Author's note – Kishimoto Masashi owns Naruto while Guyver is written by Yoshiki Takaya.
I make no claim to either, I am merely playing in their sandboxes.
Yup, second chapter posted today. Again, if you've jumped straight here, you may wish to go back one.
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Chapter Seventy-Five
Legends Returned
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"WHAT?!"
Even though he was only present as a chakra silhouette, as was the person who had just reacted to his news, Orochimaru cringed.
"My sources report that Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina have been resurrected." He repeated.
"As if Kumo managing to defeat four of my mokuton bunshin wasn't enough trouble." Madara growled, his eyes flickering between their rin'negan and sharingan modes for a moment. "Alright. Although this is problematic, we only need another day or two before our victory is assured. Can you hold that long?"
"No." Orochimaru stated, earning another glare. "I've lost almost a third of my forces. Yesterday, Kumo managed to punch through and link up with Konoha. Their timing was… unreal. They have some sort of real-time communication between the villages, it's the only way that the events make any sense."
"Uzushiogakure." Madara snarled. "There is no other rational explanation. They almost certainly came up with whatever system is used."
"With reinforcements, I can probably reconnect with the portion of my forces that have been isolated." Orochimaru offered and Madara shook his head.
"No. They will serve as a distraction, preventing our enemies from bringing their full strength to bear against us. If they manage to break out, that will simply be a bonus."
Orochimaru nodded in understanding.
"One of my few remaining agents reports that they are amassing for a counter-strike." He added and Madara's gaze sharpened.
"Where?"
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"The Valley of the End." Itachi said, placing a flag on the map. "The psychological impact to Madara, losing there twice, will be devastating."
"Agreed." Mei said through her portrait, looking at the map in her own war room where a ghostly flag had appeared above the landmark in question, courtesy of the map tables being linked in a similar way to the portraits. "But what about the flanking forces?"
"Our advance will be aided by the Uzumaki clan." Itachi replied. "I am assigning Naruto, Minato and Kushina to lead the primary attack. Having two legends reappear on the battlefield will cause serious panic amongst most of their non-Zetsu forces."
"The Zetsus are… interesting." Minato mused from the other side of the table. "They fight with great skill, but if the situation changes on them, they are slow to adapt to the change."
"So, as soon as they adapt, the situation needs to be changed again." Shikaku mused. "But at the same time, the rate of change must not be constant, or they may be able to predict when a change will occur, thus giving them a better chance of adapting."
"Sounds like they've been brainwashed." Danzo mused, then he shot a sharp glance through the portrait. "Yes, old friend, I do know about brainwashing, but that was back in the past."
Hiruzen simply smirked from where he was leaning against the map table.
"Anyway." Itachi said, taking back control of the conversation before it could wander too far afield. "The next issue is our western flank. Given how the Samurai are advancing, we need to launch our own assault to meet up with them…"
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"We need to hold the valley." Madara stated as he glanced at the moon rising above the darkening horizon. "The other fronts no longer matter, once the moon is high enough, the Moon's Eye Plan will begin and peace will reign supreme."
"Understood, Madara-Sama." Orochimaru said and Madara hid a smirk at the slight hint of irritation he had heard in the Snake-Sannin's voice.
Glancing round, Madara let his eyes take in the other members of the Akatsuki whom he had personally brought from their own fields of battle, as well as the three female Knights that had once served that idiot Haido, the gaijin who had unknowingly granted him ultimate power.
"Take your positions and prepare." Madara commanded and the Akatsuki dispersed.
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"What?!" Itachi shouted and Shion shifted nervously.
"Hoki reports that Madara removed Orochimaru from the Land of Hot Springs battlefield. Jiraiya is injured, but will recover. Ino reports that the Akatsuki forces supporting Iwa have disengaged and fallen back, leaving the Iwa shinobi in an untenable position. Hinata-sama says that the attack heading towards us has halted for no apparent reason."
"Madara is planning something." Danzo mused in his own war room, then he shook his head. "No, he has planned something and is about to instigate it. Do we know where he is?"
"No." Itachi ground out, then he paused, his eyes fixed on a landmark on the map. "But I know where he would be. Shion, who's closest to the Valley of the End?"
"N… naruto-kun…"
"Get him to the valley now!" Itachi commanded. "Order the others to home in on him and then get there yourself! If I'm right… he's going to need as much backup as possible."
Itachi scribbled a note, then used a jutsu to duplicate it even as Shion sprinted out of the war room.
"Send these notes to all the commanders in sectors six, seven, eight and nine." Itachi commanded as he handed the pile of notes over to one of the on-duty shinobi. "All forces are to advance through the enemy lines and capture the Valley of the End."
"I don't follow the logic." Mei admitted and Itachi stared at her through the portrait.
"Madara's statue, the place where he lost his fight to become the first Hokage." He stated. "What better place to claim his own victory, then the place where his enemy claimed his?"
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"Hashirama's statue." Madara mused, looking up at the statue on the right side of the waterfall. "Created to commemorate his victory, it was in this valley that our battle had created that he slew me, by stabbing me through the back. Had I not foreseen the possibility and prepared myself, it would have indeed been a true death.
