Obito brought them directly into Madara's hideout.

He didn't land outside, didn't wait to scope out the area. He wanted Madara to be surprised. He didn't want to give him time to try anything.

For once, Obito's impatience seemed to pay off. When they slid through the wall into the cavern, both of the Zetsu were there. They whirled around to stare at the intruders, caught off guard.

Madara was sitting on top of a gnarled root at the base of the tree. He didn't start or call out when they appeared, but his one visible eye widened.

Naruto stepped in front of Obito, Kakashi, and Rin. He clapped his hands together, and his body lit up with brilliant golden light. It covered him from head to toe, flame-like tendrils of energy radiating off his form.

He walked a little closer to Madara and held his arms up, taking on a defensive stance. "Give us the book. We know you have it."

Madara's narrow-eyed stare took in Naruto and the golden aura he emitted. He glanced beyond Naruto to Obito and the others.

He was surprised. Obito could tell. Feeling emboldened, Obito walked forward, standing only slightly behind Naruto. He activated his Sharingan.

The swirly Zetsu pointed at Naruto. "Eh, boss? That thing—"

"I told you I'd help you find the book," Madara said to Obito. "But I didn't expect you to come back here with friends. Especially not a jinchuuriki fully in control of their powers." Madara studied Naruto again. "Strange. I should have known about you. I'd say that makes no sense, but I have started to understand what the book means. That other dimensions are real, and can be unlocked with the right power. You've gone much farther than I expected, if you can bring people like this here."

Madara reached into his gi and pulled out the Book of Seals. Obito's stomach twisted when he recognized the bloodstained cover. He took a step forward, but Naruto held an arm out in front of him.

"Wait."

"I can see the situation isn't quite what I thought it was," Madara said. "I am very interested in this work, though. It says a living vessel is needed to complete the Summoning, but what sorts of vessels are acceptable? Do you know?"

Madara swept one thin hand toward the Zetsu on his left side, the one who had a more human-like face.

Naruto inhaled sharply and crossed his arms together in front of himself. Then he uncrossed them in a large motion and the aura surrounding him shot out into ethereal claws from either hand.

The claws slammed into each of the Zetsu before either had a chance to react. He shoved them into the walls on either side with a great crash, and they writhed and cried out as their bodies started to transform.

Madara turned his head quickly to look between the two growing Zetsu as their bodies elongated and become more and more tree-like. There was a loud crack as they sprouted roots into the stone of the cave, breaking it apart in places. The trees rapidly grew long branches and sprouted small, pin-like leaves. Naruto's claws retracted only after they were completely transformed.

The whole thing took less than thirty seconds.

"I won't give you a chance," Naruto said quietly.

Madara's face looked like it had hardened into stone.

"You're outnumbered. Give up," Kakashi said.

Obito took another step to stand even with Naruto. "You have no power as you are now. You have nothing to summon with. Drop the book now, and don't make any wrong moves."

Madara's Sharingan took on a hateful glint. He gripped the hand-bound spine of the book—and threw it off to the side, sending it hurtling toward the far wall.

Obito stepped through space to meet it. The tips of his outstretched fingers just brushed the flying book—

And it bloomed into a ball of black flame.

"No!"

The book was in Obito's hands.

The black fire bit his skin and caught on his sleeves. Tears clouded his vision, but he could still see the swirling colors pressed within the book. The contracts.

Fire devoured the paper like an angry, hungry beast.

His hands tightened around the book and it crumbled into ash and fell through his fingers.

As he watched it break apart into nothing—

—he saw all the precious things it held disappear forever.

Pain unlike anything Obito ever felt exploded behind his eyes.

It brought him down to his hands and knees. He dimly realized that Madara had stopped the fire. He curled his burned hands over his face and bent forward. Blood and tears streamed from his stinging eyes. He screamed into the ground.

"Obito!" Rin's voice pinched with worry.

"Get back!" Naruto shouted.

The pain was so acute that Obito barely heard anyone else. Rage and power filled his veins, rushing in to take the place of fear and grief. It felt hollow, like the black flame had gotten inside him and burned his heart out.

A skeletal being glimmered into existence around him. It hovered protectively around his body and solidified into a ghoulish form. Obito raised his head. Madara had a grim, self-satisfied smile.

Obito grit his teeth hard. Susano'o lashed out with a skeletal hand and slammed Madara into the cave wall. He distantly heard Madara laughing. Obito could feel his ancient bones snap under the weight of the Susano'o. Its other hand wrapped around the bundle of stems extending from Madara's body.

Before he could rip them out, the world shifted in the span of a blink.

