The Rise of a Warrior: Naruto: Shippuden

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

Three years have come and gone, and while Tatsu and the ninja of the Hidden Leaf have grown stronger, they'll have a whole new group of enemies to face. The era of Team Dragon has arrived, but can they rise to the challenge? Sequel to the Rise of a Warrior: Naruto, second story in my Naruto trilogy. Please read each chapter until the end and check for notes.

39. Clash of the Ten Tails Jinchuuriki

The battlefield had been taken over by an uneasy silence following Obito's absorption of the Ten Tails, turning himself into a jinchuuriki. As various members of the alliance were left wondering about the reason behind the disappearance of the Ten Tails, Hinata was able to use explain to those around her that the body and chakra of the Ten Tails were absorbed by Obito.

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"It can only mean one thing… He's turned himself into the jinchuriki of the Ten Tails!"

"So you mean that…" Tatsu trailed off at the sight of Obito glancing back at them, the look on his face unreadable 'So he turned himself into a jinchuuriki, this is bad. He looks even more unstable than he did before, and I think that's saying a lot with this guy. I don't get it though, how can you tell that he's a jinchuuriki? I mean the fact that he basically trapped himself in a makeshift cocoon, but still."

"I can answer that." this was when Naruto and Lee suddenly blitzed onto the scene, the former clad in his Nine Tails Chakra Mode "I was able to befriend the other Tailed Beasts awhile ago in some sort of mental plane like Limbo back during the battle against his makeshift Six Paths of Pain, so it's pretty obvious to me. I could sense the chakra of the other Tailed Beasts all getting sucked into Obito, one after another until they were all inside him."

"Uh huh. Anything else we should know?"

"I can offer some input there." Kazuma told him "You didn't see it then, but I was at the scene with Naruto when Nagato used the Rinne Rebirth Jutsu to revive everyone that he had killed back when the Akatsuki assaulted the Hidden Leaf. The hand signs that he was weaving didn't match the ones I saw back then, which means that he was preparing the jutsu to seal the Ten Tails inside of himself the entire time."

"So even when the bad guy gets his ass handed to him, they always have some sort of backup plan going for them. The question is, what the hell do we do now?"

"Sage Art: Gracious Deity Gate!" a rapid barrage of red torii gates descended on Obito from above, courtesy of Hashirama himself 'Even if he has turned himself into a jinchuuriki of the Ten Tails, it doesn't change the fact that the Gracious Deity Gates are still in play.'

"Okay then, I think I have my answer." Tatsu was almost immediately met with the various gates being torn asunder by Obito through a feet of sheer physical strength "Or not. Dammit, that Sage Mode jutsu was enough to suppress the Ten Tails itself when it was still out. The way I see it, that can only mean one thing…' his thoughts were cut short by the sight of Obito using crimson colored chakra arms to grab hold of the Four Crimson Ray Formation and then ripping it apart, causing it to evaporate into nothing "That's exactly what I was afraid of."

"I take it you're thinking the same thing as the rest of us?" asked Sasuke "That being that he's stronger than the Ten Tails was back when it was released."

"It's not just a matter of how much power its amassed, it's a matter of control. In the first place, the thing was just throwing its power around with absolutely no control over it, but the main difference is that he learned how to focus that power."

"Either way, we have to make sure we stay on our guard for now." Kazuma noted "This man was able to make the power of the Ten Tails into his own, so who knows what he might try and do with it now."

"Believe me Kazuma, we know." Minato told him, just as Obito leapt atop the torii gate directly in front of them "That's enough Obito, you have to stop this!"

"...Obito?" he barely even reacted at the sound of his own name.

This was when Hashirama and the other reanimated Kage dropped onto the scene, though his Sage Mode had disappeared from his eyes "I'm going to put this bluntly because that's all we actually have time for, this man is stronger than I am."

"I have more experience with being blunt, and it does seem that way." Tobiama told him, his tone flat as ever "Even if you were to reabsorb your remaining wood clones, the fact is that even you would be no match for him."

"Believe me, I'm well aware of that. However…" it was at that moment that they were promptly ripped to shreds by Obito blitzing through them.

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Meanwhile, with Madara…

With a new level of chaos descending on the battlefield, Madara looked ahead to see the scene unfolding at the front 'As much as I would enjoy watching all of the previous Hokage beg for mercy that they won't receive, I know all too well that I can't afford to wait any longer. Now it's official, Obito is now nearly identical to the Sage of the Six Paths. I can't allow him to take the lead before I make any use of my trump card.'

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Meanwhile, back with the heroes…

After having Obito rip through them so easily, Tobirama was the first one to snap out of the brief stupor they had found themselves in "Saru, Fourth, all of you hurry and get out of here while you still can!"

Hiruzen was quick to retreat a short distance, and he quickly caught on to what was about to happen 'This is Lord Second's attack plan!' so he retreated back a distance just as Tobirama had activated some paper bombs that he had planted on Obito, detonating them and engulfing him in the explosion that followed, followed by Hashirama preparing to ensnare him using a Wood Style jutsu "Minato and all of you, hurry and get away!"

"I should've expected as much from you Lord Second, you work incredibly fast." with a simple hand seal, Minato teleported Naruto, Tatsu, Sasuke and the rest of them away from the scene using his Flying Raijin Jutsu.

Once they were out of the way, Tobirama made his way towards Obito, who was now bound in place by Hashirama and his Wood Style "I highly doubted that would be anywhere near enough to kill you. I was the one who created the Reanimation Jutsu, as well as a considerable number of ancillary jutsu that can go with it, though this is the first time I'm using it on myself. This is one thing that I never thought would happen. This is exactly how it's done, so go ahead and see it for yourself! Tandem Paper Bombs!" he pulled out and threw forward a large number of paper bombs 'Each paper bomb summons a number more along with it, which results in a series of continuous explosions, to create a series of concentrated and focused consecutive explosions unleashed upon the enemy!' and that's exactly what happened next, engulfing both Obito and himself in the continuous blast that resulted.

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Meanwhile, outside of the range of the explosion…

It only took a matter of seconds for Minato to teleport everyone on Shiroryu out of the range of the series of explosions "Alright then, we should be safe here, at least for the time being."

"Depends on your definition of safe." Tatsu on the other hand, he was on his knees clutching his stomach in pain "I always wondered why my brother never taught me that jutsu, and now I know exactly why."

"That's just something that you have to get used to, it goes away after awhile. But in the meantime, you have to remember to keep an eye on your surroundings."

"And on the various events happening in your surroundings, which right now includes the metric fuckton of explosions going off in front of us. Speaking of which, what sort of plan do we have once the explosions stop?"

"Right now the original Hokage are using their reanimation and semi-immortality to try and gauge the enemy's power." Kazuma told him "That way we can at least get a grip on the current situation, at least to an extent."

"And then?"

"Then we can come up with a plan." this was followed by the various explosions subsiding, and then the smoke clearing to reveal Obito completely unharmed by the series of blasts "And right now, the plan is to try and stay alive."

"Even Naruto could've come up with that plan."

"We're short on time and on options right now, the previous Hokage are trying to analyze his abilities by launching a series of attacks." he gestured to where the Third Hokage was launchnig an attack at Obito in the form of his Shuriken Shadow Clone jutsu, only for him to summon a shield from the black orbs on his back and power through it with ease "Those orbs he carries are powerful but their shape is fluid, from the looks of it they're not limited to either being used for defense or offense."

"And it looks like he doesn't have any problem with maintaining them either. You have any theories on what they are?"

