Obito watched as several of Madara's Susanoo avatars slashed toward his real body.
So it turned out, when he used the Flying Thunder God technique, flashing together with his phantom Susanoo avatars to Madara's side and launching an attack, Madara had already been prepared. He had transferred his Susanoo avatars in advance, ready at any moment, precisely for this situation now.
One had to admit, although in terms of mechanisms he was far ahead of Madara, Madara's battle intelligence was equally outstanding. Even when in disadvantage, he still gave his all to look for chances.
Even if it meant letting his Susanoo be split apart, he still wanted to inflict damage?
Truly, such an unwilling-to-lose personality.
Thinking of this, Obito sighed, feeling a bit sorry for Madara.
Because Madara's plan was doomed to fail.
When Obito, carrying the power of Kamui, cut Madara's original Susanoo in half with one strike, his blade had already completely withdrawn from Madara's Susanoo body.
That meant, all his attack actions were already complete. In that instant of clash, the opening revealed was gone.
Thus, the very next moment… Those attacks that were about to touch him again turned futile, slashing at nothing but air.
Madara saw that even after exhausting all his strength to create an opening, Obito still avoided it with intangibility. His heart finally felt tired.
He realized his own shortcomings. In facing an opponent with such shameless ability, he had only one way to break through: at the instant Obito revealed a flaw, accelerate himself to a speed beyond human reaction, only then might he hit him.
But the problem was, though he possessed many immensely powerful techniques, they all required activation time. In a contest where speed was decisive, they were far from fast.
And Obito's reaction itself was monstrously sharp. Which meant he was almost certain to evade any of Madara's attacks.
Obito was practically his natural enemy.
Madara felt that even if he advanced further, awakened the Rinnegan, and faintly touched upon that level… he would still be helpless against Obito.
At this moment, on Madara's face, at last slowly appeared a relieved smile.
He was a little tired. He didn't want to fight anymore.
However, Madara no longer wanting to fight only made Obito even more excited.
They had already fought to this extent; without a decisive outcome, it was impossible to stop.
Maintaining his intangible state, Obito passed through countless Susanoo avatars' attacks, heading straight for Madara.
By now, Madara had no trump cards left. He could only watch helplessly as Obito drew closer and closer.
Instinctively, Madara stretched out his hand, forming a seal, wanting to resist even though he knew it was futile.
"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Song Technique!"
Immediately, a mass of enormous dragon-shaped fireballs spewed from Madara's mouth.
Densely packed, awe-inspiring fireballs surged toward Obito.
Against ordinary shinobi, even Kage-level from the Five Great Villages, this barrage would already inflict effective lethal damage.
But Obito still bore the third power of the Eternal Mangekyo, the Complete Body Susanoo.
Before the defense of the Complete Body Susanoo, such ordinary ninjutsu couldn't even scratch its outer shield.
This was precisely why Madara hadn't bothered to use ninjutsu earlier.
Obito, of course, could have ignored the fireballs entirely and forced his Susanoo straight through to Madara.
Yet he could also show off an even more dazzling maneuver.
Suddenly, one of Obito's phantom Susanoo avatars appeared behind Madara.
In an instant, Obito swapped places with that avatar.
The next moment, Madara's dense barrage of fireballs slammed into the afterimage avatar in Obito's previous spot.
And again, they hit nothing. The fireballs passed through the phantom and struck the surrounding forest instead, detonating in a chain of explosions.
Meanwhile, Obito seized the chance. His blade, already infused with Kamui's power and halfway through its motion, cleaved outward.
He said flatly, "This move, let's call it Phantom Flicker, Flying Thunder God Kamui Slash."
In that instant, Madara did not dodge. Instead, he suddenly turned his head, left his Susanoo entirely, and leaned toward Obito's figure.
Slowly, he extended his hand toward Obito.
Obito was startled. Though his slash was extremely fast, Madara wasn't yet utterly cornered. He still had room to react and dodge.
And Obito hadn't aimed at Madara's true body inside the Susanoo. After all, this was just a spar, not a battle to the death.
But Madara's action now looked more like he was deliberately moving into the slash. If Obito didn't immediately withdraw, Madara would end up like Sasuke once did, cut in two.
Thinking this, Obito had no choice but to cancel Kamui at the last moment, retract his Susanoo, and dismiss all his power.
Madara did the same.
At once, all the Susanoo giants vanished from the battlefield.
Clap!
Breaking through all obstacles, Madara finally reached Obito's side. His hand firmly clasped onto Obito's.
Madara revealed a trace of satisfaction. He didn't take the next step of action, only said, "I caught you."
Obito showed a helpless look, "Madara, was it necessary to go this far? If I had withdrawn my power just a moment later, you would've been gravely injured."
Uchiha Madara, however, no longer cared. He only said, "Anyway, I caught you."
Seeing how Madara had risked everything just to touch him, Obito suddenly understood something.
That single touch, to him, meant nothing. After all, his intangibility could nullify Madara's contact at any moment.
But to Madara, it meant everything.
This was a strong man's final stubbornness.
Realizing this, Obito could only let Madara hold him, "Alright, count it as your win. Let's stop here."
But Madara released his hand and turned away, "No, you win. Even after exhausting all my strength, before seizing back all my power and stepping into that level, I still could not touch you."
"I'm not so blind as to not see that. You may already be the strongest shinobi I know in the world today."
"So this is what they call the overwhelming suppression of a Sage of Six Paths against mortals? Strange… from the perspective of raw strength, you and I are still on the same level."
Obito thought for a while, then said, "Maybe it's because my Mangekyo Sharingan is unusually special. Before fusing into the Eternal Mangekyo, I also never thought I could contend with the Sage of Six Paths."
"But in practice, ordinary Six Paths-level opponents truly can't do much against me."
Madara turned back, eyes showing curiosity, "So you've already crossed hands with someone at Six Paths level. In your opinion, compared to him, or them, how far am I still lacking?"
Obito pondered. If it were Six Paths Sasuke, or Six Paths Hinata, facing Madara as he was today, what would happen?
And then, two extremely miserable scenes flashed through his mind.
"Madara, I don't want to discourage you, but… you'd either be instantly bisected by a sudden Chidori substitution, or else blasted apart together with your Susanoo by several volleys of the Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack."
Madara's face darkened. He snorted, but didn't argue, only said, "I've already subdued White Zetsu. It's about time I return to Akatsuki. This side of things, you handle yourself."
With that, he turned again and walked away.
Obito watched Madara's departing back and suddenly felt the old man seemed somewhat desolate.
He muttered softly, "Still pretty proud, though."
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