"Don't let your guard down."
As if she had heard Uchiha Itachi's unspoken warning, Konome Taketori poured cold water over Aburame Ryoma and the others just as they were starting to relax.
"Is he not dead?"
Tension snapped back into their bodies. Chakra that had begun to slow abruptly surged again.
After the chain of battles they had just witnessed, Konome Taketori's words carried a weight that was no longer comparable to before. They were still questioning with their mouths, but their bodies had already entered combat readiness on instinct.
"Of course not."
Her Byakugan stared straight at the corpse motionless beneath the water. Konome Taketori's lips curved faintly, cold in a way that was hard to describe.
Everything about Uchiha Obito was transparent to her.
Five minutes of invincible Kamui.
How long it could be sustained, she did not know.
Izanagi that rewrote reality.
Wood Release bloodline inherited from Senju Hashirama.
An immortal body rooted in White Zetsu.
With so many terrifying abilities stacked onto one person, even if Uchiha Obito was mediocre, he could not possibly die that easily.
Splash!
Behind her, wind and rain twisted into a vortex. A strange black rod suddenly shot out and stabbed viciously toward Konome Taketori's heart.
"Watch out!"
Facing Konome Taketori head-on, Die's eyes widened. Even his voice sharpened. Itachi, who had been searching for "Madara's" position the entire time, made his crimson eyes spin wildly.
Red and blue light splashed across the lake.
Clang!
The black rod struck her blue Lightning Release armor. The crimson chakra cloak behind her surged violently, and a shrill metal-on-metal screech rang out.
Under double layers of protection, the vast majority of attacks in the shinobi world could not break through.
Konome Taketori did not move. Her Byakugan flicked sideways.
The red chakra cloak behind her suddenly warped, taking shape into countless twisted tendrils that wrapped the black rod tight.
She yanked.
In an instant, the tendrils dragged the rod and a black arm out with it.
Humm!
Invisible wind followed immediately.
Crack!
The entire arm, along with the rod, was severed in one clean slice.
Blood sprayed from the jagged, crimson wound.
The vortex behind her vanished.
With the Byakugan, ninety-nine percent of ambushes in the world lost all meaning. Under that godlike perspective, even a vicious-angle strike was no different from a frontal assault.
Wind threads shredded the arm suspended in midair. Konome Taketori turned and looked diagonally behind the group.
Uchiha Obito, wearing the orange mask, rose slowly from beneath the water, clutching his severed arm. Hatred flooded his Mangekyo.
"He really didn't die!"
Die sucked in a sharp breath. He had seen Obito's head cut in half. He had watched the body sink, watched the chakra core go dark. How could he revive in the next instant?
"How did he do it?"
"Is he immortal?" Arashi asked, disbelief cracking through his voice. The enemy had already stepped beyond his understanding.
"It's Izanagi."
As Konome Taketori watched Obito's severed arm begin to re-form, she spoke his secret out loud without the slightest concern.
"What is that?"
Aburame Ryoma found the name familiar. He thought he had heard Danzo mention it before, some Uchiha forbidden technique.
"A taboo dōjutsu of the Uchiha. You permanently lose one Sharingan, and in exchange, everything unfavorable to you is turned into illusion. The duration varies. It can be as short as one minute, or as long as five."
She tossed out the classified intelligence like it was casual conversation.
Both Itachi and Obito's eyes turned colder at the same time.
"How do you know?"
Obito's voice sank like frozen water. His remaining eye slid toward Itachi, who stood off to the side, and suspicion surged.
There were only a handful of Uchiha left in the shinobi world. Sasuke was still a child. The only person who might know Izanagi was the Konoha spy.
"After the Uchiha were wiped out, their surviving records and secret techniques were copied and stored in Root. It's not some unbelievable secret."
Konome Taketori spread her hands. Lightning armor crackled around her. Three phantom tails behind her trembled in the wind.
Her chakra had always been too little. This was the first time she had fought at such extravagant full output.
With two buff states stacked together, her already powerful physical ability multiplied several times over. Her taijutsu had already exceeded elite jōnin. Now, even in the realm of Kage-level fighters, she was absolutely among the strongest.
In truth, she could manifest more tails.
But a stronger chakra cloak would burn away skin, strip her down to raw red flesh, and turn her into a monster. This fragile shadow clone that shattered with one hit could only go this far.
Damn it.
Obito gritted his teeth.
Mangekyo powers were unpredictable. No one knew what monstrous ability could appear.
To carry out the Eye of the Moon Plan flawlessly and without interference, he had aided in the Uchiha massacre. Yet he never expected the Uchiha's obstruction to come from a place like this.
It felt like something called fate was mocking him.
"Who are you? Konoha's Nine-Tails jinchūriki should be a boy!"
Obito, the one who had personally stolen Minato's child away, knew the jinchūriki's identity better than anyone.
