Chapter 62 - Naruto: The Beginning Of The End, Part 3.

A week went by. The location of the Eight-Tails was so securely hidden that even the Zetsu clones couldn't find it.

"Is there a chance they killed the jinchūriki to delay us?"- Obito asked, half glaring at Sayaka.

He blamed her for ruining what had been smooth sailing until now with her rushed move of sealing all the collected Tailed Beasts.

"It's possible."- Sayaka curtly replied. By her tone and countenance, it was clear she didn't acknowledge Obito's worries.

"That's all you have to say? How much longer can the Gedō Mazō hold? How much longer until this all falls apart?"- Obito was on the verge of losing his composure.

He didn't know that part of the reason the Tailed Beasts had to be sealed in a specific order was because Hagoromo had learned script from Sayaka, which made the unsealing process more complicated than necessary. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to modify a sealing art that originated from his dōjutsu.

So Obito was doubly right in thinking Sayaka was partly responsible for the plan becoming more complicated. However, Sayaka had also solved problems he would never have recognized on his own.

For example, following the sealing of the second Tailed Beast, there was a timeframe in which the remaining Tailed Beasts had to be sealed; otherwise, they would all die. Hagoromo had designed it this way to ensure that, should greed take over a bearer of the Rinnegan, they would be unable to seal the rest. This was a safeguard to allow the bearer to at least seal one beast in case the planet was invaded and its power was needed. Needless to say, it was unlikely for an Ōtsutsuki to show up in the star system from which the nemesis of their species originated, but he hadn't known that.

There were also other traps and conditions Hagoromo set on the seal, but Sayaka had dealt with those. In this way, Obito alone most likely would never have been able to complete the Ten-Tails—at least, not in this reality.

"It's obvious what we must do next."- Pain said.

"I agree."- Kisame added, his characteristic smile plastered on his face. But if one paid enough attention, a certain thrill could be seen in his grin.

"I support the move."- Sayaka said impassively. Her mood was as if her workday were almost over and she was just droning to fulfill her responsibilities—which wasn't far from the truth. She knew she was mostly done with this world. Just one more push and she would be finished.

The three pairs of eyes now pointedly stared at Obito.

"Tch! Do it, then."- Obito said, giving up resisting. He knew that meant Madara would be needed.

They all understood what their only remaining move was.

They needed to declare war on the Alliance and force them to use their jinchūriki.

No matter how hidden they were keeping him, what purpose would he serve if no village remained? A credible threat to the Alliance's existence would be enough to draw the jinchūriki out of whatever hole they hid in.

That was their plan: threaten to annihilate the Alliance and force him out of the shadows. Simple enough.

"Based on the most recent report from the Zetsu clones, a Three Kage Summit will be held in the Land of Iron. Sayaka, will Konoha join the war effort?"- Pain asked. His voice was as hollow as his heart; he was droning just as much as Sayaka.

"They won't. They are currently the undisputed seat of power among hidden villages. They will most likely make a show of cooperation by recalling their troops and signing the end of the war. Kakashi and Shikaku aren't foolish enough to join a war against me."- Sayaka said.

Kakashi had become the official Fifth Hokage and created a new council to assist him with his duties. Shikaku Nara and Jiraiya Senju became the two pillars of this council.

Jiraiya assumed control of information gathering and the Police Force. Shikaku assisted Kakashi in Foreign Policy and Military Affairs, while Domestic Policy was left in Kakashi's hands with some assistance from the clan heads. The final say rested with Kakashi, but he was doing his best to lighten his workload and learn from the mistakes of his predecessors—some said his smooth sailing could be attributed to the absence of certain corrupt parties in the village.

"What about Kirigakure?"- Pain asked Kisame. 

"I don't know, it's been a few years since I left."- Kisame said. 

"They will probably only show a form of superficial cooperation, so long as we don't threaten them."- Obito added, he was the foremost expert in Kirigakure in the group, given that he was the Mizukage for years.

