Kamui?!

"A new enemy?" Sasuke heard their conversation and walked over to ask.

Naruto's expression turned serious. He whispered to Sasuke, "Behind you."

Sasuke hurriedly turned around, but Naruto seized the opportunity and struck the back of Sasuke's neck with a hand chop. He passed out on the spot.

"Forgive me, Sasuke. This is the last time."

Naruto murmured under his breath as he caught Sasuke and laid him flat on the ground.

Sakura had never expected Naruto to attack Sasuke directly. Her brows furrowed slightly. "What's going on?" Her expression held undisguised surprise.

"Because she really came. We have to keep this from Sasuke." Naruto spoke slowly, gesturing for Sakura to turn her head away.

A figure slowly emerged from the depths of the forest.

Her long black hair was tied into a ponytail. Her clothes were somewhat disheveled, her face unnaturally pale, and she was panting heavily. Her eyes held savagery, confusion, grievance, and exhaustion.

Kin Hammer looked at Naruto with a complicated gaze. "How did you discover me?"

"More precisely, I didn't discover you. The Nine-Tails inside me did. It smelled the intense malice coming from the forest and even tried to tempt me into handing over my body and mind to him so we could completely destroy you."

What Naruto didn't mention was that, in the mental space, he and the Nine-Tails had repeatedly wrestled for control before reason finally gained the upper hand.

"Is that so?" A trace of realization appeared in Kin's expression, but afterward, she clutched her head tightly, her face becoming unbearably pained.

Her expression twisted ferociously. "Listen to me, transmigration is utterly... Hahahaha... I have a clue in my hands. You can... Hah, hah... Hahaha..."

Kin alternated between madness and normalcy, her words incoherent. Her mental state seemed extremely unstable, as if she might turn into a lunatic at any moment.

Naruto and Sakura instinctively retreated two steps. Sakura slipped one hand behind her back and into her ninja pouch, gripping a kunai.

Naruto's brows knitted tightly. He felt as if every cell in his body was shouting, Kill her, kill her, kill her, kill her... But reason urged him to hear her out first. Perhaps they could gather useful information.

After all, if they kept repeating the pattern of "a transmigrator appears → eliminate the transmigrator," sooner or later they would suffer because of a tiny oversight. Even if they survived by sheer luck, they might expose their identities and be investigated by the Anbu. So it would be best to clear things up now.

With that thought, Naruto suppressed his killing intent and softened his tone. "Calm down. Tell us what clue you have first."

But Kin seemed not to hear anything. She braced one hand against the tree beside her and covered her eyes with the other, panting heavily.

Sakura kept throwing glances at Naruto. Kin's performance had made her tense as well. But if they wanted to silence her, this seemed to be the best opportunity.

"Should we make our move, Naruto?" she asked anxiously in a low voice.

"Wait a little longer."

Naruto walked two steps forward. Keeping the hand holding the kunai behind his back, he asked tentatively, "Are you all right?"

"Thump, thump!"

"Thump, thump!"

He clearly felt his heart pounding furiously.

Kin finally reacted to Naruto's words. Clarity seemed to return to her eyes, but she lowered her head again and panted, "Sorry. The clue is right here... Hah, hah..."

She laboriously pointed at the pocket of her clothes, signaling for Naruto to come and take it.

Naruto's internal alarm immediately blared. He turned to look at Sakura, only to see her shake her head at him as well.

"Throw it to me."

Naruto extended his left hand and slowly opened his palm, but Kin slowly shook her head.

"You can't touch it... Come closer..."

Upon closer inspection, a strand of black hair clung to her sweat-covered cheek. Faint veins bulged on her forehead, twitching continuously like little snakes. It was horrifying to behold.

"How close do I need to get?"

"A little closer."

"How many steps?"

"Two or three."

"How far is one step, approximately?"

"..."

Kin raised her head in surprise and found Naruto staring at her with a solemn expression. There was not a trace of mockery in his eyes.

What does he mean?

Naruto continued on his own. "Fifty centimeters? One hundred centimeters? Actually, everyone's stride is different. At my current height, one step might not even be a meter..."

Kin felt her head begin to spin, and irritation gradually surfaced in her expression.

What does any of this have to do with anything?!

