"Splash! Splash!"
Accompanied by the sound of chains tearing through the air, thick metal links instantly wrapped around Kakashi, pulled tight with all their might by two masked ninjas in silver armor with unkempt hair.
In a flash, Kakashi shattered into chunks of bloody flesh.
This moment mirrored the past, yet with subtle differences.
Before the two could even utter the words "kill one," Haruno Sakura swiftly hurled a kunai wrapped in an Explosive Tag backward, tackling Tazuna to the ground the exact instant the paper ignited.
"BOOM!!"
Fragments of stone scattered in all directions. At the same time, the Hidden Mist Technique, on the verge of completion, was instantly blasted away by the hurricane of the explosion, followed by a churning cloud of dust.
Visibility cleared up instantly.
Sasuke stood stunned for a second, then drew his kunai, pushed off the ground with his toes, and dashed fiercely toward the three enemies behind Sakura, instinctively executing the Uchiha Shuriken Jutsu!
Three more enemies. Add the previous two, and there were at least five in total!
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
Kunai and shuriken deflected off one another, forming a web that completely sealed off all of the enemies' escape routes.
One of the enemies failed to react in time, pierced in the arm and abdomen by two separate kunai. The kinetic energy of the deflection drove the weapons deep into his flesh, instantly knocking him out of the fight.
"Watch out!" Sakura shouted, deflecting a chain coming up behind Sasuke with a kunai as she stumbled back two steps from the recoil.
She could vividly feel her body trembling uncontrollably—a shaking that refused to subside despite the onset of battle.
For a moment, Sakura even forgot the hand signs for the Water Release technique.
Ask yourself: what are the chances that a woman transmigrated from Earth could remain calm and serene in front of cold-blooded, murdering ninjas?
"Whoosh!" A shuriken grazed past her, cutting a gash across her cheek. Sakura swung her kunai, swatting away the remaining shuriken completely.
Seeing this, Sasuke kicked down an enemy, then shielded Sakura's side and said to her, "Protect Tazuna first. I'll protect you!"
Sakura stared blankly at Sasuke.
She inexplicably recalled a certain night back on Earth.
At the time, she was an undergraduate student who, just to pass the time, was live-streaming a hitless speedrun of Sekiro in her dorm room.
Her viewer count was practically nonexistent, hovering in the single digits after playing for hours.
She had just beaten Genichiro without taking a hit, only to accidentally get herself permanently stuck while trying to exploit an out-of-bounds shortcut.
She sighed. "What a waste. That run was the fastest one yet."
Her female voice carried through the microphone, catching the attention of a viewer who typed in the public chat in bewilderment:
"A girl?"
A surge of intense irritation washed over her.
So what if she was a girl? Couldn't a girl speedrun Sekiro?
Later, when she live-streamed Elden Ring multiplayer, she received similar remarks, and her inbox began filling up with harassing private messages.
"5,000 for the night, deal?" "Do you sell your worn socks?" "Can you step on me?" "Looking for a bitch."...
She muted her microphone, switched to a burner account, and began live-streaming a level-one hitless run of all bosses in Elden Ring.
It took her about half a year.
She succeeded.
Memories surged through Sakura's mind like a rising tide, jolting her back from Sasuke's casual remark to that restless summer night.
It wasn't that Sasuke was being arrogant; it was just that Sister Sakura was feeling a little ticked off.
Sakura's gaze gradually sharpened. She tucked her kunai back into her ninja tool pouch and signaled for Sasuke to cover her.
Before Sasuke could react, Sakura bolted forward in a single stride, zeroing in on the three enemies right in front of her!
"Whoosh! Whoosh!" Sakura kicked away one flying kunai while Sasuke blocked the other. She then enveloped her fists in chakra, crouched low, and delivered a straight, direct punch right into an enemy.
That single punch carried the might of a surging sea and the fierce momentum of a dragon and tiger!
"Thud!"
"Aargh!!" The enemy let out a miserable scream.
As a side note, Sakura had aimed strictly for his crotch.
On Earth, encountering Doraemon might make you a tease, but in the world of Naruto, encountering Doraemon meant your luck had simply run out.
Sakura knew very well that if she wanted to easily defeat the enemies with her current strength, she had to maximize her brute-force advantage to buy time for Naruto's return.
Much like executing a deathblow on Sekiro after depleting his posture bar, she was simply skipping the intermediate steps and going straight for the weakness.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
While covering Sakura with Shurikenjutsu, Sasuke couldn't help but feel a chilling breeze sweep across his own groin.
Holy crap!
Sakura and Sasuke coordinated with flawless fluidity, forcing the enemies into a steady retreat.
The remaining enemies looked at Sakura with deep terror, their combat rhythm completely shattered.
By now, Sasuke was also cutting a swath through the battlefield. Having handled two opponents with ease in the original story, his martial instincts were now burning hotter than ever after a period of rigorous training.
On the other side.
Naruto opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of stale air.
That stubborn bastard was truly tough to grind down, but they should still make it in time.
Besides, Kakashi was definitely hiding nearby, watching the whole thing.
After messing around inside his Mind Space for a while, he finally managed to trick a massive chunk of crimson chakra out of the fox.
Naruto pinched off a tiny piece of the chakra, much like tearing a small scrap of cotton candy, and shoved it straight into his chest.
Instantly, his heart flooded with malice, though thankfully still within a manageable level of control.
Naruto sprinted forward rapidly, soon spotting Sakura and Sasuke driving the enemy into full retreat.
"I'm here!" Naruto leaped into the air, smashing the nearest enemy with a fist that caved in his breastbone.
He continued running forward, but quickly noticed that the enemies were already in a pathetic, battered state.
He stared at Sakura, whose murderous aura seemed even more intense than his own, and Sasuke, drenched in sweat, and fell into deep thought.
Uh, wait...
How come it feels like there's nothing left for me to do?
Why isn't this playing out the way I scripted it in my head?
Who the hell is the protagonist here?!
A wave of intense frustration suddenly welled up in Naruto's chest.
He had originally assumed the enemies would be overwhelmingly powerful—so strong that even the three-man squad going all-out wouldn't be a match for them—which was why he had instantly tapped into the Nine-Tails Chakra.
Now, it turned out the enemies weren't even all that tough?
No way! I practically talked my mouth dry back in the Mind Space; I can't let those two steal all the credit!
"Get out of the way!" Naruto bellowed at Sakura and Sasuke, charging straight into the thick of battle!
At first, he tried mimicking Sakura, taking out one kid with a single punch and knocking all the nearby enemies into shock.
Then he abruptly realized something was wrong. Wait, why the hell was he copying Sakura?!
So he summoned a slew of Shadow Clones and initiated an all-out beatdown mode.
It was mostly just unadorned, heavy-duty taijutsu—specifically, the enhanced Nine-Tails Chakra version.
"Leave a few alive! We still need to interrogate them!" Sakura shouted from behind.
"Got it!" Naruto immediately grabbed one guy, pummeling him relentlessly as he demanded, "Are you talking or not? I asked you, are you talking? Talk! Are you gonna talk?!"
The enemy was on the verge of tears. At least ask the question first!
Naruto knocked the guy out with a single punch, grabbed another, and resumed his interrogation.
The topics ranged widely: What was the Third Hokage's bank password? How many kunai had he used just now? What color nail polish did the Akatsuki wear? Was his auntie married yet, and so on.
Finally, Sasuke and Naruto had to physically pull Naruto back before he got too carried away by the heat of battle.
Once he finally calmed down, Naruto blamed the whole thing on the evil Nine-Tails corrupting his mind.