"Follow me!"
Sasuke didn't hesitate.
His instincts were screaming—if they didn't get out of this underground chamber immediately, none of them would leave alive.
"Lightning Style: Thunder Dragon Whirlwind!"
Lightning erupted from his palm, shaping into a massive, distorted thunder dragon—small head, enormous body.
The dragon surged forward, spinning violently like a drill.
The earth-style wall blocking their escape was shredded instantly. Rock and soil were pulverized and blasted backward as the Thunder Dragon bored a massive tunnel through the obstruction.
Sasuke pushed forward, maintaining the technique as he advanced.
Hinata carried Shion on her back and followed close behind.
Shino and Shikamaru guarded the rear, moving backward cautiously, eyes locked behind them in case something attacked.
"Two hundred meters to the exit!"
Sasuke gritted his teeth, pouring more chakra into the jutsu.
He was grateful for the Konoha Proving Ground.
This Thunder Dragon Whirlwind had originally been developed to pierce the nearly indestructible walls of that training ground. It could even leave marks on diamond-hard surfaces.
Drilling through ordinary rock?
Effortless.
"Fifty meters!"
He increased the output again.
The dragon spun faster—
Then suddenly—
The tunnel ahead vanished.
There was no wall.
Only pitch-black emptiness, like a massive mouth waiting to swallow them whole.
Sasuke couldn't see anything ahead.
He pressed forward anyway.
Everyone followed without slowing.
Then—
Sasuke stopped abruptly.
His face darkened.
"Why did you stop?" Shino asked—
And immediately understood.
They were back.
The magma churned around them again.
The purple-black chakra that had once formed the sprite now stretched outward like a giant net, spreading across the entire underground chamber.
They had somehow returned to the same space.
"Space-time ninjutsu…" Sasuke muttered. "That strange fluctuation earlier…"
His Sharingan widened.
The three tomoe spun—
Then shifted.
Blood-red patterns reshaped into a six-pointed Mangekyō design.
His Mangekyō Sharingan.
Over the years, Itachi had taught him everything—how Mangekyō wasn't born solely from grief, but from intense emotional upheaval of any kind. Sorrow, joy, rage, despair—extremes awakened power.
Sasuke had finally unlocked it after witnessing overwhelming emotional turbulence once again.
He rarely used it.
Itachi had warned him—overuse would cost him his sight.
But now?
He had no choice.
"Inferno Style: Flame Control!"
Jet-black flames ignited before him, forming into a blazing bow and arrow.
He drew the string—
The arrow screamed forward.
It tore through the chakra net—
A gap opened.
But the net writhed like something alive. More chakra flooded in and sealed the breach instantly.
Its expansion accelerated.
The entire chamber was engulfed.
"Sasuke… we don't have time…" Shino groaned.
He dropped to one knee.
The insects inside him were panicking.
A collective consciousness of fear flooded his mind. If not for Naruto's brutal training and resistance conditioning, he might have collapsed outright.
"This is a trap," Shikamaru said suddenly.
His eyes scanned the forming chakra patterns overhead.
"They're not targeting us. We're bait."
Everyone froze.
Bait?
Shikamaru's mind raced.
A sprite was already comparable to a tailed beast.
But this creature—
This monster had been reduced to cannon fodder.
Anyone capable of orchestrating something like this wasn't targeting Sasuke.
Even as a prodigy, he wasn't important enough.
"They're trying to draw Hokage-sama out," Shikamaru concluded grimly.
"Draw out Naruto-kun?"
Hinata's eyes sharpened.
Anger flared quietly within her.
Sasuke's expression darkened.
"No matter who it is… I won't let them succeed."
"Susanoo!"
A colossal figure formed around them.
Half-complete, but towering—burning with purple flames.
Sasuke floated within its head, controlling the armored giant.
A massive bow appeared in Susanoo's hands.
"Inferno Style: Flame Control!"
A black arrow condensed—
Then fired.
Boom.
The rock ceiling exploded apart.
A massive opening formed overhead.
Daylight poured in.
---
Outside the cave—
Shiho stared at the jet-black arrow that pierced the sky.
"What happened? Lady Shion—!"
He nearly rushed inside, then hesitated.
Elsewhere—
Neji saw the chakra arrow blazing in the distance.
His Byakugan strained under the pressure of the surging chakra.
"That's Sasuke's… something's wrong. Move!"
Despite exhaustion, they accelerated.
---
High above, Naruto sat on his cloud, watching calmly.
"Who could it be?"
He reviewed every possibility.
Uchiha Madara? Dead. Too early for revival.
Ōtsutsuki Kaguya? Still sealed in the moon.
Momoshiki? Kinshiki? Decades too soon.
Nagato? Even with Six Paths of Pain, he couldn't manipulate a tailed-beast-level entity like this.
There was no one in the known ninja world with this capability.
He couldn't match it to anyone—neither from Konoha intelligence nor from future knowledge passed down.
"Hidden well," Naruto muttered.
"Even space-time ninjutsu used subtly. Definitely an old schemer."
If Sasuke couldn't hold out—
Naruto would drop down and shatter the entire trap.
He believed in one principle.
No conspiracy survives a decisive punch.
Overwhelming strength crushes everything.
---
Within a hidden spatial rift—
A figure watched coldly.
"So the Uchiha brat awakened Mangekyō. Interesting."
"He can last a little longer."
"That Fifth Hokage… still playing the benevolent teacher. He won't act until the last second."
"No one would ever guess… that Kira of the Red Sun Society and Uzumaki Naruto are the same person."
"As long as he exists, my plan cannot succeed."
"That man… is too dangerous."
"We must eliminate him."
The figure's eyes were icy.
The trap was set.
And the true hunt—
Had just begun.
-------------------------
For advanced chapters, visit patreon.com/Varnok