Awakening

"Don't think you'll get away with this!"

Dosu shouted furiously.

He decisively crouched down and plunged his entire helmeted arm into the ground.

The holes in his helmet immediately released a massive amount of chakra!

Sound-wave attacks could travel not only through the air, but through the earth as well!

Dosu's attack tore earthquake-like cracks through the previously flat patch of short grass.

The entire ground was churned over by the sound waves, becoming uneven and jagged.

The cracks formed by the sound extended from beneath Dosu's feet all the way to Zaku and Kin.

Naruto's shadow clones, which had been attacking Zaku and Kin, were instantly destroyed.

Naruto's real body, hidden underground, was shaken out as well.

He had not expected the Double Suicide Decapitation Technique to be broken so easily by Dosu.

"Those little tricks of yours won't work on me."

Dosu looked at Naruto, who had reappeared before him. "No matter how fast you are, you can't possibly surpass the speed of sound!"

"Not necessarily."

Naruto refuted him calmly.

"What a stubborn bastard. Then I'll take you down completely with my next move!"

Dosu fixed his eyes on Naruto.

Just as he was about to pull his arm out of the ground, he discovered that he could not move!

The ground beneath Dosu's feet had turned into a swamp that could devour anything.

Both his legs and the arm buried in the earth had sunk deeply into the mire.

Earth Release again!

Dosu tried to struggle free, but the more he struggled in the swamp, the deeper he sank.

"I'll give your words back to you exactly as they were: 'I'll take you down completely with my next move.'"

Naruto formed hand seals with both hands. Judging from his seals, he was about to use another Earth Release ninjutsu.

Earth Release: Earth Dragon—

—Naruto ultimately failed to complete the technique.

He suddenly felt dizzy, staggered, and fell backward.

The chakra he had been gathering was forcibly interrupted.

"Naruto!"

Sakura, who had been watching the battle closely, cried out anxiously.

Sakura noticed the blood flowing from Naruto's ears.

The ears contained semicircular canals responsible for the body's posture and sense of balance.

The sound-wave attack Dosu had used to force Naruto out of the ground had damaged the semicircular canals in Naruto's ears.

That was why Naruto had suddenly collapsed and could not steady himself.

"Hehehe. Looks like my words only count when I say them myself."

"Zaku!"

Still trapped in the swamp, Dosu shouted at Zaku.

"I know!"

Zaku spread his hands and attacked in Dosu's place.

There was a wind hole in each of Zaku's palms.

A large amount of chakra gathered within the holes in his palms. Zaku stretched out his arms and aimed both hands at the immobile Naruto.

At that very moment, Sakura, who had been guarding Sasuke inside the tree hollow, rushed out!

As she ran toward Naruto, Sakura flung several shuriken at Zaku, trying to interrupt his chakra gathering.

Unfortunately, the shuriken were intercepted by Kin's senbon.

"Looks like someone's in a hurry to die."

Zaku revealed a cruel smile and abruptly changed targets.

His hands, originally aimed at Naruto, turned and locked onto Sakura.

"Air Cutter!"

Zaku swung both hands, and the wind holes in his palms unleashed devastating compressed sonic blasts.

The powerful sonic blasts swept up a raging gale at terrifying speed!

"Damn it!"

Sakura hurriedly formed hand seals, but her hand speed was far too slow compared to the sonic blasts.

Sakura could only abandon the seals and cross her arms in front of her head.

But Zaku's Air Cutter could slice through sturdy trees and shatter thick earth.

How could a ninja like Sakura, who did not excel in physical strength, possibly block such a sonic blast with only her hands?

Sakura naturally understood that.

Yet deep down, she felt no fear over the pain she was about to suffer.

She only hoped that her insignificant strength could buy Naruto even the slightest chance to survive.

I don't want to keep being Team 7's burden!

Sakura made her decision.

Unable to dodge the Air Cutter in time, she could only wait for the sonic blast to strike her body.

But the blast never hurt her.

Naruto flashed in front of Sakura and shielded her.

Sakura looked at Naruto's swaying yellow back before her. The damage to his semicircular canals was clearly still affecting him.

Even so, Naruto was still doing everything he could to protect her...

Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!

This time, Naruto gathered chakra in his mouth and completed the nature transformation within his oral cavity.

He spat out earth, forming a wall.

The earthen wall was ruthlessly destroyed by the sonic blast before it could fully form. Naruto failed to fully execute the Earth-Style Wall this time.

