Naruto's Rampage

Orochimaru stood in the middle of the bridge, his hands tucked into his sleeves as he tilted his head at him.

"You really want to see him, don't you?" Orochimaru's voice was slow and drawn out, like a snake flicking its tongue. "Sasuke Uchiha is far stronger now than you imagine. The development of the Chidori system and the Cursed Seal has made him much stronger—he's no longer that brat who only knew the Great Fireball Technique. Can you catch up to him?"

Naruto's shoulders trembled.

"He's doing very well now," Orochimaru said. "Much better than you are here, shouting like an idiot. What makes you think he'd go back with you?"

"You—shut up—!!"

When Naruto raised his head, his face no longer looked human.

Dark crimson Nine-Tails chakra erupted from his entire body, wrapping around him like flames. The first tail solidified behind him, then the second, then the third. As the three tails lashed through the air, they cracked sharply through the sky. The stone slabs on the bridge were swept by the tails' wind and crumbled straight into dust. His eyes turned into vertical slits, with only a thin line of golden light left in his pupils. His teeth sharpened, his mouth split into a grin, and every breath he exhaled came with scorching white vapor.

Three tails. Only the last thread of reason remained, but that thread was as thin as spider silk, ready to snap at any moment.

Kabuto moved.

He rushed in from the side, the fingers of his right hand pressed together as the green glow of the Chakra Scalpel gathered at his fingertips. He thrust straight for the back of Naruto's neck. The strike was silent and viciously angled—no ordinary shinobi could have avoided it.

Three-Tails Naruto did not turn around.

He merely stood there as the Nine-Tails chakra around him suddenly burst outward—

An invisible shockwave exploded from him like a meteor smashing into water. Kabuto took the full impact head-on and was blasted backward as though hurled by a catapult. He smashed through the stone railing at the bridge's edge and spat out a cloud of blood in midair.

The shockwave did not stop. It spread across the bridge. Sakura happened to be standing behind and to Naruto's side. She saw Kabuto fly away, saw the aftershock rushing toward her. Her arms instinctively crossed before her chest, but that force was beyond anything she could block—the shockwave slammed into her chest. Two faint cracks sounded from her ribs, and Sakura was flung from the edge of the bridge.

"Sakura!!"

Yamato reacted even faster than the shout. His hands formed seals, and Wood Release burst from the cracks in the bridge. Several thick vines shot out like living creatures, wrapping around Sakura as she fell—the vines coiled around her waist, legs, and arms, yanking her to a halt less than two meters above the valley floor.

Yamato reeled in the vines and dragged Sakura back onto the bridge. Blood covered the corner of her mouth, and several tears had been ripped through the clothing over her chest by the shockwave. Her left arm hung at an unnatural angle—it was broken. She had already lost consciousness.

"Sai!" Yamato's voice suppressed his anger, but his words came fast. "Take her and withdraw! Leave this to me!"

Sai stood ten meters away with his sketchbook already open. An Ink Bird leaped from the paper and rapidly expanded in the air. He did not look at Sakura or Yamato. His gaze was fixed on Orochimaru—Orochimaru had begun retreating, his pace neither hurried nor slow, as though waiting for someone to catch up.

Sai showed no sign of obeying the order.

The Ink Bird soared into the air and pursued Orochimaru in the direction he was retreating. Yamato stood where he was, watching Sai's back disappear beyond the treetops at the end of the bridge, his fist clenched until his knuckles turned white.

But he had no time to chase him. Sakura was still lying on the ground, and Naruto still stood on the bridge. Beyond the outline of his three tails, the phantom of a fourth was slowly solidifying.

"Naruto! Stop!"

Yamato's voice was useless. Naruto could not hear him at all.

Four tails.

Nine-Tails chakra erupted from Naruto's body. It was no longer a cloak, but tangible chakra gathering into the hazy outline of a giant beast—four tails lashed behind him, each one thicker than a person's waist. Fox markings covered his face, his teeth protruded like a beast's, and a low rumble came from his throat, a sound no human should have been able to make.

He had lost consciousness.

Completely.

Orochimaru twisted away from Sai's pursuit, then looked back at Naruto, seemingly surprised that Naruto had remained lucid for so long.

He retreated to the end of the bridge and watched Four-Tails Naruto. What flashed in his golden snake eyes was not fear, but excitement. He extended his tongue to lick his lips and drew his hands from his sleeves—a jutsu.

Hidden Shadow Snake Hands.

Countless venomous snakes poured from his sleeves, each carrying a black gleam of chakra as they surged toward Naruto like a tide. The swarm struck the Nine-Tails chakra cloak—and melted. Without even a scream, their bodies turned into white smoke the instant they touched the cloak.

Orochimaru frowned and closed in.

He was still fast. Even with both arms crippled, the foundation of his taijutsu remained at Kage level. But Four-Tails Naruto was faster. Giant chakra arms extended from Naruto's back, seven or eight of them, without fixed shapes, like a cluster of wildly growing tentacles. One swept sideways and struck Orochimaru cleanly across the waist. It was not a figure of speech—he was truly severed into two halves at the waist.

His upper body spun through the air while his lower half remained standing where it was. No blood flowed from the wound. Instead, a mass of white, snake-like tissue wriggled, stitched itself together, and reformed—by the time Orochimaru landed, his waist had already reconnected, though a large portion of his clothes had been torn away.

