"Don't let your guard down."
As if hearing Uchiha Itachi's inner thoughts, Hikari doused the relaxed Yume Ryoma and the others with a bucket of cold water.
"Is the enemy still alive?"
They immediately tensed up, their slowed chakra surging back to life.
After the intense battle they'd just fought, Hikari's words carried undeniable weight. Though they questioned her, their bodies instinctively shifted into combat mode.
"Of course."
With her Byakugan fixed on the motionless figure underwater, Hikari's lips curled into a faint, chilling smirk.
Every detail about Uchiha Obito was laid bare before her.
The five-minute invincibility of his Kamui, the reality-altering Izanagi, the Wood Release inherited from Hashirama Senju, and the immortal body from White Zetsu—such a potent combination of abilities meant Uchiha Obito, no matter how weak, wouldn't die so easily.
Whoosh!
Behind her, the misty rain twisted into a vortex, and a strange black rod suddenly shot out, aiming straight for Hikari's heart.
"Watch out!"
Die, standing across from Hikari, widened her eyes, her voice sharp with panic. Itachi, always scanning for Madara's position, spun his crimson Sharingan frantically.
Red and blue light danced across the water's surface, dazzlingly bright.
Clang!
The eerie black rod struck Hikari's blue Lightning Release armor, her crimson cloak billowing wildly, producing a piercing metallic clash.
Under the dual protection, most attacks in the ninja world couldn't touch her.
Hikari didn't budge, her Byakugan tilting slightly.
Her crimson cloak morphed abruptly, transforming into countless writhing tentacles that tightly ensnared the black rod.
With a fierce yank!
The tentacles dragged out the rod along with a pitch-black arm.
Buzz!
An invisible wind sliced through.
Crack!
The arm, along with the rod, was instantly severed by Wind Release.
Splat!
Blood sprayed from the crimson wound as the eerie vortex behind her vanished.
With the Byakugan, 99% of sneak attacks were meaningless. Under her godlike perspective, the cunningly angled black rod was no different from a frontal assault.
The wind threads shredded the airborne arm to pieces as Hikari turned to face the group's rear flank.
Uchiha Obito, wearing an orange mask and clutching his severed arm, slowly rose from the water, his strange Mangekyo Sharingan burning with hatred.
"That guy really didn't die!"
Die sucked in a sharp breath. He'd seen the enemy's head sliced in half, his body sinking into the water with even his chakra core dimming. How could he be back in the blink of an eye?
"How did he do it?"
"Could the enemy be immortal?" Lan muttered, disbelief coloring his voice as the enemy's abilities pushed beyond his understanding.
"It's Izanagi."
Watching Obito's severed arm slowly regenerate, Hikari revealed his secrets without hesitation.
"What's that?"
Yume Ryoma found the term vaguely familiar, as if he'd heard it from Danzo—something about a forbidden Uchiha technique.
"A taboo Uchiha eye technique. At the cost of permanently losing one Sharingan, it turns any unfavorable situation into an illusion. The duration varies per person—some as short as a minute, others up to five."
Hikari casually spilled the hidden knowledge, causing both Itachi and Obito to narrow their eyes coldly.
"How do you know that?"
Obito's voice was as dark as the depths, his right eye flicking toward Itachi, who stood treading water in the distance, suspicion swirling in his mind.
With the Uchiha clan nearly wiped out, only a few remained. Sasuke was just a kid, so the only one likely to know about Izanagi was this Konoha spy.
"After the Uchiha massacre, all their records and forbidden techniques were archived by Root. It's hardly some grand secret."
Spreading her hands, Hikari stood clad in her lightning armor, three illusory tails swaying behind her in the wind.
Her chakra had always been limited before, and this was her first time fighting so extravagantly at full power.
With dual status techniques stacked, her already formidable physical abilities multiplied several times over. Her taijutsu, already surpassing elite Jonin, now placed her firmly among the Kage-level elite.
She could summon more tails if needed.
But the overwhelming power of the Tailed Beast cloak would burn her skin, exposing raw, blood-red flesh and turning her into a monster. Her fragile shadow clone could only handle this much.
Damn it!
Obito gritted his teeth.
The Mangekyo's powers were unpredictable, and no one knew what absurd abilities might emerge.
To execute the Moon's Eye Plan without interference, he'd helped wipe out the Uchiha clan, only to find resistance from an unexpected source.
