Obito's Probe

Hui and Sasuke were on their way home.

When they reached the Uchiha Compound and saw that no one else was around, Sasuke finally couldn't hold back his complaints. He kicked a stone off the side of the road.

"Hui, I guarantee this test wasn't written by Iruka-sensei. There were so many things we haven't learned yet. Could anyone really score over 80?"

Hui found that a little strange. Actually, he'd been bored during the test and had practiced Four-Dimensional Perception while answering the questions.

Hui figured that must be why he'd gotten some of them wrong.

Still, he'd also gotten a rough idea of everyone's scores in class. Naruto seemed to have gotten around 85.

Well, maybe he shouldn't tell Sasuke. It felt like that could cause a serious problem.

Just as Hui was about to comfort Sasuke, he sensed something that shook him to the core.

Through his Four-Dimensional Perception, he sensed a small, independent space parallel to the Main Three-Dimensional World moving toward him.

It was clearly coming for him and Sasuke.

"Sasuke, run! Head toward my house!" Hui shoved Sasuke away.

Hui's chakra-coated hand sent Sasuke flying more than ten meters. Thanks to Hui's precise control, he landed only a little awkwardly.

As he flew through the air, Sasuke was still confused. What had happened?

When he finally managed to stop, he realized just how serious the situation was.

Sasuke looked anxiously toward Hui, only to see something utterly bizarre.

A hand in a black glove appeared out of thin air and reached for Hui's back.

With his back to the danger, Hui suddenly ducked as if he'd seen it coming.

The instant he braced one hand against the ground, he changed his forward dive into a roll. His shinobi sandals scraped a semicircular trail of dust across the ground.

As the strange hand brushed past his upraised hair, Hui had already completed a clean backflip. Now he faced the "severed arm" hanging in midair in a fighting stance.

Even though that hand wasn't reaching for him, Sasuke broke out in a cold sweat.

Move... move, damn it! Move, you wretched body!

Sasuke's hands flew through a series of seals, guided entirely by the muscle memory he'd built up during practice.

[Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique]!

A massive fireball wreathed in scorching heat flew past Hui's head, but passed straight through the strange hand. It continued on and smashed into the wall behind it.

Boom!

The tremendous explosion echoed along the empty street.

Sasuke stared, stunned.

Why? I controlled it so precisely. There's no way I missed!

I clearly saw it hit that hand!

Hui stayed calm and asked in a low voice, "Who are you?"

The floating arm seemed to sprout rapidly. In less than a second, a masked man appeared before Sasuke and Hui.

Obito was baffled. How had the kid in front of him sensed his arrival when he hadn't even emerged from the Kamui dimension?

He glanced down at his right hand, ignored Hui's question, and asked in Uchiha Madara's voice, "Kid, how did you know I was coming?"

Hui gave him an exaggerated fake smile. "Take a guess. Besides, you haven't even asked me the question I was waiting for."

"Hmph. Ignorant brat."

The single eye behind the hole in the strange mask abruptly changed. Three black tomoe slowly revolved in the crimson iris—his Sharingan genjutsu had activated.

Obito didn't intend to waste time. Genjutsu was the most efficient way to control a kid.

[Genjutsu: Sharingan]

But the expected mental assault never came. Hui remained where he was, his dark eyes as calm as ever, with a hint of mockery in them.

"How is this possible?!" Obito frowned beneath his mask. Had his Sharingan genjutsu really failed?

In that brief moment of hesitation, Sasuke had already rushed to Hui's side. He gripped a Kunai in both hands and stared intently at the enemy before them.

His breathing was a little ragged, but his gaze was unwavering.

"Didn't I tell you to run? This man is dangerous!" Hui said sharply, his eyes fixed on Obito. He didn't spare Sasuke even a glance.

Hui's voice sounded a little strange, but Sasuke didn't notice. He was staring unblinkingly at the masked man.

"Are you kidding me? How could I leave you behind?" Sasuke replied through gritted teeth, his knuckles turning white from how hard he clenched his fists.

He tried to stay calm, but his trembling arms betrayed his nerves.

This is... the first time I've ever faced a real enemy...

Sasuke's throat tightened, and his heart pounded.

But Hui was terrifyingly calm, as if he'd faced down enemies like this countless times. The difference only made Sasuke more frustrated.

The genjutsu had failed because of the necklace around Hui's neck.

The real Hui had already moved to the nearby rooftop without making a sound, watching the battle from above.

The Hui who remained behind was merely an illusory projection created by a ninjutsu he'd prepared with the necklace.

Hui was worried sick for Sasuke.

Idiot, Sasuke! Why did you come back?!

Obito hadn't noticed because he wasn't very good at genjutsu.

But he did have the Mangekyō Sharingan. It was only a matter of time before he saw through it.

Obito narrowed his scarlet Sharingan. A cold smile tugged at the corner of his mouth beneath the mask.

