Author's Note: The final battle continues. Enjoy.
Chapter 127:
Countdown to the Cataclysm
or
The Final Battle's Here!
Mountain Graveyard
Once the battle against Orochimaru came to an end, the previous noise of the fight was replaced by a silence so intense it was almost deafening. Despite the situation was pressing, the two survivng Sannin needed a moment to catch their break, and were sitting on the ground, letting their pained bodies rest, at least for a little. Once the tension and adrenaline keeping them going on wore off, they felt like their bodies were about to break down into dust at any moment.
"Hey Jiraiya," Tsunade said
"Hey Hime... you okay?" Jiraiya asked, finally breaking the silence.
"Yeah. Relatively speaking," Tsunade replied. "I could use some sake right now. You aren't carrying any, are you?"
"If I had any sake, I would have drunk it myself," Jiraiya honestly replied.
"Asshole. I need it way more than you," Tsunade said, before shuddering a little. "I was inside Orochimaru's mind, you know. Ugh, I'll need to take a long shower after this. Or several showers."
"So... you got it?" Jiraiya asked.
"Rat, Ox, Monkey, Tiger, Dragon and Boar. And I doubt that, even with all his precautions, the bastard was able to protect his mind against the power of the Rinnegan," she then looked at Orochimaru's unmoving corpse. "Now, here comes the hard part."
Tsunade got back on her feet, and walked towards Orochimaru's corpse. She aimed her hand at him, and fired several black rods at him, embedding them on random parts of his body. Tsunade then made a hand seal.
"WHOA!" Jiraiya loudly yelped upon seeing Orochimaru's seemingly dead body sitting up.
It was even worse when he opened his eyes, and while one of them was its usual yellow color with a slitted vertical pupil, the other was a Rinnegan.
"Don't be afraid, Jiraiya, it's me, Tsunade," Orochimaru said in his original voice. "I'm using the power of the Rinnegan to remotely control Orochimaru's body."
Jiraiya was breathing heavily, trying to keep the whirlwind of emotions he was feeling –none of them pleasant– under control. Tsunade began to chortle, which caused him to shot an angry glare at his wife.
"I think you made me lose five years of my life with that stunt," Jiraiya told her.
"Oh come on, I'm sure it wasn't that bad," Tsunade said, before looking at the body she was reotely controlling. "Okay, here goes nothing. Rat... Ox... Monkey..."
As Tsunade verbally said the seals, Orochimaru's body started to making them.
"...and Boar. Release!"
…
Lightning Desert
In the Land of Lightning, the Fourth's Division battle against the reanimated Kages continued. Gaara had alleviated them of some pressure by getting rid of the Second Tsuchikage early, and joined his father and other ninjas in fighting the Third Kazekage, while his siblings lead the fight against the Second Mizukage, while Darui continued the battle against his former mentor the Third Raikage.
However, the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, didn't like to engage the same enemy or group of enemies for long. He used his extreme speed to blitz past numerous groups of Allied ninjas and strike them hard and fast, giving them a very narrow window to counterattack. This time, however, he was about to meet somebody who was prepared to match him.
"Water Release: Water Colliding Wave!"
Tobirama expelled a massive amount of water from his mouth, roaring into a torrent. The giant mass of water then exploded into a massive tsunami that threatened to crush and drown a large group of allied ninjas. Many of them tried to run away, but one stayed and prepared a counter jutsu, making hand seals as fast as his hands allowed them.
"Ice Release: Deep Freeze!"
Haku slammed his hands into the ground, sending a wave of cold chakra that covered the previously hot sand into a thin sheet of ice. And as the cold reached the gigantic wave, it too started to quickly crystalize into ice, freezing it completely only after a few seconds. But Haku's jutsu didn't end there; the last member of the Yuki Clan made more hand seals before clapping his hands together, making the giant iceberg to shatter into hundreds of sharp ice shards that gleamed with the sun.
"Ice Release: Hundred Thousand Killing Ice Needles!"
The sharp ice shards remained frozen mid air for a second, before they faced towards Tobirama, and launched themselves at him.
"Impressive," Tobirama said in a monotonous tone that doesn't make him look particularly impressed.
The Second Hokage started to move from one side to another at an almost impercetible speed, dodging the ice shards as they stabbed themselves into the sand, while deflecting those he couldn't with his katana.
Haku cringed upon seeing that a jutsu of such scale was barely slowing down the terrifying Senju and took a couple step backwards as he got closer. Several adult ninja, Kurenai among them, quickly landed around him in order to protect him from the inevitable counterattack from the Second Hokage.
"Huh?" Tobirama grunted in confusion.
Then, much to Haku's shock, but mostly joy, several of the last remaining ice shards found their mark and embedded themselves into the Second Hokage's body, who tripped and fell to the ground facefirst.
"Well done, Haku!" Kurenai praised, as she started to make hand seals herself. "Now, attack at once before he can recover!"
The surprises didn't end there, because just as the Allied ninjas prepared to attack, Tobirama's body started to glow with a white light, causing many of them to flinch or to take defensive stances, bracing for whatever the fearsome Hokage was about to unleash on them.
"That won't be necessary," Tobirama said, as he slowly pushed himself back to his feet. "The battle is already over."
"Kurenai-sensei, look!" Yakumo called the raven haired woman, pointing in another direction.
The Third Raikage had also stopped fighting with the group lead by Darui, and was also glowing with the same white light. So were the Third Kazekage and Second Tsuchikage.
"Contrary to my expectations, it seems that somebody was able to force that madman to undo the jutsu," Tobirama said, as his body started to slowly crack and break apart. "Please send my thanks to whoever did such a magnificent feat."
Kurenai smiled. "We will, Hokage-sama."
"With this, the war is almost over," Haku said, full of hope.
…
Across the Lands of Fire and Lightning, all divisions of the Ninja Allied Forces were fighting against what was left of Akatsuki, which wasn't something to scoff at. Even if they had lost the Toneri's Moon puppets, the Zetsu and the remaining reanimations still proved to be challenging foes.
That's it, until all the reanimations suddenly stopped fighting, and their bodies began to glow with a golden light. After a moment of confusion for both sides, the zombies' bodies began to fall apart, breaking down into the ash and dust that formed them, as their spirits returned to the afterlife, where they belonged, while leaving the corpse of the sacrifice used to reanimate them behind.
Akatsuki had lost the strongest part of their army, leaving nothing but Zetsu to fight against the Allied Ninjas.
"Shit... this doesn't look good..." a White Zetsu clone said, gulping loudly.
…
Ninja Alliance HQ
"Tsuchikage-sama, news from every battlefield!" Santa Yamanaka informed. "There are reports of the undead reanimations dying on their own! All of them!"
"It seems that the Supreme Commander and Tsunade-sama not only suceeded in their mission of stopping Orochimaru, but they somehow even forced him to undo the jutsu," Mabui mentioned. "If I'm being honest, I wasn't so sure they'd be able to do it."
