Naruto watches helplessly as Rain and Sei run to help the last Guard fighting Black Zetsu. He looks on as Black Zetsu switches targets to Rain. Sei Manages to reach the safety of Kakashi sensei and Wind's protection with the wounded Guard as Rain and Black Zetsu begin to circle each other.
In horror, Naruto watches as a hand shoots up out of the ground, grabbing Rain's leg. Rain tries to free himself, but he cannot move. Black Zetsu punches Rain's swirly, orange mask, shattering it into a hundred pieces. The hand holding Rain releases him as he flies backwards, crashing into the stairs just below where Kakashi sensei is standing. The stairs shatter, forming a crater around Rain, who begins to bleed from various parts of his body.
Sasuke is watching the fight too. Her face is whiter than Hinata's eyes. The sealing jutsu lies on their laps, forgotten.
Wind turns from her fight with a white zetsu and screams, "NOOOO!" An animalistic growl escapes her throat and she snarls at Black Zetsu. "How dare you?!"
"You chose the wrong side," says Black Zetsu watching Wind calmly, as if she is not a threat to him. "We will win!"
Raw chakra bubbles out of Wind's body, causing Kakashi sensei to take a step away from her, holding his arms up against the force of it. Her cloak flaps around, and her hood blows off.
ISOBU! Kurama roars, as the chakra coming from Wind forms a tail. She's Isobu's jinchuuriki!
Naruto's mouth falls open in surprise.
A moment later his surprise turns to terror as he watches Black Zetsu suck up Wind's Bijuu chakra as if it is nothing. Black Zetsu then tears off Wind's mask saying, "Why don't you show everyone your face, girl?" Then he throws her up the stairs. Wind lands beside Rain, but not nearly as hard.
The last of Kurama's Guards who is still in the fight turns to run up the stairs and help Wind and Rain. Black Zetsu turns and cuts her down.
"NO!" Naruto screams, leaping to his feet. Not another one!
Kurama roars in anger and bashes himself against the bars of his cage.
Wind pulls herself to her knees, blood pouring out of gashes on her arms and head. Shaking, she rolls Rain over, revealing a face that is scarred on the right side but not the left. Wind herself has two purple squares tattooed on her cheeks. Naruto stares at their faces, astonished and fascinated to finally see them. Wind heals Rain, ignoring her own injuries.
Kakashi sensei is staring at Wind and Rain, his eyes wide open. "Rin?" he says, sounding shocked and disbelieving. "Obito?"
Wind looks up at Kakashi sensei. "Hey Kakashi," she says, tears rolling down her face. "I'm so, so sorry."
"But how?" says Kakashi sensei, helplessly. "I saw you die! I killed you!"
Rain opens his eyes, revealing one black eye and one rinnegan. "And I used this rinnegan to bring her back," he says, weakly. "I'll tell you the full story once the battle is over. Don't worry, Kakashi: none of what happened was your fault."
One of Kurama's Guards, the one who got stabbed in the leg, finishes healing his leg and rushes to Wind and Rain. He kneels down beside them and says, "Let me heal him, Wind. You need to attend to your own wounds."
Wind looks at the blood running down her arms in surprise, as if she is seeing it for the first time.
The Guard draws out his healing ninshuu chakra and channels it into Rain. Rain's wounds begin to heal much faster than Wind was healing them.
Kakashi sensei leaps forward, over Wind, Rain and the Guard. He attacks the zetsus, who are coming up the stairs again. Black Zetsu is hanging back, calling up more white zetsus from the ground. The Jashinists join Kakashi sensei, forming a human wall along the temple stairs, blocking any access to the wounded and their healers.
Wind raises her hand to her head and begins to heal the gash above her ear.
Black Zetsu starts to laugh as he sees Kakashi sensei and the Jashinists's efforts. "You will never defeat me!" he says. "I have planned and prepared for this moment for centuries, and you worms have barely had a few minutes. This is only the grunt force. If you maggots manage to get the upper hand, or if the little team you sent off manages to make it to the Leaf and send back help, I will still win. I have more reinforcements waiting, ready to attack. YOU CANNOT WIN!"
