Being a rogue ninja is worse than being Hokage.

"Lord Danzo was right after all. You are such a cruel and ruthless person that you harbor too much malice towards Konoha. You are not qualified to be the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki at all!"

Yamanaka Fu glanced at the bloody corpses of Terai and Hyo, and clearly understood the chilling ruthlessness of Naruto, who was only twelve or thirteen years old.

"Cruel and ruthless? Coming from your mouths, it sounds like... a compliment."

In terms of cruelty and ruthlessness, who in the entire Hidden Leaf Village can compare to Danzo and "Root," his henchmen?

"Take the root!"

Yamanaka Fu ignored Naruto's sarcasm and instead quietly gestured to Aburame Torune beside him.

"I know!"

Aburame Torine, who has been Yamanaka Fu's partner in "Root" since childhood, knows Yamanaka Fu's thoughts without him needing to say much.

Even in the brutal world of "Root," the bonds between ninjas should not be underestimated.

Aburame removed her black gloves, revealing the purple skin on her hands.

Anyone who sees Aburame Torune's hands for the first time will assume that it's the color of her skin.

But Naruto knew very well that this was the color of nano-level poisonous insects covering all of Aburame Torune's body cells.

Among the Aburame clan, who possess the secret art of controlling insects, the highly venomous insects within Aburame Torune's body are considered the most secret of secret arts.

Secret Technique: Poison Dust Technique!

Aburame Torune clasped his hands together, gathered the poisonous insects between his hands, and blew them down on Naruto in a deluge!

Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!

An earthen wall rose up in front of Naruto, blocking the massive insect mist.

"Watch out! Take the root!"

Yamanaka Fu shouted a warning: "That guy is very good at using Earth Release to create opportunities to attack!"

Yamanaka Fu witnessed Naruto's battle against the three Sound Ninja using Earth Release in the Forest of Death.

Naruto's next attack is—

The mountain wind suddenly looked down at its feet!

really!

He used the earthen wall to block the enemy's attack again, and then disappeared underground in the blind spot!

Earth Release: Heart-Slaying Decapitation Technique!

Naruto and his shadow clones reached out from the ground, preparing to pull Yamanaka Kaze and Aburame Torune into the ground.

Yamanaka Kaze quickly glanced at Aburame Tori.

Aburame nods slightly, with a movement so subtle it's barely perceptible.

Without further hesitation, Yamanaka Fu jumped off the ground before Naruto could grab him.

Aburame Torune, however, was not so "lucky" and was caught by Naruto by both ankles.

But the hunter who catches his prey becomes the insect's food the next moment!

The poisonous insects entered Naruto's skin from Aburame Toneri's ankles, along Naruto's hands that were grabbing Aburame Toneri!

"Success!"

Aburame Torune lifted her foot and forcibly pulled Naruto, who had become weak from the invasion of poisonous insects into his body, out of the ground.

Naruto's hands also turned purple; the poisonous insect had indeed hit him.

Unaware of Aburame Torune's abilities, as long as the enemy makes physical contact with him, the victor in the battle will undoubtedly be Aburame Torune.

—The premise is that the enemy touched his body without knowing about the Aburame Torune poison insect.

Instead of Naruto deliberately getting hit...

Naruto, whose hands were covered in poisonous insects, turned into a cloud of smoke!

The information obtained by the shadow clones relieved Naruto of all his worries!

"I...succeeded too!"

Naruto's true form appeared behind Aburame Torune. The shadow clone that had previously captured Aburame Torune had already marked her with the Flying Thunder God seal.

Naruto unleashes another Rasengan!

The art of disrupting the mind and body!

Yamanaka Fu used a secret technique of the Yamanaka clan on Naruto.

Compared to the Mind Turn technique, which requires precise aiming.

The Mind Disruption Technique, with its wider range of application, managed to partially disrupt Naruto's body at the critical moment, deflecting the Rasengan's original attack on Aburame Torune.

Aburame Torune also swayed his body, avoiding the Rasengan's attack on his vital parts.

Instead of leaving the Rasengan's attack range directly, Aburame Torune used poisonous insects to strengthen his defense, allowing his shoulder to withstand the Rasengan's attack, and then touched Naruto with his other hand!

"Take the root! Leave immediately!"

Aburame Torune wanted to have more poisonous insects possess Naruto, but Yamanaka Kaze's anxious shouts made Aburame Torune realize that something was wrong.

Aburame Torune believed in the judgment of Yamanaka Fu, who was different from himself and had already sensed something was wrong!

Aburame Torune immediately withdrew from the range of the Rasengan.

At the same time, Naruto was able to ignore the poisonous insects on his hand, move his hand which was gathering Rasengan, and try to attack Aburame Torune's vitals again!

