The scream had come from Yoko who had seen one of the tentacles wrap itself around her husband, sending several spikes into his body.

"Holy!" Naruto exclaimed, about to summon a clone to go help Tadahiro get out of the tentacle while he would go help Sasuke. But before he could form the words to cause his clone to appear the Jūrasetsu-nyo appeared alongside Tadahiro and managed to free him by cutting off a part of the appendage. They set him down gently on the ground and three of them stayed with him, trying to remove the tentacle part while the other seven went back to battling the octopus.

The three had managed to remove some bits and pieces but the suckers were firmly stuck to his body, the spikes wedged inside of him.

Naruto and Hinata watched as Yoko and some sprites hurried onto the field safely. "It's poison," Tadahiro muttered out to Yoko.

The expression on her face was a mix of horror, grief, and anxiety. She couldn't mask her emotions as she looked down at her husband. The poison was already spreading throughout his system from several areas and she didn't know if she would be able to stop it or get rid of it. But what scared her the most was the thought that within minutes he could be dead.

Her hands became clammy before turning numb and she paled slightly as she took in a shuddering breath. She swallowed hard and with a shaking hand, motioned for his summons to lift him.

They placed him on the stretcher the sprites had brought and carried him away from the shore and into the thick of the forest.

She wordlessly rushed after the retreating figures hoping that she could find a way to stop the poison and rid it from her husband's body.

"Hinata," Naruto said seriously as his eyes trailed after the suddenly small looking woman. "Go with her. Maybe you can use your gentle fist to stop the flow of poison from spreading."

The pale eyed girl nodded and ran after the medics while Naruto shifted his gaze to his bestfriends.

x

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Sakura was at Sasuke's side as soon as he had gotten nicked. She had seen the damage done to Tadahiro, and while Sasuke's injury wasn't much, she could already tell that he was poisoned. The wound was swollen and red and it was oozing out blood. "Don't move," she commanded as she hunched over the Uchiha's sitting form. The less he moved, the slower the spread of poison would be.

She summoned a water barrier to defensively surround them while she tried to deal with the poison.

Naruto landed outside their barrier then. "How bad is it?" he asked.

"The spike broke skin," she replied. "And while the wound itself isn't too bad, the poison released into Sasuke's system from the spike's prick can cause severe damage if not taken care of properly."

Naruto stayed silent but nodded his head at the information. Until Sakura could fix Sasuke, he would stay here and provide protection as needed. He would also aid the goddess in any way he could while she fought against Fuzen for the time being. 'Honestly though, we need to get rid of that thing,' he thought as his eyes slid over to Toco. The octopus was down to four limbs now and there were only three of the demons left fighting it. The others had already disappeared from the battlefield after being hurt by the beast. And Naruto couldn't stand it. He was just itching to get rid of the octopus.

"Go kill it," Sasuke muttered out, wincing slightly as Sakura prodded his wound gently.

"You know me too well Teme! Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Two Naruto's appeared at the blonde's side. He instructed them to defend the Uchiha and pinkette and if they could, aid Ame-No-Mi Kumari against Fuzen before taking off towards Toco. It was time this beast fell once and for all.

x

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x

"Sorry," Sakura apologized as Sasuke winced again. The wound was throbbing under her fingertips and the surrounding skin felt insanely hot.

She dumped all the contents of her pouch onto the ground and looked through all the antidotes. They all seemed promising in stopping the poison, but she was sure that it wouldn't be a cure all. At most, it'll probably break down some components of the toxin itself and slow it down, but it won't get rid of it.

Her hand fumbled over a few syringes and vials before she picked up a syringe filled with clear liquid. Slowing it down and destroying some of its components would at least be better than having it spread considerably and causing damage. And it'll give her some time to actually work on extracting the poison. She would have to use the same method she used on Kankuro in the past which would be quite painful.

She let out a breath to calm herself and injected the liquid into the wound, letting it take its course through Sasuke's body. Her emerald orbs met his mismatched ones. "Extracting the poison is going to be painful," she honestly told him. He nodded his head in understanding and Sakura gently eased him onto his back so she could get to work. She scanned his whole body looking for disturbances in his chakra. When she found the source, she made an incision near it and using whatever medicinal fluid she had in her pouch, pushed it through the incision.

Sasuke hissed at the pain and Sakura bit at her lip in response. She knew the process was extremely painful, but it was the only way to fully get the poison out. He started to writhe in pain, his body twisting slightly this way and that. The pinkette couldn't stop the process to ease him.

She let down the barrier she had put up and called for the blonde clone nearest them. "Hold him down," she said. The blonde nodded and came over to restrain the dark-haired male. She refrained from looking at the Uchiha as she continued on. Finally, after what seemed like forever, a large volume of medicinal fluid emerged from the incision with a large amount of dark liquid suspended within it.

Sasuke lifted his head slightly to look at the liquid through sweat soaked bangs. "Is that all of it?"

"I believe so," Sakura replied. She scanned through his body again to make sure there were no more disturbances in his chakra. "But just in case it wasn't, I'll be taking some of the poison to examine and breakdown so I can create an antidote." She took an empty vial and filled it with some of the poison. She placed it in her pouch along with the other items she had dumped out onto the ground. The clone left them then and headed back into the battle.

With softened eyes, she brushed Sasuke's sweaty bangs from his face before healing any damage done to him. When his wound finally closed, she allowed him to sit up while she took a couple seconds to regain some energy.

