Out on the battlefield, Naruto and Uchiha Shin clashed in the span of a few breaths. A torrent of blades burst from the other sleeve of Shin's Akatsuki robe—his final, desperate struggle.
The rapidly spinning blades converged into a massive shuriken and screamed toward Naruto.
Naruto met the attack head-on, completely calm. He formed a Rasengan and smashed straight through the giant shuriken, scattering fragments of metal like rain as he charged forward. The double-edged blades that followed couldn't pierce the Nine-Tails chakra cloak, and Shin had no way to stop Naruto's fierce counterattack.
"Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!!"
The high-pitched shriek of compressed wind made Shin's blood run cold. He spun on his heel and tried to flee. In the face of that technique, all resistance felt meaningless.
Just as Naruto's Rasenshuriken was about to hit, a Wood Release jutsu suddenly erupted behind Shin. Rows of trees twisted together into thick vine-like arms that swept him away at the last moment, interposing themselves between him and certain death.
—Wood Release: Tree Boundary Wall!
The spinning shuriken detonated against the wooden bulwark, tearing it apart, but Shin had already been flung clear by an extending wooden arm. He survived the strike—but that didn't mean he was safe.
Within the range of Amenotejikara, Sasuke swapped places with a chunk of shattered wood. In the instant the splinters rained down, he appeared behind Shin and thrust his hand forward.
A spear of blue lightning shot out from his palm.
—Chidori Sharp Spear.
Wrapped in violent electricity, the spear's speed completely outstripped the retreating arc of the wooden arm.
Just as Shin thought he'd escaped his fate, a lance of thunder ran him through from behind. The surging voltage and Chidori's cutting power sliced his body clean in half.
"You're really useless. I was going to spare you at first," a low, amused voice drifted over the treetops.
"We meet again, Naruto Uzumaki."
The cloaked figure raised one hand to cover half his face. Through his fingers, a crimson glow flared.
"The Mangekyō Sharingan…?" Naruto's eyes widened.
Sasuke landed beside him and asked quietly, "What's going on? Is this the one you ran into on the way here?"
"The enemy I met earlier has pure Wood Release as a bloodline limit," Naruto said grimly. "He used a wide range, 'Advent of the World of Trees,' right in front of me. I'd say the chakra inside him is on par with a Jinchūriki."
"!!"
Even Sasuke was shaken. An opponent like that had appeared in the ninja world, and no one had noticed.
"Uchiha Sasuke, huh? You're here too," the cloaked man said, sounding satisfied. "Looks like this trip will be more rewarding than I thought."
The pleasantries ended there.
The cloaked figure flashed through hand seals and immediately cast Wood Release: Advent of the World of Trees, reshaping the terrain to his advantage.
Within a radius of dozens of kilometers, towering trees erupted from the ground. Roots and trunks twisted together into strangling vines that pulverized everything in their path, swallowing up even the landmark tower in a surging ocean of green.
Seeing another enormous Wood Release, Naruto leapt up to avoid being entangled a second time—but this time, the cloaked man had no intention of letting him slip away.
A massive net wove itself together above Naruto's head—an enormous mesh of Wood Release vines dropped from the sky. Naruto formed an immense Rasengan, choosing to smash through it with brute force.
"Senjutsu: Super Big Ball Rasengan!!"
The Rasengan, larger than his own body, roared upward and crushed the giant net in one explosive impact.
Naruto was just about to glance around for Boruto when thick vines suddenly burst from the ground beneath him, coiling around his legs and yanking him back down into the sea of trees.
Another woven net dropped over him. The cloaked man stood directly above, looking down at Naruto with an expression that said he already considered the Hokage his prisoner. A smug smile tugged at his lips.
Meanwhile, Sasuke had led Sarada away from the worst of the chaos. He didn't see Boruto and assumed he was still with Naruto.
The forest born from Tree World Advent was like a giant maze: trunks thicker than houses, roots like coiled dragons. But Amaterasu reduced any Wood Release in Sasuke's path to nothing—burning it all away was a trivial task.
After shepherding Sarada out of the densest part of the forest, Sasuke turned back.
"Get somewhere safe," he said. "The farther, the better."
"Dad… be careful," Sarada called, voice small.
Down below, Naruto's situation had grown dire.
While Sasuke was occupied, the cloaked man used Wood Release: Thorn Killing Technique to nail Naruto to the ground. Countless vines spread his limbs apart, leaving him unable to move. Then, right in front of Naruto's eyes, the enemy began forming seals for a jutsu that made even him break out in a cold sweat.
"Wood Release: Binding Wood Palace!"
This was a technique designed specifically to suppress tailed beasts. A "坐" character glowed in the cloaked man's palm, chakra surging. Around Naruto, wooden pillars and blocks erupted from the ground and clamped down on him like a sealing throne.
