The Land of Water is a nation with a unique terrain, its territory surrounded on all sides by the sea yet still home to many mountain peaks.
Because of its distance from the mainland and the barrier of the ocean, the Land of Water rarely became involved in the great ninja wars, making it the least war-affected among the Five Great Nations.
Kirigakure sits deep within the mountains of the Land of Water, its territory perpetually blanketed by thick mist, a ninja village completely cut off from all other nations.
The only road leading to the Land of Lightning passed directly through Kirigakure's territory.
Obito, Spiral Zetsu, and Uzuki Yūki had been inside the Land of Water for three days already, and along the way they had not encountered a single Kiri-nin, which made sense since ninja were a minority compared to ordinary people.
But the closer they drew to Kirigakure, the greater the chance of running into ninja became.
In the forested hills, the three were moving swiftly across a stretch of wetland, their footsteps splashing water with every step.
Obito caught a glimpse of Uzuki Yūki out of the corner of his eye and noticed that her breathing had already grown ragged.
"You're tired. Let's take a break." Obito said.
"Don't underestimate me!" Uzuki Yūki gritted her teeth and surged ahead, pushing past Obito.
Whoosh! Whoosh! At that very moment, a volley of kunai came flying in from ahead.
"Hm?" Uzuki Yūki drew her blade in a flash and knocked the kunai away with a series of sharp clangs, but then she realized with a jolt that the kunai lying at her feet had explosive tags attached to them. Her stamina was spent, and she had no room left to dodge, so she cursed under her breath: 'Damn it!'
At that moment, an arm wrapped around her waist and yanked her swiftly to the side.
Boom!
The explosive tags detonated, sending water spraying into the air.
Uzuki Yūki came back to her senses and found herself being held by Obito.
"I told you, stop pushing yourself." he said.
She wrenched free of his grip through gritted teeth and fixed her wary gaze on the mist ahead.
From within that mist, a large group of Kiri-nin emerged. Leading them was a man with short black hair, no eyebrows, sharp teeth, and a large cross-shaped scar on his right cheek, with bandages wrapped around his ears and neck and red stripes painted across the lower half of his face.
Strapped across his back, unmistakably, was the Decapitating Carving Knife.
"That appearance, and that weapon. Could he be one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, Jinin Akebino!" Uzuki Yūki said, her expression growing grave.
Many Naruto fans might not know Jinin Akebino well, but Obito was not among them.
He was the previous wielder of the Decapitating Carving Knife before Zabuza Momochi and a founding member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
In the original story, dissatisfied with the Fourth Mizukage Yagura's rule, he defected from Kirigakure and joined Akatsuki, partnering with an Uchiha, and later traveled to the Land of Water with Itachi on an Akatsuki mission, where he died at the hands of the Mizukage at the age of thirty-one.
That time had not yet come. Jinin Akebino was barely past twenty now and had not yet defected from Kirigakure.
On top of that, he was one of only three members of the original Seven Ninja Swordsmen to survive Might Duy's Eight Gates Formation.
"You're not ninja from this village." Jinin Akebino stepped forward and demanded coldly.
Spiral Zetsu said in a flippant tone: "Oh my, what rotten luck. First thing and we run straight into the famous Seven Ninja Swordsmen. I really just want to go home!"
Jinin frowned and looked at the headband Uzuki Yūki wore at Obito's side.
"A Konoha defector." Jinin muttered, then drew the Decapitating Carving Knife from his back, raised it with a swing, and declared: "Speak! What is your purpose in coming here? Tell me honestly and I'll leave your corpses intact. Of course, that only comes after I've extracted every last detail of your jutsu. That is the law of the Blood Mist Village!"
"Ohhhhh, how terrifying!" Spiral Zetsu said with exaggerated flair.
"Fall back and stay by Spiral Zetsu." Obito said to Uzuki Yūki.
Uzuki Yūki was reluctant, but she had no choice and complied.
'Even if it's him, going alone against the Seven Ninja Swordsmen and all these Kiri-nin, isn't that just reckless?' she thought.
"Who knows. By the way, what does the urge to defecate feel like? Can you tell me?" Spiral Zetsu, as always, had nothing but excrement on his mind.
"..." Uzuki Yūki shook her head. She felt that talking to Spiral Zetsu was a complete waste of time.
"You're not going to let the two behind you run?" Jinin asked Obito.
"There's no need for that." Obito said.
"You're right, there really is no need, because soon all three of you will be reuniting underground!" Jinin brought two fingers together in front of his chest and formed a seal.
Hidden Mist Jutsu!
Dense mist spread and billowed outward. Within that shroud, only Kiri-nin could clearly sense the presence of their enemies.
