Chapter 533: The Gap Between the Enemy and Us
Boom!
A terrifying repulsive force erupted from Nagato's position.
Under the impact of that overwhelming power, the ground split apart at once, and a massive crater instantly formed beneath Nagato's feet.
Guy, who had already closed the distance to nearly point blank range, felt that dreadful force slam into his entire body, stopping his attack just before it could reach Nagato.
Without question, this was a direct clash between impact and repulsion.
If Guy's force had surpassed Nagato's, then even if Golden Skyline failed to strike Nagato directly, the recoil alone would have been enough to send Nagato flying.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The collision of those two terrifying powers devastated the arena even further.
Nagato's full power Shinra Tensei already had an enormous range, and with the additional shockwave created by its collision with Golden Skyline, the battlefield was instantly ruined as if it had been bombarded, and the destruction began spreading toward the stands.
Fortunately, Mugetsu had prepared for this in advance. He immediately released chakra and formed hand seals, erecting a barrier over the arena to stop the aftershocks from reaching the audience.
After all, with contestants like Guy and Nagato, Mugetsu had long anticipated a scene where both of them would go all out.
Inside the waiting room, Obito wiped the thin sheen of sweat from his forehead.
After watching those two unleash such terrifying moves, he could no longer stay calm.
Next, either he or Shisui would have to face a monster like that. How were they supposed to fight?
He glanced at Shisui, whose expression had also turned serious, and let out a sigh. Clearly, Shisui was in no better mood than he was. After all, both of them were still Fire Release users from the lower ranks.
Their own abilities were basically just spitting out a stream of flames or a fireball.
Their opponents, meanwhile, were either people who could manipulate repulsion and gravity and casually destroy an entire arena with one technique, or terrifying taijutsu monsters who could create large scale fire effects with their bare fists and blow apart Ninjutsu with raw air pressure.
"Guy, you have to win!" Obito shouted inwardly.
Although whoever won this match would make the finals hellishly difficult, Guy was still his friend and fellow disciple. Naturally, Obito supported him without reservation.
Bang!
In the end, Guy could not withstand the force of Shinra Tensei and was blasted backward at high speed, crashing hard into the edge of the arena.
Obito hurriedly covered his mouth, then immediately thought of Kakashi.
"It must be Kakashi. He definitely said Guy would win."
"Phew..." Nagato panted heavily, sweat pouring down his forehead as his face turned even paler than before.
That last attack had consumed an enormous amount of chakra, to the point that Nagato even felt the same kind of weakness he usually experienced after overusing his power.
At that moment, he was grateful that he had remembered Mugetsu's advice and fought steadily from beginning to end. Otherwise, the outcome of this match might really have been difficult to predict.
Nagato looked toward Guy, who was now buried in shattered stone and debris.
Guy struggled to get back to his feet, but failed.
Two Noon Leopards within a minute had already dealt heavy damage to his legs. After that came the accumulated injuries from the battle itself, then the strain of forcing open the Sixth Gate, and finally Nagato's full power Shinra Tensei.
At this point, no matter how unyielding his will was, his legs simply could not support him anymore.
"Leaf Hand Blade!"
Even then, Guy refused to give up. Using his less damaged left hand, he fired a compressed burst of air toward Nagato.
But while Nagato was exhausted, he was still in far better shape than Guy. With enough distance between them, he easily dodged the attack.
Guy tried to launch another one, but his body would not cooperate. The second strike never came.
"Nagato wins!" the referee finally declared after confirming that Guy had lost the ability to continue fighting.
At once, several Shinobi Sect ninja rushed into the arena to carry Guy away, while Mugetsu's true body immediately went over to treat him.
"What incredible willpower." Nagato watched as Guy was taken away, admiration filling his eyes.
Guy had been wounded to that extent, yet he had still managed to launch a final attack. If Nagato had lacked both sensory abilities and the Rinnegan, a moment of carelessness might really have cost him the match.
"Number Nineteen, Uchiha Shisui, versus Number Thirty, Uchiha Obito!"
As Nagato stepped out of the arena, the referee promptly called the next match.
Shisui and Obito in the waiting room immediately walked out together.
The moment Obito looked at the so called arena, his eyelid twitched.
Calling that wreckage a battlefield now was already being generous.
During the lunch break, the staff had repaired the arena, but in only a minute, Nagato and Guy had turned it back into ruins.
"Even if I have to fight a monster like Nagato in the finals, if I make it there, then even if I lose, it still means I'm only a little weaker than him." Obito's desire to win burned hotter than ever.
After all, Guy had only made it to the semifinals. If Obito reached second place, the prestige alone would be enormous.
Even if luck played a part, luck was still part of strength.
Shisui had no interest in showing off his ranking, but his desire to win was just as strong. He had always wanted to reclaim the title of strongest disciple.
"Begin!"
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Obito and Shisui moved like mirror images of each other, forming the exact same hand seals and releasing the exact same Ninjutsu. In the end, they each spat out Great Fireball Techniques of almost identical size.
