Chapter 513: Is Obito Uchiha Dead?
Ishiro first followed Chiga's directions to the Uchiha in the southwest.
When he was still dozens of kilometers away, the location entered his perception range, and he immediately broke into a grin. As expected, it was Obito Uchiha.
In his perception, he found not only Obito, but also the children he had abducted.
It was the middle of the night. Just like the last time he'd ambushed Obito's base in the Land of Iron, the children were all sleeping in one room. However, Obito was right next door. A silent rescue was impossible.
Ishiro thought for a moment, then said to Sōkai and Izumi, "Ahead is the hiding place of that mysterious Uchiha who's been stirring up trouble everywhere."
"Izumi, when the time comes, grab the opportunity and absorb his ocular power."
"But remember one thing: this Obito Uchiha's Mangekyo Sharingan has the ability to make himself intangible. Don't attack rashly. Wait until I've confirmed his state."
Izumi nodded gravely. She had heard about Obito from Fugaku. His identity was unknown, and he had been constantly instigating conflict between the Uchiha and Konoha's leadership. It was said that during the Fourth Hokage's era, the Uchiha had a chance to integrate into the village, but all hope was destroyed by this man. He had not only killed the Fourth Hokage, who had been willing to accept them, but had also framed the Uchiha for it, planting the seeds of civil war.
Of course, he was also incredibly powerful, able to control the Nine-Tails and even the Fourth Mizukage.
She was very wary of him and committed Ishiro's words to memory.
Ishiro glanced at Izumi's attire. Good, she's not wearing the Uchiha clan crest. She can hide her identity and catch him off guard.
He took out an Iwagakure forehead protector and handed it to her. "Wear this for now. You can pretend to be an Iwa-nin and lull him into a false sense of security."
Izumi hesitated for two seconds, but took it and tied it on. How long has it been? After taking off the Konoha protector, I thought I'd never wear one again.
Ishiro looked at Sōkai. "Sōkai, Obito recognizes you. You'll be Izumi's cover."
Sōkai nodded.
"We have two objectives tonight," Ishiro said. "First, let Izumi absorb his ocular power and strengthen herself. Second, seize the chance to rescue a few children. These are all from Kirigakure. We can trade them back to Kiri. I'm sure they'll be willing to pay a high price."
Izumi, Sōkai, and Chiga all nodded.
Ishiro suddenly asked, "By the way, Izumi, how much ocular power do you have now? Compared to when you first awakened it?"
"After I awakened my Mangekyo," she replied, "I absorbed ocular power from both Shisui Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha. I haven't used it much, only when I fought Itachi did I expend a large amount on Susanoo. My current level is about the same as when I first started."
Ishiro nodded and looked at Sōkai.
"I haven't used much," Sōkai said. "I've only used my dōjutsu once, and I've never even used Susanoo. So my power is pretty much the same."
"Good," Ishiro said. "In the future, you must learn to conserve your ocular power in battle. The village hasn't yet confirmed if we can restore it once it's lost."
Izumi was stunned. "Lord Tsuchikage, you mean... Iwagakure might have a way to restore the Mangekyo's power?"
The Uchiha clan, with its long history, had no such method. How could Iwagakure?
Ishiro glanced at Izumi, then at the slow-witted Sōkai, and sighed. Sōkai had matured, but his intelligence wasn't going to increase overnight.
"There is a secret base that might be able to restore it," he nodded. "But before you two, the village has never had a Mangekyo user, so we have no related experiments."
They were both thrilled. Sōkai blurted out, "Teacher, can you take us to try?"
Ishiro glanced at him. "I can. After this is over, I'll take you both there. You are both members of this village. Rest assured, the village will provide you with the best logistical support."
Sōkai cheered, and Izumi's face was also full of joy.
Chiga, watching from the side, analyzed his words. Teacher Ishiro is so clever. With every word, he's tying Sister Izumi to the village. He's subtly making her think from the perspective of an Iwa-nin.
As they talked, they finally arrived at Obito's hiding place.
Ishiro judged the location. This is on the border of the Land of Demons and the Land of Snow. It's also our territory. This guy is playing 'hiding in plain sight' again. Let's see if I can give him a surprise this time.
After detailing the plan, he led them in for a quiet landing.
As they neared the ground, Ishiro immediately went all-out: "Sage Art: Porcelain Release: Mudslide Torrent!"
Just like the Kiri ambush, he first used a wide-area jutsu to scatter Obito and the children, then grab them in the chaos.
The difference was that Kisame had used water, while Ishiro was using mud. The basic effect was the same, but his mud had a special ability.
Obito sensed the danger immediately. Ishiro's chakra fluctuation was too large; he reacted the instant the jutsu was cast. Perhaps because he had been tricked by Ishiro so many times, his reaction speed was extremely fast.
