Chapter 489: The Second Time

Chapter 489: Chapter 489: The Second Time

Whoosh...

A night breeze swept across the battlefield, stirring up a cloud of dust.

The battlefield that had moments ago been shaking violently, with the earth splitting and the heavens seemingly collapsing, suddenly fell silent. Only the faint cries of wounded Konoha shinobi echoed from the distance.

Kagami’s surprise attack that killed Obito and Obito’s use of his dojutsu to transport the Deva Path away had happened almost simultaneously.

As a result, the two major enemies on the battlefield had disappeared all at once.

Jiraiya, who had only just broken free from Chibaku Tensei before taking a Shinra Tensei head-on, crawled out from beneath a pile of earth. Covered from head to toe in dust, he looked around in complete bewilderment.

Kagami, meanwhile, stared fixedly at Obito’s corpse.

At this moment, Obito’s body, which had been severed into two halves, was undergoing the same rapid decay as his Susanoo had earlier. It was as though several months of decomposition had passed in an instant, reducing his corpse to a pile of withered, rotting flesh.

"Did I get him?"

A trace of hope rose in Kagami’s heart.

His surprise attack just now had been incredibly sudden. The bone blade containing the properties of the All-Killing Ash Bones had shattered Obito’s Susanoo and cut through him in one smooth motion, without encountering even the slightest resistance.

So perhaps Obito hadn’t had enough time to activate Izanagi, the forbidden technique capable of altering fate itself.

Pfft...

Just then, Kagami uncontrollably spat out another mouthful of blood.

Immediately afterward, his body swayed. He staggered several steps before barely managing to steady himself.

Maintaining the Dance of the Seedling Fern for such a long time and sustaining a bone forest over such a vast area was already an enormous burden. On top of that, Kagami was currently being ravaged by his bloodline disease.

If this Type-A Wind Release clone hadn’t been tough enough, with an exceptionally strong constitution, he probably wouldn’t have been able to hold on this long.

Even so, this body could only last another ten minutes or so at most.

But in the blink of an eye, Kagami suddenly discovered that Obito’s remains on the ground had vanished.

They had disappeared so completely that even after activating his Byakugan, Kagami couldn’t find the slightest trace of them.

Even someone struck by Kaguya’s All-Killing Ash Bones would leave behind a scattering of ash.

For there to be absolutely nothing left behind, there was only one possibility—

Before dying, Obito had activated Izanagi, the forbidden technique that distorted fate itself.

"So I was still a step too slow..."

Kagami sighed inwardly, but he wasn’t particularly disappointed.

Forcing Obito to use Izanagi was already a strategic success.

Trying to instantly kill Obito before he could even activate Izanagi was practically impossible. From the very beginning, Kagami’s actual objective had merely been to force Obito to expend one of his Mangekyo Sharingan.

Although a forbidden technique capable of distorting fate like Izanagi was incredibly powerful, it wasn’t without a price.

Every use required completely exhausting the ocular power of one Sharingan. Moreover, this loss could essentially be considered permanent.

Unless someone was like Uchiha Madara, who evolved his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan into the Rinnegan and replenished his ocular power through the evolution of his eyes, once that ocular power was exhausted, it could never be restored.

In other words—

Obito was guaranteed to lose one Sharingan!

Calming his fluctuating emotions, Kagami focused his attention on his surroundings, preparing to attack again the instant Obito revived.

With one Mangekyo Sharingan gone, regardless of whether it was his left eye or his right eye, Obito’s strength would plummet.

As long as the location where Obito revived was close enough to Kagami, Kagami would have a chance to kill him again!

And when that happened, even if Obito activated Izanagi a second time, after losing both Sharingan, he would be little better than useless!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

At that moment, figures began converging on the battlefield one after another.

The first to arrive was Kakashi and his special tactical squad. Shortly afterward, the members of Kagami’s ANBU Team Seven arrived one after another, followed by large numbers of Konoha shinobi rushing in from every direction as reinforcements.

Most of these Konoha shinobi had a small slug perched on their shoulders. Although each of them looked battered and disheveled, they were all in surprisingly good condition, clearly having received treatment.

After looking around and seeing no trace of the enemy, Kakashi hurriedly asked Jiraiya,

"Lord Jiraiya, where’s the enemy?"

Jiraiya shook his head.

He hadn’t seen the scene where Kagami forced back the Deva Path and killed Obito just now, so he was just as confused. He had no idea what had happened or why the Deva Path had suddenly disappeared without a trace.

Kurenai didn’t stop for even a moment and rushed straight toward Kagami’s position.

Just then, Kagami raised a hand toward her.

"Don’t come any closer!"

Kurenai froze for a moment, but obediently stopped. From a considerable distance away, she stared at Kagami with a puzzled expression.

Hearing the unusually grave tone in Kagami’s voice, the Konoha shinobi all looked confused.

There were clearly no enemies anywhere around them, so they couldn’t understand why Kagami was still acting as though he were facing a formidable enemy.

Only a handful of people, including Jiraiya and Kakashi, realized that something was wrong. While warning the shinobi around them, they immediately raised their guards.

And at that exact moment—

Obito’s figure appeared out of thin air in an empty area of the battlefield.

There was no twisting vortex.

No intangible figure materializing from Kamui.

His appearance was almost like a god creating something from nothing—

in a single instant, emptiness itself was replaced by reality.

"Izanagi..."

Kagami murmured the name under his breath, but made no move.

The location where Obito had revived was more than a hundred meters away from him. In his current physical condition, it would be extremely difficult for him to attack before Obito could make himself intangible with Kamui.

"Everyone, be careful!"

"How did he appear?!"

"Was that a space-time ninjutsu?"

Obito’s sudden appearance immediately caused a commotion among the surrounding Konoha shinobi.

Kakashi tightened his grip around his specially made kunai, his eyes fixed unwaveringly on Obito’s distant figure.

He could never forget that silhouette.

It was this very man who had taken the Sharingan from his left eye.

"Could it really be him...?"

Right now, Kakashi desperately wanted to confirm Obito’s identity.

He wanted to know whether the man behind that spiral mask truly was his once-dearest friend.

Obito’s gaze, however, was locked firmly onto Kagami.

"The second time..."

His mood was extraordinarily gloomy, his heart burning with anger.

This was already the second time a member of Kamigami had forced him to activate Izanagi.

In other words—

Kamigami had already killed him twice!

Just thinking about it made his face burn with humiliation!

At the same time, he was now extremely wary of Furin, the Kamigami member standing before him.

He simply couldn’t understand it.

Why could Furin’s bone blade so effortlessly cut through his Susanoo?

It made absolutely no sense!

......

On the village’s outer wall.

After rushing back to the village without stopping to rest, Shisui and Itachi leapt onto the outer wall.

But the moment they saw the scene inside the village, they were completely dumbfounded!

"The village... the village has been destroyed?!"

"How could this happen? How is this possible? This is Konoha!"