"Pointless struggle." Urashiki couldn't even be bothered to move his hands. He leisurely reached into the red fish basket at his waist and casually pulled out a mass of green Wind Release Chakra radiating a sharp aura.
As if playing with putty, he casually tossed this mass of Wind Release Chakra towards the charging shadow clones.
Whoosh—!
The green Wind Release Chakra suddenly expanded in the air, transforming into countless invisible yet razor-sharp wind blades that swept through like a meat grinder!
Naruto's shadow clones, under this dense and powerful wind blade attack, popped into white smoke and vanished like soap bubbles in the sun.
"Damn it!" Young Sasuke gritted his teeth and charged again!
He knew he might not be a match, but he couldn't stand by and watch Naruto get captured!
He swung his Ninja Sword, pushing his Sharingan to its limit, trying to capture Urashiki's movement trajectory.
However, the gap in strength was too vast.
Urashiki simply parried Sasuke's slashes casually with his fishing rod. That seemingly slender rod was indestructible, producing a crisp 'clink clank' sound.
Sasuke tried to engage in close combat, looking for an opening, but Urashiki easily dodged as if prescient, instead using the end of his rod to skillfully flick, precisely striking Sasuke's kunai-wielding wrist!
"Ugh!" Sasuke felt a sharp pain and numbness in his wrist, and his Ninja Sword flew from his hand!
Urashiki's fishing rod was already whistling downwards, aimed viciously at Sasuke's face!
If it landed, his head would probably burst like a watermelon!
In Sasuke's Sharingan, the rapidly enlarging fishing rod reflected, the shadow of death instantly enveloping him!
At this critical juncture…
Whoosh—!
A shrill sound of something cutting through the air shot from deep within the forest!
It was a Ninja Sword moving at terrifying speed, wrapped in sharp lightning, targeting Urashiki's temple!
If Urashiki insisted on attacking Sasuke, he would certainly be pierced through the head by this sword imbued with powerful Lightning Release Chakra!
Urashiki frowned, had to abandon his attack on Sasuke, and leaned his body back sharply, avoiding the fatal blow.
The Ninja Sword, trailing lightning, flew past his cheek.
Immediately, before Urashiki could steady himself, a large glob of viscous, oily liquid with a strange smell shot from another direction, covering a wide area!
Urashiki, having just completed his dodge and not yet stable, managed to mostly avoid it, but the outside of his thigh was splattered with toad oil!
"Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet!"
A resonant, powerful voice sounded!
A stream of scorching hot flames, thicker and hotter than Sasuke's Fire Dragon Flame Bullet, erupted like a volcanic eruption, instantly engulfing Urashiki's position!
"Are we saved?" Young Sasuke watched the area engulfed in flames, his arm still trembling slightly.
He instinctively looked towards where the Ninja Sword had come from. The one-armed young man calling himself Samoyan was slowly lowering his throwing pose, while the blonde-haired boy, Boruto, was anxiously running towards Naruto, who had fallen to the ground after being released from the fishing line.
"Hmph, cheap tricks." Urashiki's still relaxed voice came through. His form transformed into hundreds of red paper cranes, escaping Jiraiya's Toad Oil Flame Bullet.
Then, he reformed his undamaged figure not far away!
He looked up from the air towards the direction of the attack.
Jiraiya and Adult Sasuke had quickly arrived on the scene.
Jiraiya surveyed the area, seeing the incapacitated Yugao, the panting Sasuke and Sai, and the disheveled Naruto. His face grave, he asked, "Hey! You kids, are you all alright?"
Adult Sasuke looked at the suddenly appearing Samoyan. The maturity on that face carried a world-weariness and steadiness he had never seen before, along with a strange familiarity. He was once again stunned.
'Who... is this person?'
'Why did he feel so familiar, yet so... foreign?'
Elsewhere in the forest, amidst the ruins of the snapped tree, Menma lay on his back with his eyes closed, as if 'gravely injured' and unconscious, but was actually observing the battlefield situation with his Mind's Eye of Kagura.
