Author's Note: I'm glad you guys liked the final battle so much. Though those who were wanting for more, you might be for a treat here. Enjoy:
Chapter 132:
The Konoha 15
or
The Last Dance
Site of the Battle against the Ten Tails
As Fu ran towards the falling Tailed Beasts, she couldn't help but feel weirdness at her inability to fly. Those wings might have not been part of her body, but for somebody who learned how to fly before she could learned how to walk, not being able to soar the skies felt...
...wrong.
She felt empty. Incomplete. As if something had been stripped off of her. Something very important. And in a way, she was right.
Thankfully, she wasn't foreign to running either. Even if she usually flew to any place too far away to simply walk, she was no foreign to running, given that running was the best way to build stamina up. And if there was something the green haired girl had in abudance, it was stamina.
The Tailed Beasts finally crashed down, producing a huge thundering noise, followed by a small tremor, while raising a huge cloud of dirt and dust. Fu's heart clenched, worrying for the worst. Could Tailed Beasts survive a fall from so high into the air?
However, as the cloud of smoke slowly dispelled and she could see some movement, she started to ease up. And then the calm turned to excitement and joy when she could finally see the form of Chomei, shifting along her siblings.
"Chomei! Chomei!" Fu cried.
Alerted, the giant beetle turned around, and saw her former human host.
"Fu!"
"Chomei!" she repeated.
Once she was close enough, Fu pumped chakra onto her legs, and leaped towards the Seven Tailed Beast with her arms spread wide open, as a few tears dropped from her eyes. Chomei spread her four upper arms as well, catching Fu in a hug just as she came close to her.
"Oh Chomei!" Fu cried, as she hugged the giant beetle. "I was so worried! I thought I had lost you forever!"
"You were worried?" Chomei asked, incredulous. "Girl, I'm immortal! What about you? I thought I had lost you! You got me extracted out of your body, yet here you are, alive and kicking!"
"It's... well, I'm not really sure of what had happened, but I'm sure somebody can explain to me later," Fu said.
They stayed like that, just enjoying each other's company, as the rest of the Allied Ninjas started to gather and get close around the group of Tailed Beasts. Albeit not too close, given that many of them harbored some well founded fear that the Beasts might attack, even if they looked passive right now. Few of them, moved by curiosity, but still keeping some distance, dared to get closer to the almost mythical and powerful monsters.
"You know... even if we've been apart for less than an hour..." Chomei began. "It felt like an eternity since I saw and heard you, girl."
"Y-Yeah, me too," Fu cried, her lip quivering. "Hey, Chomei... you probably will say no given that you're finally free, but..."
"Go back with you so we can stay together?" Chomei finished Fu's line. "Say no more, girl!"
Fu gasped, and looked at Chomei with sparkling eyes full of joy. "Really!?"
"Of course! What are you going to do without me and my lucky charm?" Chomei said, and the two of them laughed.
"Unbelievable," Son Goku said, as the griant ape shook his head. "For the first time in almost a century we're completely free, and you want to go back to that human girl?"
"Don't be so quick to turn humans down, Son," Chomei replied. "I know our history with them isn't that great, but hey, maybe you just need to find the right human!"
"I think I'm going to pass," Son Goku said. Chomei merely shrugged.
"Son Goku," a voice said.
The Four Tails, surprised, looked down and saw the familiar redheaded old man that had been his living prison for more than four decades.
"Roshi," Son Goku said, trying to keep a maybe not friendly, but still calm demeanor. "What do you want?"
"If you're worried that I might want you inside me like that girl with the bug," Roshi began, and allowed himself to show a taunting smirk. "Well, I'm here to dispel all of your fears. I can assure you, the idea of having you inside my body again isn't something that I seek to."
"Heh," the red furred beast chuckled. "What do you seek then, old man?"
"This will be the last time we're going to see each other," Roshi stated. Son Goku didn't make any remark about how he's not going to miss the old man. "Our relationship was, to put it bluntly, awful. Except, perhaps, this final battle, when we finally fought as a team for the first time. Looking back, I realize that I could have make some things much better, but that's irrelevant now. I was given a second chance, and I don't plan to waste it."
"You're rambling old man. Can you stop fooling around and get to the point?" Son Goku impatiently asked.
"So rude," Roshi said, shaking his head. "Anyway, I just wanted to say goodbye, and, at least part on good terms. Or at least not on bad terms. So, what do you say?"
"Well..." Son Goku began. "Guess I could make you this concession, provided that you're being honest about not seeing each other again."
"You can trust me on that, Son Goku."
Son Goku nodded. "Very well then. Goodbye, Roshi. Hope you enjoy what years you still have left."
As Roshi and Son Goku talked, Gyuki appeared to be in deep thought. He blinked once before suddenly growing excited.
"I found Naruto!" said Gyuki's voice all of sudden. "I sense him to the west!"
"Yeah, me too!" Chomei added, followed by the rest of the Tailed Beasts agreeing as well.
"What about the others? Like Shino? Can you tell me if they're okay too?" Fu asked.
"I'm sorry girl, I can only sense Naruto, and that's because of a piece of my chakra inside him. I can't tell about the others," Chomei apologized. "Wait, can't you enter Sage Mode to try and sense them?"
"Hey, you're right! Thanks for reminding me of that!" Fu replied, as she jumped out of Chomei's embrace, landing on the ground, before sitting in the lotus position and closed her eyes. "Alright, let's go..."
As Fu gathered nature energy, her ability to sense chakra began to span little by little. She focused her attention to the west, and indeed, she found them. Naruto and Hinata were the easiest ones to sense, followed by the rest. And much to her relief, all of them were alive, even if they appeared to be close to total exhaustion, given their low chakra levels.
"Yes, I found them! And they're all right!" Fu cried out loud. "They survived the battle!"
Naturally, her good news were met with a round of loud cheers.
"Come on people, let's go and find them! They're heroes of this war, and need to be treated as such!" Jiraiya energically stated, to another wave of cheers.
Fu was about to stand up and rejoin the group, until she sensed something that felt her blood freeze in her veins.
"No..."
…
Valley of the End
From the sky, an unidentified object fell. It was black with a slight purple gleam, perfectly spherical, of about ten meters in radius. Its falling speed was fast, almost looking like a meteor that threatened to wipe out the entire valley once it smashed against the ground. However, the closer it moved towards the ground, the slower its descend became, almost as if some invisible force was controlling it.
