One Punch Sent Him Flying

The force of the punch had already sent Yeyu's hair whipping violently in the wind.

Anko couldn't react in time; her eyes couldn't even keep up.

Yeyu merely glanced at it before clenching his fist.

"Armament Haki."

An invisible armor enveloped Yeyu's fist.

"Vmmmm—"

"Boom!"

A violent collision rang out, like two meteorites crashing into each other in midair.

Sparks flew in every direction. The ground hundreds of meters around them was completely shattered, and the broken rocks and sand were blasted dozens of meters into the air.

Fist met fist, a pure clash of strength.

The two terrifying forces tore through the air in an instant.

And Naruto was sent flying by Yeyu's head-on punch.

The instant Naruto and Yeyu's fists collided, an even more terrifying force tore the Tailed Beast Shroud from his arm to pieces.

Yeyu didn't budge an inch.

Naruto, meanwhile, had already been blasted away. He became a streak of red light and crashed into a small island several thousand meters away.

The terrifying impact nearly sank the island, shattering everything within a radius of several hundred meters.

The impact churned the sea around the island into furious waves, five or six meters high.

A cloud of dust rose dozens of meters above the island.

Only then did Anko and Asama Sandayu, standing behind Yeyu, understand what had happened.

"Yeyu—Yeyu actually sent the rampaging Naruto flying?"

"That guy just swept Kakashi away with a single tail."

"The Tailed Beast that even Kakashi couldn't withstand for a single exchange was sent flying by Yeyu!"

Anko couldn't believe that the assistant Hiruzen had assigned to her could be this terrifyingly strong.

Asama Sandayu was now even more certain that accepting this mission had been worth it.

Yeyu was undoubtedly stronger than a Jonin.

With him guarding her, Kazahana Koyuki's safety would at least be assured.

After Yeyu punched Naruto away,

he slowly walked toward him.

"Anko, Mr. Asama, I'm going to deal with the problem in front of me. Wait here."

With that, he jumped off the bridge.

The attack had already shattered several hundred meters of the bridge.

Yeyu stood at the end of the bridge, with nothing but open space in front of him. The bridge deck had been completely destroyed in their earlier clash.

After jumping down from the bridge support, Yeyu sprinted across the sea.

Anko wanted to help. "Yeyu, be careful! Do you know any Sealing Jutsu?"

She shouted from the bridge support.

Yeyu didn't answer.

Anko grew worried and was about to jump down and help him.

But Asama Sandayu stopped her.

"Special Jonin Anko, I believe Mr. Yeyu wants us to stay out of this fight."

"Given Mr. Yeyu's strength just now, I'm afraid you'd only be a burden to him if you went."

Anko was about to curse. How could she possibly be a burden to Yeyu?

But then she remembered how Yeyu had calmly caught Naruto's attack and sent him flying several thousand meters.

Maybe she really would only get in his way if she went down there.

She didn't know any powerful Sealing Jutsu, and her rank was only Special Jonin. She didn't have anything like Yeyu's overwhelming strength.

Going would only burden Yeyu.

She'd become a liability and a weakness.

Watching Yeyu flash across the sea like a streak of light, Anko's expression turned grave. "I've become a burden to someone again."

Anko was reminded of how Orochimaru had abandoned her. She clenched her fists.

But she didn't act recklessly and charge in.

"But does Yeyu really know Sealing Jutsu?"

"The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki has already lost control. His fourth tail is almost out."

Asama Sandayu glanced toward the other side of the sea.

"Special Jonin Anko, I think the only thing we can do now is pull those Konoha shinobi out of the water."

Anko turned to look toward Kakashi.

She saw Sakura struggling to drag Kakashi toward shore.

Sakura was still several hundred meters from the shore, and she was dragging someone who couldn't move.

Even if twelve-year-old Sakura managed it, she'd probably be unconscious for days afterward.

Without another thought, Anko used the Body Flicker Technique to appear beside Sakura and Kakashi.

Sakura, who was struggling to drag Kakashi, suddenly saw a woman appear on the water beside her.

She could stand on the surface of the sea, just like Kakashi-sensei.

Seeing how close Kakashi was to death, Anko teased him. "Kakashi, I never thought I'd see you looking this pathetic."

Kakashi's vision was blurry, but even on his deathbed, he'd recognize Anko's voice.

"W-why are you here?"

"Where's Naruto?"

Anko hoisted Kakashi onto her shoulder.

She also pulled Sakura out of the water and tucked her under her other arm.

Then she slowly walked across the sea toward shore.

"That guy's your student, right? You let him go on a rampage. You're not doing a very good job as his instructor."

"Once we get back, Hiruzen's definitely going to lecture you."

Kakashi didn't care about any of that. He said urgently, "Send a distress signal to the village. Have them send sealing shinobi to help."

Anko shook her head. "I don't think we'll need to. The Hokage Assistant is suppressing your student right now."

At the words "Hokage Assistant," Kakashi's gaze sharpened. A familiar name immediately came to mind.

"Yeyu's here?"

Sakura, tucked under Anko's other arm, turned her head. She'd heard Yeyu's name too.

She'd been curious about him for a while. He'd gone straight to Chunin after graduating, without ever becoming a Genin, and had even landed the high-ranking position of Hokage Assistant.

Sakura wondered what was so special about Yeyu that Hiruzen favored him so much.

Anko gestured to the side. "Who else would it be? As the Hokage's trusted subordinate, you should know what he's like."

"Who else could summon Rashomon on this scale?"

Kakashi looked to the side.

When he saw three enormous Rashomon gates, each over a hundred meters tall, rising from the sea, he was stunned. "H-he finally left the village. Is he here as reinforcements?"

Kakashi assumed Hiruzen had been worried about Naruto and sent Yeyu and Anko to follow them in secret.

Anko smiled and explained, "We were on another mission. We just happened to run into you."

"You're lucky. You'd barely taken the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki out of the village when he went berserk. If Yeyu and I hadn't happened to pass by—"

"If the Nine-Tails had broken free of its Jinchuriki, you wouldn't have enough lives to die a hundred times."

Kakashi looked ahead. "Can Yeyu handle it?"

"He probably hasn't learned any powerful Sealing Jutsu either."

Yeyu was very strong, but he didn't know Sealing Jutsu. Kakashi worried that Yeyu wouldn't be able to seal Naruto and would instead get hurt.

Anko reassured him. "Don't worry. I was shocked too when I saw how strong that guy was. He could even use Triple Rashomon, a forbidden technique with such high chakra requirements."

"But the Rashomon he summoned didn't just block the Tailed Beast Bomb without budging—he also punched your rampaging student flying."

"Even if he doesn't know Sealing Jutsu, he can use brute force to suppress your rampaging student and beat the Nine-Tails Chakra back into his body."

Yeyu's punch had left Anko utterly stunned.

In her eyes, Yeyu was now an unfathomably powerful fighter.

He should be able to suppress Naruto's rampage.