Through laboured breaths I ripped out the last root from my gut and watched the wound burn away as Isobu's chakra rapidly healed me. But the damage was done, it had only taken three root strikes to syphon away my [Demon Cloak] and set me back down to a simple but reasonably powerful [Stage 3 Chakra Cloak] with three tails waving behind me.
I crouched, glaring at the dark woodlands ahead of me, a forest of leafless trees and crooked timber. Obito's Wood Release was a cursed perversion of the First Hokage's but it did its job in driving me back and suppressing Isobu where his Sharingan failed. I hadn't at all expected him to use it though, as in most of Jason's fading memories of this world, Obito relied heavily on his phasing ability, Kamui and almost never used Wood Release.
Unexpected but manageable, I can still work with this. My feet broke the earth as I tensed, ready to leap in through the witchy brambles of his forest and pluck him out, but just before I could, I heard Junichi scream behind me.
"Genma!"
I burst towards their direction, cursing as I witnessed Junichi throw himself against Obito, temporarily disrupting his Kamui. Ao spun on his heel and slashed at Obito's masked head but surprisingly, he ducked under it and stomped the earth. A broad, long root erupted under Ao, piercing him in the gut and lifting him away in the process. I arrived in a burst and smashed the root to cinders, Isobu's chakra burning the wood away, I allowed Ao to fall and chased after Obito with a chakra arm.
However, the Uchiha was a fiend, he snatched Junichi by the neck just as a bright yellow flash illuminated behind me, "Do not take another step, Mizukage…Hokage." Obito commanded, his palm set threateningly at Junichi's head, a stave of wood growing out of it.
Defiant, I held my chakra arm in place, it hovered just over Obito and at any moment I could slam it over his head and turn him into a pasty smear, except Junichi would be too. It's more likely I'd only kill Junichi if I did, damned Sharingan and its Kamui.
"Yagura-sama, do it! Don't worr-!" Obito strangled harder, suffocating any more brave words Junichi had for me, his face went red with constricted blood and Obito's wood stave cut his struggling cheek.
"Go ahead, Mizukage, see if your shinobi's sacrifice will be worth it." Obito dared, the murderous glare of his Sharingan pierced me from within his chipped mask.
If only I could've shattered it more than that. I glanced over my shoulder and found the Hokage, the Yellow Flash of Konoha crouched over Genma and Ao, his hands giving off a faint glow reminiscent of Iryo Ninjutsu. He was just as Jason's memories recalled; short-sleeved, long white haori over Konoha's standard green flak vest and a blue forehead protector his spiky blond bangs slightly obscured. His steel blue eyes met mine and he gave the briefest, sternest nods as he rose and stood a step behind me.
I retracted my chakra arm but quickly began gathering more of Isobu's chakra so I could eventually enter my [Demon Cloak] form. "Release my assistant, imposter and I won't tear your head from your neck."
"Mmahahha!" Obito's laugh was edged with madness, his arm still wrung around Junichi's neck, its grip growing tighter with each passing second.
"Who are you?" The Fourth Hokage demanded, his voice cold and stony as he stepped forward his Thunder-God Kunai brandished.
Obito tilted his head, his Sharingan gleaming like a predator's eye catching the moonlight. "I said, don't move." The wood stave growing from his palm twisted with a sinister crack, stretching as it dug into Junichi's temple, carving a thin red line that ran down his face. Obito sneered, his tone condescending. "You shouldn't be here, Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze. There are far greater concerns for a man like you…far beyond whatever the Mizukage could possibly say."
"And what would you know of what I have to say?" I pointed an accusatory finger at him, "You attack a diplomatic mission you have no right knowing about, attempt to place me under Genjutsu with that Sharingan of yours and for what? Speak your purpose now, imposter."
"Sharingan?" Minato muttered under his breath but I ignored him. "If you are an Uchiha then you must-"
"No!" He tightened his grip further, and Junichi's eyes rolled back as he fell unconscious, his body hanging limp in Obito's merciless hold. "You're in no position to demand anything, Hokage, and neither is the Mizukage," he spat, the venom in his tone matching the twisted forest around us. "The shinobi world is on the brink of expiration. This age of Kage and feudal strife? It will all cease with my return."
"I asked you a question, who are you?" Minato demanded, the edge in his voice growing thinner, "What grief does an Uchiha have against the shinobi world? Against the Mizukage and I meeting?"
Obito stayed silent for a moment and then his arm slackened, releasing Junichi. I sent my chakra arm out to retrieve him but his Kamui was faster. The vortex swallowed my assistant before he even fell to the ground.
"No!" My chakra arm ploughed into the earth where Obito stood. The ground shattered beneath the force, scattering dirt and stone, but when the dust cleared, I knew I had achieved nothing.
Emerging from the settling haze, Obito stepped forward, slowly, deliberately, arms spread wide, as though inviting us to witness some twisted sermon. "I am Uchiha Madara," he declared, his tone dripping with cold pride. "I have every reason to grieve this world's end, even as I prepare to lay it to rest." His gaze turned to me, those crimson Sharingan eyes flashing with deep, personal hatred. "Relish your survival, Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi…for it will not happen a second time. You and all your kind will be the stones on which this new world will be built." He glanced at Minato with chilling finality. "And as for you…I'll be seeing you soon, Yellow Flash."
"Give him back!" I roared, and chakra erupted around me, thickening into the full, monstrous [Demon Cloak] form. I launched forward, the cloak swirling like a storm, but Obito merely laughed, that mocking, maddening cackle resonating as his Kamui vortex began to pull him into nothingness. He waved once, as if dismissing me, and then he was gone.
"Rraaghhh!!" My scream tore through the air, sending a shockwave that cratered the ground around me, the devastation rippling outward as if to chase him even into the void. The forest shuddered, barren trees trembling under the force of my rage, but nothing brought Junichi back.
Minato watched me warily, his eyes full of confusion and worry as he glanced over his shoulder where Genma and Ao watched haplessly. No one could do a thing, not even I, not even the fastest shinobi on the planet.
Ao stumbled forward, his movements reopened his gut wound but he didn't care, "Yagura-sama, please, we will get him back, we will-"
"Enough words," I growled, steam puffing out with every word as I fixed my white-eyed gaze on Minato, "Fourth Hokage, something must be done."
Still regarding me warily, he set aside his kunai and nodded with grim determination, "Then let's talk action, Mizukage-dono."