As Sarada was still in a panic, Naruto tightened his hold on her shoulder.
"Sarada," he said, prompting her to look up at him in confusion. "Take Himawari and Kawaki and step back. An enemy is headed our way. Keep your Sharingan activated and watch closely. Analyze them and make sure that you dodge any stray attacks in a timely manner."
"Got it." Sarada was confused, and her mind wasn't working at full capacity, but hearing that there was an enemy nearby alerted her completely as she grabbed Kawaki and Himawari's arms to pull them back.
"Daddy, where did Big Brother go?" She asked Naruto with a choking tone as her Byakugan activated.
"He's fine, Hima," Naruto said. "I promise you that Boruto is perfectly fine. He just went to a place that we can't reach for the time being."
"You're lying," she suddenly shouted. "The thread that was connected to him has disappeared. I can't see it anymore. He's gone."
"He isn't gone, Hima. You just have to trust me on this. When you wake up, I'll tell you all about it, I promise." Before she could respond to Naruto's words, a golden chakra needle shot out of him and went into Himawari's body, immediately making his daughter go limp.
"Master?" Sarada called out confusedly as she held Himawari up and let her down to the ground gently — a direct contradiction to her rough treatment of Kawaki.
"Take care of them, my disciple," Naruto said. "And make sure that you pay attention to your surroundings. I'll keep you all safe."
On the horizon, a fiery trail appeared as it approached them. Sarada's Sharingan activated, and she made out the faint silhouette of a blonde woman wearing a black cloak at the end of that fiery trail. She didn't notice it, but Naruto lightly waved his arm, and her Sharingan morphed into its true mutated form with a whirlpool and six tomoe within it — the sixth having appeared just now when amidst the high tension of the situation.
The blazing trail finally reached them and gently landed on the ground, facing Naruto.
"Oh," The woman spoke. "It seems you've roughed up our vessel quite a bit. Don't worry, I'll be taking him off your hands now."
"Kawaki isn't going anywhere," Naruto said as he slowly unclipped his white cloak from his shoulders. "He's an important guest, after all."
"If that's what you do with an important guest, I can't imagine what you must do to the usual ones," she scoffed. "I wasn't asking."
"You should really be a little more polite, Delta," Naruto said. "Who knows when you might run into an iron wall that irreversibly changes who you are."
"It seems like we truly do have a traitor in our midst," Delta said. "But since you already know my name, you probably also know about my temper. Move aside. Or die."
Naruto didn't say anything and patiently folded his cloak to make sure it wouldn't get creased.
"I'm going to enjoy gutting you." Delta smiled cruelly and raised her arm in Naruto's direction, shooting an energy orb at him. Its path directly coincided with Naruto and the kids behind him, forcing him to take it head-on.
Naruto's expression didn't change as he tapped his foot on the ground and raised an earth wall to block the projectile as it exploded.
"See how I moved my chakra through my foot, Sarada? This reduced the response time for casting Earth Release jutsu without using hand signs." Naruto asked his disciple, who had already jumped out of the way of the projectile with Kawaki and Himawai in tow. She was not going to allow the enemy to turn her into a hostage.
"Mhm," she nodded, intently focusing on every move Naruto was making.
Delta broke through the wall with a kick, and her heel elongated into a large spike that was about to impale Naruto. He twisted his body and allowed the spoke to harmlessly pass by him before grabbing it tightly. Naruto then hurled Delta into the air. She spun in the air a few times before her legs transformed into thrusters, stabilizing her position.
In that duration, Naruto had already prepared his next attack and threw it at Delta. A large orb with spinning blades of compressed wind around it made it seem like a spinning shuriken made of white air. It was already in front of her as she focused her eyes.
She opened her eyes wide as the lines running through her purple pupils almost seemed to glow faintly.
The Rasenshuriken exploded in Delta's face. Its violent Wind Release chakra exploded with compressed wind needles that repeatedly enveloped her entire form.
"Awesome!" Sarada cheered.
"Look closer, kiddo," Naruto chided. "It's not nearly as potent as it should be. Why do you think that is?"
