The two ninjas who appeared were Minato Namikaze and Shibi Aburame. The earlier insect attack had come from Shibi, who wore dark sunglasses.
Asuka looked at the two blocking his path and shook his head helplessly. He wondered if he had been running into Minato a little too often lately.
Lowering his voice, he asked,
"Konoha ninja… what are you doing here?"
Minato, who was leading the team, had no intention of answering. Wearing a mask, he remained cold and focused during missions. Without saying a word, he raised his hand and threw several specialized kunai.
Recognizing the familiar opening move, Asuka had no intention of competing with Minato this time. He took a deep breath and exhaled a powerful gust of wind, blowing all the incoming kunai away.
He casually shifted Sara onto his shoulder.
Since he needed to hide his identity, Asuka couldn't use distinctive abilities like Shikotsumyaku or Cyclops' laser vision, which might expose him. For now, he could only rely on conventional Five Elements Ninjutsu and Taijutsu.
After blowing away the kunai, Asuka accelerated straight toward Minato.
Seeing this, Shibi immediately sent his swarm of insects forward.
Asuka didn't even bother avoiding them. He allowed the insects to bite him. Whether it was physical damage or chakra interference, their attacks were practically negligible to him.
Enduring the swarm, Asuka suddenly used Shave, bursting forward with explosive speed and breaking through the cloud of insects.
Before Shibi could launch another attack, Asuka's fist had already struck his abdomen.
Although Shibi reacted quickly and used his insects to form a protective wall in front of him, he had clearly underestimated the power of Asuka's punch.
Asuka's right fist tore through the insect barrier as easily as ripping paper.
The blow landed squarely on Shibi's stomach.
His body bent forward like a shrimp, and saliva spilled uncontrollably from the corner of his mouth.
The next moment, his entire body was sent flying like a cannonball, crashing heavily into the building across the street.
Before Asuka could even withdraw his fist, Minato's attack arrived.
In truth, Minato had reacted the moment Asuka broke through the insect swarm. He had intended to support Shibi immediately.
But Asuka's sudden burst of speed was simply too fast.
By the time Minato moved, Shibi had already taken the hit.
With Minato's incredible reaction speed, he clearly saw the painful expression on Shibi's face when the punch landed. Acting almost on instinct, Minato slashed at Asuka with the kunai in his hand.
Minato truly lived up to his reputation as the fastest ninja in the world.
From the moment Asuka broke through the insect swarm to the moment Shibi was sent flying, less than two seconds had passed. Yet Minato still managed to react and attack, targeting the moment when Asuka's right hand had not yet been withdrawn.
However, the current Asuka was no longer the same person he had been in the Hidden Mist, when he had to carefully hide his strength.
Now that he was fighting seriously, Minato's attack meant very little to him.
The kunai slashed across Asuka's shoulder—but it left no wound at all.
Instead, Asuka used the momentum of the strike to counterattack.
His left leg swept forward like a whip, lashing toward Minato with a sharp tearing sound.
But the attack didn't land.
Sensing the terrifying force behind the kick, Minato chose not to confront it directly. Instead, he used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport away.
Although the kick missed its target, the shockwave it generated sliced off an entire corner of the rooftop.
It should be remembered that Asuka had just absorbed the full force of Minato's slash. Combined with the physical enhancement granted by his Mutant Journey ability, the power of his strike was terrifying.
Now that he no longer needed to suppress his strength, Asuka could finally unleash his mutant abilities freely.
In the past, he had always restrained himself, carefully controlling the power of each attack to avoid causing destruction that was too abnormal.
The Mutant Journey ability directly enhanced the body, granting superhuman physical attributes.
For an ordinary person, this alone would already be incredible. But for someone like Asuka—who already possessed powerful physical capabilities—the enhancement dramatically increased his strength, speed, and jumping ability.
When he had first awakened the ability, a single punch from him—enhanced by chakra—could create a massive crater in the ground, only slightly weaker than Tsunade's Monster Strength.
Now that he had mastered the ability, the destructive power he could produce was far greater.
Ironically, the first thing Asuka did after mastering the ability wasn't learning how to increase his power further.
Instead, he trained himself to suppress his strength.
