"So… join me, Ren."
The long, drawn-out persuasion had finally reached its end.
Behind the mask, the single exposed eye could no longer suppress the feverish obsession within. Its light burned fiercely.
Even the deliberately disguised hoarse voice had unconsciously taken on a trace of youthful brightness—almost light with excitement.
He didn't seem to notice the change in his own voice at all.
Every ounce of his focus was locked onto the small figure before him.
His gaze blazed with absolute confidence—certainty of victory.
And Ren… lifted his small face as well.
A pair of pitch-black eyes met Obito's gaze head-on, equally "burning."
That look seemed genuinely moved by this grand vision, filled with… "longing."
The very next second—
Both of their pupils abruptly constricted!
The air seemed to freeze for an instant.
Kamui!
Kamui!
Wooo—shh!!
Two clearly visible spatial vortices, twisting space itself, appeared almost simultaneously out of thin air!
Yet their intentions were completely opposite.
Obito wanted to package Ren up and take him away.
Ren wanted to package Obito up and send him off.
In a sense, their thoughts could even be called strangely aligned.
Ten meters away—
Bang!
When he saw the vortex fail to move at all, Obito felt as if he'd been smashed by an invisible sledgehammer. His body staggered back a step.
Even the spiral mask seemed to warp slightly.
Behind the mask, his face twisted into shock and disbelief.
"What's going on?! Kamui's spatial transfer…"
The vortex had indeed appeared and had locked firmly onto Ren.
But—
It failed?!
It simply wrapped around Ren cleanly, overlapping with another extremely similar spatial fluctuation emanating from Ren himself…
Like two incompatible streams of water colliding silently, interfering with and canceling each other out.
At the center of the collision, Ren remained standing steadily in place, not even the corner of his clothes being tugged.
"This feeling…"
"Control over space… why does it feel like this brat is the one holding dominance?!"
The moment he realized this, a tidal wave of shock and doubt surged violently in Obito's heart.
But before he could even voice the question—
A violently familiar tearing pain suddenly exploded from his right arm!
"Gah—!"
Obito let out a short, muffled cry. Combat instinctively drove him to activate intangibility at once!
Kamui!
Shh!
His body turned translucent—but it was already too late!
Psch!
A burst of blood mist erupted!
His entire right arm, along with half his shoulder, was directly twisted off!
Right in front of him, less than an arm's length away, a spatial vortex identical to Kamui was slowly rotating!
At its center, the remnants of his arm and shoulder were instantly shredded!
Puff!
They scattered into a spray of blood and flesh!
Spatial fluctuations… vortex form… distortion and devouring…
This sensation… this ability…
"T-This is?!!!"
Behind the mask, Obito's Sharingan widened to the point of tearing. A shock like icy water poured over his head, freezing his entire body!
Impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
Yet that spatial fluctuation—so familiar it resonated in his very soul—
That unique "flavor" of Kamui twisting space… he could never mistake it!
The words almost burst from his mouth.
An absurd yet undeniable conclusion detonated in his mind.
"Kamui?!!!"
The shrill, cracked howl was like a marmot whose porridge had been overturned—piercing and hysterical.
"How can you possibly use Kamui?!!"
At that moment, the only eye exposed outside the mask was filled with extreme shock and fury.
He couldn't believe it—no, he didn't dare believe it.
This ability, unique to a pair of eyes, had appeared on another clansman.
Amid the raging fury, an even more absurd thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.
"Could it be—this brat is actually Kakashi?!"
He never imagined he would end up in such a sorry state at the hands of a mere youth.
Slash.
Slash-slash.
Very quickly, under the self-healing effects of the First Hokage's cells, the mangled body gradually recovered.
"Huff…"
He flexed his regenerated right arm a few times before finally letting out a breath of relief. Looking at Ren again, his expression was complicated.
"I'll remember you, Uchiha Ren."
"I hope the next time we meet, you'll give me even more surprises."
With that, Kamui activated once more.
He was already somewhat afraid to remain here any longer.
It sounded ridiculous.
Yet when he looked at Ren's youthful face, a strange unease inevitably crept into his heart.
It felt as if this person could see straight through him.
Even the brief instant when he had deactivated intangibility while using Kamui just now—
Ren had seized that timing perfectly.
"Just a coincidence, right?"
He muttered to himself, but deep down he couldn't shake the feeling that Ren had already anticipated it.
After hesitating briefly, he still chose to retreat first.
With Kamui's intangibility, he was practically standing in an innately unbeatable position.
"What a shame. Couldn't twist his head off directly."
Ren shook his head in mild regret.
If he'd managed to twist off Obito's head just now, a lot of things would've ended right there.
And Madara would probably jump straight out of his coffin and start dancing in celebration.
Unfortunately, he wouldn't get to see that old ancestor dance ahead of schedule.
Still, it wasn't entirely bad.
After all, the Akatsuki wasn't yet in its complete form.
"Heh, I'll be back."
Opposite him, Obito left behind those words and vanished completely.
Ren casually waved an arm. "See you next time, leek."
With Obito gathering talent up front, and Uchiha Itachi already planted as a controlled mole—
The Akatsuki were guaranteed crops for him to harvest.
Once everything settled down, Ren finally shifted his gaze to the interface before his eyes, his expression heating up slightly.
[Defeated Uchiha Itachi. Attempting to copy trait.]
[Copy successful. Congratulations, host, you have obtained Legendary Trait: Mangekyō Sharingan (Purple).]
[Defeated Uchiha Obito. Attempting to copy trait.]
[Copy successful. Congratulations, host, you have obtained Legendary Trait: Mangekyō Sharingan · Fragment (Purple).]
Whether by coincidence or inevitability, both the brutally beaten Itachi and the driven-off Obito had yielded Sharingan-related traits.
One of them, however, was incomplete.
Taking a deep breath, Ren didn't hesitate and said directly,
"Fuse them. Stack both of these traits into Mangekyō Sharingan!"
Mangekyō + Mangekyō + half a Mangekyō—
Two and a half Mangekyō should be enough to evolve into Eternal, no matter how you looked at it.
Bzzzz.
Before his eyes, three violet-glowing light clusters gradually converged and fused together!
His pupils suddenly grew scorching hot.
A rolling heat spread through them, and Ren's head began to ache even more.
Within that pain, a burst of golden light suddenly rose before his eyes!
[Congratulations, host. You have obtained Legendary Trait: Mangekyō Sharingan · Three Feet Before the Body (Gold).]
Gold!
And it was a brand-new Mangekyō dōjutsu trait!
His Mangekyō had finally awakened an ability!
Ren's heart burned with excitement as he hurriedly focused on the trait.
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