Black Zetsu: Hyuga Chiba, You Are Already on the Path to Death

"Tobi, are you looking down on me?"

Upon hearing Obito's words about making them all disappear, Deidara was instantly enraged.

"Arrogant drivel."

Rasa crossed his arms, not taking Obito's words to heart in the slightest.

"What skills do you possess that give you the audacity to look down on everyone here?"

Sasori also spoke in a cold voice.

The influence of Tenseigan Chakra on his ideology only made him increasingly inclined to obey Hyuga Chiba's commands and gradually established a mental link between the two that allowed for mutual telepathic communication.

Beyond that, however, he maintained his original thoughts.

Naturally, Sasori was furious at Obito's claim that he could resolve the situation so easily. "Heh, don't make me laugh."

Upon hearing Obito's words, Hyuga Chiba laughed without a shred of politeness: "You want to take my Tenseigan with nothing but that Mangekyo Sharingan ocular technique that only lasts five minutes and fails when you attack, and your Three-Tomoe Sharingan that can only sustain Izanagi for five minutes?"

"It seems you are just as arrogant and conceited as the rest of the Uchiha."

"Right, Uchiha Obito?"

"You?" Hearing this, the expression beneath Obito's mask shifted instantly.

If Hyuga Chiba had merely discovered his Mangekyo Sharingan and Three-Tomoe Sharingan, he would not have been overly surprised.

After all, his mask was as good as non-existent before the Tenseigan that had evolved from Hyuga Chiba's Byakugan.

But Hyuga Chiba had actually stated the duration of his "intangibility" and "Izanagi," and even revealed his true name?

"Oh my, this Tenseigan brat seems to know quite a few secrets."

In a certain corner, the white half of Black Zetsu, which had poked its head out of the ground to observe the situation, was also astonished.

"How could he know these things?" Black Zetsu was equally shocked and bewildered. "Could this truly be one of the abilities the Tenseigan has granted him?"

In the history of the Ninja World, aside from the current Hyuga Chiba, the person most likely to have awakened the Tenseigan should have been Black Zetsu's second older brother, the second son of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, Otsutsuki Hamura.

But after Hamura and Otsutsuki Hagoromo sealed Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, he took a portion of his descendants to the moon.

Black Zetsu had no way to monitor the moon, and the Hyuga Clan, as the descendants of Hamura who remained on Earth, had very few records regarding the Tenseigan.

Therefore, he could not be certain what abilities the Tenseigan possessed, and thus could not confirm whether this intelligence of Hyuga Chiba's truly came from the Tenseigan.

Aside from this reason, he could think of no other explanation.

"Regardless of where Hyuga Chiba's information comes from, he knows Obito's identity and abilities so clearly—could it be that he also knows about Mother?"

At this moment, Black Zetsu's heart grew anxious, and a strong murderous intent toward Hyuga Chiba welled up.

When it came to the grand plan of saving Mother, he would never allow an unexpected variable as powerful as Hyuga Chiba to exist.

"They've started fighting."

At this moment, White Zetsu's voice rang out, pulling Black Zetsu's attention back.

Black Zetsu then saw Obito, his identity exposed, launching an offensive.

He saw him rush first toward Sasori, who was closest to him and whose body was still under Hyuga Chiba's control.

However, at the same time, Sasori felt his body return to his own control.

In an instant, he extended two high-speed rotating Spiral Slash from his back, cutting toward Obito.

But Obito, possessing "intangibility," passed straight through the Spiral Slash and even Sasori's body, and the moment he passed through, he quickly turned and reached out to grab Sasori: "As long as I touch you with this hand, you will no longer be a threat."

After all, that would allow him to send Sasori into his Kamui Dimension.

Afterward, he would have plenty of ways to deal with Sasori, who could not leave the Kamui Dimension on his own.

"Magnet Release: Gold Sand!"

"Magnet Release: Iron Sand!"

At this moment, massive amounts of Gold Sand and Iron Sand rose from beneath the feet of Sasori and Obito.

Clearly, Rasa and the Third Kazekage Puppet were trying to seize the opportunity to launch an attack while Obito was busy attacking Sasori and unable to use his intangibility.

"Useless."

After the battle against Namikaze Minato back then, Obito had long since prepared for similar scenarios.

He did not use his outstretched hand to touch Sasori as he had claimed; instead, he passed through the latter's body once more.

The attacks from Rasa and the Third Kazekage Puppet landed on Sasori instead.

Fortunately, Sasori was a Human Puppet; as long as the Core on his left chest was not destroyed, he would not truly die.

And at this moment, the Sasori who had been struck saw his body gradually dissolve into a pool of yellow sand and drift away.

"Sand Clone?"

Obito's expression shifted, and he instantly understood what had happened.

Clearly, even if he had successfully touched Sasori just now, it would have been useless.

"Shuriken Shadow Clone!"

At this moment, Chiba, who had been hovering in the air, threw out a pile of Shuriken.

Those Shuriken split from two into four in mid-air, attacking Obito in a dense, overwhelming swarm.

"I already told you, it's useless."

Obito ignored the onslaught of Shuriken, his body gradually sinking into the ground.

In this way, as long as they couldn't maintain a continuous attack on him while he was underground, he could emerge from another safe location to end his intangibility, thereby "resetting" the "cooldown" that he could only maintain for five minutes.

In the original story, the reason Obito was forced by Konan to use Izanagi was that the "sea" he was in was entirely composed of *Explosive Tag*s, leaving him no opportunity to stop his intangibility.

Naturally, Obito had no such concerns at this moment.

"Attack the ground!"

Seeing this, Rasa's expression shifted, and he immediately manipulated his Gold Sand to pierce back and forth beneath the surface.

Through the X-ray vision of the Tenseigan, Chiba was able to lock onto Obito's precise location underground.

Under his command, the Third Kazekage Puppet also manipulated Iron Sand underground to conduct a precise pursuit of Obito.

Yet, for some reason, although the Iron Sand was constantly chasing Obito, it was always a fraction slower than his speed.

"Now, it's my turn."

Shortly after, Obito successfully emerged from the ground at a certain spot and clapped his hands together: "Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"

The next moment, a massive number of trees rose from the ground, launching an indiscriminate attack toward Rasa, Sasori, and the Deidara and Chiba in the air.

"Fire—wait, something is wrong."

Just as Obito intended to follow up with a Fire Release to bolster the Wood Release assault, his brow furrowed beneath his mask.

Because he suddenly discovered that among the sand and soil kicked up by the trees emerging from the ground, there were quite a few Shuriken Shadow Clones that Chiba had thrown earlier and had yet to dissipate.

What made a chill run down Obito's spine was that he finally noticed these Shuriken all bore a black, eye-shaped pattern.