Chapter Eighteen: Loophole Abuse
Obito moved forward, but even as he did, Orochimaru raised a hand.
Rin screamed in agony as seals scrawled over her flesh. In a single moment, Orochimaru could use any kind of seal he wanted on her. There were things far worse than death that could happen to an Edo Tensei.
"In the living, undead flesh," said Orochimaru. "Complete with a full set of pain receptors."
"Get your hands off her, you-" began Obito.
But Orochimaru, Anko, and Rin vanished. A genjutsu...
But when had he been put under it? And how? Wait, was that the sound of a flute he heard? Quickly putting together his hands, he released it. Then he whirled around and saw the arena was falling away into nothingness.
It now seemed to be nothing more than a vast void of potential, with no true shape or form. Reality had changed so many times now. Cut off from the rest of the world, this area had lost its shape.
"Come now, Tobi, over here!" said Orochimaru.
Obito whirled and saw him standing with a sword in hand. Rin was behind him. Obito had to work quickly and find a way out of this. Obviously, Orochimaru wanted something, he just had to learn what it was and-
Orochimaru raised his hand, and Rin screamed again in agony.
That was it. Orochimaru couldn't do anything to Rin if he was dead.
With his full power and might, Tobi surged toward Orochimaru. It was faster than anyone could have managed to defend against. His hand plunged forward toward his chest, and-
And then the ground beneath him warped, and Obito fell downwards into an eternal void. Yet a shadow moved within that void. Anko surged into view, covered with black sealing chakra all over her body. She hurling something. Obito at once saw his chance and activated his Sharingan. If he could control her-
Whatever it was, Anko had thrown exploded, and dozens of different light beams shot all over the place. Of course, she'd thrown reflective pieces into the air. Some of them hit him in the eyes, and Obito yelled as he felt his own will surging into him. He'd effectively just tried to dominate his own mind, his body supplying the chakra.
And then Anko kicked him in the chest, sending him flying back to slam against something.
Obito rose up, but Anko was gone, and Orochimaru was coming at him from behind. Whirling around, he brought around a fist, only to lose it. Orochimaru had cleaved off his hand, and Obito surged back with a scream. Then Anko landed behind him. Regrowing his arm, Obito blocked a flurry of punches from her. As he did, he twisted away from Orochimaru's assault from behind.
Spinning into the air, he made hand signs:
"Fire Style: Fireball-"
And then Anko leaped toward him, using Rin as a human shield. He hesitated, and the fire chakra he was summoning exploded within him. Then they grabbed Rin by the legs and smashed Obito in the face, sending him falling away. Looking up, he saw Rin's neck was broken, and her legs broken. Horrors overtook him as memories of Kakashi...
Kakashi...
Rin was healed. And she was being used as a human shield by Anko again. And she was smiling brightly. "You walked right into this one, Tobi. That's the probably with having your secret identity revealed, isn't it?
"It opens up all your weaknesses."
And then she disappeared with the sound of a flute. Another genjutsu and Obito was in it again. How had he-
Forget it.
Obito made some other hand signs. "FIRE STYLE: INFERNO WAVE JUTSU!"
A massive sphere of flame shot from him. It surged outward in every direction and burning through everything in sight. Rin couldn't be killed anyway, so he wasn't losing anything valuable. It went farther and farther and-
Stopped? It was redirected upwards.
Looking up, Obito saw three great gates of the underworld around him. They'd formed a triangle around him. With them blocking the way, the fire naturally shot up. Though he'd melted them quickly.
Anko and Orochimaru landed in front of him. Rin was sobbing now, while Anko's curse seal form was growing more and more advanced. She used a forked tongue to lick away Rin's tears.
"Wow, now that was just excessive," said Anko. "Trying to blow everything up at once? Sure it a shame this dimension is basically fluid.
"I gotta say though, the look on your face was priceless."
Obito began to make more hand sign.
"You don't want to do that," said Anko. "Rin here is trained for obedience even better than I am. Anything you throw at me is going to go through her."