"The only theory I have right now is that they're made of multiple changes in elemental chakra nature, something that goes beyond the likes of a Kekkei Genkai or even a Kekkei Tota."

"And from what we're seeing right now, there's no limit to the different ways that he can use them." Lee pointed at where Obito was using one of the orbs to attack the Third Hokage, the top half of his reanimated body being obliterated in the process "Why couldn't we bring him with us when we teleported?"

"Becuase users of the Flying Raijin Jutsu can't teleport anything that isn't being touched by ourselves or anything attached to us, chakra included."

"But that works out well for us since the Third and the others are Reanimations." Tatsu pointed out "They know that they won't die thanks to their regeneration and intentionally attacked head on, so they're going in for us in order to study and learn about the movement and abilities of the enemy, so that we could develop a counter strategy. The only problem is that it's gonna take awhile for them to regenerate all the way, so that means the Third is out of the battle for the time being."

"Which is where I come into play then." Minato promptly slammed his hands together "I'll go first and create an opening."

"Well get ready, here he comes." Sasuke promptly brandished his Raijin sword, with the others dropping into similar stances as they watched Obito hurtling towards them, only for his body to start expanding and for him to hit the ground in front of them "He just stopped, does that mean the Ten Tails is rejecting him?"

"You're somewhat close, but from what I can tell the Ten Tails hasn't completely synched with him as a jinchuuriki yet. But at the same time, this is our chance to take him down. Then I'll be sure to summon my original here." so Minato brandished a Flying Raijin kunai and promptly charged towards Obito, immediately being followed by the appearance of the original "I know it's been awhile, but I think it's about time for us to use the Rasen-Flash Super-Circle Dance Howl Stage Three!"

"Right." so the original promptly pulled out three Flying Raijin kunai, with the Shadow Clone doing the same.

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Meanwhile, back with the members of Team Dragon…

"Rasen-Flash Super-Circle Dance Howl Stage Three?" Sasuke's expression dulled at the name of the jutsu in question, and then he promptly turned to Naruto "I'm sorry but it needs to be said, your taste in naming your jutsu obviously came from his side of your family."

"Hey I think that name is totally- Get down!" Naruto suddenly hurled a Rasengan at the ground in front of Gamakichi, only for both of them to be sent flying by an attack from underground, courtesy of Obito as he suddenly popped up in front of them.

'He was able to extend his body and reach us by going underground.' seeing that Obito was going for another attack, Sasuke quickly defended everyone from the black orb using the ribcage of his Susanoo, but at the cost of Obito being able to kick Minato and his Shadow Clone away before they could launch their attack "Are you alright?"

"He didn't get me with that attack, so that means I owe you one."

"You owe me a lot more than that." Sasuke promptly turned his attention to Obito, his eyes blazing as he summoned the power of Raijin into his Susanoo "You're not going to be the one to sever the past, that task belongs to all of us."

Obito's eyes suddenly shot open as he grabbed Naruto and Sasuke by the face and started pulling them away.

'Shit!' thinking quick, Tatsu charged towards Obito and tried to attack him with the Dragon Blade, only for him to be sent skidding backwards with a single kick, though he wasn't done and promptly activated his Tenseigan Chakra Cloak, which he then used to summon a series of chakra arms that latched onto both Naruto and Sasuke "Now Kazuma, do it!"

"Right!" thinking quick, Kazuma summoned a chakra arm to grab onto Tatsu, then formed a single hand seal and used his own Flying Raijin Jutsu to teleport the three of them away before Obito could finish an attack, which allowed them to retreat back to where Lee and the summons were located "Good thinking, you knew that it needed to be either me or my chakra touching you directly, and anything you were touching got carried over as well. As much as I'd like to take this moment to be proud of you…"

"We've got other business to deal with right now."

"Exactly, and it's getting worse too." Minato suddenly flashed over next to them and poined at where Obito's body was beginning to convulse and expand "He still can't control his body very well, we have to take him down while we still have the chance." he promptly got into a stance with a Flying Raijin kunai in hand as Obito hurled a black orb (now going to be known as a Truthseeker Orb) at them, which promptly detonated a short distance away from them, and sucked everything in the blast radius.

"Was it your Shadow Clone he was going after?"

"No, I don't think that was it." they watched as the smoke cleared to reveal that Obito had been disfigured by the blast, half of his body having been blown off.

"He hit himself with his own attack, must mean he can't control his power properly."

"It seems that whatever consciousness Obito has left is merely clinging to the power of the Ten Tails, and he barely has any control over it."

"More like no control if his own attacks are hurting him, not that I'm complaining about that right now. We have to approach this carefully, so do you have a plan?"

"I do, and this time I'm going to get in the Rasen-Flash Super-Circle Dance Howl Stage Three in for sure."

'...You know Sasuke is right on the money, that name is horrible.'

"Once I use the jutsu to create an opening for you, the rest of you hit him immediately with your most powerful jutsu."

"Rin…" it was at that moment that Obito started screaming in agony as his body continued convulsing and expanding, images flashing through is mind 'Rin…'

"Now! Here I come Obito!" so Minato promptly hurled six Flying Raijin kunai around the area, his eyes hardening as he prepared to activate the jutsu and charged forward

This was promptly interrupted when Obito let out a massive scream of pain and agony as his body continued expanding "Who… Who are you…?"

'Obito…'

Then with another scream, Obito's body stopped expanding and started condensing, and when it stopped it revealed him to be in a new form, complete with multiple Truthseeker Orbs floating around his body and a black staff in hand "At last sensei… the time has come." he used his new Truthseeker staff to block an attack from Minato, breaking his Flying Raijin kunai in the process, and then a simple sweep of his hand, along with a Truthseeker orb, was enough to rip his arm clean off.

'Dammit!' Minato was quick to use his Flying Raijin to flash back towards the others "I'm okay, he only got one hit on me and I used the Flying Raijin to escape."

"By the skin of your reanimated teeth, and he took one of your arms. To think that he has that much power." Lee muttered, and it was only then that they noticed a Truthseeker Orb attached to the stump where Minato's arm used to be 'When did he- So that's it, he must have attached that to Lord Fourth so it would be teleported with him when he retreated.' it was then that the orb began glowing with a massive white light.

"Everyone get back." Sasuke didn't hesitate in ushering Tatsu, Naruto, Lee and Kazuma behind his Susanoo ribcage, with Minato being the only exception 'If worse comes to worse then he can just regenerate. Sorry about this Fourth, but for the lack of a better way to describe it, you're going to have to take one for the team."

"That's not going to be necessary." this was when Tobirama suddenly flashed onto the scene, grabbed onto the orb and then teleported over to Obito "Here, you can have this back." and then he suddenly teleported both of them away, mere seconds before a powerful explosion went off in the distance.

"...That works too."

"You don't need to worry, I only teleported a clone." this was when the real Tobirama appeared on the scene next to them "I was able to mark him the last time I was in contact with him, and for good reason."

"Oh wow, that's totally amazing!" Naruto lit up when he saw this "So you mean you can copy my dad's move just like that? That's super impressive second guy from the stone faces!"

"First of all, I'll have you know that Lord Fourth is using my move, which I had created long before he was born. Second of all, just call me Lord Second."

"...Huh?"

"Don't bother explaining it to him." Tatsu breathed a sigh.

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Meanwhile, with Hashirama…

"At this point, I feel the need to…" with his Sage Mode restored, Hashirama didn't waste any time in trying to make his way over to help the others, only to find Madara blocking his way "I said I would deal with you later, I have to stop the Ten Tails first."

