[To put it bluntly, given the gap in their ability configurations, even if Konan had known that Obito could use Izanagi, she still would have lost.]
[After all, Konan had no way to counter Obito's use of Kamui to evade her attacks; otherwise, she wouldn't have needed to unleash such a massive scale of Explosive Tags.]
[First of all, since Konan and Obito had worked together as Akatsuki members for some time, she was relatively familiar with the advantages of his abilities. Thanks to Kamui's space-transference power, Obito could evade most opponents' attacks—including those from special-ability users like Konan.]
[So against opponents without space related abilities, Konan could use her Paper Style Jutsus to encase them and suffocate them. But Obito could phase his body, so theoretically, as long as he ensured his head wasn't completely covered by her paper, he could prevent himself from suffocating.]
[Of course, Obito's Kamui also had conditions and limitations. His phasing required cooldown time and chakra consumption. So to deny him enough time to phase, Konan had no choice but to expend her own chakra to set up a massive field of Explosive Tags.]
[Though if Obito hadn't had Izanagi, Konan's strategy would have worked. After all, even when Obito used Izanagi to save his life, his arm was still blown off.]
[Originally, Konan's special ability: paper-body transformation—even if it consumed an enormous amounts of chakra, could still maintain her immortal state as long as she had enough of it. Unfortunately, after deploying six hundred billion Explosive Tags, Konan's chakra was essentially depleted. She could no longer use paper-body transformation to evade Obito's conventional physical attacks, which was why Obito was able to turn the tables.]
[And after Nagato and Konan's redemption, it was impossible for the two sides to reconcile. After all, Obito wanted the Rinnegan Nagato possessed. So unless Konan fled and avoided a head-on confrontation with Obito, even knowing about Izanagi wouldn't have provided a good solution.]
[Konan's other main problem was that her offensive techniques couldn't break through Obito's defenses. Otherwise, theoretically, as long as Konan had enough chakra, Obito's physical attacks also couldn't deal her any real damage. In that case, the two would have been locked in a prolonged war of attrition, comparing chakra reserves. But since Obito had transplanted Hashirama's cells, his recovery ability still surpasses Konan's.]
[So if Konan chose to keep fighting Obito head-on, she would still have no choice but to use the 600 billion Explosive Tags, and the longer the fight dragged on, the more disadvantageous it became for her.]
[And once Konan used the Explosive Tags, her own chakra was essentially spent. Obito would activate Izanagi to maintain the state he had before being blown up, and Konan would no longer be able to use paper-body transformation to evade his physical attacks. Without the Explosive Tags, she had no way to kill Obito.]
[This created an unsolvable cycle. Unless Konan chose to flee with Nagato's body, a head-on confrontation with Obito was never a good choice.]
[Simply put, Konan's skill set just couldn't prevent Obito from using his Sharingan-exclusive abilities. Even in the Fourth Great Ninja War, it took multiple people working together to offset the advantage of Obito's Kamui. So expecting Konan to single-handedly suppress an Obito who could use Izanagi was unrealistic.]
[Most importantly, even if Konan, knowing the intel, doubled the 600 billion Explosive Tags and extended the detonation time, Obito didn't just have one Three-Tomoe Sharingan. He had an entire wall of Sharingan. So his invincibility time would naturally be far more than just ten minutes.]
[Even putting that aside, was ten seconds of Izanagi's death-defying time not enough for Obito to teleport into the Kamui dimension? Could he not just teleport with the Explosive Tags stuck to him? As long as he could stabilize himself inside the Kamui dimension, Konan was doomed to lose.]
The scene suddenly shifted to a dim space. Damp and cold, the air thick with the pungent smell of preservative solution.
Danzō lay on a stone bed, eyes tightly shut, body wrapped in bandages, as if asleep. Of course, he was already dead. And Obito, wearing his orange mask, stood before him.
What was truly shocking was the wall behind them. Countless Sharingan floated in green solution, dense, packed, an entire wall of them!
Those eyes drifted slightly in the solution, as if still alive, as if watching something. Crimson points of light connected into a single mass, a horrifying, scalp-numbing sight.
Throughout the Shinobi World, the sound of people gasping could be heard one after another.
