Chapter 18
The Kumo leader suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
As an elite jonin of Kumogakure, he too could use Lightning Release Chakra Mode to stimulate every cell in his body and dramatically boost physical performance.
Even at full burst, he was nowhere near the Raikage's level—but still far faster than most jonin.
Yet now, he sensed a terrifying presence closing in from behind.
He instinctively glanced back. Under his hood, his pupils shrank to needle points.
"Damn it! What kind of speed is that?!"
In the moonlit snow, a streak of interwoven gold and red light skimmed the ground like it was flying.
It wasn't true flight—just velocity so extreme it looked like it.
The chakra cloak wrapped around Naruto's small body like tangible flames.
Two red chakra fox ears stood erect on his head, swept back by the wind. A single tail swayed behind him like a swimming dragon, maintaining perfect balance at breakneck speed.
"Ha—!!"
Naruto let out a low, childish roar that carried surprising authority. He stomped again—snow exploded outward—and used the momentum for one final leap.
"Caught you."
He crossed the last ten meters in an instant, appearing directly above the Kumo leader's head.
No flashy ninjutsu—Naruto genuinely didn't know many yet.
Instead, he rode the force of his descent and unleashed a technique from the Taiji Bagua Palm.
"Taiji: Pushing and Blocking Hammer"
In Tailed Beast Cloak mode, his small fist extended forward, suddenly growing a massive beast claw wreathed in Nine-Tails chakra. It smashed downward with crushing power.
The Kumo leader was still an elite jonin. In a life-or-death moment, he twisted his body with sheer willpower, raising his uninjured right arm and activating Lightning Armor to block.
BOOM!
A deafening crash.
The Lightning Armor—Kumogakure's pride—shattered like paper.
At the same time, the bones in his right arm let out a sickening crunch.
"Pfft!"
The single punch sent him flying like he'd been hit by a charging rhinoceros.
He smashed straight through a wall, half his body embedded in snow and brick, kicking up several meters of white spray.
"Not over yet," Xuanming reminded. "Jonin have tough vitality. Don't give him a chance to escape."
"Got it!"
Naruto landed. His red-gold palm suddenly stretched, transforming into a flexible giant hand.
It reached straight for the twitching leg protruding from the wall debris.
Sensing the continued attack, the Kumo leader's hazy consciousness tried to dodge—but he was yanked out like a radish and hurled skyward.
"Eight Trigrams: Azure Dragon Probes Claw!"
Naruto assumed a palm strike stance. The attack carried searing heat and an air-ripping sonic boom.
BANG!
The Kumo leader was helpless in midair—like a rag doll.
The palm struck dead-center on his chest. All ribs shattered. Blood sprayed from beneath his mask.
He crashed heavily into another nearby wall and slid slowly down, twitching, barely clinging to life—more out-breaths than in.
Two exchanges. That was all it took.
A jonin had zero chance against Naruto in "Tailed Beast Cloak" mode.
Perhaps because he'd already been stabbed in one arm, or because he never expected pursuit from a three-year-old.
"Father!"
At that moment, Hinata—who had run back desperately—finally saw her savior.
From the shadows of the Hyūga side gate, a stern figure emerged.
Hiashi immediately shielded the rushing Hinata behind him. He didn't check on his daughter first—instead locked eyes on the distant figure radiating tailed beast chakra.
He had sensed something wrong much earlier.
Someone had infiltrated the compound and abducted Hinata from her room.
Furious, he activated his Byakugan and instantly tracked the kidnapper.
The Kumo leader's concealment technique was useless against the Hyūga clan head's vision.
As head of one of the shinobi world's great clans, Hiashi quickly judged the chakra quality and knew the intruder couldn't escape him.
Familiar with the terrain, he had come early to the inevitable escape route to intercept.
Then he saw a second "Hinata" appear on the street.
The bizarre situation made him curious. He held back in the shadows, observing instead of rushing out.
Until the "fake Hinata" transformed into Naruto—and erupted with chakra that made even him feel a chill.