"It's later now Hashirama, and I'm done waiting." Madara shot him a smirk, a tense silence overcoming the two of them.

"...Fine, if I have to go through you to get the others then I will."

"That's what I like to hear." so Madara promptly activated his Susanoo "Let's go."

"So be it. Wood Style: Wood Dragon!" Hashirama formed a single hand seal and promptly summoned a wood dragon, which promptly began clashing with the Susanoo as it quickly threw it off balance before advancing Madara "I'm warning you now Madara, get out of my way."

"I don't have much time here Hashirama, but there's something that I have to do now." so he activated the complete form of his Susanoo and summoned two swords with it, before he advanced it all the way to his final Susanoo.

"Wood Style:Wood Golem Jutsu!" Hashirama promptly summoned a wood golem in order to match the increase in power on Madara's part, before the two of them began their battle anew, quickly pushing each other back, though the wood golem was soon sent crashing to the ground in a heap. Hashirama wasn't deterred by this and used his Wood Golem to stop the Susanoo by grabbing one of its swords in the middle of it being brought down "It's just like back when we first fought that day."

"Even now you cling to those foolish ideals of ours, but I will tell you now Hashirama, that the outcome of this battle won't be the same as the last one."

"We'll see about that."

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Needless to say, at the sight of Madara and Hashirama battling it out, the majority of nameless shinobi in the alliance were left stunned and considerably self conscious as a result. Case and point:

"This is insane!"

"They're on a completely different level!"

"So this is what our ancestors were capable of… If we went out there then we wouldn't do much besides get in the way."

"We… We'd be useless in a battle like that one."

'Great, morale is reaching an all time low now.' Yahiko glanced around at the sight of people around him losing hope and their will fight, and so he promptly got down on one knee as he turned his attention to Ino "Your name is Ino righgt? I need you to do something for me."

"No need to explain, I already get the idea." one of Ino's Shadow Clones quickly made her way over to Yahiko and placed a hand on his head, allowing her to communicate his thoughts to everyone else in the surrounding area.

"Don't forget that even a small power can be a big help. We may not be able to do much to help right now, but there will come a time when we're going to be needed, so make sure that you don't take your eyes off the battlefield. The time is going to come when our power will play its part in changing the course of this world, and when it does we have to be ready. We can't afford to relax or let down our guards for even a second, so all of you rise to your feet and be prepared for when the moment of truth arrives." once his speech was finished, Yahiko stood back up and let out a sigh as he turned to Ino "Thank you for the help."

"I'm just glad to do my part, great speech by the way."

"You can thank Jiraiya-sensei for that, he once told me that the best speeches come straight from the heart, and the ability to inspire people is critical of any leader."

"And does that have anything to do with wanting to impress Konan?"

"...Well I figured that if we had time then why not multitask?" he let out a chuckle and started blushing as he said this.

"Just checking." Ino let out a sigh as she continued watching the battle 'It's not like I have the right to judge him about that, I'm not much better in that regard. His love for Konan isn't that different from the way I feel about Tatsu. But I can't afford to dwell on that right now, not when we have a war to win.'

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Meanwhile, back with the main battlefield…

"So how about that, did we get him?" Lee was answered by a large black orb shooting out from within the smoke, which was revealed to be Obito using it as a shield "He was able to block an explosion that fast?"

"Which means that ordinary jutsu aren't going to be effective on him." Tatsu pointed out "We're gonna have to outthink him if we want to make any progress."

"I have just the way to do that." Minato promptly pulled out a Flying Raijin Kunai "I guess I'll just have to make an opening for the rest of you with my Rasen-Flash Super-Circle Dance Howl Stage Three." he was met with various dull looks from the others "What?"

"...You're a bit of a comedian aren't you?" Tobirama noted dryly "Normally I would have the decency to make fun of the names you come up with for your jutsu, except we don't have time to joke around with the enemy we're facing right now."

"Exactly."

"Which means that we can't afford to waste any time, so I say it's about time for us to try and get a few attacks in. Fire Style: Rasengan!" Tatsu didn't waste any time in charging in with a Rasengan in hand infused with fire chakra, with Lee following close behind him.

"Tatsu wait, I said that I was going to create an opening for you and the others!"

"Forget about that, we'll create the opening so Naruto and Sasuke can charge in and finish him off!"

"It's not going to work." Obito told him flatly "I can see you amassing that fire jutsu in your left hand, that's hardly worth calling a surprise attack."

"I think we'll see about that soon enough."

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"Oh for crying out loud!" Minato let out a sigh and prepared to activate his Flying Raijin, only to stop when he felt Tobirama grab him by the shoulder "What are you doing Lord Second?"

"Let's go Fourth, the Flying Raijin is much slower when a clone uses it." Tobirama promptly removed his hand, revealing his Flying Raijin mark on Minato's back "We can combine and then reciprocate our own Flying Raijin, so go ahead and put your mark on me."

"Alright then Lord Second, plus with these bodies we can still move even after being hit by his attacks." Minato promptly placed his own mark on Tobirama's shoulder.

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Meanwhile, with the frontrunners…

"Come on Lee, let's get moving." Tatsu poured some more fire chakra into his Rasengan "I'll start things off with a Fire style Rasengan, and then you incorporate some Wind style chakra into your taijutsu and use it to enhance mine.

"Sounds like a solid plan, just stand back and leave it to me." so with a deep breath, Lee promptly activated the Third Gate as he kept on running forward "Third Gate, Gate of Life, Open! Wind Style: Leaf Whirlwind!" he then launched himself forward with a wind-enhanced kick just as Tobirama grabbed Obito from behind and placed a mark on him

'Now for us to do our part.' this was when Minato appeared in front of Tatsu and Lee just as the wind-enhanced kick connected with him, and the mark on his back began to glow 'The two of you are going to be the main act this time around, so make sure you follow through! Now's your chance! Reciprocal Round Robin Jutsu: Flying Raijin Jutsu!" this was immediately followed by Minato disappearing from the spot he was in, and then Tobirama and Obito appearing, the former keeping the latter firmply placed in front of him and leaving Lee's attack to hit him square in the chest.

"Fire Style: Rasengan!" Tatsu pounced forward and launched his Rasengan forward, the flames increasing in size as a result of exposure to the wind chakra, and he slammed it into Obito's chest at full speed, the force of the attack sending him flying before engulfing him in the fiery explosion that followed 'So they switched places using their Flying Raijin Jutsu and let me hit the Fourth at the last second so he could swap out.' he gave a smirk as he breathed a sigh "Not a bad way to kick things off, it's about fucking time we landed a blow on him."

"But the question is, did it do anything to him?" asked Lee.

"I know I felt that attack connect with him and not just those black orbs of his, he had to feel that one at least."

Unfortunately, this was when the smoke cleared to reveal Obito completely unharmed from the blast "Am I supposed to be impressed?"

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me, it didn't even scratch him?"

"This is a pretty difficult situation we're finding ourselves in." Kazuma muttered "None of our attacks are having any effect on him, we can't touch those black orbs he has with him and he's quick on both offense and defense."

"Great, it feels like if you're a genin fresh out of the academy taking on he likes of a jonin level rogue ninja. Granted that's actually happened to a few of us before and it turned out okay, but the point still stands."

"Something else seems off too though. Take a look at Lord Fourth over there, what do you notice that seems out of the ordinary?"

"You're gonna have to be more specific."

"My point is that his right arm was ripped off, but considering how much time has passed since then it should've at least started to regenerate by now, but nothing is happening with it."

