Chapter 394: Chapter 394: Yamanaka Inoichi
Konoha Anbu, Underground Base, Third Level.
This was a completely sealed chamber, with sealing formulas carved into the walls to block external investigation and prevent internal chakra fluctuations from leaking out.
A medical bed was placed in the center of the room, with Uchiha Ryota lying on it, connected to various monitoring devices.
Five people stood beside the bed.
Uchiha Fugaku, Hyuga Hiashi, and Akimichi Torifu were present supervising as advisors.
Yamanaka Inoichi—the head of the Yamanaka clan, Konoha’s top sensory-type ninja, and the one performing this investigative technique.
And standing in the corner, with a grim expression, was Uchiha Takumi.
"Inoichi, I’m counting on you."
Fugaku said in a deep voice: "Be as gentle as possible. Ryota’s injuries haven’t fully healed yet."
Yamanaka Inoichi, a gentle man under thirty, nodded:
"Don’t worry, Lord Hokage. I will use the most reliable secret technique, only probing memory fragments from a specific time period. It won’t put a strain on his brain."
Takumi spoke coldly:
"Remember your promise. The moment there’s any abnormality, stop immediately."
"I understand."
Yamanaka Inoichi responded calmly.
He walked to the bedside, formed hand seals, and chakra slowly emanated from him.
"Mind Transfer Secret Technique · Memory Probe."
Yamanaka Inoichi’s consciousness flowed along the chakra into Ryota’s brain, beginning to search for memories from those few days on the Land of Fields border.
Time passed, minute by minute.
Yamanaka Inoichi’s brow gradually furrowed.
"What’s wrong?" Fugaku asked.
"It’s a bit strange..."
Inoichi maintained his hand seal posture, saying in a deep voice:
"The memories of the battle process aren’t very clear, but I can confirm Shisui died under the siege of three Kage-level opponents, and one of them was an Uchiha!"
"As for the memories after escaping the battlefield... they’re like being shrouded in a thick fog. I can’t see clearly."
"Can you force a breakthrough?" Hyuga Hiashi asked.
"We can try, but there are risks."
Upon hearing this, Takumi’s gaze turned cold.
Inoichi looked at Uchiha Fugaku, waiting for instructions.
Fugaku hesitated.
Forcing a breakthrough might damage Ryota’s brain, but if they didn’t break through, they would never know what Ryota experienced during those days.
And at that moment—
A sudden change occurred!
The space in the corner of the room suddenly twisted, forming a vortex.
A dark figure shot out from within, moving at extreme speed!
"Who goes there?!"
Akimichi Torifu reacted first, his body instantly expanding to block in front of Fugaku.
But the dark figure’s target wasn’t the Hokage, Uchiha Fugaku.
The dark figure lunged straight for Yamanaka Inoichi!
"Watch out!"
Hyuga Hiashi’s Byakugan clearly saw the attacker’s movements, but he couldn’t stop it in time.
Yamanaka Inoichi was fully focused on performing his secret technique and couldn’t divert any attention to defend himself.
Puchi—
A kunai pierced through Yamanaka Inoichi’s back.
The dark figure’s other hand pressed down on Ryota, and the spatial vortex appeared again, sucking them both in.
The entire process took less than three seconds.
By the time Fugaku and Takumi reacted, the dark figure, Inoichi, and Ryota had all vanished.
Leaving only a pool of blood on the floor and the lingering traces of spatial distortion in the air.
"RYOTA!!!"
Takumi’s eyes widened in fury, his Mangekyo Sharingan activating instantly, three curved blade-like projectiles spinning wildly.
He sensed the spatial fluctuations, his pupil power emanating from his left eye, and his figure vanished, following it.
Watching Uchiha Takumi disappear right after him, the three remaining in the room were stunned.
"That was just now..."
Hyuga Hiashi’s face was pale: "Space-time ninjutsu? It’s similar to the Fourth Hokage’s Flying Thunder God, but also different..."
Akimichi Torifu returned to normal, crouched down to inspect the bloodstains, and said in a deep voice:
"Inoichi is dead. A single, fatal blow."
Fugaku’s face was ashen, his hands clenched tightly.
He had seen it clearly—that dark figure wore a swirling mask, identical to the masked man from the Nine-Tails night!
And Uchiha Takumi was gone!
Just then—
A line of text suddenly appeared on the floor in the center of the room.
It was written in blood, and judging by how dried it was, it must have been left just moments ago.
[If you want to know your younger brother’s whereabouts, come to the Valley of the End alone, or he dies!]
The handwriting was hasty, but the meaning was clear.
"???"
"The Valley of the End..."
The several people present were somewhat bewildered. This message was clearly meant for Uchiha Takumi, but he was no longer here.
Uchiha Fugaku looked at the bloodstains and that line of text on the ground, a foreboding feeling rising in his heart.
Things...
were spiraling in the worst possible direction.
...
Uchiha Takumi’s House.
A spatial vortex materialized out of thin air, and Obito’s figure emerged from it, carrying the unconscious Uchiha Ryota in his right hand and Yamanaka Inoichi’s corpse in his left.
"Time to leave a little ’gift.’"
Obito murmured to himself, just as he was about to drop Yamanaka Inoichi’s body on the ground—
Whoosh!
The space to his left suddenly warped!
A figure materialized without warning, as if stepping directly into reality from another dimension!
It was Uchiha Takumi!
The pupils behind Obito’s mask contracted sharply.
How is this possible?!
He had left the Anbu base using Kamui less than ten seconds ago, and yet Takumi had tracked him here?!
The three curved blades in Takumi’s eyes spun wildly, his Mangekyo Sharingan locked tightly onto Obito, his voice icy cold:
"Put my brother down."
Obito quickly calmed down.
He had already investigated and confirmed Uchiha Takumi’s ocular technique before—capable of long-distance teleportation, but nothing about being able to track Kamui’s spatial fluctuations!
This ability... was more troublesome than anticipated.
"Uchiha Takumi."
Obito held Ryota up in front of him, his voice raspy: "You want to save your brother? Then follow me."
His original plan was to leave the blood and message, lure Takumi into using his ocular technique to go alone to the Valley of the End, and have Kisame Hoshigaki cooperate to ambush him there.
But now that Takumi had tracked him directly home, the plan needed to change.
Not that it mattered, though.
Obito’s right eye Mangekyo began to spin.
As long as he lured Takumi to the Valley of the End, it would be two against one. The odds of victory were still high.
Kamui activated!
The spatial vortex appeared again, and Obito’s figure began to distort and be drawn in.
Takumi’s gaze sharpened.
The reason he had been able to track this specific spatial fluctuation just now using "Divine Crossing" was—
His left eye, "Divine Crossing," wasn’t just capable of long-distance teleportation; it could also sense and track the "traces" left behind by other space-time ninjutsu!
And now, Obito was using that technique again...
The pupil power in Takumi’s left eye exploded!
"Divine Crossing!"
His figure instantly blurred, as if merging with space, and then—
He vanished!
