Son of the Sannin

by Ander Arias

Naruto lost his parents the night of his birth due to the Kyubi escaping, but fortunately Jiraiya and Tsunade are willing to take care of him in their place. Watch how his life unfolds while being raised by the Sannin, and how such actions will change not only Naruto's life, but the lives of those around him. Slight AU

122. The Terror of Madara Uchiha

Author's Note: Well, here it is, the moment so many of you have you been waiting for. Also, the longest chapter in the entire story. Enjoy the bloodbath:

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Chapter 122:

The Terror of Madara Uchiha

or

Sorry, no funny alternate title this time

Second Divison Base Camp, Land of Fire

"Is that really Madara Uchiha?"

"He doesn't look like a reanimation..."

"It can't be the real Madara Uchiha! He died long time ago!"

Up on the hill, Madara smirked, amused by the effect he was having on the Allied ninjas. Even if they weren't convinced of the authenticity of his identity, the sensors had to be noticing the immense power of his chakra.

"I see some people have doubts about my identity. Reasonable, I suppose. But let me assure you that yes, I am indeed Madara Uchiha in the flesh. You may have heard that I died in the battle against Hashirama Senju, way back during the First Ninja War. News of my death were grossly exaggerated."

Of course, Madara wasn't going to reveal that he did die against Hashirama, and it was thanks to the forbidden jutsu Izanagi that he managed to cheat death.

"From what I've been told, it seems that you already met my main associate, Obito Uchiha," Madara revealed, prompting the murmurs to grow even louder. "Yes, while I'm not a founding member, you could say that I'm affiliated with the organization known as Akatsuki. Figured I'd make clear for what side I'm fighting for.

"Now, I can hear that many of you are still having doubts about the validity of those claims, especially my identity," Madara said, as he took a step forward. "Allow me then, to dispel those doubts with something only the real Madara Uchiha could provide."

Madara then jumped from the hill, landing with a loud thud, and raising a small cloud of dust. He looked at the crowd of ninjas gathered in front of him, his naturally black eyes turning red as they shifted into the Sharingan, as he flared his chakra a little so non-sensors could feel its sheer, raw power. The effect was immediate, as a wave of panic washed over the ninjas of the Second Division, making them temble and hesitate.

Madara smirked, and took a step forward, flaring his chakra again, causing most of the ninjas on the first lines of the front to take a step back in fear. Another step, and the fear grew more. Another step-

"Stand firm!" Kurotsuchi yelled, as she hovered above her troops. "Madara or not, powerful or not, he's just one man! He can't hope to take on all of us! So I don't want to see any of you hesitate, you hear me? We fought enemies far more fearsome than this guy!"

"Yes, Tsuchikage-sama!"

"As you order, commander!"

"Yes commander! We won't let you down!"

Soon, a chorus of cheers and affirmative answers filled the air, as the fear was lifted, replaced by a wave of battle euphoria.

"A girl that flies. That must be the granddaughter of Onoki Zetsu told me about. She has more spunk than the big nosed brat, but she's just as big mouthed," Madara thought, unable to repress a smirk. "Nice job cheering up your troops, girl. But soon, you're going to see that your earlier fear was more than justified. Time to dance!"

And with that Madara decided to stop playing intimidation games, and charged towards the Second Division.

"Everybody, charge! Crush that guy!" Kurotsuchi ordered.

Kurotsuchi's order was replied by a roar of affirmations, followed by many battle cries, and every ninja of the Second Division charged forward, ready to put down this man who claimed to be Madara. The two forces finally clashed, and the initial result were dozens of Allied ninjas being sent flying by the sheer force behind Madara's charge.

As the former Uchiha Clan Head forced his way into the middle of the bulk of the Second Division, Allied ninjas swarmed him from every direction. Unfortunately for the latter, trying to overwhelm Madara with sheer numbers was proving to be useless. The rogue Uchiha moved fast, had excellent footwork, perfect awareness of his surroundings, and his strikes were fast and deadly.

He would parry or deflect every strike aimed at him with sheer speed and precision, and counter with a single lethal blow. Whenever somebody attacked him from the flanks, he sidestepped and used the attacker's momentum against them, making them to hit an Ally ninja instead. And Madara never stayed in the same position for more than two seconds, making attacking him from behind impossible. His Sharingan gave him an accurate prediction of what his enemies would do, to the point that from his point of view, it almost felt like fighting opponents in slow motion.

He even used the enemy's numerical superiority against them. Sometimes, rather than incapacitate or kill an enemy ninja, he would grab them and use their body as a living shield, making the other Allied ninjas to stop, and Madara would capitalize on said hesitation by beating them with the body of the ninja he was holding hostage. When kunai or shuriken were thrown at him, he would expertly catch them and toss them towards other Allied ninjas. Someone even had the bright idea of tossing several kunai with explosive notes attached to them. He tossed one back at the Iwa ninja who tossed it first, and tossed the others in different directions. The action was followed by several explosions and screams of pain.

Soon Madara grew bored of fighting bare handed, and stole a katana from a Kumo ninja and grabbed a kunai a Suna ninja sent his way. Now that he was armed, he only needed one precise swing to a vital spot in order to end the life of his opponents, swings his enemies didn't even have time to block or dodge. Pools of blood starting to form across the green grass as Madara killed an Allied ninja with each passing second.

Kurotsuchi was flying above the battle, a cube of light ready to fire already in her hands.

"Come on, I only need one clear shot to end this asshole, but I can't fire without hitting my men right now," Kurtosuchi gritted her teeth as she watched Madara slaughter her troops. She always loved the sheer destructive power of the Dust Release, but now she was realizing of a really big downside.

"This is getting boring. Is there anybody among these rabble that can provide for a challenge?" Madara asked.

"Konoha Whirlwind!"

Suddenly, Madara saw a young man surrounded by a green glowing aura, dressed in a green jumpsuit, sporting a ridiculous bowl haircut –that reminded him of Hashirama in his youth– and equally ridiculous thick eyebrows, ready to deliver a roundhouse kick. Madara smirked, took a step back to dodge the kick, and lunged forward to sink his kunai into the poor sod's neck.

However, much to his surprise, the teen continued to spin, and using his building momentum, delivered a kick with his other foot, swatting the kunai out of Madara's hand. Then, after completing a 360º turn, he launched himself towards the Uchiha, and assaulted him with a barrage of punches and kicks. Even with the Sharingan, Madara was having trouble following and predicting the young man's moves, as his speed and strength was way superior to that of the enemies' he had been fighting.

"He's even averting my gaze, almost as if he had been trained to fight against somebody with a Sharingan," Madara noticed. He then saw that his green clad opponent pulled something out of his ninja tool pouch, very quick, and in a way that Madara didn't see what it was. "Huh?"

His young opponent tossed the object to the ground, raising a cloud of black smoke, which he used as a cover.

"A smoke bomb. Not bad, but-"

Madara was interrupted when he saw the cloud of smoke shifting slightly. He leaped back just in time as a barrage of shuriken and kunai emerged from within the cloud, as he swung his katana in order to parry the weapons that would hit him. His Sharingan warned him that some of the kunai and shuriken were imbued with lightning chakra, and thus he avoided those instead.

While he was busy deflecting the rain of steel –now that the cloud was beginning to dispel, Madara could see they were being fired from a sealing scroll by a girl with brown hair styled in twin buns– the same green clad kid from before was charging at him, together with man who was dressed in the same green jumpsuit and had the same ridiculous hairstyle. Still, that didn't change the fact that they were moving at such insanely high speed that his Sharingan was having trouble following them.

"Come on Lee! The two of us at once!" the green clad man said.

"I'm behind you, Gai-sensei!"

"DOUBLE MORNING PEACOCK!"

Gai and Lee launched a barrage of fast and powerful punches at Madara, their fists moving so fast, they produced fireballs of the resulting air friction. Madara wasn't even able to counterattack, just block and dodge the lethal punches at best as he could. Still, he wasn't worried or nervous in the slightest; far from it, he was smiling, satisfied by the challenge provided by his green clad opponents.

"Yes! This is more like it!" Madara said, almost laughing.

Gai and Lee finished their combo by launching a fiery punch each towards Madara, which he shielded from by crossing his arms in front of him, the resulting fiery explosion sending the Uchiha skidding backwards.

"Hehehe, not bad, but you-"

Madara was interrupted when a new opponent, an Hyuga by both his looks and his activated Byakugan, rushed towards him. Like Gai and Lee, he was also surrounded by a green glowing aura.

"Eight Trigrams: Double Exploding Palms!"

The Hyuga slammed both his glowing palms into Madara, resulting yet again in another explosion, sending the revived Uchiha even further away from the bulk of the army, this time bouncing on his back rather than skidding. Still, he was able to regain balance and land on his feet again.

"Yes! Now that he's far away from my troops, there's no risk of accidentally killing them!" Kurotsuchi cheered, as she readied her deadly attack. "Dust Release: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!"

Madara was encased by a cube of white light, which started to glow brighter, before flashing briefly, the cube and everything inside it disappearing, Madara included, if he wasn't fast enough to dodge it before he could be vaporized.

"Shit!" Kurotsuchi cursed, as she began throwing more cubes of light at Madara, the Uchiha dodging all of them. Unfortunately, she had to stop herself from spamming the attack, or else her chakra reserves would be empty in seconds.

Upon seeing that he was relatively safe, Madara took a second to gather a little of his breath,

"It seems there are indeed some worthy ninja among you lot," Madara said, his Sharingan scanning the crowd in front of him. "I think that was enough warm up, don't you agree? Let's start taking this fight a little more seriously," Madara said, as he starting making hand seals. "Fire Release: Majestic Destroying Flame!"

Madara expelled a stream of fire, that quickly widened into a gigantic wall of flames, big enough to engulf half the Second Division, much to said ninjas shock and horror.

"Water Release users, counter that jutsu, now!" Kurotsuchi hollered.

Once again, Kurotsuchi's words snapped her troops out of their fear induced stupor, and those with water affinities quickly began to form hand seals.

"Water Release: Water Wall!"

The combination of dozens of water jutsu formed a tsunami large enough to at least negate Madara's gigantic fire attack. There was a loud hiss as water was evaporated by the flames, and battlefield was covered in a thick cloud of steam as a result. Kurotsuchi could see how Madara took advantage of it and dashed inside the cloud.

"He's trying to engage us in close combat again!" Kurotsuchi warned. "Sensory ninja, keep track of his movements! Wind Release users, dispel the steam this instant!"

