"Lord Rei… Please, you have to win."
Taking advantage of the opening while Rei Kaguya held back Obito Uchiha, the surviving Kirigakure shinobi retreated several hundred meters away into the forest with their companions who still had a chance of survival.
While treating their own injuries and recovering enough stamina for the next step of withdrawing from the Land of Fire, they watched the monster-like battle between Rei Kaguya and Obito Uchiha with deep concern.
When they saw Rei Kaguya's attacks pass through Obito Uchiha's body without exception, everyone's hearts tightened.
When they saw Obito Uchiha unleash Cutting Sprigs Technique like a storm, only for it to be completely neutralized by Rei Kaguya's Dead Bone Pulse, they unconsciously clenched their fists. A thought naturally rose in their hearts.
Maybe he can win.
When they saw Rei Kaguya use himself as bait and inflict real damage on the masked man for the first time, only to be trapped and strangled by the large-scale ninjutsu the enemy unleashed in the blink of an eye, two extremely negative emotions—shattered hope and rising terror—quickly took root and sprouted in their hearts.
Under that crushing pressure, more than half of the Kirigakure survivors let out despairing cries.
They lost the courage to remain on this battlefield. Ignoring everything, they abandoned their companions and fled in all directions like a swarm of headless flies.
As Rei Kaguya's subordinate, Mikazuki Eri had placed all hope of her future promotion on him.
Although she was just as frightened, her legs had turned weak, and she had to clamp them together with all her strength to avoid humiliating herself from fear on the spot, her gaze never once left Rei Kaguya.
She also made no movement that suggested she intended to flee the battlefield.
She knew very clearly that if Rei Kaguya lost, then no matter where they ran, they would be chased down and killed by that Uchiha who seemed capable of using Wood Release.
For an ordinary shinobi like her, his power was simply impossible to resist.
Since whether their escape succeeded or failed still depended on whether Rei Kaguya could retreat safely, any attempt to flee would only lower her evaluation in his eyes.
If she chose to run now, she would never become Rei Kaguya's trusted subordinate!
The other Kirigakure shinobi who had not chosen to flee held similar resolve.
They were all gambling.
Gambling that Rei Kaguya, the one called a monster, could create the miracle known as victory.
And then, they waited long enough to see it.
They saw the flower of white bone blooming in midair.
They saw Rei Kaguya once again seize the possibility of victory in his hands.
"That is… Bracken Dance? That's the strongest Kekkei Genkai secret technique of the Kaguya clan…"
Looking at the forest formed from white bones rapidly occupying the battlefield where Rei Kaguya and Obito Uchiha fought, an older Anbu who had participated in earlier Shinobi World Wars rubbed his eyes, which were blurred with blood, and murmured,
"Rei Kaguya… He's only fifteen."
"A monster. A true monster…"
"Will this war become the stage where you alone forge your reputation? Just like the Konoha Sannin in the Second Shinobi World War, and the Yellow Flash, whose name has already spread far and wide in this war…"
…
Rei Kaguya had no idea what was happening among the Kirigakure shinobi he had saved.
He only knew that after he unleashed Bracken Dance and spread his bones across the entire battlefield, the battle between him and Obito Uchiha had once again been pulled back into a state where neither could do anything to the other.
Obito could indeed rely on Kamui to ignore his attacks.
But the attack methods Obito currently possessed were not enough to harm Rei Kaguya, who could freely move through this forest of white bone.
As for Rei Kaguya, although his battlefield mobility had increased further, before Obito's eye power was exhausted, he would not have another chance to harm him at all.
After all, the attack just now, which had nearly crippled both of Obito's hands, should have been enough to make Obito realize that Rei Kaguya might have discovered the flaw in his ability.
And as long as Rei Kaguya could no longer exploit ignorance with preparation, then without space-time ninjutsu, he had no chance of harming a wary Obito Uchiha.
So…
How about calling it here?
Rei Kaguya tried to transmit this message to Obito and White Zetsu Tobi with his eyes.
But what he received in return was only even more boiling killing intent and fury.
I'll kill you.
Obito Uchiha's gaze conveyed that meaning.
Rei Kaguya did not care much.
If you have the skill, pull out your Susanoo Gundam on the spot.
Otherwise, with your current attack power, forget about breaking my defense or taking my life. Even daydreams are not supposed to be this ridiculous.
Perhaps Rei Kaguya's indifferent attitude once again touched Obito's sore spot.
Obito breathed heavily, as if questioning White Zetsu Tobi, and also as if muttering to himself.
"Why can't I kill him?"
"Why can't I even break through his defense?"
"Why… Even with a Sharingan that has gone one step further, I still can't protect my companions?"
"Give me power… Give me stronger power… Give me the power to destroy all of this…"
"Susanoo! Come out!"
Boom!
The bone forest around Obito Uchiha was shattered by a sudden storm.
Amid the dust flying everywhere, Rei Kaguya vaguely saw an incomparably huge figure.
Although it was not yet humanoid, and although it looked extremely unstable, the enormous chakra surging with intense destructive desire, along with the faint glimpse of a cyan skeleton within the smoke and dust, told Rei Kaguya one thing.
