Chapter 68: Clash of Spatial Ability Users
Makoto never actually heard the black-robed man's voice.
Silent Echo wasn't responsible.
The man had simply moved faster than sound.
His cold fingers touched Makoto's skin with ease, and Kamui immediately began pulling Makoto in. Makoto himself seemed not to have reacted at all.
Yukinoshita only had time to grip her scabbard. Her fighting style focused heavily on Adaptability to strengthen the mechanics of her Zanpakuto, so the weakness of that approach became obvious when an enemy completely overwhelmed her in raw attributes.
It looked inevitable that Makoto would be captured. Yet no one noticed that one of his fingers had already slipped into a newly opened spatial passage.
Makoto truly hadn't seen the black-robed man appear. The instant the ventilation hole opened, the enemy had teleported directly behind him.
But Makoto's eyes had seen the spatial ripples created when the ability activated.
In his vision, warped spatial lines twisted into a vortex, swallowed the black-robed man, then forced him into Makoto's storage space, which was currently connected to the outside world.
Makoto's body couldn't react in time, but his cursed technique already had.
Sky Manipulation distorted the space directly around his neck. At the same time, Makoto's finger passed through another spatial passage and reached toward the man's nape, a nearly imperceptible spatial fluctuation gathering at its tip.
Makoto deliberately kept the attack restrained. If he could perceive the spatial fluctuations produced by his opponent's ability, then the other man could probably sense Makoto's spatial movements as well.
Otherwise, how could he have entered the instant Makoto opened a ventilation hole?
The black-robed man's expression changed slightly.
He possessed Uchiha Obito's talent and the right-eye Kamui. Combined with a build focused on Speed and Energy, he'd dominated opponents of the same level countless times.
But at this moment, he knew he'd finally encountered a real opponent.
Kamui needed less than half a second to absorb the person before him, yet Makoto had somehow erected a barrier between the man's fingers and his neck, one that visibly distorted the air itself.
"This is... Sky Manipulation?"
The black-robed man barely finished speaking before something seemed to pierce straight through his body.
He looked down in shock.
Makoto's finger was protruding through the front of his throat.
Makoto had been preparing to use Sukuna's version of Spatial Slash to cut the enemy into twelve pieces, only to realize he hadn't touched anything solid at all.
"Intangibility?"
If the opponent had merely possessed ordinary teleportation, Makoto might still have been uncertain about his identity.
But a spatial ability that allowed every attack to pass directly through someone standing right in front of him was unmistakably intangibility.
"Hmph!"
The black-robed man snorted and made the hand touching Makoto intangible again. He stepped straight through Makoto's body and emerged between him and Yukinoshita.
One hand reached for Yukinoshita's throat while the other drove a kunai toward Makoto's chest.
He wanted to see whether Makoto could protect his teammate while simultaneously using his cursed techniques.
In his understanding, cursed techniques were far inferior to Naruto's ninjutsu in both rank and quality.
More importantly, his own ability was Kamui, a Mangekyo Sharingan technique that remained formidable even in battles involving Six Paths-level fighters.
What the black-robed man failed to understand was that the moment he'd revealed his trump card, he'd already turned himself into Makoto's prey.
While intangible, he was nearly untouchable. But to attack, he had to stop phasing, or at least materialize the body part that made contact with his target.
Kamui's absorption also required time.
Most people couldn't react quickly enough, but Makoto possessed Lattice Eyes, Spatial Manipulation at full development, and roughly 80% of Gojo Satoru's talent.
At full effort, Gojo Satoru could activate a Domain Expansion, attack, and end it all within 0.2 seconds.
The black-robed man's absorption clearly took longer than 0.2 seconds. For Makoto, responding to it was easy.
More importantly, the idiot had willingly entered Makoto's storage space.
Wasn't that practically a sheep walking into a tiger's den?
Makoto ignored the incoming attack. With a tap of his finger, he formed a spatial barrier in front of Yukinoshita while simultaneously closing the ventilation hole.
A faint pain stabbed through his chest.
The black-robed man's kunai had pierced Makoto's flesh and was driving toward his heart.
That was exactly the moment Makoto had been waiting for.
His gaze locked onto the hand the enemy had materialized to attack him.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Wedge!"
