Uchiha Obito stood atop a utility pole, looking over the Konoha Village that felt both familiar and strange.
All he had left for Konoha was the purest hatred.
The only lingering attachment he had was a faint trace of affection for his classmates from the same year. He had matured early, and from the very first time he saw Nohara Rin in first year, he had fallen for her.
Now Nohara Rin was following Namikaze Minato on the Land of Hot Water front.
There was nothing left in Konoha for him to miss.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was being held outside Konoha's wall by the Raikage.
Fox was being held high in the sky by Ōnoki.
"Be destroyed, Konoha…"
A spatial vortex appeared in Uchiha Obito's right eye. He was about to release the trump card prepared for Konoha.
The Six Paths of Pain and Spiral Zetsu would appear. The three of them working together could destroy Konoha quickly.
Uchiha Obito's expression changed.
From the corner of his eye, he saw a white bird flash across his vision.
While fighting Ōnoki, Konoha's fox had summoned a flock of birds.
That cunning fox had secretly sent the birds roaming through Konoha Village.
Yako appeared with Body Flicker Technique, a Big Ball Rasengan forming in his hand as he smashed it toward Uchiha Obito.
No matter what Uchiha Obito was preparing, he had to be stopped.
The blue light of the Rasengan shone across Obito's face.
The spatial vortex in Uchiha Obito's right eye immediately reversed from forward rotation to backward rotation, and his entire body vanished instantly.
The Rasengan missed, destroying the utility pole.
Chunks of concrete and steel from the pole flew everywhere, and a bundle of wires snapped apart.
Yako immediately began sensing. He even activated the Byakugan to search for Uchiha Obito.
Found him.
Uchiha Obito had appeared in the forest atop the Hokage Rock.
Obito, you know that place has fewer people too, don't you? A fine place for doing evil.
Yako often went to the dense forest above the Hokage Rock, and he had left Flying Thunder God formulas there.
He vanished with Body Flicker Technique.
When he appeared again, he was already behind the Hokage Rock.
A Big Ball Rasengan over two meters wide appeared again, slamming into Obito's chest.
Obito's body turned intangible, and the Rasengan struck him as though it had hit empty air.
Uchiha Obito snorted coldly.
"Fox, I admit your speed is fast. I admit you're strong. But as long as I don't allow it, you can't touch me."
He waited a few seconds, but Fox did not answer.
The continuously spinning Rasengan existed only to prevent Uchiha Obito from transferring into the Kamui dimension.
The Rasengan overlapped with him. He could not transfer the Rasengan right now, or the part of his body inside the Kamui dimension would also be injured.
A tremendous rumble erupted.
Thousand-Hand Wrathful King broke out of the earth, and a gigantic wrathful king over a thousand meters tall appeared above the Hokage Rock.
Yako knew that Uchiha Obito's Kamui intangibility could last for five minutes at most. Once it exceeded five minutes, the intangibility would fail.
Konan had used six hundred billion explosive tags to attack continuously for five minutes.
Yako had a method too.
He would use Thousand-Hand Wrathful King to attack continuously for five minutes.
Three wooden hands per second would be enough to continue for more than five minutes.
The Big Ball Rasengan overlapped with Obito. Obito wanted to dodge, but discovered that Fox was not only powerful in taijutsu, he could also fly. He had no way to break away from the Rasengan.
Behind the Hokage Rock, earth-shaking strikes erupted.
At first, Konoha Village felt as though it had been struck by an earthquake.
Everyone thought such a violent attack would end in an instant.
However—
Five seconds.
Ten seconds.
Thirty seconds.
One minute.
Two minutes…
On Konoha's streets, ninja shouted, "Don't move! Get down!"
The civilians were about to head toward the shelters beneath the Hokage Rock, but upon seeing the terrifying battle unfolding above it, they had no choice but to halt the evacuation.
Kyoi tightly held her son Yoru's hand, lying flat on the ground with him.
Yoru raised his head and looked at the thousand-meter-tall Wood Golem standing above the Hokage Rock with its back to the village, as though reaching straight into the clouds.
"Mom, what kind of ninjutsu is that?"