---
[Konoha, Year 52. Uchiha Clan Grounds]
The Uchiha clan members' faces were grim. They stared at that wall on the screen, at those Sharingan soaking in green solution. Every one of their eyes was involuntarily reddening—a sign of extreme fury.
"Damn bastard… those are the eyes of our entire clan!" Tetsuka's voice was hoarse, barely containing his rage. He slammed his fist into a wooden pillar beside him, sending wood chips flying.
"That bastard! Killing us wasn't enough, he's even displaying our eyes together like trophies. Damn him!"
Yashiro was trembling all over. "What are we Uchiha to them? An eye growing tree?"
Fugaku sat in the main seat, his face ashen, silent. His fingers tapped lightly on the armrest, the rhythm growing faster and faster, like his heartbeat.
The scenes of the Night of the Uchiha Massacre flashed through his mind again—the corpses of his clansmen, the flowing blood.
"From today onward, every Uchiha Jōnin must learn Izanagi and Izanami. That is an order."
Hearing that, everyone was stunned.
Izanagi and Izanami, the Uchiha's Forbidden Jutsus. The ultimate dōjutsu that required sacrificing a Sharingan to activate. And the clan head wanted them to learn these?
"Fugaku-sama…" Tetsuka spoke cautiously. "Is… is this really necessary?"
Fugaku glanced at him: "What do you think? If we don't use them, won't they just end up benefiting our enemies anyway? His warehouse has a wall of our eyes, each one can serve as a one-time resurrection coin. And most of our clan members don't even know how to use them. Is that necessary enough for you?"
Tetsuka fell silent. What Fugaku said was the truth. The Uchiha clan's eyes were being treated as consumables by others, while the Uchiha themselves treated these Forbidden Jutsus as taboo.
Everyone looked at each other, and in the end, no one objected. Because they had all seen that wall, it was, in a sense, the remains of their clan members. So if they didn't make good use of these Forbidden Jutsus, next time, even if they knew the future, the ones lying there might still be themselves.
Shisui stood at the edge of the crowd, watching the angry and determined expressions of his clansmen, a complex wave of emotion rising in his heart. He knew Fugaku's decision was correct, but the fact that they had to use their clansmen's eyes to learn Forbidden Jutsu was itself full of irony.
"Shisui." Fugaku's voice rang out.
Shisui looked up: "Yes."
"You'll learn them too. There are still some spare Three-Tomoe Sharingan in the clan. I'll give you a few more, so make sure you master them thoroughly."
Shisui was silent for a moment, then finally nodded.
---
[Konoha, Year One. Outside the Village on the Cliffside]
Madara's expression was equally grim, perhaps even darker than the future Uchiha clan members'.
He couldn't understand why his future self would choose someone like that as his representative. Even less could he understand why his future self would have no attachment to the clan. After all… protecting the Uchiha clan was Izuna's dying wish!
---
[Konoha Year 60]
[Land of Lightning, Kumogakure]
A once again shot up from his chair, hands slamming on the desk, eyes bulging. "A whole wall of Sharingan! And each one gives ten minutes of invincibility, just how many days of invincibility is that wall worth?!" His voice had changed pitch, barely containing his shock.
Dodai swallowed hard. "Raikage-sama, there's… there's no way to fight this. Obito already has Kamui's phasing, and now with a wall of Sharingan, how could he possibly die?"
A gritted his teeth. "Who could defeat a monster like this?"
---
[Land of Earth, Iwagakure]
Ōnoki's body, floating in mid-air, trembled slightly. "This is just too much of a cheat!"
"The Mangekyō is already a space-time ability, making it hard to even land a hit on him in battle. And with Izanagi on top of that, he's simply unkillable. This guy's far more troublesome than Nagato."
---
[Land of Wind, Sunagakure]
Rasa's hand unconsciously moved to cover his own eye. "A wall full of Sharingan… Just how insane is that man?" His voice was also trembling.
---
[Land of Water, Kirigakure]
Mei's face was pale, her fingers tapping lightly on the armrest.
"A wall of Sharingan… Over ten minutes of invincibility, plus Kamui's phasing…" she murmured. "How do you even kill someone like that?"
After all, Kirigakure was different from other Shinobi Villages, they had an irreconcilable grudge against Obito, and were currently hunting him across the Shinobi World.
