Mastermind of the Akatsuki

The scene of Obito enduring the Dust Release stunned all the powerful ninja present.

Dust Release was almost the only bloodline elimination technique in the shinobi world and was also one of the most destructive jutsu. Before Dust Release, whether it was rock or steel, everything would instantly evaporate, even tailed beasts were no exception.

After a moment of shock, everyone recalled that Obito mastered space-time ninjutsu.

Obito hadn't actually resisted Dust Release head-on; instead, he used Kamui to phase his body into a different dimension, avoiding the attack. He didn't have the ability to physically withstand Dust Release.

At that moment, Byakuya's voice sounded appropriately, "Everyone, this is the Masked Man's space-time ability. I call it 'phasing.' The duration of phasing is limited; he can only maintain it continuously for five minutes."

Upon hearing this, the ninjas present breathed a sigh of relief. They knew Obito had space-time abilities but were unaware of the limit on phasing duration. Now that they knew it could last a maximum of five minutes, their confidence instantly rose.

Onoki even hovered in mid-air and slowly said, "Masked Man, I will wait here for you to come out of the other dimension. When you can no longer hold out, I'll make you taste the power of Dust Release!"

Obito's expression darkened, eyes fixed tightly on Byakuya, thinking to himself, "You betrayed me again."

Byakuya showed a helpless look — now that they were enemies, he couldn't hold back. If he died during the mission, it would only show a lack of strength.

Time passed second by second, and Obito's expression grew increasingly grim.

Before reaching the five-minute limit, Obito impatiently ended phasing and lunged toward Onoki's position. As long as he could eliminate Onoki, the others would no longer be a threat.

Onoki was a little flustered by the sudden attack but smiled faintly.

He had long anticipated Obito's move and was ready to use Dust Release. However, just as Onoki prepared to finish Obito off, Obito's figure flickered and suddenly appeared beside the Fourth Raikage.

Obito's target wasn't the Fourth Raikage himself but to use Dust Release against him.

With the release of Dust Release, a dazzling cube appeared in the meeting hall. The Fourth Raikage, sensing danger, dodged to the side just in time and barely avoided the attack.

Even so, the Fourth Raikage was grazed by the Dust Release, and blood oozed from his arm.

Seeing his plan fail, Obito activated phasing again and taunted, "Fourth Raikage, your Lightning Armor isn't invincible. Why did you dodge against Dust Release?"

The Fourth Raikage's face darkened as he shouted at Onoki, "Tsuchikage, are you trying to kill me too?"

Onoki felt regretful but sighed and said, "Raikage, I'm trying to kill the Masked Man. And you're supposed to be the fastest ninja in the shinobi world — you shouldn't even be unable to dodge Dust Release."

"That's not a reason for you to use Dust Release on me!"

The Fourth Raikage questioned Onoki while moving his hands and feet swiftly. After entering Lightning Chakra Mode, he instantly teleported behind Obito and delivered a heavy elbow strike.

Obito used phasing again to avoid the blow, which slammed heavily into the ground, cracking the floor and revealing faint glimpses of the rooms below.

After both the Fourth Raikage and Onoki attacked, the other ninja quickly locked their attention on Obito.

However, because the meeting hall was cramped and crowded, none of the powerful ninja could unleash their full strength. Still, they blocked all exits and trapped Obito inside the conference room.

While Tsunade was treating the Fourth Raikage's wounds, she asked Byakuya, "Byakuya, you've repelled the Masked Man several times. Do you have any way to counter his phasing ability?"

At her words, the other ninjas also looked toward Byakuya.

Byakuya shook his head gently, "I have no way to catch the Masked Man either. But phasing isn't invincible. If an attack can be created that phasing cannot avoid, the Masked Man will inevitably be hit."

"An attack that phasing can't avoid?" The others looked puzzled.

Byakuya further explained, "Tsunade-sama should still remember my master's salamander. The salamander can release a large-area poisonous gas. Anyone remaining within the gas will inevitably be poisoned."

Hearing this, everyone brightened up — indeed a good strategy to deal with Obito.

If poisonous gas was released in advance within the meeting hall, then once Obito appeared, he would lose his fighting ability or even die from poisoning.

