Cicada Shell Escape, the Nine-Tails Appears

Naruto, who was running ahead at full speed, desperately dragged his Shadow Clone through the woods, darting and leaping in every direction.

Simply hiding would never shake off those Root people.

He was just a kid who had recently entered the Ninja Academy. He knew nothing about tracking or countertracking.

Back when Itachi Uchiha trained with Shisui, Itachi could follow even the most inconspicuous traces—trampled flowers, broken branches—as clearly as if they were laid out before him.

And Shisui had not even infiltrated the ANBU yet. The ANBU who specialized in assassinations, and Root, which existed solely to supply the ANBU with blood, were far more skilled at this sort of thing than Shisui.

The little knowledge in a transmigrator's head was completely useless against the craft of professional shinobi.

So Naruto had no chance of slipping away beneath Root's watchful eyes. If he did not want to be caught, there was only one option—kill them all!

But with his current abilities, killing eight elite Root operatives was practically a dream unless he unleashed the Nine-Tails' chakra!

But if he did that, his identity would be exposed. He might not even get a chance to run.

Naruto needed to set the stage so that he could reasonably draw upon the Nine-Tails' power.

For that, he had long since copied Itachi Uchiha's Shadow Clone Technique 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 cookout.

Meanwhile, his real body had transformed into a rock, squatting in place as he waited for Shisui Uchiha and Danzo to come close.

Things unfolded exactly as Naruto had planned.

Danzo used Izanagi to steal Shisui's eye while he was completely defenseless. Naruto followed the same recipe, snapping Danzo's arm with a Rasengan while he was caught off guard and sending the newly acquired Sharingan flying.

Then, in front of the ANBU and Shikamaru's group, Naruto swiftly grabbed his own Shadow Clone. During the brief instant before Root could pounce, he swapped the clone with 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 within his body and hidden away.

Naruto had only figured out this convenient method after buying a summoning scroll.

Without the Nine-Tails blocking the way, Naruto could imitate how Itachi Uchiha sealed Shisui's Sharingan within his body and stash objects directly inside himself.

That brief instant of switching with his real body allowed Root to latch onto them again.

The squad captain wearing a monkey-faced mask raised his hand, and a stream of kunai shot toward Naruto.

"You can't escape! The Sharingan belongs to Lord Danzo!"

The captain shouted in a low voice, "Wind Release: Wind Cutter!"

A wind blade flashed through the air and neatly sliced down the branches in front of Naruto.

"No path left! Hand over Lord Danzo's Sharingan!"

Before the commotion had even settled, several Root members had already hurled shuriken and kunai at Naruto as he fell.

The Shadow Clone twisted at the waist and flipped over, knocking every incoming weapon away with a kunai.

But behind those kunai were poison smoke bombs that were still burning.

Naruto, playing dead in the clone's arms, cursed up a storm internally.

Fuck, they don't care whether the hostage lives or dies! I'm the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki!

The Shadow Clone formed a one-handed seal and shouted:

"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"

A fierce gale swept forward, blowing away every trace of poisonous smoke in an instant.

After figuring out that his Wind nature suited him well, Naruto had naturally asked Hyuga Hiashi for some low-level Wind Release ninjutsu.

The poison mist had barely dispersed when those shameless Root bastards directly pulled out kunai with explosive tags tied to them.

The Shadow Clone's pupils contracted.

Those bastards aren't even planning to leave a 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 the legs."

"Hah!"

The moment he finished speaking, the explosive-tagged kunai flew at the Shadow Clone.

"Stop!"

The two ANBU who had caught up from behind went pale with fright.

If the Jinchuriki died here, the Third Hokage would probably dig up their family graves and turn them inside out.

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"

A thick earthen wall suddenly rose before Naruto, swallowing the blaze from the exploding tags.

"You dare interfere with Root's business?" the squad captain snapped coldly at the two ANBU.

The ANBU swallowed hard. Though they belonged to different departments, 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 toward the cloud of dust.

The two ANBU wanted to follow, but several other Root members blocked them where they stood.

"Stay here. Once we're done using the Jinchuriki, we'll return him to you."

At that very moment, a black shadow shot out of the smoke and lunged toward a nearby tree.

"You think you can leave?!"

A Root operative barked sharply and, without a second thought, flung the kunai in his hand back toward the Shadow Clone.

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 howled, kicking and flailing wildly.

The minds of the ANBU and Root operatives below exploded at the same time. "Oh no!"

A kunai struck Naruto's right eye socket dead on, and blood immediately sprayed out.

His agonized scream echoed through the entire forest.

But in the next instant, the pitch of that scream abruptly changed, breaking loose into a roar. A red chakra Tailed Beast Cloak surged from Naruto's body—one layer, two layers, three layers. Three-Tails State!