He seemed to have stimulated out something that Obito Uchiha had never used in the original story.
"Aaaaaah! My eye! My eye…!"
But before Rei Kaguya could figure out how to deal with Obito's Susanoo, he heard Obito Uchiha's pained scream from that direction.
The cyan skeleton that had barely manifested half of its body melted away rapidly like snow beneath the blazing sun.
Obito Uchiha also knelt on the ground in agony, clutching his painfully throbbing right eye. His body trembled and rolled uncontrollably.
"We have to go, Obito! If you keep fighting, your eye will go blind!"
"I… I can still fight. I can still…"
Obito Uchiha raised his head.
Through the hollow of the White Zetsu mask, one could see a terrifying pair of eyes whose whites had completely turned crimson, with bloody tears constantly pouring out.
He swayed unsteadily to his feet and raised his hand, intending to unleash Wood Release: Cutting Sprigs Technique toward Rei Kaguya again.
But this time, Tobi, who was wrapped around his body, refused his movement and spoke in an extremely rare serious tone.
"That guy using Dead Bone Pulse still has a very steady aura. Are you planning to drag that body over and fight him, then die at his hands, letting Kakashi Hatake and Rin Nohara both become Kirigakure research materials?"
Rin…
Right.
Rin.
I can't let Rin fall into Kirigakure's hands.
They… they're all mad dogs who kill without blinking.
If Rin falls into their hands, even after death, she won't be allowed peace.
Obito Uchiha stopped moving.
Then, a vortex centered on Obito Uchiha's right eye began spinning rapidly, swiftly transferring his body, along with Rin Nohara and Kakashi Hatake, whom he had protected when Bracken Dance expanded, into the Kamui dimension whose location was unknown.
Seeing Obito Uchiha attempting to leave the battlefield through Kamui, Rei Kaguya decisively used Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets in his direction.
Pfft.
Several finger bones pierced Obito Uchiha's shoulder, shooting through his not particularly sturdy body and making him stagger. He let out a roar filled with pain.
But this did not affect Kamui's space-time transfer.
It only made Obito Uchiha cast another hateful and blazing look toward Rei Kaguya before he completely vanished from the battlefield.
I'll kill you.
Absolutely.
Absolutely!
After Obito Uchiha completely disappeared, Rei Kaguya did not immediately release Bracken Dance.
Instead, he slipped back into it and waited for several more minutes. Only after confirming that Obito Uchiha, who seemed to have overused his eye, would not return did he walk out of the bone forest created by his chakra and head toward the Kirigakure shinobi, whose numbers had already fallen to one-fifth of their original count.
[Dark Harvest stacks +1. Current stacks: 1.]
[Obito Uchiha's soul fragment has been harvested. When the number of harvested soul stacks reaches 999, this soul fragment may be used to break through, increasing Dark Harvest's stack limit to 9,999.]
"Oh? So casually throwing a projectile before he left really triggered Dark Harvest? Looks like Obito paid quite the price for forcibly opening one-eyed Susanoo. His vitality actually dropped below fifty percent…
"Good thing he didn't succeed. Otherwise, dragging the shinobi world into the Gundam era ahead of schedule would have been troublesome."
"But why does Dark Harvest have this kind of soft limit? Damn it, I've stacked Grasp of the Undying hundreds of thousands of times, and I've never seen this kind of restriction."
While Rei Kaguya muttered in his heart, he arrived before the Kirigakure Anbu waiting at the edge of the battlefield. He planned to ask his subordinate, Mikazuki Eri, for a spare ninja uniform to wear.
He had just continuously released major techniques like Dance of the Larch and Bracken Dance. The clothes on his body had long since become utterly ruined.
If he did not quickly change into another set, his fellow village shinobi might mistake him for some pervert with strange hobbies.
But what Rei Kaguya had not expected was that when he stood before the remaining five Anbu, before he could even speak, the five Anbu, led by Mikazuki Eri, removed their masks in perfect unison.
With solemn expressions, they straightened their bodies, then bowed to him with utmost respect at one hundred and twenty degrees.
"Thank you for saving our lives, Lord Rei Kaguya!"
"There's nothing about saving lives or not. I only did it so the report wouldn't look too ugly when we returned to deliver the mission results… Mikazuki, give me a set of clothes."
Rei Kaguya waved his hand. He did not deliberately try too hard to raise his favorability in the hearts of the Anbu.
"Yes, Lord Rei Kaguya!"
Mikazuki Eri took out a set of clothes from the scroll at her waist, originally meant to be used during their infiltration into Konoha, and handed it to Rei Kaguya.
Then she watched him calmly change clothes and silently clenched her fists.
After returning to deliver the report, she had to insist on remaining under Lord Rei's command.
If it was him, perhaps he could sit in the Fourth Mizukage's position within ten years—
No, within five years.
Her requirements were not high.
As a direct subordinate of the future Mizukage during his Anbu period, relying on seniority to earn the position of special jonin should not be too excessive, right?