Chapter 21: A Strong Foe (Patreon)

Sasuke’s heart pounded in his chest as he ran. His muscles burned, lungs heaving as his legs carried him through the dense undergrowth of the Forest of Death. The shinobi pursuing them—this thing wearing the face of a Kusa-nin—was playing with them. That much was obvious. Every step Sasuke took, every desperate maneuver to escape, the enemy was right there, matching his pace with ease, barely even trying.

He needed to get away. They needed to get away.

But then the shadows shifted. A blur of movement.

And a massive snake lunged from the trees.

Sasuke barely had time to react before the beast’s mouth opened wide, its fangs glinting in the dim light, rows of muscle-lined flesh waiting to consume him whole.

Time slowed.

His pupils dilated, breath hitching. He tried to move—tried to do something—but he was caught in the sheer terror of the moment, watching helplessly as the snake’s jaws snapped shut—

And then—

An explosion.

Not fire. Not jutsu. But flesh.

The snake's body burst apart in a shower of gore. Blood and chunks of meat rained down, splattering the trees, soaking the earth in thick, steaming crimson. The sheer force of the impact sent a shockwave through the air, rustling the leaves, making the trees groan under the sudden shift in pressure.

Where the snake once stood, there was only a figure.

Naruto Uzumaki.

Still. Silent.

Standing ankle-deep in the remains of the massive summon, his glowing blue eyes sharp and unblinking, short red hair matted with fresh blood. He had moved—but no one had seen him move. He had killed—but no one had seen the strike.

The air was heavy with the scent of iron.

Sakura gasped. Then, her shock gave way to something else.

She clenched her fists and grinned.

“Haha! You're dead now, Kusa-nin!”

The woman in question—if she could even be called that—did not flinch. Did not recoil. If anything, she smiled.

A sharp, snake-like grin stretched her lips.

Naruto, however, merely blinked at her, tilting his head slightly.

“Are you trying to kill us,” he asked, “for the scroll? For entertainment? For sports? For curiosity?” He paused. “Or something else?”

The Kusa-nin chuckled.

“Curiosity, dear,” she purred. “And a passion for science.”

Naruto's expression did not change.

“Are you really going to kill us?”

A pause.

“Maybe.”

And then—

They vanished.

Naruto moved first. Or maybe she did. It was impossible to tell.

One moment, they were there. The next, they were everywhere.

The trees trembled as shockwaves of movement passed through the canopy. Branches cracked under the force of their battle, the air screamed with the sound of bodies clashing at speeds beyond human perception.

Naruto fought like a panther—low, sleek, precise. His attacks were fluid, his strikes fast and devastating. He leapt from branch to branch with an almost unnatural grace, his chakra-enhanced speed turning him into little more than a flicker of movement. Every strike, every clawing swipe of his hands, was aimed at a weak point—a throat, a joint, an exposed rib.

But the Kusa-nin—she was something else.

She twisted, bent in ways no human should. Her body was elastic, stretching, snapping back into place like a whip. A limb would lash out at an impossible angle, her torso rotating far beyond what bones should allow. When Naruto struck, she would bend, shifting her body just enough to let the attack miss by mere inches.

It was like fighting smoke.

Naruto landed on a thick branch, his breath even, his glowing eyes locked onto her.

She was strong.

Stronger than anyone he had fought before.

And more importantly—she had jutsu. A whole arsenal of techniques. Fire, wind, clones, transformations. Her chakra was dense, layered, refined. Every move she made was precise, calculated.

Naruto, in contrast, had only himself. No ninjutsu, no fancy tricks. Just his body, his instincts, his speed, his strength.

And right now—

He was losing.

A sharp pain bloomed in his shoulder as a kunai bit into his skin, slashing through muscle. He twisted away before it could go deeper, but another attack came from the opposite side—too fast to dodge. A kick slammed into his ribs, sending him hurtling through the air.

He flipped mid-flight, catching himself on a branch.

Pain.

He hated pain.

But even as blood dripped from his wound, even as his ribs ached—he was learning.

Adapting.

His eyes flickered. His body adjusted.

He had never fought an enemy like this before. Someone faster. Someone smarter. Someone who didn’t rely on brute force, but on technique.

So he changed.

Instead of raw speed, he shifted his movements. He watched her more closely, mimicked the way she twisted, how she bent her body at the last second to avoid his blows.

She lashed out with a kunai—he tilted his head just enough to let it scrape past.

She kicked—he twisted, absorbing the impact differently, redirecting the force rather than resisting it.

She lunged—he stepped forward, closing the distance in a way that cut off her attack before it could begin.

Her grin faltered.

For the first time, she was the one forced to move back.

Naruto’s fingers twitched. His body was changing. No visible transformation. No physical shift. Just something deeper. His mind, his instincts, the very way he fought—it was all adjusting, recalibrating, growing sharper.

And for the first time since their battle began—

She wasn’t smiling.

