Naruto: The Leveling Shinobi Chapter 63, a naruto fanfic

My Pa tre on is back online for those who want to read THREE chapters or THREE WEEKS ahead (chapters 62,63, 64) and support my endeavor to become an author. Might be uploaded tmr due to some delays.

The first and SECOND chapter of my brand new story which is set in the HP verse (tentatively titled The Leveling Wizard—yes, I know the title is bad xD) has also been released there, so check it out if you're interested. The first chapter is going to be released here publicly after a month or two most likely.

So if you can't wait for the next update–check out:

P a treon . com (slash) PaladinKaladinn…

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto franchise or its characters.

Previously…

"Stretching. I need a slight warmup before I beat all of you up. Don't worry…I'll go a bit easy on you if you want."

"Can you back that up?"

His azure eyes glinted. "Trust me…I know I can back it up. But if you don't wanna believe me regardless—let's test it out, shall we?"

Chapter Sixty Three: The Path to Freedom III

[NTLS]

Naruto ran forward with blinding speed, his arm flashing as he plunged his knuckles into the chest of the Aburame, who didn't look at all surprised by his rush of speed.

BZZZ!

The body before him turned into a horde of insects that flew away in opposite directions, revealing the fact that he has been talking to a clone the entire time.

Naruto looked around with an annoyed expression.

"Tch. This might be a bit annoying." He closed his eyes.

Activate Observation Haki!

[Observation Haki Lvl 1 Activated!]

Instantly, his senses exploded in range and covered everything around him with frightening accuracy. And with that came an overwhelming sense of clarity that threatened to take over his mind. While in the state of using Observation Haki, he became wary of every living thing with some sort of energy, and that included every insect that Shino wielded that was in the area. Thousands and thousands of flapping wings and bugs. Controlled by a single person.

He took a deep breath.

Naruto threw a kunai towards his 10 o' clock, where a camouflaged Shino stood in the shadows of one the trees higher up. Instantly, a swarm of insects flew forward from his sleeves, consuming the insect within its dark embrace and continuing forward without any mercy.

The blond was faced with two options. Either retreat right now or face the swarm head on. Retreating would be the worst move to make against someone who fights like Shino. He knew what to pick.

Naruto imagined his chakra source like Sarutobi had taught him. The pleasant calmness of a vast ocean took over his body. Slowly but surely, in the middle of the body of water, a ripple began to form. The ripple grew in size, taking in more and more of the water around it, before sinking and forming a whirlpool in its place. The easy part was done. The hard part was controlling the size of the

whirlpool and not allowing it to consume the entire chakra pool he had in the first place. That was the main flaw of having such large quantities of

chakra—controlling it was inherently harder, no ifs or buts about it. But practice made perfect.

His hands moved through a couple hand signs. "Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu!"

The whirlpool of chakra sank into his body, moving through his extensive pathways before taking the properties of fire. Scorching heat surrounded the inside of his palm, before leaving the moment Naruto began blowing into his hand, creating a balloon of fire that surged towards the body of insects that didn't seem to want to retreat.

The bugs did their best to evade the incoming flames, but the sudden speed of the jutsu and the sheer size it held was more than enough to kill off most of them.

Shino still stood with his hands inside his pockets; the shades that he wore on his pale face didn't reveal any of what he was thinking. A complete anomaly. He had been like that since the Academy—an introverted dude that didn't speak much, preferring to observe from a distance.

Naruto gritted his teeth. I know I can defeat him easily. But I have to do so without using anything fatal. And also do it somewhat quickly.

He could technically just run away and avoid the Aburame for as long as possible, but the only issue was the fact of Shino's tracking abilities that were on par with Kiba's on paper. He needed to take the cloaked boy out of the battle for as long as possible, making it possible for Naruto to escape without a further hitch.

Shino raised his hands.

Insects flew out from the sleeves once more, this time in the form of a dozen different whips, not allowing Naruto to eliminate all of them at once with a juts like he did before. Naruto evaded the first attack, the buzzing of the insects making them really easy to react to in the dark. He ducked over the other swarmi, and simultaneously tilted his head to the left to dodge another swarm that tried to get him from behind.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

His clones gathered around him in an instant, before launching forward in different directions. The insects, which seemed to aim for the target based on the characteristic chakra of each individual, began to separate into different groups based on whichever clone they saw first. Three clones, however, ran straight towards Shino.

