Konohagakure.
Just as Naruto and Sasuke ran out of the food street, they saw several vehicles stopped at the entrance.
Several Uchiha were directing the crowd, and there was a wide open path beside them leading straight to Konoha.
Everyone was evacuating in an orderly fashion under the Uchiha's direction.
Naruto initially wanted to evacuate along with everyone else but was pulled aside by an Anbu.
"Naruto, there are too many civilians over there. We'll go this way."
The Anbu's logic was simple, if the enemy was after Naruto, then fleeing alongside the civilians would put them at risk.
Their small team could run faster on their own.
One of the Anbu even shot a signal flare into the sky, calling for reinforcements.
The Uchiha clansmen directing the evacuation saw the Anbu escorting Naruto and Sasuke toward the village.
Breathing a sigh of relief, they too fired a signal flare into the sky.
---
The Anbu escorted Naruto and Sasuke along a predetermined route.
They hadn't gone far when one Anbu shouted, "Be careful! There's a problem ahead!"
Suddenly, two aloe-like leaves emerged from the ground, revealing a face split into black and white, Zetsu.
The four Anbu and the two boys instantly tensed, drawing their kunai.
The two boys regretted not bringing their ninja tool pouches.
Zetsu poked his head out, seemingly ignoring the reactions of the others, and turned his gaze toward the Uchiha Clan Grounds.
A Time-Sealing Barrier, huh?
The Uchiha had prepared this well.
Zetsu wasn't too worried about Obito, after all, Obito still had Wood Release and Izanagi. The Time-Sealing Barrier wouldn't last long.
At worst, Obito could sacrifice a Sharingan.
Obito's repeated failures had made Black Zetsu a bit anxious, Obito was still a valuable pawn.
It was necessary to help him grow stronger.
"Who are you!?" The Anbu shouted sternly.
The strange man in front of them, half-black and half-white, clearly didn't look like a good person.
"Aiya~ Look at this, isn't this the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki?" White Zetsu spoke with mockery.
The faces of everyone present changed drastically.
Sasuke's heart shook, As expected, they're here for Naruto.
Naruto narrowed his eyes, As expected, they're here for me.
The four Anbu were drenched in cold sweat, on other shifts, Naruto had been fine, but on their shift, an incident occurred. How unlucky could they get!
They could only hope reinforcements from Konoha would arrive quickly.
White Zetsu stomped his foot on the ground, and over ten white humanoid monsters emerged from the earth. These monsters were incomplete, some with holes in their bodies, faces with only one eye, twisted expressions, and pale bodies, as if crudely molded from clay.
These creatures crawled out of the ground and charged at Naruto and Sasuke.
The four Anbu roared in anger and charged forward. "Naruto, Sasuke, run!"
As they spoke, White Zetsu's clones engaged the Anbu in combat.
Although the Zetsu clones didn't have high combat strength, they completely held back the four Anbu.
Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances and nodded fiercely.
Sasuke began forming hand seals while speaking to Naruto, "There are too many of these monsters, let's help the Anbu reduce the pressure."
"Alright!" Naruto responded.
Multi Shadow Clone Technique!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!...
With a series of explosive sounds, dozens of Naruto's shadow clones suddenly appeared in the area.
The four Anbu who were fighting the Zetsu clones were stunned, Naruto knows the Multi Shadow Clone Technique!?
"Everyone charge! Save them first!"
"Okay!"
"Go!"
Naruto's army of clones began counterattacking against the Zetsu clones.
If not seen with their own eyes, no one would believe a single person could create so many shadow clones.
The Naruto clones charged forward and clung to the Zetsu clones one by one.
The Anbu let out a sigh of relief and stabbed their blades into the Zetsu clones, causing them to slowly collapse.
With the entanglement of the Naruto clones, the pressure on the Anbu was greatly reduced.
However, Naruto's clones were also being rapidly depleted.
As the bang bang bang sounds continued, Naruto's clones gradually decreased.
Amid the turbulence of the air, Naruto's true body suddenly rushed out from the clones, holding a Rasengan in his hand.
His target was Zetsu, seeing that the pressure on the Anbu had eased, Naruto turned his attention to Zetsu.
Zetsu extended his hand, and a large, thick tree stump emerged.
Bang! Naruto's Rasengan slammed into the tree stump, leaving a huge gap in it.
But it was useless, the tree stump continued to surge forward, slamming into Naruto's chest.
Ugh! Naruto was sent flying, spitting blood.
"Chidori!"