"You're thinking that he can negate the regeneration somehow?"

"I've come to possess the same power as the Founder of Shinobi, and as such I've surpassed any feasible limitations." this was when Obito got their attention "You can no longer measure me by the standards that you're used to."

"...Is that supposed to answer my question?"

"I think it's about as good of an answer as you're going to get. Whatever the case, we should try and make sure that Lord Second and Lord Fourth don't get hurt from his attacks, since he's most likely using a jutsu contained within those orbs that nullifies all ninjutsu, which includes a certain specific form of summoning jutsu."

"So to summarize, if he destroys the bodies of reanimated shinobi then they basically die a second time, and there's no coming back."

"And we can assume that because of that, Lord Fourth has lost his right arm permanently as a result. Whether that's true or not, the fact is that we'll have to figh him more carefully from here on out."

"But it's pretty clear by now that ninjutsu isn't going to work on him, so that means that we're gonna have to try and rely on Taijutsu for the time being."

"Well it's worth trying, and it's not like we have anything else to try out."

"Good enough for me. Hey Lee guess what, the two of us are gonna have to take the lead for the time being."

"So it would seem." Lee gave a smirk "So long as you believe you can keep up with me. Do you think you can?"

"I might not be a taijutsu specialist, but I've got more than a few tricks up my sleeve. Watch and learn bowlcut." on that note, Tatsu promptly powered down his Tenseigan Chakra Cloak and breathed a sigh "It's probably for the best, I could feel myself starting to get drained of the stuff anyway, so I'll let it replenish itself. That's one of the benefits of having a psychic connection with the spirit of half a dozen elemental dragons."

"Not all of us are as fortunate as that."

"Well in any case, even if my taijutsu isn't as proficient as yours I do have one other trick to help me out." he paused as blue markings started to appear around his eyes, albeit very slowly.

'So he's trying to enter Sage Mode then? Of course, dragon-based Sage Mode increases his physical capabilities almost as much as the Eight Gates do.'

"Sage Art: Wind Style: Tempest Roar!" Shiroryu took the opportunity to breath out a large blast of wind from his mouth, forcing Obito to use one of his Truthseeker Orbs as a shield in order to block it.

"Due respect Shiroryu, if you're going to make a move against an opponent like him then it will have to be something more diversionary or a combination jutsu."

"My apologies Lord Kazuma, but I could feel that the time limit for the Summoning Jutsu is almost upon us, and I wanted to test a hypothesis of mine before I was called away."

"What sort of hypothesis are you talking about?"

"Well if I'm proven correct, then-" unfortunately, that was whenthe time limit for the summoning ran out and Shiroryu disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"...That's always how it goes isn't it?" Kazuma let out a sigh as he glanced up, only to take notice of Obito's Truthseeker shield was becoming malformed "What the…"

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Tatsu shot a look in his direction, which he then proceeded to share with Naruto, Sasuke and Lee.

"I hope so, because if we're right… we may have just found his weakness."

"Obito what happened to you, why are you doing this?" Minato called out to him "I thought that you wanted to become Hokage, so why?"

"Do you really want to know why?" Obito let out a loud scoff "Don't make me laugh."

"Obito…"

'Now's my chance then…' Tatsu paused as he got into a stance, blue markings appearing around his eyes as he began gathering a certain type of energy.

"Please, just tell me why."

"Do you truly believe that you have the right to lecture me now sensei?" Obito's tone was laced with venom and disdain "You always show up too late when it matters the most… the most prominent example in mind is when Rin died. But all things considered, I'm glad that my sensei was a Hokage at one point, because knowing that made it that much easier to give up on such a foolish dream as becoming one myself!"

'Obito… If I had realized that man was really you then I may have been able to stop you, and then I might have been able to prevent Kushina from dying. I might not have had to make Naruto into the jinchuuriki of the Nine Tails. If only… If only I had realized it was Obito, then perhaps the shinobi world wouldn't have ended up like this either.'

"Even though you had been my teacher, you never realized it was me. The fact is that was who you are fundamentally. How pathetic it truly is. You died as a Hokage, as a hero, but now you've been exposed as the utter disgrace you are in front of your own son. Yes that's the absolue truth, and you know it as well as I do. A Hokage is an absolutely pitiful existence, in comparison to what I have become."

"Spare me the messiah complex already." this was when Tatsu got his attention, blue markings having appeared around his eyes and a large Rasengan spiralling in one hand "All I'm hearing is that you're bitter towards the title of Hokage because you didn't have what it takes to become one yourself. You ready bro?"

"Ready when you are." Kazuma placed a hand on Tatsu's shoulder.

"Especially the likes of the Fourth over there, the man who became Hokage and passed down his secrets to my older brother. You of all people have no right to look down on them like you're on some kind of pedestal." in a flash the two of them blitzed above Obito, and Tatsu was able to deal him a Sage Mode-enhanced Rasengan straight to the spine "So stop griping about it like some pathetic brat!" the Rasengan continued grinding into his back, the force sending him crashing to the ground in a heap 'It looks like we had a decent theory going for us after all. Even if regular ninjutsu doesn't have any effect on him, it looks like he can still be hurt by attacks that utilize nature energy. Shiroryu used an attack on him that used nature energy and his shield wasn't able to nullify it all the way, and that's all the proof we needed!'

'So it looks like our theory worked out, and not only that but I see that your mastery over Sage Mode might even be better than mine. You truly have grown strong over the years Tatsu, and I can't tell you how proud I am of you.'

"I know how you feel, they've both grown into quite fine shinobi over the years."

Kazuma glanced up to see Itachi, Shisui and Ayame drop down onto the scene using Itachi's own Susanoo, which promptly caught him and Tatsu as they were flung higher into the air by the force of the Rasengan "Where the heck have the three of you been up until now?"

"We could say the same thing about you." Shisui pointed out dryly "Keeping in mind the fact that you up and bailed on us when that guy became the jinchuuriki of the Ten Tails."

"...I asked you first."

"Fine fine, it turns out that not all of the Ten Tails clones disappeared when it did, so we've essentially been dealing with all of the stragglers up until now."

"That bad?"

"Not particularly hard, but they did have strength in numbers." Itachi told him "Even with my Amaterasu, it took a fair amount of time to get all of them."

"And I can imagine that you're still getting used to having the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, so that makes sense."

"That and being alive again after being dead for a few months."

"That is also fair."

"So it is, but getting back on topic, what we you learned so far?" asked Shisui "About the new situation I mean."

"It turns out the Obito up there has taken the Ten Tails into himself and willingly turned himself into its jinchuuriki. It took a fair amount of time and energy, but it turns out that while ninjutsu doesn't hurt him or damage those black orbs he uses for offensive and defensive purposes, but there are two types of attacks that do hurt him, those being physical attacks like taijutsu, and those that use nature energy."

"In other words, attacks that use Sage Mode like yours." Itachi noted "But that's where the problem lies, seeing how you're the only one of us that can use it. To put it in simple terms, none of us would be of any use against him."

"For the lack of a better way to put it, not to mention no time to find a better way to put it, yeah none of you can help." Tatsu told him dryly "But in any case that doesn't make much of a difference now that we know what we do, see for yourself." he jerked a thumb down towards where the smoke was clearing, revealing Obito to be lying on the ground with a large wound in the middle of his back "Case and point, nature energy and taijutsu can damage him. I think we just took a huge step closer to ending this."

