Author's Note: Well, I'm kind of surprised at the last chapter's reception. I expected the reaction to be more negative given what happened. Oh well, I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Let's hope the chapter is just as well liked:
Chapter 130:
Love Versus Power
or
When Grandma Shows Up Unnanounced
Site of the Final Battle
"It's over. There's no need for us to fight anymore," Obito stated.
Both Obito and Rin had been forced to interrupt their fight when the Ten Tails broke free and unleashed the cataclysm. Thanks to their augmentations, the two of them were able to weather the localized natural disaster with much more ease than their peers. Once it stopped, Rin was ready to continue their battle, but given what Obito had just say, the feeling wasn't mutual.
"What are you talking about? Maybe the Ten Tails just broke free, but we can still fight it! We can still fight you as well!" Rin protested.
Obito merely shook his head, but he didn't mock her nor laugh at her.
"Look," was all what he said.
Rin then saw how the now free Ten Tails dragged itself towards the fallen Fu, still in her Tailed Beast form, grabbed her with one of its immense hands, brought her towards its mouth, and started to drain her of her Tailed Beast chakra.
"NO!" Rin yelled, as she instinctively ran forward. While she wasn't terribly close with Fu, she got to know better the Takigakure kunoichi after she moved to Konoha, and she was somebody the young medic-nin would call a friend.
However, the Ten Tails took no time to drain her dry of her chakra, before callously letting her drop to the hard ground below. Rin fell to her knees as she could no longer sense Fu's chakra.
"Do you understand it now? Nothing can stop the Ten Tails now," Obito stated. "It will now consume the Eight and the Nine Tails, and once it becomes complete, Madara will seal it inside his body, becoming its jinchuriki, and the new Sage of the Six Paths will be born. I was hoping I would be able to do that myself before Madara awoke, but guess fate didn't smile upon me."
That moment, an spiraling portal opened besides them. A dazzed and almost catatonic Zetsu fell from the portal, followed by Kakashi, who landed on his feet. Obito turned towards his other former teammate, and smiled widely.
"Ah, Kakashi. I see you just defeated Zetsu," Obito said, looking unmoved by his fellow Akatsuki member's predicament. He spread one of his arms towards the Ten Tails, who was closing on Killer B. "However, your victory is meaningless. Look! The Ten Tails is free and on the way to become complete! Nothing can be done to stop it!"
"Perhaps I'm too late. Or would have been late, if I was able to do something to stop that monster. But I felt that before this ended, I could find the truth," Kakashi cryptically said.
This seemed to draw Obito's attention, making him a little annoyed. "Truth? What truth?"
"The truth about you. About me. About Rin. About the day when everything changed," Kakashi said, as he lightly kicked Zetsu on the side, making it groan with pain. "Come on, aloe vera, tell Obito how you and your pal Madara planned Rin's death."
Obito's right eye shrank, as he felt a chill creeping down his spine. "What? What did you just say!?"
"After we learned more about both you and Rin, there was something that always bugged me: how convenient it was. When Sensei was busy with another mission, one of your teammates, the one you had a crush on, gets captured by Kiri and is turned into the jinchuriki of the Three Tails, prompting her to kill herself. And you arrived just in time to see such a tragic moment. Such an incredible coincidence, don't you think?"
Obito started to shake, as his mind wrestled with the implications of Kakashi's words. One side wanted to believe his silver haired former teammate, as what he said made sense. But another, more emotional side of his refused to accept such possibility because of what it implied.
"That's why I decided to take your pal over here to a more private place for some interrogation," Kakashi stated. "And io and behold, my suspicions were correct."
"No...no! You lie!" Obito replied, as he pointed an accusatory finger at him. Kakashi and Rin could see how much his hand was trembling.
As this happened, Rin saw how the Ten Tails drained thr Eight Tails out of Killer B's body.
"You have a way to see if I'm lying or not," Kakashi continued. "If I'm not mistaken, one of the Rinnegan's powers is interrogation. Why don't you use it on this fella, hm?"
Obito looked at Zetsu, still rather dazed and confused.
"...or are you afraid of what you might discover?" Kakashi asked.
Obito's eyes moved between Kakashi and Zetsu as he struggled with indecision. Was his former teammate right, or was he playing a trick on him? And if it was a trick, with what purpose? What would Kakashi gain by having Obito use the Naraka Path on Zetsu? It wasn't like the Human Path, which would kill him. And even if it was the case... Zetsu's death wouldn't change anything. Not this late into his and Madara's plans.
In the end, Obito took a decision. He stomped towards Zetsu, and lifted the dual being by its neck, until the two made eye contact.
"Jigokudo!"
Kakashi and Rin couldn't see it, but Obito had summoned the King of Hell behind him. Its mere sight was enough to snap both halves of Zetsu our of their confusion.
"Wha-what are you doing?" the while half asked. They tried to break out of Obito's hold, but their entire body was paralyzed.
"Shut up! I'm the one making the questions here!" Obito yelled. "Now answer me this: was Rin's death part of a plan to manipulate me!?"
"I...I... I don't know!" he replied.
The King of Hell opened its maws, releasing a tendril like arm, just as a stream of energy flowed out of the plant being's mouth. The arm caught the stream, and pulled it towards the King of Hell's own mouth.
Obito narrowed his eyes in anger.
"Liar."
Both halves of Zetsu panicked. As they felt mobility returning to their shared body, they attempted to break free, but Obito didn't give him the chance. He was once again paralyzed as Obito placed one of his hands on top of his head, and began to scan his memories. He had to dig very deep, given that the memories were almost two decades old, but in the end, he found them. Or at least, a memory that confirmed Kakashi's
…
Many years ago
"It is done, boss. The girl has been kidnapped and it's being taken to the Kirigakure outpost as we speak," White Zetsu said to Madara.
Obito realized he was watching the scene from Zetsu's point of view. Madara was in his makeshift study, where he used to spend most of the time, even if right now he wasn't reading any book or scroll.
"How about the Konoha ninjas? Are any of them in pursuit?" Madara asked.
"Just one. Kakashi Hatake. Though he did use those dog summons of his to ask for reinforcements to Konoha," Zetsu informed.
"That's no cause of concern. The only one who could reach them in time is the Yellow Flash, and we made sure he's busy elsewhere," Madara said, not worried at all. "The only thing we should be concerned with is that the sealing process is uninterrupted. Only then must the silver haired brat be allowed to rescue the girl."
"Uh, yes boss. I'll make sure me and the others see to that," White Zetsu replied.
Zetsu's tone didn't fly over Madara, who scolwed at his creation. "Is there something in your mind, my minion? Something you might want to share with me?"
Zetsu gulped a little, as he shifted uncomfortably. "Well, it's just that... please don't mistake this for insubordination, boss, but, uh... this whole plan seems rather complicated just for that brat alone. There are so many things that can go wrong..."
