Chapter - 401 - Yagura Awakens

The dazzling golden flames of Oshihomimi lit the original gloomy underground floor in a brilliantly scorching light.

The majority of this underground floor has started to melt in the face of these golden flames, the metals used in the swords turned into molten lava, the walls started to melt and deform, wood burned into dust, corpses of shinobi were burnt to cinders, it felt as if nothing could survive or maybe, nothing except for Hiramekarei could survive this scorching flames… making the scene look like a burning hell.

And in the center of this burning hell, at the place where these flames were most intense, at the point where the temperature was the highest and most unbearable; stood Tsukihi while holding the pair of short swords in both of her hands.

But she was not affected by the heat of these flames, the headband that previously tied her hair into a long ponytail was cut off at some point in the middle of the battle, as such her beautiful long black hair was now drifting in the scorching heatwaves.

The golden flames around did not harm her, rather they covered everything around protecting her as if these flames were armor, or better yet part of herself… the flames act upon her commands, and she bathed in these golden flames looking like a true goddess of fire.

But this goddess of fire currently had a frowned expression on her face, she was waiting… waiting for him to reappear… “How long is he going to take?” – muttered Tsukihi thoughtfully.

Because she, herself has not mastered Izanagi, therefore, Tsukihi’s understanding of this Kinjutsu is limited to her impression from the previous life, therefore, her tactics are designed while keeping all this information in mind.

Izanagi is based on Rikudo Sennin’s ‘Creation of all Things Technique’, with this Dojutsu a user can cast a Genjutsu on the reality itself. Izanagi allows the user control over what is real and what is not real for as long as Izanagi is active. Therefore, this Dojutsu is even capable of changing the reality of death into a Genjutsu.

It was said that the power of both Uchiha and Senju is required to be able to use Izanagi, whether this information is correct or not is unknown because there were several instances in the Naruto story where a few Uchiha were able to use Izanagi without Senju power, Madara is one such example.

Anyway, Obito has both Uchiha and Senju powers, coupled with Madara’s teachings, as such he is perfectly capable of using Izanagi and based on her impression of Sasuke and Danzo’s battle, Tsukihi believes that Obito will be resurrected somewhere close by.

This is the reason why she has used Uchiha Flame Formation as a barrier, and Enton: Oshihomimi, to cover the entire floor in a sea of fire. So that, the moment Obito reappears, he will be engulfed by the sea of golden fire and be burnt to death, this way, he will be dead for the second time and will be forced to use Izanagi again if he wants to survive. The only thing is, this time he will have to use his Mangekyou Sharingan to case Izanagi, and once he does so, he won’t be able to use Kamui anymore.

‘Come on Obito… reappear…’ – was the only thought in Tsukihi’s mind as she observed all her surroundings carefully.

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But no matter how long she waited, a few seconds, a minute, and a few more minutes passed but there was no sign of Obito reappearing.

This made Tsukihi frown, ‘Is it possible that he did not use Izanagi?’ was a momentary thought, but she quickly denied this idea, because Tsukihi did sense Obito’s Chakra vanishing suddenly. It is possible that Obito transferred himself to the Kamui dimension instead of using Izanagi at that moment, but Tsukihi doesn’t think that Obito was in the position to be able to do so.

So the only possibility is, “Tch… he ran away… huh?” – Tsukihi concluded.

At this moment she also realized her mistake. Someone with a good degree of control over both Uchiha and Senju’s power can extend the time limit of Izanagi.

Just because Shimura Danzo was only capable of using one Sharingan for one minute of Izanagi, doesn’t necessarily mean that the same case applies to Obito.

A genin can barely use a B-Class Katon Jutsu and it won’t even burn a Jonin, but the same B-Class Katon Jutsu when used by the likes of Uchiha Madara, the level of power it displays is so superior that even a group of Jonins won’t be able to resist it.

And at the end of the day, Izanagi too is a Jutsu, it may be a Kinjutsu, but a Jutsu nonetheless, and similar to all Jutsu, Izanagi display different levels of powers in the hand of different people.

Shimura Danzo is a non-Uchiha and non-Senju. He had both the powers of the Uchiha Clan and Senju Clan transplanted into him, as a result, the extent of Izanagi used by him is limited to only 1 minute per Sharingan, but the same is not the case with Madara.

Madara with just his Uchiha power alone managed to suspend his Izanagi for a very long time, as such he managed to fool not only Shodaime Hokage but also Nidaime Hokage. It must not be forgotten that Nidaime Hokage is one of the best sensor-nin and yet he couldn’t sense anything, even when he collected Madara’s corpse for research and experimentation.

From these two instances alone, it can be judged that Izanagi used by different people can display different levels of effects, the time delay of resurrections, or the place at which the caster is resurrected can also be different.

To what extent the effects of Izanagi cast by Obito are displayed can not be judged by Tsukihi, but based on the battle between Konan and Obito in the canon, he was able to stretch it for at least five minutes or more.

So, it won’t be wrong to assume that Obito is not dead yet, and has either extended his resurrection time to a large interval or, he has resurrected himself but the place of his resurrection is probably not this place but a different place or maybe a different dimension altogether.

In short, Obito ran away… in better words, he withdrew upon realizing that he has no chance of winning this battle, as a result, this battle remained unconcluded.

