Jiraiya took advantage of the moment to form hand seals with both hands, his cheeks puffing out.
A tremendous "Croak!" burst forth, forming translucent ripples in the air that crashed toward Obito.
But it was still useless.
The attack passed straight through Obito's body as well.
Jiraiya frowned. Ever since earlier, the man's body had been like a phantom, leaving no way to strike him.
Obito had roughly figured out why this attempt had failed, but he was in no hurry to discard this identity.
He merely shot Danzo a cold glance, then swept his gaze over everyone present. "I'll remember today's performance."
Hearing his intention to retreat, the Third Hokage shouted, "Stop him! Don't let him escape!"
The barrier squad outside formed hand seals once more. A pale yellow glow spread out again, enveloping everyone within.
But Obito merely sneered. His figure turned phantom-like and sank directly into the floor.
He continued sinking until he vanished without a trace.
The Third Hokage's face turned livid. "Barrier Squad! Didn't you set up a barrier to prevent Earth Release?"
Jiraiya approached with a grave expression and touched the ground.
"Old man, that wasn't Earth Release. There's no trace of Earth Release in the ground."
"The spatial sealing array didn't stop him either... The principles behind his space-time ninjutsu are different."
The Third Hokage fell silent for a moment. As the Professor of Ninjutsu, he could determine such things with only a brief investigation, but he had indeed instinctively taken his frustration out on others.
It could only be said that the failure of this operation had dealt him too great a blow.
The Third Hokage took a deep breath and suppressed the surging emotions in his chest.
"Pass down the order—from today onward, replace all of Konoha's barrier nodes. If this