Naruto struggled to his feet and formed hand seals.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
More than a dozen shadow clones appeared and lunged at the three men.
But Tekka merely waved a hand. An invisible shock wave of reiatsu spread outward, and every shadow clone burst into smoke.
"Meaningless numbers." Yashiro appeared behind Naruto and chopped the back of his neck.
Naruto's vision went black, and he nearly passed out. He staggered forward, turned, and formed hand seals again.
"Rasengan!"
A blue sphere of chakra condensed in his palm. It was the strongest attack he currently knew.
But the instant the Rasengan took shape, Tekka extended a finger and lightly touched its center.
Pop.
The Rasengan burst like a punctured balloon, and the recoil sent Naruto himself flying.
"The chakra is poorly condensed, the rotation is unstable, and the force is scattered," Tekka assessed. "This is your strongest technique? Laughable."
Naruto lay on the ground, gasping for breath. Every bone in his body ached, and he had used up most of his chakra.
Yet the three men had not even begun to fight in earnest.
The gap was too great.
Great enough to drive him to despair.
"Giving up?" Inabi walked over, raised his foot, and planted it on Naruto's chest. "If you're giving up, admit defeat. We'll stop, and you can crawl out like a dog. His Majesty only said not to kill you, after all."
Naruto stared at that foot, then at the dark red Sharingan beneath Inabi's mask.
There was no emotion in those eyes.
No contempt, no anger, no pleasure-only cold, mechanical indifference.
As though he were looking at an insect.
"...No."
Naruto forced the word through gritted teeth.
"What?" Inabi hadn't heard him clearly.
"I said..." Naruto grabbed Inabi's ankle with both hands and slowly pushed his