"No one in Konoha can stop him now."
Kakashi's murmured words drifted on the morning breeze over the devastated ruins.
At the other end of the battlefield, the man deemed "unstoppable"-Chiya Uchiha-slowly sheathed his sword, his gaze deep as he watched the spatial rift gradually close.
That was where Obito had fled.
[Kamui Alternate Dimension]
This was a geometric world of nothing but black, white, and gray, silent and desolate, untouched by the passage of time.
But now, a piercing scream shattered that silence.
"Aaaaaah!!!"
Thud!
A dark figure tumbled pitifully out of thin air and slammed onto the cold stone.
Obito Uchiha clutched his empty right shoulder, curled into a ball, and trembled violently.
His right arm was gone at the shoulder. The stump was charred black, and even the bone had burned into a bizarre crystalline form. Worse still, the lingering destructive heat of the Rising Sun Blade clung to him like a festering curse, spreading from the wound into his torso!
"It burns! It burns!!"
"My soul... is burning!!"
Where was even a trace of the composed mastermind Obito had once been?
Like a stray dog with its spine broken, he rolled frantically across the ground, trying to extinguish flames that did not even exist on his flesh.
"Damn it! Damn it! Chiya Uchiha!!"
Obito roared and hurriedly mobilized the immense chakra from the Hashirama cells in his body, trying to stop the wound from worsening.
Five full minutes passed.
Only then did the lethal burning sensation barely subside, but his right shoulder was ruined beyond repair. Even a cure-all like Hashirama cells could not regenerate flesh that had been "erased"!
"Hah... hah..."
Obito lay on the ground, gasping for breath. Beneath his mask, his disfigured face was drenched in cold sweat and fear.
"What kind of monster... is that brat?!"
Deep apprehension flickered in his single eye.
He had encountered countless powerful opponents in his life.
His teacher, Minato Namikaze, had once dealt him a devastating setback with the speed of Flying Thunder God Second Step. But that defeat had come down to tactics and reaction speed.
Chiya Uchiha was different.
That man had overwhelmed him in every possible way!
It was as though Chiya's abilities had been born specifically to counter him!
"Faster than my teacher... no, it isn't just speed."
Remembering the terrifying sight of that blade severing space, Obito felt a chill crawl through him.
"Minato-sensei only moved using spatial markers, but Chiya... he actually burned space out of existence!"
"Against his flames, my Kamui is nothing but a sieve full of holes!"
Obito struggled upright and glanced around the dim space.
Even hiding here, he still did not feel safe.
The feeling of being marked by the Death God followed him like a shadow.
"I can't stay here... that slash seemed to cut through the connection between spaces. If he follows the traces here..."
The thought made Obito shudder.
If Chiya actually fought his way into the Kamui Dimension, Obito would be trapped with nowhere to retreat. He would die for certain!
"I have to sever the connection! Relocate completely!"
Enduring the agonizing pain, Obito prepared to activate Kamui and leave for the base in Amegakure.
However.
The instant he was about to activate his ocular power-
Szzzt!
A tiny crack suddenly opened in the space before him.
A wisp of golden flame slipped through it, tenaciously worming its way inside like a venomous snake tracking its prey!
"What?!"
Obito was terrified out of his wits.
It had followed him?!
Even through the barrier between reality and another dimension, the lingering force of that man's slash could still pursue him?!
"I have no choice!"
A glint of grim resolve flashed in Obito's eye.
He could not let that crack widen, or Chiya's next slash would cleave this place in two!
He abruptly lifted one corner of his mask, revealing his concealed left eye socket. A spare Three-Tomoe Sharingan had been implanted there-he had collected plenty on the night of the massacre.
"Izanagi!!"
Obito formed hand seals, and the Three-Tomoe Sharingan instantly lost its luster, turning a pale gray.
At the cost of blinding one Sharingan, he unleashed the forbidden technique that rewrote reality!
"Rewrite the fact that this dimension was tracked... into nothing!"
Hum!
As Izanagi activated, the newly opened spatial crack and the wisp of golden flame that had slipped through vanished into thin air, as though rubbed away by an eraser.
Dead silence returned to the Kamui Dimension.
"Hah... I survived..."
Obito collapsed, feeling as though he had narrowly escaped death itself.
To escape, he had lost an arm, sacrificed an eye, and suffered a beating that shattered his confidence.
This was the most humiliating day he had endured since assuming the identity of "Madara"!
"Chiya Uchiha..."
Obito put his broken mask back on, a fierce fire of vengeance burning in his single eye.
"Don't celebrate too soon."
"An individual's power has its limits."
"Once I gather the tailed beasts and revive the Ten-Tails... I'll make you kneel and beg in the world of Infinite Tsukuyomi!!"
