"Summoning Jutsu!"
Sakura bit her thumb and slammed her palm on the ground.
POOF! Smoke exploded, and a massive slug towered up.
"Sakura, what's wrong?"
"Katsuyu, we've got company. Let's do that move!"
Facing the Susanoo in front of her, Sakura's heart raced, but her grin only got wilder.
"Got it! Ready when you are!"
Katsuyu straightened, mouth gaping wide.
Behind her, Sakura formed seals. Chakra boiled. She slapped both hands on Katsuyu's back, pouring her own chakra inside.
Instantly, the hyper-concentrated natural-energy acid inside Katsuyu was shaped by water-nature chakra into something special.
"Water Style: Water Severing Wave!"
"Strong Acid!"
"Combo Ninjutsu: Corrosive Torrent!"
Katsuyu spat a razor-thin, ultra-high-pressure beam of acid—pure natural energy that eats chakra like candy—straight at Uchiha Sasuke.
"Hmph. Pointless."
Itachi's Susanoo raised the Yata Mirror. The flaming red shield expanded, shielding the entire avatar.
CRACK!
The mirror—supposed to adapt to any element, nullify it, and reflect physical attacks—shattered.
A gaping hole tore open under the acid flood. Unstoppable natural energy poured into the divine silhouette like a tidal wave.
"What?!"
Itachi froze for a split second. Instinct kicked in—he raised a finger, body dissolving into crows that scattered.
But ahead of him, the genjutsu veil popped like a bubble, ripped apart by a single hand.
Sakura's face came into focus, smile downright gleeful. "Going somewhere, senpai?"
---
Ice spread silently, blanketing the forest, brushing every breath, every corner, turning the earth into a frozen wasteland.
The sudden temperature drop dazed Itachi. In that moment, Sakura's roaring sword light screamed through the air, illuminating every face locked on her.
"Divine Dodge—!"
"Totsuka Blade!"
Against Sakura's lightning slash, Itachi's Susanoo drew the gourd. The sealing sword extended from the drunken dream world.
It met the sky-splitting strike head-on.
BOOM!
Swords clashed. Sword light and chakra boiled into a towering shadow that blotted out the sun.
The earth split. Mountains shook.
The shockwave rippled through the waterfall and into Takigakure, knocking rebel ninja inside off their feet.
"What the hell?!"
Mist Shadow rogue ninja Kirisame looked toward the village entrance. The massive, icy chakra coming from there was chilling.
"Probably the Uchiha crew starting to hunt the tailed beasts."
"We gotta move faster. If the village's other jonin get back, we're screwed!"
Takigakure rebel Suien shook his head, grabbed a captured girl, and pressed a sharp kunai to her throat.
"Shibuki! I know you're close! Hand over the Hero Water, or I start killing—one every thirty seconds!"
His voice echoed up into the sacred tree's hollow above.
Shibuki was hiding inside, clutching the Hero Water he'd pulled from the tree's roots.
Sasuke, impatient, snapped, "So what's the plan?"
He was just as anxious as Shibuki—Itachi was out there fighting Sakura.
And as an Uchiha, he couldn't even touch that level of battle.
The raw helplessness burned like wildfire in his chest.
"No way I'm letting them have the Hero Water. It multiplies chakra dozens of times in an instant. Give it to them, and the village is gone!"
Shibuki, pale as death, clenched his teeth and hugged the vial tighter.
"Then fight him! What kind of leader hides like a coward?!"
Naruto, pissed at the guy's cowardice, grabbed Shibuki by the collar.
"I can't beat him! I only inherited this from my dad..."
Shibuki panted, sweat soaking his forehead protector.
"Ten seconds!"
Down below, Suien raised the kunai high.
"Screw it—I'm going in!"
Naruto didn't think. He leaped from the tree, swinging down vines straight at Suien.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!"
"Huh?"
Suien didn't expect anyone else. He froze—and took Naruto's boot to the face.
Catching the falling girl, Naruto skidded across the ground, carving a long trench.
"I'm in too. You? Wanna drown in coward memories forever, or be a hero for a few minutes—then die?"
Sasuke pulled kunai and wire from his pouch, using the tree's branches to dive into the chaos below.
"..."
Once they were gone, Shibuki stared blankly at the Hero Water. Popped the cork. Chugged it.
"Water Style: Water Whip!"
The Mist Shadow rogues shaped chakra into liquid ropes, lashing at Naruto and Sasuke as they dodged.
"Tch, Konoha brats?!"
Suien, clutching his swollen cheek, pointed at them and formed seals fast.
He puffed his cheeks—then unleashed.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Missile!"
A roaring water dragon dove at them, jaws wide.
Sasuke's Observation Haki screamed. He shoved Naruto aside—but got snared by another rogue's water whip, pinned.
"Sasuke!"
Naruto's eyes shrank.
At the last second, a chakra-spun water vortex crashed down from above, slamming into the dragon with a screech of metal on metal.
BOOM!
Water exploded everywhere. Shibuki landed on the surface, chakra flames flickering around him.
"Took the Hero Water, huh? But how long can that chakra burn?!"
Suien reached out. Water droplets condensed in his hand, forming a razor-sharp longsword.
—Takigakure Style: Water Blade.
"None of your business. I'll do my damn job!"
Swords clashed. The two danced in a blur of steel and water, same-school taijutsu trading blows. Deadlocked.
In the distance, rogue Kirisame grinned and fired Lightning Style into the water whips. Electricity surged through the liquid, frying Sasuke unconscious.
Kirisame, bloodthirsty, raised a long blade with everything he had—aiming for Sasuke's neck.
The blade swung. His face twisted in savage joy.
Then—CRIMSON SHADOW.
A massive red silhouette flickered into existence.
Whoosh!
"Flying Thunder God—Thunder Guide!"
A girl's clear voice rang out. A giant sword fell from the sky—
Light surged across the ground. The divine avatar's sealing blade speared through Kirisame in an instant.
Cut him clean in half!
Then flames roared outward. Ice danced in the sky. The girl, cloaked in frost and fire, tapped the ground lightly with her toe—splitting the battlefield into a hell of extreme cold and blazing heat.
"Ara ara~ Everyone's busy? Mind if we join?"