Dusk over Eighth Gorge had been completely drenched in a thick, bloody hue.
The raging wind had stopped. Even the air had become unbearably viscous, as though all oxygen had been sucked away.
The two-hundred-meter-tall Ten-Tails crouched amid the ruins. Within its black-hole maw, which had no lips at all, a black-purple sphere of chakra was being compressed madly. Rubble, shattered trees, even natural energy drifting through the air were forcibly dragged into the sphere, forming visible vortices around its edge.
Obito Uchiha stood atop the Golem's massive single eye. His half-white mask radiated extreme coldness as his Sharingan stared fixedly at the distant horizon.
"Nine-Tails brat, your Yang Release really is tough," Obito's voice swept through the gorge, carried by chakra. "But I'd like to see whether that so-called protectiveness of yours can protect the people fifty kilometers away."
He abruptly raised a hand and pointed. "This Tailed Beast Ball is aimed at your Allied Shinobi Forces' main camp. All your logistical supplies are there, along with tens of thousands of severely wounded who can't even move."
Obito curled his lips into a mocking smile. "Go save them. Or stand here and watch them turn to ash."
"Bullshit!"
Naruto spat bloodied saliva onto the ground. Through the Byakugan's vision, the black-purple Tailed Beast Ball had already been compressed to its limit, its energy density so great that even space was warping.
He had no intention of wasting breath with Obito. Pure golden Yang Release chakra flared explosively, and the rock beneath his feet was crushed into powder.
"Whoosh!"
In a flash of golden light, Naruto vanished with the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Fifty kilometers away, at the Allied Shinobi Forces' medical headquarters.
The sky suddenly darkened. It was not because the sun had set, but because a gigantic "black