The Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Technique) is the Yamanaka clan's secret art.
It lets the user project their consciousness into an opponent's body to seize control.
Under normal circumstances, with the jutsu amplifying him, Inoichi could sweep aside an enemy's will with ease and take over their body without resistance.
But this time was different. The instant he entered Naruto's mind, he felt a vast, suffocating pressure.
It wasn't a boy that he faced, but a king. Sheer presence alone made his consciousness buckle and fray, until it finally collapsed and snapped back into his own body.
"You mean this…?" Naruto glanced at him, the corner of his mouth lifting.
"This is Haōshoku no Haki (Conqueror's Haki)."
As he spoke, Naruto stepped forward. Black-crimson light erupted from his body like a tidal wave, surging in all directions.
Black-red lightning cracked and speared into the sky.
Every Konoha shinobi caught in the blast—Hiruzen included—stared in shock.
An instant later, ordinary villagers and Genin alike rolled their eyes white and dropped to the ground one after another.
Thud! Thud! Thud…
Bodies lay criss-crossed like corpses.
The entire street turned into a morgue; nearly ninety percent of those present lost consciousness on the spot.
Under Haōshoku no Haki (Conqueror's Haki), the weak did not even have the right to stand.
"Carmen… Rift… what's wrong with you…?" A shinobi stared, horrified, at his fallen comrades. He had no idea what had happened—only that a terrifying aura swept past, and then everyone around him collapsed in waves.
"What was that just now…?" Kakashi's voice was dry.
He had seen that dreadful black-red lightning, a "spirit" that swept the field like a thunderbolt.
It was like standing before a king—before whom he could only tremble.
Even so, he grit his teeth and endured.
"Too frightening. I've never seen an ability like this. Stronger than Genjutsu (Illusion Technique)—it felt like it struck directly at the heart…" Shikaku muttered, sweat dripping down his forehead.
Kurenai's face had gone pale. "This kind of power… it just instantly wiped out our Genin. If this were a war, then…."
She didn't need to finish. Every shinobi present understood, and a chill sank into their hearts.
On the battlefield, Chūnin and Jōnin were vital, yes—but the true backbone was made up of ordinary Genin and rank-and-file soldiers.
And Naruto's single burst had nearly one-shot every Genin and soldier in range.
"If the Third Raikage had this move back then, he wouldn't have been surrounded and slain after fighting a day and a night against ten thousand Cloud Genin."
This was power that could change the course of war.
"Move! Capture Uzumaki Naruto at any cost! If you can't capture him, kill him—we cannot allow him to escape Konoha!"
Hiruzen's face was iron.
Right now, Naruto was more dangerous than the Nine-Tails itself.
If Naruto joined another nation, when war broke out, Konoha—no, the entire Land of Fire—would be crushed with ease.
"Understood!"
Konoha's shinobi answered grimly and rushed Naruto without hesitation.
"Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation Technique)!"
Shikaku dropped to one knee, formed a seal, and his shadow raced outward.
Naruto arched a brow and flashed backward. A few blinks later, he was already standing atop a distant rooftop.
"Out of range…" Shikaku stood with a touch of regret.
"Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku (Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame)!"
A Konoha shinobi's chest swelled before he spewed a raging inferno.
Another formed seals and unleashed a violent gale:
"Fūton: Daitoppa (Wind Style: Great Breakthrough)!"
Wind and fire merged, a sea of flames that ignited buildings and surged toward Naruto.
"Using fire on me?" Naruto chuckled on the roof. "If I had the Mera Mera no Mi (Flame-Flame Fruit), you'd be blown to bits."
Unfortunately, he didn't have that power—only taijutsu he could freely use right now.
Thinking so, Naruto lashed out with a kick:
"Rankyaku (Storm Leg)!"
A crescent blade of wind instantly cleaved the flames apart.
The moment he kicked, Naruto sensed something and snapped his head toward Kakashi.
"Chidori (One Thousand Birds)!!!"
Kakashi roared, hand blazing with piercing lightning. With a chorus of a thousand birds, he charged like thunder toward Naruto.
Beside him, Guy matched his speed, cutting in from Naruto's right.
" Tch, tch, tch…" Naruto clicked his tongue. His foot tapped lightly on the rooftop—and his body shot into the air, climbing higher.
Kakashi froze mid-step, lightning in hand, suddenly at a loss. "A flying ninjutsu?"
He'd copied over a thousand jutsu in his life, but he'd never learned how to fly.
There was nothing he could do against an enemy in the sky.
"It's not ninjutsu—it's taijutsu…" Guy stared in awe at the blond youth who tread on empty air.
"He's using overwhelming speed and strength to step on the air and hold himself aloft. What an outrageous body."
"Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu (Wind Cutter Technique)!"
Several shinobi tilted their heads skyward and spat gusts packed with slicing wind.
"Rankyaku: Senchigiri (Storm Leg: Thousand Rifts)!"
Laughing, Naruto scissored his legs. Each swing hurled a blue wind-blade scything down.
From afar, it was as if blue blades were raining from the heavens, ripping the earth and kicking up clouds of dust wherever they landed.
Many shinobi failed to dodge in time, screamed, and fell as the blades struck.
Hiruzen's face grew darker and darker.
"What a handful…"
He had never imagined Naruto would be this difficult to handle—clearly still under ten years old.
Hiruzen drew a long breath, ran through seals, his chest swelling, and spat a fire release that dwarfed every other Konoha shinobi's flame:
"Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku (Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame)!"
Riding the winds the other shinobi conjured, the flames blanketed the sky.
Bang, bang, bang— Naruto stamped the air again and again—Geppō (Moonwalk)—forcing his way through the flames, then dove to the ground and sneered at Hiruzen.
"Old man, being burned hurts like hell, you know!"
He snapped his index finger forward like a bullet.
"Shigan: Ōren (Finger Pistol: Yellow Lotus)!"
Hiruzen's face changed. He used Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique) without hesitation, blinking backward.
At that exact instant, Shikaku dropped to one knee again, forming a distinctive hand sign as he bellowed:
"Kage Kubi Shibari no Jutsu (Shadow Strangle Technique)!!"
(End of Chapter)
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