"They are recuperating from the damage dealt during the coup, they don't have the resources to join a war. It's as he said, if we make sure to only aim at Kumogakure they will probably not join, but they might demand 'their' Tailed-Beasts."- Sayaka added what her intelligence network had gathered about Kirigakure. 

"..."- Pain stood silent for a moment, deliberating. 

"They will probably join. A single force gathered eight of the nine Tailed-Beasts, known as weapons of mass destruction."- Pain concluded. 

"It's doubtful Konohagakure won't join, are you sure?"- He asked Sayaka. 

"Yes, I'm sure."- Sayaka reiterated.

"Jiraiya should have gained access to the records the Senju kept of me. Kakashi and those trained by me have a better idea of what I would and wouldn't do, and—most importantly—what I can do. Lastly, the Futagami and Hyūga clans unconditionally support me. Even if the village wanted to join, they would have to face civil war before doing so."- Sayaka explained.

"That means The Alliance, Kirigakure, and every other small village they manage to bully into joining would be our opponents."- Obito concluded. 

"I can get rid of the Raikage, actually... I could get rid of all of them."- Sayaka said. 

"But?"- Kisame asked.

"But The Sage of The Six Paths and his brother will interfere, most likely the Hyūga of the moon included."

"... What?"- Obito asked. 

"They would have interfered anyway. Hagoromo was the one who split the Ten-Tails; he did so to prevent its resurrection. If they come at full force, with my current strength, I could possibly hold them back long enough—tentatively—but you three would have to fight The Alliance without me."- Sayaka was not sure how she would compare to them; she was considerably weaker than in her first life. 

"... We need the Edo Tensei."- Pain concluded. 

"Do we have enough time to collect sacrifices and DNA samples?"- Kisame asked. 

"... I'll deal with that."- Obito said.

"You will?"- Sayaka asked.

"... I have the DNA of a powerful shinobi from my time. I'm assuming we will use your perfected version of the Edo Tensei, right?"- Obito asked. 

"Yes, I just need a Zetsu clone and the DNA."- Sayaka had perfected the technique some time ago for Orochimaru, not because she needed it, but because she found it curious how a chakra-based technique could summon the souls of the deceased.

"Get everything ready, we will declare war during the summit in three days."- Pain commanded. 

They went about their business after that. Sayaka went back to her home to dismantle it.

She was in a somewhat nostalgic mood. Though she had only stayed in Amegakure for three years, she had made memories with her sister in that same house and with Lucian, though she didn't count those—more than 99.99% of her life was made up of memories with Lucian.

"What do you want, Obito?"- She snarled. 

"Where's Madara's body?"- He asked as came out of his Kamui dimension. 

"Safe. You seemed so reluctant to bring him back, I got worried and sent Zetsu to secure it."- Sayaka said while she waved her hands, the furniture in the house started to deconstruct. 

"... Why do you side with him?"- The way his voice cracked could have possibly be due to anger or disappointment, maybe a bit of both.

"What a strange thing to ask, are we not partners?"- That was Sayaka's cover story, she was affiliated with Madara, or so Obito was told.

"Don't lie! I know you and Madara probably never met."- He shouted in an outburst. Sayaka paused her movements and turned around to face him.

"Hehehe, so you say. If I say we met then we did, more importantly... Why would you ever think I would side with you? I dislike you, to the point that I find it hard not to twist your neck."- She leaked a silver of her bloodlust.

"... Why?"

"So many stupid questions today, Obito. Didn't you kill my sister and her husband? Isn't it more productive for you to ask why I haven't subjected you to the same treatment as Danzo?"- Sayaka faintly smiled at that prospect.

"... So you knew..."- Obito said, immediately going intangible, he didn't want to take any risks.

"Madara and I are not that different, Sayaka. I'm who I am today because of him."- He added.

"I mean... So what?"- Sayaka asked in confusion, then she turned back and continued dismantling her household appliances.

"..."- Obito didn't expect her indifference.

"Do think I'm a rightful person, Obito?"- She asked in a somewhat mocking tone.

"Are you not?"- He had seen the way she operated and he had researched enough to at least verify this assumption.

