"So... so strong," Ino gasped in shock.
Kakashi looked at Naruto, utterly dumbfounded. "Naruto, you... you finally..."
Naruto crouched on the ground, giving a thumb's up as he looked at the collapsed Kakuzu. "Great... it worked."
Seeing Naruto still grounded, Ino and Choji rushed over to check his injuries. Ino immediately began performing Medical Ninjutsu to treat him. Kakashi and Yamato exchanged a look, both seeing a deep sense of acknowledgment in each other's eyes.
Yamato let out a soft chuckle and shook his head, whispering to Kakashi, "To think he could use that new jutsu three times in a row. During training, he hit his limit after only two."
Kakashi nodded slightly. "He found the next breakthrough point immediately after a failure. Between that and his raw confidence, Naruto has truly grown strong. To take the jutsu that even Lord Fourth couldn't master and bring it to this level... it really is almost time for a generation change."
"They've already surpassed me..."
"Can you feel it? Naruto has been working desperately to catch up to those ahead of him," Yamato noted. "It's because of those siblings that Naruto keeps getting stronger."
Yamato interrupted Kakashi's train of thought. "Captain, it's about time to..."
"I know."
Understanding the unspoken cue, Yamato turned to Naruto and the others. "Alright, everyone, let's head back to Konoha."
"What about Kakashi-sensei?" Ino asked.
"I'll finish things up here."
Kakashi turned back toward the massive crater where Kakuzu lay slumped.
"To think... I'd be beaten by... brats like you..." Kakuzu trembled uncontrollably. Two of his hearts had been destroyed, and his final one was severely damaged; he was on the verge of death.
"To someone who once fought the First Hokage, we might just look like brats," Kakashi said, his right hand beginning to crackle with the Lightning Cutter. "But to us, you're just an old man who's lost touch with the times. That's why you're lying there, drawing your last breath."
Kakuzu's body shook, his eyes filled with resentment as he stared at Kakashi.
"The new generation will always surpass the old."
The moment Kakashi moved to strike, his pupils shrunk in horror. His hand passed right through Kakuzu's body.
"Calling others 'out of touch' while you're just as blind yourself."
"Kanon!" Kakashi gasped, but it was too late to dodge. A Rasengan slammed directly into his abdomen.
The violent explosion sent Kakashi flying out of the crater with a strangled cry. Yamato and the others spun around at the sound, only to see Kakashi soaring like a kite with a broken string, clutching his stomach and coughing up blood as he tumbled across the earth.
A deep furrow was carved into the ground. Kakashi lay still, unconscious.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Choji started to rush forward, but Yamato blocked him. A Chidori Sharp Spear whistled through the air, piercing the exact spot Choji would have stepped. If Yamato hadn't intervened, Choji would have been impaled.
The sight of the lightning blade made everything clear.
In the center of the crater, Kanon now stood with Kakuzu's arm over her shoulder. Kakuzu himself was clutching Hidan's severed head. With Kanon supporting him, they slowly emerged from the pit. Her hand glowed with a green light as she treated his wounds.
"Mystical Palm Technique... She knows it too?!" Ino watched in disbelief.
Naruto looked on weakly at the girl supporting his enemy. "Kanon... what did you do to Shikamaru and the others..."
"Maybe they're already dead," Kanon replied softly. She turned to Kakuzu. "Kakuzu-nii, can you walk?"
"Not well..." Kakuzu spat blood through gritted teeth.
"Kakuzu! You bastard, why do you look like you're dying!" Hidan barked, dissatisfied.
"You, who doesn't even have a body right now, should shut up..."
Hidan's face flushed red; Kakuzu had hit a sore spot.
"Enough, both of you. Sit down for a moment. With these injuries, you'll need at least half a year to recover."
Kanon helped Kakuzu sit on the ground, her Mystical Palm Technique never wavering. The precision and chakra control she displayed left Ino speechless. Kanon's medical ninjutsu was superior to her own, it had even surpassed Sakura's, reaching the level of someone like Tsunade.
Seeing Kanon heal someone else sent a pang of bitterness through Naruto's heart. He remembered how, whenever he was hurt or shunned in the past, this girl was always the one to comfort him and treat his wounds.
Thinking of the bandages on his face and her gentle words from their childhood, he lowered his head with a complicated expression. The girl he once knew had chosen a path far removed from his own. If she hadn't left, she would be the one healing me right now, he thought.
Sensing his gaze, Kanon looked up. Within her pitch-black eyes, three tomoe spun slowly. She said nothing, simply meeting Naruto's eyes. Their opposing allegiances had placed them on different sides of a divide; they were drifting further apart, unable to return to the days of their youth.
