The border of the Land of Fire, dusk.
By the end of the afternoon, the allied forces—formed from the Five Great Shinobi Villages along with a portion of the Land of Iron's elite samurai—had successfully assembled and begun reorganizing their ranks.
As for Takigakure? The village had long since declined. It had only sent a token force this time, barely enough to make up the numbers.
Under the orders of their respective Kage, everyone temporarily set aside their old grudges. For the first time in history, shinobi from different villages were integrated into mixed units, divided into several specialized divisions according to their individual abilities.
Medical-nin were gathered in a temporary field hospital.
Logistics personnel took inventory of all available supplies and distributed them accordingly. Anything that ran short would be requisitioned from the nearest Konohagakure depot.
The Intelligence Division was responsible for maintaining the outer perimeter and locating the Akatsuki. Its first scouting teams had already departed for the Land of Rice Fields.
The combat divisions—the largest portion of the allied army—were still being reorganized.
The five Kage, together with Higashino Makoto, formed the Allied Command Headquarters. By unanimous agreement, Makoto was appointed Supreme Commander, a position he accepted without objection.
The reason he was willing to take the role was simple: aside from him, none of the five Kage truly respected one another. Unless they settled things by fighting first, no one would willingly accept another's authority.
After all, the shinobi world had always been one where strength ruled above all else.
Makoto only needed to determine the overall strategy and make the final decisions. The tedious day-to-day work would naturally be handled by the five Kage and their advisory staff.
That's just how being the boss worked.
Once the headquarters had been established, it first integrated the existing shinobi forces before sending messengers back to each village to assemble a second wave of reinforcements, ready to provide support at any moment should the war take a turn for the worse.
Night fell.
Inside the headquarters' temporary conference room, everyone gathered around a map of the shinobi world, discussing the direction of the Allied Army's offensive.
Minato spoke first.
"Ever since the Nine-Tails Incident, Konohagakure has been investigating the mysterious masked man. Eventually, we discovered that he was a member of the Akatsuki."
"As everyone now knows, the Akatsuki originated in the Hidden Rain Village. Publicly, it operated as a mercenary organization, but in reality, it controls both Amegakure and Otogakure."
"Based on the intelligence Konohagakure has gathered over the past several days, while all of you were rushing your forces toward the Land of Rice Fields, Amegakure was also mobilizing its troops into the country."
"So we can now confirm that the Akatsuki's main force is currently inside the Land of Rice Fields. Their original plan was most likely to wait until both sides had exhausted each other before stepping in to clean up the battlefield."
Ōnoki nodded.
"According to the intelligence we received from Iwagakure this evening, Amegakure is indeed unusually empty. That matches the Hokage's report. It seems the enemy really has concentrated all of its forces here."
Rasa frowned.
"So you've suspected the Akatsuki's true intentions all along. Then why did you still join forces with Kumogakure and Kirigakure against Konohagakure?"
Ōnoki thought to himself:
Because Konohagakure had become too powerful, and all the evidence surrounding the missing tailed beasts pointed straight at them. It was the perfect excuse to gather everyone together and test the waters.
But the old fox kept those thoughts to himself.
He couldn't be bothered answering the sand-thrower.
At the same time, he couldn't help feeling that Rasa had become downright shameless lately. The man was showing obvious signs of turning into Konohagakure's lapdog.
Konohagakure itself hadn't said a word, yet here he was jumping out to question him. What was the point?
Terumī Mei sighed in relief.
"It's a good thing we never actually fought. Otherwise we'd have walked right into their trap. Thinking about it now... it's honestly terrifying."
The Raikage snorted.
"Hmph. Just the Akatsuki, plus Amegakure and Otogakure? Who gave them the guts to think they could come here and profit from our battle?"
Mei replied calmly.
"The Akatsuki still has eight tailed beasts."
"The Nine-Tails is still in Konohagakure," the Raikage replied dismissively. "As for the Eight-Tails, all they obtained was its raw power. The other tailed beasts... aren't worth worrying about."
The hot-headed Raikage clearly regarded only the Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails as worthy of his attention.
Rasa spoke up again.
"Did the Akatsuki really gather the tailed beasts just to throw them onto the battlefield? Could they be plotting something else? Like creating some kind of ultimate weapon?"
Ōnoki's expression suddenly changed as an old legend from his childhood resurfaced in his mind.
"Everyone... has anyone here ever heard of the Ten-Tails? Did it truly exist?"
The Kazekage, Raikage, and Mizukage all shook their heads. They vaguely remembered hearing folk tales about it, but nothing more.
Minato answered.
"The Ten-Tails did indeed exist. The Uchiha, Hyūga, and Senju clans of Konohagakure have all been around for a very long time, and each clan preserved a small amount of historical information regarding it."
Mei looked surprised.
"Could there really be a tailed beast even stronger than the Nine-Tails still lurking somewhere in the shinobi world?"
Makoto shook his head.
"No. According to a stone tablet passed down within the Uchiha Clan, the Ten-Tails no longer exists as a single entity. It was split apart into the nine tailed beasts we know today."
