"What do you mean 'setting forests ablaze at every opportunity' ?" Sasuke's voice carried clear displeasure at Naruto's remark. "If you're going to hit Obito, just hit Obito! Why drag me into this? I burn forest, sure, but I'm still a good ninja!"
Behind them, trees within a ten-meter radius were already engulfed in flames, burning with crackling intensity. The fire showed signs of spreading.
A faint smile touched Obito's eyes behind his mask as he observed Naruto playfully.
The Fireball Jutsu had been merely an appetizer. Not hitting Naruto wasn't surprising at all.
Besides, for the Uchiha clan, opening combat with a massive fireball had become something of a sacred ritual. This ceremony wasn't truly intended to reduce enemies to ashes through the technique itself. Rather, it served as celebration, a way to mark victory in advance.
It functioned the same way fireworks did. You had to be careful, otherwise starting forest fires became inevitable.
Naruto glanced back at the burning forest. Summer was the worst season for this. If the flames weren't extinguished quickly, the entire forest would be reduced to ash. Trees took considerable time to grow to such impressive size. Moreover, Naruto didn't particularly appreciate scorched earth.
Thinking this, Naruto immediately called out to Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei, don't stand there in a daze! Put out the fire!"
Kakashi, who had indeed been standing frozen, snapped to attention at Naruto's yell. In a flash, he appeared beside the flames. His hands flew through seals with practiced speed as he muttered, "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
Instantly, a water dragon rose from behind Kakashi's position and rushed toward the conflagration.
The water dragon soared above the flames before crashing down with tremendous force. Water and fire met with a piercing hiss. Steam rose rapidly into the air as the flames extinguished in moments.
"Oh, how interesting." Obito observed this scene with mock appreciation. "Let's see how well you can save this entire forest. Hahaha! Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
Another pillar of fire burst from Obito's mouth, rushing toward the woods on the opposite side.
Just as the pillar of fire was about to reach the vegetation's canopy, Kakashi's figure materialized in its path. His dead fish eye showed unusual firmness as he pulled down the mask covering his chin to expose his mouth. In the next instant, his hands completed seals in a blur. "Water Style: Water Formation Wall!"
Kakashi expelled a wall of water the size of a waterfall while airborne, blocking the path of the massive fireball. The fireball crashed into the water wall and stopped instantly. Water vapor rose slowly, creating fog-like conditions that shrouded Kakashi completely.
"Hehe... Fire Style: Fireball..." Obito chuckled lightly and prepared to launch another technique.
A sharp sound cut through the air.
A figure appeared directly in front of Obito at speeds defying comprehension. An uppercut struck Obito's chin with devastating force. His body launched upward from the spot immediately. The Fireball Jutsu interrupted mid-formation, still in Obito's mouth.
Obito's eyes trembled as his body hurtled through the air. He felt his jaw dislocate from the impact. The fireball exploded inside his mouth. The interior of his oral cavity scorched instantly, flesh burning.
Black smoke overflowed from gaps around the spiral mask. Obito immediately resembled a chimney.
"Ohhh! Obito's getting wrecked!" On the ground not far away, White Zetsu's exposed head spoke with obvious amusement.
Unlike Black and White Zetsu watching from safety, Obito fighting Naruto directly experienced extreme discomfort from that single punch. Enduring sharp pain in his jaw, Obito stopped his body's passive ascent. Then his expression changed dramatically.
Naruto had somehow appeared before him again without warning. Another punch without any fancy technique, yet the power contained within felt absolutely terrifying. Obito refused to face it directly.
Obito's heartbeat stopped suddenly. His pupils contracted sharply. He quickly raised both arms to block in front of himself.
A dull impact sounded. Obito felt his arm struck by tremendous force. First, the sleeve burst apart. Then skin cracked open. Finally came the crisp sound of bones breaking with a distinctive crack.
His arm was ruined.
Obito couldn't feel nerve control in this arm anymore. It no longer seemed like his own limb, more like something foreign attached to his body.
Obito's expression twisted with pain and terror. This was a powerful arm he'd built using Hashirama cells. Who in the shinobi world could damage this arm? Yet it had been directly crippled by Naruto's seemingly light and casual punch?!
For a moment, Obito felt genuine terror, the profound fear that exists between life and death.
Naruto's speed was too fast to defend against. He couldn't dodge at all. And Naruto's strength exceeded his entire understanding. Even an arm modified with Senju Hashirama cells, the God of Shinobi himself, had been easily crushed by Naruto.
