{Before we begin this chapter I wanna thank you guys for being such good readers. I was finishing up on some of my stocked up WN's and fanfics after a long while and saw that even in case of some small mistakes from the author's part the readers storm them like crazy, but here's it's all so peaceful, so I'm grateful for that.
Anyway, don't let it get to your head and enjoy the fic, also keep supporting me like always.
Love ya (Yes Homo).}
~~~
Glancing around, Obito took in the full extent of the Fuinjutsu array Ren had raised.
It didn't take long for him to understand its function.
The symbols were elegant, dense, layered in a way that spoke of obsessive refinement. Chakra pathways ran outward from the center, looping back into themselves, forming a wide net that covered the entire battlefield. The moment his senses brushed against it, he felt the pull, subtle but constant, tugging at his chakra like a slow, persistent tide.
A siphoning formation.
Obito frowned slightly behind his mask.
With a single look, he could tell that the array didn't discriminate. Any living being inside the field would have their chakra steadily drained and redistributed into the formation itself. The technique was solid and efficient, dangerous in most situations.
But here?
His gaze flicked briefly toward Ren.
Both of them were standing well within the array's radius.
That was the confusing part.
If the formation drained chakra equally, then Ren was just as affected as he was. And even if the two of them stood here and let it run its course, it would take far too long for it to matter. Obito had Hashirama's cells integrated into his body, his chakra reserves were monstrous, bordering on inexhaustible. Recovery came naturally to him, passively, without effort.
And Ren?
A Senju body, absurd chakra capacity, and on top of that, those damn clones acting as living batteries, constantly cycling chakra back into him.
If this turned into a battle of attrition, they could fight for hours, maybe longer.
The array was… pointless.
Obito didn't relax, but the immediate threat dulled. His posture eased just a fraction as that conclusion settled.
Then Ren spoke.
"It's useless, isn't it?"
The words came casually, almost conversational.
Obito didn't answer verbally, but his head tilted a fraction, a subconscious acknowledgment. His instincts still screamed caution, but logic agreed with the assessment.
That was when the bad feeling hit.
Ren's voice followed immediately, sharper now, carrying intent.
"Then how about this one."
Before Obito could fully react, the ground beneath his feet moved.
No, their blood spatters did.
Thin streams that had soaked into the earth during their fight suddenly pulled together, writhing unnaturally as seals ignited within them. Symbols unfolded from liquid crimson, crawling upward like living things.
Obito tried to phase but he was too late.
The first seal latched onto his leg.
The moment it made contact, it spread instantly.
Like ink dropped into water, the seal markings exploded outward, racing across his clothing, branching and layering until his entire robe was covered in complex, interlocking patterns. The sensation wasn't painful, but it was invasive, like something had just grabbed hold of him and refused to let go.
Obito froze for a split second, eyes narrowing.
'Flying Thunder God marks.'
That much was obvious at a glance.
He had seen them countless times before, studied them and even fought against them. Memorized their structure during his years under Minato. The seals etched into his cloak were unmistakable.
Which only deepened his confusion.
Ren had already marked him.
Just on their first exchange Ren had placed a Flying Thunder God marker directly on his body. That much Obito was certain of. He had felt it, even if he hadn't been able to prevent it.
So why this?
Why go through the trouble of spreading additional marks over something as disposable as clothing?
Unless, there was something else mixed with the seals.
Obito didn't hesitate any longer.
In a swirl of distortion, his Akatsuki robe vanished into Kamui, stripped away in an instant. The seals went with it, swallowed whole into the pocket dimension along with the fabric they were etched upon.
He stood bare-chested now, scars and grafted flesh exposed, chakra flaring faintly as he re-centered himself.
His eyes snapped back to Ren, searching for any immediate follow-up.
What he found instead was a grin.
Not wide.
Not manic.
Just satisfied.
Ren's lips curved upward slightly, his eyes sharp with interest rather than aggression. He looked… pleased. As if something long anticipated had finally been confirmed.
"I can sense the mark," Ren muttered quietly, almost to himself.
Obito's breath hitched.
That sentence, spoken so casually carried weight far heavier than any jutsu.
For the first time since the fight began, true alarm seeped into Obito's mind.
Ren had been fighting him for a long time now. Too long for it to be coincidence. Every exchange, every forced retreat, every moment where Obito had been pressured into phasing or discarding tools, it all suddenly reframed itself in Obito's thoughts.
This fight hadn't just been about stalling.
It had been a test.
Ren's real objective had never been to land a decisive blow. It had been to place something somewhere far more dangerous than Obito's physical body.
Kamui.
The pocket dimension Obito considered absolute and untouchable. His personal sanctuary.
Ren had been maneuvering him, forcing him into specific movements, specific reactions, nudging him toward one inevitable choice. The moment where Obito would remove something from himself and store it away without thinking.
Clothes.
Marked clothes.
Ren had needed Obito to do it himself.
And now, now Ren knew the answer.
He could sense it.
A Flying Thunder God marker inside Kamui wasn't lost to him. It wasn't isolated. It wasn't beyond reach.
The implication was terrifying.
Ren straightened slightly, rolling his shoulders as if loosening up, the faint siphoning pressure of the array still humming beneath their feet. His earlier injuries meant nothing now. His focus was razor-sharp.
He first waved away the siphon formation then looked directly at Obito, eyes bright with a mix of excitement and cold intent.
Obito tried to retreat on instinct.
The swirl of Kamui twisted around him as he reached for the familiar pull of his dimension, intending to remove the clothes and reset the battlefield, to regroup where no one else could touch him and froze.
Because he felt it.
Someone was already there.
For the briefest fraction of a second, Obito's perception slipped inward, brushing against Kamui space and he saw Ren.
He wasn't attacking, he was just sitting.
