Chapter 40
A black shadow flickered under the wind release, appearing outside the range of the wind in the blink of an eye.
Only now could Naruto land solidly on the ground and look toward his opponent.
The Root ninja was already in a sorry state. After being hit by Naruto's wind release, his situation had become critical. If his hand seals had been even one second slower, he would have fainted inside the wind technique—and the result would naturally have been death.
"Uzumaki Naruto! Why are you attacking me?"
"Are you trying to defect?"
The Root ninja's cold voice reached Naruto's ears, but Naruto remained completely unmoved.
Joke's on him—this was already close to the Land of Rain, the Akatsuki's territory.
Plus, Naruto had already shaken off the ANBU monitoring him. There was no one else around.
The explosion of the tags and Naruto's wind release had indeed spread far, but it would still take time for anyone to notice the anomaly and reach this spot.
So, if Naruto killed the Root ninja within the next ten minutes, no one would ever know.
Since that was the case…
Naruto didn't waste words. He brutally stimulated his body with massive chakra. His clothes fluttered wildly without wind—full main-character energy.
Swish~
That near-body-flicker speed appeared again. From Naruto's perspective, he felt like the Flash. In less than a second, he was behind the Root ninja.
Naruto raised his hand and threw a punch straight at the back of the man's head without hesitation.
The current Naruto didn't know many ninjutsu or advanced combat techniques.
All he could do was crush his enemy with sheer chakra volume.
The Root ninja suddenly felt his scalp tingle. A lethal threat came from behind. On instinct, he used the Substitution Jutsu.
Bang~
The wooden log from the substitution couldn't withstand Naruto's attack at all—it shattered into pieces…
And the Root ninja reappeared on a tree branch nearby.
Under his mask, cold sweat poured down.
Since when had the jinchūriki become this strong?
"Damn monster…"
Even now, the Root ninja was still thinking about how to escape. But with Naruto's speed, no matter what he tried, his chances were basically zero.
Under these circumstances, to prevent his mission from being exposed, the Root ninja quickly pulled out an envelope and formed a one-handed seal…
Below, Naruto could tell it was a Fire Style seal. Whatever the Root ninja was in such a hurry to destroy must be something he couldn't let anyone see.
So Naruto bent his legs slightly, then exploded upward in a powerful leap toward the Root ninja.
The flames had already ignited. Too late!
Naruto sighed inwardly—it was a pity, but not that big of a loss.
He was curious about the contents, but seeing them or not didn't really matter.
His goal was only to stop the Root ninja—and, as a bonus, to make Danzō suffer.
As long as Danzō felt uncomfortable, Naruto felt good.
Everything else wasn't important.
However… at this critical moment—
Just as the Root ninja was about to destroy the mission scroll, a kunai flew straight toward his neck. The sound of it cutting through the air was no different from the call of the Grim Reaper.
The Root ninja realized it was bad. His chakra was already in motion, destroying the evidence—he couldn't dodge.
But there was still one thing he could do.
His jaw muscles tensed. When the force reached a certain level, the mechanism hidden in the curse seal activated, beginning to destroy his brain.
Half a second later…
Pfft~
The kunai buried itself deep in the Root ninja's neck. At the same time, the curse seal finished destroying his brain.
In the distance, Sakyo leaned against a tree trunk, watching coldly as the Root ninja's body fell from the branches.
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