Madara's withered lips cruved into a smile. "It certainly does, doesn't it?" he asked. "The brat might not look like much, but I can see there's a lot of potential deep inside him. However, before said potential can be brought to the surface, he needs to be broken, so we can rebuild him to do my bidding.
"Besides, this will also ensure he will awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan. He will need it if he plans to carry out my will."
…
Obito didn't need to see more. He gritted his teeth in anger as tears welled up inside his eyes.
"NINGENDO!"
Obito pulled his hand away, tearing the souls of both the white and the black halves from their shared body. Zetsu stumbled backwards, before he fell on his back lifelessly, while the black half broke down into a puddle of black, ink-like liquid. The rogue Uchiha watched at the being that was once his right hand man.
Then, he realized he wasn't looking at Zetsu's corpse. Instead, it was Rin, with a bloodly hole in her chest, the one he was looking at.
"No... NO!"
Obito sutmbled backwards, and his foot tripped onto something. The Akatsuki turned around, and saw two more corpses, of two people he knew really well: Minato and Kushina. Next to them, wrapped in a blanket, was baby Naruto, crying profusely. Such sight startled Obito, and tripped again on another corpse. This time it was Biwako Sarutobi, the Third Hokage's wife, whom he personally had killed on his quest to release the Nine Tails and use it to destroy Konoha.
Obito found himself surrounded by corpses, all of them of people he knew. Of people he either killed personally, or helped to kill: Hiashi Hyuga, Inoichi Yamanaka, Yugito Nii, Yagura, Utakata, Roshi, and many, many more. No matter where he looked, there were nothing but corpses as far as his eyes could see. He fell on his knees, shut his eyes down, and clutched his head with his hands.
"No, no! Stop! Make it stop!" he cried.
"Great changes are impossible without equally great sacrifices."
"And who decides who gets sacrificed? You? Madara?"
After joining Madara, Obito had been a follower of that idea. Sacrifice a few for the wellbeing of the many. How could anybody be against that? There was no system that made everybody happy, so humans always looked for one that at the very least made the largest number of people happy instead. And he wasn't any different.
Yes, sacrificing a few to benefit the many sounded really good. Until you're one of the few that is chosen as sacrifices.
Madara had decided that Rin needed to be sacrificed in order for his perfect world to exist. Needless to say, Obito didn't consider any world that didn't have Rin on it to be perfect by any stretch of the imagination. And now that Obito finally had reached such realization, he was now forced to come to terms with all the people he had killed, plus many more he made miserable, in his and Madara's mad quest for an apparently utopic world.
"What have I done? What have I done!?" he repeated, still clutching his head. He then felt a hand touch his shoulder. He dared to open his eyes, and saw Rin, alive and well, looking at him with a serious expression, her mouth a thin line.
"There's no time to lament for past actions, Obito," Rin said. She then smiled a little. "Come on, it's not too late. With your help, we can still fix this."
"It is. There's no stopping the Ten Tails now," Obito dejectedly said.
"I wouldn't be so sure, Obito," Kakashi intervened. "Look."
Obito turned around. His eyes widened once they saw what was going on.
"What the...?" Obito said, his mouth agape.
"That Naruto is truly something, isn't he? Then again, he is Sensei and Kushina-san's son," Rin said longingly. Her expression hardened when her eyes drifted towards somebody else. "However, he won't be able to do it alone. Come on, he needs our help!"
Obito didn't say anything. He merely nodded, got back on his feet, and followed the ones they used to be his teammates.
There was one last mission for Team Minato to fullfill before everything ended.
…
A place beyond time and space
"Kaguya Otsutsuki..."
"So you know who I am. Good. That shall allow me to skip introductions," Kaguya said with a nod. "Not that there's any hurry. We can stay here in this dimension for hours, yet only a couple seconds will pass in the real world," she said, albeit it appeared that she was mostly talking to herself.
"Wait... how the hell are we talking with you?" Naruto asked. "Neither Hinata-hime nor I have your chakra!"
"You are correct, neither of you have my chakra. However, my sons inherited a half of my chakra's power each. The same power that you now possess. And the moment your respective chakras merged, it finally allowed me to contact you," Kaguya explained. "I do imagine that you already met my sons, didn't you?" Kaguya asked. However, neither teen replied. They instead looked at each other, almost if silently asking each other if this woman could be trusted, given their past. Something Kaguya herself seemed to grasp. "First, however, I want to assure you that you have nothing to fear from me. I'm not your enemy. But even if I was, I would have no power to cause you any harm."
"Well, that's reassuring," Naruto said out loud.
"We heard of you from your sons. They told us what you did, and what you wanted to do with the world," Hinata said, looking at the pale skinned woman with a critical eye. "And maybe you can't harm us physically, but people underestimate how words, especially dishonest words, can be used to cause harm."
"Yeah. Are we supposed to believe that you saw the error of your ways, or something?" Naruto asked. "You used to be the Ten Tails. Maybe you were the one behind Madara's plan, and you're using him to come back to life."
If Kaguya took offense at the pair's skepticism, she didn't show it. "You don't need to believe me. But to answer your doubts, it is impossible for me to return to the world of the living, even if, like my sons, my spirit is still linked to this world thanks to the force of my chakra. I died the moment Hagoromo drained the Ten Tails of its chakra, even if the creature itself still lives. And yes, I did see the error of my ways. I did have, after all, almost a milennia not just to think about my past actions, but to observe the world my sons have created.
"However, there's still something that needs to be done. Even if my sons were right to stop me from subjugating the world, they didn't have the entire context of my actions. And such knowledge needs to be passed. Whatever you choose to do with such knowledge, it will depend entirely on you."
Once again, Naruto and Hinata silently looked at each other, and reached a decision without the need of trading words.
"Alright old lady, we're listening," Naruto said. His tone, however, also carried an unsaid warning.
Kaguya nodded, seemingly unperturbed by Naruto and Hinata's lack of trust in her. She waved her hand, the surroundings around them abruptly changed. They were no longer on Earth's orbit, but inside some sort of castle with many people inside it. They had chalk white skin, ashen hair, and wore similar clothes to Kaguya. Naruto and Hinata guessed they were her people.
"This is the Otsutsuki clan," she began, confirming their guess. "We have existed for eons, and for all our existence, we have traveled the cosmos looking for planets that were teeming with life," their surroundings changed once again, this time showing an alien planet. Said planet had a purple sky, tall trees with blue and white leaves, as well as plenty of animals that looked nothing like the animals from Earth. "Once we found a planet suitable for our needs, we planted a seed on it. From said seed, a special tree would germinate," the image changed once again, this one to show a tree so thick and tall, it disappeared into the sky, making the other trees look like mere blades of grass. "You know this kind of trees as the Divine Tree."
Both Naruto and Hinata gasped at the revelation.
