Chapter 65 - Chapter 65: Battle of Gods!

Madara Uchiha smirked as his hands weaved together in a sharp, fluid motion—the sign of gathering chakra.

"Very well... let us fight. Let the strongest reveal themselves through battle!"

His chakra erupted outward like a shockwave, clashing violently against Naruto and Gaara's energy. The very earth groaned beneath them—stones cracked, dust surged, and the air felt electric with tension.

Madara's grin widened, his voice laced with menace.

"Let's test that eye of yours… brat. Limbo."

In Gaara's Rinnegan-enhanced vision, the world dimmed momentarily. A shadow-like version of Madara peeled from his body—a silent assassin streaking toward them in the Limbo plane.

"Naruto! Duck left!" Gaara shouted.

Naruto's instincts kicked in, and he dove aside just as the space he occupied exploded from a crushing blow. A beat later, Gaara whipped a sand tendril toward what seemed to be thin air—bam! The invisible shadow Madara was launched into a boulder with tremendous force, causing it to shatter on impact.

From an outside perspective, it looked like the terrain simply erupted without cause. But Gaara and Madara both knew otherwise.

"You can see it too?" Madara asked, an amused glint in his eye.

"No," Naruto replied, eyes narrowing. "But I can sense it. Pretty clearly, actually."

Gaara landed beside him, his breath steady, gaze sharp. Madara's eyes narrowed as he studied the Rinnegan in Gaara's eye socket.

I need that eye back… or this fight might get annoying.

Without warning, Madara surged forward—blindingly fast—aimed straight at Gaara.

"Tch." Gaara clenched his jaw, launching himself to intercept. "I'll handle the shadows—"

Suddenly, a voice echoed in his head.

"Use my power."

Shukaku...?

"My power can bind them. Even his shadows."

Gaara's eyes glinted with understanding. "Right. Let's do it."

Chakra surged through his arm. "Sage Art: Magnet Release—Rasengan!"

Dark markings curled around the spinning sphere, giving it a curse-like appearance. Naruto, grinning, formed a Rasen-Shuriken and hurled it forward while dashing alongside Gaara.

Madara halted mid-dash. His grin returned. "Let's see the power of your eyes, Kazekage."

The Rasen-Shuriken screamed toward him. Madara shifted, swaying with deceptive ease, weaving past it—only to meet Gaara head-on.

Madara's clawed hand reached for the Rinnegan—when suddenly, a blade pierced through his chest.

"—?!"

A black sword had appeared out of nowhere, thrust straight through Madara's torso and hand. His eyes widened.

"Dark Sister..." Gaara muttered, having summoned the blade from his personal [Inventory].

Then, with coordinated precision, both Naruto and Gaara struck.

"RASENGAN!"

Two spiraling spheres—Naruto's blazing with nature energy, Gaara's infused with sealing power—crashed into Madara's chest. A massive blast of chakra erupted, consuming the area.

Smoke cleared. A single form remained.

A Limbo Clone.

Gaara's eye twitched. "A substitution… again?"

Suddenly, Madara appeared behind them, absorbing a wind scythe from a sand clone with the Preta Path, his body knitting back together with unnatural calm.

"Tch. He regenerated and absorbed your clone," Naruto muttered, frustrated.

"I sealed one of the shadows," Gaara said, clenching his fist. "But he can summon more."

Naruto turned to him. "You've fought Rinnegan users before. Got anything we can use?"

Gaara nodded slowly, playing it cool. "The shadow technique—Limbo—is unique to him. Nagato and I never had it. But the absorption thing… that's basic Rinnegan. Hard to deal with."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Maybe... we overload him with Nature Chakra? Pervy Sage said it messes up people who can't handle it. Turns them to stone."

Gaara shook his head. "Wouldn't work. He can use Sage Mode too."

Naruto clicked his tongue. "Of course he can…"

Before they could finish strategizing, Madara raised his hand—Limbo shadows stirring again.

Gaara whispered, "Let's hit him together anyway. If he's absorbing, he can't move much. That's our opening."

Naruto grinned. "Then we hit fast and hard."

Side by side, the Nine-Tails Sage and the One-Tail Rinnegan Jinchūriki surged forward—blazing with chakra, ready to challenge a god.

Madara Uchiha smirked, purple lightning crackling to life in his hands as his chakra surged like a brewing storm. "Let's get back to it," he declared, and fired twin bolts of lightning with a thunderous roar.

Naruto reacted in a flash, extending a chakra arm to intercept one of the bolts, dissipating the crackling energy with ease. The second streak of lightning tore toward Gaara, who slammed his sword, Dark Sister, into the ground. He launched himself upward, flipping over the blast as the sword absorbed the lightning like a grounded rod.

In the air, his tailed beast cloak flared to life, and a glowing Tailed Beast Bomb began forming at his fingertips.

Madara grinned, raising an arm as three Limbo clones materialized beside him. Gaara narrowed his eyes, calculating. He hurled the bomb—not at Madara directly, but at the ground in front of him, cutting off the Limbo clones' advance in a fiery eruption.

A glowing blue Susanoo shield erupted from Madara, shielding him from the blast. "Was that supposed to hit me?" he mocked, dusting himself off.

Gaara clenched a fist. "Grand Sand Mausoleum."

The ground rumbled as tendrils of sand erupted around Madara, encasing him in a growing pyramid of compressed stone and grit.

From above, Naruto shouted, "Got something extra from Son Goku! Lava Rasenshuriken!"

The glowing molten shuriken spun through the air and slammed into the sandy tomb, creating a blazing inferno that vitrified the desert into glass.

A moment later, Madara burst free, steam and molten debris trailing behind him as his body regenerated in real time.

But he wasn't alone.

Two Naruto clones struck from either side, their arms glowing with Tailed Beast-enhanced Rasengans. At the same moment, Gaara flashed behind him, blade clashing with Madara's Gunbai.

"Earth Release: Ultra-Added-Weight Rock Technique!" Gaara's chakra surged through the contact.

Madara's body lurched under the sudden increase in weight. The two Rasengans smashed into him—he tried to absorb them, smirking… until his face twisted in shock.

"W-What?!" he choked out. His limbs began to convulse, one leg buckling unnaturally.

"Shinra Tensei!" he roared, blasting the attackers away with a gravitational shockwave. Naruto's clones vanished in clouds of smoke. Gaara skidded back beside the real Naruto.

Just then, three Limbo clones emerged, charging at them—only to be intercepted by three sand clones.

Gaara's lips curled into a confident smirk. "It worked."

Naruto blinked. "What worked?"

Gaara didn't take his eyes off Madara. "His Sage Mode came from the First Hokage. He never trained in it properly. So when he tries to absorb Nature Chakra, it overloads his system. He can't balance it."

Naruto's grin returned. "So we can go all out. Good."

From the smoke, Madara's voice rang out. "That was… impressive. I underestimated you." He stepped forward, eyes gleaming. "But unfortunately for you… I've barely begun."

His hands became a blur.

"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!"

A monstrous wall of flame surged forward, a tsunami of fire consuming the battlefield.

"Kamui!" Gaara's left eye shifted, space warping in front of him.

Naruto formed a massive Water-infused Rasengan, channeling Saiken's power. "Giant Rasengan!"

The colliding forces shattered the inferno—steam hissed skyward—but in the chaos, they lost track of Madara.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Get in the air!"

The two leapt skyward just as Madara erupted from the smoke, shooting toward them like a bullet.

Naruto met him mid-air, Rasengan at the ready—clashing against the Gunbai. Madara's off-hand shot forward, palm glowing ominously.

"Move!" Gaara shouted, sensing the danger.

Naruto's instincts kicked in—he swapped places with a clone just as Madara's palm clutched it. The clone popped in a puff of smoke.

They landed on scorched ground.

"What the hell was that?" Naruto barked.

Gaara's face was grim. "Human Path. Rips your soul out just by grabbing you. It's like the Shinigami Death Seal, but worse—he can do it whenever he wants."

Naruto scoffed. "You waited until now to tell me?!"

The smoke parted to reveal Madara, looking disappointed.

"This chase is getting dull. Are your abilities truly this inferior?" he mocked.

Gaara narrowed his eyes. "Naruto. Cover me."

Naruto blinked. "Huh?"

"I have the Rinnegan too."

Gaara shot forward. Madara mirrored the movement, palm outstretched.

Both warriors stopped in front of each other, each pressing their hand against the other's chest.

"Let's see who's soul is stronger," Madara hissed.

Suddenly, the world around them warped—the spiritual realm revealed, souls beginning to flicker like candle flames.

Madara grinned wildly. "I am the Savior of this World! You cannot defeat me in a battle of souls!"

Behind him, an ethereal image of Indra appeared, bolstering Madara's aura.

Gaara felt his soul being tugged, his body trembling…

…then he smirked. "Maybe. But you still can't move."

Madara's eyes widened.

"NOW, NARUTO!"

Naruto blurred behind him, Rasengan in hand.

Madara summoned a Limbo clone—but Naruto cancelled the Rasengan mid-swing and instead delivered a vicious kick, bypassing the shadow world and slamming Madara across the face.

The Limbo clone struck Naruto in retaliation, but Gaara sealed it in mid-air with a swirling Sand Coffin, chakra chains entwining it tightly.

Both Madara and Naruto crashed into opposite cliffs, regaining their footing.

Naruto leapt back beside Gaara. "That almost worked. He sensed me coming at the last second."

Gaara nodded, calmly analyzing. "We've found counters to every Rinnegan technique he's used so far. Absorption. Limbo. Soul rip."

He tightened his grip on Dark Sister. "He'll be cautious now… and that's both a blessing and a curse."

