Uchiha Obito and the masked man—Shiraishi's puppet clone—stood in a tense standoff on the outskirts of the Land of Rain.
"Manipulating the situation of this country from the shadows... who are you?"
Though it was a puppet, it shared Shiraishi's consciousness. Faced with the man currently regarded as the most formidable in the shinobi world, Obito's eyes were filled with wariness.
"You can call me Uchiha Madara," Obito replied coolly.
"A truly tiresome joke..."
At those words, Shiraishi gripped his blade. As he swung, the air screamed, generating a massive wind-blade that sliced through the rain.
A legend like Uchiha Madara would never skulk around behind a mask like a common swindler; Obito could be anyone, but Shiraishi knew he was certainly not the real Madara.
For the first time, the rising powers of the Hidden Sand and the hidden masterminds of the ninja world clashed head-on.
As the wind-blade passed through him, Obito's body underwent a strange blurring—intangibility. He dodged the attack with ease, laughing. "No jutsu holds meaning against Madara."
Suddenly, countless pillars of cyan light erupted from beneath Obito's feet. Under the puppet's control, the Root Vibration transformed into a massive cage of light—a sealing barrier.
Cyan light? Obito recalled reports of the Fifth Kazekage using a specialized "Light Release" on the battlefields of the Mist.
With a thunderous explosion, Obito reappeared several meters away, thrusting a long rod forward.
Before it could touch Shiraishi, a powerful electromagnetic pulse repelled it. Simultaneously, an invisible "Holy Sword" of compressed air erupted from Shiraishi's fingers, sending out a staggering shockwave.
Obito fired a chain, but Shiraishi used a Substitution Jutsu, trading places with a nearby object and launching a sharpened gale from his hand.
Taking advantage of the brief opening, Shiraishi used a specialized Rain Body Flicker to appear instantly beside Obito. One hand held a wind-sphere, the other a kunai, but both passed harmlessly through Obito's phased body.
Seizing Shiraishi's perceived opening, Obito grabbed the puppet's arm. His right Sharingan began to swirl, preparing to suck the Kazekage into the Kamui dimension.
At that exact moment, Shiraishi activated a Dimensional Hole, blinking to the other side of the clearing.
The puppet's chakra was limited. While it could mimic most of Shiraishi's abilities, it lacked the bottomless reserves of the original body, forcing Shiraishi to use his techniques with surgical precision.
The Duel of Gadgets and Gravity
Seeing that close-quarters combat was ineffective, Shiraishi pulled out three dark-red kunai engraved with unique seals.
When Obito blocked them with his rod, the kunai didn't just bounce off; they triggered specialized explosions that released intense electromagnetic flares.
Obito's expression shifted, and he used Kamui to retreat into his void.
These were the Sand's new "High-Tech Kunai," containing internal micro-mechanisms. In the black market, a single one of these cost ten times the price of a standard blade.
The assault didn't stop. The three kunai embedded in the ground formed a "Light Source Array." Under the Earth Release: Three Talents Formation, three earth clones materialized, each wielding a weapon and charging Obito.
Obito reacted instantly. With a single hand seal, he unleashed sharp wooden spikes that skewered all three clones, shattering the formation.
Seeing an opening as Obito shifted between dimensions, Shiraishi used his strings to discreetly reel the three expensive kunai back.
"You're the Kazekage, and you actually recycle your ninja tools?" Obito couldn't help but mock Shiraishi's perceived stinginess.
"It seems you're from Konoha," Shiraishi countered. "Other villages understand that waste is a disgrace."
The verbal jab momentarily threw Obito off-balance. In that split second, the Dimensional Hole beneath Shiraishi's feet flashed, and he lunged like a beam of light.
In the heavy rain, controlling sand via Magnet Release was difficult, so the puppet couldn't manage six-dimensional holes at once.
It could only use one for coordinate switching, making it slightly inferior to Obito's space-time mastery. However, that single hole had a terrifying secondary function.
As Obito prepared to phase again, the black hole emitted a crushing pressure. Obito's body suddenly felt like it weighed a ton.
Gravity Binding!
This was the evolution of Shiraishi's "Telekinesis" skill—a technique that took months of mastery to unlock.
While he couldn't use it on everything yet, he could apply it to specific mediums like his Dimensional Holes or the heat-spheres of Scorch Release.
While Obito was weighed down, Shiraishi flickered to his side, his palm wreathed in Cyan Flame. "It seems you aren't entirely immune to every attack."
"Oh? Then try your best, Fifth Kazekage."
The Cyan Flame transformed into a "Purgatory Bind," but Obito managed to switch coordinates just in time.
The gravity had slowed him significantly, but it wasn't enough to pin him. Shiraishi followed up with a relentless flurry of Kenjutsu, his blade moving in a blur of light that began to overwhelm the masked man.
The Fifth Kazekage is truly a man even old Madara was right to fear, Obito thought. He's a troublesome opponent.
With no gap in the assault, Obito slammed his hand onto the ground in desperation.
Wood Release: Cutting Sprigs! (Mokuton: Jukai Kotan)
"Wood Release?" Shiraishi's brief moment of surprise allowed several thorn-covered trees to spiral upward, attempting to crush him.
While the move didn't do much damage to Shiraishi, it served its purpose as a distraction.
Using the Wood Release as cover, Obito's body began to spiral into nothingness. "Fifth Kazekage, I look forward to our next meeting."
The Gedo Statue
The skirmish drew the attention of the local Rain Ninjas. By the time their reconnaissance squads arrived, the battlefield was empty of everything but scorched earth and broken wood.
With a Body Flicker, Shiraishi's puppet arrived at the negotiation site between Hanzo and the Akatsuki. He arrived too late. Yahiko, the leader of the Akatsuki, lay dead in a pool of blood in the arms of his grieving friend, Nagato.
Across the battlefield, a horrific, otherworldly demonic idol rose from the earth—the Gedo Statue.
This thing... could it be...
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