"Ninja Art: Vacuum Domain."
Sasuke cast Vacuum Domain again, trapping Hashirama a second time. At this point, the battle was nearly over, Sasuke had basically locked in victory.
He'd already realized that close-quarters combat against Hashirama wasn't a smart move. He could simply outlast the so-called "God of Shinobi" through pure attrition.
To be honest, if someone had said this before Aoba appeared in the ninja world, that Hashirama could be worn down, the entire world would've laughed them out of existence.
But Sasuke truly did have that kind of power now. And this was coming from a Uchiha, clan known for lacking endurance.
With the fight at this stage, Aoba was preparing to step in. The test was complete. Now it was time to capture Hashirama and figure out how exactly this man had died, revived, and died again.
If the Sage of Six Paths had already reached the point where he could so casually manipulate life and death, then Aoba might as well surrender now. That would mean the war was already lost.
But fortunately, the Sage seemed to have only used this power on Hashirama. Which was telling, he likely hadn't fully mastered it yet.
Just as Aoba was about to make his move to capture Hashirama, he died.
Silently. Without a trace. Instantaneous death on the spot. It was undoubtedly the work of the Sage of Six Paths. He clearly didn't want Hashirama to fall into Aoba's hands again.
To Aoba, it was a sad sight.
Hashirama had once been hailed as the God of Shinobi, the dominant figure of his era.
Yet now, in the hands of another, he lived and died at someone else's whim. Not just his body, his mind, even his soul, had no freedom. He wasn't even a puppet anymore… he was a tool.
If Aoba didn't tear all of this down, someday in the future, every shinobi in the world would end up the same way. The entire world would become the Sage of Six Paths' personal playground. That was something Aoba would never allow.
Hashirama's body slowly disintegrated into ash before Aoba's eyes. But Aoba knew, sooner or later, the so-called God of Shinobi would be brought back again.
Because right now, he was nothing more than a tool without a will of his own.
—
Meanwhile, in the Kamui dimension, Kakashi and Obito were facing off in a one-on-one duel.
It was very similar to their fight in the original timeline. Neither used the Kamui Rinnegan's powers, only basic ninjutsu and taijutsu.
But this time, Kakashi utterly crushed Obito.
Even though Obito's body had been reforged and enhanced by the Sage of Six Paths…
Kakashi was even stronger. In addition to his chakra cloak, his body had been genetically enhanced with Hashirama cells.
And as a senior member of Konoha, Kakashi received high-level custom enhancements. A team of dozens had designed a strengthening regimen based on his precise biological data, patching every weakness perfectly.
Konoha was now filled with elite shinobi, and its research division had collected and analyzed the training data of nearly all top fighters, creating a complete set of advanced "training manuals."
As a high-ranking officer, Kakashi had access to all of them, and had used them to level up significantly.
In Konoha's hyper-competitive and "hardcore grind" atmosphere, he was no longer the lazy elite jonin of the past.
After just a few rounds, Obito lay on the ground, battered and doubting everything.
"Why…"
"Why what?"
"Why have you become so strong… yet never tried to do anything for Rin? She died… by your hand!"
Obito shifted to a mental attack. The words stunned Kakashi, and his hand hesitated for a moment.
"Obito… Rin is dead."
"I know. That's exactly why we have to do something."
"Do what? Revive her? Obito… bringing Rin back isn't that simple."
Konoha had revived many people lately, but under specific conditions. They couldn't bring back someone who wasn't inside the Shinigami's belly, whose soul had long since been taken into the Pure Land, now controlled by the Sage.
"Shut up. Shut up! Rin won't die, she will come back. Look at Hashirama. He's died more than once, and every time, he came back. Rin can too!"
"You're oversimplifying it. Have you ever considered, if Rin were revived… would she still be Rin?
Would she still be the girl we once knew?"
"Shut up, Kakashi! You think I don't know? Aoba Kamikawa resurrected the First Hokage and the others. If they can be brought back…"
"That's different. The Hokage's souls were rescued from the Shinigami, they were purified by death. But Rin's soul is in the Pure Land now, and the Pure Land is no longer under the Shinigami's control."
Obito fell silent.
Did he know all this? Of course he did.
Obito's intel was second only to Aoba's. He had inherited Madara's legacy, collaborated in secret with Black Zetsu, and now worked with the Sage of Six Paths.
Though it looked like he was constantly getting used or manipulated, the truth was, he'd never really suffered any major losses.
It was just that his obsession ran deep. On the surface, he might seem foolish, but deep down, he was far sharper than people gave him credit for.
His problem was that he was too fixated. So fixated that he only wanted to see what he wanted to see, and ignored all the obvious facts in front of him.
And after Rin's death, he no longer had anyone he could trust.
He had always avoided facing Kakashi. Outwardly, he blamed Kakashi, but in truth, he feared confronting him.
Because their shared bond was Rin. Facing Kakashi meant facing the pain of losing her all over again.
Obito couldn't handle that pain.
So he kept running from it.
Until today, through a mix of coincidences and fate's design, he was finally forced to face Kakashi once again.
If you would like to read more...
The novel has be completed (Chp. 362) on the patreon -> SaintXI