'That brat actually believes such a thing?' Obito let out a silent scoff as he placed one of his Truthseeker Orbs onto his back to heal his wound 'I can't believe that a jinchuuriki with the power of the Ten Tails has such a weakness, and with the Ten Tails inside my body, I can't use my Kamui to phase through anything either. Taking this power for myself has more drawbacks than I had anticipated.'

"Let him brood over his newly obvious weakness for a minute, Kazuma can you take me over to the others?"

"I'm on it, and the rest of you grab on as well." Kazuma promtply grabbed onto Tatsu's shoulder, with his own shoulder by grabbed by Itachi and the others, and the two of them promptly blitzed over to where Naruto and the others were "Here we are."

"Thanks bro. For those of you who didn't see that for whatever reason, turns out the ultimate incarnation of power over there, I'm using that ironically, actually does a weakness."

"Are you going to fill us in?" asked Sasuke.

"Summoning animals like Shiroryu or the toads from Mount Myoboku use Sage Jutsu, or nature energy in their attacks."

"I think I get where you're going with this." Naruto muttered "When I tried to sense the power of the Ten Tails earlier, it turned out to be nature energy itself, so maybe we can counter nature energy with nature energy."

"That's one way of putting it, but to dumb it down enough we need to use Sage Mode if we want to hurt him."

'They figured this out so quickly.' Tobirama studied Tatsu and Naruto for a moment, then gave a small smile 'He was able to instantly grasp how to use the Flying Raijin Jutsu in tandem with his older brother, and not only that but he's mastered Sage Power, has the Tenseigan and even has this new dragon-based power I've never seen before. Your younger grandson truly is something else, but you already know that don't you Koga? Then there's that boy Naruto, he has a great deal of promise as well. Looking at him, it feels like I'm looking at Elder Brother. Your earlier attack did work, but it's clear that he's already healed himself from it, and now he's guarding his back more closely. We can't risk teleporting behind him carelessly, or we might end up getting erased by him."

"Whatever happens, you guys can handle it."

"What the heck do you mean by that?" asked Naruto "You're not gonna just up and bail on us are you?"

"You can handle him without me now that we know what damages him, but I'm thinking that we'll go for the divine and conquer strategy in this case."

"Meaning what exactly?" asked Lee.

"Meaning that you, Naruto and Sasuke will stay here and deal with him. I'm gonna go over and take care of Madara myself before he can do too much more damage."

"But can you handle him on your own?" asked Naruto "I mean your dragon form is pretty much on par with me when I use Kurama's power."

"I know, but I have something in mind that might work. Or it might destroy my body. But in any case I don't plan on going alone, I was gonna bring with me a few of the ones that can't use Sage Mode." he jerked a thumb back at Itachi, Shisui and Ayame "And even then the First is already over there, so I'll have him backing me up too. But before then, I want to assure all of you with this." he put his hand in, which prompted Naruto, Sasuke and Lee to follow his lead and do the same "As we approach the decisive battlegrounds, believe that the blades of our hearts and souls will never shatter! Believe that our resolves will never waver! Though our paths may diverge, our iron hearts will remain as one! Swear that even if the land itself may break asunder, we will return alive and well! Scatter!" and then he rushed over to Kazuma and grabbed onto his shoulder, with Itachi, Shisui and Ayame doing the same, and then with a single hand seal on the part of Kazuma, the four of them all disappeared in a green flash.

"So… I guess they're okay with it."

"It's more than just that." Sasuke told him "It's that they have faith in us to get the job done without them, and you don't have a clue how much that means to us. Tatsu and I are pretty similar when you think about it. Younger brothers to geniuses, kept in the dark about what really happened that night, spent years training in any way we could to find our own way."

"And the magic eyes that grant you all sorts of awesome jutsu and the like."

"That too. You and Lee are sort of the same too."

"You know I never thought about that, but I guess you're right. We were both thought of as outcasts, nobody bothered to give any of us the time of day, whether it be because of what we have or what we don't have. But we persevered, and with years of hard work, training until our bones crack and just trying to find people that accepted us and saved us from ourselves. I guess in a few ways, me and Bushy Brow really are alike."

"You and Lee, me and Tatsu, but in any case while we have similarities and differings that work for and against us, there are a few things we have in common. We strive to protect the things that we hold dear, we push ourselves as hard as we can for as long as we can for the sake of pursuing our dreams. But above all… we're survivors."

"Believe it." he was promptly smacked upside the head, multiple times actually "Oh come on, it's not that bad!"

"I've had enough of listening to your prattling. The time has come for me to start making preparations for the Infinite Tsukuyomi to be cast." this was when Obito finally spoke up as he made his way forward, slamming his hands into the ground as he prepared to make his move against the group, which subsequently caused a giant flowering tree to sprout out from the ground "As I've told before, there is nothing that this reality has to offer that is even worth salvaging. The world that we live in now is already dead." with a wave of his hand, he had the flowers blooming on the tree summon a series of enormous Tailed Beast Bomb.

'Dammit this is bad, he's about to fire four of them at once?'

"This just became problematic." Tobirama noted grimly "It would take one person per each of those to teleport away using the Flying Raijin Jutsu. Myself and the Fourth would be able to teleport two of them, and that boy Kazuma would make three, but that would still leave one more we wouldn't be able to deal with, and Elder Brother is still occupied at the moment."

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Meanwhile, with a certain set of reanimated rivals…

'This isn't good…' Hashirama glanced over at the sight of the Tailed Beast Bombs charging as his wood golem sent Madara's Susanoo staggering backwards "Madara I'm going to need you to wait for a moment, it seems as though your comrade is acting up a bit."

"As if that means anything to me! Keep in mind that you and I are Reanimations, so we have no need to concern ourselves with such things! Right now this battle is the only thing that matters to me!" Madara stopped his Susanoo and sent it charging forward, intent on continuing their battle, until…

"Sage Art: Fire Style: RASENGAN!" this was when Tatsu and Kazuma blitzed onto the scene via the latter's Flying Raijin Jutsu, and the former unleashed a Sage-powered Rasengan infused with fire chakra that slammed into Madara's Susanoo, sending it staggering back a few feet but not damaging it in the slightest, and his Sage Mode wore off immediately after "Sorry to have to interrupt like this Lord First, but I think it's time for the five of us to take over this battle for you."

"The five of us?" Hashirama raised an eyebrow.

"We're waiting on a few others, they should be here any second."

"Who-"

Sure enough, it was at this moment that a large orange Susanoo flew onto the scene and then dissipated as quickly as it had appeared, revealing Itachi, Shisui, Ayame and Izumi as the four of them dropped down onto the scene "Sorry for taking so long, Kazuma dropped us off so we could bring the entire team together, and then the two of them went on ahead."

"I… I see, so one of you managed to master the Flying Raijin Jutsu?"

"That would be my elder brother."

"Our father was on the same team as the Fourth Hokage, and he offered to teach me how to use the jutsu Lord First." Kazuma told him "I was young when he died so he could never teach me how to use the jutsu to its fullest extent, so I mainly use it for transportation, but I did master it enough to get the job done, at least in this case."

"It's good enough for us, but I think it's safe to say that the others need you right now."

"That they do, but I promise you I'll be back to help as soon as I can." Kazuma gave Tatsu a quick brotherly hug, and then he disappeared in a green flash.

'At least I know he's gonna come back this time.'

"A rather interesting turn of events." Madara glanced down at the group "A Tenseigan user and three Uchiha, two of whom have the Eternal Mangekyo like myself."

"Just wait and see, the five of us have a lot more than that."

