"Did it work?"
Seeing Shinno completely vanish from before his eyes, Jiraiya let out a breath of relief, but he didn't dare to lower his guard as he turned to ask his disciple.
"It worked."
Hearing Obito's firm reply, Jiraiya finally dropped his vigilance completely.
However, a new problem now stood before them—
That was whether the person inside Kamui's space could actually subdue Shinno, who had opened all Eight Gates without injury.
"Even if he can't, it's fine. After all, the one inside is just one of Takeshi's shadow clones."
Obito didn't seem worried. If even Takeshi's shadow clone couldn't defeat Shinno, he'd just toss him into Orochimaru's research lab.
Surely that man would have a way to deal with him.
...
Inside Kamui's space.
Shinno cautiously scanned his surroundings.
Obito's movement had been far too fast—he had only felt a blur before the entire scene around him changed completely.
"Ah, looks like Obito moved quite fast, huh? Well then, let's count your sins—"
The boy's voice abruptly stopped.
Because the moment Shinno heard that sound, he swung his arm back and threw a punch like a roaring elephant.
"That damn Obito—what the hell did you send in here?!"
Takeshi barely dodged, his shadow clone almost smashed apart by the blow, and only then realized that red steam was surging from Shinno's body—
The Gate of Death?!
The sudden turn of events nearly made Takeshi pull a muscle. Using the Flying Thunder God kunai he'd placed earlier, he darted between cover, narrowly avoiding Shinno's attacks.
If it was the Eight Gates, then he could just wait until the man's body gave out and died.
"What a pleasant surprise."
The Gate of Death amplified physical ability to an enormous degree—so much so that Shinno could actually keep up with Flying Thunder God to a certain extent.
But still, there was a gap. Hitting Takeshi was easier said than done.
"I thought this space was a prison tailored to hold me... but to think a Konoha shinobi would be waiting here. Hmph, if I kill you here, that great one will surely be very pleased."
Even as he said that, Shinno had no real means of taking Takeshi down for now.
"Ice Release: Ice Spear."
Takeshi summoned a gleaming ice spear and thrust it straight at Shinno's chest.
Seeing that Takeshi dared to engage him at close range, Shinno laughed and met the attack head-on, reaching out to crush Takeshi's throat.
The sharp tip of the ice spear tore open a wound on Shinno's chest—but just as his large hand was about to close around Takeshi's neck, Takeshi vanished with the Flying Thunder God, reappearing at a safe distance.
And then he saw it—the wound he'd just made was closing at a speed visible to the naked eye, vanishing completely in an instant.
No wonder.
The man possessed a regenerative body.
"How did you manage that?"
Keeping his distance, Takeshi asked warily.
"This power was a gift from that great one... though, of course, a few of my 'friends' helped a little too."
As Shinno spoke, his expression suddenly twisted, though he quickly covered it up. The red steam surrounding him, however, began to fade little by little.
Regeneration had its limits.
The reproduction of the kikaichū within his body, the strain of the Gate of Death, and Takeshi's attacks—together, Shinno could no longer maintain the Gate's activation.
He reached to his side, slicing open his own waist, and before Takeshi could even react, he shoved his hand inside.
By the time Takeshi realized what Shinno was doing, a mass of black material had already been ripped out of his body by sheer force.
When Shinno hurled it to the ground, Takeshi finally saw what it was—
The kikaichū insects of the Aburame clan.
A perfect opportunity.
Before Takeshi could even think about it, his body moved instinctively.
The Flying Thunder God activated, and in the blink of an eye, Takeshi appeared beside Shinno, unleashing the Eightfold Light Wheel.
"Naïve."
Shinno sidestepped the attack. His once normal arm suddenly elongated and twisted, whipping toward Takeshi's position.
Rather than dodge, Takeshi used Ice Release to test the strength of Shinno's strike.
The ice wall shattered instantly, scattering shards through the air. Having gauged the attack's power, Takeshi used Flying Thunder God once more to retreat to safety.
By now, Shinno's wounds had completely healed, and the kikaichū had been entirely expelled from his body.
"That technique... really does remind me of Orochimaru."
Takeshi couldn't help but grumble.
"Mm. That's because I did reference a few of his abilities."
Shinno was happy to respond; after all, he needed time to recover anyway.
He still didn't understand where exactly he was. The best option was to capture this young Hokage alive and force the truth out of him.
Meanwhile, Takeshi was secretly thankful that Shinno had deactivated the Gate of Death—because with just this shadow clone, he wouldn't have lasted long against the Morning Peacock.
Still, that brief conversation had given him some useful intel. This regeneration likely came from the assistance of an Ōtsutsuki.
In other words, if he could capture Shinno alive, he might be able to extract valuable information.