The Roots' Attack

At night, Naruto and Menma rarely snuggled together to sleep. Naruto didn't mind sleeping with Menma, but Menma was extremely reluctant.

It wasn't that Menma disliked Naruto; it was mainly because Naruto was too restless in his sleep. His poor sleeping posture and occasional kicking were one thing—after all, the bed was big enough—but Naruto would sleepwalk from time to time, which was what gave Menma the biggest headache.

Previously, Naruto had exhausted himself practicing the Rasengan. On the night he finally mastered it, Menma was also worn out from training with his Shadow Clone and had made do by sleeping on the living room sofa. Naruto, too tired to climb the stairs, had simply crashed on the sofa as well.

Unexpectedly, Naruto sleepwalked that night. Menma was nearly struck by Naruto's Rasengan, but fortunately, he managed to control the situation in time; otherwise, the house would have been a complete mess.

However, Menma reached a conclusion: whenever Naruto was particularly exhausted during the day, the probability of him sleepwalking at night was high, whereas it didn't happen otherwise.

That was why Menma called Naruto to his room to sleep together tonight. In truth, he had another reason for doing this: when Menma returned, he noticed some unusual traces on the windows of both his and Naruto's rooms.

Although they had been deliberately wiped, some marks remained; perhaps the intruders had been in too much of a hurry to leave and hadn't cleaned them off properly.

The one sleeping with Naruto was Menma's Shadow Clone, while Menma's real body lay on the bed in Naruto's room.

He had a vague premonition that someone would come tonight, which was why he was waiting like this. If something went missing from the room, it might just be a thief, but if nothing was missing, then the problem was much more serious.

Time ticked by until it was late at night. Menma's eyelids were fighting each other, and he began to wonder if he was overthinking things.

Just then, the window moved. Although Menma's back was to the window, he immediately sensed the anomaly, but he didn't move, continuing to feign sleep.

At this moment, two figures quietly climbed in through the window.

"Are you sure this is Uzumaki Naruto's room?" one of them whispered.

"That's right, Uzumaki Menma's room is next door," the other replied in a low voice.

"We've been watching for a long time; let's do this quickly before we get discovered." With that, the man immediately took action, picking up Menma.

Just as Menma was about to resist, the man suddenly cast a genjutsu. Before Menma could react, he was controlled by the technique and fell unconscious.

"We need to get Uzumaki Naruto back quickly; we have to return him after we're done," the man holding Menma said as he ran out.

"Indeed, we can't keep Lord Danzo waiting," the other agreed.

The two darted back and forth across the rooftops at high speed, but just then, a figure blocked their path.

"Ah~ so that's how it is. It's you from the Root who want to make a move on us," the person said.

"You are... Uzumaki Menma? No! That's impossible! We clearly used Hypnotic Incense in your room; you couldn't have woken up so quickly!" the man holding Menma exclaimed.

"Oh? You mean that? You guys were in such a hurry that you didn't even wipe away the traces, so I swapped rooms with Naruto," Menma explained.

"Then who am I holding..." The Root ninja holding Menma looked closely at him.

"It's the real body," the Menma being held said.

"How?" Before he could react, Menma vanished, reappearing beside his clone.

"Why aren't you sleeping?" the real Menma asked the clone.

"Couldn't sit still, came to take a look," the clone replied.

"Shouldn't you have been controlled by my genjutsu?" the Root ninja asked.

"True, I did fall for your genjutsu at first; that was my oversight. But I am a jinchuriki, and jinchuriki don't have to worry about genjutsu of your level. Although I'm not a perfect jinchuriki yet, Kurama and I have long since become friends." As he said this, Menma dispelled the Shadow Clone.

"Well then, since you in the Root want to make a move on us, you should be prepared to be wiped out by me." With that, Menma pressed his right fist against his left palm, and instantly, a powerful dark golden chakra covered his entire body as he entered the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.

"I forgot to tell you, I already placed a Flying Thunder God Mark on you while you were holding me." Menma vanished instantly.

"How is this possible!" Before the Root ninja could react, Menma had already appeared behind him and grabbed him. Immediately after, a dark golden chakra arm emerged from Menma's back, grabbing the other man, and then all three vanished from the spot.

When they reappeared, they were in an open space—the place where Menma used to train. There was a Flying Thunder God Mark on the ground; his clones always used the Flying Thunder God to get here during training.

Menma released the two and spoke to himself:

"I could have killed you both instantly just now, but I didn't. The reason is that I wanted to test what level of strength I've reached after so much training." Having said that, Menma deactivated the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.