Sasuke shouted loudly, blue light radiating from his hand, accompanied by the sound of countless birds chirping.
Sasuke's Sharingan spun wildly, enduring the massive chakra consumption of the Chidori, targeting Black and White Zetsu.
His target from the start had been Zetsu, not the Zetsu clones.
As Naruto was sent flying, Sasuke had already completed his Chidori acceleration charge!
Naruto looked at Sasuke with hope.
With the piercing cry of Chidori, it was getting closer! Closer! Even closer!
Sasuke was excited, I got him!
Just as Chidori was about to pierce Zetsu's body,
Zetsu sidestepped, hooked Sasuke's foot, and sent him flying. The Chidori plunged straight into the ground.
Crack! Sasuke seemed to hear the sound of his finger bones breaking.
"Ahhhhhh!" Sasuke screamed in agony.
The intense pain struck instantly, tears and snot flowed down Sasuke's face, nearly causing him to faint.
"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted.
Damn it!
Two of Naruto's clones quickly began forming another Rasengan, but Zetsu extended his hand, and massive tree branches burst forth.
Naruto narrowly dodged the branches.
But the sound of branches piercing flesh made Naruto stiffly turn his head.
The Anbu who had been fighting the Zetsu clones were now pierced through their bodies by the branches, their guts spilling, there was no way they could survive.
"Bastard!" An evil chakra surged.
Thump thump!
A loud heartbeat echoed in everyone's hearts.
Naruto's face twisted with ferocity, and his eyes seemed to be stained with a hint of red!
Thanks to the efforts of his clones, Naruto finally formed another Rasengan.
Wrapped in a red chakra, Naruto charged at Zetsu like a wild beast hunting its prey.
Seeing the red chakra overflowing from Naruto's body, Zetsu seemed to see the ferocious, ghostly giant head of the Nine-Tails looming behind Naruto.
"Interesting," Zetsu remarked.
Then he casually extended his hand, grabbed Naruto's wrist, and knocked the Rasengan aside. As Naruto lost his balance and was sent flying.
With sharp claws on his left hand, Naruto fiercely scratched three wounds onto Zetsu's arm.
Bang! Naruto also fell to the ground.
The Rasengan in his hand blasted a pit into the ground.
"Naruto!" Sasuke, enduring the searing pain in his right hand, called out.
But the massive chakra consumption of Chidori and the broken finger bones left Sasuke's body weak.
Seeing Naruto knocked down and unable to move, Sasuke's eyes nearly split open with rage.
Suddenly, Sasuke's mind felt light, a cool sensation spread through him, lessening the pain in his finger bones.
His Sharingan had evolved from a single tomoe to a double tomoe.
Sasuke suddenly felt another surge of strength, gritting his teeth, he struggled to get up!
But it was useless, Zetsu stomped on Sasuke, slamming him into the ground.
Pfft...
A mouthful of blood splattered onto the ground.
Yet Sasuke didn't give up, enduring the pain, he struggled.
Zetsu frowned, extended a wooden stake from his hand, and stabbed it straight down.
Seeing the wooden stake descending, Sasuke felt overwhelming fear in his heart, twisting his body as much as possible, the wooden branch stabbed into his shoulder.
"Ahhh!" Sasuke screamed and fainted.
Zetsu ignored Sasuke, with the Anbu dealt with, capturing the Nine-Tails would be fine.
He reached toward the struggling Naruto.
Thinner branches shot out, wrapping around Naruto's body.
Naruto was instantly bound like a rice dumpling.
Naruto looked toward Sasuke, his eyes suddenly widening, his pupils became vertical, Boom!
A ferocious, flame-like red chakra erupted!
The surging chakra formed a fiery red chakra cloak around Naruto's body!
Behind him, a fiery red tail extended.
The branches binding him were instantly shattered!
Zetsu frowned slightly, He's going berserk?
Naruto pounced like a hunting beast, bringing a fierce gust of wind as he clawed toward Black Zetsu.
Black Zetsu jumped back, narrowly avoiding the strike.
As Naruto missed in mid-air, his tail extended, forcefully pulling the branches from Sasuke's body.
Sasuke, still unconscious, shuddered and groaned in pain.
After landing, Naruto immediately picked up Sasuke and ran toward Konoha, showing no sign of being out of control.
Zetsu was momentarily stunned, he hadn't expected Naruto not to be affected by the Nine-Tails' influence.
Sensing numerous Anbu figures approaching from the distance, Zetsu narrowed his eyes and slowly sank into the ground.