The air itself seemed to tremble. Somewhere deep in the land where the Ninja Sect's roots had spread, a storm was awakening.
Indra Ōtsutsuki's eyes snapped open, the three tomoe of his Sharingan spinning like blades. A dark, feral aura coiled off his body as he rose from his meditation mat, voice sharp and furious.
"Asura… how dare you abandon the Sect!" His words dripped with contempt. "This time, I'll kill you."
Without hesitation, he strode forward, his presence alone pressing on the young disciples around him like a weight of iron. When they saw him march, they followed in a rush.
"Lord Indra, wait for us!" they cried, scrambling after their master.
Indra's gaze, however, was fixed on the distant flare of chakra he sensed — a presence so unlike Asura's, yet… similar enough to confuse. It called to him like a challenge.
Naruto, meanwhile, had just finished dealing with two blind sentries near the outskirts of the Sect's reach. They hadn't posed much of a threat, but he'd gleaned useful scraps of information by prodding them with questions. Piece by piece, he was beginning to understand this era's fractured politics.
Then, a roar rolled across the hills.
"Asura, I've found you!"
The voice was thunder itself, carried by chakra so oppressive it seemed to make the very earth shudder.
Naruto stiffened. "That's not some random follower… that's Indra himself."
He had hoped to avoid immediate entanglement, but fate had other plans. With no time to retreat cleanly, he set his stance and waited. He wouldn't meet Indra carelessly — if things grew dire, his Flying Thunder God marks scattered across the terrain would carry him away.
When the ground trembled under the approach of heavy footsteps, Naruto raised his eyes. Across the broken plain, a figure emerged — tall, severe, the fire of wrath burning behind spinning tomoe.
Indra stopped only when they stood face-to-face.
Even at a glance, Naruto understood: the pressure radiating from Indra's gaze surpassed anything he'd ever felt from Itachi or Sasuke at their peak. This was the origin — the first to awaken such overwhelming ocular power.
So this is the ancestor of the Uchiha, Naruto thought grimly. No wonder the Sharingan is called a cursed eye. His aura alone feels like a blade at my throat.
Indra's tone was sharp. "What are you to Asura? I can feel his essence clinging to you."
Naruto's lips tugged into a half-smile. "Hard to say. Maybe I'm related, maybe not. But… there is a connection."
It wasn't a lie. The blood of the Uzumaki carried Asura's lineage, and in another life, the original Naruto had been his reincarnation. But this reincarnated soul wasn't bound by those cycles anymore. His answer was vague on purpose.
Indra's eyes narrowed. "Then as long as I capture you, I'll have my answers."
"Overbearing, aren't you?" Naruto exhaled, rolling his shoulders. "Fine then. Show me what you've got, Indra."
Lightning crackled suddenly across Indra's frame, arcs dancing along his arms. The sheer density of his chakra distorted the air.
Naruto closed his eyes for a heartbeat, hands pressed together. Natural energy swirled into him, steady and calm. When his eyes snapped open again, orange pigmentation framed them. Sage Mode.
Indra's brows lifted in interest. "So you can draw in nature's power as well. As Father does. Hmph. More curious than I thought."
"That's right," Naruto answered lightly. "Don't underestimate me."
But even as he said it, the weight of Indra's presence doubled. The Sharingan's tomoe spun faster, and with it came a surge of killing intent that made Naruto's heart skip.
Damn… his eyes aren't normal three-tomoe. The sheer force feels stronger than even a Mangekyō.
A shadow rose around Indra. At first a ribcage, then limbs, then armor — a massive blue skeletal warrior formed in the air, growing more defined with each breath.
Naruto's breath caught. "Susanoo… already?"
Indra smirked, his voice carrying from within the construct. "So you recognize it. Then you know your chances are none."
The skeletal frame thickened, muscle-like layers of chakra covering it, until the form stood tall — a towering guardian of light and wrath. Indra had stopped at the fourth form, yet the pressure it gave off rivaled what Naruto knew of complete Susanoo in later ages.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
In a burst of smoke, hundreds of Narutos appeared, fanning out across the battlefield. They brandished kunai marked with the Flying Thunder God formula, already moving into complex formations.