"Really, Anko, he already tried to use a move that would have burned her alive," said Orochimaru. "It's all very plain; she's more of an excuse than a motivation."
There was that flute again.
"Genjutsu: Release!" said Obito.
And they were gone.
Obito was not going to be baited by this genjutsu user into using up all his chakra. He had to focus if he was going to save Rin. Quickly calming his thoughts, he reached out with his chakra and sensed...
There they were.
He leaped over the gates and found them. Anko's transformation was fully underway now. Her legs had been replaced by the tail of a serpent, and her violet hair was writhing. Scales were creeping up her skin.
It didn't matter.
"Lightning Style:" said Tobi. "Thunderbolt of the Gods!"
He hurled it straight at Anko, Rin be damned. The pain would be momentarily and insignificant next to a prolonged engagement. However, Orochimaru stepped in front of them, and a wall of earth rose. It was blasted apart, but the attack was stopped.
So Orochimaru actually valued her.
Interesting. Perhaps he could exploit the fact.
"What's the matter, Tobi?" asked Anko. "No smug condescension? No reality-warping power to make all our efforts meaningless?
"Shame you can't warp away your past, isn't it? Ah, the limitations of the Sharingan. Few, but concrete."
Tobi ignored her, instead, he waited. He'd let them make the first move, and this time he would not let his emotions cloud his judgment. They were only trying to bait him because, in a prolonged fight, they'd lose.
"Well, it seems you've decided to take a defensive stance. How irritating, I had hoped to keep this going for quite some time," Orochimaru spun his sword. Then he sheathed it back into his throat. "Still, I must admit, Tobi, I am somewhat disappointed."
Disappointed? What was he talking about?
"Working with you gave me time to come up with all kinds of fascinating theories," said Orochimaru. "What manner of person could have both the cells of Hashirama and a fully developed Sharingan. Especially one with so many abilities and so many remarkable terrible deeds.
"What scheme could be worthy of such an adversary? I even wondered if you were Madara Uchiha himself.
"Still, I feel like I've just finished marathoning five hundred episodes in a TV show. After all that time, it can't help but be disappointing. I was prepared for it, of course.
"But even with that, your true identity is just...
"Pathetic."
"You can say that again," said Anko. "Past the aura of mystery and deadly machinations, what are you? A stupid little manchild, complete with a plastic headset. And your entire motive, in the end, is just so you could fuck a twelve-year-old."
"I'm certain there are black market services that cater to that need," said Orochimaru.
Obito narrowed his eyes as Orochimaru's smile widened. Stay defensive, clench your fists.
And then Orochimaru and Anko started laughing. And they weren't the only ones.
A light chuckle at first, but then it got louder, and it began to echo around them. He laughed and laughed, and soon that laughter became a hysterical chorus. It was all around him as if a crowd of faceless observers were mocking Obito. Mocking the motives that defined his life.
Mocking him. Dismissing the horrors that had defined him as a poor man's copy of some more worthy adversary. An unnecessary extension to more interesting subjects.
Just like the Uchiha had treated him. Just like the Leaf.
Obito Uchiha declared that he'd change things for the better. Tobi, on the other hand, just decided to kill them all. And he had killed them all, he'd devastated the Leaf. He'd killed Minato and Kushina, engineered the destruction of the Uchiha.
And. They. Were. Still. Laughing. At. Him!
Obito snapped.
Everything went red as he surged toward Orochimaru, and this time the Snake Sanin had no time to reply. Obito smashed his nose, ripped off one of his arms, grabbed him by the throat, and smashed him against the ground. Activating his Sharingan, he prepared to use it...
"I'll reject your very existence!" snarled Obito.
"If doing with your eyes that was enough to kill me, the Leaf should have destroyed me the day I was born!" laughed Orochimaru. "Anko, if you would."
Tobi turned to her, but too late! Orochimaru shed his skin and grabbed him from behind. Anko let down her hair, and it transformed into many snakes. Her gaze looked upon him, and Obito found he could not move. His entire body went rigid, as Orochimaru let go and walked around him.
