As he spoke, he pressed both hands against Tayuya's chest, administering CPR infused with a shocking jutsu to revive her.
Tayuya's eyes flew open. She sat up abruptly, coughing violently, gasping for breath.
She looked around and saw Sasuke and Itachi engaged in fierce combat, but her gaze fixed solely on his anxious face.
"Naruto!" Tayuya threw her arms around Naruto.
"I thought you almost didn't come back…" Naruto held her tightly and said, "Don't scare me like that again, okay?" He exhaled deeply, relieved.
Tayuya softly chuckled and replied,
"I won't."
Just then, a flock of crows burst into the sky from where Sasuke and Itachi were fighting.
Her tone turned serious.
"But… him…"
"Don't worry about him," Naruto said, shifting his gaze from Sasuke to Sakura, who lay unconscious on the ground.
She was okay—just unconscious.
Sasuke glanced at Naruto, then turned and walked away. He no longer needed Naruto.
He'd already extracted the message he needed from one of Itachi's clones: "Come alone to the hidden Uchiha base."
Naruto carefully laid Tayuya down flat, then walked over to Sakura, lifted her up, and placed her beside Tayuya. He gently called out to wake her.
Sakura blinked open her emerald-green eyes and saw Naruto—her former teammate.
"Naruto!" She sat up, frantically scanning the area as she shouted, "Sasuke!"
Her gaze snapped toward Tayuya's.
"Tayuya, are you okay?!"
"Not great," Naruto said. "But alive is what matters most right now. Sakura, help heal her."
He stood and stepped away from them.
"Where are you going?" Sakura asked while beginning to tend to Tayuya's injuries.
"To deliver a message." The moment Naruto finished speaking, he vanished in a puff of smoke.
******
Naruto sat atop Sai's ink bird, with Maki holding tightly onto his back.
Her eyes were tired—she had just healed all of Naruto's wounds and restored feeling to his left arm.
All of this ensured Naruto would be fully prepared for the upcoming fight.
Though not perfect, the Nine-Tails could make up for any shortcomings.
Maki also insisted that Naruto activate the Sealing Technique: Chakra Storage Transfer to draw out all her chakra in an emergency. Needless to say, she was completely drained now.
Naruto wore a fresh set of clothes, thick bandages wrapped tightly around his head, concealing his right eye—just like how Lord Danzō usually covered his.
"No way am I dressing like Lord Danzō, wrapped up like a mummy," he muttered to himself.
At that moment, a flood of memories surged from a dispelled Shadow Clone into his mind.
Naruto suddenly widened his one visible eye, staring deep into the forest as he spoke:
"Maki, I'll send a shadow clone to bring you down to Ground Level, then go find Sai. I've got something to take care of."
"What's wrong?" she asked, hugging him tighter, still drowsy. "What happened, Senior?"
"Nothing."
Naruto said softly, "It's time."
Maki frowned but nodded. She knew that in her current state, following him would only be a burden.
Even at her best, she stood no chance against the Sharingan.
Her genjutsu had practically no effect on the Uchiha clan.
Naruto gently patted Maki's arms, which were wrapped around him, and soothed her by stroking the back of her hand. Then he formed a Shadow Clone and scooped up Princess Maki into his arms.
"Take good care of her. Get her to Sai as soon as possible."
The Shadow Clone nodded and, with Maki tightly held in his arms, leapt upward as though climbing invisible steps, vanishing among the trees.
Maki lifted her head, watching Sai's ink bird flying in a new direction.
She curled tightly into the clone's arms.
"Please be careful, Naruto-senpai..."
******
"You've finally found me, Sasuke," Itachi said calmly, his eyes closed as he sat on a throne at the far end of the vast ceremonial hall. "I think it's time we settle this."
Sasuke's Sharingan burned brightly as he glared at his older brother, grinding his teeth.
"My eyes have seen it all, Itachi! They already show the image of you lying dead at my feet!"
"You claim you've seen my death?" A trace of doubt laced Itachi's tone. "Then let me see how sharp your vision really is."
As he finished speaking, he suddenly opened his eyes, revealing his crimson Sharingan directly in front of Sasuke.
In an instant, Itachi vanished and reappeared behind Sasuke, kunai in hand stabbing straight toward his back.
Sasuke had anticipated this and immediately drew his tanto to block. The loud clang of metal echoed through the ceremonial hall.
Four kunai flew from between them, embedding themselves in the ground around them and sparking flashes of electricity. Both Itachi and Sasuke turned toward the entrance at once, hearing a voice say:
"Tch, almost took both of you out at once. Guess my timing still needs work."
Naruto walked into the ceremonial hall, his head wrapped heavily in bandages. Both Uchihas' eyes widened in shock.
Sasuke instantly understood why this Naruto looked so drained and different from before.
"The earlier one was a Shadow Clone—that's why he didn't fight seriously."
Naruto stepped into the hall without a care that he'd interrupted a fate-laden battle eight years in the making.
He stepped toward the two and spoke,
"Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Sasuke—two of the most infamous S-class rogue ninja in Konoha's history. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, a Jonin of the Hidden Leaf, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, and future Hokage. Nice to see you again. You both must pay for your crimes—surrender now, and I promise not to harm either of you."
Neither Sasuke nor Itachi responded, only glaring intensely. The silence made Naruto feel uneasy from head to toe.
He shrugged and said,
"Well then, looks like my lecture failed. I always prefer resolving things peacefully, but things never seem to go as planned."
"How did you find us, Naruto?" Itachi asked with interest. He genuinely wanted to know.
"I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you to keep it a secret," Naruto said bluntly.
Sasuke scoffed with a smirk and replied,
"Spare me. Look at the mess you're in now—what do you think you can even accomplish here? You're like a blind bat flailing around, throwing your life away for nothing. You can't even follow my movements anymore. You might as well just die with your eyes closed. Either way, the result will be the same."
Naruto shook his head and said,
"No, Sasuke, you're wrong. What you're seeing now is just a broken, heavily injured nobody—a pitiful fool, helpless and waiting with his eyes closed under your Sharingan."
He raised his hand and started peeling off the bandages covering his head. "But what you're not seeing, Sasuke... Itachi..."
With that, he suddenly yanked off the bandages covering his face.
In that moment, the shock and disbelief written across Itachi's and Sasuke's faces was something Naruto would never forget. If he could've recorded this moment, it would've gone completely viral.
The two brothers stared at each other, as if trying to confirm they weren't hallucinating.
Then, simultaneously, their eyes locked onto Naruto—or rather, on the empty socket where his right eye should have been.
There, shockingly visible, sat a blood-red Sharingan, its three tomoe spinning slowly, casting an eerie glow.
Naruto tossed the bandages aside and calmly met their stunned stares as he spoke:
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