Chapter 67

The conference room, a room that stood rather high above the black castle's other spires. In that same room a battle was about to commence. With speed even greater than lightning, Madara moved forward with his hand at the ready. He was poised to rip her very head off, and in the next fraction of a second, his hand reached its target. His fingers gripped her skull and his body continued to move forward. Just as he felt the resistance give way, he put his feet to the floor, stopping just in front of the glass window that was behind Salem.

He wasn't satisfied, or rather, he knew something was wrong even without looking. He put more pressure in his hand, crushing the head he held and causing it to disappear into smoke. He turned around.

Salem's body remained upright, moving even without a head. Even more bizarre, it spoke.

"Did you honestly think I would be killed that easily?"

The base of her neck started to bubble, or that's how it appeared. A writhing mess of black and white tendrils burst from the stump, extending out and coiling together. A new head appeared, looking no different from the one he had freshly removed.

He recalled a statement from Ozpin, that the woman he just attacked was immortal and could not be destroyed, even by the relics. Even so, not trying once or twice would be a wasted opportunity. At the very least, he now knew two things; that her head was not her vital area, and that she had rapid regenerative capabilities. Attacks that would normally cause fatal wounds, severing limbs or simply eviscerating the body to pieces, were going to be useless against her..

On one hand, he could use wide-ranged attacks. A large enough fireball could probably incinerate her completely. She would either regenerate from nothing, confirming her immortality, or she would be destroyed permanently. However the cost to do so could be a problem, as she wouldn't just let such a thing happen. That left him with one choice. Sealing. Without the Rinnegan, he couldn't do so completely. He'd have to make a temporary seal that would last long enough for him to find the other rinnegan.

Then, he realized his mistake. At the last second he noticed the door behind Salem, the one she had opened for him, was closed when it shouldn't have been. Moreover, it was quickly turning yellow and orange, like something was rapidly superheating it.

Just as the heavy black doors reached critical mass, Madara activated his right eye. The door exploded with great force, filling the room with flame and smoke. It would've reached him had he not protected himself.

It took only a small-scale wind jutsu to clear the room of smoke. The shattered windows made excellent vents. Upon doing so, he watched the puddle where Salem once stood sprout tentacles. In a few seconds, Salem reformed completely, unfazed by her own obliteration. Beyond her, he saw the attacker: female with black hair and a red dress. Her black gloved hands held balls of fire in them, and her one visible eye bore the same flame. The other eye was covered by hair and some kind of mask.

"Finally, you have arrived." Salem said, calmly yet confidently. She raised a hand, and a glowing black sphere appeared.

A glowing orange circle lit up beneath Madara's feet. The entire room and the roof above were utterly destroyed in a bright flash, but not before he deactivated Hachiman and made a quick escape. He fell several stories. He had barely enough time for a glance to estimate how long before he hit the ground before Cinder emerged from the blast zone and continued her attack.

With a gleeful smile, Cinder followed closely after Madara. She spawned and hurled numerous fireballs at him. The first couple he guarded against physically, but he reacted quickly. With a few hand seals, he expelled a dragon-like serpent made purely of water. With its large size and elemental advantage, it easily absorbed her attacks, grabbing onto her with its large jaws and giving Madara more space to work with.

He touched down just as he heard another explosion, followed by a short-lived hot shower. He moved away from his landing point before looking up. Cinder remained airborne, with plumes of fire jetting out from the bottom of her feet. Salem was nowhere to be seen, but her presence was most definitely felt all around him. She was practically on top of him, or rather, underneath him.

Madara moved as fast as he could in a random direction. Anywhere would do as long as it was a different location. Suddenly, a swarm of black Grimm arms erupted from the ground. He just barely managed to escape, but not unscathed. Despite his haste, one of the hands' claws managed to clip one of his legs, tearing a line across the side of his pants. He dashed from place to place with no apparent pattern, coming to a stop only when he no longer felt her presence beneath him. When he did, he saw Cinder heading towards him.

He was about to launch another water dragon to stall Cinder, however, he noticed that instead of enveloped in flame, one of her hands was sparking violently. She switched to electricity, so Water Release Jutsu was no longer viable, as was Earth Release. That left lightning, fire, and non-elemental Jutsu. To make matters worse, Salem had near complete territorial control, and could attack from almost anywhere.

All in all, he had been in better situations, although he'd also seen worse.

His limbs were still intact and fully capable. His chakra was still in acceptable range and if he ran low then he could potentially use his left eye to obtain more. He still had numerous options in which he could still fight. Genjutsu was still viable, assuming the worst case scenario wasn't already in play.

