Double-transformation: I, Sakura Haruno! Will crush the pirates!

Sasuke roughly guessed Sakura's thoughts and spoke up for her, provoking Naruto.

As expected, Naruto's love for Sasuke surpassed that for Sakura.

Upon hearing Sasuke's words, he immediately became boisterous and stepped forward with his sleeves rolled up.

"Kill me if you want, I'm just an enemy, I won't lose to you, you lewd Sasuke!"

Sasuke, who had been trying to help, suddenly had a vein pop out on his forehead and let out a cold snort.

Standing in front of the bandit leader, Naruto looked at this adult who was taller than him.

As the kunai's blade tip approached its opponent, it finally began to tremble.

"This is the enemy...this is the enemy..."

After silently repeating it four or five times, Naruto closed his eyes and thrust the kunai forcefully, successfully piercing the opponent's thigh.

puff!

"Ahhh!"

The man on the ground woke up in pain. The double pain in his groin and thigh made his face turn red and his eyes bloodshot.

"I'm so sorry, I'll free you right now!"

Naruto drew his kunai and stabbed again.

"Well!!!"

With another precise strike that avoided a vital wound, the bandit leader was too exhausted to even curse and collapsed to the ground, convulsing.

"Ah, sorry!"

puff!

"Uh!"

“I’ll be right soon!”

puff!

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

...

After striking his opponent seventeen times with his kunai, the bandit leader, whose tears had left two tear streaks, finally fell silent.

It's just unclear whether he was killed by Naruto or died from sheer anger.

Naruto, his face stained with blood but extremely pale, walked back, causing Sasuke, Shibuki, and Kakashi to all take a step back.

"Sakura..."

"Hmm, well done, but remember, don't torture the enemy next time."

Even Sakura, a pirate, had never tormented her enemies like this during her time adrift at sea.

Speaking of Naruto, does he have some talent for torture? The techniques he developed later were all incredibly torturous...

They took out clean tissues and wiped the blood off the poor little golden retriever's face before setting off again.

The group traveled along the way, stopping frequently, with Kakashi teaching Naruto the basics of chakra control.

Therefore, the journey to Takigakure Village was also lengthened, taking half again as long as originally planned.

Crossing the border of the Land of Fire from the southeastern forest, standing among the tall trees and looking into the distance, one can already see the outermost coastline.

This also means that the Seventh Team is about to arrive at the end of their escort mission – Takigakure Village.

salsa——

Among the trees, a crow flapped its wings and flew into the sky.

Shibuki, who was at the back of the group, was startled and immediately shrank back, hiding behind Sakura.

"Leader of Takigakure, you need to step up your game! This won't do!"

With her arms crossed over her chest, Sakura scanned the man in front of her with her deep green eyes.

"I didn't want to be the leader either!!!"

Summoning his courage, Shibuki stood up and yelled at Sakura.

"You dare to yell at Sakura!"

Naruto raised his fist and pounced, instantly making the entire forest noisy.

.

.

Meanwhile, on the giant tree above Takigakure Village.

A group of wandering ninjas gathered together and squatted down in front of a man wearing a headband from Takigakure.

"Lord Shuiyan, is it really possible to get in like this?"

The ninja wearing a mist-shadow headband leaned on his back, his questioning gaze sweeping over the middle-aged man crouching in the tree.

After all, it's strange that a former Jonin from Takigakure is now saying he wants to lead them into Takigakure.

"Don't underestimate me. I am a Jonin from Takigakure, after all."

The man called Shuiyan opened his eyes and glanced at the many wandering ninjas in front of him.

Another female Mist Ninja spoke up: "So you still choose to become a Mist Ninja?"

"Ha, isn't it all because this village practices such a lousy hereditary system!"

Shuiyan calmly uttered these words in front of everyone, his gaze as deep and unfathomable as a still pool, making it impossible for anyone to guess his thoughts.

"Kai hee hee~"

The ninja, arms crossed and a ferocious expression on his face, laughed.

So they couldn't wait.

"Misty Rain, don't kill too many people."

Shuiyan looked up and gave him some instructions, then finally focused her gaze on the outermost edge.

There stood a group of arrogant people dressed in round fans and kimonos, their eyes glaring with blood-red glares.

A cold aura permeated the air between them, as if they disdained to engage in much conversation with those present.

"As for my friends from the Uchiha clan, once I bring you into the ninja village, the deal will be done, and we'll leave each other alone!"

