Chapter 190:
"Rasengan!"
Boruto, who had leapt behind Red Wolf, formed a Rasengan and aimed it at her back—but missed.
"As a ninja, one must remain vigilant at all times!" Red Wolf, who had vanished in a flash, reappeared above Boruto. A Rasengan was already forming in her hand. "The Nine Tails' chakra… You really are Naruto's son, huh..."
Red Wolf struck Boruto square in the back with the Rasengan, knocking him to the ground. However, due to the Rasengan's power being intentionally restrained and the protective cloak of the Tailed Beast, Boruto wasn't seriously hurt—just left looking rather disheveled.
Red Wolf had barely landed before she had to move again to dodge.
"That's Wood Release?!" she exclaimed, startled, as she glanced at Sarada, who was forming hand seals nearby. "Kids these days really are something... In that case, I suppose I'll get a bit more serious."
She was, after all, one of the legendary Sannin. Though Jiraiya could no longer summon the toads of Mount Myōboku due to his body being replaced, he could still just barely go toe-to-toe with the likes of Boruto and Sarada.
Meanwhile, inside the flower shop on Konoha's shopping street—
Ino Yamanaka, eyes tightly shut, suddenly opened them and said, "I've found them, Lady Tsunade. They're on Konoha's Third Avenue. I can also sense Boruto and Sarada's chakra—they're in battle."
"I see. Ino, I'll go assist Boruto and Sarada. You inform Naruto about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s members showing up in the village."
With that, Tsunade used a series of Body Flicker Techniques and disappeared.
"Damn it!" Boruto panted beside Sarada. "She's not even that strong—why is she so hard to deal with?"
"It's the gap in combat experience. But actually, the situation is in our favor now. We just have to hold Red Wolf off until reinforcements arrive from the village."
Sarada's eyes locked onto Red Wolf as she spoke.
"You've analyzed the situation quite well," Red Wolf praised, suddenly flashing to Sarada's side. "Naruto back in the day definitely couldn't have figured that out. Ninja Art: Toad Morph Technique!"
This jutsu disrupts an opponent's chakra and forces them to involuntarily perform a Transformation Jutsu, turning them into a toad and rendering them unable to fight.
Of course, it has its limitations: it doesn't work on those with far greater chakra, and if the target has allies who can help realign their chakra, the effect can be easily dispelled.
"Watch out, Sarada—"
Before Boruto could finish, Sarada turned into a puff of white smoke, and a small toad hopped out, landing near Boruto's feet.
"Damn it! What did you do to Sarada?!" Boruto exclaimed as he scooped up the toad.
It was his first time encountering a jutsu like this. With only a vague idea of how it worked, he naturally had no clue how to undo it.
As for Sarada, the victim, even though she knew what to do, all she could do now was croak helplessly at Boruto.
"Heh... Now it's your turn, brat. I'll turn you into a toad too!"
"You bastard!" Boruto instinctively stepped back, but he didn't run. After everything he'd been through, he'd grown stronger. "Don't worry, Sarada. I'll definitely save you."
Placing the transformed Sarada on his shoulder, Boruto stared down Red Wolf.
"You're not running away?"
"Don't treat me like an idiot! That jutsu of yours only works at close range, right? In that case..."
Two golden Nine Tails chakra arms extended from Boruto's sides.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Two Red Wolf clones appeared, launching a pincer attack from both sides.
"You're not the only one who can use Shadow Clones!" Seeing the incoming attack, Boruto responded with his own Shadow Clone Jutsu.
"You fell for it, idiot!" Red Wolf's clones were never meant to attack—just to restrict Boruto's movement. In the moment Boruto began forming hand seals, Red Wolf suddenly appeared in front of him. "Toad Oil Bullet!"
"This jutsu..." Boruto was now covered in toad oil.
"Fire Style: Flame Bullet!"
"Susanoo!"
Just in time, Uchiha Shuyu used the Body Flicker Technique to appear beside Boruto, summoning Susanoo to block the attack. After all, Sarada was still sitting on Boruto's shoulder as a toad.
Following Shuyu's arrival, Tsunade appeared as well.
"This is bad..." Red Wolf muttered, eyeing the newcomers while trying to calculate an escape route.
Though she had once been a Konoha ninja—and had even memorized the village's escape routes for the sake of peeking into the bathhouse—too many years had passed. The village's layout had changed.
"Shuyu, look at Sarada..."
Sarada, in toad form, hopped into Shuyu's palm, croaking anxiously.
"Don't worry." Shuyu gently placed her on the ground and laid a hand on her back, realigning her disrupted chakra.
A puff of white mist appeared—and Sarada returned to normal.
"Boruto, you idiot! How could you fall for such a simple jutsu? It looks scary, but it's basically just a glorified Transformation Jutsu!"
Ignoring Sarada's scolding, Tsunade stared at Red Wolf. "Only one person fights like that. What's your relationship with Jiraiya?"
"Jiraiya?" Boruto, while dodging Sarada's angry rant, heard Tsunade's question and suddenly remembered—when he first arrived in the alternate ninja world with the Nine Tails, he had seen that fighting style before.
"Who knows... Some people haven't noticed yet, but now that I've seen what I needed to, I suppose it's time to go..." As Red Wolf spoke, her body suddenly froze in place.
"Konoha isn't the kind of place you can just come and go as you please."
Shikamaru stood behind her, his shadow stretching out and linking with Red Wolf's.
"Uncle Shikamaru!" Boruto called out in surprise.
At that moment, future Boruto arrived along with Naruto and Sasuke.
"Red Wolf—who are you, really?" Naruto asked, a trace of hope in his voice.
Konoha's higher-ups were aware that S.H.I.E.L.D. had methods beyond Impure World Reincarnation to bring the dead back to life.
After all, Uchiha Itachi was living proof.
"Boruto, do you know who she is?" Sasuke asked the future Boruto.
"No," future Boruto replied, shaking his head. "In the future, Red Wolf always appears with Gray Wolf. But the future you guys seem to know who she really is... you just never told me."