The appearance of the two black dots in the sky silenced the cheering crowd on the ground once more.
On the mountain peak, Gyūki clutched the peak, its eyes, larger than any human's, stared unblinkingly, filled with disbelief. Its mind connected with a certain fox it had just sensed: "Stinky fox, your Jinchuriki, he's gone too far!"
Kurama lay in the bathtub, unmoving. Its head rested on the edge, and it took a sip of cola from the cup with a straw in its mouth: "If you can take it, take it. If not, then die. Don't embarrass the Tailed Beasts."
"You..."
Gyūki was choked, not knowing how to respond. The intellectual older sister's voice (Matatabi) suddenly interjected: "After all this time, your temper is still so volatile, Kurama."
"Then you still steal my things. Didn't you sense my chakra in the box? Hiccup."
"I didn't mean to steal it. It was that little girl..."
"Enough talk. This old man doesn't have time to chitchat with you." With that, Kurama unilaterally cut the connection, turning its attention back to the Snow Country clone and pressing play.
Outside, Naruto brushed the dust from his cloak, pointed at the two gradually enlarging mountains in the sky, and chuckled: "Raikage-sama, these two dangerous items are yours too."
The Raikage looked up. Hearing this, his clenched hand relaxed, then he gritted his teeth, panting heavily. Just as he was about to act, Darui arrived: "Boss, ready."
The Raikage's expression relaxed. He looked at Naruto: "Brat, you're boasting too early."
With that, he turned and waved his hand at the crowd: "Second squad follow me, first squad follow Darui. Darui, leave them both here for me. You know what to do, right?"
"Understood." Darui reached behind his back and gripped his sword hilt.
"Very good." The Raikage patted Darui's shoulder, then walked past him and shouted: "Little ones, brace yourselves and keep up!"
"Raikage-sama..."
His roar once again injected spirit into the despairing crowd, who all quickly found their positions.
The Raikage took over three hundred people with him. Over two hundred remained at the Kumogakure main gate. Darui, leading them, looked at Naruto and Kakashi, drew the large sword from his back, pointed it at the two, and said: "Apologies, Boss's orders. You two had best not make any sudden moves, especially you, Konoha Jinchuriki."
Over the past few days, the clone had been continuously causing trouble, and they had also found a way to counter Naruto's teleportation through observation: kill him before the purple gate forms, or prevent him from entering it.
Naruto stepped forward, about to meet his gaze, but found he was too short and could only look up. He turned to the crowd behind Darui: "Why aren't you moving? Are you relying on these cowards who just wanted to hide in their mothers' arms?"
With one sentence, his mockery was astonishing, and the crowd immediately erupted.
"You snot-nosed brat, who are you calling names?"
"Pah."
Naruto reached out and caught a flying lollipop. He asked, "Who spat?"
He remembered there was someone in Kumogakure who fought with lollipops. What was his name...?
He pulled out another one from his pocket and unwrapped it. Omoi, dark-skinned, walked out from the crowd: "Me."
"Do you have apple flavor?"
"I have two more."
Their strange dialogue left everyone completely baffled. What kind of thought process was this? Why did the topic change so quickly?
"That's good." Naruto murmured, dropping the lollipop. He summoned two mithril swords from the warehouse, glanced at the angle, and gripped their hilts.
Darui held his large sword vertically before his chest: "Since that's the case, then I apologize."
"Hey, you're not going to fight now, are you?" Kakashi asked in astonishment. I know you're brave, but are you going to fight here? Don't you know this is the main gate of Kumogakure?
Naruto glanced back at him. He thought about it too. It seemed indeed inappropriate to fight now. He inwardly called: "Big Fox, cooperate."
He let go of his swords, and with a thought, opened two teleportation gates in a place no one knew.
Seeing him discard his swords, Darui thought he had given up resisting. He raised a hand to stop the crowd behind him and secretly made a gesture.
On a mountain side in Kumogakure, a clone just stepped out of a teleportation gate, its body enveloped in red chakra bubbles, and extended its arm into the ground.
Rumble rumble...
The mountain began to shake and crack. The cracks grew larger. In less than two seconds, a pair of large red chakra hands smashed through the mountain, holding a box. The large hands tore open the box's wrapping in mid-air, revealing the box's black body and four masks with expressions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.
The box was still in the air when its earth-shattering voice echoed: "8230..."
Only then did Naruto nod in satisfaction. How could a battle be without BGM? Even if this BGM was Pi, it was better than nothing.
