Author's Note: And after the darkest chapter of the entire fic (so far), here comes a much needed breather. Enjoy:

Chapter 123:

Picking Up the Pieces

or

Licking Grievous Wounds

Land of Fire, a couple kilometers to the west of the battle between the Second Divison and Madara Uchiha

"Argh... urk... damn... damn madman..."

Madara was on the ground, in a puddle of his own blood, grunting in pain, unable to move. Or what was left of him. Gai's final attack had blown away the Uchiha's entire lower half, as well as a chunk of his torso, leaving only his mangled and battered upper body, his right arm, and his head. Naturally, a normal man wouldn't have been able to withstand such brutal dismemberment, but thanks to the healing factor he got from Hashirama's DNA, which was even greater than the original, he managed to cling to life.

"But you failed... hahaha... you failed...!" he gloated, before he was interrupted by a violent coughing fit. "You died... for nothing..."

Madara was feeling lightheaded, probably due to all the blood he had lost. Thankfully, all his wounds were now closing, preventing further blood loss. Though even if his regeneration was already kicking in, it would take quite a lot of time to regrow all the body parts he had lost, and even more to regain his former strength. Gai may have failed to kill the Ghost of the Uchiha, but he made sure he would be out of commission for quite some time.

At that moment, Zetsu emerged from the ground just besides his fallen master.

"Oh boy... this... this isn't good..." the white half said in horror.

"Did you reach to that conclusion on your own?" the black half snarked, before taking a look at Madara. "Though, I didn't think there was anybody to leave the boss so fucked up... thank goodness that guy died during the battle..."

"Obito-sama is going to be very mad when he finds out..." the white half added. "Very, very mad."

"It can't be helped. Come on, let's take him back to the lair so we can treat him," the black half suggested.

The plant creature then grabbed the barely conscious Madara, and both of them sunk into the ground until they disappeared completely.

…

Unnamed Territory between the Land of Waterfalls and the Land of Sound, Nightime

Jiraiya and Tsunade were sitting in silence in front of a small campfire. It might appear that they had their eyes fixed into the fire, but in truth they weren't looking at anything in particular. They had just finished having some light dinner, even if neither of them had any apetite. They needed a full stomach if they hoped to have enough energy to defeat Orochimaru.

The reason behind their gloomy mood was Naruto's letter. While they were making their way towards Orochimaru's hideout, Kosuke the messenger toad appeared in front of Jiraiya with a scroll that Naruto had written for him. Jiraiya felt his heart skip a beat upon hearing that, given that if Naruto did such a thing then an emergency must had happened.

And unfortunately, he was right. The letter not only revealed that Akatsuki had learned of the location of the Turtle Island, but launched an attack in order to capture the jinchuriki. Fortunately, Naruto, Fu and Killer B managed to escape, but several Konoha ninjas lost their lives, including Choza Akimichi, Tenzo, and their sensei Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"I can't believe sensei's dead..." Jiraiya began, sounding downcast. "I sent him to the island to babysit Naruto because I thought it was a safe place away from the frontlines, yet..."

Tsunade placed a hand on his forearm. "Don't blame yourself. Remember it was me who came up with that idea."

"But it was me who agreed to it," Jiraiya replied, placing his own hand on top of Tsunade's. "I could have just told that old fool to go back to his house and let us do the fighting, but no, I had to take the easy way and make him part of the war..." Jiraiya said, letting out a tired sigh.

"Sensei was always a warrior at heart," Tsunade said. "He was born during the last years of the Warring States Period, and became a ninja during Konoha's most tumultous years. Not to mention that he's a veteran of all three wars. He wasn't like you or me, who were born in periods of peace and only went through our first war when we were adults."

"That's why I wanted him to stay in the village to begin with," Jiraiya replied. "That man has done more than enough. He deserved to sit this one out."

"And Tenzo... man, Kaida and Hagane are going to be devastated when they learn that their Jonin-sensei is dead as well," Tsunade said, shaking her head.

"To think that I was this close to send the twins with Naruto to the island for protection..." Jiraiya reflected.

Tsunade looked at him, perplexed. "You what?"

"I was worried about them, and I told them that I wanted them to be with Naruto, to help and support him in his quest to master the power of the Nine Tails," Jiraiya said, before chuckling a little. "Of course, they saw through my lie instantly. Even Kaida. They realized of my intentions, and pointed out that just because they were my kids, I couldn't give them a special treatment."

"As their mother, I would have agreed with you, though," Tsunade said, leaning his head back. "But Kami knows that had I been the one in their place, I would have protested even louder."

The two fell again into a silence, with only the crackle of the flames in front of them making any noise.

"Some leader I am," Jiraiya dejectedly said.

Tsunade looked at him with concern in her eyes. "Jiraiya, why are you saying that? You've been doing agreat job so far, both as Hokage and Supreme Leader of the Alliance."

"I appreciate your support, Hime, but we both know you're only saying that because you're my wife," Jiraiya replied with a sad smile. "This war happened to begin with because I foolishly let Akatsuki get their hands on one of the Rinnegan because I had the brilliant idea of using them as a bait to lure Danzo out."

"The war would have happened anyway," Tsunade countered. "And nobody would have guessed that Danzo was under Obito's mind control."

