Madara Retreats, Eye-Snatching Enters Kamui Space

Madara's body shifted half a step backward.

That half-step allowed Naruto's black staff to sweep past an inch in front of his Adam's apple, the airflow it stirred leaving a faint pale mark on his skin. Naruto's body flashed past Madara's right side, his golden Six Paths robe trailing an afterimage through the air. The momentum of his sweeping staff had yet to fade, cleaving a massive boulder behind Madara cleanly in two.

Naruto landed, turned, and held his staff across his body. Madara's figure reflected in his cross-shaped eyes—Madara stood exactly where he had been, without moving a single step. That half-step backward had merely been an illusion. Madara's actual body had not moved at all; only his center of gravity had shifted.

Madara's Rinnegan watched Naruto, the faint smile at the corner of his lips never fading. It was neither deep nor shallow, as though it had been carved there.

Sasuke's attack arrived from Madara's left. Black Chidori coiled around the Kusanagi Sword, its tip driving straight toward Madara's right ribs. The angle of the thrust was vicious, its speed extreme. The black lightning along the blade let out a piercing shriek through the air, like a thousand birds crying out at once.

Madara raised his left hand and calmly caught the sword tip between two fingers.

Chidori's black current crawled over Madara's fingers, crackling and bursting, but those two fingers did not budge in the slightest. A thin layer of violet-black Chakra covered them like armor, sealing off every bit of Chidori's force.

Sasuke's Rinnegan narrowed slightly. His left hand had already risen, the Yin Power mark in his palm heating up as he prepared to use Amenotejikara again—

Madara gave him no chance.

Madara's staff swept out from his right hand, its tip shooting straight toward