"Whoa there!" the masked man shouted in a silly voice, waving his arms over his head in a comical manner. "Attacking before I've even had the chance to introduce myself? How rude!"
The masked stranger really was Uchiha Obito, after all!
Without a second thought, Sakura clapped her hands together, moulding hypnotic chakra that pulsed outwards invisibly through her rippling breasts. At the sa mont, blue lightning sparked to life in Sasuke's right hand, shrieking shrilly with the cries of a thousand birds.
"Assassination Genjutsu: Breast Illusion!"
"Chidori!"
Faster than a thunderclap, Sasuke closed the gap between himself and the masked stranger in a fraction of a second, electricity crackling in his wake— but sohow, he phased straight through his opponent's body and continued his mad dash, crashing into Naka Shrine.
"What the…?" Sakura gasped in surprise. "I'm sure I got him!"
Obito had indeed fallen for her Genjutsu, but the problem was that he hadn't taken any risks and activated his Mangekyō's Kamui ability, just in case. Even though his physical body was currently in another dinsion, he could still see what was happening in the real world… and sight was all Sakura needed to trigger her Genjutsu.
"Manyuu Style: Swordless Cleaving Moon!"
Even without her sword, Sakura could still use knife-hand Taijutsu to emulate her swordsmanship's effects. Taking advantage of Obito's montary paralysis, she dashed forwards and struck, hoping that Manyuu Style swordsmanship's phasing would counteract Obito's and slash him through dinsions. Unfortunately, her hand slipped harmlessly through his body, as if he weren't even there.
Sakura, Sasuke and Obito were now in a deadlock, unable to hurt each other. But this stalemate wouldn't last forever, since there was a ti limit on both Kamui and Sakura's concentration…
"Ngh…"
A low groan escaped Obito's lips.
Obito was a master of Genjutsu, as shown by his ability to keep the Fourth Mizukage, a perfect Jinchūriki, under his thrall for years without anyone the wiser. His remaining eye bore no special Genjutsu beyond the usual Saimingan, yet his mastery was perhaps unrivalled within the entire Uchiha clan's history… which was saying sothing.
(Perhaps it was Obito's absolute control over Karatachi Yagura and Isobu the Three-Tails that led the Fourth Mizukage to be lauded as the first perfect Jinchūriki in the first place, but it's impossible to know for certain.)
Inevitably, Obito began breaking free. His will was iron! He had no use for useless, flopping breasts… unless they belonged to the real Rin's, in the world of the Infinite Tsukuyomi!
"…You're pretty good," Obito said begrudgingly, as he snapped out of Sakura's Genjutsu. "You managed to fool with an illusion for a few seconds, with a re two-tomoe Sharingan."
His voice was no longer high-pitched and playful— it was cold and deadly serious, and it made Sakura's blood run ice cold in her veins.
He had skipped straight from 'Tobi' to 'Madara!'
Quietly, Sasuke erged from the rubble behind Obito, flicking a dozen shuriken into his palm with a wave of his hand. Now that he knew about his opponent's mysterious ability to phase through attacks, he wasn't going to use sothing loud like the Chidori for his sneak attack!
"I'd drop those, if I were you," said Obito coolly, without even bothering to look at Sasuke. "Shuriken, Jutsu, fists… none will work against ."
There were plenty of White Zetsu hidden on Obito's person, whispering in his ear. Thanks to their help, he effectively had eyes in the back of his head!
"What do you want, Akatsuki?" Sasuke asked warily, lowering his throwing arm slightly.
For shinobi, standard operating procedure was never to engage the enemy without first understanding exactly what they were capable of— or unless success was one hundred percent guaranteed. The only exception was a life-or-death mission that had to be accomplished at any cost. Until Sasuke fully grasped the masked stranger's abilities, he would avoid showing his hand for as long as possible.
Besides, Sakura was still well within the enemy's striking range…
"Well, first of all, I'm flattered you think I'm in the Akatsuki, but the truth is, I'm not really a full mber yet!" Obito said brightly, abruptly reverting to his light-hearted self. He waggled his fingers at Sasuke. "You see? Still just a trainee!"
Despite the sudden movent, Sasuke didn't flinch.
"You don't get it, do you? Everyone but has a ring, like they're in a super-special club and I'm not invited!" said Obito, sighing despondently. "To the others, it's like I'm not even there… and to be fair, I'm not! It's my special ability, as I'm sure you've already noticed."
The Akatsuki rings were initially presented as incredibly vital to plot, but they eventually just beca the equivalent of a two-way radio. It turned out that all along, it was just Obito ssing around with the readers by making a mountain out of a molehill…
"Right, I nearly forgot introductions!" said Obito, clapping his hands happily. "I've been keeping my eye on you, so I already know the two of you, Sasuke and Sakura… but you don't know ."
Sakura knew exactly who he was— Rin's ultimate simp, founding mber of the Akatsuki, the real Madara's chump, and ally to all grannies slowly crossing busy roads— but since she liked her internal organs exactly where they were, she wisely decided to keep her mouth shut.
"So call Tobi," Obito continued, "but that's not actually my real na, is it?"
The temperature seed to plumt to zero.
Obito's erratic, bipolar behaviour might co off as comical in the pages of a manga, but witnessing his sudden shift in person was sothing else entirely. The death throes of the last remaining dregs of a man's past life, gasping for air as they bubbled up through a sea of madness.
He was a man who had given up on the world, on behalf of the entire world…
"Seeing as you're my clansn, you may call …" Obito said, his pitch suddenly dropping an octave. "Uchiha Madara."
For the first ti, Sakura and Sasuke caught a glimpse of the eyeball hidden behind the single eyehole in the stranger's mask. It was unmistakeably a three-tomoe Sharingan.
"You can't possibly be him," Sakura blurted out, playing the part of an innocent girl who had dutifully read her history books. "Everyone knows the First Hokage defeated Madara in single combat at the Valley of the End. His body was brought back and buried in Konoha, and besides, even if he were still sohow alive today, he would be a very old man."
Obito laughed coldly.
Who else could have saved him all those years ago, hm? A ghost?
"Is that what they teach you at the academy these days?" he said mirthlessly. "No, I survived… survived and endured. All so that one day, I might make my dreams beco a reality..."
"Enough," said Sasuke coldly. "What do you want from us?"
Sakura desperately shook her head at him— nothing good could co out of this!
"It's not about what you can give , it's about what I can give you," said Obito mysteriously. "We will see each other again… very soon, I think. But until then, I suggest you give the stone tablet another good look. It might prove more informative than the last ti you saw it, Sasuke…"
And with those words, the space around his exposed eye began to twist— and like water flushed down a toilet, his body spiralled and swirled into nothingness as it was sucked into the singularity, leaving not a single trace of his body behind.
Sakura let out a shaky breath.
Obito was gone.
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