Naruto Uzumaki formed the "Ram" hand seal with both hands.
"AAAAAHHHHH——!!!"
With a thunderous roar, blue chakra visibly erupted around his body.
The sheer pressure made Sasuke Uchiha beside him instinctively tense.
"There's still that much chakra left?!"
He remembered the other-world Naruto mentioning earlier: never underestimate the chakra reserves of the Uzumaki clan.
The Uzumaki clan…
Just what kind of beings were they, exactly?!
Was the person in front of him really Naruto Uzumaki?
The one everyone believed could definitely defeat Gaara?!
Boom!!
On the battlefield between Naruto Uzumaki and Gaara, the white smoke within sight dispersed.
Sasuke Uchiha: "!!!!"
"Hmph." Watching the scene unfold, Sasuke sneered softly. "Just like I thought. That technique."
Back in their world, Naruto had used this very move during his fight with Gaara as well. It had shocked both him and Sakura back then, completely redefining their understanding of Naruto's chakra reserves.
In the mission scroll world, everyone already knew just how terrifying Naruto Uzumaki's chakra capacity was.
But in this world, at least Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Shikamaru Nara, Shino Aburame, and the three siblings from Sunagakure were seeing it for the first time—
Seeing a scene where Naruto Uzumaki filled the entire battlefield.
It truly was everywhere.
As far as the eye could see, on almost every tree, every branch—standing, crouching, hanging upside down—
Everywhere you looked, there was Naruto Uzumaki.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique! Naruto Uzumaki reporting in!"
From all directions, thousands of Narutos shouted in unison, their voices echoing endlessly through the forest.
This was a ninjutsu that created solid, physical clones. Developed by the Second Hokage of Konoha, it had originally been intended for espionage.
But in Naruto Uzumaki's hands, what had it become?
Clone techniques used shadow clones.
Substitution techniques used shadow clones.
Naruto stood before the dumbfounded Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno and said casually,
"Good thing I learned this. You know, back at the Ninja Academy, the Clone Technique was the thing I was worst at."
Sakura immediately shot back,
"Ninja basics. Out of the Three Basic Techniques, you were only decent at Transformation—and even then, only when you turned into weird stuff. Like that Sexy Technique."
At that moment, it felt as though the entire forest had been surrounded by Naruto Uzumaki.
Only Team 7 from the mission scroll world seemed relatively unfazed by the scene.
Everyone else took a long time to recover.
Even Pakkun and the freshly summoned little toad couldn't help but look at Naruto with new respect.
Pakkun, as a ninja dog, knew a bit about these things.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique. That's an S-rank technique. No—wasn't it sealed by the First Hokage as a forbidden technique because of how dangerous it is to the user?"
The little toad beside him puffed out its chest proudly.
"Not bad at all, kid. The one who summoned me."
Over a thousand Naruto Uzumakis surrounded Gaara. They stood on trees, clung to trunks with chakra, and hung upside down from branches.
Only Sasuke knew that the Naruto standing next to him was the real one.
"Sasuke…"
Naruto suddenly spoke.
"Once I defeat Gaara…"
He took a deep breath.
"When I meet my dad, I'll introduce you to him and tell him—"
"You're my best friend."
"And you, Sakura, Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei—you're all my most important companions."
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki."
Sasuke Uchiha: "!!!!"
Snap.
A crisp sound seemed to echo.
Sasuke and Naruto from the mission scroll world almost felt like they heard it—
That sound, back at the inn at dusk, of Minato Namikaze snapping an ice pop in half.
"As brothers, let's support each other and walk forward together."
Watching Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha face Gaara, even as observers, it felt like the scene carried a completely different meaning.
As for Sasuke Uchiha, like everyone else in this world, he still hadn't recovered from the shock of Naruto's explosive surge in strength—or from the words he had spoken.
More than a thousand Naruto Uzumakis shouted at once,
"Let's finish this quickly! I'm going to defeat you and go back together with my most important companions!!"
"Naruto Ninja Art: All Directions Shuriken!"
One Naruto hurled a shuriken—
But what flew toward Gaara were tens of thousands of shuriken thrown simultaneously by a thousand Narutos.
"Th-this has to be cheating…"
Kankurō could barely get the words out.
Temari instinctively turned to Shikamaru and demanded, "Just who exactly is that Naruto Uzumaki from your village?!"
"You're asking me…" Shikamaru rubbed his temples, already feeling a headache coming on.
"All I can say is that he used to be the dead last in our Ninja Academy."
"..."
Temari's fists clenched so hard they trembled. She really wanted to punch the guy next to her to death.
You call that dead last?!
Clang! Clatter!
A dense rain of shuriken slammed into Gaara's Sand Release, weakening the chakra sustaining it.
Then—
"Naruto Uzumaki Two Thousand Combo!!"
They say two fists can't beat four hands, but what about this?
Even if Gaara had two arms, two legs, and an extra tail, it still didn't matter. Naruto Uzumaki had split into over a thousand shadow clones. Roughly speaking, that was a three-against-four-thousand situation.
Just one question.
Was that fair?
Boom——
The Sand shattered.
Everyone present watched with their eyes wide open—
Gaara was actually being beaten into complete helplessness by the so-called dead last, Naruto Uzumaki?!
Only then did the Konoha Village ninjas and the three from Sunagakure remember a question they had subconsciously ignored because it seemed impossible.
The Naruto from another world had told them before.
Naruto Uzumaki was Konoha's ultimate weapon.
"H-hey…"
Temari and Kankurō were shaking.
"If… if that Naruto Uzumaki is also a monster…"
They swallowed hard.
"To beat Gaara like this… then no one can stop Gaara anymore."
Shikamaru Nara beside Temari frowned.
"What do you mean 'no one can stop Gaara'? And what do you mean by monster?"
"Run!!" Temari shouted. "If you don't, we'll be dragged into it too!!!"
She and Kankurō immediately fled farther away. Shikamaru Nara and Shino Aburame, still unclear about the situation, followed them and continued retreating toward the outskirts of the battlefield.
Shino Aburame asked, "Aren't we far enough away already?"
Kankurō replied grimly, "If Gaara and Shukaku's true form appears, even this distance won't be safe."
Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura also prepared to pull back.
From past experience, they all knew what was coming next.
Gaara was about to release Shukaku.
And that was exactly what they were waiting for.
To see how Naruto Uzumaki would defeat Gaara without relying on a mission scroll—
And to prove that his way of living was the correct one.