Behind the Mountains of Konoha. Right now, Boruto was staring wide-eyed at the crumbled ruins on the mountainside.
"Dad, this is where you trained?" Boruto asked curiously.
"Yeah. My training caused too much commotion, so I could only train out here," Naruto replied.
"Why is this place so wrecked? In my world, I remember it being in pretty good shape."
"That's… because of the ninjutsu I trained with," Naruto said, scratching his head, looking a little embarrassed.
Boruto's mouth slowly dropped open. Just from training alone, his dad had wrecked the entire terrain? Just how powerful were those jutsu he was training with?
"There's not much to see here. Wanna head back to the village?" Naruto suggested.
"Okay," Boruto nodded. He had insisted on seeing Naruto's training ground, so Naruto brought him here. Now that he'd seen it, Boruto figured there wasn't much else to do.
But the next second, a voice suddenly rang out near them. Naruto looked puzzled, but Boruto's face turned pale as he turned to the direction the voice came from.
Floating in the air above them was Urashiki Ōtsutsuki, looking down at them.
"Urashiki!" Boruto gritted his teeth and glanced around. It was just him and Naruto here, this wasn't good.
"Hmph." Urashiki sneered at Boruto and said, "You really did arrive first. Always getting in my way… Fine, I'll deal with you once and for all!"
"That's him, Urashiki?" Naruto's expression grew serious as he started cracking his knuckles, ready to teach this guy a lesson.
Looking at Naruto, Urashiki slowly broke into a smile."At last… I finally get to meet you, Naruto Uzumaki!"
With that, he swung his red fishing rod, sending a surge of red threads and hooks flying toward Naruto and Boruto.
"Dad! Whatever you do, don't let that hook touch you!" Boruto shouted.
"Yeah, I got it!" Naruto said, already forming hand seals.
"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
In an instant, dozens of Naruto clones appeared all over the mountainside, making Boruto gape.
Boruto thought of how he could only make a few clones himself. Looking at the army of Narutos now, he wondered, could he really get this strong one day?
"Boruto, get back," Naruto said, blocking one of the hooks with a clone.
Boruto nodded and, knowing he wouldn't be much help in a direct fight, slipped away to a safe distance under the cover of the shadow clones.
"Tch. Annoying numbers," Urashiki muttered. But he knew shadow clones were usually fragile and easy to take out.
"You think this is all I've got?" Naruto said, locking eyes with Urashiki. He had decided, it was time to go all-out and teach this guy a lesson.
"Wind Style: Armor of Wind!"
Suddenly, Naruto and all his shadow clones were clad in translucent armor, and invisible currents of wind swirled around them.
Naruto hadn't just been training his Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, he'd also been working hard on other wind techniques. This Wind Armor had now reached a new level, one even Natsuro hadn't thought of in application.
Naruto's Wind Armor now bordered on being a true Wind Chakra Mode, comparable to the Lightning Chakra Mode of the Hidden Cloud Village. With Naruto's numbers-based training style, it wouldn't be long before he fully matched it.
Plus, wind counters lightning, that's just chakra nature balance.
Naruto clenched his fists, feeling the power surging through his body. A satisfied grin crossed his face. All his hard work hadn't let him down.
The Wind Armor didn't just protect each shadow clone, it boosted their individual combat ability, turning a quantity-based technique into quality through numbers.
If Natsuro had been watching, he would've seen that Naruto had already surpassed him in this technique.
Urashiki looked at the army of armored Narutos, frowning slightly as he felt the cutting air swirling around them. He hadn't expected this era's Naruto to already be this strong.
"This could be… a little troublesome," Urashiki said lightly, but didn't seem panicked.
The next moment, he swung his rod again.
"Amenosubaruboshinomikoto!"
Instantly, countless red hooks shot down toward Naruto and his clones.
"You think that'll work again? Way too slow," Naruto scoffed, clapping his palms together.
Boom! Invisible wind-formed palm strikes burst into the air, not only knocking the red hooks aside but continuing upward toward Urashiki with only slight loss of force.
"Tch." Urashiki clicked his tongue and suddenly, his Byakugan turned into a glowing blue Rinnegan.
In the next second, all the wind strikes narrowly missed him, as if just grazing past.
"What the—?!" Naruto looked stunned. With such dense wind strikes, dodging was almost impossible unless… unless…
"Hmph, it's useless," Urashiki said with a grin. "Because I can see the future."