Shino, startled at the sudden shift in momentum, began calling all of the insects back towards him.

Naruto grinned. "Not so fast!"

A hand grabbed onto Shino's leg from beneath him where he stood on the branch of the tree.

How did he get here so fast? The Aburame thought with a shocked expression.

Naruto heaved with all of his might and flung the boy downwards to the ground, where he would no longer have the added advantage of high ground. Shino landed upright on his feet, but slid back a few meters due to the large amount of momentum he had gathered while he was descending.

The black-haired boy began to breathe quickly. I need to use up all of my insects and focus them on…where is he?

Naruto was already there behind him.

"It's over."

However, Shino suddenly raised his arms even higher. As if it couldn't get worse, another gigantic swarm of bugs formed from his body. This time it was even bigger than all the others, meaning the boy had been keeping them as some sort of secret stash to keep as an emergency source just in case anything important happened.

Naruto couldn't help but gape. How the hell is storing all of those?

A cocoon of insects surrounded him before bursting outward, hitting Naruto with a few insects of their own. He had braced himself beforehand, expecting something to hurt. Seeing that nothing had happened, he was slightly confused—

Instantly, a group of a thousand insects began to surround him. They were nearly impossible to escape. Shadow Walk was still on the cooldown from when he used it to gain the drop on Shino, so that was a no-go. The air grew thick with a strange hum as the first insect landed on his skin. Then another, and another. Before he could react, the buzzing intensified, a storm of wings and legs.

BZZZZZ.

Thousands of insects swarmed around him, crawling over his arms, his face, and into his hair. His heart raced as the sharp prick of tiny legs and the flutter of wings sent waves of panic through him. They only seemed to multiply, a relentless tide of chitin and antennae that covered his body, obscuring his vision, choking his breath.

BZZZZZ.

His skin itched, burned, the weight of their collective presence suffocating as they borrowed and crawled, their tiny bodies pressing against him from all sides.

BZZZZ. BZZZZ. BZZZZ.

Shino finally let his hands rest, the appendages going back into his pockets as relief flew through his mind. He took several steps closer to Naruto until they were only two feet apart. "It's over, Naruto-san. My chakra is completely depleted, but there is also no way for you to escape. The others are more than likely headed this way as we speak. Just stop resisting and I'll let go of the technique."

Activate Iron Skin!

"What are you…"

Activate Reinforcement!

"Stop being foolish—"

Naruto began to move.

One step was all it took.

Chakra surged through his feet, the single step he took imprinted into the ground with a slam as cracks in the ground spread from his foot.

Shino couldn't have dodged it even if he saw it coming.

Naruto feigned right, and the left hook that he was delivering hit true.

An insect-covered fist hit Shino straight in the face, squishing most of the bugs to death onto their owner. Dead insect juice covered his palm, but that was the farthest thing he could care about right now. Shino slumped to the floor as the force of the chakra-filled punch was enough to turn him unconscious.

The insects refused to budge, however, even if their master wasn't even issuing a command. Normally, they would have immediately fled after they realized they were not receiving any more commands. The way the insects worked is that they listened to the commands of the Aburame as they promised their meals of chakra later on. A basic reward system of taming creatures.

However, these specific insects had just gotten a taste of Naruto's chakra.

And it was glorious.

There was no doubt about it—they were addicted.

Everything they had before was nothing compared to the chakra they had just tasted, and they knew for a fact they would never taste something like that again. The insects would no longer listen to an Aburame's orders—they simply couldn't return to a peasant's lifestyle anymore.

They had become rabid.

Naruto couldn't use hand signs due to the insects covering him, but there was something he could try. He closed his eyes and felt for the ocean of chakra that was resting in his gut. Another whirlpool began to form as he drew on the chakra. This time, however, a storm started to brew in the sky.

And wherever a storm went…lightning would follow.

Crack!

A bolt of lightning struck the spinning whirlpool, sending a frenzy of electricity through the water.

Naruto opened his eyes.

