Madara Uchiha attacks!

Land of Fire, Hyuga Clan Compound.

In the afternoon, sunlight baked the dirt on the roads.

Following the orders their clan head had left before departing, the clanspeople were bent over boxes outside their homes, packing for the move.

No one noticed that someone had appeared atop the tallest tree at the edge of the compound.

He wore a black, high-collared robe, with a massive Gunbai strapped to his back and long, unruly black hair trailing behind his head.

He looked down, watching the busy Hyuga Clan members below with an icy expression.

Still, no one in the clan had detected his presence.

Madara did not hesitate.

He did not even bother speaking, his hands swiftly forming several hand seals before his chest.

Then he drew a sharp breath and opened his mouth, spewing out a sea of fire that blotted out the sky.

Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!

Crimson flames roared down like a savage beast, engulfing the row of houses at the edge of the compound.

In the blink of an eye, the flames rose dozens of feet high, and the roof beams collapsed with a crash beneath the crushing pressure.

The wooden boxes freshly packed by the doors instantly caught fire, and a scorching wave of heat rushed into the street.

Only then did the Hyuga Clan members react.

Screams erupted everywhere, and the street descended into chaos.

A middle-aged woman grabbed the child beside her and ran back desperately.

Nearby, a young man was too frightened to pick up the bundle he had dropped, scrambling away on his hands and knees.

The clanspeople retreated to the other end of the street and looked back at the row of burned-out houses.

Before even half an incense stick could burn, Eldest Uncle had rushed out from deeper within the compound with dozens of people.

The veins at the corners of his eyes instantly bulged as he pushed his Byakugan to its limit, staring straight at the treetop in the direction the fire had come from.

One glance was enough to change his expression completely.

A black, high-collared robe, the conspicuous, massive Great Gunbai on his back, and those utterly cold eyes.

It was Madara Uchiha.

A few days earlier, when Hashirama Senju and Madara had visited the Hyuga Clan Compound together, Eldest Uncle had seen him from a distance at the entrance.

Eldest Uncle took a deep breath and forced down his terror without panicking.

He strode into the middle of the street, faced the clanspeople fleeing in all directions, and shouted in a deep voice.

"The elderly and children, fall back! Everyone into the cellar behind the ancestral hall!"

"Anyone who can fight, grab your kunai and follow me!"

As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of branch family ninja tightened their grips on their kunai, veins bulging at the corners of their eyes, and quickly assembled behind him.

Madara drifted down in front of the tree.

The burning ruins cast a fiery glow over his pitch-black robe.

He watched the charging Hyuga Clan members without a ripple in his expression.

Leading dozens of branch family ninja, Eldest Uncle split them into three groups to surround him, trying to close in for hand-to-hand combat with Gentle Fist.

Madara's black eyes instantly turned blood-red, three tomoe revolving slowly within them.

He stood motionless until the first few attackers were less than half a step away.

Madara turned sideways and raised his right hand.

The massive Gunbai swept horizontally with a howling rush of wind.

Bang!

The three branch family ninja in front were sent flying by the fan and slammed into the dirt, struggling a few times but failing to get up.

Two more behind them had barely tried to strike Madara's chakra pathways with their palms when he shifted his feet and kicked both of them in the chest.

Bones cracked, and the two flew backward, knocking down a swath of people behind them.

In just a few breaths, the ground was strewn with injured branch family ninja, groaning in pain.

Only Eldest Uncle remained, stepping over his fallen companions and driving straight toward Madara's chest with a kunai clenched in his hand.

The kunai's tip was only half an inch from his robe, yet Madara did not even dodge.

He raised his right hand and caught Eldest Uncle's wrist like lightning.

With a crack, Madara tightened his fingers slightly, sending searing pain through the bones of Eldest Uncle's hand, and the kunai slipped from his grip and clattered to the ground.

Before Eldest Uncle could retreat, Madara's left hand had closed around his throat and jerked him upward.

Eldest Uncle's feet instantly left the ground, his entire body dangling in midair.

Madara raised his head, his blood-red Three-Tomoe Sharingan staring coldly at Eldest Uncle.

"Do you want to dance too?"

Eldest Uncle's face flushed red under the chokehold, veins bulging on his forehead as his teeth ground audibly.

But he made no sound, his Byakugan still glaring fixedly at Madara.

A trace of disgust flickered through Madara's eyes, and he tightened his grip further.

Then Madara slowly raised his right hand, fingers pressed together like a blade, and brought it straight down toward Eldest Uncle's throat.

Meanwhile.

Shinichi Hyuga, Scarface, and the others raced along.

Before he reached the compound entrance, he saw thick black smoke billowing into the sky.

Pale blue light instantly shone in Shinichi's eyes.

Through the dense woods, the Tenseigan's gaze pierced everything, clearly revealing the scene inside the compound.

Battered branch family ninja lay all over the ground, while Eldest Uncle hung in midair with Madara's hand clamped around his throat and a knife-hand poised to slash into it.

Shinichi pushed off hard, shooting forward like an arrow.

