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Tsukimi Heshu hovered in the sky, motionless. Yet an oppressive aura slowly radiated from her, making the very air hum and tremble.
Naruto stood within Kurama's form, the Nine-Tails' nine massive tails sweeping through the air in Tailed Beast Mode.
Sasuke's Perfect Susano'o remained poised, sword in hand, its focus locked on Heshu.
"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted.
"I'm on it!" Sasuke didn't look back. "Just do your part!"
The Susano'o's colossal blade shot towards Heshu. Naruto's golden energy blast fused with it mid-flight. The combined attack swelled, a torrent of power screaming towards their target.
A barrier unfolded before Heshu. Golden, hexagonal, shimmering like a mirror. It looked as thin as a cicada's wing.
Their ultimate combined strike hit it.
Not a single scratch marred its surface.
"So strong!" Naruto gritted his teeth.
Sasuke scoffed. "Giving up already?"
"Never!"
"Then stop wasting breath!"
Sasuke's Susano'o lunged forward, the ground quaking with each step. The Nine-Tails paused, then surged after it.
The space around Heshu twisted, warped. A vacuum zone formed, pushing everything back.
She raised her right hand. Chakra erupted.
"Fa Tian Xiang Di!"
Thunder coiled around Heshu, its roar splitting the heavens. The sky behind her ignited with a sea of golden fire.
Within that shimmering inferno, a colossal framework took shape.
A golden giant.
It held a sword. Wore armor of light. Its form crackled with violet lightning. Its face was Heshu's own, magnified a thousandfold.
Its head scraped the clouds. Its waist was a mountain range. Eyes flashed like lightning. An aura of absolute majesty pressed down on the world.
Before this titan, the massive Nine-Tails and the Perfect Susano'o looked like toys.
"This…"
The shinobi alliance stared, hope draining away. They couldn't even see the top.
"How…"
"How do we fight that?"
"Even Naruto and Sasuke…"
They looked so small. So fragile. What resistance could anyone muster?
"Huh?"
The Nine-Tails skidded to a halt. Naruto's jaw hung open.
"This is too much!"
"…It is impressive," Sasuke admitted, all mockery gone. This being before them… it was beyond human.
"What kind of monster are we fighting?"
Clang. Clang. Clang.
Weapons dropped. Shattered hopes followed. Shinobi sank to their knees, faces blank with surrender. Death by this hand… maybe a dream was better.
"Look! What's that?"
"The Kage!"
Five figures appeared on the ridge.
"It's Lord Hokage!"
"And Lord Raikage!"
"The Mizukage!"
"The Tsuchikage!"
"Lord Kazekage is here too!"
For the alliance, the Five Kage were a pillar of faith. Centuries of tradition, of belief in their leaders, was the deepest anchor they had. Right now, nothing could inspire more confidence than their arrival.
"That's… Heshu?" Tsunade's whole body froze. Her hands clenched. "What's happening?"
Heshu was dead. Wasn't she?
Why was she here? Fighting Naruto and Sasuke?
"Lord Hokage!" Sakura, who had been treating the wounded, saw Tsunade and tears welled up instantly.
"What happened here?" Tsunade stepped forward, placing a hand on Sakura's head.
"Lord Hokage… Lady Heshu… she betrayed us. She was a spy all along…" Tears streamed down Sakura's cheeks.
Tsunade recoiled. She wanted to deny it. But the evidence was right there. She understood now—why the normally resilient Sakura was like this. A foundational belief had crumbled, leaving her lost. Even on the battlefield, she felt lost, adrift.
Tsunade's presence was a lifeline.
"What?!" The Fourth Raikage boomed, muscles taut. "Impossible! I don't believe it! I know the Fifth Mizukage's character! She would never do this!" He glared towards Heshu.
In the distance, Naruto saw them.
"Granny Tsunade is here! And the Raikage, and the others!"
"Mm." Sasuke nodded, eyes never leaving the golden giant. "Focus. On her."
The titan seemed untouchable. A single move could crush them.
The next moment proved it.
Golden flames gathered around the giant. It held its sword in one hand. A lotus of golden fire bloomed in the other.
The greatest power of Fa Tian Xiang Di was this: it could use every skill Heshu possessed.
With multiplied force.
The golden sword fell, as if to cleave the sky itself.
Sasuke's Perfect Susano'o shattered like glass.
The golden fire-lotus bloomed against the Nine-Tails' cloak.
A shockwave erupted. Stones and dust were hurled into a maelstrom.
The world shook.
A phantom of a golden lotus slowly unfolded in the air.
Naruto lay on the ground, unmoving, covered in countless wounds.
Sasuke knelt beside him, blood dripping from his lips. The light in his eyes was gone, his Mangekyō extinguished, leaving only dark, empty pupils.
"Naruto! Sasuke!" Sakura sprinted towards them, dropping to her knees, green healing chakra flaring around her hands.
"Heshu!" Tsunade stepped forward, her voice a mix of demand and pain. "Why? Why are you doing this?" Her eyes were filled with disappointment, with a terrible complexity.
"To enact the Eye of the Moon Plan," Heshu said calmly, seated in the palm of the titan. "Isn't that obvious?"
"What kind of bullshit plan is that?!" Tsunade's fists shook. "Did you forget what you said? You said you'd bring peace to the shinobi world! You said you'd protect it all! Is this what you wanted to see?"
Each word tore at old memories, ripping at Tsunade's heart.
"People can never find true peace in reality," Heshu replied. "Every dream can only be fulfilled in the illusion. Isn't that better?" She looked down at Tsunade. "The lovers, the family you lost… you'll reunite with them in the dream."
Tsunade trembled. "But they'd be fake!"
"An illusion you'll never want to leave," Heshu said coldly. "You'll see."
"Enough talk, Hokage!" The Fourth Raikage roared at Heshu. "The Fifth must be under some control! If we defeat her, we can bring her back to her senses!"
Heshu: "…"
Tsunade didn't argue with the Raikage.
"Raikage," Ōnoki floated forward, his voice weary. "Do you really think we can win against that?"
"The moment we Kage give up," the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, stepped up, "this battle is already lost."
Ōnoki's expression turned grave. "…You're right." He looked back at the shattered, despairing alliance. "Then it falls to us to rally them."
"Naruto… why?" Obito floated in the air, watching Naruto's broken form. Sakura worked frantically to heal him. "Why fight so hard?"
"Because—"
"Don't talk, Naruto!" Sakura cried. He was in no state to waste energy.
"Because I have people to protect!" Naruto ignored her, looking straight at Obito. His voice was weak but iron-clad. "I will protect them!"
"Protect?" Obito looked genuinely confused. "They have nothing to do with you. Why?"
"Because…" Naruto managed a smile. He raised a thumb, pointing at his own chest, the gesture as bright as ever. "I'm going to be Hokage!"
Obito's eyes went wide. For a moment, Naruto's image overlapped with another—a younger boy with the same bright, determined grin.
"I'm going to be Hokage!"
That boy was himself.
Heshu watched Obito's dazed expression. She knew what attack had just landed.
Uzumaki Naruto's ultimate technique: Talk-no-Jutsu.
Obito and Naruto locked eyes. Suddenly, the world around them seemed to shift. They faced each other, not in combat, but in conversation.
Swish!
Five figures appeared before Heshu's titan.
The Five Kage, leading what remained of the alliance.
"If you've come to die," Heshu rose from the titan's palm. The Fa Tian Xiang Di possessed its own combat awareness. "I'll oblige."
The golden sword extended. Light blazed.
A sword beam shot out, scattering the alliance forces. The ground split open with bottomless fissures. Blood spread. The stench of iron was carried by the wind.
Golden fire-lotuses materialized around the titan. Dozens of them.
They fired.
The world went silent.
Then white.
A blinding flash of explosions lit the sky like noon.
Golden lotus phantoms bloomed across the heavens.
The earth was reduced to rubble.
In that wasteland, the alliance's bodies littered the ruins, blood soaking into the fractured earth. The Five Kage lay sprawled, battered and broken.
"So strong…" The Fourth Raikage, his body toughened by years of training, forced his way out of the debris. "We… are no match."
Tsunade gasped for air, chest heaving. She looked around, her heart shuddering at the sight of the mangled dead.
Then, a change.
A stifled roar echoed. Obito, floating in the air, began to convulse. His body swelled.
The Ten-Tails was breaking free.
When Obito's will was firm, his hatred focused, he could suppress the beast's consciousness. But now, his will was wavering. The Ten-Tails' mind surged forward.
Madara Uchiha kicked away the wood clone of Hashirama Senju clinging to him and glanced towards Obito.
"Time's up."
"Madara!" Hashirama reached out.
Half of his wooden clone body was instantly pierced by a golden sword beam. Madara shrunk in his vision, becoming a mere dot. The scattered half of Hashirama's clone did not regenerate.
"It seems… I really can't intervene this time…" A bitter smile touched Hashirama's face.
Madara flashed onto a rock near Heshu.
"It seems you've grown quite a bit over the years," he said, eyeing the Fa Tian Xiang Di.
Heshu didn't answer, looking instead at Obito. "He's losing control of the Ten-Tails."
This was Madara's opportunity.
But the alliance saw an opportunity too.
"The Ten-Tails is emerging!" Naruto, patched up by Sakura, staggered to his feet. He shouted to the pitiful remnants of the alliance. "Now's our chance! Pull the tailed beasts out!"
Cloaked in the Nine-Tails' chakra, he and Minato flashed before Obito. Chains of chakra shot from their hands, plunging into Obito's body.
One pair of hands after another grabbed the chains.
Naruto. Minato. Kakashi. Might Guy. Tsunade. The Fourth Raikage. Killer Bee. Rasa. Sasuke. Gaara…
They stood behind Naruto, lending their strength.
"Raaaaah!" Obito's Rinnegan was swallowed by the white mass of the Ten-Tails.
From the chains, the forms of the tailed beasts began to emerge.
"Everyone! Pull harder!" Naruto yelled, veins bulging on his forehead.
"URGH!"
BOOM!
Seven tailed beasts were violently yanked from Obito's body.
Obito plummeted from the sky.
A black shadow seeped over half his fallen form before anyone could react.
"Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life!"
The technique activated instantly.
White light emanated from both Obito and Madara.
Madara smiled.
Obito struggled, but under the control of Black Zetsu, the technique completed.
"Agh… kuh…" A broken sound escaped Obito's throat.
The black shadow receded from his body.
On Madara, the cracks of the Edo Tensei faded. The darkness cleared from his eyes.
"Ah… a living body feels much better," Madara said, flexing his hand with a satisfied sigh.
"Madara!" Naruto gritted his teeth. He'd just reached Obito, and in the next second, this.
Obito lay quietly on the ground, life fading.
"Obito…" Kakashi and Minato rushed to his side.
Obito stared at the night sky.
He spoke slowly, his voice faint.
"I met Heshu… after the Battle of Kannabi Bridge…"
"She already knew Madara then…"
"She was only six or seven…"
Kakashi and Minato exchanged a glance. He was giving them intel.
"Her parents died in the Third War. Madara found her… like he found me… We were both his tools…" Kakashi's hand trembled.
"After Madara died… I sent her to Konoha…" Obito continued, each word an effort. "I wanted her to know what it was like… to live a normal life…"
"But I was selfish…"
"Bearing the darkness alone… was too painful…"
"So… after she found the light… I dragged her back into the dark…"
"Tell her… for me…"
"Sorry…"
"Obito…" Kakashi looked at him, but his friend's gaze was already fixed on something far away.
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