At the same time Pain attacked Konoha, another battle in the distant Land of Lightning, within Cloud Thunder Gorge outside Kumogakure, was already nearing its end.
"Amaterasu!"
The inextinguishable black flames blazed fiercely, engulfing the monstrous Eight-Tails before him. In agony, the Eight-Tails struggled violently without pause. Thunderous crashes echoed throughout Cloud Thunder Gorge as its tentacles churned up towering waves, plunging the entire gorge into turmoil.
But beneath Amaterasu's overwhelming power, the Eight-Tails' struggles gradually weakened, until it finally collapsed onto the water's surface without moving.
Sasuke panted, the Mangekyo in his right eye spinning as he used the still-incompletely-mastered Kagutsuchi. Amaterasu's flames were immediately extinguished.
Sitting atop the water, he looked at Suigetsu and the other two, who were likewise severely injured, and said with difficulty, "All right. He should still be alive. Recover the Eight-Tails, then head back."
Jugo hurried forward, hoisted the Eight-Tails—now reverted to Killer B—onto his shoulder, and headed toward the Akatsuki base.
However, at an entrance high above the gorge, two Kumogakure ninja lay hidden, witnessing the final scene of Sasuke and the others taking Killer B away.
"How could this be... Lord Killer B actually lost?" one of them said in disbelief.
The other sharply noticed the Uchiha Clan crest on Sasuke's back. His Akatsuki cloak had already been destroyed in the battle. "Look at that fan symbol. It seems to be the mark of Konoha's Uchiha Clan. No, we must report this to Lord Raikage immediately."
In Konoha, although Nagato had ultimately used the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique, many Konoha civilians had still been killed or wounded. The village was currently undergoing intense reconstruction.
At such a critical time, Tsunade, the Hokage, had fallen unconscious due to excessive chakra consumption, leaving no one to govern the entire village.
Thus, through