The Power of the Uchiha

Recalling their final clash, Naruto asks why Sasuke spared him despite wanting their bond severed. Sasuke answers that he refused to gain power Itachi's way, since Itachi had once told him killing his closest friend would awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan. Brushing off Naruto's confusion, he flickers with blinding speed to the ground before him, asks whether the Hokage dream still holds, and says the years spent chasing him were wasted time. Naruto counters that he could never lead the village if he cannot even save one friend. Drawing his blade, Sasuke declares their bond broken and no longer a reason to hold back.

Sai blocks Sasuke's thrust at Naruto's back, earning praise before Sasuke discharges a Chidori Current that flings both away and knocks them out. Holding to her vow to grow strong enough to protect Naruto and recover Sasuke, Sakura swings with her chakra-enhanced strength, but his Sharingan reads her every move and he channels Chidori into his sword. Yamato tries to parry with a kunai, only for the blade to punch straight through it and into him. Naruto stirs and begins slipping under the fox's influence as the First Hokage's necklace lies fallen nearby.

The fox urges Naruto to shed the seal and draw on its full might, insisting he has always leaned on that power and is helpless without it. Sasuke appears within the mindscape, startling both, and recognises the Nine-Tails as the wellspring of Naruto's strength. The beast marvels that a Sharingan lets him see inside, and likens Sasuke to Madara Uchiha of old, only for Sasuke to burst its chakra, dismiss the name, and warn it not to kill Naruto. Waking in the real world, Naruto returns to normal as Yamato forces the katana out with Wood Release and tries to cage Sasuke in a wooden dome, which he shatters, leaving Team Kakashi awed by how far his power has grown.