After all, it would be difficult to explain why his physical power had suddenly skyrocketed.
But at this moment, he had no such concerns.
Unleashing his full strength felt incredibly satisfying.
Before the broken corner of the rooftop had even finished falling, Asuka heard a familiar, passionate voice shout again.
"Bastard! Put her down! Rasengan!"
Naruto had somehow recovered after being kicked away earlier. Seeing Asuka attacking the Konoha ninja who had just saved him, he charged forward in anger.
Leaping onto the rooftop, Naruto formed hand signs again and summoned shadow clones.
With the help of one of his clones, he condensed the familiar swirling ball of chakra in his right hand.
Holding the Rasengan, Naruto rushed toward Asuka with a roar.
Watching Naruto's straightforward fighting style, Asuka shook his head helplessly.
Why hadn't this kid inherited even a little of his father Minato Namikaze's combat intelligence?
Such a direct attack would be easy for any experienced ninja to dodge.
Facing the incoming Rasengan, Asuka didn't even bother stepping away.
He simply shifted his body slightly, letting the attack miss.
At the same time, he grabbed Naruto's wrist and pressed down hard.
The overwhelming force caused Naruto's body to slam downward, and the Rasengan in his hand crashed directly into the rooftop.
Boom!
The impact blasted a large crater into the roof.
Asuka stood up and flung Naruto aside with a burst of strength.
Naruto hit the ground, coughed several times, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and slowly struggled back to his feet.
Perhaps this was what it meant to be the protagonist.
The force from that throw would have left most jonin unable to stand for quite some time. Yet Naruto, aside from coughing up a little blood, looked mostly fine.
The vitality of the Uzumaki clan, combined with the durability of a Nine-Tails jinchūriki, was truly remarkable.
After standing up again, Naruto formed a cross with his hands.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Several loud bursts echoed across the rooftop as thick smoke filled the air.
When the smoke cleared, the entire rooftop was packed with Naruto's shadow clones.
"Everyone, get him!"
"Hey! Put the girl down!"
"Let's avenge the Konoha big brothers!"
The clones shouted loudly as they charged forward.
Looking at the familiar tactic, Asuka sighed.
Seeing Naruto's absurd shadow-clone fighting style in person was quite a spectacle.
He casually knocked Sara unconscious again—she had started waking up—and shifted her onto his right shoulder.
Then he began dealing with the incoming clones one by one, as casually as if he were swatting away children.
He tilted his head to dodge a sneak attack from behind, then drove his elbow backward, causing the clone to burst into smoke.
He spun into a high roundhouse kick, destroying another clone.
Then he grabbed one by the collar and hurled it into a cluster of others, causing several more to disappear with loud pops.
Using nothing but Taijutsu, Asuka moved through the swarm of clones like a dancer, effortlessly destroying almost all of them.
Only a few remained.
One clone nervously threw a kunai.
Asuka tilted his body slightly to avoid it—but the flying kunai suddenly transformed into Naruto with a bang.
That Naruto immediately threw several shuriken.
Asuka waved his right hand, creating a gust of air that scattered the shuriken. At the same time, he caught one and flicked it back.
The shuriken struck the airborne Naruto—
—but that one was just another shadow clone.
At that moment, two shuriken lying on the ground suddenly transformed back into Naruto.
One of them helped the other condense a Rasengan before disappearing into smoke.
The Naruto holding the Rasengan roared and thrust it toward Asuka.
A gentle breeze passed through the rooftop.
"…Huh?"
Naruto stared at his empty hand.
Then he looked at Asuka, who was still standing exactly where he had been before, completely unharmed.
Naruto froze in confusion.
Asuka didn't give him time to react.
He raised his left hand and brought it down in a sharp hand chop toward Naruto's neck.
At the last moment, Minato suddenly appeared beside Naruto, grabbed him, and instantly teleported away using the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Sensing their chakra, Asuka activated the Byakugan in his left eye beneath the mask.
Through the transparent vision of the Byakugan, he saw Minato carrying Naruto while Choza supported Shibi. The group was rapidly retreating away from him.
Asuka had no intention of chasing them.
After all, something far more important awaited him.
With Sara still over his shoulder, Asuka turned and prepared to head directly toward the Dragon Veins.
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