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, so long as he doesn't use Al—"

Madara raised his palm, a smug grin stretching across his face."Almighty Push."

Both younger shinobi reacted the same—pure panic. They were launched backward, crashing through rocks and rubble, their bodies skipping like stones across the fractured terrain.

Gaara groaned. "Tch... It's even worse than when Nag—"

"Universal Pull."

The gravitational force yanked them from the rubble, suspending them midair before a floating Madara, who looked more amused than ever.

"You see how useless this is?" Madara said, arms outstretched. "No matter how many counters you come up with, I'll always have more. Infinite chakra. Regeneration. Edo Tensei perfection. Just accept the truth—your lives mean little in the face of peace. Surrender to the Infinite Tsukuyomi."

Gaara's voice cut sharply through the air. "NOW!"

In an instant, both boys were cloaked in Tailed Beast chakra.

A massive sand claw formed around Gaara, shaped by Shukaku's power. The head of the Nine-Tails loomed behind Naruto, a glowing Tailed Beast Bomb charging in its mouth.

Madara's eyes narrowed. He raised a Susanoo arm and summoned a blade, lunging toward Gaara.

But Gaara didn't flinch. He spun toward Naruto.

"Universal Pull!"

Their Rinnegan powers collided, snapping them free from Madara's gravitational hold.

Naruto's chakra arm shot forward, grabbing Madara's Susanoo blade mid-swing.He yanked the Uchiha in, Gyūki's chakra coiling into a dark, crackling Rasengan.

"RASENGAN!"

The jutsu slammed into Madara, grinding through his Susanoo's chest plate and blasting him backward. But just as quickly—

He vanished.

"Naruto, guard up—NOW!" Gaara shouted.

Naruto raised his chakra arms just in time to absorb an Almighty Push from behind. The sheer force still hurled him through the air—and from above came a descending blade of a Perfect Susanoo.

The ground erupted in a cataclysmic explosion as both shinobi were separated again. When the dust cleared, Madara stood unscathed, a smug smile on his face.

Naruto coughed. "What the hell was that? He just... disappeared."

"That wasn't a Six Paths ability," Gaara muttered, narrowing his eyes. "He's swapping places with his Limbo clones."

Madara chuckled. "You know an awful lot about my powers... Eye Thief."

Gaara clenched his fists. "Naruto, you handle the push."

Naruto took off, Kyūbi cloak flaring. A massive Rasengan formed in the clawed foot of his avatar.

"GO!"

Madara smirked, intrigued.

"Almighty Push."

The blast met Naruto's Rasengan head-on, triggering a thunderous shockwave. Naruto stumbled back, chakra flaring to stabilize himself. But then—

A glint of silver.

Naruto hurled his father's Flying Thunder God kunai.

Madara caught it with a scoff. "What was that supposed to—"

Suddenly, Madara blinked.

When his vision cleared, Naruto and Gaara were casually standing before him—exactly as they had been at the beginning of the battle.

The battlefield, which had been obliterated just seconds ago, was now pristine. Craters vanished. Dust settled. Blood, gone.

Madara's brow twitched. "What...?"

He took a step forward. Then another. The déjà vu grew stronger. He let out a dry chuckle.

"What? You two standing there all proud for wha—"

His voice trailed off.

The shattered terrain behind them was now perfectly restored, as if time itself had been rewound. His fingers flexed. The scent in the air was the same as it had been minutes ago.

"…Oh. Very clever."

Gaara didn't answer.

Madara's eyes narrowed, amused. "Didn't you know?" he said, voice laced with sardonic humor. "Izanami has to record the full breadth of the victim's combat skills to trap them properly. Their movements. Their chakra flow. Their choices. It has to know the target to loop the target."

His Sharingan spun slowly.

"It is unlikely that such a technique would work on me, of all people, who has all the techniques of the Uchiha and Senju, You'd be trapped in the recording process until the end of time."

Cracks spiderwebbed across the world around him. The illusory domain—Gaara's Izanami—shattered like brittle glass.

Madara stood now, back in reality. In his hand was not a kunai, but Gaara's wrist, caught mid-attack. The sand ninja's mismatched eyes—one Rinnegan, one a Sharingan—stared unflinchingly into Madara's.

Gaara smirked.

"I knew it probably wouldn't work… but it was a good distraction."

Madara's eyes flashed.

And that's when he felt it.

Dozens of hands grabbed his arms, legs, and torso. Naruto clones—fully formed—clung to him from every direction, their palms glowing with spiraling spheres of energy. The humming sound of Rasengan's buzzed in the air.

Madara's eyes widened—

BOOM.

The clones detonated all at once, the Rasengan's tearing through flesh and armor in a radiant, explosive wave. Light engulfed the battlefield as Gaara leapt away, twisting through the air with sand bracing his fall. He landed beside Naruto as a colossal mushroom cloud bloomed behind them.

Both stared into the rising inferno.

Gaara exhaled. "Good hit. But that won't put him down. We need to seal him."

Naruto, still watching the smoke, muttered, "Well… maybe don't stand right next to him next time?"

Gaara was about to respond—

And then pain flared in his palm.

The extra Sharingan embedded there—a tool—went dull, losing its glow. The tomoe faded. The sclera clouded to white.

Madara, wherever he was in that smoke cloud, had responded.

Far away, through the fire and haze, another Sharingan—Madara's—was also turning milky and blank. He had activated it… Izanami.

The countermeasure to Izanami itself.

Two self-sacrifices.

Two illusions nullified.

A quiet moment passed.

Gaara glanced at his palm. The useless, empty eye stared back at him. Then, without hesitation, he reached in with his other hand, dug his fingers beneath the skin——and ripped it out.

A flick of his wrist, and the pale, limp eye hit the ground.

"I'll call that a good trade," he said simply.

Naruto blinked. "Dude. That's metal."

Gaara looked ahead, where the smoke was starting to clear. He could feel it—the pressure rising again.

Madara was still there.

And this time, they had no illusions left.

Both Naruto and Gaara stood ready, eyes locked on the thick smoke swirling ahead.

They felt it—a presence cutting through the haze.

But nothing emerged.

Gaara's Rinnegan flared. "Behind you—!"

A Limbo Clone shot between them, aiming straight for Naruto.

Gaara intercepted it just in time, but the force of the blow sent him skidding back.

Naruto turned to check on Gaara—just as the real Madara materialized inches in front of him.

"Smart tactic earlier," Madara mused, his hand raised. "Mind if I steal it?"

His eyes flashed.

"Izanami."

Naruto froze.

Gaara's seal closed around the Limbo Clone—but he was too late.

"Naruto!"

Madara's grin widened.

"You were far too easy to trap. All you do is clone yourself, hurl tailed beast bombs, and repeat your little Rasengan tricks. A predictable, one-trick pony. Took me two seconds to read your whole playbook."

He turned, his eyes falling on Gaara.

"Now, shall we continue?"

But then—

Gaara blinked. His face twitched—not in fear, but something like nostalgia.

Naruto was forming a familiar hand sign, a confident grin tugging at his lips.

Smoke erupted.

"Sexy no Jutsu!"

Out of the cloud emerged a sultry, blonde kunoichi with glowing fox eyes and a black-and-yellow chakra bikini, flickering like fire.

Madara stared, genuinely dumbfounded.

Gaara's mouth fell open... just a little. Was that—was that a smile?

In the same instant, the sexy blonde spun in midair——and slammed a roundhouse kick into Madara's jaw, launching him into the ground with a crash.

The smoke cleared to reveal a furious Naruto, back in his true form."Don't you ever assume you've seen all my tricks!"

Madara staggered to his feet, rubbing his jaw. Still dazed. Still confused.

Gaara landed beside Naruto, deadpan."…I can't believe that actually worked."

Naruto shrugged. "I spent a long time training with the Pervy Sage. You think I wouldn't have a few curveballs ready?"

The earth trembled beneath them. The ground cracked—then lifted.

Both shinobi rose with it, hovering atop a chunk of floating terrain.

Madara stood calmly, one hand raised. A dark smirk crept onto his face.

"Chibaku Tensei."

Eight black orbs rose into the sky, forming gravity centers around them.

Gaara's eyes widened.

"Destroy the cores—quickly!"

The eight spheres sank lower, forming a massive ring. Gravity tore at them from every direction, locking them in place.

Madara lifted a finger toward the heavens.

"Let's see how you handle this."

The sky darkened.

A shadow fell over the battlefield.

Naruto and Gaara looked up—

A colossal meteor blazed downward, dragging fire and death in its wake.

Gaara smirked.

"Big one's mine."

Shukaku's full avatar erupted around him, forming a Tailed Beast Bomb.

Blades of wind spiraled around it as the sphere began to rotate violently.

"Sage Art: Tailed Beast Rasenshuriken!"

Naruto mirrored him—heads of all eight Tailed Beasts emerged around him, each forming a Bijuu Bomb aimed at the gravitational cores.

"Let's light it up!"

Eight beams of chakra thundered through the air—

—the Chibaku Tensei orbs erupted in blinding bursts—

—and Gaara's Rasenshuriken slammed into the meteor, burrowing deep, slicing from the inside—

The sky split open. The meteor crumbled into dust, raining harmless rubble over the battlefield.

They landed softly, turning toward the center of the devastation.

Madara stood there. Calm. Unmoved. Arms crossed.

Gaara's voice was quiet.

"This is bad."

Naruto glanced at him.

"If this keeps up, you'll run out of tailed beast chakra. And I'll burn out my Rinnegan."

Naruto's eyes lit up.

"Hey! Why not use the Preta Path to absorb some of his chakra?"

Gaara gave him a flat look.

