Naruto: Konoha Spring of the Uchiha Prodigies

Two completely different energies collided in mid-air, and the terrifying impact destroyed the surrounding rainforest, clearing out a huge clearing.

However, to Naruto's surprise, in this clash, the Tailed Beast Ball, which had always been invincible, was at a disadvantage. The opponent's special energy began to decompose the chakra the moment it came into contact with the Tailed Beast Ball.

Fortunately, Naruto channeled a large enough amount of chakra this time, which barely managed to block the opponent's attack.

After the shock of the explosion subsided, the enemy immediately launched a second attack.

Seeing this, Jiraiya broke free from the protection of the Nine-Tails' cloak and planned to launch a surprise attack from the side to help relieve some of the pressure on Naruto.

"Grandpa Jiraiya, that kind of energy can break down chakra!" Naruto shouted a warning as soon as he saw this.

"There are such things in the ninja world?" Jiraiya gritted his teeth and formed the hand seals for the Summoning Jutsu. After summoning the two toad sages, Iron-Armed Toad and Fukasaku Shima, he said, "Iron-Armed Toad, go to the side and help Naruto relieve some pressure. You two sages, assist me in entering Sage Mode."

The summoned Iron-Armed Toad sensed the chakra fluctuations emanating from the other party and glanced at Jiraiya beside him with some surprise.

"Jiraiya, what's going on? The opponent's chakra fluctuations are at most at the Chunin level. Is it really necessary for us to come out and help such an enemy?" Iron-Armed Toad asked.

“There’s something strange about their armor,” Jiraiya said through gritted teeth. “Their strength is definitely more than that of an ordinary Chunin. Their attacks can withstand Tailed Beast Balls. According to Naruto, the energy in that armor can break down chakra.”

"Master Fukasaku, you are knowledgeable and experienced. Do you know what this energy is?" Jiraiya asked.

"I don't know." Fukasaku shook his head, then turned to look at the Nine-Tails who was exchanging blows with the opponent using Tailed Beast Balls not far away. "However, if that kind of energy can break down chakra, then we can only try using Sage Chakra. It's just a pity that Naruto hasn't fully mastered Sage Mode yet, otherwise he wouldn't be in such a passive position right now."

The opponent's attacks grew increasingly fierce, and Naruto and Kurama had less and less time to condense the Tailed Beast Ball. In just a short while, Kurama was at a disadvantage in this pure energy confrontation.

"You stinky fox, you're no good either!" Inside Gaara's body, Shukaku couldn't help but laugh loudly when he saw Kurama get its comeuppance.

"Shut up!" Nine-Tails roared angrily.

"Hmph, you stinky fox, how about it? Do you want me to help you? Just beg me, and I'll mercifully lend a hand. How about it?" Shukaku said smugly.

"Idiot! Don't you find the aura of the power these guys are using somewhat familiar?" Nine-Tails roared. "That's the aura of when that being first created us, before it completely dissipated!"

"Huh?" Shukaku froze in place after hearing Kurama's words. After recalling for a moment, his chubby face made of sand was filled with horror. "You mean that thing? But didn't that thing disappear after we were born?"

"How should I know! All I know is that these people are definitely after us! If you don't want to lose your chance to be reborn, then lend a hand!" Nine-Tailed Fox roared.

Indeed, the energy flowing within the armor of this person of unknown origin was almost identical to that of the Ten-Tails, which had been separated by the Sage of Six Paths and transformed into nine tailed beasts. Because of the passage of time, some of the memories that were not very clear were recalled, and this fear from the level of life itself made Shukaku no longer dare to stand by and watch.

"Kid! Open your mind! Accept my power!" Shukaku shouted urgently at Gaara.

Gaara, who had been standing behind Naruto, was secretly anxious as he watched Naruto struggle in the fight. However, he knew that without the power of the tailed beasts, he was at most a regular Jonin and couldn't offer any help in a battle of this level.

So, the moment Shukaku spoke, Gaara relaxed his mind, and soon, a cloud of yellow sand swirled up from the ground and condensed into a huge tanuki.

The moment he appeared, Shukaku began forming hand seals with his somewhat chubby hands.

