Sakura raised her arms, bracing herself as a shockwave burst outwards from the heart of the village, the blast wave breaking harmlessly against the rose-tinted chakra shell of her Susano'o. A heartbeat later, a deafening explosion tore through the air.
BOOOOOM!!!
A roiling wall of grey ash, black smoke and debris expanded outwards from the village centre, blotting out the view of the village from Senju Park as an incandescent mushroom cloud rose above in the background…
"What the…?" Sakura whispered, eyes wide with shock. "This isn't how it was supposed to happen…"
Her sharp eyes caught sight of a large white bird circling above the village… but no, this was no ordinary bird. It was one of Deidara's high‑explosive clay creations, the kind he used to soar over his enemies and rain destruction from above. It seemed that, with Deidara still alive in this timeline, Pain had decided to use him to destroy the village instead of relying on Tendō Pain, who would otherwise have had to stand around waiting for his Almighty Push cooldown to end before being of any use again.
Blood started dripping from Sakura's eyes.
This was no time to be wasting chakra and valuable pupil prowess on a Susano'o when the real fight hadn't even started yet; she cancelled her jutsu, and the pink chakra fizzled away, lowering her, Naruto and Sasuke back down onto the ground.
"The village…" Naruto mumbled its disbelief. "It's… it's gone."
"And we almost got caught up in it, too," Sasuke said grimly. "If it hadn't been for our duel…"
"It's the other way around, they waited until we left the village centre to launch their attack," Sakura said tersely. "The Akatsuki wouldn't want to risk killing Naruto, or they'd have to wait for the Nine-Tails to reincarnate, just like with the Three-Tails!"
Smaller explosions echoed as Deidara swept in circles above the village, scattering bombs from the sky. At some point the wail of the warning siren faltered and went silent— one blast must have claimed the last speaker.
Suddenly, through the settling smoke, an immense tree burst skywards, bearing at its crown the Second and Fourth Hokage. The tree expanded over the village like an umbrella, its expansive canopy catching the next bombs as they fell.
"That's my dad," said Naruto, snapping out of his horrified trance. "There's got to be more survivors, we've got to help—"
"Unfortunately for you, you're going nowhere."
Without warning, Naruto's body jerked forwards. Caught off guard, he barely had time to dig in his heels and coat the soles of his sandals with chakra, yet he came loose all the same, clods of dirt and grass clinging to his feet as he was dragged away, as if reeled in by an invisible fishing line.
"Wood Style: Great Forest Jutsu!"
Sakura extended her arm, which quickly morphed into several branches that she sent chasing after Naruto. The lowermost branches she sent digging into the earth, anchoring herself firmly to the ground, while the uppermost looped around his ankle, stopping him in midair.
"Ouch!"
"I've got you!" Sakura called, as she began reeling him in with difficulty.
A shadow passed overhead…
…and a split second later, an immense, six-armed bald man wearing Akatsuki robes dropped from the sky over Sakura's head. His head and exposed skin were riddled with metal studs and black chakra receivers.
A mechanical roar rang out, and his robes rapidly turned to shreds, revealing a twisting chainsaw blade jutting out of his back like a scorpion's tail. The chainsaw extended, and Sakura screamed as it began cutting through her wooden arm like a hot knife through butter.
"As if I'd let you lay a hand on Sakura!"
Kunai came whistling from over Sakura's head, lodging themselves in key points along the chain and jamming it, and the motoring sounds of the chainsaw blade sputtered to a halt. Sasuke flickered past her as she extended more branches to ensnare the Asura Path puppet. His Chidori blade sang joyously as he took a swing at the puppet's neck, but it opened its mouth and levelled its six palms at him, revealing concealed machine guns.
Sasuke immediately flickered out of the way as Shuradō Pain rained hellfire out of its mouth and hands, and Sakura clenched her fist, forcing a metallic groan from his body as she threatened to tear him limb from limb with her wooden tentacles.
"The sucking stopped!" Naruto gasped. "Sakura-chan!"
Sakura released the branch coiled around his ankle, setting him free— but before he could leap into the fray, four shadows swept overhead, and moments later, four more of Pain's puppets dropped from the sky to surround him, soon to be joined by Tendō Pain, who walked out from behind a tree.
Faster than Sakura had ever seen him move before, Naruto threw a punch at Chikushōdō Pain, who hastily tilted back her head to avoid the attack. She threw up a kick as she contorted backwards and performed a back walkover, but without even needing to look, Naruto blocked the kick to his chin and grabbed her ankle, swinging her into the next closest puppet, Jigokudō Pain, who caught her safely.
"Watch out, they can see through one another's eyes!" Sakura shouted, drawing back her wooden arm. "Fight as if you know they'll dodge everything!"
Sakura slammed her palms together, squeezing her breasts between her arms and creating a canyon of cleavage, while the rest of her breast flesh oozed and bulged out from behind her forearms.
"Manyū Assassination Genjutsu: Breast Illusion!"
At once, all six of the Pain bodies fell into a trance, even though several of them hadn't been looking her way. Unfortunately, since they had long since ceased living, their bodily functions had been replaced by puppet‑like mechanisms, which meant she couldn't use the Kurama clan's Kekkei Genkai to make them kill themselves through mind over matter— but she could still immobilise them with ease!
"Aim for the fatty first!" Sakura yelled, pointing at Preta Pain. "That one can absorb all forms of chakra!"
Naruto burst out of the encirclement, a Rasengan already forming in his palm, and he slammed the swirling sphere of chakra into the Preta Pain's body, launching him backwards into a tree. Knocked wide awake by the shock, the remaining five puppets woke up simultaneously.
"Sasuke!" Sakura shouted. "Amaterasu, quickly! Burn it to ashes, or we'll have to start all over again!"