"And now, I am here and he is not. Here, in the valley we created. What better place to claim my victory, than the place that Hashirama claimed his?"
A fluttering of wings interrupted him and he turned to see Konan landing, the paper wings that had allowed her to fly retracting back under her cloak.
"My Lord." She said fiercely. "We are under attack!"
"What?"
"Enemy forces have begun advancing on our south and south-east fronts. In addition, there is movement on the south-western flank which indicates a possible attack."
"What is the risk to our current position?" Madara demanded. "Will they reach our position before I can open the Moon's Eye?"
"Yes."
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Madara was one of the greatest shinobi in the world.
He had fought during the Warring States Period, fighting from the age of five, defeating hundreds of enemies and constantly holding his own against his only true rival, Senju Hirashima.
He had awoken the Sharingan purely through his own willpower and was one of the few Uchiha to gain the legendary Mangekyo Sharingan.
He had led his clan to countless victories and defeated users of bloodlines granting speed, teleportation, precognition, elemental control and many other abilities that now no longer existed.
He had resurrected himself from death once and been resurrected again by another.
He had even awoken the Rin'negan and learned how to use the power they granted to seal the Ten-Tails into himself.
As a result, Madara's survival instincts were honed to such a degree that anyone else would call them precognitive. He could tell where a Kunai would go just from how the person throwing it would twitch as they began their move. A person's stance would tell him all he needed to know about their fighting style and how to defeat it.
He was perhaps the only person in the world who would have been able to dodge the beam of cutting light fired at him from behind, at a distance of less than six feet.
He was almost certainly also the only person who could manage to avoid being tackled by the armored figure following the beam at close to three hundred miles an hour.
The thrown tri-blade kunai that slashed across his right hand before embedding itself into the ground, however, was something he didn't see coming.
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"Ready?"
"Always."
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As the armored warrior decelerated, Madara spun back into a defensive stance, using one of the the nine black spheres orbiting behind him to form a staff tipped with a crescent.
Several yards away, Konan slowly pulled herself to her feet and turned to stare at the figure whose passage had sent her flying.
"That's an Uzumaki!" She gasped. "But which on…glryk!"
Six chains of golden chakra wrapped round her from behind, one chain lashing round her throat before continuing round to gag her. Madara spun and blocked a kunai aimed at the base of his skull.
"Who are you?"
The Blond grinned at him and Madara's eyes widened in recognition.
"Namikaze!"
"Madara." Minato replied. "You killed me and my wife by trying to seize Kurama. Prepare to return to your grave."
"Kurama?" Madara queried, trying to buy time. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Minato's eyes narrowed, then he vanished in a flash of yellow just as a trio of blades formed from Truth-Seeking Spheres slashed through where his neck and torso had been.
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"Shit!"
Kushina cursed as Konan vanished in a swirl of paper that reformed a short distance away, then the resurrected kunoichi spun round, using her chains to block Orochimaru's attack.
"Kushina, how nice to see you again." Orochimaru purred as he dodged the counter-attack. "I heard that you had returned and possessed that interesting armor. I must know, where did your son get it from in the first place?"
"Your secret base under the Hokage Mountain." Kushina shot back and Orochimaru gaped at her.
"What?!"
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Naruto hurtled towards where his parents were fighting, then he was slammed out of the air by an explosion.
"You're not going to cut Samehada this time." Kisame growled as he swung the scaled blade down and only a rolling tumble by Naruto let him dodge the blow that cratered the ground where he had been standing.
"Time to die again, un!" Deidara shouted as he swooped down on a large, white bird. "Art is a blast!"
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Minato dodged another flying blade, then a sonic blast hurled him sideways. Even through the disorientation, he managed to land on his feet and spun to face the wolf-like creature that had attacked him. A tingling sensation caused him to reflexively to one of the Kunai he had been stealthily dropping as he fought even as a bolt of lightning lanced out from another monstrous warrior to strike where he had been standing, then the sound of flapping canvas from above preceded the onset of something not unlike a genjutsu which Minato evaded by teleporting to the other side of the battlefield.
"Hold him off for a few more moments! He's the one who trained Hatake Kakashi!" Madara commanded and the three new attackers moved to attack, shrieking with rage.
"What the hell did Kashi-kun do?" Minato whispered to himself as he gathered himself to attack.
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Briefly concentrating, Madara created three Mokuton Bunshin which took position around him, their own hands flashing as they created a barrier to protect him. Even as the chakra-charged vines began winding upwards, Madara reached up to the horn that grew from above his left ear across his forehead and wrenched it off, snapping it and revealing his forehead.
"Now, as the ancient writings said, let the Rinne-sharingan open!" He shouted as a small blemish on his forehead revealed itself to be a third eye, one containing the circles of the rin'negan and the tomoe of the sharingan.
Rising above the ground, Madara turned his head to the sky, his third eye opening to its fullest extent and glowing with an unearthly light.
"Let the Eye of the moon open and bathe the world in the light opf eternal peace!" He shouted and in the sky far above, the moon started to darken and change its hue until a giant Rinne-Sharingan floated amongst the stars, its radiance spilling across the Elemental nations.