"Are you stupid? Remember when I tried to extract his soul? He overpowered me. If I try to drain him now, he'll just turn it around and suck my chakra dry."

A new voice echoed in their minds—deep, ancient, powerful.

The voice of the Tailed Beasts.

"You're not alone, Sand brat. If you connect to Madara, we can channel our chakra through you. Naruto can help you balance the flow. We'll replenish ourselves through you."

Gaara and Naruto exchanged a look. A nod. A silent understanding.

Time to push back.

Naruto formed his signature seal.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

In a burst of smoke, a thousand Narutos materialized around Madara—each wielding a glowing Rasengan.

Madara's smile stretched wide, arms spreading.

"Almighty Push."

A massive wave of force exploded outward. Rasengans slammed into it, resisting for a moment—then every clone was erased in a cascading poof. Smoke swallowed the field.

Gaara dashed forward, vanishing into the haze. His eyes flicked upward. There! High above, Naruto hung in the air, forming a Rasenshuriken. The blue flames of Matatabi surged around it, twisting violently.

He launched it.

Madara sensed the threat and summoned his Susanoo, the spectral warrior forming a shield behind him. As his gaze snapped forward, he spotted Gaara charging—too obvious.

Untrusting, Madara conjured two massive arms from his Susanoo, swinging down. But Gaara met the assault with chakra-forged arms of his own, both tipped with razor-sharp sand blades.

The red-haired shinobi leapt directly in front of Madara. Madara's gunbai twitched in hand."Too slow."

But Gaara vanished—replaced by Naruto's flaming Rasenshuriken. It detonated point-blank against Madara's back.

The explosion lit up the battlefield.

Gaara and Naruto landed side by side, their eyes locked on the smoke. But Madara shot from the haze with terrifying speed, appearing behind Gaara.

A black chakra rod manifested in his palm—Impaled.

Gaara staggered forward… then dissolved into grains of sand.

"A clone," Madara muttered—then froze.

Behind him, Naruto had locked him in a restraining hold.

"Holding me down for another hit?" Madara asked, smirking—until a pulse of chakra flowed out of him.

Madara's smirk vanished.

Naruto burst into smoke—revealing Gaara beneath, his palm pressed to Madara's back, Preta Path active."What...?" Madara growled.

"Stealing your chakra," Gaara said simply.

"You don't have the strength for that."

"I know someone who does."

Madara's eyes darted forward—and widened.

Far off, Naruto sat cross-legged, eyes closed in meditation.

"Limbo," Madara growled.

He released three Limbo clones, sending them racing toward Naruto.

But three Gaara clones intercepted them, each wielding a chakra rod. A clash of invisible titans erupted in the background.

Madara summoned his Susanoo, trying to blast Gaara away—but Gaara's Shukaku Avatar materialized in a burst of sand, restraining the giant warrior.

"Wood Style!" Madara shouted.

"Wood Dragon Jutsu!"

Two dragons burst from the ground, wrapping around Gaara's body. A third colossal one latched onto the Shukaku Avatar. The chakra Gaara had stolen was now siphoned into the dragons.

Gaara's expression tightened as his avatar began to crumble. Madara's Susanoo tore free, launching him back into the sky.

"Kamui!" Gaara roared.

A spatial vortex tore the wood dragons away just in time—only for a massive Yasaka Magatama to slam into his sand defense, blasting him back.

Madara smirked—but turned too late.

Naruto was already behind him, hurling a Bijuu Bomb point-blank into Susanoo's back.

The explosion rocked the air.

Naruto appeared at Gaara's side. "How'd it go?"

Gaara wiped dust from his cloak."Got a solid chunk of chakra. Should keep us going—but Madara's still an Edo. He'll outlast us."

Gaara extended his hand. Through Naruto's chakra link, the stolen energy flowed to him.

Naruto's fists clenched as his form surged with renewed power. "That should stabilize this mode."

They both looked up to find Madara floating, arms crossed, calm as ever.

"We need to take away his options," Naruto muttered. "He always has a counter."

Gaara's eyes flicked across the battlefield—landing on a glint of metal.

A Flying Thunder God kunai.

A plan sparked in his mind.

"Naruto," Gaara said quickly. "You never fully removed the Nine Tails' seal, right?"

Naruto blinked. "What does that have to do with anything?! Madara's right there!"

Gaara extended his hand. "Let me see your father's kunai."

Naruto handed it over, confused. Gaara's Rinnegan pulsed as he examined the intricate seals carved into the blade—and in an instant, the world dissolved around them.

They stood inside Naruto's mindscape. A vast, echoing void. The battlefield, Madara—gone.

Naruto flinched. "Again?"

A rumbling voice echoed: "What is it, Gaara?"

Kurama loomed behind the bars, flanked by spectral images of the other Tailed Beasts—most still bound to the Gedo Statue. Only Shukaku and Kurama remained free.

Gaara addressed the fox with unexpected authority. "Rip the seal off. Now."

Naruto raised a hand. "Explain first. You know time works differently here—we can afford it."

Gaara exhaled. "When I scanned your father's kunai with my Rinnegan, I saw everything. The Flying Thunder God technique—it's built into the seal. At a glance, I could understand how it works."

Naruto gaped. "Wait—you can do it?! You told me you couldn't!"

"It's linked to a specific chakra signature," Gaara replied coolly. "The Fourth's. Meaning you might be able to use it."

Kurama's ears twitched. He gave a reluctant nod.

Naruto cracked a grin. "Alright. I'll let you take off the seal—but only if you teach me how to use that kunai."

Gaara didn't answer.

He strode forward to the cage, placed a hand on the final seal—and ripped it away.

A flash of light.

A spectral figure appeared—Minato Namikaze. His golden hair and blue haori fluttered in the wind as he grabbed Gaara's arm.

But Gaara didn't flinch. His Rinnegan pulsed.

Preta Path.

The chakra construct dissolved into swirling light—drawn into Gaara's eye. It was never the real Minato, just a fragment of chakra left behind.

Naruto stood stunned. "That was kind of harsh."

Gaara smirked. "I needed the data."

He extended a palm, channeling the golden chakra into Naruto.

"Now..." he said with calm resolve. "Let me teach you the Flying Thunder God Jutsu. With this, we can bring Madara down."

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto nodded after finishing his planning with Gaara as the mindscape dissolved, and the two snapped back to the battlefield. Dust swirled around them, and the air trembled with the lingering aftermath of their last clash. Naruto gripped the kunai tightly, a smirk forming on his lips.

Gaara kept his voice low, eyes fixed on Madara. "I'll need a surge of your chakra to power the Chakra Restriction Seal, I created it for Madara. My Rinnegan's nearing its limit—I won't be able to use it much longer."

Naruto nodded without hesitation. "Then let's make it count."

Before they could make their move, Madara's voice cut through the tension, smooth and mocking. "Are we quite finished playing hide and seek? I'd prefer to activate the Infinite Tsukuyomi before sunrise."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and flashed a confident grin. "Then I guess we better teach you this lesson fast—straight from Naruto's God Tier Ninja Handbook!"

With a single hand sign, Naruto shouted, "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

A tsunami of smoke exploded across the battlefield as one thousand clones formed, each brimming with chakra.

Madara sighed, unimpressed. "This again?"

But the clones were already moving.

"First technique—100 Rasenshuriken!"

Hundreds of whirling spheres of death tore through the sky toward Madara. In response, he raised a massive Susanoo, its armor gleaming ominously. But even that wasn't enough. The onslaught of Rasenshuriken detonated in a chain of thunderous explosions, swallowing the Uchiha in a blazing dome of destruction.

From within the smoke, the Uchiha's laughter echoed. His body, torn apart, was already piecing itself back together.

"Second technique—1,000 Flying Thunder God Kunai!"

The clones launched their kunai in perfect sync, each one soaring through the sky like a rain of steel stars. They embedded into the ground, walls, and airspace around Madara.

Madara narrowed his eyes, smirking. "Do you truly believe throwing a thousand kunai will change anything? Your parlor tricks won't—"

"Chibaku Tensei!"

Gaara's voice thundered, his Rinnegan blazing. But unlike the typical black sphere, Madara himself became the focal point. The gravity well locked onto him, pinning him mid-air as the earth trembled. Trees and roots from his Wood Style shattered under the force, and all the scattered kunai were drawn toward him like iron to a magnet, forming a deadly halo.

Madara gritted his teeth. "What?!"

Then—a yellow flash.

"RASENGAN!"

Naruto struck him square in the jaw, smashing him into the earth in a spiral of force. But before Madara could recover—

FLASH.

"RASENGAN!"

FLASH.

"RASENGAN!"

Five hundred clones lit the sky like lightning bolts, teleporting between kunai, slamming Madara from every single possible direction from any type of angle. His regeneration could barely keep up with the sheer velocity and frequency of the strikes.

Madara was a blur, torn apart and stitched together at once, helpless in the aerial pinball of pain.

Finally, one Naruto rose above, engulfed in golden chakra, forming a Tailed Beast Bomb between the snarling jaws of Kurama's chakra construct.

Madara's eyes widened. "No—!"

He swapped places with a Limbo clone, vanishing just before the bomb was unleashed. He reappeared beside Naruto, hand crackling with black lightning, ready to end it.

But he wasn't fast enough.

Gaara was already there.

He slammed his palm into Madara's stomach, chakra flaring as the seal activated. Madara froze, trembling.

His eyes dropped to Gaara's hand—ink-like patterns were spreading across his torso.

Gaara looked up with a sly smile. "Checkmate."

Naruto, already in motion, channeled a surge of chakra directly into Gaara's seal through their linked hands.

