123. Ruthlessly Defeating Obito: The Pig-Raising Strategy

“There is no perfect jutsu in this world; every ninjutsu has its flaws. Your space-time ninjutsu seems invincible, but surely it has a time limit, right? One minute, three minutes, or five minutes? How long can you maintain it?” Kisame spoke as he unfolded the giant water prison, addressing Obito.

From what he knew, Kamui’s maximum duration was five minutes. In other words, if any technique could continuously injure Obito for five minutes straight, Kamui could be broken.

In the original story, Konan’s preparation of six trillion explosive tags to kill Obito was based on this very idea.

Now, Kisame unleashed the Great Water Wave Explosion, intending to trap Obito in this massive water prison and suffocate him alive.

“How do you know that?!” Obito cried out, unable to maintain his composure any longer. What shocked him most was that Kisame seemed to understand Kamui better than he did himself.

Indeed, as Kisame said, Kamui had a limited duration. Since Obito had only recently awakened this power and was not yet adept at using it, his maximum duration was about two minutes.

That meant he had to escape this water prison within two minutes.

With that thought, Obito no longer hesitated. While in his intangible state, he sped toward the edge of the water prison.

Fifty meters, thirty meters, ten meters.

Obito drew closer and closer to the prison’s edge, his expression brightening as he saw escape within reach. He exhaled in relief.

But soon, he realized that those last ten meters, seemingly so close, felt as unreachable as the horizon.

That was because the water prison was moving.

Yes, this massive water prison, over a hundred meters in diameter, centered on Kisame, was rapidly shifting across the sea’s surface.

Whoosh.

Inside the prison, Kisame swung his shark tail like an arrow released from a bow, swiftly closing the distance to Obito. He caught up and dragged Obito back to the center of the water prison.

“You won’t escape,” Kisame said with a devilish grin.

Seeing no way out, Obito ceased his movement.

By now, his ocular power was nearing exhaustion; maintaining Kamui was on the verge of his limit.

Even more despairing was the fact that Kisame immediately recognized Obito’s weakened state. He formed hand seals once more and summoned countless sharks to relentlessly attack Obito.

Water Release: Thousand-Eating Sharks.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Hundreds, even thousands of sharks surged from all directions, piercing through Obito’s body, launching an unceasing assault.

The combination of the Great Water Wave Explosion and the Thousand-Eating Sharks forced Obito into a dire predicament.

The moment Obito deactivated Kamui, he would be subjected to overwhelming water pressure and the sharks’ biting maws.

He was completely at Kisame’s mercy.

Finally, time ran out.

“Damn it!” Obito roared, a sharp pain stabbing his right eye as a tear of blood trickled down. Overextending his ocular power, he was forced to exit his intangible state.

The next instant, several sharks clamped down on Obito’s limbs, rendering him immobile.

Whoosh.

Kisame charged forward, swinging his shark tail violently against Obito’s body, striking him so hard that blood spurted from his mouth and he was flung backward.

Boom, boom, boom.

Kisame pursued relentlessly, battering Obito with his tail like a volleyball, sending him flying around inside the water prison.

During this onslaught, Obito’s bones shattered all over his body, and grievously injured, he could no longer resist.

Boom!

Kisame’s final strike hurled Obito out of the water prison, crashing onto the shore.

Kisame released the giant water prison, straddled Obito, and raised his massive fist—like a cooking pot—delivering a brutal beating.

“He’s tougher than I thought,” Kisame remarked, pounding Obito repeatedly.

The swirling White Zetsu attached to Obito granted him formidable defense and regeneration; even severed limbs could regenerate, essentially making him a top-tier human punching bag.

Nevertheless, despite this, Kisame’s relentless assault soon left Obito battered, bruised, and barely clinging to life.

Just as Kisame was about to finish him off—

Bang.

Kisame’s fist passed through Obito’s body and struck the ground.

Hmm?

To Kisame’s astonishment, a spatial vortex formed at Obito’s right eye. His entire body twisted and quickly slipped into another dimension, vanishing without a trace.

Obito forcibly activated Kamui and escaped.

Kisame stood, but did not pursue.

