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The war raged on.
In stark contrast to the cacophony of battle shaking the heavens, the daimyōs, safely nestled behind layers of ninja protection, lived in undisturbed luxury.
The dark clouds of war couldn't blot out the azure sky above their heads. The clashing of steel couldn't drown out the laughter from their card games. The rivers of blood spilled on the front lines couldn't change their gluttonous, pleasure-seeking nature.
Hinoki's figure materialized soundlessly inside the Land of Fire daimyō's chambers.
Life was too good for these nobles. A pang of envy, sharp and bitter, twisted in Hinoki's heart.
A cold scabbard tapped the Fire Daimyō's cheek.
The man, roused from deep slumber, suppressed his irritation. His eyes snapped open—and froze. It felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over his head.
"Y-Your Eminence? How… how are you here?"
The Fire Daimyō, under Hinoki's absolute control, scrambled out of bed with practiced efficiency. He straightened his robes and stood at respectful attention.
Hinoki glanced at him, then found a plush seat and settled in. He crossed his legs.
"Go. Bring the other daimyōs here."
The Fire Daimyō looked troubled. "The minor nation lords will comply, of course. But the daimyōs of the Great Nations—Land of Lightning, Land of Earth… they aren't so easily summoned. Not at my mere request."
He wasn't lying. The Great Nation daimyōs were notoriously stubborn.
"That," Hinoki said coldly, "is your problem to solve."
The corner of the Fire Daimyō's mouth twitched. He nodded frantically. "Understood."
He donned his lavish haori and strode out. His mind raced—what excuse could he possibly use to lure them all here?
Half an hour later.
One by one, pudgy, red-faced daimyōs filed into the Fire Daimyō's room.
"Has the Fire Daimyō lost his mind?"
"Quite possibly!"
The Water Daimyō hid a smirk behind his fan. What heavenly fortune was this? The Fire Daimyō had summoned them, claiming he wished to discuss ceding portions of his territory. A private meeting to negotiate the details.
"I wonder what trick he's up to?"
"Who cares about the trick!"
"He's a Great Nation daimyō. He can't possibly go back on his word in front of us all."
"True enough!"
The Earth Daimyō nodded, a haughty smile plastered on his face. He marched deeper into the room—and stopped dead.
"You! Who are you? How dare you!"
His bushy eyebrows shot up. He glared at Hinoki, who sat calmly on the tatami. "How did a commoner get in here?!" Before anyone could answer, he turned his fury on the ninja guards outside. "Are those fools sleeping on the job? Letting a peasant slip through! How are they supposed to protect us?!"
The other daimyōs frowned, their expressions dripping with disdain for the interloper.
Hinoki's own lip curled. Look at these pompous asses.
He opened his palm. Countless golden motes of light shimmered into existence in the air.
"What is this…?"
The Earth Daimyō's eyes widened in confusion. A single golden orb shot forward and vanished into his forehead. The other daimyōs met the same fate, each pierced by a glowing mote.
The Fire Daimyō, standing at the back, let out a silent sigh of relief. After Hanataki's clone dispersed, all its skills and memories had merged back into Hinoki.
Hinoki stood up. He used his sword's hilt to lightly pat the Earth Daimyō's chubby cheek.
"You'll be obedient from now on. Understand?"
The Earth Daimyō's eyes showed not a flicker of rebellion. His expression was perfectly placid. "Yes. Understood."
The other daimyōs responded identically.
Hinoki gave a satisfied nod. His form vanished from the spot.
…
"Madara?"
"Why is Madara here?!"
Naruto, cloaked in his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, stared in disbelief. Beside him, Kakashi and Might Guy wore identical expressions of shock.
Standing before them was Uchiha Madara. The same Uchiha Madara who was supposed to be on another battlefield, fighting the Five Kage alone.
"What did you do to Granny Tsunade and the others?!"
If Madara was here, then the fate of the Five Kage was all too clear. Naruto gritted his teeth, shouting the question.
"Hm? Them?" Madara brushed non-existent dust from his sleeve with deliberate slowness. "Probably not well."
"Not well?! What does that mean, you bastard?!"
Naruto's clenched fists trembled with rage. That casual, dismissive tone—it was infuriating!
"Naruto! Calm down!" Kakashi's hand landed on Naruto's shoulder. He feared the boy would charge in blind. The enemies before them weren't just his former friend, lost to darkness. It was Madara.
"Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!"
Calm? How could he be calm? If he were capable of calm, he wouldn't be Uzumaki Naruto!
His golden form leapt high. He swung the whirring chakra blade down at Madara's head.
