Disclaimer: Pretty obvious here but to avoid confusion and punishments and lawsuits. I don't own the Naruto universe. The great Masashi Kishimoto does.
A/N: "Speech" - "Thought" - "Tailed Beast" - Also, since Naruto has Chakra Mode and all that. I will clarify how I'll have things to better paint a visual in your minds. Chakra Mode is how Naruto looked when he first got control of Kurama's chakra. Kurama Mode will refer to his second stage with the chakra formed cloak and Naruto's black shirt. Tailed Beast/Kurama Mode is the Nine Tails made from chakra. I'll simply refer to this as Kurama himself. If that's ok with you folks
"To be Hokage means to endure that pain...to walk in front of everyone and lead by example...to be the one who destroys any obstacles and paves the way for everyone else."
-Naruto Uzumaki
Episode 1: A New Perspective
Season 1: The Era of the Sixth: The Dawn of a New Age
***Unknown Location***
The Fourth Great Ninja War had been going on for quite some time. Although, for the masked man currently seated within the temple it had gone on long enough. His dark black hair seemed to blend in within the shadows of which he was seated within the dimly lit room. His gray mask had two eyeholes cut into it and strongly resembled Obito Uchiha's mask only without the surrounding lines. His shirt was all black as were his pants and gloves and he wore ANBU armor beneath his black robe. The kunai pouch attached to the back of his left hip along his waistline and strapped to his right thigh was his shuriken pouch. He had two katana strapped to his back with the hilt sticking up just above his right and left shoulders. The only indication that he was seated there were his two sharingan eyes staring at the entrance to his chambers. He was seated in a throne carved out of stone. Pillars and the occasional torch lined the room. He looked to his right and eyed his messenger. The cold look he gave was enough to paralyze anyone and would cause infants to cry. He had frightened powerful shinobi with a single glance. Even his father...
"My lord," his messenger spoke cautiously. The masked man was growing irritated. "I may lose yet another pawn." He thought, "But...no. I must hold patience. HE could make good use of these pawns."
"My lord," his messenger said again. The masked man looked to his messenger, "the war appears to be coming to an end. Your father's companion, Obito, has moved to the enemy and your father is losing ground against the Nine Tails and that Sasuke."
The masked man looked back to the entrance and said in a deep, low voice, "Very well. Finish the recruitments. I want all our larger weapons made mobile at once."
The messenger nodded and walked to the entrance.
"Oh, and one last thing."
The messenger turned and the masked man leaned forward in his throne slightly and glared at his messenger and growled in a low, threatening voice that frightened his messenger. "Bring me Kabuto Yakushi."
***Meanwhile - On the Battlefield***
The smoke and dust was awful but even worse was the way things were looking. Some of the troops looked on as Sasuke raced on his hawk to where the tailed beasts were. Others couldn't believe how things had gone. First, Naruto's reanimated father shows up and saves them from the Ten Tails. Then, Sasuke shows up and fights alongside Naruto as though Sasuke had never defected. Naruto was fighting for his life and the entire shinobi world and Sasuke was racing to join the fight and rescue Naruto. Madara had summoned the Gedo Statue once again but only had his right eye which was in the form of the Rinnegan and he was eying down the Tailed Beasts. And now...
"Nine Demon Leashes!" Madara yelled. The Gedo Statue opened its mouth and out came the nine chains wrapping around the necks of all nine Tailed Beasts. Sasuke wasn't close enough to cut the chains so he settled to activating his Susano'o and launching a barrage of arrows at Madara. But each one was blown away by the Rinnegan. Madara gave a sadistic smile. "Is that all you can do Sasuke?! A pity!"
Sasuke growled slightly and thought, "Tch. He's managed to repel every arrow. But let's try this." Sasuke flew through a few hand signs and yelled, "Inferno Style: Yasaka Magatamas!" and just like that his Susano'o whipped a barrage of these large magatamas at Madara with such force they could have crashed through Madara merely smiled. He stretched out his hands with his palms facing the direction that Sasuke's attack was coming from and yelled, "Almighty Push!"