Naruto exhaled. His breath was steady, his glowing sapphire eyes locked onto the enemy before him. He could feel the way his muscles ached, the way his ribs protested every small movement, the way blood trickled down his arm from the kunai wound he’d taken earlier. His body hurt, but pain was irrelevant. The Kusa-nin was still standing. Still grinning. Still watching him, like he was some specimen under a microscope.

This fight had gone on long enough.

His fingers moved instinctively. The familiar hand sign. The chakra surge.

“Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu. Dattebane.”

The forest exploded in a thick cloud of smoke.

A great rush of wind followed, rustling the trees, shaking the very ground beneath them. The Kusa-nin tensed slightly, eyes flicking around as the smoke began to clear. And when it did—

She was surrounded.

Hundreds of Narutos.

Perched on every branch, standing on every inch of available ground, hanging from the thick vines, balancing on jagged tree trunks. A wave of identical figures, red messy hair and white hoodies blending into the humid, leafy backdrop of the Forest of Death. Their glowing blue eyes reflected the dim light, their bodies eerily still.

It was a sea of him. A pack of him.

And then—

They attacked.

Not with hesitation. Not with strategy. But like a hunting party descending on prey.

The clones moved as one, leaping from the trees with an unnatural synchronization. Some came from above, others from the sides, a few swarmed the ground. They struck from all angles, forcing the Kusa-nin into a reaction rather than an attack.

For the first time—she was the one on the defensive.

She twisted, dodged, her limbs snapping and bending in unnatural ways. A kunai slashed through one Naruto, dispelling it instantly—but three more were already there, fists swinging, feet kicking, bodies lunging.

Another kunai, another flash of chakra, another technique—

But it didn’t matter.

They kept coming.

Again. And again.

A relentless, suffocating tide.

Naruto fought like a collection of chakra-enhanced creatures, each clone embodying something different. Some moved with the sheer brute strength of an enraged predator, their punches cracking the bark of trees when they missed. Others were swift, darting around her like swarming insects, never staying in one place long enough to be caught. A few even mimicked birds of prey, leaping from the highest points, descending at terrifying speeds.

One clone clawed at her midsection, another slammed into her back, yet another grabbed onto her arm, trying to twist it into a lock. She kicked one off, snapped another’s neck in a single motion, but it never stopped.

She was drowning in him.

Her sharp grin was gone. Replaced by gritted teeth.

She tried to escape—vanish into the trees, weave through the battlefield, gain some distance.

It didn’t work.

The moment she attempted to move, dozens of Narutos followed, their predatory instincts kicking in, matching her step for step, closing in, cutting off every escape route.

This wasn’t a fight anymore.

It was a hunt.

And she was losing.

For the first time, real concern flickered in her snake-like eyes. She was no longer toying with them. No longer amused. No longer indulging in the pleasure of combat. She was backed into a corner.

Naruto watched her closely.

Humans were strange creatures.

When an animal was afraid—truly afraid—it would never attack again. It would retreat, flee, submit. Fear was a survival instinct. Animals understood when a fight wasn’t worth it.

But humans?

Always the opposite.

Fear only made them more dangerous.

Which is why—when the Kusa-nin made her decision—Naruto wasn’t surprised.

She didn’t surrender.

She didn’t flee.

She did the one thing no cornered animal would do—

She attacked.

With a flick of her wrist, she bit her thumb, the blood a stark red against her pale skin. A string of hand signs, fluid, practiced, precise—

Summoning Jutsu.

A massive puff of smoke filled the air, blotting out the battlefield for a single second—

And when it cleared—

A colossal serpent erupted from the trees, its scales gleaming in the dim light, its eyes cold and calculating.

Naruto’s clones didn’t hesitate. They swarmed.

The beast hissed, its tongue flicking out before its massive tail lashed forward. Clones were destroyed in an instant, dispelled in waves, bodies vanishing into nothingness as the summoned snake crushed, bit, devoured.

Naruto tensed.

This was a problem.

His body twitched. He could feel the weight of the fight settling into his muscles. He had been adapting, yes. Learning. Adjusting. But this Kusa-nin—she was still stronger. Still more experienced. And now, with her summon—

The advantage was tipping back in her favor.

She was retreating.

Not running. Not fleeing. But retreating with purpose.

She had gathered her data. She had seen what she needed to see. She had tested them, and now she was done.

The massive snake curled around her as she took one last glance at Naruto.

Then, she spoke.

“You truly are… interesting.”

Naruto blinked. His clones surrounded them. He could attack. He could stop her.

But he didn’t.

Because she had already won.

Not the fight itself.

But the moment she chose to leave, it was no longer about who was stronger.

It was about something else.

And Naruto wasn’t sure what that something else was.

The massive serpent flicked its tongue one last time—

Then it vanished, taking her with it.

Silence.

The forest was still. The air thick. The scent of blood and smoke lingered, but the battle was over.

Naruto narrowed his eyes.

Animals, once afraid, never attack again.

But humans?

Always the opposite.

