Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

"You again?"

Seeing Minato Namikaze suddenly appear, Rōshi gritted his teeth and growled.

However, Minato didn't respond to him. He simply turned to Uchiha Haruki and said,

"Leave the rest of this battle to me. You should go get some rest."

Haruki didn't hesitate. He nodded, then immediately used a Body Flicker Technique to retreat to the edge of the battlefield.

Minato was briefly surprised by how swiftly and cleanly Haruki exited. He shook his head with a soft chuckle and said no more.

"Damn it! You're all asking for death!"

Rōshi roared in fury and charged straight at Minato.

But who was Minato Namikaze?

His reaction speed far surpassed that of Haruki, even with his three-tomoe Sharingan fully active.

Attacks that Haruki could dodge were child's play for him.

Just as Rōshi was about to collide with him, Minato vanished with a flicker of movement, easily sidestepping the charge. Then with another flicker, he appeared a good distance away.

Scanning the area and noting the ground was littered with lava and flames, Minato sharply raised his right hand and bit down on his thumb.

In an instant, he formed the five seals: Boar–Dog–Bird–Monkey–Ram. Using his blood as a medium, he activated the Summoning Technique!

A burst of chakra smoke erupted.

With a loud POOF, a massive red toad covered in bumps appeared on the battlefield.

The creature clutched a giant pipe in its mouth, had a white bandage wrapped around its waist, wore a blue vest, and carried a short sword strapped to its side.

It was none other than Gamabunta, one of the three elders of Mount Myōboku!

At first, he looked normal.

But after just a second of standing still, he suddenly jumped up, screaming in frustration:

"Oi! It's burning me alive! What is this place?!"

He looked down.

And saw a landscape covered in lava and flames.

His eyes bulged.

If Gamabunta ranked his hatred of the sea—which made him itchy—as a level one, then his instinctual fear of fire was a level ten.

Without hesitation, Gamabunta formed hand seals and unleashed a powerful Water Style jutsu.

The next moment, a waterfall-like torrent came crashing down from the sky, instantly extinguishing large portions of the flames and lava on the ground.

Steam hissed and billowed as the water met the molten rock, generating thick white mist that drastically reduced visibility in the area.

But the mist didn't last long. As Gamabunta descended from the sky, the sheer force of the impact blew the fog apart.

Landing with a heavy thud, he squatted, took a long drag from his pipe, and exhaled a massive smoke ring. Then he looked over at Minato.

Seeing Minato wave at him, Gamabunta scowled.

"You little punk! Don't you know I hate fire? And yet you summoned me to a place like this?! And another thing—"

He pointed toward Rōshi.

"That guy over there? He looks like trouble. I want nothing to do with him."

Clearly, he had already sensed Rōshi's unique power.

Still, despite his words, he didn't cancel the summoning technique and return to Mount Myōboku—so it was clear he didn't truly mean to walk away.

Minato knew Gamabunta's temper well, so he played along respectfully.

"Yes, yes, Big Boss Toad, it's my fault this time. I just can't handle this kind of opponent. I really need your help."

"Hmph."

Gamabunta snorted, then turned his massive gaze toward Rōshi.

Even Rōshi, despite his experience, couldn't help but feel a trace of dread under that enormous stare.

Still, he couldn't retreat—not in this situation.

With a thought, Rōshi stomped the ground and launched himself like a cannonball, turning his entire body into a weapon as he barreled toward Gamabunta.

"You annoying bastard, stay away from me!" Gamabunta shouted.

Mid-sentence, he inhaled sharply and unleashed a gale-force wind from his mouth.

The power of this blast was no weaker than Haruki's Wind Style: Great Breakthrough, even when Haruki used up a full thousand chakra points.

Rōshi's advance was stalled by the wind. Undeterred, he immediately formed hand seals and activated:

"Lava Release: Burning River Flow Technique!"

Instantly, seven or eight lava spheres materialized in front of him, which he then launched straight at Gamabunta's wide-open mouth.

Gamabunta knew better than to take that hit.

The mouth was a toad's most vulnerable spot—there was no way he'd tank it.

So he jumped high into the air to evade the incoming molten bombardment.

While airborne, he formed hand seals—clearly preparing another technique.

Seeing this, Minato seemed to realize what was coming and immediately used Body Flicker to retreat to the edge of the battlefield.

Rōshi, seeing this reaction, was momentarily confused.

Then—

From above came a massive sphere of water crashing down at high speed.

This wasn't just an ordinary water bomb.

It was formed using Water Style: Liquid Bullet, a technique powered by Gamabunta's dense chakra.

Rōshi reacted quickly, dodging with a sideways leap and narrowly avoiding the attack.

But another water sphere was already on its way.

Then a third.

A fourth...

In the blink of an eye, Gamabunta had spat out seven or eight massive water bullets—returning the favor, it seemed, for the exact same number of lava balls thrown at him moments earlier.

Unfortunately, unlike Gamabunta, Rōshi couldn't dodge them all.

Despite doing his best, he managed to avoid only the first four.

The rest struck him head-on.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Explosions echoed through the battlefield.

Despite being made of water, the Liquid Bullets struck like artillery shells. The force behind them was terrifying.

Even Uchiha Haruki, standing on the outskirts of the fight, could feel the ground trembling from the impact.

Yet even with such a ferocious attack, Rōshi still wasn't dead.

Haruki narrowed his eyes and looked toward the smoke-shrouded area where the water bullets had landed.

There—

A figure slowly stood up amidst the billowing mist and debris.

It was Rōshi.

His lava armor had been shattered, replaced by a new aura—a dark red chakra cloak, rich and heavy.

A crushing pressure radiated from his body, weighing down on everyone present.

It felt like a physical weight, bearing down on their chests.

Through the swirling chakra mist, Haruki could faintly see the silhouette of a red-furred ape, howling at the sky.

Haruki immediately understood:

That was the true form of the Four-Tails, Son Gokū.

"ROOOAARRRR!!"

An inhuman roar exploded from Rōshi's throat.

In the next instant, a tail made of chakra erupted from his back—his aura spiked dramatically.

And that wasn't all.

After the first tail fully formed, a second tail began to manifest.

Even Haruki—observing from the sidelines—couldn't help but tense up.

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