He felt the hand of fate at work.
"Who are you? Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is supposed to be a boy!" Having personally taken his master's child, Obito knew the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's true identity better than anyone.
"That's a long story."
Hikari stalled deliberately. Izanagi's effect lasted five minutes at most, during which Obito was invincible. The longer she dragged this out, the better her odds.
"Then tell it in hell!"
Unable to extract more information, Obito refused to let Hikari stall further.
Clatter!
Drawing a steel chain as thick as a grown man's arm, Obito's body blurred into an afterimage, charging at Hikari.
In his intangible state, he was invincible—everyone knew it. Yume Ryoma and the others didn't attack rashly, instead spreading out and leaving the enemy to Hikari.
The chains clinked, producing a crisp metallic sound.
Invisible wind slashed at the chains but had no effect—they, like Obito, were projections from another dimension.
Clatter!
Intangible, Obito wove the chains around Hikari's body, shuttling back and forth. The moment he materialized, the illusory chains became real, binding her tightly.
Trapped by the massive chains, Hikari paused briefly. Lightning surged along the steel, racing toward Obito.
Zzt!
Obito quickly released the chains, retreating.
Bang bang bang!
Fine Wind Release chakra erupted from her acupuncture points, sparking against the steel chains but failing to cut through their immense durability.
Unable to break the chains, Hikari directed her wind threads toward Obito in the distance!
As long as he went intangible, she could repeat her earlier strategy—relentlessly slicing with Wind Release until his intangibility ended, leading to his death.
Obito's Mangekyo spun wildly. Having learned from his earlier loss, he'd gathered intel on her eerie Wind Release.
Her Wind Release field had a 15-meter radius.
The closer to the center, the denser the wind chakra; the farther out, the sparser the attacks.
At the 15-meter limit, there were noticeable gaps.
Since the wind chakra emanated from her body rather than being pre-placed in the environment, the outer edges moved far slower than the inner ones.
By restraining her and keeping his distance, he could buy time to unleash ninjutsu!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
His Mangekyo slowed the incoming wind threads, and Obito rapidly formed hand signs, unleashing his once-favored technique.
His chest swelled.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!
A fireball larger than Itachi's erupted from Obito's mouth. The fine, scattered wind threads acted as perfect fuel, and the terrifying heat consumed them instantly.
The flames spread toward Hikari.
Clatter!
The steel chains bound her tightly, preventing movement. The intense heat ignited her entire Wind Release field, turning the once-unstoppable domain into a raging sea of fire.
Flames shot into the sky, tinting the inky clouds red.
The lake boiled, bubbles roiling like thick soup.
The steam from the heat formed a misty cloud, engulfing the red-and-blue monster alongside the flames.
Mangekyo's perception, parasitic insects, and chakra fluctuations probed the mist, all returning the same message.
"She's fine," Die relayed to the bewildered Lan and Pan Xiong, as Yume Ryoma's parasitic insects trembled, transmitting pheromones.
Whoosh!
The steam dissipated.
Purple-red lightning crackled across her body. Unscathed, Hikari gripped the red-hot chains, her three tails thrashing wildly behind her.
Obito's eyes widened in shock.
Heat that could melt steel hadn't even damaged her clothes! What kind of monster was she?
Whoosh!
Surrounded by scorching steam, Hikari's face, hidden beneath her mask, flushed faintly pink.
Using her lightning armor and Tailed Beast cloak at full power for the first time, the absolute defense gave her an intoxicating sense of security.
Even an amplified Great Fireball couldn't breach her defenses.
But she hadn't anticipated the flames burning so fiercely, consuming all the oxygen around her and leaving scalding steam that made breathing impossible.
I guess I do have weaknesses.
Her so-called Perfect Battle Body 1.0 couldn't keep up with her combat intensity anymore. Once she dealt with the Ash Bone issue, she'd start developing Perfect Battle Body 2.0.
Holding her breath, Hikari seized the chains wrapped around her.
Purple-red lightning surged, turning the chains into a thunderous dragon.
Creak!
The ear-piercing sound of twisting metal echoed as the chains snapped taut. Her pale hand gripped the scalding steel, her terrifying muscles contracting.
Crack!
With a sharp snap, the steel chains sparked and shattered inch by inch under everyone's stunned gazes.
Boom!
