The Breaker of the Cycle – Chapter 2.
"Uchiha Madara?!"
I didn't sign up for this….
Distractedly, the unnamed Earth Chuunin of no particular skill stood back up and fixed his attention to Lord Onoki, his Kage. In his inattentive state, Onoki's words hadn't quite registered. Seeing the thunderstruck look on his leader's face, the Chuunin's stomach dropped. Seeing the direction of Onoki's gaze, the Chuunin shifted his eyes to the top of the cliff that the Earth Shadow was now focusing his full attention on.
….Muu was back.
Well, there go the celebrations…after Naruto and Lord Onoki took down and sealed Muu, I guess we got too far ahead of ourselves. We'd just beaten the strongest Tsuchikage ever, and now he's back? How? And with another zombie to back him up?
These were the Chuunin's thoughts, as the celebrations of the Fourth Division died down. After watching one of Naruto Uzumaki's clones all but single-handedly pulverize the strongest Earth and Lightning Shadows to have ever lived, and as word filtered in from the long-range communications ninja that dozens of other Naruto clones were sweeping the enemy, by the thousands, from every single battlefield at the same time, the ninja of the Fourth Division had on the spot declared the war essentially won. Many shinobi had started victory dances, uncorked their "victory" sake bottles, kissed their significant others, or had simply sat down and let it all sink in. If the war was won, all thanks to Uzumaki Naruto, why not celebrate in honor of one of the newest and greatest heroes in the history of the elemental nations?
In declaring victory, we got too far ahead of ourselves…but still, how much can two zombies do versus nearly ten thousand ninja, none of whom are lower than Chuunin?
Then the Earth Chuunin noticed that Lord Onoki wasn't looking at Muu. In fact, glancing at the surrounding crowd, he noticed that no one was looking at Muu, and the Jounin and the older ninja in particular seemed to look just as shocked as the Earth Shadow. Everyone's attention was fixed on the powerful-looking man wearing red armor standing next to Muu, whose title in life had been "The Skulking Ghost" for his unparalleled skill in infiltration and sheer destruction, thanks to his undetectable chakra network and Dust Release bloodline selection – an incredibly rare form of advanced, tri-element, Kekkai Genkai – where most bloodline limits combine two elements, the rare and legendary Kekkai Totai combine three.
What is going on here….
The Chuunin, mentally drowning out the discussion that was now spreading throughout the Fourth Division, formed the Ram focusing seal and performed an E-rank ninjutsu taught to all Earth Country tracking ninja. Focusing chakra to his eyes, his vision zoomed in on the ninja wearing antiquated red armor, currently standing a few hundred feet away atop a sandstone cliff.
Now that the armored warrior's features were clear, the Chuunin realized 'I know of this man. I've seen this face before…but where?'….then it came to him.
The Valley of the End…and maybe a book from the Academy. That's where I've seen him before. That's Uchiha Madara!
The Chuunin began to fear. Madara's history with the Earth Country was long and soaked in blood. If anyone could take on an entire army alone, it would be him. The Chuunin began to call up what he knew of Madara…the man's history was taught to all Iwa Academy students as the case in point of the dark power and black heart of Konoha in general and the Uchiha in particular. The Chuunin could instantly recognize Madara's face because he'd seen it before in effigy at the Final Valley. His tracking team had recently taken part in the clean-up operations in Rice Country as the low-grade, but unusually brutal, civil war there had died down. Uchiha Sasuke's slaying of Orochimaru, and the subsequent collapse of Orochimaru's Otogakure had unleashed thousands of corrupted aberrations, such as curse seal freaks, chimaera summoning creatures, and people with implanted bloodlines throughout Rice and the bordering minor nations. The resulting death toll was unknown, but probably verged into the tens of thousands. The assassination of Orochimaru's thrall, the daimyo of Rice Country, within days of the Sannin's death and the final collapse of her administration weeks afterward had ended whatever remaining semblance of self-government that the formerly ambitious minor nation had had. After Kabuto's disappearance, Orochimaru's surviving lieutenants took advantage of the vacuum and began to fight it out amongst one another for power, ending the unified front that the hundreds of missing-nin who had flocked to Orochimaru's cause had previously had, ending their protection from the hunter squads of the Elemental Nations. Those who didn't flee to Ame or other minor nations friendly to missing-nin were dealt with by the forces that Earth, Lightning, and Fire had sent in to Rice. All three nations were interested in claiming for themselves potentially useful data, experimental results, and malleable children who had survived Orochimaru's bloodline-grafting experiments, because whatever else