Chapter 13: Victory and Defeat
Just as Yusuke's Zanpakutō passed cleanly through Obito's body, Obito immediately reached out to grab Yusuke's left shoulder, ready to deactivate his intangibility and pull Yusuke into the Kamui dimension the moment he made contact.
The instant his right hand landed on Yusuke's shoulder, Obito's heart leapt—success! He immediately deactivated his intangibility.
But in that very instant, a searing pain erupted across his body—as if flames had begun devouring him.
It turned out the flames released from Yusuke's slash hadn't yet fully dissipated and still lingered in the air. While intangible, Obito hadn't noticed them. But the moment his body became tangible again, the residual flames clung to him like dry wood to a spark.
These flames, born from the Zanpakutō Ryūjin Jakka, were no ordinary fire—they burned at extreme temperatures, igniting anything they touched and spreading rapidly until their target was consumed completely.
In the blink of an eye, Obito was engulfed in flames.
"AAAHHHH!!!"
Obito screamed in agony as fire raced across his entire body. He immediately abandoned his attempt to drag Yusuke into the Kamui space and reacted swiftly—activating a substitution technique and shedding his black cloak just in time to avoid being entirely incinerated.
But Yusuke had no intention of giving him a moment to recover.
In a flash, Yusuke used the Shunpo technique to close the distance, relentlessly swinging Ryūjin Jakka. With each slash, arcs of brilliant crimson fire danced through the air like fiery ribbons, leaving burning trails with every movement.
Obito, still reeling from narrowly escaping death by fire, hadn't even had time to regain his composure when Yusuke was already upon him again, pressing the attack without pause. Obito had no choice but to re-activate his intangibility.
At this moment, Obito was deeply troubled. Though the fiery arcs left by Yusuke's slashes didn't linger for long, they were lethally dangerous to him. If, by chance, he re-materialized while touching one of those flames—even briefly—the results would be the same as before: instant ignition.
"Could he be aware of my abilities, and using this method to restrain me?" Obito thought, filled with confusion, but quickly dismissed the thought. After all, the only ones who had ever witnessed his Kamui were himself, Uchiha Madara, and Zetsu, so there was no way that Yusuke could possibly know about it.
As a transmigrator, Yusuke, of course, was fully aware of Obito's Kamui ability. He also knew that Obito's Kamui had a time limit of around five minutes. As long as he continued to pursue Obito relentlessly, without giving him any chance to breathe, Obito would eventually be forced to end his intangibility. At that point, Yusuke could strike and defeat him.
Faced with Yusuke's overwhelming offensive, Obito was forced to remain intangible, not daring to manifest his physical form. Every time Yusuke swung his Flowing Blade of Flames, he would create a barrier of flame to protect himself, leaving Obito no chance to attack. Obito could only keep moving, trying to create some distance to buy time for his intangibility to expire.
"This isn't working. I need to find a way to break free of this intangibility soon. I can't keep dragging this out!" Three minutes had passed, and Obito had failed to find an opportunity to strike Yusuke. He also couldn't shake off Yusuke, who had been relentlessly tailing him. Obito's impatience began to grow.
At this moment, Yusuke was also feeling the pressure. In order to prevent Obito from becoming tangible, he had been giving his all to keep up the pursuit. His physical stamina and chakra were both rapidly depleting. At this intensity, Yusuke could only maintain the offensive for another fifteen minutes at most.
In a typical ninja battle, many situations were resolved in an instant, with victory or defeat being immediately apparent. Yusuke had always fought in quick and decisive battles, never encountering such a prolonged standoff. Obito's ability was simply near unbeatable; without this constant pursuit, Yusuke would have had no way to harm him.
"Your attacks are useless against me. You're just wasting your chakra and energy," Obito mocked, hoping to fool Yusuke into abandoning this unrelenting attack.
However, Yusuke ignored Obito's bluster and continued to press on.
Another minute passed. Obito knew he couldn't hold out much longer. If he was forced to become tangible, he wouldn't be able to withstand Yusuke's assault, and it would take no more than five moves before Yusuke would finish him off.
"How could this be? How am I unable to defeat a mere Uchiha Yusuke?" Obito thought, unwilling to accept the situation, but he couldn't come up with a way to turn things around.
Just as Obito was sinking into despair, a half-black, half-white figure appeared on a large tree not far behind Yusuke. It was Zetsu, who had come to lend support, not trusting Obito to handle things alone.
Zetsu's appearance immediately distracted Yusuke for a moment. In that split second, Obito seized the opportunity to retreat, briefly distancing himself from Yusuke. He then became tangible again, gaining a moment of respite and preparing for a lethal counterattack.
"Wood Release: Wood Pillar Jutsu!" Now tangible, Obito used the power of the Hashirama cells attached to him by White Zetsu to perform the Wood Release's deadly Wood Pillar Jutsu.
The Wood Pillar Jutsu involved extending a wooden spike from the user's arm, thrusting it into the enemy's body and then allowing it to grow and split into multiple branches inside, ruthlessly piercing through the victim.
Seeing Yusuke unable to dodge, Obito's eyes gleamed with triumph. The wooden spike he extended from his arm accurately pierced Yusuke's right shoulder, blood quickly soaking through the fabric of Yusuke's clothing.
"Die!" Obito shouted with ferocity. He was certain that he had hit Yusuke, the very enemy he had always been unable to defeat. Today, he would finally see him fall.
From a distance, Zetsu also didn't believe that Yusuke would survive this attack.
