Chapter 39
In the dense forest, Yūgao Uzuki let out a yawn. As the ANBU assigned to secretly monitor Naruto, her job was simple: the moment she detected any loosening in the jinchūriki seal, she was to immediately notify the sealing team nearby.
This kind of surveillance mission was the most patience-draining of all.
Half-asleep, she suddenly saw "Sakyo" and "Naruto" emerge from the cave. Instantly alert.
What were these two kids up to now?
In the middle of the night, with their unclear and complicated relationship… could they be…?
Yūgao snapped fully awake, even feeling a little excited.
However…
From her viewpoint, "Sakyo" and "Naruto" simply stood at the cave entrance chatting for a while. Then "Naruto" went back inside, while "Sakyo" walked away.
Yūgao didn't think much of it. Maybe "Sakyo" just needed to use the bathroom, or was setting up traps to prevent sneak attacks while sleeping.
After "Sakyo" moved far enough from camp, she didn't dispel the transformation.
Some time had passed since spotting the Root ninja—he needed to hurry.
The forest was enormous. Hundreds of people could enter and never find each other unless they moved across wide areas.
Along the way, Naruto spotted three teams of resting academy students, but he didn't disturb them. He focused solely on pursuing Root.
Meanwhile, back at the cave, after returning in Naruto's appearance, Sakyo grew more and more uneasy.
Naruto had never acted like this before. Something must have happened—that's why he did this.
He even deliberately shook off ANBU surveillance.
Whatever it was, it couldn't be known by the village… or at least not by ANBU.
So Sakyo used the same trick again: she had Sakura transform into Naruto, while she herself became Sakura.
After successfully fooling Yūgao Uzuki, she immediately chased after Naruto…
…
Deep in the forest, Naruto used his superb chakra control to move with wind-like speed toward the Land of Rain.
He didn't know how long he'd been chasing—only that he'd walked straight into a Root trap.
A high-speed shuriken shot toward him, while the activation sound of explosive tags came from the side.
Sizzle~
Naruto had no time to hesitate. With an explosive leap, he shot dozens of meters into the air.
At the same time, below him came the roar of detonating tags.
A cold voice rose from underneath: "Fire Style—Flame Bullet!"
Whoosh~
A massive, blazing fireball roared upward with terrifying heat, aimed straight at Naruto.
Mid-air, with no footing to dodge, Naruto's lack of real combat experience showed immediately. He had no choice but to gather a huge amount of chakra in his palm and slam it downward toward the fireball.
Instantly, a furious gale formed an impenetrable wind wall, pressing downward with unstoppable force.
The fireball couldn't even ripple against the wind barrier—it was snuffed out like a candle in a storm.
Wind fueling fire only happens when the wind is weaker than the flames.
In this case, it was more like a lighter inside a tornado.
And not even a windproof lighter—how could it possibly stay lit?
Yet the wind release didn't stop there. Naruto watched as a hundred-meter stretch of forest below was torn apart by the massive wind pressure—trees shattered, ground split, an absolutely spectacular scene.
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