Obito's body flickered rapidly between intangibility and solidity.
Each transition was accompanied by a subtle shift in position.
This wasn't an ordinary Body Flicker Technique. It was a combat style that pushed Kamui to its absolute limit, making it impossible for an opponent to predict where he would appear next.
It was one of Obito's ultimate trump cards.
Even the Fourth Hokage had once been caught off guard by it.
Teizawa didn't move.
He closed his eyes, spreading his senses outward in every direction.
Obito's intangibility could evade physical attacks. It could evade ninjutsu. It could even evade most sensory abilities...
But it couldn't hide from magnetism.
Teizawa's magnetic perception didn't detect chakra. It detected magnetic fields.
Every human body contained faint bioelectric currents, and Obito was no exception.
The instant Obito became intangible, the current inside his body weakened—but it never vanished completely. The moment he became solid again, it surged sharply.
Teizawa's magnetic perception could pinpoint those fluctuations with flawless accuracy. He could even predict where Obito would appear a tenth of a second before he fully materialized.
There!
Teizawa spun around.
Lightning-natured chakra condensed around his right fist as he drove it into the empty space beside him.
The brilliance of the Lightning Cutter exploded through the darkness, illuminating the shock beneath Obito's mask.
He had only just emerged from the Kamui dimension.
Before his body had even fully materialized, Teizawa's fist was already upon him.
Too fast!
There was no time to dodge. Obito could only brace himself and take the blow.
The Lightning Cutter slammed into his chest and blasted him backward.
He crashed into a massive boulder, shattering it on impact.
"Guh..."
Obito spat out a mouthful of blood and dragged himself from the rubble.
A huge hole had been blasted through the black robe covering his chest, exposing the charred flesh beneath. White Zetsu cells writhed frantically inside his body, repairing the damaged tissue.
But the wound was too deep.
Blood continued pouring out, and the pain left him drenched in cold sweat.
At this rate, even if Teizawa didn't kill him outright, he would be worn down and die here.
Gritting his teeth, Obito took a pill from inside his robe and swallowed it.
It was a military ration pill he had found among Madara's legacy.
It could dramatically increase his chakra and regenerative abilities for a short period, but its side effects were severe. He rarely used it because it would leave him weakened for several days afterward.
But now, he had no other choice.
The pill dissolved in his throat.
A burning current surged from his stomach and spread throughout his entire body. His wounds began healing at an accelerated rate, and more than half of his chakra was restored.
Teizawa watched the change with a slight frown.
"A military ration pill? An enhanced one?"
He could sense Obito's chakra climbing rapidly.
That power didn't originate from Obito himself. It was being catalyzed by some kind of external stimulant.
"You really do have a lot of useful toys."
Obito didn't answer.
His figure vanished once more.
This time, he moved faster and attacked from even more unpredictable angles.
Teizawa's magnetic perception could still track his movements, but Obito no longer attempted to attack each time he materialized. Instead, he repeatedly shifted from intangibility to solidity and back again.
Like a slippery eel, he weaved through every gap in Teizawa's attacks.
He was no longer aiming to kill Teizawa in a single strike.
He was trying to exhaust his stamina and patience.
He was waiting—for Teizawa to expose an opening, for him to grow tired, or for him to make a mistake.
Naturally, Teizawa had no intention of giving him that opportunity.
Iron sand gathered around him and formed countless slender needles, which shot outward in every direction like a torrential storm.
At times, Obito turned intangible and allowed the needles to pass through his body. At others, he materialized just long enough to knock aside the few he couldn't evade with his kunai.
He was like a swallow darting through a storm of blades.
Every narrow escape brought him within inches of death, yet he refused to fall.
"Is dodging all you can do?" Teizawa asked, irritation creeping into his voice.
Obito remained silent and continued circling him.
He could sense that Teizawa's iron-sand barrage was thinning.
It wasn't because he was running low on chakra. He simply wasn't launching the needles as densely as before, almost as if he had begun conserving his strength.