The sphere's velocity continued to decrease, to the point that the damage a violent impact would cause would be minimal. However, the falling object didn't even touch the ground, but stopped completely mid air, just a few centimeters above the ground, and stayed like that for a few seconds. Then, for seemingly no reason, cracks started to form and spread around the object, almost as if it was an egg ready to hatch.
But rather than cracking like an egg, it burst like a balloon, dropping its contents, fifteen teenagers, to the ground, resulting in a pile of entangled bodies and limbs.
"Ughhhhh..."
"Move! I can't breathe with all of you on top of me!"
"You guys are crushing me!"
"My leg!"
Little by little, the human pile of bodies slowly untangled themselves from each other, as they weakly crawled away. Some of them laid on their backs, and started to breathe heavily. Others sat down, and checked themselves for possible injuries. Others checked on their friends. And one of them found the strength to stay up, and check their surroundings.
"The Valley of the End," Sasuke said, his eyes locked onto the Hashirama and Madara statues that flanked the waterfall, the unmistakeable hallmarks of the place. Good, that means they weren't far away from Konoha or the Ninja Alliance HQ.
Another ninja stood up, this one Naruto. Though rather than checking the place, he was making sure his friends were okay. They appeared exhausted, and their levels of chakra were pretty low –especially the members of Team Gai, who were sprawled on the ground, as if they were in constant pain– but none of them appeared to have serious injuries.
Naruto sighed in relief. "Good, it seems they're all fine. Good job, Hinata-hime! You saved us from that explosion!"
Hinata was among those lying on the ground, breathing heavily. Upon hearing her boyfriend praising her, she merely raised a hand and gave a thumbs up, before dropping the arm again.
Naruto opened his mouth to speak or ask something, but was interrupted when a loud noise came from the sky. Almost like a thunder, but not quite.
"Naruto-kun, look!" Haku said, as he pointed to the direction the noise came from.
The blond turned around, and far into the distance, he saw the nine planetoids Madara had locked the nine Tailed Beast inside falling to the ground. They broke apart as they fell, revealing the Tailed Beasts inside them. The fall would probably be pretty painful, but nothing they wouldn't survive. A smile spread across his lips. If the Tailed Beasts had been released, it could only mean one thing.
Madara was finally dead.
They did it. They finally did it. The war was finally over.
Naruto let out an immense sigh of relief he didn't know he was holding, and plopped down as a wave of exhaustion washed over his body.
"Finally..." the jinchuriki said.
As the group caught their breath, Kiba dragged himself towards Tamaki.
"Hey," Kiba said, wincing a little. Even talking proved to be a little painful.
"Hey," she replied, sounding tired. Even then, she smiled at him. "What's up? You okay?"
"I little tired and sore, but that's expected. I'll live," Kiba said, trying to sound though. His demeanor then sobered up. "Hey, Tamaki, remember when we were fighting those Ten Tails clones, and I said I needed to tell you something important, but you told me that it wasn't the moment?"
"Yeah, I do remember that," Tamaki said, smiling good naturedly, as she dragged herself towards him as well. "And I think this moment is much better."
Kiba chuckled awkwardly. "Well, that's nice to-"
The Inuzuka was suddenly silenced when Tamaki lunged at him and planted a kiss on his lips. While it only lasted a couple seconds, but it felt much longer for them. They finally broke the kiss, and stared at each other, their faces reddened, and breathing heavily. Kiba just started at her with wide eyes.
"So..." Tamaki began, wiping a strand of hair from her face. "Was that what you wanted to talk to me about?"
Kiba dumbly nodded.
Shino, who had watched the exchange from afar, merely turned their back at them, and adjusted his glasses.
"About time," he said, low enough for nobody else to hear.
While those who had witnessed the birth of a new couple congratulated Kiba and Tamaki, others meanwhile wondered what they were going to do now that the war was finally over. One of them was Haku, who turned to their unofficial leader for answers.
"Naruto-kun?" Haku repeated, as he walked towards him. "What are we going to do now? Should we return to Konoha? Or should we make our way back to the main army?"
Oh, right. They probably shouldn't stay much longer there. They all have friends or family wondering about their wellbeing. The fact that the Tailed Beasts have been released should tell them of their victory, but they should know that all of them were alive and well. With a little effort, he managed to get back on his feet.
"Okay, first of all... let's rest for a bit. A medic should check on Tenten, Neji and Lee, they appear to be pretty beat up," Naruto said. Karin quickly went to help her boyfriend and his teammates, followed by Ino. "If somebody can lend a hand to Hinata-hime it would be okay."
"No, no, I'm fine. No medic need to waste their attention on me," Hinata protested. "My body aches and I'm a bit exhausted, but I'll pull it off."
What Hinata said made Naruto realize something. "Oh, I almost forgot! If you guys need a refill of chakra, just ask! Remember that I'm an universal chakra donnor, and I still have plenty to spare!"
"Maybe you should come and give us a hand with these three, nii-san," Karin asked, before shooting her boyfriend a disapproving glare. "Even with the fox's regenerative power, opening up to the seventh gate and keeping it like that for so long did a number on their bodies."
"There were too much at stake, Karin. WE couldn't hold back," Neji protested.
"What he said," Tenten added. "Besides, if you want to blame somebody, blame Shikamaru. It was his plan after all."
"Hey!" the young Nara protested.
"Come on guys, Shikamaru's plan lead us to victory. To victory over one of the most powerful ninjas who ever lived," Ino said in defense of her teammate, before giggling. "That's going to look so great on our resume."
"Stop wasting time with pointless babble," Sasuke said, shooting a harsh glare at them. "We aren't done yet."
"We aren't done yet?" Sakura asked, confused. "Sasuke-kun, what do you mean? We've won! Madara is dead. The war is over."
Sasuke, however shook his head. "There's something you don't know. We need to find Madara's body and destroy it completely. Only then the war will be truly over."
"Madara's body?" Kiba asked, and snorted dismissively. Akamaru, lying besides him, whined a little. "I doubt that there's a body to begin with after that giant ass explosion."
"Yeah. Unlike us, he didn't have Truth Seeking Balls to use as protection," Tamaki said. "He's nothing but ashes now."
As Naruto spread some of his chakra around and the medics healed everyone, they started to get back on their feet little by little. Soon they would be ready to leave.
As Karin helped Tenten on her feet, she suddenly gasped, her eyes opened wide, almost dropping the girl on the ground.
"No way..." the redhead said, as her face turned pale.
