Breaking the Deadlock by Force

The rain started to fall.

At first, the water droplets were the size of beans, but in the blink of an eye, they formed streaks of gray-white rain. The dark red cliffs of Lightning Cloud Gorge were washed until they gleamed.

Water splashed everywhere. The two teams sped through the narrow canyon.

On the left, Naruto led the charge, his dark blue robe billowing in the wind. Sasuke gripped the hilt of the Kusanagi Sword, Kakashi and Sakura protected Karin, maintaining a standard assault formation as they followed closely behind.

On the right, Samui's Hidden Cloud Village squad, ten meters away, followed a parallel route.

Despite sharing the same goal, the atmosphere had plummeted to freezing point.

Karui gripped the hilt of her sword with one hand, rain streaming down her dark cheeks. She glanced sideways at the blond brat to her left, her chest heaving. A Hidden Leaf Genin, swaggering into Hidden Cloud territory, and daring to leave them standing there.

"Your Hidden Leaf's reach is too far!" Karui sneered, his voice carrying through the rain. "This is the border of the Land of Lightning. No matter who you're chasing, crossing the border is tantamount to declaring war. Get out of the way and get back to the Land of Fire!"

Naruto ignored him completely, not even lifting an eyelid.

"Hey, you brat from Hidden Leaf!" Karui laughed angrily, pulled out a Kunai, and threw it with a powerful flick of his wrist. "Dare to step in and clear the way?"

The Kunai tore through the rain, accompanied by a mournful whistling sound, and plunged straight into the muddy ground in front of Naruto's feet.

She just wanted to give them a warning and see what made these Konoha Ninja so confident.

Naruto, his pace unchanged. The thick sole of his military boots precisely struck the ring on the tail of the Kunai.

The ankle naturally shifts outward.

Zheng.

A sickening metallic whistling sound rang out. The Kunai spun in mid-air, then flew backward at double the speed.

The blade grazed Karui's earlobe, severing a few strands of red hair, and embedded itself deep into the stone wall beside her. Cracks spread along the tip of the blade, and sparks flashed in the rain.

"The reverse psychology tactic is outdated, let's try something else." Naruto's hands remained in his pockets, his indifferent voice carried through the sound of rain.

Karui paused, then reached back to draw his sword.

Samui raised her arm, placing it firmly across Karui's chest. Her icy blue eyes were fixed on Naruto's back. Her strength was precisely controlled, establishing her authority without drawing blood. The oppressive aura emanating from this kid was far beyond what a Genin should possess.

Omoi, chewing on his lollipop, shrank back. "Karui, behave yourself. If he gets angry and really kills us, I'll be in the middle of nowhere, and I won't even have anyone to collect our bodies. I don't want to die, I still want to..."

"Shut up," Samui snapped, his gaze never leaving the Hidden Leaf members.

The deeper you go, the more treacherous the terrain becomes. The canyon narrows into a funnel-shaped pass, with a dilapidated iron suspension bridge spanning the bottomless abyss.

A railway track for transporting ore descends from the narrow pass and slope, leading directly to the suspension bridge.

A heavy mining cart loaded with raw ore was speeding along the rails, its rusty wheels screeching against the rails, sending up strings of orange sparks.

Karin suddenly stopped, Hand Seals, closed her eyes, and announced the time.

"Naruto! The escaping Chakra left an explosive array on the minecart! The cart is full of unrefined Lightning Ore!"

Sasuke's left Sharingan glowed red, his gaze piercing through the thick rain curtain as he rapidly dismantled the Chakra circuits before him.

"A typical Hidden Cloud Chain Lightning Explosion Formation." Kakashi pushed up his Forehead Protector, revealing his Sharingan. "Twelve detonation points. The detonation core is connected to the axle. As the vehicle speeds up, the friction of the Lightning Release generates heat. Once it hits the suspension bridge, the Explosive Tag will ignite all the Lightning Ore, causing the entire middle section of the canyon to collapse. The missing-nin used this place as a graveyard for mutual destruction."

Samui also grasped the situation clearly. Her mind raced.

Dozens of Explosive Tag, plus a whole Lightning Ore, were enough to destroy all living things within a half-kilometer radius. This was a last-ditch effort left behind by the missing-nin.

"All Hidden Cloud personnel, heed my command!" Samui barked. "Drive in rock spikes and retreat to the cliff tops on either side! The structure ahead is about to collapse; abandon the pursuit!"

The Hidden Cloud were well-trained; they fired their grappling hooks in unison, using the momentum to propel themselves upwards.

Samui hung on the cliff face, looking down at the Hidden Leaf members, waiting to see them flee in disarray.

But the blond figure didn't stop; instead, he bent his knees slightly and prepared to sprint.

Naruto didn't slow down; instead, he quickened his pace.

"Don't go over there!" Samui frowned and warned, "That's Composite Lightning Explosion Formation, the yield exceeds the canyon's load-bearing limit, you can't withstand that!"

Karin quickly added, "Naruto, there are faint signs of life at the bottom of the carriage! They are three civilians!"

To buy time, the gang not only planted bombs but also stuffed border merchants they had abducted along the way into their vehicles as human shields, forcing the pursuers to choose between saving lives and saving the people.

