Under the vast drizzling sky, Yuji's black-robed figure moved swiftly through the forest.
"His right eye carries Sharingan. He is currently in a fused state with White Zetsu, with a half-body that incorporates Hashirama's cells. With his current ocular power, how long can his Kamui intangibility last?"
He continued analyzing Obito's combat capabilities as he moved.
Judging from Obito's ability to single-handedly eliminate the Hidden Mist Village's elite forces, even at this stage of his development, before he had fully matured, he already possessed Kage-level combat power.
In later years, Obito's prolonged use of Kamui during his battle with Konoha had demonstrated he could sustain the intangibility for roughly five minutes. But at this point, he had probably not yet reached that threshold.
To kill Obito, the only realistic chance was to capture his physical body during a moment when he had to materialize and remain still.
Abilities like Yin-Yang Release or Six Paths power could only be deployed effectively by Obito at a later stage of the plan. Right now, Obito had only recently received Madara's inheritance. Judging from his growth trajectory in the original story, his strength at this point was still relatively limited.
On the other side, Obito followed at a considerable distance behind, maintaining extreme caution. From White Zetsu's previous reports, Yoru's perception abilities were formidable. White Zetsu had sensed something was off on several occasions while attempting to follow him.
To avoid exposure, and because Obito's plan did not regard this particular person as a critical obstacle, White Zetsu had ultimately abandoned those pursuit attempts.
"If this person has too much influence over Akatsuki or harbors ulterior motives that threaten the plan, he must be eliminated first."
With his Sharingan active, a cold murderous intent had settled in Obito's heart. He understood that having Nagato was enough. Everyone else was ultimately expendable.
But beneath that cold certainty, his thoughts were also filled with genuine doubt.
This person was extraordinarily powerful, possibly possessing a doujutsu as a bloodline limit, and had demonstrated the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist pressure point techniques during an earlier encounter.
All of these clues converging on a single individual made no coherent sense. The combination was simply too chaotic and inconsistent. Could this person have a connection to Konoha? A Hyuga clan member? That was impossible.
"Hmm?"
While turning this over in his mind, Obito suddenly leaped onto a tree trunk and stopped completely. His senses told him the target was directly ahead, stationary.
"Has he been discovered?"
Obito froze. That was impossible.
But a second later, every hair on his body stood on end.
Because behind him, a pair of mismatched eyes beneath a mask were staring directly at him with cold and absolute focus.
"The individual I was sensing ahead was a fake. A chakra construct. When exactly did I fall under the opponent's jutsu?"
In that instant, Obito felt as though he had been plunged into ice water. The disbelief was total. He had been maintaining his three-tomoe Sharingan throughout. The Sharingan's power was supposed to make something like this impossible. No one in the ninja world should have been able to approach him without triggering his awareness.
Furthermore, how had the opponent closed this distance without him sensing anything?
"Setting aside raw Sharingan strength, the opponent's eye technique carries a specific counter-effect against the Sharingan itself."
The realization hit him in an instant. Before Yoru had left the base that morning, there had been a brief encounter between them. In other words, Yuji had affected him with his doujutsu at that moment, along with White Zetsu. They had been chasing a chakra-infused clone the entire time.
Cold sweat broke across Obito's skin.
This meant that from the very beginning, Yoru had been suspicious of him and had prepared for exactly this kind of pursuit. But how could he have known?
In that moment, the figure behind him raised his arm, aiming directly at Obito's position. A crimson beam of blood shot outward, piercing through the earth and cratering the ground beneath where Obito stood.
Facing this sudden lethal strike, Obito immediately activated his Mangekyo Sharingan and unleashed Kamui. His body became intangible, and the attack passed through him completely without effect.
"Blood Release!"
The moment he saw the blood-red light shooting from the masked figure's direction, recognition detonated in Obito's mind.
This was the Fourth Kazekage.
One of the most powerful individuals currently standing at the absolute pinnacle of the ninja world.
Without allowing himself a moment to think further, Obito watched the opponent redirecting the blood downward and immediately rematerialized. At the same time, he turned and reached for the figure, his hand moving toward something smaller than his own body, intending to drag the opponent directly into his dimensional space.
But suddenly his heart lurched, stopping him from materializing and forcing him to leap away instead. Because the space between them had been flooded with a dense mass of blood, and in that instant it felt like thousands of arrows raining down simultaneously from every direction, intertwining with each other in a web of lethal force. Had he materialized into that, he would have been torn apart instantly.