Now it seemed Obito simply hadn't taken them seriously. Otherwise, with those abilities, he could slowly slaughter Kirigakure to extinction all by himself.
Ao shook his head. "Mizukage-sama, the screen said he was defeated by Naruto and Sasuke working together. One-on-one, it's almost impossible."
Mei gave a bitter smile. "So we have to rely on those two brats from Konoha, after all."
---
[Land of Rain, Border]
Itachi stood beneath a large tree, silently looking at that wall on the Sky Screen.
Those eyes should have been resting in peace with their owners. It was his sin that had led to them now floating in preservative solution, treated as consumables.
"Obito…" he muttered the name, his eyes carrying no anger, only coldness.
"Izanami, huh…"
He had to teach that Jutsu to Sasuke as soon as possible, not to defeat Obito, but so Sasuke would have a means of survival when he encountered him.
---
[Amegakure, The Tall Tower]
Nagato sat in his wheelchair, looking at the wall on the Sky Screen, his expression dark. Konan, who had hurried back, stood behind him. Paper fragments fluttered unconsciously around her, betraying her inner turmoil.
"An entire wall of Sharingan…"
"Phasing plus Izanagi, over ten minutes of immortality… He's practically invincible."
Konan's brow furrowed deeply. "Nagato, then the plan we discussed for dealing with Obito…"
"It won't work." Nagato shook his head. "600 billion Explosive Tags can't kill him. So even if we doubled them, he could tank it with another Izanagi. And he has a whole wall of Sharingan, he can use it repeatedly."
Konan fell silent for a moment. "Then what do we do?"
Nagato closed his eyes, his mind racing.
Obito had to die. But his and Konan's strength alone wasn't enough, they needed more help.
"Konan." He opened his eyes, a glint of resolve flashing through his Rinnegan.
"Send someone to Konoha. Contact the Fifth Hokage, and tell them the Akatsuki's primary objective is now Obito—we can cooperate." Nagato paused. "At the same time, call Itachi back. As long as we don't move against Konoha or Sasuke, he'll be more than willing to return to the Akatsuki. After all, the world might be vast, but there's no longer a place for him anywhere."
Konan was briefly stunned. "Nagato, you…"
"We must deal with the trouble that is Uchiha Obito." Nagato's voice turned cold. "From the very beginning, he has been using us. The Rinnegan, the Eye of the Moon Plan, and the Akatsuki are all his pieces. And now that we know that his trump cards are far more numerous than we imagined. We need to plan ahead."
Konan nodded: "I'll get to it right away."
Nagato stared at the wall on the Sky Screen again, a question rising in his mind.
He truly wanted to know: how exactly did Obito die?
The screen had said before that Obito was defeated by Naruto and Sasuke working together.
But how?
What method could break through such a long invincibility window?
He didn't know, but he really wanted to.
---
[Land of Waves, Tazuna's House]
Sasuke stared at the wall on the screen, his pupils contracting sharply.
Countless Sharingan floating in green solution, their Three-Tomoe slowly rotating, as if mocking him.
The eyes of his clansmen were dug out just like that, soaked in preservative, and treated as consumables.
"Obito!!!" Sasuke's voice was squeezed from deep in his throat, hoarse and frantic, his body trembling violently.
Naruto, on the side, was startled. "Sasuke, calm down!"
"Calm down?!" Sasuke roared, his eyes having already turned into crimson Sharingan, the tomoe spinning rapidly. "That man, he killed my clan! Gouged out their eyes and treated them as mere disposables!"
Sakura, tears welling in her eyes, reached out to pull him, but Sasuke shook her off.
Kakashi also stood up and walked over to Sasuke, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Sasuke, calm down. Your priority right now is to strengthen yourself. Once you truly reach the height of your future self, everything can be resolved."
Sasuke looked up at Kakashi, the madness in his eyes receding slightly. "Kakashi… that guy, your teammate, what does he even want? What is he trying to achieve?"
Kakashi didn't answer, because he didn't know either.
Naruto walked over and gently patted Sasuke's back. "We'll do it together. We'll beat him together."
Sasuke glanced at Naruto, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, the Three-Tomoe Sharingan had faded, returning to black.
"Mm."
*****
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