"That's the Sannin for you," Chiyo added, a little bitter, but mostly happy. This was a huge victory for the Alliance after all.
"Tell every commander to move their division towards the jinchuriki's position!" Onoki said. "I don't care about their state! No time to rest! This is the last battle of the war, and the one which will decide it!"
…
Madara Uchiha's Secret Lair
"Are you sure you're ready to go, boss?" Zetsu asked.
As expected, Madara had made a very quick recovery. Thanks to the regenerative properties of Hashirama's DNA helped by the special balm, his body had regrown all missing limbs and organs, and the former Uchiha Clan Head had finally recovered his energy.
Madara was now putting on a set of armor before once again diving into battle. Given that his old armor had been destroyed, Madara was now wearing the armor his Zetsu had crafted for him during the years he spent inside the cocoon: it was black in color instead of red, with the Uchiha Emblem emblazoned on the chest and on the back. While the previous armor was rather clunky, this was more form fitting, restricting the user's movement much less.
Once his armor was ready, Madara then grabbed his trusty gunbai.
"Yes. I feel completely recovered," was Madara's reply. "If Obito is engaging the remaining jinchuriki, then I must be part of that battle. Take me to that place"
"As you wish, boss."
Zetsu then walked towards Madara, and grabbed his shoulder. The two of them began to sink into the ground, until they disappeared completely.
…
Site of the Final Battle
As the Statue screamed and trashed in place, waves of power were released in every direction. Their sheer magnitude not only raised chunks of rock from the ground, but it seemed to distort the laws of physics themselves, leaving those rocks floating around it as if gravity didn't have an effect on them. In fact, the three jinchuriki could feel their bodies were lighter than usual.
"Okay this is... bad. Very, very bad," Gyuki began. While he was keeping his usual deadpan tone, they could hear the panic seeping through his voice. "Astronomically bad. Catasthrophically bad. Killer B's rhymes-grade bad."
"Hey!" Killer B protested.
"That bad?" Fu asked.
"Papa always said that the Ten Tails coming back to life would mean the end of the world as we know it," Chomei began to explain. "It's a being of untold power that can easily drive humanity to extinction."
"Despite his immense wisdom, not even our father knew where it came from," Kurama added. "And only somebody of his power was able to curb its rampage."
"That Obito is one crafty asshole," Son Goku said. "We believed that as long as one of our siblings would remain uncaptured, that aberration couldn't be released. But the bastard found a way..."
"At the very least, he won't be able to summon the Nine Tails by surprise," Yugito mentioned, remembring the battle that led to her capture. "Since it must be inside the statue."
"Still, that monster is lacking some of us, so even if it revives, it shouldn't be at its full power," Kokuo chimed in.
"Well, they can still destroy the statue before it fully transforms, right?" Han asked.
"That's a good idea," Naruto agreed, before smiling confidently. "Thankfully, Obito alone shouldn't be a match for all of us. Especially with my new power. So, here's the plan: Since I have experience fighting against Rinnegan bearers, I keep Obito distracted, and you guys destroy the statue. Got it?"
"Understood, Naruto!" Fu agreed, as she began to transform into Chomei once again.
"Leave that to us, there won't be any trouble! We shall reduce that ugly statue to rubble!" Killer B said, transforming as well.
"Now time to test my new power!" Naruto said, as he motioned his hand towards Obito. "Sand Coffin!"
"What?" Obito asked.
Suddenly, a torrent of sand poured from seemingly out of nowhere, and started to converge around Obito. Naruto clenched his hand into a fist, and the sand rushed him in a crushing motion. Obito, however, used Kamui to turn intangible in order to calmly walk out of the otherwise lethal attack.
"Man, I forgot how annoying that ability can be," Naruto said, as he prepared his next attack. "In that case-"
"Bansho Ten'in!"
This time, it was Obito who cast his hand towards Naruto, with the blond feeling his body becoming weightless for a second as he was pulled towards Obito by a powerful invisible force. Naruto, however, didn't merely let Obito drag him, and created multiple arms of golden chakra in order to anchor himself to the ground.
"Quickly, now that Naruto is keeping that guy at bay, let's attack without delay!" Killer B asked, as he prepared a punch.
"I'm way ahead of you!" Fu said, diving at the statue head first. Her frontal horn glowed with chakra as it grew in size and length. "Horn Buster!"
Obito, however, wasn't as distracted as the Kumo ninja believed, and quickly moved to counter the two jinchuriki's attacks.
"You won't harm the statue!" Obito said, as he slammed his palm, glowing blue with chakra, into the ground. "Sealing Art: Uchiha Flame Formation!"
The blue fire around Obito's hands turned crimson red. The moment his hand touched the ground, said crimson fire shot in a line towards the statue, forming a circle around it, which then projected a cylindrical barrier of the same color, just as Killer B and Fu attacked it. Not only did they fail to break the barrier, but got burned by the weird crimson fire in return.
"Ouch!"
"Oh shit! Hot, hot hot!"
"A little barrier won't be able to stop me!" Naruto said, and with a wave of his hand, he directed all his Truth Seeking Balls towards the statue. "The Ten Tails won't come back to life!"
Obito, however, appeared in the middle of the path of the Truth Seeking Balls, and used his Sharingan to open a spiraling vortex towards the Kamui dimension. Naruto cringed upon seeing all the Truth Seeking Balls being sucked in, as he failed to recall them.
"There. Those annoying balls won't help you anymore," Obito said.
"Damn, I can't believe I let him take away my Truth Seeking Balls like that..." the blond grumbled under his teeth, as he balled his hands into a fist. "As long as they're in that weird dimension, I can't recall them!"
"What's the problem, Naruto, can't you create more?" Utakata asked. "I do remember your girlfriend being able to create them out of nowhere."
"It's a bit complicated. I can only create new balls when the old ones have been destroyed. I'm still linked to them, even if I can't control them," Naruto explained. "Meaning that I won't have any access to them for the time being. Guess if we're lucky and Kakashi-sensei shows up, I can ask him to let them out."
That moment, Obito pulled out a scroll from underneath his robe, unfurled it, and dropped at his feet. There were many seals, with a circle made of them in the middle.
Obito crouched down and started to made several hand seals. "May as well throw these in too," the said, before slamming his palm into the circle of seals.
Two very large bursts of smoke happened at Obito's sides, and much to the three jinchuriki's surprise, a Wood Golem appeared from each of them. Then, without having to be given any command, the Wood Golems charged forward and delivered the stunned Killer B and Fu a punch in their faces, making them fall to the ground with a loud booming noise, followed by a quake.
"Fu! B!" Naruto shouted, before glaring back at the green giants. "The hell? Wood Golems? How is he able to summon them?"
