The Eight Immortals

"Naruto!" Sasuke Uchiha, struggling to make his way over, saw what had happened. His eyes widened in horror, and he shouted in alarm. Ignoring his severe injuries, he forced himself to run faster toward Naruto!

The ghostly blue beam clung to Naruto Uzumaki and refused to let go.

Then, in a shocking sight, twelve brilliant beams of different colors, each representing a different power, burst from Naruto's body as though forcibly torn free. They shot toward the sky like meteors.

They scattered in every direction across the Shinobi World and vanished beyond the horizon in the blink of an eye!

The ghostly blue beam disappeared too. As if all his strength had been drained away, Naruto could not even remain standing. He collapsed weakly to the ground, his face pale as paper and his breathing barely perceptible.

On a distant rise, Bakura saw Dao Long lower his staff and stop chanting. "Is it over?" he asked.

Dao Long caught his breath. The ritual had clearly taken a toll on him as well. He answered coldly:

"Yes. I've completely separated the power of the Twelve Talismans from Naruto Uzumaki's body."

Bakura frowned. "Couldn't we have just killed him while he was weak? Why go to all this trouble?"

Dao Long snorted and glanced at Bakura. "You think it's that easy? Naruto Uzumaki is the Child of Prophecy. Fortune favors him, and his vitality is beyond anything you can imagine."

"Besides, the Nine-Tails is keeping him alive from within. I could only separate the Talismans so easily because his fight with a powerful enemy had left both sides badly hurt, and his body and mind were at their lowest ebb."

"For now, we've brought him down from the height of his power and taken away something he relied on. How to finish