'So visibility is sealed off. That's a genuine disadvantage against the Sharingan. But the moment anyone launches an attack, they'll inevitably make some noise.'
Obito murmured quietly, coiling Lightning Release chakra around his right hand, then drove it in a stabbing thrust from behind!
Crack! The Lightning Release tore through Jinin, electricity raging wildly. Splash! But Jinin's body dissolved into water.
"A water clone."
Gurgle, gurgle!
A surge of water rose up beneath Obito's feet, forming a water prison that locked him inside.
'Oh? So it wasn't an ordinary water clone. When destroyed, it releases the Water Prison Jutsu?' Obito thought from within the prison.
Swoosh!
Jinin's true body descended from above, both hands gripping the Decapitating Carving Knife, and brought it crashing down in a furious chop!
"It's over!!"
Boom! The water prison was cleaved apart. The blade buried itself deep into the ground. But something felt wrong to Jinin. He had clearly cut his opponent, yet the satisfying feedback of flesh and bone separating never came.
'What just happened? Not good!!' Jinin thought, startled, and moved to pull the blade free.
"Too late." Obito said quietly.
Clang! Obito planted a foot on the flat of the blade, rested his right hand on Jinin's shoulder, and said in a low voice: "And now it's over."
"The Sharingan." Jinin said in stunned disbelief.
Whoosh!
The vortex of Kamui released from his right eye.
"Ahhh!!" In an instant, Jinin was pulled into the Kamui dimension.
This was the true terror of Kamui. Those who did not know its secrets, even someone as powerful as a member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, would be eliminated in a single instant.
But even knowing its secrets, what could one do? Before absolute power, all struggle was futile.
With its caster pulled into another dimension, the Hidden Mist Jutsu dissolved, and the Kiri-nin surrounding them stared on in blank stupefaction.
"Captain Jinin, taken out in an instant?"
"Just what kind of jutsu was that!!"
Obito crouched down and picked up the Decapitating Carving Knife from the ground.
His Sharingan swept into motion, locking onto the positions of every Kiri-nin in the area.
Swoosh! His figure vanished from where he stood.
Uchiha-style Swordsmanship!
Flash! Flash! Flash! Flash!
Blades of light cut through the air in rapid succession as Kiri-nin fell one after another to the edge of the Decapitating Carving Knife.
"You're kidding me." Uzuki Yūki's pupils trembled.
A minute later, the blood of the Kiri-nin had stained the ground red.
Clang! Obito drove the Decapitating Carving Knife into the earth, swept a cold gaze toward the shadows between the trees, and called out: "Stop lurking in the dark. All of you, come out."
Rustle, rustle, rustle! After a brief silence, movement came.
"Jinin was useless, just like that Decapitating Carving Knife of his. Completely worthless."
From the west, a female ninja approached, her long reddish-brown hair worn in vertical braids, her teeth sharp, fluffy bandages wound around her neck, and two spike-covered blades strapped across her back.
She was the second wielder of the Thundersword Kiba among the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, Ringo Yu Yuri.
"Konoha again. That stirs up unpleasant memories. But an Uchiha shouldn't be capable of that kind of outrageous physical technique."
From the north, a heavyset male ninja approached, his long orange hair reaching down to his waist, his teeth sharp, fluffy bandages wrapped around his neck, green stripes painted on his cheeks, and a bandage-wrapped greatsword strapped across his back.
He was the first wielder of the greatsword Samehada among the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, Fuguki Suikazan.
Trailing behind him was a young ninja who was unmistakably a youthful Kisame Hoshigaki.
"But the Uchiha's dōjutsu is renowned throughout the ninja world. Jinin paid with his life to give us some useful intelligence."
From the south, a young boy ninja approached, his hair white and worn in vertical braids, his teeth sharp, fluffy bandages coiled around his neck. He carried no sword on his back, only a scroll at his side.
It was said that after the Seven Ninja Swordsmen suffered their losses at the hands of Might Duy, a prodigious young talent had emerged within Kirigakure, a boy with the bloodline of the Hōzuki Clan who had inherited the Twin Swords Nuibari and Kabutowari. What made him truly fearsome was his ability to freely summon and wield all of the Seven Swords.
The Blastsword Hiramekarei, the Longsword Nuibari, and the Bluntsword Kabutowari, three swords whose previous owners had died without successors, had all been placed in the boy's scroll for safekeeping. Together with the Twin Swords, he alone represented four of the seven swordsmen.
The boy now stood before them. His name was Mangetsu Hōzuki.
"Watching from the shadows while your comrades die right in front of you. Truly the way of the Blood Mist Village." Obito murmured, raising his head to look at them all, then said: "Well then. I take it everyone's here now."