The battlefield had fallen silent.
The roars of thunder and lightning had faded away, and Arata's golden light vanished with the wind.
From a distance, Sakura stared into the darkness, panic creeping through her chest.
"Where is he…?" she whispered.
"Did something happen to Arata?"
Biting her lip, she sprinted toward the direction of the earlier explosions.
When she arrived, she froze.
A massive crater stretched before her — a blackened wound in the earth, over a hundred meters wide and ten deep.
"This… this was caused by Arata's jutsu?" she gasped.
"How can one attack do this much damage?"
The sight defied everything she thought she knew about ninjutsu.
Even the explosion from thousands of explosive tags earlier hadn't carved a hole this massive.
Her heart pounded faster — not from fear, but disbelief.
Looking down, she spotted a lone figure standing at the crater's center, in front of a small mound of earth.
"Arata!"
Sakura ran down the slope, dust and ash crunching beneath her sandals.
When she reached him, she saw the newly formed grave before him — a rough stone marker bearing carved letters.
She exhaled in relief.
"So… he's dead? That Raiya guy?"
Arata nodded silently.
Sakura smiled, trying to lighten the heavy air.
"You're amazing, Arata! You actually beat a jōnin — one of the Seven Swordsmen!"
But Arata didn't reply.
His expression didn't hold pride — only quiet reflection.
Without another word, he turned and started walking away.
Sakura blinked in confusion.
"He won… but he looks like he's lost something instead."
"Boys are so weird."
She gave one last glance at Raiya's grave, then hurried after him.
By the time they reached the forest's edge, the moon was high.
Arata glanced up, frowning.
"It's already night… I don't know how Kakashi-sensei's doing."
He turned to Sakura.
"Go bring Tsunami-san and Inari. We're heading to the bridge — now. I'm not leaving them here alone."
"Got it!" Sakura said quickly.
There were a hundred questions swirling in her mind — how he'd grown so powerful, what had happened during the fight —
but now wasn't the time.
Once Tsunami and Inari arrived, the four of them set off toward the construction site.
By the time they reached the Great Bridge, chaos had already erupted.
Sparks of chakra clashed through the mist.
Kakashi and Zabuza were locked in a fierce battle on the bridge's surface, blades and jutsu colliding under the pale moonlight.
But what truly caught Arata's attention was the sinister, pulsing energy rising from the far end of the bridge —
a crimson chakra, violent and alive.
His pupils narrowed.
"That chakra…" he murmured.
"It's dark, heavy… could it be—?"
Then he saw it.
A red aura burning through the fog, swirling around a small figure like flames.
"Naruto… he's losing control."
Kakashi caught sight of Arata and sighed in relief mid-battle.
"So he really did it," he thought.
"He defeated Raiya… and came back alive."
Even in the heat of combat, Kakashi couldn't help but marvel.
Arata's strength had surpassed the level of a jōnin — maybe even beyond.
And yet, the boy himself seemed unaware of it.
That was the part that worried Kakashi most — Arata's power grew faster than his confidence.
Still clashing with Zabuza, he called out:
"Arata! Go to Naruto — something's wrong with him!"
Arata gave a curt nod.
"Sakura, protect Tsunami-san and Inari. Don't move from here."
"I will," she said, eyes wide but determined.
"Be careful."
Without another word, Arata disappeared in a flash of gold.
Across the bridge, Zabuza gritted his teeth when he saw Arata reappear.
"That brat… how is he even here?"
"What the hell is Raiya doing?!"
Kakashi parried a strike and countered with a surge of lightning chakra.
"You underestimated him, Zabuza," he said evenly.
"Even your Seven Swordsmen can't defeat him now."
Zabuza's eyes darkened.
He didn't want to believe it.
A genin — a mere child — defeating a jōnin-level swordsman? Impossible.
But the proof was standing right there, alive and unharmed.
"That bastard Raiya said he'd kill the kid in ten minutes…" Zabuza growled.
"He couldn't even last five."
He turned his glare back to Kakashi.
"Fine then. Let's see how you deal with this. That Nine-Tails brat is going berserk. If you can't control him… Konoha will have more than one body to bury."
Kakashi's expression tightened.
He glanced toward the crimson storm swirling at the bridge's far end.
"Naruto…"
He remembered — years ago, when Naruto had lost control for the first time.
That incident had nearly destroyed half the village.
Even with the entire Anbu division, sealing squads, and the Third Hokage himself, it had taken everything to stop the rampage.
If the Nine-Tails truly took over… not even Kakashi could stop it.
He didn't want to send Arata there — the risk was too great.
But with Zabuza pressing him, he had no choice.
"Please," he thought grimly, blocking another strike.
"Arata… don't get yourself killed."
Meanwhile, Arata landed at the far end of the bridge.
The air was thick with red mist, every breath tasting like iron.
The chakra rolling off Naruto was alive — wild, furious, and overwhelming.
A single tail of crimson energy writhed behind him, tearing grooves into the bridge's surface.
"He's already manifested one tail…" Arata muttered.
"This is bad."
Even at a single-tail state, the Nine-Tails' power placed Naruto's raw strength at elite jōnin level — possibly higher.
In sheer destructive potential, it was terrifying.
Arata could feel it — his own chakra reserves, vast as they were, paled in comparison to that monstrous energy.
He clenched his fists.
"So this is the Nine-Tails… the strongest of all tailed beasts."
If Naruto's state worsened, if more tails emerged — the village's shame would be the least of their problems.
He scanned the area.
Sasuke lay nearby, unconscious, his body covered in blood.
And just ahead, the masked boy — Haku — stood frozen, unable to move under the crushing pressure of Naruto's chakra.
The air itself seemed to tremble.
"If I don't stop him now," Arata thought grimly, "there won't be anything left to save."
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