"I honestly thought he was going to monologue for longer," says Iruka-nii, glancing over his shoulder at Naruto and Sasuke. "Are you two learning that jutsu, or not?" he demands. "You need to hurry, before it's too late."
It's already nearly too late! Snaps Kurama, growling and clawing at the bars of his cage. Hurry, Naruto. Learn that seal before more of our people die!
A scream draws Naruto's attention to the battle taking place on the stairs. A Jashinist has fallen, cut in two by a white zetsu.
"No, no, no, no, no!" Naruto runs to Iruka's barrier and tries to get through, pressing himself against the forcefield.
"NARUTO!" snaps Iruka, sounding mad. "Stop that! You'll break the jutsu!"
"I WANT TO GO OUT THERE AND FIGHT!" screams Naruto, banging on the seal with his fist. "I CAN'T WATCH ANY MORE PEOPLE DIE!"
"NARUTO!" Kakashi sensei turns away from the fight, a dark expression on his face. "If you don't want anyone else to die here, then LEARN THAT JUTSU."
"Come on, stupid," says Sasuke, her voice shaky. "This is how we can help best, we have to learn this thing!"
Naruto turns to look at Sasuke. Her face looks awful. "Sasuke?" he says. "Are you okay?"
"My painkillers have worn off," says Sasuke, screwing her face up in agony. "And I left the bottle in the Temple. We have to hurry. Naruto, just get over here and ignore the battle."
"Don't pin all your hopes on that silly jutsu!" scoffs Black Zetsu. "It has never been tested, and I will kill you before you can learn it! You will die if you try to use it on me! Give up, and I promise I will kill you quickly."
Naruto, says Kurama, all calm and quiet. I have an idea. It might get us both killed since it involves the shinigami, but you are a master now.
What is it? Naruto asks, looking back at the battlefield, where his followers are fighting for their lives, and for his. Tell me.
Kurama tells him, and Naruto's face twists into a grin. "Kurama just had an idea that will help us a lot," Naruto tells Sasuke and Iruka-nii. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
Naruto draws the seal that will summon all four shinigami at once and pulls himself into it, reverse-summoning himself to the realm of the shinigami.
The four shinigami are sitting at a wooden table playing Ludo. Dave is winning.
"Hey guys," says Naruto, grinning.
Dave, Steve, Joe and Jashin all turn to look at him.
"Hi Naruto," says Jashin. "All but one of the five Jashinists you sent with Namiko and Madoka are dead. The odds are not looking good for what's left of that little team."
Naruto glares at Jashin. "So your followers are dying and you're just playing Ludo, dattebayo?" he crosses his arms. "Do you not care, or something?"
"Not really, no," says Jashin. "I'd prefer if they didn't all die, since they're annoying, but it's gonna happen sooner or later."
"He has a point," says Steve. "We all love our followers, but they are annoying."
"What if I taught them all how to summon the four of you permanently," says Naruto, his heart racing as he attempts to blackmail the shinigami into doing what he wants them to. "You know, I found a way to seal you all to the land of the living and the will of the person who casts the jutsu - even long after they die, which they won't because the seal will make the user immortal."
"You're bluffing," says Joe sweating. "He's bluffing, right?"
"He's not bluffing," says Kurama's disembodied voice from inside Naruto.
The four shinigami glance at each other nervously.
"What do you want?" asks Dave, nervously. "What could you possibly want, to threaten all four of us with that?"
Naruto grins and tells them.
After a short argument over Naruto's demands, the shinigami agree, although somewhat reluctantly. Naruto returns to the Temple of Jashin with a pop.
"Naruto, where did you go?" asks Sasuke, staring at Naruto in astonishment.
"To the land of the shinigami," says Naruto, pulling out a very special something. "I got us some reinforcements."
Naruto throws the thing into the air. It flips around slowly, turning over and over as it falls to the ground. Naruto watches it fall. Right before the thing hits the ground there is a flash of red and yellow.
Minato Namikaze grabs his kunai right before it touches the ground. Clinging to his back, Kushina Uzumaki grins.
"We're back," says Naruto's newly resurrected Dad.