His ten-cubic-meter storage space instantly compressed to half its size.
The compressed space then erupted outward from a single point on the black-robed man's hand.
Dense spikes burst outward, mercilessly piercing and devouring everything they touched. Since Makoto was deliberately controlling the attack, however, they extended only one meter.
Even so, the black-robed man's entire body was caught inside the attack.
His hand was instantly riddled with holes like a sieve.
At such close range, his reaction speed couldn't compare with Makoto's, supported by Lattice Eyes and roughly 80% of Gojo Satoru's talent.
Yet something immediately felt wrong.
There was no pain on the man's face.
No blood flowed from his body.
With a sudden poof, the black-robed man vanished in a cloud of white smoke.
It had only been a Shadow Clone.
Makoto immediately understood.
His opponent was clearly wary of Makoto's spatial abilities as well, which was why he'd sent only a Shadow Clone into the storage space to test him.
If the ambush succeeded, all the better. If it failed, the clone would disappear and return enough information for its original to make a better judgment.
There was just one problem.
Could that chakra actually return through Makoto's completely sealed storage space?
The answer was obviously no.
Makoto possessed no sensory ability, but he could still feel how tightly sealed the interior of his storage space was.
Unless an energy's nature somehow surpassed space itself, there was no possibility of it escaping.
"Kitano-kun, are you all right?"
Only then did Yukinoshita fully draw her sword. Her expression had turned awful.
She'd confidently promised to protect Makoto, yet a single Shadow Clone had nearly left her incapable of resisting.
Self-blame and guilt tightened around her heart, draining the color from her face.
"I'm fine. This enemy specializes in speed and spatial abilities. It's only natural that you couldn't react in time."
Makoto brushed a hand across his chest.
The shallow wound vanished completely under Reverse Cursed Technique.
He didn't blame Yukinoshita at all. If anything, another thought had begun bothering him.
'Could the difficulty of these two missions somehow be connected to me?'
Makoto carried the hidden SSS-rank Talent Making Fake Become Real.
It seemed unlikely that the Main God Space had noticed absolutely nothing unusual.
Even judging only by how quickly Makoto's strength had increased, his growth was far too abnormal.
Still, he had no intention of slowing down because of that suspicion.
'Whatever comes, I'll deal with it.'
'As long as I become stronger than every other Player, even the Main God Space won't have an easy time dealing with me.'
Seeing Yukinoshita still blaming herself, Makoto reached out and gently patted her head.
"Since we're already in the Naruto world, let's find a way for you to learn chakra refinement. Your basic attributes should rise dramatically once you can use chakra."
Yukinoshita's eyes brightened.
"You have a way?"
Makoto nodded and activated Making Fake Become Real.
"I took more than a hundred different books and scrolls from Danzo. There has to be a chakra refinement method among them."
"That black-robed Player can cultivate chakra, so there's no reason you can't. Your talent might even be better than his."
[Ding! Making Fake Become Real has activated successfully...]
[Yukinoshita Yukino: Fate Value 20. Trust: 100%. Manifestation Points: 20.]
[You have obtained 20 books and scrolls containing information related to ninjutsu and chakra.]
[Yukinoshita Yukino has obtained 20% of Uchiha Obito's training talent. Her talent ceiling is Kage-level.]
Makoto froze slightly when he read the notification.
'Uchiha Obito's training talent? Where did that come from?'
The black-robed man was obviously a Player. Makoto couldn't see his name, but he could see that the man possessed 9 Fate Value.
Yet that Player was apparently using Uchiha Obito's talent template.
'Was that the natural result of his own Talent?'
'Or did he somehow steal Uchiha Obito's talent?'
'Could he have directly replaced Uchiha Obito himself?'
That raised an even more troubling question.
'Does Uchiha Obito still exist in this world?'
If he didn't...
Makoto drew in a quiet breath.
'Looks like our opponents are aiming for something enormous this time.'
Yukinoshita felt no immediate physical change from gaining the new talent. She didn't possess even the slightest amount of chakra yet, so there was nothing for the talent to enhance.
Seeing Makoto lost in thought, she remained silent and moved half a step closer. Her hand stayed on her sword hilt.
Until they left this world, Yukinoshita had decided she would remain ready for battle at every moment.
Makoto soon returned to his senses.
