Chapter 538: The Martial Arts Tournament Ends

Nagato took the lead, rising and walking towards the combat arena, with Obito following closely behind him.

The appearance of the contestants made the atmosphere in the venue even more enthusiastic.

Many spectators were comparing the strength of the two, discussing who would win and claim the championship.

“A battle without suspense,” Kitsuchi believed Nagato would surely win, and that he would win relatively easily.

Kitsuchi had watched all the elimination matches of the Youth Martial Arts Tournament.

In his mind, the strength ranking of the Youth Martial Arts Tournament contestants should be Nagato first, Might Guy second, and Sasori third.

Among the remaining people, Kakashi might rank fourth, and it was hard to say after that.

For example, Obito, who entered the finals, would likely be eliminated by Kisame Hoshigaki if he encountered him, as Kisame was his counter.

In the Four Finals match, Obito’s win against Shisui was also quite strained, indicating that their strengths were very similar.

“Obito fighting Nagato… sometimes having too much luck isn’t entirely a good thing,” Asuma silently mourned for Obito for a second.

Obito drew a good lot during the draw, which gave him a direct pass to the top eight, and then his opponents in the top eight and Four Finals were also evenly matched. A combination of luck and skill allowed Obito to successfully enter the finals.

But in the upcoming finals, even if Obito had the best of luck, it would be useless, because Nagato possessed absolute crushing strength.

Asuma felt that Obito would become a backdrop, a second-place finisher who would be utterly defeated by the first-place winner and then be discussed as being inferior to the Four Finals contestants.

Compared to such a second place, Asuma would rather be in the top eight.

“No matter what, it’s still a second place, and he can commission a Ninjutsu from Ninja Master Sōsuke,” Raido Namiashi said with a hint of envy.

He didn’t even make it into the elimination rounds; he was truly just there to make up the numbers.

“I didn’t expect Obito to actually make it to the finals; doesn’t this make me look a bit bad?” Yahiko self-deprecatingly remarked.

When the elimination rounds first started, he and Obito chatted about how reaching the finals would greatly increase one’s fame. As a result, Obito really made it to the finals, while Yahiko was eliminated in the first round.

“No choice, the person you met was too strong. Even if Uchiha Obito encountered him, he would most likely be eliminated. Besides Nagato, perhaps only Might Guy would have a chance to defeat him,” Konan comforted him.

Yahiko’s luck was average; he encountered Sasori, a formidable individual whose comprehensive strength could rank among the top three, in the first round.

“No matter what, losing is losing,” Yahiko smiled indifferently and looked towards the combat arena.

At this moment, Nagato and Obito had both taken their positions, and the battle was about to begin.

“Charizard, I sacrificed so much yesterday, so you absolutely must be powerful today!” Obito took a deep breath, hoping that today’s Charizard would maintain the momentum it had when fighting him yesterday.

Obito had self-awareness; trying to defeat Nagato with his meager Fire Release abilities was purely a pipe dream, something that couldn’t be achieved even with superhuman performance.

To win, he could only rely on his tacit cooperation with Charizard, catching Nagato, who knew nothing about Charizard’s intelligence, off guard.

“Battle start!” Seeing that both were ready, the Shinobi Sect referee shouted.

“Summoning Technique!”

As soon as the referee’s words fell, Obito did not hesitate, immediately forming hand seals and slamming his hand on the ground to use the Summoning Technique.

Nagato’s strength was too great; he alone might not be able to withstand Nagato’s offensive.

Bang!

White smoke flashed, and Charizard’s figure appeared from within.

“Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!”

Having watched several of Obito’s battles, Nagato knew that Obito’s strong suit was Fire Release, so his first Ninjutsu was Water Release, which countered Fire Release.

A massive water sphere rapidly formed in front of Nagato, surging towards Obito and the summoned Charizard.

Whoosh!

Charizard suppressed the urge to breathe its first flame at Obito, quickly flapping its wings and taking flight.

Whoosh!

Obito, with his Sharingan activated, also promptly used Body Flicker Technique to dodge.

“There’s actually a Nin-Beast he’s never summoned before,” Hanzō said with some surprise.

