Chapter 3, The Ghost of Madara
The cave was eerily silent except for the soft dripping of water from stalactites above. The dim glow of bioluminescent moss cast shadows against the jagged walls, adding to the oppressive atmosphere.
Obito sat on a large stone, his back against the rough wall, arms crossed lazily.
Zetsu emerged.
"Yo, Obito," White Zetsu drawled. "You seem relaxed. Aren't you worried about"
A chuckle echoed through the cave, one that did not belong to Zetsu or Obito. It was smooth, almost musical, but there was something unnerving beneath the tone.
"They're coming."
Obito's eyes narrowed as his mind was suddenly bombarded with a vision, Minato, Jiraiya, Fugaku, and the others, standing in formation, prepared for war.
"Tsk." Obito clicked his tongue, the vision fading.
Zetsu blinked. "Uh, what just happened?"
Before Obito could answer, a blinding flash of light ignited the cavern, and the Konoha forces arrived.
The sheer force of the Hiraishin teleportation sent out a concussive shockwave, rattling the cavern walls.
White Zetsu stumbled back, eyes wide. "What the hell?!"
Black Zetsu scowled. "They tracked the Hiraishin mark after all."
Obito cursed himself for neglecting to remove every trace of Minato's markings. But there was no time to dwell on mistakes now, they were here.
Minato's sharp blue gaze locked onto the masked man before them. His face, though calm, burned with a fury rarely seen from him.
"You won't lay your hands on my family again," Minato stated coldly.
The masked man tilted his head slightly. Then, in a deep, distorted voice, he spoke, one that carried Madara Uchiha's presence.
"Your family?" he mocked. "Your priorities are misplaced, Hokage. You should be more worried about your village."
His voice then shifted, becoming high-pitched and mocking, the voice of Tobi.
"Ohhhh, Minato-kun! You really went through all this trouble just to visit little old me? I feel so special!"
Hiashi's Byakugan flared, his fists clenching. "Enough of these games, Uchiha."
Obito twitched at the accusation but maintained his façade. He turned toward Hiashi, his orange mask tilting dramatically.
"Ooooooooh, Hiashi-Sama is mad at me! What's wrong, gonna hit me with your gentle hands, Hyūga-chan?"
Hiashi's glare hardened, but he held his composure.
Obito's mind raced. His backup weapons, the Sharingan Madara had harvested, were hidden in his Kamui dimension, safe. But there was still a lot of valuable items at the hideout.
He exhaled. No choice but to fight.
He reached out a hand, and in a vortex, Madara's legendary gunbai emerged from his Kamui dimension. The war fan gleamed under the cavern light, a relic of destruction that once shaped battlefields.
Fugaku's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"That fan... Madara's..."
Obito gripped the handle tightly, his distorted voice carrying an amused hum.
"Shall we begin?"
The instant those words left his mouth, Shisui moved.
His Body Flicker ignited, leaving behind a haze of shifting afterimages. His green Susanoo flickered into existence as he launched a drill-like lance straight at the masked man's head.
Obito simply phased.
"Too slow."
The second he rematerialized, Fugaku struck.
His Mangekyō Sharingan spun.
Genjutsu, Phantom World.
The cavern vanished, replaced by a swirling abyss of red skies and haunting whispers.
"Madara is laughing at you."
"Rin died for nothing."
"You are nothing but a shadow."
Obito's fingers tightened around his gunbai, his lone Sharingan flaring violently.
With sheer willpower, he shattered the illusion, only to be met with Guy's fist.
CRACK!
The force of Guy's chakra-enhanced punch sent Obito careening into the cavern wall, splitting the rock behind him.
Obito twisted midair, righting himself just in time to deflect a barrage of kunai from Kakashi and Anko. His gunbai swung in a wide arc, unleashing a hurricane of wind-enhanced shockwaves.
The entire cave trembled.
Choza swung away some of the debris. Yugao, lightning-fast, deflected chunks of debris, but even she was pushed back.
Then, Obito teleported.
In a fraction of a second, he reappeared behind Jiraiya.
A chakra chain lashed out from his sleeve, aiming to pierce the Toad Sage's spine.
Jiraiya twisted, barely dodging, but the chain nicked his arm, slicing through cloth and flesh.
"Shit," Jiraiya muttered, dodging backward. "He's faster than expected..."
A flaming sword came down between them.
Fugaku's Susanoo stood before him, blocking Obito's follow-up attack.
The masked man retreated, scoffing. "Annoying."
Obito's mind was racing. He knew that if this battle dragged on, he would lose.
His Sharingan spun.
"Kamui"
A vortex formed in the ground, but this time, it didn't pull him in.
It released White Zetsu clones.
"Surprise~!" White Zetsu's voice echoed as dozens of clones burst from the vortex, swarming the battlefield.
Konoha's forces immediately reacted, Shisui's Susanoo flickered between targets, and Jiraiya's toad summons entered the fray.