When the two jutsus connected Sasuke's jutsu had been blown apart and dispersed as the leashes on the tailed beasts began dragging them in starting with Shukaku the One Tail and working their way up. Sasuke willed his hawk to move faster. The One through Five Tails had been sucked in already but Sasuke wasn't nearly close enough to make the leap to cut Naruto and the rest of the Tailed Beasts free.
"Hold on," Sasuke thought. "Just a little longer and I'll be able to make the leap and free you guys so keep fighting Naruto."
Naruto saw Sasuke coming and looked at Madara. "Come on Kurama!" He screamed. "We've gotta keep fighting back and buy Sasuke a little more time!"
"Shut up! You think I don't know that! But I can't fight back much longer" Kurama dug his tails into the ground. "Naruto! Uchiha brat! It's now or never!"
While Kurama and Naruto had been speaking the Saiken (the Six Tails) and Choumei (the Seven Tails) had been dragged in and Gyuuki was almost there. Sasuke quickly jumped off his hawk, dismissing it and went into his full body Susano'o mode and created the Susano'o sword and swung it down on the leashes of Kurama and Gyuuki freeing them both. Madara cried out and an invisible force slammed into the Kurama Mode Naruto, Gyuuki, and Sasuke; throwing them all to the ground. Naruto and Kurama growled and stood back up.
"Sasuke! Get up! We need to combine Tailed Beast Mode with your Susano'o again!" yelled Naruto as he looked to his downed friend. Sasuke slowly controlled his Susano'o to stand up.
Sasuke looked back to Naruto. "Agreed."
Naruto's Kurama Mode was quickly encased by Sasuke's Susano'o armor with both Naruto and Sasuke hovering in the mouth of Naruto's Kurama Mode. Naruto grinned at Madara. "Let's see you take the Nine Tails now!"
Sasuke looked at Naruto. "Naruto don't be so loud. Focus."
Naruto glared at his comrade. "Shut up Sasuke! I'm way stronger than you anyways you asshole!"
Madara formed a few hand seals before clapping his hands together. "Let's see your form deal with this. Heaven's Rain!"
An ominous shadow quickly began to descend and black out the sky. Clouds slowly began to part to show a multitude of large meteors falling towards the earth. Sasuke quickly scanned each one trying to count when he came across a startling realization. "Dammit! There's no way Naruto and I can destroy each one and there's no guarantee that taking down Madara will get rid of them either. We'll just have to take out the ones that pose the greatest threat to Naruto and I." But Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted when Kurama's armored mouth opened up and Naruto stretched his hands and arms out towards the opening. Sasuke looked at him. "Naruto what are you-"
"I'm gonna try to take out most of them." Naruto interrupted Sasuke. Naruto then looked to the rest of the army. "You guys! Hit those damn rocks with your best long range attacks and blow 'em to hell!"
In front of the armored Kurama's mouth began to form a Tailed Beast Bomb. But this one was different in size and appearance. Four chakra blades were spinning around the Tailed Beast Bomb giving it the appearance of Naruto's Wind Style: Rasenshuriken only it was much larger and with a Tailed Beast Bomb at the center.
Madara watched the jutsu form. "Such power...I'll have to prevent that jutsu from forming."
With that thought the Gedo Statue took a lumbering step forward. Those steps turned into strides and it finally broke into a run straight at Naruto and Sasuke. Madara's Susano'o flared to life around him as the Gedo Statue charged Naruto and Sasuke. "Like I'll let you take the time to form that!"
Sasuke was about to move the armored Kurama to counter when Naruto stopped him. "Sasuke don't! We'll only get one chance at this shot on those damned rocks! If we move the jutsu will break and we'll never get this blast off. Sakura and the others could die. We have to wait and make this count."
To say that Sasuke was shocked by Naruto's newfound maturity was an understatement. The Naruto Sasuke always knew was loud, brash, impulsive, reckless, and was never very good at strategizing. But this, this gave Sasuke a new respect for Naruto. "Naruto," he thought. "You've really grown up haven't you?" "Tch. Fine. But hurry."
