Drake decided that this Sand ninja was showing off a little too much.
So he chose to crush him outright.
"Watch out for the poison!" Minato Namikaze warned.
BOOM!
Drake vanished.
The air detonated with a sonic boom as his body tore through it.
Fūra blinked—and Drake was already in his face.
"What kind of speed is this?!" Fūra turned pale.
He knew the opponent was fast.
But this fast?
His palm twitched, a vial of poison sliding out from his sleeve.
He was about to release poison gas—
Then something felt… wrong.
He couldn't feel the poison.
No—he couldn't feel his arm.
SPLASH!
Blood sprayed.
His arm had been torn clean off.
"You—!"
SMACK!
A colossal force slammed into his face, rattling his brain.
Fūra went blank.
The world spun. He felt himself flying.
A moment later—
His eyes widened as he watched himself crash onto the mountaintop.
Thud.
It all happened too fast.
By the time the Sand ninjas reacted, their captain had already been hurled to the summit.
Mountaintop
Fūra lay sprawled on the ground, blood spurting from his shoulder.
Propping himself up with his remaining arm, he tried to stand—
Only for a foot to stomp down on his hand.
CRACK.
His palm shattered.
"Wood-Release Drake!" Fūra snarled through clenched teeth.
"I broke your Wood Release, so you switched to taijutsu?!"
Only now did he understand how Maki and Pakura had been defeated.
They hadn't lost to Wood Release—
They'd lost to taijutsu.
"I'll tell you this much," Drake said calmly.
"I never used Wood Release."
"Impossible!" Fūra screamed.
At that moment, several figures arrived at the summit.
"We made it."
"Barely."
Kakashi Hatake and the others panted as they caught up.
Thud.
Obito Uchiha rushed over and stepped on Fūra.
"I see enemies! Leave them to me—!"
"And me!" Yamato jumped in, grinding Fūra's head into the dirt.
"Sensei?" Kakashi called out.
Minato's face was leaf-green.
"I'm poisoned. Ignore the color," Minato explained weakly.
"I'm going in!" Obito couldn't hold back any longer.
Since his power spike, he hadn't had a real fight.
Now the chance was right there.
Whoosh!
His eyes snapped into the Sharingan as he charged downhill.
Hands slammed together—
"HAAAH!"
Wood Release erupted mid-charge.
Branches burst from the earth, sweeping toward the Sand ninjas.
"White Zetsu-senpai—merge!"
Yamato shouted.
Zzzzt—
White Zetsu burst from the ground, his body splitting open—
Then wrapped around Yamato as they charged downhill together.
Drake: "???"
Minato: "???"
The Ino–Shika–Chō trio: "???"
Drake rubbed his chin, expression strange.
White Zetsu… equipped onto Yamato?
"No wonder Yamato's been hanging around White Zetsu lately."
In Drake's perception, fusion-Yamato's Wood Release was far stronger than Obito's—
and completely immune to the Sand ninjas' poison.
"So White Zetsu can amplify Wood Release?" Minato marveled.
"That's an incredible ability."
"It is," Drake nodded.
Then he glanced at Kakashi.
"You're not going?"
"…No," Kakashi shook his head.
He felt a little crushed.
Obito had surpassed him.
Even that kid Yamato had surpassed him.
That stung.
The Battle
The fight ended quickly.
Two Wood-Release users unleashed devastation.
Against them, the Sand force stood no chance.
Their poison gas became meaningless—
Obito's Sharingan avoided it with ease,
and Yamato—wrapped in White Zetsu—hopped around in poison for ages without issue.
Watching this, the Ino–Shika–Chō trio sighed.
"To think… these kids have already surpassed us."
"Don't forget—they're Wood-Release users."
"Yeah… that power really isn't something we can compare to."
Interrogation
Fūra was dragged to the center.
"Why did your unit flank around?" Minato asked.
Fūra stayed silent.
"He won't talk," Shikaku Nara warned.
"Let Obito handle it," Drake said casually.
"Huh?" Obito lit up.
See? See? In the end, it's still me!
Sharingan spinning, Obito cast a hypnotic genjutsu.
"Why did you flank?"
"…Lady Chiyo's orders," Fūra replied dully.
"And the reason?"
"…Don't know."
CRACK.
Drake stood and snapped Fūra's neck.
"Huh?! I hadn't gotten anything useful yet!" Obito complained.
"Drake, why not let him continue?" Minato asked, puzzled.
"No need," Drake shook his head.
"He wouldn't know anything critical."
His gaze shifted toward Konoha.
"We need to return to the village immediately."
Everyone froze.
Why the rush?
Then—
"I see." Shikaku's eyes widened in realization.
He looked at Drake with shock.
This kid… is terrifyingly sharp.
"Shikaku, you agree?" Minato asked.
"Yes. The faster, the better," Shikaku said urgently.
"I'm lost!" Obito protested. "Someone explain!"
"Move first. I'll explain on the way."
On the Return to Konoha
Since Drake didn't explain, Shikaku spoke instead.
"The Sand ninjas flanking around… is a signal."
"A signal?" the others frowned.
"Yes," Shikaku said heavily.
"A signal that Cloud and Stone have launched surprise attacks on the borders."
He sighed.
"By now… they've probably already broken through."
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