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"This little brat."
Uchiha Obito stood amidst the flickering blaze, his expression darkening with displeasure.
Originally, he had been lurking in the shadows, silently observing and waiting for news from Uchiha Sasuke. But what he hadn't anticipated was that Kitagawa Gen would run into Sasuke himself.
Still, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. He had intended to test Kitagawa Gen sooner or later, and now that Sasuke was present as well, the timing was perfect.
What he truly hadn't expected, however, was that this brat, who just moments ago was calmly speaking about Uchiha Itachi, would suddenly hurl a kunai with an explosive tag straight toward him without hesitation.
Had he not remained in a constant state of Kamui, that attack might actually have caused him serious trouble.
To be discovered by a mere child—and even preemptively attacked?
Such an absurd reversal of roles was something Uchiha Obito found nearly intolerable!
"But this boy's perception is surprisingly keen."
Obito narrowed his gaze as he focused on Kitagawa Gen. He had only barely approached, and yet the boy had already sensed his presence. That was genuinely unexpected.
"You two stay sharp. If you see an opening, get out of here immediately."
Although Gen figured the explosion just now would surely attract a lot of attention, he still whispered a word of warning.
"This man is most likely an accomplice of Uchiha Itachi. And more importantly, Sasuke, are you certain your entire Uchiha clan truly died that night?"
"..."
Sasuke, who had been caught off guard by the sudden turn of events and was still reeling from the shock, suddenly found his expression darkening at those words.
What kind of question was that supposed to be?
But then, as he looked through the glow of the fire and clearly saw the figure standing amid the flames like a phantom, as well as the crimson eye beneath the mask, his face went pale.
"That's... a Sharingan?"
"A Sharingan? What's that?"
Naruto looked confused. All he knew was that the man standing across from them was an enemy. Everything else was beyond him.
"Huh?"
Just then, he suddenly clutched his stomach and dropped into a crouch, his breathing turning wild and erratic. Even more unsettling, a faint red chakra had begun to seep out from him.
"The Nine-Tails is reacting?"
Gen witnessed the scene and immediately understood what was happening.
The Nine-Tails would never forget the presence of Uchiha Obito. That lingering malice had clearly left a mark. But this was not necessarily a bad thing.
If the Nine-Tails stirred, it would become an incident of grave concern for the entire village.
"Nine-Tails... Hmph, still as foolish as ever."
Obito cast a fleeting glance at Naruto, his voice laced with disdainful indifference.
"You've got sharp eyes, boy. But…"
He wasn't at all concerned with others seeing his Sharingan. After all, he had already taken on the mantle of 'Uchiha Madara'.
He began walking forward slowly. The surrounding flames seemed unable to even touch him. Then, in a sudden burst, his figure vanished, reappearing in an instant before Kitagawa Gen and the others.
"All your efforts amount to nothing!"
"Move!"
Kitagawa Gen had never taken his eyes off Obito's movements. The moment Obito struck, he immediately shoved Sasuke and Naruto aside, while his right hand erupted with a crackling surge of violet lightning.
Uchiha Obito's strength was outrageously overwhelming. On the night of the Nine-Tails' attack, he had annihilated an entire ANBU squad in an instant, and with a single glance, had seized control of the Nine-Tails.
Even when he faced Namikaze Minato and took a direct hit from the Rasengan, he had survived. That alone spoke volumes about his endurance.
And yet, his fundamental combat skills were surprisingly mediocre. His overwhelming power depended almost entirely on Kamui.
To hold him back, or even confront him head-on, one had to rely on strategy.
Fortunately, Gen knew there were three ways to counter Kamui—three precise methods!
BUZZZZ—!
A streak of violet lightning arced past Obito's mask, but the attack failed to do any harm.
Obito instantly retaliated, a set of iron chains materializing in his hands. The moment he dodged Gen's lightning strike, he lashed the chains forward.