"Karin? You okay, girl?" Tenten asked, raising an eyebrow. "You're worrying-"
"Everybody, ru-"
Karin was silenced when something exploded in the lake, producing a brief rain that showered over them, just as something leaped out of the water and landed on the ground with the force of a meteor, raising a cloud of smoke and producing a booming thunderclap.
Everybody turned around to the source of the disturbance. However, the other sensors followed Karin, looking at the cloud of dust with a mix of awe and terror, already aware of who was there.
"Did you really think... that I would be defeated...BY A BUNCH OF BRATS!?"
When the cloud dispelled, the members of the Konoha 15 could see a heavily wounded and exhausted, but very much alive Madara Uchiha. His Rinnegan eyes pierced them with an intense and hate filled glare.
"What?" Choji asked in shock, tremlbing a little. "How can he...?"
"There's no way! No fucking way!" Kiba protested. "You were engulfed by that giant explosion! No one can surive that!"
"Why can't this guy just die already!" Ino said, as she angrily stomped on the ground.
"I have to admit, that stunt you pulled on me was pretty clever. And for a group so young, you're unexpectedly powerful. For a moment, I believed I was truly gone. And that's the second time in a way too short span of time that somebody makes me feel fear for my life," Madara said, gritting his teeth. "But like that green clad fool, you also failed to kill me. And you will pay for it with your lives."
"Don't you dare insult Gai-sensei!" Lee angrily protested, as tears began to stream from his eyes.
"Yes! We will finish what he started, right here, and right now!" Tenten added, as she unsheathed a pair of longswords from a sealing scroll.
"Ah yes... the man had students..." Madara said, remembering Lee. "Don't worry. I can assure you, you'll be seeing your beloved sensei really soon."
Neji didn't say anything, and just scanned the Uchiha from head to toe, assessing his state. "His chakra is dangerously low. But it's slowly building up. I believe that with a cautious approach, we can kill him."
However, Neji himself and everybody else were also low on chakra as well. Naruto sharing his had been of help, but they didn't have enough for a prolongued battle. This needed to end as quickly as possible.
"He'll try to use the Rinnegan to steal our chakra in order to replenish his own," Sasuke informed, as he unsheathed his shoto. "That means you should be extremely careful with ninjutsu."
"The Preta Path also allows to steal chakra directly from the victim through physical contact," Naruto added. "So, let's try not to let him touch us for long."
Naruto tried to activate his Kurama Chakra Cloak, but when he tried, a wave of pain washed over his body, making him double down, as the chakra cloak flickered for a couple seconds, before it vanished.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata quickly went to check on her boyfriend. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine... just... shit, I have even less chakra than I thought..." Naruto said, as he stood up once again. "Kurama! I need some help here! Kurama! Can you hear me?" Naruto mentally asked, but got no answer. He could sense that the fox was still inside him, and he wasn't ignoring the blond. However, just like his, Kurama's chakra level was dangerously low. Naruto deduced he must have passed out. "Heh. Guess even a Tailed Beast can run out of chakra. We're on our own now."
"No plan you make, or any precaution you take will grant you victory over me. I can sense how exhausted and sore you are. And unlike me, your wounds won't close on their own and your chakra won't regenerate," Madara said, as he felt his confidence being boosted by those words. He brought his hands together and weaved multiple seals at a blinding speed. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Despite his low chakra, Madara cast aa deceptively large fireball at the group of Konoha ninjas, forcing all of them to jump in different directions in order to avoid it, scattering across the area. Just as he expected. Now, he only needed to capture somebody with potent chakra to drain and replenish his own. Naruto was the most obvious target, and thus the one they would expect him to target. Fortunately, there was another Uzumaki among them, even if her chakra wasn't as powerful as Naruto's.
Pinpointing her position with his chakra sense, he aimed his hand at her, and let the jutsu bring it to her.
"Bansho Ten'in!"
Karin squeaked in shock as an invisible force quickly pulled her towards Madara's outstretched hand. More as a reflex rather than a deliberated action, a chain of chakra shoot from Karin's back, the redhead praying that somebody would grab it.
Fortunately for her, her prayers were answered as Choji and Tamaki managed to grab the chain and pull backwards with all the strength they could muster, yanking the redhead back, giving her an admittedly painful whiplash. Though not that she was going to complain about that.
"T-Thank you guys!" Karin stammered, as she adjusted her glasses.
Meanwhile, Madara saw how a green blur barreled towards him, raising his hand just to catch a powerful fist covered in bandages. Rock Lee continued his assault, delivering a flurry of punches and kicks that were either parried and blocked by the Uchiha. Despite this, Madara was being pushed back and was given no chances to attack.
Rock Lee feinted, but much to Madara's confusion, he didn't attack, but vanished before his very eyes. And just behind Lee was a living drill shooting right at him.
"Fang Passing Fang!"
All Madara could do in such short notice was to cross his arms in front of his face in order to block the Inuzuka's signature ability, which grind his arms drawing blood, while violently pushed him backwards, landing on his back. And as soon as he did, a large shadow was cast over him. The Uchiha watched how the bloated form of Choji Akimichi was about to crush him under his weight.
"Meat Bullet Tank!"
Madara rolled to the side just as Choji's spherical shape slammed into the group, opening a crater onto the ground. Choji, however, continued rolling at the long haired Uchiha, who continued onto the defensive. That's it, until a sudden feeling of paralisys washed over his body.
"Mind Disturbance Jutsu!"
"What...?" Madara asked, as his body freeze, as he sensed the source of the jutsu to a neraby blonde he recognized as a Yamanaka.
"I got him!" Ino announced. "Everyone, attack now!"
Not just Choji, but those who were close to Madara, being Kiba, Lee and Sakura lunged at him now that he was finally immobilized and defenseless. Or so they believed.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Madara released a powerful repulsive shockwave that not only pushed his attackers backwards, but Ino as well, breaking the annoying psychic jutsu. Some of those caught by the attack had been landed on the ground, while others had been launched into the water. Though, they were very much still alive.
"Five seconds until he can use Deva Path abilities again!" Naruto reminded his friends, as he lunged himself at Madara, Wind Blade in hand. "Attack now! Don't give him any time to breathe!"
"Of all the bullheaded fools I've met in my lifetime, none compares to you lot," the Uchiha said in disgust, as he generated a black chakra rod from his hand, and raised it just in time to parry a blow from Naruto.
"Well, these bullheaded fools are the one who are going to put an end to your reign of terror for good!" Naruto fired back.