He immediately got up and rushed toward the children's room.
But Ishiro had his panoramic perception. He could clearly sense their locations and wasn't afraid of friendly fire. Or rather, he simply didn't care about their safety. It would be best to rescue them, but if he accidentally killed them, so be it.
The porcelain mud smashed through the wall and surged toward Obito.
By then, Obito had only managed to grab two children. If this had been Kisame's water, he could have tanked it and continued. But as the mud approached, he saw the faint fuinjutsu formulas on its surface.
He knew Ishiro's sealing jutsu was powerful and didn't dare to risk it. What if Ishiro slapped a space-time seal on him?
He chose to retreat, but not before grabbing two more children.
The bulk of the mud continued to chase Obito, while the rest wrapped around the remaining children and brought them back to Ishiro.
He placed several seals on them, then turned his attention back to Obito, who was still dodging the mud. The other two children were already in his dimension.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!" Obito incinerated the chakra in a large swath of the mud.
He was furious. He could have escaped into the ground, but he didn't. He was unwilling.
He just stole all the children I spent so long cultivating? I haven't even been out causing trouble! I've been so quiet, and he still won't let me go! Who's the real villain here?
And one thing bothered him greatly: How was I exposed? I haven't left, and Black Zetsu isn't here. Why can the Tsuchikage always find my exact location?
If he didn't find out the reason, he'd never have peace, even if he ran away. In that case, he might as well go all out and teach Ishiro a lesson.
At that moment, two figures were rapidly flanking him.
Seeing this, his anger surged. I admit I can't beat you, Ishiro, but you're sending two random subordinates to deal with me? Even worse, they're splitting up? Do you think the name of 'Madara Uchiha' is just for show?
His Sharingan spun, ready to attack, but then he saw their faces. "Hm? Uchiha Sōkai?"
Could it be his dōjutsu that's locking onto me?
He decided not to go for Sōkai. Even with Kamui, if Sōkai activated his Susanoo, it would take time to phase. Time Ishiro could use to kill him.
So, he turned to face Izumi, though most of his attention was still on Sōkai and the distant Ishiro.
He and Izumi grew closer. Phased, he reached his sinful hand toward her chest.
"Watch out!" Ishiro, the farthest away, shrieked a warning.
Obito sneered internally. Too late to be worried now!
But Izumi's eyes flashed. She had received the signal. "Watch out" was his cue that Obito had become tangible and she could attack. Ishiro's Mind's Eye could capture his chakra when he materialized, making it perfect for spotting the difference.
Obito lifted his slightly lowered head to see if her expression was one of terror. He was checking to see if she was acting, a subconscious reaction he had developed after being tricked by Ishiro so many times.
In his mind, this girl wasn't Sōkai. Looking her in the eye wouldn't trap him in some unknown dōjutsu. And he was ready to phase at a moment's notice.
But...
"Crimson eyes... wait, what is that pattern? A Mangekyo Sharingan? How?!"
The next moment, Obito's vision went black. At the same time, unknown to him, two lines of blood streamed from his eyes.
Izumi had simultaneously used both of her dōjutsu, sealing his vision and madly draining his ocular power.
At the same time, Ishiro's porcelain mud instantly formed into countless rock kunai, stabbing with insane, precise speed at Obito's head. From a distance, Ishiro also used Shinra Tensei to accelerate them.
This was his backup plan. If Izumi failed, he could use this to force Obito back and save her.
Obito had seen the attack coming, but he had been confident he could grab her before it hit. He had expected to grab her, and then use her as a hostage to exchange for the other children. He was sure Ishiro, as a Kage, would prioritize his subordinate.
And Ishiro had expected that if Izumi failed, she would activate her Susanoo. Even if it didn't scare Obito off, the time it took him to phase the giant structure would be enough for Ishiro to save her.
But what happened next left Ishiro stunned.
Thwack-thwack-thwack!
Obito was hit.
Ishiro's mouth twitched. He couldn't help but curse, "Genius."
He had never expected Obito to use up another Izanagi so easily.
He remained vigilant, waiting for Obito to reappear.
But soon, he noticed something was wrong. Izumi was... crouching down and checking Obito's body for equipment?
Ishiro rubbed his eyes. He wasn't mistaken. She was checking the corpse.
He disrupted his own chakra. Nope, not a genjutsu.
Still not at ease, he expanded his Mind's Eye to its maximum, scanning the full 160-kilometer radius. After a while, still nothing. No genjutsu could cover such a large area, unless it was the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
If I'm not in a genjutsu, then...
He looked at Obito's headless corpse. Or rather, he didn't even have a neck or shoulders. The porcelain kunai had turned that area into pulp.
