Naruto: Just Want To Be A Death God

It was no ordinary Fire Style technique.

It carried a trace of tailed beast chakra.

They dragged radiant tails of flame through the air, drawing elegant arcs as they flew toward Naruto.

Yugito clasped her palms together, fingers interlocking.

Her eyes locked onto Naruto.

According to intel, the speed of the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki was considered among the absolute top tier.

Her technique did have tracking capabilities.

But even so, she wasn't confident it would be effective.

However—

What she didn't expect—

Naruto didn't move. He just stood in mid-air, not even turning his head back, still watching the battle between the Nine-Tails and the Eight-Tails.

The blue fireballs shot toward him—

Just as they were about to hit—

Several golden chains whipped out from behind Naruto, lashing into the blue fireballs and effortlessly reducing them to dissipating smoke.

Yugito gritted her teeth.

The attack failed.

What made her even angrier was Naruto's attitude.

Was he really looking down on her that much?

She summoned her tailed beast chakra, a dark red cloak enveloping her body.

She leaped high, pouncing toward Naruto, both hands sweeping forward, cold light glinting.

Sharp claws extended from her fingertips, gleaming and deadly.

But—

Even as she closed in—

Naruto still made no attempt to dodge. He allowed the claws to slash at him.

Yugito felt a thrill of excitement, but it was shattered in an instant.

Naruto didn't defend.

Her attack only tore his clothes. The claws, usually razor-sharp, left only shallow marks on his skin. And before her claws even withdrew fully, the wounds had already wriggled and healed completely.

"This kind of feeble attack… don't bother using it," Naruto said softly. "Save your strength. You're not my opponent."

"Why not watch the fight between the Nine-Tails and the Eight-Tails with me instead?"

"They're putting on quite the show, aren't they?"

Yugito landed, gritting her teeth.

The tailed beast chakra within her surged violently.

From her body erupted blue-black flames, like ink blazing.

This Nine-Tails Jinchūriki was far stronger than she had imagined.

Even a half-transformation couldn't scratch him—

Just what kind of level had he reached?

C dodged the fight alongside Darui.

They were trying to break through the aura pressure, but in just this short time, they had already tried dozens of methods—and none of them worked.

"This seems to be pure aura," C clenched his fists. "Not a jutsu effect."

He was an all-rounder ninja.

Genjutsu, taijutsu, medical ninjutsu... He had trained all of them to jōnin-level proficiency.

He had once been praised by the Raikage as someone reminiscent of the Third Hokage.

His judgment carried weight.

"That's bad," Darui frowned. "If that's true, then we probably won't be able to help Yugito and Bee."

Under this pressure—

Even performing jutsu was difficult.

Worse still—

Kumogakure had mobilized such a massive force, yet none of them could be used.

In the end, the ones fighting the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki were still just those two Jinchūriki.

And the intel said nothing about the Nine-Tails being able to come out of the host's body and fight independently as its own entity.

The situation had gone from many against one, to a "fair" two-on-two.

But for Kumogakure, that was the greatest kind of unfair.

"We still have a chance," C said quietly. "Remember that plan? It's already in motion."

It was a plan devised well in advance.

Once they learned that Naruto had a vast sensory range, they anticipated that he would settle the red-haired Uzumaki woman somewhere safe and come looking for them.

If that really happened—

Another jōnin-led chūnin squad would be dispatched to capture Uzumaki Karin.

Attacking the "weak point"—a ninja's specialty.

Darui nodded. "Is that so?"

Though things were progressing as planned—

He couldn't shake the sense of unease in his heart.

Variables had already appeared.

All their carefully prepared manpower had become useless.

Would the operation to capture Karin—

Really go smoothly?

———

In the forest far away—

"So they're using me as the breakthrough point after all," Karin opened her eyes and pouted. "They've sent a squad my way."

Her Kagura Mind's Eye, though not on Naruto's level—

Still had a range of several kilometers. Against regular ninja, it was more than enough.

Those fast-approaching chakra signatures couldn't escape her detection.

"I'll protect you," Yin Kurama drawled lazily. "How many enemies?"

Karin stood, fixed her gaze in the right direction, and calmly said, "One jōnin, three chūnin."

"A standard team formation."

"Thanks, Kurama."

"But..."

"I'm not the same as I used to be."

