Konan showed no fear. "You call that kindness? You just decided that Nagato and I weren't a threat anymore. We were both deceived by you, and we committed countless mistakes. Tailed Beast weapons can threaten the ninja world enough to force it into unity and peace, but if a dangerous weapon like that falls into your hands, the whole world will face catastrophe. I will never let you succeed—for the sakes of Yahiko and Nagato's wishes!"
Obito only sneered at Konan's words.
How could these people possibly understand his grand ideal?
He had inherited Madara's will and would absolutely unleash Mugen Tsukuyomi (Infinite Tsukuyomi), casting the entire world into a dream and forcing peace on it. At the same time, he'd create a world where Rin existed—and where Rin loved him.
Mm. Actually, that priority was reversed.
Creating a world where Rin existed was more important.
But that didn't conflict with anything. He was going to use it anyway.
Still… "last wishes," huh?
So in other words, Nagato really is dead?
Obito wasn't particularly surprised. Nagato had long since had too much of his life force drained by the Gedō Mazō (Outer Path Demonic Statue). Withered away was always going to be his final fate.
Even so, Obito was furious at Konan's actions. She'd actually brought people here to strike directly at the Gedō Mazō. Truly a textbook example of pulling the rug out from under him—but they were far too naive. How could it possibly be that simple!
"Raargh!"
The Gedō Mazō roared, as if it could sense the malice of the people before it.
Jiraiya's expression turned grave. "Looks like I won't be able to pull off a large-scale sealing jutsu. We'll have to find a way to destroy it instead!"
At that moment, the Gedō Mazō went berserk, lunging toward them like it wanted to swallow them whole. The sheer difference in size alone radiated crushing pressure.
Jiraiya leapt high into the air, flying through hand seals mid-jump before slamming his palm down. "Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu (Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer Technique)!"
Bang!
A gigantic toad dropped from the sky, slamming straight down onto the Gedō Mazō. The huge toad had a pipe in his mouth and looked thoroughly displeased.
"Hey! Jiraiya! What'd you drag me out here for? I ain't your errand boy!"
"C'mon, Gamabunta, don't complain. Hurry up and deal with the enemy!" Jiraiya pointed at the thing pinned under the toad's body.
"Hm? This is… a tree trunk? No, it's alive! What the hell is this thing?!"
Gamabunta was shocked. He had a nasty feeling that whatever he was standing on wasn't anything good. It looked like a stump, but the way it roared was more like some kind of beast.
He didn't have much time to be surprised, though, because the Gedō Mazō actually managed to heave him up and send him flying.
"You've got some strength, I'll give you that. But that ugly mug of yours really ticked me off. Since you look like a tree stump, eat my blade!"
Gamabunta yanked out his giant tantō. As he fell, he swung it down in a single massive slash, the blade biting into the Gedō Mazō's body and drawing out a scream that sounded half roar, half shriek.
But despite that, the attack didn't do much damage.
The result stunned Gamabunta. He knew just how strong he was, and how sharp his blade was. Yet this "stump" couldn't be cut down—what in the world was this thing?!
"Hey, Jiraiya! What the hell did you call me up against? Why can't I cut it?!"
"Oh, that's the leftover shell of the Jūbi (Ten-Tails)."
"The Ten-Tails?"
"Yeah. It's the husk left after the nine Tailed Beasts were split from it."
"Nani!? You dragged me out here to fight that thing? You trying to get me killed or what?!"
Gamabunta was furious. He wanted nothing to do with fighting something like this.
But Jiraiya just shouted back, "Quit complaining and attack! I'll back you up!"
As he spoke, he flew through another string of hand seals. Gamabunta, too annoyed to argue anymore, just took a huge gulp of toad oil and spat it out in a massive spray. At the same time, Jiraiya unleashed a Katon (Fire Release) from his mouth, combining with the toad oil in a terrifying explosion of flame.
"Katon: Gamayu Endan (Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet)!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The Gedō Mazō's giant body was swallowed entirely by the flames, its screams growing even louder.
On the other side, Samui and Konan were teaming up against Obito.
Samui rushed in with her short blade, closing in on Obito in an instant. Her slash left trails of afterimages in the air, and in a blink her knife had cut straight through his position.
But all she cut was empty air, as if she'd sliced through an intangible afterimage hanging there.
"Careful! He can turn intangible!" Konan called out.
"I know. But he can't stay intangible forever."
Samui sounded absolutely confident. Her short blade moved even faster, slashing seven or eight times a second. Even though she couldn't hit him at all, she never stopped for an instant. Her goal was to drag things out until the five-minute limit on Obito's Kamui (Warping Space) intangibility ran out.
And to prevent a surprise attack from him, she kept moving, circling from angle to angle to ensure her own safety.
However, don't forget he also had the Rinnegan (Samsara Eye).
The very next second—"Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push)!"
Boom!
Samui exploded on the spot, only to burst into smoke—it was a shadow clone. A moment later, the real Samui sprang out from a corner to charge again, her blade just as fast, refusing to let Obito drop his intangibility even for a moment.
So no, it wasn't that she'd forgotten about the Rinnegan. She'd been wary of it the entire time.
Samui was a cool-headed, highly intelligent kunoichi. She'd long since analyzed every piece of intel on Obito and thought carefully about how to counter him.
If Kamui (Warping Space) intangibility meant you couldn't hit him, then she'd just keep slashing until his intangibility ended.
If the Rinnegan could blow people away with pure repulsive force, then she'd send in shadow clones to do the cutting—multiple clones hidden all around, ready to replace any one that got blasted apart.
Like this, she'd force Obito into a situation where his Kamui (Warping Space) would stop being effective. Once that happened, we'd see whether he died or not.
Konan quickly saw through Samui's tactics and couldn't help but admire her. "As expected of the woman Raikage trusts so much. To think you could find such a good approach. If it were me, I probably wouldn't have thought of anything."
No, you would have. You've got those 600 billion explosive tags, after all.
Obito had clearly seen through Samui's strategy as well, and deep down he couldn't help but scoff.
It felt exactly like that time with Natsuki. Back then, Natsuki had held a lightsaber right where Obito's stomach would be, just waiting for his intangibility to end. The moment Kamui (Warping Space) dropped, his guts would be skewered.
The worst part was Natsuki was so fast that Obito couldn't dodge at all. In the end he'd had no choice but to retreat into his Kamui (Warping Space) dimension and not come out.
And now this woman was using almost the exact same tactic.
The difference was that she wasn't on Natsuki's level—and this time, Obito also had the Rinnegan.
So what was there to be afraid of?!
"Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push)!"
He unleashed another blast of repulsive force, this time much stronger than before. Not only did he blow away the Samui clone that had gotten too close, he also wiped out all the clones hiding in every corner around him.
Samui had no choice but to pull back, returning to Konan's side.
But Konan was the type to seize every opportunity. She immediately raised her hand and aimed at Obito. "Shishigami no Jutsu (Paper Shikigami Technique)!"
Fwoooosh!
Countless sheets of paper surged out, sweeping toward Obito in a wild torrent, mixed with a mass of explosive tags. The moment they reached him, they detonated in rapid succession.
She knew full well that this wouldn't be enough to kill him.
But it could hold him in place.
As long as she bought Jiraiya-sensei enough time, she believed he could seal—or even shatter—the Gedō Mazō.
"You're seriously starting to annoy me."
Obito, clearly impatient, walked right out of the explosions with Kamui (Warping Space) active, heading straight for the two.
They immediately backed off, not trying to fight him head-on at all, focusing entirely on stalling him for as long as they could.
(End of Chapter)
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