"Obito, is that you?" The cry seemed to travel through time, striking Obito deep in his heart.
The Masked Man's eyes widened. He stared in disbelief at Minato, Kushina, and Rin standing before him, his mind completely blank as he wondered if he had fallen under a genjutsu.
The Masked Man's gaze swept quickly over the surroundings before settling on Shi Xiu, who stood off to one side.
The Masked Man glared furiously, convinced this guy was behind it.
A nameless fury surged in his heart, burning fiercely. He would never let anyone joke about Rin, much less tolerate this kind of mockery!
Without a second thought, the Masked Man yanked the long sword from his waist and slashed at Shi Xiu with blinding speed.
But at that critical moment, Minato suddenly intervened. With a swift motion, he pulled a Kunai from his robes and precisely blocked the Masked Man's fierce attack.
Then Minato formed a powerful Rasengan in his hand and lunged at the Masked Man without hesitation.
Faced with this sudden turn of events, the Masked Man had never expected the Minato before him to be real.
His momentary lapse left him unable to use his phasing ability in time. All he could do was watch as the Rasengan slammed into him.
With a dull thud, the Masked Man was sent flying backward like a kite with its strings cut, crashing heavily to the ground.
Rin had watched everything unfold. When she saw the Masked Man, she had no solid proof, but a powerful instinct told her that this person was Obito!
By now, the Masked Man had also noticed what was strange about Minato and the others.
The whites of their eyes were an eerie black, and irregular cracks covered their faces and bodies, like shattered porcelain.
Minato gazed solemnly at the Masked Man on the ground, his thoughts drifting back to the time they had clashed fiercely.
Back then, although the Masked Man had displayed powerful and mysterious abilities, Minato had never connected him to Obito.
But now, as he looked at the man lying there, he could indeed see a trace of Obito in him.
At that moment, the Masked Man struggled to use the long sword in his hand to support himself, slowly getting to his feet.
His slightly trembling arm showed just how badly that last blow had injured him.
Then he raised his other hand and reached for the mask on his face, slowly but with determination.
As the mask came off inch by inch, Minato, Kushina, and Rin all began to breathe faster. When the face beneath it was fully revealed, all three drew in a sharp breath.
Before them was Obito's face, which should have been full of youthful energy.
But now, irregular folds covered the right side of his face.
His eyes, once bright as stars, no longer held any of their former sunny optimism. In its place was a chilling indifference and numbness.
Looking at the Obito who was both familiar and strange to her, Rin couldn't stop the tears from spilling over.
Rin's lips trembled. Her voice faintly choked with emotion as she asked softly, "Obito... why?"
At Rin's question, a barely perceptible flicker finally appeared in Obito's eyes.
Then, as though he had suddenly lost his mind, he threw his head back and laughed uncontrollably.
His laughter echoed through the air, filled with boundless obsession and madness, along with a sorrow too deep for words.
When the laughter slowly died away, Obito abruptly stopped and pointed angrily at Minato, shouting, "Why? Minato-sensei, you tell me why!"
Faced with Obito's accusation, Minato seemed to understand something. He slowly lowered his head, deep guilt showing on his face.
"What happened to that so-called fastest shinobi in the Shinobi World? It's a joke! When your own student is in mortal danger, you're nowhere to be seen. You couldn't even make it to the scene in time after your student died!"
Obito roared in fury, his furious, disappointed shout seeming to shatter the air around them.
"You couldn't even recognize a student you taught with your own hands. I truly pity you!"
Obito kept shouting, his eyes blazing with fury as he glared at Minato, who remained silent before him.
Minato simply stood there, silently enduring Obito's scolding.
His head hung low, concealing his expression and leaving it impossible to guess what he was thinking.
Perhaps he felt guilty over Obito's accusations. Or perhaps he was remembering all the moments he had shared with his students.
Just as the tension reached its peak, Shi Xiu could no longer hold back.
Shi Xiu had no desire to waste any more words on Obito. He flashed forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, charging straight at him.
Then Shi Xiu swung his right fist, striking at Obito with a fierce gust of wind.
Seeing this, Minato grew frantic and hurriedly called out, "Lord Shi Xiu! Please... go easy on him!"
At the same time, Obito's face, marked with the pattern of his mask, rushed toward Shi Xiu. A trace of disdain and contempt showed in his eyes.
Obito casually turned his wrist, and the razor-sharp long sword in his hand shot backward toward the space behind him at blinding speed.
In the blink of an eye, Shi Xiu's fist struck at Obito—but passed straight through his body.
Just as Shi Xiu was about to pass entirely through Obito and crash into the blade he had thrust backward, something unexpected happened.
Obito seemed to have suddenly taken a heavy blow. His whole body shot backward as if struck by a cannonball.
His body traced an arc through the air before crashing to the ground in the distance, raising a cloud of dust.
The sudden turn of events left Minato and the others staring in stunned silence, their faces full of bewilderment and confusion. None of them had any idea what had happened.
Obito, meanwhile, stared at Shi Xiu in shock and roared through clenched teeth, anger and disbelief in his voice. "How could you... What did you do to Kakashi?"
It turned out that just moments ago, to dodge Shi Xiu's attack, Obito had acted decisively and used Kamui to pull his upper body into the Kamui Dimension.
But he had never imagined that after Shi Xiu followed him into the Kamui Dimension, he would find his opponent there too.
Shi Xiu smiled faintly at Obito, a hint of teasing in his expression. Then he drawled, "Surprise!"
Before the words had even faded, he had already swung his fist, pounding Obito in the face like a sudden storm. The astonishing scene from moments ago played out again.
Hearing Obito mention Kakashi, Minato understood that the so-called phasing ability was connected to the Sharingan.
Obito looked at Shi Xiu's Sharingan, his eyes filled with shock, confusion, and disbelief.
"Where did you get your Sharingan?!"
Shi Xiu smiled faintly. "Kamui? What a coincidence, I can use it too."