"That's a very long story."
Konome Taketori dragged out her words lazily, stalling. While Izanagi was active, Obito was effectively invincible.
The longer she delayed, the better it was for her.
"Then tell it in hell!"
Unable to pry anything else out of her, Obito refused to let her keep stalling.
Splash!
He yanked out a steel chain as thick as an adult man's arm. His body accelerated violently into a blur as he slammed toward Konome Taketori.
Everyone knew intangibility was invincible. Aburame Ryoma and the others did not attack recklessly. They scattered, leaving Konome Taketori to handle him.
Chains scraped and rang with crisp metallic sound.
Invisible wind slashed across the chain, but it did not affect it at all. Like Obito himself, it was a projection from another space.
Splash!
Intangible Obito darted around Konome Taketori, weaving and wrapping her with the chain. In the instant he became tangible, the phantom chain became real as well, locking her down.
Bound by the massive chain, Konome Taketori's body paused for the first time. Lightning surged along the steel toward Obito.
Clang!
Obito instantly released the chain and retreated.
Bang bang bang!
Wind chakra, fine as cow hair, erupted from Konome Taketori's chakra points, spraying outward. Sparks burst across the steel, yet she still could not sever the thick chain.
The chain was too solid.
Konome Taketori simply redirected the wind threads toward Obito himself.
If he went intangible again, she would repeat the same method. Stick to him. Seamlessly cut him with wind release until his intangibility ended and death arrived.
Obito's Mangekyo spun hard.
He had already taken one brutal loss. Now he had his answer to her wind release.
Her wind domain was a circle with a fifteen-meter radius.
And because it was circular, the closer you got to the center, the denser the wind chakra became. The farther out you were, the more gaps appeared.
At the extreme edge, fifteen meters, there were obvious openings.
Also, because the wind was emitted outward from her body and not preloaded into space, the outer ring's wind traveled far slower than the inner layers.
If he could restrain her body and maintain maximum distance, refusing to approach her, he could buy time to weave hand seals.
Shhk shhk shhk!
His Mangekyo slowed the wind threads flying toward him. Obito slammed through hand seals and used the ninjutsu he once took the most pride in.
His chest expanded.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!
A fireball even larger than Itachi's erupted from his mouth.
The scattered, hair-thin wind threads became perfect fuel. The heat was terrifying. In an instant, the flames burned the wind away completely.
The blaze surged toward Konome Taketori.
Rattle rattle rattle!
The steel chain held Konome Taketori in place. She could not move.
The heat ignited the wind throughout the domain. In the blink of an eye, the razor-sharp wind field became a roaring inferno.
Flames climbed into the sky, painting the ink-black clouds crimson.
The lake boiled. Bubbles rolled like thick soup.
The steam created by that extreme heat became a cloud, burying the red and blue monster within fire and fog.
Mangekyo sight, kikaichu, chakra sensing, all of it probed into the haze and returned the same message.
"Relax. She's fine."
Die reassured Arashi and Iwakuma, who looked completely lost. Aburame Ryoma's kikaichu trembled as they passed back their pheromone signal.
Whoosh.
The steam thinned.
Red-violet lightning churned violently over her body. Not a single injury, Konome Taketori gripped the chain that had been heated red-hot. Three tails behind her whipped wildly.
Obito's eye widened.
That kind of temperature would melt steel, yet she had not even torn her clothes.
What kind of monster was she?
Hot steam curled around her. Beneath the mask, Konome Taketori's cheeks had flushed a pale pink.
This was her first time using lightning armor and the chakra cloak at full force. The feeling of absolute defense, the sense of safety it gave, was intoxicating.
Even with wind feeding it, Great Fireball Jutsu could not break her protection.
But what she had not expected was how violent the flames would become.
The fire devoured oxygen around her. Water vapor at hundreds of degrees hid in the air. She could not breathe.
So I still have a weakness.
Her so-called Perfect Battle Body 1.0 could no longer keep up with her current combat intensity.
Once she solved the Grey Bone issue, she would begin developing Perfect Battle Body 2.0.
Holding her breath, Konome Taketori seized the chain wrapped around her body.
Red-violet lightning surged, turning the chain into a thunder dragon.
Screeech!
A teeth-grinding sound of metal warping echoed through the air. The steel chain was drawn taut under horrific force. Her pale hand clamped down on the scorching links as brutal muscle fibers tightened.
Crack!
A sharp, piercing snap. Sparks exploded.
In everyone's stunned gaze, the chain shattered inch by inch.
Boom!
Her body smashed through the rain curtain, waves exploding outward. She charged at Obito like a rampaging war elephant.
"Kamui!"
Obito instantly became intangible. Samehada passed through his body. The absurd impact tore the rain apart, leaving a vacuum in its wake.
His eyelid twitched.
He did not dare test that edge.