Both shouted in unison: "SEAL!"

A blinding light exploded outward, swallowing Madara's form.

"AAAAAGH!!"Madara screamed as the light consumed him, his body flickering between solid and ethereal, fighting to resist—but it was too late.

The battlefield went silent.

XXXXXXXXX – Allied Forces Camp

"Boom!"

Another explosion shook the skies, followed by a shockwave that rolled across the horizon like a storm. Flaming lights, golden flashes, and streaks of chakra lit up the world beyond the camp's protective barrier.

"W-Whoa…""How can anyone fight like that? "That's a god up there… not a man…""We can't possibly fight something like that! He's wiping the battlefield clean!"

The murmurs swelled throughout the ranks of the Allied Shinobi Forces. Wide eyes and open mouths lined the perimeter as shinobi of every nation gazed toward the horizon, where Naruto and Gaara were engaged in battle with Madara.

The blazing sky was a living painting of devastation.

A soft gasp cut through the growing panic.

Hinata's voice rang out, sharp and clear."Look—it's Itachi and Jiraiya-sama!"

The two legendary shinobi descended swiftly, with Orochimaru slithering just behind them. Their expressions were taut, shadows of their battle against Kabuto still lingering on their faces.

Jiraiya scanned the skies with narrowed eyes, his tone sharp. "We leave for a few minutes, and the world decides to end without us?"

Itachi's gaze swept across the camp. "Status?"

Tenten stepped forward, still a bit breathless. "The Kage are prepping the Sealing Division in case Naruto and Gaara fail. The Hyuga are tracking the fight with Byakugan, and all clans are on standby. Shikamaru's taken charge of strategic coordination—he's already set up fallback plans if the sealing doesn't work."

Itachi nodded once, quickly taking stock. His eyes drifted toward the medical tents. He caught sight of Lee kneeling beside Guy, who was bandaged and being treated by Tsunade herself. Shino and Ino coordinated with their clans. Everything was moving—like clockwork under pressure.

"Jiraiya-sama!" called a familiar voice.

Jiraiya turned to see Shikaku approaching briskly, flanked by Shikamaru and a few other field commanders.

"We need direction," Shikaku said, keeping his voice calm. "Some units are waiting for orders."

Jiraiya folded his arms and gave a long, measured look toward the battlefield. His voice came low but firm:"Do nothing."

A ripple of surprise spread through the crowd.

"But—" one shinobi began.

Jiraiya raised a hand to silence him. "Right now, anything we do will only get in Naruto's way. This fight... it's beyond anything we're trained for. We move when he says it's time."

A tense silence followed, the army hanging on his words.

Suddenly, Hinata's Byakugan flared to life. "Wait… He's coming back!"

In a flash, Naruto landed just ahead of them, Obito slung over his shoulder. His Sage eyes radiated quiet intensity as dust kicked up around his arrival.

Gasps rang out.

"It's Naruto! "He brought Obito back?!"

Naruto gently lowered Obito to the ground. "Got him out of the Kamui dimension. He'll live. Probably."

Itachi stepped forward, nodding. "Good work. What's the status?"

"How's the fight going?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto exhaled, hands clasped behind his head casually, like he'd just finished a jog rather than battling an immortal demigod.

"Tough as ever," he said, grinning. "That bastard's got, like, a gazillion powers. And he knows exactly how to use all of them. It's like fighting every final boss at once."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "And you still sound like you're enjoying it."

Naruto gave a little laugh, then looked at them all—Hinata, Sakura, Lee, Jiraiya, Itachi, the reanimated legends. His eyes softened for a moment.

"The real me's still out there. I'm gonna need more chakra soon," he said. "But it's not time for backup yet. Not until we've really cracked Madara's armor."

He gave them all a bright thumbs-up, flashing that same reckless smile that had carried them through so many impossible battles.

Then—poof. He was gone.

Hinata turned back toward the battlefield, her eyes widening. "What… is that?"

A massive beam of light shot into the sky—pure, blinding, and divine. Even the sun seemed to pale beside it.

Everyone froze.

"…That light…"

"…Is Madara being sealed?"

"Did they… win?"

Nobody spoke.

The camp held its breath.

XXXXXXXXXXX — Battlefield: Post-Seal Collapse

The blinding light fades.

Three bodies crash to the earth with three heavy thuds.

Gaara blinks through the dust, vision blurred. He grunts, reaching for his blade—until a glint off the metal reveals the truth. His eye… His left eye has reverted to its three tomoe state.

Damn it. I overused the Rinnegan.

He gasps. "Naruto, we need to—"But his voice trails off. He senses it too.

Naruto stands beside him, his cloak dimmed to the familiar golden hue of regular Kurama Mode. No Sage Mode. No extra tailed beast chakra. He exhales slowly, lips thinning.

Across the ruined field, Madara stands shirtless, steam rising from his form. The Rinnegan is gone—only a single Sharingan spins in his eye socket. A black seal, identical to Naruto's old containment seal, now glows faintly on his abdomen.

For a brief moment, all three warriors look at each other in silent realization.

They've all been reverted.

Madara stares at his hands, baffled. "This seal…" His voice cracks with disbelief.

But Naruto doesn't wait.

With a sudden burst of speed, he rockets forward, a massive chakra fist forming mid-sprint. Madara barely sidesteps, raising a wall of roots—Wood Style—to his left. It snaps into place just as Dark Sister slices through with a hiss of wind-infused steel.

Gaara's sword tears the wood apart.

Madara retaliates, sweeping Gaara's legs out from under him. The redhead flips to his feet, chakra flaring. One hand grips his blade. The other—spins a Rasengan to life.

A wood serpent erupts from below Madara's feet, launching him skyward.

Naruto races up the twisting roots, yellow cloak trailing behind like fire. He lashes out—misses—and rolls mid-air, rebounding with a titanic golden punch.

CLANG.

A translucent blue Susanoo arm catches the blow. The second arm counters, smashing into Naruto and popping the clone in a burst of chakra.

Madara lands on another wood platform—just in time to see the real Naruto charging with a Rasengan.

He flips backward as the Rasengan obliterates the platform.

Three sand spears launch from the left—Gaara. Madara narrowly avoids impalement, running along a new branch, but Gaara stays relentless.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" Gaara shouts, unleashing a fireball that engulfs the advancing wood.

Madara leaps through the smoke—only to be caught between twin jutsu.

"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!""Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"

The steam from the collision erupts across the battlefield in a thick mist.

Gaara crouches low, pulling from his [Inventory]. Two massive Demon Wind Shuriken flash into existence.

He hurls them into the haze.

WHRRRRR-CLANG!

Madara twists midair, narrowly dodging both—only to see Naruto behind them, catching both in his hands. Wind chakra surges—Vacuum Style. Each blade ignites with glowing extensions of razor-sharp energy.

"Let's see you dodge this."

Naruto hurls the enhanced shuriken. The wind blades slice into Madara's side—nothing lethal, but enough to draw blood and fury.

In the blink of an eye, Madara vanishes.

Naruto barely turns.Boom.

Madara's Susanoo-arm punch catches him mid-turn, launching him into a tree. The impact snaps bark and bone alike.

Madara descends, fully armored Susanoo skeleton forming around him. But Gaara is already airborne, twin Rasenshuriken in hand.

He dives—breaks through the skeletal ribcage—but misses the core. He's above Madara now.

Gaara detonates both spheres.

The storm of microscopic wind blades shreds into Madara's construct—but the arms suddenly swell in size, deflecting the attack and sending Gaara tumbling higher.

He looks up—his breath caught in his throat.

Madara's full-body blue Susanoo towers above the battlefield, sword drawn and glinting.

Gaara reacts. Sand roars up around him, molding into the Shukaku Avatar. Its sword meets Madara's blade with a thunderous clash. Dust spirals outward in a shockwave.

Gaara growls. The mouth of his avatar opens wide.

"Tailed Beast Bomb—FIRE!"

The orb launches point-blank into Madara's torso. The explosion snaps the Susanoo at the hip, staggering the giant.

Gaara slashes with his avatar's sand sword.

But vines of Wood Style grow rapidly, shielding Madara and seizing Gaara's construct.

Madara's Susanoo pivots around the tangled wood, sword poised to bisect both Gaara and his avatar.

"Shit—!"

A feral roar cuts across the sky.

Naruto's full Kurama form slams into Madara's sword arm, biting down and ripping it free from the Susanoo. He claws the chest with glowing fury.

The arm regenerates, but the balance shifts.

Gaara tears free, and together, they press.

Naruto races up Gaara's sand construct, leaping from its shoulder. His clawed arm plunges down—cracking Madara's Susanoo and pinning it to the ground.

Madara snarls. A wave of Wood erupts, smashing Naruto back as the Susanoo slashes open Gaara's defenses. He ejects from the crumbling avatar just in time.

Madara leaps away. Only half of his Susanoo stays with him now as he lands atop a growing tree.

Around them, Wood Style structures bloom like a forest on steroids.

Naruto and Gaara dismiss their avatars and land side-by-side.

The vines close in.

Naruto raises his left hand. Gaara, his right. A Rasengan forms—then grows jagged, laced with fire and wind.

"Wind Style—""Fire Style—""RASENFERNO!"

A flaming cyclone explodes outward, consuming the encroaching wood in a spiraling inferno.

As the firestorm dies…

Madara looms above, perched within a monstrous new Susanoo—four arms, two demonic faces, all forming the same hand sign.

Naruto blinks.

"...Oh crap."

From the heavens, a shadow blocks out the sun.

Gaara's Rinnegan pulses. "Meteor…"

Madara chuckles darkly. "With the seal suppressing me, I can't waste chakra. One meteor will suffice."

