Chapter 376: Can You Do It?

Chapter 376: Chapter 376: Can You Do It?

The display rack in front of Hyuga Kagami was exquisitely crafted, with even its edges adorned with intricate carvings. Just looking at the rack itself, it was already a rare work of art.

There were seven differently shaped recesses on the rack. With a single glance, Hyuga Kagami recognized that these seven recesses corresponded to the seven Ninja Swords that had made Kirigakure famous throughout the shinobi world.

However, only the recess on the far left contained a sword—the twin-bladed Hiramekarei. The other six recesses were completely empty.

Resting his chin on one hand, Hyuga Kagami pondered, "Kubikiribōchō is in Jūzō Biwa’s hands, while Samehada was left behind outside Amegakure. Who knows who ended up taking it? Kiba should be with the rogue ninja Raiga Kurosuki... So what about Nuibari, Shibuki, and Kabutowari? Were they lost, or did Obito warp them away?"

Kirigakure’s Seven Ninja Swords had been passed down from generation to generation. However, during the previous Shinobi World War, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had encountered Might Guy’s father and suffered devastating casualties beneath the power of the Eight Gates. Coupled with Kirigakure’s continuous internal turmoil afterward, the line of succession had ultimately been broken.

And now, Kirigakure was so short-handed that it could not even spare enough manpower to hunt down a rogue jinchūriki. Naturally, it had even less energy to devote to recovering the Seven Ninja Swords.

Just then, Hyuga Kagami’s body suddenly trembled.

An inexplicable pulling force assaulted him from behind.

"Kamui!?"

Hyuga Kagami’s heart tightened, and he instantly realized what was happening.

But immediately afterward, he discovered a strange numbness spreading throughout his body. Even his thoughts seemed to briefly cut out, leaving tiny gaps in his consciousness.

"This..."

Obito’s unique Mangekyō Sharingan dōjutsu, Kamui, was a space-time ninjutsu capable of directly distorting space.

Unlike ordinary ninjutsu, the instant someone was caught by it, both their physical body and soul would experience a strange sensation of being stripped away from reality due to the distortion of space. It created a momentary sluggishness, almost as though they had been immobilized by a paralysis technique.

That was exactly the situation Hyuga Kagami found himself in!

This was also why so many of Obito’s victims had been dispatched almost effortlessly without putting up much resistance.

Faced with such a sudden attack, anyone would inevitably panic. And under the combined effects of that panic and the strange sluggishness caused by spatial distortion, the victim would inevitably suffer a brief lapse in awareness.

It was precisely that brief lapse that caused them to miss their final chance to escape.

Therefore, to seize that last opportunity for escape, two conditions had to be met.

First, one had to remain calm and composed, maintaining an utterly unshaken state of mind.

Second, one had to possess a ninjutsu that required no hand seals—one capable of either instantly repositioning oneself or threatening Obito directly.

When the Fourth Hokage had been caught by Kamui, he had escaped Obito’s technique using the space-time ninjutsu, Flying Thunder God Technique.

Therefore, Obito’s Kamui was not without a counter!

Suppressing the countless thoughts that had flashed through his mind in that instant, the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan in Hyuga Kagami’s eyes began spinning rapidly.

Although Hyuga Kagami could not resist the sluggishness that came from his body being torn away from the fabric of space-time under Kamui’s influence, leaving him unable to freely form hand seals or perform any ninjutsu that required them...

There were certain dōjutsu that required no hand seals at all!

"Susanoo!"

In an instant, a brilliant golden phantom erupted from Hyuga Kagami’s body.

This time, the phantom seemed to completely skip the usual process of forming its skeleton, tendons, and layers of muscle.

Driven by the immense ocular power of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan in Hyuga Kagami’s eyes, and sacrificing portions of its normal bodily structure, the golden phantom instantly manifested into a single massive arm gripping a sword—

and violently swung the blade toward Obito, who had ambushed Hyuga Kagami from behind!