Obito's thoughts lasted only an instant, barely a single moment. After Naruto's punch landed, he didn't stop. His right hand clamped onto Obito's shoulder like an iron vice, fingers pressing against the collarbone. As long as Obito dared move, Naruto could crush his shoulder with a simple squeeze.
Simultaneously, Naruto pressed his left hand's five fingers against Obito's face and scratched downward.
Obito felt coldness on his face. The mask was already in Naruto's grasp. When pressure was applied, it shattered into fragments in his hand.
"Still claiming you're not Uchiha Obito?" Naruto sneered.
Kakashi looked at his former friend with complicated emotions swirling behind his visible eye. He'd originally believed his friend Uchiha Obito was dead. Unexpectedly, Obito still lived and had committed such evil acts.
At this moment, Kakashi didn't know how to process any of this.
Originally, Kakashi felt guilty for failing to protect Rin, letting her die and betraying Obito's final wish. But now, discovering Obito was the masked man who caused Kurama Rebellion and killed his teacher and teacher's wife, Kakashi found resentment toward Obito rising instead.
Obito remained silent.
Naruto had no intention of appealing to Obito's conscience for repentance. Uchiha Obito must die. Without hesitation, Naruto threw another punch toward Obito's mouth, speaking as he struck. "I told you to breathe fire!"
Obito's heart jumped wildly. This punch would shatter all his teeth if it connected. Subconsciously, he activated his intangibility.
The punch seemed to strike empty air. A sonic boom sounded. Taking advantage of his phasing ability, Obito escaped from Naruto's grip. His figure reappeared on a tree branch more than twenty meters away, one arm hanging useless, breathing heavily.
"Things don't seem very good for Obito. He's getting completely dominated. Should I consider leaving first?" Black and White Zetsu showed a thoughtful expression.
Soon, he decided to wait. If Naruto could force Obito to use his Kamui dimension, then he'd run immediately.
Obito raised his face and looked at Naruto standing in midair not far away. His heart churned with shock. According to intelligence reports, he'd thought Naruto was only slightly stronger than Kage-level. After all, Hiruzen Sarutobi had been physically weak. Though his strength qualified as Kage-level, he couldn't match younger, more vigorous Kage-level fighters. Naruto beating him to death wasn't particularly surprising.
But after today's direct confrontation, Naruto's strength and speed both proved unparalleled. Even Minato Namikaze's legendary speed as the Yellow Flash shouldn't match Naruto's velocity.
Is this the shinobi world's fastest man?
Obito's expression turned grim. He looked at Nine Tails standing on Naruto's shoulder. His pupils gradually turned red, Sharingan activating as he stared directly into Kurama' eyes. A voice emerged like an incantation:
"Become my strength, Nine Tails!"
Obito intended to repeat his old trick, controlling Nine Tails to assist in combat. More importantly, Nine Tails could restrain Naruto, forcing him to divide his attention during the next exchange.
"Naruto!" Seeing Obito's eyes turn red and Sharingan emerge, Kurama shrank suddenly and called Naruto's name with obvious nervousness.
The Sharingan of the Uchiha clan was born to suppress Kurama' strength, like a curse carried from birth. Kurama absolutely didn't want to be controlled by Uchiha Obito again.
"You still want to control Nine Tails? Obito, your dreams are truly beautiful." Naruto sneered and took a single step forward. With this step, the surrounding space seemed to compress under pressure.
Then he stood still and threw a punch.
With that single punch, Obito's Sharingan suddenly went slack. He discovered with horror that under Naruto's strike, his energy was instantly stripped away. Obviously this punch contained nothing, as if Naruto had thrown an empty fist through air. But Obito could see something strange: a fist black as ink, surrounded by black smoke. Countless organs, hands, feet, heads, clocks, boats, skeletons, cows, horses, people with long tongues, all rolled up and down within the fist itself.
Obito felt control over his body vanish. He couldn't move at all. He could only watch helplessly as that black fist approached.
Seemingly silent, Obito's figure was immediately submerged by the fist and encompassing darkness.
After being engulfed, Obito clearly felt his spirit rising from the top of the sky, ascending higher and higher. Meanwhile, his body fell toward a dark abyss, falling, falling, with no end in sight.
Like his spirit: rising, rising, without end.
Endless darkness surrounded everything.
Time passed. Maybe a second. Maybe a day. Perhaps a month. Or a year. Maybe longer: ten years, one hundred years, one thousand years, ten thousand years...
In darkness, time became meaningless, as if frozen completely.
