Uchiha Madara Descends from the Sky

Dust and smoke swallowed the entire eastern sky.

Gray-white fog churned like a tsunami, advancing from the far end of the horizon toward the center of the battlefield. The moonlight was completely blocked out, the stars vanished, and even the dark-red glow shining from the Ten-Tails' nine eye sockets was compressed into a narrow patch of darkness. All that remained on the wasteland was a thick, endlessly rolling cloud of dust and smoke, like a wall with no visible end, slowly yet irresistibly bearing down on everyone.

The earth trembled. Not with the deep, heartbeat-like vibrations of the Ten-Tails, but with far more violent tremors, each interval unnervingly regular—footsteps. Every step came after the same number of seconds. Every step made loose stones leap from the ground. Every step spoke of how the size of whatever was approaching had surpassed the limits of normal human comprehension.

Inside Naruto, Kurama's Chakra suddenly surged violently. The massive fox rose in the depths of his consciousness, its golden eyes fixed in that direction. What filled them was not the usual hostility, but wariness—a primal caution that only emerged when facing an opponent of equal standing.

"Kurama, who is that?" Naruto asked in his mind.

Kurama did not answer. But its silence was an answer in itself—it did not know. Or rather, it knew, but that name was too heavy, so heavy that speaking it might shake Naruto's fighting spirit.

Guy stood beside Naruto. The green Chakra vapor had completely dissipated, and his right leg trembled slightly—not from fear, but from the strain left by the earlier battle. Yet his eyes remained locked on the dust cloud. A bead of sweat slid down from his temple, ran along his thick eyebrow, and dripped onto the ground.

"Kakashi..." Guy's voice was low and hoarse. "That