Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 366 Firefight

"Sarah! You foolish and incompetent puppet princess, just die already!"

The colossal creature, towering over ten meters tall, roared under the night sky, its killing intent aimed directly at the Queen of Loulan. Clearly, Sara's decision was correct; she was the key to turning the tide of the battle.

Even after expanding, the giant spider couldn't shake off its insect form, only this time it resembled a scorpion more, its sharp pincers waving wildly, trying to sweep away the ant-like ninja. But before it could take two steps, the solid ground beneath its feet was engulfed by a swarm of insects; it was Aburame Shiki, a true expert in manipulating insects, who had made her move.

"Ninja Art: Insect Deception Technique!" Countless black insects swiftly engulfed the giant scorpion. Zhiwei mobilized almost all of his abilities, shouting with great momentum, "You won't take another step forward!"

Minato hesitated, wanting to say something but holding back. In the blink of an eye, Naruto took over command of the team from him, and the group's mission changed from stopping the Centipede's war plan to defending Loulan. The whole process was extremely smooth, and no one even raised any objections, including him.

He could sense that this boy possessed a burning heart of protection, selflessly saving every life he saw.

The swarm of insects had subdued the giant scorpion, and it was time for Choza to make his appearance. Using ninjutsu, Choza was nearly the same size as the scorpion. He rained down punches, intending to bury the creature in the ground, or better yet, dismantle it. But a thunderclap from the sky shattered their plans; purple lightning nearly pierced Choza, but Minato reacted quickly and pulled him back.

"This is......"

The parasitic insects didn't hold out for long before falling off, their gnawed exoskeletons rapidly repairing themselves in the purple light. Several ninjas stared gravely at the centipede shrouded in purple light; they finally understood what Naruto meant by "immortality." Was this the power of the Dragon Vein? If the centipede were truly transformed into a war machine, who could defeat it?

"Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld." Seeing the purple light fade and the centipede showing signs of activity again, Naruto stomped the ground, and layers of chakra instantly turned the area where the centipede had been into a swamp. That wasn't all; he opened his mouth and spat out a "lake," and as the others rushed to higher ground to escape, he slammed his palm into the "lake" that had submerged the centipede, causing it to freeze into a solid block of ice before it could dissipate.

The three ninjas watching gasped in astonishment. In this entire series of actions, they hadn't seen a single hand seal! Minato finally understood the true value of the statement, "None of the Five Elements Ninjutsu require hand seals." He had assumed the other techniques were simply variations on the same theme as Wind Release, but Naruto didn't even need hand seals for large-scale techniques! And that technique that froze water... that must be the Ice Release of the Mizuki clan! How come even his bloodline limit doesn't require hand seals?!

However, before they could finish their reflections, purple lightning struck again, cleaving through the seemingly impenetrable super seal!

"They're too fast. I didn't even have a chance to use a sealing technique." This was the expected result. Naruto had already flashed to the side of the three of them and hadn't been grazed by the purple lightning at all.

"You can even use sealing techniques?" Before he could even grieve over the destroyed insect, Zhiwei became the first senior to be stunned by Naruto's strength.

"I only know some simple ones, not as good as my parents." Naruto spoke the truth. His sealing techniques were indeed only at a usable level, and could hardly be used in battle. Moreover, given the charging speed of this thing, the sealing techniques might not even last long. It seemed that only by continuously destroying the centipede could that thing be pinned down.

"His recovery speed is too fast; sealing techniques are probably useless. We can only attack while searching for his weaknesses." Minato's thoughts coincided with Naruto's. Even if Kushina used the Uzumaki clan's secret techniques here, she would probably be defeated by his limitless energy. If they had no other choice, they really wouldn't want to rely on physical strength to buy time.

"Stop if your chakra runs out, don't push yourself." Having decided on the battle strategy, Naruto charged forward, this time without using chakra, slamming the centipede into the ground with a single, decisive punch. This power is clearly abnormal...could it be Sage Mode? Was he just standing there talking to gather natural energy? This is too fast!

The repeated passive counterattacks finally angered Centipede. This time, the purple lightning strike lasted exceptionally long, and a purple light shot up from the ground, so fast that even Minato couldn't react in time.

"Naruto!" The moment Minato saw the purple light, he was truly terrified, fearing that he would hold the future back and cause his own child to perish in this era. However, his sensory ninja instincts reversed his fear, as he clearly sensed a terrifying source of chakra descending beside him.

"Don't be nervous, it's a shadow clone."

The disappearance of the shadow clone next to Minato finally alarmed this "model student" who was engrossed in his research. Although he looked no different from the clone, he inexplicably brought Minato tremendous pressure.

Minato had always known that Kushina's chakra reserves were astonishing, and they became even more terrifying after she became the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki. But Naruto's current state... is it really something a normal human could achieve?!

"I am immortal! You can't stop me!" The swollen centipede howled from below. After being thwarted many times, it finally became impatient and ignored the ninja's harassment, focusing only on climbing towards the center.

At this critical juncture, there was no time to hide his abilities. Minato finally witnessed the complete Rasengan he had longed for. The high-density Wind Release chakra whipped up a hurricane, seemingly capable of shredding the centipede to pieces. However, the power of the Dragon Vein was just that unreasonable. Even though it was shattered, it could still piece itself back together, seemingly without end.

"Hang in there a little longer!"

Choza's Expansion Technique had reached its limit, yet he was still chanting. Minato's signature attacks were all designed to kill ninjas, only able to delay them for a short while and incidentally rescue his teammates. Now, the only one they could rely on was Naruto, whose various wide-range destructive ninjutsu were endless.

"If we destroy his soul, will it end?" Naruto suddenly asked in his mental space. His body couldn't hold on much longer, but the Dragon Vein still hadn't closed.

Nine Lama's ears twitched, and he said, "Don't do anything rash!"

"We must stop him."