Obito’s advancement to the finals was a narrow victory; Hanzō hadn’t expected Obito to still be hiding a Nin-Beast, hiding it so completely, wasn’t he afraid it would be hidden all the way into the audience?

“Could it be that he’s actually been hiding his strength?” Hanzō became interested.

He had initially thought it would be an easy crush for Nagato to win the championship, but Obito seemed not as simple as he appeared.

“Bansho Tenin!”

Although Charizard’s appearance was somewhat unexpected for Nagato, he didn’t show much emotional fluctuation because of it. He extended his right hand and aimed it at Obito, releasing gravity.

In his perception, Charizard’s strength was not even as good as Obito’s, so there was no need to pay too much attention to it.

“This is truly unreasonable,” Obito grumbled inwardly, feeling his body uncontrollably flying forward.

Compared to Nagato’s Shinra Tensei and Bansho Tenin, his Fire Release Ninjutsu seemed like child’s play.

However, Obito had anticipated this situation. At the start of the battle, he immediately concentrated his breathing to the extreme, ready to enter Flame Breathing Chakra Mode at any time.

“Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!”

Just as he was about to be pulled in front of Nagato, Obito, who had entered Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, continuously exhaled two high-temperature fire dragons.

Whoosh! Whoosh!!

The burning orange high-temperature fire dragons, under Obito’s control, charged directly towards Nagato.

In previous battles, Obito had also entered Flame Breathing Chakra Mode and demonstrated Ninjutsu without hand seals. Nagato had always been on guard.

“Shinra Tensei!”

Nagato’s Rinnegan suddenly vibrated, and a powerful repulsive force erupted from him, instantly bouncing back the two fire dragons along with Obito.

Just then, Charizard, flying in the sky, moved.

Before the battle even began, Obito had discussed the battle plan with it: as soon as Nagato used Shinra Tensei, Charizard was to attack Nagato at all costs, to ascertain the cooldown time of Shinra Tensei.

‘Wind Release: Air Blade!’

Charizard chose the fastest Wind Release, slashing several sharp blades at Nagato, strong enough to tear the air.

“Yang Release Breathing, Full Concentration!”

Nagato’s Rinnegan also observed the incoming attack, then he concentrated his breathing to strengthen his body, followed by a burst of Chakra to move at extreme speed, perfectly dodging the wind blades and increasing the distance between himself and Charizard.

‘Fire Blast!’

Charizard relentlessly gathered Chakra, opened its mouth, and spewed a thick pillar of fire.

Milotic and Rin Nohara had fallen in the top sixteen match; if it became the champion, even the aloof Milotic would look at it with new respect.

“When did Obito contract such a mighty Nin-Beast?” Asuma wondered.

He had never seen Obito summon Charizard before, and he hadn’t expected Obito to have such a powerful, flying Nin-Beast.

“Water Release: Water Formation Pillar!”

Nagato, having created distance, rapidly formed hand seals and spewed a large amount of water from his mouth, extinguishing Charizard’s fire pillar. The immense impact force of the water pillar made it impossible for Charizard to maintain a good flying posture, looking as if it was about to fall.

Whoosh!

At this moment, Obito quietly circled to Nagato’s side, concentrating Chakra in his palm and flinging a flaming spear at Nagato.

“Shinra Tensei!”

A powerful repulsive force erupted again, directly deflecting Obito’s fire spear.

“Such keen observation, I still didn’t make it in time, exactly eight seconds,” Obito exhaled, forcing himself to calm down.

The pressure Nagato brought him was completely different from Might Guy’s, not just because Nagato was stronger than Might Guy, but also because Nagato’s methods were much flashier than Might Guy’s.

Fighting Might Guy, there wasn’t much to say; it was simply using raw strength to break through his Fire Release and overwhelming him with Taijutsu.

Nagato was different; he had various Nature Transformation techniques with impressive proficiency, keen observation, and instant, powerful Ninjutsu.

It seemed Nagato had everything Obito had, and most importantly, Nagato had things Obito didn’t, which was very frustrating.

“Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!”

With the boost from Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, Obito rapidly exhaled a large area of flames.

Although Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet was his second most Chakra-consuming Ninjutsu, Obito had no other choice at this moment.

