“Huff, huff, huff…” Hinata stopped iracks, sweat streaming down her exhausted face, freezing into icicles in the wind and snow.

  Ahead, a crowd had gathered, but in her Byakugan, all she could see was Naruto.

  Naruto's eyes trembled violently, his heart ag with pity: How far did you run to get here?

  After so many years, seeing each ain should have been a joyous reunion, but the shadows of past events cast a somber tone over the moment.

  Before him was the anxious girl he cared for deeply; behind him were the watchful and hostile Raikage and his men.

  Please, don’t e any closer… Naruto silently pleaded in his heart.

  “Naruto-kun…” Hinata couldn’t tain her urgend was about to step forward.

  Whoosh!

  Suddenly, a shadow extended from behind, eg to Hinata’s feet.

  *Shadow Imitation Jutsu!*

  In the sky above, ink-formed birds flew by. Shikamaru, whose leg had been broken during Pain’s atta the vilge, sat atop one of the birds, f hand seals. “Hinata, I uand how you feel, but now isn’t the time. Look at the situation on the field—if you go now, you’ll only distraaruto!”

  “…” Hinata bit her lip, suppressing her overwhelmiions.

  Naruto felt a surge of gratitude in his heart: Shikamaru, thank you…

  e of the Raikage’s guards, observed the se and ented, “Konoha’s people. Judging by their age, they must be his peers. Two from the Hyūga o less?”

  The long-standing tensioween Kumogakure and the Hyūga made the Byakugan a particur focus of attention.

  Darui’s gaze fixed on Neji. “Hmm… I’ve seen this kid during a mission. Neji Hyūga, one of Konoha’s you and most capable Jonin. It’s a pity he’s from the branch family, destio be a caged bird.”

  “Sending such a green and inexperieeam to deal with their rogue ninja—Konoha is as pretentious as ever! Let me beat Uzumaki Naruto half to death, drag him back to the Kumogakure prison, and interrogate him for Sasuke’s whereabouts!!”

  Crack! Crack!

  The Raikage cracked his neck, lightning surging around his body, and charged at Naruto with blinding speed!

  Too fast. Even Konan and Orochimaru, standing beside Naruto, couldn’t rea time. All they saw was a fsh of lightning before Naruto was sent flying!

  Whoosh!!!

  Naruto braced himself with a katana against the Raikage’s punch, sliding across the snowy ground!

  “Hmph!” The Raikage snorted, increasing the force of his punch. Craaruto’s katana shattered uhe pressure!

  Thanks to the sensory abilities of Sage Mode, Naruto mao sidestep the punch at the st moment!

  But the Raikage turned his fist into a hand bde, sshing horizontally at Narutht shoulder!

  Crack!

  The sound of a dislocated joint echoed as pain fshed across Naruto’s face. He activated the power of his left eye.

  —*Preta Path!*

  Zap!!

  The lightning armor surrounding the Raikage dissipated, transf into pure chakra that was absorbed by Naruto.

  “Huh!?” The Raikage’s expression showed his surprise.

  Crash…!

  At that moment, Kona paper infused with explosive tags flying toward the Raikage’s back…!

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  The explosioed at point-bnk range!

  Naruto took the opportunity to retreat, grabbing his right shoulder with his left hand. With a forceful push… Crack! His dislocated shoulder was reset!

  He thought to himself, That was close. If I hadn’t absorbed that troublesome lightning chakra in time, it wouldn’t have been just a dislocation…

  C watched the explosion site nervously. “Hey… is the boss okay?”

  Darui remained calm. “Even without the prote of the Lightning Chakra Mode, that level of explosion won’t hurt the boss.”

  Sure enough, the Raikage emerged unscathed, his eyes wide with fury. “Hmph, it seems you’ve obtained quite the eye. You used its power earlier at the summit to ter Onoki’s Dust Release, didn’t you? But unfortunately, there’s a brief dey between being hit and activating the absorption. That tiny dey is enough for me to kill you three times over!”

  Zap!!!!!

  An even more intense surge of lightning enveloped the Raikage, his hair standing on end like sharp spikes.

  Darui remarked, “Oh? To deal with the ails Jinchūriki, the boss has ked that move up to maximum power.”