Understanding this Tsuki can’t help but sigh.

She is really tired now; it was only adrenalin keeping her on edge and ready for battle but now that Obito is no longer here tiredness has taken over.

Even if it is her, she is feeling very tired right now.

Using Susano’o for such a long battle, consuming chakra while using Hiramekarei, then consuming half of her chakra in the clone, further chakra consumption by the Dojutsu of her left Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan that is Yaoyorozu, she used to augment the physical aspects of both the clone and Susano’o. Then further use of Fuinjutsu Trap, Uchiha Flame Formation, Infinite Multiplying Explosive Tags Explosion Technique to kill Obito has taken much of her Chakra.

And that’s not all, she further used the Golden Flames of Oshihomimi to cover the entire underground floor to kill respawned Obito, which again caused heavy chakra consumption and drained whatever was left in her.

Normally, Chakra is not an issue for her, but because currently, she can’t use Ryuumyaku’s Chakra due to certain reasons, as such, even if it is her, she is really exhausted right now.

“Cough…” After a light cough, Tsukihi looked at the sea of fire in front of her, and only one thought was running through her mind, ‘Perhaps only by using Izanami on Obito can the threat posed by him be resolved.’



Somewhere in Kirigakure.

At the moment when Tsukihi killed Obito, Yondaime Mizukage who was sitting inside this cave suddenly opened his eyes.

What’s different about his pink eyes this time is that they are not dull or lifeless, but they are bright and alive, at the same time burning with anger and frustration.

“Damn it!” Aside from the burning anger reflected in his eyes, feelings of shame surged from his heart, guilt started to breed his thoughts, and a great deal of frustration was clearly evident on his face.

Undoubtedly, the moment Obito was killed by Tsukihi, the same moment, Yondaime Mizukage, who was under Obito’s control managed to release himself from the Genjutsu.

Although he was in a Genjutsu and became nothing more than a puppet in Obito’s hand, even then, he is perfectly aware of all the actions he did or better yet all the actions Obito made him do while he was being manipulated.

It brings great shame upon himself when he thinks that he the Mizukage, who has sworn to protect his village, became nothing more than a puppet in the hands of a criminal. He could only watch his village on the path of ruin, helpless to do anything about it.

The anger for that masked Uchiha and the anger upon himself spread in his chest, and the desire for revenge filled his mind… but he had to restrain himself, and calmed his angered emotions ‘First comes village, everything else comes after that…’ was the only thought raging in his mind.

Yagura picked up his club with unevenly sized hooks on both ends and quickly walked out of this secret cave. He knew that the village is amidst a civil war, and as the Mizukage he has to stop his village from being destroyed.

‘Thank goodness that I regained consciousness at the right opportunity, else he would have used the Sanbi sealed inside me to destroy the entire village.’ – Yagura can’t help but think as he ran out of the cave.

Obito’s plan for Kirigakure was simple.

He had already taken out Yagura from the village, and with that, he planned to use the two sides to kill each other for as long as possible.

Having Samehada in the hands of Momochi Zabuza made his strength around the same level as Terumi Mei, and with Mei’s character, she will definitely protect the village to her last breath.

Since the Mizukage is not in the village, so the two sides will have to continue their fights, one in search of Mizukage so that they can kill him… and the second side so that they can protect the village.

Of course, Zetsu Clones will be used to fuel the fire, and when the opportunity is right, and everyone is exhausted Obito will make his move on Kirigakure.

Yagura, himself will completely destroy Kirigakure just like he wanted to use Rin to destroy Konoha, and this will be Obito’s revenge upon Kirigakure and Yagura for using Rin. For this reason, Obito also made sure that Yagura can see everything he is doing to Kirigakure because only then will he understand the Pain that Rin experienced when she became a puppet in the hands of Kirigakure.

Of course, Yagura doesn’t know all this, but he does know that Obito wanted to use the Sanbi sealed inside him to destroy Kirigakure.

But it seems Obito’s plan failed, and now Yagura has the opportunity to stop the ongoing civil war in Kirigakure.

Just as Yondaime Mizukage walked out of the secret room, he encountered three people, and they are none other than Hoshigaki Kisame, Chinoike Mageta, and Kaguya Takashi, the three new recruits of the Akatsuki Organization.

Seeing Mizukage hurriedly coming out of the room, all three thought, ‘Is it finally time?’, and asked, “Are you going to make your move Tobi?”

Obviously, these three are unaware that the Mizukage standing before them is no longer being controlled by Tobi.

Even if had controlled his anger, and even he tried to be rational, when he saw the faces of these three anger burned in his heart, and only one cold word came out of his mouth, “Die!”

Mageta of the Chinoike Clan instantly realized that something is wrong here, “Be careful you two, he is no longer being controlled by Tobi!”

Mageta’s words were more than enough of a warning, and the three instantly acted, the intentions were obviously to subdue the Mizukage.

“Die!” – Mizukage said coldly, and instantly used his Suiton Jutsu,

‘Suiton: Mizukagami no Jutsu!’ (Water Style: Aqua Mirror Jutsu!).

Instantly, a water mirror appeared in front of him, and Yagura used his club to tilt it down, then very next moment, three identical figures of Mageta and Takashi appeared out of the water mirror and rushed towards the three.