Kabuto Yakushi did not hesitate. His figure flickered, and in an instant he appeared beside the unconscious Naruto, scooping him up. At the same time, he barked at the still-stunned Sasuke, "Move! Get out of here!"
Sasuke snapped back to his senses immediately. This was no place to linger.
They had barely rushed out of the cave when a heaven-shattering explosion erupted behind them—
RUMBLE—!!!
Turning back, they saw the small mountain they had just left begin to swell and twist from within at a visible speed… before completely exploding and disintegrating!
It didn't simply collapse.
It was as if some indescribable force had pulverized it from the inside out, grinding it into the finest dust.
Even from far away, the soaring dust and violent shockwaves whipped Sasuke and Kabuto's clothes into a frenzy, nearly knocking them off their feet.
Everyone sucked in a sharp breath, cold sweat instantly forming on their foreheads.
This destructive power… was terrifying.
Just the aftermath of their battle had erased a mountain in seconds.
Before they could even recover from the shock—
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two streaks of light shot into the sky from the massive crater—one gold, one dark crimson—moving at extreme speed and carrying terrifying chakra fluctuations, like two colliding meteors.
The golden streak radiated sacred warmth laced with chilling killing intent.
The crimson streak was chaotic, violent, brimming with destruction.
They clashed violently in midair—colliding, entangling, separating, then colliding again. Every impact unleashed deafening booms and blinding bursts of energy. The sky itself was dyed in a bizarre weave of gold and crimson.
Waves of shock rippled outward, plowing through the ruins below once more. Even distant Konoha—just beginning to show signs of recovery—could feel the earth trembling.
The two streaks split apart, revealing their figures again.
Karin floated in midair. Not only was she uninjured, she burst into laughter, her voice dripping with mockery.
"Hahaha! You ghostly fossil! You talked so big—I thought you were some unstoppable god! Turns out you're all bluff! Pretty hollow, aren't you?"
She could clearly sense it—
The golden figure calling himself "Asura" was noticeably weaker than when he first appeared.
The golden aura surrounding him was no longer dazzling. It flickered faintly, dimmer than before. Even his form seemed more translucent, slightly blurred.
Asura hovered silently, his fading radiance lending him a lonely air.
He did not deny her taunts. In his steady voice, he said calmly:
"Alas… I am bound to this reincarnated vessel, forcibly manifested and greatly depleted. I cannot wield my true power… Otherwise, how could I permit a child who defiles souls and toys with darkness to run rampant?"
"Oh? Is that so?" Karin raised a brow, her grin widening with malicious delight. She rubbed her thumb across her nose in blatant provocation.
"Well then, I really, really like that look on your face right now—the 'I hate you but can't kill you' look! Heehee!"
Her laughter grated against the air.
Asura ignored her again. He sighed deeply. Within his golden eyes, gravity and resolve gathered once more.
"Your existence… your power… pose a grave threat to the balance of this world and the purity of souls. You must be restrained."
He seemed to reach a decision.
His gaze shifted downward—and this time, locked firmly onto Sasuke Uchiha.
The moment those ancient golden eyes fixed on him, Sasuke felt a chill race from his spine to the top of his head. His scalp prickled.
Beside him, Kabuto's mutated face showed genuine alarm for the first time.
"Karin! Stop playing around! This could spiral out of control! Finish him!"
He urgently tried to snap her out of her thrill-seeking madness.
"Don't forget! Sasuke carries a power opposite to Naruto's! Asura may not be able to deal with you right now—but if he does something to the thing inside Sasuke… the consequences are unpredictable!"
Kabuto meant it as a warning.
But he gravely underestimated Karin's reckless, devil-child way of thinking.
"Opposite power… inside Sasuke…"
Instead of caution, Karin's crimson chakra-lit eyes blazed even brighter—with pure exhilaration.
The mocking expression on her face was instantly replaced by the manic excitement of discovering a new toy—an even more interesting one.
"Right!!! How did I forget that?!"
She clapped her hands excitedly, staring down at Sasuke as if trying to see through him.
"There's another one inside him—the complete opposite of this 'old sun' here! Something cold and icy!"
She immediately turned back to Asura, voice rising with anticipation:
"Hey, old fossil! You can pull the thing out of Sasuke's body too, right?"
She licked her lips, eyes gleaming.
"I really want to see it! One 'sun,' one 'ice cavern'… What happens if you put them together?"
Kabuto nearly spat out blood.
He had warned her to de-escalate—not to escalate further in pursuit of something even more dangerous!
In a hidden corner of the shinobi world—
Itachi Uchiha, a man known for absolute composure and control, could not hide the violent turmoil in his Mangekyō Sharingan.
His eyes were locked on his younger brother in the Sky Curtain—
Sasuke, now targeted by both Asura and the devilish Karin.
"Sasuke… the thing inside him?" Itachi's lips moved faintly, stormy waves rising in his heart.
He had always believed that Sasuke only needed to confront the Uchiha's fate and walk the path of vengeance he had carefully arranged for him.
Everything about Sasuke had been within his calculations.
But now—
Too many variables had emerged.
"Absolutely not…"
The obsessive protectiveness of a devoted older brother overrode all else in Itachi's gaze.
"I will not allow any unknown existence to interfere with the path I prepared for Sasuke. Nor will I allow anyone to harm or exploit him."
A brother complex? Then of course he must control everything about his brother.
At the Ninja Academy—
Sasuke Uchiha himself felt even more tension than his counterpart in the Sky Curtain.
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