Wait... Byakuya had been so calm since meeting Obito. Could it be that he had already poisoned the area beforehand?

If the gas filled the whole meeting room, wouldn't everyone else have been affected too? But they hadn't felt any discomfort.

Seeing Byakuya openly explain the strengths and weaknesses of phasing, Obito gritted his teeth and sneered, "Byakuya, last time you used poison gas against me. You think it will work again? Before I appeared before you, I already put on a gas mask. Your plan is completely useless."

Obito had anticipated the gas mask? Tsunade and the others' faces darkened.

If Obito had even thought of this, then they truly had no way to deal with him. Although Obito couldn't defeat them all, the Masked Man intruding on the Six Kage Summit and escaping unscathed would be an unforgivable disgrace to the Six Great Shinobi Countries.

At this moment, Byakuya nodded toward Obito and said, "I knew you'd wear a gas mask, so I didn't poison the area this time. I've already seen through your thoughts; your preparations are futile."

Obito stared at Byakuya and taunted, "Then tell me, how do you plan to defeat me this time?"

Byakuya looked at Obito disdainfully and said, "Do you have a masochistic streak? Every time after I defeat you, you try to run away. Have you ever thought about actually beating me? As for how to keep you here, there are plenty of Kage-level shinobi around. There will definitely be a way."

Seeing that Byakuya was also helpless against the Masked Man, the Five Kage's faces grew even grimmer. They had to unite if they wanted to devise a strategy to defeat him.

But for the great shinobi villages that had been at odds for decades, that was no easy task.

"In the end, it's just that you are beyond our reach…" Obito paused, then continued, "If you can't defeat me, then I'll just keep hunting down the jinchūriki. Once I capture all the tailed beasts, I will use the Tailed Beast Bomb to destroy all the shinobi villages."

Byakuya calmly replied, "Don't waste time delaying. Your intangibility—your Kamui—has lasted four minutes and thirty seconds. Thirty seconds left until your death. Don't even think about escaping with Kamui. The fortress is surrounded by sensory barriers. No matter where you run, it will be useless."

Before he finished speaking, the thirty seconds passed. As soon as Obito's intangibility ended, he immediately activated Kamui to teleport. However, after the intangibility time limit ends, the speed of Kamui significantly drops.

Seizing the opportunity, Byakuya instantly appeared in front of Obito, slashing his short sword directly at Obito's arm.

Obito clenched his fist into the void, summoning several wooden spikes that shot toward Byakuya. Byakuya dodged the stabbing technique, giving Obito a chance to evade.

However, Obito's enemies were not just Byakuya.

The Fourth Raikage grabbed the chance and punched Obito. The fist, carrying the force of several tons, slammed heavily into Obito's body, sending him flying dozens of meters.

After crashing through several walls, Obito was pinned against a wall in a spread-eagle position.

Obito felt a sweet sting in his throat as blood dribbled from his mouth. Several ribs were fractured inside his body. If any ordinary shinobi had suffered this attack, they would have died instantly.

But Obito was the legendary "durable" warrior. During the Third Great Ninja War, even the giant boulder hadn't killed original Obito.

Now, after being modified by White Zetsu, Obito was even tougher. After spitting out a few mouthfuls of blood, he stood up as if nothing happened, glaring fiercely at the Kage-level shinobi rushing toward him, ready to escape.

He had originally thought this mission would allow him to show off in front of the Five Kage.

But unexpectedly, after Byakuya exposed the limit of his intangibility, he had become a beaten stray dog. Not only had he failed to crush the Five Kage with overwhelming momentum, he had almost been killed.

Many shinobi chased after Obito, while others stayed in the meeting room waiting for the result of the pursuit.

If they could defeat the Masked Man here, they wouldn't need to form a ninja alliance. The shinobi world order would return to how it was five or six years ago — a path they were familiar with.

Onoki sensed the nearby battle and said thoughtfully, "The Raikage and Jiraiya have the upper hand. Looks like we'll soon be able to eliminate the Masked Man's threat. I wonder if we can get the whereabouts of the jinchūriki from him."

