"Plop."
Just then, Obito had already landed on the ground from mid-air.
What landed on the ground was no longer Obito.
A giant black sphere completely enveloped Obito's entire body.
Within seconds, like an eggshell, small cracks appeared on the sphere's surface and continuously expanded.
After a while, as if hatching a chick, the sphere's outer shell began to peel off gradually, revealing Obito's new form inside.
When the last piece of shell fell to the ground—
Beneath the night sky, Obito's new form was fully revealed.
His skin was white as paper, without a trace of color, just like those descendants of the Otsutsuki Clan on the moon.
His hair had turned from black to a transparent grey-white, from root to tip, that kind of bleached-out color.
Behind him, five strange scale-like crystals were scattered, burning with a semi-transparent crimson flame.
The five crystals were shaped like bird feathers, their surfaces covered with a layer of crimson flame.
Several Truth-Seeking Balls floated behind him, forming a semicircle.
Obito's eyes were full of confusion as he looked down at his hands and muttered to himself: "O-Obito?"
The next moment, the five scale-like crystals behind the King of Scum all moved at once.
They extended from behind Obito in all directions, stretching rapidly like Luffy's Gum-Gum Fruit ability.
The five scales transformed into five elastic arms, each hundreds of meters long, grabbing in all directions.
'Too fast!'
Countless unprepared Allied Forces' Ninjas, wherever they were touched, vanished instantly as if hit by Onoki's Dust Release.
"Ao!"
Seeing her trusted subordinate, his entire upper body caught by the tentacles, everything above his waist gone, Mei was completely stunned with fright.
But there was no time to mourn for her subordinate. That rubber-like arm was already reaching for her.
At the critical moment, Mei only felt a large hand suddenly wrap around her slender waist, leaping up, the wind whistling past her ears.
The tentacle brushed past the soles of her feet, grasping nothing.
Mei turned her head and saw Makoto's profile.
It wasn't just the Government Allied Forces... Obito was clearly attacking indiscriminately, even targeting his own people.
One of those hands reached for Hidan, a member of the Akatsuki.
"Hey, have you gone crazy?!"
Hidan roared, swinging his scythe in retaliation.
The scythe and the tentacle collided in mid-air. The scythe's blade shattered on contact. The tentacle continued forward, piercing directly through Hidan's shoulder.
"Bastard... Jashin-sama will punish you..."
The masochistic Hidan couldn't act tough anymore.
"Makoto-kun!"
Suddenly, Makoto heard Mrs. Yuigahama shout and turned his head to look.
Those arms reached for the barrier created by Mrs. Yuigahama, pinched it, several cracks appeared on the barrier's surface, and then it shattered into countless cyan fragments.
The arms continued forward, heading straight for Mrs. Yuigahama and the Konoha's Ninjas protected behind the barrier.
At the critical moment—
Hinata clapped her hands together.
"Chibaku Tensei!"
Just an instant before those hands were about to grab Mrs. Yuigahama and the others, Hinata suddenly condensed a dark black energy ball and sent it into the sky.
The energy ball expanded rapidly in mid-air, unleashing a tremendous gravitational force, sucking everything on the ground towards the sky.
Obito's body was also being sucked towards the energy ball. His five tentacles thrashed wildly, lashing out in the air, blasting huge craters into the ground, but still unable to stop his body from being sucked into the sky.
Countless rocks rising from the ground continuously compressed Obito's body, eventually forming a small satellite in the sky.
"Incredible, Hinata-sama!"
Neji exclaimed in admiration.
Hinata's Tenseigan glowed with a blue light beneath the moonlight, but her breathing grew increasingly rapid, her steps faltering.
Seeing this, Hanabi beside her quickly supported her sister, her arm passing under Hinata's armpit, holding up her shoulder.
"Nee-chan, are you alright?"
Sweating profusely, Hinata said: "Sorry, using Chibaku Tensei and Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion does this to me..."
At her current level, those two moves were the strongest abilities she could use so far.
Once used, her body would briefly enter a state of exhaustion.
Even Madara, who didn't know about the existence of the Tenseigan, couldn't help but look sideways, staring intently at the Tenseigan in Hinata's eyes.
