Mastering the Elements - Chapter - 81

Naruto’s footsteps slowed as the forest path grew narrower, the sound of the festival in Konoha now long gone. The two supposed “concerned parents” walked ahead quickly, their bodies tense, their heads never turning back to check on him. It was the small things—how they avoided eye contact, how their pace quickened when they thought he wasn’t looking—that told Naruto exactly what was happening.

He stopped in the middle of the dirt path.

The two ahead noticed after a few steps, halting abruptly. The woman turned halfway, feigning urgency.
“Come on, hurry up! My daughter—she doesn’t have long!”

Naruto didn’t move. His eyes were sharp, the easygoing grin gone.
“I know,” he said evenly, “that you’re not here for me to help anyone. You’re here for something else… my bounty, right?”

There was a faint ripple in the air—killing intent, subtle but enough for a trained shinobi to feel. The woman’s fake panic flickered for a heartbeat before her expression hardened.

A rustle from the treeline followed. Four figures dropped silently from the branches, landing in a half-circle behind Naruto. He was now surrounded.

The newcomers’ eyes gleamed with the same look—professional predators who thought they’d cornered their prey.

One of them, a tall man with a jagged scar running across his cheek, stepped forward and drew a long, curved sword. Its steel caught the dying light of the evening. He leveled it at Naruto’s chest.
“Here’s how it’s gonna go,” the scarred man said, his voice low and deliberate. “You come with us quietly, no fuss, and you won’t get hurt. But if you try anything stupid…” He tilted his head, smirking, “…we’ll still take you with us, but you might be missing a limb or two.”

Naruto’s lips curled into a grin—one that didn’t reach his eyes.
“Sounds like you’re giving me a choice,” he said. “But I don’t like either option.”

The scarred man sneered.
“Kid, don’t make this harder for yourself—”

A flash of yellow light cut him off.

It happened in less than a blink—Naruto’s figure blurred, vanishing from where he stood. The next thing anyone knew, the scarred man was airborne, his sword spinning away as a crushing kick slammed into his chest. He hit the ground hard, sliding across the dirt and coughing violently.

The others froze. The woman who had lured him here took a cautious step back, her eyes darting between her comrades and the blond boy now standing where the man had been a heartbeat ago.

Naruto stood casually, his foot still half-raised from the kick, his grin now sharper.
“Next?”

One of the others, a stocky man with twin kunai, growled and lunged forward. “You brat—!”

Naruto didn’t move until the man was close enough to strike, then slipped under the swinging kunai, driving an elbow into the man’s ribs before sweeping his legs. The man hit the ground with a grunt, gasping for breath.

The four still standing now understood. This wasn’t going to be a snatch-and-grab.


The stocky man on the ground groaned, still clutching his ribs, but one of his comrades stepped forward with a cold smirk.
“Enough of this. Earth Release—Earth Spikes Jutsu!”

The ground rumbled under Naruto’s feet.

A sharp crack split the earth, and jagged stone spikes began erupting upward in a vicious line—fast, yet building in speed like a predator closing in. The first spike tore through the soil right where the downed man lay, forcing him to roll aside, and the next surged toward Naruto, its stone tip glistening in the fading light.

Naruto’s eyes narrowed. So they’re going for area denial…

With a burst of chakra, he leapt high into the air, twisting in midair to avoid the rapidly rising forest of stone below him. Dust and splinters of rock exploded upward, but he was already preparing his counter.

A wide grin crossed his face. If I’m going to fight, I might as well make it flashy—just like Itachi-nii-san taught me.

Naruto inhaled deeply, chakra flooding into his lungs. His chest swelled, and then—
“Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!”

From his mouth, a massive sphere of roaring flame burst forth, the heat warping the air around it. The fireball, easily twice Naruto’s height, hurtled toward the ring of shinobi.

“Scatter!” one of them shouted.

All five leapt away in different directions as the fireball slammed into the earth, detonating with a WHOOOMPH. Flames rolled outward in a wave, scorching the surrounding trees and leaving a blackened crater where the earth spikes had been moments earlier.

