Chapter 264 – Isshiki: What Kind of Trash Are You? Gen: Do You Even Know Who You Are?
Gen honestly couldn't figure Obito out.
What was happening between him and the Isshiki lodged inside his body? What kind of bizarre reaction was this?
One thing was certain: Obito's condition was changing.
The Kāma's already open. This should be its first stage… right?
Gen recalled how Momoshiki's Kāma had looked under his Byakugan. Obito's state wasn't normal at all—if anything, it seemed stronger than Momoshiki's vessel ever was.
So Isshiki really was being held back by Jigen's body, huh?
He nodded faintly, but Obito was already trembling with excitement.
"See it, Gen? I'm nothing like Kakashi!"
He shot forward, fist whistling through the night.
"This is the power Rin led me to!"
The sheer pressure of the punch bent trees sideways, but Gen simply slid a foot forward, letting the blow pass harmlessly by his side. White Fang's short blade flashed, slicing toward Obito's arm.
Obito twisted instantly, dodging, and slammed his other fist straight at Gen's chest.
Gen barely moved—just one hand pressing against Obito's wrist, pushing himself lightly upward, his leg snapping out toward Obito's skull.
Boom!
Obito caught the kick with one arm, but the force sent him flying back like a ragdoll. He smashed through a wall before fading into Kamui's intangibility.
"So fast… as expected of someone even Genshiki branded an 'Evolver.'"
Obito reappeared, eyes feverish. "But I'm not the man I was. Feel Rin's will through me!"
He blurred forward again, speed redoubling. To Gen, though, he looked like a child flailing.
Rin's will? Did Isshiki really dress himself up as Rin in this man's head?
It was almost laughable. Gen brushed aside each strike with calm precision, every dodge and parry so effortless that Obito's frenzy looked pitiful.
Obito's blows split the air. Gen tilted his head once. Side-stepped once. Raised a hand to intercept an elbow exactly as it came.
Then—
Crack!
A clean fist to the gut. A sharp elbow to the face. Obito's mask shattered, shards scattering as he spun away.
Gen's short blade shimmered with Yin-Yang Release, warping the air itself.
"Damn you—!"
Obito snarled, phasing into Kamui, but his body was still hurled backward, space itself folding around him.
He steadied himself with a shout, only for Gen to appear right in front of him again.
"This is your so-called 'shared will with Rin'?" Gen asked, his tone mocking.
That crooked smile, paired with his words, struck Obito as open contempt.
"You'll pay for that!"
Kunai flashed into his hand, spinning in blurs too fast for the eye. The air shrieked with each strike. Yet Gen's defense never broke—clean dodges, casual parries, no wasted energy, no excess chakra.
Obito's attacks broke like waves against a cliff.
Even Isshiki couldn't stay silent.
What is this garbage?
His voice thundered in Obito's mind. Are you even a real ninja? Do you know nothing of basic technique?
Isshiki had never cared for tactics before, relying solely on Otsutsuki might. But after centuries of withering inside Jigen's body, he'd been forced to study shinobi methods, even master them.
And Obito—an Uchiha, a "true ninja"—was fighting like an untrained thug.
How the hell did this fool ever become a shinobi?
Isshiki was livid.
Gen, meanwhile, looked almost bored. With a sigh, he blocked another strike.
"It seems you and your so-called Rin never actually resonated."
He exploded forward, speed doubling in an instant. Obito faltered.
"Damn it—!"
The kunai in his hand snapped under Gen's strike. A punch smashed his face, and a savage kick drove into his stomach. The force twisted his body grotesquely as he was launched like a cannonball.
The world warped around him, and suddenly Obito was no longer inside the village—he crashed outside Konoha's walls with a thunderous roar, earth splitting as dust and stone flew skyward.
He staggered upright, only for Gen to appear again, blade poised.
"This… is the 'will you share with Rin'?"
Boom!
Obito reeled, coughing blood as he was sent flying once more. Pain wracked his body, yet his Kāma-fed power kept surging, healing, strengthening.
But no matter how it swelled, against Gen it was meaningless.
"I won't… accept this!" Obito roared. Chakra ignited around him.
"Fire Style—Storm of Blazing Winds!"
Flames infused with Kamui and a trace of Yin-Yang Release erupted, a blazing inferno threatening to engulf the sky itself.
But before the fire even finished blooming—
Gen's voice murmured behind him.
"You still haven't learned."
The blade sang. Obito phased desperately, reappearing with a counter—but froze at the sight of Gen's smile.
"You haven't improved at all."
Panic seized him. He tried to retreat into Kamui again—but Gen was already at his back, a spiraling sphere of black and gold chakra coalescing in his palm.
"Yin-Yang Release: Rasengan."
The detonation tore the night apart, shockwaves rippling for miles.
All across Konoha, the ground shook. Citizens jolted awake, but panic never rose; they'd endured too many crises to lose composure now.
On the Hokage Monument, Sarutobi Hiruzen leaned on his staff, wearied. "What's happening this time…?"
"You've grown lax," Tobirama muttered, arms crossed.
Hashirama only chuckled. "Looks like that Uchiha Obito boy finally showed himself. But Gen already has him in hand."
"Obito…?" Hiruzen sighed heavily. "Always trouble…"
"This guy's specialty is space–time ninjutsu. No matter how sharp your guard is, it's useless against someone like him…"
Hiruzen muttered under his breath, then sighed.
"…Good thing we have Gen. Otherwise…"
"You can't rely on him for everything." Tobirama's eyes cut toward Hiruzen, his tone cold. "He's the Hokage. His energy belongs on matters of the village, not cleaning up every mess for you."
Hiruzen froze, words dying in his throat. After a pause, an odd, dangerous thought crept into his mind.
Maybe… it would be simpler if I just died too…?
But before he could dwell on it, Hashirama spoke, voice tinged with curiosity.
"That Obito boy… something about him feels off. Stronger than you described—but also strangely weak. And why come to Konoha at all?"
"Who knows?" Tobirama muttered, chakra senses sharpening. "But it looks like Gen's fight is wrapping up."
---
The battlefield was chaos: earth torn open, smoke rolling like storm clouds.
At the center of a vast crater lay Uchiha Obito. He clawed weakly at the ground, trying to rise—
"Guh—!"
The attempt sent a torrent of blood surging up his throat. His head pounded, vision blurred; he hadn't even fully processed the beating yet.
And then that hated voice struck him again, clear and merciless.
"This is your so-called 'shared will with Rin'? What a disappointment. Pathetically weak."
"Damn… you…"
Obito's body was a ruin, half-destroyed, yet the black markings of the Kāma writhed across his skin, spilling eerie power to stitch his flesh back together.
But Yin–Yang Release left wounds no regenerative trick could easily mend.
Gen appeared above him, framed by the silver glow of the moon. Natural energy cloaked him, his features veiled in shadow—save for those pale, soul-piercing eyes.
"Tell me, Obito… how can you be so sure it's really Rin guiding you?"
"You—!" Obito's voice shook, rage and doubt colliding in his throat.
"And did you forget what I already asked you?" Gen's gaze cut deeper, each word a blade.
"Do you even know… who you are now?"
Obito froze. No answer came. Only silence.