he was, Orochimaru was respected throughout the Elemental Nations for his power and scientific prowess. The man's reputation, and bounty, had achieved hitherto unknown heights among missing-nin after his victory against the Sandaime Hokage in single combat. Konoha's presence in post-Orochimaru Oto, however, was dulled due to their problems with Akatsuki and their S-rank missing-nin, Uchiha Sasuke, despite the Fire County's geographic proximity – therefore most of the treasures of Oto had gone to Kumo and Iwa. Otogakure had gained great power in little over a decade due to the support of Kumo and Iwa, who were interested in backing a new client state that could stand between them and the Konoha superpower, weakening Konoha's position in other more strategic areas. The scientific work that Orochimaru had done for Iwa and Kumo especially, first as an Akatsuki member and then later, as his wealth and connections solidified, as a free contractor had gone a long way towards strengthening the Sannin's position as the shadow leader of Rice Country. Ever since the third Ninja World War, both nations had stolen dozens of bloodlines from minor nations (the Hyuuga Incident twelve years ago had warned of all of the Great Nations from stealing bloodlines from one another, Mist being the only exception due to Yagura's civil war, implying that, as always, the minor nations were considered fair game). Orochimaru's research was invaluable to Iwa and Kumo in determining the nature and potential of newly acquired bloodlines…his usefulness in these matters was sufficient for the two nations to work with the dark Sannin despite Konoha's suspicions – if these arrangements had ever become public, they could have resulted in war. As far as the Chuunin knew, Konoha had never found out, and hopefully never would.
Lord Onoki had sent the Chuunin's tracking team to back up several dozen teams – nearly a full battalion of three hundred ninja – into western Rice Country to retrieve potentially valuable assets and bloodlines and to seize control of the fertile floodplains while Konoha was distracted by Akatsuki. The Iwa House of Lords, an assembly of the noble, feudal clans of Iwagakure - which Onoki, as Tsuchikage and leader of the ancient Ryotenbin Clan, was guaranteed leadership of - had been musing the possibility of incorporating the breadbasket into Fang Country, a client state of Iwa. The Chuunin's team had been posted to watch the border at the Valley of the End while other teams cleaned up in the interior towns. There, they had sat long into the night, discussing in awe the scale of Madara's one-manned, map-altering invasion of the Elemental Nations some seventy years ago, which had culminated in digging out this kilometers-long and hundreds of meters deep canyon. The team noticed that some relatively recent and vicious battle had taken place in the Valley, judging from severe damage to the ground at the base of the statues and some of the obsidian cliff walls, which had once been solid granite but were utterly melted by the battle between Madara and the Shodaime Hokage.
One of the Chuunin's teammates, late in the night, had waxed poetic as he was sometimes inclined to do. He compared the Final Valley to the legendary Great Crater on the other side of the world, far beyond the Elemental Nations…two great and dark scars in the earth inflicted by men resembling gods, yet at opposing ends of the spectrum of morality. As far as the Chuunin's team was concerned, Madara was a dark god, incarnate in human flesh – for who but a god could wield power on such massive scale? Even Lord Onoki, Iwa's most powerful ninja since the Skulking Ghost, was known to have lost to Madara alongside Lord Muu himself in the battle of the Western Uchiha Fortress. That Onoki, still the apprentice of the Shodaime Tsuchikage, had survived such a battle as a youth at least partly explained his rapid rise through the ranks in the aftermath, especially given the deaths of many of his superiors due to Madara in the battle that was still known as Konoha's First Betrayal. Madara had singlehandedly killed hundreds of Iwa's best at what was supposed to be a peace congregation, using a nearly invincible ethereal creature that cloaked his body, and apparently unstoppable black fire techniques. Iwa had never accepted Hashirama's protestations of innocence in Madara's slaughter, even after the newly formed Leaf Village disavowed its co-founder and futilely sent trackers after him. The wounds that Madara had dealt that day to the former friendship between the two villages had, under Onoki's leadership, never healed – Onoki had lost many friends and comrades that day. The Chuunin could tell, though, that this Fourth Ninja War was changing things – he hadn't ever seen the stubborn old goat this happy and willing to work with his nation's former enemies. The Chuunin could tell that the Hidden Villages, forced for the first time ever to co-operate against a greater threat, now recognized that they weren't so different from one another. The Chuunin hoped that, after the war, this understanding would continue to grow.
