Chapter 466: Naruto's Rescue, Repelling Itachi
Despair.
It was a cold, suffocating weight pressing down on Sasuke's chest. The crimson blade of the Totsuka Blade reflected in his trembling pupils, the ethereal fire of the weapon expanding to consume his entire field of vision. His Mangekyo Sharingan spun frantically, bleeding from the strain, yet no ocular power in the world could alter the absolute trajectory of death plunging toward him.
'Am I... going to die here?'
The thought echoed in the hollow void of his mind. Flashes of memory bled through his consciousness—his father collapsing in a pool of blood, the emotionless, moonlit mask of Itachi's face looking down at him.
His teeth ground together until he tasted copper.
'I refuse! I haven't had my revenge! I haven't ground this bastard beneath my heel!'
"Sasuke!"
A roar ripped through the battlefield, striking with the concussive force of a thunderclap.
A fraction of a second before the ethereal steel of the Totsuka Blade could impale Sasuke's flesh, the air warped. A blinding flash of gold eradicated the crimson glare. A massive arm, forged entirely from pure, blazing golden chakra, materialized out of the void. It swung in a brutal arc, slamming directly into the flat of the Totsuka Blade.
A shockwave of pure kinetic force erupted outward.
The impact violently wrenched the divine weapon off its deadly course. The burning edge sheared through the air mere millimeters from Sasuke's scalp before plunging deep into the bedrock. The earth shattered on impact, sending a tidal wave of jagged debris and dust into the sky.
Before Sasuke could process the shock, the giant golden hand clamped around his waist. Seizing the brief window where Itachi's towering Susanoo staggered off balance, the chakra construct yanked Sasuke free from the shadow of the crimson giant.
Golden light flared again. Sasuke's vision blurred under the intense G-force. When his boots hit solid ground, the deafening roar of the epicenter was a full hundred meters away.
"Phew... made it in time."
The voice was breathless, yet gratingly familiar. Sasuke snapped his head up. Standing between him and the destruction was Naruto. The blonde ninja was entirely engulfed in the blazing, flickering mantle of Nine-Tails chakra, his chest heaving as he fought to catch his breath.
"You..." Sasuke breathed, his voice tight with disbelief.
"You idiot, what are you spacing out for!" Naruto threw a glare over his shoulder, his blue eyes sharp with a mix of anxiety and irritation.
"Naruto..." Sasuke's jaw locked tight. The instinct to spit out a venomous 'mind your own business' burned on his tongue, but the words died in his throat. The phantom chill of the Totsuka Blade still lingered on his skin. He had truly, completely believed his life was over.
"Do not lower your guard."
A calm, chillingly composed voice drifted through the settling dust. A vortex of yellow sand swirled into existence. Gaara descended slowly from the sky, his arms crossed over his chest. His boots touched the earth without a sound, his pale, ringed eyes locked dead ahead on the crimson Susanoo as it slowly righted its massive frame.
At the epicenter of the ruined landscape, the armored joints of Itachi's Susanoo groaned. The ethereal giant gripped the hilt of the Totsuka Blade, slowly wrenching the weapon free from the shattered earth. Deep underground, Orochimaru's venomous will pushed the Reanimation Jutsu to its absolute limits, forcing the puppet to move.
"Meddlesome insects..."
The dead, hollow voice of Itachi drifted across the wasteland, carrying a chilling resonance. The Yata Mirror strapped to the Susanoo's left arm flared with a blinding, ominous light. The Totsuka Blade rose once more, its burning tip now leveled directly at Naruto's chest.
"We hit him together!" Naruto barked, dropping into a low stance.
"Understood," Gaara replied, his sand already rising into a defensive perimeter.
Sasuke remained silent for a fraction of a second. He raised a hand, roughly smearing the trail of bloody tears from his cheek. A dark, suffocating purple chakra erupted from his body, twisting into the skeletal ribs of his own Susanoo.
"You do not give me orders!" Sasuke snapped.
Naruto slammed his hands together, his fingers locking into a cross seal. "Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Plumes of white smoke exploded across the battlefield in rapid succession. Dozens of golden-cloaked Naruto clones materialized, filling the air with the hum of concentrated chakra.
"Big Ball Rasengan Barrage!"
