No! Something's wrong!
It wasn't just his eyes, his chakra had changed too.
Obito stared at Kaede, and through the vision of his Mangekyo Sharingan, he could see an entirely different chakra signature than before. It radiated an overwhelming sense of danger!
Crash!
The windows of the Mizukage building shattered, and many nearby buildings shook. Numerous Mist ninja noticed the disturbance and rushed outside, all turning their attention to Kaede and Obito.
Most of them didn't recognize Obito, but when they saw Kaede's figure, many of their expressions changed drastically. Cold sweat instantly formed on their foreheads.
"S-Silver Flash?!"
The Silver Flash of the Leaf!
No, more precisely, the Fifth Hokage of Konoha!
What was he doing here in the Hidden Mist Village… and without any warning?
Obito ignored the surrounding Mist ninja, his eyes locked tightly on Kaede. A hint of deep wariness flickered in his gaze.
"You've awakened some kind of ocular power, haven't you?"
Woosh!
A nearly imperceptible ripple of energy shimmered through the air, passing once more through Obito's body. It disrupted his attempt to activate Kamui, halting his escape.
Though Kamui was interrupted, Obito remained calm. He didn't move, just stared coldly at Kaede.
"You can't beat me. But I can't hurt you either. My ability renders your attacks meaningless. There's no point in us fighting."
"Is that so?" Kaede replied with a calm smile.
A sky-blue light flickered in his Rinnegan as he gently raised his Truth-Seeking Orb sword and continued to wave it lightly, each motion sending faint ripples toward Obito.
The surrounding Mist ninja looked on in tense silence, confusion mixed with awe. They didn't recognize Obito either.
And…
The Fourth Mizukage still hadn't shown up.
The uncertainty left the nearby Mist ninja unsure of what to do. All they could do was anxiously watch Kaede and Obito's confrontation.
Obito didn't understand what Kaede was trying to accomplish with these seemingly pointless attacks, but as the ripples continued to wash over him, a growing unease crept into his heart.
This isn't good.
He didn't know what Kaede was planning, but he couldn't allow him to continue.
Even if his body was intangible, immune to damage in its current state, letting the enemy move freely was a foolish risk.
Obito took a breath, activating the full power of his Mangekyo Sharingan. A dark blue chakra surged from his body, flooding outward in all directions.
Boom!!!
The Mizukage building was instantly reduced to rubble.
A moment later, the blue chakra condensed into the second form of Susanoo, which drew a radiant sword and slashed toward Kaede in a mighty arc.
The blade glowed with black energy, the power of Kamui,.
Kaede didn't retaliate.
Whoosh!
Instead, he flickered out of the blade's path in a blur of speed. With a quick pull of his hand, he used Banshō Ten'in to yank Mei Terumī out of the slash's range as well.
The Kamui Blade came crashing down.
Buzz!
The ground where it landed twisted into a vortex of black energy, completely erasing everything it touched. The radiant blade then cleaved open the earth, carving a fissure dozens of meters long.
Until now, Kaede's attacks had been nearly invisible, silent and subtle. But Obito's strike sent shockwaves through the crowd, finally something they could see and feel.
"Damn!"
"What kind of ability is that?!"
Many Mist ninja gasped in horror.
An older Mist shinobi's pupils shrank sharply. "That's... Susanoo?!"
It was now clear, this man wasn't from the Mist Village. The Silver Flash of the Leaf must have come here for him!
"Just as I thought."
Kaede evaded the Kamui Blade and rose into the air. With a calm flick of his wrist, he swung his sword once more. His Rinnegan glowed with a soft, blue light.
"Struggle all you want," he said flatly.
"Because… this may be your last chance."
Fwoosh!
That faint, nearly invisible ripple once again spread through the air, and in an instant, Susanoo, which enveloped Obito's body, was cleanly sliced in two!
The ripple didn't stop there. It continued downward, sweeping through the buildings behind Obito.
Silent.
A street stretching hundreds of meters suddenly split in half down the center, revealing a gaping, pitch-black abyss.
Nearby Mist ninja froze in place, a chill running from their skulls to the soles of their feet, as if they'd been plunged into icy water.
If the overwhelming chakra of Susanoo was terrifying, then Kaede's attack was downright unbelievable, just a faint ripple, almost unnoticeable!
And yet...
Kaede had casually unleashed dozens of these ripples already.
Someone glanced up at the sky, and their expression froze. Their voices trembled.
"W-Wait… is that real?!"
Others followed their gaze upward.
Even Mei Terumī noticed the sudden shift and looked toward the sky. Her pupils contracted sharply, disbelief flashing across her face.
In the bright blue sky above, white clouds had been cleanly sliced apart, as if something had severed them straight through.
Woosh!
Another ripple spread through the air.
As Mei and the others stared skyward, they saw another cloud, already split once, quietly separate again from the middle.
Was this…
…really something a human could do?!
More and more Mist ninja turned their gaze to the sky, each one freezing in place. Their minds went blank, as if they'd turned to stone.
Clang!!
A short sword slipped from someone's hand and clattered against the ground, the sound crisp and clear.
Finally,
Even Obito, whose attention had been entirely focused on Kaede from the beginning, noticed what was happening in the sky.
His pupils shrank violently.
"His attack…"
The sight stunned him beyond belief. He had no doubt now, if not for his Kamui's intangibility, even a full-body Susanoo would have been sliced in half by Kaede's blade.
Fortunately, his Kamui allowed him to phase through all attacks. As long as his real body remained in the Kamui dimension, no strike could reach him, no matter how powerful.
But just as that thought crossed his mind, Kaede seemed to realize the futility of attacking any further.
He stopped.
Obito took a deep breath and suppressed the tremor in his chest. Staring at Kaede, he said coldly, "Your power's grown again. So you think you can kill me now?"
"Too bad," he sneered. "Against these eyes… even that strength is meaningless."
"Well then…"
"Until next time."
With those parting words, the vortex of Kamui appeared beneath him. Obito began to vanish into it.
Kaede made no move to stop him. He simply watched Obito disappear with a calm gaze.
"How unfortunate," he murmured.
"There is no 'next time.'"
A glint of blue light flickered in his eye. The space where Obito had vanished suddenly rippled, like the surface of water.
Whoosh!
Kaede's figure blurred, and he vanished into that ripple without a trace.
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Completed version available on Patreon Patreon.com/Veltoria