However, before Obito's triumphant expression could even fade, he noticed that Yusuke's eyes were filled with killing intent as well. His heart skipped a beat. Obito realized that the Wood Pillar Jutsu hadn't triggered the expected branching spikes. After the wooden spike pierced Yusuke's shoulder, nothing happened. There was no sign of the wood splitting and growing.
Suddenly, flames erupted from the wound on Yusuke's shoulder, igniting the wooden spike and rapidly spreading up to Obito's arm where the spike had emerged.
Obito was startled and immediately retreated again. Zetsu, too, was shocked by the change. Neither of them had expected Yusuke to possess the ability to perform a Fire Release chakra transformation within his body, one that countered Obito's Wood Pillar Jutsu and allowed Yusuke to retaliate.
"Fire Release: Blaze Path Technique!"
Seeing that Obito had been caught in the flames, Yusuke immediately formed a one-handed seal and unleashed his true killing move. The Blaze Path Technique was a Fire Release jutsu that Yusuke had developed himself. As long as there was fire connected to his Flowing Blade of Flames, he could essentially teleport through the flames to any location.
The flames that had erupted from the wound on Yusuke's shoulder were now connected to the fire from his blade, allowing him to travel instantly through the fire. In a flash, he appeared right behind Obito, who was still stunned by the unexpected turn of events.
"Be careful!" Zetsu shouted, seeing Yusuke vanish in a burst of flames. Then, Yusuke emerged from the burning flame on Obito's arm, half of his body stepping out of the flames, his gaze fixed fiercely on Obito.
"Flare!"
Without hesitation, Yusuke swung his blade in a horizontal slash, instantly crossing Obito and appearing behind him.
To their surprise, Obito's body was still intact, standing stiffly without any signs of injury. He hadn't been severed by the slash.
"Did Obito manage to become intangible in time? Impossible! He should have been too slow," Zetsu thought, bewildered.
But just as Zetsu's doubts formed, they were immediately answered. Obito's body suddenly blackened, and from within, it was roasted by the flames. The moisture was entirely evaporated, leaving behind a charred corpse.
Yusuke, seemingly uninterested in Obito's remains, quickly shifted his gaze to the not-so-distant Zetsu.
Zetsu looked at Yusuke with a grim expression, secretly laughing to himself. "Did you think that just taking down Obito would solve everything? Carelessness always comes with a price."
At that moment, Obito's charred corpse on the ground slowly began to disappear, and Obito, seemingly unscathed, suddenly appeared behind Yusuke, who had his back turned.
Obito's eyes burned with anger and murderous intent. He had never expected that Yusuke would almost completely overpower him, forcing him to use the forbidden technique Izanagi.
Izanagi was an ultimate genjutsu of the Sharingan, allowing the user to record their own state at the moment of casting. Within a limited time, it could nullify any harm, even death, and revert the user back to the recorded state. However, once used, the Sharingan that recorded the state would be permanently sealed and lose its power.
At this moment, Obito had sacrificed one of the transplanted Sharingan in his body to cast Izanagi, nullifying the damage Yusuke had inflicted upon him.
What Obito didn't realize was that Yusuke was fully aware of his abilities. Yusuke had intentionally turned his back on Obito's "corpse" to give him a chance to strike.
Just as Obito thought he was about to land a fatal blow, Yusuke shattered his expectations once again, leaving Zetsu, who had been watching from a distance, dumbfounded.
A flash of crimson light cut through the air, and Obito's mask was split down the middle, immediately set ablaze by the flames clinging to the blade, turning to ash. In that moment, Yusuke and Obito's gazes met, and from the sensation transmitted through the blade, Yusuke realized that Obito had activated Kamui in the nick of time, saving himself from death.
Watching Obito cover his face, now maskless, and slowly disappear into the swirling vortex of space, Yusuke couldn't help but sigh inwardly. "As expected, Obito isn't so easy to deal with."
At that very moment, Obito's heart was filled with a deep sense of defeat. He had never imagined that, after awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan and mastering Kamui, he would still lose to this former adversary.
"Do you really think a fake world can offer true comfort?" Just as Obito was nearly sucked completely into the Kamui space, Yusuke stared directly at him and softly asked.
Upon hearing Yusuke's words, Obito was greatly shaken, his pupils contracting. He couldn't understand the meaning behind Yusuke's question.
"Does he know our plan? Did he see my face when my mask was cut?" Obito was filled with questions, but in the end, he disappeared from Yusuke's sight.
After Obito fled, Zetsu quickly retreated underground. Not one to excel in combat, Zetsu didn't dare stay around to face Yusuke, who had effortlessly toyed with Obito.
Yusuke exhaled deeply. The battle just now had not been easy for him—he had used every ounce of strategy and expended a significant amount of physical energy and chakra. If Obito had gotten a couple more chances to catch his breath, it would have been Yusuke running out of chakra instead.
Yusuke also knew that Obito had just been revived by Madara and was relying entirely on Kamui to fight. His strength and experience were far inferior to the Obito from the original timeline. Once Obito matured, Yusuke knew he would never be able to defeat him like this again.
As Yusuke was about to rest, he suddenly felt a powerful tremor underfoot, the source of which seemed to be in a nearby valley.
Accompanied by a fierce roar, a massive creature, its body dark gray and stone-like, suddenly emerged in the valley ahead. The creature's colossal form towered over the surrounding hills and peaks, dwarfing everything in sight.