"Cough—!"
Sasuke felt as though his neck had been snapped by an immense force. Agonizing pain shot straight into his skull, and his eyeballs nearly popped from their sockets. Then his vision went completely dark, and he lost consciousness on the spot.
Madara Uchiha held the unconscious Sasuke in one hand and looked up at Naruto.
"This is the reincarnation of Indra you were looking for."
His voice carried barely restrained excitement, as though he had finally found an interesting opponent.
"Want to take him from me? Then dance with me!"
Madara brought his hands together, and the ground immediately began to tremble. Thick tree roots burst from the earth one after another, winding toward Naruto.
"Since you claim to be Hashirama's reincarnation, let me see how much of his power you inherited!"
"Wood Release: Flower: Deep Forest Emergence!"
Naruto sighed, his face full of disdain.
"Forget this kind of showy nonsense. I know you and your best buddy had quite the relationship, but isn't this just something he was done playing with?"
The Nine-Tails lowered its head and spat out an enormous Tailed Beast Bomb. The black sphere carried terrifying power as it smashed head-on into the spreading Wood Release.
Madara's brows immediately furrowed.
"What did he just say? Who was done playing with it?"
Black Zetsu hurriedly explained, "Just now, Hashirama Senju's Impure World Reincarnation body was shattered by that brat."
"Hashirama was here?"
Madara Uchiha was visibly stunned.
Black Zetsu nodded repeatedly, then lowered his voice and urged, "That's right. It's best not to fight him head-on right now. Wait until the Ten-Tails fully revives first. Once you become the Ten-Tails' Jinchuriki, it won't be too late to deal with him."
Unexpectedly, Madara's expression only grew uglier, as though those words themselves were an insult.
"Madara lost