"Obito, Obito, are you alright?!" Rin called out anxiously.
Obito was half-kneeling on the ground, his face covered in dense black markings. He could hear Rin's voice but couldn't speak.
"Ah!"
Obito suddenly shouted, making Rin's heart tighten.
"Ah! That feels so good!"
Rin clenched her fist…
"Don't hit, don't hit, Rin, I'm an injured man right now."
The black markings on Obito's face all burrowed into his eyes. The pain from the Mangekyō Sharingan gradually faded, and he let out a relieved groan.
"I don't know what Hanzo did to me at the end. My eyes feel… strange."
Rin panicked, but Obito quickly shook his head. "It's fine for now. People are going to arrive soon, we need to move Sister Ringo and Brother Yahiko first."
Not far away, Yahiko and Ringo Ameyuri lay side by side, both unconscious.
"Ah!"
Rin hesitated and was about to nod, when Obito groaned again…
"Don't make a fist, don't make a fist, this time it actually hurts. That bastard Hanzo really hits hard. My whole body aches… luckily it's mostly surface injuries."
Rin shot him a glare, unable to scold him aloud. Obito was hurt because of her.
Every time "Hanzo" failed to land a hit on Obito, he would feint at Rin, forcing Obito's real body to rush in and defend, only for Obito to get punched in the face…
It happened more than ten times. Rin ended up feeling touched.
"Let's go!"
"Mm!"
This time, their roles reversed: Rin carried Ringo Ameyuri on her shoulder, and Obito carried Yahiko, then they quickly teleported away.
More than ten minutes later, other shinobi finally arrived. After searching the area, they reached a conclusion,
Hanzo… had disappeared again!
Inside Obito's space.
The fake Hanzo was examining the real Hanzo's corpse.
After beating Obito with a barrage of "loving iron fists," leaving him bruised all over, Akio finally stopped.
Obito's eyes then overloaded again, so Akio placed a "curse-removal" strike on him. But unexpectedly, Obito still managed to struggle and use his space-time ninjutsu.
Akio could have escaped, of course but he was curious about the inside of Obito's dimension. So, he didn't resist and allowed himself to get pulled in.
Just now, he had looked around a bit and did a simple "evaluation."
Its size was similar to his own Eight Trigrams Space, but the terrain wasn't flat. There were highs and lows, and the space didn't suppress ninjutsu. However, like his own space, there was no senjutsu chakra.
After inspecting the space, Akio began examining Hanzo's corpse.
The so-called first generation "Demi-God of the Shinobi World," dying quietly here like this… and these injuries…
"For someone considered a senior figure of the ninja worl, well, compared to me you're not much, but how did you even fall for Obito's stomping trick? I don't know whether to feel comforted or saddened…"
"Hm?" Akio froze. The area where the corpse lay twisted slightly, and the corpse vanished.
"Moved out… are they afraid I'll desecrate it?" Akio laughed helplessly.
"Looks like they've reached a safe place. As their teacher, I should go out and give them a surprise."
Akio smiled and jumped toward his own space.
"Exit."
The next moment, he was still inside Obito's space.
Akio tried repeatedly. His smile gradually disappeared.
"So I can't leave?"
"Then… wait?"
Four to five hours later, Akio finally accepted reality.
They were probably using the "starve him out" strategy.
"I'm so stupid. Really."
Thinking of the 256 nodes in the space, Akio sighed helplessly. "I'll definitely come back!"
But before that, he formed a seal
Shadow Clone Technique!
On the vast ocean, violent winds rolled the dark clouds. Between the clouds and the sea… was Akio!
He couldn't find his direction at all.
With the randomness of an African dice roll, he picked a node and appeared in the middle of the ocean.
By now, the sky was completely dark; he couldn't even tell which direction led to the Land of Rain.
After groping around for half the night, Akio finally found… the Land of Whirlpools.
Heading straight home, Akio discovered that Kimimaro had once again ignored the room he assigned him and was sleeping on Akio's bed instead.
"This kid…" Akio smiled helplessly.
"Another sleepless night, huh."
The next morning.
Akio woke to Kimimaro's voice.
Kimimaro's face was flushed. "My god, sorry I thought…"
"You thought I wasn't coming back yesterday?" Akio smiled. "It's fine. When I'm away, you can sleep here… Hmm. I have to leave again today. I'll be back in two or three days. Keep training hard!"
"Yes! My god!" Kimimaro nodded excitedly.
Akio ate breakfast, and instead of heading straight to the Land of Rain, he found Konan and asked her to send him some medicinal ingredients.
After preparing medicine for Ringo Ameyuri's injuries, he set out again.
By the time he reached the Land of Rain, it was noon. Akio transformed into…
Hanzo.
"Hanzo has returned!"
Walking swaggeringly, flaunting himself everywhere, constantly being spotted by scouting ninja "Hanzo" marched straight toward the central region of the Land of Rain.
The scouts were completely confused, but still had to report it.
Iwagakure camp.
Onoki, losing his temper like the Raikage, smashed the table in front of him.
"That damn Hanzo, what is he playing at?!"
Konoha camp.
Several squad leaders exchanged looks.
Jiraiya scratched his head. "Shikaku, what do you think is… wrong with Hanzo?"
Shikaku gave a bitter smile. "No idea. But this whole thing reeks of strangeness. Actually… it made me think of someone."
Mikiri paused. "You mean… Elder Akio?"
A hidden safehouse in the Land of Rain.
Three beds were placed side by side.
From left to right: heavily injured Yahiko, moderately injured Ringo Ameyuri, and lightly injured Obito.
"Kid, you saved us this time."
Obito grinned. "Just luck. At the end, Hanzo used some weird technique. He didn't resist and got pulled into my space."
Yahiko, whose body was nearly falling apart from Akio's punch, forced himself to speak despite the pain: "Everything about this is strange. According to your account, the one who came later was also Hanzo. Then who did we kill earlier?"
Ringo and Obito exchanged a silent look. How were they supposed to know?
The door opened, and Rin walked in, her expression strange.
"Rin, what's the situation outside?"
Rin looked over the three injured people, hesitating.
Yahiko's heart sank. "What happened?"
Rin looked dazed. "Hanzo… is back again."
"What?!"
Obito's expression changed. He quickly checked his space, Akio's clone was still inside.
"This Hanzo is still here!"
Rin stepped into the inner room. "And Hanzo's corpse is still here too."
Yahiko took a deep breath. "So… a third Hanzo has appeared?"
"How many Hanzos are there?! Is this guy a mass-produced strongman?" Ringo exclaimed.
Obito didn't know what to say and looked at Yahiko.
Already severely wounded, Yahiko's expression dimmed completely.
Controlling the Land of Rain… was truly a nightmare
---
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