Click.
Killer Queen pressed the detonation button.
At this moment, whether it was Linto and Obito present, or Kakashi, Rasa, and others a bit further away, or even King Wa Sha of the Land of Wind hundreds of kilometers away.
Everyone living in this desert land felt a tremor in their souls.
Obito's eyes widened. A strange, intense ringing filled his ears, and the sounds of the outside world faded. He could only hear his own rapidly beating heart—
"I'm... scared?"
"But what am I scared of?"
His thoughts vanished in an instant. The next second, the chain reaction of explosions a thousand meters underground...
began!
This was no longer an ordinary explosion. Starting from Linto, the broken Dragon Vein erupted with all its remaining energy in an instant.
Roaring, flames, high pressure, intense heat, and endless earthquakes were rapidly spreading outwards.
"What happened!"
Rasa, still fighting Hiruko, exclaimed in surprise.
Hiruko kicked Amber aside as she lunged forward with a giant sword. He turned and looked towards the core battlefield.
A purple flame shot up from underground, climbing upwards like ivy along the void. It only stopped its momentum when it reached a hundred meters in the sky.
Boom!
The ground beneath their feet cracked, forming deep, bottomless fissures. In an instant, these fissures transformed into even more terrifying abysses, with raging earth fire burning from their depths.
The earthquake continued to spread outwards.
Hiruko leaped into the air. As far as his eyes could see, all the way to the horizon, the desert trembled. Abysses like cracks in hell, following the path of the Dragon Vein, continued to extend into the distance.
Along the way, sand dunes, mountains, and the ruins of Roran were all swallowed by these fissures, falling into the earth fire and burning to ashes.
One hundred kilometers... two hundred kilometers... three hundred kilometers...
No one knew how far the earthquake had spread. Perhaps the only fortunate thing was that the ancient ruins of Roran were in the southernmost part of the Land of Wind. Due to the Dragon Vein disaster over ten years ago, the surrounding several hundred kilometers had become a desolate land with harsh environments and scarce human presence.
Hiruko stared blankly at the cracks in the ground, unable to comprehend that this was an effect humans could create. His shock was beyond words.
"This is clearly... a natural disaster! Is this Linto's power?"
He felt that joining the Akatsuki organization was the best decision he ever made. If he had been foolish enough to rush and fight Linto head-on, he would probably be dead by now.
Hiruko turned to look at the center of the explosion.
"So, that show-off kid, Tobi, is dead?"
Obito wasn't dead.
Whether it was the explosion or the earthquake, with Phasing activated, he was an existence separate from the world.
At this moment, Obito stood in a pool of burning earth fire, letting the flames scorch him. He quietly watched Linto a few steps away, then suddenly sneered:
"I thought you really had some trump card up your sleeve?"
"Just this?"
"I have to admit, you tried hard. Because of the earthquake and this strange fire, my infiltration underground was a bit troublesome.
But that was just a minor inconvenience. The ground is deep and vast, you can't possibly set every patch of soil on fire."
Obito's voice grew more joyful as he spoke.
He was about to mock him a bit more when he suddenly saw Linto's action, and the words on the tip of his tongue froze.
A wisp of golden flame appeared on Linto's fingertip. He dug into the earth fire burning from the Dragon Vein. The earth fire merged with the golden flame, turning into a ball of chaotic flames.
Then...
Linto threw the ball of chaotic flame into his mouth.
Obito looked at Linto's mouth, then at the ground melting into lava under the licking earth fire. He unconsciously swallowed and said,
"Linto, I'll tell you—"
"Don't."
Linto interrupted him.
He glanced at the damaged Destroyer Great Sword in his hand and threw it back into the ghost room. He clenched his fist, and Star Platinum appeared behind him, making the same motion.
Linto and Star Platinum looked up together, their cold gazes fixed on Obito.
Obito said, "You—"
"Stop talking too."
Linto said, "From now on, you explode your stuff, I'll fight mine. Whoever can't last longer, dies."
"What?"
Before Obito could ask his second question, Linto and Star Platinum's fists rained down.
The faster they threw punches, the more clay bombs exploded. Linto's body sustained extensive explosive injuries, with drops of blood and pieces of flesh being blown away, but—
the burning earth fire, rising into the air, was drawn by the Serpent Dragon Orb and poured into Linto's body.
The ground contained a vast, limitless natural power. The Dragon Veins were formed by a massive concentration of natural power, naturally converted.
Now that Linto had detonated the Dragon Vein, countless vast energies had once again transformed into dense, pure, highly compressed natural power amidst the explosion.