Madara calmed himself, settling the hundreds of thoughts running rampant in his head. Just before Cinder reached his position he jumped away, activating the Lightweight rock jutsu and re-enabling his flight. He rose higher and higher into the sky, with Cinder matching his elevation.

Cinder smiled at Madara, "If I recall, the last time the two of us were here, you did quite a number on me." She thrusted her electrically charged hand forward, throwing multiple arcs at him. He dodged and countered, tossing an explosive tag at her that exploded mid-way. He used the smokescreen to catch Cinder off guard, flying through and getting himself close. He spun his entire body, dropping the back of his foot on her head with an axe kick. She fell close to the ground, but managed to stop herself before impact.

"Was that like before?" Madara asked, looking mockingly at his opponent.

She glared daggers at Madara. The embers over her eye seemed to extend, if only slightly. She fired streams of both fire and electricity, which he once again avoided.

He countered a Lightning Release jutsu, throwing a bolt of lightning at Cinder. However, dozens of black hands rose from the ground, making a wall that intercepted the attack. On impact, the wall was vaporized, but Cinder remained unharmed.

Hearing a flapping sound from behind, Madara swung his body around and delivered a roundhouse kick. He made contact with the head of a Wyvern… a fully grown Wyvern Grimm who took little to no harm from his attack. It roared, flailing its head to shake him away, and successfully did so.

Madara quickly re-scanned his surroundings. Off in the distance were two more Wyverns heading towards him, as well as a swarm of other airborne grimm.

He shifted focus to the Wyvern in front of him and conjured a Susanoo arm behind him. He dodged its attempt to swallow him, and carved through one of its wings with a large blue chakra blade. His next slash was into its neck, cleaving through it cleanly. As its body dissipated, he noticed Salem was levitating in the air with a hand raised. She had used the large body of the Wyvern as cover to get close.

Salem's hand became enveloped in a deep crimson glow, and she fired a similarly colored blast of energy towards Madara. With little time and distance, Madara used the Susanoo's arm to protect himself. Upon contact, the Arm was completely destroyed, but not after absorbing the entirety of her attack.

He took his chance and flew towards her, throwing a punch. With seemingly no effort, Salem caught his hand with hers and swung him away. Just as she let go of his hand, expecting momentum to carry him off, he caught the side of her head with his leg. Unfortunately, it did no damage.

"You won't win if you keep holding back." She said calmly.

Nonchalauntly, Salem conjured another crimson-colored blast and pushed it towards Madara. Thinking quickly, he reactivated Hachiman just long enough to deflect the attack. He lowered the barrier just as he got a safe distance from her.

He quickly weaved a few hand signs. He was about to incinerate her with an inferno, but suddenly felt himself being tugged at. He was rapidly dragged to the ground by a Grimm arm, which he managed to cut himself free from just before impact. He looked back up and there Salem was, steadily descending towards him.

She landed without a sound, holding her hands together politely. Even Cinder, who had a clear shot at his back, gave pause. Though her hands remained empowered by the elements.

"I feel obligated to ask you one more time." She spoke to Madara. "So much hassle could be avoided, if you would only accept my proposal." A moment later, the ground shook twice. The two Wyverns had landed on either side of Madara. "Will you really throw away everything you've worked for just for a few humans? Where has Madara Uchiha, the one who rejects the world and seeks salvation for all, gone to?"

He didn't respond. Actually, he tuned out at the first few words she spoke. She was giving him time, so he took it gladly. Neither Salem nor Cinder noticed it at first, but Madara was perfectly and unnaturally motionless, like a stone statue. He looked at the ground, so they couldn't see his face. They couldn't see a darkened pigmentations forming patterns on his face.

With a little bit of effort he pressed his hand against the ground. Putting out enough force to break whatever it was made of and destabilize his surroundings. Salem and Cinder quickly backed away letting the Wyverns attack them. They swung their massive wings down onto the still kneeling Uchiha, but were pre-emptively impaled on large spikes.

"I'm surprised there's nature energy here… or that they gave me the chance." He wasn't going to get another chance again, most certainly. Even worse, he couldn't replenish any of his chakra, only augment his remaining supply. It was a miracle he even had enough for Senjutsu Chakra. "Warm up's over."