"Obito, I have killed more people than you have ever seen."- She referred to the Ōtsutsuki Clan.

"I don't consider myself rightful, I'm not evil for sure, but rightful is not the appropriate word to describe me."- Sayaka stared in the distance, thinking about how to describe herself, though she knew a certain pair that would use the word 'Perfect', she believed herself to be more in line with true neutral, with some flares of chaotic good.

"Anyway, Obito. I don't side with you because you killed my sister, I haven't killed you because you're useful. So keep being useful. Don't we all want the same? You will have your dream world, so stop crying about sides and whatnot."- Sayaka disregarded him.

"... The view from where you stand must be nice, Sayaka."- Obito condemned. 

"It is. Now, go away."- Sayaka paid no mind to him. 

'Bastard! As if he could even begin to grasp all that took for me to stand where I'm today!'- Sayaka thought.

Sayaka knew she was being hypocritical about Obito's situation, but she had accepted that she was no saint. She detested even the thought of imagining what it would be like to stand in his shoes.

She had no empathy for him. Maybe if she had tried to understand his situation, she might have been able to accept him to some extent—but she couldn't do it. She didn't want to do it, she didn't do it, and she wouldn't do it. She disliked everything about someone who hurt her loved ones, even if that made her hypocritical.

Perhaps she would have worried about it if Lucian hadn't told her she didn't need to empathize with every 'sinful worm' she encountered. Perhaps she would have tried to see things from a different angle if Sahara hadn't said there was no need to lower her self-worth to the level of those at fault...

Setting her selfish and misguided reasons aside, she also believed it was not fair to his other victims to just forgive and forget. This was also why she was aching to get rid of Black Zetsu. 

To her, the stain Zetsu left on the legacy of her friend and sister, Kaguya, was an affront to the woman who had taught her like a mother. Kaguya was the one who showed her the difference between good and evil, who corrected all the twisted 'common sense' Essex had planted in her head. She was the woman who had broken free from her own indoctrination for the sake of those she deemed worthy of protection.

Thinking about this, Sayaka finished dismantling her house and then set for the now deserted Sunagakure, she decided to spend her last days on this planet with Shukaku.

________________________________

Konohagakure, Hokage Building.

Clan heads, jōnin, some important chūnin, and even some essential genin were part of the history-making meeting that was taking part at this moment.

"Ehhm, everybody that needed to be present is present, so let's start."- The Fifth Hokage, Kakashi Hatake, spoke in his neutral and relaxed fashion.

By his side, his most important aides, Shikaku Nara, and Jiraiya Senju, were showing their support. 

"We received an invitation for the next Kage summit. The Alliance, Kirigakure, and Konohagakure—leaving aside some small villages—this means that all of the shinobi world will convene for the first time since the foundation of the hidden villages."

"The Alliance has the gall to assist while their front is falling apart?"- Tsume Inuzuka questioned the logic and sense of what she was hearing. 

This morning she was reviewing some of the reports from her clan members about the slaughter going on on the failing front of The Alliance, and now she hears that they want to start a Kage Summit. 

"It's about Sayaka, isn't it?"- The young head of the Uchiha clan asked.

His question brought silence to the mutterings. 

"It is as Sasuke inferred. Sayaka and an organization composed of S-Rank rogue shinobi has gathered eight of the nine Tailed-Beasts."- Kakashi's words took a moment to load into the minds of the audience.

"Eight?!"

"Which ones?!"

"Has someone seen the Uzumaki kid?"

"Hiashi Hyūga! Do you know where your son-in-law is?"

"What's going on?!"

Chaos erupted and it was clear by now that they neglected the location of 'their' Tailed Beast.

"Calm down, people! Calm down!"- Jiraiya raised his voice. 

It took a moment for them to settle down. These were shinobi, many with experience under their belt, but even then, it was a great shock to hear this news.

"Sasuke, or Hiashi, do you know the location of Naruto?"- Kakashi asked, he already knew the answer to the question, but he asked anyway. 

