The Sky Screen continued playing.
[Sasuke flicked his long blade, shaking the blood off it, and said calmly, "Naruto, I'll leave Sarada to you."]
[Naruto nodded. "He shouldn't be able to attack in here. Be careful."]
[Only then did Sasuke advance with his blade, moving in for the kill.]
[But in the next instant, a sinister smile curled across Uchiha Shin's lips, and the Mangekyō in his eyes spun.]
[A moment later, there was a sharp shluk!]
[Naruto stared in utter disbelief at the long blade already plunged into his stomach.]
["What happened?" Sasuke was completely stunned. The long blade had flown out of his hand and vanished.]
[Unable to bear the searing pain, Naruto had already sunk to one knee.]
Beneath the Sky Screen, everyone was dumbfounded, hardly able to believe their eyes!
They stared blankly at the gravely injured Naruto, some even trembling too much to speak.
That was Naruto Uzumaki, a force capable of destroying heaven and earth during the Fourth Shinobi World War. Even when facing Madara Uchiha and Kaguya Otsutsuki, he had never suffered such a humiliating injury.
Yes, humiliating! In everyone's eyes, Sarada could get hurt, and so could that girl Chocho, but not Naruto Uzumaki or Sasuke Uchiha.
They had shone far too brilliantly at their peak-so brilliantly that people wondered whether this scene was fake.
"Is... is this real? Naruto... Naruto got stabbed?"
"That was way too careless! This really isn't a joke?"
"Are you kidding me? I remember Naruto could even sense Madara's Limbo during the Fourth Shinobi World War. How could he fail to notice this?"
"He's in the prime of his life, and he gets hurt like this?"
"Could it be that he's gotten rusty after spending so long as Hokage, handling government affairs instead of fighting?"
"You must