Chapter Text
The two Uchiha attack the group facing them with greats waves of fire. The Juubi goes still after a great echoing scream. The stillness is just as foreboding as when it was under the control of Obito and Madara.
She, Karin, and Sakura of the Konoha faction run through handseals rapidly, several Kiri members (including Haku and Zabuza) doing the same. Each of them block or douse the powerful flames as best they can, protecting the rest of the forces with suiton. Naruto and Kurama's chakra protect the rest from any errant flames.
Madara manifests the form of his susano'o around himself while Obito uses his own kamui to sput out intense waves of kunai. The bulk of the attack is aimed at members of the medical corps. Clicking her tongue Naruto forces the chakra surrounding them to rise up and block the kunai. Once they're protected, Naruto wipes sweat from her chin, panting.
Her breather doesn't last long, Kakashi crying out, "Naruto! Above!"
Naruto only looks up after spearing chains upward, grabbing hold of a temporarily solid Obito and slamming him into the ground with them- hard. He gets back up, phasing through the chains and looking at her with a deep malice, "You're only defending if you're protecting everyone. Do you truly think that will help?"
"You okay, Naruto" Kurama asks, "It's too much to try and control the chakra you've given everyone at once- you'll get worn out right away. Not only that, but it looks like the Juubi is storing up chakra, so be careful," Naruto continues to pant. Kurama's right- she's getting tired. However...
"You'll just continue to grow weaker," Obito continues.
However... Naruto still feels strong! "You like being alone, so you probably wouldn't understand," Naruto grins, wiping more sweat from her face and charging at Obito with her metal chains charges with wind chakra... just like Asuma showed her, "Having everyone close to me makes me happy, dattebayo! That's enough to give me power!" She flings the kunai ended chain toward Obito, who vanishes back into the kamui space, and the empowered weapons cleaves through the land.
Kiba and Akamaru, who were trying to do a pincer maneuver, stop dead as the very earth is cut, "Damn, he got away again!"
Obito appears again, behind her this time, standing on a large piece of rock that's been kicked up by the battle, "If you think the pain of your friends' deaths are a form of bond, then why do you continue to protect them?"
Naruto sneers. That bastard is deliberately obtuse! "You're just being... pe- pu- pediatric!" Naruto shouts, ("Did she mean pedantic?") "You're so annoying! Your reasoning is stupid! You know that I meant that I'll stand any pain for them! I'm not giving up on them!"
Naruto points at him, screaming her head off while placing a hand over her heart, "Maybe I'm just selfish, but not having my friends here is the most painful thing, 'ttebayo!"
That's when Naruto feels it. Four powerful signatures, two of which are so incredibly familiar, are coming this way. She's only felt one of those two once... but its feeling is engraved in her memory- in her own feelings.
The Juubi lets out a cry, shaking the earth with the power of it. Naruto and several others clap their hands over their ears. It's painful, how loud it is, and Kurama tries to warn her within the seal space where the noise isn't quite so rattling, "This is bad, Naruto!" He shouts, "It's going to use the Tenpen Chii!"
"What the hell is that?"
Kurama doesn't get a chance to reply, the Juubi letting out another scream that even penetrates the seal and forces her out. Lighting is among suddenly gathered clouds... the heavens. That's what Kurama meant! The second thing she notices is Kakashi is face to face with Obito, the power around them swirling. They're both using the kamui and Kakashi's chakra is fading along with Obito's, "Kakashi!" She screams.
While he has chakra from Kurama, fighting Obito alone in a place she can't get to is unacceptable.
"I leave this to you, Hime!" Kakashi calls and then they're both gone.
The power of the lightning rains down on the battlefield, forcing a distraught Naruto to act quickly. He chains are useless against such powerful lightning chakra, but Kurama's chakra isn't. Using all of her strength, Naruto protects everyone imbued with their chakra as tornadoes begins to form and tears across the land next. She quickly runs out of power herself, but everyone is safe.
Her arm is bleeding heavily and Kurama's not got the juice to heal it as rapidly as he normally would be able to. It's deep enough that not even her Uzumaki vitality would heal something like this immediately.
She should be dead... but the chakra of all nine bijuu have stood with and protected her.
The Juubi cries out again, standing in a pose with hands clapped together as it's previously think body begins to swell and ripple. It's a disgusting sight, like someone has gegun to pump the massive bijuu full of fluids and steroids. It kinda reminds her of Jugou's ability.
Naruto collapses to one knee, trying to staunch her bleeding. Her haori, thanks to her seals, survived the onslaught, but her shinobi blues are falling into tatters, exposing the shinobi mesh underneath. She can't hold the power of the chakra on the others anymore and she can feel Kurama pacing within the seal with anxiety.
"So this was the most you could do..." Madara remarks, "I already found something else to enjoy... It's time to take care of you then-!"
Madara's words are cut off as a wall of shinobi puts themselves between Naruto and Madara. There's several familiar backs to her. Zabuza and Haku of Kiri, Temari of Suna, Omoi and Karui of Kumo, and all of her friends from Konohagakure.
The chakra signatures are getting closer too.
At the front of the walls of shinobi stands Hinata, hair blowing in the wind like a cape, "Everyone! Join forces!" She shouts.
Karin and Sakura are on her, Naruto's wounds healing under their careful hands. Everyone has come together and are ready to boldy face the threat before them even without the power of the Kyuubi to protect them.
"Karin," Naruto breaths, making a clone, "Go with this clone, 'ttebayo. The Kage are still alive and need a medic. Granny's got a hiraishin marker, so my clone will... take you,"
"But Naruto-sama-!" Karin protests. As much as she wants to go to her master, she can't leave her cousin and clan head here. She'd never forgive herself. But Said head is having none of it.
"No, Karin," Naruto grunts, "This is an order. Granny is family and our Hokage, dattebayo. The clone'll pop the second you arrive, so don't count on it for a ride back,"
Karin's face scrunches up, throwing her arms around her clan head, "You better stay alive! Sakura, take care of Naruto-sama!" Karin sobs, "I'll be back as fast as I can!"
Sakura nods seriously, still healing the wounded Naruto, "You can count on me, Karin," She's still reeling from seeing Kakashi vanish personally, but there's no time to spare for worry. Kakashi is strong and he wouldn't let them down.
Naruto's clone and Karin vanish in a flash, leaving Naruto resting and trying to recoup chakra by having chakra recovery water- much less harsh and slower than a soldier pill- poured down her throat and Sakura healing her injuries.
He's almost here- they're almost here.
"You feel them, don't you Naruto?"
The Juubi's body has begun to swell further, it's mouth contorting and expanding wide as something like a bud begins to form in the horrific cavern of its mouth. It splits like a wet seed, peeling back layers of itself.
Soon enough, it looks something like a refflesia flower, a massive bijuudama dama expanding out of the bloom. The only prayer they would have of stopping that is to move it away, and Naruto's not recovered enough to move something that big with the hiraishin just yet. Despite its grand size, Naruto knows it's aimed directly for her. It wants Kurama and Gyuuki and the chakra of the other bijuu inside her.
Sakura takes a deep breath behind her, "We can't hesitate! Naruto-chan is doing everything she can! It was clear from her words...! She's even sent off a medic for our Kage! She considers all us her comrades!" Sakura shouts at the frighted army, her voice carrying with the wind and bouncing off debris, "I'm going to make sure she has a full recovery! Everyone must do whatever is in their power! If we're going to die anyway- let's die fighting! We are Ninja! We are the ones who endure!"
Naruto turns her head, beaming at her friend and teammate. Then, shortly after Sakura's finished her plea, Ino's chakra and Shikamaru's voice enters her head. They do their fathers proud with their strength, Shikamaru's plan echoing over the whole of the army, even to Naruto who can't move much right now.
However, she does let him know, "Reinforcements are on their way, Shikamaru. We just gotta hold out, 'ttebayo,"
She can sense his confusion across the battlefield, but there's no time for explanations. Every single person, earth natured or not, brings up an earth wall, creating layers upon layers to slow the attack down. Thanks to everyone's efforts and Sakura's healing hands, Naruto's nearly recovered.
They just need to hold on a little longer.
The bijuudama fires, barrelling through the blockade one layer at a time, but it slows significantly. Bee takes on Gyuuki's form, slowing it down further but it's incredibly strong. Bee and Gyuuki hold the line impressively, keeping it from continuing despite the break of the final wall.
Within a blink of an eye, the bijuudama is gone.
Naruto smiles at the hiraishin kunai- that is not one of her own- sticks into the ground and a Yellow Flash of hair and a billowing haori appears.
"Hi, Daddy" Naruto grins, "You're right on time, 'ttebayo,"
"Is that really-?!" Sakura gasps as the man before she and Naruto stands at full height. There's a loud explosion in the distance, toward the ocean, meaning that the bijuudama has been carried safely away. But honestly, Sakura is more shocked at seeing the Yondaime, Naruto's father, here.
Even as far into the sea as the Yondaime sent it, the shock wave is still felt, blowing more debris and dust, forcing people to brace.
When he turns around, Sakura sees clearly the eyes of the Edo Tensei, though he's not looking at her but at Naruto. Those eyes tear up as he takes in the image of his daughter, but with all the problems Edo Tensei have caused, Sakura is not about to let him close. He could be an enemy reanimation.
Sakura steps squarely around Naruto, bocking her friend with her body and prepared to take attacks from the damned Yondaime of all people. Naruto better know Sakura loves her for this! She keeps an eye on the man over her shoulder, but his smile only gets happier, more pleased.
"I'm not an enemy," He smiles, "Thank you for caring for my precious daughter...?"
Sakura swallows, meeting eyes with Naruto, who nods, so she moves back to her original position, "Haruno Sakura, Sir,"
"What a lovely name! Are you Naruto's friend?"
Sakura and Naruto both nod, Naruto answer, "One of my best and my teammate, dattebayo!"
Minato smiles at the young women, his gaze softening as he looks at Naruto, "You've really grown up haven't you, Naruto?"
Naruto throws up a victory sign, grinning at her father. Soon enough, the four other Hokage arrive on the battlefield. Senju Hashirama and Tobirama and even Hiruzen is here. Naruto frowns, checking her senses and finding that her connection to the temple wards has been disturbed. Someone stole one of their masks.
"You're fast as always, Minato-kun," Hiruzen remarks.
Tobirama slides to a stop, "Your hiraishin is perhaps better than mine,"
"Let us begin!" Hashirama cries out loudly.
Several of the ninja nearest to their arrival begin exclaiming all about in surprise and amazement, "Who used the Edo Tensei on them?!" One of Naruto's fellow Leaf Shinobi questions loudly.
Hiruzen replies, "Orochimaru summoned us. we've come to help stop this war!" Naruto makes a face. Oh yeah, she's going to beat that snake bloody for stepping foot in her temple and putting his creepy hands all over her sacred masks. As far as she knew, he was dead, but she did sense his chakra appear again some time ago. At the time, he was a small fish in a big pong of trouble, so she didn't think he'd wind up being a major player in this war.