If Aburame Torune hadn’t completely trusted Yamanaka Fu’s judgment, or had even hesitated for a moment, he would be just like Terai and Hyo, decapitated!

"What's going on! Why aren't the insects working on him?!"

Aburame Torune approached Yamanaka Fu and observed Naruto's hands.

Then, Aburame Tokunaga's eyes widened in astonishment.

Naruto, who had been infected by poisonous insects, actually peeled off his skin!

No, that's not skin at all!

Naruto used Earth Release to create mud, forming an earth armor around himself that protected him from poisonous insects!

"He used the shadow clone from earlier to determine which poisonous insects could block your Earth Release technique..."

The wind in the mountains helped the woman obtain roots to answer her questions.

Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall's thick earthen wall can block poisonous insects.

Can a shallower layer of soil keep out poisonous insects?

This is why Naruto had his shadow clones use the Decapitation Technique in his mind to touch Aburame Torune.

The shadow clone's body is also protected by earth armor!

but……

"How did he know my information?!"

What surprised Aburame Torune was not Naruto's methods, but Naruto's thorough understanding of his abilities.

Chapter 59 Farewell to the Gods

Naruto then activated Earth Release to cover his exposed skin, which had just been shed of the poisonous insects.

He stared at the mountain wind, who had already used the Mind Confusion Technique to stop two Flying Thunder God attacks.

The senses of the Yamanaka clan are already troublesome, and Yamanaka Fu's combat experience has honed his exceptional fighting instincts.

This allows him to instantly sense the location of Naruto's chakra and anticipate Naruto's actions, thus enabling him to restrain himself.

While keeping a close eye on Yamanaka Fu and Aburame Torune, Naruto pondered how to deal with the two.

Naruto originally intended to deal with the poisonous insect-covered Aburame Torune first.

However, based on their previous encounters, Yamanaka Fu's threat was clearly greater for Naruto.

Naruto did not launch an attack, nor did Yamanaka Fu and Aburame Torune act rashly.

The two of them discussed in hushed tones how to deal with Naruto.

"He knows not only your techniques, but also mine."

This was intelligence that Yamanaka Kaze analyzed during the previous battle.

This left Aburame Torune in disbelief: "This is impossible! How could he possibly know information about 'Root'?"

The oil-producing woman took the root and remained silent in denial.

The "Root" had been monitoring Naruto, who was the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, until two years ago when Danzo failed to control the Nine-Tails, at which point the existence of the "Root" was exposed to Naruto.

But what is exposed is only the existence of the "root".

"Torune, the information about 'Root' hasn't been revealed. Judging from the battle just now, the information revealed to the Jinchuriki is only about the abilities of the two of us."

The mountain wind used words to calm the oil maiden's mind, and with a composed tone, it prompted her to reflect:

"As you know, the Rasengan is a powerful close-combat ninjutsu created by the Fourth Hokage. Therefore, unlike other close-combat techniques that focus on attacking vital points and defeating the enemy in one blow, the Rasengan can cause terrifying fatal wounds even if it only attacks the body, which is easier to hit, or the abdomen, which has no vital organs."

"I originally thought that Jinchuriki using Rasengan to attack the enemy's head was his fighting habit... but when he used Rasengan on you, the target became the torso, which was easier to hit. It wasn't until I used the Mind Disruption Technique to disrupt his movements that he refocused the Rasengan on your vital points!"

"Think carefully back to the number of kunai that the Jinchuriki threw when they attacked us... Torune!"

"The Jinchuriki who entered Sage Mode threw six kunai at the four of us. You and I each threw one—but Terai and Hyo each threw two."

"His Flying Thunder God attack on the two of us was just a feint to prevent us from providing immediate support. His real target was always Terai and Hyo. If the first Flying Thunder God attack failed to take down Terai and Hyo, he would immediately adjust his attack direction by throwing two more kunai at them. The blind spot created in the first Flying Thunder God attack did kill the two of them."

Aburame Torune was stunned. If Naruto's reason for attacking Terai and Hyo was indeed the same as Yamanaka Fu's deduction...

"The Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki probably doesn't know about Terai and Hyō's abilities?!"

Aburame Torune also understood why Naruto had been so ruthless towards Terai and Hyogoro.

Compared to Yamanaka Fu and Aburame Torune, whose abilities were already known to Naruto.

In Naruto's view, Terai and Hyo, whose abilities are unknown, are the unknowns that could easily change the course of the battle!

"It seems you've calmed down. Although I can't deduce why the Jinchuriki knew about our individual abilities, the way he dealt with our abilities just now exposed the 'lag' in the information he possessed!"