Chapter 59: Kabuto and Izumi vs. Obito
"Interesting! You still want to struggle until the end?" Obito said, his tone indifferent as he watched Kabuto and Izumi prepare to fight back.
Seeing Obito seemingly unguarded, Kabuto quickly formed a set of hand seals and released an Earth Style jutsu.
"Earth Style: Earth Flow Spears!"
Suddenly, numerous sharp, cone-shaped earth spikes shot up from beneath Obito, piercing him all over.
At the same time, Izumi, who should have been standing beside Kabuto, appeared behind Obito and swung her sword towards his neck.
"We did it!"
For a brief moment, Kabuto and Izumi felt victorious. They hadn't expected that the mysterious, imposing figure before them would be so easily defeated.
But the next instant, they realized something was wrong. Although their attacks hit the enemy, they felt no resistance, as though they had struck nothing at all. Obito remained completely unharmed, standing calmly before them.
"Simple yet effective tactics," Obito remarked, his voice cool. "One person uses ninjutsu to distract the enemy, while the other leaves a Shadow Clone and strikes from behind with a lethal attack."
"If this were an ordinary opponent, you might have succeeded. Too bad, your opponent is me."
Obito made no move to counter, speaking with a tone that suggested he was already certain of victory.
Izumi, undeterred, stepped forward and swung her sword at Obito several more times. Each strike, however, passed right through him without leaving a scratch.
"Impossible... Is this some kind of genjutsu?" After several failed attempts, Izumi backed off and returned to Kabuto's side.
Kabuto shook his head. "No, this isn't a genjutsu. It's likely a space-time ninjutsu. This technique allows him to lack a physical form, much like how he suddenly appeared in this sealed cave."
With a heavy, almost oppressive presence, Obito slowly advanced toward the two of them.
"Impressive perception. So, how do you plan to deal with this?" he asked, his voice dripping with malice.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Wave!"
Kabuto formed a set of hand seals and unleashed several piercing waves of air. But, as expected, all of his attacks passed through Obito's body without any effect.
Suddenly, Obito's movements became faster, and in an instant, he appeared right in front of Kabuto, reaching out to grab him.
Kabuto raised his hand to block the attack, unaware that if Obito made contact with him, he would be dragged into the Kamui space.
Just as Obito's hand was about to touch Kabuto's arm, he vanished into a ghostly, intangible state. The reason for this was Izumi's long blade, which had been swung from behind Obito, forcing him to abandon his materialized form and avoiding pulling Kabuto into Kamui.
As Obito passed through Kabuto's body in his ghost-like state, he suddenly turned, his Sharingan eyes filled with killing intent.
At that moment, Kabuto turned around to see Obito's movements, just as a swirling spatial distortion appeared in front of Obito's exposed eye.
"Damn!" Kabuto cursed inwardly.
From within the vortex of the spatial distortion, five or six shuriken shot out, heading straight for Kabuto's face.
Obito had used Kamui's power to directly shoot the shuriken from the Kamui space with his Sharingan.
With the shuriken coming from such a close range and at such a tricky angle, Kabuto couldn't dodge in time.
Clang! Clang! The sound of metal clashing rang out, and the shuriken were knocked out of the air. It turned out that Izumi had arrived just in time to provide backup.
"Wood Style: Cutting Technique!"
Just as Kabuto hadn't yet exhaled in relief, he suddenly saw a wooden spike shoot out from Obito's right hand, aiming directly at Izumi, who was standing beside him.
Kabuto, in shock, immediately pushed Izumi out of the way, taking the full brunt of the wooden spike to his abdomen.
"Oh? How touching, the bond between comrades..." Obito sneered as he observed Kabuto taking the blow for Izumi.
"But this move is far from simple!"
As Obito's words fell, several more sharp wooden spikes erupted from Kabuto's body, piercing him through in an instant. Blood gushed from his wounds.
Originally, even if Obito had used the Wood Style to strike Izumi, he wouldn't have followed up with a second wave of attacks. After all, he intended to capture her alive. As long as Yusuke remained, Izumi would serve as a useful hostage.
However, now that the target had been Kabuto, Obito had no intention of holding back.
Kabuto's eyes widened in shock as he pressed his hand to his abdomen, but his body betrayed him. He dropped to his knees, then collapsed onto the ground with a loud thud.
"Kabuto!!!"
The others around them cried out in alarm. Uchiha Hazuki and Izumi rushed to Kabuto's side, cradling him in their arms, tears streaming down their faces.
Izumi, overcome with grief, wept loudly. The sky above Konoha Village seemed to respond to her sorrow, and a torrential rain began to pour down, though those inside the cave remained unaware.
The "Wood Style: Cutting Technique," a piercing attack initiated from within the body, was capable of destroying vital organs and was incredibly lethal to normal humans. Kabuto, now motionless, had no more life in him.
Izumi, gazing at Kabuto's pierced and bloodied body, was frozen in place, tears silently running down her cheeks. Memories of her time with Kabuto flashed before her eyes.
"Hello, I'm Kabuto Yakushi, please take care of me from now on!"
"Here, Izumi, have some of these meatballs!"
"Izumi, this is how you perform this technique. Follow me and make the hand seals!"
"Ah, Izumi, I've become weaker than you in taijutsu now!"
Since Kabuto had been brought into their home by Yusuke more than three years ago, Izumi had come to see him as an older brother.
Although Kabuto wasn't someone she admired like Yusuke and didn't share any blood relation with her, he was always there—whether it was for meals, training, playing, or carrying out missions. He provided her with help and care, much like a sibling.
The clear tears in Izumi's eyes were suddenly mixed with fresh blood. The pattern in her Sharingan shifted before her very eyes.
The once familiar three-tomoe Sharingan slowly faded, replaced by a new pattern—a five-petaled flower surrounding a central core, resembling a cherry blossom.
At that moment, Izumi unlocked her Mangekyō Sharingan.
The condition for an Uchiha to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan was the death of a close or beloved person. The profound emotional trauma from such a loss triggered the activation of this powerful eye technique.
Seeing Kabuto, whom she had come to treat as a brother, pierced and lifeless, Izumi's emotional shock shattered the mental barrier that had kept the Mangekyō Sharingan dormant until now.
"I'll kill you!" Izumi's voice was cold as she glared at Obito.
She sheathed her Kusanagi sword, Kikyo Senrakuzakura, and assumed the stance for a sword draw.
"Hahahaha, let me see your power then. No wonder you're Uchiha Yusuke's sister. I didn't expect you to surprise me like this!" Obito initially seemed taken aback at the sight of Izumi unlocking her Mangekyō Sharingan.
However, his shock quickly turned into overwhelming excitement. After all, the value of a Mangekyō Sharingan was immeasurable, and in Obito's eyes, Izumi's eyes were ripe for the taking.
In his intangible state, Obito slowly approached Izumi, clearly relishing the feeling of playing with his enemies at his leisure.
"Hmm?"
When Izumi suddenly appeared before him in a flash, hand on her sword's hilt, Obito felt a sense of unease, an instinctive premonition of danger.
Though confident in his intangible state, Obito subconsciously shifted to the side to evade.
A flash of pink, as dazzling as cherry blossoms in bloom, passed in front of him. Obito felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and saw a familiar arm, covered in blood, floating through the air.
"Is that... my arm?"