Chapter 270: Bring Her Over
"Enemy attack!"
The two Kirigakure guards reacted with astonishing speed. The hand had only just entered the edge of their vision when both ninja swords left their sheaths and crossed toward it.
Then something horrifying happened.
The sharp blades passed through the masked man’s body without encountering the slightest resistance.
"What?!"
The guards stopped abruptly, their expressions changing as they swiftly retreated in front of the Jinchuriki.
"Fall back! Protect the target!"
The careless expression had completely vanished from the Six-Tails Jinchuriki’s face.
He had seen it clearly.
The blades had truly passed straight through the man’s body.
Obito’s figure landed lightly on the forest road.
He looked at the three people assuming defensive positions.
"There’s no reason to struggle pointlessly."
The Six-Tails Jinchuriki’s already grim expression darkened further.
He had endured enough of Kirigakure treating him like a tool to be watched and controlled. Now some stranger who had appeared from nowhere was speaking as though he already belonged to him.
"Don’t look down on me!"
The Jinchuriki roared and rapidly formed hand seals.
At the abandoned outpost halfway up the hill, Kakashi suddenly pressed a hand against his forehead protector.
A strange throbbing, almost like resonance, pulsed through his left eye.
He stared down at the masked man and frowned deeply.
This eye was the final gift Obito had left him.
Why... was it reacting to that masked stranger?
Beside him, Kaede had also recognized the attacker.
Uchiha Obito.
He didn’t act immediately. His eyes rapidly swept across the surrounding shadows and ground.
Obito appearing alone didn’t mean Black Zetsu wasn’t hiding nearby and observing.
Mei approached silently and lowered her voice.
"Do we close the net now?"
Kaede didn’t answer immediately. He first extended his senses.
More than a dozen Kirigakure ANBU presences were hidden throughout the forest according to plan.
Aside from them, he detected nothing unusual.
But he didn’t dare relax. Failing to sense someone didn’t mean no one was there.
Kaede looked at the others and issued orders at extreme speed.
"Mei, have your people hold the north."
"Kakashi, take the east. Find a good position and hide until I give the signal."
Then his gaze turned to Rin.
"You go west with Mei. Wait for my word as well."
Mei glanced at the person in black, a trace of doubt flashing through her mind.
Wait for his word?
Was this mysterious person Kaede had brought all the way from Konoha some crucial trump card?
She didn’t ask and answered decisively.
"All right."
Kaede’s expression became incomparably grave. His gaze passed over each of them as he emphasized the command.
"Remember: no one acts before I give the order."
Rin nodded firmly.
She didn’t know how she could possibly help.
But if Kitahara-senpai had arranged it this way, he had to have a reason.
Kakashi merely pulled his forehead protector lower. His figure flashed and disappeared like a ghost into the eastern woods.
Mei took Rin with her and vanished into the western forest after several leaps.
Kaede silently circled south, completing a four-sided encirclement.
The battle below had already begun.
Realizing physical attacks were useless, the two Kirigakure guards immediately changed tactics and covered the Jinchuriki’s retreat from either side.
One threw several poisoned senbon to seal Obito’s pursuit route.
The other formed hand seals.
"Water Style: Water Colliding Wave!"
A rushing torrent surged toward Obito in an attempt to restrict his movement.
Obito couldn’t even be bothered to evade.
The senbon passed through his shoulder, and the water flowed directly through his body.
The guards’ hearts gradually sank.
How were they supposed to fight an enemy they couldn’t hit?
One clenched his teeth, resolve flashing through his eyes. He rushed forward and swung his sword upward in a diagonal slash toward Obito’s legs, attempting to halt him.
Obito merely raised his hands and rapidly formed several seals.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique."
Scorching flames erupted from beneath the mask, instantly expanding into a massive fireball that swallowed both guards with unstoppable force.
"Aaaah!"
Their screams had barely begun when the roar of exploding flames drowned them out.
The two were hurled backward like puppets with severed strings. They smashed through several trees, rolled into the grass, and stopped moving.
The Six-Tails Jinchuriki’s face turned pale. He hurriedly retreated, only to lose his footing and slam his back into a tree root.
He tried to rise, but sharp pain tore through his right calf.
The edge of the Great Fireball had already burned his leg.
Obito approached one step at a time, though his right eye glanced into the depths of the forest.
People were surrounding him.
Their movements were quiet, and they hid themselves well.
Unfortunately, concealment of that level could never deceive his Sharingan.
Obito gave a soft snort.
Kirigakure had prepared thoroughly.
What a pity these people had no idea what kind of power they were facing.
His gaze returned to the Jinchuriki.
Obito raised one hand, preparing to activate Kamui and pull the target directly into the alternate space.
At that moment, something cut through the air behind him.
His body became intangible once more.
A kunai silently passed through his black robe and buried itself deep in the tree ahead with a thunk.
Obito stopped and slowly turned.
Kaede stepped from the forest, his expression calm.
Amusement flashed through Obito’s eye.
"You worked so hard to hide. Have you been waiting long?"
Kaede ignored the provocation.
He stared at the single opening in the mask.
Something was wrong.
Why was there... only one Sharingan behind it?!
Where was the Rinnegan?
Black Zetsu had taken Nagato’s Rinnegan, yet hadn’t given it to Obito?
Kaede’s thoughts raced.
If Obito didn’t possess the Rinnegan, what was the purpose of Black Zetsu collecting the Tailed Beasts early?
Did he intend to gather them all first, then activate the Infinite Tsukuyomi in one stroke?
Possibility after possibility flashed through Kaede’s mind.
Obito watched him remain silent while staring at his eye.
"You seem... to know a great many things you shouldn’t."
The instant the words ended, his figure blurred and lunged toward the Six-Tails Jinchuriki.
"Not a chance!"
Kaede had been prepared. Despite moving second, he arrived first and blocked the Jinchuriki.
The distance between them shrank to less than a meter.
Obito reached out.
Rather than block with a weapon, Kaede twisted aside to evade the grab and simultaneously whipped a leg toward Obito’s wrist.
Obito became intangible again, and Kaede’s attack passed through without resistance.
But Kaede seemed to have anticipated it. He made no attempt to pursue and instead used the momentum to draw half a step backward and regain his footing.
Obito’s hand closed on empty air.
For the first time, genuine vigilance appeared in his eye.
The man before him seemed to understand the rules of his intangibility completely—when he could be touched and when he couldn’t.
Kaede stood steadily before the Jinchuriki.
Kamui’s intangibility had a time limit. More importantly, Obito had to become tangible in the instant he attacked or absorbed something.
As long as Kaede forced him to act continuously, an opening would inevitably appear during that fleeting transition.
But Kaede hadn’t come today to fight Obito.
"Are you alone?"
Kaede suddenly asked while scanning the forest.
Recognizing the probe in his words, Obito chuckled.
"One person is enough to deal with all of you."
At that answer, Kaede finally relaxed completely.
Good. Obito truly had come alone.
Black Zetsu hadn’t accompanied him—or at the very least, wasn’t currently in this forest.
In that case, the situation was much simpler.
Kaede raised his head and looked west.
"Mei, bring her over."