Still, can sense more help incoming, "More are coming," She smiles, "They'll be a bit late though,"
"I WAS WAITING FOR YOU," Madara shouts from a rock formation made from the earth walls, "HASHIRAMA!"
Hashirama points at Madara, frown deep on his face, "I'LL DEAL WITH YOU LATER!" He declares, "First, I have to stop the Juubi!!
Madara's grin freezes in place, eyes and chakra radiating disbelief. Naruto's sorely tempted to laugh at his stupid ass.Madara huffs a laugh, standing up and sinking his fan into the earth, "You're always the same. I just can't get along with you,"
Naruto stands up, Sakura fussing after her as she walks forward toward the gathered Hokage. Surprisingly, she doesn't walk directly to her father, but the Nidaime. The albino raises a brow at the blonde as she grins up at him.
Minato takes a biiiig step back. He knows that smile and it promises terrible things. She does wear it as terrifyingly and as beautifully as her mother did. Hiruzen very much does the same. While he's sure her father is comparing that wicket grin to Kushina's, Hiruzen actually knows Naruto's temper.
It's not as hot as Kushina's, though it's just as short lived, it shares that burning cold of her father's temper.
"Hi," Naruto greets, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo," Then she rears back her hand fasting than a blink and slaps Tobirama squarely across the face, the sound echoing across the battlefield, "Thanks for the Kagebunshin, but you suck at fuuinjutsu and your Edo Tensei is a bitch,"
Sakura slaps a hand over her mouth, choking back laughter. Naruto has always promised that if she ever got to meet Senju Tobirama, she'd slap him good once.
"Tobirama-sensei!" Hiruzen gasps as Tobirama blinks in shock at this girls audacity. Naruto turns her gaze to Hiruzen next, making the old man shiver.
Naruto grins, "And your students were trash- present company only partially included. Danzo is dead and the other two are under house arrest," She tells Tobirama, then, she merrily skips over to her dad, hugging him then plops before Sakura again, "I'm almost rested up and the Juubi's recovering fast from that last attack," Sakura smacks her in the back of the head once, continuing her work.
Hashirama is laughing his ass off, "She certainly has strong opinions of you Tobirama, Saru!" His laughter stops, facing the Juubi, "That thing is rushing here,"
Minato beams proudly at his girl. She really is strong in both body and mind! She knows herself and has strong opinions and is so good- just like her and Kushina wanted for her. She may have suffered, and have a bit of a temper, but she really is everything he'd dreamed she would be.
"You did well, Naruto," He says, "Your friend is coming and he's on our side... though I am not sure to what degree..." His smile, too, drops when facing the Juubi.
Within Naruto's seal space, Kurama reacts and she can feel him flinching. Naruto can feel it too... Dad didn't come out of the belly of the Shinigami alone.
And what's more, Sasuke is coming. She can feel his rapid approach, but didn't have a hiraishin partner like Hashirama and Hiruzen did. He'll be here soon. Better late than never, the bastard.
"Hokages, let's go!" Hashirama shouts.
Naruto watches as her father takes on a similar jinchuriki form to her, only a bit darker, "Nidaime-sama and Sandaime-sama, come before me," Minato commands. Sakura can feel the awe and surprise pouring off Sakura behind her, the girl gasping.
"So even Minato..." Kurama chuckles within the seal space.
Naruto turns to him, grinning, "Isn't my dad great?!" Naruto cheers, feeling like bragging. With the man being dead, Naruto never really got the chance to brag about how cool he was/is and Kurama is an audience that can't run away.
"I know that better than you! He's the one that sealed me within you, remember?"
Minato, Hiruzen, and Tobirama, rubbing his cheek, all flash away, leaving Naruto and Sakura with Hashirama. His chakra is overall a pleasant one, reminding her a bit of Yamato, but it's like a part of it is missing. Sensing Madara's, it's the same way. Their chakra just doesn't seem whole. It's not a product of their rival through the Edo Tensei as none of the others she's sensed that she knew felt like this.
Still, even with pieces of his chakra missing, he's incredibly powerful. He enters his own version of Sage Mode easily, joining Naruto's father and the other Hokage in creating a barrier and even seals the Juubi down with a similar seal to the one Naruto learned after taking in Kurama's chakra for the first time.
Naruto envies the barrier a bit. As a fuuinjutsu mistress and Uzumaki, such a powerful barrier is a thing of awe and envy.
She perks up a bit after the barrier goes up, turning her dead to the side, "Sasuke..."
Her rival lands gracefully, Jugou at his side, among the gathering of Naruto's friends. Sakura grips Naruto's shoulders to a near painful degree when Sasuke comes to a stop. There's a lot of mixed emotions swirling within her, so Naruto pats her friend's fingers, "Sasuke-kun?"
"Late again, Sasuke," Naruto smirks, "You're worse than Kakashi, 'ttebayo,"
"Sakura... Naruto..." Sasuke acknowledges them.
Akamaru growls threateningly everyone in their year glaring harshly at Sasuke- even Ino and Shino. Hinata's the only one with a different facial expression, eyeing Sasuke out of the corner of her eye, not even attempting to conceal her disdain. Naruto winces. Yeah, she didn't figure he'd find many friends here.
"Sasuke-kun," Ino hisses marching forward with the promise of violence, "How dare you show your face here?! Come to help your fellow clansmen take Naruto-chan?!"
Shikamaru stops her by grabbing her shoulder, "Stay back! He's a dangerous enemy!" He warns, his eyes cold as he glares at Sasuke. They may be troublesome, but he's made two of his best female friends cry and caused a lot of pain. He joined the organization that killed Asuma and is trying to kill Naruto by giving the Kyuubi to the Juubi.
Sasuke's eyes are cold, however, not as cold as when Naruto last saw him, "You're as noisy as ever,"
Sakura asks through gritted teeth, "Why are you here, Sasuke-kun?" Naruto's somewhat concerned about the wild sway between emotions for Sakura.
"Many things happened... but I've decided to protect the village and become Hokage,"
The shock and outrage that follows Sasuke's statement is a sight to behold. Every ninja from their year looks like they'd happily throttle him to death in the middle of the battlefield. Naruto and Sakura, however, share a look id disbelief then even Sakura's face goes hard.
"A long time Missing-nin shows up and suddenly starts making jokes!" Kiba rages, "Do you even understand what Hokage means, you bastard?!"
Shikamaru's voice is like ice- Haku would be envious- as he raises a cool brow at Sasuke, "I don't know what happened to you, and I don't particularly care, but that's impossible for you. Do you think you would be accepted as Hokage after all you've done? You'll be lucky not to be executed,"
"Do you think that you could erase all the hurt you've caused?" Shino asks.
Sasuke is quiet for a moment, "I know that I can't, but I also don't care what you think," Sasuke replies, "The Kages created this situation. I'll become Hokage and change the village,"
Naruto looks at his back, taking in his chakra. She recalls Itachi's words to her when they last met; 'It's not the Hokage that becomes acknowledged, but the acknowledged that become Hokage'. It's not something Sasuke appears to understand. Itachi left Sasuke for her to handle and that's just what she'll do.
Now fully recovered, Naruo stands moving up to stand beside Sasuke, "I'm the one who will be Hokage, dattebayo. A guy like you couldn't cut it,"
Sakura joins them, pulling on her gloves tightly, "That's for sure. What did we do to deserve a guy like him on our team, Naruto-chan?" Sakura grins tightly, meanly, as she looks at Naruto passed Sasuke.
Sasuke blinks in surprise and Naruto laughs a full body cackle, "That's mean, Sakura-chan. Sasuke can't help he lacks a brain,"
"Let's just go. Keep up, Sasuke-kun- don't hold team seven back again," Sakura snorts. Sasuke's frown deepens, his eye twitching. Then, the three are off the the frontline of battle.
Ino snorts, putting her hands on her hips, "It feels a bit nostalgic, huh Shikamaru?" She says as she watches them go.
Shikamaru sighs, "We have to defeat the enemy in front of us and that bastard will be helpful... we'll just deal with him after. There's no way he's becoming Hokage,"
"It's been a long time since we've all been together," Choji remarks, "Reminds me of the first Chuunin exams,"
Kiba stomps, "I'm the one who will become Hokage, damn it!" He shouts at their backs, "Hey are you listening?!"
Shino sighs, "No one is listening, Kiba. Why? Because it has impact when they say it,"
Hinata smiles, "I'm listening to you Kiba-kun, but I think Naruto-chan is the best for the job. The Hyuuga will leave Konoha before I see Uchiha Sasuke in that hat," She scoffs.
The three original members of team seven jump onto a rocky platform made from the destroyed earth walls from before. Naruto stands in the middle, throwing up her arms with a grin, "Let's get it!" She exclaims!
"One moment!" Hashirama interrupts. Inside the barrier, the Juubi takes on that form again, the rafflesia one, as it forms another massive bijuudama. Naruto takes a hiraishin in hand, preparing to do as her father had done if the barrier fails.
She watches as the barrier bubbles out, expanding with the force of the bijuudama, then like a steam pipe, it thins back out and dust and steam escape from the top of the barrier high into the sky. Once the dust clears, the Juubi appears somewhat injured.
"Whoa!" Naruto cheers, "Dad and the other Hokage are amazing!"
Sakura snorts again, "You just slapped the Nidaime, Naruto-chan, and now you're paying him compliments?" Sasuke tosses a baffled look Naruto's way.
"Just because he sucks at fuuinjutsu doesn't mean he's not a strong guy, dattebayo," Naruto huffs in reply.
Below, the Shodaime creates several wood clones, each relaying his intentions to the rest of the allied shinobi forces, "I will create openings on the four sides of the barrier so that shinobi may enter. Come with me!" His clones relay, "Okay go, youngsters!"
The second openings are made, everyone rushes, in with a united shout. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke lead the charge for their side, leading their fellow former rookie nine into the fray. Naruto's got a hiraishin marker on all of them except Sasuke. He'd notice if she tried putting one on him now, so she'll have to wait for a chance.
Little copies pop out of the pinned Juubi, all in varying shapes and sizes to prevent the army from getting to the main body. Naruto manifests chains from her back, striking out at several of them and attacking with taijutsu for the rest in her reach, "Don't be scared!" She bolsters the army. Sasuke slashes through several as well.
Sakura refuses to fall behind those two. She won't be left behind by them again! The medic strikes out with fists, sending one skidding a large one back. This time, she'll show them her back. The seal appears on her forehead at long last, finally having gathered enough chakra to power it.
"It's filled up... now I don't have to hold back," Sakura smirks as the particularly large Juubi clone stands over her. With a deep breath, a burst of strength wells up inside her and she strikes it hard, blowing a hole through it's torso. It flies backward and between Naruto and Sasuke who look back with wide eyes. Sakura leaps into the air, charging chakra into her fists and alighting her whole body with it as she rushes far up and over her teammates and crashes down with her fist, "SHANNARO!"