Sarada's eyes widened in concentration as she realized the problem. "She's absorbing it. Like one of those Scientific Ninja Tools."
Delta groaned in pain as she absorbed the remnants of the attack. Still, she was left scratched up as her cloak was shredded, leaving her with just her teal dress, which also had rips and tears all over its surface. Although it didn't seem like any of the micro wind needles had pierced her skin, she still seemed as unblemished as ever.
"You've successfully made me mad, Hokage," Delta growled hatefully. "I'm going to kill you now."
"Give it your best shot," Naruto said with a calm smile. "I'm going to beat that unruly attitude right out of you."
Delta landed in front of Naruto and kicked him again with a spike extending from her heel. Naruto easily grabbed her once again, but instead of throwing her away, he pulled her close and punched her in her gut, making Delta widen her eyes as a pained groan escaped her lips. Suddenly, her pupils glowed purple, and a pair of destructive purple beams shot out of them.
"Go die, bastard." Delta smiled viciously as she struck Naruto at point-blank range with her sure-kill attack.
"You really need some attitude adjustment," Naruto commented, making Delta recoil in surprise as a black plate blocked her line of sight and blocked her attack without even getting scratched.
"That technique…" She looked stunned as she noticed the floating black plate.
"You recognize it?" Naruto smiled. "Good, that means you won't be too surprised about your defeat."
"It can't be," she said. "Only he can create them. It's a fucking fluke."
Naruto didn't burst her bubble and kicked her away.
"That's the spirit. Don't give up too soon," Naruto said. "I want to show my disciple what a real battle is. I haven't even activated sage mode yet. Give me a challenge."
"Y-you …" Delta looked pissed. Even more so than before. "I'll destroy you!" She screamed as an ethereal aura was released from her body. It was her chakra boiling as it was released in the form of vapor from her figure. Her legs suddenly stabbed into the ground and extended forward. Instantly, multiple large spikes emerged from the ground under Naruto.
"Let me show you some real Earth Release." Naruto jumped up from the spikes and landed on one of them before making a hand sign. "Solidify."
Delta's face took on a look of frustration as she felt the earth constrict around the growth of her legs. Within a second, it got tight enough that she couldn't even pull her legs out of the dirt.
"I'll make you regret fucking with me," she growled. "Destruction Beam!" She announced, and the same purple beams escaped her eyes. She didn't target Naruto and instead shot the light-speed laser at Sarada.
With her Sharingan active, Sarada was able to perceive the attack in time and knew that she had to react. Unfortunately for her, while she had very good reflexes, her physical body couldn't move fast enough to let he dodge an attack that was moving close to the speed of light. If anything, that only gave rise to a sense of dread and fear inside her as the beam approached her. Suddenly, a black orb appeared in her vision and expanded, blocking the attack from striking either her or the two kids around her.
"I was prepared for such a move," Naruto said distastefully. "You've ruined my mood now."
"You motherfucker, I'll destroy you!" Delta shot another destruction beam at Naruto, looking more unhinged as the seconds passed.
"It's pointless." Naruto blocked the attack with a Truth-Seeker Orb. "The only reason you lasted this long was because I wanted to show my disciple how a high-level battle could go."
Delta wasn't even able to do anything as the man in front of her started radiating a terrifying presence. His pupils transformed into a cross, and he appeared before her in the next moment. He extended his arm forward in a casual gesture, but she couldn't muster up any resistance at all. The pressure that he was radiating had rendered her immobile.
"You see, Delta," Naruto said, clasping his hand over her throat. "When I activate Sage mode, I have this nifty trick that allows me to use the natural energy around me to extend the range of my attacks. It's called Frog Kata. Now, if one takes it to the extreme, one can impose absolute control over the surrounding natural energy to create a sensation of pressure that renders the target immobile. Unable to move in the slightest. You need to be a full-fledged Ōtsutsuki if you want to even dream of getting through that. No jutsu absorption can help you here."
"Grr," she growled at him and gave him the look of a dead man.
"You think I'll let you self-destruct?" Naruto laughed with derision. "You're going to be my tool now, Delta."
Naruto forced his chakra into the Inner's body.
***
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