Seeing the two fireballs forming in Pakura’s hands, alarm bells went off in Ren’s mind, and he instantly turned intangible, just in time to avoid the scorching explosion that followed.

For a short moment, his sight was obscured by a deafening surge of light all around him, almost disorienting enough to make him falter on his feet. But it cleared out quickly, and Ren was greeted with the sight of an empty glassy plain, Pakura no longer in front of him.

A subconscious shudder went down Ren’s spine as he realized she had vaporized herself in the suicide attack. And with no hesitation whatsoever!

‘If I didn’t have my intangibility…’ Ren gloomily thought, thinking about how Ino or Hinata would fare in his place. He didn’t like that the answer his mind supplied was: Not well.

There was a real possibility that they would have been dead or fatally injured by such a ruthless surprise attack. Especially considering their preference for close-quarters combat.

But as two seconds passed, something like ashes appeared in front of Ren. His eyes furrowed with frustrated realization as these ‘ashes’ started to multiply, enlarging into bigger shapes. He recognized that this Pakura was indeed an Edo Tensei construct, and her body was quickly putting itself back together.

His eyes gleamed, and he gripped the sealing kunai tightly in his hand before lunging again forward. The reconstruction of an Edo Tensei body was fast, but not fast enough!

The tip of his kunai glinted in the air as it rapidly fell toward Pakura’s reconstructed torso and her half-reformed head. Ren was about to drive it deep into her when his instincts once again screamed ‘danger’ at him.

Ren went automatically intangible, just as the space where he was located started swirling. He ‘flew’ out of the mid-air spatial swirl, completely unaffected, and his kunai sank into Pakura’s half-formed body without finding any purchase as it phased through her, followed by Ren’s body.

The swirling place started sucking her body in, only to abruptly stop a moment later, which ripped her half-formed body again in two, the disappearing swirl swallowing one piece while the other was thrown onto the ground by recoil hard enough to make it crack.

Ren landed on the ground behind Pakura and pivoted on his heel, toward the place where he felt a new chakra signature. And as he had already expected, Obito, the bastard who had almost sneak-attacked him, stood there.

Ren had to admit Obito’s ambush timing was incredible. He was about to deliver a finishing blow, and his guard was at its lowest point at that moment. Not to mention, many would hesitate in that situation, desiring to finish the helpless enemy in front of them before dodging.

But even a small hesitancy would have been fatal there due to Obito’s Kamui.

Tendrils of sand rapidly whipped through the air, straight into Obito, intending to bisect him with the sheer speed they moved at, but they only harmlessly passed through him, while he unhappily clicked his tongue when his attack failed.

Ren glanced at the reforming, defenseless Pakura near him, and took a step toward her… only for another swirl in space to appear, swallowing her whole. Looking back at Obito, Ren clicked his tongue. There went that plan.

The tension in the air intensified as Gaara, Ren, and Obito stared at each other with apparent hostility, all weighing their options for the following offensive.

It was Obito who broke the standoff.

His mask turned slightly to the left, toward Gaara, showing who his target was, and before either Ren or Gaara could react, he disappeared in a burst of speed, rushing toward the Suna jinchuuriki.

Gaara recoiled back as Obito suddenly vanished and appeared in front of him, his hand reaching toward his unprotected face. The sand around Gaara reacted, surging up in spikes that only phased through Obito. The tips of his fingers, gleaming with chakra of unknown technique, were almost brushing Gaara’s forehead, and Gaara’s sand spikes were nearly out of his body.

But then Ren’s kunai suddenly entered Obito’s skull, forcing him to stay in his intangible state longer and phase completely through Gaara.

Even as he exited the redhead from behind, More kunai peppered him, courtesy of Ren, while Gaara jumped toward Ren, widening the distance behind himself and Obito, breathing hard as he realized the enemy almost had him.

Briefly glancing at Gaara, Ren felt complicated. He wanted nothing more than to tell the boy to get the hell away. That he could fight Obito. The fight would be more or less inconclusive anyway, with both of them using intangibility so liberally.

But it was not to be.

If Gaara ran, Obito would follow, and… Ren suddenly blinked, and his nearly lips twitched into a smirk as he got an idea.

“Gaara,” He started, getting the boy’s attention. Smiling at him, Ren put his hand on Gaara’s shoulder as he uttered a simple, “Yeet.” And Gaara suddenly vanished right in front of Obito’s eyes.

Still grinning, Ren looked back at Obito, only to find him clearly simmering in anger. “If you grind your teeth so much, you won’t have many in old age.” He casually started a conversation even as he discreetly began feeding his chakra into the seal etched on his right glove.

“Yotsuba Ren. You are a thorn in our plans.” Obito coldly replied, his body coiled for a strike, but they both knew it was futile. Both of their objectives had failed.