Madara deactivated his Mangekyou Sharingan to conserve chakra, instead taking advantage of enhanced sensory-capabilities. He spun himself around and ran towards Cinder. She conjured a pair of swords out of fire, prepared to intercept whatever he threw at her. However, she wasn't prepared enough. A little bit before contact, Madara disappeared from her sight. In the next moment, she was kicked in the back of the head. She felt her aura give way from the force of the attack, and stumbled to regain balance. Just as she turned around, she saw Madara taking out a kunai.

She didn't have the speed to avoid nor create another weapon. That kunai would have sliced her throat open. Another cut into her chest, and then her heart. Even if she managed to avoid it, he had pre-prepared. He initiated an Earth Release jutsu, forcing spikes out of the ground behind her poised to skewer their target.

It was a moment away, where he would be rid of her forever. But just before he could make that a reality, the world refused him. He attacked, but he was blown right off of his feet. His blade was sent flying and the spikes were pulverized, as was the ground around her.

"Huh?!" It was too fast. Cinder couldn't have been able to repel him like that. Was it Salem? No, he recognized what she had done. It was unmistakable. That omni-directional and invisible blast.

He was able to control his momentum, slowing himself before landing on his feet. Cinder was panting heavily, barely keeping herself on her own two feet. Then, and only then, could he finally see Salem.

The ground rumbled, causing a black puddle to leak out of the ground, and from it Salem emerged. She had a look of disappointment on her face as she looked at Cinder.

"A shame. I was hoping you'd manage to keep that hidden. It can't be helped. It just means you need more training."

"I… I'm sorry…" Cinder said, still breathing heavily.

Salem raised her hand to Cinder's face, removing the mask. And there it was, the worst case scenario. There in her head, hidden behind a simple fabric, was the lavender colored eye with a rippling pattern around the pupil. Her eyelid seemed to be gone, because it wasn't blinking at all.

"How, how did they get that?" He wondered, as if they'd tell him. Then his face changed as he realized something else. The ground hadn't stopped shaking, and if anything it was getting stronger. He focused on his sensory capabilities, and his eyes widened. He quickly moved away, sensing what was to come.

Suddenly, a large chunk of the ground was completely vaporized. Madara narrowly avoided losing a good portion of his body to the accompanying heat. Soon after, the energy beam disappeared into the sky, and then followed a monstrous and unfortunately familiar roar.

Out of the crater climbed a large beast, bigger than any Goliath. Its orange fur, canine-like shape, and the nine flowing tails, were unmistakable. He noticed parts of its body were bare, signs that the restraints he had seen on it were freshly removed, but only lasted a few seconds before healing completely. Its deep red eyes locked onto Madara first chance they got, and it roared again.

"So you're using it against me." Madara muttered. He expected it to happen eventually. She had

"Not that it listens to me, I just have a bit of information about your history."

The two increased the distance between themselves and Madara, seemingly giving him "alone time" with the incoming behemoth. The fox ran at top speed towards him, its tails flailing in the wind. Madara ran to meet it halfway, re-activating his Mangekyou Sharingan and weaving hand signs.

As he ran, dozens of dragon-shaped constructs sprung out of the ground towards the fox. They bit into and wrapped around the beast, all across its body, but they only slowed it down slightly. Stronger than every other Tailed Beast, the Nine Tails easily tore through the dragons and continued on its path. When it got close enough, it brought one of its large hands down on Madara. He quickly jumped away, avoiding its slamming attack, but it wasn't done. The fox's mouth opened, revealing a small Tailed Beast Bomb.

It fired three, one after another. They were no bigger than baseballs, but still packed a heavy punch. Madara protected himself with Hachiman. However, in the corner of his eye he saw a fire coming at him. He used the invisible wall as a foothold, pushing himself away and avoiding a stream of fire shot at him by Cinder. The Nine Tails didn't even acknowledge the attack, probably because it didn't care about them. It was single-mindedly focused on killing Madara.

It became more of a game, a game of cat and mouse. It would attempt to swat or crush him, and he would avoid as many attacks as he could. But it was only getting worse. His stamina was declining and his Chakra, at least the amount he could afford to expend, was reaching its limit. That was where it would become truly dangerous for him.

It swung its tails at him, which he managed to dodge eight of. The ninth clipped him, sending him midair, he was hit by a bolt of lightning, temporarily stunning him. It wore off quickly, but not quickly enough. He could only watch as one of the Fox's tails rose up and struck him back down. His back hit the ground, knocking the wind out of him and joistling his brain something fierce.

His limit was reached. He didn't have any more in him to spare, and the next attack from the Fox was going to kill him. Not even Izanagi was an option. Even if he had the time to activate it, the costs were simply too much.