"Wind Release: Sky Bullet!" A surge of violent wind-style chakra gathered in front of Shukaku.

"Idiot! Didn't you see that even the Tailed Beast Ball can only barely block that kind of light? What use is this to you!" Kurama roared immediately upon seeing this.

"I don't have as much chakra as you! This isn't a desert!" Shukaku immediately turned around and cursed. The constant drizzle in the Land of Rain was falling on his sand-based body, which already greatly reduced his strength. In addition, the Nine-Tails was still nagging beside him, so Shukaku was naturally extremely annoyed.

After Shukaku threw out the condensed air bullet, it was immediately disintegrated by the light emitted from the opponent's cannon barrel, leaving not even a ripple. Seeing this, Shukaku gritted his teeth and began to form a new hand seal, while shouting loudly, "You stinky fox! Buy me five minutes!"

At this moment, Iron-Armed Toad was also trying to harass the opponent from the side. However, the leader of the opponent took a device from his waist after seeing Iron-Armed Toad approaching, pressed the button on it, and threw it at his feet.

In the next instant, a pale blue force field spread out, forcing the Iron-Armed Toad back. After being forced back, the Iron-Armed Toad looked down at its special arm guards that were covered with Sage Chakra. At this moment, the chakra portion of the Sage Chakra on the top of the arm guards, which were originally incredibly hard under the protection of Sage Chakra, was completely decomposed by this special energy field. The remaining natural energy, freed from the restraint of chakra, began to slowly corrode the arm guards.

"Sage Fukasaku, this thing can strip away the chakra portion from Sage Chakra!" the Iron-Armed Toad shouted a warning, but this power seemed unable to suppress pure natural energy!

"Is that so?" Fukasaku, standing on Jiraiya's shoulder, nodded.

Just then, Jiraiya suddenly opened his eyes. At that moment, his pupils turned into horizontal toad eyes, red eyeshadow appeared at the corners of his eyes, and a layer of bumps appeared on his enormous nose.

"Little Jiraiya, did you hear that? Use that move!" said Shima, who was standing on Jiraiya's shoulder.

"I understand!" Jiraiya nodded, stomped his foot on the ground, and instantly rushed towards the enemy's location.

Upon witnessing this scene, the leader who was leading the team to exchange fire with the two tailed beasts took out another force field bullet, intending to repeat the same tactic.

But this time, the moment the force field spread to Jiraiya, the sprinting Jiraiya suddenly threw a punch out of thin air.

The secret technique of Mount Myōboku for manipulating natural energy—the Frog Formation!

With a whooshing sound, a huge rift was torn open in the pale blue force field, and Jiraiya's figure charged into the formation of the squad that was constantly firing beams at the two tailed beasts.

Jiraiya's intrusion instantly caused a commotion in the enemy ranks.

At this moment, the leader of the opposing team took out a uniquely shaped short stick from his waist, pressed a button on it, and a pale blue laser instantly shot out from one end of the stick, transforming into the shape of a lightsaber. As he slashed at Jiraiya, he gave orders to his teammates behind him.

"You guys continue the capture and fighting, I'll handle this guy!"

"Capture? You're after the Tailed Beasts?" Jiraiya frowned upon hearing this, but the next moment, the lightsaber in the other party's hand slashed down at him.

Jiraiya looked at the strange energy within the lightsaber, which appeared even more solid than the force field and rays from before, and his expression became extremely solemn. He used his Frog Gauntlets to manipulate the natural energy to block it.

After several rounds of close combat, Jiraiya realized the problem: his opponent's physical skills were terrible, but he couldn't find a good way to deal with him using his weapon. The only way Jiraiya could block his opponent's slashes was by manipulating natural energy with the Frog Kumite. However, the amount of natural energy manipulated by this secret technique was actually not much. He had to rely on extremely precise control to block his opponent's chaotic slashes with the limited natural energy.

Although the opponent couldn't do anything to Jiraiya for the time being, the Frog Kumite technique of Mount Myōboku was constantly consuming the already limited amount of Sage Chakra in Jiraiya's body. Moreover, the two toad sages on Jiraiya's shoulders could not gather Sage Chakra at a speed far slower than the consumption required to control natural energy!