"I have to object to this." Hashirama turned to face them "I commend you for your bravery and appreciate the offer to help, but Madara is my responsibility to deal with."

"I already know that, but this isn't just about your grudge match with your BFF over there. This is about making sure that the entire world survives. Besides, I think it's safe to say that the rest of the alliance needs you right now." Tatsu glanced back at Hashirama, his gaze unwavering and full of determination, taking him slightly by surprise "I think it's safe to say that the only reason a lot of people joined up with this alliance in the first place was to beat the Akatsuki, but a lot has changed for everyone, even if this entire war has only gone on for about two days, though it honestly feels like it's been going on for years. We're not here as separate villages or nations right now, but here fighting for the sake of our one world. It's because of this that all of the hate, chaos and infighting that's been going on for ages might finally come to an end. True peace might finally be within our grasp, and that's the dream you fought for, that lived and died for, isn't it? Let me and the rest of my group take care of Madara, at least for the time being. Go and help the rest of the alliance, help them to take another step towards a future where we can make our own dreams come true. Naruto and the others can take care of Obito, and you can call it the next step towards a brighter future for all of us, but that's only one step. The others involve taking down the giant tree shooting Tailed Beast Bombs, and beating Madara back into the dirt once and for all. I'm gonna protect them on this battlefield, but they need you to help them on the main one and protect all of us. And give them this message for me: Whatever happens now or later, we're gonna win this war no matter what."

"...You're full of spirit aren't you?" Hashirama let out a chuckle "I suppose Koga would be glad to hear that."

"That was my grandfather right?"

"Indeed he was, and I'm sure he'd be glad to see his kin are so full of spirit." then his gaze hardneed momentarily "I'll journey over to help the others, but I will return to aid you as soon as I can." and on that note, he leapt onto the back of his giant wood golem, which promptly leapt away from the scene in the direction of the giant tree and the rest of the alliance.

"I wouldn't be surprised, but here's hoping we won't need his help in this fight. I guess there's only one way to find out."

"You handled that speech to him pretty well though." Ayame shot him a raised eyebrow.

"Given how much time I spent around my brother and Naruto over the years, I like to think that I had learned how to develop my own Talk no Jutsu. Evidently I did it well enough that it came in pretty handy at a time like this."

"Isn't this just typical." Madara let out a sigh as he powered down his Susanoo "Of course he runs away in the middle of it. Even in death, the two of us could never be on the same page. So be it then, if you're that insistent on entertaining me then I'll just have to make do until then. I will say that I am eager to see what you can do. A member of the Kamikaze clan who managed to awaken the Tenseigan to its fullest, combined with the power of the Genryu? The thought of such a battle sounds… intriguing to say the least."

"I'm glad to see you're impressed."

"Curious would be a better way to describe it. To put in simple terms, when all is said and done, any battle that I would engage in with you is mere child's play."

"Is that out of praise for the First or because you think we're that weak?"

"Honestly? A fair amount of both. Any battle is nothing more than a trivial game when it is compared to my battles with the likes of Hashirama."

"What may be a trivial game to you is pretty important to anyone that can be considered even remotely normal, though I will say that is pretty hard to come by. Beating you will be just another stepping stone to bringing this hell to an end. Seriously though, this war has only lasted for about two days, but it feels like it's been going on for years."

"Time is a matter of perception, but victory is out of the question for you. Any chance you had to achieve victory against me was eradicated when Hashirama left."

"Nobody knows until it's over." Itachi activated his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, with Shisui doing the same as orange and green Susanoo ribcages formed around them respectively "You would be wise not to be so overconfident."

"You shouldn't push your luck. As I told you before, toying with the likes of you is nothing more than a game to me that I play with for the sake of my own amusement, and to pass the time until my only truly worthy challenger returns. The power of the Sharingan and the Rinnegan, in an immortal body with an infinite supply of chakra. All of these powers combined are more than enough to end all of your lives in an instant. Until that moment comes, allow me to show all of you the true meaning of despair. An Uchiha is not someone to mess with."

"Believe me, I already know that all too well. But I think you said yourself that the Kamikaze aren't anything to scoff at either, Genryu or Tensiegan power or not."

"Perhaps, but as I said, more curious than impressive."

"Maybe, but there's one other thing you haven't figured out yet." Izumi stepped forward as her own Mangeko Sharingan flared into life "There's one critical difference between you and the rest of us."

"And what would that be?"

"That it's not a difference in ability." Ayame stepped forward "And it's not a matter of power or experience or anything like that. If you really want us to point it out for you, the big difference here is that we hold with us the will and resolve of everyone in the alliance, of thousands of people regardless of village or nation."

"The will and resolve?"

"I doubt you're gonna understand." Tatsu gripped the hilt of the Dragon Blade "It's mainly about fighting for something other than yourself. We have something that you don't, something that really is worth fighting for, and that's why we're gonna come at you with every ounce of strength we have, and keep coming back until we take you down for good. If I have to crawl my way back from the dead time after time, then so be it. That much I can guarantee. My name is Tatsu Kamikaze, heir to the Dragon Blade, and you'd better remember that name, along with this message: Don't screw with a ninja whose got as much will and resolve as we do." he then shot a quick glance back at Itachi and the others "Hang back for the time being guys, wait for an opening and drop some heavy attacks on him."

"I've heard enough of your prattling." Madara blitzed in front of Tatsu as he drew a tanto blade from within his armor "You meddling fools can go ahead and bark as loud as you like, but it won't mean anything to me in the slightest. I intend to end your pathetic lives here and now, and then I'll be glad to continue my battle with Hashirama that you so rudely interrupted."

"You interrupted the entire war when you showed up and dropped a few meteors out of the sky, so I say we're even."

"Hm. Fair enough I suppose. Come at me then, if you're so confident."

"With pleasure." and then the showdown began as the two of them started running across the battlefield and clashing with each other, Tatsu and his Dragon Blade against Madara and his tanto blade in a brief duel of swordsmanship. This came to ahead when he aimed his sword and thrusted it at Madara's side, cutting off a piece of his armor, revealing his bare torso, which had quickly started to regenerate.

Madara gripped the blade of the sword with his bare hand to stop it from advancing further, and he spun around and dealt Tatsu a sharp kick to the torso that sent him hurtling backwards and into the air, and then he formed a hand seal "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Caterwaul!" he then breathed out a sizable number of fireballs in the shape of dragon heads.

Tatsu dashed along the cliffside and managed to avoid every dragon-shaped fireball, and once he saw Madara appear in front of him he brandished the Dragon Blade and clashed it against the tanto blade.

This brief clash came to an end when Madara parried the Dragon Blade and dealt Tatsu a sharp kick to the torso that sent him hurtling through the air.

Tatsu was quick to rebound and dodge the next series of slashes from Madara's tanto, and then he rebounded and attempted to deal Madara a slash of his own using the Dragon Blade.

Madara caught the blade of the sword with his bare hands and hurled it aside, Tatsu being taken with it as a result, and then he formed a quick hand seal "Wood Style: Wood Dragon Jutsu!" he summoned a wood dragon that he sent hurtling towards Tatsu at high speed.

"Lightning Style: Purple Thunder!" Tatsu coated one hand in purple electricity and slammed it into the face of the dragon, only for the electricity to quickly dissipate 'Shit, you mean this thing can abosrb chakra?' he was quickly caught in the jaw of the wood dragon, only to end up disappearing in a puff of smoke.

