As Tobi spoke, the dense forest spreading in every direction had already completely sealed off the entire area.
The lush greenery that had once seemed ordinary had now become a deadly weapon.
From the outside, it looked as though countless gigantic trees were converging together, eventually forming an enormous sphere that tightly enclosed both Shimizu Uzuki and Tobi within.
"Shimizu-senpai..." Kakashi struggled to push himself upright, desperate to learn what was happening on the other side.
Nearby, Obito opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end, he stayed silent.
Now that he had finally calmed down, he leaned obediently against a large tree, slowly recovering his chakra and stamina after the brutal beating he had taken.
Earlier, Shimizu had forced him to experience something close to death itself. And in that instant...
Was it relief?
Acceptance?
Sadness?
Or deep regret?
Even Obito himself could no longer clearly describe the tangled emotions that had filled his heart in that moment.
But at the very least, he had realized one thing.
The instant he felt death approaching, his anger had already disappeared.
The rage he once held toward this unfair world for what had happened to Rin had completely vanished at the brink of death, leaving nothing behind.
"Obito, you've disappointed everyone."
"Think about your grandmother, Minato-sensei, the Hokage, everyone else... and finally, think about Rin."
"If they saw what you've said, what you think, and what you've done now... who among them would truly be happy for you?"
Obito's mind kept replaying everything Shimizu's shadow clone had said before disappearing.
Words that had once seemed pale and meaningless now pierced into his heart like sharpened blades.
If Rin learned the truth about everything he had done...
Would she really be disappointed in him?
A trace of regret gradually surfaced within him.
It wasn't just the shinobi of Konoha he had attacked.
He had even injured Kakashi, his once closest friend.
"Fortunately, Rin wasn't truly harmed, and you haven't committed an unforgivable crime yet."
"There's still a chance to make things right..."
Thinking of this, a bitter smile unconsciously appeared on Obito's face.
Shimizu-senpai said there was still a chance to fix things, but...
Was that really possible?
Could he truly be forgiven?
Could Rin really return to his side again?
"Of course, if you insist on continuing down this path like a lunatic..."
"I'll personally destroy both you and Rin."
That icy killing intent stabbed into Obito's nerves like a violent slap across the face, finally forcing him completely awake.
At that moment, Obito was also staring toward the battlefield in the distance, where the sudden transformation had taken place.
If it's Shimizu-senpai... he should be fine, right?
Yet Shimizu had currently fallen into an extremely frustrating situation.
No matter how difficult his past battles had been, he had at least never been completely stripped of his mobility by an enemy.
But now, after the brief dizziness passed, the chakra within his body still remained violently unstable, greatly affecting his movement speed.
Shimizu was not a taijutsu-specialized shinobi.
His speed did not rely purely on physical ability, but rather on his masterful chakra control and his flawless use of the Body Flicker Technique.
So once his chakra control was disrupted, it was essentially the same as crippling all of Shimizu's ninjutsu.
And judging by how slowly his condition was recovering, this body would likely remain in a nearly chakra-depleted state for quite some time.
At the same time, he had also been trapped within this sea of trees, making even retreat little more than wishful thinking.
From Shimizu's perspective, Tobi's technique could hardly be considered a standard ninjutsu.
In essence, it was more like a triggered trap mechanism created through the use of special one-time materials combined with Wood Release chakra.
"How thoughtful of you."
Shimizu slowly drew the longsword from behind his back with his left hand. The blade's icy gleam reflected against his ash-gray hair.
And his gaze, like the razor-sharp edge of the sword itself, remained just as piercing.
At this moment, the Samehada that had quietly remained dormant within his body finally began asserting its presence in earnest.
The Water Release chakra unique to Samehada started coursing rapidly through his body, continuously devouring the foreign substance interfering with his chakra flow.
At this rate, it would not take long before Shimizu fully recovered.
And that was not all.
The endless stream of Water Release chakra produced by Samehada could also be released externally at any moment, forming the technique Water Release: Water Shockwave.
With that, his safety gained another layer of assurance.
When calculated this way, there was still nothing to fear. This was far from a true dead end.
"I hope you enjoy it," Tobi said with a smile.
Yet even now, he showed no intention of stepping out from behind the countless layers of trees to confront Shimizu directly. His cautious nature was fully exposed.
To him, Shimizu's composure was the greatest threat of all.
As he spoke, vast numbers of trees began growing wildly once again.
Without proper chakra reinforcement or the use of the Body Flicker Technique, Shimizu's speed was no longer overwhelming enough to leave others in despair. Now, he could only struggle to evade or block the entangling trees.
Relying purely on physical strength, he swung his sword again and again, severing every tree branch daring to invade the deadly zone around him.
But this kind of defense had its limits.
With a sharp tearing sound, a strange thin branch slipped through a gap in his defense and slashed deeply across his chest.
Blood instantly sprayed through the air.
Had he not desperately leapt away at the last moment to accelerate out of range, his entire chest would likely have been pierced clean through.
"Aren't you celebrating a little too early?"
But in order to avoid that fatal strike, Shimizu had also placed himself in an extremely disadvantageous position—
Suspended helplessly in midair.
In an instant, dozens of branches shot toward him at high speed, sealing off every possible angle of escape.
Trapped in the air with nowhere to gain footing, unable to use ninjutsu...
Even in such a hopeless situation, Shimizu still relied solely on the silver longsword in his hand, desperately resisting the Wood Release assault.
With a crisp slash, the first six branches reaching him were instantly severed.
But against the attacks that followed, the blade in his hand was no longer enough...
At the very moment between life and death, the Water Release chakra inside Shimizu's body—which had been continuously devouring the toxin—finally erupted outward.
The chakra burst simultaneously from all 361 chakra points throughout his body at astonishing speed.
But this time, Samehada was no longer simply "spraying water" like before.
Instead, it freely combined and layered different forms of Water Release chakra.
In the blink of an eye, a defensive ninjutsu similar to Water Release: Water Wall took shape. A blue wall of water instantly surrounded his entire body.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang—!"
Dozens of violent explosions rang out almost simultaneously as the incoming branches slammed heavily against the newly formed water barrier.
The overwhelming impact caused the defensive wall of Water Release chakra to tremble violently, on the verge of collapse.
But in the end, the fierce attack was completely blocked.
Tobi's killing blow had failed.
The next instant, Shimizu began falling from the air.
His calm gaze met Tobi's once more, and within the other's eyes still remained the unwavering intent to kill.
Neither side allowed this sudden shift in momentum to disrupt their rhythm.
This was the battle of Kage-level shinobi.
Both possessed combat instincts and battlefield discipline refined nearly to perfection.
In truth, the moment the strange Water Release chakra erupted from Shimizu's body, Tobi had already begun manipulating even more trees to converge toward him.
After all, ordinary branches alone had limited killing power.
The destructive force hidden within this massive sea of trees far surpassed them.
The instant Shimizu landed on the ground, Tobi's follow-up attack had already arrived before him.
A forest composed of dozens of towering trees came crashing down with terrifying force, crushing forward like an unstoppable tidal wave.
And yet, Shimizu merely stood calmly in place, watching the Water Release chakra continue erupting wildly from within his body.
In the blink of an eye, it automatically formed a massive curtain of water large enough to envelop his entire body.
"BOOM—!!!"
This was the clash between a green ocean and a surging blue torrent!