Obito stumbled, disoriented. He was no longer kneeling on the floor. Naruto was standing in front of him. Obito glanced down at his unblemished hands.

Madara was sitting on the root in front of them. His visible eye faded to white and closed.

He brought pushed his long hair over to the other side, covering the dead eye. He smirked and held up the book. It was exactly as it was before, unharmed.

Obito thought he might vomit. He lunged at Madara, but Naruto pushed him back.

"Obito! Stop! We're only here for one thing. Remember?"

Kakashi and Rin each held on to one of his arms. Obito knew he could walk through them all and go after Madara again. But he hesitated.

"We can handle this." Naruto put his hands on Obito's shoulders. "He can't do anything now. Without his lackeys, he can't even connect with the outside world."

"You always do that." Obito hated how thin and wavering his voice sounded. "But you don't understand anything. Sometimes it's better to get rid of people like this right away. They won't have the chance to come back later and ruin it all. You weren't there. We let Orochimaru go, and he almost destroyed everything."

Obito nearly jumped back in surprise when Naruto embraced him. The golden flame-like aura surrounding him didn't burn. It felt like a warm breeze.

"I'm sorry," Naruto said. "I just thought you'd been through enough already."

The golden energy reminded Obito of the other Naruto's hands folded over his when they used the Incarnation, a solid weight holding him steady against despair.

Naruto backed up to arm's length. "Just because something bad happens to you, it doesn't mean you have to bear the responsibility of it alone. You don't have to punish yourself."

"It seems we're at an impasse," Madara said.

"No, we're not." There was steel in Kakashi's voice. He let go of Obito.

Obito dared to side-step Naruto, but no one stopped him this time. "Just try to do something else. You only have one eye left."

"True," Madara conceded. "I gave away my best pair. And I'm too feeble in my current state to fight two monsters at once."

Naruto turned to him and held his hand out into a fist, golden and marked with thick black lines. "Then you agree there's no point fighting."

"Yes. I'd rather not fight." Madara ignored Naruto to speak to Obito once more. "You have exceeded everything I thought you were. Rather than fighting, we should be on the same side. I will return the book to you. But I hope you will decide to come here again."

Disgust rose up within Obito like bile. But for the first time ever, it was on behalf of his other self. In a different situation, he too might have been trapped in this dismal hole, chained to Madara.

"Just hand the book over." Naruto stepped forward and reached out. Madara rose and jumped back from him in a surprisingly fluid motion.

The vines and roots where Madara's feet landed started moving seemingly of their own accord. They rose up and around Madara as he backed away closer to the tree. More and more came up, hovering around him like a living shield.

Then a vine shot out from the growing mass and wrapped around Naruto.

"Naruto!"

He snarled and quickly ripped through the vines with sharp chakra claws. The severed pieces fell to the ground and continued to grow and take root.

If this kept up much longer, there would be a small forest sprouting inside the cave.

"Madara—!" Obito started to move, but Kakashi pulled him around.

"Naruto can take care of himself. We should go after the book while Madara is busy. We'll help Naruto distract him, and you can get close with your kamui."

Rin nodded. Her eyes were bright and her mouth was pressed into a determined line. "We stick to the original plan. Grab the book and get out."

Obito let out a shaky breath. "Okay."

He looked down at his unblemished hands one last time. The pain was just a memory. He tried to feel it again, tried to touch the power that had filled him just a moment ago.

Kakashi put a hand on his arm. "Worry about that later. We need to move. On my lead."

"Right," Rin said. She moved to Kakashi's other side. Obito gave a short nod.

"Now!"

The three of them ran toward Madara in formation, with Kakashi in the middle and slightly ahead. Vines lunged at them. Rin and Kakashi dodged, but Obito let them pass through his body.

Something loomed high above them, and they looked up at the same time. Even the branches radiating out from the tree were starting to shift. Small pieces of the stone ceiling crumbled and fell. Then vines shot down from the branches toward them.

Obito kept running and passed through these as well, determined not to be slowed down. Madara was standing right in front of the tree. Naruto was on his other side, slashing his way through anything that got thrown his way. But every move he made created more foliage. He jumped back, and Obito saw a whirl of compressed energy start to form in his outstretched hand.

"Ah!" Obito quickly looked back when he heard Kakashi grunt. One of the vines had wrapped around his waist. Kakashi drew his sword and stabbed it, but three more came up to wrap around him tightly.

"Hold on!" Obito turned to dash toward him, but something grabbed his ankle and he stumbled. Vines overtook him quick as a blink and wrapped all the way up to his chest, then his neck. He fell and hit the ground.

Swearing loudly, Obito made to phase through. But he couldn't.