"Oh yes, I should note that Anko is a very special experiment," said Orochimaru. "I created her Curse Seal with a very special ability. It allows her to instantly immobilize any target she makes contact with as if they'd been turned to stone.
"Based on the stories of Medusa, you understand? All very mythological.
"Which means there is nothing you can do now that will stop me from taking your body."
That had been his plan all along.
Bait Obito into losing control and then play this. Orochimaru wanted the Sharingan, and this was his method of getting it.
"I've won, Obito," said Orochimaru with a smile. "The Sharingan is mine, as is the power of Hashirama. Your plans are at an end. The friend you fought so long and hard to be reunited with will never be seen by you again. I'm going to take great delight, presenting Rin to Kakashi as a gift in your body.
"I wonder if he'll be able to bring himself to kill her? Either way, since the Leaf authorized this tactic through Root. It'll shatter his delusions-"
"Don't talk, just do it!" snapped Anko. "He may recover or pull something!"
Orochimaru blinked and looked to her. "Oh, yes, thank you, Anko." He glanced back at Obito. "It isn't a true boon to have subordinate that can reign in your worst excesses, wouldn't you say.
"Now..."
Orochimaru was a serpent. His will surged forward toward Tobi, coiling around it.
"YOU ARE MINE!"
Obito was within a mindscape, a dimension of endless slime and corruption. It was a sea of it, and before him, he could see others. Previous hosts. People who Orochimaru had assimilated in his search to seize control of reality. How many had he consumed?
Well, Obito knew one thing.
None of them had possessed the Sharingan.
Orochimaru's will surged forward to consume him. Obito's eye blazed, and he arose with even greater strength. And where Orochimaru had been godlike compared to others, now he seemed insignificant.
"What is this..." began Orochimaru. "This is impossible; this is my own space!"
"People like you are such tools of the Leaf," scoffed Tobi, regaining his senses. "You believe that if you work hard enough, learn the right techniques, you can surpass even the Uchiha. And you, in particular, were on the right track, trying to gain a Sharingan for your own.
"However...
"The nobility of my blood is too great for you to consume. The serpent may price on mice...
"But, they are prey to birds!"
"The hell we are!" said a voice.
Wait, what?
And then the image of a redhaired woman appeared and bolstered Orochimaru's power. The overwhelming force that Tobi had possessed was turned back for a time. Then another came.
"What..." said Tobi. "What is this? How could you have..."
"Lord Orochimaru is stronger than you know!" said the second force, no, two forces linked by blood.
"He gave us life!" said the other.
"Purpose!" said an eight-armed boy.
"This is impossible!" said Tobi. "We are in a battle of wills, how could you have summoned others to aid you?" And then he halted and saw a giant appearing to aid him, stalemating him in place. "The Curse Mark.
"You're using your psychic connection to them to overwhelm the power of my blood?! HOW DARE YOU SNAKE!"
"Oh, so when you manage to beat Lord Orochimaru at his own game with no training, its 'the nobility of your blood," said Anko. "But when we overcome your deus ex machina using practical strategy, we're somehow out of line?"
"Let's just shut the fuck up and eat this guy," snapped Tayuya.
And then Orochimaru and his subordinates pooled their energy for a sole purpose. Assimilating Tobi. And Tobi found that for all his efforts. For all the powers that had been bestowed upon him, he was losing. The power of the Uchiha Clan, isolated and fed by hubris, was being destroyed. Not by a Senju, or one following their ideal. But by a collection of street rats, Orochimaru had brainwashed into believing him a god!
Tobi was... slightly upset by this.
"NO! THIS CANNOT BE!" he roared. "I AM TOBI! I AM THE STUDENT OF MADARA UCHIHA! I AM THE ONE WHO WILL REMAKE THE WORLD AND BRING PEACE! I WILL NOT HAVE MY PLANS UNDONE BY THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP AND HARD WORK!"
What the hell was he supposed to do? He had a fully developed Sharingan! There had to be some kind of broken power he could use to turn this around on a dime! Oh, right, there was.
