Southern main battlefield, late at night.
The wind was scorching, and the air reeked of burnt earth and thick blood, harsh enough to make their throats ache.
Naruto's feet were sunk deep into the blackened soil, steam rising from half his body. He had just used Pure Yang Chakra to barely withstand the Ten-Tails' second Tailed Beast Ball, and every joint in his body creaked under unbearable strain.
The golden Nine-Tails Chakra cloak flickered like an old streetlamp about to lose power, ready to go out at any moment. He bent over and gulped for air, each breath scraping through his lungs like sandpaper.
He looked up.
In midair, the pale Divine Tree bud that had once seemed invincible, as if it could devour the entire Shinobi World, had now shriveled completely like a deflated balloon. The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path's massive roots, as thick as mountain ranges, were frantically retracting, kicking up dust across the sky.
Obito Uchiha stood atop the Ten-Tails' enormous, tumor-like head.
His clothes had long since been torn apart in the earlier battle, exposing a torso covered in scars. At that moment, his hands were tightly clasped together, his fingers twisted into an extraordinarily strange hand seal that radiated an ancient, primal aura.
The Ten-Tails' hundreds-of-meters-wide, nine-tomoe eye rolled upward and stared fixedly at the night sky, letting out a shrill whimper like a beast on the brink of death.
Sasuke landed silently half a step behind Naruto's right side, Kusanagi Sword in hand. It was the position he was most accustomed to—one that protected the flank while allowing him to launch a thrust at any moment.
The Six-Pointed Star Mangekyo Sharingan in his left eye spun like a high-speed cutting saw, faint blood seeping from the corner of his eye.
"Ten seconds."