Naruto held back far too long for the fight actually be an all out fight. Only when they were both out of chakra and had to resort to old fashioned fisticuffs have you they ever been really equal.
Chapter 695: Naruto hates the fact that they're fighting in the first place and is only defending himself. When PS and his Bjiū Mode clash, he is visibly upset, and when Sasuke calls him on his lack of interest in fighting him, Naruto simply tells him he doesn't want to fight.
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
Chapter 696: Sasuke once agains call Naruto on his lack of killing intent and the latter once again reiterates he doesn't want to kill him. In a battle of between top tier shinobi, fighting without the intent to kill, even if that isn't the goal, is dangerous, and yet Naruto remains adamant about defending himself whilst trying to talk Sasuke out of what he is doing (to no avail). It takes Sasuke having to use the chakra of the nine bijū to finally motivate Naruto to start fighting seriously.
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
Chapter 697: Naruto and Sasuke go at one another using mostly taijutsu. Once could surmise Naruto is intent on breaking him physically without killing him, but we can tell he is taking it seriously. In this chapter, Yin Kurama confirms something we have already suspect for a while: Naruto's chakra was low from the get-go due to nonstop fighting in the war against: 100K White Zetsu (on and off screen), numerous Edo Tensei (on and off screen), Obito, 5 bijū, Madara, Jūbi Jinchūriki Obito, Jūbi Jinchūriki Madara, Kaguya, and finally Sasuke. All this fighting combined with the fact he divided his chakra amongst the 40K or so survivors and had his bijū extracted from him and temporarily died (the extraction alone exhausted Kushina to near death) - this all paints a clear picture, one that shows Naruto was undeniably at a disadvantage from the very beginning.
You must be registered for see images
Last edited: