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What should I do?
Kagaya kept his eyes fixed on Tobirama in the distance, his mind racing through every possible option for dealing with the man.
Flying Thunder God was simply too broken. Kagaya's own Body Flicker Technique was fast—extremely fast—but nothing in the world could outpace Flying Thunder God when it came to instantaneous relocation.
The bigger question gnawed at him: why had Tobirama come all the way over here just to intercept him in the first place? Was summoning his Susanoo to travel really that conspicuous?
Then again, there had been no real alternative. To push toward the heart of the battlefield where Madara and Hashirama were clashing, he absolutely needed the Susanoo's protection. Without it, a single stray shockwave from their duel would flatten him in an instant.
"Why are you blocking me?"
After a long moment of internal debate, Kagaya finally decided to break the silence and speak directly to Tobirama.
Tobirama responded with a smug, self-satisfied smile.
"Oh? So now you're willing to talk? Just a little while ago you attacked without saying a single word. Only now that you realize you can't get past me do you decide conversation might be worth trying?"
Kagaya gave a small nod. "Pretty much. So let me ask straight: will you let me through?"
Tobirama looked at him like he had just heard the dumbest question imaginable.
"You're actually serious?"
Kagaya let out a quiet sigh.
"Yeah… I figured as much. I knew you wouldn't agree."
Tobirama snorted coldly.
"Then stop wasting both our time with impossible requests. My turn. You and Madara—what exactly is your relationship?"
Kagaya shook his head slowly.
"Since you're not letting me pass, why should I bother answering your questions?"
With that, he lowered his gaze again and resumed silently calculating ways to break the deadlock.
From his position, Tobirama frowned. The golden giant's radiant aura was so intense that he still couldn't clearly make out the face of the person inside. But one thing was certain: this was definitely an Uchiha. Beyond that, everything else remained a mystery.
Golden giant… golden giant…
Tobirama racked his brain, combing through every memory, every encounter, every rumor he had ever heard. Nothing. Not a single scrap of information matched the figure standing before him. It was as though this person had materialized out of thin air—an unsettling anomaly.
After thinking it over for a long while, Tobirama settled on the most plausible explanation he could muster.
'Perhaps he's some hidden asset Madara has kept secret all this time. If that's the case, then I absolutely cannot allow him to get anywhere near Big Brother and Madara. If he truly is one of Madara's key pieces, then he must be an extraordinarily important one. Madara would never imagine that I could pin such a critical asset right here and lock him down!'
The thought brought another pleased smirk to Tobirama's lips.
Normally he was the picture of icy composure—emotions rarely showed on his face. But managing to gain even a slight advantage in a contest that involved Madara, Hashirama, and this mysterious golden giant? That was something worth feeling proud about.
When you considered it, the four of them—Hashirama, Madara, Tobirama himself, and now this unknown powerhouse—represented without exaggeration the single most terrifying concentration of combat power in the entire ninja world. To hold even a marginal edge in a clash among the absolute pinnacle of shinobi strength was an accomplishment that would give anyone a surge of satisfaction.
Just as Tobirama was quietly savoring that realization, the golden figure opposite him abruptly stood up.
That was it—Kagaya had remembered.
Flying Thunder God. Flying Thunder God. Flying Thunder God.
He had been so fixated on how impossibly difficult it was to fight someone with Flying Thunder God, how to land a hit on Tobirama, that he had overcomplicated everything and overlooked the fundamentals.
How do you counter Flying Thunder God?
You start with its core mechanic.
Can Flying Thunder God move arbitrarily anywhere? No.
What does it actually rely on to teleport? The answer was obvious: the Flying Thunder God seals—the special kunai marks or tagged locations.
That was the breakthrough.
Flying Thunder God's greatest strength was also its fatal weakness: dependency on pre-placed seals.
A faint smile curved Kagaya's lips.
The massive golden sword coalesced in the Susanoo's right hand, gleaming with ominous power.
'I know exactly how to deal with you now, Senju Tobirama.'
Without another word, the Susanoo raised the blade high and brought it slashing down toward Tobirama.
The Sword of Ruin—distance-negating slash!
Just as Kagaya had anticipated, although the ability to ignore distance was shocking, Tobirama's battle-honed instincts kicked in at the last possible instant. Blue light flashed, and he vanished, evading the strike.
Kagaya's smile didn't fade.
After teleporting, Tobirama reappeared slightly to the left and forward—exactly where one of his seals was planted.
Perfect.
The Susanoo raised its sword again and chopped downward in the same instant.
Blue light. Tobirama dodged once more.
This time he materialized directly behind Kagaya.
Second seal located.
The Susanoo spun smoothly, raised the blade yet again, and struck.
Blue light. Another evasion.
Now Tobirama appeared to Kagaya's right.
Third seal confirmed.