Naruto's face darkened. "So, you're just gonna stall me? Let's see how long I can last, huh?"
"Let's see, then," Urashiki replied. He still thought Naruto's chakra would be drained soon, this mode had to be a massive chakra sink.
The two entered a stalemate, Urashiki waiting for Naruto's chakra to run dry, and Naruto thinking of how to strike him down.
Suddenly, Naruto's eyes lit up. His Wind Armor began to fluctuate.
"Tch, reaching your limit?" Urashiki smiled in satisfaction.
But the next second, his smile froze.
Naruto's Wind Armor broke apart and transformed into a massive, all-encompassing storm of slicing wind heading straight for him.
If separate clones couldn't hit him, then just combine them all, this was Naruto's idea: a wide-range AOE attack to blanket the skies.
After launching the attack, all the clones dispelled, leaving just the real Naruto.
Urashiki's face twisted in shock, realizing it was too late to dodge completely.
And at that moment, from a previously hidden clone, Naruto dispelled it and…
His eyes turned golden, frog-like with horizontal pupils, surrounded by gold markings.
Sage Mode activated.
It was none other than the Sage Mode of Mount Myōboku!
And then, in Naruto's palm, the jutsu he was most familiar with began to form:
Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!
Urashiki's eyes had already transformed into blue Rinnegan, but it was no use. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't dodge this massive area-of-effect windstorm.
And given the coverage, even his teleportation technique wasn't fast enough to get out in time, he had no choice but to endure it.
One good thing for Urashiki: while the AOE was wide, the power was spread out, so each individual point wasn't overwhelmingly strong.
Still, as he felt the storm's intensity, Urashiki really wanted to curse out loud. Does this guy have infinite chakra or what? How can he waste it so recklessly?!
As the storm subsided, Urashiki looked noticeably disheveled.
"Got him!" In the next moment, a white-glowing Rasenshuriken sliced through the remaining winds, charging straight at the stunned Urashiki.
Naruto had poured everything into this attack, if it hit, the battle would be over.
However… it missed.
The Rasenshuriken barely grazed the air beside Urashiki and was dodged.
Urashiki burst into wild laughter in mid-air.
"I told you! It's useless! That big windstorm, how many more of those can you even pull off? And even that kind of attack can't kill me!"
Naruto frowned, his golden sage eyes glaring at Urashiki. Then he made his decision. The Wind Armor surged back around him, and in a flash, Naruto closed the distance, striking with a palm.
Urashiki sneered. "You jumped into the air? You can't even fly! Foolish move!" he mocked, his Rinnegan flickering.
Dodging Naruto's strike with a smug expression…
"BAM!!"
It was as if an invisible fist slammed into Urashiki's face. His body twisted and smashed into the ground, leaving a crater.
Naruto landed, his feet glowing with Senjutsu chakra, and launched forward again toward the fallen Urashiki.
"What? I dodged that!" Urashiki cried, his eyes wide in disbelief, just before Naruto's next blow hit and sent him flying again.
But this time, Naruto's punch missed, Urashiki's form shattered into glowing red origami cranes, dispersing.
Naruto looked off in the distance toward where the cranes were regrouping.
Sure enough, Urashiki's disheveled figure reappeared.
"Amazing…" Boruto whispered, watching in awe. The sheer number of shadow clones, their powerful jutsu, their endurance, and now even Urashiki couldn't handle Naruto's attacks. He was both shocked and proud, his dad was already this powerful back then!
Naruto frowned. That paper-crane technique was annoying.
And… he could feel his Sage Chakra running low. He hadn't had much time to gather it, and the Rasenshuriken had drained a lot, and it had missed.
His Wind Armor faded, and Naruto returned to his normal state, panting. The heavy use of chakra was catching up to him, which was a natural consequence.
After all, chakra came from the body's own energy. Using ninjutsu consumed not just chakra, but physical stamina too. That double toll made exhaustion inevitable.
Urashiki, rubbing his bruised face, finally figured it out.
"Invisible attacks?! That's how?!"
"You said you could see the future. Then how'd you get hit?" Naruto taunted. His Frog Kata had finally paid off.
Urashiki's face twitched with frustration. His so-called "future sight" was a bluff.
In truth, his ability allowed him to rewind time by a few seconds, reliving the moment again and again to find the safest dodge. But, he could only rewind the world, not himself.
