Whoever had been watching him…
Had to be found.
Waiting for the enemy to make the first move wasn’t Yu’s style.
He preferred to strike first.
With that thought settled, he quietly activated the Flying Thunder God Technique.
The faint trace of distorted space left behind by the observer…
Was all he needed.
A trail.
His figure blurred into a streak of light and vanished.
The border of the Land of Wind.
A barren valley.
Several rogue ninja stood respectfully before a man clad in a black cloak.
An orange spiral mask concealed his face, exposing only a single right eye.
Dark.
Bottomless.
“How’s the operation progressing?”
The muffled voice beneath the mask was utterly devoid of emotion.
“My lord, the nearby villages have already been subdued.
It won’t be long before they ‘voluntarily’ join our organization—”
Before the rogue ninja could finish speaking…
An overwhelming presence descended upon the valley.
Everyone felt their hearts skip a beat.
The masked man abruptly looked up.
A flicker of surprise crossed his lone eye.
Space rippled.
A young man appeared out of nowhere several dozen meters away.
Arms folded.
Expression indifferent.
As if he had merely wandered over for a stroll.
“So…”
“You all seem to be having fun.”
His gaze swept lazily over the rogue ninja before settling on the masked figure.
As expected.
Obito Uchiha.
Or should I call you Tobi?
Or perhaps…
the Masked Man?
The outfit.
The single exposed eye.
The lingering traces of Space-Time Ninjutsu.
There was no mistaking him.
“Who are you?”
For the first time, a hint of caution entered the voice beneath the mask.
He hadn’t sensed this person approaching at all.
He didn’t like that.
Yu offered no answer.
He simply raised his left hand.
“Uninvited guests are rarely welcome.”
The masked man snorted coldly.
The Mangekyō Sharingan in his right eye spun violently.
Kamui.
Its target…
Shinzuki Yu.
A tremendous pulling force erupted from nowhere.
Space twisted violently, threatening to drag Yu into Kamui’s dimension.
The rogue ninja were already terrified beyond reason, scrambling away from the epicenter as fast as they could.
Yet…
Yu remained exactly where he stood.
Without moving an inch.
A mocking smile tugged at his lips.
“You really think…”
“…the same trick will work on me?”
The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan in his left eye burst to life.
Its ocular power far surpassed Obito’s.
He answered with the exact same technique.
Kamui.
Bzzzz—
Two spatial distortions collided head-on.
Their properties were identical.
Their strength…
Was not.
There was no deafening explosion.
Only the agonizing screech of space itself tearing apart.
For dozens of meters around them, reality fractured like cracked glass before desperately knitting itself back together.
Obito’s visible eye widened.
Impossible!
His Kamui…
Was being disrupted.
No…
Suppressed.
Not only did the other man possess Kamui…
His version was overwhelmingly stronger.
Where the hell did this monster come from?
The system had refined Yu’s Kamui to perfection.
Greater power.
Lower chakra consumption.
No side effects.
Naturally…
His control was leagues beyond Obito’s.
“Your Kamui…”
Yu spoke calmly.
“…isn’t very stable.”
Obito let out a muffled grunt.
He desperately poured more ocular power into maintaining control of his distorted space.
It was useless.
Yu’s Kamui clung to his like a parasite, steadily eroding and dismantling it.
Now.
The instant Obito’s concentration wavered…
Yu moved.
He disappeared.
Not through Space-Time Ninjutsu.
Pure speed.
His Sage Body’s overwhelming physical power…
Combined with Asura’s chakra…
Produced movement that resembled teleportation.
No flashy ninjutsu.
Just…
A single straight punch.
Its target…
Obito’s masked face.
Danger!
Every instinct screamed inside Obito’s mind.
Without thinking, he instinctively activated Kamui’s intangibility.
It was his greatest defense.
No one had ever been able to touch him.
But…
Hidden beneath the immense force of Yu’s fist…
Was a nearly imperceptible layer of Kamui’s own spatial distortion.
“Hm?”
Just before the punch passed through the mask…
Obito’s intangibility…
Stuttered.
Only for a fraction of a second.
Less than a heartbeat.
For Yu…
That was more than enough.
Boom!
The punch grazed Obito’s head.
