Chapter 162: Obito Questions Everything!
"Huff!"
Inside Konoha, Uchiha Izumi let out a long breath. She clapped her hands and said to Naruto and Sasuke behind her, "You two little guys can't get discouraged just because we didn't run into a murderer today. That's a very wrong attitude."
She poked Sasuke's forehead and patted Naruto's head, her face serious as she lectured them. "Let me ask you a question. Do you think it's better to run into murderers and carry out Absolute Justice every day? Or is it better to have a night like this one, where we patrol all of Konoha and only catch two petty thieves?"
Izumi's question left Naruto and Sasuke looking at each other blankly.
Sasuke's face was a little scrunched up as he mumbled, "If we don't run into murderers... how can we carry out Absolute Justice? Isn't what we believe in 'Ikeizumi-sensei's Absolute Justice'?"
Naruto quickly refused to be outdone. "Isn't justice about using absolute and thorough methods to punish those murderers?"
Just as Sasuke didn't want to be constantly outshone by Naruto, Naruto didn't want Sasuke to suddenly surpass him. For some reason, there was a strange competitive streak between the two.
"You two brats, that way of thinking is completely wrong!"
Beside them, Anko Mitarashi, with her arms crossed, spoke up. "True justice is about making the shinobi world and Konoha better. If you run into vicious murderers every single day, is 'Absolute Justice' even working?"
"Using absolute means to carry out justice is meant to reduce the sins that are so rampant in the shinobi world. The fact that we only caught two thieves tonight means that Ikeizumi-san's Absolute Justice has had a very positive effect on Konoha's order."
Naruto and Sasuke, who were only seven years old, hadn't yet fully developed a proper moral compass.
They only understood a fraction of what Anko was saying.
They probably only grasped one idea: when they stopped running into murderers, that's when the shinobi world would truly be better.
"Then..."
Naruto mumbled weakly, "If we just kill all the murderers we meet, doesn't that also mean we'll stop running into them?"
Anko: "...You brat! You need to read more books! It seems like you didn't listen to a single word I just said!"
She grabbed Naruto, digging her two fingers into his temples, making him yelp in pain.
"Speaking of which..."
Izumi watched the scene, her gaze drifting to the full moon in the distance. She murmured, "After we split up at the police force building, where did Ikeizumi-senpai and Kikkoro-senpai go?"
Outside Konoha.
Uchiha Ikeizumi, clutching his ninja blade, stopped wasting words on Obito, who was still posturing as "Uchiha Madara." He freed one hand and quickly performed a one-handed hand sign. "Fire Style: Lava Dragon Jutsu!"
As Uchiha Ikeizumi exhaled, a massive stream of lava shot from his mouth, transforming in mid-air into a scorching lava dragon that lunged toward Uchiha Obito's location.
Obito, Zetsu, and "Tobi" all narrowed their eyes.
They immediately scattered in three different directions.
BOOM!!!
The lava dragon slammed into the ground below, and the horrifying heat melted a crater more than ten meters in diameter into the earth.
The edges of the crater were still smoking with flames, and a few rivulets of molten orange-red lava flowed slowly inside. The intense heat washing over them made it impossible to underestimate the temperature of the lava.
"They're both such difficult people to reason with." Zetsu's words referred not only to Uchiha Ikeizumi but to Obito as well.
It landed on the ground and clapped its hands. "Wood Style!"
In an instant, countless tree roots hidden deep within the earth burst forth, twisting and writhing like a tangle of giant pythons, a sight that made one's scalp crawl.
The countless roots tried to swallow Uchiha Ikeizumi whole.
On the other side...
The spiral-faced White Zetsu, "Tobi," chuckled and immediately counter-attacked. The twenty-meter-tall wooden golem behind it clenched its fist and threw a punch at Uchiha Ikeizumi.
Obito's face under his mask darkened slightly. He snorted, and his right eye transformed into a Mangekyō Sharingan. The space around his body visibly warped, and a torrent of giant shuriken shot from his Kamui dimension toward Uchiha Ikeizumi!
