Chapter 254: Ch-254 The Pawn Who Thought He Was Free.

Inoiki, after creating that giant earth wall to stop the tailed beast bomb of the Ten Tails, directly appeared where Obito and the Ten Tails were present. But when he appeared there, he was already late.

As soon as he arrived at the location, at this usually quiet place with very few ninjas around, he noticed a small group nearby. These ninjas must have been a team from one of the divisions. At the same time, he felt a familiar chakra signature approaching in this direction at an extremely fast speed.

Within moments, Jiraiya landed beside Inoiki on the large rock cliff.

A cold wind swept across the battlefield as both of them looked ahead. Or, to be precise, they did not even get the chance to see what was happening.

Suddenly, Obito and the Ten Tails disappeared.

In mid-air, a massive white sphere formed, floating ominously above the ground.

Inoiki immediately knew that he was late. Obito had already used the Six Paths Ten Tails Coffin Seal Technique. He had absorbed the Ten Tails and had already begun the process of becoming the Jinchuriki of the Ten Tails.

Damn... I am too late.

Looking at the scene ahead, Jiraiya had already formed his own guess. His expression darkened as he stared at the massive white sphere.

"Is this what I am thinking it is?" Jiraiya asked.

Inoiki kept his eyes fixed ahead and replied, "Yes, he has initiated the process to become the Jinchuriki of the Ten Tails, and if everything goes according to his plan, then he should be able to succeed."

After saying this, Inoiki, still not willing to allow Obito to enter the Sage of Six Paths form, immediately tried to stop him.

For that, he used Soul Shock.

An invisible wave surged forward, aimed directly at Obito’s soul. Inoiki was trying to shock Obito’s soul, injure it, and disrupt the process of becoming the Jinchuriki. If he could interfere with Obito’s soul at this stage, then perhaps the fusion with the Ten Tails would become unstable or even fail completely.

But the moment Soul Shock reached the giant white sphere, it stopped.

The invisible attack struck the outer surface of the sphere and vanished without causing even the slightest ripple.

Nothing happened.

His Soul Shock did not go inside the white sphere at all.

Inoiki immediately understood what was happening. Obito had already technically started fusing with the Ten Tails, and this white sphere surrounding him was made from Yin-Yang Release.

Because of that, Soul Shock could not bypass this Yin-Yang barrier.

Inside that white sphere, Obito was steadily becoming the Jinchuriki of the Ten Tails.

A few moments later, cracks suddenly began spreading across the surface of the white sphere.

Then, with a loud shattering sound, the entire sphere broke apart.

White fragments scattered through the air like shattered glass before dissolving into nothingness.

As soon as the sphere shattered, both Jiraiya’s and Inoiki’s expressions turned solemn.

Especially Jiraiya.

He knew that Obito had now reached a completely different level. In this form, he was definitely not an opponent for Obito. He might not even be able to survive more than a few attacks against him.

A heavy pressure filled the battlefield.

Now that the process of Obito becoming the Jinchuriki had succeeded, there was no longer any need for him to hide his face or anything else.

Obito’s face was fully revealed.

He floated there in the air silently, his appearance completely changed from before, making him seem less like a human and more like something beyond that.

At the same time, many ninjas from different divisions began arriving at the battlefield one after another.

Among them, the Third Division led by Kakashi also arrived.

As soon as Kakashi saw Obito’s face, he was shocked and surprised at the same time.

He had not seen Obito’s face for so long. The last time he had ever seen Obito face-to-face was when Obito had been dying.

And now, after all these years, he was seeing him again.

As Obito fully came into view, multiple Truth-Seeking Orbs floated behind him in the air. They hovered silently, black and ominous against the pale color of his new form.

One of those Truth-Seeking Orbs soon transformed into a Six Paths Shakujo in his hand.

Obito held it calmly as he looked directly toward Inoiki.

Of course, his eyes also briefly fell on Kakashi and the shocked expression on his face, but he did not care about that.

Right now, he only wanted to look Inoiki in the eye.

For so long, Inoiki had always stood above him in strength. No matter how much Obito had grown, no matter what power he had gained, Inoiki had always remained ahead of him.

But now, in Obito’s mind, that had finally changed.

Looking directly toward Inoiki, Obito said, "Inoiki, finally I have surpassed you in terms of strength, and now you will not be any hindrance in my path to complete my goal. You will not be able to stop me from creating a perfect world."

A faint breeze passed through the battlefield.

As soon as Inoiki heard Obito’s words, he was slightly surprised.

Not because Obito believed he had surpassed him.

But because Obito had not lost control.

Till Inoiki remembered, in the original story, as soon as Obito had become the Jinchuriki of the Ten Tails, for the first few minutes or so, he was not supposed to be able to fully control himself.

Yet right now, Obito’s eyes were clear.

His words were calm.

There was no madness, no instability, and no sign that he had just absorbed the Ten Tails.

It seemed that Obito’s obsession to surpass him, to finally stand above Inoiki, was so strong that he had managed to remain clear-headed even immediately after becoming the Jinchuriki of the Ten Tails.

Inoiki looked toward Obito with a look of pity and slowly shook his head.

Seeing that expression, Obito immediately felt annoyed.

Out of everything he had expected from Inoiki, pity was the last thing he wanted to see.

The wind blew across the battlefield as the Truth-Seeking Orbs floated behind Obito, unmoving.

Inoiki said, "You are nothing more than a pawn in the game of someone else. A pawn does not have a will of his own. You never had a will of your own."

His voice was calm, but every word struck heavily.

"Your whole life was played like a fucking game, and you never realized it. Or even if you did realize it, now that you are so engrossed in this game, you are not able to come out of it and think for yourself."

Inoiki’s eyes remained fixed on Obito.

"You don’t even know anymore whether this is truly your goal... or someone else’s end goal that you have convinced yourself is yours."

As soon as Obito heard Inoiki’s words, memories began surfacing in his mind.

His dream of becoming Hokage.

The days when he had been loud, reckless, and full of hope.

Then came the ambush by the Iwagakure ninjas.

The crushing rocks.

The darkness.

Madara.

Rin.

One scene after another flashed through his mind.

For a brief moment, Obito’s expression changed ever so slightly.

But then he forcefully suppressed all of it.

His grip on the Six Paths Shakujo tightened.

Looking directly toward Inoiki, Obito said, "You are trying to play mind games here, Inoiki. You are very smart, but you cannot shake my conviction."

Obito truly believed that Inoiki was trying to undermine his confidence by saying such things.

And no matter how much those old memories surfaced, he was not willing to let himself be shaken now.