"I've also sent Shikaku Nara to his death by allowing him to go to the battlefield because Inoichi was spotted," Jiraiya continued. "Shikaku was our best strategist, and now we lost a critical member of our intelligence division."

"Shikaku was a Jonin. You had reasons to trust he could stay alive in the battlefield," Tsunade rebutted.

Jiraiya was going to say something, but closed his mouth, chuckled, and looked at his wife. "You're going to find a justification for every one of my failings, aren't you?"

"You can bet I am," Tsunade said with a confident smirk. However, said smirk disappeared quickly, replaced by a scowl and a solemn expression. "Jiraiya, we're now at the most critical part of the war. Our son and the other two jinchuriki are out there in the open, vulnerable, and Akatsuki won't resist the temptation of catching them. If I were the enemy, I'd send whatever forces left into one final offensive in order to act as a distraction while sending somebody capable of capturing the jinchuriki.

"Orochimaru had the reanimations of my grandparents all this time, yet he kept them under wraps until Naruto and the others were no longer protected," Tsunade pointed out. "I'm sure that that bastard still has more heavyweights in reserve, and he will send all of them soon. We're now going to face Orochimaru. If we can beat him, we'll be able to undo the Impure World Resurrection, depriving the enemy of their strongest asset. And if we're to do that, I can't have you doubting yourself when we're so close to end this."

Jiraiya was left a little taken aback upon hearing that light reprimand. After regarding his bearings, though, he smiled again. "Guess you're right. I'll have time to mop over my failings as a leader once we're done with this shit."

Tsunade rolled her eyes, but smiled good naturedly. "Honestly Jiraiya, drop it. You're being annoying. No one expects you to do a perfect job. In fact, I believe that out of all the potential candidates, you were the best, both to be Hokage and to be the Supreme Commander of the Alliance. And I'm not saying this just because I'm your wife."

Jiraiya held his hands defensively. "Hey, I'm not going to argue with you anymore. I don't think I can get anything out of it except a headache."

"Good," Tsunade said, and nodded.

Again, another moment of silence. Aside from the fire, they could hear a couple owls hooting.

"So... do you think we can take on the bastard?" Jiraiya asked. "I mean... I know you have the Rinnegan, but will it be enough? By this point, Orochimaru must have integrated quite a few Bloodline Limits into himself as well. Fighting a man with that many abilities... it's going to be tricky."

"Not to mention that we can't even kill him," Tsunade added. "Or else we won't be able to undo de jutsu and destroy all the reanimations at once."

"Do you really think that we can convince him to undo the jutsu?" Jiraiya asked, skeptical. "Orochimaru is too far gone. He will fight us to death, either his or ours, and the guy loves nothing but himself, meaning we can't use anything or anyone else as leverage against him. I know it won't destroy all the reanimations at once, but we already have you and the Hyuga sisters to destroy them permanently."

"Perhaps we could trick him," Tsunade suggested. "Put him under a genjutsu or something...?"

"I'm not that good with genjutsu, and neither are you. Plus, with that Sharingan of his, I doubt he wouldn't be able to easily break it," Jiraiya countered.

Tsunade was starting to become frustrated. Her nose scrunched up as she began to think what else they could do.

"Give it up, Hime. I'm not looking up to it, but we'll have to kill the bastard," Jiraiya said, hoping to make his wife reconsider.

Suddenly, an idea dawned upon Tsunade's mind. The scowl in her face disappeared, replaced by a smile of realization.

"Of course. Yes, we'll have to kill him," Tsunade said. "That doesn't mean we can't undo the jutsu ourselves after that."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, a little confused. "What are you thinking?"

Tsunade smiled confidently. "I just had an idea of how we can force Orochimaru to undo the jutsu. This is the plan..."

…

Mountain Graveyard

"Again. Your aberrations failed. Again," Obito seethed, as he angrily paced around the cavern that they were used as an improvised command center. "The three jinchuriki were out in the open, with no support and no place to hide, ripe for being caught. AND YOU LET THEM ESCAPE!"

Orochimaru was somehow able to keep a calm façade as he endured Obito's tirade, the last of many. He had to admit that the Uchiha had a point, his reanimations weren't as effective as they should have been. They were immortal, indestructible ninjas with unlimited amount of chakra, that were forced to obey the fallen Sannin's order to the letter. On paper, that would make them the perfect soldiers, but the Alliance was taking them on with surprising ease.

The answer would be that the jutsu has a weakness that Orochimaru hadn't anticipated. The answer would be, what weakness?

"Even discounting Tsunade and the Hyuga girls with the Truth Seeking Balls, many of my reanimations have been defeated rather quickly," Orochimaru reflected. "Seeing that they were unable to kill them, the enemy decided to seal them instead. Maybe the zombies still exist, but if they can't fight, that's irrelevant.

"You had the reanimation of Hashirama Senju as your slave, and you're telling me that wasn't enough to capture three jinchuriki?" Obito asked, incredulous, as he threw his arms into the air. "All you have to do is capture them, and then the war would have been won!"

"Obito's right. I thought that between Hashirama and Mito, they would be able to subdue the three jinchuriki. Hashirama is the most powerful ninja that ever lived, and he and his wife had the perfect skillset to counter a jinchuriki, yet the combined power of the three jinchuriki turned out to be greater. How can that be possible?"