As he and Madara continued to trade blows, he could see and feel small cuts opening on his skin, trickling with thin trails of blood, despite the fact that he wasn't being hit.
"That blade is made of wind chakra, which gives it a range greater than that judged by the eye. An interesting weapon. Did he create...? Oh, of course, I can't believe I didn't think in that immediately!" Madara thought, as a savage grin spread around his face, making Naruto uneasy.
They traded a couple more blows, until Madara feigned a fumble, allowing Naruto a clear opening to strike, which the blond naturally took advantage of. Just like Madara expected, as he held a hand protectively.
"You fell for it, fool! Gakido!" Madara said, as he created a wall of white light. "Even if it's not ninjutsu, I can absorb the chakra you're channeling through your sword!"
But Madara's face fell when, much to his confusion, he didn't absorb the sword of wind, but it phased through him harmlessly.
"What the... a genjutsu!?" Madara hissed, now tracking the source of the illusion towards Haku, standing at a safe distance from the battle.
"And you think I'm so stupid I didn't realize of that?" Naruto said, as he jumped backwards. "Hinata-hime, Neji!"
As Naruto disengaged Madara, the two Hyuga cousins appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and prepared to launch a flurry of palm strikes at their enemy, just as a thread of shadow quickly crept behind him. However, Madara expecting such an ambush and his fine chakra sensing allowed him to notice Shikamaru's jutsu.
"You're not catching me with the same trick twice! Asurato!" Madara yelled, as he jumped into the air, avoiding Shikamaru's jutsu. Two pair of arms burst from under his real ones. The new arms opened up, revealing a myrirad of mechanical weapons. "DIE!"
The sound of shots being fired filled the air as a barrage of missiles and chakra blasts rained towards the Konoha ninjas, once again, forcing them to scatter in order to avoid the shower of death. A chain of blasts ensued as the missiles and chakra beams crashed against the ground, sending pebbles and pieces of rock everywhere, while raising clouds of dust and ash.
A barrage of shuriken flew out of said clouds towards Madara, filling the air with a high pitched whirring noise. The Uchiha, still airboud, used his black chakra rod to parry and deflect the incoming steel stars, but the lack of mobility meant that some of them managed to at least grace his skin, making even more cuts that would consume more of his chakra to close.
The moment Madara's feet touched the ground, his Rinnegan saw Sasuke rocketing out of the already dispelling clouds of smoke, gripping his katana with both hands, the blade pointed at the older Uchiha as he ran.
"Lightning Release: Thunder Blade!" as Sasuke channeled his ppwer towards his sword, it started to crackle with electricity. "Try to absorb the chakra of this sword and see what happens!"
In response, Madara ran towards the incoming Sasuke, ready to meet him head on. Sasuke lunged his lightning sword forward, while Madara sidestepped, and let Sasuke's own momentum carry him closer, before Madara sank his improvised weapon into Sasuke's heart.
"One less pe-"
Madara's triumph was short lived, as "Sasuke" smirked, before exploding into a mass of beetles, buzzing angrily as they flew towards the rogue Uchiha, forcing him to fall back once again. However, before he could move any further, he sensed a little tremor at his feet, just a second before Sakura burst from underground, one of her fists winded back and glowing with chakra.
"TAKE THIS!"
In his compromised position, the Uchiha was unable to dodge and the fist connected. While Sakura's current low chakra meant that her punches were nowhere near as strong as when he was at her one hundred percent, the punch still packed enough power to send him flying into the air, leaving a thin trail of blood behind..
"Shit! Those insects were messing with my sensing ability!" the flying Uchiha realized, given that he should have noticed that Sasuke wasn't the real one and that Sakura was hiding underground.
Despite the pain that gripped his lower jaw, Madara tried to regain balance while mid air in order to fall on his feet. Unfortunately for him, his enemies didn't plan to leave him a single moment to catch his breath.
"Lightning Release: Multiple Thunder Palms!"
Guessing Madara's trajectory, Hinata flew into the air and intercepted the flying Uchiha before he could fall to he ground, and delivered a flurry of lightning-enhanced palm strikes to him, forcing to move her sore arms as fast as she could, before finishing the combo with a palm strike to the Uchiha's gut, which sent him barreling down towards the ground, pushed by a lightning bolt.
"Keep attacking! Don't let him not even a moment to rest!" Hinata urged.
Madara pushed through the pain and jumped back to his feet just to see Neji and Rock Lee charging towards him.
"Adamantine Sealing Chains!"
Before he could do anything, a chain of chakra appeared from behind and wrapped around his neck, leaving him unable to breathe.
"Well done, Karin!" Neji praised, as he and his teammate, now subordinate, reached Madara.
"This is for Gai-sensei!" Lee cried.
Madara tried to activate the Preta Path in order to absorb the chain made of chakra, but between Karin yaking him backwards and Neji and Rock Lee delivering a storm of punches and finger strikes, he was unable to. Pain started to build up as each of Lee's punches and kicks created a new bruise, and each of Neji's finger strikes closed a tenketsu down. He tried to fight beakc, but between Karin cutting his breath and Lee and and Neji's merciless beatdown, he was helpless.
"SHINRA TENSEI!"
Once again, Madara was forced to resort to one of his most powerful Rinnegan jutsu to get those pests away from him. He didn't need his eyes or chakra sensing to realize that his enemies were expecting that, and were going to take advantage of the five second window in order to come at him with all what they had. That's why he needed to be faster and attack before they did. In less than a second, his hands blurred through several hand seals.
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Bloom!"
Large green vines burst from both the ground and the water, covering a good chunk of the battlefield in green –albeit Sasuke could notice that this attack was much smaller in scale as the one Madara had used against the Second Division, probably due his lower chakra levels–. Flowers quicly sprouted around the vines, and began to pump clouds of yellow pollen into the air.
"Don't breathe that!" Sasuke warned, as he covered his mouth with his forearm. "You'll be knocked out if you do! Destroy those flowers!"
Sasuke channeled chakra through his sword, setting it on fire, before dashing towards a nearby flower, and destroying it with a vertical slash. The others also focused their attention on the flowers, following Sasuke's advice, and tried to destroy them as fast as they could.
"No matter the time or the situation, people always seem to think that mere flowers are something more dangerous than me," Madara said, as he dashed towards Shino, who was directing his swarm to a nearby flower.
However, before Madara could reach the Aburame, he was intercepted by the least likely of adversaries: two small balls of fur that attempted to slash his exposed skin, before he swatted them back.
