The first place he went to was the home of Rin.
Obito saw no one there.
After thinking for a moment, he headed toward the rooftop of Konoha Hospital.
From there, he could overlook the entire hospital courtyard.
It was now five in the evening, and the sky had already begun to dim.
During wartime, this was always the busiest place in the village. The wounded were continuously transported back from the front lines; lives were constantly fading away here, and at the same time, lives were constantly being saved.
Obito's gaze swept across window after window.
He was searching for a figure.
At last, in a ward on the third floor, he saw Rin.
She was dressed in a spotless white nurse's uniform, wearing a small nurse's cap, tending carefully to an injured shinobi.
Even from such a great distance, Obito could recognize her immediately—it was Rin.
Behind the mask, his breathing once again became rapid and uneven.
A wave of dizziness struck him.
He gripped the rooftop railing tightly, forcing himself to steady his stance.
Rin was still alive.
She was here, working at Konoha Hospital, dressed in a nurse's uniform, helping those who needed help—just as she had always wished to do.
But she was not his Rin.
In this false world, Rin was alive, yet in her heart there was no longer any place for Obito.
In her memories, Obito had already died in the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, sacrificing himself to save Kakashi and hailed as a hero.
A hero.
What an ironic word.
Obito wanted to laugh, but he could not.
After changing the bandages, Rin checked on several other injured patients before beginning to organize their medical records.
She worked with seriousness and practiced skill.
It was clear that she had completely adapted to her life as a medical shinobi.
After watching for a while, Obito decided to seek out his true objective for today—Kiyohara.
"Going straight to find Kiyohara?"
The voice of White Zetsu echoed within his consciousness.
"Or observe a little longer?"
"I'll go find him."
Obito's voice, filtered through the mask, was even deeper than before.
His figure flickered through the streets of Konoha.
Using Kamui, he shifted between the tangible and intangible, avoiding patrolling shinobi and bypassing any sensory barriers that might exist.
For the current him, Konoha's defensive system was riddled with flaws—after all, who could guard against someone capable of freely traversing space itself?
About ten minutes later, he arrived at Kiyohara's home.
Obito had once passed by it before, so he knew its location.
Very quickly, he locked onto Kiyohara's presence.
...
In the courtyard, a figure was practicing medical ninjutsu.
"That should be enough."
Kiyohara muttered to himself as pale green medical chakra appeared in his palm.
In front of him lay a fish.
Behind him, Uchiha Kiyohara watched as Kiyohara practiced his medical techniques.
It was something he had once wanted to learn, but lacking the Yang Release chakra nature, he had never pursued it.
Suddenly, he seemed to sense something and drifted toward a certain direction.
Uchiha Kiyohara saw a masked figure.
The oval yellow mask, patterned with swirl-like markings, sat upon the head of a mysterious man.
But Uchiha Kiyohara knew exactly who it was.
"Well, well—if it isn't Obito?"
Uchiha Kiyohara's phantom arm waved in front of Obito's eyes.
Unfortunately, Obito could not see his spirit form.
"Obito's here. Be careful,"
Uchiha Kiyohara warned the Kiyohara behind him.
Upon hearing this, Kiyohara immediately heightened his vigilance without outwardly showing it.
I didn't even notice Obito approaching…
He frowned.
Obito's concealment ability truly was formidable.
No wonder in the original storyline he could enter and leave Konoha at will without being discovered.
No—that wasn't quite accurate. The only one who discovered him was Itachi Uchiha.
But Itachi had uncovered his existence by reviewing surveillance records.
As a member of the Anbu tasked with monitoring the Uchiha clan, there were numerous hidden surveillance measures within the clan compound.
Eventually, Itachi noticed strange figures appearing in the footage and thus confirmed Obito's presence, concluding that he was an unknown enemy.
In the next instant,
Kiyohara's Sharingan activated.
A single tomoe slowly rotated within his crimson pupil.
His gaze swept around the courtyard, and his perception sharpened considerably.
Pretending to stretch his body, Kiyohara turned to face the direction where Uchiha Kiyohara floated.
At that moment, Uchiha Kiyohara hovered midair, pointing downward at a shadowed figure below.
Even with buildings obstructing the view, Kiyohara discovered Obito's location.
Feigning preparation to practice a new technique, he began forming hand seals.
Once the seals were completed, Kiyohara inhaled deeply.
Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!
A fierce and massive current of wind surged forward, sweeping directly toward Obito.
"!"
Obito's heart jolted in shock.
What was going on?
How could Kiyohara detect his position?
He had concealed even the fluctuations of his chakra.
BOOM!
The gale blasted down the courtyard wall, scattering rubble and tearing up patches of grass.