The earth explodes under her fist, creating a giant shock wave of earth and Juubi bodies whose pieces fly in all directions. The earth rumbles from her strike.
Naruto trembles at the display. Never. She'll never ever upset Sakura in her life! She'll die. The blonde looks at Sasuke to see if he's just as terrified... Naruto almost laughs. He looks terrified and a little turned on with dark eyes. Gross! But good for Sakura.
"What a beast!" Hashirama exclaims jovially, "She might be worse than Tsuna-chan!"
Sakura chuckles, tossing her short hair, "And I don't even need to try and look young," A particularly large one comes for Sakura in retaliation, but Naruto and Sasuke come to her aid, helping her defeat it, all three of them together. Naruto enters her imperfect jinchuriki mode, throwing a rasenshuriken, while Sasuke cuts with a blade of fire, leaving Sakura to slice with a chakra scalpel that she's formed over her hand before their strikes finish it off.
The monster busts into a massive flame, Sakura leaping back away from it as the flames roar, fed by the wind.
"Thanks for the assist, Naruto-chan... I guess Sasuke-kun too," Sakura grins, getting back to back with her teammates, "I had it handled though. Maybe I'll be the one that becomes Hokage,"
"Oi!" Naruto exclaims, "Sakura-chan, that's not fair!"
On the outside of the barrier, Minato watches with pride. His precious daughter even managed to add change of nature to the rasengan and change its form! He truly wishes Kushina could be here to see this.
Naruto and Sasuke lock eyes. Naruto sees his new eyes, his mangekyo, and it's not like a pinwheel or a kaleidoscope like she's been seeing. They're almost like stars. His flames are also hotter than Itachi's were. He's gotten strong in the time since she's seen him last.
"I won't lose to team seven!" Kiba blusters, "Let's go team eight!"
Hinata smiles, "Yeah! Naruto-chan and Sakura-chan won't be leaving me any further behind,"
"Naruto!" Kiba calls to her, "Don't think you're the only one able to use this jutsu!" Kiba then summons a single shadow clone next to himself and Akamaru.
Naruto is decidedly unimpressed, "Just one?! Even when I was a kid I could-!"
Kibda growls at her, "Just because it's only one extra doesn't mean it's only three times the power! Watch this!" Both Kiba hop on Akamaru's back (poor pup) and form a hand seal together. Suddenly, a massive three headed dog appears after a puff of smoke, roaring at the enemies around. They roll out, spinning and cutting through Juubi clones as they go. Okay, that's sort cool, but Naruto will never tell Kiba of all people that!
Shino follows up with the most gut turning jutsu ever. It's cool but also creepy as hell and Naruto can hear Ino shriek in disgust as giant bugs begin to eat through a Juubi clone.
Hinata's might be the most impressive, running through more than sixty-four palms, well into the hundres as she spins through the battlefield through the Juubi clones, Naruto cheering her on loudly even as she fights through her own enemies. Sakura scolds her to focus.
Sai flies above them directly toward the main body, but is shot down by one of the clones below, "Sai!" Naruto shouts, catching the boy with ehr chains, "Gotcha!" Pulling him down to the rest of team seven, she sets him on his feet, "You okay?"
"I'm okay, Naruto," Sai breaths, "Thank you,"
The enemy continues to multiply, blocking off access to the main body of the Juubi near entirely. There's even bigger once cutting on the way forward, defending the parent with mass and numbers. Naruto's and Kurama haven't saved and kneaded enough new chakra for the perfect jinchuriki form just yet. Sai falls back, joining Ino-Shika-Cho in their combat when the enemy numbers close in on the rest of team seven.
Naruto needs a way over, and they're too big to toss a hiraishin kunai over the top of. Naruto smirks, thinking, 'Gonna need some jumping power, 'ttebayo!' The blonde bites her thumb, Sakura and Sasuke doing the same.
"Kuchiyose!" They shout together. With a massive puff of smoke, three giant summons appear; A giant teal and white slug, a gargantuan orange toad, and a massive blue serpent.
The new generation of the Three-way Deadlock.
Naruto gasps, rubbing the head she stands on, "Gamakichi! You've gotten so big, 'ttebayo!" She cheers, "I thought I was gonna get your Pops!"
"You're pretty glowing yourself! Pop was busy, so I came in his place!" Gamakichi replies, grinning around the cigarette in his mouth, "You surprised, Naruto-chan?! What's the situation?!"
Naruto points forward, "Can you get to that massive thing with one jump?!" The Juubi writhes in Shodaime's restraints. Sarutobi Hiruzen sucks in a shaky breath as the summons appear. It's something he never thought he would see again. A new era really has arrived.
"Go, Aoda!"
"Jump, 'Kichi!"
"Please, Katsuyu-sama!"
Naruto and Gamakichi are high in the air, sailing forward, when Naruto looks back. Katsuyu has divided herself under Sakura's care, crawling all over the battlefield to the injured while Sasuke and his summon charge forward through through.
Some of the clones begin firing at her and Gamakichi as they are in the air. Gamakichi draws his blade while Naruto manifests her chains, repelling the wooden spears as they careen toward them. Once they're in the clear, Naruto praises her friend, "Good job, 'Kichi! You've gotten better on top of bigger, dattebayo!"
"No prob, Naruto-chan! Hurry and prepare 'cause I'm gonna land right on that thing!"
Naruto raises her hand in the air, forming a rasenshuriken in hand. She's counting on Sasuke. Hopefully, he's still dependable that way. He's changed but has he changed that much? One way to find out! "Sasuke!"
Sasuke's susano'o fires a black blazing arrow of the same chakra ratio as Naruto's rasenshuriken, Naruto throwing her rasenshuriken into the blaze and feeding it. The flames explode across the Juubi, the beast screaming as the flames roar across its back. Naruto and Gamakichi land, the blonde grinning as she gives the toad a smooch on the top of the head, "Thanks for the ride, 'Kichi,"
Then, she turns to Sasuke and his summon, shouting, "The bijuu are inside that thing, dattebayo! When it's weakened enough, put out the flames and I'll pull them out!"
Sasuke's expression doesn't change as he replies, "No," He turns his eyes to her, "I'll burn it all down,"
"Sasuke!" Naruto roars, hair dancing around her. This jerk hasn't grown up at all! However, she doesn't have long to get worked up, the Juubi removing the burning parts of itself by... shedding? On top of that, Naruto feels Obito's chakra return, but with no sign of Kakashi. They've not even come close to winning yet. He's right on top of the Juubi, screaming in agony and channeling his chakra in a familiar way.
She won't let him revive Madara!
"You two are the closest!" Hashirama's clone shouts, "Don't let him complete that jutsu!"
Naruto already knows that, Gamakichi leaping into action with her on his head. Sasuke moves forward as well, rising his blue snake up the Juubi's body. Little arms appear out of the monster's limb, grabbing hold of Sasuke's summon who vanishes on Sasuke's order. Sasuke is first up the body and attacking Obito, but Naruto is capable of being faster.
She reaches for the feeling of her dad's old hiraishin marker on him, entering the perfect jinchuriki mode, relying on him not being able to phase in this state. Once she's behind him, she uses another to slash his back, then comes face-to-face with her father on the other side of Obito doing the same. All at once Naruto remembers that, if Kakashi and Obito were genin teammates, then he was her father's student.
"Sen...sei..." Obito wheezes, half of his face and body covered in a familiar blackness- Zetsu. He must have escaped Chojuro.
Her dad's eyes widen, despair and shock ringing through his chakra like temple bells, "Obito...?" He gasps, "Was it you...?"
Naruto and her dad both stand up from Obito's body as the man collapses on the ground. His chakra is still thrumming strong, so he's not dead. Naruto wraps him in chains, ready to bind him in an array of seals. Each of his limbs is bound with strong gravity and paralysis fuuinjutsu first. As she extends the chains to seal his eyes with a blinder seal, Obito speaks, "How can you be so sure the war would end?"
There's a shift in the axis of Naruto's senses. Naruto can't sense the Juubi but could sense Obito and the bijuu, nonetheless, Obito becomes fuzzier to her rapidly and the Juubi is shrinking... more accurately... it's being absorbed. Naruto's stomach drops as the seals she's already place on Obito's limbs break with the sound of glass shattering, "Move!"
Naruto throws another hiraishin kunai while grabbing her dad and Sasuke, flashing to it and grabbing it in her mouth before it can hurt Gamakichi who she's chosen to land them on, "He blocked Madara's attempt at controlling him because this is what he wanted from the start!" Naruto shouts to the men as Gamakichi backs up, "He's made himself the Juubi's jinchuriki!"
Naruto looks on with horror as Obito's chakra mingles with that the the bijuu that make of the Juubi. She felt them all go inside Obito. His body has completely changed, becoming entirely white and mutating. Part of his body is covered in scales, where the plant-like parts were. Out of his back have sprouted ten flat sharp looking scales that stand up from his flesh. There's nine magatama the sit below a series of circles that sit over a line over the expanse of his back between the raised scales.
His hair has gone white as well and his eyes are filled with a blank sort of madness.
Gamakichi lands turning around to watch alone with those on his head, staring at a floating Obito.
"He's the Juubi's jinchuriki?" Sasuke stares at his distant cousin with wide eyes, "How can you tell?!"
"Obito..." Her father's voice shakes.
Naruto's heart lurches as the feelings of the Bijuu become smothered by Obito's and the Juubi's null of nature, "I became friends with the bijuus! I received chakra from almost all of them, that's why I could feel it happening!" Naruto replies, "I sensed their chakra enter Obito and I've seen that resurrection jutsu before, 'ttebayo! The seals he used are different! He was doing a jutsu to become a jinchuriki from the start!"
"I see..." Sasuke says.
A torii gate falls from the sky on top of Obito, focing him face first into the ground. More torii follow, staying and layering in over each other. It won't hold, Naruto can feel it won't. Despite how powerful and impressive the Shodai's jutsu is, Obito breaks it apart. Chakra sparks over the ten scales on Obito's back, eaches reaching out and grabbing the barrier. This time there's a ripping sound as the barrier shreds apart.
Her father turns to Obito as he lands near to them, shouting, "Stop, Obito! It's enough!"
The blank madness is still in his eyes as he tilts his head, staring at Minato, "O..bi..to...?" He says his own name like it's a question. He's lost himself completely to the Juubi or he's lost himself to his own feelings, regardless, there's nothing tethering him right now. His own plans couldn't hold him together.
The other three Hokage arrive, standing before Obito, "I'll be frank. This man is stronger than me," the Shodaime say.
"It's a hard pill to swallow, but it's true," Hiruzen says.
The Nidaime clicks his tongue, "even if we were to cancel the remaining clones, we still couldn't make up the difference,"
The Nidaime and Shodaime fall to pieces instantly, their bodies blown in half with Obito already behind them with two black shapes forming from his hands. The Nidaime seems more put together, calling to Minato and Hiruzen, "Saru! Yondaime! Jump!" Naruto notices paper seals stuck to Obito's body. Naruto recognizes them as Konoha style paper bombs, stronger than most but still weaker than Uzumaki fuuinjutsu of the same kind.