He himself rushed fearlessly toward Uchiha Ikeizumi.
"Tch, a three-on-one, eh? Uchiha Ikeizumi, I'm com "
Juzo Biwa, who had been watching from the side, was about to help when he suddenly noticed that the moonlight above was blocked by a dark shadow.
When he looked up, his eyes widened in surprise.
A gigantic cat, massive in size, had appeared out of nowhere above him, and it was heading straight for the wooden golem's fist.
BAM!!!
The giant cat's head collided with the wooden golem's fist. The cat landed on all fours and was pushed back several dozen meters, but it had successfully stopped the punch.
"Don't you dare underestimate a ninja cat, you bastards, meow!" Kikkoro's fur stood on end, his face contorted in fury.
Juzo immediately realized it was still Uchiha Ikeizumi's ninja cat!
This cat knew a jutsu that made it bigger? It looked a little like the Akimichi clan's Partial Expansion Jutsu.
"Wood Style bloodline limit..."
On the other side, Uchiha Ikeizumi stared down at the frantically twisting and countless tree roots. He completely ignored the torrent of giant shuriken flying at him from behind. He simply crouched slightly, placing one hand on one of the writhing roots.
"What a coincidence."
"I have it too."
In that instant, Zetsu was startled to find that it had lost control of some of its tree roots. A portion of the swirling roots in front of Ikeizumi suddenly stretched more than ten meters high, twisting around and shooting rapidly toward Obito's location.
The countless roots and the giant shuriken fired from Obito's Kamui dimension immediately collided.
"Wood Style!!!"
Zetsu's expression was one of shock. Its black-and-white face was a mask of disbelief. "Uchiha Ikeizumi has the Wood Style bloodline limit?!"
Even Obito, behind Uchiha Ikeizumi, was momentarily stunned.
But he didn't stop. The countless roots shooting toward him didn't pose a threat. They passed right through his body without ever touching him.
"Hmph!"
In the blink of an eye, Obito was within an arm's reach of Uchiha Ikeizumi. He immediately extended his hand, his scarlet Sharingan filled with killing intent, attempting to touch the back of Ikeizumi's body.
But in the next second, Obito saw Uchiha Ikeizumi turn around, his ninja blade slicing down at his hand.
Pshh
Obito's eyes widened. He watched as his severed hand fell to the ground, then shifted his gaze in disbelief to Uchiha Ikeizumi's cold, emotionless face.
The other ability and weakness of his right eye's Kamui...
...had been seen through!!!
When this shocking thought flashed through Obito's mind, he knew the situation was dire. His original plan was to touch Uchiha Ikeizumi's body, then suck him directly into the Kamui dimension.
In that situation, what good would an elementalization-like ability be, similar to the Water Release: Water Transformation Jutsu? Such a transformation couldn't block the power of a space-time ninjutsu.
But the prerequisite was that he needed to have his hand materialize outside of the Kamui dimension. Only then could he touch Uchiha Ikeizumi and activate the jutsu to pull him in.
But how could he have known that the ability of his right eye's Kamui was as exposed to his opponent as a person with no clothes on?
It had no secrets at all!!!
This guy, it was as if he had known all along that Obito had to materialize parts of his body to use his "Kamui" ability!
But how...?
How did he know?!
It was as if hundreds of bombs had gone off in the depths of Obito's mind. Thankfully, his shocked expression was hidden by his mask, otherwise, he would have completely lost the dignity of the Uchiha clan.
At that moment, Uchiha Ikeizumi's eyes met Uchiha Obito's. The shock in Obito's eyes only intensified.
"Mangekyō Sharingan!!!"
"Judgment," Uchiha Ikeizumi slowly spoke a single word. A few drops of blood flowed from his left eye, trailing down his face.
Obito's pupils contracted. He hastily averted his gaze, and despite knowing that his Kamui intangibility made him nearly invincible, he still retreated rapidly out of caution.
