As he spoke, Akira clenched his hand in the air, and his blade appeared in his grip.
"A shame, maybe. But it's time for you to go."
Purple-gold lightning coiled wildly around the edge of the sword, the visible proof of Lightning Styke chakra nature transformation pushed to its absolute limit.
Even the space around it seemed to tremble under that terrifying energy, splitting with tiny black fissures.
Before striking, Akira asked one last calm question.
"Do one decent thing before you die. Tell me where Orochimaru is. You two used to be partners, didn't you?"
Sasori stayed silent for a long time.
Maybe it was because Akira's strength had truly forced him to accept defeat, or maybe it was simply because death was already in front of him.
Either way, in the end, he gave up Orochimaru's information.
The moment he finished speaking, the blade in Akira's hand flew.
It shot forward like a purple-gold meteor, punching cleanly through the giant human puppet's chest without the slightest resistance.
A soft thunk followed.
Cracks instantly spread across the puppet's chest, and a second later, violent lightning exploded outward from inside.
That supposedly indestructible giant collapsed completely in less than a second, breaking apart into dust.
And Akira's sword struck with absolute precision, piercing the one true weakness Sasori had left:
his living core.
The battle was over.
All that remained was the low moan of wind moving through the ruins.
From the distance, Sakura and Chiyo stood there for a long time without speaking.
Chiyo's expression was dim with grief.
After all, that had been the only blood relative she still had left in this world.
Sakura, on the other hand, let out a long breath, her face showing the exhausted, bitter relief of someone who had finally survived a nightmare.
At last, it was over.
Akira turned, retrieved his blade, and began to walk back.
Sakura had just been about to run over and greet the man who had saved them all when Akira spoke first.
"I got Orochimaru's information. I'll explain later. If we find Orochimaru, we find Sasuke."
The instant she heard Sasuke's name, Sakura's steps stopped.
"So... there's finally a lead on Sasuke?"
Strangely, she didn't feel the overwhelming joy she had always imagined she would.
Instead, almost without meaning to, she glanced at Akira standing before her.
Forcing a smile, she said, "That's... really good news."
Akira didn't notice the shift in the girl's expression at all. He turned instead toward the direction Deidara had fled.
"I wonder if Kakashi-sensei has wrapped things up over there."
Then he looked back at the two women.
"This side's finished. Rest for now. I'm going to help Kakashi-sensei."
Before either of them could say anything, his figure blurred and vanished from the spot.
Sakura wanted to follow, but there was no catching up to him.
In the end, she and Chiyo could only move along Deidara's escape route on foot.
Before long, Akira found the others in a section of forest that had been reduced to utter wreckage.
By then, the whole situation had completely spiraled out of control.
Naruto had already lost it.
Gaara's cold body lay beside him.
Kakashi and Guy both wore helpless expressions, neither of them daring to approach recklessly.
Naruto had already entered the three-tail state. His whole body was wrapped in a dark red chakra cloak, the ominous power of the Nine-Tails fully spilling out.
Akira frowned sharply and flashed to Kakashi's side.
"How did it get this bad? Didn't I already have a talk with the Nine-Tails?"
Kakashi looked at Akira the way a drowning man looked at a rescue boat and quickly explained what had happened.
It turned out that before fleeing, Deidara had gone out of his way to insult Gaara's body.
That one act had pushed Naruto's rage past the breaking point.
After hearing it, even Akira was speechless.
This time, the Nine-Tails really wasn't the one causing trouble. Naruto himself had simply lost control.
Once his emotions collapsed, the Nine-Tails' chakra had started pouring out on its own.
That kind of destructive energy wasn't something even the Nine-Tails could fully regulate. Naruto had to regain his own senses first.
Looking at the fourth tail already beginning to emerge behind Naruto, Akira's expression turned grave.
"Kakashi-sensei. Guy-sensei. Fall back now. Naruto's reached the point where he won't recognize anyone. Four tails is not something to take lightly."
And now the fifth tail was already starting to form.
If this dragged on any longer and he hit six tails, then things would become nearly impossible to salvage.
A six-tail Naruto was the kind of monster that could pin Tendo Pain to the ground and tear through him.
The Nine-Tails truly was absurdly blessed by fate. Half of that fox's chakra could overwhelm the other eight Tailed Beasts put together.
No wonder the First Hokage had chosen to keep it in Konoha.
That thing was a walking strategic weapon.
Without Wood Style or a Mangekyo Sharingan, trying to suppress it through raw force alone was practically a fantasy.
Guy saw the seriousness in Akira's expression and knew the matter had become truly dangerous. He nodded once and said quietly, "Be careful."
Kakashi pulled out one of the sealing tags Jiraiya had given him, but against Naruto's current state, the thing probably wouldn't be much better than scrap paper.
At that moment, Naruto let out a roar that shook the forest.
"RAAAAH—!"
A horrifying storm of chakra swept outward. The earth split apart. Trees were ground into dust.
Akira shook his head.
"If you stick that sealing tag on him now, it'll probably burn to ash the instant it touches him."
Kakashi knew he would only get in the way if he stayed, so he had no choice but to retreat quickly with Guy.
Just then Sakura and Chiyo arrived as well.
With them came Temari, along with reinforcements.
Temari had come back hard and fast. To save her brother, she had directly pulled even the border guard unit back with her.
But the moment they showed up, all of them froze in shock at the sight in front of them.
That was... a Tailed Beast?!
The shinobi of Sunagakure felt their legs go weak at once. At first they thought Gaara must have gone berserk again, but one closer look told them something was very wrong.
There were too many tails.
Kakashi hurried over to explain the situation, placing the blame squarely where it belonged:
on Deidara.