Yet Obito's figure stood unmoved within the raging wind, as though unaffected in the slightest.
The wind… passed straight through his body.
"So, you managed to find me after all."
Obito's voice was hoarse, deliberately imitating the tone of Madara Uchiha.
If Kiyohara had not known the plot in advance, judging solely by Obito's current appearance, it would have been nearly impossible to recognize him.
There was not the slightest trace remaining of the boy he once was.
"Who are you?"
Kiyohara asked, pretending ignorance.
Obito did not answer immediately.
He stepped forward, the hem of his black robe swaying gently with the motion.
"A mere passerby,"
Obito finally replied.
"Konoha does not welcome uninvited passersby."
Kiyohara paused for a brief moment before continuing in an even, unhurried tone,
"Especially the kind who hide their face and skulk about in secret."
Although Obito had not yet reached the overwhelming level of power that Madara Uchiha once possessed, it was obvious that he had already begun imitating that same cryptic, pretentious demeanor—speaking in riddles, acting as though every word carried hidden meaning.
Obito seemed to let out a faint chuckle, but the sound was distorted into something strange and hollow by the mask that concealed his face.
"I merely wished to see for myself just how capable this so-called genius, praised so highly by so many—truly is."
His gaze fixed upon Kiyohara's Sharingan.
On that day, during his post-battle analysis, Obito had realized that Kiyohara also possessed the Sharingan.
It must have awakened because of Rin.
And the more he thought about it, the stronger that sense of being replaced gnawed at him from within.
While Obito was still lost in thought, Kiyohara moved first.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
A massive fireball burst forth from his mouth, over four meters in diameter, blazing with scorching heat as it roared straight toward the masked man.
Kiyohara understood perfectly well that a straightforward attack like this would be unlikely to strike Obito while he was using intangibility.
But landing a hit was not his objective—creating a disturbance was. He needed attention drawn here.
Sure enough, just one second before the fireball would have struck, the masked man's body turned translucent and intangible.
The fireball passed through him without the slightest resistance.
It was as though Obito existed on a completely separate layer of reality.
Then Obito turned his head and absorbed the fireball.
Not absorbing the chakra itself, but preventing the explosion from erupting and causing even greater commotion.
Physical attacks were ineffective.
Seeing this, Kiyohara seized the opportunity without hesitation.
From the gourd at his waist, large quantities of iron sand surged outward.
The iron sand began to flow through the air, condensing into spindle-shaped projectiles that shot toward Obito at high speed.
Ssshh—!
Obito hastily accelerated his absorption before urgently activating intangibility once more.
He had nearly been caught in the recovery window of Kamui.
This was one of the few flaws of that ability—
when activating its space-time effects, he was required to materialize.
"Not bad reflexes. But still not enough."
Obito looked steadily at Kiyohara.
Kiyohara's attacks were indeed swift.
But unfortunately for him—
Obito possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan.
In the next instant, Obito rapidly closed the distance between them.
Twenty meters.
Fifteen meters.
Ten meters.
Crackle!
Just as Obito was about to approach, arcs of electricity suddenly sparked in Kiyohara's hand.
Chidori!
Blue-white lightning gathered and danced in his palm, illuminating the surrounding darkness.
The electric glow reflected across Kiyohara's face—and across the orange spiral mask of the masked man.
A streak of blue-white light carved through the night sky as the Chidori thrust fiercely toward Obito.
And then, the lightning pierced through the masked man's body—
as though passing through nothing more than an illusion.
Kiyohara had anticipated this.
He continued pressing the attack with Chidori.
Chidori was not a single, one-time strike—it functioned as a sustained enhancement.
As long as he maintained the chakra flow and did not cancel it, the lightning would continue to gather in his hand.
Sparks scattered wildly, repeatedly passing through Obito's body.
"Useless."
The hoarse voice emerged from beneath the mask.
Still intangible, Obito stepped forward and brushed past Kiyohara.
At that exact instant, Obito's right hand shot out from beneath his black cloak.
At some point, a black chain had appeared in his grasp.
The interlocking links scraped together with a cold metallic rasp.
One end remained in his hand; the other lashed outward like a venomous serpent, whipping toward Kiyohara's throat.
The chain sliced through the air in a deadly arc, astonishingly fast.
Just as it was about to graze his skin, Kiyohara suddenly dropped low, almost flattening himself against the ground as he rolled forward.
In the instant he sprang back to his feet, his hand seals were already complete.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Another enormous fireball erupted from his mouth, again exceeding four meters in diameter, the intense heat distorting the surrounding air.
It roared toward Obito, illuminating the entire courtyard of his home.
But this was only the beginning.
Almost at the very moment the first fireball left his mouth, Kiyohara inhaled deeply once more, his chest swelling again.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
A second fireball followed immediately on the heels of the first.
