Hiruzen The Professor!

This brat actually has some tricks up his sleeve, but the overall situation is already decided. Thinking this, A casually kicked Naruto aside. As expected, the Naruto that got kicked turned into a puff of smoke.

He prepared to deliver the final blow to the fallen giant toad. At the last moment, the bloodied Gamabunta shouted, "Naruto, hold on until Jiraiya returns!" before being forced to end the summoning.

On the other side, Katsuyu could no longer protect Shizune under the encirclement led by Darui. She was also forced to cancel the summoning, and Shizune was captured alive.

The Kumo ninjas surrounded Shizune tightly. Darui pinned her underfoot, his blade at her neck, shouting to the surroundings, "If you don't show your real body, I'll have no choice but to kill her!"

Shizune tried to shout to Naruto not to care about her, but before she could speak, Darui, as if anticipating it, stomped down hard, burying her head in the dirt so she couldn't make a sound.

Darui, in ordinary times, might be a good man. But with things having progressed this far, as a Kumo ninja, he was prepared to do whatever it took.

"Damn it..."

Naruto gritted his teeth and cursed as he was forced to step out from behind a big tree. Still so young, he perhaps hadn't yet learned the hard rule: never negotiate with kidnappers.

Darui sighed inwardly, but his face remained cold and expressionless. "Since you care so much about your comrades, surrender now. Though, the one in front of me might not be your real body either."

Naruto planted his staff into the ground, crossed his arms, and tried to calm himself. "Even if I surrender, you guys won't let Shizune-nee go, will you?"

He, usually so dense, was surprisingly perceptive at critical moments. In the timeline where the Third Hokage didn't cheat death, during the Chunin Exams, Sasuke had once tried to surrender to the candidate disguised as Orochimaru. But Naruto immediately saw through it, realizing they wouldn't spare Team 7 either way, and decisively stopped Sasuke, choosing to fight Orochimaru head-on.

"That's not for sure. You'll only know if you really surrender." Darui raised his eyelids and said indifferently. "Better decide quickly."

A spoke, "Let me break your arms and legs, then take you back to Kumo. I'll heal you later."

Naruto shouted angrily, "Who would let you break their limbs!"

In such a situation, his mind spun at high speed, desperately searching for a solution. Cold sweat ran down his face, he still couldn't think of a way to save Shizune.

"They're lying to you," Enma said, popping out an eye. "Kumo has never been trustworthy!"

Having fought alongside Hiruzen for years, he was well-acquainted with Kumo's reputation.

Naruto clutched his head and scratched in frustration. At last, he shouted in despair, "Let's have a one-on-one fight!"

Everyone turned to look at him.

Naruto staked everything and pointed at the Raikage: "One-on-one! You and me! If you win, take me with you. If I win, let her go! As the Raikage, you're not scared of me, are you? Why aren't you saying anything? A guy who lost to my dad... Don't tell me you're afraid of me? "

A was furious hearing Naruto's words. Though a hothead, as a Kage, he wouldn't fall for such an obvious provocation. He immediately gave the order. "Darui, kill her."

Darui received the command, raised his large blade, and was about to stab it into Shizune's back.

Shizune closed her eyes in despair, thinking, Am I really going to die here…?

Seeing that the trick didn't work, the Naruto in front of them panicked, and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Stop! This time it's really the real me!" A short distance away, from behind another large tree, an anxious and slightly flushed Naruto stepped out.

"If you kill her, I'll run away right now! I'm the one you're after, right? And who knows, Pervy Sage and the others might be back any minute now!"

A and Darui exchanged a glance, and Darui halted his movement.

I... I survived. The blade had already cut through Shizune's clothes and stopped against the skin of her back. She could even feel the heat radiating from the tip.

A walked forward, his eyes locked on Naruto's blue eyes. "Brat, keep your word."

The goal of this operation was the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, and he was fully aware of that.

Locking eyes with him, Naruto forced himself to speak with resolve, "I always keep my promises!"

A's hair stood on end, and a humming sound filled the air, the Lightning Release Chakra Mode had already been activated. "To defeat a brat like you would take but a moment. But if this is another clone, she dies."

He didn't rush in like usual as a bolt of lightning; instead, he approached the blond brat slowly, radiating the overwhelming presence of a true powerhouse. He needed one last confirmation, was this the real body?

His massive, towering frame brought pressure like a mountain crashing down. Naruto was already drenched in sweat.

Beside him, Enma shouted urgently, "Don't trust them! Retreat!"

But how could Naruto abandon his comrade? Bracing against the pressure, he channeled all the chakra in his body, eyes locked onto the Raikage, ready to fight.

Pervy Sage… hurry up. I… I can't hold on much longer…

Just as he was thinking this, Jiraiya, as always, didn't disappoint. At the critical moment, as A closed in, from a distance, Jiraiya's voice suddenly rang out. "The great Jiraiya has arrived!"

A spun around, pupils contracting sharply. He couldn't believe it. Just when he thought he was about to succeed, he saw Jiraiya and Tsunade approaching, accompanied by a thick-browed Konoha ninja. Not far off, a squad in animal masks appeared.

On the thick-browed ninja's shoulder was the incapacitated Eight-Tails jinchūriki.

Killer B had gone full tailed-beast mode and still lost so quickly… And Konoha's reinforcements had arrived this fast. But where was Kumo's reinforcement…?

Had the intel been leaked? Was it him? Feeling something was wrong, A thought of that mysterious masked man.

"The life of the Eight-Tails jinchūriki should be more important than that of a little girl, wouldn't you say?" Jiraiya said, staring down the Raikage.

"Hand over B, and you can have the girl back!"

Naruto let out a sigh of relief and collapsed against the tree trunk, poof, he turned into a puff of smoke.

A single leaf drifted down from the tree, transforming mid-air back into Naruto.

This was the real body. He immediately ran over to Konoha's main force and greeted Guy.

Seeing this, Jiraiya smiled with satisfaction. A's face darkened.

Just as said from the beginning, Naruto, usually dense but razor-sharp at critical moments, never believed a single word A said.

At that moment, even Darui had to admit, he truly admired this blond kid. The way he used Transformation and Shadow Clone Techniques was masterful. What a pity… that he wasn't a Kumo ninja.