"Hmph."
Madara let out a soft, derisive chuckle. He raised his gunbai—the war fan—with lazy grace.
"Uchiha Return."
The fan glowed with a soft light. Naruto's eyes bulged as his own attack reversed course, slamming back into him with full force.
"Agh!"
He was sent flying. Kakashi and Guy caught him.
"Are you alright?"
"Naruto!" Guy's voice was thick with concern.
Naruto shook his head. "I'm fine, Bushy Brows-sensei!"
"We've wasted too much time on this skirmish with the Nine-Tails. Obito."
Madara's gaze shifted to Obito.
"Or… are you hesitating?"
His eyes flickered briefly toward Kakashi on the opposite side.
Uchiha Obito said nothing.
From the distance, a deafening roar shook the earth—the cry of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
Madara's brow furrowed. "Obito. You began the plan before fully capturing the Eight and Nine-Tails? You're too impatient. That's why I was revived in this… unsatisfactory state." Every word dripped with contempt for Obito's haste and dissatisfaction with his own Edo Tensei body.
"…Never mind. You must have had your reasons." Seeing Obito remain stubbornly silent, Madara looked away. "What happened to Nagato? And why hasn't Hinoki shown himself yet?"
The fact that he wasn't fully revived meant Nagato, the vessel of the Rinnegan, had been compromised. But aside from that Edo Tensei-user subordinate of Hinoki's, Madara hadn't seen hide nor hair of Hinoki himself.
At the mention of that name, Obito finally looked toward the clueless group opposite them. "She's almost here."
"Is that so?" Madara's lips curved into a smile. "Fine. He's too slow. I'll just capture the Eight and Nine-Tails myself first."
"Stay out of this, you dead man!"
Naruto's form blurred, appearing right in front of Madara. A spiraling Rasengan spun violently in his palm.
"Truly, you never learn." Madara's gaze was utterly dispassionate.
Whoosh—THUD.
Naruto was blasted away once more.
"I'll handle the tailed beasts. You deal with the rest." Madara's order was curt.
The rest…
Obito's masked face turned toward Might Guy and Kakashi. "…Fine."
"Obito… Why?" Kakashi's voice was a mix of profound grief and utter confusion. He was alive all these years? Then why not return to Konoha? Why impersonate Madara? Why start this war?
He would get no answers. Not from Obito.
As if bound by fate, Kakashi and Obito clashed.
On the Akatsuki's side, Konan led them toward the main battlefield.
"Are we joining the fight?" Zabuza asked.
"What do you think?" Sasori's voice was icy.
"Heh. Of course we are," Zabuza replied, his tone stiff.
"They dared to kill Hanataki." Sasori's eyes burned with unadulterated malice. "So I will kill every last Leaf shinobi I find."
Zabuza: "…"
Sasuke moved closer to his brother. "Nii-san…"
Itachi glanced at him, a silent warning in his eyes. Sasuke swallowed his words and fell into step, following the crimson-cloaked group toward the roar of battle.
On the battlefield, as the stalemate dragged on, reinforcements for Kakashi and Naruto began to arrive. Squadrons from different Allied divisions converged on the main theater where both Madara and Obito stood.
"Looks like your backup has arrived." Madara sounded almost impressed. He hadn't expected the Eight and Nine-Tails jinchūriki to hold him off this long.
Within its summoning array, the Demonic Statue had begun to mutate. Even without the complete Eight and Nine-Tails, the Ten-Tails could gestate using the partial chakra it had absorbed.
"Wow. What a spectacle."
On a distant hilltop, Hinoki sat on a small stool, sipping orange juice as he watched the distant chaos.
System:"…Aren't you going out there yet?"
"What's the rush?" Hinoki took another sip. "The key character always makes a grand entrance!"
System:"…Fine. Just don't screw it up." It had a strong suspicion its host just didn't know how to make that entrance.
CRACK—CRACK—BOOM!
The crimson barrier shattered. Before the eyes of every shinobi present, a monstrous behemoth exploded into existence, annihilating the remnants of the seal.
"ROOOOOAR—!"
The Ten-Tails' shriek became a physical wave of sound, washing over the Allied Shinobi Forces.
"T-That's the Ten-Tails?"
"It's… terrifying…"
The allied forces faced the monstrosity, some even forgetting to breathe. The creature loomed, ten massive tails lashing behind it, seeming to blot out the night sky itself. The bloody moon above looked eerily complicit.
Cold sweat dripped from brows. The sound of nervous gulps spread through the ranks. Hands shook as they stared up at the abomination.
"Hm?"
Hinoki, the casual observer, suddenly straightened. He looked not at the battlefield, but in the opposite direction.
System:"What is it?"
"Familiar chakra…" Hinoki's senses tingled. Four powerful chakra signatures. Two of them were very familiar. And alarmingly strong.
Hinoki: "I've got a bad feeling about this."
Back on the battlefield, Madara and Obito landed atop the Ten-Tails' head.
Madara glanced at Obito. "Well? Where is he?"
Obito was silent for a moment. "Should be on the way." He knew exactly who Madara meant. There was only one person.
Madara: "…"
As they spoke, the Ten-Tails roared and charged the Allied Forces. This was a force beyond mortal opposition. The Eight and Nine-Tails, the strongest of their kind, placed themselves between the monster and the army.
Even they seemed small before the Ten-Tails. Their attacks felt like mosquito bites.
"This thing is completely—" Naruto was cut off as a tail swatted him out of the air.
"—powerful beyond reason, right?" the Nine-Tails finished grimly inside his mind. "This is the Ten-Tails."
The foe before them was on another level entirely.
The Ten-Tails opened its maw. A swirling, black-and-white sphere of annihilation formed between its jaws—a Tailed Beast Ball.
"Dammit!"
"We can't dodge this!"
The sphere shot forth. There was no escape. The blast radius was too vast.
BOOOOOOM—!
The Tailed Beast Ball erased entire mountain ranges in an instant. In that moment, the ancient legends of the Ten-Tails' world-ending power became terrifyingly real.
"It… missed?" Naruto breathed, incredulous.
Kakashi was equally stunned. "Impossible…"
"Of course it's not impossible! Don't underestimate the Allied Shinobi Forces!" Ino Yamanaka's voice came through the mind-link, strained and weary. "Using my Mind Body Switch… and I could only alter its course that much… How horrifying…"
Naruto's eyes reignited with fire. "You did great, Ino! We're not just some ragtag mob! The Allied Forces are the strongest!"
He looked back at the countless faces behind him, a determined grin spreading across his face.
"Oh?" Madara's mocking laugh cut through the air. "Victory on the battlefield is never decided by numbers. Don't you understand that? Even you all… Hm?"
He suddenly stopped. His gaze shifted to the distant horizon. A smirk touched his lips. "Finally."
The words reached Naruto's group.
"What now?"
"Do they have more allies?"
"What are they waiting for?"
Naruto followed Madara's line of sight.
Swish!
A figure landed lightly atop the Ten-Tails' head, right between Madara and Obito.
Hinoki reached over and patted Madara's shoulder, his expression utterly sincere. "Madara! Long time no see!"
Obito: "…"
Madara: "…Indeed. It has been a while." He had thought, perhaps, with age and maturity, Hinoki might have outgrown his… particular sartorial preferences. It seemed some things never changed. Consistency. I'll give him that.
The mist churned up by the Ten-Tails began to thin.
Naruto's eyes widened. His jaw went slack.
"H-How… How could it be…?"
"Naruto, what's wrong?" Sakura moved to his side, then followed his gaze. Her hand flew to her mouth. "No… It can't be…"
Kakashi's pupils constricted to pinpricks. "Hinoki… Why?"
Shisui and the others from Konoha froze, disbelief warring with the evidence of their own eyes. It was too absurd.
"Is it… Edo Tensei?" Yako's voice trembled.
Jiraiya's face was pale, rigid. "No. It's not." An Edo Tensei had distinct markings on the face and eyes. The Hinoki standing between Madara and Obito was clearly, unmistakably alive. A living, breathing person.
"Lord Hokage!"
"Lord Hokage!"
"What's going on?!"
As Hinoki's identity registered, a wave of confusion and panic rippled through the Allied ranks. The cries of "Hokage" echoed, a chorus of betrayal.
Hinoki, for the first time, felt a flicker of genuine guilt hearing those titles.
"Hokage?" Madara savored the word, his gaze shifting to study Hinoki with new interest.
"To better ensure our plan's success, I went undercover in Konoha for a few years." Hinoki offered Madara a friendly smile.
"Is that so?" Madara's eyes swept over the stunned faces of the Allied Forces. The looks they gave Hinoki weren't just for a spy. Even now, standing beside the enemy, some among them still held a shred of hope in their eyes when they looked at him.
"Well then," Madara said, a malicious grin spreading across his face. "The task of cleaning up this rabble… I'll leave it to you, Hinoki."
Hinoki: "…"
Sometimes I'm not human, but you, you're always a dog.
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