The Importance of Intelligence

While Yichen and Obito were engaged in their first round of combat, elsewhere in the Tsuchikage's Office Building, Ikura gave the order to the Barrier Team Uzumaki Yumi, Kawazoe Yura, and Atsumi Akino: "Begin!"

"Yes." The three responded and immediately began their operation.

The village's outer barrier contains runes for detecting Space-Time Ninjutsu, and the Tsuchikage's Office Building, the most important building in Iwagakure, naturally also contains them.

Moreover, unlike the outer barrier which only had some detection runes drawn on it, in the barrier of the Tsuchikage's Office Building, Yichen had Atsumi Akino connect all the known rune structures related to Space-Time Ninjutsu to the barrier.

Although neither Yichen nor Atsumi Akino, the two people who set up the barrier, knew whether the runes were useful or not, it was good to set up more barriers.

At that moment, Obito suddenly turned his head and looked at a corner of the office, saying, "Tsuchikage, don't show off Ninjutsu like the Camouflage Jutsu in front of the Sharingan."

Yichen revealed himself, having no intention of wasting words with Obito. He lowered his head slightly, avoiding Obito's eyes, and instead focused on Obito's body before making his move. After all, this kind of boss couldn't be swayed by the protagonist's words alone.

"Porcelain Release - Kunai Rain, Shinra Tensei." Yichen used Kunai Rain as the vanguard, accelerating it with Kunai Rain Shinra Tensei.

Obito subconsciously used Kamui's intangibility function to dodge, but the usually invincible Kamui experienced a slight, almost imperceptible lag. However, this lag was very brief and did not have any negative impact on Obito. Obito thought it was an illusion and did not pay attention to it.

After using Kamui to evade the Kunai Rain, Obito approached Yichen, revealed his form, and prepared to unleash Kamui on Yichen.

However, Yichen's Mind's Eye could sense whether Obito's body had materialized, so he remained calm, holding his longsword at Obito's head, waiting for the moment Obito materialized before launching his attack.

Obito his Hollowfication ability again to dodge the attack, while simultaneously frowning.

Unconvinced, Obito launched several more attacks, but Yichen seized the opportunity to force him back each time.

After he passed Yichen, he asked, "Can you judge my condition?"

Yichen smiled slightly but did not answer. However, this time Yichen was not in a hurry to make a move. He was analyzing the timing of Kamui's use of Obito.

With his Mind's Eye perception, Yichen was able to accurately judge the timing of Obito's transformation from Obito to solid.

Obito didn't notice that his Kamui was slightly restricted, but Yichen did. The instant Obito saw Yichen's attack approaching, Yichen judged from Obito's physical reaction that Obito should have chosen to Intangible immediately, but he successfully Intangibleized a little too late.

Knowing the reason, Yichen paid special attention and noticed this change.

The two faced off, but because Obito was in a Hollowfied state, Yichen maintained his distance and did not make a move.

Furthermore, Yichen also needed to buy time for Atsumi Akino and the others. Whether it was analyzing the fluctuations of Space-Time Ninjutsu, understanding the purpose of the rune structure, or devising targeted measures, all of this required time.

Obito may have been considering a strategy and did not launch an attack immediately.

Meanwhile, at the location where Ikura was, the group controlling the sealing of the Tsuchikage's Office Building sensed Obito's Space-Time Ninjutsu. Although they did not understand the principle, they could tell from the Sealing Runes in the barrier that the runes had more or less had an effect.

Atsumi Akino, the only one who could understand even a little bit, began to think rapidly about how to maximize the effect of the Space-Time Ninjutsu.

However, she didn't have much time to think, so she immediately discussed many solutions with Uzumaki Yumi and Kawazoe Yura, asking them to temporarily change the structure of the barrier.

In order to buy time for the Barrier Team, Yichen did not disturb Obito's thinking.

After a while, Obito finished thinking and launched another attack. Obito had no good way to deal with Yichen's special sensory abilities.

Since outsmarting him won't work, he'll just go for a direct assault. After all, his Kamui is unbeatable! Even if Yichen manages to detect it beforehand, he's not afraid. Whether to etherealize and when to etherealize is entirely in his own hands.

Thus began a probing attack exchange between Yichen and Obito. Obito's attacks were often sudden, although in most cases Yichen was able to seize the opportunity to dodge Kamui or force Obito to become Hollowfied, thus dispelling the Kamui he was launching at him.

However, there were several times when Yichen made the wrong judgment, or rather, he was successfully deceived by Obito's tactics and was almost absorbed by Kamui. But Yichen also had his own special moves.

The S-rank Ninjutsu Banshō Ten'in, which can be performed without Hand Seals, has saved Yichen from Kamui several times with Shinra Tensei.

However, after several attempts, Obito gradually figured out the weaknesses of Yichen's Shinra Tensei and Banshō Ten'in.

"Tsuchikage, one of your two Gravity Ninjutsu is attraction, and the other is repulsion. The attraction Ninjutsu requires an external object to be used, and it takes time for the Ninjutsu to take effect, so it's not the best way to deal with it. As for repulsion, there's a time limit between each two uses, right?" Obito teasingly exposed the flaw in Yichen's Ninjutsu.

