Hiroki activated his Byakugan and observed for a moment.
Just as Kaguya said, the Uchiha Itachi in his current vision wasn't a real existence.
There were no chakra pathways within his body.
After hesitating briefly, Hiroki was about to step forward when Kaguya gently held him back. "Someone's coming..." she murmured softly.
No sooner had her words faded than ripples appeared across space like water waves. Obito Uchiha, wearing his spiral-patterned mask, gradually materialized.
As he emerged, Obito frowned at the sight of Izumi Uchiha lying motionless on the ground.
"How is she still alive?"
"Itachi?" Obito called out toward the nearby phantom.
The figure remained frozen in its previous posture, unmoving.
Frowning in confusion, Obito approached and reached out—his hand passed straight through the other's body.
Obito froze momentarily, his heart filled with bewilderment.
Seeing Obito standing there dazed, Hiroki almost burst into laughter right then and there.
Scratching his head, Obito shifted his gaze toward the groggy Izumi Uchiha lying on the ground.
Seeming to suddenly realize the presence of a stranger, Izumi looked up at Obito too.
At the moment their eyes met, upon seeing the Sharingan in his gaze, her own Sharingan instinctively activated.
[Banishment!]
"The hell? He awakened the Mangekyou too?" When he saw her three tomoe connect together inside her eye, Obito froze in shock.
At the same time, his vision suddenly flipped backward—he and Izumi were being pulled apart.
By the time he regained himself, the surrounding environment had already changed completely.
Before his eyes stretched boundless darkness—pitch black, so dark he couldn't make out a thing. He couldn't even tell how vast this place was.
Cautiously advancing forward, suddenly a powerful suction force yanked at him—nearly pulling him into an unseen vortex.
After barely escaping the danger, Obito was really on edge.
"This place isn't the Ninja World!"
"She got space powers? She doesn't even deserve this kind of strength!"
The moment he thought that Izumi might pose a threat to him, Obito immediately harbored murderous intent.
Back at the Uchiha compound, Hiroki couldn't help but laugh aloud upon seeing the illusion of Obito frozen mid-turn with his head cocked sideways.
"Obito also fell for it," Hiroki blurted out.
"He came back again," Kaguya said again.
Kamui's spatial fluctuations appeared once more, and Obito's form slowly reappeared behind Izumi.
His reappearance dissolved the original illusion instantly.
Avoiding Izumi's line of sight, Obito looked slightly troubled while staring at the motionless illusion of Itachi.
"Did Itachi get caught in that jutsu too? Was it during that mysterious spatial displacement, or somewhere else? If the technique was recently cast, I should still be able to detect residual spatial ripples..."
After thinking for half a moment, he yet again activated Kamui.
Seconds later, Obito reappeared within the Uchiha compound, pulling along the pale-faced Uchiha Itachi.
His Akatsuki cloak was shredded from countless cuts, as if sliced by dense blades. Moreover, his bare skin bore fresh wounds and streaks of blood.
Itachi wasn't like Obito, who was an expert in spatial ninjutsu. If Obito hadn't found him and pulled him out, he likely would have perished in that mysterious space.
"This woman is mine to kill. Itachi, you have no objections, do you? As for her eyes, they belong to me now."
Obito said this while openly emanating killing intent.
Itachi hesitated before speaking, silently realizing: So that's how it is. Izumi's life hadn't been spared by him on purpose.
Hiroki frowned upon hearing Obito's words.
This person was personally trained by me. You two bastards don't get to decide anything.
"Stay where you are," Kaguya coldly ordered, pinning him to the wall. "What? Want to play hero and save the damsel in distress? Not happening."
Although Obito claimed he wanted to kill Izumi Uchiha, he still didn't dare approach her too closely.
He feared she might recklessly activate her spatial dōjutsu at any moment.
Despite having little interaction with her, he could already tell—she was currently in a state of inner emptiness.
Someone like that wouldn't care about her own life, let alone chakra consumption.
If you're wondering why he understood this so clearly, it's because he himself had experienced such feelings.
That moment when he witnessed Kakashi killing Rin Nohara—that experience of losing everything, of losing the belief that supports one's existence.
Though empathizing deeply with her, Obito's murderous intent toward Izumi did not diminish even slightly.
He would never allow anyone capable of threatening his existence.
"Clack clack clack"—light footsteps approached, the sound growing clearer...
Obito and Itachi, just about to act, turned their heads simultaneously at the sound.
Tsunade calmly appeared in their sight.
Underneath his mask, Obito's face became somewhat serious.
Itachi also turned solemn.
Glancing briefly at Izumi Uchiha lying on the ground, Tsunade clasped her hands together. A thick piece of wood dropped from her, quickly transforming within two or three seconds into an exact wooden copy of herself.
The wood clone walked toward Izumi Uchiha.
Tsunade shifted her gaze to the pair. "Itachi Uchiha, and who might you be?"
As she spoke, she raised one eyebrow, staring fixedly at Obito whose mask revealed a Sharingan with three tomoe.
Internally annoyed, Obito sighed inwardly.
He began assessing the fighting strength of both sides.
Tsunade, skilled in Wood Release and taijutsu.
Izumi Uchiha possessing spatial dōjutsu, ready to strike anytime.
Looks like there wouldn't be much gain for him here.
"You seem quite impolite," Tsunade called out directly after seeing Obito remain silent. "If you refuse to tell me your purpose for infiltrating Konoha, I'll have no choice but to send you both to the Interrogation Unit."
Obito snorted coldly.
Unless Izumi Uchiha lying on the ground specifically targeted him, escaping Konoha with Itachi would've been extremely easy.
Still, Tsunade had placed significant pressure on him. Without realizing it, he had already begun considering how to retreat.
"You look familiar... Have we met several years ago?" After staring at the mask covering Obito's face for a while, Tsunade suddenly furrowed her brows, as if recalling something.
Although she hadn't been in Konoha during the Nine-Tails attack, as the current Hokage, she had reviewed the records from back then.
Mask, Sharingan—everything matched perfectly with those accounts.
"Oh?
"Do you mean that time, Nine-Tails? Indeed, a real shame," Obito said with an ambiguous tone. "However, Hashirama's descendant, you ought to be thanking me. If Minato Namikaze were still alive, do you think you'd have the chance to become Hokage?"
Tsunade gave a faint smile, her eyes sharpening with cold intent. "As a thank-you, why don't you just stay in Konoha?"
[Wood Release: Mute Binding No Jutsu]
A branch suddenly extended from somewhere, quickly shooting toward Obito.
At the moment it touched him, his body abruptly became intangible.
The branches bound together, wrapping around nothing but empty air.
Kamui activated, and Obito's body reappeared elsewhere. He sneered, "Kid, you're not even in the same league as your grandfather..."
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