And then a third!
Three consecutive casts. Three massive fireballs in succession.
Kiyohara's intention was unmistakable—he wanted to generate as much disturbance as possible.
Such large-scale Fire Release techniques would inevitably attract attention. Patrolling ANBU, members of the Konoha Military Police Force, even ordinary villagers—someone would notice.
If he could stall long enough, reinforcements would arrive.
Obito clearly understood this as well.
Just as the fireballs were about to engulf him, the air around the right eyehole of his mask began to twist and spiral.
A small vortex appeared out of thin air, rapidly expanding and swallowing the front portion of the fireballs.
This was not chakra absorption—
it was space-time transfer.
Kamui.
The entire process lasted only two seconds.
But for Kiyohara, two seconds were sufficient.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Projectiles!"
The iron sand that had been floating nearby condensed instantly.
Spindle-shaped projectiles accelerated under electromagnetic force, raining toward Obito like a storm.
Each one tore through the air with a sharp whistle.
Obito frowned.
This guy was perfectly timing his attacks to exploit his recovery lag.
But after all, he had been personally trained by Madara.
With a flick of his right hand, three enormous shuriken shot forth from a sealing scroll hidden within his sleeve.
These were no ordinary shuriken. Each measured nearly two meters in diameter, their serrated edges emitting a chilling hum as they spun.
The giant shuriken collided with the iron sand projectiles midair, producing a barrage of metallic clashes.
Sparks flew everywhere before the shuriken were pierced through and shattered by the iron sand.
Using the precious seconds he had bought, Obito reentered intangibility.
The iron sand projectiles passed straight through him, blasting countless holes into the wall behind.
Kiyohara did not relent.
With both hands sweeping outward, even more iron sand surged from the gourd, reshaping itself in the air.
Simultaneously, his left hand dipped into his shinobi tool pouch, gripping eight shuriken between his fingers.
"Endless…"
A trace of irritation surfaced within Obito.
Kiyohara's strategy was clear—maintain relentless pressure, force him to stay intangible, and use wide-area techniques to attract Konoha's shinobi.
Though Obito was confident in handling most situations, this was the very heart of Konoha. If he were entangled here, the consequences would be unpredictable.
His figure flickered between solidity and intangibility as iron sand projectiles continuously passed through him.
But at the exact moment he rematerialized—
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Burial!"
The iron sand scattered across the ground suddenly surged upward like a black tide, rushing toward his feet.
Under Kiyohara's control, it attempted to form binding chains to imprison Obito in place.
Obito reacted instantly.
Just before the sand touched his ankles, he kicked off the ground and retreated sharply.
The iron sand managed to coil around his left ankle for only a fleeting second before he broke free.
The distance between them widened once more to twenty meters, even extending beyond Kiyohara's home.
Fortunately, the house was situated in a relatively remote area. Only a few nearby civilians noticed the commotion and fled in panic.
Obito frowned. Konoha's shinobi would arrive any moment now.
The courtyard was in ruins—
walls shattered, ground cratered, scorch marks from Fire Release and fragments of iron sand scattered everywhere.
"Are you an idiot?"
The hoarse voice finally emerged again from beneath the mask, utterly stripped of its original tone.
"You think this is enough to injure me?"
Kiyohara did not respond. His Sharingan rotated slowly.
The black-cloaked figure flickered and vanished from where he stood.
When Obito reappeared, he was already directly in front of Kiyohara.
Kiyohara retreated, but Obito pursued like a shadow.
The distance shrank—four meters, three meters, two meters…
Obito's right hand, chain wrapped around it, slashed toward Kiyohara's face.
The strike appeared simple, yet it carried the force of tearing air apart.
Kiyohara raised his arm to block, activating Steel Release alongside Earth Release: Earth Spear.
At the instant their arms collided, Obito felt a tremendous force surge back at him, the ground beneath his feet cracking inch by inch.
The opponent's strength far exceeded his expectations.
"Such power?"
Obito was startled, but he did not pause.
Using the rebound momentum, he spun and whipped his left leg toward Kiyohara's waist.
Kiyohara neither dodged nor retreated. Instead, he pressed his left hand downward and precisely seized Obito's ankle—
and then flung him violently into the air.
Obito flipped once midair, adjusting his posture before landing, though his feet carved two shallow trenches into the ground.
In the next moment, Obito charged again, even faster than before.
After another exchange of fists and palms, the two separated once more, each retreating three steps to reestablish distance.
Obito's hand tingled with numbness.
Kiyohara's taijutsu was beyond what he had anticipated.
This man's rate of growth—could it truly rival his own, even with the Mangekyō Sharingan?
(End of Chapter)