Blocking the several bounty hunters before the gate, from beginning to end, was only one person.
The battle ended quickly.
There were almost no flashes of ninjutsu fire.
Only naked, bloody slaughter.
Or rather, there was no time to form hand seals at all.
Rip! Rip!
Countless black shadow spikes danced and lashed around Arata.
Chaotic, disorderly air currents swept around him.
The bounty hunters rushing forward seemed as though they had thrown themselves into a giant meat grinder.
Every streak of shadow carved out crimson arcs of blood.
Before one blood arc had faded, another was already splashing forth.
Scarlet and beautiful upon the ground, like blooming crimson lotus flowers.
Severed limbs rose and fell like clouds gathering and rain descending.
Within the sheets of scarlet rain, the shadows themselves became drenched in blood.
The sound of blades cutting through the air…
Skulls shattering…
Bones snapping…
Skin tearing…
Flesh being pierced…
Bodies bursting apart with muffled explosions…
All intertwined together into a lullaby from hell itself.
Even the screams became distorted harmonies within the melody.
"..."
In the distance, even Nagato's eyes rippled slightly while watching this scene of brutal slaughter.
Bang!
A body flew past him and Obito Uchiha like a mosquito smashed onto a wall.
Blood bloomed upon the rock surface like a crimson flower.
Before the gate, one of Arata's shadows had seized the neck of the final survivor and lifted him high into the air.
Beyond the line drawn at his feet, severed limbs and corpses had piled into mountains of flesh and blood.
Scarlet drizzle rained from above and below alike.
Streams of blood cascaded down, dyeing his entire body a shocking crimson.
"Ghk! Ghk! M-monster!"
The final bounty hunter dangled helplessly in midair, held aloft by a single shadow.
He struggled weakly, but only terror and despair remained in his eyes.
Tears, mucus, and saliva smeared across his twisted face.
"Thank you for the compliment."
Arata's voice still carried that warm smile.
"One must possess the resolve to be killed…"
"To earn the right to wield a blade, no?"
Crack! Boom!
The corpse dropped into the pool of blood before Arata.
Its frozen face sank into the crimson mud.
Everything returned to silence.
In less than two minutes, other than Arata, not a single living person remained before the gate.
The place had become a living hell.
No, there were still living people present.
Nagato and Obito, who had remained silently standing in the distance the entire time.
"And you two?"
As though meeting them for the first time, Arata smiled and politely asked:
"Would you like to come in?"
'A lunatic?'
'Or something else entirely?'
Obito narrowed his eyes.
Something about the situation felt deeply wrong.
He turned toward Nagato beside him.
At that moment, Nagato raised an arm.
"Shinra Tensei."
His low voice echoed without the slightest ripple of emotion.
BOOM!!
An overwhelming repulsive force erupted instantly.
The surrounding air compressed and twisted violently, releasing shrill screams under the strain.
That shadowy figure appeared to crash into an invisible wall, his entire body sent flying backward into the darkness once more.
Seeing this, Obito secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Some of his suspicion faded.
"Let's go."
Nagato stepped forward.
But Obito hesitated.
"Nagato." He spoke in a deep voice.
"Why not wait here for them to come out? If there's truly something important inside, we can just take it from them afterward."
Hearing this, Nagato stopped walking.
After a moment of silence, he let out a nearly inaudible sigh.
"So it really is like this…"
He muttered softly.
"What?"
Obito froze in confusion.
WHOOSH!!
A sharp sonic scream pierced through the air.
Obito's entire body erupted with goosebumps.
Following the sound with his crimson Sharingan, his powerful dynamic vision caught sight of the figure before the gate.
That person had not entered the underground palace.
Or rather, he had come out again.
Several shadow spikes shot out from behind Arata.
Water exploded in front of him, turning into mist and vapor.
A tunnel pierced straight through the air, directly toward Obito in the distance.
Obito had never expected himself to become the target.
And the attack came so suddenly, so unbelievably fast.
"Meaningless."
The three tomoe in Obito's Sharingan spun rapidly, instantly transforming into Mangekyō Sharingan as he activated Kamui's intangibility.
The spikes struck like a violent storm.
Yet they managed only to graze the edge of his clothing before Obito vanished.
He reappeared elsewhere.
But in the very next moment, another piercing sonic boom erupted.
WHOOSH!!
The hurricane created by the shadow spikes tore apart the ground where he stood, kicking up several meters of dust before slicing across Obito's neck.
Yet there was not even the slightest wound upon his throat.
Only an icy glare fixed upon the distant shadowy figure.
This did not surprise Arata.
Because when he struck just now, he had felt no feedback of cutting through flesh.
It was like slashing through layers of empty air and illusion.
"So this is the intangibility of Kamui's right eye…"
He thought inwardly.
"Without large-scale or continuous attacks, Kamui truly is troublesome to deal with. He can escape anytime he wants…"
As he pondered, Obito vanished once more.
The next instant, he appeared beside Arata, attempting to drag him into Kamui space,
Shhk!
Arata's arm, covered in black shadows, transformed into a blade.