Lightning flowed through arms, smoldering the insects instantly as they began to flee. While they enjoyed the chakra they had fed on for a brief moment, they still valued their lives a lot more. Basic survival instinct took over their minds.

Naruto was free.

He picked up Shino and placed him against a tree, checking his vitals to make sure the boy was okay before picking up his travel bag once more. He had to admit, Shino's abilities were more unpredictable than he thought they would be. Sure, Shadow Walk and likely his Necromancer abilities nullified any threat the boy held towards him, but they were still interesting to fight. At the same time, Shino had succeeded in his job. He was sent first to make sure that Naruto didn't make it too far, and at the same time stall him in time for reinforcements to arrive.

Shaking his head, Naruto began to follow the path once more, picking up the pace as he could tell the others were catching up to him soon.

"Hmm…I wonder what my clones are doing right now?"

[NtLS]

The clone couldn't help but groan as he eyed who had found him. Of all the people who could have discovered me…does it have to be her?

Sakura watched with wide eyes as Naruto revealed himself. "N-Naruto?"

'Naruto' grinned, playing his part. "Yo."

"What are you doing here? Let's get back! Everyone is going on about you leaving Konoha and other crazy stuff. Haha! As if! They're lying, right? I mean, of course they're lying, you're—"

"They're right. I'm leaving, Sakura."

Sakura's eyes widened ever further, reaching the limits of what was physically possible. "Why?"

The clone took a deep breath. This was where things got muddy. "I'm stagnating here. I have to get stronger…there's simply no other option."

A truth, but definitely not the actual reason as to why he was leaving. The real reason was because he couldn't bear to be the reason for the deaths of his friends simply due to the presence of a Jinchuuriki in the same village as them. Especially since they didn't even know what a Jinchuuriki was.

"Liar!" Sakura snarled, pointing at him with an outstretched hand. "I'm not an idiot, dummy. Whatever, I don't care about your real reason. I'm just not going to let you go."

"I have to go," Naruto said with a sad smile.

"Where would you even go? Sure, you're strong, but do you have any idea how to even survive in other areas?" Sakura asked.

"Uh…that's gonna be a work in progress."

"Yeah, I definitely can't let you go. You're going to manage to die of some poisonous fruit by the first week. I'm going to stop you, Naruto!"

Naruto chuckled. "Oh yeah? And how are you going to do that?"

The pink-haired kunoichi glared. "Just you wait!"

She began running forward at a surprising speed. Sure, it was nothing too fast, but it was a markedly good improvement for someone who before this couldn't even run properly to begin with. Whoever she had been training with had clearly started from the fundamentals again, which was a very clever and well-advised decision on their part.

But of course, she still had a long way to go.

Sakura lifted her kunai, filling it with chakra.

…

She blinked.

Her hand wasn't moving.

Naruto wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"You've got to get a lot stronger if you want to catch me, Sakura."

Naruto held onto her arm from behind.

Sakura froze. "H-how much stronger?"

"That's for you to find out."

She didn't say anything for a while. "Why are you leaving?."

The clone hesitated for a second. "That's a bit complicated. Ask Tsunade, though I don't think she'll tell you the answer, to be honest. It is for the good of everyone, though, that's for sure. I guess…I can say goodbye for now. I'll see you in a while, Sakura."

Poof.

She didn't know when she started crying. Sakura knew she was weak. She was weak from the very beginning. She compensated for her weakness by studying really hard. Everyday, she would open her books and study as much as she could, because at the very least she could be good at something. But now, none of that studying truly mattered in the end. She couldn't stop her friend from leaving his home.

Sakura gritted her teeth, clenching her fist in frustration.

I have to get stronger.

I'll make you come back, Naruto.

[—-]

Naruto blinked when he got the memories back from the clone. Hmm…I'm kinda glad that a clone was there and not me.

[Trickster Path has progressed!]

[A New Trickster-Type Skill has been unlocked!]

Naruto grinned. Looks like the final prank in Konoha finally paid off! That was one of the main reasons he constructed the fake statue of his face into the monument in the first place. It had given him some points in the Trickster subclass, which would useful for getting more skills.

Let's see what it is then!

[End]

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