Chapter 493: Staring Each Other Down

Chapter 493: Chapter 493: Staring Each Other Down

"You people from the Kamigami really do have a mysterious amount of confidence!"

Obito chuckled softly. Without stopping, he continued walking slowly toward Kagami.

"Cough, cough..."

Kagami coughed up blood heavily as he struggled to retreat.

But this Type-A Wind Release clone had already reached its limit. Even his limbs were barely responding to him anymore. His retreat was painfully slow, nowhere near fast enough to escape Obito’s leisurely approach.

Seeing this, Obito said mockingly, "If I can finish you off here, I’ll finally be able to breathe a little easier."

In the distance—

Seeing that Kagami had basically lost the ability to move, Kurenai climbed out of the crater and, without the slightest hesitation, prepared to rush over.

She knew that even if she charged in, she wouldn’t actually be of much help. At most, she would simply be throwing her life away.

But whether out of gratitude or principle, she could not possibly stand by and do nothing while ’Furin,’ the man who had once saved her life, was in danger.

At that moment, Kakashi grabbed Kurenai by the shoulder and said quietly, "Don’t worry. He’s already paid such a heavy price to protect Konoha. No matter who he really is, we Konoha shinobi aren’t going to just stand here and watch him be killed!"

Kakashi had long since noticed that Kurenai seemed to know ’Furin’ of the Kamigami—and judging from the way she acted, their personal relationship was clearly not a shallow one.

Kurenai bit her lip. "I’ve never hated my own powerlessness as much as I do today!"

Kakashi shifted his gaze toward Obito in the distance.

"Don’t lose heart. We’re still young. We still have the chance to become stronger.

"Tonight isn’t your end."

With that, Kakashi made a hand signal.

In an instant, the three members of his special tactical squad gathered around him. Each held a specially made kunai in hand, their expressions resolute, without the slightest trace of fear on their faces.

This special tactical squad had been temporarily formed by Konoha specifically to deal with Obito.

The Third Hokage had put a great deal of thought into its creation. He had even broken with the village’s long-standing traditions—merit and contributions didn’t matter. As long as someone displayed talent in space-time ninjutsu, they were eligible for selection and given the opportunity to attempt learning the Flying Thunder God Technique.

It was precisely because of the Third Hokage’s bold decision to break convention that, from among Konoha’s nearly ten thousand shinobi, four people—including Kakashi—had ultimately been selected to train in the Flying Thunder God Technique.

However, they had only been training for a short time, and none of them possessed talent comparable to the Fourth Hokage.

As a result, even Kakashi, the captain of the special tactical squad, had only barely grasped the Flying Thunder God Technique. He was still far from being able to use it proficiently.

But now, they had no choice but to act.

Because if ’Furin’ of the Kamigami died at the enemy’s hands, there would be no one left capable of keeping this powerful Akatsuki enemy in check.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

One specially made kunai after another shot toward Obito, cutting off his path toward Kagami.

The corner of Obito’s mouth curled upward as he simply allowed the specially made kunai to pass straight through his intangible body.

Meanwhile, Kagami, still on the ground, cursed inwardly,

"You bunch of idiots! Stop getting in the way!"

In the next instant, several figures flickered into existence at the positions of the first wave of specially made kunai.

Catching the kunai in midair, they immediately twisted around and launched a second volley toward Obito.

But Obito had long since figured out the workings of the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Rapidly switching between intangibility and solidity, he dismantled their assault with ease.

With just a few punches and kicks, all three members of the special tactical squad were knocked to the ground.

Bzzzt—!

At that moment, a piercing sound like a thousand birds chirping suddenly erupted behind Obito.

Obito immediately turned intangible, allowing Kakashi—who had launched a sneak attack from behind, his body wreathed in lightning—to pass straight through him.

Then, at the exact instant Kakashi passed through his body, Obito activated Wood Release, piercing straight through Kakashi’s back before hurling him away.

