Chapter 108: Hikari: "Obito, I Am Your Ancestor."
Meanwhile, outside the Mizukage Tower.
BOOM!
Zabuza sliced the main gate apart with his sword and led his subordinates charging in, laughing. The tower's external defenses were pathetically weak, and the clans that supported the Mizukage hadn't come to reinforce him. This coup was proceeding with incredible smoothness.
Staring at the gloomy tower, Zabuza could already see himself cutting down the Fourth Mizukage.
He brandished his blade and yelled to his men, "Find the Fourth Mizukage! Once he's dead, this will all be over!"
Soon after rushing into the tower, Zabuza's forces ran into Kisame and the three new recruits: Komaru, Sora, and Kanryu. Zabuza's eyes narrowed; he figured these four must be the Mizukage's last line of defense.
"Kill them!" he roared to his men. "There's a huge reward!"
Courage is born from great reward. And since the enemy wasn't the Mizukage himself, Zabuza's men felt no fear, charging Kisame's group like a pack of rabid, juiced-up dogs.
Nearby, on a tall building overlooking the Mizukage Tower.
Orochimaru stood quietly on the roof, gazing at the chaos enveloping the Mist Village, a relaxed and easy smile on his "delicate" face. "Another coup? This village truly is plagued by disaster," he mused, licking his lips with his slender tongue.
After a moment, he left the rooftop and returned to a laboratory. He had already released countless white snakes to monitor the tower; he didn't need to watch personally.
"Haku, how are you feeling now?" Orochimaru asked, carefully checking the Cursed Seal of Heaven he had planted on Haku.
"Lord Orochimaru," Haku hesitated, "I... I feel fine."
Once marked, the body is eroded by natural energy as it's gradually... and painfully... prepared as a vessel for Orochimaru's soul. But Haku was surprised; he felt no discomfort at all. In fact, the power emanating from the seal was almost... comfortable.
"Is that so?" Orochimaru's golden eyes narrowed in surprise. The Cursed Seal was a degraded form of Sage Mode; an ordinary person's body couldn't handle natural energy. Even his most prized subject, Kimimaro, could only handle the Cursed Seal of Earth. Haku's reaction was completely unexpected.
"Could it be... Haku is a natural genius for senjutsu?"
As this thought crossed his mind, Orochimaru suddenly turned his head, a cold smile playing on his lips as he looked out at the misty courtyard. "Heh heh... Am I being watched, too? This night is getting interesting."
A spatial vortex appeared without warning in the Kiri archive room. Obito stepped out silently, his gaze falling on the two thieves frantically stuffing items into storage scrolls.
Seeing Neji-kun and Hikari in Mist uniforms, Obito was confused. 'Not Zabuza? There are other masters in the village?'
As he pondered, he reached out his hands toward both of their shoulders.
Neji-kun's body suddenly stiffened. A paralyzing sensation, which seemed to dull even his thoughts, washed over him from behind.
"Obito's here!"
Kamui was no ordinary jutsu. When caught, the victim's body and soul are affected by the spatial distortion, making them sluggish, as if caught in a paralysis jutsu. This was why most people caught by it were sucked into the Kamui dimension without any resistance. The suddenness of the attack left no time to react.
To escape Kamui, one needed not only a calm mind but, more critically, a jutsu that required no hand seals. Either a teleportation-type space-time jutsu, or an attack that could threaten Obito's physical body and break his concentration.
"Hikari!"
Neji-kun roared, simultaneously unleashing his Tenseigan's repulsive force. An invisible tide of power surged behind him.
Neji-kun had briefed Hikari on Obito's abilities beforehand. The moment she felt the paralysis, she reacted. The Mangekyō in her eyes spun wildly.
"Susanoo!"
A crimson specter erupted from her body. Fueled by her powerful dōjutsu—comparable to an Eternal Mangekyō—her Susanoo skipped the skeletal and muscular stages. It manifested instantly as a single, massive crimson arm, wielding a Susanoo blade, and slashed viciously at Obito.
"What?" Obito was shocked. He had thought this would be easy, but both of them had a counter to Kamui. While using Kamui to absorb, his body had to be tangible.
BOOM!
The repulsive force hit him head-on, sending him flying backward. In the next second, Hikari's attack arrived.
SWISH!
The Susanoo blade swung up, and a spray of blood filled the air. Obito's left arm was severed clean at the shoulder.
Freed from Kamui's pull, Neji-kun and Hikari spun around, their eyes locking onto Obito at the far end of the room. Neji-kun glanced at the severed arm on the floor, a slight smile on his face.
Obito's body was enhanced with Hashirama cells. In his fight with Minato, he had tanked a full-power Rasengan and walked away fine. Neji-kun's repulsive force was the perfect counter to Kamui, but without Hikari's follow-up, it wouldn't have been enough to injure him.
"Tch." Hikari put her hands on her hips, hmphing at Obito. Her Susanoo, which had just been an arm, now rapidly expanded into a full upper-body giant, protecting her.
"You are...?" Obito's expression changed as he recognized Neji-kun's face. He had access to the Eastern Front's intelligence; he was well aware of the "Star of the Cloud" who had captured the Six-Tails.
But Obito, with his Hashirama cells and Madara's legacy, was supremely confident. He hadn't paid the boy much mind. Now, however, that repulsive force... it instantly reminded him of the mysterious masked man he had fought in the Hokage Tower all those years ago.
Hyūga Neji was in Konoha back then, but given his age... Obito had ruled him out.
"What's wrong? Don't recognize an old friend?" Neji-kun chuckled.