Hum!
Obito's figure warped and vanished entirely from the Kamui Dimension as he fled to the distant Land of Rain.
[Reality · Konoha ruins]
Chiya watched the rift, which had still held a trace of spatial disturbance, seal completely and disappear after a sudden pulse of strange chakra.
"Tch. Escaped with Izanagi, huh?"
Chiya curled his lip and withdrew the reiatsu perception he had just extended.
He had indeed tried to lock onto Obito's position and even deliver another slash. But his opponent was clearly ruthless enough to use a forbidden technique to sever every causal connection outright.
"You were quick to run."
Chiya was not particularly disappointed.
Obito was crippled now anyway. He certainly would not dare show his face again anytime soon.
Just then, a faint disturbance rippled through the air.
It was not an attack, but a lingering chakra-transmitted message.
It was the final threat Obito had left before completely severing the connection.
His wavering voice, brimming with venom and resentment, echoed above the ruins:
"Chiya Uchiha..."
"You're powerful, all right. Far more powerful than anyone expected."
"But you'll soon learn what it feels like to have the entire world against you."
"The Akatsuki... will remember you!"
"Get ready to lose your head! When God-Pain-descends, you will know pain!"
Every Konoha ninja present paled at the defeated man's bitter howling.
The Akatsuki!
That mysterious mercenary organization made up of S-Rank Rogue Ninjas!
Every member was said to possess the strength to fight a tailed beast alone, while their leader was rumored to be a godlike being. Being targeted by such an organization was a nightmare!
However.
Chiya, the target of that threat, merely smiled with contempt.
He raised his head and calmly answered the long-empty sky:
"The Akatsuki?"
"A pack of rats hiding in the gutters thinks it can threaten my neck?"
Chiya's voice was quiet, yet carried an arrogance that pierced the heavens:
"Obito, listen carefully."
"Go back and tell that scrawny freak covered in studs to brace himself."
"And as for you..."
Chiya stroked Ryūjin Jakka's hilt, a cold glint flashing in his eyes:
"The next time we meet, you're leaving your other eye behind too."
"As it happens, I could use a trash can that stores things in another dimension."
Such dominance!
Such arrogance!
Even with the enemy already gone, Chiya's response commanded the admiration of everyone present.
This was a true powerhouse.
Even the darkest organization in the entire Shinobi World meant nothing to him!
[Ding! Congratulations, host! Combat settlement complete!] [Combat achievement: Defeated "Obito Uchiha (Kamui Mangekyō + Hashirama cells)" head-on!] [Rating: Godlike domination! You burned through space with your flames and reduced the mastermind to a fleeing dog!] [Reward obtained: Space-time ninjutsu talent (beginner)!] (Note: You have gained an initial understanding of the flow of space. Flash Step evolution path unlocked: Space Flash Step! Short-range spatial jumps will become possible in the future!) [Reward obtained: Kamui Fragment x1!] (Note: Collect three fragments to synthesize a complete Kamui Mangekyō! Current progress: 1/3) [Reward obtained: A large quantity of kill points (deposited in the system)!]
Feeling the profound new understanding of space in his mind, Chiya nodded in satisfaction.
Beginner space-time talent.
Although he could not yet teleport over long distances like Flying Thunder God, it was more than enough for short-range "blinks" in combat. Combined with Ryūjin Jakka's destructive power, his close-combat abilities would rise to another level!
"All right, the farce is over."
Chiya turned away, paying no further attention to the direction Obito had fled.
By then, daylight had fully broken.
The rising sun shone over Konoha's ruins, making the vitrified scorched earth glitter like an enormous monument.
Chiya looked at the surrounding Konoha High Command and ninja, who were still reeling in shock.
"What are you standing around for?"
Chiya's voice broke the silence.
"Shikaku."
"Here!" Shikaku Nara jolted and hurried forward.
"Issue a notice."
Chiya walked toward the Hokage Building, giving his orders casually:
"Inform the entire Shinobi World that Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, weakened by age, tragically died during last night's 'rebellion.'"
"The Uchiha Clan is taking over Konoha's defenses."
"And..."
Chiya stopped and turned his head, his Mangekyō Sharingan sweeping toward a black-and-white pitcher plant-Zetsu-hiding in a corner of the ruins.
Zetsu stiffened, feeling as though the Death God had fixed his gaze on him, then hastily sank underground and fled.
Chiya withdrew his gaze, a cold smile curling his lips.
"And tell the Kage of every major ninja village."
"If they don't want to die, they'd better keep their claws away from Konoha."
"Otherwise, I won't mind visiting their villages and setting a fire."
"Understood?"
