Man Proposes, Heaven Disposes!

Hizashi Hyuga's relentless attacks forced Obito to change his target. He had originally intended to deal with the two Medical Ninja, Biwako and Tian Lu, first, but Hizashi's appearance left him with no choice but to remain intangible.

In a place like this, he had no intention of competing in taijutsu with a Hyuga Clan ninja, even after awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan and mastering Kamui.

There were numerous ninja present, along with the Fourth Hokage and the Hyuga Clan's elites. Obito felt he needed to obtain a sufficiently intimidating "card" before he could achieve his goal.

And Minato Namikaze and Kushina's child, who had been born less than a minute ago, made for an excellent card!

Just as Obito's body completely passed through Biwako and his hand was about to seize little Naruto, a Trident Kunai suddenly tore through the air, stabbing straight for Obito's head.

After being stunned for several seconds, Minato Namikaze finally snapped back to his senses at Hizashi Hyuga's stern warning and hurled a Kunai at Obito. Yet after throwing it, the Fourth Hokage hurriedly pressed his hand back onto the seal on Kushina's lower abdomen, continuing to reinforce the Nine-Tails' seal.

Kushina had just given birth to Naruto and was at her weakest. The Nine-Tails within her was anything but obedient, struggling to break through the seal.

During the brief instant Minato was distracted, the Nine-Tails' Chakra leaked out once more, and a red Chakra Cloak wrapped itself around Kushina's body.

With just one glance, Obito saw through the fact that Minato's movements were being constrained by the Nine-Tails' seal. The corner of his mouth curled beneath his mask. His hand paused before little Naruto, then, after letting the Flying Thunder God Kunai pass through him, continued reaching for Naruto.

"Hmph!"

At that moment, a cold snort came from behind Obito. Though Hizashi Hyuga had missed and passed through Obito, the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan granted him nearly blind-spot-free 360° vision. Everything happening behind him remained fully within his grasp.

As Hizashi spun around at high speed, he swept his leg into Biwako, then leaped into the air and caught the Flying Thunder God Kunai Minato had thrown, which had passed through Obito's body. With all his strength, he flung it out again, sending it slanting down from above toward Obito's back.

At the same time he threw the Kunai, Hizashi rushed forward, grabbed Biwako, and hurled her backward. His Sword Finger then shot straight toward the vital point in Obito's back.

All of it happened in an instant.

Hizashi Hyuga, who had long known of Obito's abilities, had never intended to give him a single moment to catch his breath. Coordinating with Minato's thrown Kunai, his attacks came like crashing waves, one after another.

Was the young Obito Uchiha powerful?

With the Mangekyō Sharingan and an almost invincible Space-Time Ninjutsu like Kamui, Obito's strength was unquestionably formidable.

But from another perspective, Obito's own physical abilities had not completely surpassed the bounds of a "ninja."

Whether it was his reactions in battle, combat experience, physical strength, speed, fighting techniques, or anything else, all of those required time to accumulate. They could not be rapidly improved through Kamui alone.

Simply put, Obito at this stage, despite possessing Kamui, was a "mechanics monster." His base stats could not compare to a powerhouse on Minato's level.

That was precisely why the future Obito Uchiha had not won easily in any of his battles before becoming the Ten-Tails' Jinchuriki.

Whether it was against Minato Namikaze, Danzo's two Root subordinates, or even Konan, Obito either lost or won only with great difficulty.

Hizashi Hyuga was already an elite of the Hyuga Clan. Within the entire clan, his strength could even rival Hiashi, the clan head. If not for his status as a Branch Family member, his potential might even have surpassed Hiashi's. And at twenty-eight, he was in the prime of a ninja's life.

Unlike Obito, Hizashi was a "mechanics monster" with solid stats. His "panel" was stronger than Obito's.

With the Byakugan Kekkei Genkai supporting him, it was unrealistic for Obito to easily succeed in front of Hizashi Hyuga.

"Tch..."

Hizashi's attacks came one after another, leaving Obito somewhat irritated. Every second counted for him now. He absolutely could not let this Hyuga Clan ninja tie him down.

Sensing Minato's Flying Thunder God Kunai coming at him, Obito shifted his body to the side and directly transitioned from intangible to solid, grabbing little Naruto in his hand. In the next instant, the Kunai plunged into his right arm. Yet strangely, no blood flowed from beneath Obito's torn clothing.

"Stop!"

"Or this brat dies right here!"

Feeling Hizashi rapidly closing in, Obito shouted sharply.

This sudden change made Hizashi Hyuga halt. At that moment, his Sword Finger was less than ten centimeters away from Obito.

The two appeared to be within arm's reach, but Hizashi knew that such a short distance was enough for the other man to kill the infant in his hand.

This was the Fourth Hokage's son. Nothing could happen to him.

"This strange body structure is..."

Only now did Hizashi Hyuga have the chance to closely examine Obito's body. He noticed that while the Chakra in Obito's right half was identical to his own, the distribution of the body's meridians differed slightly from that of his left half.

Moreover, no blood flowed from the body pierced by the Kunai. Not only that, judging from Obito's movements, the Kunai had not affected him in the slightest.

It was as though... that half of his body did not belong to him at all.

"Stop, Obito!"

"Put Naruto down!"

Seeing Obito seize Naruto, Minato Namikaze finally diverted his attention and shouted at him.

He had never expected Obito to breach the Barrier around the Delivery Room and enter it so smoothly.

Of course, what Minato Namikaze found even harder to imagine was that Obito, his former student, would actually attack him, Kushina, and their child!

Ever since learning that Obito was alive, he had been speculating about Obito's motives. Yet he had never considered that Obito's targets would be him and Kushina.

Minato simply could not think of anything he had done to wrong Obito. Even if it was for Rin's sake, the target should not have been Kushina or his son.

Back when Obito had still been his student, Kushina had often cared about his safety. When Obito left the village on missions, Kushina had even personally seen him off.

No matter what, Minato could not imagine Obito becoming like this.

Perhaps even Shinichi Hyuga, after calculating every possible angle, would never have expected that proactively exposing Obito's identity would instead cause Minato to see the Masked Man, Obito, through the added lens of a former teacher.

As expected of... the Fourth Hokage who would show mercy to Obito during the Fourth Shinobi World War...

And as for Hizashi, in whom Shinichi Hyuga had placed such hopes, he had already given it everything he had. But there was nothing he could do. Against Obito's Kamui, even he sometimes came up short.

"Naruto!"

"Obito... don't hurt Naruto!"

Kushina, lying on the bed, had also noticed Obito suddenly appearing and grabbing Naruto. Gone was her usual carefree demeanor; all she could do was plead sorrowfully.

But Obito remained completely unmoved. He raised his eyes to glance at the Fourth Hokage beside Kushina's bed, then tossed little Naruto in his hand into the air.

"Naruto!!!"