Rasa's face was filled with worry, but Obito narrowed his eyes, sensing something was wrong.
Shamon, whose body was covered in the flames of Amaterasu, showed no signs of panic. Instead, he gripped the Zanpakuto at his waist, which made Obito realize something, and a slight sense of annoyance rose in his heart.
These damn Shinigami abilities, just like the Mangekyō Sharingan, are all bizarre and incredibly troublesome.
Clearly, the reason Shamon was able to remain unharmed under the Amaterasu flames was due to the release ability of his Zanpakuto!
"It seems you've fought with quite a few Shinigamis, but this is the first time I'm using this ability in real combat," Shamon said, his voice mocking. "How dare you, a rat, hide behind the name Uchiha Madara and cause trouble for Sunagakure!"
Shamon drew his Zanpakuto, and its blade transformed into countless fine threads, vanishing without a trace.
At the moment the blade turned into threads and disappeared, Shamon's body suddenly developed fine cracks. Then, like a puppet, his entire form shattered, and the flames of Amaterasu, which would not extinguish until the target was reduced to ash, immediately vanished.
In that instant, Obito's brow furrowed, and a feeling of unease crept into his heart.
With the immense power of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, Obito suddenly noticed the threads in the air, finer than a strand of hair, quietly landing on his body, slipping past the Kamui's ability to penetrate.
The fine threads, when they hit the ground, caused the earth beneath Obito's feet to crack and explode!
"Sever them! Puppet Threads!"
Shamon, completely unharmed, floated in the air, his body held together by fine spiritual threads. Numerous delicate threads shot out from him, spreading across the area and completely enveloping it.
In an instant, the entire building collapsed, and even the ground began to tremble!
"So, you've turned your Zanpakuto into fine threads to cover everything indiscriminately," Obito, using Kamui, saw through Shamon's release. "No... It's not that simple. He must have used this ability to avoid Amaterasu earlier?"
"Avoided my Puppet Threads?"
"Yes, it's the space-time ninjutsu, Shamon-sensei! This guy also controls a special space-time ninjutsu!" Rasa, now fully covered in sand, managed to crawl out of the wreckage, shouting loudly.
"I see now."
Shamon nodded. Though space-time ninjutsu was rare, he wasn't unfamiliar with it. In the Warring States era, there was a famous white-haired user of space-time techniques.
If the enemy had a space-time user, it would indeed be very troublesome. Moreover, the space-time ninjutsu used by the person before him was different from that of the white-haired man. This technique, which allowed one to place themselves in a space-time dimension, essentially put them in an invincible position.
If this were the Shamon from his past life, he would have been completely helpless.
But now...
"My Puppet Threads aren't that simple!"
Shamon raised his hand and suddenly grasped at the space where Obito was standing.
"Seal them! Puppet Threads!"
Countless fine spiritual threads surged toward Obito's position, enveloping him completely in an instant.
While trapped within the Kamui dimension, Obito quickly realized something was wrong. Although he was in the Kamui dimension, his Sharingan managed to observe some threads that penetrated through his external projection and landed on his physical form.
A strange sensation surged in his heart. In the next moment, his body, which was supposed to be within the Kamui dimension, was forcibly pulled out and dropped into the outside world.
The second time!
This was the second time his Kamui was countered. The first time had been outside the Kirigakure, when that ugly Aokurasu Hollow used sound waves to break it!
With Kamui broken, the spiritual puppet threads poured down like a torrential rain. Obito's gaze turned cold, and his expression remained unchanged.
"Shinra Tensei!"
The repulsion force bounced the high-intensity spiritual puppet threads away before they could reach him, but immediately, more threads surged toward him.
Obito instinctively activated Kamui, but the space around him was violently unstable and completely out of his control!
"Useless. I've already disrupted the fundamental spatial structure of the area with my puppet threads. Even if you possess special space-time ninjutsu, there's no way you can adjust to this new space in such a short time."
"In other words, as long as my puppet threads remain in this area, you won't be able to use your space-time ninjutsu anymore!"
Shamon's figure followed the incoming puppet threads, as they assaulted Obito like a wild storm.
"Prepare to welcome death!"
Everything in their path was sliced apart by the puppet threads, even sand and dust.
Obito Uchiha, remained expressionless as he watched the Second Kazekage, Shamon, approach. Just as he had predicted, the abilities of these Shinigamis' Zanpakuto were increasingly bizarre and difficult to deal with—more troublesome than the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Dealing with these kinds of enemies through techniques alone would be extremely difficult. Even if one managed to defeat one, another Shinigami would eventually trap them in a predicament.
Only through overwhelming power could one defeat them!
And now, he had attained that level of power!
Obito's wrist, holding the Yin-Yang Staff, suddenly swung forward. The tip of the staff erupted with a sharp, cutting wind.
"Fūn Kiri!"
Whoosh!
The sharp wind, cutting through the air with tremendous force, cleaved through the puppet threads that had been suspended in the air.
