Chapter Forty-Three: Battle of the Spatial Manipulators

Shaking his head, Orochimaru sighed. "It seems we can't avoid battle after all." Orochimaru disliked trouble, but he was never afraid of it. Gradually, a snake head sprouted from his neck, and in its single eye gleamed the Sharingan, fixing its gaze on Obito.

"Do you remember this eye?" the serpent hissed.

Obito's face twisted in shock beneath his orange spiral mask—this was Kakashi's eye! In his youth, he had given Kakashi a Sharingan, one that shared the same abilities as the eye he now possessed.

"What did you do to Kakashi?!" Obito demanded, his voice a mix of anger and panic. His first concern was not whether he could defeat Orochimaru, but whether Kakashi was safe.

Orochimaru, recalling Obito's past, noted that though Obito had become the mastermind behind the scenes, his passions burned just as fiercely as ever for people and things of his past. This, Orochimaru mused, was the root of Obito's eventual failure.

"I'm not sure. After I took the Sharingan, I left. He probably isn't dead," Orochimaru replied, unwilling to waste words. Since battle was inevitable, best to start and finish quickly.

He formed hand seals and placed his palms on the ground, unleashing the jutsu "Wicked Serpent's Coiling." At the same time, the snake head atop his neck activated the Kamui ability with its Sharingan, transferring the jutsu into the other dimension.

A massive snake was summoned, piercing through Obito's body—but as expected, Obito's form seemed incorporeal. Yet in the next instant, the summoned serpent vanished, relocated by Orochimaru to the alternate space.

A dull thud echoed.

Caught in his intangible state, Obito was struck directly.

"What?!" Obito gasped in disbelief. He had never fought against his own left eye before, and thus had never realized the mutual restraint between the two. The location in the alternate dimension where his intangible form resided was precisely where Orochimaru sent the summoned serpent.

"Both eyes possess the same power, and the target location in the other space is identical. No matter where you phase, I can reach you," Orochimaru declared.

He formed another set of seals and used the jutsu "Tongue Serpent's Violent Strike." Orochimaru opened his mouth, unleashing a serpent to attack his enemy. This time, enhancing the technique, he fired two serpents at once, transferring one to the alternate space with Kamui.

Whether Obito phased or not, he would have to face Orochimaru's assault.

"Wood Style: Monolith!"

Obito chose not to phase, forming seals and pressing his hands to the ground. A massive, square pillar of wood emerged, blocking the incoming serpents.

"So, you won't phase," Orochimaru observed. He shifted his body, then shot forward straight at Obito.

Obito's pupils narrowed. He turned and fled, trying to put distance between them while phasing again, but Orochimaru’s body followed him into intangibility as well.

"My left eye can follow the right eye’s power, moving freely through the alternate space!"

Obito now realized he was facing the greatest crisis since awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan.

From deep underground, their battle surged to the surface. It was both fierce and eerily calm, the two pursuing each other relentlessly, passing through obstacles without resistance. Sometimes, the force of their jutsu erupted in the real world, causing massive destruction; at other times, their attacks left no visible trace.

But Obito was growing ever more desperate.

From their hiding place, Naruto and Sasuke watched the fight with growing confusion. The spectacle was bizarre, but gradually, understanding dawned in their eyes.

"This is the power of space. We must choose the exact right moment to strike," Naruto whispered. Indeed, with Orochimaru now a master of spatial power and able to enter the alternate dimension at will, if they could not kill him in one blow, the only ones to die would be themselves.

They became even more cautious, unaware that they had already been discovered. Orochimaru would deal with them once he was free.

...

Orochimaru and Obito chased each other through the Sound Village—Obito phasing in and out of reality, Orochimaru matching him step for step, overwhelming him in direct combat.

"Orochimaru is researching the power of space!" Obito realized in shock. With his most formidable technique neutralized and himself outmatched in raw strength, the battle should have been utterly one-sided. Yet the deadlock persisted—there could be only one explanation.

He stopped phasing and remained corporeal. Orochimaru’s attacks became truly ferocious, intent on killing him. Obito immediately phased again, and Orochimaru’s assault waned.

