Madara finishes telling Naruto and Sasuke his story. He told them everything from the day he met Hashirama to they day they fought in the Valley of End. "So now do you understand?" Madara asks the two teenagers. "Will you join me and help me create a perfect world where everyone is happy?"
"Hey, don't get ahead of yourself!" yells Naruto, pointing angrily at Madara. "We haven't told you OUR stories yet!"
"Oh really?" says Madara, crossing his arms. "Let's have them then. You first, since you're so keen to tell me about your boring life."
"Boring…?" Naruto stares at Madara, his eyes wide.
"How much could a brat your age possibly have gone through?" scoffs Madara. "You grew up in an age of sunshine and rainbows compared to the age I grew up in."
Naruto's eyes widen. Half forgotten memories of his foster parents rise to the surface. Memories of the loneliness of being ignored and treated as nothing. Before he even realizes it, Naruto has activated the Flashback no Jutsu and is showing Madara and Sasuke how his foster parents ignored him, how he left and found Iruka-niisan. He shows them how the village treated him, how he won over the Uchiha Police as allies - allies who were treated almost as badly as he was.
He shows them how his grandparents turned up out of the blue and how his grandmother disliked Iruka at first. Naruto did not want Kazama to dislike him as well so he tried to be exactly what he thought she wanted, but somehow that made things worse until Iruka and Kazama's emotionally charged shouting match. After that shouting match, and the mission Iruka went on immediately after it, Kazama came to respect Iruka, and even adopted him. And Naruto decided to just be himself, and was happier for it.
Naruto shows Sasuke and Madara how he grew up in a loving home after a rough start while the rest of the village detested him for reasons he did not know. He shows them how he learned about Kurama, how he began to doubt his parents' love after learning what they did to him the day he was born. He shows them how his doubts were put to rest by Granny Tsunade.
He shows them the tour of the Four Temples, the Chunin exams, the mission to the Land of Waves; Naruto shows them everything.
And he shows them how he looked into Gaara's eyes and saw what he would have been if he did not have his family and his friends behind him.
When he is finished, Naruto says, "I get it, Madara. I get it because, if I lost all of them, I'd lose faith in the world too. But so long as I have my friends and my family I will fight to protect them - even if that means I have to fight you, dattebayo."
"Get back to me on that after I've killed everyone you care about," says Madara, rolling his eyes. "Your turn, Princess."
"What...did you...call me?" Sasuke's face twists into the most livid expression Naruto has ever seen.
"Princess," repeats Madara. "You are the Hokage's daughter, are you not?"
"Hey, how come Hokage's daughters and granddaughters get called princesses but their sons and grandsons are just 'honoured' or whatever?"
"Because boys are more likely to be front lines shinobi," explains Madara, using the same tone of voice Naruto's Grandma uses when she is explaining something she thought Naruto already knew. "When you are fighting on the front lines you need to be on par with your peers. Titles like 'prince' and 'princess' elevate you in the eyes of your comrades, and they patronise you as if you are someone to be protected, rather than treat you as an equal to be relied on."
"BUT I'M A FRONT LINES SHINOBI!" yells Sasuke. "SO DON'T CALL ME PRINCESS! I DON'T WANT TO BE PATRONIZED LIKE THAT!"
"Look at yourself," says Madara scornfully. "Your body is broken. There is no way you can be a shinobi anymore."
"I will be!" protests Sasuke, weaving the hand signs for the Flashback no Jutsu. "I have to be. My dream is to surpass you, Madara. I can't let these injuries get in the way of my dream, not after I've worked so hard for it. Flashback no Jutsu."
Madara's Clone doesn't need to put much effort into dodging his enemies' attacks. An attempted punch here, a thrown kunai there. Now a volley of shuriken, now a random fire or water jutsu.
"If you don't start putting up a decent fight I will start killing you all off," says Madara, casually knocking aside a kunai with a paper bomb attached to it.
"Water Pistol!" Suigetsu fires the Hozuki clan jutsu at Madara, almost as if he expects it to do something. Madara yawns, tipping his head back slightly, and the water bullet passes through the gap between his lips.
"Are you going to fight me seriously, or do I have to kill someone to motivate you?" asks the Madara clone impatiently.