"It seems that I made miscalculation while gauging the power of the targets," Orochimaru admitted, yet his confident demeanor didn't change in the slightest. "I don't know what they've been doing on that island, but the increase in power of the jinchuriki of the Nine and the Seven Tails has been... meteoric, to say the least. Given that it was so easy to make them abandon that giant turtle, it seemed that they didn't have enough power to match Mito, much less Hashirama."

"Didn't somebody tell you that you have an awful habit of underestimating your opponents?" Obito sneered, as he stomped towards him. "You think yourself you're so clever, so cunning, so strong, and then you let yourself be defeated by those same enemies you deemed as your inferiors."

"We haven't lost yet," Orochimaru said. "The jinchuriki are still out there, in the open. I still have plenty of strong reanimations that can take them on. This time, I'll overwhelm them with numbers instead of relying on a single, powerful puppet."

Obito was going to reply, when Zetsu emerged between the two of them. Even if the dual being was trying to hide it, it was obvious that he was bringing even more bad news.

He let out a tired sigh, and rolled his eyes. "What now?"

"Uh... you better come with me, boss," the black half said, as he eyed Orochimaru, while extending his arm at Obito. "This is... something you need to see."

Wordlessly, Obito grabbed Zetsu's hand, and let the plant creature pull him into the ground through his odd way of teleportation, leaving Orochimaru alone in the cavern.

…

Forests of the Land of Fire, Nightime

After their excruciating fight with Hashirama Senju and Mito Uzumaki, the jinchuriki trio of Naruto, Fu and Killer B wanted to do nothing but rest. Even if they knew that people were counting on them, they wouldn't be of much help if they arrived on the battlefield completely exhausted. Of course, there was the problem of finding a place to hide in order to escape from Akatsuki's ever vigilant gaze. Fortunately, the three jinchuriki came up with a rather ingenious idea.

After finding a good cluster of trees that would help cover their position, Fu used her chakra threads in order to create a large hollow cocoon that could be used as an improvised shelter. Naruto and Killer B then created and applied as many seals of protection, camouflage and privacy as possible in order to make it impossible to find. That would mean that their allies wouldn't be able to find them either, but it wasn't a risk they could afford to take.

Now, the three of them were sitting around a fire –thankfully, the makeshift shelter had a hole at the top to let the smoke out– quietly enjoying some rest and dinner. Unfortunately for them, the only food they had with them right now was some instant ramen Naruto had with him inside sealing scrolls. Not that they were complaining, it saved them from hunting, and they were hungry enough to eat pretty much anything.

They dined in silence. That's it, until, from a burst of smoke, a small frog appeared before Naruto. The blond quickly slurped the noodles they were in his mouth, almost choking on them. However, just before Naruto could greet the messenger toad, Fu's hand shoot towards the newcomer and caught him.

"Yay, a frog!" Fu cheered. "We can dine frog's legs with the ramen!"

"Hey, what the hell are you saying!? First, I'm a toad, not a frog! Second, what's that talk about eating me!?" the toad complained, as he broke free from Fu's grasp.

"A toad? Like the ones Naruto summons?" Fu asked, scratching her head. "But those are much bigger..."

"We toads come in every size and shape!" the toad protested, before he turned at Naruto. "Hey there, Naruto. I sent your message to your pops as you asked me."

"Kosuke! So great to see you back!" Naruto cheered, a little louder than he was hoping. "So, did you tell my dad about what happened? Will he do something about us?"

"Eh, yeah, I did, but..." Kosuke began, as he rubbed the back of his head, while averting Naruto's gaze.

"But what?" Naruto asked.

"Jiraiya wasn't where you said he would be. He wasn't at the Ninja Alliance HQ," Kosuke revealed, much to the three humans' surprise. "He and Tsunade were in a forest, I think far to the north."

"...what?" Naruto asked, looking stumped. "What the hell were they doing there?"

"From what Jiraya told me, they've located Orochimaru's hideout, and he and Tsunade are going to face him," Kosuke told him. "Let's hope they put that snake monster down."

"Hey, that's good, right?" Fu asked, looking back and forth between Naruto and Killer B, who didn't appear to be any happier. "Orochimaru's the one behind the reanimations, so if they beat him, the enemy will lose its strongest minions!"

Killer B looked back at her, and shook his head. "If the big boss is out, there will be no help. And the bad guys are going to keep making us yelp."

"Pretty much," Naruto agreed.

"Oh," Kosuke lamely said, looking down. "Hey, do you want us to take you to Mount Myoboku? You will be safe there."

Naruto shook his head. "I'm not going to abandon Killer B and Fu. Not to mention all the people out there fighting and dying for us. They've already done enough, they need our help."

"You sure?" Kosuke asked. "It could be arranged for your companions to be transported there as well, even if it may take a little time..."

"I'm sure," Naruto said, nodding. "Though, don't worry, I won't do anything stupid. I'll ask to be reverse summoned if the situation gets ugly, but I plan to use that as a last resort."

"Very well then. You're strong, and your pals also seem to be just as tough, so I trust you'll be good," Kosuke replied with a nod. "I'll tell the others to get ready to assist you as well as Jiraiya."

"Thanks, I'll appreciate that," Naruto replied.

"And if you need to send another message to your pop, don't hesitate to summon me," Kosuke said with a smile. "Anyway, I'll be taking my leave now. Bye!"