Her lightning-fast figure shattered the rain curtain, the lake rippling as she charged at Obito like a colossal elephant, wielding Samehada.
Obito turned intangible, and Samehada passed through him, its absurd force shredding the rain into a vacuum.
His eye twitched.
He didn't dare face her head-on.
Obito retreated frantically, but the crimson figure pursued relentlessly. The sheer speed gap made distance impossible to maintain.
The familiar scene repeated.
Her merciless Wind Release field began its slaughter again.
Unwilling to waste Izanagi's time, Obito dropped his intangibility and was instantly shredded into countless pieces by the wind threads.
Reality rewrote itself, and Obito reappeared behind Hikari, unscathed, not even his clothes damaged.
Kamui!
Space twisted slowly toward Hikari.
"EAD "Too slow."
Her lightning-fast figure dodged the distortion, and a ruthless red iron fist slammed into Obito's abdomen!
"Urgh!"
Blood and organ fragments spewed from his mouth.
The dozens of tons of force obliterated his body, sending a rain of blood into the sky.
The blood vanished.
Obito reappeared, his eyes no longer defiant but gravely serious.
His Kamui's weakness was exposed, ineffective against her, while her raw power was unstoppable.
That damn Kisame!
Not only was he useless, but he'd given the enemy so much chakra!
"You're running out of time. Will you use Izanagi again with that Mangekyo?"
Hikari, maintaining both techniques and feeling her chakra drain, gripped Samehada's hilt to absorb energy.
Her near-invincible power came at a steep cost.
Samehada's chakra was low-quality—she needed four or five portions to refine one high-quality purple chakra.
Powering both her Lightning Release armor and Tailed Beast cloak, her chakra consumption was over three times that of a single technique.
Lightning Release gave speed and reflexes; the Tailed Beast cloak gave strength and defense.
Her fragile shadow clone could only dominate Obito in this state.
"You're running low on chakra too, aren't you?"
Obito glared at Hikari and Samehada, his Mangekyo clearly seeing her draining the blade's power, leaving it listless.
She couldn't sustain that high-cost state forever.
No matter her strange eye techniques or powerful taijutsu, the ninja world's rule was clear: no chakra, no life.
It was a race to see who'd last longer.
As Izanagi's time ticked down, her blazing purple-red lightning began to dim.
Boom!
The scene froze, both staring, waiting for the other's time to run out.
The torrential rain slowed to a drizzle. Hikari's three tails faded from crimson to pale red, and Samehada twitched, shrinking and paling.
"Yato's chakra is weakening," Die said, hands clasped, worry in her eyes.
"That monster fish can absorb chakra," Pan Xiong said, gathering chakra in his palms. "If we let her take ours—"
"No use," Die interrupted, shaking her head.
"The gap's too wide. Even if she drained all four of us, it wouldn't last long."
Her cold words silenced them. Their combined chakra—barely twice an elite Jonin's—couldn't sustain her.
As Root's elite, they were used to being mission leaders, yet here they couldn't even serve as batteries.
This mission was a disaster!
"Looks like time's on my side."
Obito smirked coldly. Two minutes of Izanagi remained—enough to kill a chakra-drained enemy a thousand times.
"No choice, then."
Seeing Obito's eagerness and her chakra nearly gone, 'Yang Release Hikari' sighed and pressed her hand to her heart.
Thump!
Thump!
The air grew heavy, the booming heartbeat making Obito's instincts scream, his advancing steps faltering.
Thump thump thump!
Her heartbeat intensified.
Her nearly depleted chakra core glowed, searing purple chakra surging through a DNA-like spiral chain.
"Gate of View opened. Use it sparingly."
"I don't want to, Main Body!"
Feeling the surging chakra of the Sixth Gate of the Eight Gates, her near-exhausted body refilled.
Zzt zzt zzt!
Her three tails solidified, dancing in the wind, blue-purple lightning roaring again.
Facing a stunned Obito, her chakra fully restored and stronger than before, Hikari flashed a toothy grin:
"Round two."
Whoosh!
Before she could finish, Obito, still under Izanagi's effect, warped space, teleporting to Itachi, who carried Kisame.
With a single grab, Kamui's vortex enveloped them. When the twisted rain cleared, the three were gone from the flooded Thunder Drum Peak.
Hikari's Byakugan scanned the mountain. A series of black hole warps marked Obito's swift escape beyond her vision.
He runs fast!