"I'll handle these people myself. If things get bad, I'll call for help."

Yin Kurama snorted, swishing his tail.

Less than two minutes later—

The jōnin landed. "The Uzumaki chakra is here!"

"Search the area!"

"She's not strong—probably only a chūnin at best."

"Capture her quickly."

The chūnin obeyed, spreading out to search.

But as one of them rounded a tree, he suddenly froze, panic rising in his chest.

He looked down.

He had tripped a nearly invisible filament line.

At each end of the thread—sizzle sizzle—the sound of burning paper.

Explosive tags!

He realized it immediately.

But it was too late. The tags ignited.

BOOM!

A thunderous explosion shook the forest.

The chūnin was torn apart by the blast. His head, limbs, flesh, and bones flew in all directions like a flower scattering petals.

The remaining three ninja were drawn by the sound and rushed over.

What they saw turned their faces pale.

Their teammate's gruesome death—

"Careful! She set traps," the jōnin frowned. "Looks like she has sensory ability and was ready for us."

"He let his guard down."

By Naruto's side, Karin was nothing special.

But the benefit of that was—

Most intel on her seemed to be missing.

Aside from being labeled as "an Uzumaki" and "a healer" from Grass Village, the rest—they knew nothing about.

They still thought of her as that weakling.

Now, it seemed otherwise.

They moved more cautiously.

But after the three spread out—

A golden chain shot out from behind one of the chūnin, binding his limbs and slamming him into the ground.

The chūnin didn't even have time to react—hadn't even turned his head—

When the red-haired figure appeared in front of him.

It was Karin!

She raised her hand, a swirling sphere of blue energy forming in her palm.

"Rasengan!"

Naruto had long since taught her this technique.

She slammed the energy ball into the chūnin's abdomen. Chakra and raw force twisted and tore at his insides, shredding his organs.

He let out a painful wail as his life force rapidly faded.

The commotion alerted the remaining two.

They moved instantly to regroup.

Quick as they were, they still arrived only to find a corpse, face-down.

No trace of the killer.

"Was that the Uzumaki girl?" the jōnin gritted his teeth, fists clenching.

They had underestimated her.

They'd believed the reports from Grass—if not protected by Naruto, she'd be utterly helpless.

She had some skill, clearly.

"How did she kill Rō?" the remaining chūnin frowned, puzzled.

He knew his teammate's capabilities.

Even if he wasn't a match, he shouldn't have been killed so easily.

He stepped forward to flip the body.

There were no visible injuries from the back.

Maybe the front would reveal something.

The jōnin's eyes widened. "Don't touch the corpse!"

But the chūnin's hand had already made contact. He instantly realized the problem and yanked his hand back.

Too late.

Fsssh!

Explosive tags ignited.

The chūnin made a hand sign, a Earth Release armor covered him, shielding from the full blast. Though he was flung away, he survived.

The jōnin exhaled in relief.

At least—

That trap hadn't caused another casualty.

That Uzumaki woman was seriously tough.

She killed a chūnin in one strike, and in the chaos managed to plant an undetectable trap—

But he didn't even finish the thought.

The flung chūnin was suddenly caught mid-air by a red-haired figure.

Karin again.

She grabbed his hair with one hand, and a kunai with the other.

Without hesitation.

Shlick!

The kunai drove into his throat.

"Uzumaki Karin!" the jōnin growled, spitting out her name with fury.

Fine.

Now he'd remember her.

Karin tossed the corpse aside, stepping on its head. She leaned slightly down and spoke calmly:

"You really underestimated me."

"I'm no longer that little girl from Grass."

"I've been by the side of the strongest ninja in the world. Even someone with no talent would learn something from that—unless they're a fool."

"And I do have some talent."

"I may not be able to help Naruto with those big things."

"But if I drag him down with this little stuff..."

"I might as well be stabbed by him myself."

The Kumogakure jōnin spat. "I admit—you've got some skills."

"But be ready to face my wrath."

Karin tilted her head, confused.

She was talking to Kurama.

Why was this guy butting in?

"You're the last one left," Karin said, slightly nervous. "Naruto keeps saying I'm at jōnin level."

"Let's see if that's true, shall we?"

A jōnin—

Someone she once had to look up to, so high and out of reach.

(End of Chapter)