Because besides Shinra Tensei being able to deflect attacks, Nagato himself also had keen observation and decent speed. To force Nagato to reveal the true cooldown time of Shinra Tensei, he had to use Ninjutsu that Nagato found difficult to dodge.

Compared to other Fire Release, the advantage of Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet was its large range, and it could split into multiple flames to seal off the enemy’s position from multiple directions.

“Two, three…”

Obito attacked while silently counting the time since Nagato last used Shinra Tensei.

Ascertaining the true cooldown time of Shinra Tensei was the basis for victory; otherwise, if attacks that consumed a lot of Chakra were deflected, how could he win?

‘Heat Wave!’

Charizard adjusted its body, took a deep breath, and exhaled a whirlwind of flames, further limiting Nagato’s dodging space.

“Preta Path!”

Nagato calmly extended his hands, forming an invisible shield around his body.

This was a new Rinnegan ability he had comprehended after his battle with Might Guy. After testing, he found that it could absorb Ninjutsu, and it was all Ninjutsu, whether Fire Release Ninjutsu, Lightning Release, or Water Release; all could be absorbed by his Preta Path.

Obito could only watch helplessly as his flames seemingly vanished into thin air, as if they had never appeared.

“No, what kind of Ninjutsu is this? It’s the finals, how is he still hiding an ability?” Obito complained wildly in his mind.

He had thought that testing out Shinra Tensei’s cooldown time would solve everything, but the cooldown time hadn’t even been tested yet, and Nagato had revealed another heaven-defying ability.

Obito wanted to invite Sage Muzuki to possess him and fight in his place; someone was cheating, and he couldn’t win without cheating too.

Nagato was both deflecting Ninjutsu and nullifying Ninjutsu. Obito found it hard to imagine how he, who could only create flames in various ways, could defeat Nagato.

“He was still hiding an ability,” Kakashi frowned slightly.

Originally, Obito’s chances of winning against Nagato were very low, and with the addition of a new ability that seemed to eliminate Ninjutsu, Obito’s possibility of winning was now infinitely close to zero.

Kakashi carefully recalled Nagato’s previous battles and found that it was reasonable for Nagato not to have used it before.

The two strongest Ninja Nagato had encountered were Sasori and Might Guy. One was a puppeteer, and the other was a pure Taijutsu Ninja, so Nagato’s ability to eliminate Ninjutsu was completely useless.

“No, Rin and Master Muzuki are still watching from above, and Guy is also waiting for good news from me.”

Obito concentrated a large amount of Chakra in his fist and rapidly threw punches at Nagato.

Even if the enemy was overwhelmingly strong, he had to fight to the last moment, otherwise he would be letting down Muzuki’s teachings and Might Guy’s good intentions.

Since Nagato could nullify Ninjutsu, he would use Fire Release Ninjutsu!

“Fire Release: Flame Fist!”

Whoosh!

A fist imbued with high-temperature compressed flames, accompanied by the whistling of fire, smashed towards Nagato.

Nagato still maintained the Preta Path’s absorption shield.

Ninjutsu, with the ‘Nin’ character first, is primarily based on Chakra with Nature Transformation.

The flames on Obito’s fist were continuously absorbed by the Preta Path shield, but Obito’s fist easily passed through the transparent shield and continued to smash towards Nagato.

Bang!

Nagato blocked with his palm but was repelled several meters.

Although Nagato was a bit older than Obito, Nagato had not undergone systematic training before meeting Muzuki and had not fully exercised his body.

Obito, on the other hand, had practiced Breathing Technique for many years, regularly exercising his body, and was now in Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, his strength far surpassing Nagato’s.

Nagato looked surprised, not expecting Obito’s Taijutsu to be so strong; he hadn’t felt this way watching Obito’s previous battles.

“Chance!”

Obito’s eyes lit up as he shouted, quickly rushing forward and delivering a whirlwind kick.

“Shinra Tensei!”

Bang!

A powerful repulsive force slammed into Obito, and this time Nagato used more Chakra, directly sending Obito flying to crash into the wall at the edge of the arena.

However, Obito didn’t care, his eyes fixed on Charizard, who was rapidly attacking Nagato.

