Naruto, sprinting ahead, desperately dragged his own Shadow Clone through the forest, darting and leaping in every direction.
Dodging alone would never shake off those Root bastards.
He was just a kid who had recently entered the Ninja Academy and knew nothing about tracking or countertracking.
Back when Itachi Uchiha had trained under Shisui, Itachi could follow the most inconspicuous traces—trampled flowers, broken branches—as clearly as if they were laid out before his eyes.
Shisui had not yet infiltrated the ANBU, but the ANBU, who specialized in assassinations, and Root, which existed to feed the ANBU fresh blood, were far more skilled at this sort of thing than Shisui.
The scraps of knowledge in a transmigrator's head were worthless against the skills of professional ninja like them.
So Naruto had no chance of slipping away under Root's watch. If he did not want to be captured, there was only one path—kill them all!
But with his current abilities, killing eight elite Root operatives was practically a dream unless he brought out the Nine-Tails' chakra!
The trouble was, doing that would expose his identity. He might not even get a chance to escape afterward.
Naruto needed to set the stage so he could reasonably bring out the Nine-Tails' power.
For that, he had borrowed Itachi Uchiha's Shadow Clone Technique long ago and pulled off a cicada shell escape.
His Shadow Clone had taken Shikamaru and the others to skip class and sneak off to the training grounds for a picnic.
His real body had already transformed into a rock, crouching in place and waiting for Shisui Uchiha and Danzo to come close.
Events unfolded exactly as Naruto had planned.
Danzo had used Izanagi to gouge out Shisui's eye while he was completely off guard. Naruto had followed the same formula, using a Rasengan to snap Danzo's unguarded arm, sending the newly acquired Sharingan flying with it.
Then, before the ANBU and Shikamaru's group, Naruto swiftly grabbed his own Shadow Clone and, in the split second before Root pounced, swapped the clone and his real body.
At that moment, Naruto's Shadow Clone was carrying his real body through the forest.
Shisui's Sharingan was pulled directly into the sealed space inside his body and hidden away.
Naruto had only figured out this convenient trick after buying a summoning scroll.
With the Nine-Tails no longer blocking the way, Naruto could imitate the method Itachi Uchiha had used to seal Shisui's Sharingan inside his body and stash objects directly within himself.
That instant of switching with his real body allowed Root to catch up again.
The squad captain in the monkey mask raised a hand, and a string of kunai shot toward Naruto.
"You can't escape! The Sharingan belongs to Lord Danzo!"
The captain growled in a low voice, "Wind Release: Wind Cutter!"
A wind blade flashed through the air and cleanly chopped down the branches ahead of Naruto.
"There's nowhere left to run! Hand over Lord Danzo's Sharingan!"
Before the commotion had even settled, several Root members had already hurled shuriken and kunai at the falling Naruto.
The Shadow Clone twisted at the waist and flipped over, knocking every incoming weapon aside with a kunai.
But burning poison smoke bombs trailed behind the kunai.
Naruto, who was pretending to be unconscious in the clone's grip, cursed furiously inside.
Fuck, they don't care at all whether the hostage lives or dies! I'm the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki!
The Shadow Clone formed a seal with one hand and shouted:
"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"
A violent gust swept forward and blew the poison smoke away in an instant.
Once Naruto had realized how naturally suited he was to the Wind nature, he had naturally gone to Hyuga Hiashi for some low-level Wind Release techniques.
The poison mist had barely dispersed when the shameless Root operatives drew kunai tied with explosive tags.
The Shadow Clone's pupils constricted.
Those bastards are planning not to leave even a whole corpse? Aren't they afraid of blowing up the Sharingan too?
Fortunately, the squad captain had not completely lost his head. Staring at the Shadow Clone surrounded in the middle, he spoke:
"Don't touch the Jinchuriki. Aim for his feet."
"Ha!"
The moment he spoke, kunai bearing explosive tags flew at the Shadow Clone.
"Stop!"
The two ANBU agents who had caught up behind them went pale.
If the Jinchuriki died here, the Third Hokage would probably dig up their ancestral graves and turn them upside down.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
A thick earthen wall abruptly rose before Naruto, swallowing the flames from the exploding tags.
"You dare interfere with Root's business?" the squad captain barked coldly at the two ANBU agents.
The ANBU agents swallowed. Though they belonged to different divisions, everyone knew what kind of ruthless figure a squad captain was. They were no match for these Root operatives.
"Our orders are only to ensure the Jinchuriki's safety!"
"Hmph! Go up and take a look!"
The squad captain snorted and waved his hand. Several Root members stepped into the smoke and dust.
The two ANBU agents wanted to follow, but several other Root operatives blocked them where they stood.
"Stay here. We'll return the Jinchuriki after we're done using him."
At that very moment, a black shadow shot out of the smoke and lunged toward a large tree nearby.
"You think you can get away?!"
A Root operative shouted sharply, flinging the kunai in his hand at the Shadow Clone without a second thought.
Just as the Shadow Clone was about to be shot down, Naruto in his arms "happened" to open his eyes!
"Let go of me! Who the hell are you?! Why are you grabbing me?!"
Naruto flailed his limbs and screamed.
The minds of the ANBU and Root operatives below exploded at the same time. "Oh no!"
A kunai struck Naruto squarely in the right eye socket, and blood spurted out at once.
His miserable scream echoed through the entire forest.
But in the next instant, the pitch of that scream abruptly shifted, breaking into an unrestrained roar. A red Tailed Beast Cloak surged from Naruto's body—one layer, two layers, three layers—the Three-Tails State!
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