"What the... cats?" the rogue Uchiha asked in confusion, upon seeing the two small felines in front of him, one dressed in a blue kimono, the other in a red one, hissing angrily at him. "I see. Ninja cats. But who-"
"Feline Aerial Bomber!"
That moment of distraction was all what Tamaki needed, who leaped towards Madara, ready to smash him with her rear. However, Madara was able to catch her by her legs just before the attack could connect, and tossed her back. Tamaki made a backflip mid air, landing on all fours, before lunging at Madara, ready to slash him with her bladed gauntlets.
"And a girl who fights like a cat," Madara deadpanned, as he parried her blows with his black chakra rod.
All of sudden, Madara disengaged Tamaki and backfliped away from her just in time to avoid Akamaru leaping at him, ready to bite his throat off, as well as Kiba, who attempted to skewer him with a pair of kunai.
And while Madara fought, another of the Konoha ninjas was preparing a way to counter Madara's latest jutsu in a single blow.
"I think can counter this attack on my own! Brace yourselves, though!" Haku said, as he started to make hand seals. "Ice Release: Walking Winter!"
A white aura flared around Haku. Cold wind started to blow from Haku's position, a layer of frost started to spread around him, while the air started to condense into a frigid fog. His friends shuddered as the cold wind started to spread, but they endured. Soon, the vines and flowers fell victim to the ever spreading cold, as forst gathered around them, killing them, and stopping the stream of pollen before they could build up into something harder to deal with.
"And I'm not done yet!" Haku said, as he kneaded more chakra, this time in front of him. "Ice Release: Crushing Glacier!"
Haku slammed his foot down, creating a row of rising large chunks of ice with very sharp edges in Madara's direction. While one would have expected Madara to try to abosrb the jutsu, the Uchiha wasn't somebody that didn't learn from experience.
"I know what you expect me to react! And it won't work!" Madara shouted, and much to everybody's surprise, he actually ran towards Haku's attack instead of trying to dodge it.
Madara jumped towards the row of ice chunks, carefully avoiding its sharp edges, and run across them towards the surprised last member of the Yuki clan. However, before Madara could bridge the gap, a flying Hinata dived to intercept him, spinning on her feet as she moved.
"Heavenly Spin!"
Madara was about to jump over the spinning sphere of chakra, however, he felt a pang of pain inside his head as his body was paralyzed. Realized it was the Yamanaka again, he flexed his chakra to break the jutsu. However, Ino had already achieved what she wanted to do, and Madara didn't have enough time to get out of the way before the spinning sphere slammed into him, blasting him backwards, bouncing several times on his back, before he landed into the water.
Taking advantage of the situation, Haku quickly ran towards the lake's edge, as he started to make hand seals.
"I'll freeze him in solid ice and let him die of both sheer cold and lack of oxygen!" Haku claimed, as he slammed his hands onto the shore of the lake.
A sheet of ice started to quickly spread out as Haku began to freeze the water. However, before he could finish the jutsu, Madara burst from underwater with great force, raising a wave, sending chunks of ice everywhere, and knocking Haku backwards. The Uchiha glared at the Ice Release user with hate filled eyes, and dashed towards him.
"Haku!" Tenten cried, as she unsealed a pair of axes from one of her many sealing scrolls, and intercepted Madara in time, parrying his black chakra rod with one of her axes while delivering a swing with the other one, which the Uchiha grabbed with his free bare hand, drawing some blood. If the pain bothered Madara, he didn't show it.
Tenten released the axe Madara was holding before suddenly disengaging him and jumped backwards. Madara also jumped back just in time to avoid a guillotine kick from Rock Lee that came from aboce, hitting with such force it opened a small crater on the ground.
A spike of chakra alerted him from another attack. While he was mid air, he backflipped, landed on his hand, and twisted his wrist to spin his body and propel himself even further backwards, allowing him to dodge the shuriken covered in Amaterasu flames Sasuke had tossed in his direction. However, that was as far as he could dodge.
"Rasengan!"
In his compromised position, he was unable to dodge the blond's attack, who close the gap between them at an imperceptible speed, charging a sphere of destructive chakra in his right hand which he slammed against Madara's gut. The Rasengan exploded, blasting the rogue Uchiha backwards, his body spiraling mid air until it violently crashed against a rock wall with a loud boom, before finally dropping to the ground with a dry thud, alongside several chunks of stone that had broken from the rock wall.
The rest of Naruto's friends all landed besides him, they eyes fixed on the spot Madara's body had fallen, watching expectantly the result of the attack. Naruto didn't need to see them to realize that they were all close to their limits.
"Is he dead?" Choji asked.
Hinata shook her head. "If that was the case, his chakra would have disappeared completely."
And indeed, with a primal yell, Madara crawled back to his feet, pushing away the rocks that were half burying his body.
"Oh come on! What does it take for this guy to drop dead!?" Karin screeched, clearly at her wits' end.
"He can't be human... no normal ninja can withstand so much punishment, and still be able to go on!" Tamaki despaired.
"Human? Normal ninja?" Madara snarled, as he dragged his feet forward, while grabbing an injury on his side with one arm, the other falling limply besides his body. "You insult me, brat. Do you have any idea of everything I did, the risks I took, the lengths I went, to achieve all this power? The culmination of a work of several lifetimes! Do you really think that I'm going to let all that work be destroyed by a bunch of naive kids like you!?"
Naruto looked at Madara with pity, and shook his head. "Is power that important to you? To the point of sending the world into chaos and ruining the lives of thousands of people? Just so you can claim the ultimate power?"
"Spoken like a true child with no experience of the world's cruel nature," Madara spat in disgust. "You probably see yourselves as heroes, protecting your home and loved ones from the big bad villain. But here's the thing, brat: Good, evil, heroes, villains... none of those exist! The only division that exists is between the powerful and the weak! The former shape the world as they see fit, and the latter do nothing but lower their heads and follow what they're told. Power is the only thing that matters in this world."
"Well, I have to admit, that all the extremes you went for power paid off," Naruto said, earning a few odd glares from his friends. "You're, by far, the most powerful ninja who ever lived. Though I'm not sure how you'd measure up against Kurama's old man... I mean, the Sage of the Six Paths. He was a pretty tough guy from what the furball told me.
"Anyway, I'm getting off track. What I mean is... for all that power you managed to get, it isn't doing you any good. What do you have? A home? A country? Friends? Family? Anything to call your own? For all our weakness, every single one of us have all those things. And that's why you will never win against us, Madara. We fight for something greater than us. You fight only for your own. Hell, you might not even know what you're fighting for anymore."