  The Raikage roared, “This Level 2 Lightning Release Chakra Mode was honed specifically to ter the Yellow Fsh of Konoha. Too bad the Yellow Fsh is already dead. So I’ll settle for finishing off his sht here…!”

  Naruto’s mind raced: The Lightning Release Chakra Mode, a powerful taijutsu teique passed down through geions of Raikage. Each user has their own urengths. The Fourth Raikage’s defense isn’t as strong as his father’s, but his speed surpasses it. Even though I’ve learhe Flying Raijin, without Kurama’s chakra, my reflexes still ’t match my father’s…

  Darui called out, “Boss, weren’t we supposed to capture him alive to interrogate him about Sasuke’s whereabouts?”

  The Raikage replied, “Doesn’t matter! As long as that brat keeps causing trouble, finding him will only be a matter of time!!!”

  Boom!!!

  As he spoke, the Raikage charged at Naruto with unstoppable force, his speed so great that even a single Rinnegan struggled to keep up!

  Fortunately… Sage Mode could still sehe impending danger!

  —*Shinra Tensei!*

  Boom!!!

  An omnidireal force field exploded outward!

  Thud!!!

  The Raikage’s charging form came to an abrupt halt right in front of Naruto, his lightning-cd fist mere inches from Naruto’s face!

  “Damn it…!!” The Raikage pnted his feet firmly, trying to push his fist forward another half-inch, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t close the gap…!!

  After a tense moment, with a muffled bang, the Raikage was bsted backward, nding in front of Darui and C.

  Swish! Swish!

  Orochimaru and Konan once again moved to shield Naruto.

  This time, Konan scattered a rge number of paper sheets, while Orochimaru summoned several rge serpents.

  Naruto covered his left eye, his heart still rag. “The Raikage, whes serious, is truly terrifying. Just now, he almost resisted *Shinra Tensei*…”

  Orochimaru ented, “The Raikage’s bat style makes him a natural ter to you in your current state. His overwhelming power bined with absolute speed—anyone who lets their guard down for a moment could lose their life.”

  Konan added, “But if you had both Rinnegan, you’d be able to track his movements precisely, and the Deva Path’s teiques wouldn’t reach their limits so easily.”

  Naruto reflected: Ultimately, my chakra at this stage isn’t strong enough. I’ve relied too mu Kurama’s power in the past. Even the sustainability of Sage Mode required Kurama’s cooperation. The gap between me and the First Hokage is immense…

  And thinking back, if not for the Sage of Six Paths granting me power midway, how could we have defeated Madara or even Kaguya?

  The road ahead is still long. This time, I’ll find a different way to achieve true strength!

  Darui remarked, “Boss, the enemy’s eyes are troublesome, and he has tw allies. It’ll be hard to take him down quickly…”

  The Raikage turo the others behind him. “Are you all just going to stand there and watch?!”

  Mifune replied politely, “Raikage-sama, the two subordihey impersonated earlier have been found unharmed. Sihis is a matter between ninja, we samurai won’t interfere for now…”

  “My back is killing me. I’ll leave this to you young folks…” Onoki clutched his lower back, gng at Gaara out of the er of his eye. He thought to himself: Since earlier, the Kazekage has been gring daggers at me…

  Mei Terumi said, “This is the Land of Iron. If we ninja act recklessly, it might seem disrespectful to our hosts…”

  Gaara reiterated, “I’ll say it again: I trust Naruto. He wouldn’t do anything to harm the is of the ninja world…”

  “What a bunch of spineless fools!!”

  Seeing that none of the e inteo act, the Raikage gritted his teeth and shouted at Naruto again, “Uzumaki Naruto, I know Uchiha Sasuke was just here!!! Where did he go? Tell me now—this is your st ce!!!”

  “Sasuke… was just here…?!” Hearing this, Sakura, standing behind Hinata, looked shocked.

  Naruto, however, smiled and said, “Raikage, why do you insist on making things difficult for Sasuke?”

  The Raikage roared, “Damn it, he killed my brother!!”

  Naruto replied, “Your brother, Killer Bee, is still alive. But he’s already been targeted by the Akatsuki. If you act quickly, you might still make it in time…”

  The Raikage froze in shock. “What did you say…?!”