Turning around, the cold blade slashed toward Obito's head like flowing water.
This time, Arata clearly saw it.
The moment the blade touched Obito.
It submerged into him once more.
No blood splashed out.
The strike simply passed straight through.
But Obito also grabbed nothing.
His hand passed directly through Arata's body.
"Only when attacking does he deactivate intangibility and become solid?"
"And he can also use intangibility for short-range teleportation?"
Arata analyzed Kamui's effects.
"The ability truly is difficult… unless you possess space-time level speed like Minato Namikaze, you can't catch the instant his body materializes…"
As he thought this,
The blade had already passed through Obito's neck.
And Obito's reaching body had phased through Arata as well.
Behind him, Obito's pupils contracted slightly.
"Got you."
A chain slid from his sleeve.
He intended to materialize once more and bind this person from behind.
But in that instant.
The shadow blade slashed once again toward Obito's neck.
Obito's expression darkened sharply.
He had no choice but to enter intangibility again.
Allowing the blade to pass through his body.
Allowing the chains to pass through Arata's body as well.
Like a ghost, Obito continuously searched for opportunities to drag him into Kamui space.
But every time he materialized, an attack greeted him.
Every single attempt was forcibly interrupted by Arata.
"What kind of kekkei genkai is this?!"
Obito's expression beneath the mask gradually darkened.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
The shadows slashed like blades at terrifying speed.
Yet the speed at which Arata controlled the shadows happened to be just within the threshold Obito could react to.
Not fast enough to reach Minato Namikaze's space-time level speed.
Not enough to seize the instant Obito materialized.
Finally, realizing the stalemate was pointless, Obito sucked himself into Kamui space and vanished, reappearing beside Nagato.
"..."
Looking toward the distant shadow figure, Obito frowned deeply.
'What exactly was wrong with that guy?'
The last time he had felt this same suffocating frustration and helplessness was when facing Minato.
After only a few exchanges, Minato had already seen through Kamui's intangibility.
Though this person had not managed to injure him like Minato,
He had clearly understood the logic behind his intangibility and materialization.
Which meant, while the opponent could not touch him, he also could not touch the opponent.
'If this continued…'
"Running away already?"
Nagato's tone remained calm as water.
"Madara."
Hearing that, Obito's face beneath the mask darkened instantly.
Especially at the final word, "Madara."
His eyes turned even gloomier.
Nagato's sudden recovery from disability had already irritated him enough.
If he couldn't even deal with some nameless nobody who appeared out of nowhere,
Then afterward, within the Akatsuki and before Nagato, he would truly lose all authority and influence.
Thinking this, Obito's face sank.
As spirals twisted through space, his figure was sucked away and vanished.
This time, he did not immediately reappear.
Arata simply stood there silently, his expression hidden beneath shadows.
WHOOSH WHOOSH! WHOOSH!!
Hundreds, no, thousands, of flashes of blade light erupted instantly around him!
The ground itself was shredded apart by countless shadows, carving hideous trenches into the earth.
Even falling droplets of blood were minced into mist beneath the overwhelming storm of blades.
The shadow blades showed no sign of stopping.
They continued endlessly slashing around Arata's body,
As though intending to continue forever.
However, within that suffocating storm of blades.
Inside the shadow beneath Arata's robes, a figure silently appeared.
WHOOSH!
Obito emerged directly beneath him.
As though crawling out from inside Arata's own body, his form rapidly exited Kamui space.
His Mangekyō Sharingan gleamed coldly.
Space twisted like folded silk.
An invisible but powerful pulling force emerged.
Obito had already calculated it.
Given this man's reaction speed and shadow control speed, he had exactly one second.
He hadn't even dared appear behind him.
He hadn't dared touch the opponent's shadow.
He was betting everything on that single second.
One second was enough.
No one could resist the dizzying distortion of Kamui space.
"It's over!"
Watching the figure warp beneath spatial distortion, Obito coldly declared.
Yet just as he was about to drag Arata fully into Kamui space,
Obito failed to notice, within his own shadow beneath his feet, a black silhouette silently stood up.
...
At the same time.
Those who had already rushed into the underground palace knew nothing of what was happening outside.
Drip… drip…
The air was thick with dust and an icy chill emanating from deep within the stone itself.
Occasionally, droplets of water fell from the impossibly high ceiling, producing hollow, distant echoes in the dimness that only heightened the eeriness.
Unlike outside, the underground palace was not completely pitch-black.
Glowing moss-like plants grew upon the walls.
With a ninja's eyesight, one could barely make out the surroundings.
But because of this.
The moment they lifted their heads and saw what stood before them,
They felt a shock and terror deep within their souls.
The very first thing entering their vision, were ten gigantic irregular pillars arching upward like mountain ranges…
No.
They were not pillars.
They were ten giant tails!
The ceiling of the enormous chamber towered beyond imagination.
The faint light barely outlined the silhouette of an enormous creature.
Rock-like skin covered twisted muscular lines.
Its gigantic torso crouched like an inverted mountain.
Beneath it were monstrous limbs and claws knotted like mountain ranges.
