The iron chain was yanked out of Uzumaki Sora's abdomen with a harsh, wet sound.
*Splurt!*
His face didn't even twitch.
The powerful regenerative vitality of the Sage Body surged through him, rapidly healing the gaping wound. Muscle fiber twisted back into place, blood vessels reconnected, and skin knit itself together like reversing time.
But even as the wound closed, Sora's eyes remained sharp with a rare flicker of unease.
'Information... this fight is being lost not because of power, but because of ignorance.'
This was the first time since stepping into the shadows of the great nations that Sora had felt outmaneuvered. It wasn't a matter of strength—he had that in spades. It was intel. Or rather, the lack of it.
'Izanagi? No… that wouldn't explain it.'
The situation still didn't add up. Izanagi would have altered reality itself to favor Obito, turning injury into illusion. But Obito hadn't needed to rewrite reality. He had anticipated every one of Sora's moves.
Sora's Deep Forest Emergence hadn't trapped Obito. The iron chains hadn't touched him. And more troubling than anything: there had been six Flying Thunder God Kunai—six spatial coordinates. How had he read them all?
'This isn't memory. It's not Sharingan prediction either.'
Obito was using something more... something deeper. A manipulation of space and understanding of Sora's patterns that was unnatural.
"Surprised?"
The cold, detached voice of the masked man sliced into Sora's thoughts. Obito stepped forward, Mangekyō Sharingan glowing with quiet menace.
"It's a pity I didn't aim for your head this time." Obito said flatly. "But I may not miss next time. I don't care how much vitality you've inherited from the First Hokage. A pierced heart you can regenerate. A destroyed brain? You'll die like anyone else."
Sora's eyes narrowed, but he gave a small smirk.
"Is that what you're relying on to stop me? Still, I'm curious... how did you guess which kunai I'd jump to?"
Obito gave a low chuckle. "I'll explain it to your corpse."
The moment he finished speaking, the Mangekyō in his right eye spun again.
*Fwoosh!*
Sora instinctively leapt backward as more trees erupted around him in a protective wave, but even now, the overwhelming sensation of pressure remained. His techniques—Flying Thunder God, Deep Forest Emergence—were being subtly suppressed. Not canceled. Not overpowered. Countered.
For the first time in this long hunt, he felt suppressed. Strategically cornered.
A fireball burst through the trees—Great Fireball Jutsu.
*Whoosh—BOOM!!*
Sora barely had time to reinforce the forest wall, but even so, the flames tore through bark and leaf, lashing toward him like a serpent made of flame.
He exhaled sharply. 'This is not going to end unless I shift the field. The longer this continues, the more they'll adapt. Pain and Konan are still here too...'
Sora's eyes flicked across the battlefield.
They were watching—not intervening yet. Curious. Perhaps distrustful of Obito. Perhaps waiting to see which side weakened first.
Either way, the balance would tilt soon. He needed to gamble.
'Midnight reset... as long as my main body and clone dies at the same time, I can activate the secret scroll again.'
Obito's new level of spatial awareness wasn't supposed to exist at this point. Sora knew that. He had disrupted the natural timeline, and now he was feeling the aftershocks.
This world had rules... and so did the butterfly effects of tampering with fate.
Sora's hand reached for the chain he'd pulled out earlier.
A flash of chakra surged.
Flying Thunder God Technique!
*Swish!*
He vanished.
But this time, he hadn't jumped to a kunai.
He reappeared at the chain—the very one that had pierced him earlier. Unseen by Obito, Sora had engraved a Flying Thunder God formula onto it while removing it from his own body.
It was a trap hidden in plain sight.
*Clang!*
The chain soared through the air.
Obito barely reacted—he had already launched another Great Fireball Jutsu.
*Boom!!*
The flames engulfed the spot Sora materialized in.
Sora hit the ground hard, steam hissing off his scorched body. His hair was singed, and skin peeled off in blackened flakes. But he grit his teeth and pushed himself upright.
'That was deliberate. He predicted my jump again.'
"I see." Sora muttered, dragging himself to his feet.
"Did you figure it out?" Obito asked coldly, slowly retracting the chain. "It was clever—using the chain as a coordinate—but it was still futile. My ability makes it impossible for you to touch me, and I can trace your technique. You're playing a losing game."
Sora didn't respond immediately. He took a deep breath and felt his burned flesh regenerating, the Sage Body working overtime.
'Even so... if he pierces my head, it's over.'
This was no longer a simple skirmish. He had to reevaluate.
"Looks like I won't be borrowing anything from you today." Sora said aloud, glancing at the ruined battlefield. "Too many variables. I miscalculated."
He gave a dry chuckle. "Three against one... even I'm not arrogant enough to win that way."
With a single hand seal, he vanished again.
*Swish!*
Obito's Mangekyō spun rapidly, scanning the battlefield. "Did he leave using space-time ninjutsu?"
A moment later, Black Zetsu emerged from a pit in the dirt. "He's gone. Given he has that kind of spatial mastery, it's really hard to trap him."
Pain's eyes narrowed. "If the power of God is ever fully awakened... not even he will escape next time."
With those words, he turned and began walking away, Konan silently at his side.
The paper clones began gathering up all of Sora's marked kunai, preparing to destroy them. Leaving those behind would be a disaster.
But just then—
*Swish!*
*Bang!!*
A thunderous impact cracked the ground as Sora reappeared next to Obito's chain.
A glowing blade swung down in a precise arc.
*Slice!*
A clean cut ran from Obito's left shoulder to his waist.
"Urgh—!"
*Splurt!*
Blood gushed out in a violent wave.
Sora smirked as he stood at the chain's anchor point. "So it's an active ability, not passive. You disabled your intangibility yourself. And you dared to leave my marked chain by your side."
Obito's expression twisted in fury. "Uzumaki Sora... you really want to die!!"
Shinra Tensei!
A massive repulsive force exploded outward, sending both combatants flying. Trees snapped and shattered like twigs.
Pain stood in the center of the blast, his face now cold and filled with divine wrath.
"You have insulted the will of God too many times, Sora. Do you want to be erased?"
Sora pushed himself off the ground, brushing dust from his scorched coat.
"I've died more than once." he replied calmly. "One more time won't kill me. But... can you kill me?"
Obito lunged again, Mangekyō spinning wildly.
But the moment he reached out—
*Swish!*
Sora vanished into thin air once again.
"Tch...!"
Obito staggered forward, fist slicing only empty air.
Jue rose beside him. "He's gone again. Quite far this time."
Obito clenched his fists. "Space-time users are disgusting…"
White Zetsu chuckled nervously. "Says the guy who—"
He cut himself off mid-sentence as Obito glared at him.
"Alright, alright. I'll shut up."
Obito looked at the chain still lying on the ground. He turned to Konan and said coldly, "Get rid of that too. It's compromised now."
Konan nodded. "I'll need all the intel you have on him."
Obito shook his head. "I've told you everything I know. Beyond that… we're all blind."
His eyes flicked toward the forest where Sora had disappeared.
"But the next time we meet… he won't walk away as easily."
The wound across Obito's chest pulsed painfully, even as Hashirama's cells tried to seal it shut.
But in his mind, the scar remained.
And so did the humiliation.
*****
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