A whirling vortex of Darkness ran through the area, growing ever so slightly larger with every passing moment.
All that it touched was consumed, earth, water, air, fire, light itself... Everything, excluding only one.
A bolt of lightning lanced from the storm, smashing into the ground and breaking it into a thousand little pieces, all of them caught in the winds and dragged upwards. The rocks were quickly cut apart, sliced in two by countless tiny blades, blackening and disappearing into the storm itself.
One of the Juubi's fragments screeched as it was pulled into the air, skin blackened and cracking. Wings were trying to grow, but it was too little, too late.
The blades spun, and countless blades tore the fragment into countless tiny pieces.
Gravity and the storm did the rest, flinging the remains upwards. Into the gravity prison they went, and there they stayed.
And onto the next fragment I went.
This... was my answer to the Juubi.
See, the logic of it was quite simple: The more fragments of the Juubi I sent up into the prison of gravity... The harder it was to get the rest of them. Finding them was easy, reaching them also easy. They just burrowed, and flew, and coordinated, and did everything they could in order to escape their inevitable fate.
My solution, therefore, was thus: It can't hide in the environment if there is no environment.
To that end: My hurricane of destruction. Winds so strong they sucked up even the flying fragments, slivers of My Darkness that were shaped like blades, a storm of razers that reduced all it touched to nothing more than fine powder, yet more of My Darkness that was in a metaphysical form, corrupting and consuming all materials...
This was not actually Magic, not really. This was simply the result of just how much Darkness I had gathered in this area. A Heartless of sufficient power could have done the same, even as mindless as they were...
The core of this hurricane was what gave that away; a sphere of My Darkness, black and purple and blue, lethal to all it touched...
Certainly, the Juubi had tried to get rid of it. More Bijuudamas than I cared to count had been thrown this way, fire and lightning and spikes of earth... None of it mattered. The Bijuudamas, I reflected, warping space and sending them back at their originators... Everything else, I didn't even bother with.
Such paltry things as those drowned under the torrential storm of Darkness.
Aren't you being a little too dramatic?
If I had to guess... I'd say that I was about two thirds of the way done.
Maybe a few more days of this before I have the thing trapped completely. And then...
Hah.
Well, it's obvious what comes after that, isn't it.
There were thousands of Ninja gathered in this place. Thousands of Ninja from five different villages, an event that would normally result only in extreme violence.
Normally.
Today, however?
They were working together. Ninja from villages that had fought each other, warred with each other, were working together. A Kumo Shinobi directed a Konoha and Iwa pair to place down a pile of building materials, a Suna and Kiri quickly unloading them upon the building teams, who quickly and efficiently set everything up and in place. Fuinjutsu masters from everywhere were gathered at tables, pooling their resources and talents to etch out the designs that would serve to protect and enhance everything around. Entire squadrons of Shinobi from different villages were still landscaping the area, rotating in and out as they worked...
It was unprecedented. Nobody would think that something like this was possible, now or ever.
Kurama had flared his Chakra three times already trying to dispel a Genjutsu, unable to believe that what he was seeing was actually happening. Each time, of course, failed entirely.
Naruto smiled widely, looking through the window as he watched it all. Around him, Yugito, Han, Fu, and B were doing much the same, though Yugito and Han were doing so much more subtly, B was doing so with a smile on his face, and Fu...
Fu had her face pressed against the glass.
The little sounds of excitement and wonder she kept making was somehow both weird and also endearing.
It was a nice, peaceful moment.
Naruto was glad to have been there.
"We're going to need more divisions than what we currently have." A said, looking over the map at the center of the table. "Something to protect the Jinchuuriki, keep them hidden from Madara."
"I don't think that will work." Hiruzen stated. "The Jinchuuriki, while they are the enemy's target, are also our best assets for dealing with the enemy. Keeping them out of the fight won't do much more than heighten the casualties we will take."
"Can we afford to risk them?" Mei asked. "If they are taken..."
"If anybody is capable of fighting five Jinchuuriki all at once, then no amount of regular forces will be able to defeat them." Gaara noted, making a mark on the map. "We can't afford not to send them out."
"They are the only ones with the power to fight against Madara and stand a chance at winning." Onoki frowned. "If they can cover for each other's weaknesses, they'll be the best fighting force we have. If they can't, they'll just be offering themselves on a platter."
"We still need to locate the Rokubi Jinchuuriki, as well." A noted.
"Does Kiri have any problems with that, considering his status as a Kirigakure Missing Nin?" Hiruzen asked, directing a look towards Mei.
Mei shook her head. "Utakata became a Missing Nin during the Bloody Mist period, under the previous administration. Part of the internal reforms I enacted was to rescind the bounties and status of a number of Kirigakure's Missing Nin, of which Utakata is included. Though he declined to return to the village, as far as we are concerned, he has committed no crime upon Kiri, Hiruzen-sama."
Hiruzen nodded.
"That still leaves the problem of finding him." A grunted.
"According to Naruto, both Utakata and his Bijuu were informed of the situation." Hiruzen noted. "He will have either gone deeper into hiding, or he will have started making his way here, for protection."
"He's been a Jinchuuriki Missing Nin for years, meaning he's very good at hiding. It's unlikely we, or anybody else, will be able to find him before this passes. So, he's effectively a non-factor unless he shows himself." Onoki surmised.
"So it seems." Hiruzen agreed.
There was a lot of preparations to do, for the battles that were soon to come. They hadn't, couldn't, afford themselves the luxury of time.
But...
That wasn't a surprise to any of them.
Needs must, after all.