Malphegor
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Ch. 96: Team 2: Preparation is King
🕑 Added 2024-09-21 15:58:37 +0000 UTCObito didn't waste any more words and directly charged towards Yuki.
Based on his understanding of Konoha, the only person with real combat ability in this ninja squad was the leading jonin. As long as he could quickly defeat this jonin, the entire mission to seize the tribute on the gold transport cart would be as good as won.
Seeing the enemy before him neither drawing his sword nor using a kunai to confront him, but instead rushing towards him with no defense, Yuki was slightly surprised.
As the two closed in, reaching a distance where they could touch each other, he struck first, swinging his kunai horizontally towards Obito's mask.
The kunai made direct contact with Obito's head without any obstruction, but there was no sensation of hitting something. Yuki could only watch as the kunai passed right through his head.
What? When did he cast a genjutsu?
Not only that, due to the momentum of his body, he didn't stop in time and was about to collide with the enemy's body, but Obito's form passed straight through him as well!
He was startled and immediately realized this could only be genjutsu, because in his knowledge, no other jutsu could achieve such an effect.
Where? As he looked around, searching for the real body, he suddenly felt a hand touch his right shoulder.
Turning his head, he saw that the body which should have been an illusion was now standing right behind him, with a hand on his shoulder.
"Looking for me, jonin?" Obito asked mockingly. "I'm right here."
What's more, in the single eye of the mask, a vortex of twisted space was spinning and deepening, as though it was going to suck him into the black hole of the mask.
What kind of jutsu is this?
Yuki wanted to struggle and escape, but his body wouldn't obey. He was almost completely paralyzed, barely able to move.
Got him. Just as Obito was inwardly declaring victory, two kunai flew from behind, aimed at his head. He had no choice but to turn intangible to avoid the kunai, which interrupted the process of absorbing Yuki.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Yuki immediately broke free from Obito's grip, jumping back to recover his combat stance. He nodded gratefully to his students. "Good work, you guys. Stay alert!"
Obito's visible eye narrowed in irritation. "Pesky genin. Know your place."
He then turned his gaze toward the ones who had thrown the kunai.
From the residual motion of their hands, it was clear that the sneak attack came from the two younger genin in the group.
One of the genin looked ordinary, while the other wore the distinctive dark blue short-sleeved attire of the Uchiha Clan.
An Uchiha? At such a young age? He must have some talent, though his eyes are not sharp enough.
While most people couldn't tell whether an Uchiha had activated their Sharingan or not, Obito could see that this Uchiha had not activated his Sharingan.
The Akatsuki organization is in need of talent, and he might one day be of use to me. I'll help you.
He knew exactly what it took to awaken the Sharingan: a strong emotional stimulus. If he killed this his teammate, it would surely trigger the awakening.
With this in mind, he no longer held back and used the Body Flicker Technique to appear behind Yuki.
He's fast! I can't—Before Yuki could raise his kunai, Obito had already slashed his back.
He had intended to capture this jonin alive, as both his information and body would be valuable to Akatsuki, but to awaken the Uchiha boy's Sharingan, he had to give up on that plan.
A pity. You might have been useful alive, his blade cut through Yuki's flesh.
A bloody gash appeared on his back, and he immediately lost consciousness, collapsing to the ground, his fate unknown.
"Sensei! No!" Yugao cried out.
Itachi's eyes widened. "How could he..."
Their usually strong and capable teacher had been taken down so easily by the masked man! But the masked man didn't stop after defeating Yuki.
He turned towards the genin. "Now, which one of you wants to join your sensei first?"
Obito moved toward Yugao, who stood at the forefront of the triangular formation.
Her hands holding the sword trembled slightly, but she still charged toward him.
He didn't even move as he blocked her attack with a single slash, and then followed up with a horizontal slash towards her.
"Foolish little girl," he mocked, his blade meeting hers.
Yugao, thanks to her training in the Konoha swordsmanship style, managed to parry his strike, but the force was so great that it sent her flying off to the side of the road.
Struggling to her feet, she stared in horror as the enemy approached her. She tried to raise her sword again, but her body wouldn't respond.
I... I can still fight...
On top of that, her hands were still in pain from Obito's earlier strike, and every time she tried to pick up her sword, she couldn't hold onto it. The blade kept slipping from her grasp and falling to the ground.
Though the girl before him was still young, he showed no mercy. In his heart, only Rin was worthy of compassion.
After glancing to the side to confirm that the Uchiha boy could clearly see what was happening, Obito raised his sword and slashed toward Yugao's head.
Watch closely, young Uchiha. This is the cruel reality of the shinobi world.
As Yugao saw the sword descending towards her, the cold gleam of the blade filled her vision. She saw herself decapitated, her head rolling on the ground.
Move... Move!
This feeling of facing death head-on was something she had never experienced since becoming a ninja.
In the moment just before death, one could predict their state after death.
When a ninja's brain becomes unrestricted and envisions this scene, they completely lose the ability to react and can only await the arrival of death.
But just as Obito's sword was about to sever Yugao's neck, another kunai flew past his head.
The timing of this kunai's attack forced him to turn intangible again, canceling his sword strike in the process.
Obito's sword only left a small scratch on the side of Yugao's neck, the rest of the attack being nullified by his intangibility.
Even so, she had tasted the full terror of death. With the sword having grazed her throat, her fear reached its peak, and her mind could no longer take it.
She collapsed, unconscious.
Obito then turned toward the one who had thrown the kunai.
Earlier, it was Itachi trying to ambush him, inadvertently interrupting his absorption.
But this time, it was that ordinary-looking genin.
What's going on? Was the interruption just a coincidence?
But why did it happen at such a perfect moment?
Could it be that he figured out the mechanics of my kamui when I fought the jonin?
