Even the King of Hell Won't Be Taking Anyone Today
The abyss split open, and the stench of the underground river rushed out.
"Earth Release: Multiple Earth-Style Walls!" Kakashi forcefully flipped over in mid-air, slamming his hands heavily onto the remaining rock formation. The heavy stone platform rose from the ground, narrowly catching the falling group.
Dozens of tons of rock crashed down from above, accompanied by howling winds that sounded like ghostly wails.
"Three minutes!" Kakashi hand, spoke rapidly, "The entire underground structure will completely collapse in just three minutes! We must immediately open up an upward passage!"
The stone table overturned. The half of the Uzumaki seal map and the defense map of the Land of Lightning flew around in the chaotic air currents.
Without hesitation, Samui touched the ground with his toes, his figure transforming into an icy blue afterimage as he lunged straight at the stack of top-secret documents. This was the lifeblood of the Hidden Cloud Village; even if it meant death, he couldn't let it sink into the underground river.
But just as he reached out, a boulder the size of a car, mixed with residual lightning, crashed straight down onto the area to his right.
There, Omoi's right leg was pinned down by a broken piece of load-bearing iron beam, and it looked like the boulder was about to crush him into a pulp.
"Omoi!" Karui screamed, but it was too far away to catch up.
Samui's pupils contracted. Should he save the evidence, or save the person?
Reason compelled her to reach for the document, but her body stiffened for a moment against her instincts.
In the gap of this frame.
A dazzling golden gust of wind violently smashed through the sky, scattering countless pebbles.
Naruto didn't even glance at the so-called confidential blueprints. He stomped his left foot on the stone platform and shot out like a cannonball. His right arm muscles bulged, and the golden light of Yang Release, carrying terrifying Monster Strength, blasted a punch from below towards the car-sized boulder.
"Boom--!"
The violent force of the punch shattered tons of rock into a shower of dust.
Naruto bent down and grabbed the deformed load-bearing iron beam with one hand, then lifted it outwards like pulling up a radish.
With a clang, the iron beam flew ten meters away and embedded itself in the stone wall.
Omoi slumped to the ground, the lollipop in his mouth long since crushed, his face a picture of utter exhaustion from surviving a close call, "It's over, it's over. I knew leaving the village would bring bad luck. Now we won't even be able to piece together a complete corpse..."
Naruto grabbed him by the back of his collar, lifted the Hidden Cloud elite soldier up like a chicken with one arm, and casually tossed him to Karui behind him.
"Enough nonsense. I haven't given my approval, and even the King of Hell isn't taking anyone here." Naruto said casually, dusting off his hands.
Omoi collapsed onto Karui, panting heavily. Looking at Naruto's arrogant back, he swallowed hard. "Are you sure I won't have to pay any extra price?"
On the other side, amidst the chaotic rain of rubble, the kidnapped merchants were thrown over by the blast wave. One of them had a deep gash in his abdomen, exposing the bone, cut open by a sharp piece of metal, and blood gushed out.
"Sakura!" Naruto turned his head and shouted coldly.
"They're here!" Unlike usual, Sakura Haruno didn't scream with her legs going weak. She gritted her teeth, bracing herself against the clods of dirt falling from above, and slid to her knees beside the merchant.
His hands glowed with a vibrant green medical Chakra, without the slightest tremor.
With micron-level Chakra control, he precisely cut into the damaged blood vessel, forcefully stopping the bleeding and suturing it. These hands, which had recently dismantled a high-purity Lightning Explosion Tag on a cliff, were now as steady as a cold, precise instrument.
Not far away, the wounded Hidden Cloud were entangled in a bunch of wildly waving steel cables and were about to be dragged into the underground river below.
Sasuke's eyes spun wildly with the Two-Tomoe Sharingan beneath them.
Muscle texture, Chakra flow, and load-bearing nodes—all physical trajectories are clearly dissected under the Sharingan.
He took a deep breath, his hands Hand Seals that left afterimages, and his throat bobbed.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
The extremely compressed flames did not choose to cover a wide area, but instead transformed into a thin yet extremely condensed line of fire, precisely cutting into the weakest point of the steel cable.
"Clang!" The steel cable snapped.
Karui seized the opportunity, grabbing her companion's waist and leaping back to safety. She glanced at Sasuke, who was still in the Hand Seals, pursed her lips, and whispered, "Thanks."
Sasuke snorted coldly, turning his face away without saying a word, but his eyes were fixed on Naruto at the front. On this battlefield, no one could be a burden.
Samui grabbed two blueprints, stuffed them into his ninja tool bag, and turned around, just in time to see the Hidden Leaf genin's fluid and Genin rescue operation.