"Jiraiya! Retreat first!" Seeing that the situation was not good, Shima quickly shouted a reminder.

"Hmph, trying to escape! Too late!" Upon seeing this, the opponent sneered and increased the speed of Xia Ji's Eight Slashes once again.

Just two minutes later, the toad-like features on Jiraiya's face and the red eyeshadow around his eyes faded, and he was about to be defeated. Just then, a gaping maw suddenly emerged from beneath the ground where the two were fighting, swallowed Jiraiya, and disappeared from the spot.

The opponent's strike missed its mark in that instant.

"Dare to run wild in the Land of Rain? It seems you are prepared to bear the wrath of the gods?" In the sky, a figure dressed in a black robe with red clouds slowly descended. His Rinnegan eyes stared at the attackers in front of him. He slowly opened his mouth, his voice filled with suppressed anger.

Nagato, who had set off to meet Jiraiya and the clan leader he had never met before, immediately summoned the puppets of the Six Paths of Pain and rushed over after hearing the commotion.

Soon, behind the two tailed beasts, the King of Hell of the Hell Path burst out of the ground and spat out Jiraiya and the two toad sages.

"Nagato?" Jiraiya, who had escaped death, looked up at the figure hovering in mid-air. He first breathed a sigh of relief, then shouted a warning, "Be careful! These people have the ability to suppress chakra!"

Upon hearing Jiraiya's words, Pain turned around and nodded slightly to him, then raised his hand towards the mechanical troops below who had already aimed their cannons at him.

"Having offended the majesty of the gods, then experience the most extreme pain in the world! Shinra Tensei!"

Chapter 269 Artificial Humans

Upon seeing Pain's movements in mid-air, the attackers prepared for battle, but the powerful ninjutsu they had anticipated did not materialize.

But just as they relaxed their guard a little, an invisible and intangible enormous repulsive force arrived in front of them, and the ten-person team was sent flying backward.

However, Nagato's Shinra Tensei didn't seem to cause much effective damage. When the squad was sent flying backward, their armor emitted a dazzling light, indicating that some kind of defensive mechanism had been triggered.

So, although the attacker squad looked disheveled, they quickly regrouped after getting back on their feet, aimed their guns at Payne in the air, and pulled the triggers.

At the same time, the captain who had fought Jiraiya earlier also pressed a button on his armor while holding his lightsaber. The strangely shaped armor changed shape, and after a burst of steam, the man was suddenly lifted into the air, intending to attack Pain with his eerie lightsaber.

Payne raised his hand in mid-air, and five black rods instantly materialized beside him, shooting straight towards his opponent.

The person who took to the sky, relying on the protection of their armor, did not dodge. They simply pressed a button on the armor, and a pale blue micro-force field was instantly generated, firmly protecting them within it.

However, the black rods summoned by Payne pierced through the opponent's force field, struck him, and dragged him to the ground. The four black rods pinned his limbs to the ground, rendering him unable to move.

At this moment, with Pain holding the line, Naruto and Kurama had ample time to condense their Tailed Beast Balls. The Tailed Beast Balls, as black as ink, were exactly the same size as before. However, the space around the Tailed Beast Balls began to slowly distort, which showed just how much energy the two of them had gathered in them this time.

"Roar!" The Nine-Tails roared, suppressing the anger of those it had previously regarded as ants with special means, and the Tailed Beast Ball flew towards them with a whoosh.

Seeing this, the opposing squad had no choice but to abandon their attack on Payne and instead pulled out grenades capable of creating a defensive force field.

They threw out the force field blasts in turn. The Nine-Tails' furious attack was mostly weakened by the continuous force field generated almost without interruption. The remaining energy was only enough to blast off a layer of soil on the ground in front of them.

"This kind of coordination..." Jiraiya's pupils contracted. The seamless coordination of these force fields, wave after wave, was something even a ninja team that had worked together for many years would find difficult to achieve. Such a level of teamwork could only be cultivated by a large clan in a major ninja village, such as the former Sarutobi clan's private army. However, the taijutsu skills that the opposing leader had just displayed did not seem to be cultivated by a force capable of producing such a team.

