After releasing Amaterasu, Itachi felt a slight sting in his eyes.
Deactivating his Mangekyō Sharingan, he gripped his blade and charged straight at Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru-Style: Substitution Jutsu!"
Orochimaru, enduring immense pain, opened his mouth wide.
As his body shed like a pale, brittle snakeskin, he spat out a wet and slimy version of himself.
"Arghhhhh!"
Though the black flames on his body had subsided, the golden flames burning his soul showed no sign of abating.
Orochimaru rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the long blade Itachi hurled his way, then shouted at the nearby Manda.
"Manda! Take me to Ryūchi Cave! I promise you a thousand human sacrifices in return!"
Hearing this, Manda slithered away from Gamabunta's short blade with a serpentine grace, shaking its massive, scaled body as it swung its head toward Orochimaru.
"As you wish. Let's go!"
Manda had no desire to keep fighting Gamabunta. It couldn't win, and verbal insults didn't help either.
It was pointless. The longer the fight dragged on, the more frustrating it became.
If transporting Orochimaru back would grant it a feast of fresh blood, then why linger here?
Orochimaru forced himself to his feet, evading Tsunade and Itachi's pursuit before leaping into Manda's gaping maw.
"Uchiha Itachi… Arghhh!"
If not for the defenses he had placed on his soul in advance, he wouldn't have survived even the first wave of golden flames.
But those defenses were only delaying the inevitable.
He had no means to extinguish the strange, intangible fire.
If it continued burning, he would die within five minutes.
"Only the White Snake Sage can save me now! Arghhh!"
As Orochimaru endured the excruciating agony of his soul burning, he desperately pondered how to persuade the White Snake Sage to intervene.
With Manda's jaws snapping shut, both man and snake disappeared from the battlefield in an instant.
Tsunade, unable to stop Orochimaru in the final moments, clenched her fists in frustration, her knuckles cracking audibly.
"Damn it! That bastard actually got away!"
Itachi stood silently nearby, his expression thoughtful.
...
Minutes later, reinforcements from Konoha arrived.
The chaotic scene left many of them in shock.
Among the crowd, the Earth-Style users couldn't hide their dismay, their faces ashen.
One particular Earth-Style ninja looked more devastated than anyone else.
"Looks like I'll be bedridden for days after this… Hopefully, they'll approve my sick leave," he muttered to himself.
Soon after, Minato and his team arrived.
After a brief exchange with Jiraiya and the others, Minato quickly pieced together the chain of events.
...
Hokage's Office
Minato sat behind his desk, his gaze heavy as he looked at his student.
"Kakashi, what's your take on this?"
Kakashi adjusted his forehead protector slightly.
"Based on our intel, Orochimaru was supposed to be working for the Akatsuki… or rather, Obito."
"But according to Itachi, this whole fiasco was orchestrated to abduct Rin."
"There's an overwhelming chance Orochimaru has betrayed the organization—and Obito likely doesn't know yet."
Minato sighed, rubbing his temples in frustration.
"Obito's organization has significant internal issues… But we can't confront him directly for now. Still, he must be informed of this."
"Kakashi, I'm entrusting you to relay this information to Obito—discreetly."
Kakashi nodded slightly.
"Understood, Minato-sensei."
With that, he left the Hokage's office.
...
Obito glanced into his Kamui space, where two young Jinchūriki—one a girl, the other a boy—lay unconscious.
He planned to deliver them, along with the Six-Tails Jinchūriki, to Madara.
But his wait for Kisame and the others stretched on far longer than expected.
When they finally returned, they were battered, bruised, and utterly exhausted.
Obito's eyes narrowed in disbelief.
"Kisame… What happened to you all?"
"And… weren't there four of you when you left? Don't tell me—"
The three battle-hardened shinobi exchanged bitter, somber smiles.
"The Six-Tails Jinchūriki was far stronger than we anticipated…" Kisame said grimly.
Zabuza clenched his fists, his voice tinged with guilt and sorrow.
"It's my fault. Juzo-senpai… He saved me. He shielded me from a Tailed Beast Bomb but was struck by a shattered blade in the process."
"He… died because of me. Before he passed, he entrusted me with the Executioner's Blade… I failed him."
Obito listened, stunned.
This… Was this the work of the world's inevitable course correction?
[World Line Correction: The timeline self-adjusts, steering events toward an overarching result, despite divergences.]
Not only had the timeline corrected itself, but it had done so with chilling precision—recreating Juzo's death and ensuring the Executioner's Blade reached Zabuza.
Even fate seemed to move with a will of its own.
Obito sighed and consoled his comrades before sealing the Six-Tails Jinchūriki into his Kamui space.
With his eyes reddened, he vanished, heading for Madara's base.
...
Uchiha Madara's Base
Obito appeared silently behind Madara, hands clasped behind his back.
"I'm here, Gramps."
Madara, his back still turned, smirked.
"You're late, Obito."
Black Zetsu, watching from the side, rolled its eyes.
Obito summoned three Jinchūriki from his Kamui space.
"Gramps, I've brought three more Tailed Beasts."
"With just two more, we can proceed to the Eight-Tails. As per our agreement, the Nine-Tails is mine to handle."
Madara turned, laughing heartily at the sight.
"Hahaha! My grandson, Obito, truly outdoes himself! So efficient—"
"Yeah, yeah. Enough of the theatrics. Let's start sealing them already," Obito interrupted, annoyed.
Madara blinked, momentarily taken aback.
Only Obito could speak to him this way and live to tell the tale.
"Fine, fine," Madara relented. "I'll summon the Gedo Statue now."
This… This was how their dynamic worked.
Once the Gedo Statue emerged with a rumble, the two began sealing the Tailed Beasts.
Though it didn't take long to seal each one, doing three back-to-back was exhausting.
At last, they finished.
Obito stretched his arms with a yawn.
"Finally done!"
It had taken them nearly an hour, but they had successfully sealed the One-Tail, Six-Tails, and Seven-Tails into the Gedo Statue.
With this, five of the statue's eyes now glowed ominously.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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