"Obito Uchiha... is dead? If it were Izanagi, he should have disappeared by now."
What the hell happened?
He forced himself to calm down, not approaching, and asked Izumi, "What happened just now?"
She looked at him, surprised. Didn't you kill him? Why are you asking me?
But she still answered, "I used both of my Mangekyo dōjutsu on him at the same time. I sealed his vision and drained his ocular power. Because his vision was sealed, he didn't react at first. He didn't realize I was draining his power, so he didn't try to get away. By the time he realized it, it was too late. Then he was turned into mush by you, Lord Tsuchikage. One weird thing, though. He had four sources of ocular power on his body. Two in his eyes, two on his right arm. The ones in his left eye and his arm were very weak and were drained almost instantly. His right eye's power was very strong, even stronger than mine. I wanted to drain more, but he was turned to mush by you."
Ishiro stood there, stunned, his mind blank.
Obito Uchiha... is dead? Is this... the end?
Many characters from the original story had died because of him. Chiyo, Pakura, Hanzō. Even Jiraiya. He had never been this disoriented.
But Obito... Will Kaguya still be revived?
In his mind, Obito was immortal. He couldn't die before becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, both because of his unbeatable dōjutsu and his Izanagi bug.
And in countless fanfictions, no one had ever managed to kill him off this early. This had created a kind of inertia in Ishiro's mind: Obito can't be killed.
Even this ambush, his best-case scenario, was just to make him waste a Sharingan and run him off. He had even planned to get some of his blood so Chiga could track him, and he could periodically enter her perception space and drain his Sharingan dry.
But... Genius... how did you just die like this?
After a long time, Ishiro finally smoothed out his chaotic thoughts and found the key piece of information.
What did she mean, "so weak, they were drained almost instantly"?
He strode forward and pulled Obito's ruined corpse from the pile of kunai.
He tore open the sleeve on his right arm. Sure enough, there were two Sharingan there. But they were dim, and though they still had three tomoe, Ishiro could sense they were already useless.
This was different from the permanent blindness of Izanagi. But without ocular power, a three-tomoe Sharingan couldn't cast Izanagi.
He looked at Izumi. Good grief. She drained all the Sharingan on his body at once. All the spares he had for Izanagi are useless.
If Obito had been prepared, he might have been able to use his right Mangekyo to cast it, but he probably never even considered using his main eye for that.
Izumi's dōjutsu was the perfect counter to Izanagi. This eye was truly a weapon for use against her own clan.
Ishiro's mood soared. An unexpected joy, a massive, unexpected joy! Obito Uchiha was killed by me, just like that!
He threw his head back and laughed.
But the next moment, his face changed, and he jumped.
"Dammit, dammit, I lost out! If I had known her dōjutsu was this strong, I wouldn't have killed him! I should have taken his eyes! His Mangekyo has space-time ninjutsu! Not to mention its research value, just the treasures hidden in his Kamui dimension would have made me rich!"
He felt like he had lost a mountain of gold.
Izumi, Sōkai, and Chiga watched him first laugh, then beat his chest in anguish, completely speechless.
Izumi looked worriedly at the other two, as if to say, Is your Tsuchikage-teacher okay?
Sōkai just gave her a look that said, Don't worry, he's always like this.
After a long time, Ishiro listlessly sat down. His disciples spoke to him, but he just glanced at them, not saying a word.
Finally, the three of them ignored him and began to clean up the battlefield.
When they returned, Ishiro let out a heavy sigh. "Let's go back to the village."
Chiga asked, "We're not going to the other two locations?"
"I'm not in the mood right now," he said. "Let me recover first."
He disposed of the parts of Obito's body that had been turned to mush, then packed up the rest to take back for research. In any case, it still had Hashirama's cells and was a valuable specimen.
On the way back, he extracted the White Zetsu clones from the children he had rescued.
Looking at the clones, which would have normally been a decent harvest, he couldn't feel any happiness at all.
He scanned the sealed children, and his eyes locked onto one boy: Suigetsu Hōzuki.
"Suigetsu wasn't transferred by Obito?" he wondered.
Based on the situation, Obito should have transferred the most talented ones first. He didn't think any of the other children's talent could compare to Suigetsu's.
He scanned the group again and saw that Ranmaru, the Red Eye user, was not among them. He must be in the Kamui dimension.
He could only guess. "This kid was acting. He must have deliberately pretended to be average, so Obito overlooked him."
He remembered Suigetsu from the original story. He was a person who could swallow his pride and had his own strong opinions.
I'll find a chance to chat with this kid, Ishiro decided. See if he can be persuaded to stay in Iwagakure, like Haku.
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