As the BGM played, Naruto felt blessed by a deity. His entire body was filled with a "don't be a coward" attitude. He re-gripped his twin swords and charged into the crowd.
Suddenly, Naruto stopped. He plunged a sword directly into the ground, its blade piercing the earth and precisely pinning two hands, blood oozing out with a sizzle.
Ignoring the ninjas lurking underground using Earth Release, Naruto drew the Kusanagi Sword from his waist and blocked Darui's cleaving sword. The great sword was heavy, forcing Naruto to retreat to disperse the force.
Darui swung his sword, following up: "Brat, not bad."
"Thank you."
Naruto replied while parrying. He usually didn't speak during combat, but he would say thank you when complimented.
Just as Naruto spoke, the ground behind him shifted slightly, and a dark-skinned youth with a lollipop jumped out. Darui's lips twitched slightly. He succeeded.
"Cloud Style: Reverse Slash!"
"Lightning Blade!"
Pfft...
"Omoi!!!"
"Nani?" Kakashi, lightning crackling in his hand, froze in place. He had secretly prepared when he sensed something was wrong earlier, but now...
Not only him, but everyone else also froze. Because what just happened was too bizarre, so bizarre it was like a pre-arranged performance. Darui attacked, Naruto retreated. As he retreated, he suddenly drew another Kusanagi Sword and extended it behind him. Omoi jumped out from the ground and directly crashed into the Kusanagi Sword.
Omoi looked down at the sword embedded in his abdomen, feeling the scorching heat from the blade. He said in disbelief, "How... how did you do that?"
Naruto didn't reply. He hooked Omoi with his sword, then turned and used Omoi to block Darui's blade. He released one Kusanagi Sword, gestured for Kakashi to retreat, then turned again, pulled back the Kusanagi Sword, reached into Omoi's pocket, pulled out a handful of candy, and finally kicked him away.
He unwrapped an apple-flavored candy and popped it into his mouth. Naruto re-gripped his sword, dodged a few more attacks, and charged into the crowd.
"Omoi, how are you?!" Darui caught him and examined his wound. The wound pierced through, but due to the scorching high temperature, the surrounding flesh and blood were cauterized, showing no blood. It was good news, but the location of the wound...
"It just hurts a bit, I think..." Omoi struggled to get up, but felt an inexplicable weakness throughout his body. He looked down and saw,
"Don't speak, don't move! Medical ninja!!" Darui held him down. He could only do this. He couldn't even perform first aid, because Omoi's injury was to an internal organ, specifically... his kidney!
Looking at the figure dodging and weaving through the crowd, Darui stood up: "You lie here. I'll get revenge for you."
"Be careful... He's very strange..."
"I know." Darui's eyes were fixed on the blond. He formed hand signs, searching for an opportunity. When he saw Naruto defending an attack, he suddenly released: "Storm Release: Laser Circus!"
Dozens of lightning bolts shot from Darui's hands, striking Naruto like lasers in the air.
But Naruto, as if he had long anticipated it, stepped forward to the left, and all the lightning bolts grazed past him.
"What!"
On the other side, Kakashi stood frozen, caught between a rock and a hard place. Naruto was his sensei's son; he couldn't ignore him, but if he interfered... he'd be dead.
Everyone selected for the Raikage's vanguard was strong. Now, there were hundreds of opponents, and more were constantly arriving. With his strength, it would be difficult to even protect himself if he went in. Yet Naruto had not even a scratch on his clothes so far. This also puzzled Kakashi.
What on earth was this guy?
Was this really his sensei's son?
Although his sensei had impressive reaction speed back then, he was still human. If he were surrounded and beaten and didn't use Flying Thunder God, he couldn't have achieved this either. How did you do it?
Suddenly, thinking of a possibility, Kakashi picked up a clod of dirt, aimed it at Naruto, and was about to flick it, but then he saw Naruto, who was constantly dodging and retaliating in the crowd, suddenly look at him.
At this moment, Kakashi recalled a conversation Jiraiya had with him.
"Kakashi, tell me, what exactly am I afraid of about that brat?"
"Hmm?"
"You don't know, he recently awakened a strange form of perception. It's a perception that transcends even the Sages. It can even predict movements, but it requires someone to fear or be afraid of him." Jiraiya slammed his sake bottle against the wall: "But why can he predict my movements? Am I afraid of him?!"
"Fear and dread, huh..." Kakashi looked up at the sky, at the colossal mountain plummeting towards them. How could anyone not be afraid of that?
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