Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

But the purple light that suddenly burst from the black chest armor pierced through the lightning defense, and the energy beams that shot out from the grooves of the three tomoe hit Sasuke's back.

The smell of burning blood mingled with the stench of blood, filling the medical area.

As Sasuke fell from a height of five meters, the Kusanagi sword sparked three meters long as it struck the ground.

In the instant Naruto's pupils contracted, he saw the clan crest on his companion's back being eroded by black energy, and the Uchiha clan's fan-shaped crest split in two.

The emotional intensity was high enough. The shadowy figure's voice sounded like rusty gears grinding together—fear, guilt, anger—what delicious chakra.

The emergency tent, fifty meters away, suddenly collapsed.

As Sakura rolled out carrying the wounded, her chakra scalpel precisely severed the flying steel bars.

Hinata's Byakugan suddenly bulged with veins: Naruto-kun!

Sandy area at three o'clock!

Naruto instinctively lunged towards the designated area.

The orange light formed by the Nine-Tails' chakra surging under his skin flickered. The moment his right hand pressed into the sand, he felt the iron sand controlled by Gaara churning three meters underground.

As the dark figure's spikes closed in, the roar of the sand-iron barrier bursting from the ground shattered three medical kits.

Now! Kakashi's Lightning Blade cleaved open a crack in the barrier at the southeast corner.

The right hand, wreathed in purple lightning, pressed against the Magnet Release rune, and the reverse flow of chakra caused the shadowy clone array to lag for 0.3 seconds.

That was enough time for Sasuke to complete the hand seals.

He coughed up blood as he plunged the Kusanagi sword into the ground, and the Chidori Stream he was maintaining with his left hand suddenly turned.

Lightning traveled along the surface of the sand-iron barrier, forming an electromagnetic cage with a diameter of two meters around the shadowy figure.

Naruto saw that Sasuke's Sharingan had turned a dangerous blood red, with the three tomoe spinning wildly in his pupils.

"Kurama!" Naruto pressed his hand against the still-healing seal on his abdomen.

The Nine-Tails' roar stirred up a storm in the consciousness space, and the orange-red chakra finally broke through the suppression.

This time, however, the outer garment did not take the form of a beast's claw; instead, it enveloped the Rasengan like liquid.

The group of spikes in the dark figure suddenly changed direction.

Three hundred black weapons, manipulated by magnetic force, formed a cone-shaped array, their tips all pointing towards Naruto's heart.

The protective pillars in the medical area creaked under the strain, and the reverse-sealing runes had spread to the seventh load-bearing beam.

The emotion amplifier is absorbing our fighting spirit! Shikamaru's shadow extends to the edge of the sand iron barrier; all energy nodes must be severed simultaneously!

Naruto suddenly laughed.

He turned to look at Sasuke, who was struggling to sit up, and the Rasengan wrapped in Nine-Tails chakra compressed into a deep blue ball of light in his palm.

Sasuke's blood-stained lips curled into a familiar smile, and the lightning of Chidori Stream suddenly surged three times, while the electromagnetic cage firmly fixed the shadowy figure to the center of the sand iron barrier.

The moment three hundred sharp spikes pierced the air, the space-time of the medical area seemed to be cut into fragments.

Naruto ran vertically over the sand barrier, the heat generated by the friction between the Rasengan and the air scorching his temples.

Sasuke's Kusanagi sword suddenly slipped from his hand, spinning as it pierced through the three clones, its momentum undiminished, and precisely embedded itself in the three-tomoe groove of the black shadow's breastplate.

Amidst the deafening explosion, the Nine-Tails' chakra and lightning release created a chain reaction.

The moment the deep blue orb made contact with the shadowy figure, it simultaneously detonated the energy connection points of all fifty clones.

The reverse-sealed Magnet Release runes dissipated like the receding tide, and the chakra splashed out when the barrier pillar collapsed lifted the three medical tents into the air.

The shadowy figure's scream lasted for thirteen seconds.

When the smoke and dust cleared, only a crater with a diameter of eight meters remained in the center of the medical area.

Naruto knelt at the bottom of the pit, panting heavily. His skin, exposed after the Nine-Tails' outer cloak was removed, was covered with burns.

Sasuke leaned against the broken steel bar. His Sharingan had returned to normal, but the blood and tears streaming from the corners of his eyes left two glaring red marks on his cheeks.

"Medical team!" Tsunade's roar pierced through the ruins.

She smashed the concrete block blocking her way with a punch, and the green light of her palm magic enveloped the two boys at the same time.

Naruto tried to raise his hand but pulled at the wound between his ribs, only to find that he had been cut open by sharp spikes at some point.

When Hinata stumbled over, Naruto was trying to cut the cloth stuck to his wound with a kunai.

The girl's trembling fingers pressed against his wrist, and her soft fist chakra precisely sealed the three bleeding points.

She bit her lower lip, not daring to look up, her ear tips as red as if they were about to bleed.

The rustling sound of flowing iron sand could be heard from twenty meters away.

