437 The Shimura Has Ice Release

"Just you few?"

Seeing Takeshi's group's lineup, Isshiki sneered, mocking their naivety.

Then he stopped wasting words and fixed his sights on Obito.

Without Rinnegan or Sharingan, Takeshi could only rely on his current powerful sensory abilities to judge Isshiki's movements.

Sensing Isshiki's sudden assault, he hurriedly warned:

"Be careful!"

The moment his voice fell, Isshiki had already appeared before Obito, his arm piercing through Obito's abdomen.

"Not right."

That empty, resistance-less sensation made Isshiki realize something. Blocking Uchiha Hikari's thrown shuriken at the same time, he forcefully slashed his arm downward.

He easily dragged his arm across Obito's body—yet not a single injury appeared on the other party.

"A strange ocular technique… you can activate it automatically?"

Isshiki was certain Obito absolutely could not see his movements, so this time the ocular ability's activation wasn't Obito's conscious intention.

Uchiha Hikari was still throwing shuriken toward Isshiki.

"Annoying lower creatures. You think this level of attack can do anything to me?"

With a wave, he flicked away the shuriken shot at him and widened the distance between himself and Obito.

Obito froze for a moment, then hurriedly chased after him.

"Fire Style."

The extremely fast fire release engulfed Isshiki.

"Amaterasu!"

Seeing the powerful Fire Style Obito used, Uchiha Hikari decided to attach the eternally inextinguishable black flames of Amaterasu onto it.

"Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation."

Takeshi also altered the terrain, layering sharp stone and earth to completely wrap Isshiki.

"Natural energy, hmm? Interesting. The lower creatures on this planet did give us a tiny bit of trouble with this power back then, but..."

The black vortex of flames continued roaring. Amid the roaring fire and bursting stone, Isshiki's cold voice emerged.

"If you think this is your trump card to defeat me, you're gravely mistaken."

The burning black vortex gradually stopped rotating. Very soon, the so-called unquenchable flames were completely absorbed by Isshiki.

"And that eternal flame—Amaterasu. Unfortunately, such a thing has no effect on me."

"I never expected these things to defeat you anyway. Sage Art: White Shock Technique!"

Watching Isshiki keep posturing, Takeshi didn't hesitate—he activated the formula's opener mid-speech.

While Isshiki was suppressed by the White Shock Technique, Takeshi quickly formed seals and used Ice Release:

"Ice Release: Snow Prison!"

Large amounts of ice crystals spread. By the time White Shock was about to end, the entire room was covered in ice. Takeshi held a massive icy spiral lance and thrust it toward the gritting Isshiki.

Instinctively, Isshiki wanted to shrink the spiral lance—yet failed.

"Damn it. Why can't I shrink it?"

Behind him, Uchiha Hikari had already arrived and unleashed Dragon Flame Song Technique.

Caught in a pincer attack, Isshiki only panicked for a brief instant before regaining composure.

If he couldn't shrink the icy lance, then he would simply shrink himself.

A moment later, Isshiki disappeared from their sight.

The icy lance naturally struck nothing.

Shrunk down, having slipped out of Takeshi's attack range, Isshiki returned to his original size behind him.

Sensing that, Takeshi formed seals and suddenly spun around:

"Sage Art: Vacuum Consecutive Waves!"

Knowing sage techniques couldn't be completely absorbed, Isshiki's eyes widened. Two massive black cubes appeared out of thin air, falling with overwhelming weight.

One descended above Takeshi's head; the other appeared before him.

Against the black cubes, a wide-area technique like Vacuum Consecutive Waves appeared small and powerless.

When they collided, not even a scratch appeared on the cubes.

This was one of Isshiki's signature techniques—Daikokuten.

"Idiot, get out of the way!"

Uchiha Hikari's expression darkened as she shouted for Takeshi to dodge.

A second later, she was struck by Isshiki and sent flying, slammed into a standing pillar of ice.

"Oh? Looks like you don't have that kid's strange ocular ability."

Landing a clean hit, Isshiki let out a cold laugh and prepared to finish Uchiha Hikari.

Coughing blood from the ambush, her eyes burned with fury so intense it seemed visible.

By now, Daikokuten had fully fallen, cracking the ice that covered the room with violent fractures. The structures under the ice also began collapsing.

Just when Uchiha Hikari thought she was about to be killed by Isshiki, he suddenly punched the ice beneath him—and Takeshi's figure was blasted out from below.

"Hiding in the ice to try delivering a fatal blow? Too bad—you can't escape the Byakugan's detection."

Isshiki rushed forward, punching Takeshi's abdomen, but Takeshi blocked with his fist.

Using Isshiki's momentum, Takeshi adjusted his stance and engaged him in close-quarters combat.

Uchiha Hikari watched the two begin a taijutsu exchange.

"Your strength is decent."

Though called an exchange, Isshiki clearly held the advantage; he even had the leisure to chat, displaying ease and dominance effortlessly.

But Takeshi wasn't being completely overwhelmed—he evaded Isshiki's black rods several times, and his taijutsu infused with natural energy caused the Ōtsutsuki genuine pain.

"If you're willing to give me your body, I can grant you a request—not too excessive."

While fighting Takeshi, Isshiki hadn't forgotten his greatest weakness—lacking a suitable vessel.

This guy's body was quite good, but his consciousness was far too strong—undesirable for post-implantation thawing.

"You want my body? Come take it yourself!"

Blocking Isshiki's arm with a raised hand, Takeshi shot a kick toward Isshiki's lower body.

Suddenly, Takeshi sensed a powerful chakra erupting outside the building. Knowing Obito had succeeded, he immediately pulled away from Isshiki, rushed to Uchiha Hikari's side, grabbed her hand, and activated Flying Thunder God.

Wielding a chakra blade, Obito—wrapped in the gigantic wooden Buddha of his Susanoo—struck down, smashing the entire building to dust in one blow.

"You two, Takeshi and Granny are still inside!"

Sitting atop the Buddha's head, Obito called out just as the blade was already descending.

After the strike, not only was the building obliterated, even the entire stretch of earth split open, forming a massive chasm.

"Damn you. Used your ocular technique to rescue those three dead people, did you?"

Isshiki staggered out of the rubble, looking battered—the strike had caused him genuine damage.

He could have escaped with space-time ninjutsu, but unexpectedly, a swarm of skeletal soldiers burst out from the ice, blocking his escape route.