Chapter 90 — The One Who Slips Through Everything
Mud formed under every step, and steam rose from the crushed body limping at Gaius' hand.
Kisame's corpse.
Gaius released his grip, letting the lifeless body drop with a dull thud. Diana stood a short distance away, sword in hand, her breath controlled even after her long fight with Itachi. She watched the clearing carefully, ready for anything.
Itachi knelt on the ground, coughing. His Susanoo had faded moments ago, leaving his body weak. Each breath rattled in his chest. Rain soaked his cloak, sticking it to his skin.
A few meters away, Obito stood still, he supressed his anger first.
He just stood infront of them after Kisame is killed in Gaius hand, his presence uneasy but calm.
He was simply… watching.
Gaius and Diana both are focuses on him.
For a moment, no one moved.
Then Obito stepped forward.
Not rushing.
Walking.
Slow. Steady. Purposeful.
His focus was clear.
Not vengeance.
Not anger.
Not pride.
It was Itachi.
The moment Obito's eyes landed on the beaten Uchiha kneeling in the mud, his Mangekyō tightened. He inhaled once, a sharp, controlled breath, and then~
He burst forward.
The clearing snapped into motion. Water exploded under his feet as he sprinted, his hand reaching straight for Gaius' chest, fingers stretched like he intended to drag him into Kamui instantly.
Gaius reacted at once.
His left hand curled into a fist.
He stepped forward, no hesitation, meeting Obito head-on, and swung.
A direct punch.
Simple. Heavy.
Meant to break whoever stood in its path.
But
It hit nothing.
Gaius' gauntlet passed straight through Obito's torso, like striking empty space. No impact. No resistance. Not even a ripple, except the wind it made, from the force of the punch, spreading everywhere.
Obito didn't slow.
He brushed past Gaius in one fluid motion, rain slicing around him as if the world had bent to let him through.
Diana was already moving.
She cut in from the flank, blade arcing in a clean diagonal meant to carve Obito shoulder to hip.
Her strike met no flesh.
Only air.
Her sword passed straight through him, not even catching his cloak.
Obito didn't spare them a glance.
Didn't turn his head.
Didn't react.
His eyes were locked entirely on Itachi
As if nothing else in the battlefield existed.
He didn't need to.
He reached Itachi.
Itachi lifted his head weakly, eyes unfocused, breath short. When he saw the masked figure standing beside him, a small sound escaped him.
"…Madara…"
Obito knelt down and placed his hand on Itachi's shoulder.
Behind him, Gaius and Diana turned at the same time.
Obito glanced over his shoulder.
His voice was quiet.
"I'll kill both of you."
There was no shout. No dramatic tone. Just like he said that casually.
But even as he said it, he focused back on Itachi.
His eye twisted. The Mangekyō spun.
And Itachi's body began to dissolve into spiraling patterns of space.
Diana's eyes widened.
She understood instantly.
"He's taking him!"
She rushed forward, raising her sword high and bringing it down in a fast, clean strike.
But she was too late.
Itachi vanished completely, pulled into Kamui.
Only Obito remained.
He began phasing his own body out next, ready to follow Itachi.
Diana swung her sword.
Obito didn't even flinch. His body flickered half-transparent, stopping his escape but keeping him unharmed.
Itachi was safe. Primary Mission complete.
Now Obito looked at Gaius and Diana again, this time without the calm mask he wore earlier. His single eye was colder. Sharper. More serious.
Gaius watched him carefully.
"He is able to virtualize," Gaius said, voice low. "Similar to how you watched me broadcasting Before."
Diana nodded. She remembered clearly, how their forms could not be touched in that projection.
"That means," Gaius continued, "he cannot be damaged in that state. And do not let him touch you. He can absorb us too… just like he did to your opponent"
Diana looked at him with surprise. His analysis had come fast, too fast. But she trusted his judgment.
Obito heard everything.
He froze for half a second.
Then anger flashed in his eye.
They had seen one technique, just one, and already understood far more than they should. Obito felt something unfamiliar inside his chest.
