"Kizaru, where are we going?"
"The Land of Rain."
Matatabi had transformed into the size of a cheetah, padding gracefully beside Kizaru.
"The Land of Rain? Didn't we just come back from there?" she asked, looking up at him in confusion.
"To bring two little brats back to the village," Kizaru replied lazily.
Remembering Nagato's family, whom Kizaru had brought straight back from the Land of Rain, Matatabi suddenly realized something.
This guy seemed to have some kind of habit of collecting people.
"Don't you hate trouble the most?" Matatabi asked.
From her point of view, searching for someone was already troublesome enough. Yet Kizaru, who always claimed to hate trouble, seemed strangely enthusiastic about going out to look for people.
She really could not understand him.
Hearing her question, Kizaru stopped.
He turned to face Matatabi, raised his right hand, and extended his index and middle fingers.
"Because I don't treat finding people as a mission."
His voice was still slow and lazy, carrying that familiar teasing tone.
"I treat it as a trip."
After saying that, he lowered one finger and started walking again.
Matatabi nodded, then looked at the remaining finger, waiting for him to continue.
"And besides…"
Kizaru smiled.
"It's precisely because I hate trouble that I want to gather more talented people who can handle trouble for me in the future."
"You're surprisingly far-sighted."
Matatabi nodded thoughtfully and gave him a rare compliment.
"Ohh… what an embarrassing compliment."
That familiar, irritating tone sounded again.
Matatabi, who had only just praised him, immediately felt the urge to take it back.
"You bastard… can't you speak normally?"
"What an embarrassing request."
Kizaru looked down at her and smiled.
Provoked by just those few words, Matatabi turned her head away in anger and looked toward the distant scenery, walking forward by herself.
Seeing her sulk and walk ahead, Kizaru slipped both hands into his pockets and followed with a smile.
After the two of them walked in silence for a while, both of them suddenly stopped.
Kizaru's Observation Haki and Matatabi's sharp senses caught it at almost the same moment.
A presence.
Heavy.
Powerful.
And approaching fast.
They glanced at each other.
The laziness in Kizaru's eyes faded slightly, while Matatabi's cat-like pupils narrowed.
"How scary…"
After sensing that unfamiliar and overwhelming aura through Observation Haki, Kizaru's expression became rare and serious.
"Be careful," Matatabi said in a low voice. "This enemy is strong."
At this point in time, with this kind of pressure, only one name came to Kizaru's mind.
Uchiha Madara.
Not the completely withered old man barely clinging to life yet, but the Madara who still had enough strength to move.
If it really was him, then Matatabi staying here would be dangerous.
To Madara, a tailed beast was not an ally.
It was a weapon waiting to be taken.
Kizaru looked at Matatabi and said, "Matatabi, head back to the village."
Matatabi froze.
As a tailed beast, this was the first time since the Sage of Six Paths that someone had worried about her safety like this.
A faint warmth spread through her heart.
She looked at Kizaru firmly.
"Kizaru, let's fight together."
"The enemy might be Uchiha Madara."
Kizaru did not joke this time.
"If you stay here, his Sharingan may control you."
"Uchiha Madara?"
Matatabi had naturally heard that name.
The man who once controlled the Nine-Tails with his eyes alone.
Even for a tailed beast, that name carried pressure.
But she still frowned.
"Wasn't he already dead?"
"I'd rather not fight him while worrying about you getting turned against me."
Kizaru smiled, but his tone was calmer than usual.
"That old man is as scary as a monster. You go first."
Matatabi hesitated for only a moment before nodding.
"Then be careful."
She turned and rushed toward Konoha without looking back.
She knew that staying would only restrict Kizaru. What she needed to do now was return to the village as quickly as possible and call for reinforcements.
After Matatabi left, Kizaru looked toward the distant forest.
The presence was getting closer.
"Well then…"
He raised one hand.
"Earth Release: Chair-Making Technique."
This was a technique Kizaru had specifically asked Sarutobi-sensei to teach him after learning the nature transformation for Earth Release.
A tall stone chair rose from the ground.
Kizaru sat down with satisfaction, crossed his legs, and leaned back casually.
Even if the one coming was Uchiha Madara, he was not facing Madara in his prime.
Without the Rinnegan, and with age already weighing him down, this Madara was no longer at his peak.
