Chapter 73Xuanming's figure hovered in mid-air, his red Daoist robe fluttering without wind.
He stared thoughtfully toward a certain direction deep in the forest and reminded Naruto.
"The malice isn't strong, but… it's pure, unadulterated savagery."
Xuanming's voice rang out—audible only to Naruto: "It doesn't feel human. Probably a frenzied wild beast… or some kind of ferocious creature."
"Logically, dangerous monsters around Konoha Village are regularly cleared out. This one likely just wandered in recently."
Naruto had been pondering the classmates who beat them to the scroll, but his expression instantly turned serious upon hearing this.
He knew very well how reliable Xuanming's perception was.
Anything Xuanming bothered to point out was definitely not something benevolent.
This was far more dangerous than the little scuffles in the exercise.
"Sasuke, Hinata—follow me this way."
Without the slightest hesitation, Naruto changed direction and charged toward the point Xuanming indicated.
Sasuke—who had been examining the tracks—paused mid-motion.
Though he was puzzled why Naruto suddenly moved, out of trust, his body followed immediately.
Hinata had no objections whatsoever and trailed closely behind the two.
"Naruto, did you find something?" Sasuke asked in confusion while running.
"There's a dangerous guy that got in."
Naruto didn't slow his pace; his voice carried back to Sasuke and Hinata: "Not the kind the teachers arranged—probably something much more dangerous."
Hearing there was danger, neither Sasuke nor Hinata retreated—each for their own reasons: Sasuke's confidence in himself and Hinata's complete trust in Naruto.
The three quickly darted through the woods at high speed.
After spending some time reaching the target area, a grating sound of trees snapping came from ahead.
Along with heavy impact shocks that made even the air tremble slightly.
"Help!!"
A blood-curdling scream tore through the forest sky.
Naruto and the others burst out from the blocking bushes; their field of vision suddenly opened wide.
Not far ahead, three boys from their class were fleeing in utter panic.
Behind them, a colossal beast was raising massive claws, whipping up a foul wind, and smashing the ground and surrounding trees nonstop.
The creature was about three to four meters tall, covered in thick white fur, with sharp fangs and claws.
At first glance it resembled a giant bear standing upright.
Yet its build and head bore some similarity to a monkey, and atop its head stood a pair of triangular cat-like ears.
The monster's eyes were blood-red, and from its mouth came heavy, guttural roars: "Ombu—Ombu—"
"That's…" Sasuke's pupils contracted slightly; his hand had already moved toward his ninja pouch.
The oppressive pressure from this creature felt even stronger than the cursed-seal-enhanced Mizuki they had encountered before.
Mizuki had basically been a human-shaped tiger relying on cursed-seal boosted physical stats for strength.
But this monster, just from its appearance alone, looked like it could match two or three Mizukis in raw power.
Hinata stared at the creature and carefully studied it for a moment. A rare piece of knowledge suddenly flashed through her mind.
It was something she had read while accompanying Naruto to the library to research natural energy-related materials.
She had come across it in a book of early Konoha legends and folktales.
"This monster… I think it's an Ōmba…" Hinata's tone was somewhat uncertain: "A creature from legends, said to live deep in the forests around Konoha. When fully grown its fur is white, it possesses immense strength, is extremely ferocious, and no one can match it…"
"Legend says when an Ōmba goes berserk, all the fierce beasts in the forest fall silent… but… how could this kind of creature appear in the training ground?"
While Hinata was explaining, the Ōmba had already lost patience.
It let out a roar, swung its thick arm in a wide arc, and smashed toward the ground.
BOOM!
Soil sprayed everywhere; a huge crater was blasted into the earth.
The three unlucky classmates narrowly dodged.
Naruto took a closer look—it was Hyūga Hōka and his two teammates.
They were sent tumbling by the Ōmba's fist wind, narrowly escaping being turned into mincemeat.
Having seen some real combat, the three still had enough presence of mind not to freeze in terror.
They immediately scrambled up and continued running.
"This monster definitely isn't one of Iruka-sensei's exercise props."
Xuanming floated beside Naruto and reminded him.
"With the strength level of academy teachers, if they really fought this thing, they probably wouldn't be its match."
"So it must have wandered in from somewhere else. Naruto—what do you plan to do?"
"Is that even a question?"
There wasn't the slightest fear in Naruto's eyes—only a spark of fighting spirit.
"Of course we save people first! Watch me stop it!"
Seeing his classmates in danger, Naruto was not the type to hide by himself.
And if things really got dangerous—didn't he have the Fox Sage protecting him?
Before his words even finished, the muscles in Naruto's legs tensed. Chakra surged through his meridians, reinforcing his lower body.
BANG!
The ground beneath his foot erupted in a shockwave.
Leaves flew as Naruto shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow.
At that moment, the Ōmba was closing in on Hōka's trio.
Hōka had briefly considered splitting up with his two teammates to escape—the monster couldn't chase all three at once.
Splitting would be bad for whoever got pursued, but much better for the other two.
But the monster's aura was truly terrifying; both the chubby kid and the glasses-wearing boy were too scared to separate from him.
On some level, perhaps they were also recalling bad memories.
In the end they could only helplessly continue—"HELP!!"
It wasn't that Hōka's group was useless—the enemy was simply far too powerful.
All they could do while fleeing was keep shouting for help.
Hoping that any classmate or teacher who heard would come rescue them.
Very soon, Naruto's figure burst explosively from the woods, a howling whirlwind swirling around his body.
A powerful, momentum-heavy flying kick slammed squarely into the Ōmba's stomach.
DOOM—
A heavy, muffled impact rang out.
The sheer force was immediately visible—the Ōmba's towering body staggered backward several steps.
But its paw—eerily similar to a human hand—braced against a nearby large tree, halting its retreat.
The tree, originally straight, was now permanently bent from the impact.
After the kick, Naruto used the rebound to perform a backflip and landed in front of Hōka's trio.
He felt the slight numbness in his right leg and frowned.
That kick had landed on the Ōmba's thick white fur—it felt like kicking a solid steel plate.
Though it had pushed the giant back a few steps, watching it shake its head and steady itself again,
it clearly hadn't taken any real damage.
Without turning around, Naruto's voice still reached Hōka's group clearly.
"You guys run first! Go find Iruka-sensei or another teacher—this thing definitely isn't part of the exercise!"
The three who had just escaped death burst into tears and snot in an instant.
"Uzumaki Naruto? Uchiha Sasuke? We're saved!"
Seeing Naruto's back blocking in front of them, and Sasuke flashing to Naruto's side,
the trio finally let out long breaths of relief.
Without waiting for Naruto to urge them again, they quickly ran toward safety.
As the famously hyped "Naruto-Sasuke duo" in the academy,
in their minds, they had zero doubt that Naruto and Sasuke could handle this monster.
The two of them had previously fought someone stronger than Iruka-sensei, after all.
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