Finally, a dull landing sound echoed. Obito had an intuition that it was his body, finally reaching bottom.
In the outside world, from Kakashi, Sasuke, and Black and White Zetsu's perspectives, Naruto had thrown a punch at Obito from a distance. The fist moved through air, striking Obito remotely despite not physically connecting.
However, strangely, Obito became motionless in the next moment, as if frozen solid. In the following second, Obito's body fell straight down from the tree branch.
"Huh!" This scene frightened Black and White Zetsu, who immediately dove underground. The next moment, Zetsu revealed another head from the ground, heart full of confusion.
What happened to Obito? Is this some kind of ninjutsu I haven't seen before?
Seeing Naruto remain motionless in the air while Sasuke and Kakashi watched from the sidelines, Black and White Zetsu decided to observe further.
"Well, I'll count to sixty seconds. If Obito doesn't move, I can only leave first." Black and White Zetsu began counting mentally. "Sixty, fifty-nine, fifty-eight..."
Meanwhile, Obito's consciousness floated in darkness. Suddenly he saw a line, a bright line. This line slowly expanded, growing into a surface. He felt a shock, then fell. Suddenly he possessed a physical body again.
When he opened his eyes, he heard a voice saying, "Obito, what are you spacing out for?"
Obito looked around suspiciously. The surroundings were bright. Standing beside him was Black and White Zetsu with only one head exposed above ground.
Immediately, Obito began checking himself. He was complete. No obstacles prevented movement.
Pain! His head hurt! Obito wanted to recall something, but suddenly his head felt like it might explode. In his memory, only scattered fragments sounded: Naruto, Sasuke, fist, Kakashi...
What are these? Right, he'd come to investigate the cause of Itachi's death. Obito covered his head and spoke to Black and White Zetsu. "Let's investigate the cause of Itachi's death."
Black and White Zetsu, with half his head exposed beside Obito, heard these words and looked at him suspiciously. "Obito, why are you going crazy? Itachi is alive and well. Not dead at all. He's on a mission right now."
"Itachi isn't dead?" Obito sounded surprised.
"Yeah. If you don't believe it, you can go back and see for yourself. Itachi is really not dead. Are you hallucinating?" Black and White Zetsu replied.
Who could make me hallucinate? Right, in hallucinations, there might not be pain. Thinking this, Obito raised his fist and punched Black and White Zetsu's yin-yang face.
The black and white yin-yang face twisted suddenly. Zetsu yelled, "Obito, are you insane?!"
Seeing Black and White Zetsu screaming in pain, Obito muttered to himself. "It really hurts! Seems like it's not a hallucination or a dream. Itachi may genuinely not be dead? Then... why should I investigate Itachi's cause of death?"
"You've lost your mind, Obito! If you wanted to prove it, why didn't you hit yourself?!" Understanding Obito's purpose, Black and White Zetsu jumped out of the soil immediately and cursed at Obito.
Obito ignored the outburst, stating matter-of-factly, "It hurts if I hit myself!"
"You?..." Black and White Zetsu's eyes widened in disbelief.
Though calmer now, Obito wouldn't easily believe Black and White Zetsu's words. Maybe this creature was the source of confusion. He still needed to meet the real Itachi before he could feel assured.
Thinking this, Obito said a brief farewell and headed straight back to the Akatsuki organization.
Obito smiled the moment he arrived before the Akatsuki organization's gates.
It seemed Itachi genuinely wasn't dead. He'd experienced hallucinations. At this moment, he tentatively believed Black and White Zetsu's theory.
Because in front of the Akatsuki organization's gate stood a streetlamp, and atop that streetlamp stood a person. That person was Itachi. That streetlamp was the one he'd brought back using his Kamui dimension to help Itachi.
Looking at Itachi standing on the streetlamp from a distance, Black and White Zetsu covered his face. "See? Itachi's not dead, right? That guy, every time he returns from a mission, he makes Kisame dig a hole and plant the streetlamp. After that, he stands on the streetlamp in a daze."
"Yeah, this is definitely Uchiha Itachi!" Obito spoke with a smile.
The streetlamp and Uchiha Itachi's presence dispelled the last trace of doubt in Obito's heart.
He observed for a while, then planned to leave quietly. Suddenly, Obito frowned. He watched Itachi standing on the streetlamp suddenly jump down and lie flat on the ground.
Just lying there on the ground.
Probably his feet went numb again! Obito thought internally before departing directly with Black and White Zetsu.
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