"Clang!"
The crisp sound of a blade being unsheathed echoed. In an instant, a cold flash cut across his neck, fast as a thunderbolt.
In the blink of an eye, Uchiha Shisui had already passed by Uchiha Obito. However, the Uchiha prodigy's brows furrowed deeply.
His blade had clearly sliced through the other's neck—yet there was no sensation of hitting a physical body.
What… was that?!
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
The moment his sword missed, Shisui twisted mid-air, formed seals rapidly, and exhaled a blazing dragon of flame that roared toward Obito.
Behind his spiral mask, Obito sneered and stood still, allowing the fire dragon to engulf him.
But in the very next instant, he reappeared behind Shisui — silent as a shadow — and drove a sharpened Black Receiver toward Shisui's neck.
But Shisui vanished before it could strike.
The Black Receiver pierced only the air and buried itself deep in the ground— A guaranteed, point-blank hit had been evaded by Shisui's Body Flicker Jutsu, a feat of impossible speed.
"Such swift Body Flicker.."
Obito's low, raspy voice echoed. "They don't call you Shisui of the Body Flicker for nothing. The Uchiha's brightest prodigy."
"You bastard…"
Shisui reappeared in a nearby tree, eyes locked his opponent, mind racing through what just happened.
He had clearly locked onto this masked man's chakra — yet every attack, whether physical or ninjutsu, had passed right through him.
They weren't blocked; they simply passed through him!
"Genjutsu? Or is it some afterimage created by speed?"
Uchiha Shisui's eyes narrowed dangerously. In the next breath, his razor-sharp blade was already slashing towards Obito's throat once more, only to slice through nothing.
He whipped his blade back, but as he did, the opponent's left hand, with unnerving speed, slapped an exploding tag onto his wrist, and then instantly pulled away.
"Physical contact…?"
That moment of contact had felt real. Shisui's mind reeled.
He instantly struck the tag with a burst of chakra and activated Body Flicker — teleporting backward while the tag remained behind.
"BOOM!"
The explosion went off, but Shisui was already safely out of the blast radius. Obito frowned slightly.
Even though he had detonated the tag instantly, Shisui's speed and reactions had still allowed him to escape unscathed.
"So be it. If I can't catch you, I'll restrict your movement."
"Wood Release: Tree Bind Flourishing Burial!"
Obito clapped his hands. The earth trembled — countless wooden vines burst forth like snakes, lashing toward Shisui with ferocious speed.
Shisui responded just as fast, leaping high and spitting out three flaming meteor-like fireballs mid-air.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"
Blazing fire engulfed the vines, stopping their advance.
"So… immune to physical attacks. Even ninjutsu pass through. He only becomes tangible when he strikes. And he uses Wood Release."
The vines crackled under the blaze. Shisui muttered as his eyes narrowed:
"You're the one who ambushed Lord Minato on Higashimatsuyama, aren't you? The one with both Wood Release and the Mangekyō Sharingan!"
"So you figured it out."
Obito chuckled darkly. "It seems Minato Namikaze wasted no time in spreading my information among Konoha's elite. How truly... honored I am"
"But since you know who I am, you also know what I'm capable of."
Beneath the flickering, hellish firelight, the three-tomoe Sharingan within that pale spiral mask whirled with dizzying speed, morphing into a bizarre, pinwheel design.
A suffocating aura of power radiated out — the oppressive pressure of a Mangekyō Sharingan filled the air.
"In the face of this eye, everything you possess is meaningless."
"So it really is a Mangekyō Sharingan…"
Shisui's own three-tomoe spun as well — no fear in his eyes, only killing intent.
To steal the bloodline of one's clan was a taboo in the Uchiha. Even someone like Shisui, who wasn't obsessed with clan pride, could not forgive such sacrilege.
"I don't know where you got that eye, but as a member of the Uchiha, it's my duty to protect the clan's power."
"So — die!"
"Heh… Can you even touch me, little Uchiha?"
Obito sneered, imagining himself as Madara incarnate.
He suddenly clasped his hands together. The black cloak on his right shoulder instantly ripped apart. Multiple wooden vines burst from his shoulder, shooting straight towards Shisui, interweaving in mid-air to instantly form a towering tree!
"Wood Style: Great Tree Spear!"
"Fire Release: Big Flame Bullet!"
Violent flames crashed onto the towering tree, causing a blaze to erupt!
"A chance!"
Obito grinned beneath the mask. While the two techniques collided, he phased through space and reappeared behind Shisui—his hand reaching for Shisui's eye.
"That eye… belongs to me now!"
"Heh."
Shisui smiled coldly.
As Obito's hand reached out, the tomoe in Shisui's left eye spun madly — merging into a square-shaped shuriken pattern.
"Kotoamatsukami!"
Mangekyō met Mangekyō — tremendous ocular power exploded between them.
Obito froze, body locked in place, as if paralyzed.
"It worked!"
Shisui took a deep breath, he stared intently at the unmoving opponents and spoke slowly, deliberately
"Who are you? Where did you get that power? What is your goal?"
Obito's body trembled slightly — and then, a voice came from beneath the mask. A voice Shisui thought he recognized.
"I am Uchiha—"
"SCHUNK!"
A sudden, violent eruption of tree branches shot out from Obito's body. Their speed was so blindingly fast that even Shisui could barely react, directly piercing through his shoulder.
"What?!"
He staggered back, slicing off the vine before it could anchor further.
As it withdrew, it instantly sprouted into a massive tree. Blood dripped from Shisui's arm, but his eyes never left Obito.
