"Obito."
Minato finally spoke, his voice terrifyingly calm.
"You've grown stronger, and smarter. But you seem to have forgotten one thing."
Obito raised an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"
"I am your teacher."
Before the words had even faded, the golden silhouette vanished.
Leaving only an afterimage in the air, Minato appeared at Obito's side. His kunai let out a piercing whistle as it tore through the air, lunging straight for Obito's throat.
Fast.
So fast it surpassed the physical limits of sight.
But Obito didn't dodge.
He didn't even blink.
The razor-sharp kunai passed through his neck without resistance, as if cutting through a mere phantom. Minato's body followed, passing right through Obito's form.
"Too slow."
Obito let out a cold sneer. He whipped his chains around, lashing out at Minato's back.
Minato's figure flickered again, reappearing on a floating rock a dozen meters away.
'Physical attacks are being nullified...'
Minato stared at Obito's unscathed neck, his mind racing through the intel Gamakon had once mentioned.
'That guy's ability is phasing. It looks invincible, but he's actually just shifting parts of his body into another dimension.'
'When he attacks, he has to solidify.'
'Also, there's a time limit on the phasing—about five minutes.'
When he first heard this information, Minato had felt a hint of doubt toward the little toad who spent all his time perched on Master Jiraiya's head making snarky remarks.
But looking at the situation now, that little guy Gamakon's intelligence was terrifyingly accurate.
'If Gamakon were here, he'd never let me hear the end of it.'
Minato took a deep breath, clearing all distractions from his mind.
Since the intel was correct, the tactic was simple.
Force him to strike.
The moment he solidifies to attack, decide the battle.
For Minato, achieving this was not difficult.
"What? Giving up on the offensive already?"
Obito watched Minato standing motionless in the distance, the mockery in his eyes deepening.
"The so-called Yellow Flash is nothing special once his speed advantage is gone."
He yanked the chains in his hands, launching himself at Minato like an arrow shot from a bow.
"Since you won't come to me, I'll come to you!"
Obito's speed was immense, and coupled with the bizarre terrain of the Kamui dimension, his movements were erratic and hard to track.
Minato still didn't move.
He simply stared intently at Obito's single Sharingan.
He was waiting.
Waiting for a single opening.
Obito lunged in front of Minato. The chains in his right hand rattled like a venomous snake coiling for Minato's neck, while his left hand gripped a sharp kunai, stabbing directly for Minato's heart.
"It's over, sensei!"
Obito roared, the red glow in his eye intensifying.
In that heartbeat.
Minato moved.
He didn't retreat; instead, he charged straight into Obito's attack.
The specially marked kunai left his hand, flying directly toward Obito's face.
Obito instinctively prepared to phase through it.
But the moment the kunai was about to touch his mask, Minato's figure vanished.
It wasn't the Flying Thunder God.
It was the Body Flicker Technique.
Minato appeared beneath Obito, a sphere of blue chakra spinning violently in his right palm.
"Rasengan!"
Obito's pupils constricted.
He saw through Minato's intent.
Minato wanted to use the moment Obito phased through the kunai to attack his lower body.
'How naive!'
Obito sneered internally.
His phasing was total. If he willed it, no attack could touch him.
The kunai passed through his head as expected.
The Rasengan in Minato's hand also passed through his abdomen.
The two crossed paths.
Nothing happened.
A victorious curve formed on Obito's lips.
"Caught you."
The moment they passed each other, he spun around, his hand solidifying as he reached for Minato's back.
As long as he touched him.
Just one touch, and he could completely subdue Minato and strip him of his ability to fight!
His fingertips brushed against the fabric of the Hokage Cloak.
I win!
The surge of triumph in Obito's eyes had just begun to rise when it froze in the next second.
The Minato who had been facing away from him suddenly vanished.
"What?!"
Obito's heart skipped a beat.
'Where did he go?'
'The Flying Thunder God needs a mark, he clearly didn't leave one on me—'
'That kunai!'
The specially marked kunai that had just passed through his head and was still flying backward!
A bone-chilling cold surged from the base of his spine to his skull.
Obito whipped his head around.
Next to that kunai still suspended in mid-air, a golden flash erupted.
Minato Namikaze appeared like a ghost beside the kunai, his hand gripping the handle.
At this moment, in order to catch Minato, Obito's body had to remain solidified.
And his back was completely exposed to the fastest man in the shinobi world.
This was Minato's tactic.
Level 2 Flying Thunder God.
"This is... Flying Thunder God: Level 2."
Minato's voice rang coldly in Obito's ear.
This time, he gave Obito no chance to react.
The Rasengan, which had been primed and ready, slammed heavily into Obito's back with devastating force.
BOOM!
The massive impact exploded across Obito's back.
The eternal silence of the Kamui dimension was shattered.
Obito felt as if his spine had been struck by a sledgehammer; his internal organs felt displaced.
"Pfft!"
A spray of fresh blood erupted, staining the lower edge of his mask.
His body flew like a kite with a broken string, crashing violently into the ground.
But it wasn't over.
Minato's figure flickered again.
The moment Obito hit the ground, Minato appeared at the landing spot ahead of him, pressing a kunai against Obito's throat.
"Don't move."
The icy sensation of the blade forced Obito to stifle the Kamui he was about to activate.
As the dust settled.
Obito lay miserably on the ground, his mask half-shattered, revealing half of a face covered in scars.
That scarlet Sharingan was now filled with disbelief.
'I lost?'
'Even with Kamui, Hashirama's cells, and Madara's teachings...'
'I still lost?'
And he had lost so completely, so decisively.
From start to finish, he was like a clown being toyed with, every step falling within his opponent's calculations.
"Why..."
Obito gasped for air, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and dripping onto the grey stone floor.
"How... my eye can see through everything..."
"Because, I am still your teacher."
Minato knelt on one knee, the kunai in his hand perfectly still as it suppressed Obito's vitals.
He looked at that face—once familiar, now twisted and strange—and felt a sharp pang in his heart.
The wrinkles and scars on that half of the face were marks left behind by the Kannabi Bridge incident.
They were also proof of his failure as a teacher.
"You relied too much on that ability, Obito."
Minato's voice was low.
"Furthermore, there is something inside your body that doesn't belong to you."
"What—"
Obito started to retort, but he saw Minato suddenly reach out his left hand, fingers spread wide, and press it firmly against his left chest.
"Don't move. Feel it carefully."
Minato closed his eyes. A massive amount of chakra surged from his palm into Obito's body, heading straight for the heart.
Obito instinctively wanted to struggle, but then, he froze.
Under the guidance of Minato's chakra, he clearly perceived a dark, obscure chakra deep within his heart.
Without careful sensing, its existence was impossible to detect.
It was a cursed seal!