Takuno curved his lips into a smile. He didn't doubt that Nagato would still cooperate with Obito in the future, but the thought of how difficult it would be for them to reconcile later made him want to laugh.
At this moment, he weighed the Kunai in his hand and spoke.
"The Ninjutsu you just used to evade my Kunai was Space-Time Ninjutsu, right? That's truly a rare item. If possible, could you teach it to me? If you do, I might be able to collect one less special organism."
"Impossible!"
Obito said directly, "This is not a Ninjutsu you can learn."
Takuno naturally knew it was impossible; he merely wanted to perfect the persona he had casually adopted, so he said it anyway.
"That's a bit of a shame. Are you trying to stop me from acquiring that strange creature called the Gedo Statue?" Takuno asked.
"This is not something you are qualified to covet." Obito snorted coldly again.
"Tsk tsk, you never know. Don't think that just because you know Space-Time Ninjutsu you can stop me!" Takuno narrowed his eyes. Although he said this, he felt extremely wary in his heart.
Kamui is not an ability that is easy to counter, and even the Water Release: Water Severing Current Technique cannot be maintained constantly.
At this moment, he felt a bit regretful that he hadn't yet reached the level of using Lightning Release to accelerate his reactions. Otherwise, even without other backup plans, dealing with Obito would definitely be much easier.
On the other side, Nagato listened to the conversation between the two and couldn't help but look at Obito.
When Nagato heard "Space-Time Ninjutsu," he immediately understood why his Rinnegan hadn't detected any trace of the opponent twice, only noticing him when he actively appeared.
It turned out that the opponent had been hiding within the space-time dimension before appearing!
At this moment, his expression was a little strange.
Why did it feel like the other person's goal was also the Gedo Statue?
He hadn't even thought about summoning the Gedo Statue before this incident occurred, so how did these two people know?
If Takuno had learned about it through secret observation, Obito had approached them a long time ago... so was this something he had planned in advance?
Thinking this way, Nagato's wariness towards Obito intensified. He was currently taking advantage of the standoff between Takuno and Obito, having Konan feed him several military rations pills to restore his Chakra.
Takuno looked at Obito, took a shuriken from his ninja tool pouch, threw it towards him, and then formed a hand sign with one hand.
"Ninja Art: shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
In an instant, those few shuriken transformed into countless shuriken, shooting towards Obito like a sky full of stars.
"It's useless," Obito said, watching the countless shuriken shooting towards him. He had no intention of dodging. The shuriken passed completely through his body and struck the Gedo Statue behind him.
"Tsk, what troublesome Space-Time Ninjutsu." Takuno clicked his tongue. He knew Kamui couldn't be maintained indefinitely, but the problem was that he couldn't sustain a continuous attack, unlike Konan's explosion of one billion explosive tags that left no gaps.
Even with a technique like the shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu, no matter how many there are, there are gaps. The opponent could certainly take advantage of those momentary breaks to materialize his body, but Takuno couldn't discern whether he was currently solid or not.
Therefore, he currently couldn't exploit the weakness that Kamui cannot be maintained constantly.
"Your attacks have no effect on me. Aren't you going to give up?" Obito tried to dissuade him.
Just as Takuno had no good way to deal with him, he also found Takuno a bit tricky.
To use Kamui effectively, he must make contact with the opponent's body, but the other party's Ninjutsu wouldn't give him that chance. Furthermore, he didn't currently possess many Ninjutsu capable of dealing with Takuno.
After all, he had only been a Chunin before this, and a dead-last student at that. Even though he had recently compensated for some shortcomings, it was impossible to fill all the gaps instantly.
At this moment, he regretted separating from White Zetsu after his body was healed. Otherwise, using White Zetsu's Wood Release might have given him a better chance; even if he couldn't kill the opponent, he wouldn't be so passive.
As for now, he didn't want White Zetsu to appear. He himself was already exposed, and it was best for White Zetsu and Black Zetsu to remain hidden in the shadows, not revealing their deep connection to him in front of Nagato at this moment.
"Can your Space-Time Ninjutsu be maintained indefinitely? Your Chakra probably isn't enough, is it?" Takuno asked.
"Who knows?" Obito said casually. He slowly sat down upon the Gedo Statue, looking down at the opponent.
"Tsk, I don't believe Space-Time Ninjutsu is that cheap," Takuno said, forming hand signs with both hands. Since physical attacks didn't work, he would try Ninjutsu attacks.
"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"
"Earth Release: Rock Collapse!"
"Lightning Release: Ground Flash!"
...Countless Ninjutsu were unleashed by Takuno, but every single one passed through the opponent's body without exception, having absolutely no effect.
This kind of despair-inducing attack was truly tormenting.
Occasionally, Obito would use some Fire Release Ninjutsu, like a cat playing with a mouse, which Takuno easily dodged.
However, Takuno had to dodge Obito's attacks, while Obito didn't even flinch at Takuno's attacks. It was clear who held the advantage!
At the very least, Konan on the other side watched this scene in astonishment. The masked man who had casually captured her couldn't inflict any damage at all on the other masked man?
Although the opponent was evading using Space-Time Ninjutsu, the result of being completely powerless against the enemy looked rather despairing.
He should give up, right?
Konan thought that if the opponent continued like this, his Chakra reserves would run dry. At that point, Obito would definitely seize the opportunity to finish off Takuno!
Obito thought the same way. He was draining Takuno's Chakra, often taunting him to provoke him into using more Ninjutsu to attack him.
The 'provoked' Takuno remained silent, simply continuing to use Ninjutsu.
"He's an idiot, after all," Obito thought. Seen in this light, the opponent's choice to let Konan go earlier seemed to make sense.
At this moment, a burst of intense Chakra erupted from Takuno once again.
"He still has this much Chakra? But this should be his last bit of Chakra, right?" Obito didn't know that Takuno possessed the Uzumaki bloodline. He simply calculated that even a Jonin would be nearing the end of his rope after using so many Ninjutsu.
He narrowed his eyes, his body tensing within the Kamui dimension. He would dispose of the opponent the instant his Chakra was nearly depleted!
"Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves!"