"I haven't seen him in the past two weeks, I've been busy with my clan's responsibilities and preparing for my engagements. As you know, I also took part in the war at the front, so I haven't been keeping track of him... but..."- Sasuke paused. 

"But?"- Asked Might Guy. 

"But if Sayaka asked, he most likely willingly followed her. It's safe to say that the Nine-Tails has been captured."- He nonchalantly continued. 

"... Wouldn't that pose a risk for Naruto?"- Asuma Sarutobi asked.

"No. A few years back, Sayaka altered the seal... I'm not clear if that means that the fox could entirely separate from Naruto, we were never able to understand the new seal, but as far as she said, the fox could safely leave Naruto."- Kakashi made a few shadow clones and had them pass along a few papers with the reports of the incident. 

"If he dies, Sayaka will resurrect him."- Sasuke added. 

"What do you mean?"- Kurenai Yūhi asked.

"Sayaka told me a few years back that she could safely bring the dead back, but she needed some time to grow. So, Sayaka would have no qualms about extracting the fox from Naruto, and based on what I've seen the fox was mostly cooperative with her."- Sasuke glanced at Hinata for support, she was accompanying her father. 

"It is as Sasuke-kun says."- She said. 

"Hinata, did you notice the absence of your fiancé?"- Jiraiya asked. 

"He said he would be out of the village for a few weeks, that was about a week ago."- Hinata lied, she and her clan, knew very well what was going on. 

"I see."- Kakashi didn't buy it, but said nothing otherwise. 

"Given that we saw the Eight-Tails jinchūriki last week on the battlefield, is it correct to say that he is the only one that remains?"- Kahoi Futagami asked. He was also obviously aware of what was going on behind the stage.

"Yes, Elder Kahoi. B from Kumogakure was hidden by the Raikage, it is explained in the letter that as the only remaining hidden nation with a jinchūriki, they are calling for the Kage Summit."- Kakashi respectfully explained. 

"So this meeting is about joining or not, right?"- Kahoi asked. 

"Yes, it's not so hard to guess what The Alliance will ask for."- Shikaku said. 

"They will ask for cooperation in attacking Amegakure, the known residence of Sayaka the Kage Slayer."- Kakashi explained. 

"... I'm against it."- Kahoi resolutely said.

"May I hear your reasoning?"- Kakashi asked. 

"We lack a motive. The Uzumaki kid will most likely be returned in a few weeks, the fox was always freed from the seal—as per this report—so if the fox wanted to go away and it did, we would have to capture it—which I oppose—lastly, The Alliance... why would we help our enemy?"

"What if Naruto is not returned?"- Jiraiya asked. 

"Would you justify the costs of going to war against Sayaka Uchiha for Naruto Uzumaki?"- Kahoi asked. 

"With all due respect, Hinata-chan."- He added while glancing at the pale eyes of the girl.

"No offense taken, Elder Kahoi."- Hinata said, she then looked at her father for permission and he nodded. She wanted to speak on her and her clan's behalf.

"I, Sasuke, and Naruto know Sayaka the best. She would not harm Naruto, so using his name as casus belli is pointless, and as you said, if the fox is where it wants to be, then we would have to spend personnel to capture it. The Alliance might use the decrease in capable personnel to their advantage and strike back while the village is occupied with the fox. Hence why my clan and I completely agree with Elder Kahoi."- Hinata concluded.

Obviously, all of it was a ruse to manipulate the village, but she sounded confident enough, just like the heir of the Hyuga clan should.

"On our end, we agree with that view."- Inoichi Yamanaka said. 

"But we also need to account for the sentiment of the other villages. We are already at odds with The Alliance, adding Kirigakure could be problematic."- He added.

"It doesn't matter, does it? If Kirigakure joins the war Konoha will respond in kind."- Chōza Akimichi said. 

"While it's true that we are currently experiencing the generation of the most growth when compared to the other hidden villages... it doesn't mean that a war composed of multiple fronts would help us in any way whatsoever. I would rather we don't create another front by our own hands, if possible."- Kakashi said. 

