Carl raised his hand, unleashing an Almighty Pull that clamped straight onto Obito's throat, lifting him into the air with one hand.
Fear flashed across the face beneath Obito's mask. The instant he was seized by Carl, he tried to evade by phasing—but the Kamui intangibility that had never failed him before simply wouldn't activate now!
He could feel it clearly: the space around him seemed to be clenched by an invisible giant hand, gripping so tightly that he couldn't tear open even the smallest slit.
Even in this state, Obito deliberately lowered his voice and said in a hoarse growl,
"Let me go."
As he spoke, his wrist flipped within his sleeve, and a black rod stabbed toward Carl.
Crack!
Carl casually raised a hand, caught the black rod, and snapped it like a toothpick. Seeing this, Obito's pupils shrank, disbelief flooding his face.
That black rod was condensed from Yin–Yang Release. The moment it touched someone, it would seal their chakra—how could it possibly be broken so easily?
Before Obito could figure out what was happening, Carl's knee slammed violently into his abdomen.
Just once.
It nearly made Obito's eyes bulge from their sockets as his body was sent flying.
He crashed to the ground and spat out a huge mouthful of blood, mixed with fragments of internal organs.
If it weren't for the Hashirama cells within him, that single blow would have ended his life.
Even so, Obito had completely lost his ability to fight. At this point, he couldn't even stand up.
Carl's footsteps drew closer. Beneath the mask, Obito's expression gradually calmed, a cold glint flashing through his crimson Sharingan.
When Carl reached his side, Obito's body twisted and vanished like a mirage.
Carl's expression didn't change. He reached back with one hand and once again precisely clamped onto Obito's throat.
"What!?"
This time, Obito's voice was filled with uncontrollable terror. He was truly panicking.
Back when Carl had effortlessly snapped the black rod, the ever-cautious Obito had activated Izanagi without hesitation, sacrificing one Sharingan to reset his gravely wounded, dying self to the state recorded when Izanagi was first activated.
Now, the other Sharingan hidden beneath his mask had already turned ashen white, permanently losing its light.
He had planned to exploit the information gap of Izanagi to ambush Carl—but instead, he had gained nothing and lost everything. The situation was no different from the beginning, and in fact had become even worse.
Carl dragged Obito in front of him as if grabbing a chicken. With his other hand, he flicked a finger, shattering Obito's mask into pieces.
Obito stared at Carl with his remaining Kamui Sharingan, desperately activating it again and again. But no matter how much ocular power he poured out, space didn't even ripple.
Under Obito's terrified gaze, Carl extended a finger toward his last remaining Sharingan and smiled.
"I'm really curious—would you be willing to use this eye to activate Izanagi?"
Hearing that Carl even knew about Izanagi, Obito, now completely panicked, shouted,
"W-wait! Who exactly are you?!"
The corner of Carl's mouth curved into an amused smile. He didn't answer Obito's question, instead asking one of his own.
"So… want to experience your ultimate dream? The Infinite Tsukuyomi?"
Obito froze.
A thin crack suddenly split open on Carl's forehead, revealing a pitch-black Rinne Sharingan as deep as an abyss.
The moment that eye appeared, a terrifying pressure swept outward. Even the once-clear sky darkened in response. Obito, who had steeled himself to sacrifice his Kamui Sharingan to activate Izanagi, felt his ocular power stagnate—an absolute suppression that spanned several levels.
A dim gray beam shot from the Rinne Sharingan straight into Obito's forehead.
The next second, the pattern of the Rinne Sharingan appeared in Obito's eyes as well—even in the eye that had already gone completely blind.
Carl released his grip. Obito collapsed to the ground with a dull thud, his body utterly limp and unconscious.
Lily walked over with her arms crossed, looking at Obito, who had fallen into the world of Infinite Tsukuyomi.
"Why not just kill him? Testing a new ability again?"
At that moment, Kaguya drifted over beside Lily like a ghost and said softly,
"This is Infinite Tsukuyomi. His life energy will be continuously converted into nourishment and fed back to Carl-sama. In the end, after every last bit of energy is extracted, he'll become a puppet completely under Carl-sama's control."
Lily's eyes lit up in admiration.
"So that's how it is. That really is far more valuable than killing him outright. This ability is pretty nice—can I use it too?"
As expected of the former ultimate final boss of the pirate world, "Imu-sama."
Ordinary people would only see this technique as vicious and cruel, but she appreciated it purely for what it was.
Of course, birds of a feather flock together. Carl himself saw nothing wrong with it either. He first activated Daikokuten to store away Obito, who had already formed a cocoon, then turned to examine Lily's smooth, pale forehead. Pointing to the Rinne Sharingan on his own forehead, he said,
"Looks like you can't use it. The prerequisite for Infinite Tsukuyomi is having an eye like this."
Lily smacked her lips in disappointment and spread her hands.
"Well, if I can't use it, I can't use it."
Carl smiled reassuringly.
"Don't worry. You'll definitely be able to someday. More Ōtsutsuki will surely come to this Earth in the future—whether it's the Ten-Tails or nourishment for it, we won't be lacking."
Kaguya, listening from behind, couldn't help the slight twitch at the corner of her mouth, a surge of satisfaction rising in her heart.
Although she herself was also an Ōtsutsuki, she had not the slightest fondness for her clan. Thinking about how those once high-and-mighty 'guardians' were about to become prey, she let out a cold laugh. Truly, the wheel of fate turns.
Kaguya, who had once lived in constant anxiety over the Ōtsutsuki invasion, now only hoped they would come sooner. She understood her clan well—proud as they were, they would never arrive in large numbers. Just like before, it would be at most a pair.
For current Carl two Ōtsutsuki would be nothing more than free offerings. And with both Lily and herself present, after several more waves were sent, even if the Ōtsutsuki clan realized something was wrong, it would already be too late.
As Kaguya's thoughts drifted further and further, Carl's voice rang out.
"All right. Time for the next stop. Let me think… Next, we'll go to Iwagakure. There are two Jinchūriki there."
Kaguya immediately pulled her thoughts back, bowed, and said,
"As you command."
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+80 chapters on p@treon/tambeerg