The battle in the desert dimension raged on!
Indra stood atop the vast yellow sands, with sand spontaneously blocking all close-range attacks for him!
Madara had five Limbo shadows remaining!
He was currently in the 'invincible state' following his death substitution!
He charged toward Indra with his immortal body!
Indra said coldly: "Without Susanoo or the Rinnegan's Deva Path abilities, you can't even fly. What's the point of an immortal body?"
"Fly? Only birds need wings! Uchiha men soar through the heavens with nothing but their feet!"
Mid-charge, Madara formed hand seals.
—Uchiha Style: Wind-Fire Wheel!
Whoosh! Flames erupted beneath Madara's feet, mixing with Wind Release to create rapidly spinning fire wheels that generated powerful updrafts!
Madara rode the wind-fire wheels, shooting skyward!
"Oh?" Even in the sky, Indra's eyes lit up. Despite this being a life-or-death battle, his passion for combat and ninjutsu innovation made him appreciate refreshing new techniques.
"Haha, not a bad technique at all. Simple in principle, but it demands incredible chakra control. Who'd have thought someone as rough around the edges as you could show such finesse."
Soon, Indra's expression returned to cold severity: "Even with temporary immortality from shadow substitution, that's still not Izanagi. You simply won't take damage—you can't shift between illusion and reality to achieve 'instant teleportation'! In other words, impact effects still apply!"
Whoosh...!
Yellow sand swirled upward, engulfing Madara!
Madara's eyes suddenly blazed with focus.
BOOM...!!
Massive repulsive force scattered all the approaching sand!!
Indra treated the Super Shinra Tensei force field like nothing, but his gaze sharpened slightly: "Hmm? Using ninjutsu flight to hide that your Deva Path ocular power has recovered?"
Exploiting the opening created by Shinra Tensei, Madara closed within twenty meters of Indra. Sage power flames ignited at his fingertips!
Indra observed intently: "A sealing technique targeting 'ocular power,' infused with 'sage power' to prevent me from countering with Yin-Yang Release!"
Whoosh!
The wind-fire wheels accelerated, covering twenty meters in an instant. Madara thrust his five fingers toward the Rinne Sharingan on Indra's forehead!
—Sage Art: Phantom Eye Seal!
Indra formed hand seals.
—Sage Art: Dark Thunder Turtle Dove!
Crackle crackle...!
Indra unleashed an indiscriminate black lightning field around his body, emitting a turtle dove's piercing shriek!
Madara was blasted backward by the lightning, his wind-fire wheels extinguishing beneath his feet!
Surrounded by black Lightning Release, Indra stared at Madara: "The support fighter's engaging in direct combat with his immortal body."
His gaze swept toward the desert's edge, where... Naruto and his army of thousands of shadow clones were forming a protective perimeter around Madara's five Limbo shadows!
"The main fighter's playing bodyguard to support shadows instead. Stalling tactics? This doesn't look like desperate fighting with no escape route. You must be certain someone's coming to help, so you're buying time while waiting for backup. If I'm not mistaken, it's that Obito guy..."
"This bastard's standing in a desert but can't tolerate a single grain of sand in his eyes..." Both Naruto and Madara's expressions hardened.
Indra mused: To enter Amenominaka from outside, one must pass through the Starting Ball space as a transit point. If that Obito wants to come here, he definitely can't avoid the Starting Ball dimension.
"Though I wouldn't fear you even with full numbers, there's no reason to dance to your rhythm..."
Whoosh!Yomotsu Hirasaka connecting to the Starting Ball space opened, and Indra retreated through it.
"Let me deal with your reinforcements first and crush your hopes. Then I'll return to appreciate your 'desperate heroics.' Won't take long, probably..."
Yomotsu Hirasaka closed. Indra had left the desert dimension!
Simultaneously... the violent desert completely calmed. Natural winds stirred sand dust that struck Naruto and Madara's faces.
Madara said: "To seize the initiative to this extent—truly worthy of being the Uchiha ancestor..."
Naruto replied: "Everyone talks about how great their ancestors were, but I believe the new waves push the old ones forward~"
Madara glanced sideways: "So you've already figured out how to beat him?"
Naruto said: "That's right, but executing it with just our power would be tough. We'll need Obito and Sasuke's strength..."
Madara said: "But Indra went after them. There's nothing we can do now."
Naruto replied: "We can only trust they'll break through. As for doing nothing—that's not quite right~ We can use his 'blind spot' to set up some preparations."
Madara asked: "You mean... a trap? Against an enemy of that caliber, I can't imagine any trap that would work."
Naruto gazed at the desert with profound eyes: "I have a technique called Sand True Eye—a Sunagakure secret art that transforms an eye into a sand construct, condensing and deploying it at will. My Sand True Eye uses Uchiha Shin's eye, the one with Banbutsu Sōzō ocular power."
Madara thought briefly: "I remember now. You used that move to yank me out of my Susanoo, then controlled my Susanoo with Inorganic Reincarnation..."
Recalling that battle, Naruto couldn't help but smile nostalgically: "Ah, rare that you remember so clearly. Uchiha Shin's cloned Mangekyō originally only had the power to remotely control marked objects, but that eye was special. During cloning, both eyeballs fused together, causing the ocular power to evolve. Building on the original ability, it can teleport targets to marked locations!"
Swish swish swish...!
As he spoke, sand gathered into a Mangekyō Sharingan!
"And now, I'm going to mass-produce copies of this Sand True Eye using Ōmononushi!"
Madara crossed his arms and asked a crucial question: "By the way, I've been curious—your Ōmononushi seems able to copy even human corpses. Can't it directly copy eyes?"
"Ah, that." Naruto didn't hide anything: "Ordinary eyes can certainly be copied, but Byakugan, Sharingan, Rinnegan, and Tenseigan—because they harbor the intense thoughts of those who awakened them, which are soul fragments—Ōmononushi can't copy objects containing souls. So mass-producing Byakugan, Sharingan, Rinnegan, or Tenseigan is unrealistic. However... this Sharingan obtained through emotionless cloning and transformed into a sand construct is a different story entirely!"
Crack!Naruto grasped the condensed Sand True Eye, activating his left eye's power.
—Ōmononushi!
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Tens of thousands of eyes were copied throughout the desert in one go!
Rustle rustle...!
After the eyes fell, they immediately scattered into sand, blending seamlessly into this vast sea of sand, gathering and dispersing at will...
"That should do for now..."
Naruto sat cross-legged, producing fine wine brewed from soul fruits and vegetables to share with Madara.
After hearing this explanation, Madara suddenly felt the wine in his cup had lost all flavor.
"You're getting more sinister by the day..."
He shook his head with a murmur, then tilted back his head to drain the cup in one gulp. After wiping wine stains with the back of his hand, his mouth curved into a wicked arc.
"Though I suppose that's not entirely bad..."
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