Obito glanced over to Naruto once again. Either the vines didn't affect him, or they weren't able to catch him. He was still keeping Madara busy by ripping through countless roots and vines.

Kakashi finished hacking his way through and ran to cut Obito free. "Keep moving! Don't let your arms get caught! And use a blade. I don't know what these things are made of, but it feels like they disrupt your chakra when they wrap around you."

Rin ran past them. She jumped into the air, one kunai in each hand. A vine shot out at her and she sliced it clean through, but two, three, then five more shot out and snatched her out of the air.

"Rin!" Kakashi and Obito both called out.

Kakashi had cut enough away that Obito's arms were free. Obito grabbed a knife from his back pouch and cut the vines around his abdomen.

Suddenly the ground slipped underneath him. Obito fell back and the living ropes regrew and wound around his chest again, tighter this time. He felt a hard pull, and suddenly he was sliding feet-first along the ground. He was being dragged.

Obito swore and desperately craned his head to look back. Upside-down, he saw Kakashi get bombarded with another wave. His chakra blade exploded with lightning energy.

The dragging came abruptly to a stop. Obito tried to roll himself over, but only managed to flop onto his stomach with his face pressed against the dirt. He blinked and tried to sit up, but the vines wouldn't bend.

The book was laying open on the ground right in front of him. It was open to one of the seals. But the seal wasn't glowing.

Terror sliced through him. Even with the book restored, had its connections been lost?

"Obito," he heard Rin say with difficulty.

Obito looked up the best he could. Rin was a couple meters away on the ground, wrapped up the way he was, but otherwise seemed unhurt.

Obito started when Madara approached out of nowhere, looming over him. He glared upward and tried to struggle, but hissed loudly with pain when thorns suddenly sprouted from the vines.

"Ouch-! What the hell?" The thorns digging in made his muscles feel weak. He couldn't struggle too much without them sinking in further.

"I ask again," Madara said. He moved in a way no old man should be able to, crouching beside Obito with liquid grace. "Will any living vessel work for this jutsu? I made plans to be revived with Rinne Tensei after my death, but here I've found a way to oversee my own resurrection right now. I did consider the Zetsu. But to be honest, that was a last resort. I thought someone of my bloodline would be far preferable."

Fear sunk further into Obito like a deep cold.

A harsh shriek of lightning preceded Kakashi's arrival. He darted toward Madara.

Kakashi's hitai-ate burst into black flames. He winced and pulled it off, but a bundle of vines rose to overwhelm him while he was distracted. They wrapped tightly around his neck, making him choke.

"Madara!" Obito heard Naruto's voice rise harshly over the clamor of the fight. Barely within his range of vision, Obito saw three golden forms dash around the cave, jumping and weaving through vines, coming toward them.

Obito reached for his power once again, but the vines were still sapping his energy. The places where thorns pierced his skin stung. Obito nudged his face on the ground, trying to wiggle and crawl toward the book with his limbs tightly bound. He couldn't see where Madara had gone, but he could hear Naruto's continued shouts, multiplied across several bunshin.

"Kakashi!" Rin called out.

What was happening with Kakashi? Obito couldn't see. He'd moved enough to be face to face with the book.

Then the black ink on the page started to glow brilliantly. Obito went still. He couldn't raise his head. The glow became painfully bright, but he didn't close his eyes. It spread out from the page and underneath him. His thoughts grew more disorganized. Different streams of energy surrounded him, went through him.

He'd experienced something like this before. It was the Time-Spanning Incarnation.

It took a lot of concentration just to tear his gaze away from the center of light. He looked up and dimly saw Madara's form over him. Obito opened his mouth, trying to say something. His throat felt very dry.

Madara seemed able to tap into an infinite source of energy. Obito watched the glow on the page grow steadily brighter. The more it did, the less he could feel his own body. The heaviness of it lost meaning. Even the pain felt dull and far away.

The vines unraveled and released him. Obito tried to roll away from Madara, but he still couldn't move.

A sharp gust of wind moved overhead, and Madara jumped back. The great swirling mass of Wind energy exploded where Madara had been a moment ago. It was large enough to slice across the entire cavern from end to end. Severed vines fell and were replaced with more.

"Obito!" One Naruto's bunshin turned him over. "Are you okay?"

"…them," he whispered. The word found its way out of him somehow.

Naruto spotted Rin and moved away. Obito held his hand up in front of him. But he wasn't the one who had done it.

"What is this?" he said aloud. But he hadn't meant to say that, either.

Obito placed the hand over his chest. Confusion and fear swirled within him in equal measure.