Yuji watched the intangible figure leap clear and felt a quiet stirring in his chest.
His ambush had not been enough to kill the opponent. But if Obito materialized now and immediately tried to enter intangibility again, there was a cooldown period before Kamui could be activated a second time. That window was short. But for someone at Obito's current level of development, it was enough. He had built his entire approach around exploiting that precise time gap, combined with the element of surprise.
There was only one real chance at this. He had deliberately avoided using the Ope Ope no Mi first, knowing that revealing it would immediately put Obito on his highest alert. It had not been reflex that had saved Obito just now. It had been pure instinct.
"Hmm?"
Yuji's eyes narrowed slightly.
A large mass of white organic matter suddenly erupted from the ground around him, its root-like branches wrapping tightly around his body and binding him in place. White Zetsu, absorbing chakra from his body through direct contact.
Yuji immediately triggered a technique through his wrist, causing fresh blood to spurt outward and stimulate the expanding substance surrounding him. The white matter that had been binding him rapidly disintegrated and dissolved, turning entirely into black liquid.
Not far away, a figure appeared that was half White Zetsu and half Black Zetsu fused together. It seemed that Black Zetsu, which had been operating from the shadows, had been drawn out into the open by the chaos of the engagement.
"Damn it, that ability again. His bloodline limit is undeniably too powerful," White Zetsu muttered with clear irritation.
"After all, he is the famous Fourth Kazekage. He was never going to be easy to deal with," Black Zetsu said, its tone carrying a sardonic edge.
At this moment, Obito forced his surging emotions under control. Having narrowly escaped the Fourth Kazekage's killing blow, he spoke in a tone that mixed genuine shock with an attempt at casual familiarity.
"Senior, it is me. Tobi. It is me."
"Stop pretending," Black Zetsu said flatly. "This man was clearly hunting you."
"Well," Obito said, settling slightly as he looked toward Yuji. "But it is genuinely surprising. My senior is none other than the Fourth Kazekage himself, who was apparently not sitting quietly in the Sand Village but has been secretly lurking within Akatsuki this whole time."
His tone carried a strong undercurrent of threat.
"It has been quite a long time. If I were to report this news to Yahiko and the others, I think the consequences would be rather significant."
He paused deliberately.
"I do not believe I could defeat someone as powerful as the Kazekage in a direct fight, so the wiser move is to retreat first and bring this to the organization."
Having said that, he began to move away.
He had reached that conclusion the moment he confirmed Yoru's true identity. Engaging in direct combat with the Fourth Kazekage carried too great a risk. This was not some insignificant opponent. Regardless of whatever purpose the Kazekage had for hiding within Akatsuki, the correct move was to withdraw and expose him.
"Do you really need to explain yourself to me?"
Yuji removed his mask, revealing his face. He stared directly at Obito.
"With your Mangekyo Sharingan ability, you are indeed very difficult to stop. If you keep running, I cannot prevent it."
He paused.
"But if I tell them your secret as well..."
"Tell me, will they believe you, or will they believe me?"
Yuji's expression shifted into something that carried a cold and quietly sinister quality beneath the surface calm.
"What are you talking about, Senior?" Obito, who had already begun twisting his body to flee, stopped and turned back.
"Play innocent if you like. Uchiha Madara? No, I should call you Uchiha Obito."
Each word landed like a separate strike. Both Black Zetsu and Obito felt the impact of those words resonate through them like thunder.
"Controlling Akatsuki. Collecting the Tailed Beasts. Is that the shape of your next plan?"
Yuji moved his limbs casually as he spoke, his gaze fixed on Obito, whose single visible eye had its pupil fully dilated.
"I am not interested," Yuji said, his voice hardening. "To be honest, your plan, whatever it is, seems rather ridiculous to me."
"I did not bring you out here to discuss plans," Yuji said.
He paused briefly. Then a cold smile that carried something genuinely dangerous appeared on his face.
"Look at where we are. Both of our secrets have been exposed. What do we do about that?"
"There is only one answer."
"If you do not kill me, then I will kill you. Unless you are planning to simply let me reveal everything about your little schemes to Yahiko and Nagato?"
Obito said nothing.
In that moment, he instinctively looked toward Black Zetsu beside him.
His mind went completely blank.
...
STONES 💎
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