"Those eyes... can also perform the same techniques as the Rinnegan?"
But just as the words fell.
Boom boom boom—
A deafening explosion came from above.
High in the sky, the small satellite formed by the Chibaku Tensei began to vibrate violently. Rocks peeled from the satellite's surface, countless fragments falling like raindrops.
Looking up, several liquid-like flowing objects were seen piercing from inside the satellite, high above.
Those liquid objects formed needles, shredding the small planet created by the Chibaku Tensei like a balloon.
The Chibaku Tensei rapidly disintegrated, completely collapsing within seconds, massive chunks of rock falling from the sky.
Makoto recognized immediately what it was.
Truth-Seeking Balls!
"Everyone be careful! Get out of the way!"
Watching the countless falling rocks, Hashirama shouted loudly to alert everyone.
The Ninjas in the Allied Forces dodged frantically, some using Earth Release to raise stone pillars from the ground to block the falling rocks, others using Wind Release to blow the rocks off course.
Then, Six Paths Obito locked onto Hinata, who had momentarily restrained him, flicked his hand, and a Truth-Seeking Ball detached from behind him, flying towards Hinata.
Hinata's expression changed drastically.
Her body was still exhausted, making it impossible to dodge.
Seeing this, Neji leaped up, spread his arms wide, and stood in front of Hinata with his arm spread.
Even Makoto was stunned at this sight.
'Good grief. So Neji still couldn't escape the fate of being a scapegoat, huh?'
In the original work, Neji had used his body to block the Ten-Tails' wooden spike to save Naruto.
But Makoto also wasn't about to just watch this guy die.
His Mangekyo Sharingan began to spin in their sockets as he prepared to use his left eye's ability to teleport next to Neji and help block the attack.
However, just then, a figure that surprised Makoto rushed behind Neji, blocking the Truth-Seeking Ball's path with his back, standing like a 'human shield' behind Neji.
Hyuga Hiashi!!
The Truth-Seeking Ball pierced Hiashi's body, entering through his back and exiting through his chest.
"Father!?"
"Hiashi-sama!"
Hinata and Neji both looked on in disbelief, watching Hiashi's body get pierced by the Truth-Seeking Ball.
Under everyone's gaze, Hiashi, whose chest had been pierced by the Truth-Seeking Ball, fell to the ground with a thud.
Hinata, Neji, and many others from the Hyuga Clan quickly gathered around.
Hinata knelt beside her father, her hands hovering over the wound, not knowing where to put them. The wound was terrifying.
"Fa-Father! Father!"
"Hi-Hiashi-sama..."
Neji's voice was hoarse, not knowing what to say either.
"..."
Hiashi coughed up blood and said intermittently: "Your... your father... back then... died to save me."
Neji's pupils contracted sharply, as Hiashi continued: "He... chose to die in my place."
Hiashi's voice grew softer and softer, each word using up all his strength.
"Now... I'm dying to save you... I suppose... I can... see him... with a clear conscience."
The corner of Hiashi's mouth curved slightly, a faint, barely-there smile appearing on his increasingly pale face.
Then his eyes completely closed, and the hand still resting on Neji's shoulder slipped off, kicking up a small cloud of dust.
"He's got some guts!"
Beam stood not far away, unable to help commenting.
He didn't have any good feelings towards the Hyuga Clan. After all, ever since Hinata had gotten together with Makoto, those Byakugan-wielding bastards had been throwing their weight around Konoha, even more arrogant than the Uchiha in their day. But what Hiashi had just done was indeed pretty gutsy.
Yu on the other side also nodded secretly. This was one of the few times he and Beam saw eye to eye.
Lately, those Hyuga bastards had been throwing their weight around the village, feeling like they were becoming the Uchiha sequel.
Yu had been planning to find an opportunity to knock them down a peg, to let them know that without Makoto, they were nothing.
But he hadn't expected Hiashi to pull a stunt like this.
That being said, though, Hiashi didn't really need to die.
In that situation, not to mention Makoto, even he could have successfully blocked that attack.
But seeing how tragic the atmosphere was right now, he'd better not say that out loud.
Otherwise, Hiashi would look like too much of a clown.