Obito had always believed that his jutsu was complex enough. Until now, the only one who had understood its mysteries after a short confrontation was the Fourth Hokage.
Even though he had seen through it after just one encounter, Minato was once his teacher and the Fourth Hokage, with experience and talent far beyond what this genin could possess.
So, was it just a coincidence? Since you're so eager to die, I'll grant you that wish.
Obito shifted his target from the unconscious Yugao and started walking toward Kagami.
After confirming with the two kunai attacks earlier, Kagami was now 100% sure that the masked man was Obito.
He had trained hard for this day, and finally, his ninjutsu would prove useful.
"Fire Style: Demon Lantern!"
Kagami formed the tiger hand sign, and several fireballs materialized around him, surrounding Obito as they charged toward him.
Hmph, such a low-level jutsu? Obito snorted softly, immediately making his body intangible. The fireballs passed through him without causing any harm.
A fire technique with such weak speed and power would never hit me.
After dodging the fireballs, he continued advancing toward Kagami.
But before he could lift his foot, the fireballs suddenly returned, aiming at his body again.
He had no choice but to turn intangible once more to avoid the attack.
Just as he dodged the fireballs again, they attacked him once more, forcing him to stay intangible again.
Damn this brat. What kind of technique is this?
Ordinary fire techniques rely on explosive power and speed, and though their damage and accuracy are generally high, they are useless against someone like him.
But the Fire Style: Demon Lantern technique allows for continuous attacks as long as the tiger sign is held, even if each strike is relatively weak. The continuous nature of the assault, however, was highly troublesome.
This looping attack left Obito unable to perform any other jutsu because while intangible, he couldn't cast techniques—he could only use his body in its most basic form to approach his target.
Each time he tried to run toward Kagami, the boy would maintain his hand sign and retreat, always keeping a safe distance from him.
A peculiar situation emerged on the battlefield.
Fireballs continuously passed through Obito's body without causing damage, yet he felt like he was running in circles, chasing Kagami with no result.
Damn it, at this rate...
He was fully aware of his ability's weakness. While he could easily dodge the attacks, he couldn't keep avoiding them for more than five minutes.
As soon as five minutes passed, he would have to stop being intangible, and at that moment, he would no longer be invincible.
This seemingly weak fire technique was actually perfectly suited to counter his abilities.
What he didn't know was that the Fire Style: Demon Lantern was specifically designed and trained by Kagami to counter him. The jutsu wasn't just hiding the essence of the Flame Spirit; it was honed precisely to deal with Obito.
Before, Yuki had thought that Kagami hadn't mastered the jutsu since he couldn't use it without holding the tiger hand sign. But in reality, that was a deliberate choice by him.
He had pushed this simple C-rank jutsu to its limit. The sign wasn't used to cast the technique but to control the fireballs in continuous attacks.
Kagami had conducted hundreds of experiments to perfect this jutsu for countering Obito. Through careful calculations, he had determined that to maintain the constant attack loop, he needed to control precisely seventeen fireballs at once.
He also calculated the chakra consumption of controlling seventeen fireballs in high-frequency attacks for five minutes. To meet this chakra requirement, Kagami fed Spidey a lot.
The current Kagami possessed far more chakra than a typical genin, and could maintain the attack on Obito for five full minutes.
Damn it, I didn't expect this brat to be so troublesome. If I had known, I would have dealt with him first.
Obito regretted not taking care of Kagami during the initial Body Flicker Technique. Now, his body couldn't become tangible, leaving him unable to use any ninjutsu.
In reality, even if Obito got near Kagami, he wouldn't pose much of a threat. Kagami just didn't want to get too close to the fireballs and burn himself.
Although he was immune to the heat of the Flame Spirit, he couldn't resist the heat of ordinary fireballs.
Despite the fact that killing this genin should have been as easy as crushing a bug, Obito found himself completely at a loss, growing more frustrated by the second.
What angered him even more was that this no-name genin had developed a tactic against him.
The fireballs, previously somewhat scattered in their attacks, were now forming a continuous ring under Kagami's control.
The seventeen fireballs formed a rotating ring around Obito's body, increasing the frequency of the attacks and making it even harder for him to find a gap to become tangible.
If he released his intangibility for even a moment, the fireballs would explode inside him—a sensation he knew would be excruciating.
He was now regretting his overreliance on his eye's intangibility.
I've let my other skills dull, Obito realized, memories of Madara's harsh training flashing through his mind.
No matter how well Kagami had trained the Fire Style: Demon Lantern, the fireballs could never catch up to Obito's Body Flicker Technique over long distances.
But he had become too dependent on his intangibility, always choosing to dodge attacks with it, and now he was stuck in this predicament.
The fire ring continued to fly through his intangible body. It seemed that until Kagami deactivated the jutsu, he would remain unable to move.
Just when Itachi, who didn't fully understand the situation, thought that Obito couldn't handle Kagami, Obito suddenly ran toward a nearby tree, merging his body with the trunk.
The seventeen fireballs in the fire ring passed through part of his body but couldn't avoid crashing into the tree.
The fireballs collided with the large tree, causing a massive explosion.
Seizing this opportunity, Obito used the body flicker technique to charge directly at Kagami, launching a punch with his right hand.
Now, you're mine!
Seeing Kagami's terrified expression as Obito appeared suddenly in front of him, a satisfied smile formed beneath his mask.
But then, a burst of fire suddenly appeared in front of Kagami.
The fire emerged like a ghost, without any hand signs or preparation time, materializing directly in front of Kagami's face—precisely where his punch was heading.
In that critical moment, he didn't have time to turn intangible, and his right hand slammed into the unexpected fire.
The flames erupted instantly, and through the fire, Obito saw Kagami's lips curl into a subtle smile.
