A Life-Risking Strike
How powerful is a ninja's desperate strike?
Logically speaking, if a ninja abandons everything and attacks the enemy with all their might without considering anything else, such an attack would certainly be terrifying and would obviously be much stronger than a "full-force strike" in normal combat.
However, different people will have different results. For example, Sakura Haruno, if she doesn't prepare the nuclear materials beforehand and can't hand-craft the talisman, her desperate attack will at most be a large firework. With her control over Chakra and understanding of techniques, she has almost pushed each technique to its limit, so no matter how hard she tries, there won't be much benefit.
If it were Might Guy, it would be the other extreme. If he only opened the Seventh Gate of his Eight Gates Released Formation, he would be completely overwhelmed by Sakura Haruno. But if he opened the Eighth Gate, which is a death sentence, he could easily defeat Sakura with one hand!
Deidara's self-destruction is closer to Might Guy's situation; it's another form of burning life and everything else.
Of course, he is no longer alive, but Scorpion has preserved his body extremely well. Now, when he performs a self-destruction, it is not much less powerful than his real body self-destructing!
Such a move is undeniably powerful and awe-inspiring.
Naruto fought Deidara and was badly injured by his Clay Bomb, leaving a deep impression on him.
Deidara's Clay Bomb come in many varieties: some rely on sheer numbers for carpet bombing; some prioritize quality for single-point breakthroughs; some are extremely fast, crashing around wildly; some are small and difficult to defend against... But in Sasori's hands, his combat experience is even richer, and the various bombs are perfectly combined. Coupled with Sasori's various puppet gadgets, it's like adding wings to a tiger. Even Naruto Sasuke, whose strength has greatly improved, are beaten into a sorry state.
However, in the face of this "C0 - Self-Destruction", all of that is nothing.
Just by looking at the Chakra aura that was so dense it was almost tangible, and comparing it to the power of an ordinary clay bomb, Naruto knew that the explosion that was about to happen would be extraordinary!
Without hesitation, he entered Tailed Beast Mode, frantically drawing upon the Nine-Tails' Chakra to form Tailed Beast Cloak; while Sasuke, though not fully estimating the power of this self-destruction, still pushed his eye power to its limit out of trust in Naruto!
"Majestic Attire - Susanoo!"
Many years after the battle at the Valley of the End, the power of the Sharingan has once again merged with the Nine-Tails!
However, this somewhat immature combination is still slightly inferior to "C0 - Self-Destruction".
A strong blue Chakra light emanated from Deidara, who had become Human Puppet, gradually forming a dazzling sphere of light. Then, the sphere of light suddenly contracted and then burst forth with infinite brilliance!
Boom--!!!
The sphere of light rapidly expanded, transforming into a colossal giant of light, standing tall amidst dark clouds above and ocean waves beneath its feet!
In that instant, the ground seemed to darken completely, leaving only the dazzling giant of light standing at the center of the explosion; all around was silent, except for a magnificent sound wave that transformed into a thick, semi-transparent ripple, pushing the air outwards.
Scorpion hid in the only blind spot of this technique—high above, directly above, his expression shifting between light and shadow as the intense light from below illuminated his face.
"Is this the art you've been pursuing, Deidara?" he murmured.
For the first time, Scorpio, who had always firmly believed that his beliefs were the right path, wavered.
Beneath the giant of light, even the massive, Majestic Attire: Kurama appeared insignificant, the purple fox swaying precariously amidst the intense light, heat, and shockwaves.
"Ah!"
Sasuke cried out in pain, black tears of blood gushing from his eyes, and he knelt down. At the same time, the purple armor that had been held to its limit finally gave way and shattered and disappeared from Nine-Tails's body!
"Sasuke!"
Naruto's eyes were bloodshot. He no longer cared about the consequences and ignored the absolute safety limit. With his eyes red, he forcibly extracted the Nine-Tails 'Chakra and entered a deeper level of Tailed Beast Mode!
Six-Tails, Seven-Tails, Eight-Tails--!
Rumble--!
Everything melted into the intense light!
A moment later.
The explosions finally stopped.
On the battlefield, the thick clouds were lifted, and golden sunlight shone on the vast and magnificent sea.
The giant of light connecting the sea and the enormous purple fox spirit had both vanished.
The sea was completely empty.