But Obito frowned slightly. Kitagawa Gen had anticipated the move, lowering his body with fluid precision to evade the attack with ease.
The missed strike gave Obito pause, but his hands did not stop moving.
Gen flashed sideways once more, narrowly avoiding the chains as he widened the distance between them. At the same time, his hands began weaving hand signs with practiced speed.
"Fire Style — Great Fireball Technique!"
A massive fireball roared from his mouth, rushing toward Obito with fierce intensity. But Obito simply shook his head in disdain.
"Is this what that failure Kakashi taught you? Useless tricks."
He didn't even bother to dodge. His lone Sharingan simply flickered, and in the blink of an eye, several enormous shuriken came hurtling through the air with deadly force, aimed straight at Gen.
"Earth Style — Earth-Style Wall!"
Gen raised an eyebrow slightly. He was done holding back. Almost instantly, his hands began forming a rapid sequence of seals.
The ground trembled faintly, and a massive wall of earth surged up before him, rising tall and solid just in time to block the incoming barrage of deadly shuriken.
"Your hand sign speed is impressive."
Uchiha Obito let out a derisive snort, his voice filled with contempt.
"But if your plan is to draw attention by making noise, then you'd better make sure you can hold out long enough."
"Honestly, I already have."
As the earth wall crumbled into dust, Kitagawa Gen's figure slowly emerged from the settling debris. His gaze locked onto Obito in the distance as he deliberately spoke in a low voice.
"I can tell what's going on with you. You're not an illusion, nor are you some phantom. It must be some kind of special technique that lets you avoid physical attacks."
He narrowed his eyes slightly.
"And those shuriken you just used appeared directly without you even throwing them. I've heard the Fourth Hokage once had a space-time ninjutsu. Yours is probably something similar, isn't it?"
"Yes."
Obito gave a small nod. The very next moment, his figure vanished again, reappearing as he burst up from underground, charging straight at Gen with lethal precision.
"But so what if you've figured it out? Do you really think you can survive it? Don't you know that people from Konoha are always fashionably late?"
WHOOOOSH—!
The iron chain lashed out horizontally like a serpent striking. But Kitagawa Gen reacted without hesitation, leaping into the air and hurling another volley of kunai in his hand straight at Obito.
Unfortunately, Obito showed no sign of becoming tangible. The kunai passed straight through his body as if slicing through mist.
"This is just pathetic. In the face of overwhelming power, no matter how much you struggle, it is all meaningless resistance in the end."
Obito pressed in, his figure looming with intimidating force. But just as the chain in his hand was about to strike Kitagawa Gen again, he suddenly sensed something was off.
Ziiizz!!!
Crackling with sharp, sizzling noise, Kitagawa Gen's body dissolved into rippling purple lightning, and this unexpected surge of electricity made Obito narrow his eyes in faint annoyance.
"A lightning clone? Did he cast it when he used the Earth-Style Wall earlier?"
The insight granted by the Sharingan was undoubtedly formidable, yet certain clone techniques remained notoriously deceptive. After all, even in the future, Obito himself would fall for Kakashi's lightning clone.
As the intense crackle of lightning surged up along the length of his iron chain, Obito's gaze turned razor-sharp. For at the exact same moment, he felt the pressure of countless kunai closing in fast from behind him.
"Tch. That damn brat."
With a low snort of irritation, Obito leapt backward and focused his eye. In the next moment, the space around him began to twist and distort.
He did consider teleporting himself away directly, but the problem was he had just engaged in physical action. That meant his true body was currently active and vulnerable.
And since he only had one Mangekyō Sharingan, teleporting himself required far more time than shifting external objects.
His top priority now was to phase out the incoming kunai.
The air twisted violently. In an instant, all the kunai that had been about to pierce through him vanished without a trace into the void.
But not far off, where Kitagawa Gen had already widened the gap between them, a subtle smile was beginning to rise on his face.
After all, this was the moment he had been waiting for all along.
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[Chapter End's]
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