Turns out, after losing the use of Susanoo, once Madara gained Wood Release through assimilating the cells from the piece of Hashirama's flesh he had biten out of the man, Madara planned to create an army of Wood Golems to carry out his plan of an unified world. Unfortunately, despite their immense power, the lifespan of a Wood Golem was of a few days, and after that they'd break down and die. That's why Madara spent the next years perfecting a way to create Wood Golems with an indefinite, or at the very least, very long lifespan.
Unfortunately, it took Madara many decades to achieve such goal, and by the time he accomplished it, he had aged considerably, and thus he lacked the chakra and stamina to carry out his original plan, being only able to produce three golems, before the effort of creating the third one nearly killed him. Shortly after that, he awakened the Rinnegan, and he decided to experiment with this new power and abandoned his previous project.
But the golems remained there, hidden underground, ready to be used whenever needed. One of the things Madara did before entering the cocoon was to give Obito a scroll that could be used to summon those golems.
Obito was always reticent to summon them, believing in his own ability to carry out missions without them. Perhaps he should have use them sooner. Oh well, there was no point in mulling in the past.
"Tailed Beast Ball!"
Killer B fired the spehere of destruction towards one of the golems. The wooden giant, however, managed to catch the chakra ball with its bare hands, and keep it from exploding, before, with much effort, throwing it into the sky, where it detonated safely.
"What the...?"
"Those things are strong enough to match a Tailed Beast, B," Gyuki stated. "You won't defeat them with brute force."
"Naruto managed to destroy one when the First Hokage guy summoned it. Perhaps we should let Naruto deal with them, while we fight Obito?" Fu suggested.
"Alright, I'll keep these guys busy then!" Naruto said,
"Listen, I'll tell you all you need to now about the Rinnegan's power," Kurama stated. "Also, he won't be able to use Kamui, given that if he does, Naruto will be able to pull back his Truth Seeking Balls."
"Don't try to fight him in Tailed Beast form. His Wood Release will bind your chakra and leave you defenseless," Matatabi adviced. "That's part of how he got me and Yugito down."
"Plus, I'm sure the bastard has more surprises in case Wood Release isn't enough," Yagura added.
Naruto flew above the two green colossi on a cloud of sand. He had both hands raised upwards, and with the help of four arms of golden chakra, Naruto prepared two rounds of his signature jutsu. "Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!"
Naruto threw the stars of wind chakra at each of the golems. However, before they could impact, the wooden dragons wrapped around their bodies breathed a stream of greenish-yellow flames at them, detonating them instantly. Then, one of the giants stepped forwards, and tried to swat Naruto away with a gigantic hand slap. The blond maneuvered the sand cloud around it, barely dodging it.
"Man, if one was already hard... well, no point in mopping. I know these guys aren't invincible," Naruto said, as his brain worked to come up with a good tactic to deal with his colossal opponents.
Meanwhile, Killer B and Fu shrank from their Tailed Beast forms into their chakra cloaks, as they passed by the giants and headed towards Obito. Killer B raised his hands towards him, and began to summon yet another chakra sphere of destruction. Not as big as if he were fully transformed, but it would do.
"Tailed Beast Ball!"
Killer B once again fired his most powerful attack, with Obito not even making an attempt to block it. Was Kurama's assesment wrong, and planned to use Kamui to let it phase through him? However, Obito was about to show that he didn't need it to negate his enemies' jutsu, and raised a hand towards the incoming projectile.
"Gakido."
Obito's hand generated a thin barrier of white light. The moment the Tailed Beast Ball touched it, it was converted into pure chakra and absorbed into his body.
"Foolish," Obito said, as he drained the attack. "Didn't Naruto tell you that ninjutsu is-"
"BOOT TO THE FACE!"
Obito was interrupted by Fu's armored foot being slammed against his face with so much force, it produced a sonic boom, interrupting the jutsu absorption, and sending him flying backwards, landing with a painful thud.
"Try absorbing that, dumbass!" Fu taunted.
While Obito was still on the ground, Killer B prepared to attack before he could get up. He rushed with two of his short swords on each hand, and several on his chakra tentacles. He jumped into the air, and threw several of his swords at him.
Despite the force behind Fu's kick, Obito could still move, the regeneration provided by his Zetsu body parts already kicking in. Shaking off the considerable pain, the fallen Uchiha rolled to the side just as the swords stabbed on the spot he had been a second ago. Upon landing, Killer B grabbed his swords and dashed towards him, while Fu flew from one of his flanks, and morphed one of her arms into a blade shaped like the one of a mantis. The Uchiha jumped to his feet, and spread both arms each in the direction of each attacker.
"Shinra Tensei!" Killer B and Fu lost all momentum to their attacks, and were violently pushed backwards, letting out yelps of surprise, with B losing some of his swords in the process. "Don't underestimate the power of the Rinnegan!"
"You're the one who underestimate the power of my sick rhymes!" Killer B said, as he made a mid-air backflip, landing on his feet before barreling towards Obito once again. He started to channel lightning chakra through the swords he still had. "And now it's time for you to pay for all your crimes!"
Knowing through Kurama that he had a window of opportunity of five seconds before he could use any gravity-related attack again, Killer B jumped into the air and curled into a ball, his electrified swords sticking out of his body. "Lightning Release: Lightning Spikeroll!"
While Obito dodged Killer B's initial attack, the jinchuriki didn't let up, and continue his attack with his electrified swords, delivering quick and wild swings, moving from one side to another, flipping and spinning, eventually landing a few cuts on the Uchiha. However, as expected, the five seconds quickly passed, and Obito prepared to use the Deva Path's abilities.
"Shinra Ten-"
Before Obito could cast the jutsu, Killer B vanished all of sudden, and was replaced by Fu, ready to deliver a powerful punch to his face.
"-sei!"
Both ninja were blown away backwards, Fu by Obito's attack, and Obito because Fu's fist managed to connect his face. While she was blown away before all of the punch's force could be released, she still managed to land a solid hit.
"Fu!" Killer B called.
Fu made the force pushing backwards work for her by deploying her wings and, using her ongoing momentum, fly upwards and do a U-turn.
"Don't worry, I'm fine!" she said.
"You won't be fine after this," Obito said, as he started to make hand seals. "Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
The earth started to rumble, as large wooden roots broke trhough the ground surface and quickly lashed at the two jinchuriki. However, rather than being forced into the defensive, the two jinchuriki chose to actively fight against the attacking weeds. Fu turned her arms into blades shaped like the jaws of a stag beetle, and used them to slash the offending vines, while Killer B dashed around them, delivering precise cuts with his lightning-infused blades.
"Your attacks are weak, your moves are the same," Killer B rapped. "Do you plan to catch us with something so lame?"
"I don't need to catch you!" Obito angrily replied, as he started making hand seals. "I only need to keep you distracted until the Ten Tails is reborn! Then all I have to do is feed you to it! Fire Release: Great Fireball jutsu!"
Obito breathed an admittedly large fireball that flew towards the two jinchuriki, which burned so hot it left a trail of scorched earth underneath. Fu, however, wasn't intimidated, and made some hand seals of her own.
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Jutsu!"
