Mizuki-sensei had already completed the first stage of his transformation; his muscles bulged, and tiger stripes emerged.
"Die, brat!" Mizuki-sensei rushed forward, brandishing a giant Fuma Shuriken.
However, facing Mizuki-sensei, who charged like a cannonball, Naruto remained relaxed and composed. He probed the edges of the Fuma Shuriken like a falling leaf, even finding the time to observe Mizuki-sensei's state.
"Increased muscle density, bestial pupils, and strange markings... is this your trump card?" Naruto sidestepped a heavy punch while slightly frowning. "Rather than that, the potion you just drank doesn't seem like something you could have made."
"Shut up, Demon Fox!" Mizuki-sensei roared, his offensive becoming increasingly fierce.
Naruto became slightly more serious, but still felt no pressure. In the bushes, Akamaru whimpered uneasily. Inuzuka Kiba stroked Akamaru's head, cold sweat dripping from the tip of his nose.
"Mizuki-sensei... is actually this strong? And Naruto is actually free enough to chat while facing Mizuki-sensei's attacks?"
At this moment, Naruto was indeed handling it with ease. Although Mizuki-sensei's strength had increased, it was still within a controllable range. He wanted to stall for a while to see if he could extract more information, such as the meaning of "Demon Fox" or the source of the potion.
"Damn it... you cursed brat! Is that look in your eyes meant to look down on me?" Unable to land a hit for a long time, Mizuki-sensei felt greatly insulted. "Then let me show you true power!"
The air around him began to distort slightly, releasing a powerful aura. His massive body expanded once more, and his bestial characteristics became even more pronounced; his skin was completely covered in yellow and black tiger fur. Mizuki-sensei had completely turned into a half-human, half-tiger monster, his speed and strength exploding several times over in an instant.
"What!"
Naruto pupils constricted. A second-stage transformation? The intelligence deviated in an instant. Naruto body was still predicting based on the rhythm of the first stage, and he was currently in a relaxed state where old momentum had faded and new strength had yet to be generated.
"Die!"
Mizuki-sensei's figure vanished into thin air; when he reappeared, that massive sharp claw was less than three inches from Naruto throat. Too fast! He couldn't dodge! The breath of death rushed toward him, and Naruto body froze for half a second in that fatal moment.
"Gatsuga!!"
A high-speed rotating whirlwind slammed in from the side regardless of the consequences. The moment Kiba-kun noticed something was wrong, his body acted before his consciousness did. He used the Ninjutsu he had never been able to master before.
Bang!
However, in the face of the massive power gap, Inuzuka Kiba only stopped Mizuki-sensei for a single second before Mizuki-sensei swatted him away like a fly, interrupting Inuzuka Kiba's rotation.
"Pfft!" Inuzuka Kiba spat out a mouthful of blood, his body flying out like a tattered sack and slamming hard against a tree trunk before he lost consciousness.
"Kiba-kun!"
This tragic scene finally snapped Naruto back to reality. Using the moment Kiba-kun had desperately fought for, Naruto survival instincts exploded, and he instantly pulled away. Looking at Kiba-kun, whose fate was unknown, Naruto heart pounded violently, and an unprecedented fear and lingering dread welled up in his heart.
I almost died... If Kiba-kun hadn't rushed over, I would have been torn to pieces. I was actually testing him? I actually wanted to extract information? Facing this kind of unknown monster, why didn't I use my full strength from the start?
When fear reaches its peak, some people collapse, while others erupt into extreme aggression. Naruto looked up, and his eyes no longer held any composure, only extreme aggression caused by the shock.
"From the start, I shouldn't have given you the chance to transform..." Naruto muttered to himself, his body trembling slightly from over-excitement. Then, he formed his most familiar cross-shaped seal.
"To prevent you from having a third stage, I'm going to beat you until not even ashes remain! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Bang bang bang bang bang!!!
Countless figures instantly flooded the forest. Mizuki-sensei was about to pursue, but his footsteps came to a dead stop. He looked around in terror—in the trees, on the ground, on the rocks, it was densely packed with Narutos. Not ten or a hundred, but hundreds and thousands of Narutos. None of the Narutos' faces had any expression, only a cold killing intent born from stress.
All the clones formed hand seals simultaneously and took a deep breath; the air seemed to thin out instantly.
"Renkei Ninjutsu: Fuiton: Mugen Daitoppa!"
"Wait, wait... I surrender, I surrender!" Mizuki-sensei finally felt fear at this moment and let out a desperate scream.
But it was too late.
Boom boom boom boom boom boom!!!
The sky-filling air cannons instantly swallowed everything. The ground seemed to have been plowed over, as the continuous massive sonic booms and explosions shattered entire groves of trees. The roaring and explosions lasted for a full minute. Until the spot where Mizuki-sensei had been became a massive deep crater emitting black smoke, and all the clones vanished as their Chakra was exhausted.
Naruto slumped on the ground, gasping for breath. The massive explosion alerted the village. A moment later, the Sandaime Hokage arrived with the Anbu, seeing a scene that looked like the aftermath of a natural disaster.
"This..." Even though he had expected it, when he arrived at the scene, the Sandaime Hokage's pipe almost fell to the ground. This level of destructive power was created by an academy student?
"Naruto-kun," the Sandaime Hokage looked at the soot-covered Naruto, who was bandaging the unconscious Kiba-kun's wounds, with a complex expression. "Where is Mizuki?"
Naruto pointed to the large crater nearby. "Maybe inside, or maybe everywhere."
Naruto voice trembled slightly, not because of the killing, but because of the lingering dread. A little more, and he would have died.
"Grandpa Sandaime, if your enemy suddenly became several times stronger, how would you respond?"
The Sandaime Hokage was stunned for a moment, then understood. He had actually been watching the entire battle using the Toome no Jutsu and knew Naruto was a bit shaken after encountering an unexpected situation in his first life-and-death battle. So he comforted him:
"Such sudden situations are unavoidable; you can only prepare as much as possible beforehand. You've already done a great job. You not only protected your companion but also completed the mission and defeated a powerful enemy."
Naruto lowered his head, looking at the blood on his hands from bandaging Inuzuka Kiba's wounds, and muttered to himself: "Prepare more, huh?"
...Inside Naruto room, the light was dim. He curled up in the corner, his gaze occasionally sweeping outside the window. Although the Sandaime Hokage guaranteed Mizuki-sensei was dead, the sudden fear brought by that intelligence deviation still clung to him.
The moment Mizuki-sensei's claws were about to slash his throat, and the scene of Inuzuka Kiba spitting blood and flying backward, all replayed in his mind like a nightmare.
"What if that was just a clone? What if he had accomplices? What if there were other backup plans?"
This anxiety kept Naruto from sleeping. So, after taking a bath, he first sent a message to Aizen. Then he opened the forum and posted a question:
[Almost killed by a strong enemy with a second-stage transformation, how can I ensure absolute safety?]