Hearing the disturbance below, Ōtsutsuki Urashiki, hovering in mid-air, shifted his gaze and focused on the younger Sasuke.
A glint of mischievous realization flickered through his Byakugan.
"Oh? So this is what you looked like as a child."
Looking down at the stunned young Sasuke, Urashiki once again curled his lips into that infuriating grin.
"That arrogant yet fragile expression of yours is truly unpleasant. Uchiha Sasuke… you really haven't changed at all, right down to your bones."
Adult Sasuke's grip on the Kusanagi sword tightened slightly, but he remained silent.
"What are you talking about?! I don't understand!"
Naruto shouted from the side. "How could that one-armed guy be Sasuke?!"
"It means…"
Kakashi slowly stepped out from behind a tree, his gaze shifting back and forth between the adult Sasuke and the younger one, his tone carrying a hint of mockery.
"Future Sasuke, in order to protect this idiot, came back from the future using some unknown method. Am I wrong… Uchiha Sasuke from the future?"
Kakashi's eyes finally settled on the adult Sasuke's back.
At Kakashi's confirmation, young Sasuke's body jolted violently.
He stared at the tall figure in front of him, his gaze lingering on the empty left sleeve, disbelief filling his eyes.
"Hey…"
Young Sasuke clenched his teeth, his voice trembling with emotion.
"What happened to your arm? I refuse to believe that someone as pathetic as you is my future self!"
Adult Sasuke stood there like a silent iceberg, saying nothing.
He couldn't explain that his left arm had been lost as atonement, nor could he reveal the Rinnegan hidden beneath his bangs.
"Enough of this nonsense."
Ōtsutsuki Urashiki snorted coldly in mid-air, interrupting the strange reunion below.
"I don't know how you managed to break my fishing line, but my time is valuable. I have no interest in watching you inferior lifeforms put on a show."
As his words fell, the space around Urashiki suddenly twisted, rippling like melting black sludge.
"Not good—Yomotsu Hirasaka!"
Adult Sasuke's expression changed sharply. This space–time ninjutsu that ignored distance entirely was one of the techniques he feared most.
Swish!
Urashiki vanished from mid-air in an instant, and almost simultaneously, he stepped out of a black spatial rift directly behind Naruto without any warning.
"Got you!"
The previously severed crimson fishing rod in Urashiki's hand instantly regenerated a new chakra fishing line.
With a piercing whistle, the red hook shot forward at lightning speed, striking straight toward Naruto's back!
"Naruto!"
Adult Sasuke and young Sasuke shouted at the same time.
However, the agonizing scream one would expect from having a massive amount of chakra forcibly extracted never came.
Urashiki yanked hard on the fishing rod, shock flashing across his face.
"What?! What's going on?! Why… why can't I pull out any chakra?!"
"Because what you hooked wasn't the Nine-Tails at all."
A calm voice came from underground.
Bang!
The "Naruto" caught on the fishing line instantly burst into a puff of white smoke.
It was a Shadow Clone.
The real Naruto had already been dragged underground by Kakashi using Earth Release.
"Damn it!"
Urashiki cursed furiously, realizing he had been completely fooled.
At that moment, Kakashi's voice rang out again, this time directed at the adult Sasuke.
"Future Sasuke. Since you know him best, I'll leave the main offensive to you."
Then his voice reached the still-shocked Naruto and young Sasuke.
"You two stay obediently behind that Sasuke. In a battle at this level, even the slightest shockwave could kill you."
Before his words had fully settled, Kakashi's body softened like melting mud. Using Zetsu's stealth technique, he sank entirely into the ground, leaving behind not the slightest trace of chakra.
"Hiding underground? Just like a rat."
Ōtsutsuki Urashiki sneered, activating his Byakugan instantly.
"Do you really think my Byakugan is just for show—"
But in the very next second, his smile froze.
Within his Byakugan's field of vision, he couldn't find Kakashi's chakra pathway system at all.
That silver-haired man seemed to have vanished from the world entirely.
"How is this possible?!"
"Your opponent is me."
At that instant, adult Sasuke had already charged in like a bolt of purple lightning.
The Kusanagi sword, coated in violently surging Lightning Release chakra, slashed straight toward Urashiki's face.
Faced with the thunderous strike, Urashiki snapped out of his shock.
"Stop interfering!"
Instead of blocking with the fishing rod, he swung his left hand forward. A massive, invisible repulsive force erupted outward.
Boom—!
Lightning Release chakra collided head-on with the spatial repulsion, detonating with a deafening roar.
The ground beneath them cracked instantly, violent winds whipping up dust in all directions.
Adult Sasuke was flung backward, flipping several times in mid-air before barely stabilizing himself. Without hesitation, his remaining right hand flew through hand seals.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
Several enormous fire dragons roared into the sky, sealing off Urashiki's escape routes and turning the surrounding air blisteringly hot.
"It's not over yet!"
The Rinnegan hidden beneath Sasuke's bangs flickered faintly with purple light.
"Amenotejikara!"
Swish!
In mid-air, Sasuke suddenly swapped positions with a piece of rubble behind Urashiki without any warning.
"What?!"
Reappearing behind Urashiki, the Kusanagi sword in Sasuke's hand blazed once more with dazzling lightning. From an extremely treacherous angle, he thrust straight toward Urashiki's heart.
"I've got him!"
Young Sasuke watched from below, his blood surging with excitement. That instantaneous teleportation combined with a lethal Lightning Release strike was something no one should have been able to evade.
Yet at the very moment the Chidori-coated blade was about to pierce Urashiki's heart—
Urashiki's pale Byakugan abruptly transformed into a Rinnegan glowing with an eerie, icy blue light.
Hum—!
An unsettling ripple spread outward from Urashiki.
In Sasuke's vision, Urashiki's body seemed to undergo an incredibly subtle displacement.
Shing!
The Kusanagi sword pierced straight through Urashiki's body without encountering any resistance.
"Wrong!"
Adult Sasuke's pupils shrank violently. The sensation in his hand told him clearly—he hadn't struck a solid body at all.
It was an afterimage.
"Too slow."
Ōtsutsuki Urashiki's cold voice sounded from Sasuke's left.
"How is that possible?!"
Sasuke was horrified. He hadn't seen Urashiki dodge at all, and the timing of the afterimage perfectly matched the instant Amenotejikara had been activated.
Bang!
The crimson fishing rod in Urashiki's hand had already transformed into a hardened staff, smashing brutally into Sasuke's waist.
Adult Sasuke was blasted out of the air like a cannonball, slamming into the ground and carving a deep crater into the training field.