Naruto gave a curt nod and concentrated trying to speed up the process of forming his attack. Sasuke looked back and saw Madara with his Susano'o's sword raised above it's head and ready to strike. "Shit! We're out of time! Naruto's jutsu didn't form fast enough!" And with that the chakra sword came down.
***Meanwhile***
It had been dark before but the sky got even darker when Madara had launched his jutsu. Screams from the other shinobi troops and samurai caused others to look up and stare. Some sank to their knees while others killed themselves. Madara had implemented chaos upon the ninja world once again. It was hard to tell how far Madara's jutsu had reached but Shikamaru knew one thing was certain. They had to counter it and fast. When Naruto had shouted that command Shikamaru relayed the order to the entire alliance with the instruction that they wait for his signal. Shikamaru looked up as Madara's meteor shower came falling. Closer and closer the large boulders got to the earth.
Shikamaru had seen Madara and the Gedo Statue bullrush Naruto and Sasuke and he came to the startling realization. This was it. The fate of the world was once again in Naruto's hands. But as Shikamaru pondered this he realized something else. It was in HIS hands too, and not just Sasuke's. But his very own as well. Shikamaru's gaze travelled all across the falling rocks, analyzing the pattern if any, and trying to formulate strategies. Shikamaru's eyes widened with a gasp as the Fourth Hokage, Kakashi, and...Obito Uchiha appeared before him. Although, Obito was leaning heavily on Kakashi.
Shikamaru stared at the Fourth Hokage. "This is..." The Fourth looked back at Shikamaru. "Naruto's dad..."
Then, Minato smiled. "You're a friend of my son's aren't you? Thank you for the help." Then Minato turned his smile towards the meteors and his smile disappeared. "I will enter Nine Tails Mode and attack each meteor." "With the Second unable to move I won't be able to teleport but I have to try to help Naruto as best as I can."
Suddenly Minato was surrounded by the open jaw of Kurama. Unlike Naruto's Kurama Mode, Minato's was a dark, rich red color. More of an orange actually. Soon the whole head of Minato's Kurama Mode lifted off the ground and the entirety of Minato's Kurama Mode was formed. Minato looked up to the meteors scanning each one discerning an attack pattern. Minato snapped his gaze back to Kakashi and Obito an idea formulating. "I wonder if I can share Kurama's chakra with them like Naruto did."
Minato had made up his mind and called out. "Kakashi! Obito!" His two former students looked up to him as Minato made two clones both jumping out of the mouth of Minato's Nine Tail Mode. The two Minatos landed in front of Kakashi and Obito and both clones placed their hands on Kakashi and Obito respectively. The Nine Tails cloak enveloped both Kakashi and Obito as Minato's clones dispersed.
"Obito! Kakashi! You guys should have enough chakra to use Kamui to get rid of a few of those meteors." Minato called down to them. But Shikamaru looked to Kakashi then back at Minato.
"Lord Fourth," Shikamaru started. "I don't think Kakashi-sensei is used to using that jutsu on such a large scale. And I'm not sure Obito has enough chakra."
"But we'll manage." Obito stated with confidence as he looked up to his former sensei. Minato gave a nod and with that his Kurama Mode leapt high into the sky, right at the falling meteor. Kakashi turned his gaze to his old friend and comrade.
"Obito..." Kakashi started but was quickly interrupted by the formerly mentioned teammate.
"Kakashi. Don't waste your words on me. The least I can do now...is die protecting the current Naruto!" Obito all but screamed at the end as he activated his Mangekyou Sharingan. And in his own mind he screamed, "Kamui!" One of the meteors slowly began to disappear with a swirl, being transported into the Kamui dimension. Kakashi quickly locked his own Mangekyou on the same meteor and yelled. "Kamui!"
The meteor disappeared at twice the speed and Kakashi and Obito began locking onto other meteors. Shikamaru sat back and watched. "While they may be able to get rid of a few. Kakashi-sensei can't keep this up and who knows how long Obito can keep this up. The Fourth Hokage can't take all of them out either."
