An Explosive Start! Kamizuki Yu vs. Obito, Both Wield Kamui—So Why Are You So Flashy?

The source of that malice had to be rooted out.

Rather than waiting passively, he might as well take the initiative.

Once Kamizuki Yu made up his mind, the [Flying Thunder God Technique] activated silently.

An extremely faint spatial fluctuation was the only trace left behind after the other party's spying.

That was the signpost.

His figure turned into a streak of light almost impossible to catch and vanished in an instant.

At the border of the Land of Wind, in a barren valley.

Several fierce-looking rogue ninja stood respectfully before a black-robed man wearing an orange spiral mask.

The mask revealed only his right eye, deep and dark.

"How are things progressing?" A hoarse, emotionless voice came from beneath the mask.

"My lord, the resistance in several nearby small villages has basically been cleared out. They will soon 'voluntarily' join our—"

Before the lead rogue ninja could finish, an overwhelming aura suddenly descended.

Everyone felt their hearts tremble.

The black-robed masked man abruptly looked up, a flicker of shock and suspicion passing through his lone eye.

Space twisted slightly, and a figure appeared out of thin air not far from them.

Kamizuki Yu stood with his arms crossed, his expression indifferent, as though he were merely out for a stroll.

"Having a good chat, gentlemen?"

His gaze swept over the rogue ninja before finally settling on the masked man.

So it really was you, Obito Uchiha. Or should I call you "Tobi" now? Or "Masked Man"?

That outfit, that one eye, and the faint remnants of space-time ninjutsu.

There was no mistaking it.

"Who are you?" For the first time, the voice beneath the mask carried a hint of gravity.

He had not sensed how this person had appeared at all.

That feeling was very bad.

Kamizuki Yu did not answer. He merely raised his left hand slightly.

"Uninvited guests are usually unwelcome." The masked man snorted coldly.

The Mangekyo Sharingan pattern in his right eye suddenly focused.

[Kamui]!

Target: Kamizuki Yu!

A powerful suction force emerged from nowhere. The surrounding space twisted violently, as if it were about to swallow Kamizuki Yu whole.

The rogue ninja had long since been frightened out of their wits, scrambling away from the terrifying center.

Yet Kamizuki Yu remained where he stood without moving an inch.

A mocking smile tugged at his lips.

"You think you can show off the same trick in front of me?"

The next instant, the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan in Kamizuki Yu's left eye erupted with even deeper, more powerful ocular force.

The same [Kamui]!

Bzzzz—!

Two spatial distortion forces of the same nature, yet worlds apart in power and control precision, collided fiercely in midair.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only the teeth-grating sound of space tearing apart.

With the two of them at the center, the space within dozens of meters became like a shattered mirror, cracks constantly forming before being forcibly repaired.

Obito's pupil suddenly contracted.

How was this possible?!

His [Kamui] had actually been forcibly disrupted by the other man's [Kamui], and even... showed faint signs of being suppressed!

Not only did the other party possess [Kamui], its power far surpassed his own!

Where had this monster come from?

Kamizuki Yu's [Kamui] had been optimized by the system. Not only was it more powerful and less draining, it had no side effects whatsoever.

Naturally, he wielded it with ease.

"Your [Kamui] seems rather unstable." Kamizuki Yu's tone was calm, but it carried an unquestionable pressure.

Obito grunted and forcibly drove his ocular power, trying to stabilize his distorted space.

But Kamizuki Yu's [Kamui] clung to him like a parasite, constantly eroding and dismantling his power.

Now!

Seizing the instant when Obito's [Kamui] was hindered and his mind shaken, Kamizuki Yu moved.

His figure flashed, as though he had teleported.

The terrifying strength granted by the Sage Body and the ultimate speed brought by Asura's chakra combined perfectly at that moment.

There was no flashy ninjutsu, only a simple, unadorned straight punch.

Its target was Obito's masked head!

Alarm bells rang wildly in Obito's mind.

Danger!

Without time to think, [Kamui]'s intangibility activated instinctively.

He was confident that with intangibility, no one in the world could harm him.

However—

Besides the immense power of senjutsu chakra, Kamizuki Yu's fist was also silently coated with a nearly imperceptible strand of [Kamui]'s distortion force.

"Hm?"

Just as the fist was about to pass through Obito's mask, Obito's intangibility actually stalled for a split second!

Though it was only a negligible fraction of a second.

For someone as strong as Kamizuki Yu, it was enough.

Bang!

The force of the punch grazed past Obito's head.

