Outside Konoha village, Kankuro carefully concealed his position. With the movements of his fingers, his puppet, Crow, moved like a phantom, launching a barrage of poisoned blades from various insidious angles.
Sasuke pushed his Sharingan's dynamic tracking capabilities to their limits, cautiously dodging the attacks while trying to pinpoint the figure hidden in the shadows. When fighting a puppeteer from Sunagakure, the simplest method was to find the hidden puppeteer and avoid direct confrontation with the puppet. A ninja's body was fragile, while puppets, meticulously designed by their masters, were practically overflowing with 'little surprises.' One moment of carelessness, and you could find yourself on the receiving end of a specially crafted little dose of poison.
[Where is he!]
Sasuke suddenly accelerated, evading the thrusting attack of the puppet Crow. To the Sharingan, the so-called hiding techniques of the Sand ninjas were nothing more than a joke.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
Kankuro's expression darkened as he watched the approaching fireball; he hated doujutsu users.
Boom!
Gazing at the sparks flying above, Kankuro meticulously scanned his surroundings.
Swish, swish, swish!
Several shuriken, with exploding tags attached, flew towards him from his blind spot. The fuses ignited mid-air; the shuriken reached him just as they were about to detonate, giving him absolutely no chance to dodge.
Uchiha Sasuke looked down at the enemy, who, though disheveled, had not sustained fatal injuries. His own face darkened slightly. If he had sufficient chakra, a single Chidori would have ended the battle long ago, sparing him the need to waste so much time.
"Secret Technique: Insect Sphere!" "Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!"
The arriving Aburame Shino and Hyuga Neji launched a pincer attack on Kankuro from diagonal angles.
Not far off, Naruto's group of four—himself, Kiba, Lee, and Shikamaru—were rapidly pursuing Gaara and Temari. Sasuke's Sharingan flickered as he observed the four figures swiftly speeding past in the distance. He instantly grasped their tactical arrangement, leaped into motion, and followed them. He still had an unfinished battle with Gaara!
"We have the numerical advantage, while they only have two. The plan is: Naruto and I will aim to take down that ninja named Temari in the shortest possible time. You three will be responsible for dealing with Gaara." Shikamaru explained the plan as Sasuke caught up.
"No, just leave Gaara to me," Sasuke said confidently.
"…" Shikamaru gave him a deep look, but then, recalling Sasuke's combat prowess during the exams, he didn't say anything more, merely nodding lightly. "Alright. We'll come help you as soon as we finish our fight."
This time, Sasuke said nothing further.
Temari, half-supporting Gaara, leaped swiftly through the forest. This speed might seem quite fast to an ordinary genin, but for the pursuers behind them, it still wasn't enough.
"Kankuro!" Temari clenched her teeth. She quickly hid the injured Gaara in a thicket of bushes, took down the Three-Star Fan from her back, and turned to face the approaching enemies. This time, she would definitely fulfill her responsibility as an older sister.
"Wind Style: Great Sickle Weasel!"
A raging gale, laced with sharp blades, swept towards them. Numerous trees were uprooted, and shattered stones and branches completely obscured the line of sight between the two groups.
Just as the storm began to subside, a dark shadow shot out rapidly from the shade of a tree stump. Temari's expression changed, and she quickly leaped backwards. Fighting in a place full of shadows was far too advantageous for a Nara clan ninja. Her gaze swiftly scanned the area, finding a relatively open, flat clearing. The Three-Star Fan in her hand swung out once more, the rampaging winds directly clearing away all surrounding vegetation.
Three figures leaped out from the shadows. To the left was Kiba, already in his Beast Mimicry state; to the right was Lee, having shed his weights; in the middle, the Naruto shadow clone, wielding Kusabimaru, rapidly closed in on the distant enemy.
"Wind Style: Great Sickle Weasel!" A few beads of sweat trickled down Temari's temples as she forcefully converted her dwindling chakra reserves into one more powerful Wind Style ninjutsu.
"Fang Over Fang!" "Eight Inner Gates: Gate of Life, open!"
Kiba and Lee both unleashed their trump card techniques. According to the plan, they needed to take down this ninja as quickly as possible, then concentrate all their strength on one point to deal with the most formidable Gaara.
The Naruto shadow clone sheathed his sword. If a blade was fast enough, even wind could be cut. "Secret Art: Dragon Flash!"
In less than an instant, several sword flashes, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, flickered past. The strong winds blowing towards him were forcibly dispersed.
[Have to be quick, this shadow clone is about to give out…] Sensing his nearly depleted chakra, the Naruto shadow clone thought to himself.
Temari took a deep breath, about to create distance again. But her body froze, refusing to obey her commands.
"Wh-when?!!" She struggled to look down at the shadow beneath her. If she remembered correctly, the battlefield she had just cleared was definitely beyond the Shadow Imitation Technique's maximum range.
Naruto wasn't one for lengthy explanations. With a swing of his sword hilt, he knocked her unconscious to the ground. At the same time, from high in the air, a makeshift parachute fashioned from a jacket slowly drifted down.
Shikamaru let out a small sigh of relief; his timing had been perfect.
"No problem, right?" Kiba asked, looking at the securely bound Temari. Ordinary rope bindings weren't much of a constraint for a ninja.
"It'll hold for a short time, that's enough," the Naruto clone said, rising and looking at his handiwork with a sigh of resignation. None of them possessed any special techniques for restraining enemies. If only Shino and Neji could catch up; either one of them could solve this problem of insecure bindings.
"Can you still hold up?" Naruto asked, looking at Shikamaru, who seemed a bit unsteady on his feet. This was a side effect of chakra depletion; chakra was a combination of spiritual and physical energy. Normal use was fine, but excessively refining chakra was tantamount to overexerting one's own body. Those with strong recovery abilities might be alright, but those with weaker recovery might suffer permanent health issues.
"Not dead yet!" Shikamaru shook his head.
ROAR!
From the distant battlefield, an immensely magnified tanuki, tens of meters tall, came into view. Its overall color was a light yellow, its body covered in strange violet patterns. Gaara was half-buried within its head.
"Hey, hey, hey! You've got to be kidding me! This is an A-rank mission?" Kiba stammered, looking at the behemoth, barely able to speak properly.
"Probably…" Shikamaru's voice also sounded a bit faint. He hated this kind of absolute power that crushed all strategy.
[So this is the One-Tail… Shukaku…] The Naruto shadow clone gazed at Shukaku in the distance. Due to his frequent interactions with the Nine-Tails, he wasn't as frightened of the large creature as the others were.
"Naruto, can you still hold out?" Shikamaru asked. Among their group, perhaps only Naruto's attacks could damage that thing… probably.
"Can't hold…" The Naruto shadow clone suddenly froze.
In his mental space.
"Lend me chakra, what do you mean?" Naruto asked, puzzled. The Nine-Tails should know this was just a shadow clone, right? Shadow clones were powerful, sure, but not so outrageously so that they could split a Tailed Beast.
"Chakras are inherently interconnected. It's just that you humans severed this connection yourselves," the Nine-Tails seemed to understand his confusion and harrumphed. As it spoke, the Nine-Tails clenched its claw into a fist and pressed it against the bars of its cage. "I'll teach you something. Extend your fist."
The Naruto shadow clone clenched his fist, passed it through the bars, and touched it against the Nine-Tails' fist. Feeling an instant surge of overflowing chakra within him, Naruto stared at the great fox before him in astonishment.
"Remember this. This is called Ninshu!" Meeting his gaze, Kurama turned his head aside and harrumphed lightly.
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