"So the Divine Tree... it was you who planted it?" Hinata asked. "Not even Hagoromo nor Hamura knew where the tree came from. It simply... existed."
"Because I never told my sons what was the true purpose behind those trees," Kaguya continued. "The Divine Trees, once completely mature, would extend their roots through the entire planet, and would start to drain it of its nature energy little by little. Once it had stored nature energy over a thousand years, it would use it to produce a single chakra fruit. Then the Otsutsuki tasked with watching over the planet would collect the fruit and send it back home. Then, the fruit would be used to produce many special pills that are distributed among the rest of the clan. By consuming said pills, we Otsutsuki are able to gain immense power, and extend our lifespans for more than a millenia."
"Wait, didn't you eat the fruit raw?" Naruto interrupted. "Or at least, that's what I heard you did."
"You are correct, yes. I will get to that shortly. Please refrain yourself from asking anymore questions until I'm done telling my tale," Kaguya replied, shooting Naruto an icy look, making the blond shiver a little. "We have to keep consuming those pills in order to maintain our power and immortality, so we have to harvest fruits constantly, and once a chakra fruit has been produced, the cycle begins anew, and the tree starts gathering more nature energy for another fruit. And after several cycles..."
The image changed again, showing the planet losing both fauna and flora little by little, until it is reduced to a barren, empty wasteland. Naruto's mouth was left agape, and Hinata covered her mouth with her hands in horror.
"So... that's what would have happened to the Earth if the Divine Tree wasn't removed?" Hinata asked, horrified.
"It would have taken several millenia to reach such state, but yes, your assessment is a correct one," Kaguya confirmed. He then looked at Naruto. "You asked me about eating the fruit raw before. Doing such a thing is forbidden by the clan under penalty of death. Eating a fruit raw makes one completely immortal, and gives a permanent power boost far greater than a mere pill," Kaguya said, and sensing Naruto about to ask another question, she continued. "However, eating a fruit raw also permanently binds you to the Divine Tree, making you unable to leave the planet. And once the Divine Tree is done draining a planet of its nature energy and dies, so does anybody bound to it."
"That means that you would have eventually died," Naruto said.
"Yes, you are correct," Kaguya confirmed.
"Then why did you do that? Plus, you wouldn't be able to return home. Did you like the Earth so much?" Naruto asked, crossing his arms.
"Yes," was Kaguya's reply.
The blond was taken aback. "Really?"
"Two thousand years ago, I was sent to this planet to plant the seed of a Divine Tree, and to oversee its growth. And while I did, I realize that this planet has something no other planet we harvested ever had: intelligent lifeforms. Lifeforms which shared an uncanny ressemblance to our species," Kaguya continued. Then, for the first time since they met her, Kaguya smiled, even if only a little. "At first I didn't think much of humans. They were short lived, short sighted and brutish. Unaware of how small they were compared to the rest of the universe.
"However, despite their flaws, I saw that humanity had something we Otsutsuki lacked: creativity without limits, and the ability to change and grow with each new generation. That made me realize the flaws of my own people," Kaguya said. "We Otsutsuki existed for eons, and for eons we remained unchanged, doing nothing but harvesting chakra fruits in order to maintain our power and immortality. We aren't even allowed to have children, since more Otsutsuki would force us to harvest more fruits or to reduce our ration of pills.
"Soon I fell in love with your species, and tried to find a way to save you from your inevitable doom. I realized that I wouldn't be able to carry such task without incurring into the wrath of my brethen, so I took a decision: once the tree produced a chakra fruit, I would eat said fruit. With my newfound powers, I would then unite humanity under my leadership, and use my knowledge to lift them into a proper civilization. One that would be able to defend itself from the inevitable retaliation that was to come. I even seduced a human emperor into marrying me, and from such union, my twin sons were born. They would help me unite the world and fend off the Otsutsuki invasion.
"Given that I was bound to the Divine Tree, I commanded it to gather nature energy at a much slower rate as to slow down the planet's death, while I prepared its people for the battle to come. And once the Otsutsuki Clan would no longer be a threat, I would destroy the Divine Tree, as well as myself. Leaving the world into my sons' care.
"I don't think I need to say that my plan didn't work out as expected. I'm sure you already know what happened next from my sons," Kaguya said, seemingly finishing her tale.
"Great. So even if we beat Madara, there's an even bigger enemy that's bound to drop onto our doorstep sooner or later," Naruto groaned, rolling his eyes.
"Yes. But now, Madara Uchiha and the revived Ten Tails are the more immediate threats, threats that you must put down post haste," Kaguya urged.
"You want us to stop Madara? Given that he's following your footsteps, I thought you'd approve of him," Hinata observed.
Kaguya glared at Hinata, unamused. "I would have approved of him in another time, but like I said before, I saw the error of my ways. Humanity has a great potential, but for such potential to manifest, freedom is a must. Yes, humanity is prone to conflicts and infighting, but that's an inevitable side effect of your diversity of thought. But conflicts can be solved, if all parts can reach an understanding, if there are people willing to do so.
"Like me before him, Madara is somebody who commited terrible actions for the sake of a noble goal. But terrible actions can only lead into terrible outcomes, no matter how righteous your intentions may be. Hence, he must be stopped, and the Ten Tails broken back into the nine beings Hagoromo split them into."
"And... can we really do that?" Naruto asked.
"Yes. You both have the same power my sons used to wield. Naruto, the chakra of all the Tailed Beasts lies within you. You must use said chakra to bind the Ten Tails' own," Kaguya then looked at Hinata. "And just like the Moon pulls the seas to form the tides, you, Hinata, must use your power to pull the Ten Tails' chakra from its body once Naruto has bound it."
"So grab the chakra, and pull it out. Got it," Naruto said with a nod.
"Good. I have no more knowledge to share with you. Now you must go. Use what you've learned today to protect the world I love so much, so you can succeed where I failed," Kaguya asked. "May fortune smile upon you."
"Thank you. We'll do our best," Hinata stated.
"Don't worry, we won't fail, Naruto assured her.
And with that, the two Konoha youths left Kaguya's dimension.
…
Back in the Real World
Naruto and Hinata found themselves once again back inside the head of the latter's Avatar of Kalika. They were still holding hands, which glowed with a white light as they merged their power with each other.
"Naruto-kun, let's channel our power into the Avatar of Kalika. I believe it will be our best chance to win."
"You got it!" Naruto agreed.
As Naruto and Hinata funneled their combined power into the latter's chakra avatar, it quickly began to undergo a transformation. The Avatar started to grow in size, as its color began to change from lavender to golden-orange as Naruto's power spread through it. Its hair grew both in length and volume, splitting into nine locks that ressembled the nine tails of Kurama, so long they reached the Avatar's ankles. And lastly, pieces of armor started to form around the Avatar, on its chest, forearms, forelegs, and the upper half of its face was obscured by a kitsune-styled helmet.
"Sage Art: Golden Avatar of Kalika!"