Boom!
The two fireballs collided and exploded violently, both vanishing at the same time.
Shisui was not surprised.
Without entering Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, his Fire Release and Obito's were nearly identical.
The next moment, both of their eyes turned blood red as they simultaneously activated the Three Tomoe Sharingan.
Shisui's figure flickered as he shot toward Obito at high speed.
Faced with Shisui charging straight at him, Obito showed no fear at all. He gathered chakra and met him head on.
Neither of them held back.
Their fists tore through the air, every strike aimed directly at the other's weak points.
Both had Breathing Techniques to strengthen their bodies. Both had Sharingan to heighten their perception. Both had learned taijutsu from the same teacher.
For a while, neither could gain the upper hand.
"Moves taught by the same teacher are seriously impossible to crack," Obito complained inwardly.
In truth, he actually held a slight advantage against Shisui, because Shisui's Genjutsu had little effect on him.
Shisui had the Three Tomoe Sharingan. Obito had the Three Tomoe Sharingan as well. Their ocular power was also close enough that Shisui's Sharingan Genjutsu was basically ineffective on him.
Even so, Obito did not dare relax, because even without Genjutsu, Shisui's strength was not inferior to his own.
Just as Obito was trying to figure out how to break the deadlock, Shisui's fighting style suddenly opened up, revealing several apparent gaps in his defense.
Obito instantly noticed them.
He knew perfectly well that this was likely a trap, but it was also his chance.
Obito drove his breathing to the limit, instantly entered Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, gathered chakra into his fist, completed the nature transformation in an instant, and hurled a punch at Shisui.
"Fire Release: Flame Fist!"
The fist he threw ignited with blazing, searing flames.
Just as Obito was about to strike Shisui in the chest, a layer of dark substance rapidly spread across Shisui's torso. At the same time, Shisui's left hand, covered in Armament Haki, slammed toward Obito.
Bang!
A dull impact rang out as both of them were knocked back several steps.
"Shisui's Armament Haki really is stronger," Obito thought as he rubbed the spot where Shisui had hit him. He had covered himself with Armament Haki at the last second too, but it still hurt.
Beneath the Armament Haki, Shisui could also feel a stinging heat in his chest.
"Decisive as always. That really is just like Obito. He entered Flame Breathing Chakra Mode the moment he saw the opening," Shisui thought.
Under normal circumstances, Obito should have taken the bait and gone in with plain taijutsu. Then Shisui would have blocked it with Armament Haki, and since Obito's Armament Haki was weaker, Shisui would have come out ahead.
But because Obito had instantly activated Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, Shisui's Armament Haki could not completely nullify the Fire Release in Flame Fist, so the exchange became a mutual injury instead.
Still, Shisui was not surprised by the power of Obito's Flame Fist.
Obito's Flame Breathing had always been stronger than his own.
If not for Armament Haki protecting him, Shisui would never have chosen to trade blows with Obito directly. Even if both of them entered Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, he still could not beat Obito in a straight Fire Release exchange.
The next moment, Shisui also pushed his breathing and entered Flame Breathing Chakra Mode.
In an open battlefield, he could have relied on his more refined Body Flicker Technique to evade and outmaneuver Obito. But inside a confined arena, his room to move was limited, and Obito's Fire Release could easily pin him down.
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
Enhanced by Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, both of them clasped their hands together and spewed a vast sea of flames at one another.
Boom!
The two blazing infernos intertwined, and the glaring firelight seemed to dye the entire battlefield red.
Just as Shisui had expected, once both entered Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, Obito's Fire Release held the advantage. It did not take long before Obito's flames slowly began pushing Shisui's back.
Shisui immediately cut off the chakra flow into his own Ninjutsu and flickered away.
Though Obito's Fire Release was stronger, it was not overwhelmingly so. Since much of the power had already been canceled out in the clash, Shisui was still able to avoid the two divided streams of fire without difficulty.
"I feel like both Obito and Shisui are really strong. Kakashi, who do you think will win?" Rin asked as she turned to Kakashi.
Their battle had become a perfectly balanced contest, and neither side had managed to gain a clear advantage.
Kakashi shook his head.
He was good at thinking and analysis, not prophecy. There was no way he could definitively predict the outcome of a fight this close.
"Right now, it just depends on who shows an opening first. On that point, I'm leaning toward Shisui," Kakashi said after thinking it over.
If he were the one using all of Obito's abilities against Shisui, Kakashi felt that even forcing a draw would not be impossible.
But when it came to the real Obito, Kakashi's instinct was always to doubt first and believe later.
Because in normal matches, Obito had a habit of getting excited, then making an overly aggressive decision that created an opening.
Of course, Kakashi was not always like that with Obito.
In an actual life or death battle, it was the opposite. He would believe in Obito first, then believe in him again, without the slightest hesitation.
Because in true life or death situations, Obito was extremely reliable.
Not only did he stop fooling around, he always managed to burst out with some unexpected performance at the most critical moment.
.....
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