"Boom, boom—"
Explosions erupted one after another.
With nearly all its skill points maxed out, the Great Fireball Technique poured from Natsume's mouth as if it cost him nothing.
One after another, the fireballs roared out,
rushing toward Obito.
But without exception,
the powerful fireballs passed straight through Obito's body and crashed into the surrounding forest.
They failed to harm him in the slightest.
There was no denying it.
[Kamui], the Mangekyō Sharingan's exclusive ability, was incredibly troublesome.
Especially Obito's right eye. With Hashirama Cells bolstering him, using its Intangibility ability had virtually no drawbacks. It was practically a passive skill!
That let him ignore all physical attacks and most ninjutsu!
The only limitation was that it could last for no more than about five minutes at a time.
But across the entire Ninja World,
the only rich woman who could produce six hundred billion Explosive Tags and bombard someone nonstop for over ten minutes was probably Konan.
At least, Natsume was sure he didn't have that many Explosive Tags.
Even if he did,
he wouldn't waste them so recklessly.
So dealing with Obito-bro wouldn't be easy.
Of course, besides attacking continuously for more than five minutes,
there was another way to counter [Kamui]:
being fast enough!
As long as you were fast enough—
so fast that even the Sharingan couldn't keep you in its sights, like a certain Raikage—
you wouldn't have to fear being "swallowed" by [Kamui].
Did Natsume have a body and speed comparable to the Raikage?
Of course not.
If he did, why bother with Susanoo Gundam? He would've just charged in and punched Danzo to pieces.
But if his body wasn't enough,
he could make up for it with chakra, ninjutsu, and the like.
A Body Flicker Technique fueled by an immense amount of chakra,
or Space-Time Ninjutsu like the Flying Thunder God Technique—
either could grant a shinobi incredible speed.
Natsume didn't have chakra as vast as a Tailed Beast's, and he hadn't learned Space-Time Ninjutsu like the Flying Thunder God Technique.
But, just like Obito,
his own Mangekyō Sharingan carried an exclusive ability that also counted as a form of Space-Time Ninjutsu.
It was enough to let him unleash incredible speed!
He just needed an opportunity to hit Obito...
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"
"Fire Release: Blast Wave Wild Dance!"
Obito dodged Natsume's fireballs while expertly unleashing offensive ninjutsu of his own.
They rained down toward his opponent.
With the Mangekyō Sharingan himself, he knew all too well how terrifying this Kekkei Genkai could be.
And every pair of Mangekyō Sharingan had different abilities.
To be safe, until he had figured out Natsume's unique ability, he had no intention of getting into close combat with that brat!
Keeping his distance and wearing him down was the safer choice.
"But how does this brat still have so much chakra?"
"Wasn't he nearly at the end of his rope?"
Obito wondered to himself.
He couldn't understand why the brat still had so much chakra to burn.
Could he absorb other people's chakra to replenish his own, like Kisame?
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
"Great Fireball Technique!"
Natsume created three clones around himself, each repeatedly unleashing the Great Fireball Technique.
Together, they were almost like three anti-aircraft guns.
With nothing but the Fireball Technique, they managed to block every one of Obito's ninjutsu attacks.
They also kept him from approaching with [Kamui].
Obito wasn't in any hurry.
Natsume's attacks couldn't hurt him anyway, so he didn't mind dragging things out.
He even taunted Natsume while making himself intangible.
"Useless! It's useless!"
"Your Great Fireball Technique may be powerful, but you can't hit me!"
"Give up! If you're willing to submit to me, I might let you live..."
Natsume wasn't moved in the slightest by Obito's offer.
As if he'd join Obito? Join [Akatsuki]?
Only to be manipulated by Black Zetsu, that "devoted son," and spend his life dreaming inside the Eye of the Moon?
Rather than fight for his own future, he'd entrust it to a dream he could never wake from?
Don't be stupid!
Thinking about it, Obito-bro, with all his idealism, was pretty pitiful.
Of course, feeling sorry for him didn't mean he shouldn't get beaten!
With that, Natsume made his move.
"Snake—Boar—Ram—Rabbit—Dog—Rat—Rooster—Horse—Snake..."
Surrounded by his three clones, Natsume's real body quickly formed Hand Seals. A smile tugged at his lips as he called out,
"Do you recognize this ninjutsu?"
"This sequence of Hand Seals?"
"Is that the [Forbidden Technique: Reaper Death Seal]?!"
"Oh? I didn't expect you to recognize it," Natsume said, pretending to be surprised.
"Are you crazy?"
Obito's expression changed dramatically as he exclaimed in disbelief.
He didn't know the technique himself.
