At last, having fully grasped the nature of this infuriating technique, Madara couldn't help but shout: "Obito, you little brat! Do you not have a single normal ability?"
Obito smiled, "Well, there is indeed one ability that's relatively normal."
As he spoke, he suddenly appeared beside Madara. It turned out that just now, during the brief gaps in their battle, he had already placed a Flying Thunder God seal around the area.
Madara was instantly shocked. The activation speed of the Flying Thunder God was too fast, with absolutely no warning or visible movement trajectory. Even his Three-Tomoe Sharingan couldn't catch it.
He could only rely on his extraordinary reflexes, abruptly turning around and meeting Obito's incoming hand with his own.
However, Madara's hand didn't feel like it struck anything solid. Instead, it passed right through Obito's entire body as if he were a phantom.
Obito's voice appeared behind him, "This is Phantom Flicker Technique, second stage."
BANG!
Madara could no longer react in time, and Obito landed a solid punch on his lower back.
He instinctively turned around and immediately kicked toward Obito, who had just hit him. Yet once again, he kicked nothing but air.
Obito's voice returned to where his hand had been moments ago, "This is Phantom Flicker Technique, second stage, combined with Flying Thunder God, second stage."
The hand that had been a mere illusion moments ago suddenly became solid again and struck Madara's neck.
Madara was fuming. He had never been toyed with like this before. Since he had already been hit once, this time he moved even faster. Almost at the exact moment Obito struck him, his fist had already reached Obito.
However, he was still a fraction of a second too slow. Obito, who had just turned solid, became an illusion again.
Madara immediately sensed that Obito had moved behind him again and swiftly countered with a kick.
Yet again, his foot passed through Obito's body. But in the very instant it phased through, Obito's hand was already waiting in that precise spot, grabbing Madara's ankle.
Madara was startled, suddenly realizing. This time, Obito had not used an Phantom Flicker Technique or Flying Thunder God, but instead had phased through the attack and caught him during the post-motion delay.
Sure enough, Obito said, "I don't even know what to call this... Phantom Flicker Technique combined with Intangibility, second stage, I guess?"
As he finished speaking, he yanked Madara by the leg, lifted him into the air, and flung him far away.
Madara's body was sent flying and crashed hard into a distant rock wall.
Unable to hold back his frustration, Madara scoffed, "Kid, fight me head-on for real!"
But before he could even finish his words, Obito's figure appeared right in front of his face. Madara instinctively looked at the leg that had just been grabbed, and sure enough, he saw a Flying Thunder God seal there.
"This is...", Before Madara could even finish his sentence, Obito's hand had already pressed against his abdomen. Madara quickly inhaled deeply, pulling in his stomach to barely dodge direct contact. Just as Obito was about to apply force, a deep blue armor suddenly formed around Madara, repelling Obito's hand.
Whoosh!
Obito instantly moved to another location, and...
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
All the previous phantom clones also moved along with him.
Madara, now enveloped in his second-stage Susanoo, took a breath and looked at the dozens of Obito clones.
"I'm done. This is pointless. If we keep fighting, I'll have to use my full-body Susanoo. You won't be able to break through my defense anyway."
Obito was surprised for a moment but then dispelled his clones and exited combat mode, "You can use Susanoo even without your Eternal Mangekyō?"
Madara said casually, "Once I've activated it before, I can activate it again whenever I want."
Then, he looked at Obito and couldn't help but rub his forehead.
Phantom Flicker Technique combined with Intangibility, combined with Flying Thunder God... This was simply too ghostly. It was so ghostly that he couldn't even think of a proper way to describe it.
Seeing Madara's reaction, Obito smirked. He had finally enjoyed this fight.
At last, someone could withstand his full combo, allowing him to fully showcase and adapt to all his abilities.
Through this test, he had roughly figured out that as long as he didn't use Kamui with his left eye, since those techniques carried significant drawbacks, he truly had no reliable method to break through Madara's Susanoo defense.
But at the same time, Madara couldn't do anything to him either. And since Madara could only defend passively, Obito remained the one in control.
Thinking this, Obito chuckled, "Madara, do you acknowledge me now? If you do, let's stop this. I don't want to keep fighting here either."
Madara crossed his arms, nodded slightly, then casually brushed the dust off his Akatsuki cloak and deactivated his Susanoo.
He even praised, "This cloak isn't bad. Quite suitable for battle."
Obito couldn't help but want to roast him. Just moments ago, Madara had been completely thrashed, yet now he was trying to act all high and mighty, posing like a master?
However, now wasn't the time to provoke Madara. If he pushed too hard, who knew what kind of trouble this unstable man might stir up?
So, Obito simply smiled and said, "Then try not to take it off during fights. There's no clear evidence, but based on past information, every Akatsuki member who has taken off this cloak… has died. That includes me, actually."
Madara snorted, "Dying in battle is normal. Only the weak believe in such superstitions. If I want to take it off, I'll take it off."
"Let's go. We're leaving."
With that, Madara walked toward the cave entrance, where several Uchiha outfits and weapons were neatly placed. Because the battle hadn't spread in that direction, they remained untouched.
He picked up the only remaining gunbai, slung it over his back, and walked toward the exit.
Obito didn't say a word and simply followed behind him. The two quickly stepped out of the cave.
Madara squinted at the glaring sunlight, adjusting to the brightness.
Just then, a gust of wind blew past, causing his Akatsuki cloak to flutter.
He hadn't expected to emerge at this moment—to spend the last few years of his life taking a proper look at the world.
A world still engulfed in endless war.
'Akatsuki... do they pursue peace or war?'
Madara turned to Obito, "Take me to Akatsuki. You should have large-scale teleportation abilities. I want to see this organization… and that child, Nagato."
Obito's eyes flickered as he asked, "Do you want to reclaim your eyes?"
Madara shook his head, "It no longer matters. Let Nagato keep them. Let him see this world with my eyes."
Obito nodded and placed a hand on Madara's shoulder, "Don't resist. I'll take you there."
Then, the two of them vanished from reality in an instant...
———
At the Akatsuki base, Kakuzu sat on the stairs, watching the rain outside the hallway.
To be honest, he had joined Akatsuki on a whim at first, partly because of threats from that masked man.
But now, he was getting restless. He wanted to go out and check the latest black market to see if there were any bounty missions available.
Just sitting here, going on missions to 'maintain peace' with other Akatsuki members, earning nothing while even paying for his own travel and food expenses. Just thinking about it made his skin crawl.
There were so many members in the organization, so many mouths to feed. No matter how much money they had, it would all get eaten away eventually.
Maybe he should talk to Nagato and Yahiko about this. Akatsuki needed a proper source of income, maybe some trade routes or normal commissions.
As he frowned in thought, suddenly, a spatial ripple appeared before him, and two figures emerged.
One was a man in his thirties, clad in an Akatsuki robe, spiky-haired, exuding sheer dominance.
The other was a mere ten-year-old kid, still wearing a Konoha forehead protector.
Kakuzu immediately locked onto the dominant-looking man.
He could tell this guy was no ordinary person. The aura surrounding him evoked a long-lost fear.
It even carried an ancient presence, like someone from his own era.
A figure gradually formed in Kakuzu's mind. Considering the eerie space-time disturbance and their sudden appearance, he had already deduced the man's identity.
"You… are that mysterious masked man?"
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