"Devouring Coffin."
The moment those two words left Obito Uchiha's mouth, the entire Four Violet Flames Formation seemed to turn colder.
Obito Uchiha remained standing there calmly, one hand slightly raised.
The spiral pattern of his orange mask seemed to twist unnaturally, as if space itself were bending around it.
A strange black ripple spread from his outstretched hand, forming a huge coffin around the Shinigami.
Hiruzen's pupils shrank at the sight of that ominous black coffin.
"…What—?"
He couldn't understand it.
This wasn't a ninjutsu he recognized.
A soundless roar spread through the air.
The massive figure behind Hiruzen twisted violently, as though something impossible had seized it.
For the first time...
The god of death stopped.
Its hollow eyes seemed to flicker.
Its corpse-like face distorted slightly, and the soul-cutting blade in its hand gave a faint tremor.
Hiruzen's body shook violently.
The connection between him and the Dead Demon Consuming Seal was instantly thrown into chaos. The old man coughed out a mouthful of blood and nearly dropped to one knee.
"That's impossible…" Hiruzen rasped.
Even Orochimaru's eyes contracted sharply.
He had asked for help because he knew he would die if that jutsu completed itself.
But even he had not expected this.
To interfere with the Dead Demon Consuming Seal itself—
No, not interfere.
The leader... he was doing something incomprehensible to that being.
Obito himself was also feeling quite surprised at this moment, because he was receiving strange feedback during the process.
The Shinigami itself was resisting him, and a strange feeling spread through his body, as though he were being stared at by a higher-dimensional being.
This had been his plan from the very beginning.
He had hoped to use Orochimaru to make the Third Hokage use the Reaper Death Seal, and then devour the strange Shinigami that had appeared twice in the Naruto anime.
This Shinigami had left a very deep impression on him. At first, it seemed to be just a sealing-type technique, but after thinking about it carefully... Obito came to a conclusion.
The Shinigami itself was not something created by the Uzumaki Clan.
It was an original being, summoned from a higher dimension into this plane of existence through the Uzumaki Clan's sealing technique.
But now...
He seemed to have underestimated this Shinigami by a lot.
Completely ignoring the Third Hokage and Orochimaru beside him, Obito pulled back the black cloth covering his arm slightly and narrowed his eyes.
'To think that after all this time... I would actually feel this threatened.'
His arm was full of goosebumps, his body's natural reaction to danger, as he calmly concealed it once again.
Then he looked at the Shinigami inside the black coffin, who was not saying anything and was only grinning at him with that terrifying face.
"Hmph."
Obito was surprised, but he did not back down and immediately initiated the absorption mode.
Grrr... Ghaa...
The strange noises it made caused Obito's eyes to sharpen instantly. If not for the Devouring Coffin holding it back, and if the Shinigami could actually be heard or seen by others...
Obito was sure as hell that if any normal person heard that, they would be shaken to their core.
'Some kind of soul interference?'
Obito frowned after discovering this. He was glad that he had not challenged it before and had simply started with devouring it directly.
Inside the Devouring Coffin, the process was completed, but Obito's expression behind the mask did not look good at all.
"So that's it... no, it does make sense..."
Seeing the result of the devouring, he connected the dots and understood what had happened, and for the first time, he felt slightly worried.
Although the Shinigami had been devoured, it let him know one thing.
It was indeed a being from a higher dimension, and the one he had absorbed was merely its avatar used to interfere with this world.
So, he could only obtain part of its power.
'But that also means...'
'I should've made it pretty mad.'
After reaching that conclusion, he simply shrugged.
He had never been one to regret what he did. Since he had already done it, then so be it.
And this wasn't without benefits.
At his command, the black ripple slowly retreated back into his palm, disappearing as though nothing had happened.
Inside, he could already sense a unique item filled with energy... different from any other he had obtained before.
He had a feeling that if he absorbed that...
He might undergo a very interesting evolution.
Hiruzen's connection to the jutsu trembled violently as it was severed.
The price he had already begun to pay clawed at his soul—but now there was nothing left to complete.
"What… did you do…?" he asked, his voice strained.
For the first time since activating the Dead Demon Consuming Seal—
He had felt something interfering with it, and now it had been completely cut off.
How could such a thing be possible?
The Shinigami was one of the strongest techniques to ever exist, yet now this masked man had dealt with it through means Hiruzen couldn't understand.
Even Orochimaru himself was greatly surprised. He let out a long breath, rolling his shoulders slightly as if shaking off some invisible pressure.
"That was… unpleasant," he said lightly.
Orochimaru exhaled slowly and gave a faint laugh.
"…As expected of Leader-sama."
Then his golden eyes slid toward Hiruzen, filled with undisguised mockery.
"Sensei… it seems your final gamble failed."
Hiruzen did not respond. His eyes were locked onto the masked man.
That cloak…
Those red clouds…
"…Akatsuki…" he murmured.
Obito finally turned his head slightly, a trace of barely concealed satisfaction in his eyes as he looked at Hiruzen. After all, this old man had used his own life to give him a power-up.
Hiruzen straightened slightly despite his exhaustion and impending death.
Even now…
Even after everything…
He was still the Hokage.
"…Who are you?" he asked.
Obito tilted his head slightly, as if considering the question.
Then...
"I'm no one important."
