He has mastered the Fourth Hokage's Flying Raijin Jutsu...!

  Anko Mitarashi's face turned grim. She had withat era firsthand, deeply aware of how the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, had created legends otlefield with his unparalleled mastery of the Flying Raijin Jutsu.

  Anko thought to herself, "The Earth Release earlier too... Naruto has repeatedly dispyed abilities beyond what we know. It seems he's been hiding his strength and pnning this for a long time!"

  "Captain Anko, what do we do now!?" Tokuma Hyūga asked with a serious expression.

  Anko replied, "We have no ce of winning. Take Avaro and Muta areat!!"

  Naruto spoke, "The others leave, but Miss Anko, you must stay...!"

  Tokuma's heart sank: His target is Captain Anko!?

  Buzzing sounds filled the air as the scattered kikaichū is regrouped. This was a hidden attribute of the Aburame 's teique: when the user loses sciousness in battle, the is loto the st chosen target and unch relentless attacks!

  "What an annoying teique..."

  Naruto formed seals and csped his hands together in front of his chest.

  — *Fire Release: Tornado!*

  Boom!

  Naruto's cloak billowed as fmes ignited beh his feet, spiraling around him and iing the approag swarm of is.

  "This is our ce to retreat," Muta Aburame said.

  Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

  Suddenly, multiple Naruto shadow es charged forward, wielding *Rasengan* and shrouded in fmes from the *Fire Release*.

  "There are too many of them. We 't hahis..."

  Tokuma activated his Byakugan, his steps precise and deliberate. Chakra surged from his tesu as he spun, creating an imperable defensive barrier.

  — *Eight Trigrams Palms: Revolving Heaven!*

  Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

  Naruto's shadow es vanished one by one.

  As the *Revolving Heaven* subsided, Tokuma's Byakugan locked onto the real Naruto, who was closing ihered chakra in his palm and struck out forcefully!

  — *Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!*

  Thud!

  The powerful bst of air foraruto to retreat several meters.

  Naruto smirked, "As expected of a Hyūga elite, but this is as far as you go..."

  Whoosh!

  A *Rasengan* formed in Naruto's hand, rapidly expanding as he i with more chakra.

  Realizing his dire situation, Tokuma shouted, "Captain Anko, I'll cover here! Retreat now a everything that happened here to the vilge!"

  — *Massive Rasengan!*

  Naruto leaped high into the air, driving the enormous sphere downward.

  — *Eight Trigrams Palms: Revolving Heaven!*

  Gritting his teeth, Tokuma executed *Revolving Heaven* once more.

  Boom!

  The *Massive Rasengan* collided with the barrier, emitting a heavy sound. Air currents surged violently, but uhe relentless grind of the *Rasengan*, the barrier quickly weakehrough the thinning shield, Tokuma's struggling figure became visible.

  It wasn't that Tokuma was weak; it was that Naruto was to...

  Bang!!

  The moment *Revolving Heaven* shattered, Naruto withdrew the power of his *Massive Rasengan* just in time...

  Even so, the residual force of the collisiookuma flying. His back smmed heavily against a tree, and he lost sciousness.

  Landing on the ground, Naruto looked at Anko and said, "Now... no one else is in the way, Miss Anko."

  g her fists tightly, Anko demanded, "Naruto, why are you doing this!?"

  After a moment of silenaruto pulled up the hood of his cloak and said in a low voice, "For the future of the ninja world, I hat man's help. Miss Anko, you are indispensable..."

  "That man...?"

  Anko pondered Naruto's words, but a sudden sharp paied from the curse mark on the back of her neck.

  She muttered in fusion, "The curse mark hasn't reacted in so long. Why now... But there's no time to worry about this. There's something more important!"

  Rustle, rustle. A small snake slipped out of her sleeve and quickly disappeared into the underbrush.

  "Delivering intel back to the vilge?" Naruto noticed but did not stop it.

  He thought to himself, "Let it be. The more solid my identity as a rogue ninja bees, the less my as will implicate the vilge iure."

  Relieved that the snake had safely escaped with the intel, Anko said, "Now, I py with you properly..."

  Naruto replied, "You could also try esg. You might even succeed..."

