Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 240 Direct Conflict

"Holy crap, this guy's wearing chakra armor!" A Uchiha who had tried to use genjutsu but failed, and who had been too overconfident and unprepared, was sent flying. As he flew away, he broadcast this information at maximum volume, hoping to salvage his lost face.

A water dragon, almost filling the aisle, materialized in an instant. It nimbly bypassed the teammate who was being thrown backward and crashed into the raging waves. The person who summoned the dragon caught his teammate's back with one hand, deflecting the impact.

"Thank goodness the children didn't come... Are you still able to move?"

"Nonsense, it's not even a scratch!" The Uchiha teammate immediately got into a fighting stance after regaining his footing, saying, "This is a great opportunity to make amends, so don't let me down, Yun."

"Who was that who just got blasted away?"

The conversation between the two happened in the blink of an eye. The water dragon bullet had already collided with the raging waves, but the expected scene did not unfold. The water dragon struck an invisible "wall," which not only blocked the attack but also rapidly absorbed the water droplets transformed from chakra! This is the wonder of the chakra armor; it can absorb enemy techniques to defend against attacks and store this energy for the wearer's use.

"Ice Release: Black Dragon Blizzard!"

When the ambush appeared on the airship, Nu Tao keenly sensed that this was no ordinary coup, something he couldn't simply resolve by flying around in the airship and returning. What had he just seen? Red eyes with strange tomoe-like outlines, and a water-style ninjutsu that instantly materialized in a dry place. The attackers were ninjas, and not just any ordinary ninjas! They had caught him in the act of sending out his general, leaving him isolated and helpless. Were they after his life, or the country?

No, none of that matters anymore. He has to figure out how to survive first!

The jet-black dragon beast broke free from Nu Tao's grasp; this was the maximum power he could currently control, requiring complete concentration. The two ninjas opposite were no ordinary opponents either; their reactions were incredibly swift. One of the ninjas, sent flying, unleashed a massive fireball—the size of which was precisely enough to wed the airship's floor and ceiling—completely blocking the black dragon's path. Nu Tao was confident in his ninjutsu; the black dragon charged into the fireball, indeed carving a path, but the fireball also weakened the technique's power, effectively shrinking the dragon.

It's alright, they're just a little small. They don't have any armor to protect them, so at least one of them can be seriously injured!

However, on the other side of the fireball wasn't a bewildered ninja, but an earthen wall. The black dragon charged headlong into it, but even after breaking through the wall, it missed. Raging Waves was neither a ninja nor a warrior; he lacked extensive combat experience and was completely unaware that the Senju, with his sensory abilities, had already calculated his attack direction and implemented a complete decoy maneuver.

The fireballs were merely a means of obscuring vision; the caster had already darted to the sides of the passageway, using the flames as cover to reach the raging torrent.

The remaining water droplets on the ground rose again, binding Nu Tao's legs like vines. At the same time, two ninjas leaped out from the afterimage of flames, thrusting chakra-infused blades into Nu Tao's chest.

That's the core of the chakra armor, and also its greatest weakness!

Nu Tao, of course, didn't have time to cast a second spell. His casting speed was inherently slow, and in this situation, he could only grab the two swords with both hands. Protected by his armor, he wouldn't be injured, but if the core was destroyed, he would be like a fish on a chopping board, completely at their mercy. Just as he was considering whether to use more energy to blast the two people away or throw them, a thunderous sound suddenly came from behind him. In that instant, he unleashed the armor's maximum power without hesitation, even if it destroyed the airship.

Then, the cabin shattered into pieces, and the powerful hurricane forced the ninjas who had been grabbed to abandon their swords in order to save their king, and they both crashed into the airship's bulkhead.

The airship had taken off when the raging waves arrived, so they were currently floating in the air! Without any connecting bulkheads, the floor quickly succumbed to gravity. At the last moment, the raging waves leaped and grabbed a groove in the ceiling, preventing a fall. Only after confirming his safety did he dare look down, and sure enough, he saw the third assassin. This guy had been silently hiding behind him the whole time; if it weren't for his armor, he would probably be dead!

"It's all your fault! Why did you use Lightning Release? Don't you know the art of assassination is silence?!"

"...Haven't we killed anyone in a long time?"

"You still have the nerve to argue! What do we do now? None of us can fly!"

"Don't we have even the slightest confidence in pursuing them on the ground?"

"This is all snow, which will affect normal movement. We may not be able to catch up."

"What a great opportunity to make a name for myself! Taking him down would have been enough to explain to Lord Jinlun. But what happened? I really don't want to mine anymore..."

"...Maybe it can fly?"

Senju Un suddenly had a bold idea, an idea that would consume a lot of chakra, so he would never dare to try it when he was alive, but now he didn't have to worry about dying from recklessness.

A clone of Senju Yun appeared, nodded to his clone, and then grabbed one of his teammates in each hand. The bewildered teammates, not knowing what he was up to, obediently allowed himself to be held, waiting for Senju Yun to perform a flight demonstration for them.

Good news, they did fly. Bad news, they flew using the thrust of water jets.

"I'll never call you a coward again!" Uchiha Yao, the most hot-tempered of them all, exclaimed. He was still able to speak because he had controlled the range of the Water Dragon Bullet very well, only grabbing Yun. The two Uchiha who were firmly held by the upper arms were still able to move!

"Shut up... hurry up and take that guy down!"

On the other side, Uchiha San was already gathering Lightning Release. High-density chakra gathered on his sword, and once it reached a sufficient height, he unleashed a sword strike that pierced a hole in the upper airbag of the airship.

While his teammates were working, Yao wasn't idle either. A barrage of small fireballs immediately hurtled towards the raging torrent, but their primary target wasn't the torrent itself, but rather the crumbling ceiling. Since they had all fallen, how could their target not fall as well?

Despite his desperate resistance, with one hand restrained, he couldn't form hand seals and could only deflect or absorb fireballs. He sensed something was wrong when he saw the three's absurd actions, and sure enough, the person who couldn't fly created a brief period of flight, their goal clearly to make him fall with them.

They soon got what they wanted.