He could still feel the connection—his genjutsu was active. Then why…
"BOOM!!"
A massive explosion erupted from afar, cutting off Shisui's thoughts.
A destructive chakra emanated from that direction. The next moment, a mountain-like monster appeared, like an ancient beast of destruction descending upon the world.
The colossal beast roared and shrieked, emitting a suffocating and terrifying aura.
"What… the hell is that?!"
Shisui's eyes widened.
"Oh dear, it's already started, hasn't it? It seems we're the ones who made a slight miscalculation here~"
"Good thing I, Tobi, am here. If not for me, our information might have been completely exposed~"
A slightly comical voice emerged from Obito. He looked at the Gedo Mazo in the distance, roaring and shrieking like an ancient demon god, muttering to himself for a moment. Then, with his hands on his hips, he arrogantly looked down at Shisui below: "But you really are amazing, even though we both have Mangekyo, I couldn't resist your genjutsu at all~"
"You...!"
Shisui's face darkened. What do you mean, "if not for me"? Was this guy schizophrenic?
He said Kotoamatsukami worked, but he was talking like it hadn't affected him at all.
And from his words, it seemed that monstrous beast in the distance… might be their doing.
But that direction… wasn't that where Hanzō and the Akatsuki were fighting?
Who the hell are these people?!
A space-time ninjutsu that appears and disappears at will and is immune to all attacks, Wood Release, and now even Kotoamatsukami didn't work, and there's a monster of that caliber...
If this guy were to appear in Konoha...
No, he must be killed here today. He absolutely cannot be allowed to leave alive!
"Oh my, what terrifying eyes you have~ You truly want to kill me right here, don't you? But before we fight, can I ask you a question~"
"Do you know what 'the feeling of needing to poop' is like~"
Tobi swayed his limbs, uttering "oh so terrifying," yet his posture only fueled the killing intent in Shisui's heart to the extreme.
This guy was insane. Mocking him while babbling nonsense.
If I can't defeat him with what I've got now…
Shisui's hand moved to his bandaged right eye.
As the wrappings fell away, a new, oppressive power surged outward.
A complex, blood-red Mangekyō Sharingan gleamed beneath.
"That eye…"
Black Zetsu, who had been hidden in the shadows, silently observing everything, suddenly paused. Black Zetsu's gaze fell directly on Shisui's right eye.
"Something strange seems to have appeared."
White Zetsu couldn't help but speak, "Wasn't this kid's right eye already taken by Yuki Yoru? How is it still there, and looking at the eye's pattern..."
"Ah, it's on the same level as Lord Madara's eyes before he awakened the Rinnegan."
"A brand new Mangekyo, unaffected by curses, untreatened by seals, possessing eternal light!"
Black Zetsu's hoarse voice slowly echoed, his tone filled with deep shock.
He wasn't an Indra reincarnation, yet he awakened the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. Most critically, this kid was only around ten years old! Was this guy a monster like Yuki Yoru?!
"Ahhhh, what a terrifying eye you have..."
Tobi's voice held a hint of fear, though his tone completely lacked any actual fright.
He suddenly leaped, landing on a large tree behind him. Gazing at Uchiha Shisui, whose eyes were blood-red, he suddenly clapped his hands together. An extremely massive chakra violently surged and fully erupted.
"This jutsu!"
Uchiha Shisui's face changed again: "You... can you really do something to this extent?!"
As Tobi's chakra dispersed, the entire ground began to tremble violently. Countless trees burst from the earth, growing wildly.
Uchiha Shisui continuously formed hand signs, unleashing powerful Fire Release ninjutsu, igniting and shattering the plants furiously growing towards him. Large swaths of vegetation turned to ash.
But the boundless plants seemed endless, spreading wildly. No matter how much Shisui incinerated, new ones replaced them in moments, impossible to completely destroy!
"Is this the power that ended the Warring States… the First Hokage's power?"
In an instant, a small forest was created. Faced with a jutsu of this magnitude, even a powerhouse of the Third Hokage's caliber would be swallowed by the endless sea of trees, slowly worn down to death.
But—
"Although I truly don't want to use my father's power, for Konoha, for the village, I believe my father would understand!"
"If what you possess is the power of the First Hokage, then I, who has stolen the Uchiha Clan's Kekkei Genkai, will show you the true power of the Uchiha Clan!"
Uchiha Shisui let out a low roar. His two distinctly different eyes spun simultaneously at this moment.
Accompanied by an intensely chilling chakra, Shisui's aura erupted in that instant. A skeleton phantom appeared beside him, then materialized. A point of light rose from Shisui's center, and a skeletal giant emerged, destroying all vegetation in its path with overwhelming force!
"Susanoo!!"
The Mangekyo in both eyes spun wildly. Chakra surged through his entire body. The massive dark green skeleton instantly developed layers of chakra veins and was draped in a chakra cloak resembling armor. And at the center of this Susanoo's chest, there was an orange-red chakra magatama!
Under Tobi's astonished gaze, Shisui's Susanoo's chest cavity opened, and countless green chakra arrows burst forth, furiously barraging the sea of trees. Their terrifying power completely halted the tree's eruption, sending countless wood chips flying!
"Looks like… I've stumbled into the wrong battlefield."
"The Rinnegan of the Sage of Six Paths… the First Hokage's Wood Release… Uchiha Madara's Mangekyō…"
"What the hell is today? Did all the monsters decide to show up at once?!"
Suddenly, a voice echoed from above.
A figure wearing blue-and-white ceremonial robes and the Mizukage's hat stood atop the canopy, overlooking the battlefield.
"I'm not too late, am I?"