Naruto exhaled slowly, his sapphire eyes scanning the now-empty forest where the Kusa-nin had vanished. The air was thick with the scent of blood, smoke, and torn earth. His clones had all been dispelled, leaving behind only silence and the distant rustling of leaves. The fight had ended, but something about it gnawed at the back of his mind.

That woman… she had been toying with them. Studying them. Not fighting to win—but fighting to see. To observe.

And that made her even more dangerous.

Naruto blinked. No point in thinking about it now. She was gone. And they still had a mission.

"Now what?" Sakura muttered, stepping up beside him. She was breathing heavily, gripping her kunai with white-knuckled fingers. She wasn’t as used to this as he and Sasuke were, but she was holding herself together. Barely. "That freak took up so much time, and we still don’t have an extra scroll."

"Let’s just take one," Sasuke said, rolling his shoulder. "There are plenty of teams left. We fight, we win, we get a scroll."

"How?" Naruto tilted his head. "I don't want to kill someone. Dattebane."

Sakura groaned, rubbing her temple. "Says the boy who killed an entire mafia league and almost killed Anko, the proctor."

Naruto blinked. "That was different."

Sasuke gave him a flat look. "How?"

"...She threw a kunai at me. I threw it back."

"Into a rock that shattered like glass," Sakura deadpanned.

"Not my problem."

Sakura threw her hands up. "Okay, fine! But that still doesn't change the fact that we need another scroll, and I don’t see any way of getting one without fighting!"

"We don’t necessarily need to kill them," Sasuke suggested. His eyes flickered with calculation. "We just need to take them out long enough to steal what we need."

Naruto thought about that. It wasn’t a bad idea. He had no issue knocking someone unconscious if it meant avoiding a pointless kill. And if they were smart about it, they could avoid a drawn-out fight altogether.

His nostrils flared slightly. He sniffed the air.

There.

A team. Not far. Three shinobi. Two boys, one girl. The scent of sweat and steel clung to them. Tired. They’d been fighting already.

"That way," he muttered, pointing through the trees.

Sasuke and Sakura exchanged a glance before nodding. The three of them took off, moving swiftly through the thick underbrush. Naruto took the lead, his movements eerily silent despite the terrain. Sasuke was close behind, and even Sakura had improved—she was lighter on her feet now, more aware of her surroundings.

It didn’t take long before they spotted their targets.

Three genin.

One tall with a staff, his forehead protector marked with the symbol of Amegakure. The second, shorter, had kunai strapped to his vest. The third, a girl with long dark hair, was tending to a wound on the short one's arm.

They were injured.

Weak.

Easy prey.

Naruto stopped on a branch above them, watching them carefully. Sasuke crouched beside him, his Sharingan spinning to life. "This will be easy," he murmured.

"Don’t underestimate them," Naruto warned. "Cornered things bite."

Sakura frowned. "So what’s the plan?"

"We go down, attack hard and fast," Sasuke said. "They won’t have time to react if we—"

"No," Naruto interrupted. "That’s messy. Loud. There’s a better way."

Sasuke shot him a look. "Oh? And what do you suggest?"

Naruto smiled.

Moments later, he dropped down from the tree. Alone.

The enemy team snapped to attention.

The tall one tightened his grip on his staff. The kunai-user stepped forward defensively. The girl straightened, her hand hovering near her pouch.

"Who are you?" the tall one demanded.

Naruto blinked. "Naruto Uzumaki. Dattebane."

They didn’t relax.

The shorter boy narrowed his eyes. "What do you want?"

Naruto tilted his head slightly, his red hair swinging. "Your scroll."

The girl scoffed. "You think we’ll just give it to you?"

"Not really."

Silence.

Then—

Naruto’s clones erupted from the trees.

Not in an overwhelming charge. Not in a chaotic mass. But strategically. Three behind. Two above. One just outside their line of sight. The moment the enemy team reacted, it was already too late.

A well-placed kunai struck the kunai-user in the wrist, forcing him to drop his weapon. A clone swept in, kicking him off balance.

The girl spun, trying to counter—but another clone tripped her. She hit the dirt hard.

The tall one swung his staff wildly, catching one clone in the side. It vanished in a puff of smoke—

But Naruto was already behind him.

The moment the boy turned, Naruto’s fist connected with his stomach.

The air whooshed out of his lungs.

He collapsed to his knees, gasping.

It was over in seconds.

No wasted movement. No drawn-out fight.

Just a hunt.

Naruto crouched down, slipping his fingers into the tall boy’s pouch. He pulled out a scroll.

Earth.

Good.

That was what they needed.

He stood up.

The enemy team groaned on the ground, too dazed to move.

Sasuke and Sakura dropped down beside him.

"That was fast," Sasuke muttered.

Naruto nodded, flipping the scroll once in his hand.

Sakura hesitated. "Are we just gonna… leave them?"

Naruto glanced at them. His clones had already disappeared. The three genin were still breathing. Alive.

"Yes."

And with that, he turned, vanishing into the trees.

Sasuke and Sakura followed.

A clean hunt. No mess.

They had what they needed.

—ToT—