In Naruto: Reborn With Talent

Tobi snarled at Rei's provocation, unable to control his feelings due to the realization that the Tsuki no Me plan was completely ruined.

Without Madara's Rinnegan, there was no way to bring Madara back to life or even summon the Gedo Mazo, nor to seal bijuu into it. Without Madara's Rinnegan, there was no way to go forward and every plan and machination became completely meaningless.

From Zetsu, Obito knew how Madara unlocked Rinnegan. One needed a very strong Uchiha with Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan to have the blood and flesh of a powerful Senju implanted into his body and then wait for the eyes to evolve.

But even with Madara taking in Hashirama's flesh, it still took considerable time.

The biggest problem was... the Uchiha and Senju clans were no longer in existence. As far as he knew, the only people capable of evolving Rinnegan were himself, Sasuke, and Itachi Uchiha. And even then, there were no sufficiently strong Senju around.

The last remaining Senju was Tsunade and Obito kinda doubted her strength. She was like a puffed-up peacock, full of pride and attitude... Yet, Obito knew she was supposed to be the weakest of the Sannin Trio. Compared to Hashirama, she kinda fell short, in his opinion.

That wouldn't have been a problem otherwise but Obito suspected the stronger a Senju is, the stronger his chakra is, the quicker the evolution process would go.

Yet, the same problem was with the Uchiha side. Between Itachi, Sasuke, and himself, the closest to Madara strength-wise was him and he knew well that he fell short of the man's prime by a large margin.

How long would it take for a new set of eyes to be evolved from the available components? Fifty years? Hundred years? More?

Obito didn't have an answer for that but he knew it wouldn't be anytime soon, if ever. Somehow, he doubted quantity would make up for quality, and compared to the legendary ninjas, Madara and Hashirama, the quality of this time fell short by a lot.

That's why Rei ruining Nagato's eyes put an instant stop to his and Madara's plans. It was over.

Obito's body fully materialized and the swirling around him stopped. He had no idea who the bastard in front of him was but he knew he was strong. If the interception of his sneak attack was not proof enough... And Obito prided himself in being able to sneak up on people with his Mangekyo... then the state Nagato was in was enough to convince Obito to take Rei seriously right off the bat.

The second his last use of his Mangekyo ceased, he instantly reactivated it, this time aiming directly at Rei's chest and causing the air there to swirl, sucking the middle of Rei's chest inside...

Obito wanted to prematurely close the portal, ripping Rei's chest into shreds and quickly ending him but to his surprise, he found himself unable to do it.

The swirling continued on and on... the portal between Obito's personal dimension and the place Obito targeted refused to be closed.

"What the heck is going on!?" Obito growled in frustration, trying in vain to forcefully interrupt his Jutsu. At this point, he would be glad even if Rei came out unscathed.

His Kamui usually did not use a lot of chakra as long as he opened a portal, hopped through it, and instantly closed it. He could use it constantly that way. Yes, the swirling teleporting took time but that was mostly for the shock effect and style, rather than because of necessity.

After all, in the middle of combat, he could relocate parts of his body to his dimension, making himself seem intangible to his opponent. If the technique took a lot of chakra, it would be unusable.

But... it had its own rules and disadvantages. Right now, his Kamui was trying to suck another being, which was a massive expenditure on chakra. That's why Obito tried to do it quickly, just open a portal and close it right after a part of Rei was sucked in.

Him being unable to close it sent alarms and panic through his head as his chakra was sucked out of him at a quick pace.

Rei watched the distraught Uchiha in front of him and chuckled, "You really are arrogant as the rest of your clan, aren't you?" He quipped with a smile, "Did you really think your Jutsu had no counter?" Rei shook his head, "All it took was using a Space-Sealing Seal right after you opened your little portal." He curtly explained and Obito's eyes widened in disbelief.

No wonder he could not close the portal! The entire space around them was locked in its previous state... which meant the portal would be maintained until the seal holds. Yet, the portal needed to be fueled by something and that something was Obito's chakra.

Obito's face paled at the implications and he frantically started to try forcefully closing the portal, not even realizing he was trying to jerk his wrist out of Rei's hold.

Rei, however, just tightly held his wrist and laughed in amusement at Obito's pitiful attempts.

He had many countermeasures against Obito but... why fight a prolonged battle when he could just cause the man to exhaust himself to death without even moving an inch?

Both Maki and Nagato could feel the quickly decreasing reserves of Obito and even though Nagato was blind, he had a clear picture of what was happening just by using his chakra sensing and hearing. Both of them were full of horrified awe at the ease with which their co-leader was defeated and realized they are lucky to be still alive. If these two intruders intended to kill them, then even if the initial ambush failed and Nagato had the time to mobilize his Paths, it wouldn't have mattered.

Konan also watched what was happening but unlike Nagato and Maki, she was just disappointed. Akatsuki was supposed to be strong and people in the know often compared them to Yozora with reverence.

Yet... the idiot got caught in such a simple trap!?

How friggin hard was it to understand that space locks are the biggest threat to him and prepare accordingly? And he had literally NOTHING to counter them? And this was supposed to be one of the best S-rank ninjas in the current Elemental Nations sans the Village on the Other Side?

Really?

Sure... Uzumaki were not back in business that long and they definitely did not sell these kinds of seals to their customers but back in their heyday, they were known for their ability to lock space. It would be prudent to prepare for the eventuality...

'I guess my worldview is a bit skewed due to Rei's views.' Konan wryly smiled.

It took barely three minutes and Obito's fierce thrashing started slowing down, until he totally stopped moving thirty seconds later, letting out a muffled wheeze before he powerlessly fell to his knees and inclined his head down as the swirling on Rei's chest slowly ceased.

Rei blinked and let Obito's wrist go, his arm instantly falling down, and then he put two fingers on Obito's forehead, giving him a gentle shove that caused his body to fall over on its back.

Rei pursed his lips, staring at the sprawled Obito on the ground, his sole Mangekyo Sharingan still staring at the ceiling from behind his mask...

"Yup, he is dead." Rei shrugged as he felt no chakra signature from the body in front of him, and turned back towards Nagato and Maki who nervously gulped at having his attention.

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Author Note:

If you feel like it, feel free to leave your thoughts on how Obito was dealt with and if you think it is realistic or have some misgivings :D. I find myself curious about your opinion.

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