Chapter 105

"[Roku no Kata: Raijin no Hōyō]" (Sixth Form: Raijin's Embrace), Kazuki, with lightning flickering around him, swung his katana 'Amatsukage,' wanting to sever Obito's head as he rematerialized. Kazuki was unparalleled when it came to speed, and Obito had no chance to dodge. But at the last moment, a massive wooden branch pushed Obito away from his position and shielded him. The katana ripped through the massive branches like they were nothing, but the momentary delay was enough for Obito to survive. The next instant, thousands of wooden spears pierced through where Kazuki was, but Kazuki had already teleported away. It was Tobi who intervened at the last second; his entire right side transformed to shield Obito and counterattack Kazuki. Despite his interference, Obito did not come out unscathed.

Kazuki, who reappeared at a different location, was now absolutely sure Tobi was Super Kage level. There was no way Tobi could have reacted to that last attack and intervened if he was just at Kage level. Kazuki was now wary because he was still carrying little Hanabi on his back, so he quickly retrieved more than two dozen special kunai and threw them around. Others might think that Kazuki was creating more teleportation points, but this was just a misdirection. He did not need special kunai for his Hiraishin; his shadows were all that he needed. These special kunai were to create a barrier to restrict Obito and cancel his greatest advantage. As long as he stalled them until his sensei arrived, the tables would turn immediately.

Obito growled like a wild beast as the last attack had left a deep gash over his right shoulder, and the area around the gash was decaying. He decisively chose to discard the area around the wound, but within moments, the wound started recovering.

"Damn you, monstrosities! You and your hybrid bodies!" Kazuki couldn't help but comment as he saw Obito neutralizing his corrosive chakra.

"Kid, who are you? How do you know about the Hiraishin technique?" Obito questioned wearily, trying to distract the little ANBU and capture the enemy using genjutsu of his Mangekyou Sharingan.

"Obito, stop messing around. I am immune to Genjutsu, so please keep that dirty trick to yourself," Kazuki answered. While he knew Obito was a dangerous opponent, Tobi was the one he was truly wary of. Mokuton was not something he would underestimate, especially when the user had honed his skill for centuries.

"Obito-kun, why did you not tell me that the kid can fly? If I had reacted a bit slower, you would have become shorter." Tobi laughed, but in the next instant, without any signs, he immediately rushed forward.

"[Mokuton: Mokuryū no Jutsu]" (Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique)

Tobi created a massive wooden dragon to devour Kazuki. He wanted to devour all the markers laying around so that Kazuki would have no markers to teleport to. Meanwhile, Obito had arrived next to Kenshi and placed a hand on his shoulder, wanting to pull him into his dimension. Despite being distracted by the fight, Kenshi reacted and dodged.

"You, what do you think you are doing?" Kenshi couldn't help but ask. He was already calculating ways to survive his current predicament. With the little ANBU sending a message back to the village, reinforcements would come any minute now. If he got caught after doing all this, he was sure his death would be no less peaceful.

"Hehe, not bad. You sure are attentive. But we are your only chance to escape from here," Obito casually remarked. By initial estimate, Obito could say the Hyuga was stronger than an elite Jonin, and he also wanted information on what exactly happened within the Leaf Village, so his interest was piqued towards the Hyuga.

"Tch, first, think about how you guys are planning to escape before offering me a chance at salvation," Kenshi retorted. He still had his Byakugan active, so he could clearly detect the translucent barrier that was now being erected around them. The Byakugan was a bit superior when it came to detecting chakra compared to the Sharingan, so Kenshi was able to realize that they were now confined.

"[Hachi no Kata: Arashi Tsuki]" (Eighth Form: Tempest Thrust) Kazuki aimed a thrust attack at the incoming wood dragon, and the attack was lined up in such a way that it was in line with where Kenshi was standing.

The thrust attack ripped through the massive wooden dragon like a hot knife through butter and continued onward in the direction where Obito and Kenshi were standing. Just then, Obito, detecting the incoming threat, wanted to teleport using Kamui, but as he started, his technique was interrupted by the shimmering barrier around them. However, Kenshi realized that the incoming attack was too wide-ranging to simply dodge, so he chose to attack head-on.

"[Hakke Hyaku Nijūhasshō]" (Eight Trigrams, One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms), Kenshi unleashed the Hyuga's signature attack, resulting in a massive collision between his technique and Kazuki's sword attack.

Although Kenshi was considered pseudo Kage-class, in front of the overpowered Kazuki, his defense mounted with one arm meant little. If the attack's initial momentum had not been spent on the massive wooden dragon, Kazuki's attack would have ripped through the Hyuga's defense. In the aftermath of the collision, Kenshi's body shot through the air like a broken doll and crashed into the barrier that Kazuki had recently erected.

"Cough, cough, the markers; destroy the markers!" Kenshi, sprawled on the side of the barrier, shouted out while coughing out blood. His internal organs had ruptured, and his ribs seemed to be broken. Obito stood frozen, still unable to understand why his Kamui dimension was not accessible.

"[Mokuton: Jubaku Eisō]" (Wood Release: Tree Bind Flourishing Burial), Tobi quickly followed with another technique to bind Kazuki. Unfortunately for him, Kazuki just dove into the shadows and reemerged from right behind Obito. Although Kazuki might not have many ways to deal with the current Tobi and kill him off completely due to his monstrous vitality, dealing with Obito was a different matter. Obito was someone who overly relied on his Kamui; take that away from him, and he was just like any other average Shinobi out there. Despite having access to many power-ups, Obito never honed them; he was more like a cheat who abused his Kamui, and now that Kamui was neutralized, he felt lost.

