The ground began to shake violently, as if some earthen dragon were turning beneath it.
Akira slowly straightened, his gaze piercing through layers of trees and locking onto the center of the forest.
In the next instant, his whole body became a streak of blinding lightning and vanished, leaving behind only the smell of scorched air.
"Akira! Please be careful!" Sakura shouted herself hoarse at the fading afterimage.
Temari stumbled to Gaara's side and collapsed beside him. Looking at her little brother's face, pale and drained of all color, she began to cry uncontrollably, tears falling like broken beads.
Chiyo stood nearby with her cane, the expression on her lined old face impossibly complicated.
After a long silence, as if she had finally reached a decision, she slowly walked forward on trembling legs.
She knelt in the sand and gently laid a withered hand against Gaara's cheek.
"This disaster began with me. I don't have many days left anyway. So I'll trade this old life for a future for Sunagakure."
The older shinobi of the Sand around her stared in shock, already realizing what she meant to do.
"Advisor Chiyo... you can't mean..."
Chiyo's voice was strangely calm.
"I've lived more than seventy years. That's enough. But Sunagakure cannot lose Gaara."
"So let this old body shine one last time for the village."
Under Temari's stunned gaze, Chiyo began to form hand seals, every movement carrying absolute resolve.
"Ninja Art: One's Own Life Reincarnation!"
As the last seal completed, she pressed both hands to Gaara's cold abdomen, and a gentle green medical chakra began to glow.
That was Chiyo's remaining life force itself, turning into a steady current of vitality as it poured into a body that had already died, forcing life back into its sleeping cells.
Temari wiped at her tears in a frenzy, overwhelmed, moved, and utterly helpless. All she could do was sit there and watch.
Sakura, Kakashi, Guy, and the rest, however, had their eyes fixed on the depths of the forest.
The disturbance there was growing louder and louder. A dark sense of foreboding settled over everyone's chest.
This time, Akira was facing real trouble.
Meanwhile, at the center of the forest, Akira had already returned to stand before Naruto.
"Nine-Tails, your chakra reeks. I could smell that violent stench from half a kilometer away."
Deep within Naruto's consciousness, the Nine-Tails heard the jab, and irritation flashed through its giant slit-pupiled eyes.
"Brat, don't underestimate me. This time I'm not the one trying to start something."
"This kid already had darkness buried in his heart. Before, he could hold it down. Now even I can't control what's happening. His body is greedily pulling my power out on its own, so don't pin this on me!"
The Nine-Tails wasn't afraid of Akira. It simply didn't want to take the blame for something that, this time, truly wasn't its doing.
Naruto had already fully reached the six-tail state. Dark red skeletal chakra wrapped his entire body, and the pressure pouring off him was so intense it made the air itself feel thick.
Back then, even the Tendo of Pain had been hammered senseless by Naruto in this form. That battle had nearly flattened Konoha.
And that had only been the destructive power of the six-tail state.
There was a reason Madara Uchiha had chosen the Nine-Tails as his summoned beast. The thing's destructive power truly stood in a class of its own.
The Nine-Tails' chakra naturally carried a trait of annihilation. A casual Tailed Beast Bomb from it was more terrifying than the combined attacks of the other eight beasts.
In terms of explosive force alone, even a slash from a Perfect Susanoo might not equal one serious blast from the Nine-Tails.
Now, with Naruto only at six tails, the area for dozens of meters around him was already saturated with violent red energy.
Any giant tree touched by even the slightest trace of it was ground into powder in an instant.
Standing before the monster with his hands clasped behind his back, Akira spoke in a voice cold as ice.
"Naruto, wake the hell up already! It's been three years, and this is all you've got? Who was it that swore he'd master the Nine-Tails' chakra? Did your ninja way mean nothing after all?"
But the corrosive force of the Nine-Tails' chakra was far too strong. This wasn't something that could be forced back down with a few shouted words and sheer willpower.
The only answer Akira got was a shrill roar from six-tail Naruto.
Whoosh!
The red figure blurred into motion so fast the air cracked with sonic booms.
Bang!
BOOOOM!
The ground caved in at once. Naruto appeared before Akira like a phantom, one skeletal claw carrying enough force to destroy the world as it slammed for Akira's face.
Akira simply raised one hand and caught it.
The moment their strength met, the earth beneath them shattered like a biscuit, and huge slabs of rock were hurled into the air.
The force behind that blow was horrifying. Even Tsunade at full power with the Strength of a Hundred active might not have surpassed it.
And yet even the berserk six-tail Naruto failed to move Akira so much as an inch.
Feeling the weight pressing into his palm, Akira's brow rose slightly.
"No wonder Pain got beaten into silence. That kind of force... yeah, it's got some bite."
"But it's still just brute strength."
When the first strike failed, the flesh over Naruto's abdomen suddenly writhed, and a giant chakra arm burst out, lunging straight toward Akira's stomach.
At that very instant, blinding lightning exploded from Akira's body.