Chapter 251: Stealing the Eye

Fragments of dirt flew around, firmly covering the bodies of the konoha shinobi. The dirty, unclean earth played with the souls of the dead.

His height changed, his clothes were renewed, and even his chakra became distinct—carrying the scent of Fire Release. That familiar cracked face, which resembled a broken mud wall, was recognized by both Orochimaru and Kakashi.

It was the man who had returned to this world through the Impure World Reincarnation—Obito Uchiha!

Every shinobi from Konoha present felt their hearts drop. Two extremely severe problems became evident:

1. Obito had long been dead, and the true goal of this attack was to provoke Orochimaru into using the Impure World Reincarnation. Once Obito was revived, Konoha's defense plan was entirely disrupted, leaving the village vulnerable.

2. The black urn that held the flesh of the Fourth Hokage had been swapped out—there was a traitor high up within Konoha!

In an instant, Orochimaru and Obito formed hand seals simultaneously. The reincarnated man acted faster.

—Impure World Reincarnation: Release!

He didn't possess the natural talent to perform this forbidden technique, but reversing the hand seals and releasing it could be done even by a child fresh out of the shinobi academy.

Orochimaru realized he had lost control over Obito and immediately adjusted his strategy. Dozens of snakes of varying thicknesses shot out from his sleeves, wrapping themselves around Obito.

Space twisted as Obito's left eye remained empty, but his right eye, which contained the Mangekyō, reappeared in its reincarnated form. Kamui activated, allowing him to avoid Orochimaru's Many Hidden Shadow Snake Hands.

His figure vanished.

Orochimaru's expression darkened. His neck elongated, and the Kusanagi Sword shot out from his mouth, aiming at the red-cloaked masked man wielding the Uchiha fan.

Boom!

The sharp Kusanagi Sword pierced the masked man.

As expected, it was all just for show.

The masked man, the Five-Tails, and those humanoid monsters infused with tailed beast chakra—they were all merely decoys to mislead Konoha into making wrong judgments.

"Kakashi, Ruri, help Shisui deal with the Five-Tails. Remember what I said," Orochimaru glanced toward the distant Hokage Rock and disappeared with a Body Flicker Technique. "If I'm not around, follow Shisui's lead."

---

Konoha Police Force Headquarters

Fugaku Uchiha tied his headband and stepped outside, the gusts created by the Five-Tails's movements hitting his face. Even from a distance, he felt the sting, as if needles were pricking his skin.

Most of his subordinates were fighting on the battlefield, and as the head of the Uchiha clan and leader of the police force, Fugaku could not remain uninvolved. After ensuring some matters were in order, he prepared to head to the front lines himself.

The sudden shift occurred the moment Fugaku stepped onto the street.

Whoosh!

A giant shuriken flew from his blind spot, perfectly timed and with incredible speed.

The shuriken sliced into Fugaku's shoulder, cutting diagonally from his waist, as if slicing through air, before slamming into the outer wall of the Konoha Police Force building, kicking up clouds of dust.

The edge of the shuriken was clean—there wasn't a single trace of blood. Yet, despite dodging with Kamui, Fugaku collapsed, struggling for a long time before finally standing again.

Parts of his body that had been moved into the Kamui space bore terrible injuries—his ribs and chest were exposed, and his internal organs were severely damaged.

—Someone had been waiting in the Kamui space to ambush Fugaku!

"Clan leader, how are my eyes working for you?"

Obito slowly emerged, looking at Fugaku with unconcealed mockery in his eyes.

"Kamui is too powerful of a technique. Ever since I learned that you had transplanted my right eye, I thought you might become overly dependent on it, just like me."

"Obito," Fugaku muttered, tightly watching the fragmented scars on the man's face. "So, it's the Impure World Reincarnation... you're already dead?"

"Thanks to Konoha, I've come back from the dead to seek revenge." Obito cracked his knuckles. "Since we share the same right eye, how about we settle this in the Kamui space? Orochimaru is smart; he's probably already on his way here."

Intelligence is a shinobi's lifeblood. Obito's reincarnated body caught everyone off guard, and with that crucial information gap, he had managed to incapacitate Fugaku in one blow!

Fugaku let out a bitter laugh. He didn't know what was happening on the front lines, but one thing was certain: Obito had seized the upper hand.

He couldn't let Obito get his hands on this eye...

Thinking that, Fugaku drew a kunai and prepared to stab his right eye.

However, just as the tip of the kunai was about five centimeters away from his eye, Fugaku stopped.

Because in Obito's hand was an unconscious boy.

—It was Sasuke Uchiha!

Even someone as composed as Fugaku, when faced with the sight of his youngest son being held hostage, faltered for just a brief moment.

That hesitation, even though extremely short, was enough time for a shinobi wielding Kamui to do a lot.

"Take him back!" Obito sneered, throwing Sasuke forward.

Without a second thought, Fugaku leaped forward to catch his son, holding him tightly in his arms.

But in that moment, Fugaku realized something was off. His Sharingan, honed to its peak, allowed him to spot the explosive tags stuck to Sasuke's back.

"You bastard…"

*Boom!*

Twenty explosive tags detonated simultaneously.

Sasuke's head felt like it was splitting open, and a massive sound roared in his ears, shaking his heart as if it would leap out of his throat.

"My head…"

The seven-year-old boy clutched his ears and opened his eyes, but all he saw was a scene bathed in blood.

The streets were in shambles from the explosion, the Konoha Police Force building's alarm blaring nonstop, and… his father holding him tightly.

Fugaku's once strong body was riddled with wounds, from his shoulder to his waist, not a single patch of skin remained unscathed. His right cheek was nearly gone, leaving only an empty socket where his eye had once been.

The boy stared in shock at his father. A flood of terror and anger surged through his heart, and his pure black eyes gradually turned red, the tomoe of the Sharingan spinning like flames.

"Run…" Fugaku grabbed his son's shoulders, "Sasuke, run…"

---

"Are you two out of your minds?" Shisui's dōjutsu erupted once again, his Susano'o pushing back the Five-Tails as he shouted, "Go help the Hokage! That's the Impure World Reincarnation! If you add Kamui on top of that…"

Kakashi sighed, his left eye transforming into the Mangekyō once more. "The Hokage plans to take on Obito alone."

"That's still not right! We can't let the Hokage do this alone! Kakashi, Ruri, as the head of the police force, I order you to immediately—"

"Don't lose focus, Shisui," the white-haired girl hurled herself at the Five-Tails like a missile. "The three of us will take this beast down in two minutes, then we'll go help the Hokage."

Shisui bit his lip, realizing that Ruri was right. He had no choice but to focus on the battle in front of him.

(End of chapter)