This. This was it. The final battle, the climatic showdown between those arrayed against the dream-filled world Madara Uchiha wished for, the final stand against the machinations of Black Zetsu that had stretched across countless lifetimes.

Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Kakashi Hatake were the last line of defense, would prove either triumphant or commit themselves to the last stand of the old world order.

Within the bulging mass of Chakra, the results of the final betrayal, Madara Uchiha's body fell and the true will guiding Black Zetsu emerged.

Kaguya Otsuksuki at last regained her form, took in the world she had not seen for over a millennia.

The world she had been denied stewardship of because of her traitorous sons, when the two had used what they had stolen from her as the final act of betrayal.

From where she floated, she was above all as if she was a Goddess descended on the world. From her place so high above she cast silent judgement on all that laid before her, on the very planet itself.

She looked upon the world and found it lacking, found it wanting, and found it in disrepair from her long absence.

"My world…this beautiful place…" She did not speak with a booming voice, didn't bother to raise her voice as she stared at what was before her, paradoxically seemed to almost be in tears despite her impassive face revealing no emotion. "You have ruined it."

Her eyes at last settled on who was before her, the four that would make a futile effort to stand against her, stand against her guidance of this world that was her nursery. It was not with despair that she looked upon those who so selfishly used what had been taken from her so long ago, used it against the progenitor of this age, she who had been responsible for the rise of the weapons known as Shinobi. It was almost pity. Pity that they could not join the others in an endless dream, in a world so much warmer in their mind than it was in reality.

A cold, miserable, reality she would soon liberate them from.

She gazed upon them with the love of a mother, the despair one brings when such maternal warmth is rejected, is cast aside as an act of rebellion, of spite.

"You have ruined it, have denied the peace I would've have given you, an endless dream that you will never awake from." She spoke with dispassion, spoke the words as if they were an undeniable truth, an event that had already transpired and was merely recounted for those curious. "No matter what, I will take back what you've taken from me, what my foolish children took from me so long ago."

She spoke with certainty gifted by power, immense, fathomless power.

"All Chakra in this world belongs to me. Will return to me. Will be mine forever and always." She lifted her arms out to her side, allowed that great power to emerge, to consume the world before her. "Surrender and I will grant you the peace of dreams before I take back what is mine. Refuse and I will destroy you and your Chakra no matter how great it is."

Those who dared to stand against her, who would fight this fruitless battle until their last breath, said nothing.

How could they? How could they do anything but stare at the foe before them?

At last, Sasuke Uchiha chose to speak.

"She's adorable."

She was.

No doubt, she would be terrifying yet elegant if she had emerged at her full strength. That was not the case. With the poor planning of "her will", the state the Ten Tails had been when it had been absorbed by first Obito and later Madara, she had emerged in a younger, immature form.

A childlike form.

One with big eyes, tiny horns, and over all just adorableness in a pintsized package. Wrapped in oversized clothing that would likely perfectly fit her adult form, not so much her current form.

"I have never seen something so precious." Sakura Haruno was quick to second such an opinion, found her fists falling to her side. "I can't punch her face. I want to pinch her cheeks!"

"I-I can't fight a kid!" Naruto Uzumaki dropped to the ground in his despair, in seeing the foe in front of him. "I just can't do it Gramps! It isn't me!" He let his head fall, perhaps made an effort to bow in apology to the elderly figure he had met not too long ago. "I'm just not that kind of guy!"

"Well…" At his leading tone, Kakashi Hatake promptly earned a glare from the three with him. He held up his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright. I won't do anything." The Mangekyou Sharingan he had been gifted by Obito's spirit burned for a moment as well before settling.

'Come on, even you?' In a way, he was arguing in his soul.

He envisioned that, within his soul, not only was the spirit of Obito looking at him in disappointment but the spirit of Rin Nohara had tagged along to do the same.

They were just being unfair really, it being two on one and all.

'Come on!' Kakashi winced at the sudden throbbing that came to his eyes. 'She's evil! So what if she looks like a kid? She wants to put us all in a tree!'

He turned back to the battle at hand, figured he could at least do something if she decided to attack.

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke had decided to approach the white-haired girl on a trio of floating platforms.

"I've decided." Sasuke nodded to himself after seeing the floating girl up close. "I've only known her for a few minutes but if anything was to happen to her, I would kill everyone and then myself."

"Same." Sakura only found herself nodding at his side.

"I should be promising to stop you two but…" Naruto let his head hang. In this moment, he knew his defeat was absolute, this despair was one foe he could not triumph over. He had been beaten and his foe hadn't even needed to unleash a single attack to do it. "I just can't do this!"

And so, the great battle to decide the future of the world was over.

The victor was no one.


AN: This is a random oneshot. Likely a oneshot. I'm a solid 75%, 88% sure it's a oneshot.

PM if you want.

Review if you want.

Peace.