Finally brought out of his musings, he heard the tail end of Onoki's response to the information that the Kazekage's beautiful sister offered regarding Madara's latest known location.
"Then who in the world is the man behind the mask?!"
The Chuunin didn't have a clue, nor did he care. Whoever it was who had declared war on the Elemental Nations at the Gokage summit after capturing seven of the Bijuu wasn't at this battlefield – something to be grateful for. Madara alone….his power was the stuff of legend. Even with a Naruto clone and two Kage, scores of A-rank ninja and thousands of lower ranked Chuunin, Jounin, and support staff, this wasn't going to be an easy battle, for Uchiha Madara hadn't been seen in the flesh since the battle of the Valley of the End nearly seventy years ago, making Madara nearly a hundred and ten years old. In those decades Madara had become to Iwagakure and the entire Earth Nation the symbol of Konoha's hidden evil – this task in no small part aided by Iwa propaganda, which had climaxed in its vitriol after the Yellow Flash singlehandedly slaughtered hundreds of Iwa's newest generation in a battle that would have otherwise made it to the very walls of Konoha. Madara was infamous even before the Founding for leading the nomadic Uchiha and its vassal clans to victory after victory throughout the lands that would eventually be domiciled as the northern Elemental Nations, with the Uchiha's Senju rivals tending to dominate the Southern lands and the island nations, thanks to the Senju's alliance with the Uzumaki. Thanks to the Uchiha's proximity, Earth Nation shinobi and samurai were well acquainted with the skill of Sharingan wielders and the overwhelming power of the few very Uchiha who mastered the Mangekyo. After the Betrayal at the Western Uchiha Fortress, Madara had completely disappeared from the Elemental Nations for several years before returning with several times his original power, in control of the Kyuubi and several legendary artifacts. His rampage in the Northern territories had claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands and done desperate damage to Kumogakure, killing its Shodaime – a close and personal friend of Hashirama's, which paved the way for Kumo's own aggression against Konoha.
Through his musings, the Chuunin had kept his attention fixed on the two zombies, along with the rest of the steadily mobilizing Fourth Division. The zombies seemed to have come to an end of their discussion atop the cliff, if Madara's leaping down from the cliff was any indicator. The Chuunin heard Naruto's redundant "He's coming!" and the Kazekage's worried "it won't be easy to capture him…"
The hundreds of yells emanating from the Fourth Division were all overshadowed by Lord Onoki roaring like the old goat he was. "DON'T LOOK AT HIS EYES DIRECTLY!"
Ow! My ears…
It was taught in the Academy that pouring more chakra into Fire jutsu could have either one of two effects, depending on the user's will. Greater size or greater heat. Madara's opening jutsu was remarkable – The Chuunin saw him unleash a yellow-white wall of flame hundreds of feet across and scores talls, barely countered by a co-operative wall of water created by about sixty the Division's Jounin water-masters, who had earlier been ordered to take point in anticipation of battling an Uchiha ninjutsu master.
Then the Chuunin realized that Madara had anticipated this. The two elemental walls canceled one another out, creating an immense wall of steam. The surviving momentum of the wind created by Madara's jutsu kicked up the steam and scalded dozens of shinobi who hadn't reacted quickly enough. Their screams and the cover of the steam masked Madara's true entry into battle. The Chuunin, standing guard next to Onoki, didn't see so much as barely notice Madara leap through the steam – undoubtedly using some kind of invisible chakra shield to protect his skin – and crush the ribs of a katana-wielding Cloud jounin with a flying kick. Madara may have used a light Shunsin – his speed made his entry into battle all but invisible to any aside from jounin.
