How Kurama Leads Naruto Astray

"Just one hit and..." In the distance, White Zetsu stared in disbelief.

They expected Naruto to be strong, but not *this* strong. Not even Nagato could beat both Kisame and Hidan in a single second.

"What do we do?" One White Zetsu looked at the other, who quickly shook his head. "Obito's injured. Our main body did send out the Edo Tensei, but they're not here yet. We just need Kisame and Hidan to stall a bit lon—wait, no way! We need to run!"

His voice shook as he yanked his companion underground with him.

The next moment, Naruto—covered in a golden glow—landed from the sky. His brows furrowed as he looked at the empty ground. Without thinking, he threw a chakra-charged punch into the earth. The two poor White Zetsus didn't even have time to escape. As the ground shattered, Naruto grabbed them both in his hand.

He floated back into the sky to avoid the falling rocks and looked at the two weird white creatures caught in his giant golden hand. "This feeling… is it Six Paths Yang Power? No, not quite. It's close, but not that pure. There's a strong life energy… what *are* these things?"

He had sensed something watching him before, but the presence was so faint he hadn't paid much attention. But once he entered Sage of Six Paths mode, that presence couldn't hide anymore.

Kurama rubbed his chin. "That's White Zetsu. As for what they are exactly..."

After thinking for a second, Kurama decided to tell the truth. "They're ancient humans Kaguya trapped with Infinite Tsukuyomi. After the God Tree sucked out their chakra and life force, she turned them into these things. It was her way of preparing to fight the coming Otsutsuki clan."

"They're really good at hiding," Naruto said, looking closely at the two struggling White Zetsus. They tried to break free with chakra bursts, but it was useless.

White Zetsus weren't that strong to begin with, and now the gap between them and Naruto was too big. There was no way they were getting out.

"Right now, the only ones in the ninja world who can detect them are you and Sasuke—well, and Sakura too," Kurama explained. "The Six Paths power lets you sense them."

"But Sasuke's Yin Six Paths power isn't good at sensing, and Sakura's Six Paths chakra isn't as strong as yours. She has to be really close to notice. So really, you're the only one who can spot them from far away."

Naruto rubbed his chin and nodded. "But why would White Zetsus made by Kaguya be working with the Akatsuki?"

"That's where the whole 'womb' thing comes in," Kurama said with a sly smile. "But no need to explain that right now. Since the Sage didn't tell you, he probably had his reasons."

Whether the smile was sly or not didn't matter. It was definitely sketchy.

"Just finish them off. Think of it as giving those ancient people some rest. You're not going to get anything useful out of them anyway," Kurama said, lying in Naruto's mindscape. "Now hurry up and go save Shukaku. You've already wasted enough time."

White Zetsus may be dumb, but they're loyal. Getting any info out of them is a lost cause.

"Alright," Naruto said. He tightened his grip. The giant golden hand squeezed, and the two White Zetsus were instantly crushed into mush.

Yeah—mush. White Zetsus didn't really count as humans, just… living things.

Naruto felt a little grossed out. He dropped the remains, let his Six Paths mode fade, and took off in the direction of Shukaku's chakra.

But just as he turned, a sudden burst of water exploded from the ground, wrapping around him the moment his Six Paths mode vanished.

"Water Style: Super Exploding Water Shockwave!"

Chakra turned into waves. It looked like the earth had become an ocean. Huge streams of water shot into the sky, swallowing Naruto completely.

He didn't dodge. He covered his nose and mouth with his left hand, held his breath, and looked down.

On the water's surface, Kisame stood with his hands in a jutsu pose, blood still pouring from his mouth.

Samehada's bandages were gone, revealing a blade full of black spikes—now cracked and bleeding like a living thing. A huge hole in the middle showed where it had taken a full blast from a Tailed Beast Bomb.

Naruto looked around. A giant water sphere had formed around him, with the ocean beneath his feet.

He couldn't help but think, "What a massive water-style jutsu. I've never seen this much water before. This guy's chakra is several times more than Kakashi-sensei's."

"He *is* called the tailless tailed beast, after all," Kurama said with a sigh. Then he added, "But you really shouldn't compare everything to him. Sure, he's a walking chakra battery, but the Senju, Uzumaki, and tailed beasts are in a different league entirely."

Just not a fair comparison.

Kakashi would be crying if he heard this.

Naruto muttered, "Ka—"

"Kakashi-sensei doesn't have a lot of chakra, but it's still at the level of a regular jonin. What did he ever do to you?"

"I'm happy. Why should you care?" Kurama said confidently. "Just like Asuma's death, Kakashi is now one of the measuring sticks of the ninja world. It's fate—you can't change it."

Naruto's forehead was covered in stress lines. He had no idea what Kurama was talking about and didn't know how to respond.

Below, Kisame's body trembled. Luckily, he caught himself by grabbing Samehada. He was breathing hard and coughing up blood now and then, but he still managed to smile. "So strong… In that instant, I couldn't even use a clone or a substitution jutsu. Is this what it means when they say he's the 'strongest ninja in the world' right now?"

If Samehada hadn't absorbed most of the damage and used the chakra to heal him, that hit would've been enough to kill him.

Water splashed as Hidan, whose upper body had nearly been torn off, climbed up from the water and stood next to Kisame. His face showed real fear. "Hey, hey, that's the first time I've seen a ninja punch me like that."

"You just never met one before," Kisame replied, eyeing Hidan—who somehow looked even worse off than him, yet was still moving around like it was nothing. For a moment, Kisame felt jealous. "Looks like the only way to hold this guy off is for us to die here."

But wasn't that something they already knew? Kisame let out a laugh.

Hidan pouted and swung his triple-bladed scythe over his shoulder. "The word 'death' doesn't exist in my dictionary."

"Well, maybe it does now." Kisame absorbed chakra from Samehada to heal himself.

Since Samehada was injured too, it let out a weak whimper before finally sending over its chakra.

Hearing that sound, Kisame laughed like it was nothing. "Don't worry, Samehada. If nothing goes wrong, this fight will be over soon. Hidan and I won't make it out alive, so after that, you can go after Uzumaki Naruto. He's got enough chakra to keep you full for a long time."

Samehada shook its body, like it agreed with Kisame's words.

Seeing that, Kisame couldn't help but laugh and curse. "Traitor. I was just saying that—you actually mean it?"

"But still…"

Kisame looked up at the huge water sphere in the sky. Naruto had already turned to look at them.

"If you end up with that guy, your life might be better than it ever was with me."

---

You can read 10 Chapters ahead on my

pat reon.com/GMadman