Clutching the wound on his right hand, Obito winced in pain, his face contorted.
"Huff… huff…" His right eye reverted to an ordinary black eye. He removed his mask and immediately collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath. It had been a long time since he'd felt so utterly exhausted.
The spot where Logan had been standing was now empty. Obito glanced over warily, his heart still racing from the intensity of their battle… especially those final moments.
The short sword, the hand movements, the Genjutsu… Countless exchanges had taken place in an instant, pushing him to his absolute limits.
Luckily, he was the one who came out on top.
Obito silently reassured himself before shifting his gaze to a white, amorphous mass nearby. Bio-weapons like White Zetsu were truly useful… Thanks to them, he had managed to survive.
Blood continued to seep from his wounds. Gritting his teeth, Obito resisted the urge to pass out and forced himself into a meditative posture, focusing on recovering his Chakra.
Most of his injuries were concentrated on his right side, including the hand that had blocked the short sword. Since that side reinforced with Hashirama's cells, he wasn't too worried about those injuries.
The real problem was the piercing wound near his left back, which is dangerously close to his heart. Such a severe injury was beyond his ability to treat on his own, but...
A new mound of earth bulged from the ground nearby, and another expressionless White Zetsu emerged.
'The message has been sent. Black Zetsu will find a way to get help…' Obito thought to himself, feeling a dull ache in his right eye. He had used his Mangekyo Sharingan to send Logan straight into his Kamui Dimension, which is a desperate gamble he had planned from the start.
'If I can't beat you, I'll just toss you into Kamui Dimension. Have fun playing by yourself.'
That was essentially the idea. Once his opponent was trapped in his personal space, Obito's options widened considerably.
'Should I regroup, take advantage of the home-field advantage, and go back for round two?'
This thought popped into his head first, but then Obito's mind flashed with images of murderous lightning, the unpredictable Flying Thunder God Technique, and razor-sharp sword strikes… His lips twitched, and he decisively discarded the idea.
'Nope, not happening.'
'Stay calm. The bigger picture matters.'
Compared to seeking revenge and reclaiming his pride, simply leaving his opponent to die a slow death was undoubtedly the better choice.
It wasn't that he was afraid of losing to Logan… Obito had to make that clear. At his full strength, with proper precautions against the Flying Thunder God Technique, he wasn't exactly afraid of a one-on-one fight against Logan.
But this method was time-consuming and exhausting, and Obito was a busy man. He simply didn't have the luxury to spare.
"I'll check on him in the Kamui Dimension later." Obito muttered to himself. Speaking tugged at his wounds, making him grimace, "Tch… I'll starve you to death."
Leaving Logan alone in the Kamui Dimension wouldn't kill him immediately, but in that empty, lifeless space, with no one to hear his cries, death was only a matter of time. Once Logan was dead, Obito's goal would be achieved, which is worth all the risks he had taken.
Right now, the priority was healing his body.
With the fierce battle over, the surroundings fell into an eerie silence. Fallen tree trunks, scattered debris, charred and shattered earth, and unrecognizable vegetation bore witness to the life-and-death struggle that had just taken place.
The newly arrived White Zetsu stepped behind Obito. His clothes were mostly torn, so he ripped off the remaining fabric with a pained grunt and began tending to the wounds.
…
Black skies. A ground covered in pale rectangular blocks.
Logan stood with a tri-pronged kunai in his right hand and Shimizu in his left, still locked in the stance of someone ready to drag their enemy down with them.
The scenery had shifted. The sensation of dimensional travel felt all too familiar.
Blood still dripped from his weapons, sliding down the blade, but instead of hitting soil covered in grass and plants, it fell into emptiness.
He had arrived in Kamui Dimension. For several seconds, Logan simply stood there before finally lowering his arms and letting out a sigh.
'Obito pulled it off.'
Processing the situation, Logan reluctantly accepted reality. He had to admit that the wisdom and determination Obito displayed in that decisive moment were worthy of respect… even if the sudden appearance of White Zetsu at the end had completely blindsided him.
'I've seen Kamui Dimension in the anime, but seeing it in person is different.'
Logan put away Shimizu and the kunai, and frowned.
The sky looked like a pitch-black curtain, devoid of any gradient or depth. The ground was equally monotonous, nothing but rectangular blocks stretching endlessly.
The entire structure felt barren and artificial. Unlike a normal world, Logan could immediately tell this wasn't a natural dimension… it was more like a hastily constructed pocket space.