The Ten Tails let out a roar of anger, as it fixed its massive eye on the newly formed golden chakra avatar, and once again, it extended one of its arms, its long fingers ready to wrap themselves around the golden giantess.
"Sage Art: Twin Lion Assault!"
The golden avatar thrust two of its palms forward, releasing two blasts of golden chakra. Said blasts took the shape of two maned lions, and crashed into the Ten Tails' hand. The force of the jutsu pushed said arm backwards, almost yanking the Ten Tails with it. However, the colossal beast wasn't going to give up so easily, and decided to use its many tails to grab its prey instead. Not that they were going to be of much help either.
When the first tail came, the Avatar easily deflected it with a palm strike. Another strike came from a different direction, but Hinata's Tenseigan caught it and acted accordingly. The Ten Tails then began to attack with two or three tails at once, forcing the Avatar to actually move while it deflected the attack. Seemingly running out of patience, the Ten Tails decided to attack with all of its tails at once. Unfortunately for him, Hinata had the perfect defense for such a wide attack.
"Sage Art: Protection of the Eight Trigrams, One Hundred and Twenty Eight Palms!"
The golden avatar started to move its four palms forward in a pushing manner, so fast they almost became blurry, while releasing thin streams of golden chakra, deflecting each of the tails that got close to them. The Avatar increased the speed of the defensive jutsu, building up so much power that it pushed the Ten Tails backwards.
"Well done, Hinata!" Naruto praised. "Now it's my turn!"
The Avatar's four hands were brought together, and chakra particles started to gather in the space between them forming a dark purple sphere, the four hands moving further from each other as the sphere increased in size.
"Take this, asshole! Sage Art: Tailed Beast Wave!"
The Avatar thrust all four of its hands forward, releasing the energy stored inside the sphere in the form of a golden-yellow energy wave. The energy wave hit the Ten Tails square in the face, making it to screech in pain as it was pushed backwards. However, that was nowhere near enough to put it down, and the monster still had plenty of fight on it. Deciding that Naruto had the right idea, the Ten Tails opened its huge jaws and started to charge a Tailed Beast Ball of its own.
"Oh no, you won't!"
But before the crimson sphere of destruction was fully charged, the Avatar dashed forward and leaped, just as it delivered a brutal roundhouse kick to the titanic monster, causing the still forming attack to prematurely detonate inside the monster's mouth.
"That was for Killer B!" Naruto cried.
The Avatar jumped again in order to reach the Ten Tails' face, and during the brief time they were eye to eye, the chakra construct delivered a series of fast and powerful palm strikes, each of them carrying so much power, it produced a gust of wind to burst outwards. Once the brief but painful assault was over, the Ten Tails let out a screech of agony as it slumped over.
"Do you think we softened it enough?" Hinata asked.
"I think so. Alright, now time to bind it!" Naruto said.
Several locks of the Avatar's hair raised as if they had life of their own, and wrapped themselves around the Ten Tails' head and arms. However, before they could bind its chakra, the Ten Tails suddenly got up, and lunged forward, delivering a brutal headbutt to the Avatar, pushing it backwards, and releasing the Ten Tails from the locks of hair.
"AAAAAHHH!" Naruto and Hinata screamed in unison as the force of the impact dragged their Avatar through the ground, carving a large furrow, and sending chunks of rocks and earth everywhere.
The Ten Tails dragged itself forward once again, making the earth rumble, ready to claim its elusive prey. Its red eye glinted, and once again, extended a single arm in order to catch the golden Avatar. However, in its fixation, it once again failed to account for external threats.
"Sage Art: Spiraling Inferno!"
When the Ten Tails saw what appeared to be a spinning sphere of flames flying directly into its eye, it was too late to dodge. The missile hit the Ten Tails squarely in the eye, before it exploded into an even larger sphere of revolving flames. A loud screech of pain filled the air once more as the searing pain made the titanic beast recoil.
A gigantic toad Naruto recognized as Gamaken landed with a thundering noise besides the Avatar of Kalika. And o top of that toad, Naruto could see his adoptive parents, the two of them in Sage Mode, with Fukasaku on one of Jiraiya's shoulder, and a fragment of Katsuyu resting on one of Tsunade's shoulders.
"Mom! Dad!" Naruto cried in joy.
"Hey there, kid," Jiraiya greeted him. "Sorry for being late. We got a little tangled up during our reunion with Orochimaru. But we're finally here!"
"And it seems that we got just in time," Tsunade said, as her single visible eye focused on the Ten Tails. "I take you two know how to beat that thing for good?"
"We believe we will be able to drain it of its chakra and split it back into the nine tailed beasts," Hinata began. "But we can't do it as long as it keeps moving!"
It seemed that the Ten Tails, or better said its eye, had finally recovered from the damage caused by Jiraiya's attack, and charged forward once again. Tsunade, hopped off of Gamaken, and smirked at the abomination.
"You need that thing to stay still? Lucky for you, I have the perfect jutsu for that," Tsunade said, as she cracked her knuckles. She made a hand seal. "Sage Art: Gracious Deity Gates!"
Suddenly, massive red torii fell from above, landing on top of the Ten Tails' tails, pinning them to the ground. The beast growled in confusion as the torii gates left it rooted in one spot, unable to move. It tried to pull its tails free, but the torii didn't budge.
"Naruto, now, before it breaks free!" Tsunade urged.
Naruto and Hinata nodded, and commanded the Avatar to rush towards the Ten Tails. Once again, four locks of the Avatar's hair wrapped themselves around the arms and the head of the titanic abomination as if they were tentacles. This time, however, the Ten Tails was unable to break free, and its chakra was bound, leaving it unable to move or retaliate.
"The chakra has been bound!" Naruto announced.
"Let's pull it out then," Hinata said.
Other four of the Avatar's long locks of hair forced themselves through the mouth and down the throat of the Ten Tails, who could still do nothing to fight back.
"I have it!" Hinata cried.
"Great! Now, PULL!"
…
A few minutes earlier
Madara watched in worry the battle before him. One moment, Naruto wasn't even attempting to defend himself from the Ten Tails –not that it would have helped much if he did–, then that annoying Hyuga came and... something happened. The two of them had combined their chakra, creating a completely new kind of power, something Madara had never sensed in his life. Something that, he dared to admit, surpassed his own Six Paths chakra.
And that new power allowed the chakra construct of the Hyuga combined with the Nine Tails' chakra to fight back against the Ten Tails. Despite the fact that the power the two Konoha youths had now was still inferior to that of the Ten Tails, his instinct told him to intervene before things spiraled out of control.
"Better step in and put down those impudent brats once and for all," Madara stated, as he began to move forward. "I'm too close to achieve my goal to-"
"Bansho Ten'in!"
Madara was unexpectedly pulled back by an invisible force, making him fall on his back and roll on the ground.
"What the...?"