Then, and only then, something else happened.


He only blinked his eyes; his eyes were closed no longer than a split second. But when his eyes opened, everything was gone. The unusually red sky, the slow-approaching yet bothersome Grimm, the two women he needed to overcome, and the giant orange-furred hand about to flatten his body, were all gone. He couldn't see any of it. He was still laying on the floor, but it was flat instead of rough and uneven. The sky was black, or the place he was in didn't have sufficient lighting. He could hear his own heartbeat, his breathing, and the breathing of something else.

No, it wasn't just something else. There were different rhythms, different mouths breathing out of sync with each other. Sure, he knew he wasn't alone, but it was most definitely not a single companion. Of course it wasn't, wouldn't make sense to.

Gradually, Madara became able to see the source of the breathing. The environment remained completely black, but multiple bodies became illuminated. Five, five different massive bodies. Give creatures with numerous tails.

The one tailed Tanuki, Three Tailed Turtle, Four Tailed Monkey, Six Tailed Slug, and Eight Tailed bison.

They were all that he managed to collect as of current, and all looked down at him. They, and he, were unflinching and silent as he got to his feet.

"I'm busy. What do you want?" Madara asked plainly, somewhat irritated by their interruption. He was in the middle of a fight, one that wasn't a walk in the park, something he didn't often get to experience. That said, he wasn't exactly winning yet, but that's besides the point. The Tailed Beasts looked at one another. The ones that had mouths seemed to smile, albeit sarcastically.

"Seems like you're not doing very well." The six tailed slug, Saiken, muttered. Its body slouching downwards. "Anymore than this, and you will die."

"Why am I being told this?" He could've been hallucinating, but the entity almost seemed to lament what it said. It was a Tailed Beast though, it should've been happy with his death. After all, once he kicked the proverbial bucket, it and its kin would be free.

"You bastard!" The red-furred ape, the Four Tailed Beast Son Goku, slammed its fists into the ground and let out an angered roar. "You're just gonna throw away what she gave up?!"

Madara's face didn't change much, albeit softened ever so slightly. "Keeping all of you in check is the problem." He crossed his arms.

Son Goku was about to respond, but stopped when it heard it's sibling clear their throat. The Bison-octopus hybrid with eight tails, Gyuko, lowered its hand from its face.

It let out a loud sigh,somehow moving its body forward without legs or using its arms. "He's telling the truth, we all know it already. Besides..." Gyuki turned its head and looked back at a certain Tanuki, who seemed to be sulking away in the "corner" with its back turned towards them. "I can't believe I'm doing this shit."

Madara tapped his finger impatiently. "What did you all call me here for? Can't you see that I'm busy."

"And a good show it's been. It's therapeutic really" Gyuki replied, brandishing what was most likely a smile. It was hard to tell, given that its mouth didn't move much. "I'll get to the point. We've made a decision. It wouldn't do us any good if you died, since we would as well. Take a couple years or decades before we showed up again, and it'd probably be impossible to get home without you."

"You're really too nice." He quipped dryly.

"Well, we didn't agree to help you. But at least this time… we won't be getting in the way either."

"Am I really supposed to believe that?" Madara raised an eyebrow. He could see the result from a mile away. Wait for him to be weak enough, vulnerable, then make their escape. But then, there was a sincerity in its deep voice, ingenuous. It made enough sense to him. He didn't have reason to think they didn't want to return. However, he still had to ask. "Different question, why?"

Had they really put aside everything he had done? The Akatsuki, the Fourth Great Shinobi War, the deaths of thousands, and the destruction of the world; it was all because of him.

"Hm, let's let Mr. Brooding over there answer." Gyuki and the other three Tailed Beasts looked at the Tanuki, who visibly flinched as it felt their stares. Its large head slowly turned, until only one of its four-pointed pupils met Madara's.

"Hmmm" it groaned, clearly the most reluctant of them all to speak. "Far as I can see, there's two Madaras, maybe three… and you're the least annoying one right now. Besides, seeing that jerk getting what he deserves once in awhile is good. Hurry up and get outta here, before I change my mind."


Just like that, he returned to reality. Although he didn't quite know how, it didn't matter. Nothing physically changed about him or the situation. But he felt lighter. No longer did he feel held back, weighed down, or the need to restrain himself.

The hand came down swiftly, kicking up a small cloud of debris. But when it lifted its hand up, Madara was nowhere to be found.

END