"How about we participate in the summit and offer our collaboration by signing peace with The Alliance, but only that, we don't join the manhunt for Sayaka Uchiha?"- Anko Mitarashi said.

"That's the best outcome we are aiming for."- Shikaku Nara nodded in support. 

"So the problem is whether the other villages would accept it or not, right?"- Hiashi asked. 

"That's correct. They could demand we support the manhunt by claiming that if we don't it's because we support Sayaka."- Kakshi said.

"..."

"..."

"..."

The shinobi shared a moment of silence, contemplating how to proceed; they definitely didn't want to fight Sayaka—not out of camaraderie or anything sentimental, but because they were afraid—terrified, even.

Most, if not all, of them had witnessed the result of Sayaka's malice toward Danzo. They had felt her overwhelming power and seen her dominate three Kages. After reviewing the evidence she released, they realized that she was the reason for the sudden improvement in the village's seals in the past. This suggested that she could have rigged the entire village, and they would be none the wiser.

Why would they want to go to war with someone who might have already taken their families hostage without them knowing?

"I say we let them."- Sasuke spoke.

"What?"- Kakashi asked, confused about what he meant. 

"If they say they will declare war on Konoha, we threaten them to join Sayaka's side. They are the ones facing no escape, not us. Even offering to sign peace with The Alliance is already an unneeded compromise. Knowing Sayaka... they will lose their remaining Kage—at least—and she will attack them head-on, they have no leverage here."

"..."

"..."

"... It doesn't sound so bad. We keep to ourselves, we fortify and prepare—just in case—offer to sign peace, but otherwise... Sayaka Uchiha's war with them has nothing to do with us, right?"- Ibiki Morino approved. 

Various nods of approval and hums in agreement backed the idea. 

The meeting continued and concluded with their stand clear and solid. 

In a white landscape, Akatsuki observed a genjutsu illusion Sayaka was projecting of this same very meeting. With careful consideration, it could be appreciated how the angle of the meeting was from the stance of Sasuke Uchiha. 

"... Itachi's mental little brother is supporting you? Or is he not aware you are using him as a camera?"- Kisame asked.

They were all in the snowy woods of the Land Of Iron, they arrived earlier to stakeout the location of the Kage Summit. 

"Both, he supports me, but he doesn't know about the seal I place in his eyes."- Sayaka said, as if it was the most normal thing to do. 

"..."- Pain gazed at her without interest. 

"..."- Obito did his best to not look at her. 

"I'll bite, why?"- Kisame saw no one else was going to ask the most obvious question, so he did. 

"Why he supports me?"- It was not the most obvious question, apparently.

"No. Why did you place a seal in his eyes?"- Kisame asked, in disbelief he had to clarify his query.

"Oh, that. It's part of his training, he should keep learning script, once he has mastered enough of the art he should discover the little present... ~Fufufu"- Sayaka chuckled mischievously by the end of her statement.

"I also wanted to make sure he was treating his harem right, you know? Keep tabs on his progress and all of that. Can you believe he hasn't closed the deal? Not even with Karin, and that girl is thirsty... Like a castaway."- Sayaka grumbled.

"So the little brother is like Itachi?"- Kisame asked with a grin as if remembering something. 

"Mmmmm, kinda. Maybe they are similar in that, but I did teach Sasuke all about pleasing a woman, so I'm confident he is not avoiding it due to dullness or shyness."- Sayaka said after thinking for a moment. 

"Oh, you did? I didn't know you had a thing for little boys."- Kisame teased as if Sayaka wouldn't twist his neck if she so desired it. 

"How crass! I have no interest in boys. I simply dragged him to my mental space and taught him, I never laid a finger with any sexual intention whatsoever on him or any child for that matter."- Sayaka half glared. 

"... Is that supposed to be better?"- Surprisingly, Pain joined the conversation. 

"It is as the leader says, even if you dragged him to your mental space, how did you teach him?"- Kisame ignored Sayaka's half-glare.

