"Who's the idiot, idiot?" Naruto gloated, as he slammed a Rasengan into the She-Wolf's breastplate, comically sending her blasting off into the sky like a shooting star. "That was a Shadow Clone!"
"Fugai!" screamed Kamira in alarm, as she quickly shapeshifted into a monstrous bat and flew up to catch her, leaving Hyde alone with what little remained of his army of Hollow Knights.
Even though they were being overpowered when it came to pure firepower, it was quickly becoming apparent to Sasuke and even to Naruto that their enemies had next to no experience fighting against shinobi. They fell for tricks even academy brats would see coming from miles away, and their attacks were extremely honest and straightforward— they were like samurai, relics of bygone times!
"Naruto, there's too many of them!" shouted Sasuke. "Manoeuvre Number 26!"
They no longer held numerical superiority, so it was time to make a quick getaway…
"Got it!" Naruto called back.
Leaving a few Naruto Shadow Clones to cover their escape, Naruto and Sasuke turned on their heels and ran away into the virgin forest that lied behind them. Enraged at the sight of his enemies fleeing after ruining his expensive machine, Hyde angrily ordered his Hollow Knights to pursue.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!"
As he ran, ducking and weaving between the trees, Sasuke spat out a series of small floating fireballs, spreading them out seemingly at random. Instinctively, the Hollow Knights avoided the bright flames as they pursued their targets, only to find themselves unintentionally bunched together as they funnelled through the gap in the fire…
The hulking armoured brutes stormed through the forest, blundering through a series of tripwires without feeling them grow taut against their shins, setting off each and every one of them! The forest was suddenly filled with a sort of sizzling sound, and then…
A dozen Explosive Tags hastily pasted around the killing area detonated at the same time, vaporising the Hollow Knights caught in the middle of the explosion.
"Too easy!" cheered Naruto, as he walked out from behind his hiding place, holding his right hand in the air. "Gimme five!"
Sasuke ignored the proffered high-five and walked past him, snorting derisively. Unbeknownst to Naruto, he had very nearly accepted the high-five, purely by reflex!
"Aww, come on," said Naruto in disappointment. "Sasuke, don't leave me hanging, y'know!"
Sasuke's eyes suddenly widened.
He shoved Naruto aside and dived for the ground, just as a beam of turquoise light swept across the world, slicing through every tree in its path. The air echoed with the groan of splintering wood, as tree trunks twisted and fell to the earth all around them, producing a series of dull thuds.
"Scatter!" Sasuke suddenly barked, jumping to his feet and hiding behind a tree stump.
Naruto hastily rolled away from where he had landed, and the ground exploded where he had stood mere moments before, as though it had been struck by some kind of invisible blast.
"Get out of here, Naruto!" shouted Sasuke. "I'll take care of the fat man, you can't deal with him!"
Hyde slowly advanced towards them, holding up his bejewelled fist as if he were wielding the Infinity Gauntlet.
"I'm not leaving you to fight all by yourself!" Naruto bristled.
"Don't be an idiot!" roared Sasuke. "His attacks are invisible to you, but my eyes can perceive them! You'd just be in the way— duck!"
Sasuke's Sharingan whirled in their eye sockets as he approached Hyde, avoiding his invisible energy projection blasts by quickly flickering from side to side.
Sasuke's hand suddenly erupted with dense lightning chakra, and his speed increased tenfold. He advanced, zigzagging faster than the eye could perceive, before stabbing Hyde in the heart!
Sasuke felt Hyde's flesh writhe and twist around his hand. He watched on in horror as the man's appearance turned almost demonic, his hair turning white, his eyes becoming lizard-like, and his skin turning inside out, transforming into grey scales.
Sasuke desperately tried pulling back, but Hyde's chest muscles tightened like a vice around his hand— his forearm was still buried deeply in his foe's sternum, unable to be withdrawn!
"Not so fast now, are you, boy?" chuckled Hyde, smiling malevolently.
He slowly moved his palm towards Sasuke's head, the Stone of Gelel on the back of his hand glinting ominously… but just as Hyde was about melt Sasuke's face off, Naruto jumped in the way and grabbed onto Hyde's musclebound arm. Summoning all his strength, Naruto kicked Hyde's chest, using it as leverage to push off from.
Naruto had succeeded in turning Hyde's arm away from his friend… and towards himself.
Naruto's limp body fell to the ground, smoking.
"Naruto, no!" shouted Sasuke in despair, wrenching his hand out of Hyde's chest. "Why… why would you do something so stupid!?"
"How… How should I know…?" Naruto gasped, coughing up blood. "My body just moved… on its own… you idiot…!"
Naruto's head fell back limply, his glassy eyes staring into nothingness. Hot tears began dripping down Sasuke's cheeks, as a third Tomoe spun into existence next to the other two in his scarlet eyes…
"Master Hyde!" came a woman's voice from the skies. "I've brought back Temujin, as per your orders!"
It was Kamira in her bat form, who had left the battlefield to catch Fugai. She had returned with Temujin, who had left to help with the battle against the Hidden Sand, only to be recalled when Naruto and Sasuke had attacked Hyde's main base!
"Doesn't matter how many of you there are," Sasuke muttered to himself. "I'll kill you all. I'll kill you all, if it's the last thing I do..."
Pain exploded Sasuke's nape as Kakashi's Fūinjutsu broke, but he barely noticed any of it happening. The Cursed Seal of Heaven was running wild, spreading like molten lava across Sasuke's body and depositing black marks all over his skin…
"Master Hyde, please be careful!" shouted Temujin. "I can sense Gelel energy from him, just like that girl!"
Only a Sage's power could beat another Sage's power… and now that Sasuke's seal had broken, untamed Natural Energy was uncontrollably flooding into his body, reacting with his chakra and with Orochimaru's genetic information!
Suddenly, a thick cloud of white smoke exploded near the entrance of the earth-moving machine, drawing everyone's attention.
"Starting without me?" a girl's voice rang out from the depths of the smoke. "Don't you know the hero always arrives fashionably late? Well, here I am— the one and only Haruno Sakura, at your service! Now, come and have a go, if you think you're hard enough!!"
Sasuke gaped at the smokescreen, forgetting all about his rage and sorrow for an instant.
Why on earth was Sakura drawing the enemies' attention to her ? This was something only that loser Naruto would do— this didn't make any sense!