Decision made, a wood clone peeled away from his side. Using the movement as cover, the clone and the original secretly placed Flying Thunder God formulas on each other.
Mōryō's three subordinates still hadn't grasped what was going on, but seeing someone attack Roshi, they tried to surround and rush him in the chaos.
Roshi didn't spare them a glance. Several thick tree branches erupted and speared through their chests at a speed almost too fast to see, hoisting them into the air like ragdolls. Their struggles died out in an instant.
Now, in the chaotic center of the battlefield—hemmed in by the earthen corridor and choked with smoke and flame—only two figures faced each other.
"Uchiha... Madara." Roshi chose not to expose Obito's true identity. "So the reason the priestess couldn't keep Mōryō sealed... was because of you."
"Oh? You already know, as expected," Obito replied in his altered voice. "But today is still your last day."
His gaze swept over Roshi's true body and his Wood Clone.
'Trying to use a clone to confuse me and test my limits... Cautious bastard.'
Obito fell silent, drew the long sword at his waist, and his figure blurred as he slashed straight toward Roshi.
Roshi's original and his Wood Clone moved at the same time, trading places again and again as they darted around at high speed.
The ground and surrounding trees erupted as countless wooden spikes shot toward Obito from all sorts of tricky angles.
Every spike passed harmlessly through his phased body.
Between sword swings, Obito carefully probed, trying to distinguish the real body from the clone.
In the midst of this dazzling back‑and‑forth—
Zetsu silently rose halfway from the ground. A tree that had burst from the earth seemed to lunge at Obito, but in the next instant, it bent in an impossible arc, whipping toward Roshi's waist and abdomen like a venomous snake.
The stealthy, treacherous strike hit home.
Roshi immediately chopped off the pierced section with a sweep of his hand. At his waist, clean wooden grain and cross‑section were exposed.
'Found him!'
Obito ignored a wooden spike that thrust into his shoulder; at the exact moment it pierced him, he lunged forward and appeared right in front of Roshi.
The distance between them shrank to nothing. The warped vortex of Kamui spiraled open before Roshi.
"It's over!"
Roshi's pupils tightened. A massive tree root surged up from behind Obito, crashing toward him in an attempt to disrupt the absorption.
But Obito only formed hand seals, determined to capture this guy even if he had to tank the hit.
Zetsu, standing nearby, didn't let Obito take the blow alone. He raised a finger, guiding several thick vines that shot out and wove together, intercepting the heavy strike in Obito's place.
Just as Obito's focus split for a moment to form the hand seals, he sensed that the target being dragged into Kamui—on the verge of being sucked into the alternate space—underwent a very faint... change.
'An illusion…?'
Completing the absorption, Obito glanced toward where the wood clone had been.
He froze. The Roshi clone that should've had a wound at its waist now looked completely intact.
'What is this…' A chill slid down his spine.
In the instant Obito stalled in shock and doubt, a heavy punch, packed with overwhelming force, smashed straight toward his mask.
Just as Obito reactivated his phasing—
The moment his consciousness slipped into the Kamui dimension, he saw it.
The "Roshi" he had just absorbed suddenly exploded.
The bursting wooden fragments writhed like living things, twisting into a mass of tough vines and razor‑sharp spikes that surged toward Obito, whose consciousness had just projected into that space.
Two of the deadliest spikes were aimed with pinpoint precision at his Sharingan.
The attack on his eyes made Obito instinctively cancel his phasing.
In the real world, Obito kicked off the ground, twisting his torso and throwing his head back in an attempt to evade—but Roshi's long-prepared punch still slammed squarely into his chest.
Bang!!
Unmatched power detonated.
Obito's chest was torn open, leaving a gaping hole.
The very next moment, Roshi rapidly withdrew.
The Obito in front of him vanished like a ghost.
Another Obito—completely uninjured—reappeared a short distance away.
"He's completely seen through my jutsu…"
"But your luck runs out here."
Roshi exhaled slowly, his chest rising and falling.
"Yeah," he nodded. 'Obito had managed to trigger Izanagi after all.'
His gaze skimmed over Zetsu, then returned to Obito.
A heartbeat later, his figure blurred and disappeared from sight.
"So I wasn't mistaken. He can use Space–Time Ninjutsu… Is that the Hiraishin?"
"He switched places with his original body and his clone."
"This troublesome guy… he's had a countermeasure for me prepared from the start…"
Black smoke curled into the sky, and the advancing forest finally ground to a halt. By then, the vanguard reconnaissance unit had already gathered and was preparing to move out in support.
But before they could depart, the very person they were supposed to meet appeared inside the stronghold.
"Roshi-do… Roshi-san."
Baki turned at the sudden presence behind him, instinctively lifting a hand to halt the vanguard. "You… has Moryo appeared?"
"No," Roshi replied. "An unexpected person has appeared."
He didn't elaborate on what "unexpected" meant, but the fact that he had returned so quickly was enough for Baki to sense that something was off.
"Organize the lines. Strengthen the defenses," Roshi ordered succinctly.
"Understood." Baki accepted the command without question and immediately left to redeploy the troops.
Roshi's eyes met Kakashi's for a brief moment; that alone was enough. The two of them headed one after the other toward the temporary command post.