"Wood Release: Wood Binding Jutsu!"
The second Madara stopped rolling, and was left lying on his back, a mass of wooden roots sprouted around him and wrapped themselves around his body, immobilizing him and pinning him to the ground. The sound a thousands birds chirping alerted Madara that something was coming from above, and looking up he saw Kakashi leaping down at him, one of his hands coated in blueish-light electricity.
"Lightning Blade!"
"Shinra Tensei!"
However, seconds before Kakashi could impale the old Uchiha, Madara released a kinetic shockwave from his body in all directions, destroying the roots binding him while also blasting Kakashi upwards. As Madara jumped back to his feet, he saw "Kakashi" bursting into a poof of smoke, realizing that what he blasted was a shadow clone.
Madara was able to sense a faint tremble beneath his feet, and jumped back in time to avoid what he assumed was the real Kakashi bursting from below, another Lightning Blade formed in his hand, barely missing his mark for a few centimeters. And it was that moment when Rin chose to attack, since the Deva Path was still recharging, and Madara couldn't move while mid air, delivering a flying kick to the long haired Uchiha's face, sending him flying sideways. Still, Madara was able to regain his balance by doing a backflip, landing on his feet.
"Wood Release: Cutting Jutsu!"
Madara turned around just in time to see Obito ready to impale him with a sharp spear made of wood. Madara was able to grab the spear before it could touch him, reducing its momentum enough so it wouldn't be able to pierce his armor. The older Uchiha looked at who used to be his protegé and right hand man, and scolwed in disgust.
"Obito... you dare betray me, when we're so close to victory?" Madara asked, struggling with the wooden spear against the younger Uchiha. "After I saved both your and that pathetic girl's live..."
"Shut up, you liar! I read Zetsu's mind! You didn't save anybody! Her abduction and her death, it was all your doing! Those Kiri ninjas were under your control the whole time!" Obito yelled.
"Oh... so you found about it," Madara said, as anger slowly disappeared from his tone. "And on such a critical moment. Such a pity... you could have enjoyed a safe long life with Rin on the new world I'm about to create, but I guess that you won't stop until one of us lays dead on the ground, will you?"
"I don't want anything from you! Much less a world of your own doing!" Obito angrily replied.
"Come on Obito, until a few minutes ago, you were on board with my plan. I understand you must be hurt and angry after finding how I manipulated you, but you'll surely agree that creating a better world is more important than all of that, right?" Madara asked, as his lips curved into a smirk. "Besides, you should be thankful to me. I opened your eyes to the harsh realities of the world. That's why you never doubted any word from my mouth that reached your ears. That's why you were so eager to carry on my plan, even without me to watch over you."
"Open my eyes...? No, you blinded me, with your promises of an impossible world!" Obito replied. "Yes, I used to follow you, I drank every world you said like a desert dweller drinks water from an oasis. And like you, I used to believe that no great change is possible without equally great sacrifices. But believing that is much easier when is somebody else's the one getting sacrificed."
"Lightning Release: Lightning Beast Running Jutsu!"
Kakashi launched a lightning bolt at Madara, which took the shape of a hound, which began to run towards him. Madara then pulled the spear and Obito with it, grabbing his former minion and throwing it against Kakashi's lightning attack. The lightning hound, however, maneuvered around Obito and jumped towards Madara.
"Gakido!"
Madara raised a hand towards the elemental dog, creating a barrier of white light. Upon crashing against the barrier, the hound was converted back into oure chakra which was absorbed into Madara's body. That moment, Rin decided to make her move, and started making hand seals.
"Wood Release: Wood Binding Jutsu!"
Before Madara could finish absorbing Kakashi's attack, multiple wooden roots emerged around him. However, before they could wrap themselves around the Uchiha's body, the blue ghostly ribcage of the Susanoo manifested around him, acting a shield from the roots, which wrappedaround it. The Susanoo developed into its humanoid form, destroying the roots in the process.
"You might have grown in size, but deep down you're still that immature brat I saved during the Third War," Madara said, shaking his head in disappointment. "In this cruel world, born of the imperfect dream of Hashirama, nobody is safe from a sudden death. Tell me Obito, were the deads of all the people who perished during the Third Ninja War my fault as well? What about the two previous wars? How many did die, hundreds? Thousands? If you could save all those thousands of lives by sacrificing less than a dozen, isn't it our moral duty to do so?"
"Regardless of what you did to Obito and me," Rin interceded. "Your plan is destined to fail! You think that by becoming all powerful, you will bring peace to the world? Power alone can't lead to peace!"
"Power is the key to everything, little girl. People with power can do whatever they want, while powerless weaklings can't do nothing of note. That's why we need to ensure that only those those who are benevolent have power," Madara countered. "In my world, no wicked men will have the power to spread evil or start senseless war."
"That's rich, coming from the most wicked man in history that started the biggest war we ever saw!" Rin angrily replied.
Madara scowled. A sword formed on one of its Susanoo's arms as it raised it. "I'm done listening to you lot."
The Susanoo brought the sword down. Rin squeaked as she jumped just in time to avoid the giant blade striking the ground, opening a crack, and raising a cloud of dust. Obito snarled, and charged at Madara.
"Don't you dare lay a finger on Rin!" the Uchiha growled.
"Very well. Do you volunteer to take her place, then?" Madara mockingly asked, as he crossed his arms.
The Susanoo prepared to strike again, this time at Obito. But much to Madara's initial shock and later frustration, the blade of his Susanoo phased through him as he were an illusion. Obito was also able to phase through the Susanoo's body, reaching a hand towards Madara, who took a step back.
"That body of yours isn't immortal! All I need to do is send you to the Kamui dimension, and just wait until you die of dehydration!" Obito said, just as his index finger grazed Madara's armor. "There! Ka-"
"Shinra Tensei!"
Unfortunately, before Obito could teleport Madara to the pocket dimension, he was blasted away from him and out of the Susanoo, landing painfully on his back, as his body skidded on the hard ground.
"Obito!" Rin screamed.
"And you forget that your Kamui doesn't make you immortal either," Madara said. "You need to stay tangible in order to send something to your pocket dimension, and that window of time is more than enough for me to strike back," Madara then turned around, and saw the Ten Tails struggling against Naruto and Hinata. As a feeling of worry crept up his back, the Uchiha mastermind scowled. "That doesn't look good. Alright, no more wasting time with you lot."
"And you think we're going to let you escape?" Rin asked, as she leaped towards Madara, kunai in hand.
Madara let out an irritated sigh, as he generated a black chakra rod through his palm, and used it to impale Rin through the gut just as she leaped at him. However, "Rin" quickly lost all color, faded into the dull brown of tree bark.
"A Wood Clone. How original and unexpected," Madara deadpanned, as he shook the lifeless clone off his chakra rod and tossed it away.
"Don't let him go! Naruto and Hinata are almost done with the Ten Tails! We need to keep him at bay for a little longer!" the real Rin replied from the opposite side of him.
