Yagura's body jerked upright like a marionette.
Deep within his empty eyes, a sinister purple-black light flickered rapidly-Black Zetsu was desperately driving the last reserves of strength from this ruined body.
His withered hands twisted at angles no joints should have allowed, forming ancient, evil seals.
The air instantly grew thick and cold, filled with a nauseating stench of decay.
This was not a fluctuation of chakra.
It was a malicious restraint aimed at the soul itself, something closer to the fundamental laws of existence.
"Soul-Sealing Fate Tracing: Bind!"
A hoarse, distorted roar squeezed out of Yagura's throat.
The pitch-black vortex in his chest suddenly expanded, and the withered ghostly hand wrapped in talismans reached out once more.
This time, it was faster, fiercer, and more precise, striking straight at Liuyu's unguarded back!
Space rippled wherever the ghostly hand passed, as though this soul-targeting strike would tear reality itself apart.
Closer.
Closer still.
The ghostly fingertips nearly touched Liuyu's white haori.
And Liuyu-
Still had his back to the lethal ambush.
He did not even turn around.
Only the faintest smile curled his lips, as though he had foreseen everything.
"Idiot."
An icy voice rang out from the other side of the laboratory.
It was not Liuyu's voice.
It was Obito's.
Yagura's-Black Zetsu's-pupils abruptly contracted.
He whipped his head toward the voice.
In a corner of the laboratory, spiraling ripples spread through space like water disturbed by a thrown stone.
A figure slowly stepped out of the vortex's center.
Obito Uchiha.
He wore the white uniform of Las Noches' Ninth Espada, but a pale bone mask patterned with spirals covered the left half of his face.
His exposed right eye, a scarlet Mangekyō Sharingan, rotated slowly beneath the mask, its icy gaze fixed on Yagura.
No, on Black Zetsu inside