"Let me see just how far you can go."
Madara watched the battle unfolding before him.
On the battlefield, the fight between Kiyohara and Kurotsuki Hōzuki had already entered a white-hot stage.
Twin blades versus a single blade; Water Transformation Threads versus Magnet Release iron sand. The two moved at extreme speed within a radius of nearly a hundred meters, and every collision erupted with astonishing shockwaves that tore through the air.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Whip!"
Kurotsuki stopped attempting to seal Rin. With his left hand forming seals, he drew the Kiba Blade that hung at his waist and unleashed a high-pressure water whip, lashing straight toward Kiyohara.
TN: I guess he picked it up?
The Hōzuki clan is a clan skilled in manipulating water.
They were not only skilled in conventional Water nature ninjutsu, but also exceptionally proficient in Water nature secret techniques.
The Water Release: Water Dragon Whip that Kurotsuki used at this moment was an upgraded form of Water Release: Water Whip.
Like a dragon's tail whipping through the air, the water whip howled as it surged toward Kiyohara.
Kiyohara's Sharingan captured every trace of the flowing water.
In his eyes, everything turned into a sequence of individual frames.
In less than a second, he extended his hand.
The dual reinforcement from Steel Release and Earth Release: Earth Spear caused the skin of Kiyohara's hand to darken to an extreme degree, like a block of heavy black metal.
He spread his fingers wide, and to Kurotsuki's astonishment, grabbed the dragon-tail-like whip with his bare hand.
Then he yanked violently.
Caught completely off guard, Kurotsuki was dragged forward instead.
Kiyohara swung his blade with his right hand, cleaving straight toward Kurotsuki's head.
Slash!
Water splashed and flowed.
In that split second, Kurotsuki used the Hōzuki clan's bloodline limit, Hydrification, turning his head into liquid.
"Hehehe… I really almost got killed by you just now."
Kurotsuki hurriedly retreated, widening the distance between them.
If he hadn't used that secret technique in time, his head would have been split cleanly in two by Kiyohara.
"My Hydrification Technique makes me immune to all physical attacks. You've heard of Mangetsu Hōzuki, right? He's my cousin."
Kurotsuki revealed a confident smile.
Mangetsu Hōzuki was Kirigakure's most famous prodigy.
He was practically guaranteed to become the next member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, and would be among the strongest from the moment he joined.
And as his cousin, Kurotsuki was naturally no ordinary figure either.
"You've got some tricks," Kiyohara said, sheathing his blade.
Using cutting or slashing damage alone was indeed extremely difficult to use against Kurotsuki.
To defeat him, the method had to be specialized.
Either use Fire Release to evaporate all the water or Lightning Release.
Lightning Release ninjutsu could paralyze their hydration process, directly sealing off that ability.
This was also the Hōzuki clan's greatest weakness.
"Thinking of using Lightning Release? Do you really think I'll let your lightning hit me?"
Kurotsuki sneered.
With one of the Kiba swords in hand, he was effectively a Lightning Release expert himself. Any Lightning Release ninjutsu Kiyohara used could be blocked from a distance.
"You guessed right but sadly, there's no prize."
Kiyohara smiled faintly.
Iron sand surged out from the gourd at his waist, flowing like black water and coating his fists.
Kiyohara fashioned a pair of iron sand gloves for himself.
Using Lightning Release to directly cloak one's own skin was a high-level application.
For example, the Lightning Release Chakra Mode but that technique was a secret taijutsu of Kumogakure. Outside of Kumo, almost no one knew it, and even within Kumogakure itself, very few could use it.
Kiyohara, of course, couldn't do that either.
But he could take a step back and enchant the iron sand instead.
For him, the result was the same.
As long as he could land a hit on Kurotsuki, that was enough.
"Lightning Release… Lightning Current Technique!"
The electric current generated by this C-rank Lightning Release technique wrapped around Kiyohara's fists, forming azure lightning fists that crackled with sharp arcs of electricity.
"What?!"
Kurotsuki clearly hadn't expected such an approach.
At that moment, Kiyohara's legs trembled slightly. The ground beneath him suddenly compressed and sank, countless cracks spreading outward.
BOOM!
A streak of lightning shot forward at extreme speed.
For an instant, Kurotsuki felt as though he saw the silhouette of Namikaze Minato.