He stood on a flat surface, though 'flat' was relative here, given that everything was composed of the same rectangular blocks stacked at varying heights.
Looking around, there was no one, no sound, no life. The vast, empty dimension held only Logan.
Exhaling, Logan leaped onto the tallest block nearby, but the view remained unchanged.
'This place is like a mathematical model…' Logan muttered to himself.
But it didn't matter. He had the advanced Flying Thunder God Technique. Logan smoothed out his slightly disheveled hair from the earlier battle, 'At least here, I didn't have to worry about anyone seeing my top-tier handsome face.'
Perhaps the trauma from his past transmigrations had left too deep an impression, making Logan instinctively tense at the sight of spatial distortion.
But now that the initial panic had passed, Logan was completely calm.
"Hmph, Obito… Obito, you really thought sending me here meant you won? Tsk..." Logan shook his head, sighing with the loneliness of a master standing at the pinnacle.
He could pretty much guess Obito's thought process, 'The Flying Thunder God Technique can let me teleport away before being sucked in, but once inside, there's no escape. After all, this Ninjutsu wasn't designed for interdimensional travel. Trapping me in this empty alternate dimension is victory.'
'But well…' Logan closed his eyes.
Back in the forest, he still had two of his tri-pronged kunai. After a brief moment of sensing, he opened his eyes, a smirk tugging at his lips, "I can still sense them."
With that, the matter was settled.
Suddenly, a gust of wind broke the silence of the dimension.
Logan's eyes sharpened as he turned his head. About twenty meters away, the space twisted, and Obito, who is now wearing a fresh set of clothes and his mask, stepped inside.
'He still dares to come here?' Logan was surprised, but since he was confident in his ability to return, he wasn't in a hurry.
On the other hand, Obito, who had used his Kamui to send Logan here, was tense the moment he entered. His gaze locked onto Logan and didn't waver.
Half his body was wrapped in bandages, as his wounds hastily treated. Blood still seeped faintly through the gauze, and overall, he looked like a mess.
"Heh." Obito had only come to confirm Logan's situation and maybe throw in some taunts. If things looked bad, he was ready to bolt at any second.
Seeing Logan standing empty-handed, 'helplessly' staring at the vast emptiness of the Kamui Dimension, Obito finally showed a satisfied smile.
"Hahaha! Raiden Hattori, where's all that arrogant chatter now?" Obito gloated, savoring his moment of triumph, "This is my dimension. There's not a single living thing here. You can just sit tight and wait for death."
"Oh."
"Despair. Enjoy what little time you have left. In ten days or so, I'll come back to collect your corpse."
"Oh."
Obito felt something was wrong, 'What was going on? Why did he act so indifferent?'
'Could it be that he is secretly preparing to take action...' Obito grew wary, 'I couldn't give him even the slightest chance to escape. He must be bluffing. Better play it safe and leave immediately...'
With a heavy snort, Obito activated his right eye's Pupil Power again, vanishing in a swirl of distortion.
"..."
Logan silently watched the entire performance. The dimension, which is filled with pale rectangular blocks, returned to silence.
"He's that happy, huh?"
Rubbing his chin, Logan was tempted to teleport back right then and there, slapping Obito's face with the reality, knowing how satisfying that will be. But he also noticed something strange.
'Where did those bandages come from?' Logan frowned, 'Not much time had passed since our fight. At most, Obito should've only just stabilized his injuries… how did he get proper treatment so quickly?'
The memory of White Zetsu suddenly appearing flashed in his mind, and Logan grew cautious, 'Obito has backup.'
The lack of information made him hesitate. If he teleported back now, dealing with a half-dead Obito wouldn't be a problem. But if there were others...
Interdimensional Flying Thunder God consumed an enormous amount of Chakra. Combined with his earlier exhaustion, he'd be running on empty the moment he arrived.
There was no guarantee more White Zetsu weren't hiding nearby. The more Logan thought about it, the more likely it seemed… Obito's actions were surely known to Black Zetsu.
If he called for reinforcements mid-fight, White Zetsu's abilities meant backup could arrive quickly.
'What if other Akatsuki members show up? Then I'm screwed.'
'Or worse… what if they're already lying in wait? Obito was confident I couldn't escape, so he probably wouldn't bother… but using the advanced Flying Thunder God would drain my Chakra completely. It was better not to take unnecessary risks.'
So Logan considered another approach.