Shamon's face changed slightly, and he barely dodged the attack. The wind grazed him, and when it struck the yellow sand beneath him, it instantly cut through the ground, creating a deep chasm in the sand!
"This kind of power!!!"
Rasa stood frozen, watching the seemingly plain slash that seemed like it could split the very earth beneath them. A chill ran down his spine, and sweat poured from his face.
This was power that ordinary people could never wield? The rat who had manipulated the Kage of each village and used space-time ninjutsu and illusions from the shadows could wield such power?!
But there was no time for Rasa to be shocked. A terrifying chakra storm surged from the distance.
The Amaterasu flames, which never extinguish until their target is completely burned away, scorched everything in sight, warping the space around them.
Thankfully, the terrifying flames were blocked by an invisible light barrier just before they reached the center, and in an instant, the flames transformed into a pitch-black ink painting.
As Rasa looked at the towering translucent barrier, he finally snapped back to reality...
"Stop dawdling! Quickly send out the message from here!"
Shamon, fully unleashing his strength, tossed a crystal toward Rasa: "Use chakra to activate it, and it will control the release of spiritual power to transmit the message. This will send it directly!"
"Oh, yes! Shamon-sensei!"
Rasa snapped to attention, hurriedly catching the blue crystal and using his chakra to activate it.
A surge of powerful spiritual power flooded Rasa's mind, and he stood frozen for a moment. After a short pause, Rasa took a deep breath, rapidly moving his hands. Under the control of the spiritual power , it was as if he were drawing with a brush, creating reverse patterns on his right arm.
The pitch-black patterns extended from his arm to his palm, then expanded outward, forming a square-shaped spiritual construct.
At that moment, both Shamon and Rasa spoke in unison.
"Bakudō #77: Tenteikūra."
"Bakudō #77: Tenteikūra!"
"Mizukage-sama, can you hear my voice, Mizukage-sama!"
Rasa spoke in a hurried tone, "The Masked Man attacked suddenly, and Shamon-sensei is engaged in battle with him..."
"Interesting, so Shinigamis have such a technique for sending information over long distances. No wonder Yuki Yoru is always one step ahead," Obito said coldly as he glanced at Rasa. His eyes glowed red with a fiery light.
"Fire Style: Explosive Wind Dance!"
The Fire Style ninjutsu, under Kamui's control, spiraled through the air toward Shamon.
At the same time, Obito clapped his hands together, and a massive surge of chakra erupted from him. Numerous trees shot out from the ground, charging at Shamon.
Shamon, unhurried, moved with grace like an elegant pianist. He directed the spiritual puppet threads, cutting through the incoming trees and flames.
But in the next instant, those threads sliced through the attacks, and within the blink of an eye, they had regenerated and came charging back at Obito with greater force!
"Control! Puppet Threads!"
Obito's eyes narrowed as he saw the threads attached to the techniques he had unleashed, now sewn together like a puppet under Shamon's control.
Cutting, defending, restricting, controlling...
The ability of this Zanpakuto perfectly illustrated the strength of the Second Kazekage, Shamon, the progenitor of the puppet arts, and once again, Obito's suspicions were confirmed.
A Zanpakuto and the Mangekyō Sharingan were essentially the same: The awakening of the Mangekyō Sharingan's techniques was based on the host's emotional desires at the time, while the Zanpakuto was released based on the host's greatest strength.
At their core, they were identical.
But to think that such power could defeat me, someone who has ascended to godhood and become a reincarnation of the Six Paths?
What a joke!
"Banshō Ten'in!" (Universal Pull!)
Faced with Shamon's onslaught, Obito didn't counter or evade. Instead, his left hand erupted with a powerful gravitational pull, drawing Shamon's techniques—and Shamon himself—closer.
Shamon's brows furrowed deeply.
To willingly pull an attack into himself, especially when Kamui could not grant him safe retreat into another space…? Did he have a death wish?
Obito's voice cut through the chaos:
"Second Kazekage… in my many clashes with Yuki Yoru, he once told me this: 'At its root, battle between shinobi is nothing more than battle between chakra.' The one with greater chakra holds an overwhelming, inherent advantage over the weaker."
"The same principle applies to you and me."
"I don't care if your Zanpakutō hides other tricks. I don't care how far you've honed that so-called Shinigami's Zanpakutō, Kidō, Hakuda, and Shunpo. Because all of it—every shred of your power—amounts to nothing before my absolute strength!"
A tidal wave of chakra burst from Obito, the pull of his gravity shifting into a higher, deadlier resonance. From his palm, a black orb shot forth, rising into the sky.
It expanded instantly—becoming a miniature black hole, a sphere of crushing gravity that warped the heavens themselves.
Shamon's controlled jutsu, his threads, the swirling sands of the desert, the very air and light itself—all were dragged, twisted, and compressed into the singularity's ravenous pull.