Although the half-formed wall weakened the sonic blast somewhat, the remaining force was still easily enough to kill someone.

Naruto took Zaku's Air Cutter head-on and was blasted off the ground.

"Naruto!"

Sakura hurriedly caught Naruto from behind, using her own body as a cushion to shield him from the impact of being hurled into a tree trunk.

Slamming her back hard against an even harder tree trunk was not pleasant, but Sakura had no time to dwell on the pain.

She only looked over Naruto's body in panic.

Naruto's clothes were now completely soaked in blood. It was obvious how severe his injuries were.

Seeing Naruto like this, Sakura's tightly wound emotions finally began to break down.

But Sakura still forced herself not to cry.

The danger brought by the three Sound Ninja was far from over. This was no time for tears.

"Honestly, dealing with you two has wasted far too much time."

Dosu had already struggled free of the swamp. He injected chakra into his helmet and flushed the mud out of its holes.

"That expression you have now is pretty good... Once I kill this blond bastard right in front of you, you'll definitely make an even better face when you break down!"

Dosu raised his arm, and a piercing howl came from the holes in his helmet.

He swung his arm, but his target was not Naruto.

It was behind himself.

"What's going on? Kin, Zaku!"

Dosu's sound-wave attack blocked the senbon and shuriken fired from behind him.

Frowning, he looked at Kin and Zaku, who were still holding their throwing poses.

Kin had fired the senbon.

Zaku had fired the shuriken.

"No, I don't know either! My body suddenly stopped obeying me!"

Zaku explained to Dosu.

Kin remained silent, glaring at Dosu with an unfriendly look.

Sakura also stared blankly at the Sound Ninja, who had suddenly descended into infighting, completely confused.

Then Sakura saw two boys, one fat and one thin, appear before her.

It was Choji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara!

They had entered the battle between Team 7 and the Sound Ninja.

"That's Ino's Mind Body Switch Technique and my Shadow Imitation Technique..."

Shikamaru answered Sakura's unspoken question. His shadow had indeed stretched across the ground as a thin black line, connecting with Zaku's shadow.

Then Shikamaru looked at Naruto. "Sorry, Naruto. We've actually been here for a while, but Choji is the only one in Team 10 with any real frontal combat ability, so we've been waiting for an opening."

Naruto glanced at Shikamaru and Choji, then forced himself up from Sakura's arms.

"N-Naruto... Your injuries are serious. Don't move around!"

Sakura hurriedly tried to persuade Naruto that his current condition was not suitable for movement.

"Those guys aren't easy to deal with. I'll fight with you."

Naruto coughed and spat out the congealed blood in his lungs, only then feeling his breathing become a little smoother.

The sonic blast from Zaku's Air Cutter had not merely inflicted external wounds; it had caused serious internal injuries as well.

But he still chose to continue fighting.

"Naruto! Will you die if you don't play the hero? Stay there and rest properly. Leave the Sound Ninja to Team 10!"

Ino, who had taken possession of Kin's body using the Yamanaka Clan's secret Mind Body Switch Technique, scolded Naruto for being so reckless through Kin's body.

"Yeah, Naruto. Leave them to us."

Shikamaru also tried to persuade Naruto.

"We didn't hide off to the side all this time because we wanted to watch you and Sakura die. I've already figured out the fighting traits of that bandaged guy and the guy with holes in his palms."

"Also, Ino has controlled the only female Sound Ninja who hasn't done much. Not only does that prevent her unknown abilities from becoming a variable in this fight, it also gives us another hostage. The advantage is on our side now!"

Dosu, however, mocked Shikamaru's analysis of the three Sound Ninja. "The advantage is on your side? What a joke!"

Dosu suddenly released a massive amount of chakra. He did not take the Konoha ninja before him seriously at all. "Underestimating the strongest one here is your greatest disadvantage!"

"This chakra! Not good!"

Shikamaru sensed that something was wrong and immediately called to Choji beside him. "Choji! Don't let this guy keep releasing that troublesome sound-wave ninjutsu!"

"Got it!"

Choji, already stout to begin with, suddenly expanded into a ball of flesh. "I'll stop him with the Human Bullet Tank!"

"You're too naive!"

Dosu sneered.

But everyone preparing to fight suddenly froze.

An immense chakra, so obvious it needed no deliberate sensing to detect, coiled around them with a chill that pierced to the bone.

Everyone instinctively searched for the source of that abnormal chakra—

—Sasuke, who had remained unconscious in the tree hollow, appeared before them.