Nagato’s Shinra Tensei was completely within Obito’s expectations because when he delivered the whirlwind kick, eight seconds had passed since Nagato’s last use of Shinra Tensei, so Nagato was bound to use Shinra Tensei to repel him.

Obito’s shout was not to boost his own morale, but to alert Charizard.

Charizard injected most of its power into its claws, making the orange-yellow claws deepen in color, and rapidly flapped its wings, bursting its speed to the extreme.

‘Dragon Claw!’

Nagato’s excellent perception allowed him to detect Charizard’s sneak attack immediately, and he burst Chakra to retreat rapidly.

But with Charizard’s extreme acceleration, the distance between Nagato and Charizard continued to shorten.

“Two, three…” Obito silently counted down Nagato’s Shinra Tensei cooldown.

“Five.”

When Obito counted to five, Charizard’s claws were only one decimeter away from Nagato.

“Shinra Tensei!”

The repulsive force erupted from Nagato again, and Charizard could only watch helplessly as its claws stopped one decimeter away, unable to advance an inch further.

Charizard felt a huge invisible pushing force squeezing it; even if Charizard unleashed its full power without any reservation, it couldn’t stay for another second.

Bang!!

Charizard, retreating violently, slammed heavily onto the ground, leaving a crater in the ground.

“Is the real cooldown time five seconds?” Obito, who had gotten up and rushed over, kept thinking.

With Might Guy’s previous deception, Obito couldn’t be sure that this was the true cooldown time for Nagato’s Shinra Tensei.

“Forget it, I’ll just assume it’s five seconds!” Obito thought, gritting his teeth.

For Obito, there were only two outcomes for his next direct action: if Shinra Tensei’s cooldown was truly five seconds, then Obito had a small chance of winning.

If it was another piece of false information from Nagato, and Shinra Tensei’s actual cooldown was less than five seconds, Obito would lose, regardless of whether he knew the correct cooldown time.

Even a difference of one second was a huge difference for Obito at this moment.

So Obito felt there was no need to continue probing; he would just fight as if Shinra Tensei had a five-second cooldown.

“Shadow Clone Technique!”

Nagato formed hand signs and released two Shadow Clones.

“Fire Release: Head Hardship!”

“Wind Release: Pressure Damage!”

Two of the Shadow Clones created a sea of fire and a storm, respectively, and the wind fanned the flames, quickly creating a large area of fire.

Charizard endured the pain and quickly flapped its wings to fly up, increasing its flight altitude.

Obito originally wanted to ride on Charizard, but then he thought that Nagato still had many long-range Ninjutsu, and if they, one person and one dragon, stayed in the sky together, they would only become living targets. So he changed his approach, continuously creating flames around himself to defend against the sea of fire, and then rushed towards Nagato.

“Lightning Release: False Darkness!”

Nagato’s main body rapidly formed hand signs, spitting out high-pressure lightning towards Obito, who was constantly moving in the sea of fire.

‘Wind Release: Air Blade!’

Charizard in the sky swung a wind blade to help Obito block.

Although the wind blade released from Charizard’s angle was difficult to block Nagato’s powerful Lightning Release, it bought Obito a chance to dodge.

After his Sharingan observed the incoming lightning, Obito quickly dodged and continued to rush towards Nagato.

“Bansho Tenin!”

Nagato’s main body extended his right hand towards the approaching Obito, and a huge gravitational force erupted, instantly causing Obito’s body to uncontrollably rush towards Nagato.

At the same time, the Shadow Clones formed hand signs again, preparing to cast Ninjutsu to attack Obito, who was being pulled in.

“Great Flame Ring – Flame Emperor Modified!”

Obito unhesitatingly unleashed all his Chakra, and raging flames continuously generated around his body.

Since Flame Emperor’s hit rate was only slightly better than Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique, to increase the hit rate, Obito thought of an extreme development direction—self-detonation.

With various buffs from Flame Breathing, and using Chakra to protect his body, although he would still be injured, he wouldn’t be severely injured by close-range explosions.

Moreover, there was currently no such type of Ninjutsu in the Ninja World, and Obito felt it would definitely catch the enemy off guard.

Nagato sensed the restless power on Obito’s body, stopped the Bansho Tenin, and created an absorption shield again.

Rumble!!