Inside the cloud of steam, Madara once again began to slaughter Allied ninjas unimpeded, the lack of visibility not slowing him down in the slightest. He was about to execute a terrified Kiri ninja, when he suddenly stopped, as he was astonished by something he sensed.

"This chakra...! How it can be...?"

"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"

The ground started to shake around Madara, and soon, the Uchiha was surrounded by multiple wooden vines. Madara managed to nimbly dodge them before they could grab a hold of him. However, his mind was focused on something else.

"No, it's not his chakra. Plus, the scale of the attack is too small to be him," Madara guessed. He tracked the source of chakra, until he finally found its origin: a girl no older than thirteen, with spiky white hair styled into two long pigtails. "I see. A descendant. She doesn't look like Hashirama in the slightest, but her chakra is too similar not to be related to him. She has potential, but she's too young and lacks the power that comes with age and experience. Perhaps I could kill her family in order to motivate her to become strong enough to beat me? She might have the potential to be an enemy as challenging as Hashi-"

"Wood Release: Wood Dragon Jutsu!"

Madara was startled upon sensing another spike of Wood Release chakra, mostly because this one came from another source other than the white haired girl. A serpentine dragon emerged from underground, and lunged at Madara. Following the dragon towards its point of origin, Madara could see that the caster was a brown haired girl, a couple years older than the white haired one, with purple marks on her cheeks, and green marks around her eyes and forehead, identical to those that appeared on Hashirama when he used Sage Mode. The girl was strangely familiar to him, but it took him very little to recognize her.

"Oh, I remember you now," Madara said, as ghostly blue ribcages formed around his body, before they generated a gigantic blue skeletal arm. The Susanoo arm grabbed the Wood Dragon by the neck, and slammed it against the ground, shattering it to pieces. "You're the broken girl Obito brought to me, hoping that I could save you before it was too late."

"So you're the one who made me like this," Rin replied, her yellow eyes narrowing in anger.

"And you're complaining? Not only you are alive, but you now possess a power most men could only dream of having!" Madara replied, as his Susanoo vanished. "You should be fighting alongside Obito's side, yet here you are, spitting on his love for you and my gift."

"Gift? Ha! Don't pretend like you did it out of the goodness of your heart. I was nothing but a test subject, right?" Rin asked. "The second cocoon... it was you inside it, am I right?"

Madara couldn't help but smirk. "Clever girl."

Before the conversation could continue, the corner of Madara's eye caught a projectile flying towards him from above. He managed to jump aside just as the projectile opened a large hole in the grassy ground. Three more projectiles followed the first one, which he also dodged, and the Uchiha could see they were perfectly round black orbs with a purple gleam.

"Truth Seeking Balls? Who is powerful enough to...?" Madara asked in shock, as he saw the orbs return to their master, and floating in the air above the bulk of the division was yet another young girl, the same age as the white haired one, covered in a cloak of magenta chakra flames. "Another flying girl. Her chakra is extremely potent. Can it be Six Paths Chakra? But how can somebody so young-" Madara stopped his train of thought, remembering one of Zetsu's reports about the current Hyuuga clan head and her sister possessing an advanced Byakugan, supposedly coming from Sage of Six Path's brother, who lived in the Moon. While finding this information pretty farfetched, the fact that it was Zetsu who said it, and the fact that Akatsuki did have a member claiming he came from the Moon with said advanced eyes, not to mention the girl that was currently facing him, Madara had to accept this reality... for now.

The Hyuga with the Tenseigan sent the four truth Seeking Balls at Madara again. Despite being the first time he saw them, Madara knew of their existence and what they could do, meaning that he had to avoid them at all costs. Fortunately, the Uchiha had the perfect strategy to counter them. Like he did before, he managed to incapacitate and grab an Allied ninja, one from Konoha, and used him as a human shield, intercepting a Truth Seeking Ball that was aimed for him. The poor Allied ninja died on the spot.

"SHIT!" Hanabi cringed, as she hastly recalled the Truth Seeking Balls.

"You have power, girl, but you won't be able to tap into your full potential as long as you care about the life of worthless maggots!" Madara spat, as he threw the corpse of the ninja the Tenseigan-wielding Hyuga had inadvertantly killed. The corpse crashed against her, and was knocked out of the sky.

"Hanabi!" the white haired girl with the Wood Release cried, as she went to check on Hanabi.

"Wood Release: Wood Binding Jutsu!"

Madara sensed the girl Obito asked him to save gathering and shaping chakra for another attack, and indeed, wooden roots emerged under his feet and tried to wrap around him. But before they had the chance to, Madara reactivated the ribcage of his Susanoo, which he used as a protective shield. No matter how hard the wooden roots constricted the ghostly ribcage, it didn't crack.

"Don't bother. You might think you have a great power compared to your peers. We may have undergone the same rejuvenation process and have the same power, but compared to me, even with Sage Mode you are nothing but an insect," Madara said, as he started to make hand seals. "And now that I think about it, I haven't used any of my new powers yet. Well, let's kill two birds with one stone, and show you the difference between the level of our powers! Wood Release: Deep Forest Bloom!"

The whole battleground started to shake while multiple cracks opened around it, as many, gigantic wooden roots and trees started to emerge. As they grew and spread around the area, flowers started to bloom around them. Said flowers began pumping yellow pollen into the air. While the Allied ninjas didn't know what were its effects, they were wise enough to realize they shouldn't get near it.

"What the hell? He can use Wood Release too?" Kurotsuchi asked in shock.

"Don't breathe that pollen!" Rin warned, as she covered her mouth and nose with her hand. "Or else you'll be knocked out!"

Despite Rin's warning, though, the clouds of pollen saturated the air around the battlefield, and many ninjas inadvertantly breathed it. The effect was immediate, and they fell to the ground, completely knocked out. Kurotsuchi looked at this, and gritted her teeth.

"Wind Release users, blow the pollen away!" she ordered, as she elevated higher into the air in order to avoid breathing the pollen, while making several hand seals. "Everybody else, destroy those goddamned flowers! Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire!"

Kurotsuchi exhaled a large stream of fire towards a nearby flower, while other ninjas did the same, mostly using fire and lightning jutsu, and a Konoha kunoichi with brown hair styled in twin buns unsealed a gigantic shuriken that she used to cut the flowers down.

Madara, however, merely smirked in amusement at his enemies' attempt at destroying the flowers.

"You care about those flowers too much," Madara said, shaking his head, as he started to make hand seals. "Wood Release: Mass Wood Clone Jutsu!"

Wooden Madara clones started to emerge from the roots and trees across the battlefield. Said clones quickly jumped out of the trees once they were fully formed, and started engaging the Allied ninjas. The Wood Clones proved to be just as skilled and deadly as the original, if much more fragile. Madara watched in slight amusement and some disappointment, how the vast majority of the enemies struggled to deal with jutsu that weren't even that powerful.

"These clones only have a ten percent of my total power, yet they're giving you as much trouble as my real self," Madara said boredly, crossing his arms as he watched the carnage unfold. "How can you call yourselves-"

"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"

"Lightning Release: Thunder Spear!"

Madara was snapped out of his arrogant monologue when he sensed two attacks aimed at him. He was soon under the shadow of a large tsunami that threatened to crush him under tons of water. Madara, however, was able to jump into the air just as the wave crashed against the ground, and landed on the surface of the mass of water. That moment, however, a spear-shaped lightning bolt hit the water, electrifying it, and zapping Madara.

"Agh!" the Uchiha grunted, though it was more due being caught by surprise, rather than the pain produced by the electric attack. He saw in front of him the white haired girl with the Wood Release, next to a white haired boy that looked identical to her, only a bit taller and with broader shoulders, as well as much shorter hair. "Oh, it's you again. And your brother, I presume?"

"We're your opponents. That's the only thing you should concern yourself with," the boy replied.

"Why? That's a boring outlook to battles. I want to know everything about my enemies," Madara said, chuckling a little, as if the whole battle was nothing but a big game to him. "Say, are you two related to Hashirama Senju?"

"Yeah, we're his great-grandkids," the girl replied. "Name's Kaida, and this is my brother Hagane. And we're going to resume the family tradition of kicking your ass so hard you won't be able to sit down without remembering us."

"So, Hashirama's Bloodline Limit finally manifested once again after neither his children nor grandchildren inherited it," Madara noted. His eyes then rested on Hagane. "Can you use Wood Release like your sister?"

Hagane scolwed upon hearing such a question. "No, I don't. Not that I need it to fight you or anybody else."

"Regrettable," Madara said, shaking his head. "But even then... I can still see something special about you. Yes... it seemed that you inherited something from my rival as well. Hashirama was able to enter Sage Mode instantly and draw nature energy without having to stay still. The way I see how your chakra differs from your sister's... I see you inherited that from him, so you aren't a waste of genes like the rest of his offspring.

"So, do you plan to fight me yourselves? While I can see you have potential and power for two so young, you are no match for me, not even before gaining all this power," Madara said.

"Perhaps you would have defeated our great-grandpa if you weren't so arrogant and full of yourself," Hagane said, as he held out a fist to his sister. "Ready, Kaida?"

Kaida nodded, and bumped her fist with his. "Ready!"

Hagane started to transfer some of his senjutsu chakra to his twin sister, as the two young teens started to make one handed seals with their free hands.

"Wood Release: Kanzeon Lotus King!"

Hagane and Kaida slammed their free hands into the ground, as a giant wooden statue of a praying monk rose from the ground. There were multiple arms growing from the statue's back, and the statue had five small heads encircling its head. The twins were standing at the top of the statue's head.

"How do you like this, huh?" Kaida taunted.

Some of the many arms growing on the giant wooden monk's back shot forward, ready to smash Madara to pulp. The Uchiha, looking unimpressed and even bored, began to jump and leap from one side to another in order to avoid the wooden fists. After one fist almost graced his shoulder, the Uchiha smirked.

"Definitely not bad, for a couple of young brats, that's it," he said, as he continued dodging giant punches. "You two definitely have potential. Maybe one day you'll be able to create the real deal."

"I'll give you a real deal!" Kaida said, as she made a single hand seal. "All is Suffering!"

The small heads encircling the giant wooden monk's forehead started to glow with chakra, and each of them released a stream of one of the five elemental nature attacks. Madara merely leaped backwards, dodging the blast, but had to shield his eyes with his arm to protect them from the wind and peebles raised by the ensuing explosion.

The giant wooden monk advanced again, the small heads glowing with chakra as they prepared to fire again.

"That attack is pretty powerful. Let's see how well it does against mine," Madara said, as he began to make hand seals. "Fire Release: Majestic Demolishing Flame!"