Indra tilted his head. "An interesting technique. Multiplying your body into so many copies at once… I see you're not a fool."
But his response was to push further. His eyes burned brighter, power pouring forth. The Susanoo expanded until it became a full giant — a complete body Susanoo, several hundred meters tall, armored and terrible, wielding a titanic sword.
The sheer gale of its emergence blasted away half of Naruto's clones.
From below, Indra's followers arrived at last. When they saw the spectacle, their voices filled the air.
"Lord Indra has manifested his complete Susanoo!"
"Who is he fighting? Who could force this out of him?!"
Naruto gritted his teeth, hurling kunai in wide arcs. He couldn't brute-force through this. Not without Kurama. Not against this man.
Susanoo's blade came down like a mountain falling.
Naruto slammed his hands together. "Sage Art: Multiple Big Ball Rasengan Barrage!"
Dozens of massive orbs spiraled into being, each guided by clones that hurled themselves at the descending sword. Explosions of blue light rocked the plain, each collision ringing like a gong.
For a moment, it seemed the assault might hold. The sword's arc faltered slightly, driven off-course by the relentless barrage.
Smoke engulfed the world.
Within that cover, one of Naruto's clones slipped far afield, kneeling to gather natural energy. The main body couldn't afford to pause, but he could prepare reinforcements.
When the smoke thinned, Naruto raised his hand high, chakra surging. "Sage Art: Wind Release — Rasenshuriken!"
A monstrous shuriken, its edges shrieking with deadly wind, formed in his palm, growing to ten meters across. He hurled it with all his strength at Susanoo's chest.
Indra's eyes gleamed. "Not bad."
Susanoo raised its colossal fist and swung, meeting the Rasenshuriken head-on. The world detonated. The shuriken carved through the chakra armor, shattering the giant's fist into fragments.
Indra's expression remained calm, but inside his brow twitched. So he can reach Asura's level of destructive force, at least in technique…
"Impressive," Indra admitted aloud, his voice reverberating through the Susanoo. "You destroyed a portion of my Susanoo. But you're still leagues beneath me."
The ground shook again as Naruto struggled to keep his breath steady. He felt the weight of Indra's raw talent — not the result of training, but inheritance. A divine birthright that left ordinary shinobi forever chasing.
He's on a different level… no, a different plane. Like Hagoromo himself. Like Hamura. Like Kaguya. Gods walking the earth…
Naruto wiped sweat from his brow and pulled in more nature energy, forcing himself back into Sage Mode before the pigment faded. His body screamed from the strain of maintaining both Sage Mode and the opened Fifth Gate, but he had no choice.
Indra observed him coolly. "Your tricks are strange. That teleportation — not unlike our ocular techniques, yet it's yours alone. And this shadow army of yours… Hmph. Compared to my foolish brother, you're far more intriguing."
Naruto barked a bitter laugh. "Don't flatter me. You were born with power. The rest of us have to claw our way up. There's nothing fair about it."
Before Indra could retort, another chakra presence flared across the plain — warm, steady, filled with willpower.
"Brother, stop!"
From afar, Asura approached at a run, his expression grim. Behind him trailed disciples of the Sect, wide-eyed as they watched.
Indra's fury flared. "Asura! You dare to command me?"
He turned his colossal Susanoo toward the new arrival, eyes blazing. "Perfect. I'll kill you here, before Father's eyes. Then everyone will know who deserves to inherit the Sect."
Naruto exhaled sharply, relief loosening his chest as the massive Susanoo turned away from him. He could finally breathe without the crushing weight of those eyes fixed on him.
Good. Let the brothers clash. That's their fate. Mine… is to endure and surpass, no matter what.
As Asura slid to a stop, six Truth-Seeking Orbs rose behind him, circling like silent planets. The sight made Naruto's jaw drop.
"Truth-Seeking Balls…?" He muttered, astonished. "Standard issue for these guys, huh? Damn… talk about unfair."
Still, as he steadied himself and prepared to slip into the shadows, his grin returned. "Fine. I'll cheat in my own way too. And someday, I'll stand above even them."
The clash of brothers was about to begin.
And Naruto, traveler out of time, vowed silently: he would not remain beneath their shadows forever.
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