The Nine-Tails chakra cloak shattered in an instant, stripped away as if someone had ripped off a cloak. Only the sage markings remained at the corners of Naruto's eyes—Sage Mode still active—but this was far from over.
The cloaked man's hands moved again.
—Four Symbols Seal.
"This is bad," Naruto muttered, voice trembling.
Sasuke arrived just in time to see Naruto pinned and suppressed, and the enemy layering seals on top of Wood Release. He immediately turned his Sharingan on the cloaked man, committing every detail to memory.
The enemy noticed Sasuke's approach as well and casually split off a Wood Release clone to intercept him.
Being brushed off so easily made Sasuke's expression darken. Susanoo's skeletal form flared around him, and he wove hand seals.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!!"
The Wood Release clone didn't flinch. It answered with a rapid series of its own seals.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!!"
Flame and water collided, filling the air with steam. White mist rolled over the treetops, blanketing everything. Sasuke's Sharingan blazed in the fog as he hunted for the clone's chakra.
"Wood Release: Splitting Wood Technique!"
From the treetops, the trees around Sasuke exploded into motion. Log-like spears thrust inward from every direction, trying to impale him.
Susanoo's low-level ribcage couldn't fully withstand the Wood Release barrage. The bony construct fractured, then shattered completely. But Sasuke's body had already vanished—Amenotejikara flickered, and he reappeared beside the clone.
—Chidori!!
Lightning screamed in his palm as he charged. The cloaked clone churned the forest beneath them like waves, raising and collapsing trunks to throw off Sasuke's footing.
It slowed him down, but it wasn't enough.
The lunging logs in front were ripped apart by Chidori's blade of lightning. Realizing he couldn't stop Sasuke, the clone used the trees beneath its feet as pillars, flinging itself back into the air to keep some distance.
On the ground, Naruto's condition grew worse by the second.
Because Sasuke's attention was pulled away, Naruto's hands and feet remained tightly bound. The Nine-Tails chakra was completely suppressed by the Binding Wood Palace; he couldn't muster Kurama's power at all.
Sage Mode still enhanced his body, but with his limbs spread and pinned, even brute strength failed him. No leverage, no motion—just strain and frustration.
The cloaked man strode toward him, the sealing formula glowing faintly in his palm.
Then the air rippled.
An invisible Rasengan slammed into the cloaked man's hand, physically disrupting the seal pattern and knocking his arm aside.
"Who…?!"
The cloaked man's eyes narrowed. He'd assumed Sasuke had already destroyed his Wood Release clone, only to find a child standing between him and his prize. Just a kid—but clearly not an ordinary one.
He decided to swat the nuisance down first.
With a lazy gesture, he stirred the trees behind Boruto. Countless vines lashed out from the trunks like arms, whipping toward the boy.
"Run, Boruto!" Naruto shouted.
Boruto didn't run.
He sprinted straight toward the cloaked man instead, the vines snapping at his heels. With a few well-timed Body Flickers, he slipped through the gaps in their reach and formed a Rasengan in his hand as he closed the distance.
To Naruto's shock, Boruto's Rasengan carved through every wooden tendril rushing at him. The glowing sphere churned violently, shredding each vine that tried to block its path.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Talon Crimson – Shadow Shuriken Jutsu!"
Boruto tossed several shuriken into a wave of flames. The steel blades vanished into the blaze and then burst out again as a rain of burning projectiles, tearing apart the wooden panels that rose to intercept the Rasengan. Guided by the flaming shuriken, the Rasengan cut a clean line straight toward the cloaked man.
It was a beautiful combo—but to the cloaked figure, a standard Rasengan was nothing to fear.
He extended his arm calmly. Segments of wood snapped outward from his forearm, twisting into a thick wooden limb that enveloped the oncoming Rasengan and smothered it inside the extended arm.
The flaming shuriken that followed scattered toward him with scattered trajectories. Under the Mangekyō's gaze, every path was visible. He swayed slightly, stepping through the gaps between trajectories with ease.
But as he watched, he noticed something off about those shuriken.
Not only were they wreathed in high-temperature flames—each blade had a formula carved into its surface.
The formula for the Flying Thunder God.
In the next instant, Boruto appeared behind the cloaked man in a flash of light and unleashed a Giant Rasengan at point-blank range.
The cloaked man had only just realized something was wrong with the shuriken when Boruto's follow-up was already upon him.
"Well done!!" Naruto couldn't help shouting in praise.
Only then did he notice that a Boruto shadow clone had also sliced through the vines restraining him. The wood binding his limbs had been severed by kunai infused with Lightning Release.
Freed at last, Naruto flexed his hands, Sage Mode still burning in his eyes.
He was ready to fight.
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