The news of the successive fall of the four great nations spread. The Hokage's mobilization order was issued, and the entire Land of Fire began to prepare for war.
Inside Konoha's training ground, Sato Sakura leaned against the shade of a tree, opening her mouth to let Hinata feed her a bento.
"Hmm, I feel like you have a talent for spoiling children."
Sakura walked over to the two, crouched down, and whispered quietly in Hinata's ear.
"Ch-child... Child?!"
The Byakugan girl glanced at Naruto, who was training with Leviathan in the distance. Her face instantly flushed crimson, steam burst from her head, and she began to wobble.
"Mother, you're so mean!"
Sato Sakura bounced up from the ground, caught the bento, muttered about Sakura, then lowered her head and continued eating the affection-filled bento that Mebuki had made for her.
Ever since she had been transferred back from the front lines some time ago, Mebuki had deeply demonstrated to Sakura the concept of 'there's a kind of thin that only a grandmother thinks you are'!
"Hehe!"
Sakura grinned, took Hinata, and laid her body flat to prevent her from seeing what was about to happen to Naruto.
She walked a few steps to stand between Naruto and Leviathan, raised her fist wrapped in Armament Haki, and punched Naruto, who was struggling against the darkness within his heart.
"Idiot, how long are you going to dawdle at this first hurdle of your training!"
"Oww, that hurts! Sakura-chan, did you really have to use Haki?"
Naruto rolled wildly on the ground, clutching his head with both hands. A large bump swelled up where Sakura had just hit him.
But a stream of red Chakra flowed over the injured area on his body, quickly causing the injury to subside.
Having consumed a Logia Devil Fruit, Naruto's elementalized body had long since become a platform for him to exchange Chakra with the Nine-Tails. It was only due to the seal that their consciousnesses had been unable to connect.
Now, after Leviathan's long period of tempering, which had worn away the darkness in Naruto's heart, it was time for him to face this strongest Tailed Beast and complete the technique left to him by the Fourth Hokage!
"Let's go. Let's go see that big fox together."
Sakura flexed her five fingers, forming a fist and placing it in front of Naruto.
"Yeah!"
The boy responded with passionate enthusiasm, raising his fist to bump against Sakura's.
The moment their fists touched, the surrounding environment abruptly changed, transporting them to a dark sewer.
And behind them, a giant fox with orange-red fur was staring at them with crimson eyes.
"Uzumaki Naruto!!!"
The giant roar kicked up waves. Crimson Chakra seeped through the gaps in the seal, igniting the water surface beneath their feet. Amidst the violently steaming water vapor, killing intent boiled.
Sakura placed one hand on Naruto's shoulder and raised her other fist, wreathed in Haki. "Focus. You can use Haki here too. Now go, take care of that big fox!"
"???"
Naruto's head became pointed.
'What kind of teaching method is this? After teaching me to move forward and backward, she tells me to directly go defeat the final boss?'
'What happened to the process between the tutorial and defeating the demon lord? Did you eat it?'
Unfortunately, Sakura didn't give Naruto much time to prepare. She directly began to undo the Eight Trigrams Seal!
"Good luck, kid!"
Sakura raised her fist in a cheering gesture toward Naruto, then vanished from the sealing space.
"Sakura-chan, you're going to get me killed—!"
The boy's roar echoed in the empty sewer, lingering mournfully.
Outside, Naruto's body was immediately wrapped in a Tailed Beast Cloak after the seal was released, with four tails extending behind him.
The powerful Chakra, carrying the substantial malice of the Tailed Beast, impacted the hearts of everyone present, also causing Sato Sakura to assume a guarded stance.
"Calm down, Sato Sakura!" Sakura, abruptly opening her eyes, sensed her daughter's heightened fighting spirit behind her and spoke up to remind her.
Then she formed hand seals, using Wood Release to cover the entire training ground with thorny vines. She also pressed her hand on Naruto, whose body was half-Tailed Beast and half-transparent Chakra.
A large number of wooden stakes with fox-head sculptures grew from the ground, surrounding Naruto's position, helping him suppress the Nine-Tails' Chakra.
Sato Sakura frowned, skeptical of this seemingly dim-witted uncle. "Mother, can he do it?"
"Haha, don't underestimate him. The fact that he's come through so many years of bullying and cold stares means that as long as he doesn't die, he's destined to achieve great things!" Sakura smiled and reached out to ruffle Sato Sakura's hair.
Amidst the storm kicked up by the Nine-Tails' Chakra, mother and daughter huddled together, sharing food as if on a picnic.
…
On the other side of the village, inside Konoha Hospital.
Sasuke and Itachi arrived at the hospital and found the third-best Medical-Nin in the village… Shizune.
"What, an eye transplant?" When Shizune heard the Uchiha's purpose and saw the pair of Shisui's eyes on the table, she stood up in shock.
How can someone in this world not want to use their own eyes and instead want to transplant someone else's?
"This is a secret technique of the Uchiha Clan. By having two Mangekyo exchange Ocular Power, the eyes evolve to a higher level!" Sasuke, who greatly needed power, revealed the Uchiha's deepest secret.
Although the owner of these eyes was not closely related to him by blood, and there was a certain risk of failure, in the face of the crisis of the world's destruction, he could no longer afford to hesitate.
There were still his mother and many people he loved in the village. For the sake of this bond that Sasuke treasured, he was willing to gamble everything.
"Sasuke, are you sure you want to do this? I could actually give you my eyes..."
Itachi's words were cut off by Sasuke's raised hand.
"You are also one of the combatants in the final battle. After this war is over, then we'll talk about your atonement to the Uchiha!"
The black-haired youth propped himself up. His crimson eyes glared at Itachi. A commanding aura of authority, which carried the hint of anger, already had something of the Uchiha Clan's head's demeanor.
"..."
Itachi fell silent.
Shizune beside him confirmed once more with Sasuke: "Are you sure you want to do this eye transplant? Non-original eyes may cause rejection!"
"Proceed."
Sasuke didn't hesitate, signing his name on the surgery consent form.
Then, under the arrangements of the medical staff, the boy changed into a patient's gown and was wheeled into the operating room.
The red [In Surgery] light above the hospital operating room lit up. Itachi, the only one who knew of Sasuke's decision, waited anxiously outside.
…
In the morning sunlight that pierced the thin mist over Konoha, amidst the falling raindrops,
Naruto and Sasuke's fates seemed once again to provide suitable gears for some quiet, enormous machine, causing their destinies to advance once more.
In the training ground, Sakura and Sato Sakura, fully focused on watching Naruto, saw dark thunder rise from his body. He tore off his Tailed Beast Cloak with powerful Haki, opened his beast-like eyes to the two, and his entire body ignited with a golden Chakra Cloak.
Inside the operating room, as the anesthesia wore off, Sasuke sat up, raising his hand to cover his eyes. A vast amount of Yin Release Chakra gathered in his eyes, pushing them to a higher level. The center of his eyes, which had originally only contained a pair of six-pointed stars, was now occupied by a shuriken-shaped pattern. Powerful Ocular Power broke through its constraints, achieving eternity.
Both Naruto, in the training ground, and Sasuke, in the operating room, simultaneously raised their heads, their gazes turning to a distant horizon, and spoke in unison:
"That guy got stronger too, didn't he?" x2