"It seems that I'll have to crush these annoying insects with my overwhelming power," Madara said, as he held a hand up. "Chibaku Tensei!"
A marble-sized balck gravity core formed on Madara's hand, and shot into the sky. The ground started to shake as chunks of rock and dirt were teared from it, and pulled towards the gravity core.
"Kakashi, Obito!" Rin called her teammates, horror seeping from her voice as she remembered the last time Madara used that attack. "You can't let Madara finish that jutsu! You need to interrupt no matter how!"
"Leave that to me!" Kakashi said, as he focused his Sharingan on the nascent planetoid. The silver haired Jonin also remembered when Pain attempted to use that jutsu to destroy Konoha. That time he didn't have the chance to stop it, but he would do it now. As his Sharingan morphed into its advanced form, Kakashi made a hand seal. "Kamui!"
A spiraling vortex appeared on the forming planetoid, which began to slowly suck it into the Kamui dimension, much to Rin's relief.
And, unaware to Team Minato, that was the opportunity Madara was waiting for. He directed each of his hands towards Obito and Rin, respectively.
"Bansho Ten'in!"
Obito was able to sense the attack and activate Kamui in order to avoid it, but Rin wasn't so lucky, and was yanked towards Madara. The long haired Uchiha's hand gripped her neck with such force, she was unable to breathe.
"Rin!" Obito yelled, as he rushed towards her and his former master. "Don't you dare touch her!"
"You know, I had many chances to kill this girl, but I exercised restraint for your sake. But given that we are no longer allies, I have no more reason to hold back," Madara said, and much to Obito's horror, he placed his other hand on Rin's head. "Ningendo!"
Pulling said hand back, Madara teared Rin's soul out of her body, killing her instantly, before disdainfully tossing her lifeless body to Obito, who caught it. It was cold to the touch. He couldn't sense her chakra, nor hear her breathing.
"No... no...!" Obito sobbed, as he fell to his knees, craddling Rin's body. The worst day of his life was happening again. Except this time it wasn't a nightmare or an hallucination. "NOOOOOOOO!"
"Rin...!" Kakashi said, after sending the Chibaku Tensei to the Kamui dimension, he had just caught Madara killing Rin in cold blood. He just stood there, with his eyes wide open in horror.
"Let this be a lesson of what happens to those dare to betray me," Madara hatefully said. "Once I decided you've suffered enough, I shall kill you next."
With that, Madara leaped away, and headed towards the Ten Tails, leaving Obito and Kakashi.
Obito didn't hear Madara's threat, nor registered him leaving. All he could think of now was Rin. He had failed her again. He had gone for such lengths not only to bring her back, but to create a world where she could live happy and safe. And now, all his efforts, years of work, were crumbling in front of his eyes. Was Rin's immutable fate to die before she could ever reach adulthood? Was Obito's crusade pointless from the very beginning?
"Everything I did, I did it for you..." Obito sobbed. "Yet in the end... in the end it was for nothing..."
"You never asked me if I wanted you to do all of this," Rin's voice replied.
"I thought... I thought I knew better..." Obito continued. "I thought... you'd eventually see things my way..."
"All you and Madara ever did was to carve a path of death. Is it that surprising that I ended up as one of his victims?" Rin angrily asked.
Obito didn't have an answer to that. Or perhaps he did have, but was too afraid to say it out loud. That question brought to his mind once again the memory of all the people he had killed, either directly or indirectly. At the time, he just dismissed them as necessary sacrifices to build a better tomorrow. But now... they were people whose deaths didn't accomplish anything.
"There's still a chance to fix this," a voice said. It wasn't Rin, nor Kakashi. He recognized the voice as his own past self, the goggle-wearing boy who was Kakashi's rival and wanted to become Hokage. "But you know that the price is a big one."
"That price is nothing but a fraction of what should I do to atone for all my sins," Obito replied to his younger self. "No world that doesn't have Rin on it can be called perfect. And I don't want to live in a world where Rin doesn't exist anymore. I will gladly pay this price in order to give her another chance."
Carefully, Obito laid Rin's lufeless body in front of him. He then kneeled down, and made the Ram seal. His body started to glow with a white light.
"I may not be able to undo most of my crimes. But at least, I will be able to correct my most recent ones," Obito said, as the Ram seal turned into the Snake. "Outer Path: Heavenly Rebirth!"
A beam of white light shot from Obito into the sky.
…
"Come on! Keep pulling!" Naruto encouraged. "Just a little more!"
The four tentacle-like golden locks were wrapped around a teal colored mass of chakra which they were trying to pull out of the Ten Tails' body. However, despite being immobilized and most of its chakra bound, the colossal beast still resisted, and the two youths were unable to separate the chakra from the body.
"Nggggh...! No matter how hard we pull, the monster keeps pulling the chakra back!" Hinata cried. She tried to stay positive and remind herself that, if Hagoromo and Hamura were able to do this in the past, so could they. But a part of her mind reminded her that they weren't Hagoromo and Hamura. "I'm afraid we might not be strong enough to do this!"
Rather than sharing her panic, Naruto simply smirked, much to her bemusement. "In that case, let's ask more people to help us!"
The remaining golden lock of hair shoot backwards, where most of the Allied Ninja survivors were. The lock split into multiple threads as it spread around the battelfield.
"Everybody! Grab onto the chakra threads!" Naruto commanded. Nobody asked any questions, and the ninjas not currently fighting the few Ten Tails miniclones left did as he commanded. Naruto could sense how their chakras were added to his and Hinata's. Most of them unknown, but many of them familiar. Yes, with their combined power, they would put an end to this nightmarish monster! "Now PULL!"
They all pulled in unison. And, unlike the previous tries, it seemed that the Ten Tails was unable to swallow the chakra back. More and more of the chakra blob was forced out of its body, and with a final pull and a loud snapping sound, the Ten Tails' chakra was completely separated from its body. The backlash of such colossal effort caused the Golden Avatar of Kalika to break down and vanish, but it no longer mattered.
The mass of chakra then split into nine blobs, and each blob taking the form of one of the nine Tailed Beasts, all of them landing on the ground with a booming noise. And just like the nine Tailed Beasts reformed, the Ten Taisl shrieked as its form twisted and shrank until it regressed to the Demonic Sature form, before disappearing in a cloud of smoke, returning to its sealing place within the moon.
"YES! You did, Naruto! I knew my trust in you wasn't misplaced!" Kurama cheered.
"Thank you, Kurama. But it wasn't just me. I would have never done this alone," Naruto mentally replied.
Kurama chuckled, and shook his head. "Always have to play the part of the ideal, humble hero, huh Naruto?"
Naruto was going to reply, when he heard Hinata gasp, and look up into the sky.
"Naruto, look!"