Madara exhaled a huge stream of fire towards the incoming quintuple elemental blast. Unlike his previous fire jutsu, instead of being spread in a cone, the flames were focused into a single, thick stream. Both attacks clashed in the middle, but Madara's jutsu proved to be the superior one, and started to push the statue's multi elemental stream towards it, much to the twin's shock.

"How is he able to overpower our jutsu!?" Hagane asked. "Is he just that strong?"

"Let's worry about that later! Now do something before he burns us alive!" Kaida asked, her voice raising an octave.

Hagane dropped to his knees and slammed his hands onto the top of the statue's head. "I'm on it!"

Hagane's body was surrounded by a glowing white aura, as he used his Bloodline Limit to empower the chakra construct even further. The wooden statue's eyes began to glow with a white light, as so did the five small heads releasing the elemental attacks. The five elemental streams became thicker and larger, and they began to push Madara's fire attack back towards him.

"Yes! Good job, bro!" Kaida cheered, pumping a fist.

While Madara was still casting his fire jutsu, he began to weave even more hand seals.

"Wood Release: Wood Binding Jutsu!"

The earth shook for a moment under the giant wooden statue, as large wooden roots burst from underground, and wrapped around it, threatening to make it tumble, and making it fall backwards, causing the five elemental attack to shoot upwards instead of towards Madara. Unimpeded, Madara's fire jutsu barreled towards the statue, setting it ablaze. Kaida and Hagane managed to jump out of the head just a second before being incinerated.

They landed on the ground, and saw the statue broke down into many pieces of burning wood. Kaida turned around, and pierced Madara with an angry glare.

"Hey, that's cheating!" Kaida protested, gritting her teeth.

The Uchiha smirked. "Cheating, she says. You're such an adorable kid," Madara said in a condescending tone, shaking his head and chuckling a little. "Do you have anything else to offer, or was that your last hidden ace? Because that last trick didn't even push me to use Susanoo."

Suddenly, both Madara and the twins sensed a surprisingly powerful chakra strike coming from behind them. Turning around, the twins saw a giant chakra construct in the shape of a horned, four armed woman stomping their way towards them. Inside the head of said chakra construct was Hanabi, with two clones at each side sitting in the lotus position, drawing nature energy and funneling it towards the chakra giantess.

"Thanks for keeping him distracted while I gathered nature energy for the Avatar of Kalika, guys!" Hanabi said from within the construct. "Everybody, stand back! I'll deal with Madara myself!"

The Senju twins nodded, and quickly leaped out of the way, leaving Madara alone against the chakra colossus. The Uchiha didn't move, he simply let his arms fall to the sides.

"So, you're able to produce cheap imitation of a Susanoo," Madara said, raising an eyebrow. "Hmmm... still, I can see that this 'Avatar of Kalika' radiates power. Perhaps you'll give me a better dance than the rest of these fools," Madara commented, as he started to make hand seals. "Let's test how resilent it is. Wood Release: Wood Dragon Jutsu!"

Another serpentine wooden dragon burst from the ground in front of Madara, and lunged towards Hanabi's chakra construct. The dragon tried to wrap itself around the Avatar's body, but the Avatar used two of its hands to grab it and keep it in place, and the other two to deliver brutal hand chops that cut the dragon in tree parts.

"Well, that wasn't half bad," Madara complimented.

Hanabi didn't say anything, and had the Avatar chuck the pieces of the Wood Dragon at its creator, while making several hands seals herself.

"Fire Release: Crimson Phoenix Flare!"

Hanabi breathed a massive stream of fire that quickly took the shape of a bird. As it barreled down towards Madara, it engulfed the pieces of the wood dragon, setting them on fire. In response, Madara generated the upper half of his humanoid Susanoo. It was a creature that looked like an ogre with rock or armor-like skin. Each of its two arms split into two forearms at the elbow, and it had two faces whose chins bifurcated into two spikes. The Susanoo quickly batted away the pieces of burning wood tossed at him, and managed to weather Hanabi's fire jutsu with relative ease.

"Alright, let's see how well your 'Avatar' does against a real Susanoo," Madara boasted, as his chakra construct reached its full form and size, growing a lower body and a pair of legs, leaving Madara floating in the middle of its chest. Two glowing blue undulating blades appeared on two on its hands. "Let's dance!"

Madara's Susanoo moved forward, and began the duel with a vertical slash, and Hanabi's Avatar stopped the swipe by grabbing it by the blade with one of its hands. The blade released a wave of energy in every direction, strong enough to threaten to break Hanabi's Avatar, but it resisted. The Avatar pushed the sword away, and used the other two hands on its side to deliver a double palm strike to the Susanoo, with enough force to make it tumble backwards for a bit.

"Not bad. Let's see how well you do against this then!" Madara said, as his Susanoo delivered a cross shaped chop with both swords, generating an X-shaped energy shockwave towards Hanabi.

Hanabi made several hand seals, as her Avatar prepared to withold the attack.

"Fire Release: Crimson Phoenix Flare!"

Hanabi once again exhaled a cone of fire, which clashed against the incoming X-shaped blast before it could take the form of a bird. Even if Madara's attack cut through hers, it did the intended job of slowing it down. The Avatar then thrust all its four palms forward in a quadruple strike, dispelling Madara's attack, and generating a shockwave that expanded in every direction.

Madara then charged forwards, ready to strike Hanabi's Avatar down with his two chakra swords. The Avatar, however, started to spin in place, generating chakra streams that spun with it as well, as well as raising a tornado around it.

"Six Paths: Heavenly Spin!"

Madara brought one of his swords down, but was deflected by the Avatar's spinning force. Even if the spinning wasn't as fast as the one done by a human being, and thus couldn't produce a spinning chakra dome, it had enough power to act as a repulsive barrier.

"Well, well, it seems that your so called Avatar is more resilant than I thought," Madara said, sounding a little annoyed.

"Still think this is just a cheap version of the Uchiha Susanoo?" Hanabi smugly asked, placing her hands on her hips.

Madara smirked, seemingly amused at Hanabi's bout of confidence. "It's certinly more powerful than I first imagined. I wasn't expecting somebody not even old enough to bear children to display such amount of power."

"Complimented by the one and only Madara Uchiha. Man, that's going to look so good on my record," Hanabi said, as her Avatar took again a battle stance. "But not as good as 'the kunoichi who defeated Madara Uchiha'!"

"Confident, are you?" Madara said, quirking an eyebrow. "While that construct of yours is a good match for my Susanoo in its humanoid stage, let's see how well you handle it in its armored form."

This gave Hanabi pause. "Armored... form?"

Madara didn't say anything, as blue armor plates began to grow around the chakra construct, covering it completely, while also increasing in size, going from being around the same size as Hanabi's Avatar, to the Avatar only reaching a little below the Susanoo's neck. Through her Tenseigan Hanabi could see the chakra forming this new Susanoo was much stronger. She visibly gulped upon realizing that she no longer had the upper hand against her opponent.

"And just like that, your confidence is all gone," Madara said in an insultingly jovial tone. "Then again, you should feel proud of yourself. The number of enemies that pushed me to use this form of my Susanoo can be counted with one hand. So, I'll make the most of this rare opportunity."

Without further ado, Madara's armored Susanoo charged forward, cracking the earth beneath its feet. A katana formed on the Susanoo's hands, and in less than a second, delivered a powerful blow at the head of Hanabi's Avatar. The Avatar managed to jump away and avoid the swing in time, but even if the initial strike missed, the sword released a wave of cutting chakra forward. Making several hand seals, Hanabi ignited the Avatar's hands on fire.

"Fire Release: Double Burning Palm Strike!"

Using its lower arms, the Avatar delivered a double palm blow at the incoming wave of chakra, shattering it into thousands of tiny dots of lights. Even if it took her some effort, the fact that she was able to nullify Madara's attack restored some of her previous confidence.

"My turn!" Hanabi said, as she made the Avatar to rush forward. "Eight Trigrams: Several Hundred Palm Strikes!"

Once it reached close quarter combat, the Avatar assaulted Madara with an onslaught of palm strikes with all its four arms, moving so quickly, most people could only make a magenta blur. The Susanoo raised its arms in order to protect itself. Each hand struck with both power and precision, pushing the Susanoo back a little with each hit. However, despite all the strikes landing, they failed to make a dent on the Uchiha's formidable defenses.

"What the...? I'm not making any damage!?" Hanabi asked in shock and indignation.

The Susanoo managed to block one of the palm strikes, and with a mighty shoulder bash, it pushed the Avatar backwards, taking several steps back and threatening to fall on its back. Fortunately, Hanabi was able to keep it in balance.

"There's a reason as for why I call this from the Armored Susanoo, little Hyuga," Madara said with a smirk. "But a good defense isn't the only thing this form has. Now behold!"

Madara's Susanoo charged once again. It raised its arms, and a katana of chakra appeared between its hands. It brought the weapon down in a downward slash, which Hanabi's Avatar blocked between the palms of the hands of its upper arms. However, while it stopped its momentum, the blow carried so much power that the hands of the avatar were blown to bits.

"WHOA!" Hanabi cried in shock, sensing part of her Avatar disappear. She hastily focused her chakra into the hands in order to regenerate them.

However, Madara wasn't going to give her any time to catch her breath. The Susanoo continued its assaults, with both brutal sword slashes and devastating stark punches. Hanabi tried to block every hit, but each strike chipped away parts of Hanabi's Avatar, while pushing it backwards, leaving her almost no room to counterattack.

"While you're still weak, I can see you have potential as well. Perhaps once you reach maturity, you might provide a decent challenge," Madara judged, as he made a single hand seal. The Susanoo held his free hand, and a trio of magatama-shaped chakra projectiles, spinning around an invisible axis. "But for now, I'm done with you. Yasaka Magatama!"

The Susanoo threw the magatamas at Hanabi's Avatar. She could see the sheer amount of power the attack carried, and thus she tried one last desperate move.

"Heavenly Spin!"

Broken as it was, the Avatar of Kalika began to spin in place, as protective chakra streams began to spin around it as well. It managed to gain enough speed for when Madara's projectiles impacted, resulting in a trio of explosions. Unfortunately, the Avatar's defense wasn't enough, and the explosions obliterated what was left of the Avatar. The explosions also hurled Hanabi towards the ground, landing with a loud thud. The chakra cloak around her dissipated, revealing her true appearance.

Inside his Susanoo, Madara crossed his arms and smiled, satisfied with his work.