Naruto rolls his shoulders. "Just a big ol' rock, right?"

They lift their hands once more. This time—sparks of lightning chakra spiral with the wind.

Wind and Lightning.

The Rasengan glows electric blue.

"Does it really need a name?" Gaara groans.

Naruto grins. "Have some flair!"

"Wind Style—""Lightning Style—""RASENSTORM!"

The electric vortex fires upward, drilling into the falling meteor—shattering its core and blasting it into chunks. Pieces rain down harmlessly.

The battlefield goes quiet.

Naruto hops onto a summoned hawk with Rinnegan eyes, courtesy of Gaara's Animal Path.

Naruto's eyes going wide. "Wait! How can you just summon like that..."

"Tch, Did you Forge- Actually I don't blame you for forgetting the Animal path." Gaara says simply.

"Get going."

Madara begins to advance, the seal on his stomach cracked and smoldering. "Running won't save you. That seal's dying. And once it's gone, so is your last chance."

Gaara doesn't flinch. His avatar reforms behind him.

Madara answers with his own—his Susanoo now pulsing with intertwined Wood Style bones, its frame cracking with power.

"You know the difference between us?" Madara smirks. "You've climbed to the peak… but I've torn through it."

The enhanced Susanoo surges forward as it presses Gaara.

Madara grins wildly as Gaara's Shukaku starts to crack apart under the pressure of his Susanoo. "Any last words. With my power, I am nothing less than a god. After all, if any real god should exist, where is he? Has he abandoned this world? Would he strike me down where I am?" He shakes his head. "No more. You've been amusing, but I'm done with you."

Gaara smirks. "Do you hear it? The sound."

Madara stops, confused. "Hmm?" Suddenly, there's a series of flashes above—like lightning tearing the sky open—and then comes the sound: a deep, resonant rumble, not just thunder, but something far older, wilder, divine.

He looks up.

"What... is that?"

The clouds split. A vortex of wind and nature chakra spirals at the center of a massive stormfront forming above the battlefield. A golden blur drops down from the heavens riding the wind, eyes glowing with fierce orange irises and thick Sage marks on his face. Cloaked in a shimmering mix of orange and black, an aura of Nature Energy swirling violently around him—Naruto descends like a comet.

He's not just in Sage Mode.

He's entered Perfect Tailed Beast Sage Mode, the fusion of his natural energy, Kurama's chakra, and the residual traces of the other tailed beasts still echoing inside him.

As he hovers above, standing on the back of Gaara's summoned hawk, both hands are clutched together, swirling something massive between them—a Rasengan, yes—but layered with Sage markings, flickering blue, golden, and red. The sheer pressure coming from it causes even the storm to bow inward.

Gaara grins through bloodied lips. "Took your time."

Naruto's voice booms down like thunder. "Madara... You talk about gods?"

He raises the enormous swirling mass above his head—massive and alive, as if the world itself is screaming through it.

"I don't need to be a god... to end one."

Madara's eyes widen as he senses the density of nature energy in the air. "Impossible. That chakra—what kind of technique is that?!"

The orb in Naruto's hand condenses even more, forming rings of natural energy spinning in opposing directions. The very sky begins to crackle with celestial lightning—as if the world itself recognized the power being unleashed.

Naruto flings the attack with both arms, his voice ripping through the air.

"Senpō: Rasen-Raijin!!"(Sage Art: Spiral Thunder God!)

The attack rips through the atmosphere like a divine lance—an enormous spiraling spear of Rasengan wrapped in storm and natural energy, lightning dancing along its edges, screaming with the fury of heaven.

Madara braces, his fully armored Susanoo pulling up every defense—but the moment it connects, the spiral collapses inward like a supernova. The explosion isn't just light—it's nature itself rejecting him. Thunder screams. Earth trembles. Wind tears through the trees like paper. For a moment, all sound is gone.

Then, the Susanoo shatters—layer by layer—cracks of light breaking through it like glass under pressure. The wood skeleton inside splinters, burned alive by raw natural energy. Madara lets out a furious roar, his body engulfed in radiant chakra, eyes wide in disbelief.

"NO—"

The impact sends him crashing across the battlefield, bouncing across mountains like a comet hitting earth, until a massive crater is all that's left, smoke and steam hissing into the sky.

As silence returns, Naruto lands beside Gaara, cloak flickering but his eyes still sharp.

Naruto was about to move, preparing to check if Madara had finally been destroyed—but as the smoke cleared, his heart sank.

Madara stood within the crater, blood trailing down his chin, his armor scorched and cracked. Yet his grin remained unshaken.

"Heh..." Madara chuckled, voice low and raspy. "That... was magnificent. One of the most glorious attacks I've ever witnessed."

He coughed, wiping the blood with the back of his hand as his body regenerated, flesh knitting itself back together—courtesy of Edo Tensei.

"I dare say... this battle is even more exhilarating than fighting Hashirama."

Naruto landed beside Gaara, eyes sharp. "How long until your eye comes back?"

Gaara's Rinnegan glowed dimly, flickering. "Thirty seconds."

Naruto's brow furrowed. "And the seal on him?"

Gaara grimaced. "Twenty-seven."

"What?! How are we gonna draw more chakra from the other beasts in that time?!"

"Difficult," Gaara admitted. "I'm low on chakra too. I'll need some."

Naruto clenched his fists. "Then we finish this—fast."

Without hesitation, they launched themselves forward. Mid-flight, they split paths, crossing in a spiraling arc. Madara smirked, forming half his colossal Susanoo with a single hand.

"Yasaka Magatama!"

He unleashed a volley of spinning chakra disks that tore through the air toward Naruto. Gaara ducked low, speeding under the Susanoo's feet while Naruto zig-zagged between the disks.

Madara drew a Wood Style blade from his arm and swung at Gaara just as he closed in.

CLANG! A brilliant yellow flash burst into view.

Naruto appeared in front of Gaara, holding Dark Sister, the black blade crackling with Sage Chakra as it locked against Madara's wooden sword. Naruto's chakra was tethered through his FTG seal—linked to Gaara in the distance.

Gaara wasted no time. His palm slammed into Madara's stomach—right on the weakened seal etched across his skin.

Inside Madara's mindscape, it resembled Naruto's once did—a dark, vast plain. But the cage here was colossal, towering into the void. Within, a swirling mass of Infinite chakra pulsed with chaotic power.

Madara's inner self stood before the gate, fingers closing around the seal. "At last…"

He began to peel it away.

But suddenly—a hand clamped onto his wrist.

Naruto.

"You're not done with us yet."

Before Madara could react, Gaara sprinted past them both, slipping through the bars of the cage.

"I'll be taking that chakra, thank you."

From all directions, a vortex of purplish chakra surged around Gaara as he activated the Preta Path, draining Madara's Chakra reserves directly. Madara's eyes widened in horror.

"I have to stop him!"

He broke free of Naruto's grip—and tore the seal off.

The real world exploded.

A shockwave cracked the earth, blasting smoke and debris outward in all directions. Naruto and Gaara were flung back but landed firmly, both of them rising to their feet as the dust settled.

Madara emerged... but something was different.

He looked down at his restored Rinnegan... then clenched his fists.

"I'm... weaker? Even with infinite chakra... I can feel it."

High above, Gaara and Naruto stood tall.

Naruto grinned. "You're not the only one who got a recharge."

Gaara's Rinnegan and Kamui Mangekyō spun violently. "We drained more from you than you realize."

Naruto tossed Dark Sister back to Gaara, who returned the FTG kunai.

"Ready?" Naruto smirked.

Gaara nodded. "Let's kick his ass."

The battlefield trembled as a massive hawk launched from the smoke, tearing across the wasteland like a living missile. Gaara rode atop, sand swirling behind him in a roaring storm.

Madara answered with fury. Wood Dragons burst from the ruins, chasing the hawk. Three Yasaka Magatama disks followed close behind.

The hawk zigzagged, dodging between dragons. Gaara's sand tendrils whipped and parried, knocking two dragons aside. Above, Gaara's Shukakku Avatar took form, drawing a Bijuu bomb.

TWANG!

The Tailed beast bomb struck the center Yasaka Magatama. The resulting explosion obliterated the other two in a chain reaction.

From below, Madara surged into the sky, activating the Asura Path. His arm twisted into a massive cannon, charging with burning chakra.

BOOM!

He fired.

A streaking FTG kunai zipped into the blast's path—Naruto teleported in, eyes focused.

"Gotcha."

He performed the same technique as Tobirama, warping the massive blast far into the sky—where a shadow clone had prepared a seal.

KA-BOOOOM!

The redirected blast struck Madara from above. But he gritted his teeth, activating Preta Path, absorbing his own energy with desperation.

His cannon began recharging when—SHUNK!

A chakra rod from Gaara speared into the side of the cannon, destabilizing it.

BOOM!!

Madara's arm exploded violently, staggering him.

From above—

"Bijuu Bomb!"

Naruto hurled the massive sphere down at Madara. The Uchiha snarled and released a Limbo Clone, intercepting the attack with a fierce detonation that shook the heavens.

But then... the rod in Madara's arm started to pulse.

"Wait—"

KRAKOOM!!The implosion detonated point-blank, hurling Madara across the battlefield like a ragdoll.

Naruto hovered afar, breathing hard, but grinning.

"Heh... that had to sting."

But then his Sage Mode flared—a warning.

"Behind—!"

Madara burst from underground, body scorched but reforming. With a snarl, he summoned a massive tree, its roots tearing toward Naruto.

The blonde flared, exploding into his Tailed Beast Form, ripping through the tree with massive claws.

From his jaws, a colossal Rasengan began to form.