And Kizaru himself was not weak.
His character progress had already reached eighty percent, and he had integrated Kizaru's peak Armament Haki into his own strength.
With two different systems of power supporting him, and with his strength still growing, Kizaru was ready to use this old monster to test the upper limit of his current combat power.
He did not wait long.
A figure soon walked out from the forest.
Dark gray clothing.
Long black hair.
A face that belonged to an era of war.
Uchiha Madara.
Madara looked at the Shimura brat sitting arrogantly on a stone chair in front of him, and his eyes sharpened.
For most of his life, he had been the one standing above others.
This was the first time someone had dared to sit there and act superior in front of him.
What an arrogant brat.
Madara walked forward and stopped about five meters away from Kizaru.
"Ohh…"
Kizaru raised his brows slightly.
"So it really is an old man."
Madara's gaze remained cold.
"Shimura brat. I hear people in the shinobi world are calling you the future God of Shinobi."
"God of Shinobi?"
Kizaru touched his chin with a smile.
"What a nice title."
Madara's eyes narrowed.
The next instant, a terrifying pressure erupted from him.
It was not chakra alone.
It was killing intent.
Presence.
The weight of countless battlefields.
The pressure of a man who had once stood at the peak of the Warring States era.
But Kizaru remained seated.
His legs were still crossed, his back still leaning lazily against the stone chair, as if Madara's murderous aura were nothing more than a passing breeze.
Madara's voice turned low.
"Do you want to—"
"Do you want to dance, old man?"
Kizaru interrupted him with a smile.
For a moment, the air went silent.
Then Madara's expression darkened.
His killing intent rose another level.
"What an arrogant tone… Shimura brat."
His hands formed seals.
"Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
A vast sea of flames burst from Madara's mouth, roaring forward like a burning wave that wanted to swallow the entire forest.
Kizaru did not move.
He remained seated on the stone chair as the fire crashed over him.
Madara was not surprised.
He had already heard about Kizaru's abilities from White Zetsu. This Fire Style was only a test.
Was Kizaru's damage immunity a genjutsu?
Or was it a secret technique similar to the Hōzuki clan's Hydrification Technique, turning his body into an element?
Madara observed carefully.
Kizaru's chakra did not fluctuate.
Madara was certain he had not been placed under a genjutsu.
So that was it.
This Shimura brat had created a secret technique that turned his body into light.
If the enemy turned into water, Lightning Release could restrain them.
But if the enemy turned into light…
What could restrain light?
Genjutsu?
As that thought crossed his mind, Madara moved.
With a Body Flicker, he appeared above Kizaru in an instant.
He twisted in midair and sent a sharp kick straight through Kizaru's head.
At the same time, his eyes turned crimson.
Three tomoe spun inside his Sharingan.
But just as Madara prepared to cast genjutsu, he noticed something.
Kizaru's eyes were closed.
Madara's expression shifted slightly.
He flipped and landed smoothly in front of Kizaru.
Did this brat already guess who I am?
Madara stared at him.
"Shimura brat. Why did you close your eyes?"
Kizaru smiled without opening them.
"I'm a kind-hearted person, you know."
His tone was as lazy as ever.
"I can't bear to watch an old man get beaten."
Madara's face went cold.
The three tomoe in his eyes began to spin.
Even with his eyes closed, Kizaru could sense the sudden rise of cold, heavy chakra through Observation Haki and his own sensing ability.
Susanoo.
Kizaru raised his right hand.
A golden beam gathered at the tip of his index finger.
Then it fired.
A dark-blue Susanoo ribcage formed in front of Madara just in time, blocking the golden laser.
The collision caused a violent explosion.
The shock wave tore through the surrounding ground.
Kizaru's body, already elementalized, was not affected at all.
But Madara, protected by Susanoo, was still forced backward by the blast.
Dust rolled across the forest.
Kizaru remained seated on the stone chair, one hand still raised, his eyes still closed.
"Ohh…"
He smiled faintly.
"That's really scary, Uchiha Madara."
--------------------------------------
Support me at patreon.com/Arthorain and read upto 50 Advanced Chapters and R-18 Content!
--------------------------------------
Update schedule: 7 chapters/week
Every 200 power stones = 1 Extra Chapter
By voting with [power stones], you can easily get double the number of chapters.