"Naruto..." Hinata started, hesitant.
Sasuke snorted. "Forget it. He won't be stopped. Besides, what he said makes sense. Team 7 is strong enough; we don't need elaborate tactics and strategies. Only the weak need those."
Hinata nodded. "Okay, let's go together then."
Naruto led the way as Hinata and Sasuke quickly flanked him, one on the left and one on the right. Team 7 swiftly positioned themselves on the branches of three large trees, looking down menacingly at the squad below.
Naruto crossed his arms and shouted, "Hey! Hand over your scrolls! Otherwise... don't blame us for being impolite!"
The group under the tree was terrified.
"That... that's Team 7 from Konoha?"
"The elite squad that killed Zabuza Momochi!"
"What can we do? We can't possibly be a match for them..."
"Should we run away?!"
However, the three members of Team 7 had already blocked off three directions, completely cutting off their escape routes and leaving them with absolutely no chance.
"We can hand over the scroll!" one of them called out. "If it's different from yours, we'll offer it up without hesitation! But... if it's the same, could you please let us go?!"
Naruto was stunned; he hadn't expected them to surrender so readily. It seemed their reputation preceded them. To subdue an enemy without fighting... for the first time, Naruto felt the oppressive aura of a truly strong team. It was an exhilarating feeling.
Faced with the enemy's pleas, he glanced at Sasuke and Hinata, who both nodded in agreement.
Naruto then said, "Okay!"
The three ninja below breathed a sigh of relief and quickly took out their scroll, tossing it over.
However, just as Naruto was about to catch it, Hinata suddenly cried out, "Naruto! Watch out!"
Startled, Naruto instinctively kicked the scroll away, sending it flying.
*Rumble— BOOM!*
The scroll suddenly exploded in mid-air.
"Damn it, it's an explosive tag?!" Naruto realized. The other team had feigned weakness while harboring malicious intentions. They had hidden explosive tags inside a fake scroll, which would have detonated the moment Naruto touched it, causing serious injury. If it weren't for Hinata's Byakugan discovering the trap in time, Naruto would have been hurt.
Naruto stared at the exploding scroll, his brief moment of smugness turning to rage. He had almost been tricked by these people. They had tried to blow him up!
"Damn it! Looks like you're going to suffer the consequences instead of being polite!" he roared. "Don't blame us for being ruthless! Hinata, Sasuke, let's go!"
"Right!"
"Hmph."
Hinata, having felt a wave of fear, now detested these treacherous and cunning opponents. Sasuke was equally furious, angry that he had also been deceived. Team 7 erupted in fury, and the shinobi from Takigakure were immediately terrified. They knew they were no match.
Naruto leaped down, his anger surging, and with a roar, unleashed a powerful Konoha Whirlwind kick. The leader of the opposing team hurriedly used his arms to block, but how could he withstand the power inherited from Might Guy, unleashed by a physical monster like Naruto?
*BOOM!*
With a loud bang, the bones in both of his arms broke, and he was sent flying. Naruto showed no mercy, relentlessly pursuing his target and unleashing his signature move. "Wind Style: Whirlwind Fist!"
*CRACK!*
The fierce iron fist, wrapped in wind-style chakra, slammed into the man's chest. He screamed and crashed heavily into a large tree, the impact so great that the trunk snapped in two. He collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
On the other side, Sasuke and Hinata did not hesitate. With a powerful Fireball Jutsu and a crisp, clean display of the Gentle Fist, they beat the other two to a pulp. In just a moment, the enemy team suffered a crushing defeat. Still fuming, Naruto kicked the unconscious captain hard.
Hinata busied herself searching the three of them and quickly found the real scroll. Unfortunately, just like theirs, it was a Heaven Scroll.
Naruto roared, "You bastards! If you all had Heaven Scrolls, I really was going to let you go! Why did you have to resort to such methods?!"
The downed Takigakure ninja coughed. "Because... we couldn't be sure you'd really keep your promise. The Forest of Death is teeming with enemies. If you managed to obtain our scroll and refused to return it, or even beat us up, there's nothing we could do..."
The members of Team 7 exchanged glances; they couldn't say the logic was entirely wrong. Yes, Naruto would have kept his promise, but that didn't mean other teams would. Still, hearing it didn't make Naruto feel any better.
"Hmph, you can stay here and fend for yourselves!" he grumbled. "Let's go!" On second thought, he decided to take their Heaven Scroll with him. Since they judged him by their own petty standards, he would act accordingly.
Not long after Naruto and his group walked away, they heard the sound of a firework exploding behind them—the signal flare from the Takigakure team, announcing their withdrawal.
"Hinata, thank you for the warning," Naruto said.
"It's nothing," she replied. "Rather... I should have discovered their plot sooner."
"Damn it," Naruto muttered. "There really aren't any good people in this forest. We can't afford to be careless anymore."
Sasuke said, "Isn't it because you were the one who was careless? Going on about how we're the strongest and that tactics are for the weak..."
"Hey, you agreed too!" Naruto shot back.
Hinata smiled helplessly. "Alright, Naruto, Sasuke, we were all careless. Let's just be more careful from now on."
"Fine..."
At the same time, throughout the Forest of Death, undercurrents surged as deadly dangers lurked everywhere. Sakura's Team 8, with Kiba's sense of smell and Shino's parasitic insects, had a unique advantage. They had been avoiding the strong and pressuring the weak, but unfortunately, they were unlucky and hadn't found their corresponding scroll. To make matters worse, they encountered the one team that might be even more terrifying than Team 7: the Sand Siblings.
After witnessing Gaara brutally slaughter a genin team from Amegakure, the three of them were stunned. The three Rain ninja had unleashed a storm of senbon needles from countless umbrellas. "Ninja Art: Thousand Showering Needles!" they had cried. Instantly, countless umbrellas soared into the sky, then poured down a torrent of needles from all directions, enough to turn any enemy into a pincushion.
However, Gaara stood with his arms crossed, his gaze cold and indifferent, completely motionless. The sand around him automatically formed a shield, protecting him completely. The dense shower of needles could not harm him in the slightest.
Then, his eyes turned incredibly ferocious. He gently extended his right hand, and a violent sandstorm immediately swept across the sky, completely enveloping the three from Amegakure. Accompanied by the chilling words "Sand Coffin," the terrifying pressure crushed and pulverized their bodies, turning them into a spray of blood and flesh that filled the air.
This hellish scene terrified Sakura Haruno, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame.
"What... what kind of monster is that...?" Kiba whispered in horror.