Hyuga Hizashi's relentless assault forced Obito to shift his priorities.
Originally, he had planned to eliminate the two medical-nin—Biwako and Tian Lu—first. But with Hizashi's sudden intrusion, Obito was compelled to maintain his intangible state to avoid injury.
Even with the Mangekyo Sharingan and Kamui at his disposal, he had no desire to engage a Hyuga specialist in close combat within such a confined space.
The chamber was full of shinobi—elite Hyuga, skilled ANBU, and the Fourth Hokage himself.
To achieve his goal, Obito needed leverage. A trump card.
And there it was—the newborn child, not even a full minute old.
Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina's son.
The perfect bargaining chip.
As Obito phased through Biwako's body, his hand reached toward the crying infant—
—but in that instant, a three-pronged kunai whistled through the air, aimed straight for his head.
The throw came from Minato himself, finally jolted to action by Hizashi's sharp warning.
Even so, the Hokage couldn't spare more than a heartbeat; his hands remained pressed over Kushina's abdomen, desperately reinforcing the seal that held the Nine-Tails in check.
Kushina had just given birth—her body was frail, her chakra wildly unstable.
And within her, the Nine-Tails was thrashing, straining to break free.
The instant Minato split his focus, the crimson chakra surged outward again, forming a violent aura around Kushina's body.
Just one glance was enough for Obito to grasp the situation.
Minato was pinned—his hands literally tied by the seal.
Behind the mask, Obito's lips curled upward. He ignored the kunai that phased harmlessly through him and reached for the child once more.
But—
A cold snort cut through the chaos.
Hizashi's eyes flared, veins bulging around his temples. The Byakugan granted him an unbroken, 360-degree field of vision; nothing escaped his sight—not even behind him.
Pivoting sharply, Hizashi's foot snapped out, kicking Biwako backward and out of harm's way.
In one seamless motion, he caught the very kunai Minato had thrown—its trajectory having passed harmlessly through Obito's intangible body—then redirected it with a powerful flick of his wrist, hurling it down toward Obito's back.
As the weapon flew, Hizashi blurred forward, sword-hand extended toward the masked man's spine.
Everything happened in the span of a single heartbeat.
Hizashi, having already been warned about Obito's ability by Satoru, gave him no room to breathe.
Every strike chained into the next, like a relentless tide crashing against the shore.
Was Obito powerful?
Undeniably.
With the Mangekyo Sharingan and Kamui, he possessed one of the most terrifying space-time techniques in existence.
But raw power alone does not make a complete shinobi.
Obito's reflexes, experience, physical endurance, and combat instincts were still those of a young man who had never faced a true veteran head-on.
He was a monster of mechanics—but not of mastery.
Even in later years, Obito's victories were never clean. Against Minato, against Danzo's Root operatives, even against Konan—he either struggled or outright failed.
And Hyuga Hizashi was no ordinary opponent.
As one of the strongest fighters in the clan—his prowess nearly equal to that of Clan Head Hiashi—Hizashi was in his prime, twenty-eight years old, body and chakra at their peak.
With the Byakugan granting him perfect vision and precision, even a "near-invincible" Kamui could not guarantee success against him.
"Tch…"
Obito clicked his tongue in frustration. He needed to act fast—every passing second worsened his position.
As the marked kunai slashed toward him again, he made his choice.
He solidified.
With a twist of his arm, he snatched the infant into his grasp. The kunai struck his right arm a moment later—cutting clean through cloth but drawing no blood.
"Stop right there!" Obito barked, tightening his grip on the newborn.
"One more step—and this brat dies!"
The command halted Hizashi instantly. His sword-hand froze mid-strike, less than ten centimeters from Obito's back.
They were close—so close—but Hizashi knew better.
At that range, the enemy could end the child's life before he could even twitch.
And this child… was the Hokage's son.
Failure was not an option.
Hizashi's pale eyes narrowed. For the first time, he focused—not on Obito's chakra—but on his body.
Something was wrong.
Though the chakra in Obito's right half matched his own signature, the structure beneath it—the pattern of his tenketsu and pathways—was different.
And where the kunai had pierced his flesh, not a single drop of blood had spilled.
The damaged arm didn't even twitch.
It was as if that half of his body… didn't truly belong to him.
"Stop, Obito!" Minato's voice rang out, strained but firm.
"Put Naruto down!"
He had never imagined that Obito could slip past the sealing barriers surrounding the chamber.
But even more unthinkable was this—his own student standing here, threatening the lives of his family.
Ever since learning Obito was alive, Minato had wrestled with possibilities—why had he hidden? what did he want?—but not once had he imagined this.
He'd never wronged Obito. Never betrayed him.
Even for Rin's sake, Obito's target shouldn't have been Kushina—let alone their innocent child.
In the past, Kushina herself had treated Obito kindly, worrying for his safety, even seeing him off before missions.
How could that boy have become this man?
No matter how many times Minato replayed the memories in his mind, he couldn't reconcile the two.
Perhaps, as fate would have it, Satoru could never have predicted this outcome either.
By revealing Obito's identity to Minato earlier, he had unwittingly planted the seed of mercy—the same mercy that, years later, would stay the Fourth Hokage's hand during their fatal clash.
Man proposes, Heaven disposes.
Even the best-laid plans could twist in ways no one could foresee.
As for Hizashi—he had done everything humanly possible. But even his strength and foresight had limits. Against Kamui, there were simply moments one could not prevent.
"…Naruto!"
"Kushina!"
"Don't hurt him, Obito!"
Kushina's weak voice trembled from the bed, stripped of all her usual boldness.
Tears welled in her eyes as she saw the masked figure holding her newborn son.
But Obito didn't waver.
His lone crimson eye glinted coldly behind the mask.
And then—
With deliberate slowness—
He tossed the infant into the air.
"Naruto!!!"
Kushina's scream tore through the chamber.
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