So, if he couldn't see the invisible attack like Frog Kata, he couldn't dodge it. And if he got hit and rewound time again, he'd still be the already-hit version of himself. It was meaningless.
"Hmph. Even so… how much more strength can you possibly have left?" Urashiki said, smirking as he saw Naruto panting.
"That's none of your business," Naruto replied, and suddenly, red chakra surged around him.
Nine-Tails Chakra!
Urashiki's face twisted in anger. That damn fox again? At this rate, Naruto's stamina was bottomless!
And this fight had gone on too long. By now, the others would've noticed and be on their way!
If he couldn't wear Naruto down… then he'd have to fight head-on.
Urashiki reached for the basket on his back, the one where he stored all kinds of chakra he'd stolen.
But his face suddenly changed.
A massive purple arrow was flying toward him at incredible speed!
"This… I can't dodge it in time!" Urashiki gritted his teeth. His Rinnegan flickered once more, and just barely, he dodged it by a hair's breadth.
Looking off into the distance, he saw the source: a towering, armored Susanoo had appeared, and was rapidly closing in.
"Sasuke-sensei!" Boruto shouted with joy, no longer hiding. He ran to stand beside the Adult Sasuke.
Sure enough, both Adult Sasuke and Young Sasuke had sensed the chakra surge and rushed over, only to find Naruto already battling Urashiki.
From the looks of it, Naruto had the upper hand.
Naruto, still panting slightly, looked up at Sasuke's massive Susanoo. It was the first time he'd seen this power, it radiated pure might.
"That's…?" Naruto asked.
"My Mangekyō Sharingan ability. How are you holding up?" Sasuke replied.
"I'm fine." Naruto nodded. Even though he'd used a lot of chakra, thanks to Kurama, he was still in peak fighting condition, aside from Sage Mode being unavailable.
"Good. What abilities does the enemy have?" Sasuke asked next.
Naruto didn't hold back, he explained the "future sight" ability and the origami crane escape technique.
"Future sight?" Sasuke was surprised. He recalled how his sneak attack earlier had somehow missed. Could Urashiki have seen it coming?
But Naruto shook his head.
"No. That's a lie. If he could see the future, he wouldn't have gotten hit by my Frog Kata. He would've used the crane trick before getting punched, he only did it after I hit him twice."
Sasuke nodded. Now the picture was becoming clearer.
"Any other abilities?" Sasuke asked with a nod. He was relieved to an extent, but in truth, even other abilities wouldn't be easy to deal with.
At this moment, Urashiki looked down at the four of them, his expression dark and unpleasant. Just one Naruto Uzumaki had already been troublesome enough, and now there were two Sasukes on top of that.
Urashiki thought for a moment and eventually decided, retreat was the better option. He remembered that this time period still had other Tailed Beasts. Even if some of them might overlap with those from his original timeline, there was no helping it. He would go absorb those first, refine them into chakra pills to boost his strength, and come back for Kurama later.
Urashiki reached into his fish basket and pulled out a mass of blue chakra, then tossed it into the sky.
"Try tasting your own technique!" Urashiki sneered.
The chakra turned into a massive surge of lightning, and finally took the shape of a giant thunder beast, a Kirin, roaring as it surged toward the four below.
"Naruto, get in here!" Sasuke shouted, eyes wide.
Seeing the fearsome Lightning Style: Kirin, Naruto didn't hesitate. He quickly dashed underneath Sasuke's Susanoo, accepting his protection.
Adult Sasuke watched this with clenched teeth, that chakra had once belonged to him, but had been hooked away by Urashiki.
Then, Adult Sasuke suddenly sensed spatial fluctuations from the Rinnegan and warned, "He's trying to escape!"
They turned to see Urashiki's eyes turn crimson, activating his Rinnegan, and behind him, a dark dimensional rift opened. Urashiki was slowly stepping backward toward it.
Sasuke quickly reacted, pulling out a kunai and hurling it at Urashiki without hesitation.
"Hmph, useless." Urashiki smirked, easily dodging the attack.
But that kunai… entered the rift before Urashiki.
A moment later, Urashiki himself stepped into the black void, and the rift vanished with him, he disappeared from everyone's sight.
All that remained was the massive, menacing Lightning Style: Kirin, still roaring down toward the four of them from the sky.
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Currently on Chapter 364 - Six Path Obito!