"Interesting..."

Orochimaru was about to say more when a second giant arm slammed down. He tucked in his head and slid away like a snake, but the arm grazed his shoulder and tore off his entire left arm. Blood sprayed from the stump. Orochimaru gritted his teeth as white snake tissue also surged out from the severed arm, rapidly condensing into a new one.

He retreated.

A low growl came from Four-Tails Naruto's throat as he opened his mouth. A mass of black, roiling energy gathered and compressed inside, shrinking from the size of a fist to the size of a ping-pong ball, then down to the size of a fingernail.

Tailed Beast Bomb.

For the first time, Orochimaru's pupils truly constricted.

Threefold Rashomon!

Summoning smoke erupted as three enormous demon-faced gates descended from the sky, one after another crashing into the bridge. Each gate stood over ten meters tall, its surface carved with a hideous demon face, dim blue light seeping from the cracks. The first gate had barely landed when the Tailed Beast Bomb struck it.

There was no sound.

For an instant, heaven and earth fell silent—as though every sound had been swallowed by the impact of that single moment. Then came the explosion. White light swallowed the entire bridge, the surrounding forest, and the sky. The first Rashomon shattered into dust as though made of paper. The second gate held for two seconds before splitting down the middle, its upper half flying away and embedding itself in the mountainside. The third gate was not destroyed, but its surface was covered in spiderweb cracks, teetering on the verge of collapse.

Tenchi Bridge was gone.

The entire bridge had snapped apart at its center, the remnants at both ends hanging from the valley walls like severed arms. The surrounding mountains and forest had been flattened, exposing bare rock and scorched earth. Smoke and dust filled half the sky.

Yamato used Wood Release to raise a platform at the edge of the broken bridge and laid Sakura upon it. He was covered in ash, with a dried streak of blood at the corner of his mouth—the aftermath of the Tailed Beast Bomb had injured him internally, but he had not fallen.

Sakura woke up.

Her consciousness was still hazy, her vision filled with white light and afterimages. But she saw Naruto—the Naruto standing in the middle of the broken bridge, wrapped in dark crimson chakra, completely inhuman now.

"Naruto..."

Sakura braced herself against the ground and tried to stand, but her arm gave out and she collapsed again. Yamato reached out to hold her down, but she evaded him.

"Sakura, your injuries—"

"Naruto... he's going to..."

"Naruto! It's me!"

Four-Tails Naruto turned his head, his golden slit pupils locking onto her. He did not recognize her. He did not hesitate. One giant chakra arm rose and swung down at Sakura.

Yamato's hand was already on the sealing talisman, but he was not close enough.

Sakura did not move.

The tip of the chakra arm grazed her chest, then curved back. A spike-like protrusion pierced through her left arm—with a wet pop, blood sprayed out and ran down her arm, dripping from her fingertips onto the broken stones.

Sakura opened her mouth, but no scream came out. She lowered her eyes to the wound that had pierced through her left arm. At last, tears fell, but she did not retreat.

"Naruto... wake up..."

Four-Tails Naruto tilted his head slightly, expressionless. That deep rumble still came from his throat, as if he were trying to identify something, or as if he heard nothing at all.

"It's me... Sakura..."

Sakura's voice shook, but she extended her hand toward Naruto. Her uninjured hand slowly drew closer to his chakra-covered face.

"Come back..."

Yamato moved.

He rushed forward, pressing his left hand to the back of Naruto's neck while his right hand pulled out the Nine-Tails suppression necklace Tsunade had given him. He fastened the pendant against Naruto's forehead. Wood Release: Tree Binding Burial—dozens of vines surged from the ground and coiled around Naruto's entire body. Sealing formulas appeared on every vine, constricting into the chakra cloak and peeling away that rampaging red layer bit by bit.

Naruto let out a pained shriek. It was not a human sound, but the howl of a scalded beast.

Yamato gritted his teeth and poured more Wood Release chakra into the vines. They tightened further, and the chakra cloak began to crack and peel away. The fourth tail dispersed, then the third, then the second. Naruto's body gradually returned to human form within the vines. The fox markings faded, the slit pupils turned blue again, and his fangs shrank back to their normal length.

When the final tail disappeared, Naruto's eyes closed.

He collapsed to the ground, drenched in sweat and breathing as hard as though he had run a hundred kilometers, but his heartbeat was slowly returning to normal.

Sakura stood before him, blood still flowing from her left arm and dripping onto Naruto's face.

Yamato stood between them, his left hand supporting Sakura's shoulder and his right pressed against Naruto's back. His breathing was heavy as well. The Wood Release sealing technique had nearly drained more than half his chakra, but he did not fall.

Tenchi Bridge was gone. All around them lay ruins, scorched earth, broken trees, and shattered rocks.

Wind rose from the valley floor, scattering some of the smoke and dust. Sunlight leaked through the gaps in the haze, falling upon the three of them.

Supporting the two unconscious people, Yamato sat amid the ruins and raised his head to look at the sky overhead. It was grayish white, like a dirty sheet of cloth. A lone bird flew past in the distance, only to be swallowed by the smoke and dust moments later.

"The mission isn't over yet."