The stone spikes that suddenly erupted from the ground caught Obito slightly off guard.
At his level, no matter how swiftly ordinary ninjutsu was activated, he could sense chakra fluctuations in advance to some extent. Yet when these stone spikes suddenly burst forth, he had felt no chakra fluctuations at all.
"This isn't ordinary Earth Release ninjutsu..."
Although he realized this, he did not panic. He simply abandoned any thought of meeting the attack head-on and remained where he was, waiting for Kimimaro to come at him.
Clang...
Kimimaro lunged at Obito with all his strength, and the sharp bone blade in his hand slashed viciously against Obito's black staff, producing a piercing metallic clash!
The instant the two sides made contact, Kimimaro's expression stiffened.
His full-force strike felt as though it had slammed into a massive boulder—no, something even harder than stone, steel itself. His fierce charge was halted instantly, and the enormous impact vanished like mud sinking into the sea, without causing the slightest ripple.
Then a tremendous recoil surged back. With a crack, the bone blade in his hand shattered, and he himself was sent flying without any ability to resist!
Boom...
Kimimaro crashed heavily to the ground, but disregarded his bleeding head as he stared at Obito in astonishment.
He had always been confident in taijutsu, and just now he had held nothing back, pushing both his Shikotsumyaku and Earth Curse Mark to their limits.
He believed that, in terms of strength alone, he should not have been inferior to anyone. Yet not only had his full-power blow failed to harm Obito in the slightest, it had not even forced Obito back half a step!
At that moment, Obito casually swung his black staff and shattered all the stone spikes restraining him, then stomped heavily onto