Uchiha Itachi stepped out from among the red-eyed people and agreed to Suigan's request.

"Then, let the battle begin!"

Chapter 70 Reunion with Uchiha Itachi!

Outside the waterfall in Takigakure Village, Sakura sat by the lake below the waterfall, dipping her legs in the water.

Her emerald eyes narrowed as she felt the coolness from her skin, and her pink hair swayed in the wind.

Ten minutes ago, Kakashi received a message from the Ninja Hawk, informing him that the village was holding an emergency Jonin meeting and that he needed to return immediately.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Sasuke accepted the second task proposed by Shibuki and are cleaning up the trash in the lake.

"Ugh, what a perfectly good C-rank mission, why did it end up being all about picking up trash!"

Naruto reluctantly used his hook to pierce a snack bag and put it into his net bag.

"This is spiritual practice, and you're standing in the water again!"

Sasuke, walking on the water, stylishly tossed a soda can into his bag and casually reminded Naruto.

"Ah, it was an accident..."

Naruto's eyes widened, and he quickly gathered his chakra, trying to step onto the water's surface.

But then he lost his footing and fell into the water.

"Damn it, this is way too difficult!"

Naruto, soaking wet, emerged from the water and shook his head vigorously.

"Never mind, it's still early, let's eat our bento boxes!"

"No, we'll eat somewhere else!"

After seeing that the group had completed their task and settled their payment, Shibuki began urging them to leave.

"Huh? You bastard..."

Just as Naruto was about to confront him, Sasuke grabbed his shoulder from behind.

"No need to waste any more words, he doesn't want us to know the entrance to Takigakure Village!"

"Hmph, if I don't want to, I don't want to. Who cares about this godforsaken place!"

Naruto, puffing out his cheeks, climbed ashore and waved goodbye.

boom! ! !

A loud bang suddenly erupted, and a group of people burst out from behind the curtain.

After the water obscuring their view dissipated, the two sides stared at each other, both frozen in place.

The sound of the waterfall seemed to fade into the distance, and everything seemed to freeze in that moment. Sasuke's body trembled, and his teeth clenched.

With his crimson eyes illuminating, a few words were squeezed out from between his teeth: "Uchiha... Itachi!"

The young man in front of me was wearing a hooded overcoat with a fan embroidered on the back. The high collar covered half of his face, and with the headband marked with a line, it was impossible to see his complexion.

"Long time no see, Sasuke."

The cold voice came from afar, but to Sasuke it sounded like the low murmur of a demon.

"Your clan is a disgrace, and today I will correct this mistake!!!"

Chakra flowed through the boy's body, and a clear killing intent roared unrestrainedly.

He pulled out the Fuma Shuriken from behind his back, stepped on the water's surface, and sped towards the Uchiha group.

Swish!

A high-speed spiraling shuriken was thrown out, and Sasuke followed behind, forming hand seals.

—Wind Demon Shuriken: Shadow Windmill!

The black roulette wheel, which spun out, split into two pieces in mid-air and crashed into the Uchiha ninja with a high-pitched tearing sound.

"That's all..."

Uchiha Tetsuka on the left pulled out a large sword.

"That's not enough to deal with..."

Uchiha Inahisa on the right took out a long sword.

"The new leader of the Uchiha!" *2

The two swung their swords simultaneously, the blades wreathed in flame chakra slicing through the Fuma Shuriken like hot knives cutting through wax. The iron, scorched red-hot by the intense heat, fell into the water with a sizzling sound.

"Damn you..."

Sasuke Uchiha was even more furious, but before he could finish speaking, two three-tomoe Uchiha had already rushed in front of him.

With his Observation Haki providing a warning, Sasuke barely dodged Uchiha Tekka's fist, but failed to notice Uchiha Inahashi's kick coming from his blind spot.

boom!

Sasuke was kicked hard in the stomach and flew backward, only to be caught squarely by Sakura Haruno, who stood up from the water.

Sakura Haruno: "..."

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!"

Sasuke, who was placed on the ground by Sakura, clenched his fists, looking as if his reason had been completely consumed by rage.

Silly child, those two Jonin couldn't use any of their ninjutsu against you, and they gave you a huge amount of water, and you still don't appreciate it.

Sakura sighed inwardly and held Sasuke Uchiha tightly to prevent him from going berserk and rushing forward to suffer.