Shit…..Madara was said to be perhaps the greatest blademaster in the history of the Uchiha, aside from Izuna…no wonder he went for that Cloud blade-wielder first.
Madara seized the blade and began cutting a bloody swath through the Fourth Division. His speed and mastery of fire to the point that he could use basic fire releases without using hand signs resulted in something the Chuunin had never even heard of before. Madara was literally leaving behind meters-high whirlwinds of fire as he slaughtered one congregation of ninja after another, breaking up the crowd surrounding him who, between the spreading fire, Madara's speed and uniform lethality, and the countless flying ninja weapons, flying or falling corpses, and water ninjutsu to counter the fire whirlwinds started to panic. Dozens began to flee, further adding to the confusion.
The Chuunin saw one of his old friends from the Stone, a senior Jounin known for using a sharpened slab of iron weighing hundreds of pounds, charge Madara and prepare an over-head slash. Madara just looked at the massive Jounin, who had never before faced an Uchiha in battle and didn't pay enough attention to Onoki's warning regarding the eyes of the Uchiha. The massive jounin just stopped, as though the strength of his mind and body had perished on the spot in a millisecond. Madara whirled and roundhouse kicked the poor man into the crowd – the Chuunin, anguished, saw that his friend just kept on flying for dozens of feet, knocking over a score of other Shinobi like bowling pins. His friend didn't get back up.
Damnit! Madara is playing us for fools! He's fought against superior numbers for his entire life! His tactics are specifically meant to break up crowds and turn our numbers against us! We're losing nearly as many men to friendly fire as Madara is killing!
The Chuunin had at this point forgotten about Muu. Onoki roared out a warning to the sensor-nin about Muu, who was still standing on top of the cliff – Muu had apparently tried to use Dust Release but failed. The Chuunin glanced at Muu and figured that the Skulking Ghost had ran out of chakra and returned his attention to Madara while standing guard next to Onoki, who at this point decided to step into the battle, moments after Naruto's clone yelled out that he was done gathering natural chakra and was ready to join the fight.
Onoki stepped away from his Chuunin guard and used a basic Earth technique taught to all Iwa ninja in the Academy, Chidoukaku, the very jutsu typically used to create walls and buildings, not normally used in battle. Regardless, the Chuunin wasn't surprised about this. Onoki was, alongside the Sandaime Hokage, legendary for using academy-level jutsu in even extremely high level battles. Onoki's jutsu raised a geometric, apartment-sized block of rock that Madara was standing on while Naruto leaped in from above. The combined speed of the two attacks was so swift that the Chuunin could only barely see Naruto's attack connect with Madara. He did see Naruto's immense ball of chakra grind through the upper half of Onoki's block of rock.
No one could survive that….Naruto just turned dozens of tons of rock into dust….Naruto's speed while using his Sage techniques is incredible. Was Jiraiya also capable of this? He visited Iwa a few times to speak with Lord Onoki, but I never personally saw him do much but prey on our women…
The wind and dust unleashed by Naruto's Rasengan obscured the Chuunin's vision, the flying shrapnel forcing him to cover his face with his crossed arms. The next thing he saw was several Naruto clones sent flying by an ethereal, two-faced, dual blade-wielding creature with four arms that cloaked Madara's body.
That thing must be acting as a shield,…the Rasengan is a jutsu legendary for being able to pierce any defense. Just what is that thing?! Is that the technique that Madara used at the Battle of the Western Uchiha Fortress?
Onoki then spoke up. "Susanoo! Did Madara already switch to the Mangekyo Sharingan?"
The Chuunin thought 'Susanoo…? The legendary technique used by the most powerful of the main branch Uchiha…?'
Onoki saw his guard's questioning look. "Yes, I've seen this before. This is the very technique that Madara used at the Western Uchiha Fortress." Shifting his gaze back to Madara, Onoki narrowed his eyes. "It's as terrifying now as it was back then. Keep your distance…those swords cannot be blocked. Trust me, I know."