Naruto landed lightly on the charred ground, the fire’s glow casting him in silhouette.
“You wanted trouble? You got it.”

His hands blurred through a rapid sequence of seals.
“Shadow Clone Jutsu!”

With four loud puffs of smoke, four identical Narutos appeared beside him, each wearing the same determined smirk.

The five remaining enemy shinobi glanced between themselves, already recalculating their odds. One was still unconscious from Naruto’s earlier kick, lying crumpled near the treeline. That left five against five—but these weren’t ordinary clones.

“Let’s go,” Naruto said simply.

In perfect unison, all five Narutos rushed forward, their footsteps pounding against the scorched earth as the battle erupted again.


The Iwa jōnin’s confidence began to crumble within minutes.

Naruto’s clones moved like streaks of lightning, weaving between the enemy with such speed that even seasoned veterans struggled to track them. Every strike was precise—an elbow to the ribs, a kick to the knee, a chop to the wrist that sent kunai clattering to the ground.

“Dammit, they’re just clones!” one of the men snarled, throwing a kunai wrapped in an explosive tag.

The clone caught it midair, spun, and hurled it back—detonating the blast harmlessly behind its original thrower.

They tried ninjutsu next.
“Earth Release: Stone Spears!”
“Earth Flow Spears!”

Sharp rock jutted upward from the ground, but each Naruto slipped past them effortlessly, as though he could predict their timing.

Then came the change. Naruto’s chakra flared, and the air grew sharp around him.
“Wind Style: Gale Palm!”

A massive gust blasted forward, shoving the Iwa-nin back several paces. Before they could recover, the original Naruto was already drawing in a deep breath.
“Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!”

The roaring inferno collided with the wind current, expanding into a blazing tempest that scorched the earth and singed the edges of the enemy’s flak jackets.

Panic set in. They realized this wasn’t a fight they could win—it was a hunt, and they were the prey.

“Forget capturing him!” shouted one of the women, her voice edged with fear. “If we stay, we’ll all be taken alive!”

Another man cursed under his breath. “We run now, or we’re dead. Move!”

The five surviving Iwa-nin scattered into the forest, vanishing into the trees with every ounce of speed they could muster. Behind them, the Narutos didn’t even bother giving chase—four clones simply vanished in clouds of smoke, leaving the original standing alone in the clearing, watching them flee with narrowed eyes.


The clearing was still thick with the scent of scorched earth and burned foliage when a squad of Konoha shinobi appeared, fanning out to assess the situation. Their eyes immediately locked onto the lone figure standing in the middle of the battlefield—Naruto, surrounded by the deep craters and torn ground left behind by the fight.

“Uzumaki… what happened here?” asked Captain Haruto, his voice wary but curious.

Before Naruto could answer, one of the younger shinobi pointed toward the collapsed figure on the far side of the clearing. The man Naruto had floored with his opening kick lay in an awkward sprawl, his throat neatly slit, blood pooling beneath him.

Naruto’s expression darkened. “That wasn’t me. They did it themselves,” he said, voice low. “Taking him with them would’ve slowed them down, and leaving him alive would’ve been a risk. So they silenced him.”

Murmurs rippled through the squad. Haruto straightened. “They can’t be far. We’ll give chase—”

“No need,” Naruto interrupted, his gaze sharp. “I’ve already marked them.”

“Marked?” one shinobi echoed, confused.

Naruto didn’t elaborate. Instead, his hand brushed over a kunai that bore a strange, intricate seal etched into its handle. In the next instant, a brilliant yellow flash engulfed him, and he vanished.

Gasps broke out among the squad.
“No way…” one of them whispered.
“That was—”
“—the Flying Thunder God!” another finished, eyes wide.

Four seconds later, another flash split the air, and Naruto reappeared—this time with five captured Iwa shinobi bound tightly with reinforced rope, each one struggling futilely.

The Konoha shinobi stared in awe. For many of them, this was the first time they had seen the legendary jutsu in action since the days of the Fourth Hokage.

“You… you know the Flying Thunder God,” Haruto said slowly, as though still processing what he’d just witnessed.

