Kapitel 23: Chapter 23
But before she could knock him down with her fist, he punched her in the face, tearing the roots that were holding him in the process.
"If you're going to hold me with a genjutsu, Kurenai, at least try." It was pathetic at best, he told her when the genjutsu didn't work. He had hoped for more, but so far he was disappointed.
With any luck, it wasn't the best they had, he thought, waiting.
She came to her senses and jumped back to her team.
"He broke a B-rank genjutsu like it was nothing and didn't even notice me!" - she thought in surprise. He had obviously changed over the past three years, but she didn't have time to worry as she quickly gave orders to her team.
- Kiba, Shino, Hinata, hold back!
If a single attack doesn't work, then teamwork will definitely work.
"Got it, Kurenai-sensei," Shino replied. Team Kurenai had used this formation before. Kiba and Akamaru engaged in battle, but not to defeat the target. They simply wore him down. Meanwhile, Hinata got closer and used her Juken to hit Tenketsu's targets. After the target's chakra was cut off, Shino held it with his kikaichu while Kurenai used a genjutsu, subduing the target.
- Go ahead, Akamaru! - Kiba jumped on Naruto with Akamaru on his side. - Gatsuga (Fang by Fang)!
The two of them began to spin, spinning faster and faster until they looked like little gray tornadoes. As they rushed towards Naruto, all he did was wait. When it looked like they were about to hit him, he simply knelt down, passing them over each other.
- Crap! We missed! - Kiba thought. Both he and Akamaru tried to spin in the air to try and hit Naruto again.
But that was just an idea. As both Kiba and Akamaru flew over Naruto, Naruto pulled his arms out and plunged his palms into the two tornadoes, quickly grabbing Akamaru's tail and Kiba's leg. Throwing Akamaru into the air, he knocked Kiba down and struck him hard in the stomach. The Inuzuka immediately lost his breath and tried to resist the final blow, especially when he crashed into the platform. This slowed him down enough for Naruto to take advantage of it. The blonde got to his feet and kicked him back to his teammates. He then jumped up and hit Akamaru in the side, causing him to fall to the ground in front of Kiba.
"Still the same, Inu-teme, always eager to fight," Naruto stated, landing on the ground. "It was harder to fight him in the chunin exams," he thought.
"The difference is that you already know how he fights," Kyuubi reminded him.
"And he doesn't know how I fight now." he answered. At that moment, he felt that his legs were somehow numb. When he felt the bugs, he realized who was trying to attack him.
"Are you trying to hold me back with your kikaichu, Shino?" - he asked out loud. Shino didn't say anything so Naruto wouldn't know that he had moved closer and moved away a little. - Are you silent in order to hope that I will not find out that you have changed your position?
Shino was surprised by Naruto's question.
"How did he know? I was completely silent when I moved, and I did it while he was busy with Kiba!" - he thought.
- Points for trying, but... - The blond disappeared along with the smoke trail. Instead, a piece of lumber appeared from a nearby pile.
- He used Kawarimi (Body Replacement)! - Shino quickly turned around, trying to find the place where Naruto had gone, and saw only his closed eyes looking at him.
"You're still not coping," he said before punching Shino. He tossed it back towards his teammates, dissatisfied with their lack of effort. - That's already three defeats. I'm not impressed. - Sensing the approaching attack, he leaned back to avoid Hinata's fist, and remarked, trying to avoid the tenketsu's closure: - And now it's Miss White-Eyes' turn to conquer me.
"Please, Naruto, stop." "I don't want this," Hinata said, attacking, her old stutter returning. She tried hard to get rid of this hesitation, but sometimes it popped up when it was not necessary (like now, for example).
"Uh-huh," he said in an incredulous tone, continuing to dodge her blows. Although it had been three years since he encountered the Hyuuga clan's fighting style, he remembered it enough to completely avoid her blows.
- Please, Naruto. Stop that. I don't want to fight with you. "She wanted him to stop all this and come back with them."
"In that case, please don't move so I can beat you," he replied. But he just continued to easily dodge her blows.
Hinata didn't say anything else, she just tried to hit him with her Juken and kept missing. Naruto stayed out of her reach, dodging, weaving and dodging. While watching the fight, Katara realized something.
- He moves like an airbender. - When she looked at Aang, she saw that he understood it too.
"Looks like your friends are going to join us again," Naruto commented, causing Hinata to take a quick glance behind her and see that her team was about to join the fight again. Taking advantage of the fact that she was distracted, he knocked her legs out from under her, causing her to fall. Moving quickly, he grabbed her hair and pulled it back, exposing her throat, which he grabbed tightly with his other hand.
- Move, and she will die! he snapped, his hand beginning to tighten around her throat.
The rest of Team Kurenai froze.
- Let her go, Naruto! - Kiba demanded. Perhaps it was unnecessary, but now was not the time to think about such things.
"No," the blond answered briefly.
"You won't do this, Naruto," Kurenai told him. - Despite what you think, you are not a murderer.
- And how do you know that I'm not a murderer? Naruto asked as he continued to tighten his grip, slowly suffocating Hinata.
The Konoha jonin smiled. Despite everything that had just happened, she was still sure that she knew him.
- Because you are Naruto Uzumaki and you would never harm your friends.
Naruto sighed and loosened his grip, allowing Hinata to sigh again. Just when they thought he was going to let her go, he spoke.
- May, can I borrow one of your knives? - She took out one of her many knives and threw it to him. He caught it in the air and said: "Thank you."
Mei simply nodded and Naruto plunged the knife into Hinata's stomach. Everyone else looked in horror at what they had just witnessed. They all flinched when they heard Hinata scream, but Azula, May and Ty Lee didn't show it.
- Why are you shouting? - Naruto asked mockingly when she stopped screaming. - I didn't do anything critical. However, if I had swung it a little to the left... - He pulled the knife slightly in that direction, causing Hinata to sigh in pain. "I would rupture your liver and it would kill you."
- Naruto, you bastard! - Kiba shouted indignantly. He was about to take action if his teammate wasn't being held hostage.
- Oh, relax. I'm not going to kill her like this. "He pulled the knife out of her and threw it back to May, who wiped it off and sheathed it. - It takes too long. - He formed a Rasengan with one hand and asked: - Have you ever seen what Rasengan does to a face? It's not beautiful. Maybe I should show you what it does? - He brought the Rasengan closer to Hinata's face. The swirling edge of the blue sphere seemed to hover an inch from her cheek.
- Okay, Naruto, you win. Just don't do this," Kurenai pleaded, realizing that they had been defeated. -What do you want us to do?
- It's simple: turn around and leave. The King remains with us," he ordered, still holding the Rasengan close to his hostage's face.
- What about Hinata?
"I'll let Hinata go so we know one of us can act in good faith," he replied, reminding her of the failed genjutsu attempt.
-What happened to you, Naruto? - she asked. -What happened to that child who shouted that he would one day become Hokage? What happened to the child we all cared for?
- He grew up. Three years spent in war and protecting someone from being killed does that to a person. - He let go of Hinata and let the Rasengan fade. As soon as she felt free, she ran back to her team. - This guy died the moment Konoha made it clear that he was no longer needed.
As soon as Hinata reached her, Kurenai turned to face Aang and the others.
"We're leaving," she said.
- But what about Bumi? - Aang asked. - We can't just leave him, can we?
His friend was right here, within reach. They couldn't just leave him there.
"You knew this could happen, Aang." We took a chance and we lost," Sokka told him. "It's best for us to get out of here now."
If they don't, things could get even worse.
"That was funny, Naruto." You handled them well," Azula told him as he joined them.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
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Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein