Obito's nerves instantly tensed up.
He didn't know what that "heh" really meant, but having someone say it right in his face, it felt like every word was a sign of death.
But Hatake Satoru's fingertip didn't start spinning with the usual black and red vortex.
"Aw, it failed!"
Behind his blindfold, Satoru's eye blinked innocently, and his smile suddenly turned playful.
While Obito was still frozen, *bam*—
Hatake Satoru pulled back the finger on Obito's mask and instead threw a solid punch right at his face.
Huh?!
Obito hadn't expected that his so-called "finishing move" was just… a full-force punch to the face.
Sure, the punch was strong—really strong—but that was it?
Obito was knocked back, stumbling awkwardly as he caught himself a short distance away.
*Crack*—a sharp sound rang out.
As Obito steadied himself, a crack appeared on his mask.
A piece of the mask around his eye broke off and fell, revealing his Sharingan to everyone.
Obito reached up and touched the broken part of his mask, frozen with shock and fear.
"What…?!"
They've only clashed twice!?
This guy already has enough power to crack my mask?
If Hatake Satoru had put just a little more strength into that punch, Obito honestly wasn't sure if his mask would've held up.
Obito had always gone for quick fights—his Kamui only lasted five minutes.
He'd already burned a good chunk of time just getting here, and if this dragged on, there was a real chance he'd end up stuck.
But it was clear now—Hatake Satoru was not the kind of opponent you could deal with quickly.
In fact, judging by his attitude and expression, the guy didn't even look like he was taking this seriously.
That half-hearted punch just now—Obito could tell he was messing with him.
Obito pressed his lips together. He'd already lost the puppet Mizukage on this trip, and the Three-Tails along with it.
No matter how you looked at it, this was a huge loss.
The worst part was, he just couldn't beat this guy. No matter how he looked at it, there was no chance of winning.
Obito had never felt that way about anyone before.
"What are you doing here? Isn't causing chaos in the Leaf Village enough for you?"
Obito gave up on using ninjutsu on Hatake Satoru and rushed at him directly, holding a kunai in one hand.
He needed to gather as much intel on Hatake Satoru's abilities as he could before Kamui's time ran out.
Only by knowing what this guy could really do could Obito hope to figure out a way to counter it.
"Staying in one place all the time gets boring, you know? I'm just out here to relax a little~"
Hatake Satoru kept dodging backward with his hands still in his pockets, casually avoiding Obito's attacks. Then he lightly tapped the ground and kicked at Obito's wrist.
But again—he missed.
Obito spun and threw his kunai straight at Hatake Satoru.
But in a flash, Hatake Satoru vanished from where he'd been.
Obito quickly looked up—and saw him smirking, a bit of blood at the corner of his mouth.
He bit his thumb and pressed it against a scroll.
Well, guess it's time to bring this out.
Even if it was just for distraction—
Hatake Satoru swung the scroll down hard, and a storm of weapons came crashing down.
Kunai with explosive tags and all kinds of shuriken rained from above like he didn't care how many he used.
Obito's head snapped up, eyes locked onto the falling weapons overhead.
The space around him began to spin again, and the weapons twisted as they fell.
As long as he pulled them into Kamui's space, he'd be fine!
Just as Obito was moving, he suddenly caught sight of a small red sphere spinning among the weapons.
BOOM—!!
Hatake Satoru launched his "He" technique while midair.
Unlike before, when it caused a shockwave by hitting the tailed beast bomb, this one struck the ground directly.
The earth shook violently. The falling weapons—and even Obito's arm, which had been pierced and torn off—were swallowed into the crater.
Hatake Satoru glanced at his fingers, then at the massive hole in the ground that seemed to have no bottom.
It was really hard to tell if the enemy was dead with an attack this big.
Still, it looked like Obito had used Kamui to escape just in time.
Within a certain range, Satoru couldn't sense Obito's presence at all anymore.
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Yagura was no longer under Obito's control.
That last fight probably left Obito pretty badly hurt. It was unlikely he'd be showing up around here again any time soon.
"Well, that'll do for now. It's not like there's any rush to deal with that guy anyway."
Hatake Satoru smiled casually. Shisui, meanwhile, was still locked in a staring contest with that giant turtle.
That was his freshly replaced eye—don't wear it out already.
…
"Cough…!"
Obito coughed up blood, looking completely wrecked. His black cloak was torn and shredded, covered in wounds.
The half of his body that had been healed with Hashirama cells now had a round hole punched right through it. That one hit had even blown off one of his arms.
The moment he saw that little sphere, a blinding light shot straight toward him.
He didn't even have time to react—*bang*—it tore through half his body just like that.
Well, at least now he had a sense of what this guy was capable of.
Next time they met, he'd be better prepared to deal with it.
Too bad about Yagura, though. With that puppet Mizukage gone, Kirigakure was now in complete chaos.
Obito wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, frowning as he stumbled back into the shadows.
…
Three days later, inside the Mizukage building.
A group of people sat around a long table.
Genshi and Ao still had bandages on their faces, and neither of them looked great.
Between the Anbu and the fighters under Genshi's command, they had taken heavy losses during the incident a few days ago—many were hurt or killed.
Genshi's power had been seriously weakened. At this point, forget trying to get Shisui's Sharingan—
They weren't even sure they'd get a say in picking the next Mizukage.
The event that day was so big, pretty much everyone in Kirigakure had seen Hatake Satoru show off his strength.
Now, when it came to choosing the next Mizukage, there was no doubt he'd have a huge say.
Over the past three days, they'd been in meeting after meeting, trying to figure out a way to keep even a little influence for themselves.
After that intense standoff with the Three-Tails, Shisui had passed out and slept straight through two days and two nights. He finally showed up today, hair messy, dragging himself into the Mizukage building.
Hozuki Mangetsu, who was the one that seriously injured Karatachi Yagura, was also invited to the meeting.
He was so short that when he sat down, his head barely reached the top of the table—it looked like a floating head from a distance.
Once everyone else was seated, Hatake Satoru finally pushed open the door holding a paper bag.
"Oh? You were all waiting for me?"
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