Naruto Gojo(Discontinued)

23

Chapter 23

The blackened, sickly lightning of Sasuke’s Cursed Chidori shrieked across the river. He tore a trench through the water’s surface, his yellow eye locked onto the center of Naruto’s chest. 

As Sasuke charged at him, Naruto made a conscious, deliberate choice. He dropped the Infinity guarding his upper body.

He didn't want Sasuke to fail against an invisible concept. He wanted the Uchiha to fail against him.

Sasuke drove his arm forward, throwing his entire body weight behind the thrust, aiming to punch a hole straight through Naruto’s body. 

Naruto shifted his torso a mere fraction of an inch. The black lightning roared past his chest, close enough to singe the fabric of his jacket, but it struck only empty air. Sasuke’s momentum carried him forward, his balance utterly committed to the missed strike.

Before Sasuke could recoil, Naruto’s hand shot up, his fingers clamping down on Sasuke’s extended wrist. He violently yanked the arm forward, pulling Sasuke entirely off balance.

With Sasuke stumbling into his guard, Naruto dropped his hips, rooting his weight to the water beneath his feet. He drove a cursed-energy-reinforced right elbow directly into the tricep of Sasuke’s trapped arm.

A sickening crack echoed over the rushing river.

The Chidori instantly sputtered and died as the radial nerve was crushed. Sasuke screamed, his arm going completely numb. He desperately twisted his hips, throwing a wild, desperate hook. 

Naruto ducked under the wild swing. He released Sasuke’s wrist, shifting his weight to his right leg, and buried a devastating left hook directly into Sasuke’s liver.

The impact folded Sasuke in half. The air rushed from his lungs in a violent spray of saliva and blood. His eyes bulged, the sheer force of the blow disrupting his entire nervous system. Naruto didn't pause. He grabbed the back of Sasuke's collar, hauling him up, and slammed his forehead directly into the bridge of Sasuke’s nose.

Bone crunched. Sasuke was thrown backward, skipping across the surface of the river like a skipped stone before crashing heavily into the rocky shore at the base of Madara's statue.

Naruto stood on the water, lowering his fists. "You swing wide when you're angry," he critiqued, his voice devoid of emotion. "And you telegraph your lightning. It's amateurish."

Sasuke hacked violently, pushing himself up onto his hands and knees. Blood poured from his shattered nose, mixing with the dark purple chakra leaking from his skin. The pain in his arm and abdomen was agonizing, but the humiliation burned hotter.