This was Uchiha Ryūha's reishi clone.
He lowered his eyes slightly, his gaze piercing the clouds and foliage like an observer seated far above.
He calmly looked down at Lilynette and Starrk, who were watching from the dense forest below, and at Team Seven traveling along the main road farther beneath them.
Reflected in Phantom's violet eyes were Naruto's lively figure and Sasuke's deathly still profile.
Kakashi's languid posture, and the merchant Mishima Heihachi's slick smile.
His gaze lingered longer on Naruto.
"Interesting," Liuyu's clone murmured, his voice audible only to himself.
"Under Lilynette's crude, almost playful 'instruction,' he's actually found a different path...
His chakra control is still rough, but the way he uses it has become fluid and unpredictable. His tactical thinking knows no bounds. More remarkable still is his temperament..."
He watched the clear, bright focus in Naruto's eyes.
That natural exuberance after shedding a heavy burden, that budding understanding of his own path, still uncertain yet firm.
"Has he broken free of the shells called 'Child of Prophecy' and 'son of the Hokage,' and begun to touch the possibilities of 'Naruto Uzumaki' himself...?"
The curve of Phantom Liuyu's lips shifted almost imperceptibly.
"Still as insignificant as dust, but this tiny variable is far more interesting than the 'seed' inside Sasuke, destined for darkness and destruction."
"Keep struggling, Naruto Uzumaki."
"Let me see where you, a pawn that unexpectedly strayed from its prescribed course, will finally end up."
At the very least, he would have to become an entire order of magnitude stronger than in the original story. Otherwise, he could never shake him.
His gaze swept over Sasuke again, over the darkness and pain surging deep within his left eye despite his desperate efforts to suppress them.
"As for you, Sasuke..."
"How much of hatred's nourishment