Flip the Table
Inside the underground grotto, blindingly blue lightning filled the entire space. Tens of thousands of tons of crimson rock crashed down with a deafening roar.
Kakashi shielded Sakura with his body, Sasuke to close his eyes by the intense light, Sharingan's perception useless in the face of such an all-encompassing disaster.
Naruto stepped back half an inch with his right foot, and the old railway track under his straw sandals snapped.
His calf muscles bulged with clearly visible blue veins. Instead of retreating, he advanced, facing the collapsing dome, his right fist generating power from his waist, pulling it over his shoulder, and slamming it out from below.
The Monster Strength of the physical body compressed the air into a semi-transparent vacuum column.
Boom.
The powerful force of the punch pierced through the tens of tons of thick dome-shaped rock. A three-meter-diameter gap opened directly to the ground, allowing sunlight mixed with cold wind to rush in and dissipate most of the toxic smoke that filled the room.
The falling boulder was supported by the airflow, slowing its descent. Kakashi took the opportunity to unleash Earth Release: Earth Style Wall, creating a safe triangle.
"You're asking for it." Naruto retracted his right fist, and bursts of scorching white steam rose from the back of his hand.
He turned his head to look behind him. "Karin, report the rank."
Karin knelt amidst the pile of rocks, her fingernails digging into the soil of her palms. Her eyes were tightly closed, and the sensory network of Mind's Eye of the Kagura pierced through the chaotic electromagnetic field, focusing intently on a stream of Chakra escaping from the ground.
"11 o'clock, 15 meters underground. He's trying to escape through the abandoned ventilation duct!" Karin bit her tongue and gave the precise location.
"Trying to run?" Naruto's eyes flashed coldly. "Sasuke, break his formation."
Sasuke's black clothes were torn, and his eyes were bloodshot. He suppressed his instinctive fear of death, and in his vision, the Chakra circuits of the Chain Lightning Explosion Formation were clearly visible. The blue lines between the twelve points of light all converged on the base of a stone pillar to his left.
"Over there." Sasuke drew Kunai from his waist, and a frenzied Lightning Release: Chidori leaped from his palm. He stepped on a falling piece of broken wood, swerved twice in mid-air, and plunged the lightning Kunai into the explosive core at the base of the stone pillar.
Sizzle--
The energy storage network following the lightning strike came to an abrupt halt, and the blue light inside the grotto dimmed.
At this moment, in the mud tunnel fifteen meters underground.
The scarred leader was crawling out of the damp pipe. He listened to the diminishing roar above him, a grotesque smile creeping across his face. Those brats from Hidden Leaf were probably crushed into a pulp by now.
My ankle suddenly tightened.
Looking down, he saw a golden chain, as thick as a baby's arm, had somehow pierced through the mud and was tightly constricting his left heel. The sealing runes on the chain's surface were rapidly draining the Chakra from his leg.
"Fellow villager." A teasing male voice came from above the three-foot-thick layer of mud, "My brother is a rough fellow, so he might not be very gentle. Please forgive him if anything is not to his liking."
The mud layer exploded.
Naruto, using one hand to pull the chain, dragged the scarred leader out of the ground like pulling a radish, and slammed him heavily onto the railway track in the center of the cave.
The scarred leader rolled two meters away, vomiting a mouthful of blood mixed with mud and sand. He raised his head, his face contorted with madness.
"Uzumaki brat, you don't understand the rules of Hidden Cloud! Even if we die, we won't leave you with a single clue!"
The man forcefully formed a disjointed hand seal, and a blinding white light shone from his heart area. He was detonating a Self-Destruct Lightning Seal that had been planted on the wall of his ventricle beforehand. In just three seconds, he and the blueprint would be reduced to a pile of charred remains.
Naruto didn't even lift an eyelid.
He took a step that covered two meters, his thumb pressing down on his index finger, and with a single palm carrying immense Yang Release energy, he struck the scarred leader squarely in the center of his chest.
That hand wasn't Hand Seals; it was simply a brutal and unreasonable suppression from a higher dimension.
Golden patterns burrowed into the opponent's flesh along Naruto's palm, like an impenetrable iron net, tightly enveloping the about-to-explode lightning. The Supreme Yang Energy of Yang Release collided with the violent lightning attribute, but instead of exploding, the lightning was forced back into the scarred leader's meridians.
"Ah--!"
The man let out a beast-like scream, his limbs twisted in reverse, and it felt as if blue worms were crawling and gnawing under every inch of his skin.
"Want to die cleanly?" Naruto bent down, pulled the sealing tube from the other's arms, and tossed it a couple of times in his hand. "Not so easy."
The blueprints were saved.
Naruto pulled out half of the array diagram and shook off the dirt and grime.
Karin ran over, took the blueprint, glanced at it, and frowned. "Naruto, there's something fishy on the back of the blueprint."
She rubbed her fingertips along the edge of the paper twice. A thin layer of disguise peeled away, revealing several rows of coded messages written with special Chakra ink.
Kakashi leaped out from behind the stone wall, glanced at it, and his single eye narrowed into a slit. "Black market transaction list. Buyer's code name, price, and meeting place."
He pointed to the thundercloud-shaped mark in the last line. "These people from Hidden Cloud aren't here to research the Uzumaki Sealing Technique at all; they want to dismantle this thing on the black market and resell it at a high price to raise military funds."
"Where is the transaction location?" Sasuke approached, sword in hand, then slid down against a broken stone pillar, his chest heaving violently.
Kakashi uttered three words: "Lightning Cloud Gorge."
The atmosphere was silent.
A high-pitched cry of an eagle echoed from the sky.
A Ninja Hawk wearing Hidden Leaf Forehead Protector flew through the collapsed opening above its head, circled twice, and landed on a broken log. A communication scroll bearing the Hokage's red clay seal was tied to its leg.
Kakashi unrolled the scroll, scanned it, and his expression darkened. "Lady Tsunade's urgent order. The Raikage's official delegation is already pressuring the border, insisting that we detained their legitimate merchants. The Hokage Tower's intention is that this matter cannot be settled privately. She demands that we take the prisoners and evidence to the official negotiation point at the border to sit down and talk with the Raikage's representative."
Political maneuvering is always fraught with hypocrisy and bureaucratic wrangling. Those at the top want to maximize their gains by exchanging prisoners within the framework of the rules.
Naruto rolled up the drawing with the list on it and slowly tucked it into the lining of his robe.
He looked at the scarred leader convulsing on the ground, a smirk playing on his lips, a highly aggressive curve.
"Boss, I've discussed it with the Lord Hokage." Naruto squatted down and patted the man's sweaty cheeks. "She wants me to take you to the negotiating table to have tea with them. As for me, I'm planning to treat you to a nice meal back in my hometown."
Naruto straightened up, his golden hair flashing in the pillar of light. He stomped on the empty sealing cylinder beside him, scattering wood shards everywhere.
"Sasuke, tie them up tightly. Karin, check the supplies."
Naruto turned around, his gaze piercing through the mountain ridges, pointing directly to the map of the Land of Lightning in the northeast.
"We can't get back what we lost at the negotiating table. Let's go to Lightning Cloud Gorge and wipe out both the buyer and the seller. Only then will we settle the score once and for all."
On the second night after establishing his Uzumaki New Residence, the hunter took his first step in securing his territory and establishing his authority. This storm that swept through the upper echelons of Hidden Cloud was about to reach the Raikage's desk.