Gaara's sandstorm gently carried three severely injured villagers to the ground, while Kankuro's puppet strings were moving the last piece of the barrier pillar remnant out of the danger zone.

As Ebizo put away the puppet scroll, he caught a glimpse of Kakashi examining Sasuke's Sharingan.

Temporary blindness. The silver-haired Jonin's voice was weary, but the Uchiha's eye power...

His words were interrupted by a sudden burst of cheers.

The surviving villagers poured out from behind the bunkers, and someone shouted "hero!" The title immediately spread like wildfire.

Naruto's eardrums ached from the sound, and when he looked up, he was met with Sakura's tearful smile.

Sasuke suddenly pushed Kakashi's hand away.

He fumbled for the hilt of the Kusanagi sword, the blood-stained bandages scraping against the blade with a harsh sound. The boy's hoarse voice, barely audible, was drowned out by the cheers: "Next time you mess around, I'll kill you."

As the setting sun bathed the ruins in orange-red hues, Tsunade stood atop the highest point of the medical area, taking stock of the damage.

She looked down at the blond boy surrounded by the crowd, her fists clenching unconsciously.

The lingering scent of the Nine-Tails' chakra still floated in the air, and a dangerous thought swirled in her mind—when fear and worship reach their peak simultaneously, certain dormant shadows are bound to emerge.

Chapter 359 The Border of the Frost Kingdom

The sandalwood incense in the Hokage's office couldn't mask the stench of blood.

As Naruto pushed open the door, his right rib bleeding, a patch of light seeping through the window lattice was smearing the secret report on Tsunade's desk, turning the words "Byakuya" (White Night) into a dark red.

The Sand Village's medical team will withdraw tomorrow morning. Tsunade didn't look up, her pen tracing deep lines on the mission scroll. This mission's location is the border of the Land of Frost.

Naruto stared at the still-damp bloodstains on the cuffs of his Hokage robe, stains he'd gotten two hours earlier while rescuing the wounded.

He was about to speak when the skin on his lower back, burned by the Nine-Tails' chakra, suddenly stung with pain. Hiss—was this an investigation mission?

Three days ago, the daimyo of the Land of Frost was assassinated, and traces of Fire Release and Puppet Technique remained at the scene. Tsunade finally looked up, and Naruto noticed the congealed blood scabs on her eyelashes; the Anbu had discovered this.

A yellowed ancient book was pushed over, and the illustration showed a nine-tailed fox being nailed to an altar by five black rods.

Naruto felt a spasm in his stomach, and Kurama let out a low growl from the depths of his consciousness.

The aroma of grilled saury wafted in from outside the window, and the lanterns of Ichiraku Ramen swayed in the twilight. His Adam's apple bobbed.

You need to personally confirm whether it's related to Byakuya. Tsunade's voice suddenly softened. Tonight at midnight, the third training ground on the east side.

The shadows in the corridor were darker than usual.

When Naruto bumped into Sasuke, the scabbard of the Kusanagi sword was pressed against an old wound under Sasuke's ribs. "Even his sensory abilities have deteriorated, you lose your edge?" Sasuke leaned against a pillar, the white blindfold emanating a herbal scent. "Count me in for this mission."

Naruto opened his mouth, but Sasuke's chakra was even colder than during the battle with the sand and iron barrier.

Although his Sharingan was sealed by medical bandages, the boy's fingertips were wrapped with newly formed lightning arcs, which emitted a faint popping sound in the twilight.

I've heard that the Land of Frost has ice crystals that can devour chakra. As Sasuke turned around, the hem of his robes billowed with the scent of blood—the wounds he'd sustained that morning when he grabbed a senbon needle with his bare hands to sever the puppet strings. They were more worthy of study than some stubborn fool.

A thin layer of frost floated on the training ground at midnight.

Sakura's fingers lingered too long on the painkiller bottle as she stuffed the medical kit into Naruto's backpack. Sasuke's eyes... She suddenly grabbed Naruto's wristband, reminding him to change the dressing every six hours, emphasizing that the red bottle was a definite no-no—

He's gone. Sasuke's kunai was stuck to a tree stump ten meters away, startling an owl that fluttered towards the waning moon.

His new ninja tool pouch was bulging, revealing half of a sealing scroll—which Kakashi had retrieved from the Uchiha family mansion that morning.

Hinata's Byakugan flashed on the watchtower, but she ultimately did not appear.

The Hyuga clan crest she sewed inside Naruto's collar still carried her body heat and resonated faintly with the Nine-Tails' chakra.

As Team 7 passed through the barrier, Ebizo's puppet bird floated over from behind the Hokage Rock, its wings bearing the Sand Village crest, which gleamed with an iron-blue hue under the moonlight.

Tsunade stood on the top floor of the Hokage Tower, the Flying Thunder God kunai in her palm still bearing the aura of Minato Namikaze.

As she watched the blond boy's retreating figure shrink, she suddenly crushed the crystal paperweight on the table—the shards reflected the eerie vertical pupils in her eyes, the strange remnants of the Nine-Tails chakra that had seeped from Naruto's wounds this morning while she was healing him.