"There is another awareness within me. How? This was not the plan." Obito sat up and looked around. He made to stand, then sat back, hard.

"Leave," he growled with great effort.

"Obito." Naruto was beside him again. Rin was leaning on him, her arm slung across his shoulders. "Come on, while the real me is keeping Madara busy. Grab the book, and let's get out of here."

The bunshin went up in a plume of black flame. Rin let out a startled cry and fell back before the fire could touch her.

Obito put a hand over his chest again. He pulled the necklace out from under his collar. "No wonder I can't get a good hold over this form. Hashirama's crystal—why do you have this, boy?"

Obito clamped his hand down over the pendant. He mustered up every bit of will to keep his hand still, to keep the necklace from being ripped off.

"There will be time for understanding later."

The voice came from outside him this time. Obito looked over and saw an old man—saw Madara standing over the book once again.

"S-Stay back!" Rin said. But she looked pale and heavy, laying propped up on her elbows. Obito saw her glance between him and Madara. She was wondering why he wouldn't move.

"There has been a change of plans," the elder Madara said. "But only slightly. You are free to carry them out now."

Madara came toward him, hand outstretched.

The Madara within him understood. Something about the plan had changed. But soon, all would be explained.

He sat back on his heels and waited. Madara reached out, ready to impart his will. His Sharingan gleamed.

His hand stopped just short of Obito's face.

Rin cried out. At first, Obito thought Madara had paused because of her. But then he saw it, too.

Tobi stood behind Madara, expression grim. He dropped the armful of vines he had just sliced through.

Madara gave a visible shudder. Then he slumped over to the side, onto his knees, and then to the ground.

Obito's eyes narrowed as Tobi picked up the open book.

"Too bad," Tobi said. "When you end up in a cave like this someday, remember this moment. Uchiha Obito is useless. You're better off throwing him out and finding another way."

Tobi tore Madara's page out of the book. He crumpled it between his hands and ignited it in a plume of orange fire, a brief flash before it disintegrated completely.

All strength left Obito. He slumped back to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut.

Tobi knelt, tucked the book into Obito's jacket, then scooped him up under his knees and shoulders.

Obito felt exhausted, empty. He had to force his eyes open so he could figure out what in the world was going on.

Naruto was there, but only the original and one bunshin remained. One was helping Rin sit up. The other sat next to a prone Kakashi, hands over him as if to heal. Was that something the older version knew how to do?

"Minato should be here soon," Tobi said. "I told you not to go after Madara."

"Sorry." Obito felt so dried out and weak he could only whisper. He wanted to ask why Tobi was there, and other things too complicated to put into words. But it took all his concentration just to stay awake.

Tobi seemed to understand his expression. "Rest while you can. We aren't out of trouble yet."

Obito closed his eyes. He still felt confused. His hold on consciousness was slippery. He let go of it.

Tobi took his first proper look around the cavern. The underground space had become a miniature forest.

Maybe he should have felt some sense of relief or victory about Madara's demise. But for him, the real struggle had not yet started.

He saw Kakashi laying under the glow of Naruto's hands—but it didn't look like normal healing energy.

Tobi remembered something he'd overheard the younger Naruto say. 'The older me can transfer his energy to others, and I can too'. He was trying to restore Kakashi's dangerously low chakra.

Naruto's bunshin walked slowly toward the original with Rin's arm draped over his shoulders, legs bent to her height. Like the rest of the team, she'd been almost entirely wiped out by the energy-sapping vines. She was conscious, but could barely stand.

"Are you okay?" the bunshin asked Rin as they got closer. "Hold on, and we'll get you back to normal."

"What—happened?"

"Madara Summoned his younger self," Tobi said. "But I stopped them both."

Rin and the bunshin made it over to the original Naruto. Rin let herself be lowered to the ground beside Kakashi, but she stayed sitting up. She bit her lower lip with worry.

The glow subsided and Naruto withdrew his hands. "He should wake up soon. That was a close one. He pushed himself too hard trying to save himself and everyone else."

Kakashi was unconscious, but his external injuries were few. His chakra blade lay sheathed beside him.

"What did you do?" Rin asked dazedly.

Tobi silently carried his younger self toward them. He looked down at the kid's face. He was pale, with traces of dried blood trails underneath his eyes.

Naruto held his hands out toward Rin, golden palms facing upward. "I can restore the energy you lost. I have plenty to spare."

Rin glanced up as Tobi joined them. "Obito should go before me. I'm not as bad off."

Naruto looked up at Tobi and gave a puzzled frown. "…Two Obitos? I felt it when Madara—what's going on? Where the hell—when d'you come from, anyway?"