Panic flickered in Shamon's eyes. Instinctively, he sought to sever his own body with puppet-thread, to split his form apart and escape the sealing power of the technique—
But the sealing power of the technique was beyond imagination. Its gravitational pull and binding strength continued to grow without end.
"No… at this rate, even if I'm not fully sealed, Rasa will surely be killed!"
"Then I'll gamble it all!"
Shamon clenched his teeth, raising his hands as he unleashed every ounce of spiritual energy in his body without restraint.
A roaring pillar of power surged skyward, its crushing pressure shaking the entire Chibaku Tensei like thunder. The force was so immense it even drew Obito's and Rasa's eyes upward in alarm.
"…It's coming," Obito murmured, knowing exactly what this eruption meant—Shamon had been pushed to his absolute limit.
The sphere of sand that hung in the air like a meteor began to tremble violently. In the blink of an eye, its surface unraveled, grains of sand scattering away as though swept by the wind.
But in Obito's eyes, it was not disappearing—it was splitting apart.
Yes.
The Chibaku Tensei was fracturing, unraveling into countless threads, just like the puppet-threads Shamon had unleashed before. These threads multiplied endlessly, blotting out the sky, cloaking both heavens and earth until the entire battlefield became nothing less than a domain of threads.
The mighty gravitational sphere had been completely dismantled. From Shamon's body, invisible waves pulsed outward, signaling the transformation.
"…I didn't think it would work. Honestly thought I was finished."
Before the stunned Rasa and the coldly watching Obito, Shamon let out a slow breath, a confident smile curving his lips.
"After obtaining this power, I attempted Bankai countless times. Every attempt ended in failure. Who would have thought that, under this kind of pressure, I'd finally succeed in releasing it?"
"This old relic, who already died once before… didn't think I could burn with passion again."
His hands clenched toward Obito. At once, the entire world was veiled in a mist of countless puppet-threads, shimmering into visibility as his power ignited.
It was his Bankai.
"Bankai—!"
"Catastrophe of the Mad Sand Puppet Threads!"
What the eye could not once perceive was now undeniable—an endless, layered lattice of threads, woven so densely that the very sky seemed shrouded in veils.
Rasa swallowed hard. The strength of this Bankai was staggering. Yet his shock quickly gave way to joy—so much that he even faltered in his urgent report to Yoruichi and the others.
Shamon's voice thundered:
"I don't know you well, Masked Man. But from young Rasa's words and attitude, one thing is clear—you are not only a ruthless butcher of this world, but a calamity to Sunagakure itself. And now you dare to covet Shukaku as well?!"
"For a monster like you… erasing even your soul is the best outcome!"
Obito, however, only laughed.
"So, this is your Bankai? Assimilating everything around you into your 'threads' to amplify your own strength?"
"Typical. You relics, relics cast aside by history, cannot compare in the slightest to those handpicked by Yuki Yoru."
"What?!" Shamon's face twisted in fury.
"You really don't know? The power of the Shinigami is impressive, yes. But the strongest force under Yoru's command… is not you pathetic Shinigami at all."
Obito tilted his head back, sneering at the puppet master reigning in the sky like some sovereign of the Thread Kingdom.
"You're nothing but experiments. Distractions to draw the world's eye. Tools to test how well spiritual power can harmonize with human hosts."
"And tell me…" His voice sharpened to a cutting edge.
"What made you think that just because you achieved Bankai… you had the right to stand against me?"
"You… what did you say…?"
"As long as I figure out the abilities of you guys and make sure they're not some especially unique powers, you are as ridiculous as clowns to me."
His hand, which was wearing a special glove, clenched. The Yin-Yang Staff landed in his left palm. The indifference and disdain in Obito Uchiha's tone were not hidden at all, causing a vein to pop on Shamon's forehead.
What did he think this was? This was the Bankai he had unleashed with all his might. This was the moment he had released the strongest power of his life.
What did he mean by 'not some especially unique powers?'
What did he mean by 'as ridiculous as clowns?'
These contemptuous and disdainful words made the full-power Shamon furious. The countless puppet threads around him seemed to sense the master's violent emotions and fell toward Obito Uchiha with a bang, as if the sky was collapsing!
With the surge of the post-Bankai threads that seemed to cover the world, all the threads gathered on Shamon's body, turning into a giant spear.
The nearly hundred-meter-tall puppet thread giant spear seemed to pierce the heavens and the earth, pointing directly at the arrogant and conceited guy below, who had his Kamui sealed and had nowhere to run.
"Die, you bastard!"
"Heh."
Obito's body did not move at all, allowing the puppet thread giant spear that could destroy everything to fall.
The giant spear landed, and the terrifying energy burst created a cloud of dust.
But when the dust cleared, Rasa's hopeful eyes gradually became dull. The Second Kazekage, Shamon, who had mastered Bankai, also looked at his chest in disbelief. A black spear tip had pierced through his heart and burst out of his body.
"This... How is this possible..."