The battle shifted after Madara unleashed this fearsome creature. By now the Fourth Division had dealt with the fire whirlwinds, recovered the wounded, and had their sensor-types working on reviving ninja who had been paralyzed by the Uchiha's genjutsu. Now that Madara's crowd-controlling tactics were neutralized by the Uchiha's shift to a more stationary type of battle, the Fourth Division was able to restore its lines and chain of command. Dozens of Jounin Commanders yelled out to their ninja to surround Madara and begin unleashing fire at will. The Shinobi Army complied enthusiastically. Thousands of elemental ninjutsu, kunai, shuriken, and bombs flew at the shadowy creature wreathing Madara, no longer visible to the naked eye. The Army stayed out of the range of the creature's massive swords, learning from the few dozen foolish ninja who had initially charged the creature and been sliced to pieces.
"Nothing is working. Just what is that thing?!"
Onoki again answered his Chuunin guard, speaking up for the dozens of ninja surrounding him. "The Susanoo is the most powerful Yin release ninjutsu in the world that we know of." The Tsuchikage added suspiciously. "Who knows what other secrets the Uchiha have…I've never faced any two Uchiha whose eyes behaved in exactly the same way. That clan is if nothing else full of surprises. Susanoo is said to be the Uchiha's very soul given physical form. It is both blade and shield. The Uchiha can use it to cast hand signs and even cast ninjutsu. It is a nearly unbeatable shield, and its attacks cannot be blocked. Only high S-rank ninjutsu and unusually powerful Kekkai Genkai can pierce it, and even then…not easily. My Dust Release will probably work. Naruto!" Onoki spoke up to the clone, who had apparently finished replenishing his chakra using senjutsu." Your Wind Rasengan….whatever you call it. Prepare to use it. I've got an idea…."
Naruto's clone nodded. The Chuunin saw Onoki walk over to the Kazekage, who had been busy shielding Division ninja with his sand from Madara's physical attacks while still using the stolen Cloud katana. Gaara's sand-shields didn't seem to work against the blades of Madara's creature….those soul-blades slipped through the sand as though it wasn't even there. The Kazekage gave Lord Onoki a questioning look. Onoki responded "settle down, brat. You're going to like this."
The Chuunin saw his lord create a few hand signs that were well known to the Jounin. "Doton Keijuugan no Jutsu!"
That's what Onoki is planning…! Genius! He's going to make the Kazekage's sand faster, letting him take advantage of Susanoo's blind spot near Madara's feet. That spirit creature doesn't seem to protect Madara from underneath the ground!
Naruto also seemed to realize the implications of Onoki's technique, after the Kazekage mumbled in wonder about how light his sand had become. Naruto fixed the Kazekage with a respectful gaze and nodded. "Thanks, old geezer!"
Naruto then looked at Gaara and said "Let's go!" The clone then used Kage Bunshin, creating two clones that helped the original create another of the Shuriken-shaped jutsu that Naruto had attempted to use on the Sandaime Raikage half an hour ago.
Wait….a kage bunshin can itself use kage bunshin…? Is there no limit to how powerful that jutsu is?! Why did Lord Onoki never recruit a Konoha-ninja capable of using it? We could – AGH.
The Chuunin had forgotten how powerful Naruto's wind jutsu was. It sucked up air from the surrounding atmosphere like a vacuum, to the point that the Chuunin's ears popped and his clothes, for an instant, felt like they were in danger of being ripped off. The sheer pressure of the chakra almost blinded his undeveloped chakra-detecting senses.
This 'Rasenshuriken' must look like a second sun to the sensor-ninja. Kami, what an incredibly dangerous technique…
The Kazekage acted. The Chuunin saw the young kage take advantage of Onoki's jutsu and send his lightweight sand underground in the direction of the hundred-foot-in-diameter, corpse, metal, and crater-laden circular clearing that had developed around Madara in the past minute. The Fourth Division had sent tens of thousands of techniques at Madara's apparently invincible living shield, all to no effect. By this point the division had mostly given up on attacking it in favor of warily watching the creature's blades. The ninja present figured that, if Madara could extend those blades or use ninjutsu from within it, he was going to do it soon, since no shinobi were by this point foolish enough to charge the creature directly. The disarticulated corpses of those who were foolish enough now littered the clearing around Madara in the dozens.
The Chuunin saw Naruto charge in while at the same time he could vaguely make out Gaara's sand sprouting up from right underneath Susanoo, catching Madara off guard.