'Best case scenario, Jiraiya and Adult Sasuke drive Urashiki away. If not, it seems I'll have to appear as 'Shura'.' But then Menma thought better of it: 'No, if this disguise appears too often, it'll arouse Jiraiya's suspicions...'
'Hmm... Menma's identity is definitely already suspected by Adult Sasuke too, so what to do?' Menma pondered.
'Right... Boruto from this period probably hasn't met Kawaki yet, and hasn't had his [Kama] activated either. How about... giving them a little tattoo shock?'
On the battlefield, Sai was supporting the nearly exhausted Yugao. She forced her head up and warned in a weak voice: "Jiraiya-senpai! Be careful... his fishhook... can drain... Chakra... very strange..."
"Oh? A fishhook that can directly drain Chakra?" Jiraiya's eyes sharpened, and he nodded. "Crucial information, Yugao!"
Boruto had already run to Naruto's side, asking concernedly, "Hey! Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
Naruto shook his head, but his gaze was fixed on the distant trees broken by Menma's impact, his voice choked: "I'm fine... but Menma-nii..."
Urashiki in the air brushed his thigh that had been splattered with toad oil, looked down at the gathered 'reinforcements' below, especially Adult Sasuke and Boruto, and his smile grew even more excited. He casually rested his fishing rod on his shoulder, draped his hands over it, and clicked his tongue: "You two troublemakers, you followed along after all. Fine, in that case, I'll clear away you annoyances first, then slowly enjoy Uzumaki Naruto, that delicious Chakra Fruit."
As he spoke, Urashiki's ice-clear white eyes suddenly turned red, ripples appearing, with six tomoes hanging on the ripples.
An aura of pressure, far greater and more unsettling than before, descended upon the entire battlefield!
"That's... a Rinnegan?!" Jiraiya exclaimed involuntarily, but immediately noticed the difference.
'But... the color and pattern are completely different from Nagato's! What is this...'
Adult Sasuke's single arm had already grasped the Kusanagi Sword tightly. His Rinnegan, hidden beneath his slanted bangs, was fixed on Urashiki. He warned in a low voice: "Be careful! His Dojutsu are very strange, don't be fooled by the surface!"
"Well then, the game begins." A cruel smile split Urashiki's lips. His figure suddenly blurred, and in the next instant, he vanished into thin air!
"Where?!" Everyone tensed their nerves, vigilantly sensing their surroundings.
The next moment, behind Jiraiya, a Yomotsu Hirasaka with flickering black edges opened again!
Urashiki silently poked half his body out, the red fishhook shooting like lightning towards Jiraiya's back!
"Behind!" Adult Sasuke's Rinnegan captured the subtle Space-Time fluctuation instantly. Without thinking, his body twisted, and the Kusanagi Sword traced a precise arc, producing a sharp 'clang' as he narrowly deflected the fatal fishhook!
Jiraiya broke out in a cold sweat, reacting extremely quickly. Almost the moment Sasuke parried, a highly compressed Rasengan formed in his right palm, buzzing loudly, as he pressed it towards Urashiki behind him!
However, failing his attack, Urashiki didn't linger. He shrank back like a fish and retreated into the still-open Yomotsu Hirasaka.
Jiraiya's Rasengan hit nothing, only blasting a large crater in the ground.
"Damn it!" Jiraiya cursed.
This kind of elusive attack method was simply impossible to defend against!
Urashiki then used the Space-Time abilities of Yomotsu Hirasaka, like a cunning hunter, constantly launching attacks from various tricky, unexpected angles.
Sometimes emerging from shadows, sometimes dropping from above, sometimes poking his body out from a tree trunk.
The red fishhook appeared and disappeared unpredictably, its every appearance accompanied by fatal threat.
Adult Sasuke had to continuously keep his Rinnegan active, exerting full effort to capture those subtle Space-Time fluctuations, blocking, warning, and rescuing time after time.