"Yes!! We obey your orders, Lord Chiya!!"
Hundreds of ninja answered in unison, their voices shaking the heavens.
[At the same time · Amegakure · Atop a tower]
The rain fell endlessly, year-round.
Atop the tallest tower in this sealed city of steel and pipes sat a skeletal red-haired man. Black chakra receivers protruded from his back, and his body resembled dead wood.
But his eyes were the legendary-Rinnegan!
The leader of the Akatsuki, Nagato-Pain's true body.
Beside him stood a coldly beautiful woman with pale purple hair, dressed in a black cloak patterned with red clouds-Konan.
"Zetsu has sent word."
Black Zetsu slowly emerged from beneath the floor, his voice filled with unprecedented terror.
"What happened? Did Madara (Obito) fail?" Konan frowned slightly. "He was only retrieving a pair of eyes. Surely it couldn't have..."
"No. It's much worse than failure."
Black Zetsu's voice trembled, as though he still hadn't recovered from what he had just witnessed.
"Madara... was crippled."
"What?!" Konan and Nagato exclaimed in shock.
"A monster has emerged in Konoha... His name is Chiya Uchiha."
"He killed Danzo, killed the Third Hokage, killed Uchiha Itachi, and unified Konoha."
"And just now, he severed Madara's arm with a single slash, burned through his Kamui Dimension, and forced him to use Izanagi just to barely escape!"
"That man... is terrifying."
"His Fire Release can burn space itself! He's even faster than the Yellow Flash!"
After hearing Zetsu's report, a flicker of emotion finally crossed Nagato's expressionless face.
A trace of concern flashed in his Rinnegan.
"Even Madara was no match for him..."
Nagato slowly raised his hand, gazing at the endless curtain of rain outside the window.
"Chiya Uchiha..."
"It seems the Shinobi World has gained another challenger to 'God.'"
[Three days later · The Shinobi World shook]
The upheaval in Konoha swept across the entire Shinobi World like a Category 12 hurricane.
The Raikage of Kumogakure, the Tsuchikage of Iwagakure, and both Kirigakure and Sunagakure received the earth-shattering intelligence almost immediately.
The Third Hokage had fallen in battle! Danzo was dead! The Uchiha Clan had seized power! A mysterious powerhouse, Chiya Uchiha, had burst onto the scene and subdued the entire village single-handedly!
Spreading alongside that intelligence was a newly issued bounty notice leaked from the black market.
Although Chiya now effectively ruled Konoha, the other shinobi villages saw him as an extraordinarily dangerous madman-a nuclear weapon that had shattered the balance of the Shinobi World!
[Shinobi World: Extremely dangerous individual wanted notice] Name: Chiya Uchiha Codename: Flame Emperor Affiliation: Konoha Threat level: SSS Record: Killed the Third Hokage (Shinobi Hero), killed Shimura Danzō (Darkness of the Shinobi), killed Uchiha Itachi, repelled the mysterious Masked Man. Distinguishing features: Wields a straight sword capable of unleashing golden flames, possesses a special Mangekyō Sharingan, suspected of wielding Wood Release. Bounty: 500 million ryō! (Jointly issued by the underground black markets of the four major shinobi villages)
He looked at the intelligence scroll that had just arrived.
The Land of Lightning, the Valley of Clouds and Lightning.
The Fourth Raikage A, who had been training his muscles, suddenly shattered the boulder before him with a punch.
"He killed Hiruzen Sarutobi? And took control of Konoha?"
"That brat Chiya has some nerve!!"
"He's even more arrogant than I am!"
"Brother, calm down, fool! Idiot!" Killer B was still rapping beside him, but his eyes behind his sunglasses had turned serious.
"Calm down, my ass!"
Lightning Release chakra surged around the Raikage, making every strand of his hair stand on end.
"Konoha has only just put down its internal strife. This is when it's weakest!"
"Send out the order! Assemble Kumogakure's elite forces!"
"I'm going to Konoha to meet this 'Flame Emperor'!"
"We'll see which is tougher-his fire or my Lightning Release Armor!!"
At the same time.
Ōnoki of Iwagakure, Mei Terumi of Kirigakure, Granny Chiyo of Sunagakure...
Countless eyes turned toward Konoha, which stood at the heart of the storm.
Because of Chiya's sudden emergence, the dark clouds of the Fourth Shinobi World War loomed over the Shinobi World ahead of time!
Meanwhile, Chiya sat in the spacious chair in the Hokage's office, looking at the bounty notice in his hand with a bloodthirsty smile.
"500 million ryō?"
"That's all my head is worth?"
"Looks like I'll have to kill a few more Kage to make them raise the price."
Before you continue