"He instead said, has my brain short-circuited..."
Naruto was confused: "Brain short-circuited?"
"Ah, later I even deliberately asked Ino to check it, and my brain was declared perfectly normal."
"Basically Ayato just left, he didn't want to cooperate with us."
Shikamaru inhaled his cigarette deeply, then calmed himself and said: "Perhaps my words that day were indeed less than friendly, but I think that level of insult, if he truly knew the future and cared about the ninja world's safety, should have been easy for him to handle."
"That Ayato, either he doesn't have the responsibility and awareness that a ninja fighting for world safety should have, or he indeed felt guilty about hiding something. Facts have proven the likelihood is the latter!"
Naruto didn't feel there was anything wrong with Shikamaru's testing and assessment of Ayato.
When the Fourth Ninja World War ended back then, even Sasuke whose merit was no less than his had to enter Konoha's prison first to await judgment before atoning for his sins.
A ninja must have a ninja's awareness!
"Basically since that time, Ayato truly disappeared without a trace."
"Connecting his actions from beginning to end, I concluded that Ayato is merely an opportunist in peacetime, a dangerous element! He thirsts for war to reap huge profits!"
"People like that are everywhere. Your time as Hokage is very valuable, I felt there was no reason to surprise you specifically, so I didn't tell you about what happened in the reception room."
"But unexpectedly, Ayato was actually targeting Madara's corpse, even acting arrogantly without hiding it at all."
"Ehm." After hearing Shikamaru's explanation, Naruto felt very disappointed.
(I wanted to introduce Ayato to Sasuke so he'd know he still has clan relatives, never expected he was someone like this, truly disappointing...)
He then said: "All that doesn't matter anymore. The problem is, what does Ayato want with Madara's corpse?"
Shikamaru speculated: "There are two possibilities. First, he performs Edo Tensei himself, but this possibility is small because after the war ended, the Edo Tensei scroll was destroyed forever. People in this world who master that technique can be counted on one hand, unless Ayato has connections with these people... Kabuto seems fine, the other one... I'll reserve my opinion."
Naruto nodded: "Ehm, Orochimaru huh... indeed a bit suspicious."
Shikamaru continued: "The second possibility is more likely, Ayato uses his dark world connections to profit from Madara's corpse. The appearance of Madara's corpse to the public will definitely shake the underworld!"
"But whatever it is, Ayato's mature plan probably won't go smoothly, because in that coffin there's a protective spell installed by Sasuke himself! When the coffin is opened, Madara's corpse will immediately be completely destroyed!"
After saying so, Shikamaru extinguished his cigarette in the portable ashtray box he carried, then picked up the documents scattered on the floor.
Naruto called the small captain back in; there was one thing he wanted to confirm immediately.
"Did you see Ayato's eyes? Were they ordinary Sharingan, or Mangekyo Sharingan?"
"They were ordinary Sharingan!"
"You're certain?"
The captain answered very confidently: "Certain! His eyes didn't have special patterns like Sasuke-sama's! Just ordinary three tomoe!"
Naruto made an estimate in his heart: (With just ordinary Sharingan, he could breach the forbidden area's protective barrier and incapacitate an elite team without a single scratch... Conservatively, Ayato has strength equivalent to Sasuke when he had just finished training under Orochimaru back then!)
Shikamaru said: "Actually that's also because our defenses have been somewhat lax these past few years. If the forbidden area guard team had been equipped with the latest results from Konoha's Scientific Ninja Tools Division now, namely scientific ninja tool scrolls, incapacitating him definitely wouldn't be a difficult problem!"
"But there's one thing that's very suspicious, how could he know the location of Madara's corpse placement?"
Naruto pondered: "Sharingan has the ability to manipulate minds and observe information, if Ayato intended to, that's not difficult. This has already happened, what must be done next is to resolve it..."
"Ree!"
Suddenly, a loud screech was heard from the sky outside the window!