"I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS!" roared Tobi, his eye flaring. "IZANAMI!" He wasn't sure if he had to say Izanami, but who cared.
As it took effect, Anko put her face in her hands. "God above! Could somebody please nerf the Sharingan!"
And then Orochimaru was alone and Tobi...
Remembered what had happened. This was unusual.
"What is..." asked Orochimaru. "Where are the others?"
"Interesting," said Tobi. "I seem to be playing the same role I did before. Well then, let's try this again."
Sure enough, in came the Sound Four to interfere, and he began to be overwhelmed again.
And then everything reset.
"What is going on here?" asked Orochimaru.
"I used the Izanami on you," said Tobi. "Ordinarily, it would take a great deal of preparation to achieve. Fortunately, we are in a battle within my mind. As such, both of us are now trapped in an infinite loop. Neither of us can escape it.
"If you kill me, it will reset. If you die, it will reset. If you wait out the clock, it will reset. Even torturing me into ending the loop is not an option."
"I assume this is yet more power handed to the Uchiha's without any need to work for it?" asked Orochimaru, sounding very annoyed.
"Not quite," said Tobi. "It was originally designed as a means of disciplining those who abused their power. It forces one to acknowledge their wrongdoing. To face their actions and accept the consequences of their action. It can only be escaped by giving up.
"Ordinarily, it would be harmless save for some character growth.
"But in this situation, it means an automatic win for me. In a battle of wills, to give in is to be assimilated. You performed your operation with a great deal of skill. However, you didn't count on one thing.
"The Uchiha are just better."
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes and saw that Tobi was right. "...Well, I confess I had not anticipated this event. Fortunately, I have one advantage you cannot conceive of either."
"And what is that?" asked Tobi, somewhat interested.
Orochimaru smiled. "This isn't the real me."
"What?!" said Tobi.
And then Tobi awoke and found himself still frozen in place. The discarded body of Orochimaru was on the ground. At the same time, Anko had returned to her human form, and something appeared to be emerging from her neck. She screamed as Orochimaru took on form before Tobi.
Tobi was beginning to get the feeling back in his body but waited. One of his eyes was blind.
Anko fell to one knee, gasping. Then she looked up at Orochimaru with a combination of childish admiration and fury. "What the... Orochimaru-sensei, no, you... you bastard! I won't... where are we... AH!"
Then she screamed and fell to the ground.
"Well, it would appear Anko is suffering a severe case of cognitive dissonance, isn't she?" mused Orochimaru as the Sound Four landed around him. The void fell away, and Tobi saw around him the arena returning to what it was.
Someone had freed Yahiko.
"A shame, she was truly useful while in my service. And that curse mark was a real work of art," said Orochimaru.
"Lord Orochimaru, we have Zetsu as you commanded!" said Sakon.
"Did you use the containment methods?" asked Orochimaru, glancing back.
"To the letter, sir," said Sakon.
"Good," said Orochimaru. "Well then, I suppose I'm going to have to kill Tobi now. Aren't I?" Tobi could move again, but his chakra had been nearly exhausted. Looking around, he saw Rin trying to crawl away.
He broke into action, grabbed her, and surged into the trees. As he did, Neji broke away from Tobi's mind and looked through his own eyes.
To his surprise, Orochimaru made no attempt to pursue or send the Sound Four after him.
"...Well, that was unexpected," mused Orochimaru. "Still, I suppose I'll need to bring Anko back into the fold, won't I..."
Anko pulled herself up and pulled herself away as Orochimaru advanced on her. However, at that moment Guy positioned himself between them. Neji landed by his side, with Tenten and Rock Lee behind him.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Orochimaru," said Guy. "Anko is a member of the Leaf, and putting a curse mark on her will be considered an attack."
"Guy..." said Anko.
"And what if she willingly accepts it, Guy?" asked Orochimaru. "Anko, you must admit you've had far more fun these past few weeks than you have in years. Come with us?" And he offered a hand.
