Chapter 91

Still in Haru's body, Isobu was laid out upon a metal examination table. Dozens of tendrils of white zetsu roots flowed into his chest cavity, keeping the human body alive during Obito's examination. And out of the entranced biiju, like a morbid white zetsu fountain, petal-like structures grew out of the cavity in the complex physical representation of Haru's seal.

Obito peered out of the single hole in his orange spiral mask at the combination of English and Japanese words as if trying to read alphabet soup. He screamed in frustration and smashed the delicate construction of white text emerging from his captive.

It wasn't as if he couldn't understand the English with his Sharingan eye. The problem was that the modified seal had been designed to allow the Sanbi much greater freedom than the standard eight trigrams seal. And without the original occupant, the biiju had slipped into the the driver's seat and thus become resistant to the biiju extraction jutsu. It would take a day or two to modify the jutsu.

The question of where the boy went remained in Obito's mind. The Kamui had never reacted with anyone else like that. The Uchiha's train of thought was interrupted by a massive tremor that shook the Akatsuki base, knocking beakers and surgical tools off shelves.

"Hooaahh," Obito groaned in exasperation. Kisame was on base but the timing convinced Obito to investigate the matter personally. After a quick jaunt through the Kamui, he beheld a massive crater in the forest above the fire country base. The ground had been obliterated a hundred meters across, leaving only upturned earth and twisted, charred trees. The dust had yet to settle and the remains of small fires were dying around him. "A meteorite?" Obito muttered to himself.

In the center of the devastation was a person shaped hole. "Owwwww. That was worse than Akane's mallet," a teenager spoke, displaying minor inconvenience. The voice's owner emerged, revealing a young man dressed in a red chinese silk shirt and black silk pants. He straightened his eyepatch and dusted himself off.

The sixteen year old male looked up at the masked Uchiha. His eye widened, not expecting to find the leader of Akatsuki so quickly. "Oh, hi, Obito. Long time no see?"

"Haru?" Obito posited, visibly tilting his head upward to see where the redheaded boy had come from. He immediately flickered behind Haru, aiming to threaten the boy into complacency with a kunai to the throat. Just as quickly, Haru reacted with a low leg sweep into a spinning roundhouse kick.

The unconventionally dressed ninja was not surprised when his follow up attack failed to properly connect with the Uchiha. He narrowed his eye and muttered, "Damn Kamui." However, it had given him some space and Obito seemed wary of the unfamiliar Haru.

"I just have to touch him once…" Haru reminded himself internally. For him, it had been over two years since his consciousness had been sent back to his original world. After being transported to the world of Ranma 1/2, he had trained and planned for this fight. He had been expecting a bit more time in this dimension before actually confronting Obito, however.

Haru broke the silence, "So if you aren't pursuing the Infinite Tsukuyomi, what are you actually trying to do?"

Obito removed his mask and glared at the teen with his Sharingan. "I'm trying to remake the world into a better place. Not just with an illusion, but by changing reality itself."

"That sounds like...the Tenseigan?"

Obito cast a genjutsu through his Sharingan, expecting to defeat his opponent instantly. Instead of reaching Haru's consciousness, the ocular genjutsu obliterated several layers of mental ablative defenses.

Although Haru remained standing, it was evidently not a pleasant experience for the boy. "I know you haven't been a Konoha-nin for years but you should at least know better than to try genjutsu against one of the pioneers of anti-genjutsu defenses," Haru spoke proudly.

"I suppose we'll have to do this the hard way," Obito said as he clapped his hands together, summoning trunks of white wood at Haru. In response, the boy spun flaming chakra in both of his hands, creating balls of flame tinged with black. The unnaturally colored rasen-fireballs obliterated the Mokuton attack.

"Is there anyway I could persuade you to just come back to Konoha and make up with Kakashi and live happily ever after?" Haru asked as he scanned the area for where Obito had flickered to.

Obito whispered into Haru's ear from behind, "I'm going to have to decline your generous offer." He stabbed the surprised boy in the back with a short tanto blade. The blow wasn't meant to kill but merely incapacitate. He needed Hamura's descendant alive to achieve his goals.

Haru coughed out a mouthful of blood, reaching behind himself to grab Obito's arm. "But I insist," he said mirthfully, still drooling blood.

Unbeknownst to Obito, the seal on Haru's stomach began to glow through his stained silk shirt. Obito attempted to flee through Kamui but, even while intangible, he watched in horror as his body began to disintegrate quickly from where Haru had grabbed his arm. The tanto fell out of Haru's back and the redhead fell to one knee.

"What is this?" Obito yelled. His head and shoulder was all that was left of him and that was rapidly disappearing too.

Haru coughed again. He had already set his chakra to heal the wound similar to how Kabuto would regenerate himself on the fly. "You're lucky. A vacancy recently opened up in Hotel Haru. I hope you enjoy your stay."

The modified Eight Trigrams seal on Haru's torso stopped glowing as Obito faded completely.

The boy adjusted his eyepatch and wished he could congratulate himself but it would have to wait. Kisame Hoshigaki was standing in front of him, sword at the ready.