Hearing Hikari call out each of their names one by one—without a single mistake—the expressions of the Akatsuki members finally began to change.
It wasn't surprising that he knew of dangerous figures like Itachi or Kisame, but for him to also recognize the lesser-known members such as Hidan and Deidara made the situation far more unusual.
"If you retreat now, I'll pretend I didn't see you. Otherwise... don't blame me for being merciless."
Hikari's expression was grave as he raised his right hand slightly, poised to strike.
Having witnessed how he had just taken down Tobi in two blows, none of the Akatsuki dared to take his words lightly.
The sheer power of his Divine Vacuum Strike was overwhelming—ordinary jutsu were useless before such a force.
But if they retreated... what about their mission?
"Cough... cough..."
With a rough cough, Obito appeared beside Kisame. His Akatsuki cloak was now in tatters, revealing a pale, sickly-looking body beneath.
"So strong..."
"I almost got lost in the dimensional vortex and couldn't make it back..."
"Kamizuki Hikari... I didn't expect your understanding of space-time ninjutsu to have surpassed even the Fourth Hokage's. You've reached such a level already!"
Kamui was a dōjutsu—a power tied to the eye itself.
When Obito used Kamui, his ocular power connected the Kamui dimension with the real world, allowing him to phase parts of his body in and out of existence at will.
Yet Kamizuki Hikari had managed to locate the point of spatial distortion and strike him directly—something that even Obito found terrifying.
Because that meant Kamizuki Hikari had the power to defeat, and possibly kill, him.
This realization only fueled Obito's killing intent.
He could accept being injured today, but Kamizuki Hikari had to die.
If someone like him were allowed to keep growing, Obito couldn't even imagine what level Hikari might one day reach.
If the day came when they summoned the Ten-Tails and still couldn't defeat him... that would be a disaster.
They could afford to lose the Three-Tails—but Kamizuki Hikari had to die.
Having made up his mind, Obito gave his order coldly:
"Kill him!"
No matter how strong one person was, they still had weaknesses.
Even the Sage of Six Paths hadn't lived forever.
In Obito's eyes, Hikari was strong, but not invincibly so. As long as the Akatsuki worked together, they could ultimately defeat him.
Otherwise, why wouldn't Hikari just wait until the Akatsuki was collecting the Tailed Beasts to step in and stop them? Wouldn't that be better?
"Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique!"
A massive surge of chakra erupted as Kisame's ninjutsu altered the battlefield. Combined with Samehada's chakra, it stirred the Three-Tails, which had been subdued, into struggling once more.
"Water Style: Four Shark Rain!"
Knowing he had messed up earlier, Kisame didn't give anyone a chance to criticize him. He immediately followed up with another offensive jutsu.
"Mere pebbles."
Casting a cold glance at the attack, Hikari dropped his raised palm.
Divine Vacuum Strike.
As his hand descended, the surface of the lake was instantly blasted clear, leaving behind a massive vacuum imprint.
Kisame's water technique was completely obliterated.
"Go!"
After a brief moment of silence, Uchiha Itachi finally spoke a single word.
Then, his left eye's three tomoe spun rapidly, transforming into the pattern of a Mangekyō Sharingan.
'Tsukuyomi!'
*Crack!*
The sound of shattering glass echoed. Itachi suddenly clutched his left eye and dropped to one knee. Blood dripped through his fingers, splattering into the water and spreading into red ripples.
"Itachi-san?"
Kisame's eyes widened. Itachi had unleashed his ultimate technique, yet he couldn't even restrain the opponent for a second.
"I... I'm fine. Kisame, continue the fight."
Itachi covered his eye, his expression grave. With Kamizuki Hikari present, Konoha wouldn't be defenseless against the Akatsuki.
Sasori's Performance of a Hundred Puppets lasted only a second before Hikari shattered it with a single palm strike.
"Iron Sand World Method!"
Forced to use his real body, Sasori summoned the Third Kazekage puppet. Iron sand surged around them, forming a dark storm that swept toward Hikari.
An enormous net of black sand filled the sky, enveloping Hikari completely.
"If it were the Third Kazekage himself using this technique, I might be wary. But you—using his body—fall short."
As soon as he finished speaking, Hikari raised his hand again.
A gigantic imprint of compressed air blasted outward.
*Creak—crack...*
The iron-sand prison warped under the pressure, but even Hikari's seemingly unstoppable strike was momentarily held back.
More sand gathered, thickening the cage. It was even sturdier than before.
"He's trapped! Use the sealing jutsu—don't let him escape!"
Deidara shouted excitedly, seeing Hikari encased within the floating sphere of sand.
Itachi, still holding his bleeding eye, looked up.
Suspended in the air was a massive iron-sand sphere, over ten meters in diameter. And the man inside, of course, was none other than Kamizuki Hikari.
"Be careful. That guy won't be caught so easily." Obito warned flatly, pouring cold water on Deidara's excitement.
Deidara glared at him, itching to send a clay bird his way.
But as if on cue, Obito's "crow's mouth" came true—the iron-sand prison began to groan and twist, the once-smooth sphere turning jagged and unstable.
"Retreat, now!"
Sensing disaster, Obito barked the order and immediately sank into the ground, vanishing into the Kamui dimension.
*BOOM!*
A deafening explosion followed.
The blast wave hurled Sasori dozens of meters away, tearing through the terrain with violent force.
Deprived of Sasori's control, the iron-sand prison disintegrated into a storm of black particles, which slowly rained down from the sky.
Through the falling sand, Hikari's figure emerged once more—completely unscathed, his clothes not even wrinkled.
Seeing this, Deidara's eyes lit up with manic excitement.
"Now this is the kind of opponent I want to kill! All of you, move aside—let me show you real art!"
Before he could rush forward, *smack!*
Obito reappeared just in time to knock Deidara unconscious with a single slap.
Facing the others' bewildered stares, he explained calmly, "The only reason Kamizuki Hikari hasn't killed any of you yet is because your attacks haven't truly threatened his life. Deidara's explosives, however, could push him to do it."
Itachi coughed lightly, then looked up at Obito. "So from the start... you were using us as bait—just to test his power, weren't you?"
The words stung, but they were the truth.
Obito shook his head bitterly, eyes fixed on Hikari's distant silhouette by the lake.
"You think I don't want to kill him?"
"But with our current strength, defeating him directly is impossible. Better to retreat and plan carefully... than to die here in vain."
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