I'm super excited about this new chapter, and the ones that will follow soon after. We're really getting into the climax of this story, and I hope y'all enjoy!

As always, I do not own Naruto or any affiliated stories/merchandise.

Chapter 10: Clash

"What is this place? Is Sarada okay in there? She's alive, but that doesn't mean she's not hurt, right? Is Naruto still mad at me? Dammit Sakura, focus!"

As she dashed towards the cave where a fight awaited, Sakura felt all of her thoughts rushing through her head like surges of chakra that were attacking her conscience. She was about to go up against an incredibly strong foe - a godly one, at that - and yet yet she couldn't focus at all on the battle ahead. Her motherly instinct was clouding the elite wherewithal she had acquired as a shinobi, and her thoughts about Naruto were only adding to her mental fog.

"He's coming."

She snapped back to the scene in front of her at Naruto's warning. Following her teammate's eyes, she looked up as a small hole in space began to grow. Once it reached the size of a human, the two Konoha shinobi watched as Kawaki stepped out.

Naruto stared intently at the young man. His heart betrayed him as he immediately felt a rush of empathy for the boy, even though he had prepared himself for the worst.

"Kawaki," Naruto started, making sure his voice didn't catch. "Is it...is it you?"

The Otsutsuki vessel stared down at the two adults glaring up at him, floating in air for a while before answering the question. "How sad this must be for you, Seventh Hokage," he said as a grin formed in one corner of his mouth. "You used to be close with the boy who once lived in this body, if I recall correctly. A pity, really, that you would still hold out hope of him being alive."

Naruto swallowed as he came to terms with that which all of the intel had already told him was true. Kawaki was gone, and the boy he once treated like a son was now a vessel for the greatest threat to his world.

"You won't get away this time, Isshiki," Naruto started as he began gathering chakra in his feet. "Sasuke...Hinata...now Kawaki...they won't have died in vain."

Sakura glanced at Naruto, then back at their enemy, wondering what exactly was going through Naruto's mind.

Isshiki simply continued to hover in his same airspace, unphased by Naruto's words. "I don't intend to escape from you this time, Hokage," he said coyly. "I intend to put an end to this here. I can't have you interfering with my plans any longer. You will end up just like your wife and your friend soon enough."

Without a word, Sakura sprung into the air towards Isshiki. She unleashed a punch so quickly that it nearly took her enemy by surprise. Isshiki was able to block it, but the sheer force of the chakra from Sakura's fist sent Isshiki flying back to the ground. However, he managed to land on his feet relatively smoothly.

"I nearly forgot how strong you are from our last battle," he said as he straightened his back and locked eyes with the pink-haired ninja. "Fast, too. But not fast enough."

Suddenly, two chakra rods grew at his sides and he launched them towards Sakura. Naruto, able to match the Otsutsuki's speed, sent an arm of nine-tails chakra flying in front of Sakura to block the attack. The giant orange hand grabbed the chakra rods, which immediately began sucking his chakra. He threw them back towards Isshiki, who shrunk them down and put them at his sides once again.

"Thanks, Naruto," Sakura said quickly without taking her eyes off of their opponent.

"Don't thank me yet," Naruto shouted as Isshiki immediately launched another attack at them. This time, he shrunk himself down to the point that they could not see him. Without any visual prowess of their own, Naruto and Sakura were ill-equipped to handle this power of Isshiki's. The Otsutsuki appeared right behind Naruto, performing a round-house kick that sent Naruto flying through the bottom of a tree.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted as her teammate grunted from the hit. Her attention was immediately back to Isshiki, who had disappeared once again. This time, he reappeared in front of her, sending a punch towards her face that she was able to block just in time. She dodged several more of his punches and kicks before he disappeared again, reappearing above her and kicking her down into the ground.

Isshiki peered at the two Konoha ninja, already having dealt them significant blows. "Perhaps this will be faster than I thought," he stated as he walked toward where Sakura lay.

A loud noise stopped him in his tracks. He turned around to see the roof of the cave being blown open. Slowly through the rubble, he was able to see Boruto flying out of the top. Before Isshiki could react, Boruto was in front of him. The blonde ninja unleashed a punch that sent Isshiki up into the air, as he quickly pursued after him for a followup attack.

Sarada followed as quickly as she could out of the top of the cave where the hole was blown open. She looked into the sky and was able to see the two Otsutsuki vessels grappling in midair. She then turned her attention to the ground, where she could see her mother laying in a small crater.

"Mom!" she shouted as she leapt down from where she stood. She immediately squatted next to her mother and assessed the damage.

"I'm okay, Sarada," Sakura said with a tinge of pain that she was trying to hide. "I wouldn't go down this easily," she assured her daughter with a slight smile.

Suddenly, Naruto landed next to them, having recovered from his blow already. "Are you okay, Sakura-chan?" he asked, intently focused on her face.

Sakura felt a sudden warmth at Naruto's concern for her. In an attempt to conceal her feelings, she laughed. "You two need to stop worrying about me," she scoffed. "More importantly, what just happened? Was that Boruto that just took out Isshiki?"

Sarada looked back up into the sky, where the two vessels were barely visible in the distance.

"Uhhh...yeah, about that," she started. She was afraid that the two adults would not approve of her haphazard plan to get them out of this situation. "So, I may have told Boruto to let Momoshiki take over his body."

"You what?!" Sakura exclaimed. "Why would you do that?! Now there are two Otsutsuki that we have to worry about!"