There's a reason Naruto hasn't even bothered to use the Uzumaki ones.
"Brother!" Tobirama shouts to Hashirama who acknowledges his brother. The Shodaime's wooden body strikes out as the explosion bursts out, wrapping Obito in wooden branches.
Hiruzen leaps away, shouting, "Minato-kun, Naruto-chan! Get away!" Naruto and her father immediately gets themselves, Sasuke, and Gamkichiaway with hiraishin, working together on the jutsu to conserve chakra.
Even from this distance, Naruto can see the masses of paper bombs piling up and the resulting explosions are intense because they're continuous. The Uzumaki braces, sticking herself firmly to Gamakichi's head.
Naruto knows it didn't even make a scratch even before the dust clears. Kurama powering her senses up, she can feel everything so clearly and there's not even a drop of Obito's chakra used to defend from the blast. It's insane. He's floating mid air when the dust clears, black mass shaping around him like liquid metal. Hiruzen tries next, attacking with a kagebunshin shuriken barrage.
The black fluid reshapes again as Obito charges toward the Sandaime, acting as an easy defense and then attacking with it in the same breath. The old man's body starts coming apart, his face grabbed then his entire upper body is blown away.
Naruto knows he's a reanimation, knows he'll be fine and that he's already dead, but despite all his flaws and handling of her and Danzo, Naruto still cares about him like a grandparent. It's hard to watch.
"I'll go create an opening!" Minato shouts, his body blazing with Kurama's chakra just as hers is.
Obito careens face first into the ground, his body bloating and bubbling horrifically. He looks like a pile of goo laying in the dirt and drooling. The sight causes Naruto to shudder with revulsion. It's like he's being pumped with jelly and on the verge of popping into a bloody mess.
Her father rushes in summoning a clone and drawing several hiraishin kunai. Naruto loses sight of Obito, but not lost feel of him, "'Kichi, below you! Jump!"
The toad leaps just as Obito pops from the earth, his body now elongated but still bloated. With a high vantage from Gamakichi's leap, Naruto can see Obito's legs sticking out of the ground where he was before but his torso has completely tunneled and stretched through the earth below. It was an obviously targeted plow for Naruto... more accurately Kurama.
Obito lifts a hand, that black fluid forming into something like those rods that were used from the Gedo statue and extending directly toward her. She prepares to get her and her toad friend out of there with a hiraishin jump, but the bulk of a partial susano'o blocks the attack. Sasuke's dark fire shapes around him, a tendril of it stopping the attempt as he draws Obito's attention.
Naruto is reminded of their first mission in Wave. Sasuke has put himself between Naruto and danger then too.
"Not you," Sasuke says quietly, "I'm the one that will destroy the past," His voice is cold, but his chakra is wavering. Naruto doesn't have time to try and decipher his muddled emotions as Obito lurches with out stretched arms, grabbing their faces before Naruto can even think to flash to a hiraishin marker.
If she were to jump to another marker now, she'd just bring Obito with her and Sasuke, making the action completely pointless. Her eyes are cover but she can hear the movement of that black fluid shaping itself. She pierces Obito with her chains, flooding him with seals that doesn't seem to affect him at all. So, she goes for a different tactic. The blonde wraps her tails around Obito's arms, forcing them off and Sasuke's faces and pushing back enough that when she grabs Sasuke and Gamakichi she can flash directly to her Dad's markers.
"Thought were were gonna die for sure there for a second, 'ttebayo!" Naruto gasps nearly falling on her ass. Minato catches her by the arm, letting Sasuke land without assistance. His priority will always be his daughter first.
"Great job!" Her father praises, "Now then..." Her father's gaze turns far less loving when turning to face the enemy. It must be hard seeing his student this way, knowing that the boy he taught went on to kill his wife and himself and also attempted several times to kill his daughter. Naruto doesn't envy him a bit.
Gamakichi shudders, "Looks like a friggin' snake..." Her remarks at the elongated torso of Obito, "Snakes are the friggin' worst!" Naruto glances at Sasuke with a snort. Damn right there are- too bad Sasuke didn't get the memo.
"Taking him down while his body is unstable might be our best bet," Minato says. However, Obito lifts his arm with an inhuman gurgle, how body swelling and bubbling more, as he manifests something like a bijuudama in the open gape of his palm before firing it away from them. The explosion is dense and massive, much closer to Obito and Minato's clone than them.
"Was he aiming for your clone?" Naruto questions.
Minato frowns, "I don't think so..."
When the dust clears, half of Obito's body is gone, leaving a mishapen lump cut cleanly in half, "He hit himself with that..."
"He completely missed his intended target!" Minato exclaims, "Obito and the Juubi aren't in sync. They're fighting for control over the body,"
"We'd be smears on the ground if they were in sync," Gamakichi croaks, "We're gonna need to tread lightly..."
Minato prepares two handfuls of hiraishin kunai, holding them between his fingers, "I'll distract him! You two hit him with a combo!" The Yondaime orders. Naruto shares a glance with Sasuke who nods his agreement.
Obito's body is rapidly reforming, skin bumpy and swollen as it regenerates, "R...in..." He croaks brokenly. He'd mentioned that name before, when he was tearing into Kakashi. The skin bubbles up more, nearly covering Obito's face, consuming his head like it's trying to overtake him, "...R...in..." He croaks again.
Minato hurls the markers at several points around Obito before running in to begin his attack, "I'm coming, Obito!" He father shouts. Naruto prepares to go, tails flaring out as Kurama rumbles within her stomach.
"...Who...are...you...?" Obito's voice has warped. It's not a question for Minato, or even she or Sasuke, it's as if he's asking himself. Within the seal space, she leans against Kurama's furry belly. One of his tails wraps around her almost as if in apology for every time he's ever made her lose herself like that. Granted, he'd never managed to overtake her quite that far, her seal protecting her, but it's upsetting to watch from the outside.
The bubbling stops, then, it pops and Obito stands there transformed. He's grown horns and more scales have grown, elongating to resemble a haori on his shirtless torso with magatama in a semi-circle over his collar bones like a necklace.The black fluid forms into a shakujo monk's staff, the rings jingling when its finished. His eyes zone in on Minato, following his speeding path toward him, "At long last, Sensei..." Obito says.
He's overcome the Juubi's mind with his own it seems. He raises his staff as Minato attacks with his kunai but the blade breaks immediately on contact with the staff. The staff swings down, removing her father's arm before he manages to flash away.
Again, she knows he father is dead and reanimated, but she doesn't want to see this. She was fortunate to not have the eyesight or memory of her parents' deaths, so being forced to witness this sends her heart into a tizzy, "Dad!" Naruto cries.
"Don't lose focus!" Sasuke shouts. That hypocrite!
Minato appears before the two of them, reassuring Naruto immediately, "He managed to get me, but I'm already sweetheart! I got away before I could take further damage,"
Naruto watches as a small bijuudama starts to form at the socket of her dad's shoulder as Obito says, "Are you sure about that, Sensei?" It begins to glow, rising up among their group and the chakra gathers dangerously.
It's about to blow!
Naruto tries to reach it with her chains, hoping to wrap around the thing and seal it into a barrier before it blows and her father reaches for it as well, probably to flash step away from it. A part of the susano'o tries to cover her, but she can't do anything with that protection right now! It's just in the way!
The Nidaime appears, grabbing the orb before flashing away himself and detonating alongside Obito. The albino appears again before them, indicating that it was a clone that had blown with Obito, "The last time I touched him, I put a hiraishin marker on him,"
Naruto has to admit it, "Wow! I'm impressed that you could get something that cumbersome on him so fast, 'ttebayo! That's pretty cool, Old Man!" It may not be as fast as her dad's or her's, and its way more complex and overly complicated, but the application is certainly impressive.
Tobirama's eye twitches, as if he can still feel the throbbing in the cheek that was destroyed before, "You should address me with respect as the Nidaime, Youngster," Uzumaki certainly are wild. Mito was much the same, though she was a more subdued sort of Uzumaki- she was still an Uzumaki through and through. His sister-in-law's often teased him that he over thought fuuinjutsu, as if his mind was as chaotic as an Uzumaki's thinking!
Naruto tilts her head, "But I am? It's really cool that you could get it on fast because it's pretty complicated," Sasuke almost feels amused, though his face doesn't express it.
In the blast sight, a black orb busts from the dust then fluidly parting to reveal a perfectly fine jinchuriki Obito. The fluid shapes into ten little black balls that float over the tall scales on his back. Tobirama clicks his tongue, "He must have blocked it. He's a fast one. It won't be easy to beat him,"
The five of them stand at the ready, the earth creaking as Gamakichi moves into position. Minato swallows, "I'll have to create an opening with my Spiraling Flash Super Round Dance Howl Three..." Naruto turns to stare with mouth agape at her dad. No one is allowed to make fun of her jutsu names ever again! What was that mouth full of words?! There is no way this man named something as simple as the Rasengan- her mother must have suggested it!
"Daddy..." She wheezes.
None of the others seem too impressed with the name either, particularly Tobirama, "...You're a goofball, aren't you? I'd normally make fun of such a jutsu name, but this is no time for laughter,"
Naruto and Sasuke share a nod, rushes in while the older men are distracted. Black fire busts to life, blocked by one of Obito's shields expanding. The immediate nature of the defenses remind Naruto of Gaara's perfect defense. It must be a feature of Shukaku's chakra.
"Naruto! Sasuke-kun!" Naruto's father calls, "I said I'd create an opening!" Well, Naruto thought he was taking too long! Someone so fast should be quicker on the uptake!
"I will do that!" Sasuke replies.
Naruto huffs, "We will! We'll leave the main part to Dad's team, dattebayo!"
"I senses you pooling chakra into your left eye," Obito informs Sasuke, "Your surprise attacks won't work on me,"
Sasuke runs alongside Naruto, "I'll adjust my chakra percentage to yours with my sharingan!"
Naruto narrows her eyes and bares her teeth, "It's because you were late, idiot! Don't make this into a competion! You'll lose!" Naruto creates a rasenshuriken in her right hand while Sasuke brings a black blaze to his left. Sasuke carefully matches Naruto's chakra output. She's putting out a lot more than he expected for someone that's been taking on the enemy for nearly two days.
They bring their attacks closer together, melding them. It becomes a blazing shuriken fed by the wind.
Naruto feels then sees Tobirama flash behind Obito in a blink, then her father is in front of their attack, taking it before he's swapped with Obito and Tobirama and their attack embeds itself into the man, sending him flying backward with Tobirama vanishing from behind him. The blaze burns big, visible from a distance to the rest of the forces.
Naruto and Sasuke both pant, grins on their faces. Naruto can't sense Obito anymore; either he's made himself null to her senses-even her negative emotion sensing- or they really got him this time.