"Ah, the virtues of love and friendship. You sound so much like Hashirama, you make me want to hurl," Madara seethed. "Yes, you probably have a lot of things you cherish. And one day, you will lose all of them, because somebody stronger than you will come and take them away from you, while all you can do is watch impotently. "
"Such thing already happened. I had to fight against people much stronger than I was who threatened to take away my friends and loved ones. And in some cases, they succeeded," Naruto admitted, as his gaze grew a little sadder. "But you know what? I'm not afraid of people stronger than I am. Because I know that I won't have to face them alone. And just like how I beat them, I will beat you too. Love might not be able to be used like a weapon, but it does bring people together. Because we might be weak on our own, but together, we can do anything."
Naruto wasn't expecting to convince Madara with his admittedly corny speech about love and friendship, but he definitely wasn't expecting to anger the rogue Uchiha to such point. His breathing was starting to become heavier and louder as his anger reached critical point.
"Hearing your words... makes me want to rip your tongue out and make you eat it!" Madara bellowed. "Love!? What's love worth!? Nothing! The love I felt for my clan didn't stop them from turning their backs on me! The love I felt for Izuna didn't save him from Tobirama's steel! BANSHO TEN'IN!"
Madara thrust a hand forward, and the blond was overtaken by a feeling of weightlessness, before being yanked towards the older Uchiha at an extremely fast speed. Despite the suddeness of the moment, Naruto was able to react, if barely, and made his favorite hand seal.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Several bursts of smoke obscured Naruto for a couple seconds, and when the smoke disappeared, a foursome of clones was around the original, all of them sharing the same momentum created by Madara's Bansho Ten'in. The clones managed to use said momentum to their advantage, and prepared to attack Madara. Muttering a curse, the rogue Uchiha took a few step backwards as the clones arrived. He grabbed the first one by the neck, and tried to absorb his chakra before another one reaching him, forcing the Uchiha to destroy the first clone, as he created yet another black rod from his palm, and used it to stab the second clone in his face, destroying it as well.
While he was doing this, Naruto and his two remaining clones launched themselves at Madara from different sides. Madara, however, was already prepared.
"Asurato!"
Under Madara's arms grew an additional pair, and with his four arms, he grabbed Naruto and the clones by the neck, choking them.
"Now give me that chakra of yours! Gakido!"
As Madara prepared to drain Naruto of his chakra, he noticed too late a small tremor under his feet. Just as Naruto and his two clones disappeared, the real Naruto burst from underground, and delivered a savage punch on Madara's chin, sending the evil Uchiha tumbling backwards. With his concentration broken, the extra arms disappeared.
"They were all clones!? How I didn't sense-" Madara began to angrily ponder, before he noticed something wrong with his chakra. A very small disturbance created by a genjutsu, so small he hasn't noticed it. He tracked the source of chakra towards the ninja with the Ice Release.
"Tenten, now!"
Gritting his teeth and ignoring the pain of his lower jaw, Madara regained his balance by making a backflip, and focused his Rinnegan eyes forward. And said eyes opened wide in shock upon seeing a mass of shuriken flying towards him, way too close for him to dodge. He instinctively crossed his arms in front of his face. Several shuriken embedded themselves into his arms and shoulders, while others passed by him leaving gashes that quickly began to bleed.
"Konoha Whirlwind!"
Madara felt a foot smashing against the back of his head, forcing his upper body to snap forward and dropping his guard. And as he did, his eyes saw Neji and Hinata in front of him, and rained a storm of palm strikes and finger jabs upon him, the attack perfectly coordinated so they wouldn't get on ach other's way.
"Ice Release: Rising Ice Pillar!"
Hinata and Neji disengaged and jumped backwards as the ground around Madara quickly froze, before a column of ice shot upwards, launching the Uchiha high into the sky, screaming in pain. Choji rushed forward as he made a hand seal.
"Partial Multi Size Jutsu!"
Choji's arms grew to giant size, and used them to crush Madara as if he was going to kill a fly. Despite the pain, however, Madara was able to regain balance mid air, and prepared to counter Choji's attack.
"Asurato!"
Madara summoned the Asura Path's additional arms again, and used them to stop Choji's enlarged hands before they could crush him. Choji struggled to crush Madara, but the Uchiha's strength still matched his own.
"You'll have to do better than that. It seems that you also have quite a lot of chakra left, Akimichi. Gaki-"
"Fire Release: Great Flame Jutsu!"
"Water Release: Water Wall!"
As Madara prepared to absorb Choji's chakra, he was unable to stop the dual streams of fire and water launched by Shikamaru and Ino, respectively. The combo hit him squarely, once again sending him backwards. Karin took a step forward, deciding it was her time to act, and aimed a hand at the flying Uchiha.
"Adamantine Sealing Chains!"
A single chain of chakra shot from Karin's hand, quickly reaching the last remaining Akatsuki and wrapped itself around his body. Using her chakra-enhanced strength, Karin gave a mighty pull, sending the Uchiha flying in the opposite direction.
"Sakura, get ready!" the readhead said.
Sakura merely nodded, as she clenched her fist, a fire-like coat of chakra enveloping it. When Madara was about to reach her, the pinkette delivered a devastating haymaker at the Uchiha, slamming it against the ground with such force, it opened a crater. Before he had the chance to get up, Kiba rushed forward, followed by Tamaki, Shino and Akamaru.
"Our turn! Come on guys! Fang Passing Fang!"
"Cross Flash!"
"Insect Clone Jutsu!"
Kiba, Tamaki and Akamaru blurred past Madara, leaving even more wounds and gashes on his body as they slashed him, pushing him into a different direction with each strike. Shino and his two insect clones would also deliver punches, kicks and kunai stabs just before and after his teammates attacked. Then, they disengaged and jumped away as the sound of crackling electricity reached their ears.
"Lightning Release: Thunder Blade!"
Madara was so dazed and his senses completely numb by the constant pain that he didn't sense nor see where did Sasuke came from, before the Konoha-loyal Uchiha ran his electrificed sword through his body, the steel piercing his flesh and the electricity paralyzing his muscles.
"URK!" Madara gurgled, as he choked on his won blood rising up his throat.
And finally, taking advantage of Madara's predicament, Naruto ran towards his hated enemy, Wind Blade in hand.