And Kosuke disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the three jinchuriki once again with nobody but each other. They continued eating in silence until all three of them finished their instant ramen. When they did, Fu decided to strike up a conversation.

"Man, that Hashirama dude was crazy strong," she said, as she leaned against the wall of the shelter-cocoon, while placing her hands behind her neck. "I hope they don't make us fight a reanimation stronger than that one."

"I find that unlikely. Hashirama is the strongest ninja who ever lived in recorded history," Naruto mentioned. "Orochimaru can't have somebody stronger because such person doesn't exist."

"I think you're forgetting about certain someone, that tree man has nothing on the great Killer B, son," Killer B boasted. "And he was lucky my big bro wasn't here, between the two of us we wouldn't taken more than five seconds to make him disappear!"

Naruto rolled his eyes, but chuckled at his fellow jinchuriki's rap, while Fu giggled.

"Well, maybe not somebody stronger, but I can think in somebody just as strong as Hashirama," Kurama interjected. "Madara Uchiha."

Naruto frowned upon hearing the name, and angrily crossed his arms, remember the pain he felt when the Nine Tails was almost ripped out of his body by a Summoning Jutsu. "Are you sure it was him? Because if Orochimaru got a piece of his DNA then..."

"While nobody knows where the Second Hokage buried Madara, Orochimaru has proved to be crafty and resourceful, so I wouldn't put past that man to get his hands on a DNA sample of Madara," Kurama said.

"Well, regardless of how strong that Madara is, if we beat Hashirama, we can beat him in the case we have to fight him again, right?" Fu asked, sounding like she needed to be reassured of that.

"Of course! Madara was never able to beat Hashirama, something you guys did do, so you shouldn't worry too much," Chomei helpfully encouraged.

"Then again, the fight against Hashirama was more narrow than I would have liked, so I don't look forward any similar fight," Gyuki tiredly said. "And from what I heard, Madara was crazy strong too."

"There was also our old man and his brother, but I find very unlikely for Orochimaru to get DNA from two people who died almost a millenium ago," Kurama added.

"I agree with numbers Nine and Seven, if more reanimations come we'll just launch them above heaven!" Killer B rapped. "All we have to do is help the Alliance fight and survive, while your mom and pop make sure that Orochimaru bastard doesn't stay alive."

"Yeah, that's the plan," Naruto confirmed.

"By the way, Number Nine, can you check the position of our friends? Just to make sure we don't take any wrong ends," Killer B asked.

"Sure," Naruto said, as he sat with his legs crossed, closed his eyes, and stayed still as he began to gather nature energy. Orange marks started to appear around his eyes as Sage Mode manifested, granting him far sensing abilities. The more nature energy he absorbed, the furhter he could expand his senses. "Alright, I have them! Yeah, you were right, they changed position and... hey, wait a second..."

"Something wrong, Number Nine? It seems like there's something that's not fine," Killer B inquired.

"The chakra concentration that I felt before is nowhere near as big as this one," Naruto said, worry slipping in his voice. "I'm sensing quite a few familiar chakra signatures, like that of Hagane, Kaida, Hanabi, Sasuke, Itachi, Neji, Lee and Tenten but... there are a lot of people missing."

"Perhaps there was a battle while we were fighting Hashirama?" Fu suggested.

"No, that can't be right. The Alliance has been fighting for weeks against Akatsuki, and while they had casualties, they weren't nothing too worrisome. There's no way they could have lost more than half their ninjas in a single battle..."

"Perhaps you aren't sensing them right," Fu said, as she also sat in the lotus position, and stayed still in order to activate Sage Mode. After a few minutes, she managed to expand her sensing range in order to reach Kurotsuchi's division. "Wait... you're right... there are far fewer people than the last time I sensed them!"

"See? I told you!" Naruto worriedly said. "Also... their chakra seems to be pretty weak..."

"Naruto," Fu called him. "You said you sensed Neji, Lee and Tenten, and so do I. But I can't sense their sensei..."

Naruto realized then that he hadn't sensed Gai-sensei either, and much to his horror, he realized he could no longer find his presence. Beads of cold sweat started to trickle down his body.

"What the hell happened there... and what kind of enemy could have killed such a powerful ninja like Gai-sensei?"

Kurama didn't say anything, but he already imagined the answer.

…

Undisclosed Location

Obito looked at Madara's unconscious form, partially submerged under a sap-like green substance inside a hole that served as a makeshift bathtub. He could see that his breath was shallow, but steady. Obito didn't know what was that substance, but the Zetsu told him it was a balm made from Hashirama's cells that had regenerative properties and would restore Madara to full health in no time.

He was unable to repress yet another sigh of exasperation. Zetsu stood behind the younger Uchiha, fidgeting uncomfortably.

"And when did he get out of the cocoon?" Obito asked, his eyes still trained on Madara.

"A few hours ago, boss," the while half replied.

"Did he know about the war?" Obito asked, almost hissing with anger. "Did he know what we were doing?"

"Yes, sir. We told him everything that happened since he entered the cocoon, until now," the white half confirmed.

"And instead of seeking me, or going to hunt the jinchuriki, he goes to pick a fight with a random division of the Ninja Alliance?" Obito asked again. Despite his apparent calm tone, Zetsu could sense he was so angry, he wouldn't be surprised if steam came out of his ears.

"He said he wanted to test his new powers and abilities before continuing with the plan, and thought a large gathering of enemy ninjas would be an ideal target," the black half supplied.