"Not your world, if that's what you're asking. I'm from the same dimension as your younger self. Does it matter?"

"That's unbelievable." Naruto laughed and got to his feet. "Thanks for helping us out. I'll fix up the little you in no time. Bunshin-me, you take care of Rin."

"Osu!"

Tobi was slightly wary of Naruto's carefree reaction to him—but then, he'd hardly ever made a lot of sense. Another version of him was no different.

Naruto moved to take Obito out of his arms, but Tobi took a step back, tightening his grip. "I'll hold on to him. You heal."

"Er, okay."

Tobi let Naruto approach. He put his hands on Obito's chest and concentrated. Standing near it, Tobi could feel the incredible amount of energy radiating from him. Even after fighting Madara and restoring Kakashi, he seemed nowhere close to winded.

The stark pallor to Obito's skin warmed to something healthier. His eyes moved behind his eyelids. But he didn't wake right away.

"Your arm," Tobi noted as Naruto pulled back, the transfer complete. "How can you use the Kyuubi's chakra without activating the plant cells?"

"Huh?" Naruto looked at his bandaged hand. "Oh. I didn't, for a little while. After I saw what happened to the little me that time, I was afraid to even try. But before long, it became part of me for real. Baa-chan says it's more me than not-me, if that makes any sense. See? You're okay, too." Naruto tapped on his right arm.

Tobi jerked backward, but Naruto was right. The energy didn't sting, and his form didn't change.

Naruto held up his hands. "Hey, it's okay. The younger you is going to be alright."

"Madara used him for the Incarnation. I destroyed the Summoning seal, but…"

Naruto's brow crinkled and he stared at Obito, concentrating. "…He's fine. I don't sense Madara anywhere within him."

Tobi took a few more steps backward. "Listen. Your father will be here any moment. Do you think you can distract him?"

"Huh?"

There was a subtle, familiar shift in space. Tobi stepped nimbly away with barely enough time to spare as Minato appeared under his guard, dagger in hand and eyes glinting like steel.

"Tou-chan!" Naruto called out in surprise.

Minato halted in the midst of using his momentum to shift into another attack. He turned to Naruto, confusion sketched across his features. "N-Naruto?"

Naruto extinguished the golden aura around him, returning to normal. He grinned. "Yeah! You must know the younger me. I'm glad. Obito brought me to try to—" His smile faded. "Wait… what? You… how do you have…"

While they were distracted, Tobi stepped slowly backward, toward the gap in the cave roof where stone met the tree imperfectly. He'd snuck in through there.

But Minato noticed him. "Stop!"

"Tou-chan—" Naruto started.

"Tell me what's going on," Minato demanded.

"I thought a genius like you would have figured it out by now." Tobi kept creeping backward toward the tree. "Uchiha Madara killed your ANBU and stole the book to restore his youth. I convinced Obito to set me free. He and the rest of your brats led me directly to Madara. I killed him."

Minato looked grim. He took a step forward.

"Don't move." Tobi rested his hand on top of Obito's closed eyes. "Not another step, or I'll take his eyes out right here and now."

Minato froze. He did not have a visible bijuu aura like Naruto did, but the currents of air within the cave seemed to shift, like the uneasy atmosphere prior to a storm.

Naruto moved beside Minato. "Oi! What do you think you're doing?"

"I wanted to ensure Madara's destruction. But I also don't plan on spending the rest of my life in a cell."

Minato pinned him with a cold glare. "If you do anything to him, you'll face much worse than imprisonment. Give up now, and we'll hand you over to the Rokudaime. It's what we should have done to begin with."

"I don't think so." Tobi moved his hand away from Obito's face for long enough to reach into his pocket. He was halfway through pulling out a kunai when Minato made his move.

As expected. Tobi threw the knife away from himself right before Minato jumped. It struck the ceiling and the paper bomb tied to it exploded. Tobi jumped backward and ran up the tree, sprinting toward his exit.

"Tou-chan, wait!" he heard Naruto call out over the crash of falling rocks. Tobi smiled grimly. Maybe Naruto's interference would slow Minato just enough.

Tobi jumped up through the gap and into the forest. He hit the ground and kept running, pace unrelenting.

Obito was jostled by all the jumping and running. His eyes opened a little. He still seemed groggy. "What's going on?"

"Finally. I could really use your help about now," Tobi said between quick breaths. "Sensei won't stay behind long. He's out for my blood. I need you to use kamui to stop him from killing me before I've had a chance to speak."

"What?" Obito seemed to wake a little more. "What's going on? What're you trying to do?"

Tobi gave a grim smile. "You won't like it. But can I count on you?"