"Huh...?"

The sudden burst of golden light caught Obito completely off guard.

He had expected this ambush to be an effortless capture, never imagining that such an unexpected development would occur. Even someone as battle-hardened as Obito couldn’t help but freeze for an instant.

Moreover, the hand he had pressed against Hyuga Kagami’s back was currently activating Kamui. While dragging a target into the Kamui dimension, Obito himself remained tangible—and therefore vulnerable to attack.

Whoosh—!

The golden sword slashed down, instantly sending a spray of blood into the air.

Amid the scattering droplets of blood, Obito staggered backward, clutching his left arm, which had been severed cleanly at the shoulder. He hurriedly canceled Kamui and rapidly retreated.

Only then did Hyuga Kagami slowly turn around.

His gaze lingered briefly on the severed arm lying on the ground before shifting toward Obito a short distance away.

At the same time, the Susanoo surrounding him continued to take shape. From the single arm that had manifested moments earlier, it gradually expanded into a complete upper-body giant, firmly enveloping and protecting him within.

"Susanoo!?"

Obito’s expression darkened.

"You’re an Uchiha?"

Obito had never imagined that the young woman before him, dressed as a Kirigakure ninja, would actually be an Uchiha who possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan—and could even manifest Susanoo.

Hyuga Kagami didn’t answer.

Instead, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Whew... That was close..."

After recovering from his shock, Obito suddenly furrowed his brow.

"No... You’re Kamigami’s Homura!"

The Mangekyō Sharingan wasn’t something one could simply find lying around. There was no way another Mangekyō wielder could have appeared out of nowhere.

Thus, Obito quickly connected the person standing before him with Homura of Kamigami.

After all, as far as Obito knew, Homura of Kamigami was the only Mangekyō Sharingan wielder whose true identity and background remained completely unknown to him.

"Hmph!"

Hyuga Kagami instinctively let out a cold snort.

However, because he was controlling his Fire Release clone, the young woman’s voice was rather crisp and clear. It failed to properly convey the irritation he had intended and instead carried an unexpected hint of provocation.

"I never expected Homura to be a woman!" Obito paused, then chuckled. "Good. Since you’ve delivered yourself right to my doorstep, I’ll gladly take those Mangekyō Sharingan of yours!"

Naturally, Obito wasn’t about to let an opportunity like this slip away.

To him, obtaining another pair of Mangekyō Sharingan was secondary. What he valued far more was the opportunity to extract information about Kamigami from Homura.

Hyuga Kagami casually nudged Obito’s severed arm lying beside his foot and said indifferently,

"Can you do it?"

Obito rolled his neck.

"You’ll find out soon enough!"

The instant those words left his mouth, Obito’s figure blurred.

His speed was so great that he left an afterimage behind as he charged straight toward Hyuga Kagami.

Hyuga Kagami didn’t dare underestimate him. He immediately lowered his center of gravity, while the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan in his eyes surged to full power, capturing every single one of Obito’s movements.

Although Hyuga Kagami knew the mechanics of Obito’s Kamui and had a general understanding of the trump cards Obito possessed, fighting an opponent of Obito’s caliber was an entirely different matter.

Even the slightest mistake could result in a crushing defeat.

More importantly, Hyuga Kagami couldn’t yet be certain that Obito was the only person inside this underground palace.

If the entirety of Akatsuki was here...

Then he would be in serious trouble.

So he couldn’t afford even the slightest carelessness.

Obito was incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, he had already closed the distance and appeared directly in front of Hyuga Kagami.

However, Hyuga Kagami remained perfectly still, calmly responding to every change by making none of his own. Unable to find even the slightest opening in his defense, Obito had no choice but to make himself intangible and pass straight through Hyuga Kagami’s body.

After passing through one another, the two turned around simultaneously—

and once again faced each other in a tense standoff.

Hyuga Kagami’s expression darkened as he thought,

"I have to bait him into attacking. That’s the only way I can hurt him!"