Just as Madara's knife-hand came within an inch of Eldest Uncle's throat, an immensely powerful suction force appeared out of nowhere.

Eldest Uncle's body instantly broke free of Madara's palm and was dragged dozens of feet away, landing heavily at the feet of the newly arrived Shinichi.

Madara's knife-hand struck empty air.

His gaze abruptly turned cold, and before even looking to see who had arrived, his hands had already completed their seals.

Overwhelming flames erupted from his mouth, crashing toward Shinichi.

Shinichi's expression remained calm as he waved a hand, unleashing a fierce repulsive force.

The sea of fire struck an invisible wall and instantly rolled back, surging toward Madara himself.

Madara turned sideways and leaped aside in a blur, evading the returning flames.

As the firelight faded, Madara landed and steadied himself, only then raising his eyes to look ahead.

A sixteen-year-old youth stood in front of the wounded Hyuga Clan members strewn across the ground, watching him coldly with pale blue eyes.

The three tomoe in Madara's eyes revolved once as he stared at those peculiar eyes for a long time.

Shinichi glanced down at Eldest Uncle beside his feet.

Eldest Uncle was clutching his throat and coughing violently, but his life had been saved.

Just then, Scarface and the others arrived, panting.

Shinichi turned his head and instructed Scarface.

"Help Eldest Uncle and the wounded away."

Scarface and the others hurried to comply.

Shinichi turned back to face Madara again.

"I'm the one you're looking for. Let's take this somewhere else."

With that, Shinichi turned and walked straight out of the compound, his back to Madara, never once looking back.

Madara snorted coldly and leaped after him.

Outside the Hyuga Clan Compound, on a stretch of wasteland.

Madara drifted to the ground, and the instant his toes touched the dirt, he gave Shinichi no time to rest.

The Great Gunbai on his back was already sweeping out, cutting through the air with a sharp rush as it smashed straight toward the side of Shinichi's neck.

Pale blue light rippled faintly in Shinichi's eyes, his Tenseigan clearly revealing the flow of chakra inside Madara's body.

The path of the sweeping Gunbai was perfectly clear to him.

Shinichi raised his left hand and blasted out a burst of repulsive force.

An invisible barrier struck the Gunbai, forcibly pushing both its massive surface and Madara himself half a step outward.

The three tomoe in Madara's eyes turned slightly, a little surprised by this strange resistance, but his assault did not slow at all.

Using the momentum of the push, he pressed forward, closing his right hand into a fist and driving it toward Shinichi's chest at close range.

Shinichi twisted to the right to avoid the punch while clawing downward with his right hand, instantly applying a powerful suction force to the dirt beneath Madara's feet.

The ground shook with a crash, and a section collapsed.

Madara lost his footing, his attack instantly interrupted, and flipped backward to retreat a dozen feet away.

The two exchanges had taken only an instant, yet Madara had not even touched the hem of Shinichi's clothes.

In the distance, on a high slope beside the Hyuga Clan Compound.

Eldest Uncle stood atop the slope, supported by Scarface and the others.

Veins bulged at the corners of their eyes as they pushed their Byakugan to the limit, staring fixedly at the action on the distant wasteland.

Scarface stared over with his mouth hanging open, unable to utter a word for a long time.

Beside him, a branch family ninja's fingers trembled slightly around his kunai as he murmured.

"The clan head... fought Madara Uchiha to a draw?"

Madara stood a dozen feet away, coldly watching the youth before him.

It was the first time he had properly sized up this boy from the Hyuga Branch Family.

The three tomoe revolving slowly in his eyes suddenly accelerated, contracting and merging into an eerie, intricate black pattern against red.

The Mangekyō Sharingan.

Other than Hashirama Senju, no one in this world had ever withstood his attacks head-on, much less with such strange techniques.

And his opponent was using a pair of eyes he had never seen before.

The corners of Madara's mouth lifted slightly, a trace of savage fighting spirit flashing in his eyes.

In the next instant, Madara vanished from where he stood.

A rush of wind several times faster than before thundered toward Shinichi, the Great Gunbai smashing down at his head with tremendous force.

Shinichi's eyes locked onto Madara's movements as he raised his hand and unleashed a fierce burst of repulsive force.

A massive shock wave exploded between them.

Although Shinichi blocked the heavy blow, the dirt beneath his feet burst apart, and the impact drove him back two full steps.

Seeing that Shinichi had retreated two steps without being knocked down, Madara stopped attacking and stepped back several paces before coming to a halt.

He said nothing, merely giving a cold laugh.

The next instant, immense chakra erupted from Madara's body.

Blue-violet flames surged fiercely upward from beneath his feet.

Enormous chakra bones materialized out of thin air, swiftly closing together like gigantic ribs to encircle Madara securely.

Then muscles and arms grew wildly over the bones, forming a thick suit of armor in the blink of an eye.

An enormous blue-violet upper-bodied giant rose out of thin air, towering far above the surrounding trees.

Susanoo.

Shinichi tilted his head up at the colossal figure rising before him, his expression unchanged.

Only the pale blue Tenseigan in his eyes suddenly shone a little brighter.