Now!
Obito suddenly accelerated and charged straight at Teizawa.
His body flickered between intangibility and solidity like a bolt of black lightning.
He would exploit this moment of carelessness and drag Teizawa into the Kamui dimension.
Teizawa didn't dodge.
He reached out to grab Obito.
A faint smile appeared on Obito's lips.
His hand passed through Teizawa's arm.
His intangibility had rendered Teizawa's attack useless.
At the same time, Obito prepared to materialize the instant his palm entered Teizawa's body. Then he would open the entrance to the Kamui dimension and suck Teizawa inside.
But Teizawa moved faster.
The instant Obito's palm passed through him, a powerful magnetic force erupted from Teizawa's own palm.
The force wasn't aimed at Obito himself.
It acted upon the White Zetsu cells inside his body.
Those cells possessed faint magnetic properties. Under normal circumstances, they were far too weak to have any effect.
But now, Teizawa's magnetic force seized them.
The cells churned violently inside Obito's body like a pot of boiling porridge.
Obito could no longer maintain his intangibility.
"What...?"
His pupil contracted sharply.
His body became unstable, flickering uncontrollably between solidity and intangibility.
The White Zetsu cells inside him were rebelling.
They disrupted his chakra and interfered with Kamui.
Obito desperately tried to regain control, but the magnetic force clung to him like a parasite burrowing into his bones. No matter what he did, he couldn't shake it off.
A long blade of iron sand formed in Teizawa's other hand and slashed down in an instant.
Obito gritted his teeth and activated Izanagi.
The Sharingan in his eye had been taken from the Uchiha clan grounds. He had carefully preserved it as a final safeguard.
He hadn't wanted to use it.
But now, he had no choice.
The Sharingan slowly closed within its socket.
Its ocular power faded, leaving the eye permanently blind.
In the next instant, Obito reappeared several yards away.
He was completely unharmed, without a single wound anywhere on his body.
"That was... Izanagi?" Teizawa watched him, a slight smile appearing on his lips. "You finally decided to use it."
Obito's face darkened.
"You even know about Izanagi?"
He had done it deliberately.
Teizawa had deliberately waited for him to use Izanagi.
He was forcing Obito to sacrifice a precious Sharingan and reveal his final trump card.
Obito had retreated again and again, yet Teizawa had left him no alternative.
"I told you—every trump card you possess is transparent before me."
Teizawa gripped his iron-sand blade and slowly walked toward him.
"Izanagi rewrites reality at the cost of the user's sight."
"The fact that you used it means you're out of options. Do you have any other trump cards? Go ahead and use them all."
Obito said nothing.
He turned and ran.
This wasn't fleeing. It was a tactical retreat.
He had no more spare Sharingan to sacrifice, and he certainly wasn't willing to use his Kamui Mangekyō Sharingan to cast Izanagi.
If he continued fighting, even if Teizawa didn't kill him, his identity would be exposed.
He couldn't allow Teizawa to remove his mask.
No one could learn who he truly was.
His plan wasn't complete.
There were still things he had to accomplish.
He absolutely could not fall here.
Teizawa flickered forward in pursuit.
The edge of his blade flashed beneath the moonlight.
With a muffled slice, Obito's left arm was severed at the shoulder.
Blood sprayed into the air, staining the night crimson.
Obito grunted in pain but didn't stop.
His figure vanished into a swirling vortex.
Teizawa stood in the desert, holding the severed arm as he watched the vortex gradually disappear.
He lowered his gaze to the trophy in his hand.
Several white tendrils remained wrapped around the arm. They writhed continuously, attempting to reconnect the severed limb.
Teizawa sealed the arm in iron sand and stored it inside a storage scroll.
"He certainly runs fast."
Teizawa stared in the direction Obito had disappeared, the corners of his mouth curving upward.
"But now that he's missing an arm, escaping next time won't be so easy."
(End of Chapter)
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