He wiped his alcohol-smeared lips. Sasuke was a better fighter when he was drunk anyway. He brandished a bottle of merlot (tip: do not mix alcohol), popping it and flicking the cork towards Madara. He flashed him a drunken smirk. For some reason or other, perhaps out of strange amusement, Madara let him drink the bottle. The Kage behind him were bewildered, but most said nothing, confused.
"Uchiha Sasuke," Tsunade began sternly, crossing her arms, "I demand to know why you are here," she chided. Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"Bitch, please. You're about to get your ass beat. I'm doing you a favour," he replied scathingly, his voice coming out deep and sonorous, lilting from the alcohol.
Tsunade bit back a retort, silencing herself, probably figuring that he was right. Before Onoki opened his big mouth, Sasuke motioned for him to shut up. Angrily, he did.
"All of you have better things to do than fight him. Besides, he's my ancestor, not yours. So go away," he drunkenly murmured.
"Sasuke. Why?" Gaara, half an eye on Madara, muttered. The actual question was 'why are you helping us instead of him'. It was a decent question that he really didn't want to answer. Hopefully, his demeanour exuded enough confidence for them to leave him and Madara alone.
"Yeah," Tsunade huffed, "For all I know, your nuke-nin ass is going to work with this fucker," she nodded at Madara, who seemed insulted. Sasuke rolled his eyes. This conversation was going on too long.
"Hurry it up, I've got shit to do," Madara commanded. Sasuke decided enough was enough and that whether the Kage were here or not didn't matter. Madara attempted another meteorite aimed at Sasuke. It, too, was decimated to dust effortlessly. He changed tactics to Wood Style. Technically, all Sasuke needed to do was seal Madara's dead ass. It would've been accomplishable, but Sasuke did not want to seal Madara. Not for the idea he had.
Kirin was unleashed - it came out bigger, stronger and more intimidating than last time, proving Sasuke's theory right. He could feel more power coursing through his veins than he could last time he was here. Dimension hopping had a certain effect on an individual's strength: of the positive kind. The fact that he remained unageing meant that his chakra did too.
The lightning enveloped the landscape, shrouding Madara's wood clones in an invincible coat of lightning. They collapsed. Instead of frustration, Madara was visibly amused. He threw his head back and chuckled manically.
"You're somewhat competent, I'll admit."
"Unlike you, I don't need to rely solely on other people's organs for power," Sasuke retorted.
Madara's jovial expression soured. He released a colossal fire jutsu. The fire materialised from his heated palms, bellowing at Sasuke. Kirin shielded him. The fire simmered away, as did Kirin. Sasuke activated his Mangekyou Sharingan, easing into the fight. Madara had pretty much the same arsenal of tricks he did, so it was a test of who was better.
Sasuke wasn't trying to win against Madara. He could've, but he didn't really want to. Sasuke was attempting a risky gamble; to prolong the battle as much as possible, and make it seem as if him and this dead, shadow version of Madara were equals. For his gamble to work, he needed the Kage to leave. They were sitting ducks anyway.
Madara conjured up a massive water jutsu, probably assuming that Sasuke's chakra was lightning type only. He countered with a high-level fire jutsu, amped by the stormy surrounding Kirin provided. Madara was starting to get seriously frustrated, judging by the furrow in his brow. Apparently he wasn't used to actual competitors that weren't Senju.
Switching to a taijutsu-oriented tactic, Sasuke sprinted, full-speed, towards Madara, aiming a spinning heel kick at Madara's skull. As expected, Madara used his arms to block. Just before impact, Sasuke's heel up to his knee caught fire, scorching Madara's arms. Not that it would've mattered, this was an Edo Tensei anyway. Sasuke avoided the urge to use this moment of reluctance to slap a seal on Madara.
With rising anger, Madara used a wild, unpredictable, yet precise style of taijutsu to attack. His hands were coated in chakra for maximum injury. Sasuke frantically blocked and pierced, evading and parrying Madara's stabs. Both of them had unrelenting, attack-heavy styles, but were forced to defend more than usual. Well, Sasuke kept internally insisting he could've beat Madara by now, but for the sake of his plan, he had to prolong this.
Sasuke backflipped, kicking Madara. While backflipping, he took the opportunity to yell at the Kage.
"You're all slow, useless fucks! Go away!" They seemed to have realised that Sasuke was not going to help Madara, and even if he was, there'd be no stopping him. The Kage scattered away like chipmunks.
Landing in a perfect stance, Sasuke stared Madara down, his Mangekyou whirling. They continued a taijutsu battle for a few minutes before resuming ninjutsu. Madara released a giant wind jutsu, akin to a hurricane. Sasuke planted his chakra-coated feet firmly on the ground, shrouding himself in protective chakra. Wind blades slid right past him.
"It's like..." Madara tilted his head in a sick sort of confusion, "You've got infinite chakra. You're peculiar." That was considered a compliment from Madara. Sasuke didn't bother answering his implicit question, instead hurtling yet another fire jutsu at Madara. He didn't bother with his better repertoire - Madara was dead and unyielding and Sasuke wasn't trying to seal him. Madara wasn't the objective of his goal.
Sasuke's boredom began to increase, his patience was starting to wither, and yet he kept Madara entertained and on edge. As the fight went on, he was beginning to give up on his gamble.
"You know, we won't be equals for long," Madara revealed, "You, one of my descendants, are starting to become quite the problem."
Brow furrowing, Madara's ire was starting to reach its peak. It was as if he was running out of time. And Sasuke was running out of patience. Just as he was about to put maximum effort into his next series of moves, the air warped, twisting and bending as if to accommodate a new happening.
Tufts of blonde and red hair peeped out of the invisible wormhole. Leanly muscular, tanned arms highlighted by a casual red muscle shirt. Naruto's hands were coolly shoved into his jean pockets, but this did nothing to isolate him as a threat in either Sasuke or Madara's eyes.
Wisps of venomous, searing-hot, potent chakra swirled around Naruto's figure. Not only did they appear intimidating, but they emitted fury-incited power. His biggest concern, as of now, was Naruto and the frightening amount of power he emanated. This man...he had to be infallible.
Naruto's allegiance was always a mystery up till now - the only person he'd ever help was himself. He worked for himself only. It was entirely possible that Naruto was his enemy - an enemy that wielded a magnanimous, world-ending amount of power.
This was the final jigsaw piece Sasuke needed to figure out the enigma that was Naruto. Everything clicked in his mind. The first question he found the answer to: why wasn't Naruto a Jinchuuriki anymore? The answer made so much sense now.
Madara went ignored by Naruto. Naruto's crimson and slitted eyes were fixated on Sasuke's Sharingan. Crimson on crimson. Slowly, Naruto smirked. His teeth gleamed like porcelain, and then they grew into jagged and razor-like fangs, so sharp they could undoubtedly tear Sasuke to shreds in a split second.
All the words Sasuke wanted to say were trapped in the back of his throat. Pure fear shivered down his spine, albeit overshadowed by frustration. How could he have miscalculated this badly?
Naruto slowly and deliberately brought his hands together to form an obscure sign. The chakra surrounding him swirled and formed several patterns with each motion Naruto made. Sasuke figured it out; the potency of this chakra, the razor fangs, the glowing eyes, it all made perfect sense.
Naruto wasn't a Jinchuuriki anymore, because he absorbed the Kyuubi.