The thin frost at the edge of the training field was crushed by hurried footsteps.

Hinata ran over, clutching the cloth bundle, her hair damp with the night dew from the watchtower, and a half-rolled bandage still tucked into the hem of her kimono. "Naruto... Naruto-kun..." She tucked the warm bundle into his arms, her fingertips gleaming with a faint blue chakra light as they brushed against his armor. Red bean rice could replenish chakra... the ointment was freshly made with white safflower juice...

The rice balls in the oil paper package still carried the dampness of the steamer, and Naruto's rib wound suddenly stopped hurting.

He noticed that Hinata's left index finger was wrapped in gauze—a fresh wound clearly caused by a kunai while preparing medicine.

The blush on the girl's ears was hotter than the setting sun, but when she caught sight of the bandage in Sakura's hand glowing with medical chakra, she hurriedly took a half step back.

"Sasuke-kun's eyes need to be kept out of the light." Sakura suddenly raised her voice and slammed a green medicine bottle into her ninja tool pouch.

Her bandage wrapping technique remained precise, but she broke three threads while tying a slipknot.

Sasuke leaned against the tree trunk without saying a word, but the lightning arc in his palm went out.

As the pre-dawn mist reached their ankles, two figures leaped out of the Leaf Village's barrier.

The Hyuga clan crest on the back of Naruto's neck was still burning hot, and the sweet aroma of red bean rice in his arms mingled with the resinous scent from Sasuke's ninja tool pouch, creating a strange vortex in the morning breeze.

Crossing the northern mountain would save two days of travel. Sasuke suddenly stopped by the stream, his Kusanagi sword slicing open the half-rotted puppet limbs hidden in a crevice in the rock.

The dark purple venom was spreading along the blade, but he burned it into blue smoke with his lightning release.

Naruto crouched down and poked at the ice shards on the puppet's joints: "It's safer to go around to the southern foothills. Kakashi-sensei said there's chakra turbulence at the border of the Land of Frost..."

When did you start being afraid of death? Sasuke's cold laugh startled the crows on the treetops, and the white blindfold fluttered in the wind.

He slid half a map out from his sleeve, with dense red circles drawn along the border of the Land of Lightning—those were all secrets of the Anbu that he had copied with his Sharingan last night.

Naruto's temples throbbed with veins, and Nine-Tails chakra overflowed uncontrollably from his fingertips: Idiot!

If we fall into the puppeteer's trap again...

The clanging of metal interrupted the argument.

Twelve poisoned shurikens were driven into the frozen ground at their feet, and bandits wearing snow wolf fur hats emerged from the withered forest.

The burly man at the head of the group brandished a spiked club, his gold-toothed grin stretching to his ears: "Young lovers, go back to your beds and argue, leave your packages behind!"

Sasuke's Chidori Spear pierced the snow faster than Naruto's Shadow Clone Technique.

The ice crystals exploded into blue mist in the lightning release, and as the bandit leader's gold tooth became embedded in a pine tree trunk thirty meters away, the last two accomplices were buried up to their waists by a snowstorm stirred up by the Rasengan.

They're nowhere near as good as the puppeteers from Sunagakure. Naruto kicked away the still-twitching bandit and suddenly noticed Sasuke collecting ice crystal fragments.

The bluish particles hissed within the sealed scroll, much like the chakra-devouring mineral veins unique to the borders of the Frost Country.

As dusk fell again, they stood at a crossroads.

The mountain road to the north winds like a snake shedding its skin, while the gentle slopes to the south are covered with a blood-red sunset.

Naruto took out a half-cold red bean rice and took a bite. The sweetness was mixed with a rusty, bloody smell—from the third wave of bandits he had encountered three hours earlier.

They could cross the canyon before dawn. Sasuke's bandages smelled of medicine, and the new wound on his palm glowed with an eerie blue light after being stopped with ice crystals.

He suddenly listened intently and heard a cracking sound coming from afar, like the grinding of joints as a giant puppet awakens.

Naruto stuffed the last piece of rice ball into his ninja tool pouch, the oiled paper slightly warm as it brushed against Hinata's embroidered clan emblem.

As he watched the setting sun being swallowed by dark clouds, he suddenly noticed several strands of black thread entwined in the snowflakes drifting from the southern slopes—clearly, chakra conduction threads specially made by puppeteers.

Chapter 360 The Roar of the Summoning Beast

The sound of the oiled paper wrapping rubbing against the forehead protector was exceptionally clear in the deathly silence.

Naruto wiped away the blood beads that had congealed on the edge of his headband with his thumb. Black lines drifting from the gentle slope on the south side were swirling in eerie arcs, hooking the snowflakes.

Sasuke's scroll suddenly made a tearing sound, and the sealing runes were scorched from the inside by some force.

Chakra was drawing in the ice crystals. Sasuke's Sharingan glowed dark red; something in the south was summoning these ores.

Naruto tore off the scarf stuck to his collarbone with blood, and the puppeteer's specially made silk threads were weaving a net in the glow of the sunset.