Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 395 Surprise Attack and Encounter Battle

"Naruto Uzumaki is at the door."

As an intelligence operative, even while standing atop the golem providing chakra, one must keep an eye on the outside world. The speaker was Black Zetsu, who harbored no goodwill towards this ninja who had ruined his plans. He had even repeatedly urged Obito to eliminate him as soon as possible, but the indecisive fellow always made excuses, claiming the time wasn't right—truly despicable.

"This is too fast, less than a day already. Hmm." Deidara, who had just fought Gaara and was constantly expending chakra to travel, felt exhausted. He didn't believe that the barrier could stop the people outside. Once the Flying Thunder God Mark was applied, they would be facing an unknown number of combatants, who could break the barrier even if they just poured in their own chakra.

The leader said at the beginning that it would take three days and three nights, right? It's only been one day and one night, and the enemy has already reached the gate!

Sure enough, the operation was troublesome from start to finish, and there wasn't a single place where things went smoothly!

Faced with the restlessness of a group of troublemakers, the leader remained unmoved and simply handed over the support mission to another pair that was closer to the location.

Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha.

"There's no suitable offering. Do I have to use my clones again? Making clones is tiring..." White Zetsu muttered and complained. It's because Sasori of the Red Sand didn't use any of his pieces.

White Zetsu clones are definitely not the best vessel for the Transformation Technique, because the chakra reserves of a single clone are not large, certainly not comparable to those of a normal Jonin. Their only advantage is their unique bodies, which allow them to replenish their energy from nature relatively quickly. If the Transformation Technique is used, this uniqueness becomes irrelevant; the strength of a ninjutsu is determined by the clone's chakra limit, not how much chakra it can absorb.

"Complaining is useless, let's get down to business." Black Zetsu decisively stopped White Zetsu's rambling; he knew all too well how noisy that guy was. Why could someone created by the Divine Tree be so noisy? He really couldn't understand it.

Once the ritual was complete, the barrier could no longer be opened, as outsiders could break in at any moment; it was better to prepare there. Furthermore, the Akatsuki members clearly felt their chakra drain accelerating; their leader had sped up the ritual, wanting to end this long seal as quickly as possible. At this moment, the giant statue above them was visibly opening its eyes; once those eyes were fully open, it would signify the end.

The moment the boulder was shattered, Kisame, who had arrived using the Transformation Technique, unleashed a torrent of water powerful enough to submerge the gate. His Great Waterfall Technique was practically a tempestuous wave, though limited by his physical form, he couldn't fully utilize it. Their mission was to buy time, so the battle couldn't take place inside the cave. Pushing everyone out as soon as the gate opened was a sound tactic.

But change always comes unexpectedly. Just as their gazes were focused on the doorway, a golden figure suddenly appeared beside Gaara, who was suspended in mid-air. In that instant, all of Akatsuki's eyes turned to him, but the blond man, hovering in mid-air, met his leader's gaze without the slightest fear, and then turned and slashed.

The blue membrane spewed out by the golem was sliced ​​open by a blade coated with a pale golden light.

From the moment Naruto burst in to Gaara's rescue, only a blink of an eye passed. The Flying Thunder God Technique is that unreasonable a ninjutsu; once the restrictions are lifted, rescuing someone marked is as easy as breathing. Even though they were extremely cautious, specifically using their Sharingan to examine Gaara's entire body and destroy the chakra-infused amulet, Naruto could still simply teleport in.

Moreover, what shocked both the leader and Black Zetsu was that the Golem was clearly a powerful weapon against Tailed Beasts. Once the collar was on, it shouldn't be able to let the Jinchuriki leave unless it was completely retracted. However... Naruto easily severed the connecting wire, which almost caused Deidara and Sasori, who were directly in the same space as the Golem, to suffer a backlash.

The moment Yiwei left, the eerie behemoth let out an inhuman howl, shaking the makeshift cave to its limits. It was only thanks to the leader's decisive action in dispelling the spiritual connection that the two were spared the fate of being buried alive.

The dispelling of the psychic connection meant the mission had failed and there was no support left; they had to find a way to escape the siege on their own.

"Damn it! The prey I went through so much trouble to capture was just taken away like that!" Deidara was so angry that he forgot all his verbal tics.

He was from Iwagakure, having grown up listening to ghost stories about the Yellow Flash. As a fearless genius, he naturally scoffed at such tales, utterly disbelieving that a mere ninja could pose such a threat to a village. He even issued the order: "Anyone who sees the Yellow Flash can abandon the mission." But today, after experiencing it even slightly, his composure was crumbling. The Flying Thunder God Technique—such an overpowered ninjutsu shouldn't exist! He had expended so much chakra to reach this place in such a short time, while this person only needed to form a hand seal!

"Heh, let's think about how to get out of here. There's probably no hope of taking it back. That guy might have already taken his men to a safe place." Sasori's analysis was reasonable. Naruto had indeed taken Gaara straight to Konoha and delivered him to Granny Tsunade.

Kisame, always eager for drama, offered his opinion: "Settling the Jinchuriki will take time, right? Should we deal with his companions? That way, his expression when he comes back will be quite amusing."

Itachi's eyes twitched slightly. Among his excited colleagues, he remained out of place, calm, or perhaps he was trying hard to suppress his emotions.

"There are still three people outside," Itachi reminded them.

"One for each person isn't enough, why don't you give them all to me? Hmm," Deidara said through gritted teeth.

"You talk as if you have enough clay." Scorpion mercilessly exposed his argument.

Although the four of them were bickering, they were all quite fast at doing things.

Kisame swiftly leaped off the rocks, placing one hand on the water's surface. He had the home-field advantage here; the other three were still completely unaware, standing on the water's surface.

Deidara's clay bird arrived shortly after, this time using only a small amount, just enough to obscure his vision so he could throw the more lethal clay spider at the group.

Sasori silently drew his puppet. As a puppeteer, he was extremely sensitive to chakra threads, and immediately noticed the threads clinging to the pink-haired girl. That aged face... Chiyo... Grandma? This opponent was not to be underestimated.

Itachi lagged behind the three. He wasn't an aggressive ninja to begin with, so being a little slower seemed reasonable. However... what he needed to think about now was how to reasonably hold back, at least not to become an obstacle to their survival.

Four Akatsuki members, who had nothing to do with unity, faced off against the Konoha and Sunagakure rescue teams in a completely disorganized manner.