"The power of the current generation of ninjas might be a little disappointing, but the power of the current generation of little girls is truly something," Madara commented. The former Uchiha patriarch then noticed two powerful chakra signatures closing in. "Oh? A new challenger-"

"Amaterasu!"

Suddenly, Madara's Susanoo burst into black flames from head to toe. The black fire began to quickly devour the chakra construct at an alarming rate. Madara tried to push more chakra into the Susanoo in order to repair it and put out the fire, but no matter what he did, the fire simply didn't disappear, nor slowed down in the slightest.

"What kind of fire jutsu is this...?" Madara wondered aloud as he abandoned the Susanoo, which quickly collapsed into nothingness, before the black flames could consume him.

That moment, two individuals, men wearing high collared clothes typical of the Uchiha, both young but older than the little girls he had been fighting against, landed in front of him. And indeed, the Sharingan blazing in their eyes confirmed their indentities.

"In that case, you might be interested in seeing..." the older one began.

"...the power of the current generation of Uchiha," the younger one finished.

Madara eyed the two newcomers, as if sizing them up. He could sense the power of their chakra was nothing to scoff at. He didn't need to look at their eyes to know that these two had the Mangekyo Sharingan, given that the only kind of Uchiha chakra that felt like these two's was the one of his sadly late brother, Izuna.

"Well, well," Madara said, smiling again. "Look at that. At first glance, you two both look and feel powerful. Old enough to have some combat experience, but still in your prime. It seems that the gods above were generous enough to bless me with an actual challenge. What are your names? We're family, after all."

"If you really want to know, my name's Itachi, and that's my little brother, Sasuke," Itachi said.

"Sasuke," Madara repeated, grimacing as if he ate something sour. "Like the Sarutobi Clan head? Whose elder son was Hashirama and Tobirama's protegé. Such an unbefitting name of an Uchiha."

"You don't like my name? Too bad," Sasuke replied, scowling a little. "Because it's the name of the ninja that will send you where you belong: two meters underground."

"Speaking of which, how can you be alive?" Itachi asked. "We already know thanks to Rin Nohara how you returned to your prime and gained Wood Release, but that doesn't explain how you survived your final fight against Hashirama Senju. He brought your body to the village, where it was confirmed as dead, and that it was indeed you. Tobirama spent the next few months performing an extensive autopsy on your body, before finally giving you a burial on an unknown location. There's no way you could have feigned death for such a long time."

"Ah, yes, that's quite the mystery, isn't it?" Madara asked, as if the question amused him. "The answer is way simpler than you think, my esteemed clansman. You sure look like somebody familiar with the forbidden jutsu Izanagi."

"Izanagi?" Itachi repeated.

"Like... the jutsu Danzo used to avoid death?" Sasuke asked, as he recalled Shisui and Shizune's recount of the battle. "How? While Izanagi can undo death, it only works in a very short timeframe!"

Madara smirked. "Why? Who decided that? Izanagi is a jutsu that allows to rewrite reality on a personal level. You can rewrite your death immediately if you wish so, but you can also delay it so your death is undone at any amount of time afterwards. Had Tobirama destroyed my corpse, it would have been my end, but I knew that, even when he was done with it, he wouldn't want to cast it away and would keep it in a proper condition."

"So once we kill you, we'll make sure to burn your body so not even ashes remain," Sasuke stated. "Thanks for sharing such knowledge with us."

"You presume that you can kill me," Madara said with a chuckle. He then slipped into a fighting stance. "Anyway, enough chitchat! It's been very long since I danced with a fellow Uchiha! Show me the power of your generation!" Madara's hand flew through hand seals. "Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"

The earth around the Uchiha brothers was split as big, thick wooden roots emerged from underground, and spread towards the two Konoha ninjas. Sasuke and Itachi were quick to answer, their hands also weaving hand seals as fast as they could.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!"

Sasuke breathed a massive fireball towards the incoming mass of roots, while Itachi exhaled a volley of smaller fireballs for support. The two combined fire jutsu set the growing roots ablaze, successfully stopping Madara's attack.

Then, a katana blade burst from Itachi's chest. The older Uchiha brother coughed a streak of blood.

"ITACHI!" Sasuke screamed, upon noticing Madara impaling Itachi from behind.

"You might be an Uchiha, but your Sharingan must be a poor one if you didn't see me sneak from behind you," Madara taunted, as he twisted the blade inside Itachi. "Perhaps you aren't the worthy opponent I pegged you as."

Then, much to Madara's surprise, Itachi turned his head back at him, and smiled. "Then what comes next may change your opinion on me."

And "Itachi" burst into a murder of cawing crows, which started to fly around the former Uchiha Clan head, molting black wings as they cawed loudly, while pecking Madara with their black beaks.

The former Uchiha Clan head snarled. "Using a genjutsu against me. You have some nerve, brat," Madara said, as he used his own Sharingan to break the genjutsu.

The world around Madara flickered for a fraction of a second before it returned to normal, just in time to catch Sasuke about to strike him with his lightning-enhanced katana. Madara jumped back to avoid it, but then Sasuke delivered an horizontal swing with his other hand, holding a shoto whose blade was coated in flames, which Madara also dodged. Still, Sasuke was undeterred, and continued his assault, delivering quick swings from multiple angles and directions, though Madara managed to either dodge them, or block them by parrying Sasuke's wrists.

"One can put me in a genjutsu, and the other is able to manipulate two elements at once. Yes, you two have talent. Of course, I shouldn't expect any less from my fellow clansmen, should I?" Madara said with a grin, as he started to make hand seals. "I don't know about you, but I think I'm done with warm ups. Let's get to the good parts, shall we? Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"

More large wooden roots emerged from under Sasuke and Itachi's feet, quickly wrapping around them and hoisting them into the air. Madara then manifested his Susanoo in its humanoid form, and generating a sword on each on its arms, brought them down in order to obliterate the Uchiha borthers. However, the brothers manifested their own Susanoo as well, breaking free of their wooden bindings, and jumping away just in time to avoid Madara's strike.

Sasuke and Itachi's Susanoo continued to develop until they reached their humanoid forms. Sasuke's Susanoo pulled the string of its shielded bow, generating a purple chakra arrow, while magatama beads-like projectiles appeared on Itachi's Susanoo's hands.

"Susanoo: Arrow Strike!"

"Yasaka Magatama!"

Purple chakra arrows and red chakra projectiles flew in combination towards Madara's Susanoo, who tried to deflect them with both its swords, but was unable to block all of them, and many found their marks, resulting in several explosions that chipped away a few chunks of Madara's Susanoo.

"Yes! Yes! This is what I was talking about!" Madara said, growing more excited by the second. "Show me what you're capable of!"

Madara's Susanoo progressed to the Armored form, and charged towards the Uchiha brothers, the ground beneath its feet breaking with each step. Sasuke and Itachi continued firing projectiles at it, with Madara blocking some and tanking others, but the Armored Susanoo didn't break as easily as the humanoid one. Before he could reach close quarter combat, the blue Susanoo leaped above them. Sasuke and Itachi started to weave hand seals.

"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Jutsu!"

Both Sasuke and Itachi fired a flurry of dragon-shaped fireballs at the incoming Susanoo, half of them missing and flying into the sky, the other half crashing into it, but not making any effect. Madara's Susanoo landed in the middle of the other two chakra constructs with a loud crash, blasting them to the sides with the sheer force of its impact, almost falling on their backs due losing their balance.

Setting his eyes on Sasuke, Madara made his Susanoo move towards the younger brother, and struck the purple chakra construct with a large katana. Sasuke's Susanoo raised his shielded bow in order to parry the blow. While it resisted the attack, the shield cracked a little, much to the young Uchiha's worry. He generated a katana on the Susanoo's free hand and used it to stab Madara, but the blue Susanoo easily deflected the blow to the side, before taking Sasuke's Susanoo down with a powerful shoulder bash.

Before Madara could continue his assault, several explosions on his Susanoo's back nearly made it fall on its face. Turning around, he saw Itachi's own red warrior charging at him, wielding a sword made of golden flames. Madara parried Itachi's swing, managing to stand his ground, before shoving the older brother with a powerful kick.

"Come on, you started so well! Is this the extent of your full power?" Madara asked, a little disappointed.

He sensed a spike of chakra coming from behind him, and his Susanoo jumped aside just in time to dodge and arrow from Sasuke's Susanoo, this time coated in the black flames of Amaterasu. Sasuke fired more arrows, this time at Madara's Susanoo's leg, forcing it to jump. While in the air, Sasuke kept firing amaterasu-coated arrows, most of them missing and getting lost into the sky, but a couple of them managed to find their mark. Pushing chakra into his left eye, Sasuke had the black flames spread all around Madara's Susanoo. Still, his enemy refused to abandon the chakra construct.

"Either you get out of your Susanoo, or the black flames shall consume you, leaving nothing but ashes," Sasuke prodded.

Madara merely smirked in return. "That's what you want, don't you? To force me out of my Susanoo and into the open. But this Susanoo form has a couple surprises."

Madara made a hand seal, and the armor covering his Susanoo, some of which was burning the fires of Amaterasu detached from the main body, falling to the ground. Another coat of chakra plates instantly formed around it.

"Your little trick with the black flames won't work a second time," Madara replied.

"Don't worry, I have more little tricks," Sasuke said, as a thunderclap was heard in the distance. "Your Susanoo won't be able to survive them."

"You youths are so overconfident," Madara said, sounding between amusing and insulted. "Very well then. This isn't something I use against any enemy, but given your skill, the blood ties that bind us, and the excessive confidence you exude, I'm going to include you among the exclusive list of foes I have used this against!"

Madara's armored Susanoo grew in size once again, reaching one hundred meters in size, becoming twice as big as Sasuke and Itachi's, its armor taking the form of those wore by samurai. Its head was completely covered by a long-nosed mask that ressembled a Tengu. A pair of large wings ended in hands grew from its back, the hands holding a pair of sheaths that held two katanas made of the same chakra as the Susanoo.

"Behold the magnificence of the Perfect Susanoo, and despair!" Madara boasted, spreading his arms in a dramatic fashion. "Only Hashirama was able to defeat this Susanoo! What do you plan to do against this, young Sasuke? Do you think you have a way to fight against me as I'm now?"

Sasuke looked up at the immense chakra construct, but much to Madara's surprise, didn't look intimidated or afraid in the slightest.

"That's quite the big Susanoo. Even bigger than father's," Sasuke mentioned, as the sword of his Susanoo was coated in black flames, while the other hand was coated in lightning. More thunderclaps could be heard from above. "But it will go down the same way. Itachi, you ready?"