Every single clone thrust their hands into the air, manifesting massive, swirling spheres of destructive wind. With a collective battle cry, the golden army surged forward, launching a relentless, overwhelming bombardment directly at the towering crimson giant.
'Boring.' Orochimaru's disdainful sneer echoed through the puppet's movements.
The crimson Susanoo shifted its stance, raising the Yata Mirror like an impenetrable fortress wall. The divine artifact, capable of nullifying any elemental attack, absorbed the brunt of the assault. Deafening explosions chained together, ripping the air apart and sending shockwaves tearing through the valley. Yet, as the smoke cleared, the crimson giant stood entirely unbothered, the mirror glowing with absolute defiance.
"Now, Gaara!" the original Naruto roared over the din of the explosions.
"Quicksand Waterfall Flow!"
Gaara dropped to one knee, slamming both palms flat against the rocky terrain. The earth groaned in protest. Within seconds, the bedrock across a radius of several kilometers pulverized into fine grit, transforming the solid battlefield into a raging, turbulent ocean of sand.
Massive, towering tsunamis of yellow sand surged upward, crashing against the legs of Itachi's Susanoo. The heavy grains acted like a vice, crawling up the ethereal armor in a desperate bid to anchor the giant in place.
"Such parlor tricks..."
The Susanoo's arm blurred. The Totsuka Blade swept down in a devastating horizontal arc, the ethereal fire cleanly severing the towering waves of sand as if cutting through silk.
But the instant the sand collapsed, a streak of dark purple lightning tore through the falling debris.
Sasuke moved like a phantom. The skeletal ribs of his Susanoo rapidly fleshed out, layering with muscle and armor until the complete spectral warrior encased his body.
"Inferno Style: Flame Control—Black Flame Sword!"
Sasuke roared, his Mangekyo Sharingan bleeding profusely. The massive longsword forged of pure, inextinguishable Amaterasu flames materialized in his Susanoo's grip. He did not aim for the impenetrable Yata Mirror. He did not aim for the crimson armor.
Instead, Sasuke drove the black blade straight down, plunging it deep into the earth directly between the crimson giant's feet.
Deep underground, Orochimaru blinked, a flicker of confusion crossing his serpentine features.
A second later, realization hit him.
The inextinguishable black flames detonated beneath the surface. The sheer, concentrated heat instantly liquefied the bedrock, turning the solid foundation into a bubbling pit of molten slag. The earth beneath Itachi's Susanoo completely gave way. The massive, towering construct lost its footing, its tremendous weight working against it as it violently lurched to the side, completely off balance.
"Now's our chance!"
Naruto vaulted into the sky, suspended in mid-air above the staggering giant. He thrust his right hand high above his head. Razor-sharp wind chakra converged at a terrifying speed, compressing into four rapidly spinning blades. The jutsu emitted a piercing, high-pitched screech that sounded like a thousand screaming birds.
"Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!"
But Naruto knew the sheer density of the Susanoo. It was not enough.
"Sasuke!" Naruto bellowed, his voice straining over the screeching wind.
Sasuke did not hesitate. The blood trailing from his right eye thickened. His intense gaze locked dead onto the spinning vortex of wind in Naruto's hand.
"Amaterasu!"
Black flames ignited out of thin air. With terrifying precision, the inextinguishable fire coiled around the spinning blades of the Rasenshuriken, merging flawlessly with the raging wind chakra.
Wind feeds fire.
The blindingly white shuriken instantly mutated into a pitch-black, howling storm of absolute destruction. Naruto hurled the dark mass forward. The black storm tore through the air and slammed violently into the exposed chest of the off-balance Susanoo.
This time, the crimson giant was too far tilted; the Yata Mirror could not be brought up in time to block.
A deafening, crystalline crack echoed across the battlefield. That supposedly indestructible armor of Itachi's Susanoo groaned under the dual, grinding strangulation of the Rasenshuriken's microscopic wind blades and the incinerating heat of the Amaterasu. A massive, jagged fissure spider-webbed across the crimson chest plate.
"It is not over yet!" Gaara's voice cut through the chaos, his pale eyes entirely devoid of mercy. He clenched his raised hand into a tight fist. "Sand Waterfall Funeral!"
"Damn it!"