…
Like it had happened in Konoha months back, the sky flashed white for a brief moment, and beams of white ight started to descend from above. When the beams of light touched the corpses that littered the battlefield, they miraculously returned to life. Even those whose corpses were far too mangled or slaughtered had their bodies completely restored before they were returned to life.
As the sensor ninjas started to sense all the new chakras appearing around them seemingly out of nowhere, the dead returned to life.
…
Away from all the action, Shino continued to try to keep Fu alive as he waited for Kiba and Tamaki to bring Naruto. But they were taking way too long. Fu's vitals kept deteriorating. His medical jutsu wasn't working. None of the chakra he transferred to her was of any help.
"Come on Fu, don't leave me!" he cried, at a louder volume than he was used to speak, as tears started to stream down his cheeks. "I know you're strong! You're the strongest person I ever met! You can't let this be your end!"
Then, all of sudden, a beam of white light hit her body, and almost instantly, Fu's eyes snapped wide open, and flung herself up, breathing heavily.
"Fu...!"
"Sh-Shino...?" the green haired girl stammered. "Shino! I... I dreamt I was dead! What the hell just happened!?"
Shino, however, didn't say anything, and simply hugged his confused but very much alive girlfriend, as more tears rolled down his face. Except this time, they were tears of joy rather than sorrow. However, much to his confusion, Fu gently pushed him back, breaking the hug, and looked into his eyes with a dazed gaze.
"Something... something's wrong..." Fu mumbled, as she started to look at her own body, until she finally noticed the missing piece. "Chomei! Where is Chomei? Why I can't feel Chomei!?"
…
Not far away from Shino and Fu, Killer B's students were gathered around him, watching how T was futilely trying to keep him alive long enough for the Raikage to return with Naruto. But no matter how hard the blond haired medic tried, it simply wasn't enough.
"He has no heartbeat!" Omoi said, placing his fingers on B's wrist.
"Come on T, we're losing him! I know you can do better!" Karui shouted.
"I'm trying my best, but it's not enough! No medic on earth can save a jinchuriki whose Tailed Beast has been extracted!" the braid-wearing girl protested.
"We can't lose sensei, you hear me? We already thought we lost him once, and I don't plan to go through that again! Not unless we've done everything in our hand! So you better-"
"Hey, what's that?" Omoi asked, looking up into the sky.
The two girls did likewise, and had to shield their eyes from the bright beam of light that was falling upon them. The beam of light hit B's body, and the rapper ninja instantly sat up, and started coughing.
"S-sensei...?" Karui asked.
"W-Where am I? What's going on? What does it feel like I've been gone?" he asked, as he confusedly looked at his students, who were crying tears of joy. However, despite his return to life, B felt that something was missing from him. Something very important. "There's something amiss, wait... where is Number Eight?"
…
Yugito was watching in awe how the dead were returning to life. Those who did were a bit confused, looking around, trying to understand what was going on. The friends and loved ones of the resurrected didn't question what was going on, and jumped to hug them, many of them crying tears of joy.
She couldn't help but smile at such a heartwarming sight.
"You know, Kurama told me about this happening in Konoha," Matatabi chimed in. "But seeing it with your own eyes... it's something completely different."
"It certainly is," Yugito agreed. "Despite all the people who died in this war, this battle at least will end up with zero casualties on our side."
Distracted as she was by the miracle happening aorund her, Yugito didn't realize that one of the falling beams of light was heading towards her. The jinchuriki of Matatabi screamed and fell on her butt in shock as the beam of light hit her, sending a jolt through her body.
"Yugito! What happened!?" Matatabi's shard within her asked, worried. "Are you okay?"
"I...think?" Yugito asked, confused. "I don't know, I feel... different," Yugito said. For some reason, her body didn't feel like a Shadow Clone anymore. In fact, she felt almost like she did when she was alive. Moved by a hunch, she pulled out a kunai from her ninja tool pouch, and made a cut on her thumb.
It started to bleed.
"Blood... my blood..." Yugito said, her voice barely a whisper, as she watched a thin thread of blood trickle down her finger.
"But... Shadow Clones don't bleed, right?" Matatabi asked. "Then... it can only mean..."
"I'm alive..." she said in realization. Then, her lips curved into a wide smile, as she began to leap in joy. "I'm alive! I'm alive! Oh yes! Everyone, Yugito is back!"
…
Yugito wasn't the only one who underwent a rebirth, as the other jinchuriki that had temporary Shadow Clone bodies were also hit by the resurrecting beams of light.
Such as Han and Roshi, that were making sure that all the Ten Tails Spawns were truly done and accounted for.
Or Yagura, who had reunited with his wife and son, and was using the chance to say a proper goodbye before his aritifical body finally disappeared.
Or Utakata, who was telling Hotaru about how he ended up raised as a zombie, before part of his chakra ended up in Naruto, while Hotaru was telling him about her battles in the war, and how she had met and fought Utakata's former mentor Harusame, and how, misguided as he was, the man never betrayed Utakata, but wanted to help him.
…
The last of the beams of white light fell upon Rin. As her body was revitalized and her soul returned to it, the medic-nin's eyes were opened wide, and quickly sat up, breathing heavily, while looking around, confused.
"W-What... where am I...? I am alive?" she asked, before she looked at Obito, kneeling next to her.
"Rin..."
"Obito...?"
Obito didn't say anything. He simply smiled, and much to the medic's shock, he dropped on his back, lying on the ground.
"Obito, what's wrong?" Rin asked, as he quickly went to check him.
"Nothing... nothing's wrong..." Obito weakly said. "At least... not anymore..."
"Your heartbeat is so weak... and you're so cold!" Rin said in horror. "What-"
"Rin, Madara killed you," Kakashi said, as he walked towards the two. Albeit dragging himself was probably a more appropriate term to use, since all the battling was finally taking a toll on his body. "Obito then used the Rinnegan to revive you, as well as the ninjas who died during the battle against the Ten Tails, to life."
"What? But how... wait a minute, isn't that what that Pain guy did after the battle of Konoha?" Rin asked. "But... that jutsu claims one's life after using it!"
Kakashi merely looked at Obito with saddened eyes. "I think he was aware of such outcome."
"No! Obito, why did you do it?" Rin said, as he grabbed his shoulders. Her eyes started to water. "Why? Now that you finally saw the light! Now that the three of us were finally together!"
Obito chuckled sadly. "Rin... one way or another, there was no future for me," he was interrupted by a coughing fit. "But you... you do have a future, Rin. You deserve it. I sacrificed plenty of lifes for you, Rin... and look how it ended. My life is the only life I have any right to sacrifice... so... let me do this for you..."
"Obito..." Rin said, as tears ran down her cheeks.
Obito then turned his head towards Kakashi.