Watching Kakashi’s special tactical squad get taken down so swiftly and decisively, Kagami frowned inwardly.

"He learned his lesson!"

During that brief exchange, Obito had been unexpectedly cautious.

His transitions between intangibility and solidity lasted for only the tiniest fraction of a moment, leaving Kagami absolutely no opportunity to make his move.

Lying on the ground, Kakashi clutched the wound where the Wood Release had pierced through his body and finally asked the question that had been weighing on his mind all this time.

"Tell me... just who the hell are you?"

Obito visibly hesitated for a moment.

After thinking it over, he replied, "Since you care so much about my identity, I might as well tell you the truth.

"I am Uchiha Madara!"

"Uchiha Madara!?"

Kakashi stared at him in disbelief. "That’s impossible! He died a long time ago!"

Obito stopped in his tracks and glared at Kakashi.

"Hmph! You ignorant fool. Just lie there quietly and stop getting in my way. Trash like you isn’t even worthy of dying by my hand!"

"You..."

For a moment, Kakashi didn’t know what to say.

Obito ignored him and strode toward Kagami.

Seeing Obito approaching while still intangible, Kagami forced himself back onto his feet.

Clutching a bone blade in his hand, he staggered forward with unsteady steps and lunged at Obito.

Obito neither dodged nor moved aside.

He simply allowed Kagami to pass straight through his intangible figure.

Then, using exactly the same method as before, Obito instantly turned solid and unleashed Wood Release—

Wood Style: Cutting Sprigs Technique!

Immediately afterward, he turned intangible once again.

The entire transition from intangibility to solidity and back again—

lasted less than a second.

At that moment, a sharpened wooden stake suddenly shot toward Kagami’s back!

This was Wood Style: Cutting Sprigs Technique.

Once the stake pierced its target, if the caster wished, they could activate Wood Release again, causing the wooden stake embedded inside the target’s body to rapidly grow and branch out, instantly destroying their internal organs.

It was an extremely vicious Wood Release ninjutsu!

Clang—!

But the instant the wooden stake struck Kagami’s back, the sound of metal colliding with metal unexpectedly rang out!

Obito’s gaze sharpened.

Only then did he notice that a layer of bone membrane had protruded from Kagami’s back, blocking his Wood Release.

Having missed his attack, Kagami collapsed to the ground once again.

He coughed up blood while gasping heavily for breath, seemingly without even enough strength left to turn his head, leaving his back completely exposed to Obito.

Seeing that even after things had reached this point he still couldn’t injure his opponent, Obito began to grow irritated.

Gritting his teeth, he thought,

"Your bone membrane might be able to block my Wood Release... but can it block my Kamui!?"

Having made up his mind, Obito deactivated his intangibility and unleashed Kamui on Kagami.

In an instant, a distorted vortex appeared over Kagami’s back!

One second...

Two seconds...

The twisting vortex rapidly expanded, on the verge of swallowing Kagami’s entire body.

And Obito—

had now remained solid for nearly two full seconds!

Seeing that more than half of Kagami’s body had already been distorted by Kamui, Obito finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"It’s finally over!"

BOOM—!

At that exact instant—

A flaming blade suddenly burst out of the ground without the slightest warning, thrusting upward from below and piercing straight through Obito’s body!

Kagami, whose body was being torn out of space-time by Kamui, barely managed to turn himself around.

With his right hand—the only part of him that had yet to be distorted—he gave Obito a little wave and grinned.

"Hey.

"Goodbye forever!"

But the smile on Kagami’s face quickly froze.

Because he suddenly realized that it wasn’t just Obito being sucked into the flaming blade.

Since the two of them were still connected through Kamui, Kagami’s body also began to melt away, rapidly being sucked into the flaming blade along with him!

The scene suddenly changed.

Inside the illusionary world of the Totsuka Blade—

Kagami and Obito simply stood there...

staring at each other.