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In a deserted, abandoned village.
Qianyu followed the fading trail of the chakra marker, finally finding Kakuzu.
"My apologies, Leader. I've disappointed you."
The figure before him could barely be called human anymore. Kakuzu was a scattered mess of black threads across the ground.
"Izanami!"
[Ding! Treatment successful. Congratulations, host, on obtaining 'Chakra Enhancement'!]
Qianyu had no time for pleasantries. He activated his dōjutsu, resetting Kakuzu's state, then used his Rinnegan to read the man's memories.
"It's him!"
The moment he saw the figure from Kakuzu's memories—the one who had attacked them—Qianyu's face turned to ice.
Just as he suspected. It was "Isshiki Ōtsutsuki." The Ōtsutsuki who had come to this planet with Kaguya a thousand years ago to plant the God Tree.
After being betrayed and nearly killed by Kaguya, Isshiki had lain dormant, waiting for a suitable "vessel" to reincarnate and plant the tree anew.
In the current ninja world, only that bastard could have ignored Qianyu's precautions and forcibly taken Konan and the others.
"Damn it. His condition should be terrible. He didn't even show himself during the God Tree's descent last time. He has to stay in that stasis pod most of the time."
"According to the information from the other world, he shouldn't start moving openly for another twenty or thirty years. Why is he active so much earlier here?"
After a furious mental storm, Qianyu's grim expression settled into a conclusion.
Isshiki was coming for him.
"So he left Kakuzu alive on purpose. To send me a 'message.' Heh. Hahaha!"
Qianyu let out a cold laugh. Was Isshiki trying to use him as bait?
"Return to Konoha, Kakuzu. I'll handle the rest."
Qianyu sensed the lingering spacetime fluctuations in the area, gave Kakuzu the order, then summoned a dark portal. He stepped through into another dimension.
…
"He's shown himself again. And he's likely coming for us."
Within Kaguya's core dimension, Qianyu idly played with one of her rabbit-like creations as he explained the situation.
They were intertwined now. Part of each other. Bound by shared interests, their relationship was arguably more solid than most marriages.
"Kaguya. As a precaution, I need you to monitor my condition from now on. If things look bad, pull me out immediately. Understand?" Qianyu instructed.
If Isshiki knew his strength and still dared to target him, he had to have a card to play. Qianyu needed to be prepared. He wouldn't be caught off guard.
"This one understands." Kaguya nodded her little head, obedient.
She and Qianyu shared a mortal enemy. They empowered each other. And, most importantly, Qianyu satisfied her… needs. Of course, she would support him.
"Good. Transcription Seal!"
Qianyu manifested his Ōtsutsuki body. Purple light flashed in his eyes as he locked gazes with Kaguya, using the Rinnegan to inscribe her dōjutsu, Amenominaka, into his own.
Once the seal was complete, it would automatically activate the stored technique when a preset "condition" was met.
Just as Itachi had sealed Amaterasu into Sasuke's eye, set to trigger upon seeing Obito's Sharingan. Or how Madara had sealed Izanagi to revive himself at the moment of death.
Qianyu set the trigger condition as "severe injury or loss of consciousness." If met, Amenominaka within his Rinnegan would activate, teleporting him directly to Kaguya's side.
"With my current power, I might not even need it. Wait here for my good news, Kaguya."
He gave her thigh a light pat, then opened another spacetime portal. He tried to trace the residual fluctuations from Isshiki's earlier movement.
…
Over the sea east of the Land of Fire.
The water's surface suddenly churned violently. A figure shot into the sky, sending massive plumes of spray into the air.
"Heh. Took some effort, but I finally found it."
Madara Uchiha hovered in mid-air, a smug smile on his face as he examined the earthen-yellow clay pot in his hand.
With Qianyu's original chakra and this treasure… he could deal with that brat for good.
"Awaken, Karasuki!"
Madara extracted a portion of Qianyu's chakra and poured it into the pot. The artifact hummed to life, and Madara was pulled into its internal space.
"Start-up authentication complete. I am the treasure tool, Karasuki. Honored Ōtsutsuki-sama, please set the spacetime coordinates for your destination."