Fu expelled a large amount of water from her mouth, moving forward with the force of a torrent. The two elemental forces clashed, the fireball quickly overwhelmed by the power of Fu's watery attack. Before the attack could reach Obito, the Uchiha leaped into the air, and began to jump around using the floating boulders as stepping stones.
"He's right. He might not be strong enough to beat us, but he's doing a good job stalling us!" Fu thought, a little panicked. Her eyes drifted towards the statue, hidden behind the crimson barrier. "I can feel that thing growing stronger with every second. We need to finish this as soon as possible!"
While Killer B and Fu dealt with Obito, Naruto was fighting the two Wood Golems as well as he could. While the golems were very big, Naruto moved faster, so he thought to use that as his main advantage. Not to mention being able to fly thanks to Shukaku's chakra.
"Hey, Naruto, I think you might want to use the Tailed Beast form," Kurama suggested.
"You said Hashirama used these to fight Tailed Beasts and Madara's Susanoo, right?" Naruto asked. "If I do that, then I'll be at a disadvantage. I'll do better fighting as a human."
"We can see your logic, but in this case it might be better if you change forms," Han said, as he winced by how narrowly Naruto avoided a hand slap from a giant. "It would be easier if you fought to their level."
"I think Naruto might be onto something. Just look how easily those monsters took down his friends when they were transformed," Yagura chimed in. "They hit hard, but a big enemy is also a big target."
"Heh, nice to see that somebody gets me," Naruto said out out. He started to make hand seals. "So, focused attacks won't work, let's see how wide area attacks do then! Lava Release: Scorching Rocks Jutsu!"
Naruto expelled a multitude of large projectiles made of molten rocks from his mouth. The dragons wrapped around the golems' bodies reacted as expected, breathing greenish-yellow fire at the incoming attack. They managed to neutralize about half the lava missiles, while the other half found their marks and hit the golems. Naruto could hear a sizzing sound as the molten rocks ate through the golem's wooden limbs and body, but sadly, it wasn't enough to cause significant damage.
Then, the golems decided it was their turn to attack. Each of them cast one hand towards Naruto, who felt a chill down his spine as multiple spikes started to grow from them.
"Shit, this looks awful...!" Naruto said with a loud gulp.
"Naruto-kun, use my chakra to counter that attack!" Kokuo suggested.
"Nice idea! You might not have my armor, but this jutsu should do just fine," Han said, as he told Naruto what he needed to do.
Naruto made the required the hand seals, and with Han's help, he molded the chakra the way he was told.
"Boil Release: Skilled Mist Jutsu!"
Just as the golems fired a barrage of wooden stakes at him, Naruto exhaled a huge cloud of corrosive mist towards them. The moment the storm of spikes entered the cloud, they quickly burned away, disappearing before even reaching the end of the cloud. Naruto poured more chakra into the attack, both to make the corrosive cloud stronger and to push it faster towards the golems.
The golems, however, weren't going to just stand there and take it. The two of them clapped their hands once, producing such a powerful shockwave it pushed the cloud back, while also sending Naruto flying backwards. The blond screamed as he spiraled down to the ground below. Fortunately, a cloud of sand formed below him, braking the fall, while lifting him upwards.
"And you're welcome!" Shukaku said, giggling a little.
"Heh. Nice save, Shukaku," Naruto told the Tanuki.
"We told you we'd have your back, didn't you?" Utakata asked.
"Naruto! You okay?" Kurama asked.
"I'll live," Naruto replied. "Though not for long if I have to endure another thunderclap from hell like that. Much less two."
"Hey, Naruto! Why don't you try me and Han's combo?" Roshi suggested. "It would roast those golems really good really fast!"
"I can attest to that. I would try it if there was just one golem, but with two, they can cover each other," Naruto replied.
"Naruto, you're trying to defeat the two of them at once, because one won't let you focus on the other," Isobu calmly said. "But you don't need to take them out permanently. Try to keep one's attention away from you while you deal with the other."
"Guess that could work, but what could I-" Naruto was about to ask, as an idea dawned upon him. A grin spread across his face. "I think I have the perfect way to do that! Thanks Isobu!"
Once again, Naruto maneuvered his sand cloud towards one of the golems, flying around it like an annoying insect, hoping to get a reaction. Reaction that it came in the form of another gigantic hand swatt, something Naruto was expecting. He quickly jumped out of the cloud, landing on the giant's hand. Naruto then slapped the giant's hand.
"Coral Palm!"
The moment Naruto's hand touched the wooden surface, a coral formation appeared, and started to spread around it. Naruto then slid down the giant's body and right leg, creating more spots where coral appeared and started to spread. While unnoticeable at first, the coral quickly spread around the golem's right side of its body, slowly but surely impairing his movements. As Naruto touched the ground and ran away in the opposite direction, the golem's attention shiften from Naruto to the coral, and tried to break it with its other hand.
The other golem, however, continued to chase Naruto. The blond quickly created another cloud of sand to avoid being crushed under the giant's steps.
"Ingenious idea, Naruto," Yagura praised. "But that jutsu won't be enough to incapacitate a creature the size of that golem. He will be able to get rid of the coral in less than a minute."
"No... but less than a minute is all what Naruto needs," Yugito said, smiling and nodding, realizing what the Konoha ninja was going to do.
Naruto turned towards the incoming wooden giant, and smirked.
"Roshi, Han... pay attention, because you guys are going to love this..." Naruto mentally said, as he prepared his next attack.
Naruto created several arms of golden chakra and used them to form two Rasenshuriken, one at each of his sides. However, rather than their usual look, one Rasenshuriken was crimson red with black edges, and the other was pure white. Both of them were releasing so much heat, the air around Naruto appeared distorted. The blond wasn't perturbed, though.
"First, let's get rid of that annoyance!" Naruto said, looking at the serpentine dragon wrapped around the golem's body, as he started to make hand seals. "Fire Release: Mouse Hairball!"
Naruto exhaled a large, blue, mouse-shaped fireball from his mouth, which flew towards the serpentine dragon. Said dragon opened its jaws once again, releasing a stream of greenish-yellow flames. However, the large blue fireball then split into dozens of smaller ones, which flew around the stream of fire, and homed into the dragon's head, blasting it to ashes.
"Clever use of my jutsu, Naruto!" Yugito praised.
"Heh, thanks! Now to finish this big guy for good!" Naruto mentally replied."Lava Release: Spiraling Eruption! Boil Release: Spiraling Geyser!"
Naruto launched the dual attack, one shuriken of chakra flying in an arc in the opposite direction of the other, before the two of them crashed against the golem from different sides. The attacks exploded into a dome of spiraling magma and a dome of spiraling burning, corrosive mist, which merged into a single dome of infernal heat. The golem was burned to nothingness by the sheer power of Naruto's combination attack, while carving a large crater when it once stood.
Roshi let out a whsitle. "Wow, that was amazing! Something worthy enough to be written in a book!" Roshi praised.