But this time, the lightning was black.
He raised the Kiba Blade to block Kiyohara's left fist, while Kiyohara's right fist smashed brutally toward his head.
That punch drew upon the surrounding magnetic field, borrowing its force.
This rotational buff was like stacking an additional layer of berserk enhancement.
It allowed even a casual strike from Kiyohara to unleash damage far beyond normal, a devastating "critical hit."
Before Kurotsuki could even see the fist's afterimage, his ears rang violently.
The shockwave from the air pressure alone had rattled his eardrums.
Instinctively, Kurotsuki once again turned his head into liquid.
He could only gamble that he was slightly faster than Kiyohara.
Even with electric arcs present, as long as his head wasn't completely destroyed, as long as he could still operate some degree of Hydrification, he wouldn't die.
'Did I succeed…?'
Under the surge of adrenaline, Kurotsuki's thoughts accelerated for a fleeting moment.
Then he felt himself flying into the air.
Kiyohara was getting farther and farther away, and the trees beneath him grew smaller and smaller.
Then came a thunderous boom.
His head, half water, half brain matter, exploded like a watermelon, spraying everywhere.
In that moment, Kurotsuki could even see his own headless corpse.
He… was already dead.
When that realization dawned on him, his consciousness plunged into darkness, and death claimed him.
Kiyohara still maintained his punching posture. From the burst of movement to the kill, the entire process took less than half a second.
To everyone else watching, it was simply that Kiyohara had coated his hands in iron sand and electricity…
—and then Kurotsuki's head exploded.
"Interesting… that kind of speed…"
Madara observed everything through his field of vision.
He couldn't clearly see Kiyohara's speed.
Because the source of the image came from White Zetsu's eyes.
Which meant that if White Zetsu couldn't see clearly, the image transmitted back to him would also be blurry.
"So then… how will he deal with a tailed beast?"
Madara stroked his chin.
Kiyohara's performance against Kurosuki Raiga and Kurotsuki Hōzuki had both been outright crushing victories.
Even so, his chakra reserves still appeared abundant.
Chakra quantity was crucial for a shinobi.
Generally speaking, the more chakra one had, the higher their innate potential tended to be.
At the very least, Kiyohara's chakra reserves looked vastly superior to Kakashi's or Obito's.
"Madara, looks like this brat has pretty impressive talent," White Zetsu remarked with a sigh.
"He does," Madara replied with a slight nod.
After learning that Kiyohara possessed Uchiha blood, his perception of him naturally changed.
Would his stage really end up cultivating two Uchiha who awakened their eyes?
As Kiyohara finished dealing with Kurotsuki, Obito clutched his aching body and staggered back to his feet once more.
"Rin… stop… look at me…"
Obito shouted, trying to use the "bond" between himself and Rin to awaken her.
"If I still have even a tiny place in your heart, then stop, Rin!"
Obito's cracking, duck-like voice from puberty made his words sound painfully awkward.
He didn't dodge or evade, continuing to approach her instead.
BOOM!
The response he received was another heavy punch wrapped in crimson chakra, slamming mercilessly into his chest.
Fine cracking sounds echoed from the surface of Swirl-pattern White Zetsu's body as it reached its limit. The intense pain nearly stole Obito's breath, sending him flying backward once more and carving a deep trench into the ground.
"Obito, are you out of your mind?!"
Tobi the Swirl-pattern White Zetsu grimaced in pain.
Did this kid have some kind of death wish, charging forward like that?
Trying to redeem a rampaging jinchūriki with the power of love?
Had he been drinking?
"Give me control of the body, I'll handle it," Tobi said.
"No… no way."
Obito stubbornly refused the suggestion.
Behind Rin, the second and third crimson chakra tails fully solidified. Each strike against the ground sent tremors rippling through the entire forest.
The water-prison formation encasing her shook violently, its surface constantly bursting with splashes. Of the four "Water Manifestation Chains," two had already completely shattered, dissolving into points of chakra light.
"We can't suppress her anymore!"
"Retreat! Pull back and widen the distance!"
The remaining Mist shinobi turned deathly pale.
They had originally numbered only a little over twenty, and after the earlier battles with Kakashi and Kiyohara, they had already suffered significant losses.
