Although everyone else had already evacuated to the shelters, there were still nearly twenty people gathered here!
It was hard to understand why Isshiki Ōtsutsuki had chosen to ignore the Seventh Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki, and even Sasuke Uchiha, who was known as "Konoha's Other Hokage."
Instead, he had picked the man most capable of "dancing for nuclear peace" to ask for directions!
Isshiki Ōtsutsuki descended from the sky, but as someone who considered himself several levels above humanity, he did not allow his feet to touch the ground. He hovered a dozen or so centimeters above it instead.
Madara Uchiha stood with his arms crossed. Even upon seeing the so-called Isshiki Ōtsutsuki, he showed no particular reaction.
He merely narrowed his vermilion Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and stared at him.
"Who gave you permission to look down on me while speaking?"
His voice was deep, carrying an imposing authority even without anger.
The young Naruto standing nearby could not help shouting, "That was so cool, Uncle Madara!"
"Sharingan."
Isshiki Ōtsutsuki was no ordinary opponent either. He showed little surprise when Madara revealed his Sharingan.
He merely said calmly, "Oh, I know who you are..."
"Sasuke Uchiha, right?"
At that moment, Madara Uchiha was definitely not the only one who felt awkward.
"Under normal circumstances, I would already be laughing."
"Tobirama, don't be like that. Show Madara and Sasuke some respect."
Adult Sasuke: "..."
Young Sasuke: "..."
"Madara Uchiha?"
Although Isshiki Ōtsutsuki had always remained hidden somewhere beyond anyone's notice, he had still heard Madara Uchiha's name.
"The one Black Zetsu deceived?"
Ahem...
The atmosphere became even more awkward.
At the same time, Madara Uchiha's anger, and his blood pressure, shot straight upward.
The instant his Rinnegan appeared, Isshiki Ōtsutsuki finally raised an eyebrow.
"I didn't expect you to still be alive after the Fourth Shinobi World War. Yet I received absolutely no information about you."
Boruto, Sarada, and the others did not understand how the man before them was connected to the Fourth Shinobi World War, and surprise showed on their faces.
Isshiki Ōtsutsuki looked at Madara Uchiha and continued, "Could it be that, as the culprit who started the Fourth Shinobi World War, you've been imprisoned by Konoha all this time?"
"If you're still interested in the Eye of the Moon Plan..."
Isshiki Ōtsutsuki extended a hand.
"How about helping me?"
That one sentence struck several sensitive points at once.
First, repeatedly bringing up how Madara had been deceived was already like dancing directly on his most exposed nerve.
Then Isshiki mentioned the Eye of the Moon Plan again, the conspiracy that had deceived Madara throughout his entire life, and asked whether he was still interested in it. He was practically treating Madara like the greatest fool alive, throwing his pride onto the ground and stomping on it twice for good measure.
And finally...
"How about helping me?"
Heh.
Not even Hashirama Senju could make Madara Uchiha bow his head in submission!
A mere Ōtsutsuki...
Hashirama Senju: "We're finished."
He did not even need to see Madara's expression to know what his current mood resembled.
Tobirama's Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags were the perfect comparison.
Just as Hashirama Senju expected, Madara Uchiha laughed in fury.
"Help you?"
"Help feed you to the Ten-Tails as dog food?"
Kurama knew that tone all too well.
It belonged to that bastard Madara Uchiha, the man who treated the Tailed Beasts like pets!
As expected, Isshiki Ōtsutsuki, who had maintained such a gentlemanly manner moments earlier, immediately frowned.
Isshiki had once been fed to the Ten-Tails by Kaguya, with more than half his body consumed as fodder. Hearing those words was no different from someone reminding Madara Uchiha that Black Zetsu had deceived him.
It was the same kind of humiliation. His dignity had been thrown underfoot, stomped on, and ground into the dirt.
Back then, Isshiki had been reduced to nothing more than a mangled upper body. Using Sukunahikona in his right eye, he had shrunk himself to the size of an ant, crawled into the ear of a passing monk, and survived like a parasite by draining the monk's life force.
Both men were immensely proud and valued their dignity above all else.
The result of each trampling on the other's pride was...
"BOOM—!!"
A dark blue skeletal arm materialized in an instant and slammed viciously toward Isshiki Ōtsutsuki!
Isshiki did not hesitate. He neither dodged nor retreated. He merely raised an arm, tensed his muscles, and blocked Madara Uchiha's dark blue Susanoo arm head-on!
At the same time, the Seventh Hokage used his chakra to shield the children and withdrew several dozen meters!
Minato Namikaze, Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju, and the others also took the children beside them to a safe distance.
"Wait!" the Seventh Hokage shouted. "Do whatever you can to draw him outside Konoha!"
"I'll set up a defense with Wood Release first!"
Hashirama Senju clapped his hands together. A vast mass of trees burst from the ground, forming a barrier between Isshiki Ōtsutsuki and the nearby buildings.