Cross-legged on an invisible plane of warped space, elbows resting lazily on his knees, chin propped up in one hand, wearing a massive, utterly infuriating grin.
"Yo," Ren said cheerfully, waving.
Obito's blood ran cold.
He snapped his focus back to the physical world just in time to realize he had made a second mistake.
He was surrounded.
Twelve shadow clones stood in a wide ring around him, boots grinding into the cracked earth. Every single one radiated killing intent, but not the wild, reckless kind, this was disciplined unlike the real Ren.
Each clone was different.
Five of them stepped forward first, hands already weaving seals.
[Fire Style: Great Flame Annihilation]
[Wind Style: Severing Wave]
[Earth Style: Rising Stone Coffin]
[Lightning Style: Piercing Thunder Lance]
[Water Style: Raging Current Prison]
The elements collided midair, not with each other, but with overlapping trajectories designed to deny escape routes rather than overwhelm outright.
Behind them, one clone rolled his shoulders, a massive sphere of chakra screaming to life in his palm.
[Odama Rasengan.]
The remaining six drew weapons.
A long nodachi that hummed faintly with chakra.
Twin hooked blades spinning in tight arcs.
A spear with a segmented shaft.
A heavy war hammer etched with Fuinjutsu lines.
A chain-sickle already whipping through the air.
And a short, brutal trench knife held in a reverse grip.
Obito felt dread settle deep in his chest. This time he realized he was truly in deep mess.
The clones rushed him all at once.
The first wave hit like a collapsing building.
Obito blurred forward, body phasing as the elemental jutsu tore through where he had been. The firestorm roared past, wind blades shrieking, lightning cracking against stone as earth surged upward to seal exits that no longer mattered.
He countered instantly.
Barrier seals snapped into existence midair as he flicked them outward, translucent layers forming just long enough to deflect the water prison and shear apart the lightning lance. He exhaled sharply.
[Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu]
The explosion blasted two weapon-wielding clones off their feet. One vanished immediately, dispelled by the force. The second staggered and disappeared as Obito's blade punched through his chest.
Two down.
The Rasengan clone lunged.
Obito twisted, letting the chakra sphere phase through his ribs as he counter-kicked, sending the clone skidding back before it could re-solidify.
The wind blade clone followed, sweeping low.
Obito leapt.
Earth surged beneath him, trying to trap his feet. He phased again and that was when it happened.
The moment his leg passed into Kamui Ren moved.
Inside the dimension, Ren didn't draw a weapon.
He leaned forward.
And tickled Obito's calf.
Obito jerked.
The sensation wasn't painful.
That was the problem.
It was intimate, absolutely wrong and completely unavoidable.
A sharp, involuntary twitch ripped through his muscles, forcing him to abort the phase and reappear fully in the physical world mid-motion. The sudden re-materialization left him open, the chain-sickle wrapped around his arm, tearing flesh before he ripped free.
Obito hissed and retreated, skidding backward as fire and wind surged past him again.
Inside Kamui, Ren laughed like a child with a new toy.
"Man," he said, genuinely impressed, "Hashirama cells really do make you tanky."
The clones didn't let up.
They rotated seamlessly.
Weapons pressed in from blind angles while elemental jutsu herded Obito exactly where they wanted him. Every dodge was predicted. Every escape route closed half a second too early.
Obito adapted.
He stopped trying to flee outright and began cutting through them.
The spear clone fell next, bisected cleanly. The hammer clone followed, crushed by a compressed fire blast detonated point-blank and lightning charred another.
But the pressure never eased.
Every time Obito phased to avoid a killing blow Ren was there.
A hand brushing ribs.
Fingers skittering across his side.
A sudden poke between armor plates.
It was infuriating.
Humiliating.
And worst of all, effective.
Obito found himself forced to limit Kamui usage, relying more on raw movement and counters. That was exactly what Ren wanted.
The Odama Rasengan finally connected.
Not fully, but enough.
The blast tore across Obito's shoulder, spinning him through the air and smashing him into a collapsed wall. He rolled, barely bringing up a barrier before three weapons slammed down at once.
Steel rang.
Sparks flew.
Obito countered with a wide arc of his blade, dispelling another clone, then detonated a seal beneath his feet to blast himself clear.
Blood dripped freely now.
His breathing was heavier.
Inside Kamui, Ren stretched.
"Still holding up?" he asked, sounding genuinely curious. "You're doing great. Really."
Obito snarled and surged forward again.
The next exchange was brutal.
He fought like a cornered beast, precision giving way to ferocity. Clones popped one after another, smoke bursting with every clean kill. Fire scorched the ground. Wind carved trenches through stone.
But the cost mounted.
Cuts lined his arms.
Burns blackened his side.
His chakra churned unevenly as forced materialization after forced materialization took its toll.
Finally, the last clone fell.
Silence crashed down around him, broken only by the hiss of cooling stone and his own ragged breath.
Obito stood alone in the ruined compound, blood dripping from multiple wounds, body aching, chakra flaring defensively as he reasserted control.
'Enough.'
He didn't hesitate this time.
He vanished fully into Kamui, intent razor-sharp, killing intent dense enough to suffocate.
He would end this.
He reappeared and froze.
~~~~~
{What do you think Ren did in the Kamui dimension that caused lover boy to freeze?}
{Also, I had thought of many angles for Ren and Obito's fight but ultimately I followed one of the WN comments' suggestion to make it so that Ren keeps messing with Obito, so here it was.}
{Also, FTG being able to enter the Kamui was something I did after a lot of consideration and you guys' suggestions before, however he can't enter directly, he either needs to have a marker inside or Obito directly places him inside, anyway we'll see more of this as we go forward.}
{Ren vs Obito ends next chapter but not before a bang.}