Now, facing a fully rampaging, indiscriminate tailed-beast-transformed jinchūriki, staying behind was nothing more than pointless suicide.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"
Several Mist jōnin tried to block her with ninjutsu, but their water dragons slammed into the crimson chakra cloak and only stirred up clouds of steam before being torn apart by the violent chakra.
Meanwhile, the rampaging Rin had already broken through the final restraints of the water prison.
Wherever she passed, trees snapped, rocks shattered, and deep furrows were gouged into the earth.
The terrifying power of a tailed beast was laid bare at this very moment.
"Ah—!"
A Mist ANBU failed to dodge in time and was struck squarely in the chest by a chakra tail. His entire body flew away like a rag doll, smashed into a distant cliff face, and fell silent forever.
"Spread out, don't cluster together!"
"Anyone with restraining-type ninjutsu or sealing techniques, use them!"
Crimson chakra raged through the forest, accompanied by the dying screams of Mist shinobi.
"Rin… stop… please, stop…"
Obito murmured to himself, the two tomoe in his Sharingan spinning at their limit, bloodshot veins spreading across his eyes.
"Hey, Obito, your eyes—"
White Zetsu's voice echoed inside him.
But Obito could no longer hear it.
In his field of vision, there was only that figure wrapped in crimson, madly destroying everything in her path.
Kiyohara's gaze swept across the battlefield.
More than half of the Mist shinobi were already dead or injured; fewer than ten could still stand, and every one of them was wounded.
'Obito's emotions have reached the critical point… the changes in his Sharingan are obvious.
'But it's still not enough. It's missing the final spark… Madara should be waiting for that too.'
Kiyohara thought silently.
He touched the shinobi tool pouch at his waist, where the medical supplies he had prepared were stored.
A scalpel, hemostatic bandages, simple sutures, several vials of potent hemostatic agents, and cell-activity stimulants—these were things he had deliberately replenished from Konoha Hospital after realizing he might be dragged into Rin's incident.
"The plan stays the same, but the timing has to be perfect."
Kiyohara took a deep breath, concentrating chakra into his eyes as he observed the flow of chakra around Rin's heart.
There, he could see an unnatural "knot"—the core of the Forbidden Individual Curse Tag.
Kiyohara understood at once. Madara must be actively driving it, which was why the chakra was so conspicuous. Normally, it would have remained hidden deep within the heart.
"Kakashi, buy me some time," Kiyohara said.
Once the Forbidden Individual Curse Tag was destroyed, he would immediately stop the bleeding and begin treatment.
"Alright."
Kakashi nodded.
He looked at Obito, who was trying to approach Rin, and at the Mist shinobi and ANBU who were already retreating to keep their distance, and stepped in front of Obito to block him.
As Obito tried to move forward, arcs of lightning flickered in Kakashi's hand.
"Chidori!"
Azure lightning tore through the air, thrusting toward Obito with blinding speed.
From Kakashi's perspective, this pale-skinned, spiral-faced stranger of unknown origin had appeared out of nowhere, tried to approach Rin, and then continued to cling to her even after she went berserk.
No matter how one looked at it, this seemed like a deeper layer of the enemy's plot, perhaps an attempt to capture the rampaging Rin.
Kakashi chose to strike first.
And Obito could only stare blankly at Kakashi.
At this companion to whom he had entrusted his eye, entrusted his vow to protect Rin, whom he had regarded as his closest friend and lifelong rival.
He didn't recognize me.
He really… didn't recognize me.
Even though my face had become like this, even though my voice had changed, even though I was calling out in such agony…
Kakashi… Rin…
Had you both already… forgotten me?
Or was it that, in your hearts, the dead last named Obito should have died back in that cave, never to return—certainly not to reappear in front of you in this monstrous form, disturbing the lives you had now?
Obito felt something that had been supporting him completely collapse.
The world lost its sound, lost its color.
Only Kakashi's face—so close, yet seeming as distant as an entirely different world—remained, along with the Sharingan in his eye spinning madly, as if it might drip blood at any moment.
The tomoe in Obito's eyes changed—from two tomoe to three.
While Kakashi and Obito faced each other, Kiyohara poured all of his Lightning Release chakra into his blade.
The intense heat caused the blade to glow red-hot; this brief burst of high temperature was enough to kill the vast majority of bacteria and viruses on its surface.
Disinfection was completed in an instant.
