085 Naruto Mobile Game

Silence blanketed the land of the ninja world.

Everyone raised their heads to watch the two who had clashed at the information conference—more precisely, their gazes were fixed on that mysterious masked man.

Not just for Kakashi, but for all the spectators, this revelation came completely out of the blue.

"Nine-Tails... was it done by that masked man?"

On Konoha's Hokage Rock, Naruto wore a dazed expression, as if he hadn't quite come back to his senses yet.

Beside him, Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru, and the others showed expressions that shifted one after another, unable to settle.

Asuma and Guy exchanged a glance, both seeing the gravity and worry in each other's eyes.

The exposure of the mastermind behind the Nine-Tails Incident could, in a sense, be considered a good thing—because before this, they had known absolutely nothing.

"Do you know, Guy-sensei, Asuma-sensei?" Naruto said in a low voice.

"Yeah. That night, Kakashi and I were strolling around the streets when the Nine-Tails suddenly appeared in the village. The Hokage-sama ordered the younger people to evacuate," Guy said.

There was no need to say what came next; everyone understood. They only emerged from the shelters after the Nine-Tails Incident had ended.

"Sounds a bit like the way a summoning technique makes its entrance," Asuma said in an oddly toned voice.

There was really nothing more to say. After all, the real culprit had already admitted it—right in front of the entire ninja world.

It was nothing more than an information gap.

"So that's how it was. Minato even fought you that night," the Third Hokage sighed.

That night, many people lost their lives and loved ones, including him, the Hokage himself.

What he couldn't understand was how the masked man knew the exact time and place of Kushina's childbirth. How did he manage to summon the Nine-Tails?

If the villagers of Konoha were shocked and angry, then the other villages were watching with the mentality of enjoying a good show.

The Nine-Tails Incident? Great!

So it was you, Masked Man? Well done—why don't you go again sometime? Find a moment and pay Konoha another visit.

That Uzumaki Naruto is the current Nine-Tails jinchūriki, isn't he? That would be much easier to deal with...

...

At the Akatsuki site, it was eerily quiet.

"Tobi... you even pulled off something this big?" Deidara's expression changed several times, words failing him.

"That guy—he's pretty strong, isn't he?" Hidan couldn't help but think. If he had been at the scene of the Nine-Tails Incident, how many people could he have sacrificed to Jashin-sama?

Aside from Pain, Konan, and Itachi—who had known about Obito long ago—the others found it hard to accept.

Hard to wrap your head around, right? Someone everyone usually saw as a goofy clown they could kill anytime, suddenly turning out to be far more powerful than all of them.

At the very least, going alone to Konoha to trigger the Nine-Tails Incident was something most of those present had never even considered.

Sasori glanced at Pain and Konan. Though those two usually wore deadpan expressions, he could still tell something.

As expected, Sasori thought. Pain was the leader—there was no way he didn't know. And since Konan stayed with Pain, it wasn't strange that she knew as well.

He then looked at Itachi again—and this time, he truly couldn't read anything at all.

"Quite a shock, isn't it, Itachi-san?" Kisame looked toward Itachi, whose expression showed not the slightest surprise.

As expected of Itachi-san, Kisame let out a low chuckle.

Of course, Kisame didn't know that the masked man was the very one who had once controlled the Mizukage, told him about that world filled with so-called reality, and brought him into Akatsuki.

What the audience thought was their own business. At this moment, the atmosphere inside the light screen remained tense.

Seeing Kakashi still facing off against Obito, Kuroda—who had been calmly sitting back the whole time—finally spoke up.

"You two, the information conference segment isn't over yet. How about this—since Ninja Mobile Game is the medium through which the conflict is being transferred, let's continue with the practical combat segment."

This practical combat was not the same as real combat; it referred, of course, to the High-Class Recruitment ninja combat demonstration.

Kakashi's expression was complicated. Knowing he couldn't do anything to the masked man, he could only agree.

Obito didn't care either and agreed as well.

Thus, the two who had been at each other's throats moments ago sat back down on the sofa, and the atmosphere eased slightly.

As the two entered the match, the image on the light screen shifted to the duel arena.

...

[Hatake Kakashi · Mangekyō Sharingan]VS[Mysterious Masked Man]

"Battle start!"

"Alright, we can see that neither side is making any rash moves. Kakashi-san is still conducting an initial probe in his usual style."

"And Masked Man-san is... hmm, he's standing completely still, showing no pressure at all."

Kuroda stopped talking mid-sentence. Standing still to pretend to be a master? Wrong—this was the real master!

Seeing that Obito hadn't moved at all since the match began, Kakashi thought, Is he looking down on me?

He controlled [Hatake Kakashi · Mangekyō Sharingan] to walk up and throw out a basic attack as a feint, but Obito still didn't react. Kakashi smoothly followed up by directly activating Earth Style: Earth Wall.

Whoosh!

At the very moment the earthen wall emerged, [Mysterious Masked Man] was already flying above [Hatake Kakashi · Mangekyō Sharingan]'s head.

What?! Kakashi's eyes changed.

It could only be said—worthy of a ninja, and an experienced battlefield veteran at that.

The first time seeing [Mysterious Masked Man]'s second skill in actual combat, Kakashi immediately realized there was a problem.

Fast—far too fast.

It wasn't speed in the normal sense, but as if he had slipped through time itself, existing for that instant outside the normal flow of time.

Like a camera shooting in continuous mode—among what should have been a seamless series of photos, two frames suddenly failed to connect.

Yes. This was Tobi's zero-frame blink!

Because of his surprise, Kakashi didn't substitute immediately and failed to catch the opponent's recovery frames.

[Mysterious Masked Man] grabbed him and landed several basic attacks, then leapt up and kicked him out of the time-space.

Now!

Kakashi immediately substituted and activated Kamui.

Obito couldn't input anything in time. Only after Kamui's suction ended did he substitute down.

Boom!

A single back-turned fire breath from [Mysterious Masked Man] sent [Hatake Kakashi · Mangekyō Sharingan] flying again.

"Have you gotten careless, Hatake Kakashi? What makes you think you're the only one who can catch recovery frames?" Obito mocked him as he secured the counterplay.

Kakashi didn't respond, his expression calm.

From that brief exchange, he had roughly confirmed that the opponent's instant blink was extremely fast, but the recovery after basic attacks was long—and that his own first skill, Kamui, also had significant recovery.

Seeing Kakashi seemingly thinking about his next move, the corner of Obito's mouth curled beneath the mask.

[Mysterious Masked Man] threw out several attack strings, then suddenly used Cutting Technique, followed by Heaven and Earth Explosion Burial, then summoned a shark, and finally unleashed his ultimate—summoning the Nine-Tails!

[I am the ruler of this world!]

As the screen was flooded with light, the Ultimate Scene popped up—different from the one Obito had actively brought up last time.

It looked more like this guy's personal declaration. One had to admit—it was arrogant to the extreme.

Kakashi stared at his ninja, at the substitute that would be ready in just one more second, and could only set his phone down.

During the practice field experience, Obito had already keenly noticed that [Mysterious Masked Man]'s damage output was quite high—perhaps only slightly lower in burst than [Uchiha Obito · Youth].

Sure enough, a single substitution sealed the deal.

"So it was you," Kakashi said, looking at Obito with a complicated expression.

Earlier, he had encountered a player called [Sharingan Hero] and had been taken down in one full combo—the death looked exactly the same as this.

But why?

That player's in-game name, the things he said after appearing, and his attitude toward Kakashi...

Kakashi raised a hand to press his brow, feeling a sudden, inexplicable stab of pain in the side of his head.

At that moment, Obito adjusted his mask.