A single glance revealed a layout both familiar and strange.
After a brief daze, Obito recognized this style of decoration.
It was the same as the Konoha Research Bureau.
Confirming that no one else was around, Obito slowly walked to the middle of the corridor, searching for any rooms or hidden chambers nearby.
Strange. There were clearly so many rooms, yet he couldn't sense a single living person.
"Confused, aren't you?"
A familiar voice sounded from behind. Jerking his head around, Obito saw the face he knew best.
Rin?
The words he longed to say never left his lips—Rin's hand pierced through Obito's heart.
At that moment, Kamui activated, and her attack passed straight through him.
"Wood Release?"
Dodging out of "Rin's" attack range, Obito noticed the enemy's strike.
When the blow missed, Yōwan released the dōjutsu, revealing his true face.
"Space-time ninjutsu?"
He too marveled at the sensation just now.
His attack had pierced the person before him, yet what he felt was nothing but emptiness.
Space-time ninjutsu was already rare in the shinobi world, so why did he keep running into these troublesome abilities?
"So that's it, Yōwan. This really is your lair."
Obito eyed his clansman warily. The man had struck Konoha three times and escaped unscathed each time. He had to be treated with utmost caution.
"Those eyes... so it's true. Who would've thought the former dead-last could awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan. What a cruel irony."
The fact that Obito had awakened the Mangekyō was no secret to Yōwan. But the details of his ocular powers, Yōwan still had no clue.
He needed close combat, to observe his opponent's ability firsthand.
Quickly gauging the distance between them, Yōwan suddenly hurled several shuriken.
The dense shuriken collided midair, then shot at Obito from four directions at once. Two even predicted where he would dodge.
At the same time, Yōwan drew the blade he had already prepared, rushing at Obito's blind spot for a lethal strike.
"Great Fireball Jutsu!"
After casting the Fire Release, Obito stood his ground, not even attempting to evade.
The blade cut through his body—but unsurprisingly, it passed through emptiness once more.
When the edge finally left his body, Obito released his intangibility and thrust his hand at Yōwan.
"Attack mode, C3!"
Yōwan bent low, uttering a string of cryptic code.
Suddenly, four black tubes extended from his right arm, releasing purple toxic smoke that spread rapidly around them.
Obito hurriedly activated Kamui, sucking his whole body into the Kamui dimension, then reappearing elsewhere—just beyond the cloud of poison.
A right arm spraying poison—he had seen such technology before, in battles against Suna shinobi.
Connecting the dots, Obito naturally assumed this was the handiwork of Sasori, the legendary puppet master of Akatsuki, who must have modified Yōwan.
"Attack mode, C1."
When Obito vanished and reappeared, Yōwan's pupils narrowed. He instinctively thought Obito had used the Flying Thunder God.
To confirm his suspicion, he activated another function of his prosthetic limb.
Several missiles drilled out from under his skin, screaming as they flew toward Obito.
"Great Fire Annihilation!"
The narrow corridor was instantly swallowed in a sea of flames, engulfing the missiles as well.
"Defense mode, B2."
Four frames opened along Yōwan's arm, projecting a green chakra shield that covered his entire body, warding off the blaze.
Once the flames subsided, Yōwan retracted the shield and immediately drew his blade, blocking Obito's kunai strike.
"Why, Yōwan? You were seen as a hero of the village—why let someone like Madara deceive you?!"
Obito had long since learned of Madara's plot from Takeshi, so he couldn't understand why Yōwan would fall so low.
That false illusory world—how could anyone truly desire it?
"Heh... heh heh... heh heh heh. The former dead-last preaching to me? That's rich."
Seeing Obito still ignorant of the truth made Yōwan feel like laughing.
"Madara's so-called world is nothing. Only a fool would believe it."
Locking eyes with Obito, Yōwan pressed forward with both hands, forcing him back a few steps.
"What I long for... is for the Uchiha clan—no, the true Uchiha clan—to live in peace."
His grip on the sword tightened, joints creaking with strain, voice seething through clenched teeth.
"The Uchiha now are nothing but playthings kept by the Fifth Hokage. If another Hokage rises who hates the Uchiha, the clan will once again fall to the state we knew as children."
Realizing he couldn't overpower Yōwan in strength, Obito lashed out with a kick to his gut.
Yōwan disengaged his hands, blocked the kick with his elbow, then spun sharply, slashing at Obito's neck with the momentum.
The blade once again cut through without resistance. By now, Yōwan had a fair idea of Obito's ability.
"Back then, Uchiha Madara trusted Hashirama too much—and that's why he fell so far. When he finally realized the truth, the Uchihas, dulled by false prosperity, no longer had the will to follow him."
Pulling back to gain distance again, Yōwan's voice dripped with mockery.
"And so, that fool Madara was deceived himself, placing all his hopes in a fake illusion."
Everything Yōwan said was new to Obito. Only now did he realize—the boy they once ganged up on had grown into someone no one could fathom.
"Die!"
Catching Obito in a moment of distraction, Yōwan's right hand suddenly shot off, flying straight at him in a blur, trying to grab his throat.
But before Kamui, such sudden assaults were useless.
With a single sidestep, Obito evaded Yōwan's strike.
"What you just said interests me. Come back to Konoha with me and explain in detail."
Obito's original mission was only to confirm whether Akatsuki was entrenched in Amegakure. But Yōwan's words piqued his curiosity.
Takeshi would definitely want this intel.
With that in mind, Obito decided to risk capturing Yōwan alive.
"You're staying here!"
Lightning flashed, thunder roared, and a figure too fast for even the Mangekyō Sharingan to track appeared before Obito.
Kamui's instant activation saved him, but in that fleeting exchange, he caught a glimpse of the man's face.
The long-missing Fourth Raikage?!