'I see, so he substituted himself with a Shadow Clone. Who would've thought one of Tobirama's jutsu would become so commonplace. You are aware that with the power of the Rinnegan at my command, I can simply absorb any ninjutsu that you attempt to attack me with."

"Leaf Dragon GOD!" the real Tatsu materialized behind Madara and launched an upward spin kick, which quickly morphed into a tornado that took on the form of a large dragon, which then swallowed Madara and sent him hurtling into the air and then towards the ground.

"For a simple reason really. It would be too boring." Madara picked himself up and dusted himself off as his body quickly regenerated "If I did then the fight would be over far too soon, and it would hardly even be worth my time. If you're so determined to prove that you're not like the other peons that have wasted my time in the past, then go ahead and try it. Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!" with a quick hand seal, he unleashed a literal sea of flames that engulfed the area in front of him, and quickly hurtled towards Tatsu.

"Ayame! Izumi!"

"Right! Wind Style: Skybound Wind Barrage!" Izumi dropped down and unleashed a barrage of powerful blue-colored wind slashes.

"Water Style: Ripping Torrent!"

"Wind Style: Rasengan!" Tatsu summoned a wind-powered Rasnegan in one hand "Water Style: Ripping Torrent!" he summoned a spiralling torrent of water in his other hand "And now you put them together, and this is what you get! Hurricane Vortex JUTSU!" he slammed both of them together and summoned a large vortex of water vapour that managed to snuff out the sea of flames, creating a large cloud of mist that blanketed the area.

Madara barely even sparred a glance as he activated his Susanoo to fend off a barrage of attacks from those of Itachi and Shisui's Susanoos, sending them staggering backwards, and then he charged through the mist to launch another attack, until…

"Sage Art: Fire Style: RASENSHURIKEN!" a crimson-colored Rasenshuriken blitzed toward him and cleared the mist away in an instant, bissecting Madara and engulfing him in the explosion that followed.

As the dust settled, Madara simply glanced ahead as his body regenerated 'So it seems that this boy is a great deal stronger than I had expected him to be. Resourceful and with a variety of jutsu and powers at his disposal. Nothing compared to my fights with Hashirama, but judged by the standards of this generation, not bad at all."

"If you think that was something, then just wait and see." the dust cleared to reveal Tatsu as he stood before him, his sword drawn and blue markings appearing across his face, signifying that he had entered Sage Mode "I'm just getting started."

"And Sage Mode does make things a great deal more interesting. Now then, how about we raise the stakes with a little bit of this. Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!" Madara slammed his hands together and formed a hand seal, causing a sea of trees to burst upwards from beneath the ground and elevate himself and Tatsu high into the air.

"So he's using the First Hokage's Wood Style now." Itachi and Shisui glanced at each other and exchanged simultaneous nods as the two of them then activated their Complete Body Susanoos, with Izumi and Ayame riding with them in theirs respectively, and flew up towards where the battle was about to continue.

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(episode 380)

"Listen everyone, and listen well!" Hashirama's Wood Golem leapt onto the scene before the rest of the alliance, and Hashirama himself returned to the ground and addressed them "Do not give up, and do not lose faith. I am still here with you, and so are the rest of my clones. We only need to change the trajectories of the Tailed Beast Bombs. The other Hokage will also be taking measures and repel them across the ocean, so I ask that the rest of you to combine your powers to create an Earth Style Wall, whereas I will use my Deep Forest Emergence to launch and guide them towards the ocean."

"That's not going to happen!" having overheard this entire exchange, Obito launched a series of black rods coated with red chakra into the ground, and then he formed a series of hand seals "Six Crimson Ray Formation!" and then a large crimson colored barrier that surrounded the entire battlefield as the Tailed Beast Bombs continued to grow even bigger.

'So that's what he intends to do, he's trapped everyone inside the barrier and made it so that we won't be able to expel the Tailed Beast Bombs.'

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Meanwhile, with the first group of heroes…

"So he's trapped us all inside with the Tailed Beast Bombs." Kazuma flashed onto the scene and glanced over at Naruto and the others "Tactically speaking, that actually is a fairly ingenious move."

"And now we've reached the Endgame." Obito promptly wrapped himself inside a sphere made out of one of his Truthseeker Orbs.

"That doesn't leave us with many options. We're going to have to teleport those spheres outside of the barrier using the Flying Raijin."

"You're right about that." Tobirama gave him a simple nod "But it raises a question, will you and the Fourth be able to handle the others?"

"I can't mark them so I'll only be able to handle one, and I'm fairly certain that Lord Fourth is going to be about the same."

"You're right." Minato frowned in thought "Perhaps if we…"

"Let me guess." Obito shot another disdainful glare in their direction "You intend to teleport the stalk itself outside of the barrier? Do you really believe that I would be foolish enough to let you do such a thing? You won't be able to save anyone."

'Obito… How could you have become what you are now?'

"Hey dad." this was when Naruto got his attention and held out a fist to him "I'm not sure if it's gonna work, but I've got an idea, if you're willing to bumb fists with me."

"...Of course." Minato promptly bumpbed fists with him, and then they felt what was taking place as a result "So that's it then."

"Yeah and your Kurama was right, having yourself ask you for a favor does sound pretty weird when you say it out loud. I remember this one time I was training with Tatsu, I summoned a Shadow Clone and then it asked me to take off my shirt and-"

"Naruto!" Obito drew their attention back to him "You're wasting your time. Your father is absolutely useless, and he can't accomplish anything. Even when he was alive, he wasn't able to protect your mother, his own wife, nor any of his own subordinates. You are aware of what tomorrow is going to be don't you? The same goes for you too Kazuma, and for Tatsu. It will be the anniversary of the day your parents all died. In this world full of failures, death is the end and it is absolute. So you see…"

"Oh yeah, that's right. That means that tomorrow is gonna be my birthday." Naruto shot a grin at the others as his Tailed Beast mode roared into life once mpre "So you see, it's not over because I'm still here in this world, and the same goes for the rest of my friends!"

'Naruto… you truly have grown strong.' Minato gave a small smile 'I'm sure you'd be happy to hear about that Kushina.'

"Come on let's go dad, we've got work to do!"

"And so do the rest of us." Lee gave a smile, then glanced over at Sasuke, his voice low "Given everything that was happening with the war, I completely forgot that tomorrow was going to be his birthday."

"I already got him a gift." Sasuke waved him off in a subtle manner "Worse comes to worse just get a ramen coupon and give that to him, he'll worship the ground you walk on for the next week or so. Or until he uses it about 20 minutes after he gets it. Besides, we've got other problems to deal with right now, like the barrier. The one the other four Hokage set up didn't let a Tailed Beast Bomb through either, and given the amount of power that Obito has at his disposal now that he's the jinchuuriki of the Ten Tails, I think it's safe to say that this barrier is as strong as the one the Hokage set up before, maybe even stronger. Even with the powers that Lee, Kazuma and I have, not to mention Naruto and the other Hokage, smashing through this thing definitely isn't going to be easy. Tell me something Naruto, do you have a plan?"

"More or less." Naruto gave a small shrug, but didn't look at them as he spoke "I just need a few minutes to focus.

"Right, so I'm afraid the rest of us may need to buy some time." Mintao glanced toward Naruto, the two of them communicating through their newly established mental link "So you do have a plan then?"

"Yeah, just let me explain what Kurama and I came up with, and you go ahead and tell me if it's gonna work or not okay?"

"Alright then, go ahead and tell me. I'm sure that you can see it Kushina, just how much our son has grown up until now. I'm so sorry Naruto. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for you up to this point.'