He charged—but Madara's arm glowed again. Lightning surged down it, shaping a beam of concentrated chakra that fired directly into Naruto's Rasengan.

The explosion was catastrophic—Naruto was flung across the field, crashing into the dirt, coughing blood.

Madara aimed again.

But this time—

"Wind Style: Sandy Rasenshuriken!"

A swirling, golden sandstorm flew in, colliding with Madara's cannon blast mid-air. The impact blew them both back as the shockwave split the heavens.

Gaara's hawk swooped down, catching Naruto mid-air.

They hovered, bruised, bloodied—but burning with power.

Naruto wiped the blood from his mouth. "So, what now?"

Gaara's eyes narrowed. "Now? We stop playing nice."

Only one option left. Time to hatch a scheme!

"Naruto, I need a sample of your blood."

"EH?! What the hell for?"

"Just a precaution. Don't worry."

Naruto sighed, wiping the blood off his mouth. With a flick of his wrist, he drew a kunai and smeared the crimson across the blade. "Here," he muttered, tossing it toward Gaara.

Gaara caught it smoothly. A serpent slithered out from his sleeve, wrapping around the kunai before swallowing it whole.

"Now," Gaara said calmly, "get me close to Madara."

Naruto grinned. "Easy enough. Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Three clones burst into existence beside him. All four surged forward like streaks of lightning.

Madara, floating above the fractured battlefield, narrowed his eyes. His arms transformed, Asura Path fully activated. Both limbs morphed into twin cannons, smaller auxiliary barrels unfolding across his shoulders and forearms.

Then—an inferno of destruction.

Cannon blasts of pure chakra thundered forward, each shot cracking the air like the sound barrier being shredded. The sub-weapons joined the chaos, firing jutsu in bursts—Fire Style, Lightning Style, Wind Style—converging into a kaleidoscope of devastation.

Madara's smile widened. "Dance for me!"

Naruto and his clones scattered in a blur, yellow flashes marking their paths through the storm of annihilation. Explosions erupted behind them like an army of miniature suns. Two clones were vaporized instantly. The third leapt in front of Naruto just in time to shield him from a blast.

Naruto teleported again—FTG active—appearing directly above Madara's line of fire. Twisting mid-air, he brought down a massive Rasengan with a roar.

A Susanoo arm formed in an instant, absorbing the brunt of the Rasengan, though it cracked under pressure. The limb shattered—just as Madara countered with a chakra rod aimed at Naruto's heart.

But Naruto had already vanished.

Flash. Gaara appeared beside Madara, teleported in by Naruto.

Chakra rods clashed—Gaara meeting Madara head-on. Then the trap was sprung.

Two serpents shot from Gaara's sleeves, sinking their fangs into either side of Madara's neck.

The Uchiha's eyes widened. "What—?"

Paralyzed for a split second, Madara could only watch as Gaara materialized Dark Sister in his off-hand and slashed. The obsidian blade ripped through Madara's torso, carving up through his cheek in a diagonal arc. Blood sprayed. Nearly bisected, the legendary Uchiha stumbled.

But his Susanoo flared again—an instinctive defense. Its arm backhanded Gaara, sending him flying.

Gaara tumbled mid-air—but his hawk summon swooped in, catching him just in time.

Naruto zipped beside him. "You got him!"

Madara slammed into the earth below, coughing up blood. He touched his neck, feeling the burning sensation from the snake bites.

"Wh-what... is this?"

His eyes narrowed, but his body had already begun to regenerate at unnatural speed. Gaara's voice rang out:

"NOW! Hit him while he's stunned!"

He and Naruto launched themselves in opposite directions. In a blink, they both transformed.

Gaara entered full Tailed Beast Mode—his Shukaku Avatar towering and grotesque, preparing a bijuu bomb Rasengan in its clawed hand.

Across the battlefield, Naruto's massive fox form reared its head, gathering chakra into a matching tailed beast Rasengan.

The two titanic attacks converged on Madara from both flanks.

Madara, bloodied and limping, glanced left—then right. His Rinnegan flared.

"ALMIGHTY PUSH!"

A gravitational cataclysm exploded from his core. The twin avatars were repelled with colossal force—their bombs hurled into the sky and detonated harmlessly above.

The shockwave flattened mountains, splitting canyons anew, felt all the way to the Allied Shinobi Forces. Earthquakes tore through the terrain, turning the battlefield into shattered ruin.

Smoke curled from Madara's lips as he exhaled. Blood streamed from his mouth, but the gash across his chest was gone—healed.

He looked down at his hands, then clenched them.

"Unbelievable… Even with Infinite Chakra, the Edo Tensei body is… deteriorating."

His gaze lifted—Naruto and Gaara still stood, winded and panting.

"No matter. I only need to last a little longer. Then, Black Zetsu will ensure Gaara uses the Rinne Rebirth. My true return will be at hand."

Naruto staggered upright. Gaara landed beside him, his breathing ragged.

"…We have to outlast him," Naruto muttered. His hand tightened into a fist. "We can't give up."

Gaara glanced at Naruto, his expression unreadable."Ready for a team attack?"

In an instant, both found themselves in their shared mindscape—the realm of the tailed beasts. All nine Bijuu stood before them, silent but attentive.

"We need all your chakra," Gaara said.

The next heartbeat brought them back to reality.

Naruto and Gaara stepped side by side, their auras flaring to life.

"Let's finish this with everything we've got," Naruto muttered.

A massive fox avatar surged into being, cloaked in the combined chakra of all nine Tailed Beasts. Shukaku's sand swirled within the body, Saiken's misty presence diffused through it, and blue flames danced along its limbs from Matatabi's power. Kurama's burning chakra gave the final shape. The fusion of their powers formed not just a fox—but a monstrous, godlike entity wrapped in the aura of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, with Naruto and Gaara in its crown.

On the opposite end, Madara laughed, elation glowing in his Eternal Mangekyo eyes. "A Pseudo-Ten Tails... How fascinating. It only makes me more eager to claim the real thing."

He activated the Asura Path. Metal whirred and chakra howled as his Perfect Susanoo merged with cannon-like weapons, gathering energy for a devastating counterattack.

"Sage Art..."

They began forming Rasenshuriken, one after the other, each infused with a different Tailed Beast's element:

Shukaku: Wind and Magnet Release — a sealing rasenshuriken etched in curse script.

Matatabi: Blue flames spiraled in a Rasenshuriken so hot it vitrified the earth.

Isobu: A swirling sphere of crushing water pressure.

Son Goku: Lava release bloomed in a violent, molten helix.

Kokuo and Saiken (joint attack): One in acidic mist, the other in explosive steam—blistering the very air.

Gyuki: A black, inky sphere that pulsed with paralyzing chakra.

Kurama, growling deep in their core, gathered it all—chaotic, wild, unstable.

Gaara, channeling the Gedo Statue's resonance, helped stabilize it, binding the raw destruction into a single volatile core.

Together, Naruto and Gaara raised their fused weapon high.

"SAGE ART: SUPER TAILED BEAST RASENSHURIKEN!"

The colossal fox surged forward, each chakra arm dragging a fraction of apocalyptic power. Madara's Perfect Susanoo charged to meet it, cannon primed.

"COME THEN!" Madara screamed with a maniacal grin.

The moment they clashed... the world disappeared.

XXXXXXXXXX-Allied forces camp

"GET DOWN!" Hinata cried, her Byakugan already blinded by the radiance.

"TAKE COVER!" Jiraiya bellowed.

The Four Reanimated Kage stood together, hands clapping as the Four Red Yang Formation erupted—crimson walls sealing the area.

The explosion was reality-breaking. The Four Red Yang Formation—said to withstand even Bijuu—shattered like glass.

Tsunade slammed her fist into the earth, raising a slab of stone for cover.

Tenten threw chains and latched onto the terrain, grabbing Lee just in time.

Orochimaru sunk into the ground, snakes anchoring him.

Itachi's Susanoo shielded a dozen shinobi under its glowing orange ribcage.

Hashirama stood unmoved, absorbing the shock with titanic Wood Style defenses.

Sakura and Hinata clung to Jiraiya as he held fast in Sage Mode.

The wind died. Light faded. Dust choked the horizon.All that remained was silence… and then the gasps of those who survived.

"What happened?" Itachi asked.Hinata activated her Byakugan again, searching. Her eyes widened."N-Naruto...!"

XXXXXXXXX-⚡ The Aftermath ⚡

A colossal trench split the entire continent, wide enough to reveal the ocean beneath. The land trembled. Water poured in from the horizon.

Above the abyss, a shredded silhouette floated—Madara, bloodied, armor tattered, laughing hoarsely.

"Had I not been Edo Tensei… I'd be dead numerous times by now," he muttered, amazed. "You're the strongest shinobi I've ever faced."

On the cliff edge, Naruto and Gaara lay sprawled, their chakra depleted. Gaara's Rinnegan had dulled. Naruto's cloak had vanished. Their bodies bore deep gashes.

"We have to stop him," Naruto muttered.

Gaara remained silent, only glaring.

Madara descended before them, still smug.

"But you won't. The Moon's Eye Plan will proceed."

Naruto shakily formed a Rasengan.

Gaara summoned a final Wind Scythe.

"Like hell it will!" they roared together.

They charged.

Only to stop—mid-stride.

"SHIT!" Gaara barked.

Limbo clones had appeared, invisible and deadly.

Before they could react, two Susanoo blades pierced their chests, impaling them right in the heart.

"Goodbye, Naruto Uzumaki. Goodbye, Gaara of the Desert."

'Is Madara fucking crazy? He remembers that he still has to keep us alive right?... thankfully I prepared for something like this.' Gaara thought

Their techniques faded. Their bodies collapsed as they died.