"Eh? It's obviously better. I just made an avatar of my male self fornicate with one of my female selves. You can pause them, manipulate them, highlight pleasure points in different colors, and play all the different positions, it was very clinical. Like a doctor teaching an ignorant child, which is not far from the truth, you should know that I'm the mother of both ancient and modern medicine."- Sayaka explained. 

"Is this a conversation we should be having, now?"- Obito asked in disapproval. 

"We'll be here for a couple more days."- Kisame retorted. 

"Just, shut up."- Obito snarled.

"No, u!"- Sayaka quipped.

"..."

"..."

"I'll bite. What was that?"- Kisame, ever the curious, asked.

"No, u?"- Sayaka asked.

"Mhmmm."- Kisame nodded.

"There's some context you won't understand, but think of it as the ultimate reversal. No matter what someone says, if you utter these words, it will turn back."- Sayaka lamented that her friend was currently not present listening to her joke, she knew that emotionless friend of hers wouldn't react to it, but at least he would understand. After all, Lucian shared his memories of popular culture with her, which was why she understood the joke.

"Well, I don't know if that's how it works, but if you say so."- Kisame gave up on pointing out her lack of logic. 

Time went by as Akatsuki staked out the location of the Kage Summit, Sayaka and Kisame kept talking—much to Obito's chagrin—and Pain joined the conversation from time to time, especially during the bits Sayaka shared recounts of the past eras. 

And finally, the day of the meeting arrived. 

A, the Raikage of Kumogakure and leader of The Alliance assisted while escorted by Kurotsuchi and Darui, one being his successor and the other being the representative sent by Iwagakure.

Mei Terumi, the Mizukage of Kirigakure, assisted with Ao and Chōjūrō as her escorts. 

Kakashi, Hokage of Konohagakure, was sided by Sasuke Uchiha and Hinata Hyūga. 

Mifune, the leader of The Land Of Iron, started the meeting. 

He gave the podium to the Raikage after introducing the respective Kages and the general agenda of the meeting. 

"This information has been shared with each of your villages, but I will repeat myself."- The Raikage said, Darui passed along a scroll to each Kage with the information about the subject matter. 

"Akatsuki has stolen the Tailed Beasts of all the hidden villages, the only remaining one being my brother, B. Aided by a pact Sayaka Uchiha stroke in the past with each beast, they faced almost no problems in breaking the beasts free from their jinchūriki. According to the Eight-Tails, the nine Tailed-Beasts were once a single being, the Ten-Tails, and Sayaka is attempting to revive this beast."- He continued solemnly.

"Raikage, why did the Eight-Tails break his deal with Sayaka?"- Kakashi asked. 

"What?"- The Raikage didn't understand where the question was coming from. What did it matter if the Eight-Tails broke his part of the deal? Isn't it good that it did?

"Yes, Raikage. According to what you said and the intel provided, the nine had a deal with Sayaka. Based on what Sayaka has shared on a previous occasion in our village, she did them a favor in exchange for their cooperation, I'm curious about what drove the Eight-Tails to break its part of the deal."- Kakashi explained.

"I don't see why would that matter."- The Raikage retorted. 

"It matters... Because that might have changed the entire approach she will have about this."- Kakashi solemnly replied. 

"Explain yourself, Hokage."- Mei Terumi asked. 

"We can safely assume that what she demanded in exchange for her help was not the lives of the Tailed Beasts, right?"- Kakashi asked to ensure they were all on the same page. 

"Yes, even a beast would not sell its life in exchange for temporary assistance."- Mei Terumi agreed.

The Raikage nodded.

"So that means that Sayaka mostly needed something from this union called the Ten-Tails, after that, she would have split the beast, otherwise it couldn't be said that the nine Tailed Beasts would be alive, based on this report here where it says that the Eight-Tails confessed about his reluctance to lose his sense of self, right?"- Kakashi pointed at the line in the scroll he was reading that backed up his statement. 

Again the Kages nodded in agreement of his argument. 