Shikamaru snapped his head in Ino's direction. "Ino. Connect me to every shinobi on the battlefield. Now."
"Right!" Ino closed her eyes in deep concentration and placed her hand on the crown of Shikamaru's head. Right where the parietal bones of the skull meet at the sagittal suture. With a curt nod, Shikamaru began talking to every troop inside their minds.
"Listen up everyone. You guys all heard Naruto. We need to take out those meteors. The Fourth Hokage, Kakashi, and Obito are taking a few of them out but they can only do so much. Everyone, break up into your battle regiments and use your best long range attacks when I give the signal."
As Shikamaru spoke this last part Minato had destroyed five or six of the meteors and Kakashi and Obito had run out of usable chakra in the midst of using Kamui on their seventh. But at least a dozen other meteors were closing in fast."Just a little more," Shikamaru thought. "A little closer and I'll give the signal." That was, until Ino collapsed from chakra exhaustion. Choji managed to catch her before she hit the ground. Shikamaru turned looked at Sakura.
"Sakura! Quick! Ino's passed out." A single leap brought Sakura to where Shikamaru and Ino was. Sakura placed her hands on Ino's chest and her green healing chakra emanated from her hands. Sakura quickly focused on healing Ino as fast as she could. But the glow from her chakra quickly grew dim before finally fading. Sakura breathed a deep sigh and caught herself from falling. "Ino's used up too much chakra. I can't heal something like this. She has to recover through rest." Sakura looked up at the falling meteors. "But we don't have time. Without Ino, Shikamaru can't give the attack order."
Sakura looked at Shikamaru, desperation clearly etched upon her face. "Ino doesn't have the chakra. And I can't heal something like this. She needs rest."
"Dammit!" Shikamaru looked up at the falling meteors and raised his hand quickly and dropped it just as fast trying to give the attack signal. Soldiers quickly began launching their attacks and jutsus. The meteors though seemed to be unaffected by these attacks. All these attacks seemed to do was break off large chunks of debris causing damage, injury, and death to members of the Allied Shinobi Forces.
"Shit!" Shikamaru yelled. As the meteor above them came crashing down on him and the others. That's when it and at least half of the remaining meteors exploded into shards of debris that rained upon Shikamaru, Sakura and the others. Shikamaru had just managed to get a glimpse of a Rasenshuriken looking jutsu fly into the meteor field and expanded in an explosion destroying the aforementioned meteors. Shikamaru looked back in the direction of which it came, where there was a fierce battle taking place. Before Shikamaru sank to his knees and passed out from exhaustion he had one thought. "Win...Naruto."
***Meanwhile***
"Wind Style: Tailed Beast Shuriken Bomb!" Yelled Naruto and Kurama as the armored Nine Tails lifted his head and launched the newly formed jutsu. Madara cried out in surprise as Naruto's jutsu flew past taking off a part of Madara's Susano'o. It zoomed high directly into the midst of the falling meteors. Naruto's jutsu expanded and exploded destroying some of the meteors close by and the shockwave from the explosion destroyed the rest. Madara watched in horror and witnessed the awesome power of Naruto's jutsu.
But when he turned his eye back on Naruto and Sasuke an armored claw wielding a sword came slashing at him. Madara counted with his own Susano'o sword and his other sword stabbed at the armored Nine Tails. But this stab did not even penetrate and a swipe from Kurama forced the Gedo Statue back. A barrage of swipes and slashes and sweeping armored tails brought the Gedo Statue down and Madara fell. His cracked Susano'o shattered on impact with the ground and a small crater was formed around him.
As an armored tail came down on where Madara landed Naruto smirked and yelled, "Take this!"
But that tail was quickly blown back as Madara appeared in the gem on the forehead of his perfect Susano'o. Madara began a maniacal laugh. His blue armored Susano'o drew his sword.
"You two kids are worthy opponents, better than Hashirama even, but with my perfect Susano'o there's nothing left to this battle."