From behind Madara, Itachi's Susanoo readied its Sword of Totsuka, but made no attempt to attack.

"As ready as I'll ever be, brother," Itachi said. "We must not fail."

"We won't!" Sasuke said, as he dashed towards the blue Susanoo, flaming black sword in one hand, lightning chakra in the other. He leaped at Madara.

Madara snarled in disgust. "Charging at me so recklessly with an inferior Susanoo," Madara said, as his own Susanoo unsheathed one of its katanas. "You will pay your foolishness with your life!"

"Infernal Release: Susanoo, Kirin Blazing Lightning Blade!"

As Madara's Susanoo delivered a swing at Sasuke's, a lightning bolt fell from the sky and struck the sword of Sasuke's Susanoo, supercharging it with electricity, as he brought it down. His lightning and amaterasu-enhanced sword cut through Madara's as if it was made of butter, before it struck the chest of Madara's Susanoo. All the energy stored in the blade was released at once resulting in an explosion of white light and black flames.

While the backlash of the explosion destroyed Sasuke's Susanoo, sending the younger Uchiha spiraling down to the ground below, Madara's Susanoo had taken the brunt of the blast, and was vaporized almost insantly. Madara himself survived the explosion, since his Susanoo absorbed most of the blast, but he was send flying backwards, in Itachi's direction. Seeing his chance, Itachi moved towards Madara, and swung the Sword of Totsuka at him.

The sword impaled Madara, the blade piercing his chest and coming out of his back.

"YES!" Sasuke cried, excited to see that the plan they used to disable Fugaku had worked a second time. All Itachi needed to do was seal Madara, and the battle would be over.

Which made Sasuke wonder why Itachi wasn't sealing Madara. Looking at his elder brother, Itachi looked like somebody who was struggling to do something. A cold chill ran through Sasuke's spine.

"Itachi!" Sasuke called. "Seal him already! What are you waiting for?"

"I'm trying to! But I can't seal him for some reason!" Itachi said.

"What do you mean you can't seal him!?" Sasuke replied, as his fears started to become reality. "I thought that once you hit an enemy with that sword, it was over!"

Then, Madara wrapped his fingers around the sword of golden flames, and much to Itachi's shock, he began to absorb it into his body. And when he was done absorbing the sword, the rest of his Susanoo followed, pulling it away from Itachi. Madara crouch-landed on his feet, his face looking downwards, partially obscure by his wild long hair.

"Well, that was a close one," Madara said as he slowly rose up. "You two have both power and work really well together. You remind me of the days when my brother Izuna and I used to fight each other. However, what you have it's not enough to beat me."

Madara rose his head, his face being visible, and much to Itachi and Sasuke's shock, his eyes were no longer the red and black colors of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, but purple concentrical rings.

"Rinnegan!? How...?" Itachi asked, when a memory dawned upon him. "Of course. Any Uchiha sufficiently powerful can awaken the Rinnegan by combining their Yin half of the Six Half Chakra with the Yang half the Senju and Uzumaki possess."

"I see you did your homework," Madara said, smiling contently. "If you know the Rinnegan, I guess you must have met Nagato, am I right?"

"How do you know about Nagato?" Sasuke asked.

Madara chuckled. "Who do you think Nagato's Rinnegan used to belong to?"

"Wait... Nagato's Rinnegan wasn't his? It was yours? But... how!?" Sasuke asked again. There were far too many questions inside his head.

Something that Madara aparently noticed.

"It's a long story, but guess I can summarize it. Let's say that, after my fight with Hashirama, I managed to bite off a piece of his flesh in order to obtain his essence. I cultivated more of his cells and implanted them into my body. In time, I managed to gain Wood Release, but the Rinnegan didn't manifest until many decades later. I was a withered old man, and while I could experiment a little with my new powers, I knew letting the world know about my survival in such state was suicide.

"Among my new powers, I was able to summon the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, and using its power, I managed to create an artificial creature from Hashirama's cells that I called Zetsu. I also devised a way that, even if it could take time, it would bring me back to my physical prime and merge my power with Hashirama's in a more efficient way.

"I knew I could use Zetsu and his clones to act on my behalf, but wouldn't be able to carry my plans on their own. I needed somebody to carry out my plans to bring the Ten Tails back to life while I underwent the rejuventation proccess. I had my Zetsu scout for potential candidates to bear my Rinnegan, and Nagato was the most promising.

"That's why, shortly before I met Obito, I had my Rinnegan extracted and transplanted into Nagato by Zetsu. Obito found Nagato and convinced him to carry out my plan. I was expecting that by the time of my rebirth, they should be close to finishing, but alas, his progress wasn't as good as I was hoping.

"But let's not dwell in negativity, shall we?" Madara said, as he raised both his hands towards Sasuke and Itachi. "Let's have some fun first with the powers I was never able to test in an actual battle. Bansho Ten'in!"

Both Itachi and Sasuke were pulled by an incredibly powerful invisible force towards Madara. Itachi, however, quickly generated his Susanoo, using one arm to catch Sasuke, and the other to anchor himself to the ground. Sasuke also generated the ribcage and one arm of his Susanoo in order to punch Madara, but the Uchiha elder simply jumped back in order to avoid the attack.

"Not bad. Let's see what else I can do," Madara said, as two pairs of arms burst from his sides.

The four additional arms then opened up and reassembled into weapons, as if they were machines. Madara then fired a barrage of missiles and chakra beams at the Uchiha brothers, who were forced to split apart and run away in order to avoid the attack, even if barely.

"Itachi! He's pushing us into the defensive!" Sasuke warned his brother. "We need to counterattack, now!"

"Agreed. Fighting from afar isn't an option if he can absorb our ninjutsu," Itachi said. "Let's attack from a different flank each!"

Gripping their katanas, the Uchiha brothers dashed towards Madara, who continued to bombard them with missiles, chakra beams and streams of flames, which they deflected with their Susanoo. As they got closer and prepared to strike, Madara's additional arms disappeared as he held his two arms towards the incoming brothers.

"Shinra Tensei!"

The air shimmered for a second, followed by an explosion of kinetic energy, that ripped part of the ground and send Sasuke and Itachi flying backwards, their weapons blown away from their hands, before painfully landing with a thud back on the ground.

"He was already a monster before, and now with that Rinnegan... how are we going to beat him?" Itachi asked, sounding desperate.

"Come on Itachi, I know you have a hidden ace in the hole prepared for a situation like this!" Sasuke said, sounding also a little desperate. "Some kind of secret ninjutsu or forbidden jutsu, like a genjutsu that traps him inside an infinite loop or something similar?"

"Sasuke, this isn't the time nor the place to suggest such nonsense," Itachi said, as he got back to his feet as well as he could. "And I'm afraid I have nothing that may turn the tide of the battle in our favor. The Rinnegan is the most powerful doujutsu for a reason, and one of the most powerful ninjas who ever lived is using it against us."

Madara didn't give them any time to recover or plan a new strategy, as he held his hands towards them once again.

"Bansho Ten'in!"

Just as they got back to their feet, Sasuke and Itachi were once again piolently pulled towards Madara by an unseen force. The Uchiha brothers were too disoriented to properly manifest their Susanoo in order to counter Madara's jutsu like they did it the first time, while Madara himself generated his Susanoo once again up to the humanoid form, a blade of chakra on each hand, ready to kill his kin with a single strike.

"It pains me having to kills such talented clansmen like yourselves. Too bad you choose the wrong side of this conflict. Now-"

"Wood Release: Wood Binding jutsu!"

That moment, wooden roots emerged under Madara's Susanoo, wrapping around its body and arms, leaving it completely immobilized, stopping him from delivering the finish blow to Sasuke and Itachi, who were also caught by a pair of smaller roots. Madara turned around, and saw Rin Nohara, piercing him with a yellow glare, her hands locked into a hand seal.

"Earth Release: Crushing Avalanche!"

Several gigantic rocks appeared around Madara's Susanoo, burying it completely. Unfortunately, both the rocks and the roots were blown away when Madara's Susanoo advanced to the Armored form.

"The test subject. I had forgotten about you," Madara said, looking annoyed of being cheated of his execution. His lips curved into a smile as an idea dawned upon him. His Susanoo started to vanish. "Then again, given that you're here, and you're still in Sage Mode, let me try something. Bansho Ten'in!"

Madara raised a hand at Rin, and the brown haired medic yelped as she was pulled towards the evil Uchiha, his fingers wrapping around her neck once she was close enough to him, and before Rin could fight back, he violently slammed her body against the ground, with such force it opened a small crater.

"Senjutsu is something that takes a lot of time and effort to master, but according to Zetsu, it's almost like a second nature to you, isn't it? Can you imagine what's the reason?" Madara asked. "Gakido!"

Madara started to absorb Rin's chakra, saturated with nature energy. Rin's yellow eyes began to revert back to their natural brown, and her green facial marks started to vanish little by little, as they began to appear on Madara's face. As his sensing ability heightened, he could sense Sasuke and Itachi dashing towards him, in a desperate attempt to either save the girl or prevent Madara from growing even more powerful. Probably both. Not that it mattered, as Madara casually manifested his Susanoo once again, and with a swipe of its arm, he swatted the Uchiha brothers away as if they were mere insects.

Once he drained all the senjutsu chakra of Rin, he released her. The girl didn't made any attempt to run away from him, or even get back to her feet. It appeared that having so much chakra drained left her in a dazed state. Oh well, she'd recover soon thanks to her regeneration.

"Yes, I can feel it now. Normally, one would need to stay still for some time in order to gather nature energy. But Hashirama was able to do so instantly and when he moved. Wood Release was far from his only unique ability," Madara said, as his eyes drifted towards a certain chakra signature, one belonged to Hagane. Looking into such direction, Madara saw the white haired Senju treating the Hyuga with the Tenseigan, while his sister helped other ninjas to fight some of the remaining Wood Clones. He heard a pained grunt coming from below, and looking down, saw the barely conscious Rin stirring. "I have no more reason to keep you alive. But then again, Obito would be very... disappointed in me if he heard that I let you die," Madara said, shaking his head. "Plus it would be a waste after all the resources I poured to repair your broken body."

Madara moved from the spot Rin was lying on, and gave a look at the batlefield. He had sensed that more than half of his clones had been destroyed already, and the rest would soon follow. Then again, Madara could sense that no present ninja was a match to his current self right now. He considered to have the Wood Clones use Susanoo to finish things off quickly, but discarded the idea. He had a better way to end this battle.