Obito, who had turned into a fireball, suddenly exploded, blowing out a huge crater in his original spot, with high-temperature flames and a huge explosion impact spreading in all directions.

Bang Bang!!

Nagato’s two Shadow Clones were injured and disappeared directly, while Nagato’s main body was unharmed under the protection of the absorption shield, only secreting some sweat due to the heat flow.

Nagato looked at Obito; although he was the user of the technique, Obito looked much worse than him at the moment, his clothes were tattered, and his body was covered in a lot of black ash.

Whoosh Whoosh!!

Several wind blades rapidly attacked Nagato.

“Shinra Tensei!”

Nagato spread his hands, and the repulsive force surged in all directions, not only deflecting the incoming wind blades but also forcing Obito, who was nearby, back.

“One, two.” Obito silently counted down, bursting with extreme speed as he continued to rush towards Nagato.

“Lightning Release: False Darkness!”

Nagato retreated while forming hand signs, spitting out a large lightning spear at Obito.

Charizard was flying in the sky and was very fast, so Nagato felt it was difficult to hit, and thus targeted the injured Obito instead.

At this moment, the distance between Obito and Nagato was only four meters; even if Obito’s Sharingan clearly saw the lightning coming towards him, Obito knew he couldn’t dodge.

The distance between him and Nagato was too short, and Nagato was also releasing Lightning Release.

‘Dragon Claw!’

Just then, Charizard plunged to the ground, swinging its dark claws to block the lightning.

Although Ninjutsu could be used to interfere with Nagato, Nagato’s lightning had already been used, and even if it was only a part of it, it was not something Obito could withstand at the moment.

Due to the immense power of Pseudo-Darkness, Charizard continuously retreated, and its claws showed charred marks from the lightning.

“Four…”

Obito passed Charizard and threw a fiery punch, but just as the fiery punch was about to hit, Obito had just silently counted to five.

Bang!

The repulsive force erupted, and Obito, as expected, flew backward.

“Roar!”

Charizard roared, the flames on its tail burning intensely.

It flew into the sky, raised its uninjured claw, and rapidly flapped its wings, attacking Nagato.

“Wind Release: Pressure Damage!”

A powerful storm blocked Charizard’s advance, causing it to miss the cooldown time of Shinra Tensei.

At this moment, Obito got up again and continued to rush towards Nagato.

Charizard spat out a large amount of flames around Nagato, forming a vortex, trying to restrict Nagato’s movements.

But Nagato put up his absorption shield, took a step, and absorbed all the flames cleanly.

“Fire Release: Blazing Impact!”

Obito used the last of his body’s strength and Chakra to ignite his body, wanting to create an attack opportunity for Charizard.

He was now injured and low on Chakra, while Charizard, though injured, was stronger.

“The battle should end now.” Nagato bent his legs and began to gather Chakra.

He couldn’t bear to see Obito continue to struggle and get injured, so he prepared to end the battle in one go.

“Shinra Tensei!”

When Nagato jumped to a height exceeding Charizard’s flight altitude, he activated Shinra Tensei, the same Shinra Tensei as with Might Guy.

Bang Bang!!

Obito was crushed by the powerful repulsive force, and the flying Charizard also slammed violently onto the ground under the effect of the repulsive force.

Rumble!!

The ground continuously vibrated and collapsed, and even the walls at the edge of the arena instantly turned into ruins.

Under the protection of Muzuki’s barrier, the impact did not affect the audience seats, only turning the repaired battle arena into ruins again.

When Nagato landed, Obito still wanted to stand up and continue fighting, but found it incredibly difficult to even move an arm.

He turned to look at Charizard; Charizard’s eyes had turned into swirls, seemingly having fainted.

“I still lost, couldn’t seize that one opportunity.” Obito felt regretful.

Nagato had actually revealed a weakness once, which was when he absorbed the Fire Release Ninjutsu; that was the only time Obito had touched Nagato throughout the entire battle.

“Second place is second place, maybe I can customize Ninjutsu that surpasses Golden Skyline and No Thought Strike.” Obito optimistically comforted himself.

After all, he had already lost; no matter how pessimistic he was, he couldn’t change the reality of his failure.

“Nagato wins!” the referee announced when he saw Obito lose his ability to fight.