Seeing the distant battle come to an abrupt stop—and Yoruha's presence vanish—Sakura's heart tightened in fear.
She thought something might have happened to him.
Gritting her teeth, she ran toward the site of the clash.
Before long, she arrived at the edge of a massive crater.
Her eyes widened in shock. The pit stretched nearly a hundred meters across.
"T-this… was this made by Yoruha's jutsu?"
"It's terrifying…"
Sakura couldn't imagine how powerful a technique had to be to carve such a vast crater into the earth.
It shattered everything she thought she knew—this pit was even larger than the one caused by thousands of explosive tags detonating at once.
But Sakura's mind wasn't on that.
She looked down into the crater and spotted Yoruha's silhouette standing at the bottom.
At once, she dashed toward him.
When she reached him, she found Yoruha standing silently before a freshly made grave.
Seeing the name carved into the stone marker, Sakura exhaled in relief.
"So… Kurosuki Raiga is dead?"
Yoruha gave a calm nod.
Sakura smiled, her worry melting away. "Yoruha, you're incredible! Even a jōnin isn't your match."
But Yoruha didn't show the slightest joy. He turned and walked away.
Sakura blinked, puzzled. "He just won—why does he look so unhappy?"
"Boys are such strange creatures," she muttered, glancing one last time at Raiga's grave before chasing after him.
Back on the surface, Yoruha looked up at the moonlit sky, frowning.
"It's already night… I wonder how Kakashi-sensei is doing. I should go reinforce him."
He turned to Sakura. "Go fetch Aunt Tsunami and Inari. We're heading to the bridge construction site to help Kakashi-sensei."
"I can't leave you three here unprotected."
Sakura nodded quickly. "Okay."
Though she wanted to ask how Yoruha had grown so strong in such a short time, now wasn't the moment.
After gathering Tsunami and Inari, the four of them hurried toward the bridge.
By the time they arrived, the battle was already underway.
Kakashi and Zabuza were locked in fierce combat—and on the other side, a surge of violent chakra caught Yoruha's attention.
"That sinister chakra… don't tell me Naruto's lost control?"
He turned toward the source. Even in the darkness, the crimson aura blazing around Naruto was blindingly vivid.
Kakashi, noticing Yoruha's arrival, sighed in relief.
So he's really surpassed the jōnin level, Kakashi thought. He must be as shocked by his own strength as I am.
In Kakashi's eyes, Yoruha's nature was overly cautious—detached, even, much like Shikamaru's.
Back during training, Kakashi had already assessed Yoruha's ability as beyond that of a jōnin. In a real fight, Kakashi doubted he could win.
But Yoruha himself refused to believe it.
To him, "jōnin" still meant something untouchable—something far above.
Jōnin were indeed among a village's top fighters, but they weren't invincible.
That, Yoruha had yet to grasp.
Earlier, Zabuza had mentioned that Raiga was sent to kill Yoruha.
Kakashi trusted in Yoruha's strength, but he'd still been worried.
Yoruha's raw power exceeded most jōnin, but his real combat experience was lacking. Who knew what tricks Raiga might have used?
After all, shinobi were notorious for their underhanded tactics—
victory mattered more than honor.
Many great ninjas had fallen to assassins far weaker than themselves.
That was what worried Kakashi the most.
But now that Yoruha was here, it meant only one thing—Raiga had failed.
"Yoruha! Go to Naruto! Something's wrong with him!" Kakashi shouted.
Yoruha gave him a quick look, then turned to Sakura. "Protect them. I'll go check it out."
Sakura nodded firmly. "Don't worry. I'll keep them safe."
Without another word, Yoruha sprinted off toward Naruto's position.
Zabuza, still locked in combat with Kakashi, froze for a moment when he saw him.
"That brat? What's he doing here? What the hell is Raiga doing?"
Kakashi finished forming a jutsu and replied, "Things didn't go how you thought, Zabuza. My student's far stronger than you realize."
"Seems even one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen couldn't defeat him."
Zabuza frowned.
Yoruha's appearance completely disrupted his expectations.
As far as he was concerned, no matter how talented Yoruha was, he was still just a genin—a newly promoted one at that.
There was no way he could defeat an elite jōnin like Raiga.
Especially since Raiga hadn't been alone—he'd had two chūnin with him.
Zabuza simply couldn't imagine how Raiga could have lost.
But no matter how much he refused to believe it, Yoruha standing here meant Raiga was dead.
Zabuza clicked his tongue. "That guy sure talked big… said he'd kill the brat in under ten minutes. Some swordsman he turned out to be."
He glanced at Kakashi coldly. "I don't know why Raiga failed to stop your kid, but that Nine-Tails brat of yours has gone berserk. If you can't handle it, you'll be in serious trouble, won't you, Kakashi?"
Kakashi frowned, staring at the pillar of red chakra in the distance.
This was exactly what he'd been dreading.
With Yoruha here, the two of them could easily overpower Zabuza—
but Naruto's rampage changed everything.
If Naruto lost control completely, things could spiral out of hand.
Kakashi remembered vividly the last time Naruto had gone berserk as a child—
the ANBU had suffered devastating losses.
If the Third Hokage hadn't mobilized the entire sealing corps, ANBU, and several top jōnin, Naruto might have destroyed the village entirely.
The Third had nearly resorted to the Reaper Death Seal that day.
Kakashi knew that if the Nine-Tails fully seized control of Naruto's body, no one could stop it—not even him.
He didn't want Yoruha anywhere near that danger, but he was tied up with Zabuza.
Yoruha, please be careful, Kakashi thought grimly. If something happens to you… how am I supposed to face Tōichi?
He had promised—sworn—that he'd keep Yoruha safe on this mission.
Meanwhile, Yoruha arrived at Naruto's side.
Naruto's entire body was now cloaked in the beast's chakra, a single tail forming behind him.
"He's already grown a tail… this is bad."
In his normal state, Naruto's power was roughly at the jōnin level. But with even one tail manifested, his strength reached elite jōnin territory.
At least in terms of raw destructive force—his actual battle control still lagged behind.
Still, the overwhelming chakra pressure would crush most opponents outright.
Even Yoruha, whose chakra reserves far exceeded Kakashi's and had already reached Kage-level, felt dwarfed by it.
He couldn't help but murmur in awe, "As expected of the Nine-Tails… the mightiest of all the tailed beasts, with the greatest chakra of them all. If we don't stop Naruto soon and he manifests more tails, it'll be disastrous."
A jinchūriki losing control outside the village would already shame Konoha—
but if it spread further, it would be far worse.
Despite feeling the immense danger radiating from Naruto, Yoruha had no choice.
Sasuke lay on the ground, bloodied and barely breathing.
And Haku—frozen in place by the sheer force of Naruto's unleashed chakra—
couldn't even move.