The mountain range... now perhaps it could be called a plain.
Clouds flowed like whirlpools above the sea, occasional lightning flashes illuminating terrifying outlines.
With prominent horns, shimmering scales, and two long whiskers dancing in the wind, the colossal being lowered its head once more, opening its mouth to ignite the sky.
"Yasaka no Magatama!"
On the ground, the crimson god of calamity unleashed a pitch-black divine weapon… three massive magatama connected by ropes, thrown like shuriken.
Spinning, they sliced through the flames, cutting toward the dragon in the sky.
Sasuke, drifting within the clouds, was startled, instinctively wanting to manipulate the flame clouds to evade.
But the dragon's massive body was an excellent target, not to mention Itachi's Yasaka no Magatama, fused with his left eye's Amaterasu and right eye's Tsukuyomi, could replicate the mythical power, possessing the effect of piercing prey across vast distances.
Just as the Yasaka no Magatama was about to strike Sasuke down, a roar came from the ground.
"Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!"
Nearly half his body transformed into phosphorus crystals, Naruto's arm, blackened with Armament Haki, suddenly elongated.
Propelling the sapphire-colored shuriken that screeched with high-pitched fury toward the sky, it finally collided with Itachi's Yasaka no Magatama.
Boom!
In an instant, heaven and earth shattered.
On the dark sky, crimson flames and azure storms spiraled outward, as if brutally ravaged by a hammer.
Sasuke seized the brief opening Naruto created for him, reverting to human form, then immediately lost the ability to fly, beginning to plummet toward the ground.
"Soften!"
Naruto stomped on the ground. Fluid-like red phosphorus surged, intertwining mid-air to form a soft, large net that caught Sasuke.
"Good grief, didn't Sakura warn you not to use your unfamiliar beast form against him?"
Seeing Sasuke's disheveled state, Naruto, with arms crossed, complained.
He originally wanted to participate in Gaara's rescue, but after seeing Sasuke at a disadvantage, he had no choice but to give up advancing and turn back to help him.
"Sorry, I lost control this time!" Sasuke admitted his mistake straightforwardly.
"Forget it. I'll help you specially this time!"
Naruto raised his fingers, forming the Ram hand seal. After a burst of smoke, the ground was densely packed with his shadow clones.
"Be careful of his eyes! Use Observation Haki instead of sight! Absolutely do not make eye contact!"
Not refusing Naruto's goodwill, Sasuke drew his long sword, assuming a stance.
The brief exchange made him realize the gap between himself and Itachi. But as Sakura had said before, staying in the village gave him a powerful advantage Itachi could never possess.
—That was the reliable comrades in the village!
"Then, let's go!"
Shouting from within the clones, Naruto, along with the massive number of shadow clones, began charging toward Itachi.
Sasuke, with eyes closed, drew his sword, lightning crackling across his body's surface.
"Found good comrades, huh..."
Suspended within the massive Yin Release Chakra Mass, Itachi looked down at Sasuke and Naruto charging toward him, a faint, almost imperceptible smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
Looking back into the distance at the half-flattened mountain range, Itachi understood his mission was complete.
Immediately, thick Chakra surged from his body, carrying wisps of scarlet crimson, causing the Susanoo outside his body to grow even more immense.
"It seems my task ends here. This final strike shall serve as our farewell. Struggle and live on with all your might, Sasuke!"
Itachi formed hand seals and shouted: "Fix!"
The massive Chakra Mass carrying malice and coldness stabilized. The tall divine phantom's Tengu mask fell from its face.
A pair of crimson wings blotted out the sky. Flames ignited from the earth for no reason, enveloping everything within sight under terrifying high temperatures.
A scorching, arid hurricane swept through. Two large swords imbued with powerful sealing forces were drawn from beneath the wings.
"Slash!"
Blood flowed from Itachi's pupils. Though his eyes wouldn't go blind-
But when he increased his Ocular Power output, blood still overflowed.
Having paid the price, he naturally gained power unimaginable to ordinary people.
Originally just an ordinary sword swing, now, with the Chakra's frantic increase, it expanded into a disaster-scale spectacle that left people dumbfounded.
Terrifying light, enough to scorch ordinary people's eyes, flashed. Giant swords occupying nearly the entire sky, entwined with flames that incinerated everything, pierced into the earth.
The next instant, violent fiery light devoured the outlines of matter.
Sasuke and Naruto's charging momentum was cut off. Without hesitation, the two turned and ran toward Sakura's direction.
"This kind of Jutsu... it's not the level of a normal fight... Did he really want to kill you?" Using Wind Attribute Chakra to propel himself, accelerating as he ran, Naruto looked back and asked.
"How should I know? Those Uchiha who defected back then were all lunatics, and he's the leader of all lunatics!" Merging his figure into lightning, dodging left and right to avoid falling fire rain, Sasuke looked up and cursed angrily.
In the distance, Sakura, who had been using Flying Thunder God to pursue Obito, looked up. Observation Haki glimpsed a fragment of the future.
The girl's pupils reflected the impending descent of heavenly thunder and earthly fire. She couldn't help but open her mouth wide. "Damn, whose family goes all out trying to kill their own brother?"
She's unable to know the inner thoughts of that ruthless older brother at the moment, but the attack capable of incinerating everything was about to erupt.
Sakura herself, with Armament Haki, had no problem, but she couldn't protect her teammates… one elderly and frail, the other half-dead.
'No choice.' She retreated, dodging a clay bomb thrown by Obito, used Flying Thunder God to bring Gaara to Chiyo's side.
Sakura's sudden intrusion into the two puppeteers' battlefield made them simultaneously halt.
Chiyo even cast a puzzled look. "Huh? What's wrong?"
"No time to explain!" Sakura formed an Earth Release hand seal.
Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall created massive earthen walls, layering them to envelop the three.
Then, the air temperature plummeted. Outside the already airtight Earth Release defense, a thick layer of solid ice formed.
"Harden!"
Still unsatisfied, Sakura pressed her arm against the wall. Armament Haki wrapped around the walls, creating the strongest defense she could currently produce.
Outside, bewildered by Sakura's inexplicable actions, Sasori, Obito, and Deidara looked at each other.
But since the other side had relaxed pursuit, it gave them an opportunity.
"Retre..."
Hidden behind his mask, Obito didn't even have time to finish the command before forests of flames descended from the pitch-black clouds. In nearly frozen time, they pierced down inch by inch toward the three's astonished faces.
So much so that Sasori and Deidara couldn't react at all.
The puppet Hiruko shattered with a crash. Deidara was pierced through both arms by the streaming light, severely injured and collapsing to the ground.
Obito could initially manage to dodge and weave under the heavenly fire using Space-Time Ninjutsu. But as time progressed, this seemingly endless Yin Release fire remained just as violent.
'Not good, time's almost up!' Sensing the soreness in his eye, Obito's expression changed.
Continuously using the Space-Time Ninjutsu for self-preservation finally pushed his Kamui intangibility duration to its limit.
Crack!
A sound only Obito could hear, of a technique snapping, rang out. A crimson storm instantly engulfed him.
Residual flames poured down from the sky, fiercely burning his spirit.
At the final moment before consciousness faded, he saw the god of calamity's figure standing within the bloody storm and couldn't help but curse inwardly.
'—Uchiha Itachi, you guys need to stop fighting already!'