Ringing filled her ears. The scene before her grew blurry, and Naruto's voice became softer and softer. In the end, she could only see his mouth opening and closing, like a goldfish blowing bubbles.

Her consciousness gradually blurred.

"Bang!!"

Suddenly, two figures burst from the ground on either side of Kin, reaching straight for her arms!

"Shadow Clone..." Her thoughts turning sluggishly, she saw the two blond-haired boys attacking her from both sides.

Naruto had sent the Shadow Clones underground in advance. While distracting Kin, they would seize both her arms and subdue her.

This was the optimal solution he had come up with: don't kill her, but capture her alive!

Just as the two Shadow Clones were about to succeed, Kin hooked her left index finger backward. A clear bell rang out, and the Shadow Clones froze for an instant.

The confusion and pain on her face slowly vanished. Instead, a teasing smile appeared. "I almost caught you. Teehee."

In the next instant, she kicked to the right, blowing the Shadow Clone apart with one kick. Her expression turned crazed.

"Dropping the act?" Naruto retreated rapidly, but his eyes remained fixed on the pocket on Kin's right. It bulged slightly, as if something really was hidden inside.

At the same time, doubt arose in his heart. Why did she think she could catch him so easily? Was it because of that clumsy performance just now?

Before he could think it through, Kin hooked her left thumb. Countless kunai instantly flew out of the forest toward Sakura and Sasuke!

Sakura did not panic. She formed hand seals and shouted, "Water Style: Water Wall!"

"Boom!" Streams of vapor condensed into trickling currents, instantly wrapping around Sakura and Sasuke. The kunai struck the water and bounced off in all directions!

Naruto stopped holding back. He covered himself in Nine-Tails Chakra, his killing intent surging. His right hand rapidly condensed a purple-tinged Chakra vortex, while Chakra wings rose from his back and enveloped his body. He met another one of Kin's heavy flying kicks head-on.

"Bang!!"

The kick was powerful enough to send Naruto flying five meters, leaving him dizzy. At the same time, the Nine-Tails: Rasengan finished forming. He extended the Nine-Tails Chakra forward and smashed it viciously into Kin.

At this critical moment, Kin Hammer suddenly froze for an instant!

"Bang!!!"

The Rasengan struck her abdomen precisely and exploded on impact. The area around her was instantly enveloped in murderous red-purple Chakra. The leaves nearby were dyed red, and blood could vaguely be seen evaporating in the air!

Naruto stared ahead, his pupils contracting.

At the center of the storm, Kin clutched her pocket tightly, allowing the scalpel-like Chakra to wantonly drain her vitality. The savagery had vanished from her eyes, replaced by a faint trace of clarity.

"Boom!"

As the Wind Release Chakra completely dissipated, Kin crashed to the ground like a dead dog, seemingly devoid of all life.

Naruto strode closer, his doubts growing even stronger.

"It was that simple?"

He felt no relief. Instead, the situation seemed to have grown even more baffling.

Why had she frozen just now?

Why was she clutching her pocket so tightly?

Naruto approached and saw that her eyes were wide open, while strands of hair had snapped and scattered haphazardly around her. Her clothes were in tatters, and cutting wounds covered her face and body. Her abdomen was severely mangled, with fragments of organs faintly visible as they spilled out alongside the blood.

She was beyond saving.

Naruto's gaze fell on the pocket Kin was clutching. It had already been shredded into strips of cloth.

He pried open Kin's hand.

"What incredible strength..." Naruto spread out the strips of cloth.

An irregular fragment lay on them. It was pitch-black all over, with no luster whatsoever.

"This is the clue?" Naruto murmured softly as he looked at Sakura approaching, his expression somewhat helpless.

What kind of clue was this?

Just then,

Suddenly!

The black fragment erupted with a powerful suction force. With it at the center, space seemed to be violently kneaded by an invisible giant hand, and everything around it began to twist violently!

A vortex-shaped black void appeared out of nowhere. Powerful suction surged forth, completely distorting Naruto's body as it dragged him inward!

"Oh no, this is... Kamui?!"

Sakura was horrified. Instinctively, she quickened her pace and ran wildly! Naruto realized what was happening and shouted at Sakura:

"Stay away from me! Go find..."

Before Naruto could finish, the fragment completely sucked him into the vortex.