That single crimson eye, seemed to cast down a gaze capable of freezing souls.
Piercing through endless ages as it looked down upon the tiny intruders.
Even as a mere statue, it radiated an absolute pressure from the highest level of life itself, enough to make people suffocate and tremble!
Massive. Ancient. Ferocious. Deathly silent.
Yet even more shocking than the statue itself, were the ten tails raised high behind it like divine pillars supporting the heavens.
At the tip of every tail floated a "sphere."
A sphere radiating strange and different lights.
Like magnificent offerings or trophies, each one was bound and suspended atop the tails.
But soon, everyone noticed that atop the third tail from the left,
Within the black sphere, nothing remained.
"A Shadow Mask?"
Kakuzu unexpectedly recognized the text carved beneath the tail.
Though he normally seemed to care about nothing except money, reading ancient books was also one of his only other hobbies.
And because of that, he understood.
The item once inside that sphere was called the Shadow Mask.
But it seemed someone had already taken it before them.
Thus, after a brief silence, everyone present vanished simultaneously, rushing toward the remaining nine spheres.
....
RIP!!
Outside the gate.
A sound like tough leather being instantly pierced by a sharp blade suddenly rang out.
"PUAH!"
Obito violently coughed up blood.
His body stiffened as he slowly lowered his head toward his abdomen.
There, behind him, a ninja-shaped shadow had risen up.
Its arm pierced straight through his chest.
Blood flowed endlessly from the wound.
Most horrifying of all, the shadow wriggled like a living creature.
Like bloodsucking parasites inside his body, it consciously devoured his blood.
The Shadow Ninja Corps, Shadow Ninjas.
"You…"
The process of absorbing the enemy into Kamui had been interrupted.
Obito instinctively tried to enter intangibility again.
But in the next instant.
Rip! Rip rip rip!
Bloody flowers exploded from his body.
His entire form became engulfed in crimson mist.
The shadows that had entered his body suddenly sprouted spikes.
They pierced through both kidneys and riddled his lungs with several holes.
Every spike greedily drank his rich blood, growing from the inside outward.
In the blink of an eye, they wrapped around Obito's body like countless cold venomous snakes.
Like a tree nourished by flesh and blood.
Taking root and sprouting from inside a human body.
[Divine Art "Growth."]
Unlike Wood Release, which could only affect plants.
Divine Arts could affect all things.
Naturally, that included the shadows of the Shadow Ninjas.
"Cough…!"
Interrupted again, Obito could no longer suppress the groan and shock escaping his throat.
His hoarse voice trembled with disbelief.
"Why…?"
"Now…"
Arata's tone remained calm.
"I've caught you instead."
"You can only absorb yourself into space-time to move…"
"Or choose to make parts of your body intangible to pass through attacks, correct?"
"In the first case, anything on or inside your body gets dragged in together."
"In the second…"
"No matter where you are, your shadow can never completely leave you."
In the end, it was merely an information gap.
If Obito had also known Arata's exact abilities, Kamui's intangibility would never have failed this easily.
As he spoke, Arata's uncovered hand reached toward the orange spiral mask upon Obito's face.
The movement carried the oppressive sensation of holding life and death itself.
"Y-you… what are you trying to do?!"
Watching that hand draw near, Obito's expression changed again.
Arata did not answer.
That hand remained perfectly steady.
Not even the slightest tremor.
His fingertips brushed the cold spiral grooves upon the mask.
"Nagato!" Obito roared.
"What are you waiting for?!"
Nagato likewise gave no answer.
He merely watched silently.
'Damn it! Damn it!!'
Fear, rage, and a trace of maddened panic as his plans spiraled out of control,
Swirled violently within Obito's crimson Sharingan.
The mask absolutely could not be removed.
If his identity were exposed, every single plan would collapse completely!
That face, under no circumstances could it be revealed before anyone!
At this moment, Obito himself could no longer tell, whether his terror came from his schemes collapsing,
Or from the humiliation of this face being exposed to the world.
"I WILL kill you!"
"No matter who you are!!"
Beneath the mask, the hidden three-tomoe Sharingan in Obito's left eye spun madly,
Like glass about to shatter, it blazed brightly.
At the very instant before Arata's fingers could truly remove the mask.
That three-tomoe eye became covered in dense bloodshot cracks.
A thick crimson tear slid down from beneath the mask.
"Izanagi!"
Under Nagato's watch, something bizarre occurred.
Obito's body, already heavily wounded and impaled, began dissolving visibly like an illusion.
Not physical dissolution, but something even stranger.
As though an invisible eraser was wiping away his very existence.
When Obito's figure finally disappeared completely.
The Shadow Ninja sank back into Arata's shadow.
Then Arata raised his head and looked toward Nagato in the distance.
"..."
Nagato watched this bizarre scene with seemingly calm Rinnegan eyes.
Only the slight tightening of his fists betrayed that his heart was far from calm.
Even without removing that man's mask, the answer had already become painfully obvious from his reaction.
The so-called Uchiha Madara, was nothing more than an impostor.
And the Rinnegan he possessed, was likewise the product of someone else's conspiracy.