"[Jū no Kata: Raimei Ikari]" (Tenth Form: Thunderbolt Fury), Kazuki swung his blade with all his might to get rid of Obito once and for all.

"OBITO!" Tobi, who was maintaining a jovial facade all this while, suddenly roared in anger and rushed forward as he saw the little ANBU about to behead Obito. If Obito died here now, Madara's plans would all come crashing down. However, beneath the ground Black Zetsu was panicking even more. How could such a little monster be born? He had to revive Madara; he had to have someone on his side to fight such a monster. Black Zetsu realized only a monster could deal with another monster.

"IZANAGI!" With a quick hand sign, Obito didn't even care about losing his now dwindling reserves of Sharingan and activated the forbidden technique at the last possible moment out of instinct.

Kazuki could feel the slight fluctuation around him, but he committed to the attack, and his blade cleanly severed the head of Uchiha Obito. However, just moments later, Obito reappeared right behind Tobi, who was now on full alert.

Tobi's body bulged and continued to grow into a huge wood construct standing at close to ten meters tall.

"Obito, leave this place. I will hold him back. You need to be alive to fulfill our dream," Tobi said, completely serious about fighting Kazuki. He had already started spreading his roots, trying to connect himself to the surrounding forest. He had realized that the little ANBU in front of him did not need a marker to teleport, so he needed to go all out if Obito had to survive.

Kazuki vanished again, but this time Tobi was ready. He intercepted Kazuki, who had appeared next to the fallen Hyuga, to kill him off. However, thousands of wooden spears pierced through the ground, completely surrounding the area, so Kazuki had to teleport away without completing the kill.

"Zetsu, get Obito out of here," Tobi commanded.

Zetsu, who was lurking underground, quickly moved to secure Obito. However, Black Zetsu was making plans internally about how to revive Madara. Tobi used his branches to crush the markers that were placed around the forest, and immediately after, the shimmering barrier around them vanished.

With his Kamui back again, Obito regained his arrogance. "You little bastard, I don't know who you are, but remember that someday I will destroy Konoha right in front of your eyes. I will erase this entire world," he declared.

Kazuki had no time for Obito's threats. Now, with the barrier down, Obito could teleport himself out of there as long as he wasn't interrupted. But Tobi was vigilantly guarding Obito, so using Hiraishin, Kazuki once again moved to place a seal on Obito before he could use Kamui. However, Tobi was ready and appeared between Kazuki and Obito.

"[Keiyaku Fūin]" Despite not being able to reach his primary target, Kazuki was adamant about keeping at least one of them there. He plunged the variation of his contract seal onto Tobi's huge body, who had intervened.

Before Kazuki could continue, "[Mokuton: Daijurin no Jutsu]" (Wood Release: Great Forest Technique) Tobi unleashed a large-scale Mokuton attack by transforming his massive arms into wooden beams , engulfing almost the entire battlefield. Kazuki quickly retreated and created a black sphere around himself, using his Kekkei Genkai as an added precaution. Any wood that made contact with the black sphere was instantly melted and corroded, despite the incoming attacks resembling a tidal wave. Nevertheless, the black sphere held strong while devouring the wood chakra.

As the dust settled, Kazuki realized that he had failed to keep Obito behind. He could not detect any other life signatures other than Tobi, who now stood confused. Even the Hyuga had been taken away by Obito.

"You, what did you do?" Tobi couldn't help but ask when he found that he was left behind. Their original plan was to teleport altogether away from this place, but Tobi was stuck here.

"Moron, who asked you to intercept the seal that was meant for that one-eyed bastard?" Kazuki smirked. Although he had let the others go, Tobi wasn't going anywhere. The seal that he placed on him would make sure of that, unless he planned to run all the way to their hiding place. Even then, Kazuki would be able to track Tobi.

Tobi quickly understood the predicament that he was in, and he realized the only way out was to kill this monster in front of him. However, Tobi was not confident in catching up to this little monster; he was simply too fast. He could only rely on luck and continue to maybe spam large area attacks.

"Hehe, kid, so you have me trapped here. Now that Obito's safe, no one will be able to stop our dream," Tobi commented, trying to assess if there was any way to retreat immediately.

"Oh, you mean your stupid dream of putting the entire world under genjutsu? And then reviving Kaguya Otsusuki?" Kazuki casually declared their so-called endgame, which they had been planning for millennia. As someone created from the God Tree, which Kaguya created, Tobi's loyalty was neither to Obito nor Madara; they were all pawns in the grand plan. He was a being created to serve Kaguya Otsusuki, and just like Black Zetsu, his real loyalty lay with Kaguya, and releasing her was their primary mission.

Tobi was completely taken aback by the little ninja's sudden revelation. His mind started racing like never before. He had to relay this information to Zetsu. Their grand plan was not a secret as they had expected. Their main strength relied on the secrecy of their plan. Even Madara was kept in the dark regarding their true purpose.

"You, who are you? Are you Hagoromo's incarnation? How do you know all this?" Tobi was now wanting as much info as he could gather. Who else knows about this? If their existence and plans were already known, what were they going to do?

"Hehe, wouldn't you like to know, but maybe another time. Heads up," Kazuki smirked before vanishing using his Hiraishin, as he detected a huge incoming projectile.

"Boom!" A massive bijuudama crashed onto Tobi's huge form just after Kazuki teleported, sending waves of ripples due to the shockwave created by the massive blast.