Kyoi answered, "That is the village's strongest secret art, Wood Release. It must be one of the great lords of the Senju clan."
"Mom, one day I'll protect Konoha like that lord too!"
Kyoi looked troubled.
"We're ordinary people. It's enough if you can grow up safely.
Your father is a ninja, yes, but he said he went to the Land of Hot Water front.
He's worked hard for over ten years, and I've never seen him become one of the village's strong ninja.
Don't rush, Yoru. Don't put too much pressure on yourself either. There's nothing wrong with becoming an ordinary chunin like your father."
"Dad is so busy. He's always leaving the village for missions. I don't want to be like Dad!"
Kyoi pressed Yoru's head down, afraid that flying stones would strike them.
A nearby ninja in charge of evacuation suddenly shouted, "Get up! Continue evacuating! That lord reinforced the Hokage Rock! Even with such violent tremors, the Hokage Rock hasn't cracked!"
Hearing the ninja's shout, the civilians got up and continued toward the shelters beneath the Hokage Rock.
The ninja responsible for evacuation looked at the battle above the Hokage Rock, puzzled.
Just how much hatred did someone need to keep attacking nonstop for this long?
After more than four minutes, Yako's eyes were full of anticipation.
Soon…
Uchiha Obito had remained on the ground the whole time, enduring one wooden fist after another.
After the wooden hands in front struck, the chakra inside them dispersed. The wooden hands behind smashed down, shattering the ones in front and sending splinters flying.
Those wooden splinters were tiny to the wooden hands, but to ordinary people, they were like terrifying wooden spears.
Facing such endless bombardment, Uchiha Obito had no time to stop being intangible.
At four minutes and forty seconds, Yako's side suddenly lit up.
Ōnoki, missing one arm, had flown to one side of Thousand-Hand Wrathful King.
"Dust Release: Boundary Dismantling Jutsu!"
The cubic Dust Release barrier expanded continuously, instantly swallowing nearly half the Wood Golem.
Yako froze.
He had not even sensed Ōnoki approaching.
The blazing white barrier illuminated the night sky, destroying the Wood Golem's shoulder and many of its wooden hands.
As expected of Dust Release. Its power was so strong that it could destroy Wood Release.
As expected of Ōnoki. He had interrupted the Wood Golem's attack at the most critical moment.
Had Ōnoki arrived slightly earlier, Thousand-Hand Wrathful King could have split off some hands to block him.
But now…
The wooden hands' assault had been interrupted.
Uchiha Obito seized the opportunity, turned intangible, and disappeared from the spot.
When he reappeared, sweat instantly poured from his head, soaking his hair.
Too dangerous.
He had almost been beaten to death by Thousand-Hand Wrathful King.
Thankfully, Ōnoki had helped him.
Uchiha Obito looked up into the sky.
His gaze froze.
Ōnoki…
He…
In midair, more than a dozen Wood Release spikes had pierced out through Ōnoki's chest.
Fox was hovering behind Ōnoki, having used Wood Release: Cutting Technique on him.
Ōnoki had been killed by Konoha's fox.
Yako's fox mask slowly shifted, emerging from behind Ōnoki's hair.
"Ōnoki, although you and I are enemies, I held respect for you. I had hoped you could recognize the difference in strength between Iwagakure and Konoha and understand the times.
But you're like a stone in a latrine—foul and hard.
Do you know what good thing you just ruined for me?"
Ōnoki spat blood and turned his head toward Fox behind him. After a cold snort, he said:
"Being utterly defeated by Uchiha Madara… the fear I felt then… was the greatest shadow of my life.
Since that day, I told myself that no matter what enemy I faced, I would never retreat.
So what if it was Uchiha Madara?
So what if it's you?
To die in battle is the fate of every ninja. So what if you're strong?
I will never retreat!"
Puff, puff, puff!
More wooden spikes erupted, piercing through all of Ōnoki's internal organs.
Stone armor appeared over Ōnoki's fist, and he swung a rock fist backward.
However, with all his organs pierced, Ōnoki's rock fist finally stopped a dozen centimeters from Fox mask, then dropped powerlessly.
The final gust stirred by that rock fist was Ōnoki's unknown swan song.