Naruto: Boruto Returns to Shippuden

Chapter 22 Detonation Tag

In the dense forest, several figures dispersed, moving through the thicket and carefully searching for Naruto's whereabouts.

As time ticked by, Sasuke, relying on his understanding of Naruto, was the first to spot Naruto's whereabouts.

At this moment, Naruto was standing in front of a huge tree, holding a kunai tightly in his hand, and throwing it at the tree trunk repeatedly. Each throw was filled with inexplicable anger, as if he wanted to vent all his dissatisfaction and repression.

However, perhaps due to excessive excitement, his throwing accuracy was extremely low, with most of his kunai missing the target and embedding themselves deeply in the surrounding ground or trees.

Suddenly, a small pebble flew through the air, tracing an arc, and struck Naruto's head with perfect accuracy. Naruto winced in pain, turned around abruptly, and a look of confusion appeared in his eyes.

Sasuke sat on a tree not far away, playing with a few pebbles in his hand, his eyes fixed on Naruto.

When he saw the strange light flash in Naruto's eyes, his heart tightened.

It was a red vertical pupil radiating resentment, exactly as Boruto had described. Could it be that the Nine-Tails had already begun to corrupt Naruto's consciousness?

Sasuke frowned, secretly considering what to do now, otherwise the consequences would be unpredictable if Naruto completely lost control.

"Sasuke? What are you doing here?" Naruto was clearly surprised; he hadn't expected to see Sasuke here.

"Hmph! If it weren't for Iruka-sensei's request, I wouldn't even bother with a loser like you." Sasuke jumped down from the tree and replied indifferently.

Sasuke stood in front of Naruto, a slight smirk playing on his lips, and sneered, "But you really look pathetic, Naruto."

Then, Sasuke said with a hint of sarcasm, "Hiding in the deep mountains alone, raging helplessly, venting your emotions like a weakling. But then again, that does fit your cowardly and stupid personality."

Naruto did not react to Sasuke's sarcastic remarks, but continued to speak to himself.

“Sasuke, I just feel resentful. From childhood to adulthood, I’ve always tried to get everyone’s attention and gain their approval, but Boruto did it all so easily. Do you think my goals still have any meaning?” Naruto’s voice was filled with confusion and helplessness.

Upon hearing Naruto's question, Sasuke's thoughts drifted back to his past, recalling the tragedy of the night his clan was massacred. The bloody scene was still vivid in his mind.

Sasuke had imagined the scene of revenge countless times in his mind, picturing himself finally standing in front of that man, seeking justice for his parents and clan members, and questioning him about why he did this!

However, if he ultimately discovers that his revenge journey, like Naruto's pursuit of recognition, has come to nothing, then what was the value of all his efforts?

Sasuke fell into deep thought. After a long silence, he realized that something was wrong. He had come to lecture Naruto, but he hadn't expected that he would start to waver because of Naruto's words.

"So, you're planning to use this lame excuse to escape reality?" Sasuke's voice revealed a hint of impatience as he stared sharply at Naruto. "Your performance before impressed me a bit, but now it seems you're still the same coward. How will you know if something is worthwhile if you don't explore it yourself?"

"Sasuke... ah..." Naruto was about to say something when he suddenly clutched his forehead, letting out a painful scream, his expression contorting with intense pain.

At this very moment, deep within Naruto's consciousness, Kurama was impatiently churning.

A hint of displeasure flickered in its deep orange eyes, indicating its utter annoyance at the conversation between Naruto and Sasuke.

The Nine-Tailed Fox's lips curled up slightly, revealing a sly smile. It muttered to itself, "These two brats are really going on and on! In that case, let this old man give you some juicy gossip."

As Kurama finished speaking, its powerful chakra began to slowly seep out of Naruto's body.

This chakra seemed to be an invisible, enormous force, surging and flowing beneath Naruto's body.

They are like a volcano that has been suppressed for a long time. Once they find an outlet, they will burst forth like a flood that has broken its banks.

Gradually, the chakra began to condense and form a tailed beast cloak that shone with a red blood-red light, tightly wrapping Naruto's entire body.

This tailed beast cloak exudes a chilling aura, proclaiming the Nine-Tails' immense power to the outside world.

At the same time, a tailed beast cloak made of red chakra slowly appeared on Naruto's body, swaying gently with Naruto's movements and emitting a terrifying power.

Sasuke felt a sense of foreboding and knew he had to act immediately to stop the Nine-Tails from further corrupting Naruto.

Faced with the Nine-Tails' out-of-control chakra, Sasuke felt powerless because he had not yet mastered advanced sealing techniques. He could only knock Naruto unconscious and then hand him over to the Third Hokage to handle this emergency.

Sasuke stepped forward first and threw a punch at Naruto's face, forcing Naruto to take a few steps back.

With that punch, the duel between the two was like a powder keg ignited, and the prelude to the battle officially began.

The two figures darted swiftly through the dense forest, like two intersecting bolts of lightning, each exchange accompanied by a fierce clash of power.

Although on the surface the two seem to be evenly matched, and every time they fight, they appear to be evenly matched.

In reality, Sasuke was only passively defending. Although his movements were agile, he was mostly dodging and blocking Naruto's attacks.

Due to the vast difference in strength, Sasuke felt the pressure after only a few rounds in his fierce battle with Naruto. His movements began to appear somewhat strained, and his defense gradually became ineffective.

After a quick movement, Naruto seized an opening in Sasuke's defenses and landed a precise punch on Sasuke's abdomen.

Sasuke, who had been struck hard in the abdomen, looked pained. His body lost its balance under the impact of the force and he was sent flying backward.

After arcing through the air, his body crashed heavily into a thick tree, which snapped in two with a loud bang.

Sasuke's body fell to the ground as the tree trunk broke, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood the moment he hit the ground.

"You've actually got some skills, Naruto!" Sasuke forced a cold laugh through his pain, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and threw it to the ground.

He slowly raised his head, revealing his signature Sharingan with a single tomoe in his left eye and a double tomoe in his right eye.

Naruto, on all fours, moved swiftly toward Sasuke like a nimble wild beast.

After activating his Sharingan, Sasuke's concentration became incredibly sharp as the Sharingan rotated. He began to be able to predict Naruto's attack patterns and gradually adapted to Naruto's speed.

The two clashed once again. This time, Sasuke no longer passively defended as before, but took the initiative to attack, engaging in a fierce battle with Naruto.

"Shadow Clone Technique!" As he created distance, Sasuke's figure instantly split into three clones identical to his original body, which then surrounded Naruto along with the original.

Sasuke threw kunai from the four directions of east, south, west, and north. The kunai were not thrown directly at Naruto, but instead landed precisely at Naruto's feet.

If you look closely, you'll notice that each kunai has a talisman tied to its tail. These talismans are detonation tags that Sasuke carefully prepared to deal with various emergencies.