Within a minute they were already back in the heat of the battle. The goddess had managed to destroy one of Fuzen's skeletal fins and currently, the Naruto clones were aiming a Rasengan at his huge tail.

"Susano'o!" The purple humanoid materialized on the field with Sasuke and Sakura inside.

"Oho, interesting," Fuzen commented as he stared up at the avatar towering above him.

A purple arrow from Susano'o was sent flying towards the demon whale, lodging itself deep into the middle of his forehead. It had caused several large and deep cracks to the demon's head. In response, Fuzen sent a blast of densely, compacted water their way. They immediately moved to the side, dodging the blast.

"Sakura," the goddess called as she neared the pinkette. The damage done to Fuzen by Susano'o's arrow had sparked an idea. And if they could get this just right, then they would be rid of this beast forever. But the energy required for this would possibly get rid of the jewel forever. She took one look around at the destruction that had laid waste to her land and her people. It was time to put an end to it all. "Looks like I still have one more thing to teach you," she told the pinkette. Ame-No-Mi Kumari turned to Sasuke then. "Can you keep him busy?"

The Uchiha nodded right as Sakura made her way out of Susano'o to join the goddess.

Without a word, he left them and joined his blonde friend's clone who had already managed to rid the whale of half a tail.

"What is it?" Sakura asked curiously as they took cover.

"It's something," the goddess answered. "I've never used this before; but I have seen it being used...by an old relative of mine centuries ago during a time where there were no clear leaders of the lands. It rid our world of some of the most destructive souls; those hell-bent on war, dominion, slavery, and poverty." She looked at the pink-haired shinobi. "This is one of the highest ranked spell a caster can ever use. And one I won't be able to do on my own." Emerald orbs looked at her seriously. "It's energy consuming," the goddess continued on. "Those shards inside of you will probably disintegrate."

It took a small moment for Sakura to respond. "Tell me what it is." Regardless of the energy drain and other effects that may come, she was ready to end this. It may have been an unexpected bump in the road of her life —traveling to another world to fight a war for a goddess —but no matter how she ended up here, she could only think that it was destined to be a part of her life's story.

"Very well." The goddess went over the spell with her and about how they both were going to carry it out. It took a few minutes to get everything crammed into her head, but the pinkette was sure that she had it down.

As they came to stand before the beast, they noticed that his body was in bad shape. His tail was completely gone, his body was cracking in half, and all he had left was one fin that helped to keep him sort of afloat. And yet, he was still cocky as ever. Confident that no matter how much they hurt him, he would still destroy them and come out on top. "Heh, what more can you do to me?" he questioned with a chuckle. "I will not die for I am almost as death itself."

Sakura motioned for Sasuke and Naruto, who had joined them after literally ripping Toco to shreds, to fall back from the battle. When they did, she gestured for them to head for cover. The Uchiha silently questioned her with his eyes and she answered back with small gestures of her own.

The range of this attack was going to be huge and quite nasty. She wanted them out of the way and far away where there would be no chance of them getting injured.

Emerald eyes followed them till they were out of sight before sliding back to land on the demon before them.

"Almost being the keyword," Ame-No-Mi Kumari commented. "Allow us to introduce you to death."

He chuckled at them.

"Luso Erepar!" They both shouted.

With arms outstretched, a swirling beam of bright light came forth. The beam produced a ghastly cloaked creature with a scythe. It headed straight for Fuzen's forehead where Susano'o's purple arrow was lodged and shot right through the skeletal whale's body, drawing out whatever soul was there.

The goddess and pinkette watched as a large ball of energy dangled on the scythe, secured in its place. "Fuzen's soul," Ame-No-Mi Kumari stated as the skeletal body of the whale crumbled into the ocean.

"Luso Est'ditrucino!" The soul was thrown into the air from the scythe and out of the cloaked creature's chest came what could only be described as a reptilian wolf.

The scaly body, dark as night, flew up into the air after the soul. With its fangs, it devoured the ball of energy, snarling here and there as it's body glowed orange as if on fire. Once the light faded, the wolf retreated, coming back to be absorbed by the cloaked creature.

Once the cloaked being was whole again, the goddess and pinkette released the spell and fell to the sand in exhaustion. Wearily, the pinkette watched as the jewel shards in her wrists disintegrated into a glowing dust beneath her skin. "I guess that's it huh?" she murmured slightly disappointed that it was gone. She had just started getting used to it being a part of her.

The goddess hid a small smile. She said the shards would disintegrate, but she never did say that all the jewel's power would be gone. It did after all turn into a dust in Sakura's body. Now, remnants of it was just flowing freely throughout her form.

Naruto and Sasuke emerged from their spots then, their eyes taking in everything around them.

"Man," the blonde began, gaining their attention. "What a mission." He crossed his arms behind his head as his eyes landed on Sakura. "We won the war," he said down to her, a big, toothy smile on his face, "and the jewel is safe too. But," he said, as one hand came to rest on his stomach. "I could really go for some Ichiraku ramen," he mumbled.

Ignoring the blonde, The Uchiha noticed the slight sadness in the pinkette's demeanor.

"Yeah, the jewel's safe…" she trailed off, staring at her wrists.

The sudden noise of a horn being blown echoed throughout the area. It was the signal of victory.

Various shouts of joy could be heard from all around them.

"Thank you," the goddess managed to whisper to Sakura right as the remaining troops came bustling onto the shore.

Soul reaper = Luso Erepar

Soul Destruction = Luso Est'ditrucino