Naruto: The Otherworldly Cultivator

Disclaimer: Naruto and all its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 213: Fears From a Demonic Beast

"These useless branches cannot trap me!" Sasori shouted, using his metallic tail to break apart Yamato's wooden creations.

"Wood Release… Thousand Spears!" Yamato responded with another attack.

This time, Sasori was unable to brush the attack aside. Several sharp wooden spears pierced through his arms and legs.

But it didn't seem to bother Sasori in the slightest. He simply snapped the spears apart and prepared to fight back. This amount of damage was not enough to stop this puppet as it had been designed mostly for protection.

Yamato wanted to conserve more of his chakra, but he realized that if he wanted to get past the puppet and harm the real Sasori, he would have to use something far more potent.

He planted his hands on the ground and took a moment to concentrate.

"Wood Release—"

Before he could finish, something came crashing down from the sky, landing directly on top of Sasori.

The scorpion-like puppet, Hiruko, Sasori's longtime companion, was shattered into a thousand pieces from the impact of a single strike.

"Naruto?!" Yamato exclaimed, shocked to see the blonde young man now standing atop the rubble of the broken puppet.

At the last moment, Sasori escaped his construct, moving aside before Naruto's punch could also damage him in the process.

He landed a safe distance away but was just as stunned as Yamato by Naruto's sudden appearance.

"You're… the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi, Naruto Uzumaki!" He had known that someone was fighting against Orochimaru on the other side of the lake but did not expect to be this particular ninja.

Sasori, of course, knew exactly who Naruto was. The Akatsuki had studied files on all the Jinchūriki extensively. Naruto's case was of particular interest, as Sasori's team was supposed the one in charge of capturing him.

However, he hadn't anticipated Naruto sneaking up on him and destroying one of his favorite puppets with a single strike. Still, not all was lost. Hiruko was just one of many puppets in his possession.

"That must be his real body," Yamato thought as he glanced at Sasori. The red-haired boy before him resembled the description in the Bingo Book almost perfectly. "But there is something wrong..."

He didn't have time to ponder why Sasori still looked like he did in the decades-old pictures. Instead, Yamato noticed the suspicious grin creeping across Sasori's face and realized something was wrong.

He snapped his gaze back to the broken puppet. Naruto was still standing over its remains.

"Naruto! Get away from there!" Yamato yelled. He had no doubt that a trap was still hidden within the puppet. Puppet masters were notorious for their trickery, always having one last weapon in reserve.

As he feared, a hidden mechanism was triggered. Several poisoned senbon shot out from the remains, striking Naruto's body in multiple places.

"No! Nar—"

Puff!

Yamato's words were cut off as Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke.

"That was a shadow clone?" Yamato muttered, relieved and impressed that a simple clone was able to deliver an attack capable of decimating that puppet with ease.

"Tsk… just a clone," Sasori grumbled, lamenting the loss of his puppet without any gain. "If only I had at least managed to poison him."

A short distance away, Kakashi had heard Deidara scream, and moments later, he saw the blonde man crash to the ground.

Deidara's clay bird, which had kept him airborne, was now plummeting toward Kakashi. Quickly regaining his composure, Kakashi prepared to act, only to see Naruto appear and toss the clay bird aside before it vanished in another puff of smoke.

"A clone of Naruto? But…" Kakashi frowned. Naruto should have been busy fighting Orochimaru. Why was he here, helping him instead?.

The Three-Tails roared, its deep voice reverberating through the air, and the lake's waters churned violently.

"You're not leaving."

Naruto stood at the river's entrance, directly in the path of the massive beast. His feet rested on the water's surface, perfectly balanced.

The Three-Tails locked its intense yellow eyes on Naruto. Though it couldn't understand why, a primal fear gripped the beast. It knew that this human before it was dangerous and deadly, and it wanted nothing more than to escape, to get as far away as possible from him.

Twisting columns of water rose from the lake and shot toward Naruto with tremendous force.

Naruto dodged them effortlessly and rushed forward.

Focusing a large amount of energy into his right palm, he converted it into wind chakra. He thrust his palm forward, sending a powerful shockwave toward the colossal turtle.

At first, it seemed as though nothing had happened. Then, suddenly, the air itself seemed to explode outward.

The shockwave was so strong that it sent the Three-Tails flying backward, despite its massive size and weight. A significant portion of the lake's water was displaced in the process.

"Naruto!" Kakashi's voice was filled with awe as he watched his former student.

The move Naruto had just used appeared simple at first glance, but Kakashi's Sharingan caught a glimpse of its intricacy.

The technique wasn't just about the amount of chakra Naruto used, it was the way he used it.

Kakashi had a strong suspicion that even if the Three-Tails were a hundred times heavier, it still would have been flung away. If his analysis was correct, Naruto hadn't pushed the turtle itself but the very space around it.

"How terrifying…" Kakashi muttered as he watched Naruto walk back to the shore.

He couldn't imagine where Naruto had learned to use wind chakra in such a way. It was certainly nothing Jiraiya had taught him.

"So, Akatsuki is here for the Bijuu as well," Naruto commented as his blue eyes scanned his surroundings.

Yamato arrived at Kakashi's side, intending to warn him, but paused when he spotted the real Naruto standing over the river.

"What happened to Orochimaru?" Kakashi asked before Yamato could speak.

Naruto met Kakashi's gaze, his expression calm yet resolute.

"He's dead."

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