"Kakashi... I asked you to protect Rin once... and you failed. Then again... I wasn't any better, was I?" he asked, laughing a little, before his laugh was cut by another coughing fit. "So now, make sure you don't waste this second chance," Obito said, before his eyes rested on Rin once again. "And you Rin... make sure you keep Kakashi alive as well. It's a miracle that this idiot made it alive so far."
Rin wiped her tears, and forced herself to smile at Obito's jab. "Yeah, hehe... and yes, don't worry. I always kept you guys in check, didn't I?"
"Good..." Obito coughed again. "Now... I also want to say that... for all what's worth... I'm sorry... for the hell I put you through..."
"It's okay Obito. You suffered a lot yourself as well. But don't worry, your suffering is about to end," Rin said, as she helped Obito to lie down. "You can rest now."
After taking one last look at the girl he used to have a crush on and the man who was both his rival, enemy and best friend, Obito closed his eyes, and never opened them again.
Rin hung her head, and started to weep, while Kakashi pulled her into a hug.
…
With the Ten Tails defeated and Obito dead, there was only one Akatsuki left. One who, despite his immense power, still couldn't match the combined might of the Ninja Alliance on his own. However, said Akatsuki was about to pull one last, desperate gamble to achieve victory. Because many things could be said of Madara Uchiha, but being a quitter wasn't one of them.
As the Tailed Beasts were celebrating their newfound freedom with Naruto and Hinata, Madara leaped towards them, landing in the middle of the Tailed Beasts. Given his body language, it was obvious he wasn't going to surrender.
"This isn't over yet!" he hollered.
"I'm afraid it is," Naruto replied. "The Ten Tails is no more and your army has been destroyed. All what's left of Akatsuki is you, Madara."
"Yeah. Don't complicate things any further and surrender peacefully," Jiraiya stated. "Strong as you are, you can't defeat all of us."
"Especially not when we have all Tailed Beasts here to help us as well," Hinata added.
Madara chuckled condescendingly at the Konoha ninjas. "You're forgetting about an important detail," Madara then tapped the side of his head. "I still have the Rinnegan. Meaning that I can still summon the Demonic Statue and seal the Tailed Beasts again myself!"
"And you think we're going to let you?" Gyuki asked, as he lumbered forward.
"Naruto, you and the other humans, please stand back," Chomei said, as she menacingly hovered over the rogue Uchiha. "This is our fight."
"I'm afraid you won't be fighting anybody, you filthy animals," Madara snarled, looking at the beasts closing on him with contempt. "Your fate is to disappear within the Ten Tails."
"Well, unless you can seal all nine beasts by yourself in a matter of seconds, you're pretty much screwed!" Naruto said.
There was a moment of a vert uncomfortable silence. Naruto turned towards his parents.
"He can't do that, right?" Naruto asked, looking at Tsunade, who shrugged, not knowing the answer either.
"Even for one as powerful as I, such feat would be ludicrous. It would be as impossible as manifesting Susanoo without eyes," Madara admitted, much to Naruto's relief. "However, I can still do the next best thing. CHIBAKU TENSEI!"
Madara shot his hands to the sides, throwing nine gravity cores to a Tailed Beast each. The Tailed Beasts were unable to dodge the attack, and as the core latched onto them, they were lifted into the air as chunks of earth and rock were pulled towards them, trapping them inside small planetoids.
"First order of business, secure the Tailed Beasts," Madara replied.
"Release them! NOW!" Naruto demanded, as he and Hinata angrily ran towards him.
"Do you want your precious little animals?" Madara asked in a mocking tone, as his Susanoo manifested around him, going all the way to its Perfect Form. "Then come and get them!"
Naruto and Hinata didn't say anyting. Nodding to each other, they held hands once again, merging their chakra and forming the Golden Avatar of Kalika.
The final battle of the Fourth Ninja War was about to begin...
Author's Note: Well, a lot to unpack here. Let's begin!
And thus, Fu and Killer B have been brought back to life! Yay! Come on guys, did you REALLY expected me to kill those two, after how often I gushed about them, and how much readers like them? Yeah, no, in the list of characters that I'd permanently kill, those two rank close to the bottom. The previous jinchuriki are back as well, this time for good. Consider this my apology for the way I handled their capture arcs, which ended up being way too dark with Akatsuki winning time after time.
While I said many times that Kaguya was going to appear, I said just as many times that she wouldn't be an antagonist, and that the final boss of this story was always meant to be Madara, given that he's the mastermind behind the plot of the story. It would make no sense for a new guy (or gal) to show up out of nowhere and hijack his position. Anyway, what do you think of my take on Kaguya? I hope you found it a little more interesting than her canon self. She's a character that desperatedly needed some more depth to her character, and since she sucked as a villain, perhaps she could do better as a good guy.
Also, the lore about the Otsutsuki clan and the Divine Trees is inspired by canon but with my own spin on it, since not only the canonical lore on those subjects is vague as hell, in some cases it makes very little sense. I hope you find my version more coherent.
Many people wanted a combination between Kurama and the Avatar of Kalika, and here it is. While most of you were thinking in something close to Kurama with a Susanoo armor, I decided to go in the opposite direction and have the Avatar be the base infused with Kurama's power. If the appearance of the Golden Avatar sounds familiar to some of you, that's because I used Sakuyamon as inspiration for this new form.
Though, despite many characters coming back to life, one dies for good. Well, two, since Zetsu finally kicked the bucket as well (three? since Zetsu is two people). I know many of you wanted Obito to be killed like the villain he is, but I needed him to die using the Rinner Rebirth in order to bring all the fallen jinchuriki to life. Then again, at the very least this time around Naruto didn't have him switch sides with Talk no Jutsu (seriously, while Naruto had reasons for wanting to redeem Neji, Gaara and even Pain, there's nothing that would make him want to extent the same courtesy to Obito, which is why I had Kakashi and Rin being the ones to deal with him in his final fight rather than Naruto).
Some readers in past reviews mentioned that it would made more sense for Naruto and Hinata to defeat the Ten Tails rather than Naruto and Sasuke, since it was defeated the first time by Hagoromo and Hamura, not Indra and Asura. Needless to say, not only I agreed with them (Hamura has no relationship with Sasuke), but it was one of the driving forces behind Hinata's role as deuteragonist.
Yeah, that was a Take That at one of the many ways Madara bullshitted his way into Marty Suedom in the manga, one I've been DYING to write, and boy, did it feel cathartic. That means that there won't be Ten Tails Madara (or Ten Tails Obito for that matter), mostly because if there was, I just can't think how the hell the good guys can beat him (because unlike canon, I wasn't going to have Madara hold back and purposefully use weak moves). But don't worry, I'm sure you guys will love what I have planned with him for the final battle.
Thanks to Ookami88 for betareading this chapter.
Now, we head into the story's very final battle, Naruto and Hinata vs Madara Uchiha! Are you guys as excited as I am? And of course, don't forget to leave your thoughts on this chapter in a review while you wait for the story's climax! Reviews make me really, really, really happy!