But using his Rinnegan consumed a tremendous amount of Chakra and Ocular Power, especially with such a high frequency, high precision of Space-Time perception and prediction.
Soon, his breathing became heavy, fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and that Rinnegan began to ache faintly.
'We can't go on like this!' Anxiety filled Adult Sasuke's heart.
The enemy's tactics were too shameless, completely draining their stamina and Chakra!
Urashiki seemed to have had enough fun. He opened Yomotsu Hirasaka again, this time, the portal opening directly beside Naruto!
The red fishing line once again wrapped around Naruto's body!
"Got you!" A triumphant smile appeared on Urashiki's face.
"Let him go!" Boruto, beside Naruto, was furious. A small Rasengan formed instantly in his hand, and he smashed it at Urashiki without regard for his own safety!
"Damn it!" Young Sasuke also threw several shuriken tied with exploding tags, trying to stop Urashiki!
However, Urashiki simply leaped lightly, floating back into the air, looking down at the futilely struggling people below, casually raising one hand.
"Begone."
That invisible, powerful repulsive force erupted again!
Boruto's Rasengan and Young Sasuke's shuriken, along with the boys themselves, were all sent flying by this immense force, crashing to the ground.
'Can fly... and has that kind of repulsive force similar to Shinra Tensei...' Jiraiya looked at the leisurely posing Urashiki in the air, his expression unprecedentedly grave.
The opponent's combination of abilities was too troublesome. Lacking effective anti-air means, they were at a huge disadvantage.
Urashiki dangled the struggling, 'mmph'-ing Naruto on his fishing rod like a trophy, showing a cruel and delighted smile to the people below: "Well then, I'll be taking this precious Chakra Fruit, no offence. Goodbye, everyone~"
As he spoke, he made to fly high into the air with Naruto.
Adult Sasuke knelt on one knee, using the Kusanagi Sword to support himself. His Rinnegan throbbed with recurring pain from overuse, his vision beginning to blur. He watched helplessly as Urashiki was about to take Naruto, his heart filled with powerlessness and rage.
Just at this desperate moment—
Boom!!!
A wave of overwhelming Chakra, like a slumbering ancient dragon awakening, suddenly erupted from the distant ruins of the broken forest, shooting into the sky!
The Chakra was so vast, carrying a dignity that transcended all living things, even making the surrounding air buzz under the strain!
A dazzling golden pillar of light pierced the pervading mist, shooting straight into the clouds!
Urashiki, about to leave, halted abruptly, whipping his head around to look at the source of that Chakra. For the first time, an expression of disbelief, even horror, appeared on his face!
Adult Sasuke and Boruto also looked up sharply, their pupils contracting violently!
There, in the ruins, the figure who should have been severely injured and unconscious, Menma, was slowly floating up from amidst the broken tree trunks!
His entire body was enveloped in a golden Chakra Cloak, flickering and dancing like flames, radiating a disturbing Chakra wave.
On his left cheek, several eerie black tomoe-shaped patterns appeared. On the palms of his outstretched hands were similar spiral black marks.
Most shockingly, on his left temple, above his forehead, a short but ferocious, horn-like bony protrusion was slowly growing!
And on the skin directly above the center of his forehead, it wriggled like a living thing, splitting open. A pure, brilliant, golden Tenseigan, containing endless majesty and power, suddenly opened!
"Who... disturbed my slumber?" The golden pupil indifferently regarded the drastically pale-faced Urashiki in the air. An immense pressure swept out like a tsunami, causing the remaining trees nearby to bend over in unison!
"N-no... impossible! That's... a Tenseigan?!!" Urashiki exclaimed in disbelief, the ease and mockery vanishing from his face, replaced by extreme shock and fear!
Adult Sasuke and Boruto were as if struck by lightning, frozen in place. Boruto suddenly cried out in pain, clutching the Kama on his palm that was beginning to throb with heat, his eyes filled with incredulity.
'This Space-Time... actually hid an Otsutsuki we had never even seen before?!'