Facing Sasuke Uchiha, whose aura had surged as sinister energy coiled around him in Cursed Seal mode, Naruto Uzumaki's gaze grew grave, but he did not panic.
He certainly had ways to counter him, including several powerful killing moves.
After years of roaming the Jianghu and fighting all manner of enemies, he was no longer the boy who had relied on nothing but hot blood and underhanded tactics.
But at that moment, he had something else in mind.
Sasuke could not die yet.
At least, not by his hand.
It was not out of old affection, but because Sasuke had yet to kill Uchiha Itachi and awaken the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
As everyone knew, the Uchiha's Sharingan were hot-swappable. Anyone with a strong enough constitution and sufficient chakra could use someone else's Sharingan.
Moreover, Naruto believed that transplanting Sasuke's Mangekyō Sharingan into himself would surely allow him to awaken the Rinnegan. It was only a matter of time.
So Naruto reined in his killing intent and chose a safer strategy-using his self-developed Nintaijutsu to maneuver, wear Sasuke down, probe his abilities, and seek an opening to escape or subdue him.
He had not spent all these years merely bumbling around with that unreliable "Jiraiya."
The Gentle Fist of Konoha's Hyuga Clan had left a deep impression on him.
The technique of precisely driving chakra into acupoints to damage an opponent's chakra pathways was steeped in the profound mysteries of Eastern martial arts.
Though Naruto had never received its authentic teachings, his exceptional powers of observation, fine chakra control, and boundless imagination had led him to combine the principles of Gentle Fist with the Chakra Nature Transformations he excelled at, creating a series of unique "Nintaijutsu" techniques.
Nintaijutsu was the fusion of Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, using physical movements to instantly produce