Who Exactly Is the Protagonist?

"Clatter, clatter!"

As the chains tore through the sky, thick links instantly wrapped around Kakashi. Two ninjas wearing masks and silver armor, with disheveled hair, yanked hard.

Kakashi shattered into chunks of bloody flesh.

At this moment, just like that moment—but also somewhat different.

Before the two could even say, "Kill one," Haruno Sakura swiftly threw a kunai wrapped with an Explosive Tag toward the rear from her ninja tool pouch, then tackled Tazuna to the ground the instant the talisman ignited.

Boom!!!

Stones burst into fragments and flew in every direction. At the same time, the Mist Technique that was about to be completed was instantly dispersed by the hurricane created by the explosion, followed by billowing dust.

Their vision suddenly cleared considerably.

Sasuke stood stunned for a second. Then he drew a kunai, dug his toes into the ground, and charged toward the three enemies behind Sakura. Acting on instinct, he used Uchiha Shuriken Throwing Technique!

There were three more enemies. Adding the two from before, there were at least five!

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The kunai and shuriken ricocheted off one another, instantly forming a net that completely sealed off every direction around the enemies.

One of the enemies failed to react in time. Two kunai pierced his arm and abdomen respectively, driven deep into his flesh by the force of their ricochet. He lost his combat ability on the spot.

"Watch out!" Sakura shouted, knocking away the chain behind Sasuke with a kunai while being forced back two steps by the momentum.

She could clearly feel her body trembling nonstop. The trembling did not gradually subside as the battle progressed.

For a moment, Sakura even forgot the hand seals for Water Style Jutsu.

Just how likely was it that a woman who had transmigrated from Earth could keep her heart as still as water in front of ninjas who killed without batting an eye?

"Whoosh!" A shuriken sliced past her, cutting a gash across her cheek. Sakura swung her kunai and knocked away all the remaining shuriken.

Seeing this, Sasuke kicked one enemy over, then immediately moved to Sakura's side and said, "Protect Tazuna first. I'll protect you!"

Sakura stared blankly at Sasuke.

For some reason, she recalled a certain night on Earth.

At the time, she had been an undergraduate student. To pass the time, she had livestreamed herself speedrunning Sekiro without taking damage from her dormitory.

Her popularity had naturally been almost nonexistent. After playing for half a day, only a single-digit number of people had watched.

She had just beaten Genichiro without taking damage when she accidentally got herself stuck and died while taking a shortcut.

She sighed. "What a shame. That was the fastest attempt yet."

Her feminine voice came through the microphone and caught the attention of one viewer. He asked in surprise in the public chat:

"You're a woman?"

She immediately felt incredibly irritated.

So what if she was a woman? Could women not speedrun Sekiro?

Later, she livestreamed multiplayer Elden Ring and received similar comments again. Before long, her inbox began filling with harassing private messages.

"5,000 for a night, interested?" "Do you sell worn stockings?" "Can you step on me?" "Looking for a bitch..."

She muted her microphone, switched to an alternate account, and began livestreaming a level-one, no-damage run of every boss in Elden Ring.

It took her roughly half a year.

She succeeded.

Memories surged through Sakura's mind like a tidal wave. Sasuke's careless words brought her back to that restless summer night.

It wasn't that Sasuke was being arrogant. It was simply that Big Sis Sakura was a little annoyed.

Sakura's eyes gradually sharpened. She tucked her kunai into her pouch and signaled for Sasuke to cover her.

Before Sasuke could react, Sakura burst forward in a single stride. Her target: the three enemies in front of her!

"Whoosh! Whoosh!" Sakura kicked away one of the incoming kunai. Sasuke blocked the other. Then she wrapped her fist in Chakra, lowered her body, and drove a punch straight at the enemy.

The punch crashed down with the force of mountains and seas, fierce as a dragon or tiger!

"Pfft!"

"Argh!!" The enemy in front of her let out a shrill scream.

As an aside, Sakura had aimed for his crotch.

Meeting Doraemon on Earth might just mean you were dealing with a pervert. Meeting Doraemon in Naruto meant you were simply out of luck.

Sakura knew very well that, with her current strength, the only way to defeat the enemies easily was to maximize her advantage in raw strength and buy time for Naruto's return.

It was like striking an enemy's weak point in Sekiro after depleting their posture bar. She had simply skipped straight to that step.

"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"

While using Shurikenjutsu to cover Sakura, Sasuke could not help feeling an icy chill spread through his lower body.

Oh, god!

Sakura and Sasuke worked together with astonishing smoothness, beginning to drive the enemies back step by step.

The enemies who arrived later looked at Sakura with deep fear. Their battle rhythm had been completely thrown into disarray.

At this point, Sasuke also began cutting loose. In the original story, he had already handled two opponents with ease. After a period of military-style training, his form was now even hotter.

Elsewhere.

Naruto opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of foul air.

This damn thing can really drag things out. But I should still make it in time, right?

Kakashi was definitely hiding nearby and watching anyway.

After a flurry of operations in his mental space, he finally managed to trick a huge mass of crimson Chakra over.

Naruto took a tiny piece of that Chakra, as if tearing off a small piece of cotton candy with his hand, then placed it into his chest.

Instantly, his heart filled with murderous rage. Fortunately, it was still within a controllable range.

Naruto dashed forward at full speed and soon saw Sakura and Sasuke driving the enemies back.

"I'm here!" Naruto leaped forward and smashed the nearest enemy over with one punch, crushing his chest bones inward.

He continued running ahead, but Naruto soon realized that the enemies were already in a sorry state.

He looked at Sakura, whose murderous aura seemed even heavier than his own, and Sasuke, who was sweating as he fought, and fell into deep thought.

Um, wait...

Why do I feel like there's nothing for me to do anymore?

Why is this script different from what I imagined?

Who exactly is the protagonist here?!

A powerful sense of defeat immediately surged through Naruto's heart.

He had originally thought the enemies would be exceptionally powerful, so strong that even the three-person team would be unable to match them despite giving it everything they had. That was why he had immediately activated the Nine-Tails cheat.

But now he discovered that the enemies seemed... not that strong?

No way. I nearly talked my mouth off in my mental space. How can I let those two steal all the credit?

"Get out of the way!" Naruto roared angrily at Sakura and Sasuke before charging straight into the battlefield!

At first, he imitated Sakura, knocking out every nearby enemy with one punch each.

Then he suddenly realized something was wrong.

Wait, why the hell am I imitating Sakura?!

So he summoned Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu and activated group-brawling mode.

It was all simple, unadorned taijutsu—of the Nine-Tails Chakra-enhanced variety.

"Leave a few alive! We still need to question them!" Sakura shouted from behind.

"Okay." Naruto immediately grabbed one man and beat him senseless while asking, "Are you going to talk? I'm asking if you're going to talk! Are you going to talk? Are you going to talk?"

The man was on the verge of tears.

Could you ask the question first?!

Naruto punched the man unconscious, grabbed another, and continued the interrogation.

The questions included: What was the Third Hokage's bank password? How many kunai had he just used? What color nail polish did the Akatsuki wear? Was his little aunt married? And so on.

In the end, Sasuke and Sakura dragged Naruto away from the fight, which had only made him more and more carried away.

After giving up, Naruto declared that it was all because the evil Nine-Tails had influenced his mind.