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Obito charged, sword in hand. He ignored the arrows piercing through him in his intangible state. He ignored the Susano'o barrier as he closed in on one Wood Clone.
The clone met him with a Chidori. Obito ignored that too. As they passed each other—SHING!—the Grass-Cutting Sword flashed. A clean cut appeared on the clone's shoulder.
WHOOSH! As Obito phased out from the Susano'o's back, a massive Kamui vortex erupted from the cut on the clone's shoulder. The clone disintegrated. The Susano'o it had manifested shattered into nothing.
Obito didn't even glance back. He was already moving for the next clone.
The clones weren't idle. They tried—desperately—to grab the moment his sword arm solidified. But it was different now. With the Grass-Cutting Sword, a weapon that seemingly cut through anything, the window was impossibly small. A world apart from grabbing a bare hand.
True, Kamui's activation-to-transport had a delay. But with his sword technique, all Obito needed was to land a mark. The Kamui would trigger itself. He had nearly overcome the ability's greatest weakness!
SHING! SHING! SHING! For a moment… the Wood Clones' powerful arsenal—Wood Style, Susano'o—became useless against him.
He moved like a ghost through a field of statues, cutting them down one by one.
Even the clone that had claimed to be the real one fell to the black blade. Staring at the six remaining clones, Obito leveled his sword, his voice cold. "You've hidden your true body well. But six left? Killing you is no challenge at all."
Sasuke watched, his real body holding position, observing the new ability. The black light on the sword pulsed, growing dimmer with each Kamui-triggered kill.
"Every time you use the sword to activate Kamui, that black glow fades," Sasuke's voice, calm and analytical, cut through the tension. "Shifting the burden from your eyes to the sword? Clever. But the strain on your vision doesn't just vanish."
After manifesting a complete Susano'o and those Kamui shuriken, then pushing his eyes like this… Even with a trace of Hashirama's cells, he couldn't sustain it. It was like Sasuke's own marathon battle against the Five Kage back then.
Sasuke delivered his conclusion, his voice cold. "If I'm right… your eyes are starting to fail. The world is blurring, isn't it?"
In Obito's vision, Sasuke's figure did swim with faint afterimages.
Called out, Obito didn't panic. He believed victory was already in his grasp.
"So what if they are? If it destroys you, letting these eyes burn out is a small price. The Rinnegan is what matters. That is the key to the Moon's Eye Plan!"
SWOOSH—!!
Obito exploded toward the Sasuke who had spoken.
That Sasuke's eyes blazed.
— Blaze Release: Kagutsuchi!
FWOOOM!
A wall of black Amaterasu flames erupted, forming a perfect, impenetrable dome around him.
"Oh? Even this technique. Is this the real one?" Obito's charge didn't falter. He plunged straight into the black inferno, the Grass-Cutting Sword raised for a killing strike…!!!
"!!!"
Sasuke bent backwards at the waist, the blade's edge missing his face by a hair's breadth.
WHOOSH…!
A smirk touched Obito's lips as his body passed completely through Sasuke's. The sword strike was a feint. He had remained intangible the entire time, even during the swing.
It was a test. A probe.
"No mistake… First, using Kagutsuchi. Then, a full-power evasion from my sword. This has to be the real body!!"
Zip! Obito emerged from the blaze of Amaterasu. Sizzle…
The 'black' energy—the visible manifestation of Kamui—bled away from the Grass-Cutting Sword in his hand.
His gaze shifted, sharp and triumphant. Sasuke… the sword was a decoy from the start. A trick to make you focus everything on the 'blade'… and forget to guard against the Kamui of my left eye!
Obito whirled, his left eye locking onto Sasuke's 'head' with terrifying focus.
"Not good—!!!" The five remaining Wood Clones reacted, raising their giant bows.
"TOO LATE—!!!"
— KAMUI!
CRUNCH!!!
A spacetime distortion field, compressed to a point, materialized around Sasuke's neck. His head vanished into nothing.
Almost simultaneously, the five remaining Wood Clones crumbled into dead, rotting wood…!!!
CLANG!!!
Obito leaned on his sword, one hand clamping over his searing eyes.
His vision swam, doubled. The Mangekyō pattern in his eyes reverted to three tomoe. He stared at the headless body before him—still flesh, not wood—and the dam of his restraint broke.
— "Hah… Hahaha… HAHAHAHA! Yes! Like this… Uchiha Sasuke is most certainly, by my own hand…"
— "Killed. Is that what you were going to say?"
CRACKLE-ZAP!
A spear of lightning erupted from Obito's chest, freezing the manic laughter on his face.
He stood rigid, looking down at the Chidori blade protruding from his sternum. His eyes were pools of utter disbelief.
"How…? Izanagi?"
"Against you, I don't need to resort to that forbidden jutsu." The voice came from behind him, cold and steady. "I don't just have Wood Clones. I have 'Blaze Release' clones as well. A Blaze Clone using Kagutsuchi is hardly surprising."
Obito coughed, blood flecking his lips. "But… when a Blaze Clone dies… why didn't it turn to black flames immediately?"
"Kagutsuchi's activation can be set on a delay. I simply delayed the moment the clone's dispersion triggers the flames."
FWOOM! Right on cue, the body of the 'decapitated' clone exploded into a pillar of black Amaterasu fire.
Obito understood. "Ah… I see. And you, hiding in the shadows… you aimed for the moment my ocular power was at its weakest. That's when you struck with the Chidori."
Sasuke's voice was devoid of emotion. "Exactly."
"…Heh. How pathetic. I thought I had everything under control. But in the end, every move I made… was under your observation." Obito's bloodied mouth twisted into a pained smile. "It's terrifying. You're only as old as I was during the Kannabi Bridge mission… but your combat experience is monstrous. Almost… almost like 'Madara' himself."
The smile turned sharper, more dangerous.
"But, my traitorous clansman… the one who knows how to use a 'substitution' trick… isn't just you…!!!"
"What—?!" Sasuke tried to pull his hand free, but Obito's body began to warp, turning into a clinging, viscous black ooze.
— Kamui Substitution Jutsu!
A vortex of terrifying, abnormal Kamui force erupted from the hole in Obito's chest…!!!
"Sasuke-kun…!" Watching through the crystal ball, Karin and the others cried out in horror.
Sasuke's mind raced. So his eyes regressing just now… it wasn't because his power was exhausted. It was because he was preparing this 'Substitution'…!
CRACK! At the last possible millisecond, Sasuke's back split open. A new, pristine version of himself shed the old skin like a serpent. Pale, curse-mark wings unfurled, and he shot skyward.
WHOOSH!
A Kamui vortex swirled. Obito's real body emerged from the Kamui dimension…!!
This was the Kamui Substitution's only flaw: once the substitute was destroyed, the real body was forcibly ejected from the Kamui space. And for a brief period, re-entry was impossible.
"Damned Orochimaru-style substitution again—!!!" Obito roared.
BOOM…!
A deep indigo Susano'o erupted around him, burning and solidifying into the form of the warrior-god, Tengu.
— "Fine! If that's how it is… even if I have to ruin this left eye completely… I will bury Uchiha Sasuke here and now!!!"
The black Kamui shuriken formed once more in the Susano'o's hand. But as Obito prepared to hurl it skyward, his Susano'o suddenly brought its four hands together in a seal before its chest.
"DIE…!!"
— Kamui Shuriken: Shadow Clone Jutsu!!!
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