A subtle change passed through Isshiki's eyes when he saw Hashirama Senju's Wood Release.
However, allowing his attention to drift toward Hashirama was, in Madara Uchiha's eyes, no different from looking down on him.
Madara flew into a rage.
The Susanoo arm that had been clashing against Isshiki instantly transformed into the arm of a Complete Body Susanoo!
Madara Uchiha's Susanoo had two heads and four arms. The two arms on its right side emerged at once and violently swatted the distracted Isshiki Ōtsutsuki away!
BOOM—!! BOOM—!! BOOM—!!
Isshiki smashed through three walls in succession before landing in a rather undignified seated position on the ground. Even so, he did not appear especially angry on the surface.
Hashirama Senju had erected walls of trees all around them, yet Madara Uchiha had somehow struck Isshiki toward the one area where a building made it inconvenient to raise another tree wall.
The building behind him had to be written off as a total loss.
"Hey! Didn't I tell you to try not to destroy Konoha, dattebayo?!" the Seventh Hokage shouted angrily at Madara Uchiha.
Although he was hopping mad and yelling, he was still far more accepting of Madara's presence than the adult Sasuke beside him.
Yesterday's enemy could become today's ally.
None of them could deny Madara Uchiha's strength.
Seeing Konoha being damaged, Boruto hesitated over whether to use Momoshiki's power inside him.
He remembered that Momoshiki possessed a space-time technique. If he used it, he could transport Isshiki, his father, and the others to an open area far away from Konoha.
Then his father and Sasuke-san would no longer need to hold back.
However, every time Boruto used Momoshiki's power, a small part of his personality was eroded.
At this rate, Momoshiki would eventually replace him completely, and Boruto might end up attacking Konoha, or even the entire Ninja World, just like the enemy before them.
Boruto was deeply conflicted.
But with Obito Uchiha here, there was no need for him to worry about any of that!
While Boruto was still struggling with the decision, the adult Obito had already asked Minato Namikaze for permission and received his approval.
"Kamui!"
The black pupil of his right eye instantly turned into a vermilion Sharingan. Its three tomoe contracted and spun at a speed invisible to the naked eye, forming a pinwheel pattern!
By the time Isshiki reacted, he was already standing inside a dark and gloomy space.
He looked around. Apart from several stone platforms that seemed to rise from an abyss, there was nothing there.
"The Rinnegan... No! This is the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan!"
Immediately afterward, Indra, Asura, Madara Uchiha, Izuna Uchiha, Obito Uchiha, the adult Kakashi, Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju, Minato Namikaze, the Seventh Hokage, and adult Sasuke were all pulled into Obito Uchiha's Kamui's Dimension!
The younger generation was left behind. Only one of Naruto's Shadow Clones was taken along to maintain contact and relay information from Kaguya's side.
Before leaving, Minato ruffled Naruto's hair and told him and Sasuke to enjoy themselves in this future world and wait for everyone to return.
After all, this battle was against Isshiki Ōtsutsuki of the Ōtsutsuki Clan.
There were two generations of Team 7 present!
No, that was not right. Including Boruto, Sarada, and Mitsuki's Konohamaru Squad, there were now three generations, or perhaps even "three worlds," of Team 7 gathered here!
They were only thirteen or fourteen years old at present and were not suited to fighting Isshiki Ōtsutsuki. They would be more likely to be taken hostage, which would only make it harder for the adults to act.
Naruto hopped up and down in frustration, shouting that he wanted to join the battle too.
A voice beside him shouted the exact same thing, except the final "dattebayo" had become "dattebasa."
All the adults except Shikamaru Nara entered Kamui's Dimension to fight Isshiki Ōtsutsuki.
Shikamaru Nara lit another cigarette.
Standing in front of him were the young Naruto, young Sasuke, Sakura, young Obito, young Kakashi, and Rin.
Behind him stood Boruto Uzumaki, Sarada Uchiha, Mitsuki, Orochimaru's son, Shikadai Nara, his own son, and their classmates Chōchō Akimichi, Inojin Yamanaka, Metal Lee, Iwabee Yuino, and Denki Kaminarimon.
"Could these problems at least come one at a time?! Can't I even catch my breath?!"
The Seventh Hokage's advisor had taken yet another step away from the dream of his youth today.
Ah...
He really wanted to spend an entire day watching the clouds.
Marry a woman who was neither beautiful nor ugly, have two children, and retire once they were both able to stand on their own. Then he could spend his days playing shogi and watching the clouds, before passing away earlier than his wife.
How many years had it been?
It seemed that ever since the Chūnin Exams, that wish had gradually been pushed to the back of his mind.
Why was he remembering something from so long ago?
Probably because...
He had seen him again.
Shikamaru Nara took a drag from his cigarette. The smoke felt both cool and harsh inside his lungs.
Through the curling haze, his thoughtful gaze settled on the orange figure before him.
It had been twenty years since he had last seen Naruto like this.
***
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