Taken Down

In the forest, the setting sun's afterglow fell upon a gigantic half-body armor.

The five-meter-tall half-body Susanoo stood among the trees.

"Kid, I admit I underestimated you."

Uchiha Ice finally stopped laughing arrogantly, his expression turning serious as he looked at the kid in front of him.

Naruto had also gotten serious. Golden chakra enveloped his entire body.

[Nine-Tails Chakra Mode]

By now, however, Uchiha Ice no longer wanted to fight. His mindset was much like Obito Uchiha's: he only wanted to destroy the Uchiha Clan.

"Are you with the Akatsuki?"

Naruto asked.

Uchiha Ice froze.

Naruto didn't need to wait for an answer. He already knew. It made sense; if a rogue ninja this powerful appeared in the Ninja World, the Akatsuki would surely have their eye on him.

Whatever this guy was planning here, since he'd shown up, Naruto would take him in without hesitation.

Naruto locked onto his opponent.

[Flying Thunder God]

His body vanished in an instant.

"Flying Thunder God? How could this kid know it?"

Uchiha Ice immediately noticed the Kunai scattered around him.

With no time to think, his Mangekyō Sharingan scanned his surroundings.

The Susanoo around him grew even more solid.

BANG!!!

A deafening crash rang out. Before he could react, a tremendous force struck him from behind.

He and his Susanoo were sent flying forward.

"What incredible strength."

Naruto caught up. The chakra extending from his body formed a gigantic palm, which slammed down hard at the Susanoo below.

"Kid, don't underestimate me!"

Uchiha Ice's face twisted viciously as weapons appeared in the Susanoo's hands.

[Sword of Nunoboko]

Every Susanoo had its own unique weapon.

The black spear pointed at the palm above and thrust upward.

BOOM!!!

The crash echoed through the forest.

Everyone in the Forest of Death looked in that direction.

"What's going on? There's been a huge presence coming from that direction for a while now."

Rock Lee was puzzled.

Neji activated his Byakugan and looked that way, but even with his Byakugan, he couldn't see anything.

"Hey, hey, who's fighting over there? They're making a huge racket."

Not far from Naruto, Shikamaru stared in his direction, looking baffled.

Cracks began to spread across the enormous golden palm.

"The weapon has a special ability."

Naruto's gaze immediately fixed on the black spear.

But it didn't matter.

[Rasengan]

Another pair of arms extended from Naruto's sides. Each hand held a Rasengan, which he pressed against the opponent's Susanoo.

"Damn it, what a troublesome kid!"

[Freeze]

The left-eye ocular technique activated.

Naruto immediately went on guard and used Flying Thunder God.

No good. There's something wrong with this kid's chakra. I can't keep wasting time fighting him.

His eyes were already beginning to hurt from keeping the Susanoo active for so long.

He realized he couldn't keep fighting like this.

His gaze locked directly onto Naruto, who had just appeared.

From their fight, he had already found one of Naruto's weaknesses: after using Flying Thunder God, Naruto froze for two seconds.

For most people, two seconds wouldn't count as an opportunity.

But for someone with the Mangekyō Sharingan, it was the biggest opening imaginable.

[Annihilation]

The ocular technique in his right eye activated.

Naruto felt a sharp pain in his head.

Dense cracks spread across his entire head.

With a bang, it shattered.

"Hahaha! Damn kid, I finally killed you!"

Seeing this, Uchiha Ice laughed maniacally.

"Naruto!"

Hinata couldn't help calling out.

"Hm! There's another little mouse hiding in the dark."

Uchiha Ice's gaze immediately shifted to Hinata in the distance.

A cold smile appeared on his face.

Hinata could no longer hold back and charged toward them.

At that moment, Naruto's shattered head turned into a cloud of white smoke, then reformed on his neck.

In the Triple Inversion state, he could gather himself into solid form or scatter into energy.

Naruto didn't know of any method that could hurt him in this state.

"How is that possible?"

[Adamantine Sealing Chains]

Before his opponent could react, ten chains surged out in all directions.

They instantly bound Uchiha Ice, who was still stunned.

"You..."

He was so shocked he couldn't speak.

But before he could react, his pupils shrank.

With his Mangekyō Sharingan active, he clearly saw Naruto rushing toward him.

His heart lurched. He reacted at once, but the chains had already bound his body.

All he could do was turn his head aside as his right-eye ocular technique activated.

[Annihilation]

Naruto raised his left hand to block and thrust out his right.

Splurt!

His left hand was instantly pulverized, then immediately recovered.

His right hand plunged into his opponent's eye socket and gouged out his right eye.

Naruto had intended to gouge out both eyes, but Uchiha Ice reacted in time, shifting his head and dodging with one eye.

Before his opponent could react, Naruto raised his knee and drove it into him.

Uchiha Ice's eyes bulged. A heart-wrenching pain shot through his body, and he felt consciousness slipping away.

Another surprise.

Naruto stepped back, and a blank card appeared in his hand.

[Card Seal]

Uchiha Ice had lost the ability to resist. The chains that had bound him pulled him into the card.

Naruto casually made a hand gesture, and the card vanished.

Three Immortals Return to Cave.

"Naruto, are you okay?"

Hinata ran over anxiously.

"I'm fine. I can't be hurt."

Naruto noticed Hinata's eyes.

A ring of blue had appeared in her white eyes. It wasn't particularly obvious, but they were no longer like ordinary Byakugan.

"How do your eyes feel?"

"I can see more clearly and farther than before. And I think I've gained a few other abilities, too."

Hinata examined Naruto carefully. Once she saw that he was truly unharmed, she felt much more at ease.

Then she explained what had happened to her eyes.

"Let's go somewhere and test them out."

Naruto was just about to ask her to demonstrate when he sensed several groups of people heading their way.

He took the two of them and vanished.

Not long after the three disappeared, several figures flashed into the area.

Looking at the terrifying destruction around them, the newcomers were secretly astonished.

After carefully examining the battlefield, they concluded that both sides had been Jonin.

"Could enemy ninjas have infiltrated the village?"

Mitaraishi Anko frowned. She couldn't tell what kind of ninjutsu had left these traces.

She wondered whether she should inform Lady Tsunade.

Never mind. I'll check first to see if any of the examinees are hurt.

In the end, Anko decided to check on the examinees first.

She didn't care about the examinees from other villages, but the Konoha examinees couldn't be allowed to get hurt. Most of the ones who had come this time were from prominent clans.

She gave the order, and the Anbu scattered in every direction.