The twisted remains of the Box of Ultimate Bliss lay broken amidst the ruins of the ryokan behind the young, pallid-skinned man. The atmosphere grew tense as he took a step towards Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, the tall flames at his back casting long, flickering shadows that licked at their feet; the residual sparks from the Heavenly Transfer Jutsu had ignited the wooden wreckage of the main pavilion.
"That was a mistake," the young man said. "You should not have broken the Box."
As he said those words, his body began contorting grotesquely, his limbs twisting in ways the human body could not possibly allow. His torso lengthened, his head disappearing into his ribcage as his ribs twisted and pierced through his skin, forming curved tusks as his chest split into a toothy maw. He grew to ten times his original height, black feathers sprouting all over his body as a large pair of wings unfurled from his back. His midriff thinned and stretched along with his limbs, a long, tufty tail sprouting from his back as his hands and feet turned into those of a monstrous ape's...
"Don't hesitate! Run!" Sakura called as the last of the Leaf-nin stragglers emerged from the flaming building, wondering if they ought to lend a hand. "And someone take Kakashi-sensei! We'll handle things here!"
"The Box of Ultimate Bliss brings forth Satori, so that Satori may feed the Box chakra," the monster said. "Without the Box, Satori has but only one purpose left… kill, kill, KILL!"
Without warning, the black-feathered monster flapped its wings, buffeting Team 7 with gale-force winds as it streaked towards the inn's side wing, where Leaf shinobi were still escaping.
"Let's go, Nine-Tails!" Naruto shouted. "Nine-Tails Chakra Mode!"
Shimmering golden flames erupted from Naruto's body. Sakura had not realised the first time he had demonstrated the mode to her, as her only frame of reference was the anime, but she could not help noticing that this chakra cloak was far more translucent and lighter than it ought to be.
He was already this powerful, and he wasn't at maximum strength yet!?
"Fast!"
Sasuke was inwardly shocked. That slow-as-a-turtle Naruto had somehow grown incredibly fast, but he was not about to let himself get upstaged in front of Sakura!
Ox! Rabbit! Monkey!
In the blink of an eye, he had caught up to Naruto, dashing alongside him as lightning chakra revitalised his muscle cells and electricity crackled in his palm, singing the song of a thousand birds. However, his surprises weren't at an end just yet.
Somehow, Sakura had flickered ahead of them, interposing herself between the monster and its prey!
"SHA!" Sakura shouted. "Chakra Enhanced Strength, plus Body Revival Jutsu!"
With a phenomenally loud bang, Sakura struck the monster as hard as she could, completely reversing its momentum and sending it skidding backwards. The abomination reeled, its wings flaring wide in a desperate attempt to brake. Naruto sprouted two chakra appendages from his shoulders, which stretched out to seize the base of its wings, hoisting it into the air, and slamming it torso-first into the ground.
"Raikiri!"
Sasuke grunted in pain as his lightning-wreathed hand failed to penetrate the beast's feathery hide, shattering several of his fingers upon contact.
"Rasengan!"
BOOM!
A fraction of a second later, Naruto's jutsu exploded in his face, sending him flying backwards. He had accidentally condensed a miniature Tailed Beast Bomb with the wrong ratio of black and white, positive and negative chakra instead of a regular Rasengan.
"Ouch, that actually hurt!" Sakura gasped, shaking her throbbing hand. "What in the world is that thing made of!?"
Their attacks had failed to produce any kind of meaningful result. This Satori, the Box's puppet, was nigh-invulnerable, or at the very least far more durable than anything Sakura had ever encountered before.
It was simply… invincible.titlecard.
"GAH!" Naruto cried out.
The golden flames wreathing Naruto flickered dangerously. Without warning, Satori had seized his chakra arms in each of its fists, tearing his chakra cloak as it tried to pull him apart limb from limb.
"Amaterasu!"
With his right hand's fingers broken, Sasuke had no choice but to rely on his dōjutsu's innate abilities, since he could no longer weave hand signs.
"Hot, hot, hot, ya know!" Naruto cried out in pain as Satori ignored the black blaze that had enveloped its body. "Watch where you're aiming that, you bastard!"
"Put out those flames, Sasuke!" Sakura cried. "You're going to cook Naruto alive before you burn through that thing's hide!"
Satori was incredibly resilient, but Sasuke's Blaze Style would indeed keep burning it until it was reduced to cinders. That was all well and good, but at the rate the flames were devouring the puppet, it would have time to rampage across half the Land of Fire before it finally turned to ashes… and Sakura, for her part, was not especially keen on getting up close and personal with the flames of the Amaterasu when Satori decided it was her turn to be eaten alive.
That was the problem with damage-over-time abilities: the ticking damage might not kill your opponent before they killed you first!
"Kagutsuchi!"
Sasuke reluctantly extinguished his black flames, and Sakura hurried over to heal his broken hand.
"A little help, here!?" Naruto shrieked. "I'm gonna get eaten, ya know!?"
While Sakura had gone off to heal Sasuke, Satori had already stuffed a dazed Naruto into its gaping maw. Naruto was somehow still holding on, having sprouted chakra hands all over his body to keep the monster's gleaming white teeth from snapping shut around his neck, but he was fast approaching his limits!
"Don't use the Susano'o yet, you'll tucker yourself out," Sakura said warningly, sensing Sasuke's intentions. "Don't forget, we still have to outrun Kumo's and Iwa's armies after this."
The Susano'o was powerful, but she doubted its chakra weapons would do any more damage to the Satori than what they had already thrown at it. Its chakra expenditure would leave Sasuke completely drained, at which point he'd have no strength left to escape.
It was rather unfortunate that Garuda, the giant hawk, was still injured from the events of the Valley of Hell, or they could have taken to the skies and escaped when the enemy army finally caught up to their Satori vanguard…
"That monstrous chakra…!" Sakura suddenly gasped, sensing the approach of a Tailed Beast through the Mind's Eye of the Kagura. "Something's coming… I feel a sexual harassment rap coming on!"
Not him, not now! Not while they were fighting this bloody thing!