Amidst the rolling fog outside the Hidden Mist Village in the Land of Water, two figures faced one another—Uchiha Itachi and the Masked Man, Obito.
The silence was suffocating, broken only by the distant lapping of waves against unseen shores. Itachi's crimson eyes narrowed. He remembered their last confrontation well. His most fearsome genjutsu, Tsukuyomi, had proven useless against Obito, and the man's warped spatial intangibility made a decisive strike nearly impossible.
Before Itachi could formulate his next move, Obito's body warped unnaturally, his form twisting as if reality itself bent to his will. In an instant, he appeared silently behind Itachi, his hand already reaching out to seize him.
But the grasp found only feathers.
With a harsh fluttering cry, Itachi's body dissolved into a murder of black crows that scattered into the fog.
Obito's voice carried through the mist, mocking yet calm:"Itachi… it seems our last conversation didn't make you any smarter."
As he spoke, the very earth shifted. Countless withered trees erupted from the ground, their gnarled branches twisting unnaturally, intertwining until they formed two enormous wooden hands. They closed in with terrifying precision, attempting to crush Itachi where he lurked in the shadows.
From a distance, Black Zetsu's eyes narrowed as they fell briefly on Danzo. A disturbing thought gnawed at him, though he dared not voice it.
No… could it be possible?
Itachi's Sharingan spun furiously, trying to pierce through the fog and predict the wooden constructs' trajectory. Yet before he could evade, the massive hands closed around him, their grip unyielding and suffocating. His slender frame was crushed in their bind.
Beneath the mask, Obito's Mangekyo gleamed with sinister light."So that's it, Itachi… your body has merged with White Zetsu cells. No wonder you've recovered so quickly, no wonder you still stand against me…"
The realization brought a flicker of anger to Obito's voice.
With a subtle gesture, sharp wooden spikes sprouted from the hands that bound Itachi, driving mercilessly into his body. The spikes writhed like living things, devouring the White Zetsu cells inside him, trying to seize them as their own.
A wave of excruciating pain shot through Itachi's body, but his composure did not falter. Even as his body screamed in agony, his eyes sharpened—then bled black fire.
"Amaterasu."
The ink-dark flames ignited at once, racing hungrily along the paths of the White Zetsu cells, surging up the wooden spikes and lashing out toward Obito himself. In the span of a heartbeat, the Masked Man's body was consumed by searing, living darkness.
The Amaterasu spread like a curse, clinging to Obito's form. A hellish shriek tore from his throat, raw and jagged:"AAAAH! What—what is this?! The pain…! The PAIN!"
His screams reverberated through the suffocating fog, echoing against the unseen cliffs, chilling the air itself. The sound of his torment was so raw it might have broken the will of any lesser man.
Yet Itachi's expression only grew grimmer. His eyes narrowed further. Something was wrong.
For just as suddenly as they began, the screams stopped.
Obito stood unmoving amidst the raging black fire. His posture was casual. His voice, calm—mocking even:"What a pity, Itachi. These flames… as terrifying as they are… cannot kill me."
Itachi's breath caught, his face pale.
To withstand Amaterasu—not merely endure it, but to mock him through the agony—was beyond even what he expected. Beneath the mask, Obito chuckled softly, the sound dripping with malice and something far more unsettling: a hint of dark amusement.
He spread his arms slightly as if welcoming the flames, his figure wreathed in black fire like some demon born from the abyss.
"Itachi… surrender yourself to fate. The more you resist, the more meaningless this becomes."
The mist thickened, swallowing the battlefield. In that instant, the balance of the battle had shifted completely.
A violent roar split the air above the Hidden Mist Village, shaking the dense fog that blanketed the battlefield. From the distance, a tidal wave of chakra surged forward, so heavy and suffocating it seemed to bend the very air.
Through the haze, Tendo Pain emerged, his expression carved from stone. His arms extended outward, voice cold and absolute as he whispered:
"Shinra Tensei."
The command detonated reality. A catastrophic wave of repulsion exploded from his body, tearing outward in every direction. The very earth screamed as the Wood Release formations Danzo had prepared—carefully woven traps, barriers, and growths—were obliterated in an instant, shredded into dust that scattered like ash on the wind.
