The Naruto World's top fighters might have been powerful, but setting aside beings like Jiraiya, who possessed Six Paths Power, and those with the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, ordinary ninja still struggled when facing powerful taijutsu specialists and ability users.
After Luffy entered Gear Second, both his speed and strength received a boost. Even without using Haki, Naruto was already finding the fight somewhat difficult.
Ninja had high offense and low defense, and battles between ninja often ended quickly. However, for ninja, evasion was definitely a stat that needed to be maxed out.
Yet even while hidden among his many clones, Naruto was locked onto by Observation Haki. Seeing Luffy charge straight at him, Naruto hurriedly dodged.
"Just dodging won't do!"
Wind Release: Pressure Damage!
Facing the charging Luffy, Naruto rapidly formed hand seals and spat out a compressed, high-density wind sphere. This was a ninjutsu Kakuzu excelled at, but Kakuzu had now become the manager of the Hidden Rain Village's finance department, and his entire collection of ninjutsu and secret techniques had been recorded by Konoha.
Wind Release: Pressure Damage was extremely powerful, even said to possess the destructive force of a natural disaster!
Just as Luffy tried to dodge, the wind sphere exploded, transforming into a violent gale that swept toward him.
However, Luffy instantly coated himself in Armament Haki and rapidly retreated, suffering only a few minor injuries.
"Such incredible defense?"
Naruto watched Luffy solemnly. It seemed he would have to use Sage Mode or Nine-Tails Transformation. Under normal circumstances, taking such a powerful Wind Release attack should have cost someone their ability to fight, yet this guy looked practically unharmed and was still full of energy.
"What a strange ability."
Ace could not understand why Naruto did not transform into an element. Wasn't he using the Gale-Gale