Ren wanted to seal Pakura, but Obito took her away, keeping her in reserve for another battle.

Obito wanted to get his grubby paws on Gaara, but Ren sent him away, and Obito had no way of knowing where.

Almost feeling Obito’s stormy mood from his presence, Ren donned an easy-going smile and asked, “Is this the time when you will narrate your nefarious plot and offer me cookies in exchange for joining your dark side? Because man~, your offer better be good after all this. Maybe if you get on your knees and bark, I might consider it?”

Despite Ren’s playful and provocative words, his eyes were cold and held none of his easy-going attitude. He had no idea how much of Sunagakure was trashed, but from what he had seen so far, the damage was extensive. At least a few districts were demolished.

Ren had spent months trying to pull this sage-damned, rat-infested, desert hellhole back on its feet. He made it his mission to improve its situation as it was his new home. He put his time and effort into creating stuff like seals for puppetry, seals for enhancing war fans, seals that could make farming possible… all seals that dealt with their immediate problems and could enhance their economy.

And the village was getting better, too!

Only for this little crazy crybaby bitch to come and smash all that progress into smithereens! It would take months to stabilize the situation after this attack. Worse yet, all the advantage Suna had in this war by preventing Iwa from gaining a foothold in the Land of Wind? Their victory in the first battle? It was all offset by this attack.

Before this, the war was almost over. Iwa was done. Kumo was in a tough spot. Konoha, Suna, and Kiri were all fine. The outcome was clear, even if the meatheads in Kumo refused to acknowledge it before they got the chance to futilely ram their heads against Konoha’s frontlines for several months.

But now…

Ren wouldn’t be surprised if Iwa decided that Suna was weakened enough that a new offensive against them made an alluring amount of sense.

They had to recoup their massive losses from the war somehow, and as the retard ninjas they no doubt were, their first thought would be to go for another war now that they would smell blood in the desert.

Silent for a moment, Obito suddenly spoke, “… You should watch your back, bastard. Your days of gallivanting in your childish Akatsuki costume as a fake version of me are over.” He seethed as Ren’s heart turned cold.

A bead of sweat appeared on his temple. ‘How does he know!?’ He inwardly freaked out for a moment. Even his eyes involuntarily scanned the sky, looking for any trace of Pein.

Only when he saw none did his heart calm down. For a moment, he thought Sunagakure was going to get Konoha treatment because of him.

Now properly wary, Ren forced a contemptuous smile on his face, “Hooh. So, you found out. And? What are you gonna do about it, Bobito-bitch? Going to Edo Tensei Rin-senpai into the land of living so you can show everybody your power of love?”

Maybe provoking Obito was not the smartest thing in the current circumstances, but seeing him exude that sense of rage simply warmed Ren’s heart.

Besides, the fight was over.

Obito was waiting for Hidan and Kakuzu to win their fights before retreating, while Ren was waiting for the opposite to happen. Disengaging would mean the other would go and support their side in this conflict, so they could not leave either way.

Obito could pull Pakura out, but that would just give Ren a chance to seal her. Something he clearly did not want to risk. They were in a stalemate here.

Running their mouths was pretty much the only thing they could do.

“When you least expect it, I am going to-” Obito hissed in an ominous voice, but he suddenly stopped when he felt several presences approaching them at high speed.

Ren chuckled. The battered Temari, Chiyo, and a few other Suna ninjas Ren did not recognize landed behind him, signifying that both Kakuzu and Hidan were defeated.

Temari did not wait and swung her war fan, producing scorching winds that blew straight at Obito, but he didn’t bother dodging even as the land around him was ravaged by her technique. He just stood there, all fine and dandy, waiting it out.

Gritting her teeth in frustration, Temari adjusted her grip on the war fan and was about to swing it again, but Ren put his hand over hers and stopped her in her tracks.

She looked at him, and he briefly shook his head. Giving her a look that allowed her to calm down a bit and observe their enemy. He was still in a pristine condition. Her techniques did absolutely nothing.

“Obito, your associates are done. You lost. Just go back home.” Ren said with a sigh, appropriately switching his attitude and wishing to avoid a battle now that the situation had changed.

It might have seemed that having those additional Suna ninjas behind him was actually an advantage. But that wasn’t how this thing worked. Against Obito, they were a handicap. Ren would prefer if they hadn’t shown up. Unfortunately, he couldn’t exactly show in front of Obito just how troublesome their presence was.

“…”

“…”

Obito and Ren coldly stared at each other for a few tense moments.

But then Obito chuckled. “And if I want to kill some people you care about before I retreat?” He asked as two kunai fell from his sleeves into his hands while Ren inwardly groaned, cursing his rotten luck.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep