Tsukuyomi space.
The sky was a despairing shade of dark red.
Countless Narutos were bound to crosses, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Uchiha Itachi held a long blade, standing quietly before Naruto.
Although bound to a cross, Naruto's eyes were scanning his surroundings.
He looked at this world constructed from mental energy; his eyes held no fear, but instead revealed a hint of interest, as if he had discovered a new toy.
"A world constructed purely from mental power? How interesting—"
"This is the Tsukuyomi world."
Itachi's voice was cold, seemingly coming from all directions at once.
"Time, space, mass—everything here is governed by me."
"A single moment in reality can be 72 hours here."
Itachi slowly raised his blade, the tip resting against Naruto's heart.
"No matter how strong your physical body is, here, you are merely a lamb to the slaughter."
A sharp light flashed in Naruto's eyes.
"You mean, you can control this world at will?"
"And yet, you can only use it for torture? Your methods are so lacking in imagination?"
"It is simply... a waste of a heavenly treasure!"
Naruto looked at Itachi, his tone carrying a hint of disappointment at his lack of vision.
Itachi's gaze turned cold.
"Tell me, what did you do to Sasuke? What exactly was that red liquid?"
"Otherwise, I will make you experience the ultimate pain."
As he spoke, he thrust the long blade down violently, intending to start with a show of force.
However, before the blade could touch Naruto's body, an indescribable aura suddenly erupted from Naruto's soul.
This aura was neither chakra nor ninjutsu.
It was a tangible mental pressure, as if a king had descended.
Conqueror's Haki fully unleashed!
At the same time, the Hōgyoku at Naruto's chest seemed to sense its host's will.
It began to throb violently, emitting a faint blue light.
Crack!
A crack suddenly appeared on the blade about to pierce Naruto's body, and it immediately shattered into pieces, vanishing into the air.
"What?!"
Itachi's eternally frozen expression suddenly collapsed, his pupils shrinking violently.
In his perception, the entire Tsukuyomi space was letting out a groan of being overwhelmed.
"In this world, no one can stand above my will."
Naruto slowly broke free from the restraints of the cross.
Black-red lightning swirled around him, and the indestructible cross shattered like Kuchiki.
"Even here, where you call yourself a god, it is not allowed."
He took a step forward.
Crack! Crack!
The black-and-white earth began to fissure, and huge cracks appeared in the blood-colored sky above, like a mirror about to break.
Naruto threw a sudden punch, his tangible will slamming hard into the void of this world.
Rumble—!
With the descent of this punch, the blood-colored sky completely collapsed.
The Tsukuyomi world shattered.
In reality, only a single moment had passed.
"Ugh!"
Just as he was preparing to launch a follow-up attack, Itachi's body suddenly stiffened.
He clutched his eye, his body stumbling back two steps, nearly kneeling on the ground.
A line of shocking blood flowed down through his fingers, dripping onto the dry ground.
The agonizing pain of his mental world being violently backlashed made Itachi's breathing ragged.
"Itachi-san!"
Kisame, who had just been sent flying by Tsunade's punch, was greatly alarmed and immediately retreated to Itachi's side.
He had never seen Itachi suffer such a heavy loss in a duel with anyone else.
Kisame looked at Naruto in disbelief.
"Whew—"
Naruto slowly opened his eyes.
Though he looked slightly exhausted and fine beads of sweat had broken out on his forehead, the aura about him grew even sharper.
"That was truly hard to guard against—"
Naruto pushed his glasses up.
At this moment, Itachi's chakra was condensing frantically, and a massive amount of ocular power was about to erupt.
It looked like he was truly going to fight for his life.
"I'm done playing with you."
Naruto did not intend to keep clashing with them to the death.
Now that his objective had been achieved, there was no benefit to continuing the battle.
Tsunade had been dragged into the mess, and the "Seed of Evolution" had been planted in Sasuke.
Continuing to fight would yield no gains except for wasting time and stamina.
"Orochimaru, Kabuto, prepare to retreat!"
Naruto barked coldly.
"Yes!"
Orochimaru and Kabuto, who had been waiting nearby, immediately closed in.
"You want to leave?!"
Kisame grinned savagely, swinging Samehada to intercept them.
"Get lost!"
Naruto didn't bother with words; a golden chain instantly shot out from behind him.
Wrapped around this chain was suffocating black-red lightning—Conqueror's Haki Infusion.
Kisame instinctively raised Samehada, wanting to absorb the chakra.
Clang—!
A loud metallic crash rang out.
"What?!"
Kisame only felt an unmatched, colossal force transmit through the blade.
Samehada not only failed to absorb any chakra, but instead let out a tremble of fear like a frightened small animal.
That was Haki aimed at the spirit and will, energy that Samehada could not understand or absorb at all.
Kisame was sent flying by the chain, the webbing of his hands splitting as he nearly lost his grip on his greatsword.
"What... what kind of power is that?"
Kisame was horrified.
Taking advantage of the moment Kisame was repelled and Itachi's vision was impaired...
"Let's go, Tsunade."
A chain wrapped around Tsunade, who was still hesitating with a look of complexity on her face.
Under the cover of the dust, Naruto took Tsunade and vanished from the spot using the Body Flicker Technique along with Orochimaru and Kabuto.
Only a mess was left behind in the wasteland.
Uchiha Itachi clutched his bleeding left eye, half-kneeling on the ground with a dark expression as he looked in the direction Naruto had vanished.
Kisame walked over, carrying his greatsword, and glanced at Sasuke, who was still foaming at the mouth and trembling on the ground.
"That kid... he ran fast."
"However, if we really kept fighting, the outcome would be hard to say."
Kisame scratched his head and sighed helplessly as he looked at his still-trembling hands.
"Itachi-san, it seems this mission was a complete failure."
"The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki... is truly difficult to handle."
Itachi did not speak.
He simply walked silently to Sasuke's side, a look of pain flashing in his eyes as he saw his brother's suffering.
He reached out his hand to touch Sasuke but stopped in mid-air.
Because he discovered that Sasuke's condition had suddenly undergone a mutation.
His originally shattered body began to heal rapidly, and he even erupted with a ripple of energy Itachi had never seen before.
Just what did that youth inject into Sasuke?
"...Let's go."
Itachi's voice was hoarse.
Since Sasuke had endured it, there shouldn't be any major issues.
He didn't believe that deep-scheming Nine-Tails Jinchuriki would inject Sasuke with something fatal.
Keeping Sasuke alive was more valuable to him.
"Sasuke... come find me once you possess those eyes."
Itachi took a deep look at Sasuke and then departed with Kisame.
Another ten minutes passed.
Two figures landed hurriedly on the mess of a battlefield.
"Tsunade! Sasuke!"
Jiraiya looked at the devastated earth, his expression turning extremely ugly.
"Lord Jiraiya, Sasuke is still breathing!"
Shizune cried out in alarm, rushing toward the fallen Sasuke.
At this point, Sasuke's condition had improved significantly.
However, his entire body was burning hot, and his skin was an eerie red, as if he were undergoing some kind of metamorphosis.
"Tsunade... is gone."
Jiraiya stood there, his fists clenched until they creaked.
He was one step late again.
Looking at the lingering traces of battle on the ground, a look of solemnity crossed Jiraiya's eyes.
"Uzumaki Naruto—"
"Just what... are you trying to do?"