"Naruto-kun, if we don't pick up the pace, we'll be sleeping outdoors tonight." Kisame reminded.
As a seasoned Shinobi, sleeping in the wild was no big deal for Kisame. But he knew Naruto well, and if forced to sleep outside, Naruto would likely spend the entire night restless.
"What's the rush? Sleeping outdoors isn't such a big deal?"
Naruto replied casually, continuing to fly at a leisurely pace. Even as the sun dipped below the horizon, he showed no signs of urgency.
In response, Kisame and Itachi exchanged a glance, both surprised by Naruto's calmness.
'Could it be that Naruto had some kind of backup plan?'
Though curious, neither asked further, instead silently pondering what Naruto might have up his sleeve.
It was not until two hours later, when it was completely dark, that Kisame and Itachi finally understood Naruto's 'plan'.
Naruto selected a flat clearing, cleared away the weeds, and then flew high into the air. After adjusting his position, he suddenly thrust both hands downward.
What happened next was nothing short of miraculous.
As Naruto's hands pressed down, a fully-formed two-story villa appeared on the ground below.
It wasn't built gradually, but materialized in an instant.
"What kind of Ninjutsu is this?"
Kisame looked at Naruto in astonishment, completely dumbfounded.
"Remote materialization... it must be some kind of Space-Time Ninjutsu." Itachi speculated thoughtfully.
"That's right." Naruto said, nodding as if confirming Itachi's theory.
In reality, Naruto didn't know any Space-Time Ninjutsu aside from the Flying Thunder God Technique. The villa had been stored in his system inventory, and he simply retrieved it.
Initially, he'd struggled to come up with an explanation for this, but since Itachi had already provided one, Naruto gladly went along with it.
The villa wasn't overly luxurious, but it was a cozy two-story structure equipped with everything except food.
Naruto had prepared it before leaving Konoha, intending to use it during his travels.
As for food, he kept it in the system inventory to ensure it remained fresh until needed.
However, tonight Naruto had no intention of using his system's food supplies. Since they were camping out, it was the perfect time for a barbecue!
'Only by using local ingredients can the authentic feel be achieved.'
"The villa has rooms of various sizes." Naruto announced, "To decide who gets which room, let's play a little game. You each have one hour to catch some prey for tonight's barbecue. The type and quality of the prey will determine your room choice and the order in which you pick. Any objections?"
Naruto scanned the group. Seeing no one spoke, he waved his hand and declared, "Since there is no objection, then the game begins!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Naruto's figure disappeared in a flash of golden light.
"Flying Thunder God Technique?"
Itachi murmured, "This is bad... No wonder Naruto-kun was scouting and marking locations along the way. He's been planning this game all along."
"Then what are we waiting for? I'm going first!" Kisame shouted, stomping forward and rushing into the darkness.
The others followed suit, all charging ahead.
None of them dared to head back in the direction they'd come from. Knowing Naruto's personality, it was obvious he wouldn't have left any prey behind.
The unexplored terrain ahead held their only chance.
Thud!
Kakuzu dropped the still-unconscious Hidan to the ground and immediately joined the hunt.
Kisame, Itachi, and Kakuzu all understood one thing clearly… this was not a simple game.
Naruto's true intent, in their eyes, was obvious: to test their tracking and reconnaissance skills by tracking prey.
Calling it a game was just a facade. In reality, it was more like an evaluation.
The results of this evaluation would likely determine their standing in Naruto's eyes going forward.
'No wonder Naruto was not in a hurry to travel during the day. It turned out that he was conserving our energy so that we could perform to our best in the assessment.'
'With no excuses available, the question of who would triumph was entirely up to skills.'
The three of them each had their own plans and were desperately searching for prey. Meanwhile, Naruto had already arrived at the location marked with his Flying Thunder God Technique.
Contrary to what the three thought, Naruto hadn't planned much. He had only decided on camping out and having barbecue after hearing Kisame mention that if they didn't hurry, they'd have to sleep outside.
Therefore, Naruto's actual plan for finding prey only involved about an hour of time, and he had marked just ten spots in total.
Upon reaching the first marked location, there was no sign of any prey.
It was likely that the beasts had been frightened by their overwhelming presence and had run off early.
After a fruitless search, Naruto moved on to the second location.
This time, as soon as he arrived, before he even started searching, his danger sense ability picked up signals of nearby threats.
'One, two, three!'
There were three preys within a hundred meters of him.
"Perfect!"
Naruto smiled, thinking that if he couldn't complete the game he had proposed, it would be a huge embarrassment. Now, with three pieces of prey, he had already exceeded the game's requirements.
The tension in his heart finally eased.
"Awooo!"
Before Naruto could make a move, the wolves suddenly howled fiercely, seemingly calling for their companions for the food here.
Naruto grinned upon hearing it.
"Since we're both prey, let's see who gets the last laugh!"
For these ordinary wolves, Naruto didn't even need to activate the Eight Gates.
Despite his appearance as a child, his enhanced body had far surpassed that of an adult man in basic strength.
The three characteristics of a wolf are a head of steel, bones of iron, and a waist of tofu.
The waist is the wolf's weak spot.
Bang, bang, bang!
With a flash of movement, Naruto rapidly charged at the three hungry wolves, striking at their waists with heavy blows.
The eerie, terrifying howls quickly turned into pitiful whimpers, like a puppy getting its tail stepped on. The wolves collapsed and began whimpering on the ground.
"Let's end your suffering!"
Naruto has no habit of torturing animal. He believes that giving them a quick death with brief pain is the most humane approach.
After placing the three wolves into his system inventory, Naruto continued to the third location to look for more prey...
Meanwhile, Kisame was rushing at full speed.
"Hurry up! Faster!"
Kisame cares this assessment very much.
His resistance to damage might currently hold a high position, but it wouldn't last forever.
Now, with the assessment focusing on tracking ability, he had to get first place to prove his worth to Naruto.
At that moment, he was carrying a large sack, inside of which were three rabbits and five pheasants, but for Kisame, it was far from enough.
Not only did he need a lot of prey, but it also had to be of high quality.
Only then could he be more likely to secure first place.
"This one's it!"
After running for a while, Kisame finally found a ten-meter-long python.
With only an hour for the assessment, and considering the time spent traveling, finding such a large prey made Kisame feel confident that he was going to win.
"Hiss!"
The giant python hissed as it saw Kisame, flicking its tongue.
In response, Kisame did not hesitate at all. He raised Samehada and swung it at the snake's head with all his might.
Bang!
With a single blow, the python's head exploded into a mist of blood.
Perhaps, this was truly the meaning of 'actions speak louder than words'.