Chapter 263 : witness
Before he could finish speaking, the wandering Rin's patience ran out. Without waiting to accumulate Chakra again, she roared and sprinted forward, eager to kill the only two prey in front of her.
In the nick of time, without any communication or prompting, Naraku and Kakashi almost simultaneously Shunshined forward, splitting left and right to evade.
A massive front paw swiped between them, landing heavily on empty ground, kicking up a large cloud of dust.
In an instant, two chakra blades, flashing with lightning, burst out from the swirling dust. Electric arcs flowed and darted between the twin blades, weaving a seemingly fragile yet actually strong spiderweb.
Perfectly symmetrical, brilliant blade auras shone, climbing up the monstrously huge beast's paw and forelimb, cutting into Rin's neck from both sides with an unstoppable force, splashing out large amounts of dark red Chakra.
Rin howled in pain and retreated repeatedly, instinctively swinging her long tail to counterattack her enemies.
The long, powerful tail, like two whips, came at Naraku and Kakashi with a tearing shriek. The two were still in the air and unable to dodge, barely managing to land steadily by blocking with their ninja swords.
"Cough, cough…" Kakashi caught his breath and said with a wry smile, "It looks like no one can leave now."
That dual attack just now seemed to have gained the upper hand, but in reality, neither the long-distance, exhausted Kakashi nor Naraku, who had forcefully sacrificed his blood and traveled through space, had the strength to fight any longer.
Even his plan of one person acting as bait and the other escaping had become a luxury.
As soon as Rin launched her next attack, both of them would enter a complete death countdown.
Kakashi staggered to Naraku's front, raising his blade towards the still watchful and ready-to-attack Rin, squeezing out the last bit of Chakra from his body.
Naraku wanted to come and stand with him, but he was stubbornly pushed back.
"I made a promise, Naraku, do you remember? Now is the time for me to fulfill that promise."
Kakashi took the most standard starting stance of the Hatake sword style, his voice soft and firm.
"—I will never let you die before me."
"Kakashi…"
Naraku stared blankly at the figure in front of him, which subtly overlapped with the silhouette he had seen that night many years ago. His eyes welled up, and he hastily lowered his gaze to compose himself.
"…I won't let you die."
The Mangekyo suddenly lit up in the darkness, Dōjutsu Power (Pupil Power) rapidly burned, and blood once again gushed from his eyes, flowing down his cheeks.
He heard his body, on the verge of its limit, wailing. Every meridian was boiling, as if lava surged through his blood vessels.
Click.
As Ama no Kaguhiko successfully activated, Naraku heard the sound of breaking chains in his ears.
The world, in the Mangekyo's eyes, was instantly deconstructed into countless crisscrossing, tangled, and overlapping threads, which surged like living things and converged into one place, forming an incredibly conspicuous pitch-black Death Line, connecting Rin's vigorously beating heart… Relying on White Zetsu #9527's exceptional stamina and body, Obito rapidly approached the location of Kakashi and Rin.
During this time, he also learned that Naraku had somehow joined the battle, which immediately made him rush even faster than before.
"How dare that Naraku guy? Isn't he still sick and unable to leave the Village!? It's all the damn Hidden Mist's fault!!"
When only a few kilometers remained from the battle site, #9527 received instructions from other White Zetsu and proactively suggested, "Obito, I guess we'll be in combat soon. I have something to tell you."
Obito was filled with the urgency of rescuing his comrades and didn't want to say another word: "What?"
"Your combat ability is not as good as mine, and besides, my body is currently attached to your battered little frame…"
After listening for a while without getting to the point, Obito directly interrupted #9527.
"So what?"
"Hmm… I think it would be better if I acted for you during combat."
"No need!"
Obito flatly refused.
"My tactical coordination with Kakashi and Rin will definitely be better than you controlling me to fight alone! With Kakashi, I will definitely be able to protect Rin and Naraku!"
Seeing that he couldn't be persuaded, #9527 could only go along with his words: "That's right, you currently have the artificial body of Senju Hashirama. The combination of Senju and Uchiha powers might unleash unprecedented strength…"
Perhaps he might even awaken a new Bloodline Limit, like Jin.
At this moment, half the sky suddenly brightened like daylight, and a strong tremor and roar came from afar.
Immediately after, a hot and fierce storm swept through, carrying countless broken branches and leaves that fell like heavy rain, many of them hitting Obito.
"What happened!?"
Obito's heart tightened abruptly, an ominous premonition lingering in his mind, and cold sweat constantly broke out on his forehead.
When he emerged from the dense jungle and reached a vantage point, he found that the previously continuous mountain range now had a clear gap, with fire and lightning flickering within it.
"My comrades sent a message," #9527 pointed a tentacle in the direction of the gap, "It looks like it's over there."
"Go!"
Obito no longer delayed, immediately leaping back into the dense forest, moving nimbly through the gaps between the crisscrossing branches.
The closer he got to the battlefield, the more he could feel the extremely ferocious Chakra permeating the air—this aura was definitely not something a human could possess.
The area ahead gradually became open and spacious, with the bright moonlight freely illuminating the front, but Obito's heart tightened with nervousness instead.
-- No, don't overthink!
-- Soon… I'll be there soon!
Obito desperately suppressed the endless bad thoughts in his mind, striving to put all his focus on increasing his speed.
When he passed through the last few ancient trees and bushes and stepped onto the scorched, empty battlefield, an extremely brutal scene unexpectedly burst into his vision.
Rin was severely burned all over, her limbs covered with a strange dark red energy, and she was impaled through the chest by a long blade, completely defenseless.
Warm blood still slowly flowed on the blade, turning to ash under the high temperature of the electric arcs.
And the hilt of that long blade was held in Uchiha Naraku's hands.
"Cough… Naraku…"
Rin, who had recovered from the genjutsu, saw Naraku first. From the intense pain in her chest and his almost shattered expression, she realized the situation, and shed tears of both pain and relief.
She knew that Naraku must have reached an unavoidable final moment to make such a decision. Instead of any resentment, she was grateful that he didn't let her become the sinner who destroyed Konoha.
"Don't, don't be sad… Naraku… You did the right thing… Thank you…"
Choking out a large mouthful of blood, Rin's legs gave out weakly, and she collapsed onto Naraku's shoulder, who was already in tears, completely losing consciousness.
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