251. Struggle

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In general, when a ninja encounters a labyrinth, they should stay calm, observe carefully, and look for subtle clues to find a way out.

Alternatively, they could probe cautiously, leaving marks in appropriate places and gradually mapping out the correct path.

This was precisely what Sasuke and Sakura were doing. Since this labyrinth was created by an enemy's jutsu, they had to be even more vigilant.

Naruto, on the other hand, had finally pinpointed the enemy's location the moment the maze was completed.

He noticed that two enemies were heading towards Sasuke and Sakura respectively, while one remained near Kakashi. Strangely enough, no one seemed to be coming after him.

"…Have villains fallen on such hard times that they can't even form a proper four-man squad anymore?"

Looking up at the towering walls, Naruto plucked a tuft of fox fur, then spread chakra wings from his back and shot into the sky. If they weren't going to come to him, he'd just go to them.

'Now, who should he visit first? Squatting atop the high walls' Naruto pondered for a second.

Kakashi was out of the question. Even if Kaguya herself resurrected and came to beat him down, he could probably hold out for a while.

Sasuke was also ruled out. He had finally found a worthy opponent, and if Naruto swooped in to steal the fight, Sasuke would definitely be pissed.

So, that left Sakura.

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As Fudō emerged from the ground with a sinister grin, ready to give the pink-haired girl a nasty surprise, he looked up only to see a grinning blond.

"You… How are you here?!" Fudō was in disbelief. He had personally executed this Earth Release maze according to Fuen's design. And Fuen was a master of trap formations there shouldn't have been any flaws.

Naruto flapped his wings twice. "Surprised? I can fly, idiot."

"…Flight is indeed a troublesome ability, but so what?" Fudō quickly regained his composure. Though there was a slight deviation from his plan, it didn't matter.

He had originally planned to deal with two opponents anyway. This just saved him some time.

"Earth Release: Falling Slab!"

A massive stone slab materialized in midair, obeying the will of Lord Newton as it came crashing down its target, none other than Sakura.

Fudō intended to take out the seemingly fragile girl in one move before dealing with the flying blond nuisance.

However—

"Sayonara!"

Boom! The stone slab shattered into countless fragments. Sakura lowered her raised right fist, flexed her fingers inside her glove, and locked eyes with Fudō, her gaze burning with intensity.

"Looks like you underestimated me." She glanced at Naruto. "Let me handle this one."

"Go for it." Naruto shrugged and sent two shadow clones to check on Sasuke and Kakashi. He wasn't too worried, but it was always good to be cautious.

Fudō scratched his head. "Huh. Not just an ordinary little girl, huh?"

With a snap of his hands, he formed a new sequence of hand seals.

"Earth Release: Rock Coffin!"

Four thick walls of earth rose up, surrounding Sakura and closing in rapidly, aiming to crush her.

Naruto couldn't help but think Sakura was already as compact as can be. Is there even room for her to be squeezed further?

Sure enough, she simply smashed through one of the walls and charged out. But Fudō had anticipated this—greeting her escape was a human-sized rock sphere speeding toward her.

"Earth Release: Rolling Stone Burial!"

"Heaven Kick!"

As Tsunade's disciple, Sakura's fighting style wasn't flashy. If she could dodge, she would. If she couldn't, she'd punch or kick.

If her punch wasn't enough, she'd activate the Strength of a Hundred Seal and tank it head-on.

The game ended when she got close enough to punch her opponent in the face.

Fudō, despite his name meaning "immovable," wasn't foolish enough to just stand there and let Sakura hit him. He stepped back slightly, forming rapid hand seals.

"Earth Release: Ant Hell!"

The ground beneath Sakura's feet softened in an instant, transforming into a swirling vortex of mud.

From Naruto's perspective, it looked disturbingly like a giant flushing toilet, seemingly intent on swallowing Sakura whole.

Sakura had never seen this technique before, but she had seen Jiraiya's Swamp of the Underworld.

Tsunade hadn't just trained her in hand-to-hand combat she had drilled her in dealing with various jutsu as well. And the best sparring partner for that? None other than Jiraiya himself.

Despite his goofy exterior, Jiraiya was a master of multiple ninjutsu, and Tsunade often dragged him in as a training dummy.

Recognizing the similarity to Jiraiya's swamp jutsu, Sakura instantly devised a countermeasure.

She threw a kunai tied to a steel wire, latching onto a solid rock while simultaneously flinging shuriken at Fudō to disrupt him.

If she couldn't jump out, she'd pull herself out.

Her skill with wires who knew, maybe she had picked it up from Sasuke.

Fudō easily deflected the incoming shuriken, but when he saw Sakura effortlessly breaking through his techniques and charging toward him, he tensed.

He activated the Earth Release: Hardening Technique, which made his body as tough as rock.

"I guess I prefer close combat after all." Fudō cracked his neck. True, Sakura could smash rocks but he was confident that he could hold his own.

And so—

Fudō engaged her in melee combat.

Fudō promptly lost.

Even Hiruko, while using Steel Release, had been beaten to a pulp by Sakura.

What gave this guy so much confidence?

As a responsible spectator, Naruto felt obligated to comment.

"Damn, Sakura, that was badass."

"Ugh, my hand hurts." Sakura peeled off her glove and examined her reddened fist. "This guy's body was way too hard."

Naruto glanced at Fudō, now embedded in the ground in a permanent starfish position. With a casual flick of his hand, he tossed a sealing tag onto him and stored his corpse away.

After all, he didn't have Atomic Dismantling Jutsu or Hellfire Burial an ordinary clean-up would do.

After a quick self-healing, Sakura turned to Naruto. "How's Sasuke? And Kakashi-sensei?"

Naruto dispelled the two shadow clones and immediately burst into laughter.

"You and Sasuke are putting on a show. Kakashi-sensei, on the other hand, is getting his ass kicked."

Sakura: "???"

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Fuen, the one responsible for stalling Kakashi, wasn't necessarily stronger than Fudō. She was a master of trap formation and genjutsu.

If it came down to a direct fight, she'd probably be dead within a few exchanges, especially against someone like Kakashi.

But Kakashi's reputation worked against him.

Fuen was too intimidated to fight him head-on, so she kept using her home-field advantage to harass him.

With her speciality in illusion techniques and trap-based ninjutsu, her goal was simple: stall for time. If she could kill him, great. If not, she'd just wait for backup.

This made Kakashi's life miserable.

He hadn't even seen his opponent's face yet.

He'd just been playing 4D chess against rocks and dirt, wasting precious stamina though he hadn't even activated his Sharingan yet.

When Fuen cast yet another genjutsu, Kakashi hesitated for just a split second.

Taking advantage of this, she quickly sketched a new formation on her map, summoning several stone projectiles that rained down on Kakashi.

But—

"A shadow clone?" Fuen's eyes widened in shock. "When did he—?!"

As she frantically searched for the real Kakashi, his voice suddenly whispered in her ear.

"The moment I fell into your first pit trap.

"…By the way, my students have been watching me struggle for quite a while."

The last thing she saw was a flash of lightning.

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The lightning struck down the author for yet another cliffhanger.

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