Naruto approached the downhill slope. He turned his head to the side, his blond hair flying in the rain.

"The rules of Hidden Cloud don't apply to me, Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto retorted. "There are people in the car."

It was described casually. Without hesitation, without weighing the pros and cons.

His leg muscles bulged violently, and his straw sandals shattered the rock beneath him.

A sonic boom ripped through the rain. Naruto transformed into a golden streak of light, shooting headlong towards the speeding minecart.

Ten seconds.

The mine cart was only a hundred meters away from the suspension bridge. Blue lightning had already woven into a net on the surface of the raw stone, and a pungent ozone smell filled the air.

Naruto slammed heavily onto the top of the mine cart, causing the ten-ton vehicle to shake violently and nearly derail.

A violent electric current surged up his trouser leg along the sheet metal, attempting to tear at his flesh.

"Be quiet."

The pure, yang, and powerful golden Chakra poured down like a waterfall, transforming into an impenetrable net that forcefully pushed all the wandering blue arcs of electricity back into the original stone. The cold and violent Lightning Release, under the pure Yang Release pressure, couldn't even explode, and could only emit a muffled hum.

Five seconds.

Naruto flipped over and landed on the side of the carriage, his five fingers gripping the edge of the sealed iron door.

The veins on his forearms bulged, unleashing the terrifying Monster Strength of Perfect Sage Body without reservation.

With a tooth-grinding metallic tearing sound, he ripped the two-inch-thick iron door off with his bare hands and casually tossed it into the abyss.

Inside the carriage, three civilians, bound tightly, looked utterly desperate, their mouths stuffed with rags.

Naruto grabbed the three men by the collar with one hand and, like throwing sandbags, accurately tossed them into the safe mud behind him.

"Sasuke, come get them."

Sasuke moved swiftly, catching the falling civilian, Kunai, cut the rope. Sakura immediately rushed forward to check on his injuries.

Three seconds.

The minecart had reached the edge of the abyss, the front end of the suspended rails, the suppression of the Yang Release was about to run out, and the Explosive Tag began to flash with deadly white light.

Naruto did not retreat. He straddled the rails with his feet and gripped the mine cart chassis tightly with both hands.

"Eight Gates - Opening Gate, Open."

Green flames burst forth from his body. The sheer weight of over ten tons, combined with the immense inertia of the rapid dive, would have torn off the arm of an ordinary Jonin long ago.

"Rise!"

Naruto exerted force from his lower back, and his spine emitted a series of cracking sounds.

He forcefully uprooted the speeding mine cart, swung his arms in a terrifying semi-circle, and hurled the cart and ore off the cliff.

One second.

The heavy mine cart plunged into endless darkness.

After a brief silence, blinding light illuminated the entire Lightning Cloud Gorge.

Boom--!

The enormous explosion shattered the raindrops. A scorching shockwave shot from the bottom of the abyss into the sky, forming a small blue mushroom cloud.

The suspension bridge was violently shaken by the shockwave, and wooden planks shattered and flew everywhere.

Naruto stood at the end of the broken railway track, his dark blue robe billowing in the gale, his figure motionless. The aura of Yang Release deflected all the flying gravel.

Above the cliff, Karui's jaw was slightly open, Omoi's lollipop fell into a puddle.

Samui's eyes revealed an undisguised fear.

The assessment was flawed. This Naruto Uzumaki cannot be measured by conventional tactical thinking. Single-handedly, he forcefully broke through a deadlock; this brute force method of breaking the deadlock is more chilling than any Ninjutsu.

The storm has subsided. Although the suspension bridge is damaged, the main cables remain intact.

Karin got up from the ground, not bothering to wipe the mud off her face, and pointed to the dark depths of the canyon at the other end of the suspension bridge.

"Naruto! The Chakra has stopped at the Black Market Altar! Half of the blueprint has been handed over." Karin's voice was tight, and her hands trembled slightly. "That violent, unfamiliar Chakra has fully awakened! It feels like... a fire demon lurking in the abyss!"

Kakashi's Sharingan beneath his Forehead Protector glowed a brilliant red. "These Hidden Cloud of the Cloud Village wouldn't dare cause such a commotion. The black market buyer isn't after the Sealing Jutsu. There's only one possibility for releasing this level of Chakra so recklessly on the border of the Land of Lightning."

Naruto cracked his knuckles as he squeezed his wrist. He pulled out the half-finished scroll with the black market transaction code written on it from inside the lining and casually tossed it into the wind and rain.

The tattered scroll drifted down from the sky. He looked up at the sky filled with thunderclouds, his eyes burning with a fierce fighting spirit mixed with domineering arrogance.

"Did they even ask me, the owner, before buying my property?"

He stepped onto the swaying suspension bridge.

"Let's go collect the debt."

Deep within the suspension bridge, a sharp roar, like that of a feline beast, pierced the rain. Two eerie blue fireballs suddenly blazed in the darkness, causing a sharp pain in the eardrums of everyone present. The density of Chakra contained in that roar had already surpassed human limits. The true hunt had only just begun.