At the very last instant, Obito forced his intangibility back into place, barely avoiding a direct hit.
Even so…
The interference from Yu’s Kamui had already reached him.
Crack.
A fracture spread across the edge of the orange spiral mask.
Behind it…
Obito’s body trembled violently.
My intangibility…
Was disrupted?
How?!
Kamui’s intangibility had always been his greatest trump card.
The foundation of everything he had accomplished.
Yet someone had nearly broken through it.
Who…
Exactly…
Was this man?
Obito immediately retreated, opening the distance between them.
His lone eye brimmed with caution.
For the first time in years…
He felt genuine danger.
The young man before him looked ordinary.
Yet his strength was unfathomable.
His techniques…
Even more so.
The rogue ninja had long since collapsed onto the ground.
The aftershocks of the two Kamui techniques colliding had utterly shattered their courage.
Never in their wildest dreams had they imagined the invincible “Lord Tobi” suffering such an immediate setback.
Yu casually lowered his fist.
He shook his hand once.
“Your reflexes aren’t bad.”
His gaze drifted toward the cracked mask.
“Too bad your mask isn’t built to last.”
Obito’s expression darkened beneath it.
“Who are you?”
His voice no longer sounded calm.
Only restrained anger remained.
Yu shrugged.
“Just a passing citizen.”
“I figured I’d stop by and surprise you.”
Surprise?
More like the scare of my life.
Obito’s thoughts churned violently.
Since when did Konoha have someone like this?
He knew virtually every top shinobi in the village.
Minato Namikaze.
The Legendary Sannin.
Even the hidden old monsters.
Yet none of them matched the man standing before him.
And then there was Kamui.
A Kamui stronger than his own.
Could he be another hidden Uchiha?
No…
If someone like this had existed…
Madara’s plans would have unraveled long ago.
He forced himself to stop thinking.
“What do you want?”
Yu spread his hands casually.
“Nothing in particular.”
“I just don’t think rats should be scurrying around in the shadows.”
“They make too much noise.”
The meaning couldn’t have been clearer.
Obito’s killing intent surged.
Yet he held himself back.
This wasn’t the time.
Whoever this man was…
He possessed at least Kage-level strength.
Perhaps even beyond.
Most troubling of all…
He could interfere with Kamui itself.
Continuing this battle would accomplish nothing.
If anything…
It would only expose more of his own secrets.
“We’ll meet again.”
Obito stared deeply at Yu, as though engraving his face into memory.
Without another word, his Mangekyō Sharingan spun once more.
Kamui.
This time…
Not to attack.
To escape.
His body began twisting into space.
Yu made no move to stop him.
There was no need.
If you wanted to catch a big fish…
You had to let the line play out.
Today’s encounter had merely been a warning.
A reminder to the future mastermind that this world no longer revolved around his plans.
“Anytime.”
Yu smiled faintly.
Obito vanished completely into the warped space.
As though he had never been there.
The rogue ninja looked at one another in terror.
“M-My lord…
he…”
Yu glanced at them.
“Your ‘lord’ ran away.”
His gaze turned cold.
“Now…”
“It’s your turn.”
His voice remained calm.
Yet to the rogue ninja…
It sounded like a death sentence.
…
A few moments later…
Silence returned to the valley.
Only several lifeless corpses remained, proof that a deadly confrontation had taken place.
Yu stood quietly where he was.
Thoughtful.
Obito’s Kamui truly was troublesome.
Had his own Kamui not been perfected by the system…
Backed by the Sage Body and Asura’s chakra…
Suppressing Obito so effortlessly today would have been far more difficult.
Still…
His experiment had succeeded.
Even if only for an instant…
His Kamui could interfere with Obito’s intangibility.
And that single instant…
Was enough to kill.
He would need to remember that for the future.
At the very least…
Today’s encounter would ensure Obito treated him with unprecedented caution.
Good.
That would save him from countless petty schemes.
“…The mask cracked.”
Yu recalled the image with mild amusement.
“I wonder if he’ll wear a new one next time.”
Shaking his head, he let the thought go.
His senses spread outward once more.
After confirming there were no other observers nearby, he disappeared into the wind.
Trouble…
Was always more entertaining when you took the initiative.
After all…
That way, you stayed in control.