Gate of Pain Opens, Wooden Man Cracks

The battle between Naruto and Tobi turned into a game of cat and mouse; neither could finish the other off before their chakra reserves ran dry.

After a period of refinement, and no longer burdened by the heavy toll of the Mangekyō Sharingan, Shisui had grown significantly stronger in his ability to chain ninjutsu and execute the Body Flicker Technique.

Kisame found his strength stifled, as his Shark Impact was consistently and deftly dodged by Shisui using the Body Flicker Technique.

The remaining combat strength of the Uchiha was minimal; most of those left alive were civilians unable to mold chakra, let alone awaken the Sharingan.

Karin barked orders at the men, commanding them to lead their families to the designated assembly point: "The enemy is powerful! You must follow my instructions. I am a member of the medical team dispatched by the Fourth Hokage. My comrades are engaging the enemy up ahead, and to avoid hindering them, you must relocate to a safe zone. I will provide treatment for everyone."

"The Fourth Hokage still cares for us; we must not cause trouble for the adults," a young man who idolized the Fourth Hokage shouted. He instinctively followed Karin, helping to maintain order at the scene.

Suddenly, Kisame spotted the group from afar and sneered: "Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave."

Kisame leaped high into the air, opened his mouth wide, and spewed forth enough water to form a lake. The torrent, three meters high, surged along the road toward the crowd.

Shisui reacted instantly, flickering to the side of the deluge: "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough."

The gale generated a thrust that altered the direction of the rushing water.

"Pesky flies. I'm getting serious this time," Kisame said, closing the distance to Shisui: "Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave."

The waves churned, engulfing Shisui and Kisame, forming a massive, oval-shaped water prison in the open space.

A young boy saw Shisui and jumped with excitement: "That's Brother Shisui! I know him; he's amazing!"

"Hurry up! One by one, don't be sluggish! Do you want to distract the combatants and force them to protect you?" Karin roared. Although she had claimed the enemy was powerful, she hadn't truly grasped the scale until now; seeing the enemy casually unleash large-scale ninjutsu made her heart race with anxiety.

What about Naruto? Was the enemy he faced even stronger?

Through a trail of broken branches and fallen leaves, Naruto darted about like a wild boar in a dense forest, constantly bursting forward.

Tobi, hiding in the shadows, had been maintaining his Wood Release for five minutes: "I didn't expect to run into another person with vast chakra reserves like Kisame. In that case, I'll have to change tactics, or I won't be able to feel the urge to defecate."

"Release!" Tobi laughed loudly. His figure swelled slightly as he rapidly gathered a massive amount of chakra: "Wood Release: Wood Human Technique."

"Destroy everything! Feel the urge!"

The broken trees converged in mid-air, and within moments, they formed a colossal Buddha statue with countless arms. The statue glared forward, and atop its head protruded a spike shaped like a pile of excrement. Standing on the spike, Tobi spread his arms, feeling the gale whistling past his ears.

"What is that?"

"How could such a powerful ninjutsu exist?"

When the giant Buddha appeared, those in the crowd who were already disheartened fell into deeper despair, feeling as though the apocalypse had arrived.

Naruto stood facing the giant Buddha, looking at the ten-centimeter Rasengan in his palm, feeling a bit ashamed: "This isn't much to look at. Do you think you're really the palm of the Buddha, and that I, Old Naruto, can't escape your grasp?"

The giant arm descended from the sky, blotting out the sun, its striking speed no slower than Naruto's movement.

BOOM!

A large section of residential buildings was flattened into ruins.

The giant hand swept across again, and Naruto, still in motion, was struck hard. It was just like a flyswatter hitting a fly; had there not been an open space ahead, Naruto would have been crushed into a pulp.

Super Self-Healing did not dull the sensation of pain.

Naruto slowly stood up from the ruins. His thigh had been caught by the immense force, snapping the bone and causing it to protrude through the muscle.

Enduring the agonizing pain, Naruto reset the bone and took a deep breath, suppressing the sensation.

Sweat dripped incessantly from his forehead as Naruto used the Body Flicker Technique to dodge the Buddha's giant hand once more.

The Buddha had five faces, each with a different expression: joy, anger, love, hatred, and fear.

Tobi continued to weave hand signs.

The Buddha opened its mouth.

It spewed out a massive wave of flames.

To dodge the inferno, Naruto leaped into the air, only to be caught squarely between two giant hands.

"Finally caught you," Tobi said, pointing a finger. The central Buddha face opened its mouth, unleashing a bolt of purple lightning.

The lightning struck the water-slicked giant hands, creating an instantaneous high-pressure discharge that charred half of Naruto's body black.

Destruction and self-healing.

Naruto had not yet forged a will as hard as steel. The pain born from the cycle of death and rebirth tortured him, causing him to scream miserably: "Damn it!"

Tobi was shocked: "Still alive? What tenacious vitality! I want to ask you, what do you think the urge to defecate is?"

Naruto's newly healed body radiated even greater chakra. Under the high pressure, the Gate of Pain finally loosened; it was just a hair's breadth away from opening completely.

Naruto needed greater power to break the stalemate: "I'll answer your question."

"Eight Inner Gates: Gate of Pain, OPEN!"

The blue steam that should only appear after opening the seventh Gate of Wonder—a sign of an imperfect Eight Inner Gates—now manifested on Naruto's skin.

A pillar of chakra shot into the sky, forcing apart the giant hands.

"Air Cannon!" Naruto threw a punch. The fist compressed the surrounding air, forming a high-speed air cannonball that pierced through the giant hand and struck the excrement-shaped spike beneath Tobi's feet.

Tobi was startled: "Is this still taijutsu? This is going to be a problem."

The Buddha statue did not cease its assault.

Naruto's movement speed had already surpassed the reach of the giant hand; he stepped onto it, snapped it with a single kick, and used the momentum to soar into the high air: "Eight Inner Gates: Wind Style: Rasenshuriken."

The Buddha statue was sliced in two from the center, and Tobi was severed in half, falling to the ground with eyes filled with disbelief: "Is this what the feeling of needing to defecate is like?"

Naruto had just reached the spot where Tobi landed, but Tobi had already merged into the earth, erasing his chakra signature.

"Escaped?" Naruto lifted his foot and tentatively stomped on the ground.

The ground collapsed, yet there was still no sign of the enemy's chakra.

Naruto realized the opponent had already fled: "So there are this many powerful enemies in the ninja world. I wonder how things are going for Big Brother Shisui? I need to hurry and help him."

A massive fire burned across the area.

Uchiha Obito held Uchiha Itachi trapped: "My previous proposal still stands. Can you really watch your mother perish with your own eyes? Orochimaru is not a soft-hearted man. Aside from that child who awakened the Sharingan, who has a bit of talent, Orochimaru doesn't care about the others at all. And since you cannot escape me, any smart person knows how to choose."

Uchiha Itachi gritted his teeth, refusing to give up: "I believe Sasuke can protect Mother, and I will be the one to finish you off with my own hands."