Chapter 324 – Observation Haki, Seeing the Future
"Looks like your intel is pretty thorough," Yusuke said, meeting the shocked gaze of Ōtsutsuki Isshiki.
Isshiki stared back at him, his eyes dark and wary.
It wasn't just Uchiha Madara who had managed to find this place.
The man in front of him had appeared directly inside this space itself.
This dimension had been created using the power of the Ten-Tails. Even Ōtsutsuki Kaguya couldn't sense it. And yet, this person hadn't just found it—he had arrived without being detected at all.
"What do you want?" Isshiki asked, his guard fully raised.
"Relax. I'm just curious. I wanted to see the legendary Ōtsutsuki Isshiki for myself," Yusuke said with a light smile. "Honestly, I've been wondering. You clearly don't need to personally handle missions, so why did you bother coming down to this world?"
"How much do you actually know?" Isshiki asked.
Inside, his shock deepened.
The man in front of him clearly knew about his past.
"Not much. I'm just curious," Yusuke shrugged. "With your status in the Ōtsutsuki clan, why lower yourself to come here? Let me guess—does it have something to do with that Kokugan of yours?"
The moment those words left his mouth, a flash of killing intent surged through Isshiki's eyes.
"To be honest, I'm really interested in your eyes," Yusuke continued, unfazed. "A pair that's never appeared in the Ōtsutsuki clan before. The Kokugan, and that unusually special Byakugan of yours. You're clearly an anomaly among the Ōtsutsuki, yet you still hold such a high status in the clan."
Isshiki's true body possessed a single golden eye.
Its ability was strange—far from limited to just one power.
And his Byakugan was different as well.
A normal Byakugan, when activated, caused veins to bulge around the eyes and turned the user's vision into a stark black-and-white world. Isshiki's, however, could perceive critical details in vivid, full color.
"In that case," Isshiki said coldly, "I can't let you leave."
A curved horn slowly emerged from his forehead.
"Oh?" Yusuke tilted his head slightly. "You want to fight me? I'll be honest—I'm pretty interested in your dōjutsu. Go on. Show me."
"Then let's begin," Isshiki said.
His figure vanished from Yusuke's sight.
"Interesting dōjutsu," Yusuke muttered as he clenched his fist.
Then he disappeared as well.
The moment Yusuke arrived at Isshiki's position, Isshiki turned to face him.
"Just as I thought," Ōtsutsuki Isshiki said.
"Oh? You make it sound like you know me pretty well," Yusuke replied lazily.
Isshiki didn't waste time with words.
In an instant, he appeared right in front of Yusuke and swung his leg in a sharp, powerful kick.
Yusuke caught Isshiki's ankle with one hand and flung him away.
In the next moment, Yusuke flashed behind him and drove a punch straight into Isshiki's face.
Isshiki raised his arm and blocked it, stabilizing himself in midair before firing back with a heavy punch of his own.
Yusuke lifted his forearm slightly and took the blow head-on.
Seeing that, Isshiki immediately raised his right leg and kicked Yusuke in the torso.
Yusuke slid across the ground for several meters before coming to a stop.
Isshiki rushed in again, and the two collided once more.
In the middle of their exchange, Yusuke spotted an opening in Isshiki's movements and swept his leg, knocking him off balance.
Isshiki braced himself on both hands, then snapped his body upward, delivering a reverse kick toward Yusuke's waist.
Yusuke blocked it with one hand, spun on his heel, and countered with a kick that sent Isshiki flying back.
"So this is Hatake Yusuke," Isshiki said seriously as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. "The strongest ninja since the shinobi world was born."
"Already tired?" Yusuke asked casually.
He slipped both hands into his pockets and walked toward Isshiki at an unhurried pace, that charming smile never leaving his face.
Yusuke stopped right in front of him.
Standing over one meter ninety tall, he looked down at Isshiki, his eyes filled with playful amusement.
But who was Ōtsutsuki Isshiki?
His status within the Ōtsutsuki clan was extremely high.
Even though he had once been ambushed by Kaguya and forced to live in the shadows for years—his edge dulled by time—the arrogance carved into his very bones would never allow him to be looked down on by a mere human.
The moment Isshiki's anger peaked, Yusuke suddenly lashed out without warning and drove a kick straight into Isshiki's stomach.
"Cough—"
Isshiki spat out blood.
But he didn't care about the injury at all.
His body vanished from Yusuke's sight.
"Little tricks like that won't work on me," Yusuke said calmly, standing in place.
He tilted his head slightly to the right.
At that exact moment, a massive black rod tore through the air and passed right by his ear.
Yusuke shifted aside.
In the spot where he had been standing just a second ago, countless black rods erupted from the ground and embedded themselves there.
Isshiki frowned.
He hadn't expected this man to be able to detect objects he had shrunk.
After all, his Sukunahikona technique could reduce objects down to the molecular level.
Still, Isshiki didn't dwell on it.
He swung another black rod toward Yusuke.
Yusuke simply leaned his body slightly to the side.
Every single attack missed.
"Then how about this?" Isshiki said.
He was just about to summon even more black rods—
But Yusuke suddenly vanished.
In the next instant, he appeared around Isshiki, wearing a mocking grin.
"Damn it, Daiko—"
"Lion's Might: Hand of the Earth."
The ground around them seemed to come alive.
The earth surged upward, forming massive, open palms of stone and soil, as if the land itself were reaching out to grab something from the sky.
"Daikokuten."
The moment Yusuke finished his technique, enormous black stone blocks suddenly appeared in the air above them and began to fall.
Their number.
Their positions.
They matched the giant earthen hands perfectly.
"How is that possible?" Isshiki's eyes widened in disbelief.
"You… you can actually predict the future?" he said, staring at Yusuke with a serious, almost shaken gaze.
"So you figured it out?" Yusuke said with a playful smile. "Then what are you going to do now?"
Isshiki didn't answer.
He closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, his appearance had changed.
One golden eye.
One Byakugan glowing with a faint purple light.
Isshiki had activated his special Byakugan.
The two of them shot toward each other once more.
They exchanged blow after blow, but now their movements felt strange—no longer as smooth as before, as if both were constantly adjusting to something unseen.
"So this is what your Byakugan can do, huh?" Yusuke said casually as he dodged another attack.
"Hmph." Isshiki's face hardened.
He didn't respond.
He simply couldn't accept the reality that the man in front of him was this strong.
As the fight dragged on, more and more wounds covered Isshiki's body.
Meanwhile, Yusuke didn't even have a tear in his clothes.
From the beginning, he looked like he wasn't even taking the battle seriously.
With his pride towering as high as his status, Isshiki was forced to admit something.
Before he found a perfect vessel—
He wasn't a match for Hatake Yusuke.
"All right, that's enough playing around," Yusuke said lightly. "But I'll admit it. You're different from the other Ōtsutsuki I've met. In both strength and combat experience, they can't compare to you."
Compared to Urashiki and Kaguya, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki was clearly far superior in both battle sense and taijutsu.
And that was exactly why Yusuke had allowed Kaguya to release Madara.
Because no matter how much raw power she possessed, Kaguya had never been able to use it properly.
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