Worse still, a translucent pale shape writhed out from his eyes, mouth, and pores. It was his soul, being torn free by force. Behind him, a tall black silhouette had appeared without a sound.
The figure had no visible limbs, its body formed of darkness, its face covered by a grotesque pale mask split in a wide grin. Red lights burned in the eye holes with hatred and destruction. A powerful, eerie suction poured from the dark mouth as it devoured the soul.
The ANBU collapsed once his soul was fully consumed, his body falling limply to the ground. The shadow let out a low, satisfied hiss, its presence growing colder and more frightening. The sight made stomachs churn.
"What... what is that monster?" A terrified shout rang out among the ANBU. But this was only the beginning.
Hisses, roars, and warped laughter echoed from the trees. One after another, masked Xu emerged from the forest shadows. Their masks differed in shape, but their black bodies and cold aura were the same.
They radiated greed for living souls, and beneath the masks burned eyes full of hatred and destruction. Someone shouted in disbelief, "Sharingan? Why do these things have Sharingan?" The Xu did not pause to answer.
Another opened its mouth and began devouring a soul. "They are eating souls!" "Stop them!"
The ANBU formation collapsed into chaos. At the height of it, Kakashi Hatake stood beside Itachi Uchiha, his gaze complicated as he looked at his former subordinate. He had returned from the Land of Moon battlefield only because of injury, never expecting to see this.
He did not expect to arrive in time for a lockdown on the Uchiha Clan. He expected even less that Itachi Uchiha would do such things when Konoha was already strained for strength. The reality weighed heavily on him.
"Itachi..." Kakashi Hatake opened his mouth to speak, but the air behind him twisted. A masked figure appeared without warning, placing one hand on Itachi's remaining shoulder and the other on Kakashi Hatake's head.
It was Obito Uchiha. A space-warping ripple spread from the eye holes of his mask. An irresistible pull seized them, stretching and twisting the world before their eyes.
In the next moment, both figures vanished. Just before being pulled in, Kakashi Hatake instinctively gripped the short blade at his waist called Jealousy. A shrieking Wind Blade cut through the air but passed straight through Obito Uchiha's body, leaving a deep scar in the ground.
Obito Uchiha looked up at Yunchuan Hyuga in the sky, their gazes meeting through the rain. Then space twisted again, and Obito Uchiha disappeared as well. Yunchuan Hyuga hovered in the night, his Byakugan showing only cold indifference.
Do you think it would be that easy to escape? Trying to take Kakashi Hatake with you will be your greatest mistake. His attention shifted as new screams rang out.
"They cannot be killed!" "My blade, what is happening?" A startled cry rose from the crowd.
Yunchuan Hyuga turned and saw an ANBU accidentally stab a Xu in the mask during a coordinated attack. With a sharp hum, the bone mask cracked and shattered, and the black body burst apart. The soul rushed into the blade, and the ANBU felt his mind clear.
To the perception types, his Chakra surged noticeably, drawing gasps. Seeing this, Yunchuan Hyuga smiled faintly and shouted, "The weakness of these monsters is the mask!" The ANBU immediately focused on the masked creatures.
Though terrifying, the sight of one being killed gave them courage. A burly ANBU roared and charged, his Short Sword screaming through the air toward a Xu mask. But the creature's red eyes flared with chaotic, destructive energy.
It did not dodge or block. It opened its gaping masked mouth as a chilling force condensed within. "What is that?" the charging ANBU cried, fear seizing him.
A dark red beam erupted. It vaporized the leading ANBU and two behind him in an instant, leaving no scream and no remains. Only charred lower bodies toppled to the ground.
Silence fell. Every ANBU froze, terror carved deep into their faces. Before they could react, the other Xu opened their mouths as well.
Red light gathered, aimed not only at them but toward the core of Konoha.
With Uchiha Clan Grounds on the other side, inside a hidden mountain cave. As space twisted, a dull impact and a suppressed groan sounded, and three figures appeared out of thin air.
"Ugh, cough, cough…" Itachi Uchiha crashed heavily to the ground, the dizziness from space transfer and the weakness from massive blood loss surging together.
He propped himself up with his remaining right arm, his body spasming as he retched uncontrollably, his stomach churning while only bloody foam spilled from his mouth. Blood from the severed arm had already soaked through his clothes and spread into a glaring red pool on the cave floor.
Each cough pulled at the wound and sent waves of pain through him, making his already pale face turn ashen, like faded gold. Cold sweat mixed with rainwater and blood slid down from his temple as he lay there gasping like a dying fish thrown onto shore.
Not far from Itachi Uchiha, Kakashi Hatake had also fallen to the ground. His eyes were closed, and he remained unconscious.
Obito Uchiha stood quietly to the side, looking down from above at Itachi Uchiha struggling on the ground like a stray dog. Behind the mask, the crimson Sharingan swept over the bleeding stump and the twisted face, and he casually tossed a roll of bandages at him.
"Hmph." Obito Uchiha let out a mocking snort, his voice hoarse and cold. "What a sorry sight, Itachi Uchiha. Is this the so-called 'capacity' you were so proud of?"
"You could not even keep your own arm and were almost crushed like a dog. Pitiful and ridiculous." The words stabbed into Itachi Uchiha's fragile nerves, and his trembling body shook even harder from anger and humiliation.
Itachi Uchiha jerked his head up, his bloodshot Mangekyo Sharingan staring straight at Obito Uchiha. "Madara… so you really are not dead," he rasped weakly.
Before leaving, he had seen the corpse of "Madara" after it was killed, only to find that even the body and bloodstains had vanished. Clearly, this man had used some strange method.
"Heh." As if hearing a joke, Obito Uchiha sneered coldly. "Who do you think I am?"
Under the mask, Obito Uchiha's expression was grim. In truth, things were far from as easy as he appeared.
That sudden monster had truly killed him once. The memory surfaced again, and Obito Uchiha narrowed his eye, thinking that the abnormal power and speed had to belong to a Dojutsu of the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Activating the intangibility of "Kamui" should only take a single thought. Yet that monster had somehow struck him directly.
If he had not implanted a Three Tomoe Sharingan in advance and used "Izanagi" at that moment, he would have died to that sudden blow. After that, he never showed himself before that pale monster again.
He only watched from afar as the monster fought Shisui Uchiha. Seeing that Shisui could block attacks with Susanoo even if he could not dodge them gave him a rough guess about that monster's Dojutsu.
"It can be blocked, but not avoided?" Realizing this possibility made Obito Uchiha's face darken beneath the mask.
What kind of absurd ability was this. What kind of absurd principle.
His greatest reliance was the intangibility of "Kamui", an ability that let him stand almost invincible against any foe. Yet now he had encountered someone who directly countered it.