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Chapter 160: Naruto: I Feel Like I'm Losing Hinata...
"Hinata!!!"
In mid-air, Naruto roared anxiously. His body had reached its highest point and began to fall back. His eyes stared dead at the two black dots gradually moving away in the high sky.
An inexplicable feeling rose in his heart: if he didn't chase Hinata back this time, he might never have the chance again.
He absolutely could not let Konan take Hinata away!
Naruto immediately bit his finger. "Summoning Technique!!"
Poof!
A large cloud of smoke suddenly appeared in the air. As the white smoke dissipated, a giant red toad wearing a blue coat and holding a pipe in its mouth appeared...
—Gamabunta!
"Croak—!" It let out a strange cry, feeling a strong sense of weightlessness. The giant toad eyes looked down, contracted instantly, and it cursed loudly, "Naruto, you stinking brat!! Summoning me at such a height, are you trying to fall me to death???!"
"No time to explain!!" Naruto looked urgent, his feet stomping hard on Gamabunta's big head. His body shot up like a cannonball again, shouting apologetically downwards:
"Bunta, sorry, you go back to Mt. Myoboku first!"
"*/@#" Gamabunta looked up at Naruto speeding away, wondering if he should utter some profanities. Actually using his head as a springboard. But he also knew the severity of the matter; Naruto was chasing an enemy.
"Naruto, you better compensate me properly next time!"
Poof!
With that, the falling Gamabunta released the summoning jutsu and returned to Mt. Myoboku.
"Hinata—!"
Naruto was burning with anxiety, wishing he could sprout wings on his back. The speed from the launch just now was already maximum, but he still couldn't close the distance. He could only watch helplessly as Konan took Hinata into the clouds, disappearing from his field of vision.
With Sage Mode's sensory abilities, he could sense the opponent moving away at high speed, soon flying out of his sensing range. Completely vanishing without a trace.
"Hinata!!!" Naruto's unwilling roar resonated through the high sky.
He failed to chase Hinata back, failed to retrieve his comrade. Just like Sasuke three years ago, another failure.
Naruto reached the highest point and began to fall. Above him was the last rain of Ice Release kunai Konan had fired before leaving.
He looked back down. With toad-like vision, he clearly saw the Konoha ninjas lying on the ground wailing. The continuous rain of kunai earlier, such a fierce saturation bombardment, was impossible for Chunin and Genin to block. Naruto's Shadow Clones couldn't save them all. As for Konoha Jonin, their numbers were few to begin with, and protecting themselves under such continuous attacks was already impressive.
"I absolutely cannot let this attack land again!!"
The comrades below couldn't suffer any more casualties!
Falling freely downwards, he raised his right hand. A sharp buzzing cutting sound rang out. An extremely dense chakra sphere appeared in his palm, with four translucent wind blades rotating at high speed around the center.
"Sage Art: Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!!"
Swish!
Naruto threw the Rasenshuriken upwards violently. The moment it collided with the kunai rain, it expanded hundreds of meters. It enveloped almost all the paper kunai. The tiny wind blades infused with Senjutsu were sharp and dense, visibly disintegrating the kunai.
The last wave of attacks from the sky was basically neutralized by his ultimate move. There were still a few kunai on the periphery, but he believed Kakashi-sensei and the others below were capable of handling them.
Next, he had to figure out how to land safely.
Splash! Splash!
Just then, jets of water rose from the ground, impacting his back and slowing his descent.
"Quick!" On the ground, Kakashi looked up, staring tightly at Naruto falling from the sky. Not only did he release Water Release to help slow him down, but he also organized other Water Release ninjas to assist together.
One after another, continuous Water Release jutsu finally reduced Naruto's speed to zero when he was over ten meters from the ground. He flipped in mid-air, adjusted his posture, and landed steadily in front of Kakashi.
"Kakashi-sensei..." He barely managed to lift his spirits, looking at the comrades around who had just helped him. "And everyone, thank you."
"Naruto..." Sakura looked at Naruto worriedly. She wanted to say some comforting words but couldn't get them out. Hinata being suddenly snatched away—this feeling of losing a comrade was very similar to when she lost Sasuke. Powerless, unwilling, and painful.
Naruto's fists were clenched white; he must be suffering right now.
"Naruto." Kakashi patted Naruto's shoulder. "White Tiger didn't kill Hinata; she only captured her. Hinata should be in no danger for the time being. Don't lose heart; we will definitely rescue Hinata."
"Yeah, Naruto." Shikamaru, with his pineapple hair, also spoke up to comfort him. "Hinata is a Konoha ninja, and even more so, our comrade. We will definitely help you; don't blame yourself anymore."
"Everyone..." Naruto quickly firmed his resolve, returning to his usual super hot-blooded self.
"You're right. We will rescue Hinata. As for Konan, I will let her know that my Nindo and my philosophy are definitely not empty words! I will always work toward this direction. One day, the era of mutual understanding between people will arrive!"
"Dattebayo!!!"
"Naruto, Kakashi." Shikaku Nara walked up with a serious face. "My Shadow Clone has finished exploring the Root base."
He paused, his tone extremely grave. "The Root is wiped out. All Root ninjas died miserably. Even Danzo..."
"Judging from the traces left at the scene, he likely activated the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing. No corpse left, highly likely dead."
Kakashi, Naruto, Shikamaru, and the Konoha 11 gathered in the center all fell silent. Fists clenched, anger hard to hide. The Root was indeed unpopular with them, but they were also Konoha ninjas. Now that they were all killed, the village's power was damaged again.
Actually, Shikaku held back half of what his Shadow Clone found. Even someone as experienced as him, with strong psychological endurance, was horrified by the corpses deep in the Root base. Inhumane human experiments, various grotesque human tissues. And Konoha ninjas who had died and been buried over the years—many of whom he knew, or were even his friends—were secretly dug up by that dog Danzo and pickled coldly in jars.
He originally thought this elder just had extreme methods and philosophies. But he didn't expect Danzo to be truly inhumane, treating comrades' corpses so cruelly and bloodily...
The matter was too big; he couldn't make the decision alone. He could only strictly seal off the scene and wait for the Fifth Hokage to wake up and decide. This was the dark side of Konoha, temporarily unsuitable for the younger generation of ninjas to know.
"Kakashi." Shikaku composed himself and looked at Kakashi. "Now that Danzo, the Acting Hokage who was going to attend the Five Kage Summit, is dead, our Konoha absolutely cannot abandon the Five Kage Summit halfway. It concerns the major matter of the Five Great Ninja Villages crusading against the Akatsuki. Kakashi, you will attend the Five Kage Summit as the Acting Hokage."
The people around had no objections and nodded one after another.
"Alright." Kakashi knew the situation was urgent and didn't decline.
Shikaku continued, "Take a team of Anbu and set off immediately. Leave the village matters to me. Meet up with Guy in the Land of Fire capital first, and have his team join the escort for safety."
"I'm setting off right now."
Kakashi nodded, selected a few Anbu, took the Hokage hat from Shikaku, and left quickly.
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