"I'm glad I stopped in time."
Still shaken, Tobi glared at the suddenly motionless Three-Tails and pointed at it angrily.
"You damn monster!"
"You almost crushed me to death!"
"I'll never forgive you!"
The next instant, he teleported beside the massive beast and slammed his palm against its enormous shell.
---
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
The familiar ripples of space-time appeared once again.
The Mangekyō Sharingan beneath Tobi's mask spun rapidly as a swirling spatial vortex formed in front of his right eye.
The distortion expanded like a miniature black hole, attempting to swallow the gigantic body of the Three-Tails, Isobu.
Although the vortex itself was small...
Its terrifying gravitational force was enough to drag in even a Tailed Beast.
Isobu struggled desperately.
Its exhausted body was slowly pulled toward the vortex, but after the fierce battle it no longer had the strength to resist.
It could only roar helplessly.
"Naruto!"
"Now!"
Naruto's eyes flashed.
"Got it!"
"Take this!"
"Wind Release: Extreme Crushing Needle!"
Naruto deliberately chose this technique.
It was incredibly fast, possessed tremendous piercing power, and was precise enough to avoid seriously injuring the massive Three-Tails.
Against a human, the attack would be fatal.
Against Isobu...
It was nothing more than a tiny scratch.
Whoosh!
The compressed wind needle tore through the air with an ear-piercing whistle.
Naruto had waited for the exact moment Tobi became tangible while trying to absorb Isobu's enormous body.
This was his chance.
The wind needle shot directly toward Tobi.
"It hit!"
Naruto's face lit up with excitement.
But...
Buzz!
At the critical moment, Tobi immediately stopped absorbing Isobu.
His body instantly became intangible again.
The wind needle passed harmlessly through him before disappearing into the distance.
"Haha!"
"I knew you'd try to ambush me while I was absorbing the Three-Tails!"
"Fortunately..."
"I was one step ahead!"
Naruto clenched his fists in frustration.
"Damn it!"
"I was still too late!"
Isobu let out a disappointed sigh.
"What a pity..."
"Now he'll be on guard."
"It'll be much harder to catch him by surprise again."
Tobi folded his arms proudly.
"Don't underestimate me, Naruto."
"I've already won this battle."
But just then—
"Really?"
A calm voice suddenly sounded from directly behind him.
Tobi froze.
That voice...
Belonged to Naruto.
"What?!"
"A Shadow Clone?!"
"No."
"The one in front of you was the Shadow Clone."
"I'm the real one."
The real Naruto had silently appeared behind Tobi.
Without giving him a chance to react...
He struck.
"Wind Release: Exploding Needle!"
Another compressed wind needle shot forward with blinding speed.
This time...
It pierced straight through Tobi's body.
"What—"
Boom!!
Although only a tiny needle had entered his body...
A terrifying explosion erupted from within him.
It was as if dozens of explosive tags had detonated simultaneously.
Blood and flesh burst outward.
Tobi's body was instantly torn apart by the devastating blast.
Isobu's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Naruto!"
"You actually did it!"
At the same moment...
The Naruto standing in front of Isobu disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Only then did Isobu realize...
That one had merely been a Shadow Clone all along.
The real Naruto had been waiting patiently for the perfect opportunity.
Exhausted though he was...
Naruto finally smiled.
"Yeah..."
"I finally got him."
Blood spread rapidly across the sea as Tobi staggered backward.
He instinctively grabbed his left shoulder.
What had started as nothing more than a tiny puncture wound had become a catastrophic injury after the explosion.
His entire left shoulder had been shattered.
His internal organs had been damaged.
His left arm had been blown off completely.
"...A Shadow Clone?"
"When did you..."
Naruto grinned confidently.
"When you got caught in Isobu's tidal wave..."
"I'd already created one."
"Just because you have that weird phasing ability doesn't make you invincible."
"You bastard."
Despite the horrific injury...
Tobi showed almost no sign of pain.
Instead...
A trace of cold anger appeared in his eyes.
The sight of his severed left arm floating in the sea...
Its blood staining the surrounding water red...
Seemed to awaken an unpleasant memory.
"I never thought..."
"I'd fall for such an obvious trick."
His voice had completely changed.
Gone was the playful, carefree tone.
It had become cold...
And deadly.
"I underestimated you..."
"Uzumaki Naruto."