Anko stayed right where she was. "...No."
Orochimaru shrugged. "Well, I suppose that is your choice.
"Prepare to return to the Sound. I'm going to enjoy dissecting Zetsu. There are are so many experiments that nobody else could survive. Still, I ought to find a good medical team to take care of things." And he and his servants departed in a flash.
Neji turned his gaze from outside Orochimaru and focused through his own body now. He moved toward the far edge of the area, where Yakumo was painting Kurenai sleeping.
"Yakumo, is Kurenai alright?" asked Neji.
"Of course," said Yakumo. "Kurenai-sensei managed to free me from the genjutsu after you destroyed Tobi's eye."
"I didn't destroy it," said Neji. "I formed a protective barrier of chakra around it then slipped it into my sleeve." He drew it out and looked at the eye. "Tenten, get me a medical case."
Tenten nodded and ran off. Neji then looked to Kurenai, who lay sleeping restlessly on the ground. Her chakra had been nearly depleted, somehow. "How is Kurenai?"
"I made sure she was asleep before I began painting her," said Yakumo. "She looks nice, dreaming."
"Right, well, I'm glad you didn't go axe crazy or try to destroy everything," said Tenten, coming back with a medical case. "That would have just made all this even more complicated."
"Kurenai-sensei taught me to be responsible with my illusions," said Yakumo.
"Well, on a brighter note," said Tenten, coming back with a case.
Neji quickly put the eye into it and sealed the case. Then he glanced to Tenten, who was eyeing him curiously. "Yes?"
"Neji, I have to ask, what was the plan here?" asked Tenten.
Neji supposed he ought to explain himself. "Well, no matter what strategies we used, Tobi would win against us. The best I could manage was to put him in a position where he humored us. Thus allowing us to stall him, while he turned our own trap against us.
"Which is why I ended up bringing Orochimaru in. He is powerful enough to compete with Tobi on the battlefield and cunning enough to outwit him. Of course, whatever happened, it would end with Orochimaru trying to assimilate Tobi.
"Either of them assimilating the other would be a worst case scenario. But I saw that with the Sound Four and Anko alive, Orochimaru and Tobi would stalemate. And, that stalemate involved him using the curse mark he planted in Anko to escape.
"That's why it was so important Guy-sensei not fight. We needed him in reserve. Without him, Orochimaru might have just clobbered us and taken Anko back."
"Wouldn't that break with the Leaf?" asked Tenten.
"Orochimaru is childish and impulsive," said Anko. She stormed forward, still in the form of a girl their age. "He'd start a war if it meant not giving up one of his chew toys."
"Anko, are you alright?" asked Neji.
"Yes, I'm fine," said Anko, slipping on her jacket again. "I'm..." She looked at herself. "Why am I still a kid? That bastard! I am not going through the academy again because of him!"
"Think of it this way," said Tenten. "You're now the youngest person ever to make Jonin."
Anko looked at Tenten with narrowed eyes. Then her hands became snakes and grabbed her, coiling around Tenten, who shuddered. "Ow! it was just a joke! Let go of me!"
"Hey, Neji?" asked Anko, glancing at Neji.
"Yes?" said Neji.
"Thanks," said Anko, before turning to walk off.
"So, are we done?" said Tenten.
"Indeed we are!" said Rock Lee. "The Leaf has won another victory!"
"And since we get a fifteen percent cut of all the profits, we're rich!" said Tenten.
"Maybe so, but I doubt we've seen the last of Obito," said Guy.
"Actually, we may have," said Neji, who'd seen into his mind.
"What do you mean?" asked Tenten.
Neji thought about how to answer that. Peering through Tobi's eyes, he saw his enemy halting in a clearing. Halting there, he untied Rin quickly.
Rin gazed at him, mixed between fear and wonder. "Obito... is that you?"
Obito smiled. "Hello, Rin. We've got a lot to talk about."
Things could go either way at this point. However, the important thing was that Tobi had been removed from the picture for now. Where he went from here would be dealt with later...