"It really was you!" Obito's voice trembled, a new wariness in his eye. His gaze shifted to the young, Kiri-disguised girl. She looked eleven or twelve, but the Mangekyō Sharingan in her eyes was piercing.
Obito knew every Uchiha with the potential to awaken the Mangekyō. This girl was not one of them. "A Mangekyō Sharingan... Who are you?"
"Hmph!" Hikari snorted. Her young, high-pitched voice failed to convey true 'contempt' and sounded more like a taunt.
"Brat, I am your ancestor."
"..." Obito was annoyed. He immediately played his Madara card. "To speak to me, Uchiha Madara, in such a way... you are courting death."
"Uchiha Madara is dead. You're just an impostor using his name."
"Hmph. Think what you want."
"A coward hiding in the shadows. You're so weak you can only plot in the dark."
"I am Uchiha Madara. I don't need to explain myself to anyone," Obito shot back, perfectly mimicking Madara's tone, trying to overwhelm her. "And even if Madara were here, he would still have to call me ancestor. Especially a dead one."
Hikari was fuming, but then she remembered the trump card Neji-kun had given her. "A guy like you can only hide behind a mask, just like you did in front of Rin and Kakashi. Am I right... Uchiha Obito!?"
Hikari didn't know the full story, but the effect was instantaneous. She saw undisguised shock and horror flash in Obito's single, crimson eye.
"Looks like I hit the nail on the head," Hikari said, proudly tilting her chin.
"You... How did you know?!"
Neji-kun spoke up. "Obito, do you remember the Yotsuki clan member you killed when you stole the Red Gourd years ago? Before he died, he left intel: a mysterious Uchiha with a Sharingan in his right eye. Konoha's Kakashi Hatake also has one, in his left eye. One right, one left. Too much of a coincidence. I've fought Kakashi, and even more coincidentally, his left eye's dōjutsu is identical to yours."
"So, once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Uchiha Obito, you didn't die in the Third Great Ninja War."
"Let me guess... why did you, the survivor, attack the village and kill your master and his wife? Hmph. Don't tell me you resent the Fourth Hokage for not saving Rin Nohara on the battlefield?"
"It's hilarious, Obito. Facts aside, you think you're completely blameless, don't you? It was your own weakness, your own failure to protect your comrade, but you shamelessly blame everyone else. No wonder Rin chose Kakashi. No one would ever choose a guy like you."
"Shut up!" Obito's body trembled, his voice cracking with rage as he cut Neji-kun off.
"Heh," Neji-kun smiled. "Did I strike a nerve?"
"You don't know anything!" Obito's face twisted under the mask, his killing intent exploding.
Space warped, and a giant Gunbai (war fan) emerged, landing in his hand.
"Hyūga Neji. And you," Obito pointed the fan at them, "you will pay for your slander with your lives."
Neji-kun casually kicked Obito's severed arm aside like a stone. "You're blindly confident."
"Neji, especially you," Obito swung the fan. "I will make you suffer every torture of the Bloody Mist until you die in agony."
With that, Obito's form flickered, leaving afterimages as he charged.
'Despise the enemy strategically, respect him tactically.' Even though Obito was one-armed and Neji-kun knew all his trump cards, he didn't dare be careless. He instantly entered Tenseigan Chakra Mode, his eyes tracking Obito's every move.
Obito was fast, closing the distance in an instant. Neji-kun's nine Chakra Receiver Rosary orbs shot out, forming a rapidly spinning shield.
Obito's eye narrowed. A sense of mortal dread, just like he'd felt years ago in the Hokage Tower, washed over him. He didn't hesitate, immediately becoming intangible and phasing straight through Neji-kun.
At the same moment, Hikari attacked.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The red Susanoo rampaged within the confined space, every swing and slash echoing like thunder. Neji-kun and Hikari's attacks were seamless, forcing Obito onto the defensive. But Obito wasn't panicking. They had two people... but he wasn't alone either.
The instant Obito raised his fan and charged, in another secret room, Yagura's eyes snapped open. He looked towards the archive, grabbed his iron hook, and sprinted out of the room.
Outside the Mizukage Tower.
Ao activated his Byakugan, observing the tower from a distance. Zabuza's rebellion had destroyed many of the sealing formulas, allowing his vision to penetrate the building. He watched the battle on the ground floor for a while, then deactivated his dōjutsu.
"Lord Elder," he said respectfully to the old man beside him, "the battle is ongoing, but the tower's internal defenses are stronger than we thought. Zabuza is losing."
"Has the Mizukage made his move?" the Elder asked.
"I haven't detected any Tailed Beast chakra. Zabuza is being held back by Kisame and three ANBU with Kekkei Genkai."
"Kisame..." the Elder's old voice was tinged with regret. Kiri's Seven Swordsmen were all but gone. Kisame was the only one in recent years to have been acknowledged by a blade. To see him guarding the tower now... he had likely been suborned by the mastermind controlling the Mizukage.
Mei, hearing Zabuza was losing, looked at the Elder with concern. "Grandfather, shouldn't we intervene?"
The Elder shook his head impassively. He then turned to the blond woman beside him with a faint smile. "Samui-san, I apologize for letting you witness this disgrace."
Zabuza had struck first. The Elder had diverted the forces loyal to the Mizukage. The tower was isolated. And yet, Zabuza was still being held back, unable to even force Yagura to show himself. This coup was, just as he'd feared, a farce.
Samui, sharp as ever, understood his implication. "Lord Elder, Neji-kun gave instructions before he entered. He said that when Zabuza began to falter, our people would make their move."
"Excellent."