I Lost

The dust slowly settled, and Yemo rose from the deep crater beneath him, brushing the dust from his clothes.

He looked at Obito and said flatly, "If what you've shown me is all you're capable of, then the outcome of this challenge is already decided."

"Hmph..." Obito snorted. "Yemo, I've already beaten you, yet you still dare to talk big. Next, I'll defeat you completely."

With that, Obito charged forward. Originally, he had only wanted to defeat the genius Yemo so that Rin would see his strength and look at him in a new light.

But once the fight began, Yemo's disdain for the Uchiha Clan had enraged Obito. He wanted to defeat this guy not just for Rin, but for the honor of the Uchiha.

Yemo had also experienced the power of the Sharingan, but unfortunately, Obito's Sharingan was only a One-Tomoe, still in its initial stage, and the power it could wield was limited.

What Yemo really wanted to see was the Mangekyō Sharingan: Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, Susanoo... those insanely powerful abilities. Of course, Yemo knew that with his current strength, there were only two words for facing a Mangekyō Sharingan: instant defeat.

Tap, tap...

Obito charged at him, anger written across his face. He crossed the dozen or so meters between them in an instant, raising his Kunai and thrusting it straight at Yemo's chest.

Yemo made no move to block, nor did he have the slightest intention of exchanging blows. He shot backward instead. The fight had already made him realize that competing in Taijutsu with Obito, who possessed the Rinnegan, was just asking for a beating.

He wasn't some kind of freak who would knowingly pit his weakness against someone else's strength and ask for a beating. Yemo had no masochistic tendencies.

Obito paused, startled that Yemo had retreated without fighting. If Yemo deliberately kept his distance, Obito's speed would make it very difficult for him to get close.

Yemo flipped nimbly through the air and slowly landed. The moment Obito saw him, his expression changed drastically. Yemo's hands were forming a ninja seal. Without a word, Obito hurriedly retreated.

He finally understood why Yemo had shot backward. The guy had set a trap beneath his feet, and that hand seal had been used to activate the Ninjutsu.

"Damn it!"

Unfortunately, by the time Obito noticed, it was too late. Yemo's Ninjutsu had already begun. "Yin-Yang Release: Earth Manipulation Technique!"

As his voice fell, the ground beneath Obito began to tremble violently, as though an earthquake of over magnitude ten had struck. The level ground split open, cracks as thick as arms spreading in every direction like a giant spiderweb, growing wider and deeper.

The earth shook, and the violent tremors forced the retreating Obito to stop. The shaking ground made it hard for him to keep his balance. Even when he used Chakra to anchor his feet to a piece of broken ground, the tremors were too strong, and the level earth began to roll like waves.

The tremors were not confined to the ground beneath Obito, but spread across the entire training ground. Even Rin and Ayame, who were far away, could hardly escape them. Cracks raced toward their feet, and Rin hurriedly took Ayame and retreated.

The shattered ground beneath Obito heaved. He failed to react in time, and his legs sank into the rolling earth. As soon as he sank in, he realized something was wrong. The churning soil beneath his feet seemed to be pulling at him with a mysterious suction, and no matter how desperately he struggled, he could not escape it.

"This is bad... could it be?"

Obito suddenly thought of something, and his expression changed drastically. He didn't want to believe it, but otherwise he couldn't find any explanation.

Obito looked down at the ground with his blood-red eyes and sighed inwardly. Sure enough, at some point, Yemo's Chakra had spread throughout the ground beneath him. Obito guessed that Yemo had sent his Chakra into the ground when he was sitting on it earlier.

On the surface, Yemo had used an unknown release technique to make the entire ground tremble, drawing Obito's attention to the shaking earth. All the while, he had secretly spread his Chakra throughout the ground, then caught Obito off guard by condensing the Chakra into fine threads to restrain him.

At the same time, Yemo changed his hand seal. Clearly, he had prepared more than just those two moves. Once he struck, he would strike with the force of thunder. That was Yemo's way of fighting: never giving his opponent any chance to turn things around.

"Yin-Yang Release: Wood..."

Yemo's raised palm was about to strike down, but in the next second, it stopped abruptly in midair, and the Chakra gathered on it dissipated.

Why did Yemo stop attacking? Because Obito had surrendered. He loosened his hands, and the Kunai he had been gripping fell, spinning several times through the air before lodging at an angle in the churning ground.

"I lost!"

Obito lowered his head. Both his tone and his clenched fists revealed his deep unwillingness to accept defeat. Though unwilling, Obito knew he had lost. Even if he kept fighting, he would still lose.

Whether in tactics or strength, Obito understood that he was no match for Yemo. Just sending Chakra into the ground and even condensing it into threads-Obito had studied at the Ninja Academy, after all, and knew that required exceptional Chakra control.

Moreover, Yemo had already restrained his body. He was practically a fish on the chopping board. If he kept fighting, he would only be defeated more miserably, so he might as well admit defeat of his own accord.

Yemo was slightly taken aback when Obito admitted defeat. He had thought he would have to give Obito a good beating before he would surrender. He hadn't expected Obito to do it of his own accord, and it made Yemo look at him a little differently.

From the way Obito talked about the Uchiha at every turn, Yemo could tell that he placed great importance on his clan's honor. A person like that also valued his own honor highly.

Most importantly, Obito had admitted defeat in front of the person he liked most. That took no small amount of courage, and Yemo even admired him a little.

Yemo felt he needed to get to know Obito again. Though his aptitude was ordinary, he also had qualities most people lacked.

In fact, on closer thought, it made sense. If Obito truly had nothing special about him, how could he have earned Uchiha's regard, leading Uchiha to put so much effort into training him to carry out the plan in his heart in his place, and how could he later stir up the entire Shinobi World single-handedly?

"Settle!"

Yemo formed Hand Seals and brought his hands gently together. The churning ground immediately grew still. Then it trembled again, but this time was different. As it shook, the spiderweb of fractured earth closed together, the cracks disappearing. In the blink of an eye, the ground was as level as before.

The Yin-Yang Release Yemo used differed from Earth Release Ninjutsu. He controlled the earth as though it were tree roots. Since he could make the earth move as he wished, he could also restore the damaged ground to its original state. It all happened with a single thought.

Of course, the amount of Chakra such a feat required was staggering. Only someone like Yemo, whose vast Chakra made him a human Tailed Beast, could use it. The move Yemo had just used alone had consumed all the Chakra an ordinary ninja possessed. After all, it was a wide-area attack Ninjutsu, and using it against Obito alone was somewhat excessive.

The earth had returned to normal, and the Chakra flowing beneath it began to return to Yemo's body.