"Send a message back to the village. Tell Shisui to come to the front line as soon as possible to rendezvous."
"Shisui… Has that 'Madara' appeared?" Kakashi asked. To counter the movements of Moryo, most of Konoha's top-tier fighters were already on standby. For Roshi to specifically name Shisui, the only threat that came to mind was that mysterious masked man.
Roshi glanced at him. What good would it do to let Kakashi know in advance that the masked man was Obito? He weighed it once more, then chose silence.
He simply nodded, then outlined the details of his recent battle—especially the masked man's abilities. He carefully described Obito's powers, including Izanagi.
For Kakashi and for Konoha as a whole, understanding and countering those abilities mattered far more right now than the identity under the mask. In fact, they should almost be "grateful" that Obito was the one in control.
If Madara's original plan had gone smoothly, he would already have been resurrected by Nagato's Rinne Rebirth and descended upon the world himself. In a way, Obito had single-handedly held Uchiha Madara at bay for years.
With that thought, Roshi added, "About the Sharingan—beyond the three tomoe, there's a further awakened power. You might need to know about it."
"Mangekyo Sharingan?" Kakashi's hand rose to his covered left eye, fingertips brushing the forehead protector. His voice was low. After taking over Root and gaining access to certain classified scrolls, he had already learned of its existence.
"Yes. Try to use it, if you can," Roshi said. "But be careful—don't overuse it, or you'll go blind."
—
Deep within the gloomy underground palace, the air itself seemed saturated with a sinister, restless energy.
Moryo had switched hosts again and again. Ordinary human bodies, once infused with its power, burned through their vitality and withered in no time.
It still couldn't locate the shrine maiden, yet her presence was unmistakable somewhere in the world.
As it waited in mounting impatience, space in the main hall quivered ever so slightly. A figure wearing a tiger-striped mask emerged soundlessly at the center of the hall, as if it had risen straight out of the surrounding shadows.
"Where is Miroku?" Moryo asked.
"You desire my power. If that's the case, why haven't you brought the Shrine Maiden to me?" the demon tempted the man before it. "Once I take control of the Shrine Maiden's body, my army will be fully revived and reveal its true form.
"At that point, the power I can wield won't be limited to this level."
"I have a suggestion more suitable for the current situation."
Space twisted around Obito as a pale, humanoid shape was dragged out of his Kamui dimension and tossed carelessly onto the ground.
"Since your current makeshift body can't stably sustain your existence, use this one," Obito said. "The vitality in this body is enough for you to waste for a while."
"Not enough!" Moryo's consciousness roared, and the shadows in the underground palace surged violently. "Only the Shrine Maiden's body can perfectly contain my soul and power! This pale thing is nothing but a cheap substitute!"
"It's enough," Obito replied coldly.
The demon fell silent. After a moment, the seething shadows finally poured into the White Zetsu's body.
Before leaving, Obito gave a final warning, his figure already beginning to blur. "Don't underestimate the current ninja world. This era is completely different from the one before you were sealed."
Moryo did not respond. Occupying the White Zetsu's body, it could clearly feel the vitality coursing through this vessel—far stronger than that of any ordinary human. But its core desire remained unchanged.
Only the shrine maiden could truly destroy it, and what it truly needed was also only the shrine maiden.
If it couldn't have Miroku, it would find another.
Using the White Zetsu body as a temporary shell, Moryo drove the golem army forward.
It needed more room to maneuver and more strategic depth to search for the young shrine maiden of the Land of Demons—Shion.
But the battlefield did not unfold as it wished.
The golem army not only failed to break through as expected, but the Allied Shinobi Forces' resistance grew stronger—more coordinated, more aggressive.
On Sunagakure's front line, the shinobi were no longer satisfied with simply intercepting and then retreating. They had begun to build up strength and even launch small-scale counterattacks.
During this period, Roshi was especially active.
He and the elite of the Allied forces took turns attacking. Whenever ordinary shinobi's chakra waned or fatigue set in, the iconic Wood Release would crash down like a natural disaster, smashing the golem army's counteroffensives and even pushing the line forward.
Only when another seemingly endless wave of grayish-white stone surged up from the rear would the front stabilize again, dropping back into yet another round of stalemate.
It was in the midst of this grinding deadlock that Shisui finally arrived at the front.
At his side was a timid little girl—the young Shrine Maiden of the Land of Demons, Shion.
"Does this child already have the power to deal with Moryo?" Kakashi asked with a frown, looking at Shion.
Shisui shook his head, then turned his gaze to Roshi, waiting for his decision.
"Since the village sent her, she stays," Roshi said after a short pause. "We're not counting on her to do anything right away.
"But just her presence might provoke Moryo—force it to act differently from now on, instead of constantly hiding itself like this."
That wasn't the main reason he had lingered on this front for so long. With Obito showing up, he could no longer launch high-risk surprise attacks as freely as before. Even tracking down Moryo's true hiding place had become incredibly difficult.
Shion might be the bait that made Moryo move.
And with Shisui here, Roshi would finally be able to act without holding back.
As for Shion's safety… if Naruto, who hadn't even mastered Sage Mode at the time, could be kept safe, then with him and Shisui together, there was no chance they would let anything happen to her.
It was time to launch a counterattack.
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