Kagaya continued the relentless assault—slash after slash—forcing Tobirama to keep teleporting, allowing Kagaya to mentally catalog every single Flying Thunder God seal location Tobirama used.
Tobirama himself remained completely unaware of the trap being laid. From his perspective, he simply found the golden giant's repetitive attacks somewhat amusing.
It wasn't that Tobirama was foolish or blind to tactics. The reality was far simpler: in the entire ninja world, the number of people who even knew that Flying Thunder God required marked locations to function could be counted on one hand—and Tobirama was the only one who truly understood its mechanics in detail.
Under those circumstances, he naturally assumed his opponent had no idea how the technique actually worked. And if the enemy didn't know about the seals, then naturally they had no way to counter a Flying Thunder God user.
Even if—hypothetically—the stranger somehow did know about the seal dependency and had memorized every mark, what could he possibly do about it?
Could one person lock down multiple seal points simultaneously?
Obviously not!
The only way would be through shadow clones or similar techniques, but even then—against a mere clone, why would Tobirama bother teleporting? He could simply destroy the clone outright. Clones were never as strong as the original body.
That was precisely why Flying Thunder God was considered unsolvable. Even if someone understood the principle and knew the theoretical counter, actually executing that counter required near-impossible conditions.
In the original timeline, the only person who had ever successfully memorized seal locations and used that knowledge against Flying Thunder God was the Fourth Raikage—and even he had relied on his unparalleled physical speed and instantaneous body movement to reach any mark in a heartbeat.
And even with all those advantages, he had still lost to Minato.
So no matter who looked at the situation, once they understood the full picture, no one believed Kagaya could realistically do anything to Tobirama.
Flying Thunder God was simply too overpowered.
It might not be the absolute best offensive tool, but when it came to sheer survivability and escape potential? Nothing else came close.
Several minutes of continuous slashing later, Kagaya had identified six distinct Flying Thunder God seal points around him: directly forward, left-forward, directly behind, right, right-rear, and right-forward.
Notably, three of those seals lay in the direction of Madara and Hashirama's duel—clear evidence that Tobirama was absolutely determined to prevent Kagaya from advancing any farther in that direction.
Slowly, the golden Susanoo dissipated.
In its place, a kunai appeared silently in Kagaya's hand.
Against someone as mobile as Tobirama, the Susanoo—impressive as it was—felt too slow and cumbersome. (Of course, if it had been the complete, full-body Susanoo, that assessment would have been very different.)
Important to note: when Kagaya had sat down earlier, he had chosen a high vantage point inside the Susanoo, well above the water level Tobirama had created. So even after dismissing the Susanoo, he remained safe from flooding.
Tobirama, who had just reappeared directly in front of Kagaya once more, watched with confusion as the golden giant vanished.
'He released the technique? What's going on? Well… at least now I can finally see what he really looks like!'
The golden radiance gradually faded.
But what emerged from the fading light was not a face.
It was the sudden, vivid flare of crimson—three tomoe spinning wildly within pitch-black pupils.
Sharingan!
An overwhelming wave of danger crashed through Tobirama's instincts.
In the next heartbeat, a kunai streaked forward and sliced across his forehead!
Blue light flashed at the absolute last instant—another narrow escape from death.
A cold shiver of belated fear ran through him. He had been careless—truly careless. He had never imagined the man possessed that kind of raw speed!
What in the hell was that velocity?!
Though Tobirama would later be hailed as the fastest shinobi in the world, that reputation rested almost entirely on Flying Thunder God. His unaided Body Flicker Technique, while excellent, was not in the same league.
The speed Kagaya had just displayed—pure, unassisted Body Flicker reaching near-instantaneous arrival—was something Tobirama had genuinely never witnessed before.
Is this guy even human?
In that moment, Kagaya's threat level in Tobirama's mind skyrocketed once again.
But before he could fully process the shock, a rush of wind arrived first—followed by a golden skeletal fist smashing toward him with devastating force!
Two of them? No—wait, a clone? No, the chakra density is too high—it's not a clone!
Blue light flashed again. No time to turn and identify his attacker. Tobirama teleported away instantly.
What Tobirama didn't know was that the "Kagaya" who had attacked him from the front was still standing exactly where he had been—smiling faintly.
Forward seal locked. Left-forward seal locked. Judging from Tobirama's movement patterns… the next one should be directly behind!
Blue light.
Centered on Kagaya's original position, Tobirama appeared—as predicted—directly behind it.
Before Tobirama could even register what was happening, a fist crashed squarely into his face.
This time, he didn't dodge.
Tobirama didn't even have time to think. He vanished again with Flying Thunder God.
All six seal points now had an Instantaneous Clone stationed at each one. The moment Tobirama appeared anywhere, he was immediately attacked.
