The Whole "Being Dead" Thing

I took one moment to hug Shisui, having genuinely missed my brother after his death, and the next thing I knew, Nagato had both Naruto and Killer Bee at his mercy.
"Damn, he's strong." I commented while Itachi used his Susanoo to free them by cutting off Nagato's hold on them. Nagato seemed to have lost all sense of himself, showing that the reanimator was fully suppressing him now, instead of letting the personality shine through.
"So this is the Susanoo, man what a show!" Killer Bee rapped as Itachi took both Jinchuriki away from Nagato.
"I believe that gives me one point, Akira." Itachi stated smugly.
"Sure, but I freed Shisui-nii-san, which gives me two points." I shot back with a smirk. After learning of the reanimated Shinobi, we had agreed that each reanimated nin was worth two points. "So we're tied again."
"Are you two seriously keeping up your rivalry during a war?" Shisui snickered at us. "How cute!"
Nagato chose that moment to get back on his feet.
"Damn, he's strong, fool, ya fool!" Bee complained, rap-style.
"He's known as Pein." Naruto stated, and explained exactly how strong Nagato was and the powers he possessed due to the Rinnegan. "Obviously he's strong."
"Thanks for the information, Naruto." Shisui said and put away his tanto. "We'll probably need to go full out against him."
"Kami, it's been a long time since I've faced an opponent strong enough to make me use it." I smirked and activated my Mangekyo again. Nagato put his hands together and created a small black ball, which he sent up to the sky. Immediately, the very earth started breaking apart and moving up towards the ball. 'A gravitational pull? This most be the jutsu Nagato tried to trap Naruto in during the attack!' I realized and quickly activated my Susanoo as protection, making a green warrior surround me. I looked at the other's and noticed that Shisui and I had the exact same colour.
"Look at my little imouto, copying me even after adulthood." Shisui shook his head mockingly.
"Very funny…" I deadpanned while the ground we were standing on started floating up towards the black sphere.
"-bad! It's super bad!" Naruto panicked next to me.
"Calm down, Naru-chan. Every jutsu has its weakness." I stated calmly while observing the growing ball we were pulled towards.
"And I'm willing to bet that it's the very gravitational pull that strengthens it." Itachi continued my analysis.
"Which means that our best bet is to attack it together to destroy it." Shisui finished our now finished plan. "All of us most use our strongest long-distance attack. The gravitational pull will do the rest of the job for us."
That seemed to be enough to push everyone into action.
'Amaterasu Arrow!' I focused and fired the black, flaming arrows with my Susanoo. The burning arrow was quickly joined by Itachi's Yasaka Beads, Bee's Tailed-Beast-Bomb, Naruto's Rasen Shuriken and Shisui's Amaterasu-powered Susanoo Spear.

"Well, I think that went rather well." I smirked as we landed on the ground, Itachi stabbing Nagato with his Totsuka Blade. "And of course, two points to you, Tachi."
"Forgive me, Itachi." Nagato said softly, clearly back again.
"You're back." Itachi remarked and I rolled my eyes. "This is the Totsuka Blade… It's a sword that possesses a sealing jutsu. You'll be sealed soon. Do you have any last words?"
"Naruto, I will return to our master's side and watch your story unfold." Nagato told Naruto while his body started cracking apart, signalling that the sealing was working. "If you ask me, you are the final volume of the trilogy. Jiraiya was the perfect first volume. But the second volume was a failure… me. One that our master would not acknowledge. The series will culminate with the third and final volume. You must make it a masterpiece… One that completely overshadows the failure of the middle volume, Naruto"
"But no pressure." Shisui muttered next to me, earning an elbow in his side. "Ouch!"
With that, Nagato was sealed away forever, never to be used like that ever again.