It's a pity that I couldn't create spikes to attack Madara from underneath, but manipulating rock at that kind of a distance is exceptionally difficult. Our techniques are meant to be used at close range to the source rock. I'd be surprised if even Onoki could do it….but there's no way that Madara is going to survive what Naruto and Gaara are about to do to him. The Rasenshuriken won't miss this time once Gaara takes him out from Susanoo, and I doubt that Madara has a shielding technique like the Raikage had.
Naruto and Gaara's tag team worked! They had managed to separate Madara from Susanoo. The Chuunin saw Naruto, still in Sage Mode, throw the technique outright this time at Madara, who was now helpless in midair. The technique hit Madara and expanded, blinding Madara from the Chuunin's vision.
We got him! …wait, why isn't it exploding like it did against the Raikage….is the technique failing?
The orb of light surrounding Madara started to die down, and seconds later it disappeared. Naruto jumped back to Gaara's side, and started panicking. It looked like he'd seen a ghost. "Why?! Why does he have a Rinnegan?"
The Chuunin quickly looked at Madara's eyes, despite Onoki's earlier warning. The rest of the Shinobi army with a clear line of sight did the same, focusing chakra to their eyes so that they could zoom in.
Shit. The Akatsuki member who singlehandedly destroyed Konoha was said to have a Dojutsu characterized by silvery-purple rings going all the way out to the edges of the sclera. It's said to be the Dojutsu of the Sage of Six Paths. The Akatsuki member was apparently capable of powerful, multiple Boss-level summonings, human summoning, manipulating every element, gravity, life and death…and Madara also has it? What the fuck? How?
Fearful discussions started to break out throughout the Fourth Division. By this point, Naruto's battle a few months ago with the Akatsuki member "Pain" had become legendary throughout the Elemental Nations. Konoha had been reduced to a crater thousands of feet deep and miles across, and a second, equally sized crater a few miles away from the city had also been found in the aftermath. Pain had apparently created a small moon using an outrageously powerful gravity-controlling ninjutsu, resulting in the second crater, while trying to capture Naruto. Naruto had by this point been gaining a reputation throughout the elemental nations for defeating Gaara a few years ago, restoring the regimes of Wave and the former Snow countries, and defeating several A and S-rank ninja. His name wasn't exactly household knowledge anywhere but Konoha and the nations that he'd had missions in, but he was well known to shinobi who made it their business to watch out for potential A and S-rank ninja. His defeat of Pain, public knowledge of his mastery of Senjutsu, and the public knowledge that he was the jinchururiki of the Kyuubi, which had been said to have been killed by the Yondaime, sealed the deal. Ninja throughout the world put him into their bingo books as a confirmed, but not-yet-official, S-rank ninja, regardless of the ludicrous fact that he was still technically a genin. He became a household name as "Naruto of Miracles" after he'd apparently convinced Pain to sacrifice his own life to revive the tens of thousands of ninja and civilians he'd killed hours beforehand in Konoha. The Chuunin wasn't sure what to think about that, since people just didn't come back from the dead, ever. Hundreds of monks, samurai, and ninja in the history books had tried but failed to restore the dead. The failed attempts at doing so had tended to be extremely dark, to the point that every nation in the world had extremely harsh punishments for those attempting to restore the dead…the punishments usually involving instant, on the spot execution. No one in history had ever succeeded in restoring the dead, which was why Edo Tensei was panicking the civilians who were involved in the war effort and kept near the front lines. If that technique was possible, then surely the aftermath of the war would see thousands of attempts to replicate the jutsu….especially given the grief of all those who'd lost loved ones in this war. The fallout, the Chuunin and his friends in the hunter-corps agreed, could wind up being very nasty. Regardless, the Chuunin couldn't deny what had happened in Konoha….Onoki's announcement to Iwa to prepare for the Fourth Shinobi World War after he'd returned from the Hokage Summit had included an announcement to the public of the details of the battle against Pain that hadn't already been printed in newspapers, including a confirmation of the mass resurrection. Apparently the Copy Ninja had told Onoki that he personally had been revived, and Tsunade, the greatest medic in the world, had told the assembled Kage that the people of Konoha had really and truly been restored with no ill effects. And if the matter hadn't been confirmed by then, it was par for the course to members of the Shinobi Divisions to ask their Konoha comrades about what had really happened in Konoha on that day. Everyone agreed. Tens of thousands of people had apparently, actually, been truly restored from the dead on that day with no ill effects…..even those whose bodies had been utterly crushed by Pain's jutsu or who hadn't been directly killed by Pain or his jutsu. There were stories that an old civilian woman who'd died in the hospital of natural causes just before the attack had also been revived, the cancer that had caused the death removed from her body.