"An admirable rework of our combo," Han said.
"Unfortunately, Naruto-kun can't celebrate just yet," Kokuo said. Indeed, Naruto could see that the golem was stomping towards him. "The other golem broke free of the coral, and it's getting ready to attack again."
"One golem won't be a problem for him," Kurama said, smirking confidently. "Say, Naruto, are you going to use the same jutsu you did the last time?"
"Not exactly the same. You'll see," Naruto said, as he started to prepare a Tailed Beast Ball. However, rather than shooting it, Naruto pulled out his Wind Blade, and channeled the Tailed Beast Ball through it. The sword projected a gigantic blade made of the chakra that formed the Tailed Beast's ultimate attack. "Disappear already, you overgrown pile weeds! Tailed Beast Blade!"
Like he had done during the fight with Hashirama, Naruto brought down his blade in a vertical downards slash, cutting the golem in two as if it was made of soft butter. However, it didn't end there: upon cutting it, the blade of Tailed Beast chakra exploded in a gigantic, fiery blast, engulfing the golem, and reducing it to ashes as it happened with its "brother". When the explosion receded, there was nothing left of the giant creature, and a large crater had been opened when it once stood.
"And both of them down for the count!" Naruto said, pumping his fist as a sign of victory. He could sense Killer B and Fu still fighting against Obito. "Alright, better hurry and help them finish that asshole off for good!"
…
While Killer B and Fu continued their duel against Obito, the three of them saw and heard the explosion that heralded Naruto's victory over the wood golems.
"Ha! Look at that! Looks like your little wooden dolls were no match for Naruto!" Fu laughed, before suddenly growing concerned, as if she realized she said something stupid. "I mean, I said 'little' in a pejorative way, not in a literal way. I know they aren't little at all."
"You know a word as big as 'pejorative', yet you care about us not understanding basic sarcasm," Gyuki pointed out, as a drop of sweat slid through his head. "Yep, definitely not just B."
"Hey guys, sorry to keep you waiting!" Naruto said, as the cloud of sand slowly dispelled once the blond touched the ground. "Those overgrown bushes were pretty tough, but nothing I couldn't deal with, with the help of some of the new friends I made," Naruto boasted good naturedly, before his eyes were fixed on Obito. "Alright, now I'll keep Obito busy. See if you guys can bypass that barrier. Try to bombard it with-"
"Hey boss, we're here! Sorry for being late."
Naruto, however, was interrupted when something rose from the ground beneath Obito. The blond recognized Zetsu, the seldom seen Akatsuki from which those clones were produced from. Next to him was a long haired man clad in black armor that neither Naruto nor Killer B or Fu had seen in their lives. Still, they couldn't help but flinch when they sensed the sheer power the man was radiating, or when they noticed that his eyes were Rinnegan. Then again, there was somebody who did remember.
"It's... it's HIM!" Kurama said, trembling with anger. "MADARA!"
"Whoa, it's that Madara!?" Naruto asked out loud, much to Killer B and Fu's surprise, who were now looking at the newcomer with other eyes.
Madara couldn't help but smirk a little. "Oh? Do you know me? Did we- no, wait, it isn't you. It's that fox. It still remembers me, doesn't it?"
Naruto could feel Kurama's anger burning so fiercely, it felt like there was a small sun inside him. He worried if Kurama might explode at the presence of the man he hated the most.
"Took you long enough," an unamused Obito said, as he glared at his mentor. "Had you come earlier instead of fooling around, we would have won already."
"Do not fret, Obito. That was an insignificant setback. As you can see, I'm back and ready to show..." Madara trailed off, as he turned around, and saw the crimson chakra barrier that was hidding the transforming statue behind it. "Did you... did you start the Ten Tails transformation without capturing the remaining jinchuriki first?"
"I was left with no other choice," Obito rebutted. "If you had been here earlier, we could have done this properly. "
Madara let out a sigh of resignation. "Guess it can't be helped right now. Let's subdue them while the Ten Tails revives, then we'll continue with the plan," he then took a look at Naruto. "Given that you're the jinchuriki of the Nine Tails... you must be of Uzumaki descent, am I right?"
"Yeah. Naruto Uzumaki's the name," Naruto said. "Burn that name into your mind, because it's the name of the ninja that's going to kick your ass back into retirement."
"Look at that! A small ninja with big bravado and even bigger mouth! Breaking you will be fun," Madara said, before his Rinnegan rested on Killer B. "A Kumo ninja... you must be the jinchuriki of the Eight Tails and..." Madara finally looked at Fu, and his expression was that of mild disgust. "...a Takigakure kunoichi. I hated that Hashirama foolishly gave the Tailed Beasts to other villages, but the fact that he decided to give one to such a disgraceful village like yours nearly drove me insane."
"...disgraceful!?" Fu repeated, before her expression morphed into a scowl of anger. She punched her palm menacingly. "Sorry Naruto, but I'm going to be the one to pound him into the ground."
"Ah, more bravado, isn't youth something so precious?" Madara said condescendingly.
"Naruto, while I want nothing more than seeing you beating the living daylights out of this asshole, Madara is an extremely powerful ninja," Kurama advised. "Plus, just like the Old Man said, he has the Rinnegan. Which means that he must have Wood Release as well. As he stands right now, Madara Uchiha is currently the most powerful ninja who ever lived."
"Plus, he isn't even alone. He has Obito and that Zetsu creature to help him," Matatabi added.
Naruto, however, was feeling confident. "Don't worry guys, we have reinforcements of our own as well."
Then, as if on cue, Madara's attention was drawn elsewhere, as he sensed a new chakra signature coming their way. A very powerful chakra signature that for some reason, felt strangely familiar to the former Uchiha Clan head.
And then, she appeared. Flying high into the sky, covered in a shroud of flame-like lavender chakra, was no other than Hinata Hyuga. Obito frowned, while Naruto and Fu grew visibly excited, and while Killer B didn't know who this girl was, his fellow jinchuriki's reaction eased him into smiling. In no time, Hinata landed close to the three jinchuriki, and went quickly to greet them.
"Hinata!" Naruto said, so excited he didn't even use the usual honorific reserved for her. "You're here!"
"Sky sister!" Fu cheered as well. "It's so great to see you!"
"Hello, Naruto-kun. Fu-san," Hinata greeted. "I'm glad to see that I didn't arrive too late."
"You didn't. In fact, you arrived just in time," Naruto assured her.
Hinata nodded, and then looked at the one person she didn't know, the Kumo ninja that wore sunglasses. She walked towards him, and bowed before him politely. "Hello. I don't think we know each other. My name's Hinata Hyuga. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Hey there, the name's Killer B, and I'm also a jinchuriki as you can see. So, you're the girlfriend Number Nine told me so much about. Once this is over, we should all hang out!" Killer B rapped.
"I'll be honored to," Hinata replied.
"Hey, as much as I'd like to see you here, how did you know we were here?" Naruto asked.