Hiruzen, of course, did not believe such nonsense.
He had no idea who this person was.
But from the moment he appeared, the entire battlefield had fallen under a pressure even more terrifying than Orochimaru's.
And that single move just now...
It made Hiruzen understand one thing with absolute clarity.
This man was far more dangerous than Orochimaru.
Outside the barrier, the ANBU and Konoha shinobi had gone silent.
They did not understand what had just happened.
They could not see the Shinigami.
But they had seen the Third Hokage suddenly vomit blood.
They had seen Orochimaru speak to the masked intruder with open respect.
And they had seen that man appear inside the Four Violet Flames Formation as if the barrier were a joke.
One ANBU swallowed dryly.
"Who… is that?"
Another clenched his fist.
"How did he get inside the barrier…?"
"That must be a legendary space-time ninjutsu, just like the Fourth Hokage's..." the leading ANBU said, his voice grave.
Inside the formation, Hiruzen forced himself to question him again.
The pain tearing through his soul was unbearable, but he still glared at the masked man.
"…Who are you really?"
Obito looked at him in silence for a moment.
Then he answered calmly.
"A passerby."
Hiruzen's eye twitched.
Even Orochimaru paused strangely, as if he had already expected that kind of answer.
Obito continued, his tone indifferent.
"An old man sacrificing his life to drag down his own student. How touching."
Hiruzen's face darkened.
"You're with him."
"Of course," Obito said matter-of-factly. "He's my best friend."
Orochimaru's lips curled faintly, though there was something subtle in his eyes. It was impossible to tell whether he was pleased or irritated by being described that way.
Hiruzen's old lips twitched at the words best friend, and he drew in a ragged breath.
"Still, I'll give you credit... For an old relic, you performed better than expected."
"Unfortunately, being impressive doesn't change the outcome."
Swish.
Obito vanished the moment he finished speaking.
Hiruzen's pupils shrank.
Too fast—
A hand seized his throat.
Bam!
The Third Hokage was slammed backward into the ground so hard that the stone beneath him cracked apart instantly.
Dust exploded into the air.
The Konoha shinobi outside the barrier cried out in shock.
"Lord Third!"
Hiruzen coughed violently, both hands grabbing at Obito's wrist, but the grip on his throat did not move an inch.
Outside the barrier, the Third Hokage's guards were already shouting.
"Break the formation!"
"Now!"
The Sound Four, who had maintained the Four Violet Flames Formation until now, were drenched in sweat. Their faces were pale, but they still held the barrier.
They had also seen the masked man enter and stand inside as if the forbidden formation meant nothing.
That alone had shaken them badly.
Jirōbō swallowed.
"Kidōmaru… did you see that?"
Kidōmaru's voice was stiff.
"…Yeah."
Tayuya cursed under her breath.
"This is creepy as hell…"
Sakon's expression remained dark.
Inside the barrier, the masked man lifted Hiruzen with one hand and then threw him at Orochimaru's feet.
"Damnit, that bastard..." Might Guy growled from outside the barrier, anger rising at seeing the old man treated so lowly.
Kakashi's expression was not good either, but there was nothing they could do.
But not everyone was looking at the masked man with a grave expression, and the Snow Hidden team was one of them.
"Umm... isn't that Lord?" Hinata asked softly, staring at the masked man as he casually bullied an old man.
"Yeah..." Yugao replied, rubbing her temples, completely unable to understand what he was up to this time.
Kimimaro stared at the scene without blinking, his pale eyes fixed entirely on Obito's figure.
"…As expected," he murmured, almost reverently.
His voice was quiet.
But the sheer intensity in it made even Yugao glance at him.
"To think Lord would directly crush even the Hokage like this..." Kimimaro said, his fingers twitching faintly at his sides. "No... that old man should be honored."
Hinata blinked cutely.
"H-Honored...?"
Kimimaro's expression did not change in the slightest.
"To be personally humiliated by Lord, to be cast down by his hand, to serve as nothing more than a stepping stone for his will..." His voice grew lower, almost feverish. "For someone as insignificant as him, that is already more grace than he deserves."
Yugao went silent for a moment.
"…You're being weird again."
Kimimaro ignored her completely.
"There is no one else like him," he continued, his gaze never leaving Obito. "That pressure... that absolute ease... even monsters like Orochimaru can only stand beside him and wait for his approval. This is what true greatness looks like."
His breathing had become slightly uneven now, though his face remained eerily calm.
"If Lord wished it, I would gladly crawl through my own bones and tear open my flesh just to clear the ground beneath his feet."
Hinata lowered her head a little.
That was... so scary.
Haku gave a small, gentle nod from the side.
"…Yes," he said softly. "Lord really is amazing."
Karin, however, was completely lost in her own world.
She ignored everything else.
Her eyes were locked onto Obito, her face flushed as she stared without blinking.
Because of that, she didn't hear a single word Kimimaro said. Otherwise, even she would've reacted with—
"Eww… that's weird, Commander Bones…"
But right now?
She was just staring at Obito intently, her breathing slightly uneven, looking like a complete weirdo.
"Damnit… Lord looks so hot when he choked that old guy…" she muttered under her breath, almost dazed. "If only I could switch places…"
"..."
Yugao let out a long, tired breath as she watched the group.
They were beyond saving.
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