"The Akatsuki's goal in collecting the tailed beasts is to recreate the ultimate Ten-Tails and use its overwhelming power to bring the entire shinobi world under its control."
Rasa looked at him seriously.
"Sir... is the Ten-Tails truly that powerful?"
Makoto replied, "According to the stone tablet, the Ten-Tails possessed the power to devastate the world itself—it would bring about humanity's extinction and the collapse of civilization."
The other four Kage were visibly shaken.
That description was terrifying.
Mei let out a relieved sigh.
"Thank goodness... they still haven't obtained the Nine-Tails."
Let's just hope that when this onee-san eventually lays eyes on the Ten-Tails, she isn't so shocked that her clothes slip off her shoulders and slide down her chest, treating everyone to an unexpected spectacle.
In the original timeline, there had been Tsunade—the genuine busty medic—to steal the spotlight. But now, Mei was the only female Kage.
...
The clock turned back to earlier that morning, before the Five Kage's summit at the border.
Reanimated Madara and Obito had arrived at the Konohagakure they hadn't seen in ages.
Whether intentionally or not, Obito—his personal means of transportation—had once again chosen to emerge beside Konoha's cemetery.
Madara merely glanced at him before leaping onto the top of a tree, gazing at the village ahead.
"The village Hashirama and I founded has grown considerably since those days."
"But Hashirama... I will bring all of this to an end. I'll correct the mistake you made back then and prove that I was right. Only I can save this world."
Obito couldn't be bothered listening to the old chuuni's sentimental speech.
"Madara, Konoha's barrier now has a space-time fluctuation detection system. We'd better finish what we came here to do before it notices us, or things will get troublesome."
The barrier wasn't his only concern.
The moment he entered Konoha, his head started aching again, as though a tumor had grown inside it.
That was all thanks to that bastard Higashino Makoto.
Madara gave him a sideways glance.
"That doesn't sound like you, Obito. Since when did you become so timid?"
Obito shot back, "This isn't fear. Everything is for the success of the Eye of the Moon Plan."
"You're afraid of that junior, Higashino Makoto, aren't you? If we weren't here to find the Nine-Tails, I'd be meeting him right now. I'd like to see what qualifications the so-called God of Shinobi after Hashirama has to deserve that title."
Obito remained silent.
He only repeated two words.
"The plan."
"Hmph."
After extending his senses, Madara said, "Found it. It's straight ahead."
The two headed toward Makoto's dōjō.
With the situation across the shinobi world changing so dramatically and Konoha under wartime conditions, Makoto's family had been staying at the dōjō for the past several days.
Kushina's husband and son were both fighting on the front lines.
Never one to sit still, she spent her days constantly running back and forth between the dōjō and the village.
As luck would have it, she ran into a ghost halfway there today.
A real dead one.
She stared at the two men blocking her path.
"Obito, that's you, isn't it? When did you come back to Konoha? You didn't even tell me!"
Even though Obito had changed masks, Kushina recognized him at a single glance.
Obito: "..."
She recognized me immediately?
This is so awkward...
Sensei's wife isn't still upset about the wonderfully heartfelt congratulatory gift I gave Naruto back then... is she?
Madara glanced at Obito once more.
His identity was exposed that easily?
He couldn't help questioning his choice all those years ago.
Surely this brat hasn't been using my name to do all kinds of bizarre things over the years...
Then Madara shifted his gaze to Kushina.
"A member of Mito's clan... so you're Konoha's current Nine-Tails jinchūriki."
Kushina looked at him warily.
"So you really did come for the Nine-Tails again. Hmph! It won't be so easy to catch me off guard this time, believe it!"
As her chakra erupted, a crimson tailed beast cloak enveloped her body, quickly growing to three tails.
Madara frowned.
"Something's wrong. You're not the Nine-Tails jinchūriki?"
Kushina blinked.
"Huh? When did you figure that out?"
Madara replied calmly.
"I merely suspected it before. Now I'm certain. An impressive sealing technique."
Only then did Obito finally realize the truth.
"So the entire shinobi world has been deceived all these years. The real jinchūriki is your son, Uzumaki Naruto."
At that moment, two ANBU squads suddenly appeared.
They positioned themselves in front of Kushina while surrounding Madara and Obito.
Leading them were Kakashi and Shisui, who had remained behind to defend the village.
As the current commander and deputy commander of the ANBU, neither of them wore a mask.
After studying Madara carefully, Shisui finally spoke.
"...You're Madara-sama?"
It could only be said that Shisui was too kind-hearted to still address him as "Madara-sama."
If Itachi had been standing there instead, he probably would've drawn his sword and charged without another word.
So you're the one calling yourself Uchiha Madara, huh?
Kushina's carefree personality was the complete opposite of her husband's.
Only then did she finally realize why the man had looked so familiar.
"So that's the legendary Uchiha Madara."
Shisui nodded.
"That's right, Kushina-sama. This man is extremely dangerous. Please head to the dōjō immediately. Leave this place to us."