Turns out it's the former, as the black orbs zip past her father and Tombirama and flying into the black flames. The flames part and there stands Obito, staff in hand, swung to the side to dispel the flames easily. He hovers into the air with cold eyes.
"It didn't work at all," Tobirama hisses.
Minato frowns deeply, "We can't touch those orbs and even his body is not too strong to effect regardless of them. His attack and defense are both fast,"
"It's ridiculous how strong he is! I call cheats, dattebayo!" Naruto growls, punching her palm. It's frustrating as hell how perfect he is right now. There's no way to beat him and his fighting style is still too unfamiliar to her to even find the hint of an opening with how strong he's gotten now.
"It's like he's obtained the powers of his dreams..." Minato sighs sadly.
Tombirama frowns, looking intently at Minato. His eyes are trained on Minato's missing arm, "Strange. Your arm should have already started to recover since he only ripped off one of them," Minato's eyes widen, realizing that the man who created the jutsu would know best the recovery rates to the animated corpses.
"I now have the power of ancestor of all shinobi," Obito says, "You can't judge me by your usual standards,"
"What does that mean?" Minato asks quietly.
Tobirama lowers his chin, eyes intent on Obito, "Yondaime, be care not to get serious injured- even if you're an Edo Tensei ressurection. That man is likely using techniques based on Onmyoudon which renders all ninjutsu null," Tobirama explains, "If it hits your Edo Tensei body, you won't be able to recover. Your right arm will never regenerate,"
"In that case, we must be even more careful now," Minato nods in agreement.
Naruto swallows, speaking quietly to Sasuke, "Sasuke,"
"What?"
"We'll have to fight ourselves," Naruto whispers, "Will you be able to keep up?"
Sasuke keeps eyes eyes trained on Obito, "Don't underestimate an Uchiha,"
Naruto claps her hands together, pulling on Kurama's chakra to enter perfect jinchuriki mode once more, only, wshe loses jinchuriki mode completely. She plinks when there's no power running through her like expected, "Eh?! What the hell, Kurama?!"
"Father and Daugher are as dumb as each other," Tobirama sighs, "Even the enemy is in disbelief,"
Minato puffs his cheeks, "My daughter is a treasure,"
Naruto enters the seal space, "Kurama! Did we run out again?!"
"Fight normally just a bit longer! I didn't have the time to knead more chakra for you, idiot!" Kurama shouts.
Outside the seal space, Gamakichi spits a blast of oily water in Obito's direction, starting the group. Obito is quick to cover himself with the fluid black orb of course. Tobirama's eyes open wide, "So he is a toad from Myoubokuzan,"
"'Kichi?! We need to fight using diversions and stuff, 'ttebayo!" Naruto exclaims, "What's going on?!"
Gamakichi lowers his head to her, "Sorry, Naruto-chan, summoning time is almost up. I wanted to get a hit on the bastard before that," He informs her. Thinking on it, that's right. She summoned him using the Jinchuriki Mode, so now that she's out of that chakra, he'd vanish soon after unless she resummoned him with standard chakra.
"Good spirit, 'Kichi!" Naruto cheers, "Have a good rest and tell your Pop and brother hi for me!"
"Don't die, Naruto-chan," Gamakichi orders, "Sorry!" Then he's gone, vanishing in a puff of smoke to return to the sacred mountain.
Naruto returns her focus to Obito and her eyes widen in surprise and realization. Gamakichi's oil isn't being nulled, but is sticking stubbornly to the orb. That's it! It makes so much sense- the juubi is nature energy not regular chakra! Naruto goes stock still immediately, closing her eyes to focus. Her dad or Sasuke will get her out if she needs to move.
"Obito! Didn't you want to be Hokage?!" He father shouts, "Why are you doing this?!"
That's it- keep him talking and distracted.
"Are you trying to lecture me now?" Obito replies, "A bit too late for that, Sensei. You always were too late when it was important... I'm glad my teacher was Hokage... It helped me give up on my dream of becoming the same,"
Naruto frowns as she listens. This guy... he just doesn't get it, that or he forgot.
"You didn't realize it was me that night despite being my teacher. In the end, you're not that great. You never managed to save anyone that needed you," Obito continues, "I pity you, Sensei. You died a hero, not even able to protect your wife and child, and now you're showing your daughter how shameful your life truy was,"
Naruto feels the energy balance within her, entering Sage Mode. Her hiraishin marker isn't on Obito, so she's gonna have to rely on Tobirama who does have one on him now. Obito took Kakashi from her, and so many other friends, and now he's insulting her father. In the end, all he's doing is hiding how much pain he's still in.
"Yes... Hokage just look pathetic compared to what I am now," Obito's finally got Gamakichi's oil when she opens her eyes. Tobirama looks at her, smirking. Good, he's not overthinking like he does with fuuinjutsu.
Naruto summons a rasengan to her hand that swirls with nature energy, "Don't bad mouth Hokage just 'cause you couldn't become one, dattebayo," Minato and Sasuke turn to look at her, both of their eyes going wide at the sight of her eyes, while Tobirama shunshins to her, placing a hand on her back, "Besides..."
In a flash, Naruto is looking at Obito's back.
"Don't talk sh*t about my dad, you bastard!" Naruto slams the rasengan into Obito's back, using her chains to add her own hiraishin marker on the abomination jinchuriki. The rasengan tears through Obito's back. They're finally causing some damage.
Minato watches, mouth agape, as his daughter uses the state of a Sage. Obito crashes down to the earth, his body spinning violently as he goes. She can use the same state as his own teacher. Jiraiya taught her well.
"She became quite the nice brat," The Kyuubi's yin half says from within Minato's body, "She even managed to convince my other half,"
"Do you intend for your daughter to take care of this mess for you?" He intones, "Just because you locked my yang half within her body, you believe I will join hands with my other half?"
Minato frowns, "Kyuubi..."
"Take care not to regret it..." He says, "Kushina's death wasn't your fault, you daughter becoming a jinchuriki wasn't your fault either, and there'sno need to berate yourself for the sorry state the word is in either. The one who is trying to change all of this is your beloved daughter. She's no longer the infant you remember from long ago... in the not-so-distant future...
Naruto!" Kurama shouts from within Naruto's seal space, "I have something to say to you, so listen up!"
Naruto listens well, even as she takes care of Obito. Naruto flashes both her and Tobirama back to the ground with the rest of the group, "Just like I suspected- Senjutsu works, dattebayo!"
Sasuke frowns, "Power of the Sage arts?"
Naruto grins wickedly at her teammate, "Senjutsu is rooted in the use of natural energy," She explains, "When I sensed the Juubi earlier, all I could sense was natural energy! It makes sense! I'm gonna give 'Kichi so many candied bugs for this!"
"Only natural energy can counter natural energy?" Sasuke raises a brow, "Although I don't fully understand what you're talking about..."
She cuts Sasuke off, cracking her knuckles, "I've even got taijutsu that can deal with him now, 'ttebayo! I'm gonna kick his ass!" It's just too bad she's not got the chance to fix her hair. She can feel her pigtails coming loose. While Naruto can fight with her hair down, it's feels weird more than an inconvenience.
The scales on Obito's back light up with wisps of chakra once more. Tobirama looks serious, "It was effective, but he'll be even more dangerous once her recovers.." As if responding to Tobirama's words, Obito crouches, pressing his hands to the earth.
A massive plants begins to grow into the sky, the stalk standing tall with four refflesia blooming all along it. That doesn't bode well, as every time the she's seen that so far, powerful bijuudama have been fired out of them.
"This world no longer has any value in it..." Obito says, floating back into the air, "This world died long ago,"
sh*t! "Even if we teleport it away with hiraishin, at most we'll be able to teleport three away!" Tobirama growls, "There's nothing we could do about the third one!"
"Don't even think about it!" Obito grunts, sending six rods from his head in particular directions. A barrier erects from the poles, preventing any actions they or anyone could take to prevent the bijuudama decimating the area. The black fluid formed from the orbs begins to surround Obito, protecting him from his own attack. Naruto can feel everyone's panic and despair... Everyone! That's it!
"Dad, I have an idea," Naruto says, holding out her fist, "I dunno for sure if it'll work, but please have faith in me again,"
Minato blinks, bumping fists with his daughter. He'll always have faith in her. He enters his daughters seal space with his own half of the Kyuubi. Obito continues to speak to them as the Kyuubi both communicate, "Hello, my other half," Kurama says, "Mind sparing a cup of chakra?"
"Being asked for help by my self is really weird..."
"Let me tell you what Kurama and I came up with," Naruto says, blue eyes earnest, "I'm pretty sure it's doable, but I want your opinion,"
Minato nods, "Understood! Continue, Sweetheart," His daughter blushes, clearly unused to affectionate pet names parents use. It breaks his heart she didn't get to hear it from him every day of her life. She's grown up well, but he's sure she's suffered.
"I want to connect our chakra in our Kurama modes together to give us the boost we need to flash everyone outside the barrier! With my chakra already connected to everyone I have everyone on my network, but it'll be easier moving them together! So we'll connect to them using me as a medium," Naruto explains, "Kurama reminded be everyone still hs our chakra,"
"Okay," Minato nods. Kurama? The Kyuubi's name? The fox has never once shared his name with Minato in all their years together in the belly of the Shinigami, "Worth a shot. With the Kyuubi's- no- Kurama's power there's nothing we can't do,"
Naruto beams, "Alright! Let's do this; the four of us!"
Kurama's yon half makes a disbelieving noise, "The four of us... A human treating us like a peer. Her upbringing must have been crazy,"
"Naruto, that fellow Minato isn't able to accomplish anything..." Obito taunts, "He wasn't even able to save your mother. The same was true for his subordinates... Tell me, do you know what day it is tomorrow?" Minato listens to his former student with a pained expression. His wife is indeed gone. So are Rin and Kakashi... Obito has been gone the longest, just not dead as he'd thought, "It's the anniversary of Rin and Kushina's deaths! The day your mother died! When people die, everything about them comes to an end! This world... that's right... this world will-!"
"That means tomorrow is my birthday, 'ttebayo," Naruto says, opening her eyes, "You listen to me- this world isn't coming to an end... Because I still exist in it!" The blonde's body comes alight with Kurama's power, entering Kurama Mode and glowing like the sun, "Let's go, Dad!"
Sasuke is puzzled, Naruto can feel it so clearly in this form. Her senses have reached beyond Negative and cover the full spectrum if only when channeling Kurama fully. "What's our next move, Naruto?"
"For now, just let me concentrate..." Naruto replies.
Minato just stares at his daughter, flowing through her. He remembers how tiny she was when she was born; so small and wrinkly and utterly perfect. She's not longer small or wrinkly, nonetheless, to him she's still perfect, 'Have you already met her, Kushina?' Minato thinks, tears coming to his eyes, 'Our princess has really grown up. Oh forgive me, Naruto... I can only imagine the harships you've had to endure growing up...'