Onoki was still thinking about his own Four-Tails and Five-Tails jinchūriki. Those two were the reason Iwagakure had the confidence to wage war. If they died, even if Iwagakure reclaimed the Four-Tails and Five-Tails, it would take more than ten years to train new jinchūriki. At his age, it would be difficult to wait that long.

Tsunade pondered for a moment and said, "As long as we catch the Masked Man, Konoha's interrogation team can extract information about the jinchūriki. If that doesn't work, Konoha can even use the Sharingan for interrogation."

Sasori nodded, "Sunagakure also has secret interrogation techniques. But after defeating the Masked Man, can you all hand over his corpse to Sunagakure for research? I want to use him to create a new puppet."

Creating a new human puppet… At these words, the atmosphere inside became extremely awkward.

They had just been discussing righteous ways to deal with the Masked Man, and now the Fifth Kazekage wanted to turn him into a puppet? What a dark and twisted idea.

Human puppets were a forbidden secret in Sunagakure. How could the Kazekage openly say such a thing?

But seeing the obvious modifications on Sasori's body, everyone relaxed. Sasori probably had been modified first—how much flesh he still had was a mystery.

At that moment, Mei Terumi said with concern, "Lord Hokage, Lord Tsuchikage, Lord Kazekage, aren't we celebrating too soon? Based on the experience of Kirigakure, the Masked Man is never a single shinobi, but a group of many. I remember Itachi Uchiha from Konoha and the Kirigakure traitor Hoshigaki Kisame were both his subordinates. And that was years ago. The current Masked Man definitely has more followers. Otherwise, he wouldn't have dared to show up in the Six Kage Summit meeting room."

At her words, Tsunade and the others regained their serious expressions.

Mei was right. The Masked Man was never alone. He had many dangerous S-rank rogue ninja under his command. Without enough confidence, he wouldn't have barged into the summit.

The problem was, how many subordinates did he bring this time, and why was he so bold?

Just then, a heavily armored samurai entered the meeting room. He walked up to Fleet Admiral Mifune with hesitation and said, "General Mifune, the fortress was just attacked. We have lost a large number of troops."

"Lost a large number of troops?" Mifune frowned and asked, "How many attackers? What level of shinobi are they?"

The armored samurai took a deep breath and said, "General Mifune, the attacker was only one person, and he defeated over a hundred of our defense troops using only basic taijutsu."

"Just basic taijutsu defeated over a hundred samurai?"

Those words reignited the meeting's tense atmosphere.

In terms of raw strength, samurai skilled only in taijutsu and kenjutsu are weaker than ninja of the same rank, but samurai don't need to cultivate ninjutsu or genjutsu. They can devote all their energy to taijutsu.

Therefore, an average samurai's taijutsu is stronger than a ninja's.

For one person to defeat over a hundred samurai with just taijutsu meant this person's strength was undoubtedly at the Kage level. The Masked Man really brought other shinobi to attack the fortress.

But how could a single taijutsu expert dare to challenge the top shinobi of the great villages?

Before they could think more, the great villages' top shinobi exchanged looks and decided to temporarily halt the meeting. They would wait until all the invaders approached before discussing the rescue of the jinchūriki.

At that moment, loud thunder-like roars came from outside.

The ceiling of the meeting room violently shook. After three-quarters of a second, a huge sword blade slashed through the ceiling, cutting the entire military fortress in half.

At the moment the giant sword severed the fortress and the ceiling collapsed, everyone vaguely saw outside a Susanoo like a demon god.

That Susanoo casually swept its gaze over them as if they were ants.

"Earth Release, Light and Heavy Rock Technique!"

As the fortress was about to collapse, Onoki flew up to the ceiling and used a gravity-affecting ninjutsu to stop the ceiling from falling further, but the effect was not very significant.

Byakuya sighed and then activated Wood Release ninjutsu. Countless vines sprouted from the nearby ground, lifting the severed upper half of the fortress. Using the gaps in the fortress, they moved outside.

The other shinobi, seeing this, also rushed outside.

In the next moment, everyone saw the Susanoo standing beside the fortress.

In the center of the Susanoo stood Madara Uchiha clad in red armor, gazing at them.