The roar of the waterfall drowned out all sounds except voices amplified by chakra.
Two giant stone statues—Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha—stood on either side of the stream, fingers locked in a sign of reconciliation that never came to pass.
Naruto stood on Hashirama's head. The wind ruffled his black jacket and hair.
Opposite him, on Madara's head, stood Sasuke.
He looked different. The Seal already covered his body in patterns, but his posture was relaxed.
The Uzumaki looked at him through the prism of Qi Sensory.
What he saw made him clench his fists. Sasuke's chakra had become rotten. The Cursed Seal had taken root in his brain, replacing his own thoughts with Orochimaru's whispers. This wasn't freedom, but the terminal stage of infection.
"You call this power?" Naruto asked coldly. "You look like a junkie ready to sell his soul for a fix. Orochimaru isn't offering you power, Sasuke, but a leash."
Sasuke's face twitched.
"You always looked down on me, didn't you?" he said quietly. "Even back in the Academy. You just pretended to be unremarkable, but secretly laughed at me. In the preliminaries, you showed your true strength. You crushed me like a bug."
Sasuke raised his hand, examining his blackened palm.
"I know I'm weaker than you, Naruto. In my normal state, I'm no match for you. I saw you take down the One-Tail."
The blonde tensed. Sasuke spoke rationally, but something disturbing was heard in his voice.
"That's why," Sasuke raised a crazed gaze in which the Sharingan burned, "I won't hold back. I won't play Konoha shinobi. I will destroy you with what you consider a 'curse'."
The Uchiha screamed.
The sound of tearing flesh.
Two huge, ugly hand-wings burst from his back, tearing skin. His skin turned dark gray. A black cross in the shape of a shuriken appeared on the bridge of his nose. His hair grew longer, becoming stiff as wire.
He was no longer human. He had become a demon.
"Level Two," the monster rasped in Sasuke's voice. "And now, try to stop this, 'Chunin'."
WHOOSH!
Sasuke flapped his wings and soared into the air.
He flew, rapidly closing the distance.
Naruto instantly went into full defense.
He's fast. Faster than Lee without weights. And he flies.
Sasuke dived from above.
"Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
Not a ball, but a stream of concentrated white flame erupted from the mutant's mouth.
The Uzumaki jumped back, using Qi Sensory to predict the attack trajectory. He slid across the water surface, escaping the fire. The water beneath him instantly boiled, turning into steam.
"All you do is run!" Sasuke roared, entering a new turn. "Where is your vaunted strength?! Can't do anything?!"
He struck with a wing.
Naruto blocked the blow with crossed arms infused with Qi.
BAM!
He was driven into the water up to his knees. The blow was heavy, like the collapse of a small hill. Sasuke's wing, infused with Cursed Seal chakra, was hard, almost like Kimimaro's bones.
Naruto winced. The bones of his forearms ached.
Without the Cloak, I can't match him in physical strength while he's in this mode. He's too heavy and fast.
"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, jumping out of the water onto the rock face. "Look at yourself! Are you still human?! Stop before the Seal takes over your mind completely!"
"I don't need a mind! I only need my revenge!"
The Uchiha dived again. This time he used the claws on his wings, trying to grab Naruto and tear him to pieces.
The Uzumaki dodged, letting the claws pass centimeters from his face.
He extended his fingers.
Qi Control: Shot.
A white beam tore from his hand, aiming at Sasuke's shoulder to knock him out of the air.
The shot pierced the wing membrane, leaving a smoking hole.
The mutant didn't even flinch. He no longer felt pain. The Cursed Seal blocked pain signals from nerves, pumping him with endorphins and rage.
He spun in the air, kicking Naruto in the chest.
The blonde flew back, slamming his back into Madara's statue. The stone cracked.
He slid down, spitting blood.
Inside him, everything boiled. Not from pain. From growing bitterness.
Even now, he saw not an enemy before him. He saw a problematic partner... a younger brother smashing everything around in a tantrum. But this "child" could now kill.
Sasuke hovered in the air opposite him. His ugly face twisted into a triumphant grimace.
Birds chirped in his left hand.
It wasn't a normal Chidori.
The light was black. The sound low, humming, full of sorrow and malice.
"Flapping Chidori..." Sasuke hissed. "With this power, I will grind you to dust, Naruto. And sever my last tie with Konoha."
Naruto slowly stood up.
He wiped blood from his chin.
His gaze changed. The attempt to get through disappeared. Pity disappeared. Only the heavy, grim determination of a doctor about to perform an amputation to save a patient remained.
I can't stop him in this state while remaining human, he realized. If I continue to hold back, he will kill me. And then go and kill the Konoha Team, and someday Sakura, and Kakashi-sensei... everyone.
"You're right, Sasuke," Naruto said quietly. His voice overcame the roar of the waterfall. "Enough talk. So you want to see my power?"
He closed his eyes.
In his stomach, the Pseudo-Core, previously working with restraint, abruptly switched polarity. It began to spin faster, creating monstrous gravity.
Fox. Give me your chakra. Cloak Level Two.
Took you long enough, the watching Kyūbi responded. High time to break his spine, jailer.
The Uzumaki opened his eyes.
The pupil became a vertical slit. The iris filled with the color of blood.
The air around him exploded.
The water in the lake beneath him began to evaporate with eerie speed, forming an expanding vortex.
Red, thick chakra burst out, forming a dense, scorching armor.
One tail.
Second tail.
Ears elongated, canines became longer. Naruto looked like a beast ready to pounce.
But his gaze remained clear. Cold. Rational.
Sasuke in the air exhaled. His "omnipotent" confidence wavered. He felt the same horror as in the Forest of Death again.
"You..." he whispered.
Naruto raised his head.
"You chose this yourself," he growled in a dual voice that vibrated the water. "Prepare."
Two monsters froze opposite each other.
A black mutant in the sky.
And a red beast on the water.
The Valley of the End awaited the final clash.