Only two wounded young men lay on the sea, and a puppeteer high in the sky, who had almost exhausted all his trump cards.
"It actually withstood an attack of that magnitude..."
Sasori's hands were trembling slightly, a consequence of excessive Chakra consumption.
But what trembled even more was his heart!
A puppeteer's combat prowess is largely embodied in his puppets. Scorpion is no exception.
Hundreds of ordinary standard puppets, one Human Puppet made from the corpse of a "Kage"-level expert, and several large Ninjutsu mechanisms constitute Sasori's main fighting force.
And most of these resources have already been used up in this battle!
After all, his opponents were an Uchiha who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan and a Jinchuriki who could partially use the Nine-Tails Chakra Jinchūriki. Even though they lacked combat experience, they were definitely at least at the Quasi-Kage Level in terms of combat power. In terms of destructive power alone, they were even stronger than many well-known veterans of the Shinobi World!
To reach the top tier of "Kage" level at the age of fifteen or sixteen is a talent that is truly unprecedented (please disregard the exception of Sakura Haruno), no wonder Sasori made a mistake in judgment.
They had fought to the point of serious injury, even risking everything they had, and still hadn't managed to take down these two. Scorpion's expression was extremely grim.
"Damn it!" he cursed angrily, wanting to fight to the bitter end, but reason told him that he had to retreat first and couldn't afford to be heartbroken over those sunk costs!
"We've been dragging this out for so long, Kakuzu should have caught the Three-Tails by now!" Sasori gritted his teeth, thinking to himself, "Let's go meet up with him first, then bring him here to deal with these two!"
As he pondered, he turned to observe the image Kakuzu the direction of Kakuzu.
Is the fight over there finished?
At that very moment, in an instant, a golden light pierced through the air and penetrated the scorpion's chest! [Chapter 566]
Call out--!
The piercing shriek only reached the scorpion's ears after the straight golden light had killed it.
"Lightning Release - Super Electromagnetic Cannon!"
Scorpion's final expression froze on his face.
Until the moment of his death, he didn't have time to react. His expression wasn't ferocious; only his eyes were slightly wide open and his mouth was agape in confusion.
Still seems surprised--
What... what's wrong with me?
Then, without any explanation, the golden light ripped a large hole in his chest, completely shattering his core heart, and finally disappeared into the distance.
The last thing he saw was Sasuke covering his eyes, black blood streaming uncontrollably from his eye sockets, while his other hand was raised high in the air, pointing in his direction.
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
"I was careless." He thought that Sasuke wouldn't be able to stop him after losing Susanoo, and he thought he was in a completely safe position.
However, he was wrong.
Sasuke's technique gave him no chance to react or defend!
The scorpion's consciousness was rapidly fading.
"But... how can there be such a fast technique in this world?!"
This was Scorpion's last thought.
He fell from a great height, his Chakra reaction vanishing as if from a precipice. [Chapter 566]
Whoosh!
The scorpion sank into the sea and died completely.
"I took him down..." Naruto struggled to his feet, managing a weak smile, "Great job!"
Sasuke's lips twitched, managing a weak smile.
"Heh heh—ouch!" The laugh aggravated his wound, and he couldn't help but cry out in pain again. "It was his carelessness... Besides, there's nothing to praise about paying such a high price to take down an enemy... Actually, we made a lot of mistakes too, and we should have defeated him much sooner!"
Naruto shook his head, propped himself up on his knees, and stood up. "Sakura, we just lack a little experience... Next time, I won't make these mistakes again!"
"Next time?" Sasuke, stood up and said with a wry smile, "Next time we might face Kakuzu, and I can—"
He suddenly stopped.
The boys all widened their eyes, gazing at the distant horizon.
A black dot slowly approached from the far distance, gradually expanding into a massive figure.
"I can't sense Sasori's Chakra... Is he dead?" the man said coldly. "What a disgrace, to be defeated by two rookies!"
Behind him trailed a huge black shadow, which was none other than the Isobu, who had been resurrected and captured again.
"... Kakuzu?" Sasuke took a deep breath.
"Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, hello." Kakuzu grinned, a sinister smile spreading across his face. "Could you please—"
"Would you like to offer your hearts?"
[Note the timeline; I've only briefly described the battle between Naruto and Sasuke, omitting many details and skipping a significant amount of time.]