The Chuunin, considering all of this, realized that he didn't have a clue what Madara was really capable of if he had the Rinnegan. Even after the battle of Konoha, details of the eye's exact powers were still so vague. All that was truly known was that their power was worthy of the legend of the Sage of Six Paths. Looking around after his musings, he saw that the rest of the Shinobi Army was also discussing the Rinnegan's powers, a crowd of hundreds having assembled around Naruto asking him directly. The heroic prodigy of a brat somehow managed to look nervous when being surrounded by so many people, even while in Sage Mode.
Hundreds of other ninja, who kept their head in the battle, were watching Madara and Muu. The Chuunin noted that the beautiful Temari, the Kazekage's older sister, seemed to be particularly enthusiastic in asking Naruto questions.
Kami, she is so out of my league…
Madara, after defeating Naruto's Rasenshuriken, had in an immense and single leap returned to his original position atop the sandstone cliff and began talking again with Muu. The Chuunin desperately wished he could know what they were saying, but he figured that no one in the army would ever know.
And then, every ninja present stopped moving and looked back at Madara. The questions for Naruto stopped. Everyone could see that Madara, still on top of the cliff, had stopped his discussion with Muu and started releasing a gargantuan amount of chakra. The ethereal creature returned, without its swords, and formed two hand seals using its four arms, complementing Madara's own seals. The Chuunin couldn't see Madara's hands from this distance even when focusing chakra to his eyes, thanks to Madara's semi-transparent creature obscuring his vision. However, even he, without particularly developed chakra sensory abilities, could see that Madara was releasing many times the power that Naruto had put into the Rasenshuriken. If the Chuunin had been standing next to Madara, he realized that his heart would have probably stopped.
What kind of ridiculous jutsu is Madara about to use on us….
Then, shadow. The entire battlefield, which had been brightly exposed to the sun despite the light cloud cover, was wreathed in shadow.
What is going on…?!
Looking up, the Chuunin would later think that his heart really had stopped.
"What is this?!"
There was a meteorite in the sky. Kilometers across. It wasn't coming at anything close to the speed typically seen in star showers, but the Chuunin could see that the immense chunk of rocky metal, still silvery towards the edges, had a yellow-hot descending front due to atmospheric friction.
It's bigger than the clouds….there is no way that this was created using ninjutsu. How in the hell is Madara doing this? Controlling gravity? Was this thing orbiting our world this entire time? How can any man do this? I HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE. It's not coming THAT quickly. There's still time! A few seconds to get on top of one of the cliffs and use a Shunsin!
The Chuunin, who had still been standing guard next to Lord Onoki, started running like his life depended on it. If anyone dared accuse him of cowardice, he would deal with it later. Looking back while running, he could see that most of the Fourth Division was also scattering, and Lord Onoki was already well into the atmosphere….he was probably going to try to stop the meteorite using his lightweight rock technique. The Chuunin made it on top of a different part of the very same cliff that Madara and Muu were standing atop of and from there jumped up to one of the tuber-shaped sandstone rocks that characterized the geology of this region. He, while preparing the hand-signs for Shunsin, looked up for a final time and saw that Lord Onoki had mostly stopped the motion of the meteorite.
Tsuchikage-sama is amazing! I hope that his hands are ok. I'm not sure if he'll really be able to stop that though….let's get out of here. If he truly stops it, I'll come back to this battlefield later. I'm not sure what I can do here, but I need to back up my village and –
The meteorite, obscuring most of the sky at this point, started moving again with a vengeance, sending Onoki flying like a discarded bowling pin off to the side.
I WASTED TOO MUCH TIME. TSUCHIKAGE-SAMA FAILED. Shunsin – ACTIVATE.