The members of the Barrier Unit exchanged uneasy glances, but their class representative stood firm. "No, these are Lord Shimaseki's orders!"
Hearing that, the two grew impatient.
"Aaaaah! Can't you guys ever think flexibly?"
"The situation has suddenly changed! Enemies have already broken into the Chakra Barrier. Are we really going to just stand here watching?"
The Barrier Unit leader remained firm. "No means no. Unless we receive direct orders from Lord Shimaseki..."
At that moment, the door suddenly burst open!
Everyone in the room instantly became alert, only to see Obito walk in—bloodied and bruised, with his face swollen beyond recognition.
"Obito Uchiha? What happened to you?"
Though they didn't particularly like Obito, the people in the room still relaxed slightly.
"I was attacked by Madara Uchiha!" Obito explained, then continued seriously, "This place isn't safe anymore. Lord Shimaseki ordered me to relocate them to [my space]!"
"Lord Shimaseki's orders?" The Barrier Unit leader's heart leaped with hope, but doubt quickly followed. "How can you prove these are truly Lord Shimaseki's orders?"
"The battlefield changes by the second! It was hard enough for Lord Shimaseki to contact me at all. You really think I should carry written proof?"
"But..."
Before he could finish responding, B and Han started protesting again.
"No way! I absolutely won't go in there!"
"This guy's a traitor! You can't trust his words!"
Obito's expression darkened. "These are Lord Shimaseki's orders..."
At this point, one of the Barrier Unit members suddenly asked, "Wait a second—you used to always call Lord Shimaseki 'senpai' before, right?"
Obito's expression froze stiff!
"Damn it! How should I know how he refers to Seiki Shimaseki?" Madara inwardly cursed. After all, he was merely forcefully controlling Obito's body, not having searched through his memories.
Seeing the wary looks directed toward him, Madara realized deception alone wouldn't get him inside. A surprise attack would now be difficult too since they were already suspicious. He needed to play a powerful card!
"Because that man rejected my confession... I don't want to call him that way anymore!" With apparent emotion, "Obito" solemnly declared.
"What?" The people present were stunned, momentarily paralyzed with disbelief!
Taking advantage of the shock, Madara swiftly used his Mangekyou to pull Han and B into [his space], then signaled Tobirama—who had been waiting outside—to teleport him away!
This rapid sequence of events stunned everyone momentarily, leaving them no time to react.
After a while, someone couldn't help asking, "Could it really have been unrequited love twisting into hatred?"
The Barrier Unit leader shot him a fierce glare. "Clearly, this is a ploy from the Akatsuki. Hurry and inform Lord Shimaseki!"
But as he stepped outside, even he muttered to himself, Could it really have been love turning to hatred?
After all, given Lord Shimaseki's charm, it wasn't impossible that he could turn heads of both men and women!
However, they wouldn't need to send that message after all.
In the sky, dazzling brilliance erupted like a radiant ocean, engulfing Nagato—delivering thousands of devastating strikes in a single second!
Even if he forcefully activated the Rinnegan's shadow for defense, under such a powerful attack, he died every few seconds!
Within half a minute, Nagato had burned through all but his final life. His fiery red hair had turned bone-white. Coughing blood while laughing wildly, he shouted, "What an overwhelming storm of attacks! Fortunately, I've finally made it... this last life won't be left for you!"
Right after he finished speaking, Tobirama suddenly appeared beside him, only to be instantly engulfed by the ocean of light and blown apart.
However, Tobirama was after all a reincarnated body from the Impure World Reincarnation. In the next moment, his broken body, continuously regenerating, pulled Nagato away together with him into disappearance!
The ocean of light calmed, coalescing into a towering figure.
Looking at the place where Nagato had disappeared, Seiki Shimaseki muttered inwardly, "Is Black Zetsu planning to hide till the end this time?"
In his mind, he believed that Black Zetsu's feigned death must have had its purpose. There was no reason for him not to get involved in an occasion of this importance!
"Or maybe he sees Madara regaining control and has pinned his hopes on Madara instead?"
"However, it doesn't matter anymore. If he doesn't plan to show himself, then let him live forever in my shadow!"
After casting these stray thoughts aside, Seiki extended his sensing ability, but already could no longer detect Obito's coordinates.
"Oh? He erased the Flying Thunder God Technique Form I placed on Obito?" Seiki wasn't overly surprised.
With the Second, the founder of the Flying Thunder God, present, it was only natural to sense his signature technique.
"Still, if you think that can truly allow you to escape from me, then you're far too naive!" Seiki whispered, then expanded his perception infinitely.
His sensing ability had always been incredibly powerful. In Sage Mode, with Hearing the Sounds of All Things, it almost covered half the shinobi world!
In the next instant, a slight smile curved his lips, "Found you!"
Meanwhile, at a cave near the border of the Land of Lightning.
Staring at the Nagato and Obito standing before him, Madara's eyes slightly darkened.
Although Nagato's absorption of the Ten-Tails had provided him an opportunity, it also resulted in the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path being sealed by Seiki Shimaseki!
Under these circumstances, even if he had prepared the rebirth ritual and all nine Bijuu, he was still one step short of completion!
Frowning, Madara muttered, "Looks like we'll have to retreat for now. Once Seiki Shimaseki becomes careless, I'll steal back the Sealing Scroll using the Rinnegan's shadow!"
Although it was somewhat humiliating for him to steal something using the unique ability of the Rinnegan, he knew that great men didn't get bogged down by minor scruples!
"Just enjoy yourself for a while longer..."
Just as Madara made this decision, a blinding burst of light suddenly flared up, almost dazzling his eyes!
Caught completely off guard, Madara couldn't help but shut his eyes tightly.
When he opened them again, he saw Seiki standing beside Tobirama, sealing him away!
"Crap!" Even with Madara's iron will, at this moment he felt like he was backed into a corner.
Sealing Tobirama first was clearly the opponent's way of preventing him from using Tobirama to escape with others.
As for Obito's space-time transfer ability?
Madara knew well that when transferring other living beings besides himself, Obito's ability would have a certain delay.
This delay might not mean much to an average person, but against a powerful enemy like Seiki Shimaseki, even a slight delay becomes a fatal flaw!
"Looks like I've lost," Madara said, naturally refusing to beg, his smile composed and unruffled. "Still, I'm curious. How exactly did you find us here?"
Shimaseki shrugged. "Sorry, I don't have the habit of explaining myself to enemies!"
"You can't explain it, can you?" Madara narrowed his eyes. "I had Tobirama Senju lead us through multiple consecutive relocations, stopping only at the border of the Land of Lightning. This place is nearly half the shinobi world away from the center of the war, yet you still locked onto us immediately. That proves your sensing ability is extremely powerful, and your sensing range covers nearly half the shinobi world!"
"In other words," Madara continued, "you've had the power to wipe out the Akatsuki entirely from the start, yet you've never done so. Why?"
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