"Not so ideal, given how badly he ended," Obito bitterly thought. "And who the hell was able to put Madara Uchiha of all people in such a sorry state?"

"From what we know, a Konoha ninja named Maito Gai," the white half replied.

"Maito Gai?" Obito repeated, this time turned around to glare at the plant-like, dual being. "That idiot with the ridiculous haircut? Maito Gai did this!?"

"He used some kind of forbidden jutsu that granted him an immense power," the black half explained. "Something called the Celestial Gates or something like that."

Obito felt his anger subside a little. He knew about the Eight Gates. They were great sources of power, but came at an equally great cost. He could imagine that if Gai opened all eight Gates, he'd had a power to match Madara's.

"I presume Gai is dead then?" Obito asked.

"Very much, yes. His body was burned to ashes by the very power he was wielding," the black half said.

"At the very least we won't have to deal with that again," Obito said.

Zetsu nodded but didn't reply, while Obito turned back, and went to watch the wounded Madara once again, followed by an uncomfortably long moment of silence.

"Um, boss..." the white half began. "What are we going to do?"

"Deploy all our remaining troops on as many fronts as possible. Tell Orochimaru to send whatever reanimations he still has left to those very fronts as well," Obito ordered. "The goal of this attack is to keep the Alliance occupied while we catch the jinchuriki."

"I see," the black half said. "And what is the plan for that, boss?"

"I'm tired of delegating. I'm going to catch those stubborn jinchuriki myself," Obito declared. "It's time to end this farce of a war."

…

Second Division Base Camp, Nighttime

"Resolute. I need to appear resolute," Kurotsuchi thought, fighting back the tears. "The troops can't see you crying like a baby. They're looking up to you to guide them, and you can't afford to look weak."

The Second Division, or what was left of it, was resting inside their new base, an underground cavern that had been dug by the Earth Release users, the young Tsuchikage included. After Madara's brutal attack, the survivors wanted something not in the open. The few sealmasters that had survived had placed privacy and camouflage seals around the area in order to mislead enemy scouts.

There were no bonfires due the little ventilation of the man-made caves, with a few torches and small campfires scattered around the area providing some light and heat. Unlike the aftermath of their previous battles, there was no noise, other than the small murmur of a few conversations here and there. The mood was understandably gloomy. While many of the survivors were veterans from the previous war who also experienced their share of losing battles, it was nothing compared to what had happened a few hours prior.

Right now, Kurotsuchi was in front of a ninja of the Yamanaka clan, wearing a special helmet that amplified his psychic powers, in order to create a mental connection between the young Kage and the HQ. Now more than any time, they needed to know what had happened here.

"Commander, I'm ready when you are," the Yamanaka ninja in front of her informed.

Kurotsuchi merely nodded affirmatively. She could feel how her mind was linked to a network of many other minds, all of them which she recognized.

"I was expecting for you to contact us, Kurotsuchi. I was fearing for your life," she could hear the voice of her grandpa inside her head. She could hear the worry in his voice, despite the fact that she hadn't said anything yet. "The sensor division detected a massive spike of chakra coming from your position, as well as a massive loss of chakra signatures. What happened? Did Akatsuki launched a second attack after that one? For some reason, we were unable to determine the size of the enemy force from our end."

Kurotsuchi gulped, as she prepared for what she was going to say. "It was one enemy, grandpa. One that claimed to be Madara Uchiha."

There was a moment of silence, before Onoki spoke again.

"Of course. Given that we knew Orochimaru had DNA samples of Hashirama Senju, it would be wishful thinking to think he didn't have those of Madara as well," Onoki said in resignation. "Even then, Madara alone couldn't-"

"Let me finish first, grandpa," Kurotsuchi cut him. "First of all, it wasn't a reanimation. It was Madara Uchiha in the flesh."

"What!?" Onoki yelled. "But... but that..."

"That can't be right, girl," Chiyo's voice interceded. "If Madara Uchiha was still alive to this day, he'd be more than a century old. No human being has ever lived that long."

"Well, he didn't look like a reanimation, given the lack of cracked skin and black eyes," Kurotsuchi said. "Then again, if he was a reanimation or not it's irrelevant. What matters the most is his power. Grandpa, you fought Madara Uchiha in the past, right? Did he have Wood Release, or the Rinnegan?"

"Of course not! He had that blasted Mangekyo Sharingan..." Onoki began, before catching on his granddaughter's implication. "Wait... are you telling me the Madara you fought had such Bloodline Limits?"

"Yes. In fact, I better start from the beginning so you can understand what we went through. You see..."

Kurotsuchi began to explain the battle against Madara. How he carved a path of corpses with taijutsu alone, before fighting the division's most powerful ninjas, only to reveal that he was toying with them and using them to test his powers, before finally deciding to finish them off with not one but several Chibaku Tensei at once.

According to the information gathered by the Uchiha brothers during their ill-fated battle against their elder clansman, Madara had undergone the same rejuvenation process Rin Nohara had gone through, gaining Wood Release as well as a potent healing factor. And on top of that, by mixing his Uchiha genes with Hashirama's Senju cells, he had managed to evolve his Sharingan to Rinnegan, effectively becoming the most powerful ninja who ever lived.

"There's something I don't understand, Tsuchikage-sama," Ao intervened. "If Madara Uchiha is so immensely powerful, how did you manage to defeat him?"