Not fear exactly. But discomfort.
He couldn't let this information spread.
He couldn't allow these two to become bigger problems.
He needed to silence them.
His body tensed.
Diana moved first.
She exploded forward in a burst of speed, boots splashing through the mud as her blade swept low toward Obito's waist. The strike was sharp but controlled, she didn't fully commit. She expected him to slip through the attack again.
He did.
Her sword sliced through his body like smoke.
Obito's arm shot out, fingers reaching for her shoulder, intent on dragging her into Kamui's vortex.
But Diana reacted instantly, spinning her sword in a tight, practiced arc. The bronze edge flashed past his arm, forcing him to retreat into intangibility or lose the limb.
His hand phased harmlessly through her.
Obito slid behind her, feet barely disturbing the mud. He turned fast, trying to catch her back exposed and grab her again.
But Diana's instincts were sharper.
She shifted her footing and thrust backward without even looking. Her sword shot past her hip, aimed straight for his ribs.
Obito's Mangekyō tightened.
Again, he became intangible just in time.
Her blade passed through him like cutting water.
Realizing close-range wasn't safe, Obito didn't risk another counter. He retreated quickly, letting the rain cloak his movements as he phased backward, reappearing several meters away with a splash.
He raised one hand and flashed through seals, fast and clean.
His chest expanded.
Fire Release.
A roaring stream of flames erupted forward, twisting in the air like a living serpent. Then Obito's Mangekyō whirled, pulling the flames upward. The fire spiraled violently, rising into a tornado that screamed across the clearing, melting mud into steaming puddles.
Diana didn't move.
She planted her feet.
She crossed her bracelets.
The world detonated.
A shockwave ripped outward from her arms, a deep BOOM shattering the fiery vortex into a burst of sparks. The flames scattered uselessly, dying in the rain.
The shockwave continued, rushing straight toward Obito.
It passed straight through him.
But Diana didn't let the moment lag.
She was already chasing the shockwave, sprinting behind it like a bullet. Each step crushed mud into the earth as she closed the distance, her sword lifting again.
She brought it down in a clean, decisive arc meant to end the fight.
Obito extended his hand toward her, Kamui activating, the space around her shoulder beginning to warp,
A shadow appeared behind him.
Gaius.
He moved like a silent hammer, no killing intent, no pressure, nothing. One heartbeat he wasn't there,
the next, he stood right behind Obito.
Obito's eye widened, too late.
Gaius' punch carved through the air.
Obito slipped intangible, but a fraction of a second too slow.
The knuckles grazed his shoulder.
Even that brush carried force.
The ground behind Obito detonated as Gaius' fist struck the earth instead. Mud blasted upward in a geyser, a crater opening beneath them as the shock rattled the clearing.
Obito skidded backward, boots sliding through the mud, breath slightly uneven, not from strain, but from realization.
These two…
were actually fast enough to reach him.
Even through Kamui.
Gaius straightened, warhammer on his back, rain sliding off his golden armor.
"He should not be able to keep that state forever," he said, voice calm behind the helmet.
His tone wasn't mocking.
It was simply a fact.
Diana nodded, understanding immediately.
"I see… like the one I fought earlier. All their eye abilities take a toll on their bodies."
Obito froze for a second.
They knew.
They shouldn't know.
And yet, they did.
He felt anger rise again, sharper and more personal this time. And beneath it, a thin thread of worry. A problem he didn't expect.
They weren't the same as he expected it to be.
They weren't predictable.
They weren't easy to silence.
Obito steadied his breath.
His Kamui limit was five minutes.
His cooldown was only seconds.
He could escape anytime.
That part didn't worry him.
What worried him was something else entirely
The way these two looked at him.
Not with fear.
Not with doubt.
But with understanding.
And that made Obito feel something he hadn't felt in years.
Pressure.
The quiet kind.
The dangerous kind.
The kind that meant fighting them wasn't going to be simple.
And killing them…
Might not be possible.
End of Chapter 90 — The One Who Slips Through Everything