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Chapter 60: Sorry I'm Late
"Impossible!"
Obito cried out in disbelief, grabbing his severed right arm with his left hand and quickly retreating to put distance between himself and Izumi.
At the stump where his arm had been cut off, there was surprisingly little blood. Instead, an eerie mass of pure white muscle tissue was exposed.
The slash Izumi had just unleashed had originally been aimed at Obito's head. Thanks to his heightened danger sense, he narrowly avoided a fatal blow—but not without losing an arm in the process.
"This is your Mangekyō ability, isn't it? I didn't sense even the slightest spatial fluctuation—so how did your blade manage to hit me?"
Obito's voice was low and grim as he glared at the cold-faced girl before him.
His phasing ability worked by hiding his body within the Kamui dimension. To harm him, one would normally need to extend their attack into that space and strike his true form.
Yet Izumi's slash just now had shown no signs of space manipulation. Her blade hadn't crossed dimensions, and still, it struck him. That baffled Obito.
In truth, Izumi's Mangekyō Sharingan ability was called "Mokkenzan" (Sight Severance Slash). As the name implied, anything her Mangekyō laid eyes upon and struck would have the damage directly reflected onto the target's true body.
This ability completely countered foes who relied on phasing, elementalization, illusions, and similar techniques—types that would normally be a nightmare for taijutsu users or weapon-based fighters. But for Izumi, they posed no such threat.
Not that Izumi cared to explain anything to Obito. Instead, she silently assumed another battōjutsu stance, eyes filled with murderous intent locked onto him.
The battōjutsu she used was a modified version of "Fuzan" from Ryūjin Jakka, reworked by Yusuke. Instead of relying on spiritual pressure, it was driven by chakra and her own physical strength.
While chakra-driven "Fuzan" was weaker compared to its spiritual counterpart, it still outclassed the majority of known battōjutsu techniques in the ninja world.
"You seem to be in a bit of trouble!"
Just then, a bizarre yet lively voice piped up.
It came from within the mask of the mysterious enemy standing before her—but the tone and cadence were clearly different from before.
The owner of the voice was none other than White Zetsu: Tobi, who was still parasitizing Obito's body at the moment.
Though it was called parasitism, Tobi's presence was completely harmless to Obito. In fact, it had restored the body parts Obito had lost to severe injury, greatly enhanced his vitality and physical capabilities, and even granted him the power to use the Wood Release kekkei genkai.
"This girl's taijutsu is extremely strong," Obito said gravely, "and she possesses a strange ability that bypasses Kamui's space. She's... troublesome."
"Then let me take over for a bit!" Tobi chirped cheerfully. "If I help you take her out, you'll have to tell me what it feels like to poop, okay?"
Before Obito could reply, Izumi had already unleashed her "Fuzan", appearing beside him in an instant, her long blade slashing out a shower of cherry blossom-colored light.
However, Obito's movement speed suddenly surged, and he managed to dodge her slash just in time.
Izumi pressed the attack relentlessly, executing Uchiha-style kenjutsu and pursuing him without giving an inch.
In the dim underground cavern, the pinkish blade light flashed again and again as Obito twisted and contorted his body in bizarre ways to evade her strikes with seeming ease.
Then, from the collar of Obito's black cloak, a mass of white, tendril-like material extended, coiling around his head and fully engulfing it, mask and all, into a swirling white helm.
At this point, Obito's body was entirely under Tobi's control—and his physical abilities surged dramatically.
Tobi casually reattached the severed right arm by pressing it against the stump at Obito's shoulder. A mass of white tissue oozed from the wound, seamlessly fusing the limb back in place. In moments, Obito's right arm was as good as new.
"Sorry, little girl," Tobi said brightly as he effortlessly dodged another of Izumi's slashes. "Master told me to kill you right away, so don't take it personally, okay?"
He had already received Obito's instructions: kill Izumi immediately. Obito had become deeply wary of her mysterious abilities. Besides, Yusuke's mother was still in their hands—even if Izumi died, he would retain a crucial bargaining chip.
"Wood Release: Hell's Dance of Roots!"
Seizing a brief opening in Izumi's assault, Tobi weaved a set of hand seals and activated a Wood Release technique.
Thick, thorny roots burst from the ground, twisting and coiling rapidly toward Izumi in an encircling advance.
Normally, "Hell's Dance of Roots" was a wide-range killing technique. But to preserve a potential hostage, Tobi controlled its scope, focusing it narrowly around Izumi.
As the thorn-covered roots closed in, Izumi relied on her incredible agility to dodge and weave between them. However, she failed to notice that Tobi's body had also merged with the roots themselves.
While Izumi's back was turned, busy fending off the incoming vines, Tobi emerged silently from a nearby root behind her. His palm aimed forward—a sharp wooden spike sprouted from it—thrusting mercilessly toward her exposed back!
"No—!"
Uchiha Hazuki and the others, powerless to intervene, cried out in horror as they saw the masked enemy launch a deadly strike at Izumi's back.
Hearing their terrified screams and seeing the panic in their eyes, Izumi instinctively turned her head—only to find Tobi's spike already inches away, about to pierce her heart.
In that split-second, something awakened within her.
A golden-red Sharingan pattern of three tomoe suddenly flared in Izumi's right eye—an exact match to the Sharingan in Yusuke's eyes.
As the pattern ignited, a surge of golden-red flames erupted from Izumi's right eye, spiraling around her in a blazing protective barrier!
The sudden burst of fire was incredibly hot, instantly incinerating all the thorny roots summoned by Tobi. The wooden spike in his hand was consumed in an instant, and the flames raced up his right arm, devouring it completely.
Tobi barely managed to react in time, using a Wood Release substitution technique to escape—but not unscathed. Half of his right side had already been charred, and the exposed flesh beneath his tattered cloak was blackened and scorched.
Breathing heavily, Tobi found himself seized by an overwhelming, soul-crushing killing intent. Under its pressure, even speaking became impossible.
When he looked forward through the swirling flames, he saw a pair of golden-red tomoe Sharingan glaring coldly at him from within the fire.
At that moment, Tobi felt as if death itself had fixed its gaze upon him. All thoughts of fighting fled his mind—leaving behind only raw, paralyzing fear.
"Izumi... Sorry I'm late."
As Yusuke's voice echoed through the cavern, a tall figure emerged slowly from the heart of the roaring flames.
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