Orochimaru’s Magic Lamp

"This test of yours… it's incredibly foolish."

"To prove something everyone already knows, you so casually threw lives onto the gambling table. You treat human life far too lightly."

Orochimaru's cold, cutting words made Obito frown deeply. The single exposed Sharingan glowed with an ominous red light beneath his mask.

"And you think you're qualified to judge me, Orochimaru?" Obito asked slowly.

A man who defiled corpses, toyed with life, and ran live experiments...

Obito didn't know every detail of Orochimaru's crimes, but he knew enough to call him a monster.

"Heh… you're trying to say we're the same kind of beast, aren't you?" Orochimaru chuckled, licking his lips.

"But there's a difference. My attempts yielded knowledge. I earned every piece through effort and precision—I don't waste life, I extract meaning from it."

"And you? After everything you've done… what have you gained?"

Obito paused, briefly taken aback. Then he scoffed. "So that's your point?"

"Not quite," Orochimaru replied, his tone turning icy despite the lingering smile.

"I don't care how recklessly you throw your life away… but Konoha is not your testing ground."

"You've crossed the line."

Crossed the line?

Obito instantly understood what Orochimaru meant. A flicker of amusement danced in his glowing red eye.

So this, too, was about profit. Orochimaru wasn't outraged by principle—just territorial.

The beast defending its den...

Obito sneered. "Trying to drive me off, are you?"

The Mangekyō Sharingan that awakened with Rin's death wasn't something Obito cherished. But with the power of Kamui, he could phase through attacks or vanish at will. Not even the Fourth Hokage, master of the Flying Thunder God, could stop him—much less Orochimaru.

Or so he thought.

That's when it happened.

In an instant, a spectral image flickered and pierced straight through his chest. His body tensed.

Orochimaru landed softly atop the Fourth Hokage's head, turning back with an amused glint in his eye.

"A phantom body? So this is your crutch?"

Obito ignored the words, eyes fixed on the afterimage fading in the distance. He was genuinely stunned.

Even with the Mangekyō Sharingan… I couldn't track his movement. How is his speed this high?

Minato's speed came from teleportation—space-time jutsu. But Orochimaru? His speed was raw physical power—just like the Fourth Raikage.

Obito looked at Orochimaru's smiling figure and felt a rare flicker of unease.

Kamui could drag opponents into a separate dimension. For most shinobi, it was an instant defeat. Even elite ones would fall if caught by surprise.

But against battle-hardened powerhouses like Orochimaru, it was far more complicated.

Minato had already taught him that lesson once.

Obito despised Orochimaru's twisted nature—but he didn't dare underestimate him.

A cold realization settled in: continuing the fight would only risk exposing his abilities.

And tonight's objective was already accomplished.

With a swirl of space, the air twisted around Obito, and he began to vanish into the void. But before disappearing, his voice cut through the night, low and sharp:

"Orochimaru, you shouldn't have provoked me. You weren't even a target before…"

His rage was palpable.

And if left unchecked, he'd return—not as a rival, but as a hunter cloaked in shadow.

Orochimaru didn't flinch. He merely smiled and looked calmly toward the upper right—already watching, already planning.

"It's just like you said—if things go south, that guy vanishes instantly. So, how about it? Can you trace him?"

"It's... difficult," the Djinn frowned, a thin, misty tendril stretching into the void, flickering in and out of existence.

Tracing someone across different dimensions was far harder than in the same space. Even with his amorphous body that could bend and stretch at will, this sort of task pushed the limits.

After all, he was a wish-granting Djinn, not some omnidimensional radar. This was way outside his usual business.

"I've found him. Obito's exited the alternate space."

After a few breaths, the Djinn raised a glowing blue finger, a line of light pointing the way.

Without hesitation, Orochimaru vanished.

A dozen shadow clones followed in his wake, spreading out in a wide net. From above, it resembled a spiderweb slowly closing in on Obito's direction.

---

In the forest behind the Hokage Rock, Obito emerged from the vortex and perched atop a tree. He turned to glance back toward the rock, the Sharingan in his eye glowing red.

"Orochimaru… he's stronger than I expected. The rumor that he severely injured the Fourth Raikage with taijutsu might actually be true."

After a moment of reflection, Obito abandoned any thoughts of personal revenge.

There was no reward in challenging someone that strong—only risk. And if he failed, he might reveal too much about his own abilities.

If Kamui were ever fully understood and countered, its threat would drop drastically.

But letting this go entirely? Not a chance. Orochimaru had to be dealt with.

A cold smirk curled at Obito's lips. "I won't need to lift a finger. If I just leak the location of his Konoha lab, the higher-ups will be on him like wolves. That'll be enough to exhaust him."

"Is that so?"

A voice interrupted, accompanied by the rush of wind. Obito's expression shifted instantly, his body blurring into shadow as he narrowly avoided a strike.

"Heh… if the old man and the others knew where that lab was, yeah, that would be quite the mess," Orochimaru said casually, glancing at the blood on his fingertips. "But don't push me into a real fight, Obito. Tonight, I'm just here to teach you a little lesson."

Obito looked down to see three fresh claw marks across his chest.

Not serious wounds—but serious enough to sound an alarm.

He's fast. Fast enough to hurt me.

But what unsettled Obito more was how Orochimaru kept finding him. Back at Hokage Rock, too—he'd appeared without warning, like he knew exactly where to look.

Does he have some kind of large-scale detection technique? Like the Byakugan?

Not willing to take chances, Obito didn't waste time on threats. He phased out again, vanishing into a vortex and reappearing over a kilometer away.

But just as he rematerialized and marked new coordinates—

A familiar figure shot through the treetops like a specter, racing toward him. Just like before.

This time, Obito didn't flinch. He stood still, letting Orochimaru's figure pass straight through his chest.

"...A shadow clone?" he asked, voice low and wary.

Orochimaru merely smiled, offering no answer. Explaining techniques to enemies wasn't his style.

Instead, he turned the pressure back on Obito, voice calm and teasing:

"Putting space-time ninjutsu aside... how long can you keep that phasing ability active?"

The Djinn had speculated the limit was under five minutes—but Orochimaru preferred to test it himself.

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