"Madara... your reckless pursuit and lust for power has caused untold mysery and suffering to thousands of people across the continent... but you won't cause anymore pain! We will make sure of it!" Naruto said, as he channeled most of his remaining chakra into his Wind Blade, which glowed with a bright white light, before delivering an horizontal swipe at Madara's neck.
Madara's head was separated from his body, and fell to the ground, rolling for a couple meters before it lost all momentum. Sasuke then stopped channeling Lightning chakra through his blade and pulled it out of Madara's body. His headless body stayed on his feet for another moment, before it, too, slumped on the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut, lifeless.
For a moment, an absolute silence reigned supreme, with only Naruto's heavy breath disrupting it. Naruto's grip on his Wind Blade faltered, dropping the weapon to the ground, before he himself fell on his knees. Sasuke dropped his sword and rushed towards the Uzumaki, quickly catching him before the blond could hit the ground. The rest of the Konoha ninjas ran towards him as well.
"Naruto!"
"Naruto-kun!"
"You got him, man! You got him good!"
All his friends quickly piled upon him, wrapping their arms around him –and eventually, around each other–, finally being allowed to revel on the sweet feeling of victory.
"Heh, thanks, guys. And hey, I may have delivered the killing blow, but I wouldn't have done it own my own. It was a team effort, " Naruto weakly said. "But, um, could you lessen on the hugs? You're making me kind of hard to breathe."
They muttered quick apologies as they removed themselves from the blond, until only Hinata was close to him –though in her case, Naruto wasn't bothered by her close presence for obvious reasons. As they moved away, the adrenaline of the fight slowly disappeared as pain and exhaustion made their way to their bodies, prompting most of them to just lie down and rest.
Surprisingly, Shikamaru was among the few with enough energy to still stand. He basically dragged himself to where Madara's decapitated body lied, though he didn't dare to get way too close to it.
"So, just to make things sure," Shikamaru began, shooting the headless body a cautious look. "The guy's really dead this time, isn't he?"
"Come on, there's no way he can survive decapitation," Kiba said, raising his hands into the air for added emphasis. "What's he going to do, regenerate a head? Or is his head going to regenerate a whole body?"
"Kiba, please, don't tempt fate," Tamaki begged, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"No, I can tell the guy's dead," Karin assured. "I detect zero chakra coming from his body. The fucker's death for good."
"My Byakugan can confirm that as well," Neji added.
"Yeah, I know the guy seems dead for good, but I wanted to make sure. After all, the bastard survived that gigantic explosion and falling back to Earth from so far into the sky..." Shikamaru said, shaking his head. "Anyway, we should seal his body inside a scroll for-"
"Amaterasu!"
Shikamaru yelped and jumped back as Madara's body burst into black flames. Turning around, he saw Sasuke, slowly walking towards him, wincing in pain at each step.
"Why the hell did you do that?" Ino asked, as she indignantly stomped towards Sasuke. "Didn't you hear Shikamaru? We could have learned a lot of things by doing an autopsy on his body!"
"Tell me, did you guys know how Madara cheated death the first time, despite the fact that Hashirama killed him, and Tobirama realized a months-long autopsy on his body?" Sasuke asked. All of them looked at him in confusion, as if expecting the Uchiha to explain. "Because the guy told me and Itachi when we fought him," Sasuke said, as he grabbed Madara's head, and tossed it to the black flames, to be destroyed with the rest of his body. "The bastard's waiting for us to make the same mistake. Except this time he isn't going to have a body he can return to," Sasuke said, before he abruptly fell to his knees, and winced. That last Amaterasu had taken the last of his chakra.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said, as she rushed towards him, ignoring her own aching body.
"Don't worry, I'm okay," Sasuke wheezed. "Besides, there's nothing new we can learn from Madara's body that we didn't learn from Rin. They both went through the same rejuvenation process."
"I'm with Sasuke on this one. Hell, even if we could learn something new, it wouldn't be worth the risk," Naruto chimed in. "Let all of Madara burn away. He already came back from the dead once, and the less chances we give him, the better."
That seemed to finally put an end to the discussion.
…
For the next few hours, the members of the Konoha 15 stayed on the Valley of the End, resting, since they were too exhausted and sore to move.
Fortunately, they didn't have to. Eventually, Karin and Ino alerted that a large mass of chakra was heading towards them. Everyone assumed that it was the rest of the Allied Ninja Forces, assumption that proved to be correct as many ninjas wearing different uniforms started to appear on the edges of the valley, looking down at them. And much to their surprise, they could also see the much larger silouettes of the Tailed Beasts as well.
As a multitude of medic-nin rushed towards the group of teenagers lead by Tsunade, they could heard a few murmurs coming from above, first an almost inaudible buzz, which became louder and clearer with each passing moment, making them realize they were cheering for them.
The medic-nin treated their wounds and restored some of their chakra, before loading them into stretchers and taking them away, prompting the rest of the Allied Ninjas to vacate the place as well.
The Fourth Ninja War had officially come to an end.
…
Despite the war was over, there were a few things to do before they could all go home.
The first issue was the last living Akatsuki member, Konan. While everybody agreed that her help had proved to be invaluable for the Ninja Alliance, others still wanted her to be punished. Eventually, while a full pardon wasn't going to be possible, everybody agreed for Konan to be extradited to Konoha, where she was sentenced to ten years of village arrest. Needless to say, Konan was more than surprised to see such a light sentence, given the magnitude of her crimes.
Next were the Tailed Beasts. It was decided that they would be the ones to choose their own fate. Matatabi, Chomei, Gyuki had a strong bond with their jinchuriki, they chose to be resealed inside them once again, as well as Kurama's other half. Shukaku, Isobu, Son Goku, Kokuo and Saiken were granted freedom to go where they pleased.
The same thing went for the resurrected jinchuriki. Yugito Nii rejoined her village, and so did Han. Utakata decided to move to Kiri for Hotaru's sake, while Roshi decided to continue his travels. At the very least, to complete his books. Then, he hinted he might return to Iwa permanently.
In Yagura's case, it was a little more complicated. Despite it was known that the way he ruled Kirigakure was due mind control, Mei was afraid that many people wouldn't be too happy with the idea of the former Mizukage returning to their village as if nothing had happened. Yagura himself seemed to agree with the sentiment, and told Mei that he would leave Kirigakure on a self imposed exile. His wife Aiko decided to accompany him. His son Dagura also wanted to go, wishing to take advantage of this second chance to connect with his father, but Yagura told him to stay in Kirigakure and focus on his career as a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, promising him to stay in contact and they would see each other from time to time.