"Next, I want to leave Konoha's territory first, then find a safe opportunity to go outside."
"Stay inside the storage space during the trip. Once I've confirmed the area is safe, I'll bring you out."
Yukinoshita opened her mouth, then decided against objecting.
She simply sat cross-legged, closed her eyes, and began recovering her mental and physical condition in preparation for the next battle.
Makoto controlled his storage space and repeatedly opened spatial passages underground, rapidly moving farther away from Konoha.
Now that he knew the enemy was using Uchiha Obito's template, Makoto actually felt more confident.
Obito's Kamui required visual targeting or previously established coordinates for teleportation. It couldn't simply lock onto someone's general presence and teleport directly to them.
Unless the black-robed man followed underground with Earth Release, there was virtually no way for him to catch Makoto now.
In reality, the black-robed man no longer had any attention to spare for Makoto anyway.
During the time he and his subordinates had spent searching for Makoto, Konoha had completely regained control of the battlefield.
Danzo had also finished taking command.
Those Konoha shinobi might not be capable of killing the black-robed man, but they were numerous enough to make him hesitate.
More importantly, Orochimaru had returned.
As Konoha's shinobi stared at Orochimaru standing atop a giant snake while still controlling the First and Second Hokage, a chill swept through them.
If Orochimaru rejoined Sunagakure now, Konoha would once again be staring directly at destruction.
The advantage they'd fought so desperately to regain would disappear in an instant.
The black-robed man openly issued Orochimaru an order.
"What are you waiting for, Orochimaru? Kill as many of Konoha's strongest fighters as possible."
"I'm going to bring back the Nine-Tails jinchuriki. My subordinates will assist you."
After speaking, he brushed a hand across his mask.
A spatial vortex began wrapping around his body.
He had already abandoned the idea of continuing his contest with Makoto.
They were both spatial ability users. Neither could easily do anything to the other in a short confrontation.
Rather than waste time on Makoto, it was better to release the Nine-Tails and One-Tail, complete the mission, and claim the enormous rewards.
"I understand."
Orochimaru answered with a sinister smile and immediately commanded the First and Second Hokage to attack.
Senju Tobirama rapidly formed hand seals while using the Body Flicker Technique.
But instead of appearing among Konoha's anxious shinobi, he materialized directly behind the black-robed man.
"Bringer-of-Darkness Technique!"
As Tobirama spoke, a curtain of absolute darkness engulfed the black-robed man and his four subordinates.
Before Konoha's shinobi could understand what was happening, the First Hokage had already launched another technique.
"Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique!"
A gigantic wooden dragon roared as it charged into the darkness.
At his peak, Senju Hashirama had used this technique to restrain even the Nine-Tails with ease. Though greatly weakened now, the wooden dragon he created was still comparable in size to a massive summon.
A deafening crash shook the earth.
Konoha's shinobi stared at the darkness in uncertainty.
'Could those mysterious black-robed men survive an ambush like that?'
Higher-ranking figures such as Danzo and Hatake Kakashi focused instead on Orochimaru.
'Why did Orochimaru suddenly turn against them?'
The answer wasn't betrayal.
Orochimaru was simply removing a future threat.
He was a former member and traitor of Akatsuki, so he knew perfectly well that the organization would eventually come after him.
If he were alone, Orochimaru would never dare confront Akatsuki head-on.
But "Uchiha Madara" had personally brought his people into Konoha.
There was no reason for Orochimaru to waste such a perfect opportunity.
Even if he couldn't kill Uchiha Madara, weakening Akatsuki would still be an excellent outcome.
With that objective in mind, Orochimaru's sinister voice carried across Konoha's lines.
"Shimura Danzo, why aren't you attacking?"
"An opportunity like this may never appear again. If you let it pass, do you want everyone to learn that you aren't even qualified to become Hokage?"
On the surface, the important part seemed to be his first sentence.
In reality, the threat was entirely contained in the second.
Orochimaru knew far too many of Danzo's darkest secrets.
If he exposed them publicly, Danzo's dream of becoming Hokage would end immediately.
Danzo clutched the Hokage hat tightly against his chest.
Finally, his expression turned vicious as he stared toward the black-robed men struggling against the wooden dragon inside the genjutsu.
"Attack!"
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