In truth, besides using the giant water prison, Kisame had two other methods to counter Obito’s Kamui.

The first was to find an opportunity to suppress Kamui’s power using the spatial energy of the Gokakyo Box, absorbing Obito inside to render him unconscious.

The second was much simpler—poison.

Anything imbued on Obito’s physical form would remain even if he shifted to intangible state.

In the original story, when fighting Oil Girl Torune, Obito was infected with her nanoscopic poison insects and had to amputate his right arm to survive.

Thus, Kisame could easily kill Obito with salamander poison.

But he refrained because from the start, he never intended to kill Obito.

He deliberately let Obito escape.

The reason was simple: to “fatten the pig.”

You have to fatten a pig before you slaughter it.

To Kisame, Obito’s greatest value lay in the two legendary tools he created after entering the Six Paths Mode through Yin-Yang Release—

The Amenonuhoko spear and the Six Paths Staff.

These two sacred tools were even more powerful than the Gokakyo Box. For Kisame, they might be the key to transcending his life form and becoming a Six Paths-level being.

Kisame’s plan was to one day steal the power of these Six Paths tools from Obito and complete his ultimate transformation.

He had thought far ahead.

His confidence in obtaining these tools from future Obito stemmed from the fact that he already held a trump card to threaten him—

Yahiko Rin, the hostage.

In summary, Kisame had gained the Flame Fan and Shark Skin tools, as well as two hostages—Rin and Kakashi. It was quite a haul.

He glanced over the battlefield littered with the bodies of Hidden Mist’s Anbu and was about to leave when he sensed multiple chakra approaching from afar.

Reinforcements from Konoha had finally arrived?

After some thought, Kisame retrieved the unconscious Kakashi from the Gokakyo Box.

Then, he extended two fingers toward Kakashi’s left eye and forcefully plucked out the Sharingan.

Kakashi’s left eye became a bleeding hollow.

Kisame carefully stored the Sharingan and, holding Kakashi with one hand, waited for Konoha’s reinforcements.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

A dozen figures burst from the forest and gathered on the clearing by the shore.

Huh?

To Kisame’s surprise, he recognized the two leaders—Jiraiya and Tsunade.

Jiraiya had come on behalf of Minato Namikaze.

Since both Kakashi and Rin were Minato’s disciples, the enemy seized them while Minato was absent. Upon learning this, Jiraiya, as Minato’s mentor, took the matter seriously and rushed to their aid.

Tsunade, meanwhile, had come in pursuit of Rin.

Since Rin’s kidnapping by Kisame, Tsunade had been restless and unable to remain in Konoha. She had been investigating intelligence on Hidden Mist and Kisame. Upon hearing of activity in Hidden Mist, she hurried alongside Jiraiya.

What on earth was going on?

Upon arrival, the Konoha shinobi were stunned at the sight: blood flowing like rivers and corpses of Hidden Mist’s Anbu strewn everywhere.

Tsunade’s gaze swept over the bodies, settling on Kisame not far off, who held Kakashi.

“You?!” she exclaimed, shocked. Recovering her composure, she charged at Kisame without hesitation.

“Tsunade, don’t be rash!” Jiraiya shouted as he pursued, but Tsunade’s fury had already brought her before Kisame, and she delivered a powerful punch.

Boom!

A massive shockwave burst from her fist, cracking the ground beneath into spiderweb-like fractures.

Kisame swiftly dodged to the side.

“Tch, Lady Tsunade, you really don’t distinguish friend from foe. I saved Kakashi, yet you attack me?” Kisame taunted, tossing Kakashi toward Tsunade.

Jiraiya caught Kakashi as Kisame spoke.

“What do you mean by that?” Tsunade narrowed her eyes, frowning at Kisame.

“Ask Kakashi yourself when he wakes up. I don’t have time to play with you now. See you,” Kisame said with a smile and leapt backward, diving into the sea.

“You bastard! Stop right there!” Tsunade pursued without hesitation, demanding, “Where is Rin?”

“Don’t worry, she’s fine,” Kisame answered lazily, then vanished beneath the waves.

Tsunade was about to follow when Jiraiya’s voice called from behind.

