In the air, Naruto and Sasuke faced each other, Sasuke's hands moving like lightning as he punched Naruto, but Naruto, still in Sage Mode, could sense Sasuke's movements even without his eyes.
Sasuke's sword had already fallen into the water, Manda had lost the protection of his Susanoo and was getting the worst of it, but Sasuke didn't stand still and summoned ten more giant snakes to help.
Naruto managed to land a powerful punch to Sasuke's stomach, but at that moment, as he gasped for air, Sasuke's right eye vibrated while the symbol of his Mangekyo Sharingan became more pronounced. Naruto felt a heavy blow to the stomach, causing him to lose his breath.
Sasuke seized the moment and a Chidori appeared in his hand, striking Naruto's shoulder and causing him to scream in pain.
Shima and Fukasaku appeared, clapping their hands and opening their mouths. A sharp sound escaped their lips. Sasuke froze for a moment, but Sasuke used Bishamoten again. The Genjutsu was sent back towards Shima and Fukasaku.
The Chidori in Sasuke's hand advanced like a sword straight towards Fukasaku, the toad being pierced directly into the chest.
-To-cha! - Shima shouted when she recovered.
Naruto also recovered at that moment, seeing Fukasaku pierced, his mind went blank for a moment, pain overwhelmed him.
Sasuke was taking this fight completely seriously, he wouldn't hold back because of old friendships. He didn't hit Fukasaku's heart, but if the toad died, he could only say it was his bad luck.
However, as Sasuke prepared to deal with Shima, he sensed an extremely malevolent chakra behind him, his eyes widening as he created a skeletal Susanoo to protect himself.
The next moment, a red energy claw lunged forward, attempting to pierce Sasuke, but was stopped by the Susanoo's skeleton.
Turning his head, his Mangekyou Sharingan fixed on Naruto, he saw that Naruto had disappeared, in his place, a red/black figure covered in chakra with five tails swaying behind him.
An extremely loud roar rang out, and Sasuke was thrown far away by Naruto's claw.
//-//
(Tsunade POV)
Tsunade frowned as she watched Naruto enter Five-Tails mode. She prepared to advance, but felt a hand land on her shoulder.
Her eyes widened when she saw that Jugo had arrived at her side at some point.
-That's their fight, please don't interfere.- Jugo said, without taking his eyes off the fight.
Tsunade frowned. -Naruto can't control himself anymore. If he continues like this, the Nine-Tails could be completely unleashed!
-No, Kyubi won't come out, I'm here.- Jugo continued speaking, without looking at her.
Tsunade pursed her lips and was about to use force to advance, but Jugo's eyes finally turned to her, those blue eyes with supernatural yellow mandalas fixed directly on her.
Tsunade froze, she sensed that if she moved now, something bad would happen.
-I said, don't worry, I'm here. If I were you, I'd worry about saving the frog.- Jugo said briefly, before looking away and returning to watching the fight.
Tsunade bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, but in the end, she sighed. -I hope you keep your promise.
Jugo did not respond.
Tsunade gave up trying to stop it, the Konoha group was already ready to fight as soon as she gave the order. Instead, she simply made hand seals and summoned a piece of Katsuyu.
-Tsunade-sama.- The slug said, awaiting orders.
-Katsuyu, save Fukasaku, please.- Tsunade nodded to the slug, which nodded and slithered to the bank where Shima had brought Fukasaku.
Jugo didn't stop her, he continued to watch the fight.
At this point, Sasuke had already activated the second stage of his curse and unleashed a partial Susanoo, firing arrows at Naruto as Naruto advanced through the water, dodging them.
Naruto opened his mouth and several beams of energy were spat out in rapid succession towards Sasuke.
Susanoo defended everyone, but the energy caused the water to evaporate, creating a cloud of mist around them.
As Sasuke looked around, searching for Naruto's figure. His eyes fixed not far away, where Naruto stood with his mouth open, in front of him, a huge sphere of concentrated purplish chakra was forming.
The sphere began to shrink, and Naruto swallowed it whole.
Before Sasuke's wide eyes, Naruto opened his mouth and spat out an extremely powerful beam of energy.
Sasuke channeled more chakra into the Susanoo, causing it to grow into a complete suit of armor, even so, when the energy beam ended, only the bones remained.
Sasuke breathed heavily, a smile growing on his face, the next moment, he focused chakra in his left eye.
Naruto was unable to react before being engulfed in black flames.
The cry of pain could be heard from afar.
Naruto tried to push the flames away, but they only burned more fiercely, his cry of pain becoming more pronounced.
Sasuke breathed heavily as he watched Naruto burning, his smile slowly fading.
After a few more seconds, Sasuke knew that if he didn't intervene, the flames would burn Naruto to death.
He approached and pulled a scroll from his ninja pocket, something Karin had made for him.
Opening it, a series of seals with an empty space in the center were revealed. Sasuke concentrated chakra on the seals, and the flames seemed to have been drawn to something. Soon, the black flames on Naruto began to be sucked into the scroll. A short time later, a severely burned figure was floating in the water.
Naruto had already fallen into a coma.
Sasuke put the scroll away, looking at Naruto in silence.
At that point, the two groups approached each other, Jugo coming with the Konoha group.
Sasuke glanced briefly at them, giving one last look to the burned Naruto, then looked away, his eyes returning to their usual black.
He felt a slight blindness, but it was rapidly decreasing. A snake emerged from the water at that moment, opened its mouth, and Sasuke's sword was spat out. Sasuke calmly picked it up and placed it back in its sheath.
Sasuke looked at Kakashi and Sakura. Kakashi had a calm expression, his inner thoughts hidden. Sakura, on the other hand, was crying deeply. -Sasuke-kun... I...
-Sakura.- Sasuke interrupted the girl, who didn't know what to say. -Naruto, I'll leave him with you.
Saying this, Sasuke looked away from them and turned to Jugo. -I'm ready.
Jugo knew what Sasuke meant, he wanted to go after Itachi.
Jugo smiled. -You'll get your chance sooner than you think.
Sasuke's eyes gleamed with deep malice, he nodded, Jugo started walking away, Kimimaro following behind him first, Karin gave Sasuke one last look as she quickly ran after Jugo, Suigetsu smiled slightly, nodding to Sasuke, passing by and following soon after.
Ranmaru smiled, approached, and asked. -Are you alright? Do you need healing?
Sasuke glanced at Ranmaru's figure for a moment, shaking his head. He began walking behind them, and Ranmaru nodded to the Konoha group, following soon after.
The Konoha group simply watched them leave.
Sakura opened her mouth and raised her hand, but in the end no words came out. She felt a gentle squeeze on her shoulder, turned her gaze, and saw that it was Kakashi.
-Sakura, Naruto still needs help.- he said softly.
Sakura seemed to come to her senses, seeing the burned figure floating in the water. She bit her lip, bending down to pick it up and carry him to the opposite bank, her back felt heavy as she moved.
-She'll get over it.- Tsunade finally sighed when she'd gone far enough.
Kakashi didn't speak, only nodded slightly.