"Hanabi-chan told me. We can talk to each other through long distances thanks to the Six Paths Chakra we both possess. She told me how the second division was almost annhilated," Hinata said, before her expression hardened, and pointed at Madara. "By him."
That shocked the three jinchuriki. Did Madara nearly wiped out a division of thousands of ninja, all by himself?
"The massacre of that division... Gai-sensei... it was you?" Naruto asked, his chakra cloak flaring with his anger.
Madara's expression remained unchanged. "Yes, it was me. And I would have wiped them out completely, if it wasn't for that man and his self-sacrificing jutsu. They proved to be mostly unworthy adversaries. Even the two Uchihas. Even the girl with the Wood Release-"
"Kaida!" Naruto shouted, worrying and anger growing bigger. "If you did something to her or Hagane, I swear-"
Hinata, however, placed a hand on Naruto. "Don't worry, Naruto-kun. Hanabi-chan told me that your siblings are okay. So are Sasuke-kun, Itachi-san and Neji-niisan and his teammates."
That managed to calm Naruto down, but only a little.
Madara's eyes now rested on Hinata. "So, I presume that you're the older sister of that Hyuga little girl with the Tenseigan, aren't you?" he asked, chuckling a little. "Yes, you appear to be older and more experienced. You should have a much better hang on that power of yours than her. Perhaps you'll offer a better dance."
"Hinata, forget about that guy! We need to destroy the Statue before it transforms into the Ten Tails!" Fu urged. "Obito hid it behind that barrier. Try to break it with your black ball thingies!"
"Number Seven's right, these guys don't matter, go and make sure that barrier shatters!" Killer B agreed.
Hinata nodded, and after making the required hand seals, she summoned no less than eight Truth Seeking Balls, much to the jinchuriki's surprise. With a hand motion, she directed the black orbs towards the barrier.
"And Obito can't use his Kamui to send them to his pocket dimension like he did with mine," Naruto thought, as his mouth curved into a grin of satisfaction. "Or else he'll allow me to recall mine."
The moment Hinata's Truth Seeking Balls moved, Madara immediately activated his Susanoo, reaching the humanoid form. A sword appeared in one of its hands, and it moved to swatt away the black orbs. However, rather than the orbs simply breaking through the sword, it was the sword who deflected the orbs away.
"What!?" Hinata asked in shock. "How...?"
"Wait..." Naruto said, as he narrowed his eyes. He could feel that Madara's chakra had changed, as so did his appearance. He now had green marks on his forehead and around his eyes. The exact same marks Rin and Hashirama had when they used Sage Mode. "The hell!? You have Sage Mode too?"
"How!?" Fu asked.
"Do you really think I'd have a hard time learning such a simple skill?" Madara mockingly asked, as his Susanoo started to vanish. He made a single hand seal. "Now, this is a jutsu I was unable to try against the Ninja Alliance, but your little group will make for a fine test. Limbo: Border Jail!"
Naruto and Hinata's eyes widened, and fast as ligthning, they moved forward, placing themselves between the other two jinchuriki and the two rogue Uchiha and their plant man servant. There was a clashing noise, and much to Killer B and Fu's confusion, it appeared as if Naruto and Hinata were struggling to keep in place an invisible enemy each. Obito appeared to have trouble following what was going on as well.
"What the... what are you guys doing?" Fu asked. Despite her Sage Mode, she couldn't sense any chakra in front of Naruto and Hinata.
"Naruto-kun, can you see them too?" Hinata asked.
"No but... I can sense them!" Naruto replied, before, fast as lightning, pulling out his Wind Blade and use it to eviscerate whatever invisible enemy Madara had summoned.
Hinata followed suit, delivering a devastating combo of lightning-enhanced palm strikes. Madara scowled.
"The girl can see the Limbo clones, even if it should be impossible. Probably because of that Tenseigan of hers..." Madara wondered, before his eyes rested on Naruto. "And the Uzumaki boy... yes, it's unmistakeable, he has Six Paths Chakra as well. But how?"
"Guys, stay close to us! We'll protect you from those invisible clones!" Naruto told his fellow jinchuriki.
"It won't be necessary," Madara said, taking a step forward. "Given that you proved to be the biggest threats, I shall take on you personally. Obito, Zetsu, deal with the other two jinchuriki. Wood Release: Nativity of a World of Trees!"
The earth started to rumble once again, as multiple cracks opened across the battlefield, caused by many gigantic wooden roots shooting from underground, spreading everywhere, covering the barren land with trees once again. Fu and Hinata flew into the air to avoid Madara's attack, while Naruto and Killer B jumped from one side to another as the roots lunged at them.
"Let's dance!"
Fast as lightning, Madara leaped towards Naruto, and assaulted the blond with a flurry of strong, fast paced punches. Naruto was able to block most of them, even if he needed to create additional arms to do so. A purple flash alerted Madara of Hinata's presence, who in turn attacked Madara with several lightning-enhanced Gentle Fist strikes, releasing purple bolts of lightning with each strike, forcing the Uchiha back.
Naruto took the initiative once again, this time attacking with his trusty Wind Blade. Madara generated a black chakra rod from each of his hands, and used them as improvised weapons in order to parry Naruto's blows, as well as to throw counterattacks on his own. As they traded blows, Madara was able to knock the Wind Blade out of Naruto's hands, and deliver a powerful kick to the chest that sent the blond flying. Madara started to make one handed seals while he reached for his gunbai.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Hurricane!"
Madara swung his gunbai while simultaneously breathing fire into the swing. The wind and fire attacks merged into a massive tornado of flames that threatened to engulf the blond. Naruto, however, raised a hand, and with the help of two additional chakra arms, began to form a Rasenshuriken, except he imbued it with water chakra instead of wind chakra as he usually did.
"Water Release: Spiraling Torrent!"
Naruto threw a gigantic spinning water shuriken at the incoming tornado of flames. Upon crashing, Naruto's attack exploded into a spinning dome of raging water, powerful enough to stop, and finally put out Madara's blazing attack. The water hissed as it was turned into steam by the intense heat of the fire, producing a large cloud that spreaded around the battlefield.
Hinata took advantage of the situation, and once again dived at Madara from the air, her palms crackling with electricity.
"Lightning Release: Double Thunder Palm!"
Unfortunately for the Hyuga, Madara saw the attack and used his gunbai to block the attack. The moment Hinata's hands slammed into the war fan, it began to glow with a white light. Madara smirked at her.
"Uchiha Return!"
The absorbed energy of Hinata's attack was reflected back at her, and the young Hyuga Clan Head was send flying backwards, painfully bouncing on her back a couple times on the ground.
"Hinata!" Naruto cried, before glaring at Madara. He started to make hand seals as fast as he could."You won't be able to toss this back at me. Fire Release: Mouse Hairball!"
Naruto breathed a massive sphere of blue fire that flew towards the former Uchiha Clan Head. Madara dropped one of the chakra rods, and held a hand towards the incoming projectile.