"A Konoha Ninja, Maito Gai, used a forbidden technique known as the Eight Celestial Gates, which granted him a massive power boost, big enough to match Madara, but at the cost of his life," Kurotsuchi explained. "However, despite managing to keep Madara at bay long enough for us to escape, and delivering a devastating final blow, we were unable to confirm if Madara is truly dead nor not."

"Yes, I know that technique," Ao said. "Another Konoha ninja, Maito Dai, also used that very same technique to fight all of our Seven Swordsmen at once, and kill four of them, also at the cost of his life."

"It's kind of poetic that his son went down the same way Dai did, isn't it?" Chiyo sadly reflected.

"Yes. The casualties my division suffered at Madara's hands have been catastrophic," Kurotosuchi said, unable to repress a few tears at the thought of her allowing so many of her troops dying. "If it wasn't for Gai's sacrifice... that monster would have wiped out my division completely."

"So we better prepare for Madara's eventual return, then," Onoki said, dreading the thought of facing that man again, especially now that his powers had increased so dramatically. "Perhaps our most powerful ninjas working together can take him down."

"Will that be enough?" Kurotsuchi asked, unsure.

There was a moment of silence before Onoki gave his answer.

"I don't know, but we'll have to try," the old man said. "As if we didn't have enough troubles with Kumo's secret island being attacked..."

"They attacked the secret island!?" Kurotsuchi asked, alarmed. "When? How? Did they capture any of the-"

"A message reached us a few hours ago. We kept no communication between the island and the rest of our forces as not to give Akatsuki any lead to its location, but even then it wasn't enough," Onoki said.

"The Raikage said he had his mind scanned by a Yamanaka reanimation. It was only a matter of time that they found that island," Chiyo intervened. "Fortunately, word is that, despite leaving several casualties, Akatsuki was unable to capture the jinchuriki, and they escaped into the mainland."

"But that means that the jinchuriki are alone and uprotected," Kurotsuchi said. She then looked around. "I'd ask where they are, but my division is no shape to conduct an extensive search operation."

"We weren't expecting you to, child," Onoki replied. "Now if that's all, I suggest you to take some rest. We'll send you reinforcements and supplies as soon as we can."

"I will. Thanks, gramps,"

…

As said before, the atmosphere among what was left of the Second Divison was gloom. Not only because of the crushing defeat at Madara's hands, not just because the sheer amount of casualties, but also because said casualties left friends and loved ones behind. And among those many unfortunate soulds was a trio of Konoha ninjas who had just lost their Jonin-sensei in the battle against Madara.

Lee and Tenten broke down almost immediately after the underground shelter was set, and spent most of the time crying their eyes out. Even if Neji also shed a few tears, she managed to keep his composure. Perhaps because he wasn't used to display his emotions so openly, perhaps because, as the new leader of the Close Combat Squad.

"I can't believe that Gai-sensei is... is... gone..." Tenten said, not daring to say the word she meant to say.

"He was so strong... I never thought there was somebody capable of... of pushing Gai-sensei into sacrificing like that for us..." Lee cried.

"This is a war. People die. Shikamaru lost his dad not that long ago," Tenten said, still crying a little. "But... but you never think it's going to be somebody... somebody close to you..."

"No. You never do," Neji interceded. "Until you lose somebody, and realize how close death is to us. Especially when you're a ninja."

"You're talking about the Uchiha Insurrection, right?" Lee asked. "I know your clan was hit really hard during that tragic night."

"Yes. However, it happened almost a decade ago, and I didn't lose any of my close relatives, so I was among the lucky ones," Neji explained. "But even if I didn't know most of them, seeing so many of my clansmen die was a harrowing experience. I wasn't even out of the Academy, yet that day taught me what it means to be a ninja: to see your friends and loved ones die at any moment."

"Really? So... whenever we go to a mission... do you expect any of us to die?" Tenten asked.

"I prefer to look at it from a different perspective: what can I do to make sure all of us go home alive?" Neji rethorically asked. "And I can asume that Gai-sensei thought that way. That's why he sacrificed himself, so we could have another chance to fight. Another chance to live."

"And we'll use this chance to avenge Gai-sensei-" Tenten began.

"No. That..." Lee interrupted. "That's not something Gai-sensei would have wanted. Gai-sensei considered revenge to be mostly unyouthful."

"Not that we can do anything against somebody who wields such a monstrous power," Neji added. "If we want to honor Gai-sensei's sacrifice, the best thing we can do is to continue doing what we've been doing so far: keep fighting against the enemy to the best of our ability, and help end this war as best as we can."

Tenten wanted to protest. To shout, to yell, about how Gai's death was an injustice that needed to be punished. But as much as her emotional side wanted her to do that, her rational side couldn't help but agree with everything Neji was saying. Madara was way out of their league, and if he died, it wouldn't be by their hand.

So Tenten didn't say anything. Neither did Lee nor Neji. The group remained silent for the next few minutes, slowly absorbing the Hyuga prodigy's words.

"So... given that Gai-sensei is gone," Lee spoke, braking the silence. He looked at Neji. "That makes you the leader of our squad, given that you're the one of the greater rank."