The original Kagaya—still at the forward position—had already shifted his gaze toward the right-forward seal.
Sure enough, blue light flashed. Tobirama materialized there.
This time a kunai forced him back. It didn't connect, but the near miss sent real panic flickering through Tobirama's eyes for the first time.
'Are all my teleport points… locked down?!'
The realization sent a cold sweat breaking across his back.
How did this man know about Flying Thunder God's mechanics? And what were these clones? Each one possessed power equal to the original body? That shouldn't be possible!
Tobirama had a thousand questions, but under the relentless barrage he had no time to think.
Blue light. He disappeared again.
Kagaya's eyes were already on the right-rear seal.
As expected, Tobirama appeared there—and took a kunai to the right arm before vanishing in a sorry flash.
Too fast. Everything was happening too fast!
For the first time in his life, Tobirama felt truly cornered. He had no window to form hand seals. He couldn't even execute Flying Thunder God Slash—a technique that required no seals—because he didn't even have time to reach for a kunai!
Every time he teleported, an attack greeted him instantly. No reaction window. No breathing room.
He was being chased through his own technique—and there was nothing he could do to fight back.
Not because he didn't want to resist—because he literally had no time to resist.
The suffocating frustration, the mounting panic— Tobirama experienced both in full for the very first time.
Kagaya shifted his gaze one final time—to the last remaining seal point: directly to the right.
The final mark.
No more escape routes.
Sure enough, moments later, a kunai rested gently against Tobirama's throat.
Every single Flying Thunder God seal point was now guarded by an Instantaneous Clone. There was nowhere left to run.
Tobirama, his face swollen and bruised from the earlier punch, gave a bitter, resigned laugh.
"You're not going to kill me?"
The Kagaya in front of him shook his head and pointed toward the distant towering wooden construct.
"If I kill you, your older brother will hunt me down for the rest of my life. That would be a nightmare."
Tobirama drew in a deep breath.
"You're impressive—far beyond anything I anticipated. Can you at least tell me… what kind of clone technique is this?"
Kagaya grinned proudly.
"Instant Clone Technique. My big brother taught them to me!"
Tobirama's brow furrowed in confusion.
"Madara?"
Kagaya shook his head.
"No, not him."
"Then it must be someone incredibly powerful."
"Of course! The strongest genjutsu master in the entire Uchiha clan!" Kagaya spoke with unrestrained pride.
Instant Clone Technique were special: each clone existed as both tangible reality and illusory phantom simultaneously. That ensured none of them were weak enough for Tobirama to simply overpower and dispel.
The moment Kagaya had dismissed his Susanoo, he had activated the technique. Each clone had moved to one seal point, completely sealing off every possible escape vector.
Tobirama closed his eyes for a long moment, then spoke quietly.
"I really was too arrogant. I should have left at least one backup Flying Thunder God seal somewhere else—just in case. But… well, it's too late for regrets now. I genuinely never imagined anyone in this world could crack my Flying Thunder God."
Kagaya gave a helpless shrug.
"I had to rack my brain and scheme like crazy just to pull this off. Meanwhile you only needed one technique. Honestly, Flying Thunder God is so unreasonable it's ridiculous. If you had prepared even slightly better—if you had even one more hidden seal—I wouldn't have been able to touch you."
Tobirama stared deeply at Kagaya.
"No. Compared to Flying Thunder God, you are the most unreasonable existence here. Terrifying defensive power, horrifying speed, a blade that cuts from impossible distances—every single one of those traits is enough to make anyone shudder. You're extraordinary. If I ever get the chance… I will do whatever it takes to kill you. You are far too dangerous."
Kagaya rolled his eyes.
"Don't try to provoke me. The odds of you killing me are slim to none. But right now? If I kill you, your older brother will flatten me in no time flat. So no matter what you say, I'm not touching you. Now settle down. Since I've got you restrained, just accept the genjutsu quietly. I won't release it until the war ends. When you wake up next, the fighting should be over."
The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan flared with crimson light as Kagaya locked eyes with Tobirama's pupils.
At the very end, Tobirama murmured something strange, his voice tinged with melancholy.
"You really aren't Izuna, after all."
Then he slipped into the inescapable illusion of the Eternal Mangekyō.
Only after Tobirama fell did Kagaya gently pry open the hand that had—without him noticing—tightly gripped a kunai, ready to end his own life.
"Suicide? Not happening. And what was that last comment supposed to mean? If I were Izuna, you think I wouldn't stop you from killing yourself? Well, I've never met this Izuna you keep mentioning, so I don't know whether he would have stopped you or not. But me? I definitely would. Killing you is way too much trouble—especially when it means dealing with your brother's wrath. Even if you gave me ten thousand times the courage, I still wouldn't dare."
After a moment's thought, Kagaya added one final line under his breath.
"Well… at least not right now."