"Fool. Perhaps not, but did you forget that I can absorb any ninjutsu?" Madara said, as a smirk spread across his face. "Gakido!"
Madara's hands projected a barrier of white light that extended in front of him. However, before the blue fireball could crash into the barrier, it split into dozens of smaller fireballs that arched around him, avoiding the barrier, before they crashed on Madara's back, which was engulfed by the resulting chain of explosions.
"Nice hit, Naruto!" Yugito praised. "You're getting the hang of mine and Matatabi's powers!"
Fighting off the pain of the unexpected attack, Madara flexed his chakra in order to blow the cloud of smoke that formed around him away, only to see Hinata in front of him, which quickly delivered a palm strike to his abdomen, knocking the air out of him and forcing him to bend over, before delivering yet another strike to his lower jaw, sending him flying backwards.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata called him, while tossing him back his lost weapon.
"Thanks, hime!" Naruto said, as he caught the hilt of the sword, which projected a blade of wind chakra as soon as he touched it. "Keep attacking! Don't let him not even a second to breath!"
"Yes!" Hinata agreed.
Jumping back to his feet, Madara spread his arms open just as Naruto and Hinata converged on him from opposite directions, ready to strike him down.
"Shinra Tensei!"
The air shimmered for a fraction of a second, before the two Konoha ninjas were blasted away by a powerful, invisible force in opposite directions. Not wasting any second, Madara leaped towards Naruto, ready to continue the beating while he was down. However, even before he could get back to his feet, a giant golden claw shot from Naruto's body towards Madara, trapping the Uchiha within its strong grip.
Madara, however, immediately broke out of the hold by manifesting his Susanoo, first the ribcage, then the body, arms, and head, forming the upper half of his humanoid form. He brought down a massive blue hand to crush down the jinchuriki, but he managed to dodge it with a few well timed backflips.
"Lightning Release: Twin Lion Fists!"
Hinata rocketed at Madara from behind, her hands covered in an aura shaped like the head of a lion, with electricity crackling around it. The Hyuga Clan head slammed one of her lion fists onto the back of Madara's Susanoo, causing a crack and making the whole construct shiver. Madara glared at Hinata, and before she could deliver another strike, the Susanoo used one of its extra arms to swat her backwards.
While she was hit hard and the strike hurt, Hinata managed to stop herself mid air, and started to make hand seals, while her Truth Seeking Balls started to spin in a circle in front of her.
"Amethyst Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"
The spinning black orbs merged into a single sphere of purple light, which exploded into a storm of lightning bolts that shot forward. Madara's Susanoo was pelted by a rain of powerful lavender bolts that began to crack chip away pieces of his Susanoo. Madara's eyes flashed for a second, and his Susanoo not only regenerated, but it reached the Perfect Form.
Naruto and Hinata, however, weren't intimidated. Naruto exploded into a mass of golden light that took the shape of Kurama, with him floating inside his head, while Hinata's Avatar of Kalika grew out of her body, leaving the Hyuga floating inside its head just like Naruto. Naruto and Hinata took a moment to notice the chakra avatar the other was able to manifest.
"I see that your time on that island was well spent, Naruto-kun," Hinata said, smiling at her boyfriend.
"I could tell the same about you and the Moon, hime," Naruto replied, returning her smile.
"Leave that for later, lovebirds! Madara! Focus on Madara!" an annoyed Kurama urged.
"You are powerful for two so young, but you're still beneath me," Madara said, as his Susanoo unseathed a katana. "Neither the Nine Tails nor that for armed avatar is something that I haven't beaten before. And that was before gaining the Rinnegan and Sage Mode."
"Did you beat the two of them together?" Naruto asked.
"No, but I'm always willing to welcome new challenges," Madara said, as his Susanoo held his free hand open, generating several shards of blue chakra. "Yagata Magatama!"
With a wide swing of its arm, Madara's Susanoo launched the barrage of magatama-shaped projectiles at Naruto. Too big to dodge them, Naruto used his chakra tails to deflect them away. He was unable to swat all of them away, with some finding their marks, exploding upon touching the avatar of golden chakra.
"You're mine, Nine Tails," Madara said, smirking in triumph as he started to make hand seals from within his Susanoo. "Wood Release: Wood Dragon Jutsu!"
A serpentine wooden dragon burst from the spot in front of Madara, which lunged towards the Kurama chakra construct and quickly wrapped around it, immobilizing it and binding its chakra. The construct tried to bite the dragon, but its bite simply lacked strength to make any dent on the wood. Then, the katana on the Susanoo's hand started to glow with a bright white light.
"Like I said before, you can't use the power of the Nine Tails to harm me, its true master," Madara boasted, as his Susanoo charged forward, ready to strike him down.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata cried, as she moved her Avatar of Kalika to intercept Madara.
Just as the Susanoo brought its katana down, the Avatar of Kalika got in the middle, and used its two upper arms to block the blade with its hands. The energy behind the swing was still released in the form of a circular shockwave that slashed and shattered some of the trees Madara had summoned earlier, but Hinata's chakra construct managed to resist.
The Avatar's lower hands started to crackle with electricity, and before Madara could counterattack, the Avatar slammed both hands into the Susanoo's chest, making it tumble backwards, dropping the katana in the process. Forgetting about Madara for the time being, Hinata turned around, and making use of the Avatar's many hands, she managed to get the wooden dragon away from the Nine Tails-shaped construct, and tossed it away.
"You okay, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.
"Yeah," Naruto said. "Heh, guess this is why I was told not to use the Tailed Beast from when fighting against a Wood Release user."
"We can still avoid that if we work together," Hinata said, as she eyed Madara, whose Susanoo was getting back to its feet. "If I'm near you at all times, I can destroy any wooden roots created by Madara before they wrap around you and bind your chakra."
Another pulse of chakra from the statue behind the barrier shook the land. They were running out of time. They had to defeat Madara as soon as possible!
"Hey, I have an idea!" Naruto said, as he punched his open palm. "Hinata, ride me!"
The Hyuga was taken aback by Naruto's request, as her face began to redden. "Naruto-kun! This is not the time to-"
"I mean, have your avatar ride Kurama as if it was steed!" Naruto clarified, much to the Hyuga's relief. "That way, the two of them can fight as one!"
"That... might not be a bad idea after all. Alright, let's do it," Hinata said, as she moved her Avatar to ride Kurama. Once she was sit on the golden fox, two of its tails wrapped around the purple chakra construct in order to keep it in place. "I'm ready!"
"Me too!" Naruto said, as he got up. "Let's go!"
Like a knight riding a horse, Hinata's Avatar of Kalika charged forward while riding on Kurama's golden avatar. Madara, whose Susanoo was already back on its feet, looked at the combo with a smile of amusement.
"What do you plan to achieve doing that?" Madara asked, as he started to weave more hand seals. "Wood Release: Nativity of a World of Trees!"
