Naruto, fleeing ahead, took his Shadow Clone hostage and rushed through the forest.
If you want to get rid of the Root, simply running away won't work!
Naruto, a rookie at the Ninja Academy, hardly knew anything about reconnaissance or anti-tracking.
When Uchiha Itachi trained with Shisui, he could easily track the subtle traces of a path—flowers and plants that had been stepped on, and even broken twigs.
It was important to know that Shisui was not even an ANBU member yet, while those who specialized in assassinations—and Root, who originally trained and delivered talents to the ANBU—were far more professional at tracking and detection than Shisui.
The advantage of a transmigrator's memory did nothing to match the knowledge of these ninjas.
So Naruto could not escape Root's pursuit. There was only one way to end this hunt—kill them!
And with his current strength, trying to wipe out eight elite Root ninjas would be nothing but a foolish dream unless he revealed the Nine-Tails' chakra!
But if he did that, his identity would inevitably be exposed, and he might not even be able to escape afterward.
So Naruto had to create a situation where using the Nine-Tails' power would seem reasonable.
For this, early in the morning, he used the Shadow Clone Technique to have his clone follow Uchiha Itachi to retrieve the golden kunai.
Then he let the Shadow Clone lead Shikamaru and the others to the training ground for a picnic,
while his real body disguised itself as a stone in advance, waiting for the arrival of Uchiha Shisui and Danzo!
And everything turned out exactly as Naruto had planned.
Just as Danzo used Izanagi and unexpectedly gouged out Shisui's eye,
the defenseless Danzo was directly struck by Naruto's Rasengan, and the Sharingan flew out.
Then, under the watch of the ANBU and Shikamaru's group, Naruto quickly grabbed his Shadow Clone and seized the moment before the Root could catch up!
At this moment, Naruto's Shadow Clone was carrying him while rapidly moving through the forest.
Shisui's Sharingan was directly pulled into the sealed space inside his body.
Naruto: This is a convenience I discovered after buying the Summoning Scroll.
Without the Nine-Tails interfering, Naruto could seal items inside his body—just like Uchiha Itachi once sealed Shisui's Sharingan within his own body.
Now it was time to switch with the real body,
and let those Root ninjas behind catch up again.
The squad leader wearing a monkey mask pointed several times toward Naruto.
"You won't escape! The Sharingan belongs to Lord Danzo!"
The squad leader let out a low shout:
"Wind Style!"
A wind blade instantly sliced the branch in front of Naruto.
"You have nowhere to run! Hand over Lord Danzo's Sharingan!"
Meanwhile,
several Root members threw shuriken and kunai directly toward the falling Naruto.
The Shadow Clone instantly flipped over and threw several kunai downward.
However, behind the kunai was a burning ball of poisonous smoke!
Naruto, pretending to be unconscious, cursed in his heart.
Damn it! They don't care about hostages at all—even if I'm the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki!
The Shadow Clone immediately formed a hand seal with one hand and hissed:
"Wind Style!"
A strong gust of wind instantly blew away the poisonous smoke.
Since Naruto knew he had the best affinity for the wind attribute, he had naturally asked Hyuga Hiashi to teach him some simple low-level wind ninjutsu.
And the moment the poisonous mist dispersed,
those expressionless Root ninjas directly pulled out kunai with explosive tags attached.
The Shadow Clone's eyes suddenly widened.
Brother, are you not leaving even a corpse? Aren't you afraid of blowing up the Sharingan?!
Fortunately, the squad leader was still somewhat rational at this moment. Looking at the Shadow Clone gathered in the center, he said:
"Avoid the Jinchuriki. Aim for his legs."
"Go!"
After that, the kunai carrying explosive tags were thrown directly at the Shadow Clone.
"Stop!"
The two ANBU following behind were shocked.
If something happened to the Jinchuriki, the Third Hokage would probably dig up their graves!
"Earth Style!"
A wall instantly rose in front of Naruto.
The explosion from the detonation tags was blocked by the earth wall.
"You are interfering with Root operations!" the squad leader shouted coldly at the two ANBU.
The ANBU swallowed nervously. Although they were not in the same system, the strength of the Root's vice-captain was obvious—they were no match for this group.
"We were ordered to keep the Jinchuriki safe!"
"Hmph! Move forward and search!"
The squad leader snorted coldly and waved his hand.
Several people left the formation and walked straight into the smoke.
The two ANBU also tried to follow, but were stopped by several Root members.
"Stay here. We'll bring the Jinchuriki back."
However, at that very moment,
a black shadow burst out of the smoke and shot toward a large tree on the side.
"Where do you think you're going!"
The Root ninja snorted sharply, and the kunai in his hand instantly flew toward the Shadow Clone.
The Shadow Clone was about to be hit!
Naruto in his arms suddenly woke up "just in time."
"Let go of me! Who are you?! Why did you capture me?!"
Naruto shouted while wildly flailing his limbs.
The ANBU and Root below were shocked at the same time.
"Not good!"
They saw the kunai perfectly heading straight for Naruto's right eye!
In an instant, blood splattered.
Naruto's scream of pain echoed through the forest.
But in the next moment,
the scream suddenly turned into a roar!
The red tailed-beast chakra instantly erupted from Naruto's body!
One tail, two tails, three tails!
Three-Tails State!