"Kamui can't hide tears?"
"He suddenly appeared behind me. Given his nature, he's almost certainly plotting something."
"Heh... perfect time to teach you a lesson."
Kageyama Kogetsu looked unchanged on the surface, but inside he was already weighing how to school Uchiha Obito.
That madman couldn't be killed yet—he still had value.
Konoha needed a major villain inside, the outside needed a major villain, and the shinobi world needed one too; only then could he profit amid the chaos with minimal hassle.
But Kageyama Kogetsu wasn't in a hurry to strike. After finishing at the hot springs, he stuck to his plan, played for two more days, then left Onsen Mountain.
Holding a drink and snacks, he strolled down the road at ease, putting on the look of a man heading to the nearest town.
On either side of the flat, yellow earth road spread forest. The Land of Hot Water's woods weren't as tall and dense as the Land of Fire's—just ordinary forest.
Obito burst up from underground, ninja blade stabbing straight for the center of Kageyama Kogetsu's back...
But the thrust hit nothing. In a flash, Kageyama Kogetsu tossed away the drink and snacks, dropped his stance with a spin, and swept a leg around.
Obito sprang up to avoid the sweep.
Kageyama Kogetsu drove his arms, twisted his waist, flipped, and kicked out with both legs.
Crack—thud. The high-quality chakra blade guarding Obito's chest snapped clean in the middle, and Obito was booted away.
He tumbled in the air, righted himself, and landed on the road, blood beading at the corner of his mouth. Two pale yellow footprints marked his chest. He'd clearly taken the worst of it.
"This guy—what monstrous strength." Far off, White Zetsu A Fei, watching from the trees, was secretly rattled.
"How did you spot me?" Obito brushed off the dust and spoke slowly.
"Heh. Masked man, why would I tell you?" Kageyama Kogetsu sneered.
He had no intention of handing out intel mid-fight.
"Fine then. I'll just take you down and interrogate you."
Obito smiled. A Uchiha war fan with chains spewed from a space-time vortex and settled in his grip.
"Uchiha gunbai?"
"It's said Uchiha Madara could use that gunbai to reflect many jutsu. Do you have the right to wield it?"
As he spoke, a staff of compacted earth thrust up from the ground. Kageyama Kogetsu seized it and flicked; in an instant, inky black spread across the length.
This wasn't Armament Haki. It was Earth-nature transformation—Hardening. There was also Heavy Earth nature transformation.
"Why don't you try it and see?"
"Just what I had in mind."
The next moment, they shot forward and clashed—weapons against weapons, bodies against bodies.
Clang, clang, clang...
Boom, boom, boom...
Blades and staves smashed together with ringing steel, and whenever a swing missed and struck the ground or a tree, it triggered a violent blast.
Most of the craters were Kageyama Kogetsu's doing. Obito had power, but not that much.
After a few head-on exchanges, even with half his body modified, Obito couldn't endure it and had to rely on Kamui's phasing to maneuver.
But Kageyama Kogetsu already knew Kamui's secrets. With 360-degree vision, lightning-fast neural reactions, and a body that could keep up...
Obito threw everything he had at him and still couldn't do a thing. He couldn't suck him in, and he couldn't land a hit.
"Intel said he excels with the blade—why does his staff work look even scarier?
"And paired with Byakugan-style taijutsu, it's absurd—damn near flawless," Obito thought, shaken.
...
In truth, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's best weapons were staves—long or short. He could use others, but they were a notch lower.
If Momoshiki was an Ōtsutsuki noble, then Isshiki was the clan's general.
No one ever imagined the slightly weaker Kaguya Ōtsutsuki would be a complete traitor, stabbing him in the back at the key moment of planting the God Tree and flipping the board.
Judging by Kinshiki's conduct, a guardian betraying the one he guards is almost unthinkable.
That said, after Kaguya ate that extraordinary God Tree fruit a thousand years ago, even Isshiki at his peak was no match.
It was supposed to be a coveted mission won after much service to the clan. He failed to seize the chance.
That fruit was meant to be brought back to the Ōtsutsuki. Even Isshiki couldn't eat it on his own. Returned and refined into a pill, it would have yielded a rich reward—enough for one evolution.
Kaguya ate the raw fruit. The benefit was enormous, but the hidden danger not small,
because the Ten-Tails' bad side was mixed in, with immense negative emotion. Refining it into a pill would have removed the flaw.
Blood-red tomoe eyes are a Ten-Tails thing; the eye on Shibai Ōtsutsuki's forehead wasn't blood-red.
Hamura Ōtsutsuki inherited power from Kaguya leaning more toward the Ōtsutsuki side; the Sage of Six Paths inherited power leaning more toward the Ten-Tails.
From the Sage, both Indra and Asura inherited power skewed toward the Ten-Tails.
...
Realizing that even with phasing he was losing in close combat, Obito chose to open distance.
Kageyama Kogetsu let him, but quietly fixed the Kamui dimension's space-time coordinates with his powerful sense.
Space-jumping wasn't Kamui's patent. The Ōtsutsuki's space-time abilities could traverse dimensions too.
Kamui: Shuriken!
Unlike Kakashi's later double-Kamui variant, Obito's technique spun up a space-time vortex to launch giant shuriken and kunai, gaining speed and force beyond the ordinary.
Fire Release: Explosive Gale Dance!
One technique followed another. Blazing flames swirled through the space-time vortex, greatly boosting both speed and coverage.
Two attacks in succession, vast in scope and hard to dodge—but Kageyama Kogetsu had no intention of dodging.
Sage Art: Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!
Hands together, he slid straight into Mount Myōboku's Sage Mode. One seal, and the water release roared forth.
"Aaaoo—"
A domineering dragon's cry shook the wilds. Seventy to eighty meters long, over ten thick, horned and lifelike, the water dragon took shape behind him in a blink and lunged.
The giant shuriken and kunai were swatted aside by the surging force. Flame met dragon; hissing steam rose in billows, white heat flooding the forest.
"Sage Mode—he actually learned Sage Mode..." Obito's face went dark as his combo was broken, jealousy spiking.
So young and already in Sage Mode—just like their teacher. Konoha couldn't be allowed to birth someone that strong again.
"A Fei—here!" Obito barked.
He had no choice. Taijutsu, Mangekyō abilities, ninjutsu—none of it worked. Only the cheat remained.
Thankfully, after being thrashed by their teacher, he never again underestimated any famed powerhouse. He'd prepared a spare plan—otherwise he'd be sunk now.
These woods couldn't match the Land of Fire's forests, but they still offered a decent boost to Wood Release.
Most important, he'd grown vastly stronger since the first possession. His Wood Release power was on a different level.
A Fei, who'd watched the whole time, said nothing. He slipped into a tree and, via the dense roots underground, rose beside Obito and wrapped around him.
The tiger-striped mask on Obito's face was covered by white. The aura pouring off him surged higher...
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