Miles away, hidden deep within an underground base in the Land of Rice Paddies, Orochimaru slammed a pale fist onto his stone table. His serpentine face twisted into a mask of pure, venomous frustration.
Facing the flawless, synchronized assault of those three monsters, he had no choice. He severed his offensive push, forcing Itachi's Reanimated body to execute a rapid tactical retreat to preserve the puppet. The heavy stone walls of the cavern echoed with his ragged breathing.
Slowly, the anger faded, replaced by a dark, creeping amusement. Orochimaru extended his long, pale tongue, licking his lips as a glint of absolute madness sparked in his golden, slit-like eyes.
"However... the game has only just begun." He raised his hands, his fingers blurring as he wove a complex sequence of hand seals. "If Itachi alone is not enough to break them, then I suppose I will just have to play another card."
Meanwhile, miles across the war-torn landscape, tension gripped the temporary main camp of the Ninja Allied Forces.
"Report!"
A Sensory Ninja stumbled through the heavy canvas flaps of the main command tent, his face pale and slick with sweat. Hearing the distant, rumbling echoes of explosions from the direction of the Konoha encampment, Raikage A and Tsuchikage Ohnoki had already gathered at the war table.
"Speak," A commanded, his deep voice rumbling like an approaching storm.
"Raikage-sama! Tsuchikage-sama!" the scout gasped, struggling to catch his breath. "Urgent report from the front lines! The Konoha main camp is under heavy assault by an unknown force. The chakra signatures... they are Edo Tensei reanimations!"
Raikage A shot up from his chair. His massive hand came down in a brutal chop, instantly splintering the heavy wooden war table into kindling.
"Edo Tensei?!" A roared, the sheer force of his fury causing the air to crackle. Arcs of volatile blue Lightning Style chakra began to whip around his massive frame. "The bastard who ambushed Killer B used that exact same forbidden jutsu! I was certain Konoha was behind it! Why the hell is Konoha being attacked by their own weapon?!"
He glared at the ruined map, his muscles twitching with pent-up aggression. "Could we have been mistaken?"
Beside the splintered table, Ohnoki floated a few feet off the ground, his thick brows furrowed in deep concentration. The ancient Tsuchikage had survived decades of bloodshed and betrayal; his mind operated on layers of paranoia and political calculation that the hot-headed Raikage rarely bothered with.
"Humph." Ohnoki let out a dry, rattling snort, rubbing his bulbous red nose. "Raikage, you are far too naive."
He floated closer, a dark, calculating shadow falling over his wrinkled features. "This could easily be a self-inflicted ruse by Konoha to play the victim. Or perhaps that arrogant brat, Uchiha Akira, finally offended someone he shouldn't have, sparking a vicious internal rebellion."
A razor-sharp glint flashed in the old man's eyes. "But frankly, the truth does not matter."
Ohnoki looked up, his gaze locking with the Raikage's. "What matters is the reality on the ground. Right now, Konoha is bleeding. They are suffering heavy losses, their attention is divided, and their perimeter defenses are wide open. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
Raikage A froze, the crackling lightning around him dimming for a fraction of a second as the strategic weight of Ohnoki's words sank in. Then, a slow, ferocious grin spread across his scarred face.
"You mean..."
"Strike while the beast is wounded," Ohnoki finished, his voice dripping with cold, unadulterated killing intent. "If we do not seize this exact moment to cripple Konoha, it is only a matter of time before our two villages are swallowed whole by Uchiha Akira's ambitions."
"Pass down the order!" Raikage A bellowed, his voice booming like a great war bell, easily carrying through the heavy canvas of the tent. He swept his massive arm toward the exit. "Full army advance!"
The Raikage's eyes burned with the thrill of impending slaughter.
"Target: The Konoha main encampment! I do not care if they are dead, alive, or reanimated! Crush every single soul that stands in our way!"
"ROAR!"
Outside the command tent, the battle-ready ranks of the Ninja Allied Forces erupted. Thousands of shinobi raised their weapons, their collective war cry shaking the very foundations of the earth.
High above the chaotic plains, the first pale ray of dawn's sunlight pierced through the heavy, ash-choked clouds.
It did not illuminate a path of hope.
It only caught the cold, merciless gleam of ten thousand drawn blades.
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