Three days.

That was the amount of time it took for everything to come to a head.

This was, to an extent, what was expected. Shikaku had predicted that the fighting would start within that range of time, and it had.

The leadup to it all, however, had been tense. Turns out, gathering twenty thousand something Ninja and Samurai from a bunch of places that were, historically, enemies more of than not, then putting them all in relatively uncomfortable mass accommodations, then telling them all that they were basically going to go to war in a few days, leads only to two things; first being nervousness while they waited for the shoe to drop, and the second being boredom, because most of them had to be ready to go at all times, and intense training (by far the easiest way to distract a Ninja for any length of time) was therefore forbidden.

A bored Ninja was a recipe for disaster. That twenty thousand bored Ninja hadn't somehow caused caused the entire continent to explode was nothing short of a miracle.

Most had fallen back on the old vices. Gambling had been rampant. Some had even pretended not to be cheating.

Naruto had not been allowed to join in on that personally, which he felt was a bit of a shame because he always enjoyed fleecing people when they were stupid enough to gamble with him, but last he heard, Sasuke was several thousand Ryo poorer, Sakura several hundred thousand richer, and the current top for who had won the most money was Fu, who was either as lucky as Naruto himself, or just that good at cheating.

As for Naruto... Well.

Naruto had deployed more clones than he had ever used in his life, spreading his Chakra thin. The resulting clones had been so weak that a stiff breeze could have dispelled them, but after some minor reinforcement through Sage Mode, they had worked perfectly well for their intended role.

Scouts.

He had put them everywhere, placing enough clones with overlapping ranges that Naruto had formed a sensory network that would detect any attempts at infiltration. Clones on likely routes, clones on unlikely routes, clones hidden in the ground, clones in the highest of trees, clones in rivers, the mountains, the bushes.

Literally everywhere.

If Naruto could get into a location, then his clones did.

Kurama had lent his Chakra to the effort, and that was probably the only reason Naruto hadn't collapsed from Chakra exhaustion.

So, naturally, when the Akatsuki made their move, a clone of his was the first to know. That clone created a replacement and then popped away, and Naruto as well as every other clone knew. He rang the alarm, the Sensor division confirmed his findings, and then... the shoe dropped.

The good news was, it was an army of Zetsu. The bad news was, it wasn't just an army of Zetsu.

There was also an army of dead people. Edo Tensei victims, to be exact. Literally thousands of them.

This, again, had not been outside of predictions. All it meant was that the Sealing Division fell back on Contingency 1C, and everybody prepared to deal with disturbed dead alongside the legions of the living.

Naruto was there at every battle, at least one of him with every task force. Even spread so thin on Chakra, his clones were still a force to be reckoned with, sheer physical prowess amplified by Sage Mode and a bit of Kurama's power. Weaker they may have been, they were still enough.

And as for the real one...

Naruto was seated on the ground, legs crossed and hands in his lap. The only movements he made were the deep and slow movements of his chest, coming alongside every breath. Natural Energy flowed through his entire body, cycling through him, the orange marks around his eyes fully visible.

Had his eyes been open, then they would see that his eyes were also slitted, Kurama's Chakra flowing alongside that Natural Energy, merging with it and his own Chakra.

Gathered loosely in his area was the other Jinchuuriki, as well as Hiruzen, Onoki, Sasuke, and Sakura.

All of them were in a loose formation, watching over a different direction, Naruto in their middle.

It was peaceful, in that area. Quiet and calm. Totally unlike the frontlines, really-

Until, about half an hour after the fighting started in earnest, Naruto's eyes snapped open, his posture straightening up.

"Found them." Was all he said.

Everybody around him nodded, and immediately moved closer.

Naruto took a breath, and-

The next moment, the clearing was empty.

Finally.

I looked down at my hand, the last fragment of the Juubi trapped within, squirming and trying to get free. It was a tiny thing, some bug-like form with misshapen legs and a twisted head.

Finally, I was done.

I squeezed, crushing it under unyielding Darkness, and threw it to the storm. I felt it as it was torn apart, sliced and stabbed and electrocuted and burnt and frozen. Anything and everything I could do, I was.

What came out of the top of the storm was less of a bug and more of a collection of giblets, drawn inexorably upwards by the gravity prison.

I watched that collection until it hit the surface of the moon, and was suddenly struck with a sense of relief.

Finally.

The storm froze, all at once, and I pulled that Darkness back into a single mass, gathering so much of myself together again.

All this... and it had only been eleven days...

Funny. It felt a lot longer than it was.

I felt... almost heavy, honestly. The sheer amount of Darkness that I was now composed of, concentrated in so small an area...

Well, let's get back to that later.

I have something to get done, after all.

I looked up to the Juubi, at the moon formed of its body.

The next instant, I was there. I felt the gravity, the power, the shimmering barrier that prevented any escapes. The flesh was shifting, even so, the beast trying to regain some sense of its original form.

I raised a hand, staring directly at the Juubi's Heart. My Armour shifted, fingers lengthening into claws that were so black they seemed more like a hole in reality than anything truly physical.

"Endgame." I said.

And I plunged my hand directly into the Juubi's Heart.