Sasuke kept his Sharingan active the whole time, watching the surroundings with caution. Fine beads of sweat had already formed on his forehead.
Naruto clenched his fists, his face grim.
"Sasuke... my dad and the others..."
"Don't panic yet."
"The Yata Mirror can block this jutsu. As long as the thing Sensei gave us is still here, we're safe for now."
Sasuke's voice was low but unwavering.
Looking across the entire ninja world, the Yata Mirror was practically flawless.
The moment he finished speaking, a faint ripple spread through the air.
Sasuke's pupils suddenly shrank. He looked up sharply at the twisting space not far away and said quietly,
"They're here."
The air warped violently, and Uchiha Obito and the man in the black robe appeared a short distance in front of the Yata Mirror.
Sasuke's Sharingan immediately locked onto them. The instant he saw the Mangekyo Sharingan spinning in the black-robed man's eyes, his expression changed completely, and shock crashed through his mind.
'Another member of the Uchiha clan?!'
Naruto spoke first, his voice full of urgency, "Uchiha Obito! Stop pretending!"
"My dad already revealed who you are! You can still turn back! Kakashi-sensei's been devastated because of what happened to you... He just wants you to come back to the village!"
Obito said nothing.
He simply stood silently behind the black-robed man like a loyal subordinate, without the slightest reaction.
Sasuke immediately warned in a low voice, "Naruto, stop talking. That guy called Uchiha Obito... he's under control too."
Naruto froze for a moment. He opened his mouth, then closed it again without saying another word.
Standing outside the Yata Mirror, the black-robed man coldly stared at the crimson barrier covering its surface, a trace of seriousness flashing through his eyes.
This mirror had clearly exceeded his expectations. With his current methods, he couldn't break it by force. He could only wait until Sasuke ran out of chakra and dismissed it himself.
He wasn't in a hurry.
He simply stood there quietly, waiting for his prey to exhaust themselves.
Sasuke had obviously seen through his plan. He gritted his teeth as veins bulged on his forehead.
The Yata Mirror consumed an enormous amount of chakra. His chakra was draining at an alarming rate. There was no way he could keep it up for long.
"Naruto... give me some chakra! We can't take down the Yata Mirror!", Sasuke said urgently.
Naruto nodded immediately, but he couldn't hold himself back.
"Sasuke, why don't we just drop the Yata Mirror and beat up the enemies outside?!"
As soon as he spoke, dense golden chakra burst from his body. The Nine-Tails Chakra Cloak appeared as he entered Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, looking ready to charge out and start fighting.
"Idiot!", Sasuke shouted in a low voice.
"That jutsu is still active out there! If the enemy dares to show themselves so openly, then the moment we go outside, we'll definitely end up under their control too!"
Naruto stopped in place.
Unwilling as he was, he accepted Sasuke's judgment and forced himself to suppress the urge.
Meanwhile, inside Naruto's sealed mindscape, Kurama sat with his thick arms crossed, his brows tightly knitted. Confusion filled his enormous fox eyes.
He stared fixedly in the direction of the black-robed man.
That strange power, along with the Mangekyo pattern in those eyes, gave him a long-forgotten sense of familiarity.
"That power... that pattern... I feel like I've seen them somewhere before...", Kurama muttered quietly, unease showing in his eyes, yet he couldn't remember where or when he had encountered them.
The tension in the air grew heavier.
The golden light of the Yata Mirror remained firm, but it had begun to flicker slightly.
The black-robed man continued waiting patiently.
Obito stood silently beside him like a lifeless statue.
The situation fell into a stalemate.
Soon, waves of spatial distortion appeared again.
The controlled Five Kage, their guards, Lord Mifune, and the samurai of the Land of Iron all appeared around the Yata Mirror.
Countless samurai completely sealed off the area, surrounding it without leaving a single gap.
When Naruto and Sasuke saw the scene before them, both of their faces changed dramatically.
Minato Namikaze stood at the very front, his eyes empty and his expression blank.
The seductive face of Mei Terumi was now completely lifeless.
Gaara was the same.
So were the Raikage A and the Tsuchikage Onoki.
These powerful Kage-level shinobi now stood there quietly like puppets on strings.
Their guards and the samurai of the Land of Iron formed a sea of black figures. Every one of them wore a vacant expression, and the strange Mangekyo mark still remained on their bodies.
"Dad!"
Naruto's eyes widened in shock.
"How... Even my dad got controlled?!"
He rushed forward, only to be stopped by the surface of the Yata Mirror.
He could only watch Minato's emotionless face, anger and pain surging in his heart.
Sasuke's expression became even darker.
He stared at the controlled crowd, especially after seeing every Kage-level fighter reduced to puppets. Even his breathing became heavy.
"Damn it... Even the Five Kage were controlled..."
Sasuke clenched his teeth, unable to hide the shock in his voice.
He had thought they were only targeting the two of them.
He had never imagined even warriors like the Five Kage would fall under their control.
Just how powerful was the enemy?
Controlling the Five Kage with a single jutsu...
"Just how powerful is this black-robed man's genjutsu?"
Sasuke turned to Naruto.
"Naruto, do you understand now why we can't go out? The moment we remove the Yata Mirror, we'll end up just like them."
Naruto clenched his fists tightly as golden Nine-Tails chakra surged around him.
"Damn it... They turned my dad and the Kage into this... Sasuke, are we really just supposed to sit here and wait?", he asked unwillingly.
At the same time, Naruto hurriedly asked Kurama for help.
Kurama frowned deeply.
His teacher had given him one mission, to help Naruto.
Now that Naruto was in danger, it was time for him to act.
"Naruto, I have a secret technique. Baryon Mode. We can give it a try.", Kurama said seriously.
Outside, Sasuke continued staring at the black-robed man as more and more sweat rolled down his forehead.
The Yata Mirror was flickering as well.
Its chakra consumption continued unabated.
Naruto immediately placed a hand on Sasuke, and the Yata Mirror stabilized once more.
Seeing this, the black-robed man let out a faint sigh beneath his mask.
"Kurama..."
He slowly raised a hand and gave it a light wave.
He intended to break the barrier by force.
All of the controlled Five Kage and samurai stepped forward at the same time, shrinking the encirclement again. The overwhelming pressure descended on the two inside the Yata Mirror like a mountain.
But at that very moment, an unprecedented power suddenly erupted from Naruto's body.
A completely new power slowly began flowing out of him.
The black-robed man was stunned.
'Kurama, why are you trying so hard?!'
The black-robed man stopped pretending.
He directly entered Kurama's mindscape.
"Kurama! Cut it out! It's me, Hikaru! The Great Sage sent me!"
"This is all part of Sensei's mission. Just cooperate for a bit, clock out, and head back to Mount Myoboku. The other Tailed Beasts are all waiting for you!"
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