"If we follow her past—previous lives included—Sayaka had a subtle way of going about her life unless provoked, I say this while well aware of her actions against my predecessor. Hence, Sayaka most likely needed something from this Ten-Tails and then the beast would have been split and returned to its previous nine chakra beasts."- Kakashi added to his argument. 

"But now things have changed, the Eight-Tails—for some reason—broke the deal, I doubt he would have done it just because... so what happened? What changed? According to your report, the Eight-Tails was not initially opposed, but something changed."- Kakashi inquisitively looked at the Raikage, a look the Mizukage shared. 

"... It is as you say. Something changed."- The Raikage confessed. 

"His father contacted him... the Sage of The Six Paths."- His declaration sent a jolt to the other Kages.

There were too many implications to consider. 

There was the fact that somehow a being supposed to be dead made contact with the world of the living. Then there was how this being of legends was getting involved in the current geopolitical paradigm. 

"~Eh, so it was indeed that traitorous kid's doing. I wonder what Hagoromo is thinking, there's no point in opposing the inevitable, is there?"- Sayaka materialized in the room and asked.

She personally still held doubts because she didn't think the twins would be idiotic enough to oppose her if the Eight-Tails shared with them what she shared with it, alas Sayaka didn't know that the twins had lost their minds.

She was flanked by Pain and Kisame, acting as her escort.

The Mizukage and Raikage tensed and then they body-flickered away. But that was where their similarities ended. The Raikage lighted his cloak and stood protectively in front of his escort—they were not here as his bodyguards but as the next generation of leaders. On the contrary, the Mizukage's escort jumped protectively in front of her. 

The Hokage? They remained seated and Hinata waved her hand in greeting. 

"Hello, Sayaka-chan."- Hinata smiled. 

"Hey there, Hinata-chan. I'll return your lover boy after this is over."- Sayaka smiled back. 

"What about you, Sasuke? No greeting for me?"- Sayaka grinned at him. 

He looked uncomfortable for a second before waving at her, Sayaka smiled at his reserved act. 

"Sayaka, what are you doing here?"- The Raikage asked, his lightning cloak flickering aggressively. 

"We've come to declare a war of annihilation on The Alliance, more specifically Kumugakure. Of course, Kirigakure is welcome to join, but we have no misgivings with each other, so you're still in pending status."- Sayaka looked in Mei Terumi's direction, her white orbs observing carefully at the Mizukage's reaction. 

"... So you say, but didn't you steal our Tailed-Beasts?"- She asked from behind her escort. 

"No, we didn't, did we? The Six-Tails jinchūriki was a rogue shinobi, he was not even in The Land Of Water when we abducted him, and the Three-Tails was recently resurrected and willingly followed us. If you're going to claim ownership over the living beings because your village once unrightfully owned them, then I will claim ownership of this world, after all, I conquered it long ago."- Sayaka gazed at her disappointedly, she was not expecting much, but it appears that she would have to slaughter more innocents. 

"..."- Mei Terumi didn't reply, she had no comeback, but she could also not pull back, she was shouldering the wishes of her village, hence she couldn't pull back. 

"Sayaka, will you stand against the world? Even the Sage?"- The Raikage asked. 

"That's a false premise question, by the looks of it I will only fight The Alliance and Kirigakure. And please try not to hide behind the back of Hagoromo, I raised that betrayer, so there's not much weight his name can carry over the person who potty-trained him, is there?"- Sayaka chuckled.

"... Why are you doing this?"- The Raikage asked. 

"It doesn't matter, does it? We will attack Kumugakure with the intention of utter annihilation, bring out the Eight-Tails and surrender, or bring out the Eight-Tails and fight back, it doesn't matter. If you don't, I will make sure Kumugakure is left as an empty crater. Iwagakure would follow after, and finally Kirigakure."- Sayaka dragged her gaze from the Raikage to Kurotsuchi and then Mei Terumi. Each of the women flinched under the heavy gaze of her white eyes.

"Do your men a favor and turn the Eight-Tails over, I'm not trying to end the world, but I will if I have to."- Sayaka kept her face ridden of all emotion and then teleported away with Pain and Kisame. 