Before Naruto could dwell on it further, a wooden spear erupted from the ground, aiming to transfix both Kanon and Kakuzu.
"Captain Yamato!" Naruto cried out. But Yamato's expression was one of pure shock as there was no sense of impact. Kanon and Kakuzu were like ghosts; the spear passed through them as if they were made of air.
The failed sneak attack interrupted Kanon's healing.
"Kakuzu-nii... the fatal wounds are stable. The rest will require rest."
"I see..." Kakuzu sighed. If Kanon hadn't shown up today, he would have died here.
In the next instant, Kanon blurred, appearing before Yamato in a heartbeat. Yamato braced himself, moving to weave signs, but he froze when he saw the three tomoe shift. This was the Mangekyō Sharingan!
"Sink into an abyss of illusions. Tsukuyomi."
Yamato's expression instantly turned vacant. In his mind, the sky turned blood-red, and he found himself bound to a cross. Hundreds of Kanons, each wielding a Kusanagi Sword, began to tear him apart. The agonizing pain made him break into a cold sweat as he screamed and wailed.
Watching his own flesh and bone fly through the air, splashing against Kanon's face as she laughed with manic coldness, a sense of total helplessness consumed him.
Finally, Konoha's only remaining Wood Release user collapsed.
Though only a second had passed in the real world, Yamato fell to his knees, drenched in sweat. He collapsed, frothing at the mouth in a state of near-death.
"Captain Yamato!" Choji and Ino screamed.
"Noisy." Kanon turned her gaze toward them. Her Mangekyō began to pulse, and a trail of blood leaked from her right eye.
"Amaterasu!"
Suddenly, Choji's clothes ignited with black flames. Having seen this jutsu before, Naruto yelled frantically, "Choji! Get your clothes off, now!"
Choji reacted instantly. The fire was currently only on his stomach; if it spread, he was finished. He used the Human Bullet Tank's expansion to shred his clothing in a burst, sighing in relief when he realized the flames hadn't touched his skin.
Exhausted of chakra, Choji fainted. But on the other side, Ino was in peril. Kanon was turning her sights on her. Ino collapsed, caught in a Sharingan genjutsu, and just as Kanon prepared to incinerate her with Amaterasu, a kunai grazed her forehead.
"You're awake?!" Kanon turned to see a panting Kakashi.
For a moment, even Kanon was stunned. Kakashi's eye was no longer a simple three-tomoe Sharingan, it had transformed into a Mangekyō.
"Kamui!"
A terrifying distortion of space-time spiraled toward Kanon's heart. A sharp, wrenching pain made her cough up blood; Kakashi was trying to crush her heart directly!
But then, Kanon's left Mangekyō activated. The Flower Realm ability manifested, a rose-shaped vortex that suppressed the Kamui and surged back toward its source.
Boom!
Kakashi felt a section of his abdomen nearly twisted apart. He was sent spinning through the air. He had truly intended to kill Kanon just now, but even that sneak attack had failed.
"Give up, Kakashi. My Mangekyō surpasses yours!"
She leaped forward, Kusanagi Sword drawn and crackling with a Chidori blade, aiming directly for the falling Kakashi's throat.
Kakashi's pupils contracted. Kanon's strength had long since eclipsed his own. Even his point-blank Kamui had been broken! Having exhausted everything, Kakashi could only wait for her judgment.
Suddenly, an orange-haired youth threw himself in the way.
At the final moment, Kanon flipped her blade, striking with the back of the sword. However, the sheer force of the Chidori still tore through the air. The strike slashed across Naruto's chest. Even with the blunt edge, the lightning-enhanced blow was devastating.
Despite the heavy wound and the blood blooming across his chest, Naruto looked up at her, and smiled.
Kakashi and Naruto collapsed. Blood pooled beneath Naruto's chest.
Kanon landed, her pupils trembling. Without a second thought, ignoring the agonizing backlash of her Mangekyō, she rushed toward the blurred figure of Naruto in her failing vision.
She never imagined he would take a blade for Kakashi. She never imagined he would smile.
Kanon reached him in a few strides. Her vision grew blurry, but this time it wasn't a side effect of her eyes. It was tears. In Konoha, only this person was special.
There was no other reason than what Naruto had told her: they were best friends.
Naruto moved his head slightly, finding himself resting on Kanon's lap as she knelt over him, her slender hands frantically checking his wound. Blood-stained tears from her eyes dripped onto his face, each drop seemingly etched with a memory of their time together.
In that moment, it felt like the old days. Naruto smiled again.
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