"Oh, Hashirama, if you only were here... if you could witness the current height of my power... no matter how strong I became, I'm sure you'd manage to give me a challenging fight, unlike the rabble before me. Then again, even if I can't get more good fights from these people..." Madara then raised his hand to the sky. "...I can still use them to test the limits of my new power. CHIBAKU TENSEI!"

A marble sized, black colored gravity core appeared on Madara's hand, before it shot into the sky. Once it reached enough altitude, it grew in size, before splitting into six identical gravity cores, and shot into different directions, positioning on different parts of the battleground.

Then, the cores became active, and started to pull matter towards them. And that moment is where the horror truly began.

…

As the fight against the real Madara happened, Team Gai was facing several of the many Wood Clones Madara had created. After scanning them with his Byakugan, Neji claimed that they only possessed a small fraction of the original's power. Still, a small fraction of Madara's power wasn't something to take lightly, given that said clones had been able to defeat and even kill veteran Jonin.

Lee was engaging a clone in a duel of punches and kicks. Madara was fast, but between Lee's insane speed without his weights and the boost provided by three of the Celestial Gates opened, it was the green clad teen was marking the pace of the fight. During one of their exchanges, Lee managed to wrap his arms around Madara's extended arm as he aimed for a punch.

"Neji, get ready!" Lee said, as he started to spin in place, with such speed, a small tornado formed around him. When he had built enough momentum, he tossed the clone in the Hyuga's general direction.

"Heavenly Spin!" Neji turned into a psinning dome of chakra, just a second before the Madara clone was slammed against him. The combination of the powerful rotation and the force Lee had used to throw the clone was too much, and it burst into thousands of wooden splinters.

And not far from there, Gai and Tenten were also fighting another Wood Clone. Said clone had the same troubles keeping up with Gai as the other one with Lee, especially since, unlike Lee who fought bare handed, Gai had pulled out his trusted nunchakus for added power. Gai channeled chakra through his weapons, increasing their range and power, and producing powerful blasts of wind even if they missed their mark.

"Ha! After fighting the original, these clones are nothing but a joke!" Gai boasted, as he dodged a roundhouse kick from said clone. Taking advantage of the clone's brief but crucial lack of guard, Gai kicked him hard on the chest, sending him flying backwards. "Up your, Tenten!"

"You got it!" Tenten said, as she unsealed a pair of bladed tonfas from a sealing scroll. Her tonfas started to crackle as she channeled lightning chakra through them, and delivering a few precise slashes, Madara's wooden clone was reduced to shreds.

Their fights done, Team Gai gathered together in order to quickly plan their next move.

"Alright, two clones less. There can't be that many of them left," Lee excitedly said. "Once we're done with them, we shall help the others deal with the real Madara!"

"Indeed, these clones are providing a good warm-up for the real deal," Gai agreed. "Now let's-"

Suddenly, the earth started to violently shake, making them to lose their balance and almost fall. Rocks and peebles that had formed as collateral damage from the fights happening around the place started to float and fly into the air, quickly followed by small chunks of earth being teared from the ground.

"What the hell!?" Tenten asked, as she tried to keep her balance. "Neji?"

The Hyuga prodigy activated his Byakugan in order to find the source of the quakes, and took no time to find it. A couple hundred meteres into the air above them were six incredibly dense spots of chakra, pulling dirt, peebles, rock, earth and even leaves and branches towards it, quickly growing in size, and taking the form of small planetoids. Of course, all the ninjas without a doujutsu were able to see them once they reached enough size.

"This..." Neji began, sounding alarmed. "I only saw this once before..."

"We all did..." Tenten said, looking up in horror. "This is the same jutsu that Pain guy tried to use to destroy the village, isn't it?"

"Except there are six of those giant rocks instead of just one..." Lee said, his excitement quickly vanishing, replaced with fear. "And we don't have Naruto-kun nor Tsunade-sama or Jiraiya-sama to stop them to begin with."

Gai looked at the forming planetoids, as he tried his best to come up with a solution. But no matter how much he racked his brain, nothing came up. The one time he saw such jutsu in action, it was thankfully stopped before it could had been used to flatten the village. He wasn't there the one time Nagato, now an undead reanimation, got to use it against the First Division, but he heard of how much death it resulted in.

And now, there were six of these things to deal with. There was no other option,

"I doubt they could stop all of them even if they were here," Gai somberly said. "There's only one thing to do. Everybody, run! Run as far away as possible, as fast as you can! Our only chance to survive this attack is to stay as far away as we can from when they hit the ground!"

Everybody who heard Gai seemed to agree with him, and started to run away while telling the others to do so as well. Soon, every member of the Second Division was running away in pretty much every direction.

…

Madara watched in amusement as his enemies tried to outrun his attack, the mere sight of his sheer power sending them into a collective panic. Of course, it would be useless, since Madara had placed the gravity cores in order to cover as much area as possible when they impacted: five of them circumventing the bulk of the division, and the sixth one in the middle. Perhaps a few of them would escape the carnage that was about to unfold, but the rest of them would perish.

Once the planetoids reached the appropriate size, Madara motioned his hand down, letting natural gravity to the rest of the work.

…

Panic increased tenfold once they saw the planetoids coming down. But no matter how much they run, they wouldn't be fast enough to avoid the crash's area of effect. Naturally, those trapped in the middle had it the worst, since even if they could avoid the central meteor, they would still run into one of the periphereal ones.

However, one kunoichi, Kurotsuchi, noticed this, and tried to mitigate the effects of the catastrophic jutsu. Even if she had the best chances to avoid the attack thanks to her flight, she would never forgive herself to do such a cowardly thing and left her men to their fates. While everybody else ran away, Kurotsuchi placed herself floating just below the central meteor.

"I might not be able to stop this monstrous jutsu completely, but I'll be damned if I don't try to minimize the damage!" Kurotsuchi said, as she started to make hand seals. "If I can destroy this meteor, I know I'll save the lives of hundreds of ninjas!"

After finishing the sealing sequence, she clapped her hands together, creating a square of white light between them. Normally, she'd just encase the target inside the square and then execute the jutsu, but in this situation, the target was way too big. Fortunately, that was only one of the many ways Dust Release could be used, albeit that one was the most chakra efficient one.

"I don't know if I have enough chakra for this jutsu, but at least I have to try," Kurotsuchi said, as the square of light between her hands was compressed into a ball of white light. "Dust Release: Obliterating Lightwave!"

The white orb between her hands exploded into a torrent of light, expanding upwards in the form of a cone. The cone managed to break through the falling meteor, growing in size and width as the young Tsuchikage poured more and more chakra, until the cone engulfed the meteor almost entirely. There was then a flash of white light, and the meteor was almost completely gone, with only a few small chunks of rock that the jutsu had failed to cover, but their size made them harmless.

Due to all the chakra she had used for her jutsu, Kurotsuchi felt her head becoming light as a wave of numbness washed over her body. She was unable to sustain her Light Boulder Jutsu, and fell to the ground below.

"Tsuchikage-sama!" an Iwa ninja cried.

"Quickly, somebody catch her!" another one pleaded.

…

Kurotsuchi wasn't the only one to try to stop one of the meteors, as another pair of ninja knew they had to soften the blow of Madara's attack at any cost.

"Come on Sasuke, the two of us at once!" Itachi said, as he and his younger brother glared at the meteor closest to them.

"AMATERASU!"

A mass of black flames burst from the meteor's bottom part, and started to spread around it, as it slowly began to eat the rock and ground forming it. However, with the speed the planetoid was coming down, and slowly the black fire was spreading, they doubted they would be able to consume it completely.

"Dammit, that thing is too big!" Sasuke said, as he focused as much chakra as he could on his left eye. "Not even the two of us...!"

"Keep the jutsu up, Sasuke! We can't stop it right now!" Itachi insisted.

"Hey, maybe I can lend you a hand!" a new voice said. The brothers couldn't turn around to see the newcomer, but they recognize the voice as that of Hagane Senju. The white haired boy placed his hands on each of the Uchiha's shoulders. He started to glow with a white aura, which quickly spread to the brothers as he placed a hand on their respective shoulders. "Have some senjutsu boost!"

The effect was instant, and the black flames trying to eat the falling meteor roared as they burst into a black inferno, so hot and fiery that the air around it began to look distorted. The reinvigorated black flames began to quickly cover and devour the meteor, reducing it in size as it was consumed into nothingness.

"Sasuke, dispel the black fire now before somebody gets hurt by it! What's left of the meteor isn't a threat anymore!" Itachi commanded.

"Got it!"

As quickly as it appeared, the black flames were snuffed out at the brothers' command, leaving only a very small chunk of the original meteorite.

…

Despite Kurotsuchi, Itachi and Sasuke's valiant efforts, four of the initial six meteors managed to crash into the ground. While no ninja was directly crushed under the gigantic pile of rocks, many of them were fell prey to the ensuing shockwaves, which teared the very earth apart, producing a violent quake that sent large chunk of rocks into the air, as well as toppling many trees down.

Needless to say, countless ninjas fell victim to such attack apart that teared the very foundations of the earth apart.

Not even moving from his spot, Madara was contemplating the results of his devastating jutsu, his arms crossed, and a neutral expression on his face. Then, behind him, Zetsu emerged once again.

"An outstanding jutsu, boss," the white half praised. "You were already able to decimate armies single handedly before your rejuvenation, but you managed to take it to a whole new level."

"That Nagato brat wasn't able to form more than one meteor at once," the black half added. "Yes, with you, catching the jinchuriki is going to be piece of cake."

Madara, however, appeared that he wasn't listening to his minion. His Rinnegan eyes narrowed at the sight in front of him, as he caught multiple figures still moving around. His lips curved into a slight grimace.

"It seems that this jutsu isn't as outstanding as you had dubbed it, Zetsu, given that there are still quite a few survivors out there," Madara noticed. "Probably because they destroyed two of the meteors. Now, what would be the best way to deal with the survivors...? Oh I know! I can't believe I didn't try this before!" Madara said, as he bit his finger, and made five hand seals. "Summoning jutsu!"

…

Land of fire, Northeast of Madara's battlefield

"ARGH!" Naruto screamed, as he doubled over. He was rushing forward alongside Killer B and Fu when he was assaulted by an unspeakable pain.

"Naruto!" Killer B said, concerned. He quickly appeared besides the blond, placing a hand on his back. "Naruto, what's wrong? What's causing pain in somebody so strong?"