"Looks like it didn't work."
A few drops of lava flowed on the side of Uchiha Ikeizumi's impassive face. The blood that had flowed from his eye was quickly evaporated by the high temperature of the lava.
He calmly watched the unaffected Obito, realizing that his left Mangekyō ability couldn't affect a target that was completely phased out.
But this was within his expectations; it was merely a small test. If it had worked, it would have been a major gain. If it didn't, he lost nothing.
For him, the weakened eyesight from using the Mangekyō Sharingan, which could potentially lead to blindness, wasn't a side effect.
That was because he had occasionally received "Double Eye Vision Enhancement" rewards while performing acts of justice in Konoha.
"Huff..."
On the other side, Obito, who had retreated dozens of meters away, slowly exhaled. He only now realized he was covered in cold sweat from fear.
He had almost believed he was about to be hit by the other person's Mangekyō jutsu!
Wait a minute, since when did he lose all confidence in his Kamui ability?
Damn it.
It had to be because Uchiha Ikeizumi knew too many of his secrets, which was causing his sudden lack of confidence.
"Tch!"
Obito immediately suppressed the feeling of unease. A sneer formed on his lips as he tried to regain his "Uchiha Madara" persona. "Youngster of the Uchiha clan. It seems my jutsu is still superior to yours!"
"Then why were you hiding just now?" Uchiha Ikeizumi's calm words made the muscles in Obito's face freeze.
His expression was unpredictable.
For a moment, he had no idea how to deal with Uchiha Ikeizumi.
The other person knew everything about his right eye's Kamui ability. As long as Uchiha Ikeizumi wasn't an idiot, he would never give Obito an opening.
And without the ability of his right eye's Kamui, Obito realized that he couldn't seem to touch Uchiha Ikeizumi. His Lava Release elementalization was so cheap that Obito didn't know how to attack him.
In addition, the other person had just used a jutsu that resembled Wood Style, which made Obito feel even more cornered.
"Heh heh..."
Obito chuckled coldly. "Looks like we're at a standstill. You can't beat me, and I can't take you out right now. Tsk, it seems the Uchiha clan has finally produced a genius second only to me... and a certain brat."
"The brat you're talking about is yourself, isn't it?" Uchiha Ikeizumi's words deflated Obito's self-aggrandizement.
Obito: "..."
This bastard. Why did he like to cut people down so much, just like Zetsu?!
"Lord Madara, he's calculating the duration of your ability. He probably already knows exactly how long your jutsu lasts."
Zetsu had moved to Obito's side without him noticing and whispered, "Within the duration of your ability, his Mangekyō won't affect you. But if another two minutes pass, you probably won't be able to block his eye jutsu anymore."
"I told you from the beginning that we weren't ready to face him. In all of our plans so far, the one to kill Uchiha Ikeizumi was always at the very bottom. That just goes to show how difficult it is to pull off."
Obito's expression twisted. He had never felt so humiliated. "But how does he even know that?!"
During the Nine-Tails attack, when he ambushed Minato-sensei, it took an entire battle for Minato to finally figure out the weakness of his right eye's Kamui.
But Uchiha Ikeizumi...
Obito couldn't for the life of him figure out where the other person had gotten this information!
Zetsu shook its head. "I don't know."
It paused.
Then added, "It wasn't me."
Because Zetsu saw the look of suspicion Obito was giving it.
"Huh?" Suddenly, Zetsu's brow furrowed. It had sensed something. It immediately said, "Lord Madara, we absolutely can't stay here any longer. One of the White Zetsu just told me Jiraiya is coming. He'll probably be here in less than half a minute. There's a toad on his shoulder, so it's probably from Mount Myōboku."
Obito felt as if the entire world was conspiring against him.
Ever since he met Uchiha Ikeizumi, there hadn't been a single day that went right!
He was starting to question everything.
"...Retreat!"
Obito gritted his teeth and forced out the word.
............
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