Veins bulged at the corners of Hiashi's eyes. His Byakugan swept Naruto from every angle.
In his black-and-white vision, Naruto's current state could only be described as terrifying.
Endless pale red chakra poured from the boy's abdomen.
Around him swirled a distorted, abstract image of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox—one tail fully materialized.
This… was the power of a jinchūriki—the Nine-Tails?
A drop of cold sweat slid down Hiashi's temple. His body instinctively tensed, ready to assume a Gentle Fist stance at any moment.
But… something was wrong.
Hiashi quickly noticed the anomaly.
During the Nine-Tails attack three years ago, he had observed the rampaging fox.
That chakra had been chaotic, violent, and brimming with malice.
The chakra around Naruto now was violent, yes—but flowed with abnormal order.
The pale red chakra circulated naturally through the child's meridians.
Was this truly a rampage?
Or had… this three-year-old boy perfectly controlled the Nine-Tails' chakra?
"N-Naruto-kun…?"
Hinata peeked out from behind her father.
She hadn't activated her Byakugan yet, so she couldn't see the terrifying chakra phenomenon.
To her eyes, she simply saw the blond boy radiating power.
Wrapped in a red-gold chakra cloak, he had defeated the bad guy like a hero.
"So amazing…" Admiration nearly overflowed from Hinata's eyes.
"Don't go near him."
Hiashi's hand blocked Hinata from stepping forward, voice stern.
By now, Naruto had finished the fight.
He turned around. His originally bright blue eyes had become red slit pupils; the whisker marks on his cheeks had deepened and thickened.
Yet his expression wasn't savage or feral.
What followed didn't unfold as Hiashi feared—no berserk jinchūriki rampaging wildly.
"Haa…"
Naruto exhaled a long breath of white vapor. The glow around him slowly receded, dissolving into specks of starlight that returned inside his body.
Fox ears vanished. Tail dissipated. Face returned to normal.
He was once again just the ordinary village kid—Uzumaki Naruto.
"Done!" Naruto patted nonexistent dust from his hands and flashed a victory sign toward Hinata.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Breaking air sounded.
Several Anbu—having detected ninjutsu fluctuations near the Hyūga compound—arrived on scene.
Two teammates quickly performed release seals, dispelling the "Thunder Light Pillar" genjutsu on Yūgao Uzuki and the other trapped Anbu.
"Wh-what happened…?"
Yūgao blinked, dazed. Her first instinct was to search for the enemy.
In the genjutsu, she had charged through blinding light and used Konoha-style sword technique—Three Days Moon Dance—to easily subdue the black-clad figure.
"Over here."
A childish voice called out.
Everyone looked.
Naruto stood in the middle of the road, pointing at the half-dead black-clad man slumped in the corner.
Face completely relaxed, he said: "That one-eyed uncle was too weak. Fox Sage and I beat him together."
"Please take him away. He's still breathing a little. Now you can believe me—he really is a bad guy!"
Dead silence fell over the scene.
The Anbu looked from the chest-caved, mangled black-clad man… to the innocent-looking three-year-old Naruto.
In the distance: the Hyūga clan head standing on high alert, and Hinata gazing at Naruto with open worship.
"This… was done by that kid?"
Yūgao swallowed hard. She remembered Naruto's words earlier that day—"Fox Sage said he's very bad."
So Fox Sage didn't just give warnings—it also fought for him?
Another arriving Anbu squad deputy captain caught the implication. He flickered to the black-clad figure's side and lifted the blood-soaked mask.
Beneath it was the ruined face of the Kumo delegation leader.
The deputy captain's expression changed instantly. He didn't yet know the full situation.
But he knew one thing: this man could not die in Konoha.
Otherwise it would become a diplomatic incident—threatening the newly signed alliance treaty with Kumo.
He immediately ordered subordinates to notify the Third Hokage, then personally carried the barely-alive Kumo leader toward Konoha Hospital for emergency treatment.
That night, Konoha's higher-ups were destined to get no sleep.
And a new report on the "Fox Sage" once again landed on the Hokage's desk.
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