Naruto turns to him with a sunny smile, tears in her own eyes as she's heard his thoughts, "Mom says we're both crybabies, 'ttebayo. But for now, the only hardship I'm worried about is what's coming up next, Dad,"
Naruto pulses out chakra across the battlefield, reigniting the chakra within everyone she shared it with. She can feel Jugou's aproach, coming quick near their place on the battlefield.
"Jugou," Sasuke says as the other young man arrives.
Jugou doesn't speak to Sasuke, however, "Naruto-sama!" He cries. There's a worry in his voice, "Where is Karin-san?!"
Naruto snorts, "You've spent too much time with her if you're calling me that... I've not given you or Sasuke my chakra yet, so get your asses over here," She orders, "Karin's safe- she's not on the battlefield,"
Some of the upset eases out of Jugou. It seems he's no longer loyal to Sasuke, though he doesn't appear to hate him or anything. He cares about Sasuke, but not to the point of following his every word. Naruto extends tails toward he and Sasuke, giving them some of the chakra that's flooding her.
"I was going to take the both of you outside this barrier with my summoning technique," Sasuke says, "Can we really get through this with just that chakra?"
Naruto snaps, "Shut up, Sasuke! I won't leave everyone here so shut your crab trap, dattebayo!"
The bijuudama blow at last. Naruto pushes as hard as she can, covering everyone with a blanket of chakra. The tree falls apart after using up its chakra and the detonation itself. Not a single light in her senses goes out as she and her father teleport every single person outside the barrier with their combined power of hiraishin.
Within the barrier, after the explosions stop, Obito exposes himself to the sight of the entire allied shinobi forces outside of his barrier and safe.
"Yondaime," Tobirama starts, "With this, you've saved all the shinobi here twice. With the help of your young daughter of course," Despite the slap Naruto gave him earlier, he sounds like he's warming up to her.
Minato smiles wryly, squeezing Naruto's hand as he pants from mild exhaustion, "It's only a drop in the bucket compared to all my failures... It was Naruto's idea and she did half the work besides,"
Naruto frowns, smacking her father with her hair, "No. Bad Dad! You did you best with the information and circ*mstances you had, dattebayo!" Naruto throws a wicked grin over her shoulder at Sasuke, "You weren't intentionally late like some cranky bastards,"
Sasuke sneers, looking more like the boy she used to know.
WIthin the seal space, still connected, Minato looks at his daughter, studying her- memorizing her face. She looks so much like her mother, "Naruto..." She looks at him with curiosity, "I would have liked to talk with the current you a while longer..."
The young woman laughs- she's a young woman now- smiling warmly at him, "Me too, but we're father and daughter- we got it from a glance!" Her smiles softens, warm and wistful, "Besides... I already got a chance to meet Mom. You're as bad as her! I already know all of it! Everything you both wanted to tell me!"
Minato smiles back, tears running down his cheeks.
He quickly wipes his eyes. Naruto's a lot like her mother, in more than just the shapes of her face and eyes, but her beaming smile and boysterous and kind personality. There's differences, sure, but it really feels like she got all the best parts of them even though they didn't get to instill them in her themselves. His baby even has her mother's verbal tic!
Even though the situation is so hard, it feels like he's fighting along side Kushina. Minato wishes she was here- wishes that she could see their daughter's strength and growth.
She takes on the shape of Kurama, leaping forward ready to take on that punk Obito, "I'm going, dattebayo!"
"Naruto, it's fine to raise your voice and act cool," Tobirama says, using her name for the first time, "BUt are you perhaps forgetting that you need senjutsu to affect him? I'm sure you're not that stupid," Sasuke norts. SHe's going to absolutely kick him for that.
However... Tobirama is right. She'd already forgotten. The blonde stops in her tracks, wiggling in place, "sh*t!" She cries, "I forgot!"
Kurama laughs inside her belly as Tobirama remarks, "You might be as stupid as my elder brother,"
"Gahaha! You've surpassed all the previous Hokage... in stupidity!" Kurama laughs. She kicks him in his stupid fluffy toe. She's been worried about everyone else and forgot! Sue her! "People relate to and trust morons!"
"Bite me, you hairy dick!" Naruto pouts.
Kurama's laughter eventually stops, "Listen, I'm sure you've forgotten, but you could probably enter Sage Mode in your jinchuriki state,"
"Eh?!" Naruto questions, looking up at him in surprise.
"Back during your confrontation with Nagato," Kurama reminds her, "I also had trouble holding off my anger with all he said... That time you were using Sage Mode, but my chakra was flowing out too much and managed to sync with your Sage power,"
Naruto crosses her arms, trying to remember what he's talking about. She was pretty pissed back then herself and knew her temper was getting the best of her. Instead, she recalls another time Kurama was involved with her Safe abilities, "Ah! In my Sage training! You actually got in the way of Pa connecting with me!" Naruto scolds, pointing at him.
Kurama growls, "I had no intention of sharing my room with a toad! And I didn't like that you were going to rely on Sage power when you had my chakra!" Is... is Kurama jealous?
Naruto grins up at him cheekily, "Stubborn!" She snaps her gingers, pointing at him.
"I'm telling you that I'll allow you to use Sage power even when you're using mine!" Kurama snaps, "How's that for stubborn?!"
Naruto's grin only becomes more mischievious and teasing, "Tsundere!"
"You know, you've been acting awfully familiar with me!" Kurama roars in her face, but she just keeps on grinning and kisses his cute fox nose. He falls backward wiping off his nose and Naruto laughs, "You brat!"
"It's because I am familiar with you, Kurama," She giggles. The Uzumaki didn't realize Kurama could blush- how cute! "You've been with me all my life! Can't get more familiar than that, 'ttebayo,"
The combined power of Sage Mode and Kurama Mode is intense. The power makes her skin tingle pleasantly as she takes on Kurama's form once more. Her father has done the same, though without Sage abilities. Naruto's eyes are like stars, different than Sasuke's but not less like those things glittering in the sky. Her father has already prepared a rasengan for her to add chakra to.
Naruto fallows the sense of her father and other Kurama's chakra, finding the ratio, before adding Sage chakra to the massive rasengan, "Old man Second!" Naruto calls for the Nidaime.
Kurama rumbles out of the massive body, "We'll turn his attacks away with our chakra!"
Tobirama teleports she and her father with their massive rasengan toght into Obito, who blocks their attacks with those shape changing black orbs. She and her father press in, pushing all they've got into their momentum and feeding more power. Still, they're pushed back, their giant bodies skidding along the ground until their momentum dies.
"Damn it!" Naruto grouses, "That bastard's black stuff is tough!"
The Nidaime, protecting by Naruto and Kurama's chakra body, growls his own frustration, "The hiraishin isn't enough anymore. Only Naruto and I have markers and we're telegraphing our attacks too much now!"
"Then we've gotta destroy that black stuff!" Naruto declares.
"How?!" Minato asks.
Naruto and Kurama pool chakra and nature energy into the mouth of their massive form, creating a bijuudama, "By making a Senjutsu Bijuudama, 'ttebayo!" It swells, growing massive in size, "Dad, you and other Kurama help out too!"
"Splendid!" Tobirama exclaims. Yeah, he's totally warmed up to her.
"Right! Let's go, Kurama-san!"
They don't even get to fire it, as Obito claps his hands together, his back swelling and the Juubi appearing once more. It sprouts into a massive tree very quickly, the roots and branches moving ans stretching like fingers. Naruto can feel several chakra signatures vanish among the battlefield much to her despair. The branches even chase her and the rest of her group, sensing their chakra. The most branches seek Naruto by far.
She makes to use the hiraishin, only one of the branches grabs her, breaking her Kyuubi form and dragging her away with a scream. Her entire body is covered rapidly, blocking out her view of her father and Tobirama.
Quickly, her Kurama Mode and Sage Mode are gone as well, absorbed into the branches. She doesn't even have the strength to move her arms and can't muster enough chakra to flash out with the hiraishin. The branches over her split and splinter suddenly, Naruto holding open heavy eyes as she takes in a familiar face, "Jiji..."
"Sorry I'm late, Naruto-hime!" Hiruzen apologizes. He picks her up, carrying her back to Tobirama and her father.
"Saru!" Tobirama exclaims, he and her father meeting them part way, "We'll jump from here!" He grabs the three of them, their chakra connecting to his and flashing back to the ground among the army.
Naruto immediately is enraged and incredibly sad. So many people of died; their bodies empty husks on the ground. Morale is at an all time low, the despair and fear among the forces palpable in the air. The only solice is that she can sense the Five Kage and Karin coming toward the battlefield.
Obito lowers just enough with an arm out stretched, "Just stay still... you've endured enough,"
Tears have come to Naruto's eyes once more. They're tears of sadness and anger both as she glares up at Obito. Shikamaru is fading fast and so many others are already gone. Kakashi is gone.
"It's the end of all ninja... If you stop resisting, I won't kill you," Obito says. His voice is calm, like he's already one, "If you want no regrets, just do nothing,"
Naruto holds all of these lost lives in her heart, "Screw you! What you're wanting is the same as dying!" She shouts, partially a sob. Her father is holding her up, letting her recover against him. Nonetheless, if they get to close, that giant flower will steal more of her chakra.
"It's hard to get close," Hiruzen echoes her thoughts aloud, "It's closely tied to him so it's like his limbs are trying to extract chakra,"
"What a cowardly thing to say," A new, though recognizable, voice hisses, "That's unlike you, Sensei," Orochimaru and his two cohorts have arrived on the battlefield. They run to Sasuke, the girl giving massive doe eyes in Sasuke's direction.
Hiruzen frowns, "You're late, Orochimaru!" He scolds, "What about the Kages?!"
"They're on their way now. They'll be arriving soon if they're not cowards as well..." The snake man smirks, "An Uzumaki medic is coming with them," Naruto grimaces. As helpful as Karin would be, part of her doesn't want her cousin here among the death in destruction. Jugou's chakra mirrors Naruto's emotions. Aw, is he sweet on her cousin?
"Always a cynic,"
Hashirama's chakra enters her head, along with Ino's chakra and the chakra of the Five Kage and Karin too.
"Grandfather?" Tsunade's voice is shocked... weepy.
Hashirama's chakra dances in elation, "Ooooh?! Tsuna?!"
"This voice is Hashirama-dono's!" Onoki's voice exlaims.
"That means the Five Kage are within range of my jutsu!" Ino breaths in releif.
Hashirama's voice takes on a serious quality, "We'll catch up later, for now, I have information regarding the Infinite Tsukuyomi!" He says, "Everyone listen carefully! When that flower blooms, it will reveal an eye that will reflect on the moon to cast the enemy's genjutsu. Without the full chakra of the Hachibi and Kyuubi, however, it will take fifteen minutes to bloom. This is the Divine God Tree, from where all chakra originated, and aims to take it back to further its growth- that is why it has targetted you. Be aware!"
Naruto can do a lot in fifteen minutes. Still, the allied shinobi force's morale continues to plummet, several voices letting their fear and despair known.
"Doing nothing will be the same," Hashirama continues, "We either have to cut down that tree or the jutsu user in fifteen minutes. I told you not to give up!"