Madara's eyes gleamed with inspiration.

"I'll use Impure World Reincarnation. Raise them as my enforcers... poetic."

But something was wrong.

Their bodies—dissolved into smoke.

"What is this?" Madara asked, stepping back.

A voice echoed inside his head.

"A trap."

Madara screamed. Unseen pain exploded through him. He looked at his arms. Markings spread like poison.

The Curse Marks.

"The snakes…" he realized. Gaara's snakes.

Twin Cursed Seals of Heaven burned into his shoulders. Chakra flared violently—

From his left shoulder, Gaara erupted. From the right, Naruto tore free.

Still cloaked in tailed beast chakra. Still armed. Still burning with will.

"Looks like we owe Orochimaru one," Gaara muttered.

Naruto tossed a marked kunai. "Has enough time passed?"

Gaara nodded.

Naruto grinned. "Perfect."

FLASH!

Jiraiya and Itachi suddenly were teleported onto the battlefield.

Madara grimaced.

"More backup? Hmph. You think this changes anything?"

Naruto stepped forward.

"No...It ends now."

Jiraiya gave Naruto and Gaara a quick thumbs-up, his trademark grin flickering across his face. "You think Orochimaru was the only one who could help you guys out?"

He raised his voice, gaze snapping to the skies. "Do it now!"

Madara looked up instinctively—and froze. Above him, two shadowy shapes hovered in the darkened sky. Twin Animal Path birds, smaller and swifter than the one Gaara had summoned earlier, circled ominously. Standing atop them were two tiny figures—Fukasaku and Shima, the famed Toad Sages of Mount Myoboku. Their throats bulged, their lungs expanding.

And then they sang.

A haunting harmony, discordant and surreal, pierced the battlefield. The sound wrapped itself around reality, a spectral net of illusion that crackled with power older than time.

Frog Song—a perfect duet Genjutsu that attacked not the body, but the soul.

Naruto and Gaara leapt backward, their instincts honed to precision.

The melody struck Madara squarely.

His eyes widened—his chakra flared in resistance—but too late.

The sound hit him like a wave of sleep. He staggered once, his limbs trembling, before falling to one knee with a strangled scream.

The air around him rippled, and then silence fell.

He was still.

Breathing… but dazed.

His limbs refused to move, chakra trembling and disrupted by the sheer mastery of the Genjutsu.

His gaze rose slowly, dazed and glassy, toward the heavens. Unblinking. Confused.

Naruto raised a hand to the sky and gave the Toads a thankful thumbs-up. Fukasaku and Shima bowed slightly in response before vanishing with a puff of smoke.

Madara's eyes twitched. His lips barely parted.

And then… he saw it.

A single, floating eye hovered above him.

Not Gaara's.

Not Itachi's.

A lone crow, black as obsidian, its wings stretched wide in the moonlight. Its eye was grotesquely large, glowing with unmistakable power. A crimson iris, ringed with four harsh, pointed commas spinning in a blur.

It spoke. And the voice it used… was Itachi Uchiha's.

"Koto—"

Madara's Sharingan widened instantly.

He recognized it.

The one Genjutsu he could not control, could not anticipate, and most importantly—could not resist.

He tried to move. Tried to summon his Limbo clones to swap himself out, just like before—

"—amatsukami."

Too late.

The Genjutsu landed. Shisui's chakra, embedded in the crow and set loose by Itachi's final command, surged forward like a bolt of lightning.

Madara's eye caught the technique full-on. The chakra drilled through his optic nerves, tearing into his brain, bypassing defenses with ruthless precision. Faster than sound. Almost faster than thought.

But Madara… was Madara.

His body tensed.

Shisui's chakra surged forward with a single command:

'Protect the Leaf'.

Madara recoiled, every fiber of his being fighting the alien impulse. His chakra rose violently, instinctively trying to purge the invader. The two forces clashed in the space between nerve and mind, like thunder roaring beneath the surface.

Time itself slowed—just a fraction.

Five-thousandths of a second.

That was all Madara needed.

His fingers twitched. His vision blurred.

And then—his entire body shimmered and dissolved.

Izanagi.

The ultimate Uchiha failsafe activated, sacrificing one eye to render illusion into reality, and reality into illusion.

Madara ceased to exist—at least, the version of him caught in the Genjutsu.

The moment reset.

Time caught up.

And a new Madara—untouched by Kotoamatsukami—stood several meters away, panting heavily.

His breathing was ragged. Being fully Blind in two eyes was the cost. But he was alive. Free.

And absolutely livid.

"…You dare try that on me?" he growled, his voice a mixture of awe and fury.

Naruto's fists clenched. Gaara's chakra began to surge again.

Madara's gaze flicked from one to the other, then up at the sky where the crow had vanished. His smirk returned, thin and dangerous.

"You'll need more than ghosts and illusions to stop me."

But for the first time…Madara looked shaken.

And then—A pulse.

Thick, choking chakra exploded from the smoke.

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes. "He's still alive?"

Itachi, his Mangekyō glowing, stepped forward beside them. "He used Izanami earlier. And now… Izanagi. That's both eyes gone."

Naruto clenched a fist. "So he's blind now. This is our shot—he's on his last legs!"

Gaara's gaze darkened. "Don't be so sure."

From the rising smoke, a silhouette began to form.

Slow. Deliberate.The wind stirred as something massive took shape behind it.

KRA-KOOM.

A gigantic ribcage of violet chakra burst outward, growing with impossible speed. Arms, then a torso, then a demonic, skeletal visage. Susanoo—formless and furious—loomed behind Madara, dwarfing even the trees around them.

Thick roots ripped through the ground, spiraling up and out like serpents. Wood Style, ancient and divine, laced through the battlefield, covering the earth in writhing limbs of living chakra.

Naruto's face paled. "No way…"

Jiraiya's voice was grim. "He's blind. But he's still got enough chakra to crush mountains."

Gaara's voice was low, remembering. "He doesn't need eyes to use Susanoo. He doesn't even need them for Wood Style. It's chakra… pure and overflowing chakra. As long as he can mold it—he's still a god."

Madara stood amidst the chaos, his head tilted back. His sockets were empty, but his mouth curled into a smile.

"You think blindness is defeat?"

The Susanoo raised its arm—and brought it down.

BOOOOOOM!

The ground exploded, shockwaves blasting outward as Naruto, Gaara, Jiraiya, and Itachi split in different directions to avoid the crushing blow. Trees snapped. Rock shattered.

Madara didn't need to see. He felt the battlefield with chakra. Every footstep. Every breath. Every movement stirred the air, and the Wood Style responded to it like nerves in a living body.

Naruto charged first, a Rasengan in each hand, leaping high——but a forest of wooden spikes erupted midair, slamming him into the ground.

Gaara launched a wave of sand to catch Jiraiya's jump, propelling him higher as the Toad Sage fired a massive Fire Style jutsu straight at Madara's face.

"Fire Style: Flame Bullet Barrage!"

The flames engulfed the Susanoo—But Madara didn't move. The armor of chakra tanked the flames like mist.

Then, with a casual swing, the Susanoo's arm smashed Jiraiya out of the sky. He hit the ground hard, coughing blood.

Itachi blurred in next, using Body Flicker to reappear behind Madara. His blade swung for the spine——but wooden tendrils burst from Madara's back, twisting like snakes, catching Itachi's arm and flinging him into a cliffside.

Gaara tried to trap Madara with a full-scale Desert Coffin, slamming the ground with both hands, sand spiraling toward the Uchiha's feet—But a chakra shockwave blasted the sand away. Then, before Gaara could retreat, Susanoo's hand swiped sideways—

CRAAACK!

Gaara screamed as he was sent flying across the field, sand scattering from his body like blood.

All four hit the ground—scorched, broken, and battered.Smoke and dust whirled around them.

Madara stood in the center, breathing heavy but upright. Blind, bleeding, but terrifying.

"You children speak of sealing me," he growled. "But you cannot even survive me."

He lifted a hand. Chakra began to rise again.

"Let me show you what true despair looks like."

BOOM!

"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!"

The titanic wave of flame swallowed the battlefield. Naruto and Gaara were launched backward, crashing through stone and rubble, smoke curling off their scorched bodies.

From within the inferno, Madara emerged, cloak burning, but his aura towering.

For the first time—He looked furious.

"I will not lose to the likes of you!" he bellowed, voice thundering with rage.

Though his eyes were now blank and sightless, they seemed to glow with pure force of will as he slammed a hand to the ground.

"Wood Style: Great Buddha Formation!"

The battlefield erupted upward. Trees speared through the earth and twisted into an enormous statue. A towering, wooden Buddha roared to life—its colossal size casting a shadow over half the battlefield. Susanoo armor wrapped around it, forming a devastating fusion of Uchiha and Senju might.Even with no vision, Madara felt the battlefield through his chakra and commanded it like a god.

"You will die here!"

From the burning rubble, Naruto and Gaara leapt forward, coughing smoke, bloodied, barely standing.

Naruto's Sage Mode flickered in and out. His jacket hung in blackened shreds, one sleeve the only thing intact.

"Damn..." he panted. "I can barely form a Rasengan."

Gaara limped beside him, his garments burned nearly to ash.

"Guess we've got one last move."

They exchanged a glance.

Gaara shook his head. "We're not done yet."

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Naruto said.

"Shape and form," Gaara confirmed.

"Everything we've got left?"

"Everything."

They stepped closer.

Gaara raised a trembling hand—and the sand that lay scattered across the battlefield stirred. But it wasn't ordinary sand.

It shimmered like black iron.