The ground started to shake as more trees started to emerge from the ground, moving towards Naruto, trying to wrap around it like the wooden dragon had done so before. However, Madara wasn't the only one making hand seals, Hinata doing the same as well.
"Six Paths: Lightning Release Thunderbolt!"
The Avatar of Kalika's hands started to crackle with electricity, and shot multiple lightning bolts from its fingertips towards the incoming trees, blasting them into splinters and burned leaves. More and more trees kept coming, but Hinata continued to burn them to a crisp, firing lightning bolts from four different directions, keeping the Kurama avatar safe.
"Good work, Hinata! Keep it like that!" Naruto said. "We're getting close to him! Get ready to strike!"
"Yes!" Hinata said.
Naruto slammed the Kurama chakra construct into Madara's Susanoo with all his might, pushing it backwards, but not with enough force to make it topple down again. Fortunately, there was more to his tactic than a mere tackle. Using the tails wrapped around the Avatar of Kalika, he threw it into the air towards the blue Susanoo.
"Hinata, now!"
Hinata didn't have to be told anything else. While the Avatar was mid air, she made it raise its legs in order to dropkick Madara. And indeed, the moment its feet smashed against the tumbling Susanoo, it was pushed backwards, making it land on its back, producing a thundering, earth shaking boom. The Avatar of Kalika also had a similar effect when its feet touched the ground as well.
"Madara is out for the count!" Hinata said, before her eyes moved towards the crimson barrier. "Naruto, do it now!"
Naruto nodded, and began to prepare the biggest Tailed Beast Ball he could. He knew he had the power to blast that thing into nothingness.
…
While Naruto prepared to finish the statue off and Hinata kept Madara busy, Killer B and Fu also were on the verge of finishing their fight against Obito and Zetsu. While Fu engaged Obito, Killer B was dealing with his main minion. And while the former fight was more or less even, let's say that the dual plant creature was having a less than ideal time against the Kumo jinchuriki.
"S-Stay away from me, you freak!" the white half say, as he nervously weaved hand seals. "Wood Release: Underground Roots Jutsu!"
Multiple roots emerged from underground in an attempt to subdue the Kumogakure ninja, but Killer B easily cut them off with his lightning-enhanced shot swords while he advanced towards the Akatsuki member.
"Is this all what you can do, to csmmon some weed? If that's the case, you better concede," Killer B said.
"And stop with the damn rhyming!" Black Zetsu complained, as he made more hand seals. "Wind Release: Breaktrough!"
Zetsu blew a powerful gust of wind at Killer B, but once again, the Kumo jinchuriki's speed proved to be too much for the plant being, and easily dodged the attack, while getting even closer to him.
"You think that some breeze is enough to beat my thunder? Fool, fighting me to begin with was your biggest blunder!" Killer B said, as his whole body crackled with electricity. "Now get ready, this is a move only my brother can withstand! It's going to be awesome, it's going to be grand! THUNDER LARIAT!"
Killer B charged at Zetsu at, fittingly, lightning-fast speed. Still the plant-like beign was able to quickly sink underground, dodging the attack at the last minute.
"There's no way we can beat this man," the white half whimpered.
"Agreed. Let's stand back and bid our time. We won't be of any use to Obito and Madara-sama if we die..." the black half said, as the dual being sunk into the ground completely.
"So, the walking plant flees at the sight of my awesome power! All that chump could do was cower!" Killer B rapped, sounded a little disappointed to see his opponent leaving the fight like that. Oh well, it's not that there weren't enemies left to fight. He looked at Fu, still engaged in a fight with Obito. "Hmmm, decisions, decisions. Should I help Number Seven with the other guy with the wood, or should I go for the statue and break it for good?"
"Fu seems to be doing well against Obito, so you should better go for the statue," Gyuki suggested. "Naruto and Hinata should be keeping Madara busy, meaning that you should have a clear shot to destroy it."
"It's decided, then! In that case I better-"
BOOOOOOM!
Needless to say, Killer B was stunned by the massive explosion that came from the spot where Naruto and Hinata were fighting against Madara. More specifically, the spot where the barrier holding the Statue was. Needless to say, both Fu and Obito also stopped their fight in order to gawk at the huge pillar of red chakra that shot into the sky. Once the pillar receded, there was nothing but a large, thick cloud of dust in its place.
"Hey, looks like Number Nine did it before me! Not that it bothers me, it fills me with glee!" Killer B cheered.
"I can no longer sense the statue's chakra! I think Naruto did it! " Fu said, sounding hopeful, before a realization dawned upin her. "No, wait a minute... that explosion didn't feel like Naruto's chakra... in fact, it felt like-"
A loud, high pitched roar, more like a screech filled the air. From the cloud od dust, a large single red dot of light could be seen. Wind started to blow from within the cloud, blowing it away, revealing what was inside it.
A titanic creature, probably four hundred meters in height, its skin dull brown in color. It had a bulb-like body, with long arms ended in claw-like fingers. It had no lower body, with ten tails as long as its body growing where the legs should be. There were many spike-like protrusions growing from its back, the bigger one looking like a conical conch shell.
It had an oval-shaped head that was connected to the body without anything ressembling a neck. The head had a huge mouth filled with rows of sharp teeth. Above the mouth was a massive, single red eye that looked like a Sharingan with nine tomoe around it.
Fu paled. Killer B watched in horror. Obito smirked.
"Your time is over! Marvel and despair at the sight of the creature that will be both your end, and the harbinger of a new, better world!" Obito boasted. "The Ten Tails!"
The newly reborn Ten Tails let out another roar as if to emphasize Obito's introduction.
Author's Note: And after an agonizing wait, Hinata finally reunites with Naruto, as well as Fu and Killer B, ready to help them fight the final battle! Man, I was really dying for Hinata and Naruto to be together again. Now that everybody else had their time to shine under the spotlight, it's time for the fic's power couple to end this story with a bang.
Of course, Hinata isn't the only one to return. As you could see, Madara is back and ready to continue his rampage. Unfortunately for him, Naruto and Hinata together are completely able to match his power.
You know, I kinda hated how after Naruto got the abilities of all the Tailed Beasts, all he did was use a Lava Rasenshuriken (which didn't seem to be that different from a normal Rasenshuriken) again Madara, as well as, again, nine Rasenshurikens powered by each of the Tailed Beasts against Kaguya. I wanted to have Naruto use those abilities in a more creative ways. Seriously, Magnet Release, Boil Release, the spreading coral, Yugito's homing fire attacks... those powers could make Naruto into an incredibly versatile ninja, but all he ever did was Rasenshuriken of a different color. Even if I myself had Naruto use Tailed Beast chakra to power Rasenshuriken, at least I hope the effect was different from a normal one.
Thanks to Ookami88 for betareading this chapter.
Next week, the battle against the Ten Tails. In the meantime, tell me what you think about this chapter in a review. Reviews make me really, really, really happy!