*ROAR!*
Naruto's face twisted into a ferocious snarl. His teeth sharpened into fangs, his nails into claws, and his entire body began to swell. Coarse, dark fur erupted from his skin until he was completely covered, his muscles bulging and expanding at a horrifying rate. A thick, powerful tail sprouted from his spine, lashing through the air.
In the space of a single breath, a monstrous ape the size of a small mountain stood where Naruto had been, his shadow falling over Sasuke and Sakura.
The great ape casually snatched Orochimaru from the air. In his massive fist, the Sannin's pale neck looked as fragile as a twig. His ninjutsu, once so menacing, was now useless, sputtering out harmlessly against the ape's thick hide without even drawing his attention.
"What the hell is going on?" Orochimaru rasped, his neck bones creaking under the pressure as the Great Ape shook him like a rag doll, scrambling his thoughts.
'Isn't Naruto Uzumaki the Nine-Tails jinchuriki? Did the fox turn into some kind of ape? Or is this the Four-Tails at work?'
"Sasuke, are you okay?" Sakura scrambled to his side, pulling him toward the relative safety of the treeline. The giant snake that had been menacing her moments before had lunged to save its master, only to be crushed under the ape's foot with a sickening crunch.
"Orochimaru! What did you do to him?" Sasuke shoved her away, ignoring the searing pain in his shoulder as he glared up at the Sannin dangling from the ape's grip. The rage burning in his chest was so hot it eclipsed everything else.
From where he stood, Sasuke had watched Orochimaru's head hurtle toward Naruto just before the transformation hit. With the curse mark's bite still throbbing on his own neck, it all pointed to the snake's twisted doing.
As Sasuke's fury boiled over, dark markings erupted from the inkblots on his skin, racing across his limbs and torso like ink bleeding through paper.
The Heaven Curse Mark, Orochimaru's newest experiment, a twisted echo of Sage Mode that could amplify a ninja's strength, though it came with deadly risks.
For most, it was a solid edge in battle, But for Sasuke, the surge of foreign chakra was nothing but a poison.
'Damn it!' he thought, the rage giving him a strange clarity. Gritting his teeth, he forced the words out. "Go back!"
His own chakra flared, doubling in an instant, and the three tomoe in his eyes began to spin violently. Under the force of his will, the black marks, Orochimaru's so-called gift, faltered and then receded, retreating back to the bite mark on his neck.
But the change wasn't over. The tomoe in his eyes spun faster and faster, blurring toward a single point.
The great ape pounded his chest, his roar shaking the very foundations of the forest. A suffocating aura of pure destruction rolled off him in waves, causing the ground to tremble. Across the Forest of Death, every animal, every insect, fell silent and pressed itself to the earth, frozen in submission.
Miles away, sensor-type ninja felt the pressure descend. Their bodies shook, and some of the less experienced collapsed, their minds overwhelmed by an oppressive force no human should be able to possess.
*Whimper...* The small white dog on Kiba's head burrowed into his jacket, trembling uncontrollably. No amount of soothing could calm the animal. A moment later, the sharp, pungent smell of urine filled the air. Akamaru, a trained ninken, had been frightened into submission.
"Aka-Akamaru says, there's a monster n-nearby." Kiba stammered.
"My bugs are picking it up too, something horrifying just showed up." Shino held out his palms, where a swarm of tiny black specks lay still, lifeless as scattered seeds. His kikaichu, dead from the mere echo of the Great Ape's roar.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata's breath hitched. A terrible feeling washed over her, and she activated her Byakugan. When her vision focused on the colossal ape, she saw the faint, familiar flicker of his chakra within it. She knew.
Without a second thought, she broke into a run, her teammates calling after her in vain. Her legs shook with every step, but her need to get to him was stronger than her fear.
Neji's team was already on the move, Lee and Neji leaping through the trees at full speed toward the epicenter of the disturbance.
"What is that thing?" Shukaku's voice shrieked inside Gaara's skull, frantic and unhinged, demanding they flee the forest now, even threatening him outright. Gaara had never heard the tanuki sound so unmoored.
"Get out of here! Get me the hell out out of this forest now, you little brat!" As Gaara tried to process the one-tailed beast's terror, he finally felt it himself: a crushing wave of malevolent power.
Nearby, Kankuro noticed something that he never expected to see his whole life. 'Gaara... he's trembling.'
--**--**
"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted out one last time. As he did, the spinning tomoe in his eyes fused completely, forming a strange, new pattern. He was unaware of the change, his entire being focused on a single goal: breaking whatever jutsu Orochimaru had used and bringing Naruto back.
A glowing, red, six-pointed star rotated slowly in his left pupil.
'Analyzing... Subject.' a mechanical voice echoed in his mind. 'Subject incomprehensible. Data insufficient.'
At that moment, the mountain-sized ape stopped beating his chest. His blood-red eyes scanned the clearing, and he swung a massive arm forward. The wind from the motion alone was a gale force, snapping smaller trees in half. Then, he opened his mouth. A sphere of pulsing, orange light began to gather between his fangs.
'Warning. Warning. Ultra-high energy signature detected. Danger level critical. Annihilation imminent.'
The voice was relentless, but Sasuke didn't need it. He could feel the terrifying power condensing in the ape's mouth, and his worry for Naruto became a cold knot of dread in his stomach.
Just as he felt true despair, he heard the rasp of heavy chains. Before he could react, dozens of black, shimmering chains erupted from the great ape's navel. They shot out like a spider's web, wrapping around the beast's limbs and torso, binding him tightly.
Naruto's Adamantine Sealing Chains.
The chains pulsed with an eerie, cold, sealing power that seemed to drain the very air of warmth. As they tightened their hold, the crimson glow in the ape's eyes began to fade, flickering out until they were dark and empty. Like a puppet with its strings cut, the great ape's head fell forward, and he stood perfectly still, his rampage over.
But the terrifying aura that clung to him like a shroud kept everyone else frozen in place, watching from a distance.
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