The dust settled...
A young man with long black hair stood before them...
His face was cold, he wore red armor, and his right hand was resting on the red-haired boy's head. He looked coldly at the Kiri-nin in front of him and said in a flat yet angry tone, "Who did you say you wanted to take away?"
"You?!" Zabuza, holding his ninja sword over his shoulder, looked at the black-haired man in shock, cracks appearing on his face, especially upon seeing those three tomoe...
Could he be from the Uchiha clan?
"Who are you?"
He asked in an equally deep voice, "A mere pair of three tomoe won't stop us."
A pair of three tomoe, at best, meant an elite jonin. They had two elite jonin on their side. He guessed Kisame was just caught off guard and kicked away earlier.
He glanced at Kisame, who had struggled to his feet, face full of rage...
His mind settled...
They would be fine. One of them could hold off the suddenly appearing three-tomoe user, while the other quickly took the target away. That should work.
You must understand...
Once they retrieved the swords, they would become one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Their strength was imaginable!
However...
"Stop you?" The long-black-haired young man gently rubbed Itachi's head, a ferocious grin on his face. "Haha, you Kiri-nin are so arrogant!"
He glared...
"I have no interest in stopping you. I only want..."
His tone changed...
"To kill you!!!"
"Mangekyo!!!" Kisame and Zabuza, seeing the young man's eyes, exclaimed in shock...
Where did a Mangekyo come from in Uzushiogakure?
Could he be the legendary Uchiha Shin?
Just as they were about to ask...
"Grandpa Madara?" Itachi looked up, surprised and happy, his small face incredulous. "I've seen photos of you with Dad and Mom. You're Grandpa Madara?"
Then, his tone became somewhat subdued...
"But in the photos, Grandpa Madara wasn't that young, and his hair was already white."
"Haha~" Hearing Itachi's words, the young man's ferocious grin softened. He rubbed Itachi's head gently and said, "Kid, you guessed right. I am..."
He stepped forward...
"Uchiha Madara!!!"
He formed a hand seal...
"Watch closely. This is how the Uchiha clan's Fire Release is used!"
He puffed his cheeks...
"Fire Release, Great Fireball Technique!"
Instantly, a massive fireball appeared before them...
Kisame and Zabuza, initially startled by the young man's claim, saw the impossibly large fireball rushing towards them and immediately snapped back to reality, quickly dodging!
But...
"And the Uchiha clan's taijutsu is used like this!" Uchiha Madara appeared directly behind Kisame, his voice cold. "Do you want to dance?"
A horizontal kick, a grab with his right hand...
Kisame was sent flying straight back...
And Uchiha Madara, holding the long sword that originally belonged to Kisame in his right hand, looked at Zabuza with the bandage wrapped around his chin...
"Uchiha Style Sword Technique!"
His right hand chopped down vertically and swiftly at Zabuza. Zabuza saw it and immediately raised his ninja sword, intending to block horizontally, when...
"Snap!"
His eyes widened as he watched his ninja sword cleanly break in two!!!
Then...
"Thud!"
He was kicked flying again...
"Who did you say you wanted to take away?" His eyes coldly watched the Kiri-nin kneeling on one knee before him, clutching his chest, his voice icy. "Trash!"
And Itachi...
Just kept staring wide-eyed at the young man who called himself Grandpa Madara...
It was truly unbelievable!
The Uchiha-style ninjutsu, sword techniques, and taijutsu that Obito-nii-san taught him could actually be used like this!!!
Suddenly...
Itachi seemed to remember something...
Although in the family photo he was just a baby, and Grandpa Madara's hair was streaked with white, standing next to a long-black-haired young man with a silly grin – whom he had to call uncle but whom his father said was just a foolish young man – but...
There was a statue of a young Grandpa Madara at the academy entrance!!!
It looked exactly the same!
"Are you really Grandpa Madara?" Itachi hesitated, then asked, "The one Mom said always bought me roast chicken and held me, Grandpa Madara?"
"Haha!" Uchiha Madara walked up to Itachi, squatted down, the flat expression on his face seeming to carry a trace of emotion. He looked quietly at Itachi, nodded, and said, "I didn't expect Mikoto to have told you about these things!"
He sighed, a flash of kindness in his eyes, looking at Itachi who had grown up, no longer the babbling toddler from back then...
"Itachi..."
"Long time no see~"
"Grandpa Madara!" Hearing the young man's words and feeling that familiar affection, Itachi was stunned for a moment, then a smile unconsciously appeared on his face. "Long time no see!"
Then...
He nodded his little head, furrowed his small brows, lost in thought...
"Mom also said that Grandpa Madara always had a stinky face, a bad temper, lost his temper often, mocked others..."
Just as Uchiha Madara's face was getting darker, Itachi's little face showed a neat-toothed smile as he looked at the young Grandpa Madara before him...
"But Mom also said Grandpa Madara is a good person and really dotes on me!"
"Haha!" Madara was taken aback, then laughed loudly. "Don't listen to your mother's nonsense."
However...
"Little friend, your mother is right."
A warm, slightly silly-sounding voice came over...
"Madara always has a stinky face." A man with long, straight black hair, wearing red armor identical to Uchiha Madara's, walked out, a kind smile on his face. "It's just that now..."
He sighed with emotion...
"He's really changed a lot!"
He squatted down and looked at the little boy, the three tomoe and that head of red hair...
"Is this your junior, Madara? Why does he have red hair?"
Are there redheads in the Uchiha clan?
However...
"Hmph!" Uchiha Madara snorted coldly, ignoring the long-black-haired man's words. He stood up and said flatly, "Idiot!"
He turned his head to look at the Kiri-nin still kneeling on one knee, breathing heavily, looking at him in shock...
"I need to deal with these two Kiri-nin first."
Madara's face was cold, the corners of his mouth slightly upturned...
"Later, I'll have to ask Mikoto just how she's raising this child!"
Even if he's a genius, letting such a young child stay alone in such a chaotic place? What if something happened?
And...
Uzumaki Jun!!!
Uchiha Madara narrowed his eyes, muttering to himself, "It seems I still need to teach him a lesson!"
Then, he calmly walked towards the Kiri-nin...
"Are you really Uchiha Madara?!" Kisame and Zabuza's faces shifted between fear and shock, looking at the young man before them in terror...
And the long-black-haired young man standing to the side, with a constant silly smile on his face, felt strangely familiar. A long-black-haired man who could speak to Uchiha Madara like that, wearing a Konoha headband...
Could Uzushiogakure be tricking the Five Great Shinobi Countries?
Hiding such combat power, not using it no matter how dire the situation...
What a familiar tactic!!!
Mizukage-sama, withdraw the troops quickly, otherwise, you might end up like the Third Hokage...
Now they strongly suspected...
Was the Daimyo of Uzushiogakure also hiding in the shadows, secretly plotting something?
"Kiri-nin..." Uchiha Madara walked up to them, looked at the headbands, sighed, and said expressionlessly, "I don't have time to dance with you."
He raised the long sword, about to bring it down, when...
"Clang!!!"
Suddenly, a spatial fluctuation appeared before him, and then a figure emerged in front of Uchiha Madara, blocking the ninja sword...