With the last loose end tied up, Jiraiya's last act as the Supreme Commander was to dissolve the Ninja Alliance and return the villages that formed it into the independent powers they were before.
…
The next day, a mass funeral was held in Konoha to mourn for those who died heroically during the Fourth Ninja War.
Choji, Ino and Shukamaru were huddling together, crying for the deaths of Shikaku and Choza – the latter was a huge blow to Choji, since the now Akimichi Clan Head thought his dad would be safe on the Turtle Island.
Next to them were Hagane, Kaida and Hanabi, crying for the death of their beloved sensei, Tenzo, whose death was just as unexpected as Choza's.
Asuma, Konohamaru, and the rest of the Sarutobi Clan were crying for the death of Hiruzen, the former Hokage, who had died in the same battle as Choza and Tenzo. They tried to take a little comfort in Naruto's tale of how it was thanks to him that he and his two jinchuriki friends amanged to escape from the Turtle Island.
And there was also Maito Gai. While his three students were crying plenty of tears for him, so was Kakashi, surprisingly enough. Not because he wasn't grieving for the death of his old friend, but because the silver haired Jonin had such reputation of a flippant that hardly cared about anything but his beloved dirty literature, it came as a shock to see him shedding tears, even if he did in a more silent way.
The war was over, yes, but it left many scars that would never heal completely.
…
A few days later, Gates of Konoha
Like it happened a few months back, Jiraiya was once again ready to depart for the Land of Iron, as another Kage Summit had been summoned. This time, by the Toad Sage himself. The reason for this was to plan the future of the Ninja Villages in order to make sure the Fourth Ninja War would be the very last Ninja War ever fought. This time around, however, he felt like only taking Tsunade with him, given that tensions were nowhere near as high as they were back then.
Speaking of her, Tsunade was not wearing the cloth patch that covered her left Rinnegan eye anymore, revealing not a Rinnegan, but a hazel eye, the eye that Tsunade had extracted and replaced with a Rinnegan. And true to her word, once the war was over she had the Rinnegan removed and her original eye re-implanted. The Rinnegan, alongside that of Obito's, was then switfly destroyed.
Obito's body was still preserved in ice under one of Konoha's secret scientific research sites.
And just like then, many people had congregated on the gate to bid the Hokage a safe trip. Though there was a certain somebody who didn't look particularly pleased.
"You know, Hokage-sama, I must protest this decision," Kakashi began. "I'm sure there are other people better qualified and better motivated than me to fill your seat while you're away."
"Nonsense, you'll do fine," Jiraiya said, waving his hand dismissively. "I plan to use the Reverse Summoning and the Toad Portal to return to Konoha once we're done, so you won't even be filling my seat for that long."
"Why don't you appoint Naruto instead?" Kakashi suggested. "He's the one who wants to be Hokage. Plus that way he'd get some experience for the position."
"I asked him the same, but he said that I'm still 'too young'," Naruto said, making air quotes.
"That, and that you don't have enough patience to sit down and do paperwork," Tsunade interceded in a chiding tone.
"Plus I don't want to be accused of nepotism, you know," Jiraiya added, but his tone betrayed that that wasn't exactly a big reason behind his decision.
"I'm not going to win this, am I?" Kakashi asked, sighing in defeat.
"Come on, sensei, you'll be a great Hokage!" Tamaki tried to cheer him, as she slapped his back.
"I'm with Tamaki here," Rin added. "Besides, our sensei used to be Hokage as well."
"I don't want to be Hokage. I never wanted to. That was Obito's dream, not mine," Kakashi protested. "You two better not take any detours once the summit is over."
Tsunade smiled cheekily at him. "We won't promise anything. Ready to go, Jiraiya?"
The white haired man nodded, and he and his wife turned around and rushed into the forest that surrounded the village. Once they were out of sight, the crowd started to disperse.
"I'm sorry you weren't appointed as substitute Hokage, Naruto-kun" Hinata said, as she and her boyfriend walked back into the village.
"Thanks, but don't worry. It's not that big of a deal. Like dad said, he isn't going to be out that long," Naruto replied.
There was a moment of silence as the two of them continued to walk, holding hands. Until Naruto decided to continue the conversation.
"So... how's your sister doing?" he asked.
"A little better now. She's going to need more time to completely move on, but she's getting there, little by little," Hinata softly said. "Your siblings?"
"Same," Naruto said. "I think they're doing a little better since they rely on each other. I was thinking in talking with Kakashi-sensei about their new Jonin-sensei, but I think they need more time before such thing can happen."
"I think that's the best to do for now," Hinata said. Then, an idea dawned upon her. "Say, Naruto-kun, while Hokage-sama and Tsunade-sama are out, would you like for you three to stay at the Hyuga Estate in the meantime? It would be good for Hanabi and your younger siblings to stay with each other."
"Are our respective younger siblings the only ones you're thinking about?" Naruto asked, shooting Hinata a sly smile.
Hinata blushed, but didn't avert his gaze, and met his smile with one of her own. "I admit I would greatly enjoy to have your constant company as well, Naruto-kun."
Naruto's smile broadened, and placed his arm around Hinata's shoulders. "I thought as much. Let's go!"
All of them would have an enjoyable and memorable stay at the Hyuga Compound, which would help them heal the wounds of the war.
And once the pain of those wounds finally subsided, a new era could finally begin.
Author's Note: Were you surprised that Madara survived the space battle? I mean, I did say that the final battle was inspired and modeled after the manga's final duel between Naruto and Sasuke. Said battle began with Naruto and Sasuke trading continent-destroying jutsu and taking their giant combat avatars to new limits, followed by the two of them sluggishly punching and headbutting each other in a rather unrefined fashion, and I wanted to do that as well with the final fight.
Though, worry not people, Madara is deader than dead for good this time, and he isn't coming back again.
Also, in case it wasn't clear, I'm going to say it again: just because Kakashi is filling in for Jiraiya while he's absent doesn't mean he's going to become the next Hokage. I never liked nor understood the point of Kakashi being Hokage, it added nothing to either his character or the story as a whole. Jiraiya will continue being Hokage until Naruto is ready to take the hat.
Thanks to Ookami88 for betareading this chapter.
Even if the plot is done, the war is over, the heroes are victorious and the villains are dead, Son of the Sannin isn't over just yet! We still have to see what the future has in store for Naruto and co. in the epilogue! In the meantime, don't forget to review! Reviews make me really, really, really happy!