Although Obito barely completed his intangibility at the last moment and avoided the fatal blow, that strange [Kamui] power still affected him.

With a crack, a clear fracture appeared along the edge of his orange spiral mask.

Beneath the mask, Obito's body shook violently.

His intangibility... had been disrupted?!

How could that be possible?!

His [Kamui] intangibility was his greatest reliance, the trump card that let him run rampant through the ninja world!

Yet someone had actually been able to interfere with it and had nearly broken it!

Who... was this person?!

Obito rapidly retreated, opening up distance from Kamizuki Yu. His lone eye was filled with shock and wariness.

For the first time, he felt a lethal threat.

This seemingly young boy before him possessed unfathomable strength and even more inscrutable methods.

The rogue ninja had already been scared limp by the aftershocks of the two [Kamui] clashing. Now, they did not even dare breathe loudly.

They had never imagined that their all-powerful "lord" would suffer such a huge loss right from the start.

Kamizuki Yu withdrew his fist and shook his hand.

"Your reaction was pretty quick."

"Too bad your mask wasn't very good quality."

That remark made Obito's expression beneath the mask turn even darker.

"Who exactly are you?" Obito's voice was no longer hoarse. A barely perceptible trace of anger and alarm had entered it.

"Just a helpful citizen passing by," Kamizuki Yu made up casually.

"I wanted to give you a surprise."

A surprise? This was fucking terrifying!

Obito's thoughts churned wildly.

When had the Hidden Leaf gained someone this powerful?

He believed he knew every powerful figure in the Hidden Leaf inside and out—Minato Namikaze, the Three Sannin, even those old monsters living in seclusion.

But none of them matched the person before him.

And the other party possessed [Kamui], a [Kamui] far more powerful than his own.

Could he be some hidden trump card of the Uchiha Clan?

No, if the Uchiha Clan had someone like this, Madara's plan would have long since...

He did not dare think any further.

"Your purpose." Obito forced himself to calm down.

"No particular purpose." Kamizuki Yu spread his hands. "I just think some rats shouldn't be scurrying around in the shadows."

"They're disturbing other people's sleep."

The implication was unmistakable—he was talking about Obito.

The killing intent in Obito's heart nearly overflowed.

But he knew this was not the time to act on impulse.

The other party's strength was at least at the peak Kage level, perhaps even higher.

In particular, that method capable of disrupting intangibility made him deeply wary.

If they continued fighting, he would gain no advantage. He might even expose more of his secrets.

"We will meet again." Obito stared deeply at Kamizuki Yu, as though he wanted to carve his appearance into his soul.

Before his words had faded, the Mangekyo in his right eye spun again.

[Kamui] activated!

This time, it was not an attack, but a retreat.

His body began to twist as he prepared to merge into another dimension.

Kamizuki Yu did not stop him.

To catch a big fish, one had to cast a long line.

Today was merely an appetizer, a reminder for this future "mastermind."

He needed to know that this world was not his to play with however he pleased.

"I'll be waiting anytime." Kamizuki Yu smiled faintly.

Obito's figure completely disappeared into the twisted space, as if he had never been there.

The rogue ninja looked at one another, trembling.

"M-My lord... he..."

Kamizuki Yu glanced at them.

"Your 'lord' ran away."

"Now it's your turn."

His tone was calm, but the rogue ninja felt as though they had fallen into an ice cellar.

A short while later.

The valley returned to silence.

Only several cold corpses remained, proving that a brief yet perilous encounter had once taken place here.

Kamizuki Yu stood in place, deep in thought.

Obito's [Kamui] truly was strange.

If the [Kamui] he had obtained through the system had not been optimized, and if he had not possessed the Sage Body and Asura's chakra to support him, suppressing Obito so easily today would likely have been difficult.

And that guy really could interfere with intangibility.

Though it had lasted for only an extremely brief instant, it was enough to be fatal.

It seemed that when facing Obito in the future, he would have to remain extra vigilant.

Still, this little move today should keep him in line for a while.

At the very least, Obito would now feel unprecedented vigilance and fear toward him.

That was good too. It would save him from making little moves in the shadows every day.

"The mask cracked..." Kamizuki Yu recalled the scene from earlier.

"I wonder if he'll wear a new one next time we meet."

He shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

He spread out his senses once more. After confirming there were no other observers, his figure flickered and disappeared from the place as well.

Trouble really was more interesting when he took the initiative to seek it out.

At least then, he could seize the initiative.

Kamizuki Yu's figure once again merged into the wind.