"So it’s true—Orochimaru is comprehending the nature of space, which is why he hasn’t killed me yet!" Obito thought. He began using his phasing ability with increasing frequency, hoping to prolong his usefulness and delay his own demise, all while seeking a way out.

"Orochimaru is far too strong with my left eye. Unless I can sever the link between my eyes..." Obito tried to break the connection between his left and right eyes, but since they shared a common origin, activating a technique caused them to resonate.

He sensed the connection through his ocular power as he phased repeatedly, and indeed, he could feel the link. Yet it was useless—though he could sense the bond, he could not sever it immediately. He would need to develop a new technique. But time was short, and Orochimaru would not grant him the opportunity.

"There’s only one option... risk everything!"

Obito gathered chakra for the Mangekyo technique; the longer he prepared, the greater its power. Just as Orochimaru was about to end him, Obito suddenly activated the jutsu. This time, instead of heading to his usual alternate dimension, he transported himself randomly.

The variability of space was perilous—random transfers could land him in a spatial maelstrom, resulting in instant death.

He had no choice but to gamble.

In a flash, space warped. Blood streamed from both of Obito’s eyes; this was no mere phasing—his entire body was transported into an alternate dimension.

The landscape shifted. Snowflakes drifted down, and the world was a vast expanse of white, glaciers stretching in every direction. The chill bit deep, threatening to freeze his body. Obito unleashed a blast of Fire Style, warding off the cold.

Suddenly, the space rippled, and Orochimaru appeared as well. The cold made Orochimaru drowsy—his snake cells reacting to the environment. The serpent head on his neck turned and bit his shoulder hard, jolting him awake. He too unleashed Fire Style, dispersing the chill.

Obito activated his space technique again, this time at random. Blood poured from his eyes, his vision blurring. The Mangekyo’s power had been overused, but he had no choice.

Obito vanished, reappearing in a new space—this one scorching, suspended in air as if within a volcano, with nowhere to stand save for the searing magma below. He hurled a shuriken, embedding it in a nearby stone wall, and used the attached wire to suspend himself.

"Surely Orochimaru won't follow me here," Obito thought. Random transmission was incredibly dangerous—one could encounter spatial turbulence and die instantly. He was gambling that Orochimaru, if he valued his current body, would not dare follow.

Yet space shimmered before him, and Orochimaru appeared once more.

"So, Orochimaru doesn't care about this body," Obito thought, and activated his spatial technique again.

With the last reserves of his ocular power—at the cost of nearly exhausting his vision entirely—Obito transferred through two more spaces. One was a boundless desert; the other, a realm of lush green with crushing gravity.

Obito was nearly blind now, his world a blur as if he were ten thousand degrees nearsighted. Yet as soon as he arrived in this space, he invoked his ocular power again. He would not stop until his chakra was spent, hoping to trigger a spatial storm and shake off Orochimaru for good.

This time, he emerged in a space devoid of air or vegetation, with insufficient gravity, but human structures below—where, he could not tell.

With the last glimmer of sight, Obito did not hesitate, burning through the final drop of his ocular power. His body vanished, and in the final space—one whose nature he could not determine, blinded and consumed with exhaustion—he lost consciousness.

...

Orochimaru followed Obito through the shifting dimensions, spatial energies swirling around him. He activated the six-tomoe Sharingan, analyzing the fabric of space itself.

He realized that only by such rapid passage could one truly perceive the essence of spatial power. At this moment, Orochimaru hoped Obito would hold out a little longer—he did not want his prey to die too soon.

"Glacial space, volcanic space, desert space, super-gravity space..." Orochimaru murmured. The dimensions Obito had traversed were four of the six spaces controlled by Kaguya Otsutsuki, counting the ninja world as a fifth.

Could the next be the Genesis Sphere?

Standing in the super-gravity space, Orochimaru immersed himself in observation and reflection. As the spatial ripples faded, he entered the next realm.

"This is..."

It was not the Genesis Sphere. Orochimaru’s body began to fall, and below he saw human structures. But what astonished him was not the architecture, but the sight of a blue planet hanging in the void.

He had arrived outside Earth.