"This is happening on all the other battle fields as well, right?" Naruto asked Shisui.
"We will put a stop to the reanimation jutsu." Shisui stated, gesturing to Itachi and I. "It's about time the three of us do something awesome again."
"We'll leave Madara to the two of you." I told Naruto and Bee softly.
"We fought with a reanimated Sand Shinobi earlier. He was sealed but can't be killed. This is the perfect jutsu that has no weaknesses, okay?" Bee warned us in his typical rap-style.
"We told you earlier." Itachi started saying with a slight smirk.
"All jutsus have a weakness." I finished with a full-blown smile.
"No! I'll stop him myself!" Naruto insisted and tried to create a Shadow Clone, only to lose his Chakra Cloak. I hit his shoulder.
"Stop being a moron. You can't carry everything yourself. Right now, we're the best bet at stopping the jutsu." I explained and gave him my best I-know-best-look.
"I'll put an end to this war! It's my responsibility!" Naruto insisted dramatically, while breathing harshly, clearly showing that he was in no shape to create more Shadow Clones, at least not until some of those had had created dispelled.
"I'll admit that you're stronger than before." Itachi started saying, earing a look of surprise from Naruto. "But because of that, you seem to have lost sight on what's truly important."
Naruto looked both shocked and confused at Itachi's statement. He had clearly not expected the praise, nor could he understand what he was doing wrong.
"Now listen carefully." Itachi ordered and gave Naruto his big-brother-look. 'Damn, how is he still so good at that? He hasn't used it in years!' I wondered mentally while Itachi continued talking. "The people of the village that once abhorred you, have began to admire you. They think of you as a comrade. It's because you fought hard for their acceptance. You once said it was everyone who cares about you, who helped you get where you are now."
Naruto slowly unclenched his body and paid rapid attention to what the Uchiha was saying.
"If you forget other's because you now have power, and become arrogant and egoistical, you'll eventually become just like Madara." Itachi finished his explanation. Naruto gasped at the final sentence. To be compared to his biggest enemy was probably not a good feeling, but I understood perfectly what Itachi meant. After all, Madara became the monster he was because he wanted to protect his brother and failed. He tried to shoulder everything alone, and eventually, it drove him insane.
"Do not try to shoulder everything yourself, Naru-chan. If you do, you'll fail." I told the youngest blond softly. "I know you still want to be Hokage, but even the Hokage can't do everything alone. Your father had your mother. He never shouldered everything alone."
"Becoming the Hokage doesn't mean the people will acknowledge you." Itachi stated deeply. "But if the people acknowledge you, you can become the Hokage. Never forget your friends."
"Wow, you guys make great speeches!" Shisui told us while Naruto contemplated our words. Shisui ruffled my hair, earning a groan. "I'm almost crying over here!"
"Shut up nii-san…" I muttered.

I hugged Naruto tightly, trying to project all of my love and care into that very hug, knowing that it could be the last time I hugged him or even saw him.
"Promise me to be careful!" I ordered him.
"I promise, nee-chan!" Naruto smiled brightly at me. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo and I never break my promises!"
"I'll trust you on that." I smiled back at him before turning my attention to Itachi and Shisui. "Then let's go."
"Sure you're not going to cry some more?" Shisui teased me as we started running. I rolled my eyes and grabbed one of my scrolls and unsealed the orange paint in it. Shisui did not dodge in time and ended up looking rather similar to Naruto. At least clothing-wise. "Seriously? You bring your pranks to a war?"
"Yup." I snickered. "I knew I would need it."
"Seriously, I refuse to believe that you're twenty-one." Shisui stated factually.
"She's also the Hokage." Itachi added helpfully.
"No way." Shisui denied dramatically.
"Well, technically, Tsunade is the Hokage until the war finishes." I commented while jumping through the woods. "Though I did have to be the Hokage for a while when she was in coma."
"Huh, I guess you did grow up." Shisui chuckled. "We're being followed."
"Hn. Foolish little brother." Itachi groaned, earning a snicker from me.
"What did you expect? You're his hero!" I stated with a smirk.
"He spent more than half of his life hating me." Itachi deadpanned.
"Wait!" Sasuke yelled after us, making us increase our speed. 'Sorry, Sasu-chan.' I mentally apologized. "Is that you, Itachi?"
'Wait what? Why does he sound so surprised? I mean, I would understand if he was shocked over seeing Shisui-nii-san, but he should know that Itachi is here. The genjutsu should have broken!' I ranted, wondering where I had gone wrong. 'Unless of course, I haven't. My genjutsu was supposed to be realized after the fight between Itachi and Sasuke when Sasuke was alone. He hasn't been alone since the fight. Madara has been keeping close eyes on him.'
"Oh fuck it all…" I groaned out loud.
"Language!" Shisui said in a sing-song voice.
"Shisui, you taught us how to swear…" Itachi deadpanned.
"I said wait!" Sasuke called and activated his Susanoo. The purple hand, reaching towards Itachi. Itachi quickly used his own Susanoo to stop Sasuke, effectively proving his identity. "This Susanoo… So you are Itachi!"
"I'm surprised that you've been able to master it too." Itachi shot back, easily sliding into his big-brother-mode. Shisui and I both laughed at that particular comment.
"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked his nii-san. "You're supposed to be dead!"
"For the sake of Kami…" I groaned and spun around with my Mangekyo activated. "Release!"
The quick flood of memories was enough to slow Sasuke down, easily letting us outrun him.

With Sasuke away, the three of us quickly closed in on Kabuto's hideout. Once inside, it wasn't hard to track him down. Shisui easily took down the barrier, allowing Itachi and I to save chakra.
"I'm impressed you were able to pass through my barrier and come here." Kabuto told us, facing away from us.
"When you were controlling me, I was able to pinpoint where your chakra was coming from." Shisui explained swiftly, the playful smile that normally decorated his face, completely gone. "That's another risk to the jutsu."
"Though you won't need to remember that for the next time." Itachi added, also completely emotionless.
"Thanks for the tip." Kabuto said, completely ignoring Itachi. "I didn't expect any Shinobi to be able to counter this jutsu, so I didn't even worry about it."
"Very foolish of you." I stated with an innocent smile. "You completely ignored the biggest risk of the jutsu."
"Me." Shisui finished my explanation with a smirk.
"Very foolish indeed." Itachi stated.