Shuoye Uchiha did not hold back.
With a single sentence, he tore away the mask Obito had carefully constructed, his tone dripping with contempt—as if mocking a child who had overestimated himself.
"You—?!"
Obito's pupils contracted sharply.
But just as quickly, he forced himself to calm down.
"Obito? Who's that? Ridiculous."
Around them, the Uchiha clan members stiffened in shock. Confusion and unease spread through their ranks as they stared at the masked man.
Obito's expression darkened beneath the mask. Killing intent surged like a storm.
A low whisper echoed in his ear—Black Zetsu.
He must be eliminated. Otherwise, the Eye of the Moon Plan cannot proceed.
Obito clenched his teeth.
He could never admit his identity here. If exposed, everything would collapse.
"I'll make you understand," he said coldly, "just how wide the gap between us truly is."
At that moment, the Raikage and the remnants of the Hidden Cloud exchanged sharp looks. If this mysterious black-cloaked figure was targeting Shuoye, it might be their only chance to withdraw.
"Move!"
The battlefield tightened instantly. Chakra fluctuations thickened the air.
Shuoye smiled faintly.
Perfect.
Time to test the fully evolved Hōgyoku.
At a mere thought, chakra surged through him like a tidal wave. It multiplied, expanded—his entire body thrummed with power. Every nerve ignited in exhilaration.
Obito felt it.
And his forced smile faltered.
That presence—
It pressed down like a hurricane.
"Bluffing."
He steadied himself. Shuoye had just fought the Raikage and a Tailed Beast. He had to be exhausted.
That confidence lasted less than a second.
A sharp chill ran down Obito's spine.
"What—?!"
The Raikage and others felt it too. A chakra signature unlike anything before.
"This isn't right."
Obito reacted instantly.
His body phased, entering intangibility to evade the incoming strike—
But Shuoye was faster.
A flash of steel cut across the night.
Cold.
Pain.
Obito felt his shoulder tear open. If not for his intangibility activating in time, that strike would have severed him cleanly.
"Pity."
Shuoye's voice drifted beside his ear.
Calm.
Deadly.
Mocking.
Obito's body trembled.
He had never stood so close to death.
Fear and fury twisted together in his gaze.
"Kamui… truly a convenient ability."
Shuoye's tone lowered, like distant thunder rolling across the sky.
"So… what about the next slash?"
He stood there like a god emerging from darkness, looking down at a fool who thought himself untouchable.
Obito's heart hammered violently in his chest.
"What just happened…?"
He could not understand it.
The Mangekyō Sharingan—pride of the Uchiha—had failed to respond in time.
Failed.
"Genjutsu?"
The thought flickered through his mind.
But no ordinary genjutsu carried that speed. That physical force.
"Even my Mangekyō couldn't react… and that speed…"
"Flying Thunder God?"
His mind leapt to Minato Namikaze—the legendary Yellow Flash.
Yet even that comparison felt incomplete.
Shuoye's movement was stranger. Harder to grasp.
Behind him, Fugaku Uchiha and Shisui Uchiha exchanged stunned glances.
"Shuoye's genjutsu… has reached another level," Fugaku muttered quietly.
There was pride in his voice.
They had always known Shuoye's talent.
But this—
This was something else.
He had placed even Obito under illusion without anyone noticing.
Shuoye stood calmly, savoring the subtle resonance still flowing through his body.
To refine his Kyouka Suigetsu, he often forced himself into a state where his five senses blurred—training the absolute boundary between illusion and reality.
That strike just now—
Had been delivered in that state.
With the Hōgyoku amplifying his speed and strength in an instant, he had nearly killed Obito.
Nearly.
For now, that was enough.
Obito's voice echoed into the night.
"Next time… I will kill you."
It carried certainty.
And fury.
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