Madara had savagely crushed the Iwa Ninja army and split Iwagakure in half with a single slash.
But it wasn't enough.
Or rather, there was still one thing missing.
What if,
some time later, a few surviving Iwa Ninja gathered again and continued rebuilding Iwagakure?
The odds weren't high, but it was possible.
Some stubborn ninjas had obsessions ordinary people couldn't understand.
So Natsu Yuu didn't want to have to bring Madara back every so often to clear the place out.
Besides, as the first Ninja Village to fall, Natsu Yuu had to make sure Iwagakure couldn't rise from the ashes!
Otherwise, it might suddenly drag down his mission progress later.
Fine. He'd add one final safeguard himself!
As for what method he'd use?
"Whoosh—"
Natsu Yuu vanished from where he stood and appeared instantly high above Iwagakure, several thousand meters in the air.
Then he used a Modern Item Redemption Voucher.
The next moment,
a gray-green cylindrical object more than ten meters long appeared beside Natsu Yuu.
He immediately set its delayed activation and let go.
The "cylinder" fell straight toward Iwagakure below.
Natsu Yuu then teleported away and returned to Madara's side.
With his excellent eyesight and powerful sensing abilities, Madara had naturally noticed Natsu Yuu teleport to the sky above Iwagakure's ruins and remain there for several seconds.
But he couldn't tell what Natsu Yuu had actually done.
"What was that...?"
"Come on. I'll take you somewhere farther away so you can watch."
Natsu Yuu took Madara and teleported dozens of kilometers away.
The sudden teleportation made Madara feel slightly uncomfortable.
But he quickly steadied himself.
He was even more astonished that Natsu Yuu could really teleport with him—and do it without warning, in a way he couldn't resist!
"You...!"
"Shh. Look over there!"
Natsu Yuu pointed toward Iwagakure and, at some point, had put on a pair of sunglasses.
The Rinnegan probably wouldn't be harmed, but Natsu Yuu didn't want to stare directly at the "sun" anyway.
Look where?
Look at what?
Madara looked in the direction he'd pointed, utterly confused about what strange thing Natsu Yuu was up to.
But the next moment,
at the center of Iwagakure, dozens of kilometers away,
a gigantic ball of light burst upward from the ground. Its sun-bright glare instantly swallowed everything, even outshining the sun in the sky!
The ball of light rapidly expanded, becoming a massive orange-red mushroom cloud.
It churned and spread rapidly through the air, swallowing everything around it!
Compared with the mushroom cloud—an emblem of destruction, terrifying even to look at and more than ten thousand meters high—even Perfect Susanoo seemed small.
Madara stared in a daze at the "Earthly Sun" as it erupted.
Then, trembling with excitement, he murmured,
"What kind of jutsu was that?!!"
Before you continue