"Kid, you don't think you can beat us without the power of the Nine-Tails, do you?" the other Anbu ninja said.

"Let me see what you look like first." Menma took out two Flying Thunder God Kunai and threw them at the pair.

Seeing the Flying Thunder God Kunai flying toward them, the two dodged immediately. They knew a thing or two about the Flying Thunder God and understood that blocking these two kunai was useless; dodging to the sides was the best strategy.

Just then, Menma vanished and appeared in front of the Root ninja who had held him earlier.

"How?" Before the man could finish his sentence, Menma slashed down with a kunai.

With a "pop," the mask the man was wearing shattered. Menma immediately put some distance between them.

"I told you, you have my Flying Thunder God Mark on you. I just told you that, why did you forget? The Flying Thunder God Mark doesn't just disappear," Menma said with a smile, playing with the Flying Thunder God Kunai in his hand.

Menma looked closely at the man and recognized him immediately. "Yamanaka Fu? I didn't expect it to be you. If I'm not mistaken, you must be Aburame Torune, right?" Menma said, looking at the other Root ninja.

"Since our identities have been exposed, there's no point in wearing masks. I don't know how you know our names, but since you do, we can't show you any mercy." Torune took off his mask, and his entire body instantly turned purple.

"Are those Nano-sized Poisonous Insects covering his body? Looks like I can't let him touch me even once," Menma thought, weighing his options.

With that, Menma created four *Shadow Clone*s, and the five of them charged at Yamanaka Fu and Torune for hand-to-hand combat.

However, while fighting Torune, Menma was very careful, focusing primarily on defense; after all, it would be troublesome if he got hit even once.

During the fight, Menma also planted Flying Thunder God Kunai in the surrounding area, forming a pentagon to surround the two.

As they traded blows in pure taijutsu, Menma clearly felt the strain; after all, they were from the Root, and without using the Nine-Tails chakra, it would be difficult to decide the winner in a short time.

"Trying to wear us down with a war of attrition? You're underestimating me!" After saying this, Torune took off his jacket and tied it around his waist. Suddenly, a lot of purple mist appeared around his body; if one could see closely, they would realize it was a swarm of Nano-sized Poisonous Insects.

The Nano-sized Poisonous Insects continued to disperse, and seeing this, Yamanaka Fu had no choice but to dodge to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

"You're too dangerous; I have to take you out first." In an instant, Nine-Tails Chakra surged, and Menma immediately entered Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.

"Didn't you say you wouldn't use Nine-Tails Chakra?" Torune was shocked to see this.

"I have to ensure my own life isn't in danger before I can make that promise." With that, Menma instantly activated the Flying Thunder God, appearing directly beside the Flying Thunder God Kunai closest to Torune.

At this moment, a dark golden chakra arm emerged from behind Menma, instantly condensing a Rasengan and smashing it toward Torune.

"I wouldn't dare use you for Impure World Reincarnation. What if your Nano-sized Poisonous Insects infected Naruto while he was hugging Kushina? So, I'm afraid I have to ask you to die." Menma looked at Torune, who lay lifeless on the ground, and said.

"However, I have another use for your corpse: to testify to the crimes of Root." Menma continued, his peripheral vision shifting toward Yamanaka Fu.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you. I'll let you witness a jutsu I recently developed." As he spoke, Menma directly used Multi-Shadow Clone, and four shadow clones appeared behind him.

In an instant, all five of them vanished, reappearing at the locations where the Flying Thunder God Kunai had been planted earlier.

"I only use this technique when dealing with a large number of enemies, but don't worry, I'll avoid your vitals and let you experience the whole thing." The five Menmas spoke in unison, then each held six Flying Thunder God Kunai in their hands.

"Super-Rasengan Flash Super-Dance Howl Type Three!" The five of them threw the Flying Thunder God Kunai toward Yamanaka Fu simultaneously.

When five people use Super-Rasengan Flash Super-Dance Howl Type Three at the same time, the effect isn't as simple as one plus one equals two; the actual effect is greater than the sum of its parts.

Because all five of them could trigger the Flying Thunder God from any of the kunai, this technique covered a wider range and eliminated enemies with greater speed.

At this moment, Menma flickered continuously within the pentagonal area; with every flicker, a new scratch appeared on Yamanaka Fu's body.

After some time, Yamanaka Fu was covered in wounds and collapsed to his knees. Under such rapid-fire attacks, each strike was separated by mere milliseconds.

"Lost consciousness? That's fine, it saves me the trouble of having to control you." With that, Menma walked up to Yamanaka Fu and pulled a Sealing Scroll from his pocket.