He heard the tool's emotionless prompt. Madara stroked his chin, deep in thought.
"As much as I'd love to go back and kill the brat as a newborn… that probably won't work."
After riding Karasuki a few times, he'd heard the "prohibitions" of time travel. The most critical one:
If traveling within the same spatial plane, you must not do anything that disrupts the established future. It creates paradoxes. Collapses timelines.
If he went back to kill a young Qianyu, and succeeded… then this Madara would have no reason to go back in the first place. The resulting paradox could trap him in a dead, erroneous world.
"Then stick to the original plan. Spatial travel only. Kill the Qianyu who exists in my present."
The idea had struck him earlier, during one of Qianyu's boring experiments on summoning souls from the Pure Land. Madara, feeling restless, had joined in.
What if he combined that technique with the Impure World Reincarnation? Tweak the formulas. Enhance the ritual with more complex seals. Pump in a monstrous amount of chakra.
He could, in theory, rip Qianyu's soul right out of his body. Catch him completely off guard.
That was the plan. Use Karasuki to jump to a different world—one Qianyu couldn't instantly travel to with his dōjutsu. Forcibly summon Qianyu's soul there. Then return to the ninja world, finish the soulless body, and retrieve Karasuki.
If he succeeded, the ninja world would be his. If he failed… well, the multiverse was vast. With Karasuki, he could go anywhere, conquer new worlds. Start over.
"…Damn it. How do you work this thing again?"
Despite his grand ambitions, the moment the tool's operation interface flickered to life, Madara hit a wall.
This Karasuki was in its freshly-activated, default state. It hadn't been customized by Urashiki Ōtsutsuki. The interface was different, cluttered with dense Ōtsutsuki script that made his head hurt.
"Hey, Karasuki. Got a manual? How do I adjust the spatial coordinates?"
"Apologies. Per Safety Protocol Three, first-time activation requires manual coordinate input or import of prior usage history."
Madara had hoped for help. The tool refused.
"Hmm. I think the brat tapped here… Screw it. Let's just try a jump!"
Out of options, Madara found what he thought was the coordinate setting based on memory. After a moment's hesitation, he randomly adjusted one parameter and hit confirm.
"Destination confirmed. Detecting a co-source device within this spacetime. Your itinerary has been automatically synchronized with the other device prior to departure."
"Wait… what? Damn it, no! Cancel the sync! Cancel it now!!"
Madara's face paled. He frantically tried to tap the interface, but it had already vanished.
"Cancellation impossible. Synchronization complete." Karasuki's voice was cold.
"Damn it! DAMN IT!"
Madara beat his chest in fury, wanting to smash the artifact to pieces.
He'd never anticipated this. His operation hadn't even begun, and he'd just sent a detailed PowerPoint presentation of his entire plan… to Qianyu?!
"That brat's sharp. He'll know it's me. He's probably already on his way."
His grand scheme, dead before it began. Madara's mind was chaos.
The legendary Uchiha Madara, Shinobi Asura… foiled because he was too old to figure out the damn settings on a smart device. This was the most pathetic thing he'd ever done.
Swish!
Right then, a shimmering, half-formed portal materialized before him. On the other side was his destination.
"Run… or gamble?"
Madara stared at the portal, his expression shifting between dark and darker.
That brat Qianyu acted carefree, but he was cautious as a fox. This might be the only chance. If Qianyu got wind of the plan, pulling this trick again would be impossible.
"Gamble!"
Qianyu could be here any second. No time to hesitate. Madara made his choice. He leaped through the portal, emerging into another world. He immediately began etching a massive, complex seal into the ground.
"Don't blame me, kid. People like us… only one can rest easy when the other's dead."
With that thought, Madara finished the seal. He placed the core of Qianyu's original chakra at its center. Formed hand signs. Poured his chakra into the array.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The seal activated. Madara's chakra evaporated at a terrifying rate.
In response, the dark lines of the seal before him began to light up. An eerie glow, like crawling arcs of electricity, spread from the edges toward the central core of chakra.
Once the entire seal was illuminated… Qianyu's soul would be ripped from his body and trapped here. In this distant world.
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