Drawn by the Serpent Dragon Orb, at this moment, Linto truly possessed limitless natural power with limitless output.
This natural power, combined with Linto's Ripple, provided him with endless life force.
Every drop of blood that splattered in mid-air turned into a flying bird.
Every piece of flesh blown away, upon hitting the ground, transformed into a squirrel.
They drilled back into Linto's body at a speed far exceeding that of ordinary animals, repairing all the damage caused by the explosions.
Obito quickly discovered that the speed at which the clay bombs damaged Linto was not even as fast as his self-healing speed!
"You... how is this possible!"
Obito couldn't believe his eyes.
The legendary immortal White Snake Sage wouldn't be any different! Could it be that in the battle at Ryuuchi Cave, the real Linto had died, and the White Snake Sage had taken over this guy?
The scene before him was so out of the ordinary that Obito's mind became chaotic, leading to unrealistic thoughts.
Under the current circumstances, all of Obito's tactics were failing.
He was facing failure, perhaps even... death!
Just then, Obito's peripheral vision caught sight of Linto's right leg.
Linto's right leg was covered in large patches of gray and white. The areas covered in gray and white became very stiff and difficult to move.
As if it had turned into stone!
"Aha!"
Obito shouted excitedly, "I knew it! Such terrifying recovery power couldn't come without a price."
Although it was unclear how Obito, who had just thought the White Snake Sage had possessed Linto, could now say "I knew it."
Regardless, Obito felt the threat of death vanish.
His mind cleared up again.
The earthquake and earth fire couldn't harm him. Linto's only reliance was on the devilish recovery ability gained by absorbing the earth fire.
But this recovery had two limitations.
Obito pondered in his heart:
"The first is time. Linto petrifies whenever he uses this power."
"The second is range. As long as I stay away from the earth fire, Linto can't continue to use this terrifying power."
Based on these two points, Obito immediately made a decision—
Dive deeper.
Continue to dive, dive into an area where even the earth fire can't burn.
If a thousand meters wasn't enough, then two thousand meters. If two thousand meters wasn't enough, then three thousand meters.
Obito's reasoning was sound. The power of the Dragon Vein was indeed terrifying, but it was only at a thousand meters underground. The Earth was incredibly deep; a thousand meters was merely like its "skin."
The two limitations he deduced were also correct.
Although Obito was a beast, his combat intelligence was indeed sharp.
Linto's "petrification" occurred because the natural power was too immense.
Before, Linto used the Ripple to neutralize the natural power with minimal effort.
But now, he was absorbing too much natural power and couldn't neutralize it perfectly, unless...
Linto could use some other means to strengthen his Ripple hundreds of times to counteract the erosion of this natural power.
For example, the Aja 'red stone'.
However, petrified or not.
Linto wanted to see who would turn into stone first, him or Obito turning into meat paste.
Obito gave up resisting, using the explosion for cover, and his body merged with the ground as he plunged deeper underground.
Linto pursued relentlessly from behind. He and his Stand, with four fists wildly swinging, managed to keep pace with Obito, not giving him any chance to escape.
One thousand meters... fifteen hundred meters...
Obito was going mad. He lifted all restrictions and descended at his fastest speed in his phased state.
But Linto in front of him was like a devil, clinging to him relentlessly.
Obito observed Linto's petrification speed and confirmed one thing—
His phasing would wear off first!
He would be finely ground into powder by Linto and Star Platinum's fists before Linto turned into a stone man!
"Ahhhhh! Get away! Linto!"
Obito roared in desperation.
Bang—
Linto's punching speed paused for half a second. The rock shattered and flew outward.
The rock layer.
They had reached an underground area filled with rocks.
Obito felt his bleak life brighten again.
With the power of Linto and Star Platinum, breaking through the rock layer would only take a few minutes, but the speed would certainly not be as swift as shattering the soil before.
Linto switched Stands, transforming into Killer Queen.
He set up a bomb and detonated it. The area five meters below them turned into a hollow space, but...
"Didn't expect this, did you! Linto, my escape speed is still superior!"
Obito shouted proudly and disappeared from Linto's sight.
Linto couldn't see Obito, and Obito, in his phased state, also couldn't see Linto. Now, his entire body was covered in dirt and rocks, meaning his whole body had entered Kamui's space.
His hearing was still intact. Obito could clearly hear the vibrations from above, indicating that Linto was still pursuing him. He had to descend to an even deeper location.