“Tsunade, come back! Something’s wrong with these people’s deaths!”

Jiraiya’s complexion darkened as he examined the Anbu corpses.

Tsunade reluctantly returned, powerless.

“Those people…” She knelt by the Anbu bodies and noticed wooden spikes growing from their bodies, her expression becoming more astonished and incredulous.

Wood Release ninjutsu.

Someone had used Wood Release to kill these dozens of Hidden Mist Anbu.

“Could it be Kisame?” Jiraiya asked in disbelief.

He wasn’t very familiar with Kisame but recalled having met him over half a year ago.

At that time, Kisame was a prisoner being transported to Hozuki Castle Prison. Unexpectedly, this man who should have spent his life behind bars was here.

“No, Kisame couldn’t possibly use Wood Release. Besides, he’s from Hidden Mist—why would he kill all the Hidden Mist Anbu?” Tsunade shook her head, dismissing Jiraiya’s speculation.

Faced with this great mystery, the two exchanged glances.

It seemed they would have to wait for Kakashi’s awakening to get answers.

With that in mind, Tsunade treated Kakashi, especially staunching the bleeding from his left eye.

“Kakashi’s left eye seems to be a Sharingan, transplanted from his deceased comrade Obito,” Jiraiya said gravely.

“No doubt it was stolen by that Kisame. That despicable bastard…” Tsunade gritted her teeth at the mention of Kisame’s name.

Meanwhile, somewhere within the Land of Fire—

“Huff… huff…” Obito gasped, fleeing frantically through the forest, glancing nervously behind. When he saw Kisame had not pursued, he finally relaxed.

Shortly after, he returned to Uchiha Madara’s underground hideout.

“What happened to you?” Madara asked, his face full of suspicion.

He had expected Obito to return and to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan but never imagined him battered and bruised like this.

Madara nearly failed to recognize him.

To think that Obito had just unlocked his Mangekyo and, with White Zetsu’s aid, wielded the combined power of the Senju and Uchiha clans, yet ended up in such a state.

Impossible—if the enemy were Hidden Mist Anbu, they couldn’t have done this.

Wait—could it be…?

Madara’s pupils contracted sharply as his brows furrowed.

Obito did not answer Madara’s question; upon returning, he collapsed and lost consciousness.

At that moment, White Zetsu detached from Obito’s body, appearing shaken as he reported to Madara:

“Lord Madara, everything went according to plan until we encountered a twisted individual who almost cost me my life—he is that Kisame Hoshigaki.”

So it was him.

Madara’s gaze turned icy.

Within just a few days, Kisame had twice ruined Madara’s plans. Still, despite setbacks, the original plan had largely succeeded.

With that, Madara ordered White Zetsu to carry Obito to a bed and use the Outer Path Gedo Mazo’s power to heal him.

After some time—

Obito suddenly opened his eyes and sat up, drenched in cold sweat.

Clearly, he’d had a nightmare during unconsciousness.

“You’re awake,” Madara said, leaning on a massive scythe-like weapon.

Obito looked at him, his gaze growing colder.

“Why did you deceive me? Why did you use me?” he demanded as he stepped down and approached Madara.

“What are you talking about?” Madara asked, puzzled.

Sensing the tension, White Zetsu hurried over, trying to calm Obito:

“Obito, you’ve been deceived by Kisame’s provocation. Don’t listen to his lies! It was Lord Madara who saved your life, have you forgotten?”

“Do you think I’m an idiot?” Obito interrupted fiercely.

His right eye instantly morphed into the Mangekyo pattern. He charged at Madara, growing a sharp wood spike from his palm and thrusting it into Madara’s chest.

Thud!

Madara stood motionless, allowing the spike to pierce his heart.

“Lord Madara!” White Zetsu and the wood-spike Zetsu panicked and rushed forward to attack Obito.

“Stop!” Uchiha Madara commanded coldly, halting their actions.

“Why didn’t you dodge?” Obito stared at Madara, already showing signs of regret.

“Heh, I was already close to death,” Madara smiled bitterly before coughing up blood.

His gambit had worked as intended.