Naruto stood and looked toward the window: "That's Sasuke's messenger hawk..."
Shikamaru was shocked: "Contact from Sasuke after years? There must be something very important."
He said to the Anbu captain: "You go back and rest. Let everyone not need to blame themselves, this incident also serves as a warning alarm for us!"
After the captain left, Naruto opened the message scroll. After reading it, his expression became very serious.
"What happened?"
"It's like this..."
"What? A Mangekyo Sharingan user? Stalking and ambushing Sasuke?"
"Yes, the perpetrator claims to be named Uchiha Shin, and he's a small child!"
Naruto put down the scroll, "Emergency situation. It seems the Ayato problem must be set aside first. Shikamaru, basically order the Barrier Team to adjust passwords, and tell the Sensor Force to tighten security..."
Shikamaru asked: "A wanted notice for Ayato, does it need to be issued?"
Naruto thought for a moment then said: "Hold off for now. What he did is too sensitive, it's best we resolve it internally first! Oh yes, compile information about Ayato into one file, if there's an opportunity I'll show it to Sasuke!"
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12:32 AM.
The vision seeping into Madara's mind froze on the scene of Konoha's destroyed land.
Boruto and Kawaki with their bodies covered in tattoos stood facing each other atop the broken Hokage face monument!
"The era of shinobi has ended!"
The food on the table had completely cooled. Madara stared sharply at Ayato's eyes: "Give me an explanation!"
Ayato said: "I was once able to prophesy the future to a certain extent through dreams. In the Genjutsu earlier, I only honestly projected the content I had prophesied before to you through Sharingan."
He had thought of this reason long ago.
His identity as a transmigrator must not be leaked, so prophecy was the necessary reason. However, when Ayato crossed worlds, the Boruto series hadn't finished, he didn't know the entire future ahead. Therefore, he added the word "once" as a prefix to give himself room to maneuver.
(Prophesying... the future?)
Madara didn't scoff like Shikamaru. He had already seen Ayato's unreasonable abilities; even something like reversing time could be done, so prophesying the future wasn't excessive.
But Madara wouldn't believe just like that. "How can you prove that the vision you prophesied is the future?"
"Because I once prophesied the occurrence of the Fourth Ninja World War, and then that war actually happened. The course of the war and its details were exactly the same as what was in my dream."
"Of course, the future I prophesied in dreams occurred under the assumption that I didn't intervene. Based on the interference I make, the actual future will also change."
"Words alone aren't enough proof, how can I believe this is the future! Rather than a vision you created with your high-level Genjutsu skills!"
Madara's critical attitude now was more accurately called unwillingness to accept reality rather than mere doubt.
He could accept the existence of Kinshiki, Momoshiki, Urashiki, or even Isshiki! What he couldn't accept was... that extraordinary pair of youths who once suppressed him at the peak of Six Paths mode at the end of the Fourth Ninja World War!
Naruto and Sasuke!
How could they decline into the pitiful figures he had just seen in the Genjutsu!
Their incompetence was the same as degrading his dignity, Madara's!
"Simple enough. If things in the Genjutsu really happen, then it will be proven, right?" Ayato answered calmly while glancing at his wristwatch.
12:58 AM.
"Precisely this afternoon, the battle between Naruto and Sasuke against Uchiha Shin as shown in the Genjutsu will take place on schedule. How about we go witness it ourselves?"
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
1:06 AM.
Ayato and Madara ended their night conversation, deciding to go witness this afternoon's battle.
Ayato entered the Dataru Time Zone created by Omodaru.
A long white corridor, with white box room doors on both sides.
Ayato stopped in front of one door and stepped inside.
This was a small Japanese-style room about four and a half tatami mats in size. A frozen coffin was peacefully displayed on the worship altar in the center of the room.
After melting its ice, he opened the coffin lid, gazing at Madara-sama's corpse inside.
"It's time to prepare the materials I need to awaken my Rinnegan!"