So many voices cry out their hurt. They're all so scared and it's all so familiar to her. Every ounce of loneliness and hurt from her childhood echoed their feelings. Every betrayal, loss, and letdown screams within her. She won't give up, she can't, because she never has before and she won't start now! Even if all her limbs are torn off, she'll bite her way to victory!
"Done already, Naruto?" Sasuke says, passing her with Jugou riding along in his susano'o, "I'm going, so hurry up and wipe your face,"
Naruto chokes a laugh, "You're not gonna go without me again, you bum! I'm the one that's been doing all the work!" Her body lights up with Kurama's chakra again, the beast inside her smiling while wrapping her in tails, "A woman takes a five second break and a man says she's lazy- typical!"
She stands to her feet, pain singing through the connection with Ino. Naruto wishes she'd cut the connection, she's never once learned how to shut down her emotions, so they're probably getting everything. SHe's counting every loss, storing them in her heart and letting them continue to push her forward.
Naruto doesn't want to think 'I should have done it'. Doing nothing would lead to bigger regrets than doing nothing at all. She's already done that so many times in her life. SHe should have reached out to Sasuke and Hinata first. She should have asked Jiraiya to join the Uzumaki clan before he died. She should have pressed Sarutobi more about Danzo as a child... Naruto doesn't want to regret not doing anymore!
"I don't want all the things we did do to be turned into nothing!" She cries, her body blazing with Sage Chakra and Kurama's, taking on his shape once more.
Obito looks down at her coldly, "Uzumaki Naruto..."
Naruto leaps up to join Sasuke, sticking her tongue out at him, "Why does everything have to be on a man's timeline, 'ttebayo?!" Naruto taunts, "You do know that you need senjutsu to beat him, right?!"
"Shut up about that already!" Sasuke snaps, "Don't put me on the same level of stupid as you," Jugou looks at Naruto through the susano'o, noding sharply as he floods his chakra through Sasuke's susano'o.
Naruto snickers into her hand, "Thanks for helping out this bum, Jugou," Naruto says, "He's hopeless, so he needs all the help he can get,"
"You're annoying," Sasuke states, "Aim for that,"
"Already on it!" They go into for the attack together.
Obito raises a hand, "You can only regret something after doing it... but you won't be here to have regrets anyway!" He comes for them, ready to meet them in battle. Naruto's tail and the sword of Sasuke's susano'o meet Obito's orb shield. They're pushed back and Obito attempts to attack with the orb again, but Naruto swings down with another one of her tails forcing him to use it to block her instead of attacking.
The man attempts to mock her and the deaths of her comrades. Morale has improved and he aims to take even more lives. Naruto won't allow it!
Obito becomes distracted for a moment from the chaos on the ground. He doesn't give much of a chance for Naruto to take advantage of it, he's too fast, but she's finally starting to get a sense of him. There!
She throws a hiraishin, flashing to do a pincer manuever with Sasuke, each of them coming from opposite sides of Obito. Only, he grabs them with his orbs, pinning them in place and preventing attack, "It's almost time to sleep. I'll take you to a dream,"
"You talk about regretting doing something!" Naruto rages, "But aren't all of your regrets about the things you didn't do?!"
As if her words have struck a nerve, Obito crashes them hard into the ground, Naruto feels some of her bones fracture on impact, and she's forced out of Kurama Mode, leaving only flickers and her Sage Mode. They're in a deep hole made from the impact and Naruto's sure she's only not more injured because of Sage Mode and Kurama.
The blonde drags herself out of the dirt, one pigtail coming totally loose and flopping into her face. She forces herself to her feet.
"Why do you stand up?!" Obito demands, "What are you fighting for?! Your friends or the world?! Listen, one day your friends will betray you and your love will become hate. You should know that already. Both the people of Konoha and Sasuke betrayed you and Jiraiya's love gave you hatred. You're like me. Hatred will increase and you'll change and even more pain is waiting for you! Can you still say you'll never change?! Why are you still fighting?!"
Cracking her neck, Naruto puts her hands on her hips after pushing her hair out of her face, "Because; it's my ninja way. I didn't change after you took the man I love and I haven't with the countless you've killed. I'm stronger than you in here," She puts her thumb to her hitai-ate, "And here," Then points her thumb at her heart, "I never go back on my word!"
Sasuke joins her side, both of them flaring chakra around them once more. Their chakra begins to mesh from the proximity, "Let's finish it with the next attack, Naruto,"
"Yeah!" She agrees, "I'll sleep tomorrow and I can dream on my own, dattebayo!"
Sasuke's susano'o covers her Kyuubi forms like armor, fitting to its shape nearly perfectly. She draws Sasuke into the shape, and Kurama seems really unhappy about it but is putting up with it for the sake of victory. The blonde nearly loses concentration when she thinks she feels just a minute flare of Kakashi's chakra.
Obito brings up a cross-cross shield made of the orbs, keeping one as a weapon in his hand, "No matter what you do nothing will change," He says, pointing his weapon to the opening of the hole, "Look above you. It's the moon... it's almost time to go to the moonlit dreamland. The moon's dream will fill this hell hole- the time has finally come!" He cries manically.
He keeps speaking maniacly, lost to his madness in the moonlight.
"Sasuke, we've gotta focus on a single attack. There'll only be a small opening, so we can't miss it," Naruto says quietly.
"Hn," Sasuke nods.
There it is again; Kakashi's chakra. Her friends are coming too, so she flares her tails, allowing them in to the manifestation of her tails as they begin to form rasengan. They can help feed them, shape and create them. Hinata, Ino, Sai, Shikamaru, Choji, Shino, Kiba, Lee, and Tenten are all within her body now and she can sense Sakura and Karin's healing light with Tsunade's at the top of the hole Neji, she can feel, is protecting the three medics. These nine were the closest, so they answered the call of her chakra, though Hinata probably would have regardless of her location.
All nine are covered in the cloak of her chakra, now wearing a chakra haori like her own. Naruto communicates with them through the chakra and Ino, "I leave the rasengan to you guys!" She exclaims.
"Can I do this...?"
"You sure can, Bushy Brows!" Naruto replies to his hesitant thoughts. Flaring out the tails, Naruto takes a bit of pleasure in the way Obito's eyes widen upon seeing the nine massive rasengan that have shaped in her tails, "Go!"
Her friends, all with rasengan in hand, exit her tails and careen toward the shield that Obito had contructed. All their might combined they strike the shield at once, forcing it to split apart from the recoil of Sage chakra. Now it's her and Sasuke, striking forward together with the sword made of their combined chakra... and the gifts she received.
Obito seems to faulter, giving them the chance they need. They rush, cutting through Obito's jinchuriki body, freeing the spirits of the bijuu trapped inside.
"As I thought!" Kurama cheers, "Using the chakra you received from the other Bijuu, you were able to pull it all out with one blow!"
Naruto turns, latching into the bijuu chakra with her tails, "Now the hard part!"
"You know what to do, Naruto!" Kurama keeps cheering, "Use the tug-of-war and yank my siblings out!" The Ichibi and Hachibi can't connect, as Shukaku and Gyuuki haven't given her chakra. However, the two familiar chakra that join this fight tackle them.
"The Ichibi used to be connected to me," Gaara says, extending sand outward, "I'll take care of him. Come here, Shukaku!"
"Gaara!"
"Your weak point is finally known!" Bee raps, "I'll take on Gyuuki's chakra alone!" Her wraps tentacles around the chakra head of the Hachibi, pulling as hard as he can.
"Bee-jii too!"
"Pull them out!" Kurama orders through the shape of her Kyuubi form, "If you can do it, he'll be left with the shell of the Juubi and the big flower won't bloom!"
Naruto gets flashes of memories as she pulls. It's all so bittersweet. Her dad, a young Kakashi, a girl she's never met and her mom. There's Uchiha too and Obito's dreams... his dreams of being Hokage. Tears spring to Naruto's eyes unbidden and not from her own feelings. Kakashi's eye and the death of the girl. They shared a dream once and goals. Her and Obito were a lot a like at one time... but even in all these mories... even as she understands him... she would never give up.
"It's because your chakra is connected to him! His memories can flow into you!" Kurama warns, though it's already too late for that, "Don't let them influence you!"
They're not- not really. He's been broken and brainwashed and become so twisted. There is a light inside him, screaming to get out and being smothered over-and-over again, but it's there. She won't let him win, she can't let him win, but that doesn't mean her heart doesn't break for him.
"Don't underestimate the power of the Juubi jinchuriki!" Obito bellows in panic, "It's the same as the Sage of Six Paths'!"
Obito pulls back, tugging hard back in his direction. Naruto winces at the tug, feeling Kurama shift within her belly. A chakra arm comes up, holding the ends and tugging hard. She turns to Sasuke who is manipulated the Susano'o with a sharp nod, "Pull, Naruto,"
The other nine are pulling as well, still cloaking in Kurama's chakra from before. Kiba calls out, tugging with his chakra, "Naruto! You asked us to lend a hand- we're gonna do just that!"
"Everyone!" Naruto cheers.
Shikamaru smirks, "Not just us, Naruto!"
From above, the entire shinobi forces jumps down into the hole. Her dad lands on her shape, entering his own Kurama mode and connecting everyone with extended tails of chakra. Everyone is here, grabbing and pull on her chakra shapes tails. There's so much power behind it, "All together! Let's do this, dattebayo!" Naruto takes a step back within her space.
"Heave-ho!"
The white space. They're in the white space Naruto shared with both of her parents for their conversations. It's not in her own mind this time, but Obito's. She can tell... she just knows.
He looks around, confused.
"You told me that you're no one," She starts, taking a step forward, "And you don't want to be anyone..."
Obito panics, taking a step back, "Stop! Don't come inside me!"
Naruto bites her lip on a snort, instead, smiling with sad understanding eyes, "But you actually wanted to be Hokage, just like me," Obito visibly flinches, "If things had gone differently, I might have looked up to you... Since I wanna become Hokage too,"
"I already got rid of the past! I was too naive! This is all-!"
"Then why can I see it?" She interrupts, "It's no use hiding now. You were Kakashi's friend, my dad's student, Sasuke's relative... and my senpai with the same dream,"
Obito rages, confused and falling apart, "What's the point?! What do you want from me?!"
Naruto points, hair floating up around her, "You're Uchiha Obito and I'm going to take that mask off your face!"
Obito stops still, looking at her with derision, confusion. Naruto has that affect on people, "Uchiha...Obito, you say? Does that name... that person.. mean anything now? By blending with the Juubi, I've been able to transcend to a higher dimension," He says. Naruto meets his gave unwaveringly, "I'm no longer human and I'm the one that will lead humans to the next step. My body and will are the same as the Sage of Six Paths- I'm the second!"
Naruto points again, "No. You're Uchiha Obito!" Naruto denies him, "Being connected with you, I could see everything. Our early lives were the same... our dreams. We didn't know our parents and we both lost our loves. I agree, loneliness is the scariest thing,"
Obito closes his eyes as if he's in pain and accepting it.