"I know that, but hear me out!" Sarada shouted in response. "Listen, Kawa- I mean, Isshiki, told us what he's planning. He intends to use Boruto as his next backup vessel by transferring Boruto's karma to his own. He also wants to take my eyes to get the rinnegan. So, I figured, if Boruto let Momoshiki take over his body, he would fight back!"

Sakura continued to glare daggers into her daughter's eyes, but Naruto spoke up. "You know, that was actually pretty smart. I don't know that you would've gotten out otherwise."

Sakura looked up at the hokage. "But what if he can't control it? What if Boruto can't come back?"

Naruto continued to stare at Boruto and Kawaki fighting in the sky. "He's my son, he won't be consumed by Momoshiki easily," he said confidently.

Meanwhile, the two Otsutsuki vessels grappled in the air. Isshiki was caught completely off guard by the sudden entrance of the two young shinobi. He was certain he had given them no means of escape, especially not with their current abilities. However, the more attacks Boruto threw at him, the more he began to realize that it was not Boruto he was fighting. He continued dodging attacks from the Konoha ninja until he was able to land a kick to his opponent's stomach that sent him flying backwards.

"So, you've come out to play this time. Is that right Momoshiki?"

"You intended to kill me as part of your plan, Isshiki," Momoshiki finally spoke. "For your own gain, you were going to erase me. That is something I cannot forgive."

Isshiki let a small grin overtake one side of his mouth. "Unfortunately, you are inconsequential, Momoshiki. All other Otsutsuki are inconsequential to me, until I have the power to defeat Kaguya."

Momoshiki began to laugh, a laugh that made Isshiki's blood curdle on the inside. "But you don't have the power to defeat Kaguya, do you? That's why you need the rinnegan, to obtain that power." Isshiki's grin quickly disappeared. Momoshiki continued. "You don't even have enough power to defeat me, even in my current state. Well, we're both on our only surviving vessel now. Let's end this right here, and see who deserves the opportunity to continue living!"

Momoshiki lunged toward his fellow Otsutsuki, preparing to strike a fatal blow. Isshiki put his hands up to block it, when suddenly Momoshiki stopped in his tracks and began to shutter. The karma mark that was covering his body quickly zipped back to Boruto's hand, and he went unconscious, hurdling to the ground.

Isshiki watched as the young blonde crashed into the earth, creating a small crater. He slowly descended himself, until he was standing over the limp body. Boruto, once again in control of his body, slowly regained consciousness and opened his eyes, looking up at the man who was once Kawaki.

"Y-you Otsutsuki...sure can talk a lot…" Boruto muttered with the little strength he had.

"Well this is rather tiring," Isshiki responded coldly. "You may become more trouble than your worth, young vessel. Perhaps I should look elsewhere for a new karma bearer, and simply end you right now."

Isshiki raised a chakra rod over Boruto's chest. "Yes, I think that's the best course of action. It will save me a lot of headaches."

Boruto stared at him with one eye open, heart racing but remaining calm on the outside. "Fine, do it," he said with whatever courage he had. "At least then I won't become one of you."

Isshiki smiled a bit and closed his eyes. "Very well then. I will grant your wi-"

Suddenly, Isshiki's body started trembling, and the chakra rod fell to the ground. He was frozen mid-speech, unable to move a single muscle willingly. Slowly, his mouth began to move again.

"B-B-Boruto...get...away."

Boruto laid there in shock, realizing that Kawaki managed to utter a warning from deep within the conscience of his now Otsutsuki-owned mind. Boruto suddenly felt a warm chakra enveloping him, and he looked down to see Naruto's nine-tailed chakra arm picking him up and pulling him back.

"Boruto…" Naruto spoke as his eyes stayed locked on Kawaki's shaking body. "Are you...y'know…"

"Yes, it's me dad," Boruto said with a slight eye roll back to his father. "But Kawaki...he's still in there. He's not gone yet."

"What just happened?" Naruto asked urgently.

Boruto looked back to the spot where Kawaki stood. "He saved me. Isshiki was going to kill me, but Kawaki fought back."

Naruto gritted his teeth. This made the whole situation infinitely more complicated. If Kawaki was truly gone, then Naruto wouldn't hesitate to go all out in this fight. However, knowing that Kawaki's life was still a factor sent a pit into Naruto's stomach, causing him to second guess his entire battle strategy.

Finally, Kawaki's body began to straighten out again, and the trembling came to a stop. He looked over to where Naruto, Boruto, Sakura, and Sarada were grouped together. It was a stare that made it all too clear to the Konoha shinobi that Isshiki was back in charge of the vessel.

"Well," Isshiki began, "I apologize for the interruption. I can promise that it won't happen again."

Naruto knew in his heart that this wasn't true. Kawaki's will is even stronger than Naruto had anticipated, and despite Isshiki's monstrous strength, Kawaki is still fighting for his own survival. While Naruto's emotions were completely in flux, he tried to steady his mind to come up with a new plan of attack.

He initially came here with the intent to kill Isshiki, believing that Kawaki truly was already gone. However, given what he had just learned, he wanted to take both of them alive. The glaring issue with that being the fact that they were barely a match for Isshiki even when they were going all out. If they were going to capture Kawaki alive, then they had to hold back. And holding back against such a formidable opponent seemed like a death sentence.

P/N: I promise the next chapter will come soon, as I'm already about halfway done with it. Sorry to leave this chapter in the middle of the battle, I just thought it made sense to break it up a bit.