##Naruto vs Sasori##
Lethal iron limbs continued to extend and branch out. Naruto found it nearly impossible to evade them.
Naruto stood surrounded by a forest of jagged metal spines. This evasion had drained him completely. The blades strapped to his arms and legs now felt unbearably heavy, a stark contrast to the weightless feeling they once gave him.
Panting heavily, Naruto panted:
"Nine-Tails, what's going on?"
"Can't you feel the blades constantly draining your chakra to fuel themselves?"
"No! I've never been this drained before!"
The protective gauntlet slid off Naruto's body, reverting to its original shape. Kneeling on one knee, he placed both hands on the hilt of his weapon.
"Now's not the time to stop… Channel more chakra into me."
The Nine-Tails began channeling additional chakra into Naruto, revitalizing him.
Naruto strapped the Millennium Blade to his back, unwilling to touch it directly just yet.
The Kazekage Puppet wove through the maze of iron spikes. Its left arm morphed into a spinning circular saw, while a razor-sharp blade extended from its right hand.
Naruto darted between the tree branches, engaging in a deadly game of cat and mouse with the puppet.
As even more Nine-Tails chakra surged through his body, Naruto became increasingly nimble and relaxed.
He conjured a Rasengan in his palm as Nine-Tails' chakra bled into the swirling sphere, tainting it with an eerie glow.
He drove the Rasengan into the puppet's body, ripping it apart and sending fragments flying across the ground.
Emerging from the wreckage, Naruto faced his final opponent—Sasori himself—as he crushed the puppet's head underfoot:
"Tch, what a clumsy move. Back at Kankurō's place, he'd never let me touch his puppets."
Spotting a flash of red hair, he immediately gave chase.
Sasori cast off his hooded cloak, exposing his artificial body.
A hatch slid open on the right side of his chest. Drawing a scroll from his back, he unfurled it amid a burst of smoke—scores of puppets rose, hovering above him.
[Scarlet Secret Jutsu: Hundred Puppet Army!]
Over a hundred puppets barred Naruto's path toward Sasori. Clad in red cloaks, each carried various weapons.
"This is the Ninjutsu I used to defeat this village!"
Naruto gritted his teeth as Nine-Tails' chakra surged into him. His lips darkened and a second tail of red chakra formed behind him. His voice turned rougher and deeper as both tails swayed behind him—charged with energy, Naruto charged at the puppet army.
He began ripping through the puppets with both hands.
Though splattering blood showed that Naruto had been cut by the puppets' weapons, he didn't slow down.
They were only surface wounds. Sasori's poison had no effect—it wasn't even close to being enough to take him down.
Eventually, Sasori surrounded Naruto with a ring of puppets.
Smiling coldly as he glanced around, Naruto's wounds quickly sealed shut.
Crouching low, Naruto took a deep breath before unleashing a massive roar upon their approach, blowing all the puppets away.
Those closest got completely torn apart while the others scattered in all directions.
Emerging from the debris, Naruto stood tall facing his final opponent—Sasori himself.
Five spinning blades emerged from the rod extending from Sasori's back. Naruto twisted mid-air, narrowly dodging the deadly rotating blades.
He drew upon the growing awareness of the Nine-Tails sealed inside him and began pursuing Sasori through the rubble.
******
##Sai and Tamako vs. Deidara##
As they approached the three towers, they noticed there were no more landmines.
Sai, his face pale, looked at Tamako, who showed no fear of the coming battle.
"Aren't you scared? He's been causing me and Naruto-san trouble ever since he showed up."
Tamako shook her head, her eyes fixed on the approaching tower.
"I shouldn't even exist in this time period, yet here I am—alive."
Sai narrowed his eyes, sensing Deidara's presence nearby.
From across the river, hidden among the rubble, Deidara watched Sai and a white-haired girl riding a massive walking statue—an easy mark.
Deidara spat out a lump of clay and molded it into three bird-shaped explosives before launching them toward the statue where Sai and the girl rode.
Seeing a clay bird approaching, Tamako shouted:
"Kobun-kun!"
The statue struck it down, and the clay bird exploded against its arm. The resulting explosion sent a wave of heat toward Tamako.
Sai spotted two more clay birds approaching from either side of Kobun. He quickly leapt to another shoulder of the statue, pulling Tamako down with him just before both birds hit the statue's head, detonating simultaneously.
Tamako bit back a sob as she watched the head of her beloved statue shatter and fall away. Anxiously, she asked Sai:
"Where is he? Where are those birds coming from?"
Still crouching low, Sai pulled her along as they crawled forward:
"Miss Tamako, what else are you capable of?"
Tamako took out a small stack of blank sealing papers and some ink:
"I'm not a ninja, but if I can get close enough, I can take him down."
"You really believe you can win?"
Tamako grinned:
"Don't underestimate the strength of sealing jutsu, Sai."
Suddenly, a buzzing sound reached their ears, confusing both of them.
"What's that noise?"
Looking up, Sai feared they'd been spotted. He saw a red-haired man flying in the air using some strange equipment.
Then, a red blur streaked toward the man, slamming him into the side of one of the towers, blasting a gaping hole.
Sai immediately recognized him—it was Naruto.
"Tamako, we have to move back."
Tamako asked, puzzled:
"What happened? Why leave now?"
Crawling forward along the ground while shielding Tamako with his body, Sai replied without turning:
"That's Naruto-san in battle. We have to move back. It's extremely dangerous to be near him while he's channeling that unique chakra."
"Does Lord Uzumaki possess a unique kind of chakra? What does it do?" Tamako asked innocently as she started crawling on her own now.
Sai kept his eyes forward as he replied:
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