Obito retreated frantically.
The crimson figure chased him. The absolute gap in speed meant he could not open distance at all.
That familiar scene returned.
The merciless wind domain began to grind again.
Unwilling to waste Izanagi's remaining time, Obito dropped intangibility.
In the next instant, he was shredded into countless pieces by the wind threads.
Reality was rewritten.
Obito reappeared behind Konome Taketori, his clothes untouched.
"Kamui!"
Space warped and crawled toward Konome Taketori.
"Too slow."
Konome Taketori slipped away at lightning speed. A merciless red fist slammed into Obito's abdomen.
"Gah!"
Broken organs sprayed from his mouth.
Dozens of tons of force detonated through his midsection. Obito's body exploded into a rain of blood.
The blood vanished again.
Obito reformed.
This time, the arrogance and ferocity in his gaze were gone, replaced by a heavy, grim focus.
Kamui's weakness had been exposed. It could not accomplish anything.
And Konome Taketori's raw, overwhelming power had no counter.
No matter what he did, he could not win.
That Kisame really was useless.
Not only did he accomplish nothing, he even supplied the enemy with chakra.
"Not much time left. Are you going to use that Mangekyo to cast Izanagi again?"
With both states active, Konome Taketori felt her chakra being burned away at a terrifying pace. She tightened her grip on Samehada's hilt and siphoned energy.
Near-invincible power came with near-terrifying consumption.
Samehada's chakra quality was too low. She had to draw four or five portions just to condense one portion of high-quality violet chakra.
Then she had to feed both lightning armor and the chakra cloak.
Her chakra drain was more than triple what it would be if she activated only one.
Lightning gave speed and reaction.
The chakra cloak gave strength and defense.
A fragile shadow clone that could not be touched only had a chance to crush Uchiha Obito under this state.
"Your chakra isn't going to last either."
Obito stared at Konome Taketori and Samehada. With Mangekyo vision, he could clearly see the rate at which she was extracting energy from the sword. Samehada itself already looked drained and listless.
She was maintaining a high-consumption combat state. She could not sustain it forever.
No matter how strange the dōjutsu, no matter how strong the taijutsu, the fundamental rule of shinobi combat did not change.
When chakra ran out, you died.
Now it came down to who could last longer.
Second by second, Izanagi's duration passed. The blazing purple-red lightning gradually calmed.
The battlefield fell into a strange stalemate.
They stared at each other, waiting for the other's time to run out.
The rain eased.
The torrential downpour became a fine drizzle.
Konome Taketori's three tails whipped wildly, fading from deep crimson to a lighter red.
Samehada twitched and shrank. Its body went pale and slack.
"Night Crossing's chakra reaction is weakening."
Die pressed his palms together. Worry filled his eyes.
"That weird fish can absorb chakra," Iwakuma said, gathering chakra into his palm. "If we let her absorb our power…"
"It won't help."
Die shook his head fast, cutting him off.
"The gap is too big. Even if she drained all three of us and the captain, it wouldn't extend her for long."
The cold truth forced all four into silence.
They were Root's elite. On any mission, they were absolute main force.
Yet now they could not even join the fight.
They were not even qualified to be a "battery" for their teammate.
This mission was a disaster.
"Looks like time is on my side."
Obito's mouth curled into a cold smile. His Izanagi still had two minutes left.
That was enough time to kill an exhausted enemy ten thousand times.
"No choice. I didn't want to do this."
Facing Obito's growing confidence, "Yang Release Konome Taketori" pressed a hand to her chest, resignation in her tone.
Thump.
Thump.
The air suddenly grew heavy.
The pounding of a heart echoed like thunder, making alarms scream inside Obito's mind. His advancing step hesitated.
Thump thump thump.
The heartbeat grew more violent.
Her nearly exhausted chakra core began to glow again.
Scalding violet chakra crossed the void, surging along a DNA-like spiral chain.
"The Gate of View is open. Use it sparingly."
"I don't want to either, Main Body!"
A torrent of chakra flooded her from head to toe.
The power of the Sixth Gate, the Gate of View, filled her body that had been nearing depletion.
Bzzzt!
Three tails became solid, dancing in the wind.
Blue-violet lightning roared again.
Konome Taketori looked straight at Obito's stunned face. With her chakra fully restored, even greater than before, she flashed white teeth.
"Round two."
Whoosh!
Before she could finish, and while Izanagi's effect still lingered, Obito warped space and instantly appeared beside Itachi, who was carrying Kisame.
One grab.
The Kamui vortex swallowed the three figures.
When the twisted wind and rain calmed, there was no trace of them left on the flooded summit of Raikōzan.
Konome Taketori activated Byakugan and swept the mountain.
A chain of black-hole distortions flickered.
Obito and the others slipped out of her Byakugan range like smoke.
Fast runner.
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