"What's the plan?" Naruto asked, panting. "Are we still going after the big Pain?"
The huge, drill‑beaked bird swooped in out of nowhere, pecking furiously at Aoda and forcing him to release the great rhinoceros he'd been binding with his serpentine body. Blowing steam out of its nostrils, the rhino promptly hurled the snake into the air with its horn, before lumbering to its feet.
"Watch out!" Sasuke shouted.
The three scattered just in time as Aoda's triangular head slammed down where they'd been standing only moments before. In this clash between giants, ordinary humans could do little more than scramble and run around to avoid being trampled, let alone fight properly… but Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were anything but ordinary.
"Formation U!" Sakura called. "Naruto, you stay back and gather some more nature energy, you're already running low! Sasuke and I will take out Gakidō Pain!"
"Got it!" Naruto replied, clapping his hands together and screwing his eyes shut in concentration.
Sakura and Sasuke dashed towards the Six Paths of Pain, who had retreated out of harm's way to avoid getting crushed underfoot by their own summons. They darted and wove between the enormous, pillar‑like legs stamping around them as the gigantic beasts clashed overhead, their hands already flashing through seals as they readied their next jutsu.
Just as Sakura had expected, Shuradō Pain flickered ahead of them to block their path with his mechanical body. Machine gun barrels protruded from his six palms, muzzles flashing as they spat out an ultimate ninja storm of lead bullets. At the same time, two swift shadows flickered past him, heading straight towards Naruto!
"Now, Sasuke!" Sakura shouted. "Crystal Style: Jade Crystal Hexagonal Pillar!"
In a blinding flash, a massive pink pillar erupted from the earth, skewering the giant three-headed dog with such force that all four of its paws lifted clear off the ground. It slid helplessly down the pillar, whimpering pitifully as Lady Katsuyu spat globs of acid at it. For an instant, Chikushōdō Pain stood exposed; with the dog temporarily downed and the bird and rhino bearing down on Naruto, nothing remained between her and Sakura!
Ratatatat!
Shuradō Pain's bullets tore through nothing but the dust stirred up in Sakura's wake as she ran. At her current speed, he couldn't keep her in his sights!
"Senjutsu Chakra Enhanced Strength + Body Revival Jutsu!"
Chikushōdō Pain, the weakest of the puppets in close combat, failed to move in time as Sakura flickered behind her in a final burst of speed. Grabbing the puppet by the neck, Sakura lifted her into the air, ripping her head along with her spine free from her shoulders, before crushing her skull between her palms.
Poof! Pain's eerie summoned beasts vanished in clouds of white smoke.
In that split second of stillness, Shuradō Pain's targeting finally locked on, forcing Sakura to drop Chikushōdō's remains before she could incinerate them and dive behind the towering pink pillar she had raised.
A storm of bullets struck its surface in a chorus of crystalline pings.
With her back shielded by the hexagonal crystal pillar, Sakura dashed after Sasuke, who had already turned on his heel. They raced towards the two Pain puppets heading for an undefended Naruto, whose eyes were still screwed tightly shut in concentration…
Unfortunately for Pain, the U in Formation U stood for Liar… or U-turn!
"Surprise!" Naruto sniggered, his eyes flying open as the two Pain puppets reached out to grab him. With the enemy's attention focused on his teammates, he had successfully managed to hide the fact that he had buried two Shadow Clones tasked with kneading senjutsu chakra at his feet.
The two Shadow Clones burst out of the ground before him.
"Senjutsu: TwinBig Ball Rasengan!"
Unable to evade such a large attack at such close range, the second-weakest Ningendō Pain took the enormous ball of chakra full in the face. His body twisted and groaned, skin and flesh and metal implants warping into a violent spiral before he was at last hurled away, his useless limbs dangling behind him like a puppet with its strings cut.
"Amaterasu!"
Seeing one of the Pains defeated, Sasuke turned his head dispose of the body, his eyes shedding bloody tears as he incinerated Ningendō Pain, ridding them of him for good.
However, Tendō Pain was not so easily taken down.
"Universal Pull!"
He reached out behind him, and all of a sudden, Sakura found that her feet had left the ground, despite the soles of her sandals being covered in chakra to anchor herself down; she was tumbling sideways through the air uncontrollably towards Pain!
"Crystal Style: Crystal Needle Jizō!"
It was a simple variation on the Crystal Armour Jutsu, except that Sakura covered the exterior in sharp needles, making herself rather like a hedgehog. A pink, deadly hedgehog.
All of a sudden, Tendō Pain found that he was not so keen any more on grabbing Sakura by the neck and using her as a human shield. He hastily stepped aside, letting Sakura hurtle past him and into the Rasengan Naruto's Shadow Clone had been readying for him.
"Rotation!"
At the end of the day, no matter how strong shinobi became, their bodies could only withstand so much. Sakura knew the crystal armour wouldn't survive a direct hit from such a powerful Rasengan variant, and since she did not fancy the idea of picking microscopic crystal shards out of her skin afterwards, she immediately opted to discard the armour.
Chakra erupted in sequence from Sakura's 361 Tenketsu, blasting the armour away and forming a spinning bubble of energy around her as she met the Shadow Clone's Rasengan head‑on. For a few moments, their chakras ground against each other in mid‑air, the opposing rotations cancelling out… but in the end, even Sakura couldn't match the sheer chakra Naruto had poured into his Rasengan.
"Sakura!" Naruto shouted in dismay as she shot backwards like a comet, shattering almost every bone in her body as she tumbled across the ground like a rag doll before crashing violently into her own crystal pillar. "Why, you—!" he snarled, apparently forgetting they were in the middle of a life‑and‑death battle. "You made me hit Sakura!"
"Watch yourself, idiot!" Sasuke shouted. "Sakura'll be fine! She always is!"
The five-second cooldown was up.
"Universal Pull!"
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Hundreds of Shadow Clones burst into being around Naruto, clutching at one another to form a living lattice against Tendō Pain's relentless pull. For a few moments, Naruto hung suspended in midair as his clones held fast… but splitting himself into so many while in Sage Mode had been a grave mistake. His senjutsu chakra drained away at a frightening pace, and before he knew it, he was hurtling towards Pain as his Shadow Clones detonated all around him like fireworks, their transcendent power spent.
"Lightning Style: Raikiri!"
Blue lightning sparked in Sasuke's fist.
Thunder in Heaven, Great Vigour!
The electricity from Sasuke's jutsu surged through the muscles in his legs, lending him the speed of lightning as he dashed forwards to reach Naruto… but the remaining Paths of Pain were already closing in.
"Seal Jutsu Absorption!"
Gakidō Pain thrust out both palms, and the lightning wreathing Sasuke's fist started spiralling away into his hands. Feeling suddenly lightheaded, Sasuke stumbled, his vision dimming… but no, he couldn't allow himself to fall here! Even though that annoying Naruto was making moves on his woman, he was still… his very first friend!
Sasuke bit down on his tongue to stifle a groan as black markings flared from the base of his neck, spreading across his skin in a dense web of dark runes. His muscles swelled and his skin deepened in hue; his body creaked and twisted as two great, fleshy wings tore free from his back, beating hard to hold him in the air as he fought to stay upright.
He suddenly accelerated, turning into a blur… and he caught Naruto in a princess carry mid‑flight, just before Pain could lay hands on him.
"…thanks," Naruto mumbled, his heart fluttering at Sasuke's incredible coolness. To distract himself, he looked in the direction where Sakura had crashed, hoping to see her standing up and dusting herself off…
But Sakura was still lying there broken, as motionless as death itself.