Next, Kiyohara's crimson one-tomoe Sharingan captured an opening in Rin's movements.
In her rampaging state, everything she did was driven purely by instinct.
But at this stage, her "tailed beast cloak" was still only a bubbling layer of chakra, not yet the dark crimson state it would later reach.
The moment he seized an opening, Kiyohara dashed forward.
With a flick of his wrist, the red-hot shinobi blade like a surgeon's scalpel slipped between the gaps of her ribs, cut through the tailed beast cloak and skin, and pierced into Rin's left chest!
The blade tip pointed straight at that knot.
Slash!
The chakra covering Rin's body began to dissipate.
Her vertical pupils gradually returned to normal black ones.
"Kiyohara…"
As the Binding Curse Seal was destroyed, Rin's consciousness regained clarity.
She lowered her head and looked at the wound in her chest, and instead felt a strange sense of relief.
"Don't be afraid, Rin," Kiyohara said.
He quickly withdrew the blade.
Being able to perform such an operation wasn't something Kiyohara did on a whim.
Tailed beast chakra could enhance a jinchūriki's recovery ability.
At that moment, the chakra cloak around Rin was also dissipating bit by bit.
During this process, the residual healing power was enough to protect her internal organs and far exceeded her normal recovery speed.
This was also one of the key reasons why Naruto, in the early days, could be lively and energetic the day after suffering serious injuries.
"Huh?"
Rin was a little confused. Only then did she realize that Kiyohara had deliberately avoided her heart.
But her body suddenly went limp, and she collapsed straight into Kiyohara's arms.
After exhausting so much stamina and having just gone through a berserk transformation, Rin was incredibly weak.
"Wait, there's something inside you," Kiyohara said.
He extended two fingers into Rin's body.
With a pinch, he pulled out a thin curse talisman.
It seemed that Madara had never considered the possibility of Rin surviving, so this Forbidden Individual Curse Tag was far cruder than the one placed on Obito.
"Mmm…"
Rin frowned as she felt the pain.
Only then did she understand that the Mist shinobi had tampered with her body.
Her memories finally surged back.
Inside a pitch-black cave, a female Mist ANBU had forced her to swallow a curse talisman.
That talisman wriggled inside her body, eventually reaching her heart and binding itself there.
Now, it had finally been removed by Kiyohara.
"I'll stop the bleeding for you, Rin," Kiyohara said.
His hand brushed over the wound in her chest as he used the Hemostasis Technique he had learned from Tsunade.
Once the bleeding was stopped, he could proceed to the next step, the Regeneration Technique.
At that point, Rin would no longer be in mortal danger.
She would only be extremely weak, so weak that she would have no strength left.
From behind them, Obito could only see Kiyohara's back, and the scene of him stabbing the blade into Rin's chest.
This…
What exactly…
Had just happened…?
"I absolutely refuse to accept… something like this!"
In Obito's vision, everything disappeared.
The collapsed forest, the dead Mist shinobi, Kakashi blocking his way, Kiyohara coldly swinging his blade—all of it faded into a blurry background.
The only thing that remained clear was that single scene of Rin just now.
Memories flashed through Obito's mind in an instant.
From the first time he met Rin, to the moment she had spoken to him.
"Hi, I'm Rin Nohara. Want to play together?"
"What a coincidence, our seats are really close."
"I believe you'll definitely become an amazing Uchiha someday."
"I'll always be watching you, Obito."
Rin's voice and smile carved themselves deeply into Obito's mind.
At the moment he saw Rin seemingly about to "die"—
Something inside Obito… shattered.
He clutched his chest tightly.
It hurt.
It hurt so much!
To lose my beloved forever!
He felt the chakra within his body suddenly boil over, surging toward his brain.
Then the world before his eyes was dyed crimson.
…
"Ugh…"
Kakashi turned his head and also saw that shocking scene.
He suddenly clutched his left eye, as if resonating with something, feeling an intense pain.
…
It was as if a massive void had been torn open in Obito's heart.
There was nothing left inside.
That emptiness had been ripped open by this hellish world.
This was… wrong.
Why had Rin gone berserk?
Because the people of Kirigakure had tampered with her.
Why were they here in the first place?
Because of the war.
Everything was wrong.
Ah…!
This kind of wrong world was false.
"I want to… create a world with only Rin!"
(End of Chapter)