  Anko g her fallen rades scattered around. She khat even if she could escape, there was no way to take all three of them with her.

  Pressihumb against her forehead protector, she decred firmly, "A Konoha ninja never abandons their rades to flee alone! As someone from Konoha, you should uand this better than anyone!"

  Naruto smiled, "Ah, I uand... In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their rades are worse than scum!"

  "Then there's nothing more to say!"

  Anko began f seals, gathering chakra. She thought to herself, "Among my current teiques, there's only ohat pose a threat to Naruto now. But to use it, I need him to get close a his guard down. Time to set it up..."

  pleting her seals, Anko took a deep breath.

  — *Fire Release: Dragon Fire Teique!*

  Boom!!

  A high-speed jet of fmes shot straight at Naruto...

  Fag the approag fmes, Naruto quickly calcuted: "If I ter with a *Fire Release*, it will undoubtedly burn her. Sinjuries are iable, drowning her with water is a safer option."

  Swish, swish! Naruto's hands moved rapidly to form seals.

  — *Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Teique!*

  Whoosh! Torrential water surged, f a dragon that devoured the fmes before crashing down on Anko!

  "Argh...!!" Anko was overwhelmed by the water, struggling helplessly!

  Whoosh! Naruto dashed forward, reag out toward Anko.

  But in that instant, Anko's hand shot out like lightning, g Naruto's fio form a seal together!

  "This is a mutual destru teique, Naruto. As you are now, you pose a threat to the vilge. I will die here with you!"

  — *Twin Snakes Mutual Death Teique!*

  Hiss! Hiss!

  Two snakes emerged from Anko's sleeves, coiling tightly around both her and Naruto. The ominlow recursor to an explosion!

  "!" Naruto's pupils tracted.

  Boom!!!

  A massive explosioed, being the ter of everyone's attention!

  Whoosh!

  The light of the Flying Raijin Jutsu fshed as Naruto reappeared at a marked location, carrying the unscious Anko.

  Looking at the devastated battlefield, Naruto murmured, "Indeed, only through personal bat one recall those glorious days..."

  Konan approached, the unscious Konoha ninjas. She knew Naruto wouldn't kill them, so she remarked, "The birds as in this area have already been driven away by the battle. The people from Konoha will arrive soon to take them back..."

  "Indeed. Let's return..."

  Carrying Anko, Naruto leapt down from the tree, pced a hand on Konan's shoulder, and activated the Flying Raijin Jutsu, vanishing instantly.

  Shortly after their departure, a group of Konoha ANBU arrived at the se.

  The lead ninja, a white cloak, held a scroll in his hand. It was the intel scroll Anko had sent earlier, intercepted and now in their possession.

  Because Anko had hastily writteel without using plex codes, the group quickly deciphered it, learning what had transpired...

  The bck-cloaked ninjas examiokuma and the others before rep to the white-cloaked leader, "All three of them are still alive. Uzumaki Naruto didn't deliver fatal blows. As for Anko Mitarashi, her whereabouts are unknown. Judging by this, she was likely taken by Uzumaki Naruto."

  "What should we do with these three? Should we take them bad await orders from Lord Danzō?"

  The white-cloaked ninja, a mid-level leader in Danzō's Roanization and a fervent follower of Danzō's ideology of dark justice, responded with a glint in his eyes, "Although they are also Konoha ninjas, differing ideologies make us irrecible. Root's way is to mercilessly eliminate any unfavorable factors."

  Raising the scroll in his hand, he tinued, "With this intel scroll and the corpses of these three, Uzumaki Naruto's defe from Konoha will be fully ted. Furthermore, with the rumors spreading among the lower-level popuce, this will serve as the most ving evidence... There's o sult Lord Danzō. Root's ideology will be upheld by us! Kill them!"

  "Uood..."

  The bck-cloaked ninjas hesitated briefly before drawing their bdes and mercilessly stabbing Tokuma Hyūga, Muta Aburame, and Avarh the heart!

  The three, who should have been rescued by Konoha, met an unjust end at the hands of their rades!

  Staring at the bloodied corpses, the white-cloaked Root member muttered darkly, "At st, Lord Danzō's era is truly upon us!"