"Kurama... it feels..." Naruto said in a whsiper. "It felt as if some force was trying to rip him away from me. Thankfully the seal kept him in place."

"This chakra..." Kurama said with an angry grow. "No! It can't be! He's dead! He should be dead!"

"Kurama? What's wrong? Who are you talking about? Who should be dead?" Chomei asked.

Kurama uttered two words: "Madara Uchiha."

…

Back to the battlefield

Madara couldn't hide his disappointment when nothing came out of the burst of smoke produced by his jutsu. He was really seeking to unleash the Nine Tails on those fools, now that Hashirama wasn't there to spoil his fun.

"The summoning failed. I should have expected it, given that the beast is sealed inside a jinchuriki. Still, it was worth a try," Madara said, before his eyes looked at the horribly wounded survivors scatterd around the battlefield. "Oh well, if I can't use the Nine Tails, guess a second round of meteors will have to do."

And with a sadistic chuckle, Madara raised his hand to the skies once again.

…

Carnage.

That was the only word that could describe what had befell to the Second Division. Corpses of fallen ninja were scattered around the area, though some might be just unconscious and not really dead. The many rocks and fallen trees were splattered with blood. The few survivors called the names of their friends, hoping to find them alive, while others tried to futilely drag the bodies of those still alive but too wounded to walk, while pleading for a medic to come.

"Kaida! Hanabi!" Hagane yelled, as he franctially looked around. "Kaida!"

The white haired Senju boy had survived thanks to Itachi and Sasuke, who used their Susanoo to shield him, as well as other lucky ninjas who happened to be around them, from the flying chunks of rocks and trees. Now, he was trying to find his sister and his other teammate, followed by Sasuke and Itachi.

"Hey, weren't you supposed to be a sensory ninja?" Sasuke asked. "Can't you just sense them?"

"I'm trying," Hagane replied. "But I feel kinda dizzy, and I can't sense very well. I expended too much chakra while helping you destory that meteor."

"Itachi!" a new voice said.

Itachi turned around, and saw Natsu running towards him. The former Hyuga Branch House kunoichi appeared to be good enough to walk on her own power, but her uniform was torn to shreds, and had many bleeding wounds, one of them on her forehead.

"Natsu!" Itachi called, as he went to meet his not-quite-yet girlfriend. He noticed her Byakugan was active. "Natsu, are you okay!?"

"I've been better, but I'll manage," the Hyuga replied. "Thank goodness both you and Sasuke-kun are okay."

"We won't be okay if we stay here for long," Sasuke stated. "Madara is way too strong for us. We must leave before he decides to give us the coup de grace."

"I won't leave without Kaida and Hanabi!" Hagane interjected.

"I was looking for Hanabi-sama as well. Don't worry, I know where she is," Natsu said, pointing in a seemingly random direction.

Hagane looked into said direction. At first he didn't see anything, before he looked something green. Something that appeared to be a dome made of wood. His eyes widened upon realizing what it was.

"That's a shelter made of Wood Release!" Hagane cried, as he rushed towards it. "Kaida!"

The two Uchihas and the Hyuga followed the Senju boy, and the four of them removed all the rocks under it as best as they could. Once there were no more rocks, Hagane forced two of the vines forming the dome apart, and entered inside. He sighed in relief upon seeing not only Kaida, but Hanabi as well, who was still uncosncious. Rin was also there as well, her Sage Mode once again active, if the marks on her face were of any indication.

"Brother!" Kaida said, as she quickly rushed to hug her twin. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"It was thanks to Sasuke and Itachi that I'm alive," Hagane said. "And I'm also glad that you and Hanabi are okay. Or all the okay somebody in a coma can be."

"Don't worry, I've been checking on her," Rin reassured. "I'm positive she'll wake up in a few hours."

"We don't have a few hours. Come on, we'll carry her as we get out of here," Sasuke urged.

Suddenly, the earth started to rumble.

"What the...?"

…

Kaida and Rin weren't the only ones who had the idea of creating a protective dome to shield themselves from all the flying debris caused by the four meteor impacts, as Maki also created a shield of cloth reinforced with fuinjutsu, big enough not just to protect her students, but a few other ninjas as well, among them was Ran, the Kumo kunoichi she had befriended during their first battle.

Among them was also Kurotsuchi herself. While she managed to remain conscious, she could barely stand on her feet thanks to exhausting most of her chakra.

"Sensei," Matsuri broke the silence, her voice quivering with fear. "I think we should leave before that Madara guy goes onto another rampage:"

"I agree with Matsuri-chan! That guy is way too strong for us!" Yukata whimpered, as tears of terror rolled down her cheeks.

"The battle was over the moment he used that insane attack to decimate our division," Maki agreed. "Still, we should make sure we aren't noticed so he doesn't come after us. We'll have to carry the division commander with us and protect her," Maki said, looking at the weakened Kurotsuchi.

"I'll go outside and check if it's safe to-" Mikoshi was about to say, as he was interrupted by another quake.

…

"Okay, on three, everyone push up," Gai instructed. "Ready? One, two, THREE!"

While Gai, Lee and Tenten had been able to dodge the gigantic collateral damage of the four meteor impacts, Neji wasn't so lucky, and during a brief moment, the brutal quakes made him lose his balance and fall to the ground just as a large rock landed on his leg, leaving him completely trapped. Fortunately, his teammates and sensei were quick to come to his aid once the initial devastation subsided.

Gai, Lee and Tenten all pushed up a large rock that was crushing Neji's leg. Once the wounded Hyuga was able to crawl out of it, they dropped the boulder back on the ground, which made a loud thud.

"Neji, are you okay? Can you walk?" Lee anxiously asked.

Neji tried to move his wounded leg, and winced in pain when he tried to do so. "I'm afraid not," Neji replied, before activating his Byakugan in order to examine his pained limb. "It doesn't appear to be broken, but I don't thik I'll be able to put any weigh on it."

"In that case, we'll carry you," Lee said, as he helped Neji to get back on his feet, while allowing the Hyuga prodigy to rest his body on Lee's, with Lee placing one of Neji's arms around his shoulders.

Tenten was quick to help Lee, and placed Neji's other arm around her shoulders as well.

"Okay, time to get out of here," Tenten said, looking around, as if trying to find where Madara was hiding. With all the clouds of dusts that had been raised, it was a bit hard to tell. "This is going to hurt a bit, Neji, but we need to move fast if we want to leave this place alive."

"It's okay, I can-WHOA!" Neji said, as another quake almost made him fall to the ground again.

"What... what's going on?" Lee asked, as he franctically looked around.

"Up in the sky! Look!" Neji warned.

The four members of Team Gai looked up, and much to their horror, saw six more gravity cores pulling earth, rocks and dirt towards them, in order to form six more meteors. Paralyzed by horror, the four ninjas spent a few moments looking at the meteors forming and growing in size, with their eyes wide open and their mouths agape, trying to process what they could do.

"Again... he's going to do that again..." Tenten said, almost in a whisper. Her face then became a mask of pure terror. "We need to get out of here as soon as possible! Come on you two!"

"No!" Neji protested. "Leave me here! I can't walk, and I'm only a burden to you! If you leave me here, your chances of surviving will be all the greater!"

"We aren't going to abandon a teammate!" Lee angrily replied. "How you dare to suggest such an horrible thing! Tell him we will never abandon anybody, Gai sensei!" Lee asked his mentor. However, Gai didn't reply. His eyes were still fixed on the meteors above them. "Gai sensei?"

While Gai heard his student, he didn't say anything. As he looked at the meteors, hundreds of thoughts raced his mind. Mostly related on how he could get his students from this hell safely. On one side, he agreed with Lee; he'd die before leaving one of his students behind. On the other hand, Neji had a point; carrying him would slow them down, and they needed to move as fast as possible in order to avoid Madara's catastrophic jutsu.

"Perhaps using the Celestial Gates..." Gai wondered.

The green clad Jonin looked around, and saw his fellow division members in similar situations: some of them tried to run away as fast as they could, others tried to take their wounded friends and comrades with them. And others had seemingly accepted their fates, and were simply hugging while crying into each other's shoulders.

"And then what? No, my students will never be safe in a world where Madara Uchiha still exists. I need to put an end to this... right here and right now," Gai clenched his fist in determination as he took a decision.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee called him once again.

This time, Gai turned around, and gave his students his trademark smile. "Lee, you have nothing to worry. No one will be left behind. I promise that the three of you will live to see another day. To see many other days."

Lee smiled and nodded, his faith in that his sensei could do anything unwavered. Neji, however, wasn't as optimist.

"Gai-sensei, you can't make such a promise," Neji gravely said.

"That's where you are wrong, Neji," Gai said, before closing his eyes, and taking a deep breath. When he opened them again, his students could see that something inside him had changed. There was something about the way Gai was looking at them that made them feel uneasy. Very uneasy.

"He's looking at us as if... as if he's never going to see us again..." Tenten thought, as a chill ran down her spine.

"Tenten, Neji, Lee. I've been your teacher for almost five years, and I can say without any doubt that they have been the best years of my life. You've been the best students any teacher could have, and I feel grateful for being said teacher," Gai began.

"Gai-sensei? What are you-?" Lee began, but Gai interrupted him.

"Lee, despite your lack of ability to use ninjutsu or genjutsu, you still had the burning determination to become a ninja no matter what, even if you could only rely on taijutsu," Gai began. "And look at yourself now! You're almost a Jonin! And you managed to reach this level through nothing but sheer hard work. Konoha is lucky to have you among its ranks.

"Neji. For most of your life, you were also burdened by something you didn't ask nor desired. But you didn't let that define you, and you managed to show everybody the immense potential within you. While some things may be set in stone, there's no fate but the one we carve for ourselves. So keep working on creating the fate you want to see.

"Tenten. Even if your initial dream of being like Tsunade didn't pan out, it did work in a different way: you were able to grow into one of the finest kunoichi this village had the luck to have. Just like how Tsunade was your inspiration, I'm sure plenty of little girls will be inspired by you to take the path of the ninja in order to be more like you.

"All in all, what I want to say is... I can't feel more proud of being your sensei, and I love you."

Lee was moved to tears by Gai's heartfelt speech, but on the inside was a little confused as to the why of it. Neji was averting his sensei's gaze, already guessing what was going to come next. Tenten, meanwhile, knew the truth deep down but struggled to accept it.

"G-Gai-sensei...? Why are you saying this?" she asked, almost on the verge of tears. "Why are you talking... as if you're bidding us farewell?"

Gai's expression hardened. He turned his back at them, and let out a heavy sigh.