His Magnet Release drew the iron-rich sand to him, and with a surge of chakra, he infused it with crackling lightning—supercharging it until every grain vibrated with violent energy.

Beside him, Naruto formed the swirling base of a Rasengan, the wind-natured chakra harmonizing with Gaara's magnetic storm.

Behind them, Jiraiya appeared, bruised and bloodied but determined.

"You didn't think I'd sit out the grand finale, did you?"

He placed a hand behind Naruto, channeling his Sage chakra into the technique.

To the left, Itachi appeared, half his cloak burned off, Mangekyō blazing.

"I'll coat it in black flames."

With a swift motion, he cast Amaterasu upon the rotating orb of chakra and sand.

The black flames fused into the sand, sticking to each vibrating grain.What formed next was not merely a weapon—It was a cataclysm.

A mass of magnetized, lightning-charged, Amaterasu-coated sand, spinning around a Rasengan core—A storm of iron and flame.

"Magnet Release: Rasenlance Sandstorm!"

Naruto, Gaara, and Jiraiya hurled forward—chakra trailing like comet tails.The sand spiraled outward, a screeching drill of cursed lightning and fire, roaring with fury.

The massive Buddha raised both Susanoo-coated hands to meet it.

BOOOOOM!!!

The impact was apocalyptic.

One hand shattered instantly, sand drilling through the dense chakra. The second withstood the blast for half a second longer—before the Amaterasu-coated grains seared through it like molten blades.

Madara's expression froze as the storm reached him.

"What—?!"

The Rasenlance Sandstorm slammed through his chest—And then—

DETONATED.

A black and gold shockwave exploded outward, tearing the Susanoo and the Buddha apart in an instant.

Flames whirled in the sky.

Metal sand scattered like meteor dust.

Madara's right side disintegrated, completely annihilated.

He dropped to his knees, utterly stunned.

No Izanagi.

No Eyes to absorb the chakra.

No Limbo clones left to escape with.

The sand, the wind, the black flames—all mixed with Sage chakra—left nothing to manipulate or counter.

He was out of options.

The colossal statue behind him shattered. The Susanoo fragments faded like dying embers.

Naruto and Gaara stood, arms extended, hands still crackling faintly.

Jiraiya dropped to one knee behind them, wheezing but grinning.

Itachi's figure stood atop a ruined outcrop, Mangekyō dimming, gaze solemn.

The battlefield was quiet.

"That... that was all we had," Naruto whispered.

Gaara gave a faint smirk.

"Then let's hope it was enough."

Smoke and silence.

The battlefield was scorched and cratered, the charred remains of Susanoo armor and the Buddha statue littered across the shattered terrain.

For a long moment, nothing stirred.

Then—

A pulse.

A surge of chakra ignited at the center of the blast.

From within the smoking crater, Madara's body began to reform.

Flesh stitched itself together, bones cracking back into place.

His face reappeared, scorched but set in pure fury.

His arms extended as he stood up slowly, still completely blind, yet guided by sheer killing intent.

"You think… this is enough?"

"You think you've won?"

He stepped forward. His voice shook with rage.

"Why…?"

"Why do you resist peace so desperately?!"

His chakra erupted, a dark tsunami pressing down on the battlefield.

"The world is broken! War, hatred, bloodshed… it will never end!"

"The Infinite Tsukuyomi is not destruction—it is salvation!"

He roared.

"AND YOU STAND AGAINST IT?! AGAINST ME?!"

With an upward lurch, his Susanoo reformed around him—not pristine like before, but twisted, partial, flaring in jagged, unstable blue light. A broken warrior's vengeance given shape.

Before anyone could react—

BOOM!

A Susanoo arm crashed into the earth, swatting Itachi away like a doll.

Jiraiya flew backward, blood spurting from his mouth as he smashed into a cliffside.

Naruto barely raised a hand before the second fist struck—he was sent hurtling into the air, disappearing into the distance.

Only one remained.

Gaara.

Gaara stood his ground, unmoving, the last defense between Madara and the world.

The sand around him quivered—not with fear, but with pressure.

Madara's broken Susanoo loomed overhead, a specter of vengeance.

"You…" Madara growled, his voice venom."You've been the most troublesome."

He dropped down, landing heavily a few meters away from Gaara.The ground cratered under the force.

"You're no Uchiha… not a Senju… not even a reincarnate of Indra or Asura."

"So why… do you fight so hard?"

"Why do you continue to believe this world can be saved?"

Gaara said nothing, his mismatched gaze calm.

Madara extended a hand. A wave of wood erupted and wrapped around Gaara, binding him in place, forcing him to his knees. His arms were restrained, sand swirling in vain against the encroaching binds.

"You should be honored," Madara whispered.

Gaara's breath hitched.

Something cold and formless slid along his spine. His sand trembled—but it wasn't fear.

It was invasion.

From behind, a slick, black mass slithered from the shadows, rising like oil from the earth. It coiled around his legs, then slithered up his torso. One of Gaara's eyes flared wide as he grunted in pain, while the other—his Rinnegan, implanted into his right eye socket—began to glow with pulsing life.

"Ah… perfect," a voice hissed.

Black Zetsu.

His inky mass rapidly coated half of Gaara's body, encasing it like tar. The puppet master had found his host again.

"You held on well, Gaara… but this body belongs to the will of Madara."

Madara stepped back in elated awe as he watched Gaara's right hand begin to form seals against his will, fingers twitching unnaturally.

"That chakra… that jutsu—!"

Madara laughed in ecstasy.

"Rinne Tensei! At last! I will truly live again!"

The Rinnegan in Gaara's eye shone with ghostly light, and the world darkened for a moment as a spiral of resurrection chakra expanded from his body. Black Zetsu's face split open in an ecstatic grin, and Madara leaned closer—far too close, eager and ravenous.

"The moment it completes… I'll pluck that eye out myself."

The energy spiked. Wind howled around them. Gaara's mouth opened, but it wasn't his voice that screamed—

"YES! RETURN ME TO LIFE!"

Madara leaned in.

But then—

FWOOOM.

A flash of divine red light. A blade of pure sealing chakra pierced through all three of them in a single, clean thrust.

The Totsuka Blade.

Itachi's ethereal Susanoo stood behind them, arm outstretched, its sacred gourd open.

"Enough," Itachi said softly.

The blade had pierced through Madara, Black Zetsu, and Gaara's body in one impossible strike.

Madara's expression turned from glee to horror.

"NO—YOU—HOW—?!"

Black Zetsu shrieked, trying to peel himself free from Gaara's body, but the blade's ethereal pull was absolute.

"WE WERE SO CLOSE! I WAS THE WILL OF—"

Sucked.

The three were dragged into the gourd like smoke caught in a vacuum. Madara's screams, furious and undignified, echoed across the void.

"I CURSE YOU, ITACHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII—!!"

And then silence.

Within the sacred gourd of Itachi's Susanoo, Madara and Black Zetsu were cast into an eternal, illusory dream—a world of blurred laughter, drunken confusion, and endless intoxicated bliss. A fitting purgatory for those who sought to trap the world in a dream.

But the sealing wasn't over.

Gaara's body, though limp and halfway absorbed, suddenly flared with one final burst of chakra.

Izanagi.

In that single moment, reality rewrote itself.

The sealing still held for Madara and Zetsu… but Gaara?

Nope.

The battlefield, once scorched by fire and cracked by stone, now sat in a stunned silence.

The dust settled.

The Totsuka blade vanished.

And so too did Madara Uchiha and Black Zetsu, swallowed into a drunken eternity where even their ambition would be drowned in confusion and illusion.

Near the center of the shattered ground, Gaara knelt, his breathing ragged. His left eye, where the Kamui Sharingan had once spun in silent power, was now a blank, empty socket. He clenched the side of his head, exhaling slowly. There was no pain, only emptiness… and relief.

Naruto stumbled over, one arm around Jiraiya's shoulder for support, both of them bloodied and battered—but grinning like idiots.

"You okay, Gaara?!" Naruto asked, half-laughing through heavy breaths.

Gaara stood, swaying slightly before catching his balance. He blinked once, the sand swirling behind him protectively.

Then, despite it all, he smiled.

"I'm fine. He's gone."

Naruto blinked, wide-eyed.

"Wait… we did it?"

Jiraiya tilted his head, looking around the smoldering crater.

"That… was the last of them, right?"

Gaara nodded once.

"Sealed. Dreaming forever."

There was a pause.

And then it hit them.

They'd won.

Madara Uchiha—defeated.

Black Zetsu—sealed.

The Infinite Tsukuyomi—averted.

"WE DID IT~!!!" Naruto roared, pumping his fists in the air.

Gaara, Naruto, and Jiraiya all yelled out in unison, their voices echoing through the ruined battlefield as if trying to shake the heavens.

"YEEEEEAAAHHH~!!"

Jiraiya, half-laughing and half-crying, threw an arm around both boys. "Damn right we did!"

Naruto grabbed Gaara's wrist and pulled him into the dumbest, happiest victory leap the battlefield had ever seen.

The three of them jumped together, laughing like kids after a prank.

Dust and chakra shimmered around them, rising in golden motes as the sun finally broke through the clouds above, bathing them in warm, victorious light.

From a ridge above, untouched by the chaos below, Itachi stood.

His Susanoo slowly faded into the wind behind him. His face was calm, unreadable as always.

But his lips curved.

A small smile.

He watched them—those few who had chosen the harder path, the real one. Who had walked through fire and sorrow and still chosen to laugh in the end.

His cloak billowed quietly in the breeze.

"You did well," he whispered. "All of you."

The sun rose higher.

And at long last…

Victory!

(Chapter End.)