But he had witnessed the power of this Uzumaki Clan sealing technique with his own eyes!
Back then, even the mighty Nine-Tails had been as helpless as a pet under his teacher Namikaze Minato's [Reaper Death Seal].
In an instant, its soul had been yanked out and sealed!
That was just how terrifying this forbidden technique was.
So Obito had never expected
that this brat Natsume would know it too!
And that he would use such a technique of mutual destruction without a second thought!
Was this brat insane?!
Obito didn't dare take the chance.
Who knew whether his [Kamui] Intangibility could block the soul-grabbing power of the [Reaper Death Seal]?
If it couldn't, he'd be done for!
"No! I have to stop him!"
"I can't let this brat succeed!"
Obito roared inwardly, sensing imminent danger.
The next moment,
without the slightest hesitation, he turned intangible and darted past the fireballs, charging straight at Natsume's real body!
He had to interrupt the brat's technique.
Seeing Obito charge at him,
Natsume was delighted.
Just as I thought. The moment I scared him with the [Reaper Death Seal], Obito-bro couldn't resist making his move!
Could Natsume actually use the [Reaper Death Seal]?
Of course not.
The System Shop offered the technique,
but the price was too high.
He'd spent all the Gold Coins he'd saved up on the Mangekyō Sharingan.
He couldn't afford that useless "one for one" forbidden technique.
Even so, he'd watched every episode of Naruto countless times in his previous life.
He'd memorized the Hand Seals for the [Reaper Death Seal] long ago.
Now all he had to do was make a show of performing them.
His real goal was to scare Obito into attacking him.
Then, while Obito made himself tangible to strike, Natsume could counterattack!
They were shinobi! If they didn't use tactics and fight dirty,
could they even call themselves shinobi?
As Natsume finished forming the Hand Seals, a hazy gray figure, radiating a chilling aura, slowly appeared behind him.
That only made Obito attack faster.
He charged toward Natsume without hesitation and swiftly threw several Shuriken, sending them slicing through the air.
One of Natsume's clones blocked the sharp Shuriken.
The brat had decent Taijutsu, Obito could see. He could easily knock Obito's Shuriken aside with a Kunai.
While the clone was occupied, Obito slipped through the other two and reached Natsume's real body.
"Foolish brat, you've lost!"
Obito immediately ended his Intangibility, his right hand now touching Natsume's body.
At this distance, he could easily pull the brat into his Kamui Dimension and interrupt his [Reaper Death Seal].
He had clearly won!
But just then,
Obito suddenly noticed that the brat was smiling.
As if he were mocking him!
"Such arrogance! You don't even realize you're about to die!"
Obito sneered inwardly.
He immediately activated [Kamui], stirring waves of space as he prepared to suck the brat in front of him into the Kamui Dimension.
"Pop—"
With a sharp crack,
the "real" Natsume in front of Obito suddenly burst into a cloud of white smoke.
"What?!"
"It's a Shadow Clone!"
"But if that was a Shadow Clone, how could it use a forbidden technique like the [Reaper Death Seal]?"
In an instant, Obito was horrified and understood what had happened.
"No! I've been tricked!"
Obito cried out in shock and hurriedly tried to activate Intangibility again.
But how could Natsume give him the chance?
"Mangekyō Sharingan: Left Eye: Setsuna!"
"Third-Stage Eight-Fold Speed—Activate!"
To Obito's right,
Natsume's real body, which should have been only a Shadow Clone, instantly sprang into action.
He directly activated the unique ability of his left Mangekyo eye, accelerating his own time.
In the blink of an eye, under the influence of space-time power—
The blood in Natsume's body surged at a frenzied pace, his hemoglobin burning rapidly, the traction of his muscles and bones doubling... It was as if he had broken free of the passage of time in the real world.
By moving through time faster, he unleashed speed and strength far beyond his normal state!
He gained a full eightfold increase in power—the greatest boost Natsume could currently control.
The next moment.
He threw a punch.
A blistering 0.02 seconds!
He was so fast that Obito didn't even have time to activate Intangibility!
"Bam!"
Natsume's fist slammed into Obito's right cheek.
The tremendous force shattered his mask and broke his cheekbone.
Obito himself flew dozens of meters like a punching bag, smashing through several trees before crashing to the ground.
Put simply, Obito had fallen for his trick.
Otherwise, with only an eightfold boost, Natsume wouldn't have been able to hit him.
But Obito had closed in on his own and deactivated Intangibility. That was the only reason Natsume had gotten the chance to land a hit.
Just as Minato had hit him with a Rasengan back then.
Ninja battles were always full of schemes!
Before you continue