"I guess so. But that's irrelevant now, since we're part of a much larger division," Neji pointed out, as he looked down. Then, he raised his eyes, and locked them onto his two teammates. "But like Gai-sensei did before, as the commanding officer of this squad, I'll do my best to keep you two alive."

"And we will do our best to make sure you won't have to sacrifice yourself like Gai-sensei did," Tenten said energically, as she clenched her hand into a fist. "This squad won't lose anymore members! Gai-sensei's sacrifice won't be in vain!"

Neji just crossed his arms and nodded, while Lee threw a fist in Tenten's direction, as a way to show his agreement. They would make it to the end of this war alive. They would make their sensei proud.

…

Not far away from there, Sasuke was sitting alone at the foot of another small campfire. He was shivering a little, as the underground cavern was cold, and the campfire didn't provide much heat, but it was better than nothing. He heard the steps of somebody who was walking towards him. He didn't turn his head around since he knew who he was.

"Hey," Itachi said, as he sat in front of him. "You okay, brother?"

"Yeah. A little exhasuted, but I'll live," Sasuke tiredly replied. "So... how is Natsu doing?"

"She's okay. The medics have already healed all her wounds. Nothing too serious. Thankfully," Itachi said, breathing out.

"And... how are you doing?" Sasuke asked.

Itachi visibly deflated. His eyes looked downwards, to the hard stone floor. "Physically, I'm okay. I'll need a day or two of rest before I'm at my best, so let's hope we get a little reprieve before we're called into the action again."

"You said 'physically'," Sasuke pointed out. "And mentally?"

"Mentally... not so good," Itachi honestly replied. He looked at Sasuke with tired eyes. "I keep replaying the battle in my mind, wondering what we could have done differently in order to beat Madara but... nothing comes to mind. The gap between us is too big."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, and scowled at his older brother. "You don't seriously think it was your responsibility alone to end that maniac, do you?"

"If it wasn't mine, them whom?" Itachi replied.

"You aren't the only ninja in this division, Itachi. Nor the only one with a powerful Bloodline Limit. Many of them tried their luck against Madara, and all of them failed," Sasuke pointed out.

"True. Guess I'm not that used to failing," Itachi admitted.

"Really? I know you're strong, but even you must fail sometimes," Sasuke pointed out.

"Less than the average ninja. With the missions I usually get, failure isn't something that I can afford," Itachi said. "And when I fail, mass death follows."

Sasuke chuckled humorlessly. "Aren't you being a little overdramatic there?"

"Do I need to remind you of the Uchiha Insurrection?" Itachi pointedly asked.

Sasuke shot his older brother an unamused glare. "What? You think you could have stopped that by yourself?"

"I reviewed what happened in my mind quite a lot of times, and came up with at least five possible courses of action I could have taken in order to minimize the bloodshed of that night to a fraction of what it was," Itachi argued. "Then again, I don't blame myself for what happened there. I was even younger than you are now, so I think I did the best I could have done back then."

"I do think you –both of us– did the best we could. You said it yourself, Madara was too strong, so no point in moping about it," Sasuke said.

Itachi let out a sigh. "Guess I'm not that used to fight against enemies so superior to me either."

"You always told me not to let my power make me confident, and that there will always be somebody much stronger than you are," Sasuke reminded him.

Itachi chuckled sadly. "Guess I'm not that good at applying my own advice either, am I?"

"Probably because you were never in a situation when you needed to," Sasuke told him.

Itachi merely acknowledged Sasuke's point with a nod. Silence them befell between the two brothers, who stayed like that for several hours.

…

Sometime later, sunrise

Dawn came a few hours later, when the sun rose and bathed the entire continent in light, driving the night coat of shadows away. Of course, that isn't something the people of the Second Division would know, given that most of them were hidden underground.

Despite the lack of natural sunlight, a girl that had been asleep for hours wake up shortly after the sun started to rise. Hanabi Hyuga stirred in her sleep, as her consciousness slowly returned. She opened her eyes, blinking a few times to adjust to the light of the instance, which was rather dim. Slowly, she sat up, and turned around.

"Hey, look, she's awake!"

Hanabi was quickly surrounded by her two teammates, who looked at her with worried eyes.

"Oh boy, thank goodness you woke up! After the beating that Madara asshole gave you, we feared for the worst!" Kaida said, before her mood lightened up, and gave her twin brother a hard slap on the back. "Thank goodness my little bro is a superb medic!"

"What happened? Where... where are we?" she asked, looking around. "Did Madara win?"

"We're in an underground shelter made via Earth Release;" Hagane began to explain. "As for what happened..."

The white haired Senju told Hagane how Sasuke and Itachi took over from Hanabi, but even the Uchiha duo failed to make any significant damage to the Madara, and how Madara decided to stop fooling around and showcase his true power in the form of not one nor two, but six Chibaku Tensei. When Hagane was going to tell her about the second round of meteors and Gai's sacrifice, Kaida tugged her brother's sleeve, and nodded to a pair of Iwa ninjas that were walking by.

"...yes, I heard Tsuchikage-sama herself say it. The hideout of the jinchuriki has been attacked by Akatsuki," one of the Iwa ninja, a man, said. "Though I heard the jinchuriki escaped, at the very least."

"Let's hope the other divisions move out and secure them," his companion, a kunoichi, replied. "After all the ninjas that died to protect those three, especially today, they better don't let Akatsuki get their hands on them and make all of this in vain..."