Obito's single eye narrowed. The raw destructive force forced even him to retreat several steps, his cloak whipping in the gale.
Pain landed gracefully amidst the wreckage, his presence towering like an executioner. His Rinnegan scanned the scene—first to the bloodied form of Uchiha Itachi, then to the wary Biwa Jūzō who guarded him.
"Take him back," Pain ordered coolly. "This is no longer his fight."
Without protest, Jūzō slipped under Itachi's arm, supporting him as they vanished into the mist's cover.
Now only gods and monsters remained.
Pain's voice hardened to steel. His hands crossed into a seal."Banshō Ten'in."
Gravity collapsed inward. The battlefield twisted violently as Obito and Danzo both felt themselves dragged toward Pain, their bodies caught in the irresistible pull.
Danzo, still engaged with the other Paths, cursed as his body was wrenched forward against his will. On the other side, Obito's Sharingan flared as he prepared to dissolve into Kamui's safe void—
—but shadows lashed up around him, sticky, crawling, alive.
Black Zetsu erupted from the ground like oil, wrapping his body in constricting darkness. His whisper slithered into Obito's ear:"You stray further from Madara's will with each step. It seems I must remind you of your place."
The inky substance pulsed, activating an ancient seal etched into Obito's body by Madara himself—an attempt to enslave him completely.
But Obito's head snapped toward the parasite. His Mangekyo blazed, the tomoe spinning with a hatred that seemed bottomless. His voice dripped with venom:"Control me? You dare?"
The oppressive surge of his chakra was suffocating, forcing even Black Zetsu to recoil. For the first time, unease crept into the creature's eternal voice. Obito's presence had become something unbound—something even Madara's precautions could not easily contain.
Meanwhile—
Danzo was hurled forward by gravity's grip, dragged before Tendo Pain. The Deva Path raised his palm, Rinnegan shining, ready to obliterate him with another Shinra Tensei.
But Danzo moved first.
His arm snapped upward, palm open. A grotesque Sharingan embedded in his hand snapped wide with a bloody glow. At the same time, his robe tore apart, revealing the abomination of his stolen flesh—dozens of Sharingan implanted across his torso, each eye opening in unison.
The battlefield froze for a heartbeat as their collective gaze locked onto Pain.
A surge of ocular power rippled outward, crushing and suffocating, forcing even the Rinnegan into a momentary lapse.
Danzo's lips curled into a cruel sneer. His hands gripped the hilts of his twin wooden blades as he channeled violent torrents of wind chakra through them.
Then he struck.
The arcs of his blades carved the air itself, splitting stone and silence alike.BOOM!
Three Paths—Human, Asura, and Preta—were cleaved apart in an instant, their bodies ripped asunder, scattering like broken dolls across the shattered ground.
The Naraka Path reacted instantly, hands flashing through seals, summoning the ghastly King of Hell to reel their souls back. Its massive mouth gaped wide—
—but Danzo would not allow it.
He vaulted high, one blade ignited with gale-force chakra. With a roar, he descended like a storm directly toward the core: Tendo Pain himself.
"Shinra Tensei!"
The Deva Path met him with raw force. The explosion of repulsion hurled Danzo away like a leaf in a hurricane.
But he twisted midair, forcing his sword to spin violently. The weapon's rotation carved the very air into a halo of shredding wind blades. The ring of death screamed forward, tearing a direct line toward Pain's chest.
The Rinnegan narrowed.
A second Shinra Tensei detonated—larger, heavier, even more merciless than before. The wave shattered the storm of blades in a single catastrophic burst.
Dust rolled.
Danzo landed lightly amidst the ruins, cloak snapping behind him. His breathing was steady. Not a hint of fatigue marred him.
His many eyes all swiveled toward Pain, each gleaming with cruel delight. He chuckled darkly."Is that all, boy? If this is the power of a god…" His twin swords lowered, poised for another strike. "...then I am disappointed."
The taunt hit its mark.
Nagato's anger rippled through the Deva Path, distorting his voice as he spat, "Danzo!"
"Heh…" Danzo's smirk widened.
Both warriors lunged—Pain's black rod thrust like a divine spear, Danzo's cursed wooden blade twisting with murderous wind.
The clash of their wills split the fog, and the battle for dominion over gods and shadows began anew.