"You wanted someone to acknowledge and praise you! You wanted someone to see you as you are! Look at yourself, Uchiha Obito!" Naruto shouts, "You're turning all of this world against you, saying it's for the best, but you're just running from it! You've become somone no one will acknowledge! Not a soul will acknowledge this dream! Not even those important to you! Including her! We used to share a dream... now you've become the opposite! You were just like me, that why you-!"
Obito's voice is hard to decipher, "It's because I was just like you that I wanted to think this world is hopeless..." He closes his eyes again, beginning to pace, "I wanted to feel once again that the path I chose is right... Against you, I remembered my old self and wanted to test you... I wanted to see you give up hope and abandon your ideals,"
Naruto snaps, "Because you were just like me is why you piss me off so much, 'ttebayo!" She shouts, "You're abandoning everything and running away!"
Obito looks over his shoulder at her, eyes cold once more, "I'm doing exactly what a Hokage would do. Even more than that, I can bring eternal peace to this world..."
The blonde's gaze is still unwavering, "Do you really think so?" Naruto asks, "Do you really, seriously, think so?"
Naruto sees more of his memories, shared between him and a girl named Rin. Then it's over and he turns away again, "Yes... I think so," He turns to face her, saying, "You don't have to walk a steep path without even knowing where it leads. You'll just find your friends' corpses there. If one knows a shortcut to their goal, of course they'll take it. A Hokage's goal should should bring peace to the world,"
Naruto's fists have clenched tighter and tighter the more he speaks. She's cut into her palm with her nails for how tightly she's clenched and her hair is dancing up behind her, "What are you saying...?" Naruto says, voice hard, "I don't want to know an easy shortcut; I want to know how to walk down a steep path,"
Naruto walks toward him, "Who tells me that one's steep? Someone must have had courage to walk down and check. A Hokage is someone that, standing the pain, walks in front of everyone else. It's someone who breaks down the deadend so that everyone can continue to move forward," Naruto comes to a stop right in front of him, brazenly looking him in his sharingan eye, "There are no shortcuts to becoming Hokage and no running away once you are one,"
Another memory of Rin, the girl he loved, enters her mind. She reminds Naruto a lot of Sakura and Hinata- she can see why he loved her so much. When reality comes back to them, Obito's looking at his hand like he's expecting to see the bandage from the memory.
"You told Kakashi that you got rid of all your memories and feelings towards those important to you, but when you became the Juubi's jinchuriki and were almost possessed by it didn't you hold it down because you didn't want it to erase you? To take you over?" Naruto says, "The reason you could beat the Juubi and control it is because you didn't throw yourself away," Naruto walks around the back of Obito, "In the end, you couldn't get rid of the memories of my dad, Kakashi, or that Rin person could you? That's why you're able to still be Obito even after becoming the Juubi's jinchuriki. Am I wrong?"
She's made a full rotation around Obito, continuing, "I can't forgive you for dragging everyone into this and continuing down this selfish path! The one that killed your friend and the man I love!"
"Come back to us as Uchiha Obito and accept your punishment. As you are now, you're just running away..." Naruto looks at Obito's pained eyes, memories of a girl named Rin speaking cheerily to him ebbing and flowing like waves, "If Rin were still alive... I'm sure she'd say 'Don't act strong and hide; I'm watching you',"
Naruto holds out her hand to Obito, "You can stop running away. We're all waiting on this side, Obito,"
Obito reaches out, slowly carefully, then his hand is wrapped around her throat, squeezing, "I won't be joining your side. I have no regrets for what I've done so far," He states, squeezing tighter.
"Y-you... really don't... listen, do-do you? I...I saw... all of it..." Naruto wheezes, balling up her fist, "If... you really... believe that... Quit day-dreaming about what it would be like if you were Hokage, you bastard!" She socks him as hard as she can, his jaw cracking with the strike. It's infurating that he refuses to just understand. Even in his day dreams, Rin is still gone. Rin is gone and he's surrounded himself with people in those dreams of his. He even imagines Kakashi still there with him.
Naruto furiously, frustratedly, marches right up to Obito, who seems as if he's not seeing her right now, just saying Rin's name softly, and takes his outstretched hand. This shape standing before her isn't the one that Rin girl wanted to watch over... it's "Uchiha Obito!" She calls to him, "Let's go already, Asshole! Don't underestimate-"
"-Everyone's power!" Naruto finishes as everyone finally managed the final tug, freeing the spirits of the Bijuu, "We got them out, 'ttebayo!"
"We actually did it?!" Someone shouts.
"Hell yeah we did!"
The Bijuu all land on the ground, Kurama's chakra and Gyuuki's tentacle returning to them. Obito also careens to the ground, his form changing, looking much more human again before he lands on his back on the earth.
Naruto drops her Kyuubi form, as Sasuke drops the susano'o. Son Goku ambles over to her, looking down at her, "You kept your promise, Uzumaki Naruto," He says.
The blonde salutes, noding sharply, "Of course, Son!"
Gyuuki laughs, while Chomei remarks that they were lucky. Each of the Bijuu praise her but Shukaku who looks confused. Sasuke rushes past her and the Bijuu directly for Obito. Ugh! These Uchiha men! "Sasuke wait!"
"The enemy is still alive!" One of the sensors from Kumo shouts.
Naruto gets ready to use her hiraishin to flash to Sasuke, only, Kakashi appears directly over Obito, alive and well. Naruto's heart flutters in relief. When he didn't come out, she'd thought she'd lost him again. The blonde had half convinced herself that she was imagining sensing his chakra before. He's alive and hear and holding a kunai over Obito. Does he know how things have changed?
"Kakashi..." Sasuke stops in surprise to see Kakashi. He'd wondered where the man had been this whole time, not having seen him since his arrival. He'd half-thought the man was dead already.
Naruto sniffles, "Kakashi!"
"Naruto-chan, Sasuke, we can talk later. Sorry for showing up suddenly, but..." Kakashi draws back the kunai, giving himself leverage for a powerful downward stike, "I used to be his friend and teammate. Let me take my responsibilites,"
"Wait, Kakashi, he's-!" Kakashi has suffered enough of killing people he cares about, whether being used as the weapon or not. She can't let him go through it again, not when he doesn't know. Kakashi is already striking down but then, her father is there, stopping Kakashi's strike, "Dad!" Naruto breaths. Everyone is baying for Obito's blood, an understandable desire, but it's already over for him now. Tsunade takes charge, ordering everyone to hold their places.
Kakashi blinks in surprise, "Sensei?"
"Obito," Her father starts, "When we were pulling on each other's chakra, I was able to see inside your heart. My daughter gave you quite the lecture... she gets that from her mom. But... that was actually supposed to be your role. If anyone here can really understand Obito, it's you, Kakashi- his friend,"
"Dad..." Naruto whispers.
Her dad turns his eyes onto her, smiling sadly, "Don't you think, Naruto?" Naruto blinks, eyes flicking over to Sasuke. Yeah... she understands. This one here is gonna get his own earful from her, "All of you should go support the Shodaime- Madara still needs to be sealed,"
Naruto snaps her fingers, "That's right! That creepy f*ck is still around!" Naruto turns to run up the side of the hole they're in, "Come on, Sasuke! We have another idiot member of your family to beat up!"
"Hn,"
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura run up the wall, leading the pack of the Allied Shinobi Forces. Naruto doesn't stop running when she reaches the top, instead running up the side of the giant blank that Obito had summoned earlier to overlook the battle below.
Naruto stills, gathering nature energy once more. She's gonna make the biggest rasenshuriken she's ever made before! Naruto's going to shred that bastard to ribbons to make his ass immobile as seal him forever with her fuuinjutsu. He should have stayed in the ground where he belonged!
"Bigger!" Naruto shouts, filling it up with nature chakra further. Every ounce she takes in, she pours into the rasenshuriken before it's the size of a building, "Perfect!" Naruto throws it to the battle bellow. Hopefully, Hashirama gets out of the way or managed to pin him down long enough that she can get down there and seal the body.
There's an absolutely massive explosion below, she looks at it with a whistle. Naruto senses Sai coming, so she jumps down to his direction, landing on the bird drawing he's flying upon, "Thanks for the lift, Sai!"
They fly down quickly, landing among the battle grounds. Naruto joins Hashirama's side, sending chains dancing around his torii gate seals that hold Madara in place. His power is stronger than any of the other Edo Tensei zombies she's faced before, probably intentionally so from Kabuto, so she's a lot more careful about sealing him this time, "Karin-chan! Undertow!" Naruto orders.
"Yes, Naruto-sama!" Karin joins Naruto with her own chains, weaving them above Naruto's in a wave-like pattern while Naruto's thicker and more powerful chains form strong currents closer to Madara's body. The array of fuuinjutsu produced will fully paralyze him and freeze the chakra in his body, forcing the Edo Tensei to break entirely.
Madara, on the other hand, doesn't seem concerned about his predicament at all, making the hairs on the back of Naruto's neck stand up, "Time for the transfer," Madara smirks, "Finally, my counterattack,"
"Nice bluff, but you'll be under the bind of Uzumaki Fuuinjutsu soon," Hashirama huffs, "This war has been decided,"
Madara looks at Naruto with that smirk even as the chains wrap around him more tightly, "Naruto... I really should thank you," Naruto's stomach roils, "By extracting the bijuu from Obito, you've saved me the trouble of weakening him,"
"Almost done, Naruto-sama!" Karin informs her. Good, they need to hurry, something is very wrong. Obito's chakra is panicked and spiking wildly in a familiar way.
Madara slumps, his chakra rising and fitting more normally into his body. No. No no no no! "Get back!" Naruto orders just before Hashirama's seal breaks into a splinters and dust. Obito's chakra is now fading rapidly, despair oozing out of him from below. The wind blows, brushing away the debris and revealing a fully alive Uchiha Madara within her chains.
"At last! I can fight normally!" His voice shouts manically, "The feeling of a real body! I can feel my blood dancing in my veins!"
Naruto tightens her chains, cutting the sealing short. They don't need the final elements now that the bastard's alive again, so she'll try and paralyze him and add her Hiraishin marker while she has the chance. The level of chakra he now has is even more insane than before. It's no wonder he was known as a bane on the battlefield.
She manages to get the hiraishin on him, though the other factors don't hold as he flares chakra around his body, snapping the connection of the array before it can close full. Then, the eyes in his skull seem to crack, shattering into little pieces and falling away. He's completely blind, but Naruto is sure that's not going to hinder him much.
Black flames roar at Madara's back, Sasuke chakra alerting her it's not one of Madara's own.
"Let's see what this living fossile is capable of..." Sasuke says from above, riding on his own Sai original.
Again, Madara looks unconcerned, "Something of this caliber is hardly a hinderance. Truth be told, it's not worthy of note," He removes his armor, exposing is torso that has another face on it.
"In order for the universe to function properly, two opposing forces must be able to coexist,"
TBC
