They continued to clash across the ruined battlefield, shockwaves tearing through mountains and splitting the earth with every exchange.
Yet despite the scale of the battle, Naruto still wasn't truly going all out.
He fought efficiently, carefully. Every movement measured, every burst of chakra controlled.
He wasn't trying to win here with everything he had. He was preserving strength for the battle he knew was still coming.
Madara's dangerous… but he's not the end of this, Naruto thought as he dodged another slash of his Susanoo blade. There's still one last fight waiting for me.
Then suddenly, Several powerful chakra signatures arrived at once.
Naruto turned his head.
The Five Kage had entered the battlefield. Dust swirled around them as they landed one after another, battered but determined. Their expressions were grim, bodies injured, yet their resolve remained intact.
Tsunade cracked her knuckles. Ōnoki floated slightly above the ground. Gaara's sand drifted around him protectively. The Raikage rolled his shoulders, lightning flickering across his skin. Mei narrowed her eyes at Madara.
At that same moment, something shifted in the air.
The faint glow around Madara's Edo Tensei body began to crumble. Cracks of light spread across his form as ash-like fragments started peeling away.
Naruto immediately remembered.
Itachi. Kabuto had been defeated. For anyone else, that would have been the end but of course Madara Uchiha was not anyone else.
He formed seals at blinding speed, his expression calm as ever. The summoning light halted. Then it reversed entirely. The crumbling stopped, the ash reformed and the control over him was no more.
And just like that… Madara severed the technique's control. He now belonged to no summoner. He no longer had a leash and most importantaly no limit.
Madara slowly flexed his fingers, a smile spreading across his face.
The Kage stiffened.
Naruto, seated casually atop a broken boulder nearby, watched the scene unfold. Then he heard the Kage declaring they wouldn't lose, voices full of determination.
That made him snicker under his breath. ' We all know that's false.' He rested his elbow on his knee. ' I should leave. I'll let a clone deal with this guy.'
Without fanfare, Naruto formed a hand sign. A shadow clone appeared beside him instantly, identical in every way.
The clone stretched lazily.
"Seriously? You're leaving me with Madara?"
"You'll be fine."
Before the clone could complain further, Naruto vanished in a flash.
....
He reappeared on another battlefield entirely.
A vast open plain of cracked dirt and scattered stone stretched around him, the air heavy with dust and lingering chakra. There, in the center of it all, stood Kakashi and Gai.
And lying several meters away… was Obito.
Naruto blinked.
"Woah," he said, hands in his pockets. "You guys didn't hold back, huh?"
Obito looked terrible.
His body was covered in bruises and blood. His shirt was torn to shreds, one sleeve hanging uselessly.
Dirt and dried blood coated his face. He looked like he had been dragged through hell repeatedly.
Yet despite all that, his eyes still burned with hatred. Naruto stared at him for a second… then laughed.
' I gotta say, he's committed to his cause.'
Kakashi glanced toward Naruto.
"We saw a huge rock falling from the sky. Was that you?"
Naruto shrugged.
"It was Madara. He has the Rinnegan." He paused, then sighed. "I think everyone in existence has those eyes now."
Gai gave a solemn nod.
"I hear you."
Naruto dismissed the shadow clone he had left behind. A puff of smoke burst beside him, and all the clone's memories flooded back into his mind.
Naruto whistled softly.
' They really beat the brakes off him.'
He looked back at the battered Obito.
"So what now?" Naruto asked. "I'm no expert, but I don't think he still has the strength to continue."
Kakashi adjusted his headband slightly.
"Well… we figured you'd think of something."
Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
He grinned.
"Alright then." He pointed at Obito. "Let's give him a senzu bean."
Silence. Kakashi slowly turned to Gai. Gai slowly turned to Kakashi. Neither said a word.
Before anyone could respond, or stop Naruto from whatever ridiculous idea he had next. The ground began to tremble.
At first it was subtle. A faint vibration beneath their feet. Loose pebbles danced across the dirt. Cracks spread through the dry earth like spiderwebs.
Then it intensified.
The entire battlefield shook violently, as if something deep below the planet itself had awakened.
Massive chunks of stone toppled over. Dust burst upward in clouds. Even the air grew heavy with pressure.
Naruto's playful expression vanished instantly.
He turned sharply toward the distant battlefield where the Gedō Statue had been sealed behind the barrier.
Far on the horizon, the enormous crimson barrier was still visible like a wall dividing the world.
Obito slowly pushed himself upright and looked back as well. Despite the blood dripping from his mouth and the pain twisting across his face, he smirked.
"It's time," he said quietly.
Then he turned his back completely, confidence replacing weakness.
Naruto narrowed his eyes. The distant barrier suddenly pulsed.
A deep sound echoed across the land, like mountains grinding against each other. Then came a thunderous crack that split the heavens.
The red barrier surrounding the Gedō Statue shattered into countless fragments of chakra, exploding outward like broken glass made of light.
What emerged from within made the world feel small.
The Ten-Tails had fully completed its transformation.
Its colossal frame rose higher and higher, dwarfing cliffs, forests, and mountains alike. White flesh stretched across a monstrous body of impossible scale. Ten massive tails unfurled behind it, each one long enough to level cities.
They swayed lazily.
Yet every slight movement created violent whirlwinds that ripped through the battlefield. Tornadoes of dust and debris spiraled skyward. Entire rock formations were uprooted and launched away like toys. The clouds above were swept clean in seconds.
For the first time in hours, the sky was clear. And there, directly behind the beast, hung a full moon.
Its pale silver glow framed the Ten-Tails like an omen from another world. Shadows stretched across the land as moonlight washed over its body.
At the center of its torso, a gigantic red eye slowly opened.
A Sharingan. The tomoe rotated once… then fixed its gaze downward.
It felt less like being watched and more like being judged. No one spoke. Then the beast inhaled and roared.
The sound was beyond anything natural.
It thundered across every battlefield, every nation, every sea. Birds fell from the sky mid-flight. Animals fled in terror. Windows shattered in distant villages. The oceans themselves rippled under the pressure of it.
A savage wind blasted outward from the roar, striking Naruto, Kakashi, and Gai head-on. Their clothes snapped violently. Dirt and rocks flew past them like bullets.
Their ears rang painfully from the sheer volume. Naruto grimaced, one hand over his ear.
' If I wasn't superhuman, I would've went deaf right then,' he thought.
Gai's expression hardened. Kakashi stared silently at the monstrous silhouette beneath the moon.
Obito, meanwhile, crouched low… then leaped high into the air.
Despite his injuries, he soared upward with desperate determination.
He landed atop the Ten-Tails' massive head like a king reclaiming his throne. Then from his body, a thread extended upward ward and connected directly into the beast.
The bond formed instantly, Its tails began to rise and it's eye widened.
Obito smiled. The final battle was just about to begin.
TO BE CONTINUED.