Desperate Situation Under Kamui

"It's over." Obito's Sharingan flickered crimson through the holes of his mask, his voice utterly devoid of warmth. He was like an inescapable shadow; no matter how fast Duanmu and Izumi ran, he always blocked their path with perfect precision.

Duanmu's heart sank to the bottom. He knew just how bizarre Obito's space-time ninjutsu was, and the feeling of having his position predicted in advance made every hair on his body stand on end. He dragged Izumi to a sudden stop. Behind them was a cold wall. There was nowhere left to retreat.

"Run. Why aren't you running anymore?" Obito slowly raised his long blade, its tip aimed straight at Duanmu. "A meddling ant like you thought you could change anything?"

Duanmu shielded Izumi behind him. Though his legs trembled slightly from fear and depleted chakra, his gaze was unusually firm. He knew he was no match for Obito. He did not even have the right to make the other man take him seriously. But he could not give up. Once he gave up, not only would he die, Izumi would lose her life too.

"Your target is Uchiha. I don't care whether they live or die." In desperation, Duanmu's wits sharpened. He tried to stall for time while his mind raced, searching for even the slimmest chance of survival. "Let us go. I can pretend I didn't see anything."

"Oh?" Obito seemed to find it somewhat amusing and tilted his head. "You think I'd believe you? Or do you think you're qualified to bargain with me?"

"I know you need Sharingan," Duanmu said, throwing out his final bargaining chip. His voice was dry from tension. "I know where there are still undiscovered Sharingan! Under that patch of ruins beside the Gold Treasury Pavilion just now—there are still a few clan members who didn't escape in time!"

Duanmu was practically shouting. He stared hard at the holes in Obito's mask, trying to catch even the slightest flicker in those scarlet Sharingan.

This was a lie he had made up. At this moment, it was the only method he could think of that might divert Obito's attention.

"Hmph. Do you take me for a fool? I can cut the two of you down and go look all the same!" As soon as he finished speaking, Obito's long blade came slashing toward Duanmu's head with a howl that tore through the air.

At that critical instant, Izumi suddenly let out a shrill scream. She violently broke free of Duanmu's hand and used her own body to block in front of him! Her Three-Tomoe Sharingan burst with dazzling red light in the darkness, and her hands formed seals with astonishing speed.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

A mass of flame several times stronger than those cast by the clan members before erupted from Izumi's mouth, rushing straight at Obito with scorching waves of heat. This was not some exquisitely refined ninjutsu, but in this moment, it held all of her courage and desire to live.

Obito clearly had not expected this seemingly fragile girl to suddenly erupt with such fierce resistance, much less that she would use her body to protect Duanmu.

"Boom!"

The Great Fireball passed straight through Obito's body, then exploded not far behind him, scorching half the wall black. Obito's figure appeared like a ghost just behind and to the side of Izumi. Beneath the mask, the corner of his mouth curved into a cruel arc. "Naive."

Duanmu's pupils abruptly contracted. He saw that Obito's right hand had already turned into pitch-black claws, carrying ripples that seemed to tear through space as they went straight for Izumi's back! This strike was too fast—so fast that even Izumi, with her Sharingan activated, could not react in time.

"Stop it, Obito!" Duanmu suddenly shouted, and that shout directly distracted Obito for a moment.

"Now! Rasengan!" Duanmu gathered the last trace of chakra in his body into the palm of his right hand and slammed it fiercely toward Obito's back!

Obito clearly did not take this brat's attack seriously. He was not even willing to use Kamui to dodge. In his eyes, an attack of this level could not even scratch his skin.

However, at the instant the Rasengan was about to hit him, a fierce glint flashed through Duanmu's eyes, and he abruptly changed the direction of his chakra flow!

"Explode!"

The unfinished Rasengan detonated the instant it touched Obito's black robe! Though its power was far inferior to the complete version, the force produced by a close-range explosion still made Obito's body tremble slightly.

The muscles beneath the black robe tensed instantly, canceling out most of the impact, but that sudden burst of force still caused the black claw that had been striking toward Izumi's back to veer off course, scraping past her shoulder and leaving a deep trail of blood.

"Urgh!" Izumi cried out in pain and staggered back a few steps, blood gushing from her shoulder.

"You're courting death!" Obito was thoroughly enraged.

He whipped around, his scarlet Sharingan locking tightly onto Duanmu. In one of his pupils, a pinwheel-like pattern slowly began to rotate—that was the Mangekyou Sharingan!

"Kamui!"

Duanmu only felt the scene before his eyes twist. A powerful suction came from Obito's eye, and his body began moving toward Obito beyond his control. He knew that once he was sucked into that other dimension, there would be no possibility of survival!

"Run!" Duanmu used the last of his strength to shove Izumi away while he himself leaped with all his might in the opposite direction.

Izumi was shoved hard by Duanmu and staggered back several steps. The sharp pain in her shoulder made her vision go dark.

But when she saw Duanmu being dragged by an invisible force, his body moving uncontrollably toward the masked man, an unprecedented terror seized her. She saw the rotating pinwheel-shaped Sharingan in the man's eye, and the aura of destruction contained within it made even her soul tremble.

"No—!" Izumi let out a heart-rending cry.

She could not let this unfamiliar boy die to save her! This boy who had appeared out of nowhere, dragged her in a wild sprint along the edge of death, shielded her with his own body, and had even used lies and a self-destructing ninjutsu to fight for a chance of survival for her!

"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"

Izumi took a deep breath, endured the sharp pain in her shoulder, rapidly formed seals with both hands, and gathered every bit of chakra she could mobilize into her throat.

Several burning fireballs shot from her mouth like angry little birds, carrying sharp whistles as they cut through the air, densely firing toward Obito's back.

Obito gave a cold snort. Against an attack of this level, he could not even be bothered to turn around. A black vortex surfaced on his back, and before those fireballs could get close, they were swallowed into it like stones sinking into the sea, vanishing without a trace. Kamui's suction did not weaken in the slightest.

Duanmu felt his body being peeled away bit by bit, and his consciousness began to blur. He could see Izumi's anxious, despairing face and hear her heart-rending cries. He wanted to tell her not to mind him and to run, but his throat felt as if something had blocked it, and he could not make a sound.

Just as half his body was about to be sucked into the Kamui vortex, a sudden change occurred!

A pitch-black figure shot out like a ghost from the slanting shadows, so fast it reached the extreme, leaving an afterimage behind. That person held a short blade flashing with cold light and, without the slightest hesitation, stabbed straight at the eye with which Obito was maintaining Kamui!

Obito clearly had not expected this sudden attack either. Moreover, the other party's target was so precise—it was exactly the instant when his defenses were relatively weak while he was casting Kamui!

The chakra gathered around Obito's eye fell into an almost imperceptible disorder, and the terrifying suction pulling at Duanmu abruptly weakened. He had no choice but to interrupt Kamui. His body spun violently like a top, the hem of his black robe flinging out an afterimage. The short blade almost scraped along his mask, bursting out a single spark under the cold moonlight.