Naruto burst into laughter.
"Every enemy I've defeated has said exactly the same thing!"
"Don't underestimate me just because I look like a kid!"
"You'll regret it!"
Although his expression remained hidden beneath the spiral mask...
Tobi's face had undoubtedly darkened.
He had approached this battle with a playful attitude.
Never once had he imagined that Naruto would actually wound him.
Although the injury had resulted from his own carelessness...
It was still another humiliating stain on his record.
He had become overconfident.
Perhaps...
It was time to retreat.
Tobi's gaze shifted into the distance.
There...
Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuga Hinata were locked in a fierce battle against Kakuzu.
In truth...
The current Tobi wasn't particularly interested in Naruto.
The one who truly intrigued him...
Was Sasuke.
In the original timeline, Obito hadn't begun taking Naruto seriously until the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Before then...
Sasuke had always been the pawn he intended to cultivate.
"Uchiha..."
"Sasuke..."
---
Despite already losing three of his five hearts...
Kakuzu remained incredibly powerful.
His forbidden technique—
Earth Grudge Fear—
Was one of the most terrifying abilities in the ninja world.
Now fully transformed...
Two of his elemental masks had merged back into his body.
Countless black tendrils burst from his mouth and ears, wrapping around him like living armor.
The remaining two masks had already been destroyed by Sasuke and Hinata.
Sasuke had activated both the Second State of the Cursed Seal of Heaven and his Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
With those two powers combined...
His strength had already surpassed that of an ordinary Jonin.
Combined with the numerous ninjutsu and secret techniques he had learned from Jiraiya...
He was fully capable of standing toe-to-toe with Kakuzu.
Hinata was equally formidable.
With her Byakugan activated...
She perfectly combined the overwhelming physical strength she had learned from Tsunade with the refined Gentle Fist techniques she had practiced alongside Neji.
Every strike carried overwhelming destructive force.
Kakuzu was both shocked...
And furious.
"How did these two brats become this strong?!"
"The last time we fought..."
"They were nothing!"
"They only survived because of Naruto!"
Their growth had been astonishing.
Meanwhile...
Kakuzu himself was no longer at his peak.
The balance of power had completely shifted.
Instead of overwhelming them...
He was gradually being forced onto the defensive.
Another major reason was information.
During their previous battle...
No one understood the secret behind Kakuzu's immortality.
Now...
Sasuke and Hinata knew everything.
They understood the truth about Earth Grudge Fear...
And the existence of his five hearts.
The same tricks simply wouldn't work twice.
"Damn brats!"
"You think you can kill me that easily?!"
Kakuzu roared furiously.
What he didn't realize...
Was exactly what kind of monsters stood before him.
Sasuke possessed the bloodline of the Uchiha Clan...
The power of Orochimaru's Cursed Seal...
And the teachings of Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin.
Hinata possessed the bloodline of the Hyuga Clan...
The orthodox Gentle Fist of the main family...
And Tsunade's monstrous strength.
Most importantly...
Both of them were geniuses.
They had fused these different abilities into fighting styles uniquely their own.
In essence...
Kakuzu was facing an entire team within only two people.
Hinata unleashed the Hyuga Heavenly Light Palm, destroying another elemental mask in a single strike.
At the same time...
Sasuke, with bone-like wings spread from his back and crimson Sharingan blazing beneath the Cursed Seal's second stage, descended like a demon.
Another elemental mask was destroyed.
Left with no alternatives...
Kakuzu reluctantly absorbed his remaining masks back into his own body.
Doing so greatly increased both his survivability and his tolerance for mistakes.
"Composite Ninjutsu!"
"Fire Release: Flaming Wind Wave!"
This was Kakuzu's signature combination technique.
By combining Fire Release and Wind Release, the wind intensified the flames while the flames strengthened the wind.
In an instant...
A massive inferno spread across the ocean.
But Sasuke and Hinata answered immediately.
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
"Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm!"
Sasuke unleashed his strongest Fire Release technique.
At the same time...
Hinata used Vacuum Palm to amplify its power.
The two overwhelming streams of fire collided violently.
The surrounding ocean instantly began to boil.
Thick clouds of steam erupted skyward.
Within moments...
A dense white mist spread across the battlefield.
Everything disappeared behind the curtain of fog.
But...
Advance Chapters avilable on patreon (Obito_uchiha)