Beneath Obito's feet lay black earth, its soil charred and cold, with a sluggish, resistant feel underfoot.
Thud... hum...
These were not sounds, but tremors that acted directly upon the soul.
A torrent of scorching, immense golden chakra that burned like the sun was colliding fiercely with another vast, ancient torrent of pure white chakra that pulsed like the earth itself.
Obito stopped walking.
The Sharingan in his right eye, however, contracted and trembled violently of its own accord.
This chakra...
He knew it all too well.
The owner of this very chakra had killed him outright.
Naruto Uzumaki.
"That direction... is it him? Who is he fighting?"
Obito muttered to himself, his voice a little dry.
He could sense that the clash was unimaginably intense, even greater than any upheaval he had witnessed before.
The chakra coming from Naruto, in particular, was still familiar, yet seemed to contain something deeper and more dangerous.
But compared with the battle in the Pure Land, there was something else Obito cared about more.
"Someone capable of killing that monster Naruto Uzumaki actually exists in the shinobi world?"
The thought surfaced unbidden, carrying a trace of complicated emotion that even he failed to notice.
There was satisfaction, disbelief, and shock at the hidden power of the shinobi world.
He had thought Naruto Uzumaki was already invincible in the shinobi world. He had never expected there to be an even stronger fighter.
Obito stood where he was, the cold sensation of the black earth spreading upward from his soles. His recent battle with Kakashi Hatake's father remained vivid in his mind.
Konoha's White Fang had once been Obito's idol, and fighting his idol had put him under tremendous pressure.
Sakumo's blade was unimaginably fast, carrying a pure resolve to fight in defense of others