Heh... I see. It's only an illusion.

He'd seen through Hui's trick, but deliberately pretended otherwise. As he formed Hand Seals, he asked in a low voice, "Not bad, kid... How did you break my genjutsu?"

[Shadow Clone Technique]

As soon as he finished the seals, the real Obito's right Mangekyō Sharingan began to turn.

[Kamui]

Space twisted, and his body silently vanished as if it had been sucked into a vortex.

"Damn it!" Sasuke's heart raced as he watched three enemies charging at him. Cold sweat dampened his palms.

But he forced himself to calm down and quickly formed Hand Seals.

[Shadow Clone Technique]!

"Poof! Poof!" Two clouds of white smoke burst open, and two clones appeared beside him, barely able to hold their own against Obito's shadow clones.

"You're from the Uchiha Clan, aren't you?" Sasuke snarled, his eyes filled with both anger and confusion.

"Why are you attacking your own clan members?!"

Obito's shadow clone didn't reply. It simply charged in silence, its movements fierce, but its killing intent deliberately restrained.

Sasuke barely managed to defend himself in the exchange of blows. His opponent was clearly far stronger, and every clash left his arms numb.

Obito had no intention of hurting Sasuke. After all, he'd promised Itachi he wouldn't.

On the rooftop where Hui stood, Obito tried once again to pull him into Kamui.

But Hui seemed to know what Obito was about to do. Without hesitation, he leaped off the roof and plunged toward the street. Obito's fingertips barely grazed his afterimage.

Obito's body fully materialized, and his eye narrowed behind the mask.

He dodged again?!

That can't be a coincidence. Once might have been luck... but this kid can clearly predict exactly when I'll use Kamui!

Can he see me? No, that's impossible... Unless?

An absurd but seemingly reasonable guess came to Obito's mind: Can he see the future?!

The thought struck like a clap of thunder, disrupting his chakra for an instant.

"Ugh! Ugh—"

A muffled struggle came from below. Obito's shadow clone had already subdued Sasuke with ease. The boy hung in the air, the clone's iron-grip hand clamped around the back of his neck.

His legs kicked desperately, but against such an overwhelming difference in strength, all resistance was futile.

"Kid." Obito's real body stood in the shadows, his voice made even more sinister by the mask.

"If you keep hiding, your companion's life..."

The shadow clone tightened its grip. Sasuke immediately struggled to breathe, his face reddening as his Sharingan involuntarily awakened with a single tomoe.

Sasuke actually had a little secret: the last time he'd used the Secret Medicine to enhance his chakra, his Sharingan had awakened.

But with only one tomoe, he was completely powerless to change the situation.

Hui regretted not being more resolute earlier. Now he'd have to take a risk.

It wasn't that Hui didn't care about his companion. He simply had too little combat experience and fought almost entirely on instinct, perhaps with a little help from Yuki.

"Still holding out, kid? Then say goodbye to your friend."

Obito's voice brimmed with cold killing intent, and the Kunai in his hand gleamed ominously.

His movements seemed decisive, but he deliberately slowed down at the last moment.

He had no choice but to resort to such a despicable tactic. He still suspected that Hui had awakened a Mangekyō Sharingan that could see the future. It was already the most reasonable explanation.

[Space Leap]!

Hui used the Kunai in his hand to shatter Obito's shadow clone.

Sasuke fell awkwardly to the ground and clutched his neck, coughing violently.

"Is it over?" Sasuke panted. His Sharingan had already closed.

Hui remained silent. He'd sensed that the strange space, after pausing briefly, was rapidly moving away from them.

A squad from the Uchiha Police Force had arrived. They'd reacted quite quickly, but the fight had been too brief.

If the battle had lasted five seconds longer, Hui would have formed a clone and used the Flame Explosion Technique to teleport straight into Obito's Kamui dimension.

But the Police Force had arrived and interrupted everything.

In a distant forest, space suddenly twisted and spiraled.

Obito appeared without a scratch.

"Seeing the future?... Space-Time Ninjutsu?..." He chuckled.

"Uchiha Hui... You're more interesting than I thought. Could it be the Mangekyō?"

The abduction had ended hastily, but he'd learned something more important: there was something very wrong with Chuanhe's family.

Itachi had been right. Chuanhe was extremely dangerous.

If even his son was this dangerous, could they really be called spies?

"I need information... Itachi, you'll have to sound them out."

Obito no longer had any confidence in Itachi's mission. Still, to get more information, he decided to conceal everything that had happened today and give Itachi only part of what he knew.

He'd let the people of Konoha continue down the path of misunderstanding. That was the only way Obito could get what he wanted.

As for what Itachi would do if he found out Obito had threatened someone using Sasuke, Obito didn't care at all. If anything, it would be better if he found out.

Chuanhe's family would be the biggest obstacle in his plan.

"Rin, wait for me!"