"Fifteen seconds. There needs to be a fifteen-second interval between your two repulsions, right?" Obito said confidently. This was something he had slowly figured out after hundreds of attacks!

In other words, Yichen has survived hundreds of life-or-death crises at Obito's hands.

Yichen kept his head down and remained silent. He was analyzing the situation of Atsumi Akino and the others. After such a long period of probing, Atsumi Akino and the others should have a pretty good understanding of Kamui.

Yichen could sense that Obito's Kamui technique was slowing down at the beginning, but this slowing process had stopped for a long time. Yichen guessed that Atsumi Akino had probably made a discovery and was preparing a powerful attack.

However, Yichen couldn't determine when they would launch their attack.

Suddenly, a massive Chakra fluctuation caught Yichen's attention. Hmm? That's Ikura? Ikura Yichen was very familiar with Chakra fluctuations.

What's wrong with Ikura? No, he's reminding me! Yichen immediately understood what Ikura meant.

Obito sensed Ikura's Chakra as well. The slow-witted Obito only then remembered that this was the Tsuchikage's Office Building. Why hadn't he attracted any other Iwa ninja after fighting Yichen for so long? But now wasn't the time to dwell on it. Ikura's sudden burst of Chakra likely meant he was coming to Yichen's aid; he had to speed things up.

Obito forward, his materialized form fixed on Yichen, ready to react to any possible reaction from him.

Upon seeing this, Yichen's heart stirred. "Porcelain Release, Rock Fist Technique."

At the same time, Yichen shouted, "The third time!"

Then Yichen used Porcelain Release to condense a long and large fist, which he smashed directly towards Obito. Obito's lips twitched. His Kamui could only be used at close range, and it was best to approach Yichen in physical form before activating Kamui.

If Obito's intangible state is close to that of Yichen, he will have to solidify his body before he can unleash Kamui, which will create a time lag. Therefore, Obito is very reluctant to intangify his body during an attack.

But there was no other way now. Obito directly intangibly dodged the giant fist's attack and Obito Yichen materializing again.

"Shinra Tensei!" Yichen used his life-saving technique on the materialized Obito.

Obito was instantly knocked away, but only for a very short moment. He immediately went into intangible form again to dodge the follow-up attack of Shinra Tensei, and in his intangible state, Obito immediately charged forward.

Once the effects of Shinra Tensei ended, Obito materialized and reached out his hand towards Yichen, who was standing very close.

Obito had already prepared for his follow-up attack, and it was no longer possible for Yichen to evade his Kamui using the Banshō Ten'in as before.

As expected, Yichen did not choose to use the Banshō Ten'in, but instead slashed horizontally with his sword again. Unfortunately, all of this was within Obito's expectations, and Yichen was too late.

But just as Obito's lips curled into a smile, something horrifying happened.

His Kamui seemed to be interfered with by something, and he was a beat slower.

"How is this possible?" Obito was horrified. This was the most terrifying thing he had encountered since awakening his Mangekyō Sharingan.

This delay allowed Yichen's second sword strike to finally reach Obito. Furthermore, Yichen's other hand, hidden in his sleeve, formed a hand seal, and the rocks left behind by the Porcelain Release, Rock Fist Technique he had just used flew towards Obito once again under Yichen's control.

Obito hurriedly chose to intangible, but something even more terrifying happened: his intangible transformation was hindered. Not only was he delayed and hit by Yichen's sword, but he also failed to maintain his intangible state.

It's unclear whether it was due to spatial turbulence, but Obito's figure materialized briefly before fading away again.

This was no small matter. When Obito intangible, a large amount of porcelain-like rock covered the spot where he had just stood. After he materialized again, these rocks entered his body directly.

This was too cruel, even to Yichen, the murderer. In that instant, countless Porcelain Rock appeared out of thin air inside Obito's body after the space-time swap caused by Kamui, destroying his body.

No longer lingering in the Tsuchikage's Office, Obito used all his strength to lunge to one side. In his Hollowfied state, he bled profusely as he rushed out of the Tsuchikage's Office Building.

After breaking out of the Tsuchikage's Office Building, Obito, with the help of White Zetsu, quickly escaped Iwagakure using the Levitation Jutsu.

Yichen sighed. He was still a little short of capturing Obito. Yichen didn't dare to deploy too many ninjas outside the Tsuchikage's Office Building beforehand, as this would alert Obito.

To keep White Zetsu alive, a large number of Earth Release ninjas would need to be deployed underground to cause interference, or the soil layer would need to be isolated beforehand.

However, neither of these tasks is easy to accomplish, not to mention that Obito also possesses Kamui.

Well, this should keep Obito line for a while.

Because Obito hadn't anticipated that Kamui would be restricted, he wasn't prepared with Izanagi and could only endure this incredible attack.

Even if Obito had Wood Release, Yichen felt that he couldn't recover too quickly. Just removing so many Iwa ninja from his body would be enough to cause him a lot of trouble.