In the real world, only a few dozen seconds had passed.
"Why did they suddenly stop moving?"
Yahiko stared at Jin and Obito, who had frozen mid-battle and were simply facing each other. The tension in the air was thick, but neither of them made a move.
He didn't dare interrupt.
Something told him this was far beyond his level.
Suddenly—
"Ugh…!"
Obito dropped to one knee, clutching his stomach as he retched violently. His chakra fluctuated wildly before plummeting.
Almost at the same time, Jin's eyes shifted—
The three tomoe spun—
And bloomed into a Mangekyō Sharingan.
"...Mangekyō."
Obito forced out a bitter laugh.
"You win this round."
"We'll meet again."
Space distorted around his right eye as concentric ripples formed—
Kamui activated.
His body began twisting inward, transferring into the Kamui dimension.
"Trying to run?"
Jin stepped forward and threw a punch.
"Fire Fist!"
A massive flaming fist erupted from his arm, blasting toward Obito with explosive force.
Obito's pupil shrank.
He aborted the full transfer and immediately shifted into intangibility.
The flaming fist tore through him harmlessly—but the heat shook the space around him.
"Blazing Enclosure!"
Jin spread both hands.
A sea of fire burst outward from his body.
Within seconds, four towering walls of flame sealed off a radius of several hundred meters, forming an inferno cage that refused to die down.
"Tch. Fire walls won't stop me."
"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Hiding Technique!"
Obito ducked low and plunged into the ground.
Jin's gaze didn't waver.
"Fire Release: Scorching Hell."
He clasped his hands and stomped down.
A surge of heat flooded underground—
BOOM!
Columns of flame, each over ten meters thick, erupted skyward. The ground cracked, liquefying into molten lava under the extreme temperature.
Obito was forced out from below—
And not far from him—
A black silhouette was expelled from beneath the earth.
"There's another one?"
Jin glanced at the pitch-black figure—featureless, expressionless.
"Get out of here."
He turned and struck his palm backward.
"Fire Release: Flame Cyclone!"
Before Yahiko could react, he and the unconscious Konan were wrapped in a rotating vortex of flame that carried them safely through the fire wall and out of the sealed battlefield.
Now—
Only three remained.
Black Zetsu emerged beside Obito, irritation evident in his tone.
"You've made quite a mess."
If Obito hadn't gotten impulsive, they wouldn't be cornered like this.
Obito's voice was dark.
"Who could've predicted he'd show up here—"
"And with Mangekyō Sharingan?"
Black Zetsu's gaze lingered on Jin's eyes.
"…That pattern. I've never seen it before."
Across the long history of the Uchiha Clan, many Mangekyō had appeared. Some abilities even overlapped—like Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke both wielding the black flames of Amaterasu.
Black Zetsu had observed countless Sharingan over centuries.
But Jin's—
Was new.
"Don't look him in the eyes!"
Obito warned sharply.
"His ocular technique is genjutsu-based. It's strong!"
Black Zetsu's heart skipped for a fraction of a second before he lowered his gaze.
It wasn't that he feared Jin's genjutsu.
As the manifestation of Otsutsuki Kaguya's will, Black Zetsu possessed immense spiritual strength. In canon, he even remained unaffected by Infinite Tsukuyomi.
He wasn't afraid of illusions.
He was afraid of Obito noticing that fact.
Fortunately, Obito remained fully focused on Jin.
Black Zetsu exhaled internally.
Still easy to manipulate.
"The temperature's too high," Obito muttered. "White Zetsu can't enter."
"Can you stall him long enough for me to complete the transfer?"
Kamui's intangibility was temporary. To fully relocate into the Kamui dimension required uninterrupted transfer time.
And during that process—
He could not phase.
He needed cover.
Black Zetsu almost cursed aloud.
If Obito left—
He'd be trapped in a sea of lava.
Was Obito planning to use him like expendable White Zetsu?
He forced calm.
"It hasn't come to that," he said quickly.
"He's fast. You can't outrun him outright."
"But escaping this fire zone? That's within your capability."
"Once outside, White Zetsu can—"
Shk!
A black rod pierced through Black Zetsu's body.
He stared in shock at Obito.
"You—"
"Sealing Barrier."
Obito's expression was cold.
The black rod—an incomplete manifestation of Yin–Yang Release taught by Uchiha Madara—carried chakra-disrupting properties, a primitive form of the later Truth-Seeking black rods.
Four sealing talismans slid along the rod and adhered to Black Zetsu's body, forming a binding formation.
He froze.
Jin had chosen to reveal everything.
There was no world in which he would allow a millennia-old manipulator like Black Zetsu to slip away.
So they staged this battle.
They let him relax.
And then—
Closed the trap.
Black Zetsu's movements were sealed.
For the first time in a thousand years—
The shadow behind history found itself cornered.
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