In dire straits, no one tried to claim credit, and no one cared about opposing factions.
This blond boy, with absolute strength and skill, forcibly established the only rule in these ruins—survival.
"Hidden Cloud, heed my command!" Samui drew his short sword, his icy voice piercing the sound of collapsing rock. "Prioritize saving lives! Take the prisoners and retreat!"
The prisoner she spoke of was the leader of the wandering ninja who had detonated the mine. At this moment, he had his meridians locked by Naruto's Yang Release and lay on the ground like a dead dog.
The merchant, whom Sakura had saved, clutched his stomach and looked shakily at Naruto, muttering, "Don't worry, brother, I know the rules of this trade. I'll follow them and won't say a word out of turn..."
"Shut up, stay close." Naruto didn't turn around.
"Time's up!" Kakashi shouted sharply.
The rock beneath their feet finally succumbed to the immense pressure, letting out a mournful cry before shattering completely.
Everyone began to fall into the abyss, below which lay a roaring, Uzumaki underground river.
"Hold on tight!" Naruto's azure eyes flashed with a fierce light as he slammed his hands together.
There were no fancy Hand Seals.
"Splash--!"
More than a dozen thick, golden Chakra Chains burst forth from their backs, like wildly dancing golden dragons. Some of them precisely wrapped around the waists of Karui, Omoi, Sakura, Sasuke, and the commoner merchant, forcibly pulling everyone into the air.
The other part of the chain was driven deep into a relatively stable, massive load-bearing pillar diagonally above, gripping the rock strata tightly.
Naruto single-handedly used the Adamantine Sealing Chains to hold back the weight of everyone!
"Now!" Naruto roared, staring at the crack above that was barely letting in a sliver of light.
Samui understood immediately.
Using the pull of the chains, she twisted her waist in mid-air in an incredible way, her full curves taut beneath her uniform, and the short knife in her hand burst forth with an unprecedentedly dazzling blue light.
Chakra limit output.
"Wind Release: Ultimate Overlord Kamaitachi!"
A terrifying vacuum wind blade, over ten meters long, slashed wildly along the crack Naruto had pointed out.
The fallen rocks and the fault lines blocking the exit were forcibly cut open by this single stroke, creating a path large enough for several people to pass through.
"Go!" Naruto pulled on the chains, unleashing the Monster Strength of his Yang Release technique.
Like a hammer, he hurled everyone hanging from the chains through the path Samui had cleaved open.
Then, he stepped on the falling mine pillar, and his figure transformed into a golden light, following closely behind.
"BOOM--BOOM--!!!"
Just as everyone crashed heavily into the puddle above Lightning Cloud Gorge, a muffled thunderous roar came from the ground below.
The vast underground mine, along with its sordid transactions and raging Lightning Ore, was completely swallowed up by the underground river.
Mud and water splashed everywhere, and the heavy rain continued to pour.
Everyone collapsed in the mud, gasping for breath.
The evidence was preserved, and Sasuke dragged the wandering ninja leader out like a dead dog.
Samui sheathed her dagger, her chest heaving. She looked up at the unharmed, barely breathing blond figure in the rain, and her expression changed completely.
Domineering, arrogant, protective of his own, and possessing unfathomable and terrifying methods.
If the Hidden Cloud were to actually wage war against such monsters on the border, it would not be a war, but a one-sided massacre.
"Stop looking." Naruto turned around, one hand in his pocket, raindrops sliding down his blond hair. His eyes were full of disdain and amusement. "You owe me a life, plus a favor. If the Raikage doesn't offer a hefty price, this won't be over."
Samui pursed her red lips, unusually refraining from rebuttal.
Just then, two eerie blue flames suddenly lit up in the darkness at the end of the canyon.
The raging heatwave that had subsided returned, accompanied by rain, and swept over us once more.
A tall figure walked step by step along the broken railway tracks.
She wore a large coat belonging to Samui, covering the clothes torn from her Tailed Beast Transformation. Her long, beige braid danced wildly in the wind, and eerie runes remained on her face, but her eyes had regained their human clarity.
"How dare you cause such a scene in the Land of Lightning..." The Yugito Nii stopped ten paces away, their gazes fixed intently on Naruto, their voices hoarse with a wild edge, "You two, are you tired of living?"
She raised her hand, a pure blue Cat Fire dancing in her palm, but a dangerous yet complex smile curled at the corner of her lips.
"You treated me like a cat, grabbing me by the neck and tossing me around..." Yugito stepped forward. "How do you plan to settle this score?"
Naruto narrowed his eyes, looking at the bristling female leopard, the corners of his lips curving into an even more arrogant smile.
The turmoil in the Land of Lightning has only just begun.