They continued talking, but the trio didn't listen. They already had all the information they considered relevant.

"You heard that?" Hagane asked.

"Yes! Naruto-niisan is in danger!" Kaida said, her voice cracking a little. "We need to go out and help him!"

Kaida tried to stand up and run outside, but Hagane grabbed her by the arm.

"Kaida, no! You don't know where Naruto-niisan and the other two are," Hagane said. "And even if you were, neither of us are in condition to go out and fight."

Hanabi wanted to say something, until an idea dawned upon her. She sat down in the lotus position, and focused her chakra. The twins took notice of this.

"Hanabi? What are you doing?" Hagane asked.

"I don't think Sage Mode is going to help here," Kaida added.

"I'm not gathering nature energy. We may not be able to help, but I'm going to ask somebody who can," Hanabi said. "Now shut up, I need to focus."

…

Konoha, Hyuga Estate

Despite being an early riser, Hinata was still asleep. She had been sleeping for quite a lot of time since her return to Konoha. The fight against Toneri had left her drained, more than what she wanted to admit, so her body was soaking on all the rest it could gather.

"Hinata!"

Her nights were dreamless, given how deep her slumber was. This one, however was going to be an exception. Soon, Hinata found herself inside a weird but familiar place, the ancient temple of purple stone where she first met Hamura Otsutsuki. And then there was that voice calling her name time after time, each time more desperate.

"Hinata!"

"Uh..." Hinata groaned as she tried to get on her feet, only to realize that she was already standing. She blinked a couple times, before realizing that there was somebody in front of her. Somebody she knew very well. "Hanabi?"

"Finally!" the younger sister said, throwing her hands into the air. "What took you so long?"

"Sorry Hanabi-chan, I was asleep. My last fight left me a little exhasuted, but I'm almost back to my full strength," Hinata explained. She titled her head, and looked at her little sister with worried eyes. "You seem agitated, it's something wrong?"

"Something wrong? Heh, you have NO idea."

Hanabi then explained Hinata Madara's mysterious appearance, how he wrecked the Second Division, and how Gai had to sacrifice himself in order to stop him.

"Gai-sensei is dead!? No!" she cried, covering her mouth with her hands. While she herself didn't have much relation with the green-clad Jonin save from that time she trained under him to increase her endurance and strength, that was her cousin's Jonin-sensei. "Neji-niisan and his teammates must be devastated."

"And that's not all," Hanabi cotninued. "I heard that they attacked Kumo's secret island. Naruto and the others managed to escape, but they're still out there. I hope you're well rested, because your boyfriend needs you. Like, right now."

Hinata nodded. "Yes. Thanks for telling me this, Hanabi-chan. In the meantime, stay safe. I sense that you aren't at your best either."

"Don't worry about me, sis. But thanks. Now go."

…

Hinata opened her eyes, and found herself in her room at the Hyuga estate. There wasn't much time to act. She quickly went to the kitchen and prepared herself a breakfast that would keep her going for a long time, which she ate as fast as she could.

Then, she raced back to her room, tossed her nightgown, and put on a thigh-length battle kimono, purple in color with dark blue trimming and tied with a white obi. Lastly, she put on a pair of blue knee-length boots, before grabbing her ninja tool pouch.

Once she was ready, she rushed out of her room, and once she was outside, she took off into the sky, flying upwards until she reached five hundred meters in altitude. Once she was high enough, she directed chakra to her eyes in order to increase the vision range of the Tenseigan.

"Come on Naruto-kun... where are you?" Hinata asked, as her eyes scanned kilometers and kilometers of land in front of her. She was starting to grow desperate, until she found a very powerful chakra signature, one that radiated with the strength of the sun. Accompanying him were other two signatures of similar strength, one she was familiar with, the other unknown. Her lips curved into a smile. "There you are!"

Wasting no more time, Hinata shot forward. Even at her fast speed, she'd take many hours to reach her boyfriend. She prayed that nothing would happen before she could arrive to his side.

…

Somewhere in the Forests of the North of the Land of Fire

Obito looked at the mass of green that extended before him. Among all that green, his preys awaited.

"You have evaded me for a long time, Naruto. This will be the last time I'll have to fight you. You and your fellow jinchuriki will fulfill your roles as the sacrifices that will allow a better world to exist," Obito said, as he leaped forward. "Let's go!"

Behind him, the reanimations of six former jinchuriki followed the Akatsuki, the tools Obito would use to catch his elusive foes.

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter of relaxation, because it's the last one you're going to get until the epilogue. The pieces are set on the board, and the final part of the war is about to begin; Jiraiya and Tsunade are ready to face Orochimaru and put an end to the man they used to call friend and teammate, as well as to shut down the Edo Tense, while Obito is done relying on others and will try to hunt Naruto and the others himself. And of course, Madara is still out there, ready to rejoin the battle.

And thus Hinata rejoins the fight! I bet many of you were very eager to see her again, given that she's been absent for more than ten chapters. She will dive into the action soon, but not very soon. She's still far away from the main battlegrounds, and even if she can fly, she can't do so at supersonic speed.

Thanks to Ookami88 for betareading this chapter.

There's still one more chapter to wrap up the first half of the war, so to speak, and set up the pieces for the final battles, before the climax of the war, and thus the story, can finally begin.

And remember, don't forget to review! Reviews make me really, really, really happy!