"You'd better get ready dad, the really hard part is about to get started."

"You… heard all of that?"

"We're talking through our thoughts, I can hear pretty much everything you're saying and thinking." Naruto shot him a sideways glance, and then the chakra cloaks of almost every member of the alliance reappears.

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Meanwhile, with the others…

'What in the-' as one could imagine, Ino (from her place atop Katsuyu) and the other members of the alliance were left taken aback when their Kurama chakra cloaks reappeared around them "So then he didn't run out of chakra after all?"

"I noticed it when I was healing everyone, but it seems that rather than being depleted, it had merely shrunk down." Katsuyu told her.

"I'm definitely not going to complain, it even feels like it's bigger and more powerful than it was before. It feels a little bit different too, like there's something else in there too."

"So that's what he's planning." Shikamaru frowned slightly "He's thinking about trying to use these chakra cloaks. The question is, will it be enough?'

'It's a remarkable feat really.' Hashirama looked around the scene in slight awe 'He was able to share his chakra with all of the other shinobi. No it's more than that, it seems there's chakra from the Nine Tails. This boy truly is something remarkable.'

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Meanwhile, at the front…

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke glanced back to see Jugo and Hotaru rush onto the scene "Glad to see that the two of you are still alright."

"Perhaps, but this situation isn't looking good." Hotaru told him "We should get outside the barrier, we can use a Reverse Summoning Jutsu."

"I already thought of doing that. Can you use Water Clones to do them as well?"

"I should be able to."

"Then have them on stand by, and worse comes to worse we can Naruto, Kazuma and Lee with us. The Hokage are reanimations, so they'll be able to regenerate."

"Actually that reminds me." Naruto spared a quick glance back at Sasuke "I haven't given any of you guys chakra cloaks yet."

"Go ahead and give them to the others, I've actually got something of my own."

"Then how come you didn't bring that up before now?"

"Because I didn't get a chance to test it before the war started, but given that the fate of the world is on the line…" Sasuke's eyes flashed blue for a second, before his body was suddenly coated in a thick cloak of electricity "I call it my Raijin cloak, it serves as something similar to armor, but I can't transfer that chakra to everyone like you can."

"Huh. Pretty cool actually."

"All of you are wasting your efforts." Obito let out a scoff as his Truthseeker sphere finished materializing around him "Use as many jutsu as you like, but it won't be enough to protect any of you from the shockwave of so many Tailed Beast Bombs exploding simultaneously within the confines of this barrier. Now begone." and just as the sphere closed, the Tailed Beast Bombs all fired outwards, resulting in a massive shockwave being sent rippling throughout the confines of the barrier, and an enormous column of smoke bursting out of the top of the barrier. When the dust began to settle, Obito exited his sphere to fine the tree had been mostly incinerated as a result of the blast, but everyone in the alliance was still alive 'How can this be?'

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Meanwhile, with the alliance….

"Holy crap this shit is amazing!" Zaku lit up as he looked himself over "All of that and we didn't even get scratched by those things! It's like super armor! I feel like I'm invincible, nothing can hurt me now!"

"That was what you said when you got those air cannons in your arms, and you remember how that turned out." Dosu pointed out dryly "And for the record, that's not what happened."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Take a look over there." Kin pointed to a certain glowing red cube in the distance "I think we just ended up outside the barrier itself."

"...Wait what?! How in the fuck did we-"

"It's right over here." Shino pointed to a certain Flying Raijin kunai on the ground a short distance away from them "It was the Flying Raijin jutsu."

"So what then, you mean Naruto up and learned that jutsu too?"

"No, I sense that there's more at play than just Naruto's chakra. Everyone was moved using the Flying Raijin Jutsu, which could only be the work of the Second Hokage or Fourth Hokage, or of the likes of Kazuma."

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Meanwhile, with the frontrunners…

"I have to give you credit Fourth." Tobirama glanced over at Minato "It seems that this would be the second time you've managed to save all of shinobi kind."

"I wouldn't say that…" Minato was left panting slightly from the feat in question "I've still failed far more times than that, so I suppose I just have to continue making up for it."

"You're not going to hear me complain about that." Naruto shot him a grin "If everybody out there is alive then I say that's a huge success."

"I'm not sure I understand though, what exactly did you do?" asked Lee.

"My dad used his Flying Raijin jutsu to teleport everybody outside the barrier so they wouldn't get hit by the blast."

"Everyone, as in everyone with that jutsu?"

"It's the principle of the Flying Raijin." Kazuma told him "The user can't teleport something that they're not touching either directly or indirectly, and that includes their chakra."

"But he wasn't touching everyone, and his chakra wasn't either."

"Maybe not, but his chakra has more or less merged with Naruto's, and his chakra is touching just about everyone."

"Yep!" Naruto's grin widened further "I went ahead and shared Kurama's and my chakra with the others beforehand, so if dad and our chakra and everybody were to… uh…"

"You're saying that if you were to use your chakra to make indirect contact with everyone, then it would work and move everyone to safety, so the two of you combined your chakra into one to form the link."

"So you used the principle behind the Shadow Clones." Tobirama frowned slightly "Even if you were to divide and disperse your chakra, so long as you keep even a small amount of it there without putting it out, when the original body infuses chakra again to regain control, all of the individual fractions of chakra begin to resonate and form a link to each other."

"So to put it in simple terms, by joining his chakra with that of the Fourth, Naruto was able to link him to the rest of his own chakra residing in the other members of the alliance at the moment."

"Wait, so is that what I did?" Naruto blinked, earning a few dull looks from the others "What, I'm just asking."

"Again in simple terms, yes that's what you did."

"Oh. Huh. Cool. Hey by the way I've gotta give you credit Kazuma, you and Old Man Second sure know a lot about how my Shadow Clones work."

"It's not your jutsu, mainly because he was the one who created it."

"Wait, that was him?"

"He's notorious for creating a lot of high level and forbidden jutsu, the most well known of them being the Shadow Clone Jutsu and the Flying Raijin, not to mention that he's the the one that created the Reanimation Jutsu."

"...Wait are you serious?!"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time." Tobirama told him flatly "Now stop blathering and focus on the task at hand, keep in mind that we are still in the middle of a war."

"Oh yeah right, come on dad we've got work to do. There's nothing that the four of us can't do if we work together. You, me, and both halves of Kurama."

"Right." Minato gave a simple nod, though his face fell "Naruto, I wish that there was more time for the two of us to talk with you now that you're all grown up."

"Yeah well, guys like us don't need to talk, because I already know. I already met the chakra that mom left behind. I figured that what you want to say to me is just nagging me about the same stuff that mom already did right?"

"Naruto… Let's go, we've got work to do."

"Right!"

A/N:

And with this chapter, not only do we see the power of the Ten Tails jinchuuriki first hand, but we also get to see the start of his inevitable downfall that will come at the hands of Naruto and Sasuke, and not only that, but we get to see the start of another fight I'm looking forward to: Tatsu vs Madara, albeit it with Tatsu having a little bit of backup of course, in the form of the original Team Dragon, which consists of Kazuma, Itachi, Shisui, Ayame and Izumi. With the five of them backing him up, not to mention all of the powers he has at his disposal, Tatsu is able to give Madara one hell of a fight.

All the while, Naruto, Sasuke and Lee, along with three of the four Reanimated Hokage, are left to fight Obito (the new Ten Tails Jinchuuriki), the battle quickly reaching its climax, but as you guys know, this isn't going to be so easy to put an end to.