"Linto is more troublesome than I imagined. Deidara, are the clay bombs enough?"
A dull response came to Obito's ears.
"Enough."
The voice was Deidara's, but the tone wasn't.
Deidara, in Kamui's space, had a dull, vacant expression, clearly entranced by Obito's illusion.
It made sense. Given Obito's cautious and cunning nature, even if Deidara was a teammate, how could he be at ease leaving him alone in Kamui's space while he was conscious?
Deidara was already a crazy artist. What if he became fascinated by Linto's "explosive art" and defected mid-battle, working with Linto from the inside?
Obito wouldn't leave such a potential threat unchecked.
"Even if the phasing time is restored, I can't go up right away. I have to wait for the earth fire to burn out before going up to fight and see what other tricks Linto has."
Obito thought to himself.
"Or, I could just abandon this mission and wait until Linto reaches Wa Sha City to make a move?"
The strategy he and Deidara had coordinated had indeed succeeded in negating Linto's close-combat advantage.
The only thing they didn't anticipate was the Dragon Vein.
However, not only are Dragon Veins not found everywhere, but even if there was one beneath Wa Sha City, would Linto, given his personality, cause earth fire and earthquakes in a city of millions?
If he really did that, Pain would come over and become sworn brothers with Linto the next day, no longer daring to call himself "Pain," and willingly give that nickname to Linto.
The more Obito thought about it, the more withdrawing for now seemed like the most appropriate plan.
He no longer heard Linto punching above him. Obito felt he was safe enough and breathed a sigh of relief, canceling his phasing—
"Star Platinum·The World!"
Star Platinum tore through the rock and grabbed Obito's head, yanking him upward with all its might.
"Ora Ora Ora Ora!"
"Ora Ora Ora Ora!"
Nine point nine seconds, not a second wasted, all the punches landed on Obito.
Time stop ended.
Obito's entire body erupted with bloody mist, his limbs splayed, like a bird flying towards the narrow sky.
However, Linto remained fully focused. He placed his hands on the ground and activated Earth Sense.
Given Obito's cunning nature, he would surely have brought another Sharingan to activate Izanagi.
Therefore, the first death was to force out Izanagi.
As expected, Obito, who was in the air, disappeared. His figure reappeared a dozen meters away.
Seeing Linto's gaze turn towards him, Obito instinctively wanted to burrow underground again.
He took one step and then stopped.
Obito saw the burning earth fire, the torn underground abyss, and the narrow strip of sky visible overhead, though it was still small.
Based on Obito's previous descent, he had probably reached about three thousand meters underground.
But now...
He was at about fifteen hundred meters.
"What kind of ability is this?!"
"Did Linto manipulate the Earth and bring me up?!"
The fear born from this unknown was far greater than the power of the Dragon Vein explosion. Obito felt that the Earth, which was supposed to protect him, had become unsafe.
After devouring the Dragon Core, the deeper Linto went underground, the more he could sense and manipulate the Earth's power.
Even so, he couldn't have moved Obito, who was in a phased state and couldn't even be touched.
Linto only did one thing—
He adjusted the direction of gravity, centering it on Obito.
When Linto was on the ground, he could already manipulate sand and stones to float against gravity. Reaching a depth of a thousand meters underground, manipulating the gravitational change of a two-meter diameter space was not difficult.
When Obito's entire body was covered in dirt and rocks, and he lost his vision, his supposed "descent" was based entirely on his sense of gravity.
Facing the deliberately manipulated gravitational changes by Linto, Obito was merely hovering within a small range and never truly left Linto's effective radius.
It wasn't just Obito who could play tricks, nor was he the only one who could use his mind.
Obito's phasing had reached its limit.
Izanagi, based on previous information obtained in Konoha, the duration of invincibility varied depending on each person's Chakra amount, physical constitution, and Sharingan adaptation.
Obito's Chakra had also been heavily depleted during the series of battles.
"Let's assume, for now, it's three minutes."
Linto's right leg was completely petrified, but he didn't care. He extended his hand, and Star Platinum grabbed his arm, flinging him violently towards Obito.
Staring at Linto, who was attacking like a demon, Obito was terrified. His soul had already flown to the heavens, and he no longer had any desire to fight the man before him.
"If only I'd let Pain handle this."
But it was too late for regrets now. Obito turned and ran. Through repeated deaths, he rushed back to the surface and looked around.
To his left was Sasori, and to his right was Hiruko.
Obito hesitated for a moment and ran in the direction of the closer Hiruko.
"Fortunately, I still have reliable teammates."