Sasuke stared at Madara, and spoke in that calm voice as always. "You forget what we have right now. The combined powers of the Nine Tails and the Susano'o. Don't underestimate us."
Naruto glared and yelled, "Not to mention that Sasuke and I are best friends! We won't let you use the Infinite Tsukuyomi! Peace like that is nothing but one big lie! It's not even peace! It's just you controlling all of us! There's no way I'll let that happen! Because all my friends and comrades, the whole army, the Five Great Nations, all the innocent people in them, the entire world! Everyone will be put under that jutsu! And so long as I'm still breathing there's no way I'll let you win!"
With Naruto's final exclamation the armored Kurama charged at Madara. Madara gave a yell as his perfect Susano'o met that charge and flurry of clashing chakra swords and punches, tails, and claws ensued. A chakra swordlock quickly followed and Kurama's free claw cut across giving four long cuts across the abdomen of Madara's Susano'o. Madara gave a growl as his Susano'o was slashed. But it quickly countered with a kick forcing Kurama slide backwards and breaking the bladelock. Madara's Susano'o leapt high into the sky and summoned forth a long strong of magatamas. At the same time Kurama's mouth opened and another Tailed Beast Shuriken Bomb began forming.
Naruto looked up at Madara and yelled, "This is it! This jutsu is gonna take you down for good!"
Madara shouted, "This will defeat you both!"
"Tailed Beast Shuriken Bomb!"
"Yasaka Magatamas!"
With those shouts Kurama launched his jutsu as did Madara. The jutsus clashed in midair and a blinding flash of light and explosion followed. The armor on Kurama cracked and broke apart in various places as it was driven into the ground from the explosion. Madara's Susano'o was flung back and into the ground. Dust and rubble flew everywhere surrounding the battlefield.
When the dust finally cleared there were no signs of Madara's Susano'o or Kurama. Sasuke had landing on the edge of the impact crater where Kurama had gone into the ground and in the bottom of said crater lay Naruto. His Kurama Mode going back into Chakra Mode before disappearing altogether. Naruto was laying unconscious at the bottom of the crater while Sasuke was barely holding on to his own consciousness. Sasuke looked in the direction of where Madara had landed. His eyes quickly reverted back to the Sharingan before returning to their normal black state. His eyes widened and he gave a gasp as he saw Madara slowly walking towards him. Madara had cuts all over his body including Hashirama's face. Sasuke was slowly losing consciousness. The last thing he saw before his eyes closed was Madara's wicked smile.
"Time for a change of perspective. Let's see what your view on the world is Sasuke." Madara said as Sasuke went unconscious. Madara gave a sadistic laugh as he stopped in front of Sasuke.
***Meanwhile - In a cave far from the battlefield***
Everything was pitch black within the cave, darker than the night and all that could be seen was a snake slithering about protruding from a man's stomach. This man had been placed under a genjutsu, an infinite loop. The same series of movements and counter attacks happening before him. When he suddenly looked up and smiled. He put his glasses back on and turned towards the exit of the cave.
"I know you're there. Hiding from me is pointless." The man readjusted his glasses on his face as he spoke this. A hooded man stepped forward into the middle of the entrance.
"My master has asked for you to accompany him in battle. If you will follow me I will take you to him. He claims that the people you have sided with have been going about things the wrong way. He'd like to offer you a new perspective on things."
"And should I join what is in it for me?"
The hooded man smiled and said. "My master has promised Sasuke Uchiha as well as a large number of subjects for you to experiment. He'd like a few special pieces in his plans."
The glasses wearing man wore a sadistic smile. "Yes, Sasuke. It seems as though Obito's plan has failed. Well, I suppose it's time for a change."
"Very well," he said. "If you'll lead the way."
A single leap carried him to the exit and with a few steps he was back out into the night. As a snake should be when he hunted is prey.
There you have it guys, my very first story. Please R&R and feel free to message me. I'm open to any and all suggestions and ideas.
Next Time: The Breaking Point