Naruto just smirked and tightened the knots on one of the prisoners. “Guess word hasn’t gotten around yet.”


It was one thing for the son of Minato Namikaze to be running around the Elemental Nations as a shinobi of Konoha—plenty already feared what that bloodline could mean. But it was something entirely different for Minato’s son to be openly using the infamous Flying Thunder God.

By the next day, the black market had erupted in whispers and fear. The bounty on Naruto’s head doubled overnight, a clear sign that those who feared Konoha’s future would stop at nothing to remove him. Every major bounty station in the Land of Fire received the same sealed order: Capture or kill the boy. No price too high.

The message was clear—once Naruto graduated, he would be unstoppable. Word of him taking down six Iwa jōnin single-handedly, and at his age, was already spreading like wildfire.


The news hit the Pottaru household like a storm. Harry sat in the study, the bounty notice crumpled in his fist, his magic crackling in the air like static. His green eyes burned—not with fear, but with a cold, dangerous fury.

He remembered another time, another bounty—on Itachi’s head. He remembered exactly how he dealt with it.
The memory of Danzō’s lifeless body flashed before him. The sound of the man’s last breath still rang in his ears.

Now, someone had dared to target Naruto. Not just target him—double the price.

Harry’s voice was low, almost a growl as he spoke to himself. “They think they can put a number on my son’s head… they think they can hunt him like an animal.”

A teacup on the table shattered from the raw, uncontrolled magical pressure rolling off him.

Tsunade stood in the doorway, arms folded, watching him carefully. “Harry,” she said evenly, “if you’re thinking of doing what I think you’re thinking of—don’t.”

Harry turned his gaze on her, sharp enough to cut steel. “Last time, I waited. Last time, I gave warnings. This time… I won’t.”

Itachi, standing quietly by the window, spoke without looking at them. “If they’re smart, they’ll call it off before they find out what happens when you cross this family.”

Harry’s lips curved into something that wasn’t quite a smile. “If they’re smart… but we both know they’re not.”


The great chamber of the God Tower was shrouded in shadow, lit only by the faint glow of the massive chakra pillars embedded in its walls. Lord Pain sat upon the high dais, the black rods in his body pulsing faintly with every movement. His eyes, the Rinnegan, glimmered with cold calculation as he considered the latest report.

Tobi’s voice was calm but carried an undertone of irritation. “Naruto Uzumaki… now uses the Flying Thunder God. Fighting him is like trying to strike the wind. Even the fastest strike won’t land if the target isn’t there when it hits.”

Konan stood to the side, her paper flower ornaments catching the dim light. “That technique is a direct inheritance from the Fourth Hokage. If the jinchuriki truly has mastered it, then our capture plans will be… complicated.”

Nagato’s fingers drummed once on the armrest of his chair. “Complicated, but not impossible. Every jutsu has a weakness. But…” His gaze shifted from Tobi to Konan, then back again, “the bounty on his head changes the equation. If another organization kills him before we take him, the Nine-Tails will be lost to us for years.”

Tobi’s mask tilted slightly, the lone eye narrowing. “Years that we cannot afford. The balance of the Tailed Beasts will be broken. The others will begin their moves before we can complete ours.”

Konan spoke again, her voice even but firm. “We may need to… intervene. Quietly. Remove the bounty without drawing suspicion.”

Nagato’s Rinnegan bore into Tobi. “This was not an unforeseen problem, was it?”

The masked man gave a light, hollow chuckle. “Of course not. But even I didn’t expect the boy to use the technique. It means his training… is far ahead than expected.”

Nagato leaned forward, his voice deep and resonant. “Then we will adapt. Keep the bounty hunters alive if possible—but make sure none succeed. Naruto Uzumaki will be captured on our terms, at our time.”

Konan nodded once. “I will arrange the necessary watchers in the Land of Fire.”

Tobi gave a lazy wave of his hand. “And I… will make sure the boy stays just alive enough for us to claim him.”

The air in the chamber felt heavier. Outside, the cold winds of Amegakure swept over the tower, as if nature itself had sensed the storm that was about to break.