"Damn it! How could such power be mastered by humans!" Kurama roared, then turned back to Shukaku and cursed, "Stupid tanuki, how much longer are you going to do?"

"What are you rushing me for! You stinky fox! This move was originally prepared for you!" Shukaku cursed back at Kurama, then slammed his two large hands heavily on the ground. Various kinds of black runes continued from the ground toward Kurama, and scattered in all directions the moment the runes reached Kurama's feet.

Centered on the opponent's location, an area within a hundred meters was instantly enveloped by a barrier bearing black runes, which then instantly contracted.

The attackers tried to forcefully break the barrier using the special power from the Ten-Tails, but the barrier, made of sealing techniques, would repair itself whenever it was damaged.

"Pain! Now's the time!" Jiraiya shouted a reminder upon seeing this.

Payne nodded in mid-air, raised his hand to conjure black rods, then clenched his fist and sent the rods hurtling toward his opponent. Each rod precisely targeted an attacker, pinning them to the spot along with their armor.

"Pain, leave behind a suit of armor!" Jiraiya quickly reminded him.

Payne nodded, controlling the last black rod to blow the target's head off, leaving his armor intact.

"You stinky fox, those eyes..." After the battle ended, Shukaku and Kurama finally had time to observe the battlefield. However, upon seeing Pain's eyes, both tailed beasts froze on the spot.

"This is truly bizarre today!" Kurama exclaimed from within the Tailed Beast Space. "First, it was that thing's power, and then it was the old man's eyes!"

"Brother Kurama, what are you saying?" Naruto looked up from beneath Kurama, his face filled with confusion.

"Kid, after things are settled here, you need to go to where Chongming and the others are," Kurama said seriously, bowing his head.

"Huh? Going to the Tailed Beast Nature Reserve?" Naruto was taken aback for a moment before nodding. "Let's go then. It's been a while since I've seen Sister Fu."

While the two tailed beasts were talking, Pain arrived at Jiraiya's side. After forming a hand seal, Nagato, who was in a wheelchair, and Konan, who was pushing the wheelchair, were summoned there.

"Jiraiya-sensei, and..." Nagato greeted Jiraiya, then turned to look at Naruto.

Although he knew that the blond-haired man in front of him was the current head of the Uzumaki clan in the ninja world, Nagato was already over thirty years old, and he really couldn't bring himself to call a ten-year-old child "head of the clan."

"Just call me Naruto." Naruto gave Nagato a bright smile. "This is Gaara."

"Hello." Gaara, having deactivated his tailed beast form, also nodded to Nagato.

"Nagato, thank goodness you arrived just in time," Jiraiya said after sending the two sages and the Iron-Armed Toad back to Mount Myōboku. "Otherwise, it would have taken us a lot of effort to deal with them; that blue energy is too suppressive of chakra."

“Let’s go check on these people’s bodies first,” Nagato said. “To be able to build a team like this, the power behind them must be considerable.”

"Hmm." Jiraiya nodded and, together with Nagato's Pain puppet, walked toward the squad leader who had been dealt with first.

The man, whose vital organs had been pierced by Nagato's black rods, was already dead. Pain raised his hand, and the black rods stuck in the corpse dissipated. Jiraiya also approached, intending to take a closer look at this thing that had caused them so much trouble.

"Wait a minute!" Naruto, who had just witnessed this scene, suddenly shouted.

After the opponent's damaged armor was freed from the restraint of the black rod, it suddenly surged with violent energy fluctuations.

"Not good!" Upon seeing this, Nagato's main body hurriedly formed hand seals. Pain's puppet raised its hand and used Shinra Tensei to push away the about-to-explode corpse, while its other hand pulled Jiraiya back rapidly.

The next instant, the remaining energy within the armor exploded, engulfing an area with a diameter of over a hundred meters. It could be said that if they hadn't reacted in time, both Jiraiya and Pain's puppet would have been swallowed up by the sudden explosion.

"Is there a self-destruct mechanism?" Jiraiya's expression was rather grim.

"Grandpa Jiraiya, be careful." Naruto came to Jiraiya's side and reminded him.

"How was I supposed to know this armor had this function?" Jiraiya's face showed a wry smile.