"Because... this is a goodbye, Tenten," Gai said.

"Goodbye?" Lee repeated. "Why...?"

"Neji is right. We can't carry him with us and still move fast enough to avoid the meteors. But we can't abandon him either. We can't abandon any of our comrades," Gai said, as he spread his arms around for added emphasis. "That's why I'm going to stay back and put an end to this."

"What? Gai-sensei, you're mad! You saw Madara's power! No matter how strong you are, what can you-" Tenten began, but was cut off by Lee.

"The Gate of Death," Lee said in realization, as tears trickled down his cheeks. "You plan to open it in order to match Madara's power."

"But the Gate of Death... once it's opened, the user will... will..." Tenten choked on her words.

"Will it be enough?" Neji asked.

"I don't know. But right now, it's our only option," Gai said. He looked up once again, and saw that the meteors were almost as big as the first time. Madara would drop them on their heads any moment. "Come on, we can't waste anymore time, you need to leave this place now!"

At first, they hesitated for a moment, before they nodded.

"Goodbye, Gai-sensei. I will never forget that you were the first person who saw potential in me when others only saw a failure," Lee said.

"We will make sure your sacrifice isn't in vain, Gai-sensei," Neji added.

"The world will forever remember your brave sacrifice, sensei!" Tenten said.

Gai smiled, and gave his students one last thumbs up. Lee and Tenten turned around, and leaped away while carrying Neji on their arms. Gai then directed his eyes up again. The meteors were now fully formed, and began their descent.

While everybody else tried to run away, Gai began to run forward.

"So this is what you felt when you gave your life to save mine and my teammates', right, dad?" Gai thought, smiling at the memory. "I always wanted to be a ninja you'd be proud of, dad... you'll tell me now if I did reach said goal..."

"Gate of Death...OPEN!"

Chakra flowed unimpeded through Gai's entire body as all the dams in his chakra network were wide open. A blue aura flared around his body, quickly turning fire red, while his skin also turned dark red in color, and his eyes became entirely white, glowing with an eerie light. His body emitted so much heat, the ground around the Konoha Jonin started to burn.

Gai set his sights on his first target, a meteor that was the closest to the ground. The empowered Konoha ninja leaped towards it, breaking the ground he was standing on with the sheer strength he now possessed, and leaving a patch of scortched earth. In less than two seconds, Gai reached the meteor, and punched it with all his might. The meteor shattered and broke into thousands of tiny peebles as if it was made of fragile sandstone.

"One down! Five more to go!" Gai thought, as he tried to locate the meteor second closest to the ground. "That one!"

Once again, Gai smashed into the meteor like a red missile, blowing it up to tiny rock chunks with a demolishing kick. The third one soon fell to Gai's might.

"Halfway done! Come on, just a little more!" Gai told himself. "I have enough power to destroy all of them and then take on Madara!"

…

At first, Madara was watching in amusements how those ants that pretended to be ninjas were about to be crushed under the weight of his godly power. He could see and hear their terror and desperation, and he reveled on them. While Madara was somebody who preferred fighting challenging opponents rather than crush weak ones, he did take pleasure in making unworthy opponents suffer and scream as much as possible.

After all, there were few things that disgusted Madara more than weakness.

Then, that red missile happened. Appearing out of nowhere, and destroying one of his meteors like it was nothing, Then another. And another. Madara was too stumped watched how this unknown element nullified one of his strongest new jutsu so casually, to the point that he didn't even attempt to stop it. Though, after regaining his bearing, he decided not to. After all, he was lamenting how there was nobody among this rabble able to give him a good fight, so this was a welcomed surprise.

Once this unknown but immensely powerful warrior was done destroying all of Madara's meteors, it leaped towards the Uchiha himself, landing on the ground with a thundering boom. The former Uchiha Clan Head could feel the sheer power this new enemy was radiating. Strangely enough, behind the terrifying appearance granted by the fiery aura that surrounded him, the man was oddly familiar to Madara.

"Wait a minute..." Madara said, as he narrowed his eyes. "You're that green clad fool with the ridiculous hairstyle that tried to fight me before!"

"Indeed. The name's Maito Gai. And you're far from the first person that calls me a fool," Gai said, as he slipped into a fighting stance, his flaring aura spreading a patch of scortched earth around him. "But this fool will put your reign of terror to an end!"

There was an explosion of dust and dirt as Gai opened a large crater on the spot Madara was standing on. If Madara was so much a fraction of a second slower, he would have been pulverized by Gai's devastating punch.

"He's so fast I can hardly follow his movements!" Madara distressingly thought.

While the Uchiha was still mid air, Gai launched himself upwards and delivered a brutal uppercut Madara was unable to dodge, before sending him back to the ground with a devastating kick. Gai was about to finish Madara with a drop kick, but the Uchiha wasn't harmed enough as to not move out of his way.

"You... you had this incredible power inside you the whole time... but you didn't use it until now... why...?" Madara said, as he manifested his Susanoo around him. As the gears inside his head began to work, he quickly came up with an explanation. "Chakra pours out of your body like a roaring waterfall. Every punch and kick you throw feels like a thousand enemies punching and kicking at once...oh, I see. This power... you're pretty much burning your entire life in order to conver it into sheer power. This battle... even if you manage to beat me, it will be your last. Disappointing. And here I thought that I had finally found a worthy opponent."

Gai, however, smirked. "This will be my last battle, yes. But this battle is the one that matters to me the most! I don't care what will be of me afterwards, or what do you think about me!"

As Madara's Susanoo reached its Armored form, Gai launched himself forward, delivering another mind-numbingly powerful punch, one so powerful it produced a gust of wind as a result. Madara tried to slash Gai with the Susanoo's sword, but Gai's reaction times were too fast and was able to easily avoid it. The punch left a crack on Madara's Susanoo's chest as it was forced backwards.

"Alright, not bad, but how-"

Madara was interrupted when his Susanoo was smashed with an overwhelming force from behind, cracking it as well. Then another hit from the sides. Then the oppoiste side. Then the flank. Then the opposite flank. All what Madara saw was a red blur moving around his Susanoo, who was being thrown around like a gigantic ragdoll.

"I can't follow his movements, he's too fast!" Madara said, his eyes quickly darting around in order to locate his evasive opponent. His Susanoo was again victim of a powerful slam coming from the flank. "But his attacks do have a pattern... meaning that his next hit will come from... THERE!"

The Susanoo quickly turned around and swung its sword towards the incoming Gai. This time, the sword hit its mark, its flat side slamming against the Konoha ninja's body, breaking Gai's momentum, and sending him crashing back into the ground. Madara took advantage of the pause to restore the cracks in his Susanoo, while also taking it to its perfect form.

"You certainly gave me quite the beating, both to my body and to this Susanoo, with that technique of yours," Madara said, as his Perfect Susanoo stompted towards Gai, who jumped back to his feet. "But if that's the best you can do, then I'm afraid to tell you that your sacrifice, while noble, will be a pointless one."

"Even if I don't defeat you, my sacrifice wasn't pointless, since I managed to stop that jutsu of yours from killing the rest of my division, and I made you focus on me, giving the others a chance to escape," Gai said, as he took a weird battle stance, one that involved him being on all fours. "And I still have one hidden ace in the hole... one that will take you down for good!"

Madar smirked. "Oh? Alright. Show it to me then, So far, no one but Hashirama has been able to make a dent on this Susanoo. But perhaps you may be an exception."

That moment, Gai's fiery aura flared once again, and it grew into a roaring inferno. Gai's clothes started to burn down, as volcanic-like glowing red veins started to spread around his body. His eyes started to burn with an orange light, as if they were two burning coals. The earth started to shake as a patch of burned ground spread around Gai's position.

Then, Gai's red aura started to stabilize and slowly took the shape of a fiery dragon. The Konoha Jonin shot forward, leaving a trail of burning earth with each step, before leaping at Madara's Susanoo, the dragon roaring with him. Madara's Susanoo quickly generated a sword of chakra on each hand, and delivered a cross-shaped slash at Gai, who made no hint to avoid the attack.

"NOW BURN AMONG MY FLAMES OF YOUTH, AND TURN TO ASHES, MADARA!" Gai hollered, as he readied his body to deliver a flying kick. "NIGHT GUY!"

The Susanoo swords found their target, but Gai plowed through them as if they were made of cheap wood. It also shattered the Susanoo's armor as if it was made of weak glass. Gai's foot connected with Madara's chest, violently pushing him out of his giant chakra construct, as the two of them continued flying high into the sky.

"This man...! Just what is he...!?" Madara asked, as he was forced to vomit blood from the internal damage Gai's brutal kick had caused.

The volcanic veins around Gai's body started to burn with greater intensity, as his whole body glowed with a fierce red light. And as Gai expended the last of his chakra, his body exploded in a red blast, insantly burning to ash. The explosion send Madara flying at least a kilometer away., before he painfully landed onto the hard ground.

…

Back on the ground, Neji was being carried by Lee and Tenten, whole the three of them, as well as many other survivors tried to get away from the battlefield as fast as possible. While Lee and Tenten didn't dare to look back, Neji was monitoring the battle through his Byakugan. Then, the Hyuga prodigy winced as a flash of chakra blinded him for a few seconds.

That moment, they heard the explosion. And the three young Konoha ninjas finally knew that was the moment their beloved sensei had ceased to exist.

---

Author's Note: Rest in Peace, Maito Gai.

While some of the deaths in my fic happen on a whim, this wasn't one of them. I already decided that Gai was going to die fighting Madara even before I posted this story. Not because I hate Gai (far from it) but because I felt it would have made more sense if he had died in canon, given that his death had a lot of buildup, as opposed to Neji's death, which came out of nowhere. My guess is that, after killing Neji, Kishimoto didn't feel like piling even more grief on Lee and Tenten by killing their sensei so soon after that, so he had Naruto heal him with his new bullshit plot bending powers.

Does this mean that Neji will survive this time around? We'll see ;P

For the record, I'd like to clarify that Madara is still alive (there's no way he's going to die so soon), he will be on the sidelines for the time being, recovering before making a return. I know that Gai nearly killed Madara when he was the Ten Tails jinchuriki with the Eight Gates, but keep in mind that this Gai had to spend a lot of his power destroying those six meteors first before he could take his shot at Madara. Then again, I always found TTJ Madara rather underpowered. Even TTJ Obito put a much better show.

Thanks to Ookami88 for betareading this chapter.

So, what do you think about my version of Madara's return? Leave your thoughts in a review! Reviews make me really, really, really happy!