In answer, Haku sends a volley of ice shards at Madara. Madara easily dodges, only to have to sidestep a fireball from the Hokage and a kick from Might Gai. Zabuza is not far behind. He swings the Executioner's Blade in a deadly arc towards the Clone's neck. Madara deflects the blade upwards with one hand, ducks under the sword and punches Zabuza in the gut, sending him flying backwards.
"You'll do," says Madara, drawing his sword and charging Zabuza.
Zabuza has a few broken ribs, crushed intestines and he is severely winded from the punch, yet he still attempts to stand. The Executioner's Blade is too heavy, and Zabuza can barely lift it. He has no way of defending himself from Madara's attack. Haku plants herself between Madara and Zabuza, intending to be a human shield. A second before Madara's sword pierces Haku, Zabuza pushes his young apprentice out of the way.
"ZABUZA!" screams Haku.
Madara and Zabuza look each other in the eyes. Zabuza spits out blood, which spatters the bandages wrapped around his face. Madara pulls his sword out of the Mist ninja's chest and turns back to his other opponents.
"Now will you take me seriously?" he asks.
"Zabuza sensei!" Haku scrambles up off the grass and runs the two steps over to her teacher. "Why did you do that? Aren't I supposed to protect you?"
"No," says Zabuza, coughing. The bandages on his face turn darker red. "Not anymore. What good is an apprentice who dies before her teacher?"
"Zabuza sensei!" Suigetsu runs over and kneels down beside his teacher.
"Suigetsu," Zabuza turns his attention to his male student. "Take the Executioner's Blade and protect Haku."
"Yes sensei," says Suigetsu.
Zabuza closes his eyes and sighs as his head falls limply to the grass.
Suigetsu reaches over to take the Executioner's Blade. He stands and hefts the massive sword onto his shoulder. Then the boy turns his gaze on Madara. "You'll pay for that."
"I'm shaking in my sandals," says Madara's clone, rolling his eyes.
Nagato generously shares his food with his allies. After so long fighting, they are all hungry. Those who are not eating to regain their strength are treating the wounded and gathering up the dead.
"Why do you have so much food sealed into your pockets?" asks Kushina between mouthfuls of sweet bun.
"Oh…" Nagato swallows his mouthful before replying. "If I use too much chakra i lose most of my body mass and end up looking like a skeleton. So I keep food on me to counteract that." Nagato looks down at his hand, sees it growing thinner and yelps. "It's happening!" He pulls out another sealing scroll full of high-energy food and starts shovelling it into his mouth.
"...and this," Kakashi is saying as he shows Minato the picture of his family that he keeps in his pocket. "Is my son Minoru. Isn't he cute?"
"He's adorable!" says Kushina, looking over Minto's shoulder at the picture.
"Really, Kakashi?" says Tenzou, raising her eyebrows. "Do you seriously have to show off that picture at every available opportunity?"
"Where did you find this one, Kakashi?" asks Rin, sarcastically.
"Oh, I stole her off Danzo, who stole her off Orochimaru who took her away from her clan to experiment on her," says Kakashi. "We met when Danzo sent her to take my sharingan. Purely coincidentally, we ran into Tenzou's sister, Yukimi, who was overjoyed to see Tenzou again. We ended up having to save her, and after that Tenzou and I fought over our opposing missions, Tenzou decided not to steal my sharingan, and we went back to the Leaf. I roped Lord Third into helping me steal Tenzou off Danzo."
"You missed most of the story," says Tenzou.
"I think everyone's heard enough backstories for one day, don't you?" says Kakashi, smiling.
"So you were one of Orochimaru's experiments?" says Kabuto thoughtfully. "What was he trying to accomplish with you?"
"I am the only survivor of his attempts to create another woodstyle user by grafting the First Hokage's DNA into children," says Tenzou.
"That's right," says Hashirama, putting his arm around Tenzou shoulders. "She is my kid now."
"Awesome," says Mito, hugging Tenzou. "That makes her my kid too."
"What kind of logic is this?" says Obito, astonished by their weird thinking.
"Uzumaki and Senju logic," says Iruka.
"Don't question it, Obito," says Nagato, pausing in his quest to eat as much as possible. "Now either sit down and eat, or gloat about your kid."
"Wait, you have a kid too, Obito?" says Minato, his eyes lighting up. "That's awesome! Is it a boy or girl?"
"A boy," says Obito and, just as Nagato thought he would given half a chance, Obito starts gloating about his kid. Rin happily joins in.