"Will you?"- Kisame asked after they appeared a short distance away from the Kage Summit.

"I won't have to, they will bring the Eight-Tails out whether they like it or not."- Sayaka replied. 

"We confirmed the involvement of the Sage of The Six Paths, do you think his brother is also involved?"- Pain asked. 

"I can't say it was confirmed, the Eight-Tails could have been lying with the partial truth to save its skin—as stupid as that may sound, this whole betrayal makes no sense— but assuming it was indeed Hagoromo, then Hamura is indeed involved."- Sayaka nodded. 

"Should we preemptively attack the moon?"- Obito asked, coming out of a swirl. 

"I sent a clone over there yesterday, that place is empty."- Sayaka shared. 

"Unless they decided to move out of their village, they probably gathered in another location to plan against us."- Kisame concluded. 

"Probably, I stopped visiting the moon a few lives ago, so I'm not sure."- Sayaka last visited when she finished sharing chakra with Kaguya.

"It matters not, a few hundred Hyūga more or less won't make a difference. The outlier is the sage Hamura."- Obito added. 

"Yeah, I'm thinking that maybe the Hyūga will have a hand in whatever plan Hagoromo and Hamura could have to overcome their bodyless situation."- Sayaka mused out loud. 

"... Thinking won't do us any good, let's get on the move. We have a war to start."- Pain concluded. 

____________________________________

Mount Myōboku

"Pa, do you think this is wise? That monster... I don't want to lose another generation of tadpoles."

"Ma, this is what the will of the Great Toad Sage instructed us to do. I don't doubt the will of the Great Toad Sage, not even after his death."

"I don't either, Pa..." Shima observed as the descendants of Hamura gathered around a giant Tenseigan—the Energy Vessel.

Beneath the Energy Vessel lay the body of an eyeless youth, softly breathing. Surrounding him were hundreds of bloody bodies, his equally eyeless brethren resting in their final slumber.

More of his brethren calmly walked over the pile of corpses toward the youth. Each slit their throats, falling to their knees as blood gurgled from their wounds. Moments later, they toppled sideways to join the growing pile.

Scripture inscribed on the floor began to glow in an ascending crescendo, gaining momentum with each new addition to the sacrificial ritual.

"It's just that these appear to me as the actions of madmen. I... I'm not one to run away from bloodshed, Pa. But this seems..."

"Unnecessary?"- Fukasaku asked.

Shima nodded. 

"They said that it's to create an appropriate vessel, that they were following the instructions left by their ancestor. I don't think this is that much different from what we are doing."- Fukasaku said. 

"Pa, you know it's different. The will of the Great Toad Sage didn't instruct us into sacrificing the tadpoles to bring him back to life."

"... *Sigh*... I know, Ma. But following the prophecies of the Great Toad Sage has always led us to the best future. I might not agree with what they are doing, but I support following the will of our sage."

"... I also think we should follow his will, but..."- Shima left the last part unsaid as the last of the descendants of Hamura died. 

The script on the floor shone brightly, and that was followed by the sound of a body restructuring itself. Bones snapped, muscles ruptured, organs exploded, skin ripped, and the youth—the origin of it all—shouted for less than a second before he fell silent, leaving only the sounds of the destruction of his body as proof of his existence. 

"Pa..."- Shima said softly, wincing every time a bone snapped. 

"Don't interfere, Ma. We've come this far, now it's not the time to step up and interfere."- Fukasaku held her hand. 

The pile of bodies turned into a viscous red wine fluid and then flowed to the body going through reconstruction, the Energy Vessel bloated and shrunk, until it popped into what looked like liquid energy. 

All of it convened to the body, it contorted and spasmed with the last of its remaining working muscles, and then only a whitish shell—resembling an egg—was left. 

The script on the floor was left fading away slowly. 

"*Sigh* It's finally over."- Shima said with some tears flowing down her face. 

"Now we just need to wait, Ma. After this, our involvement is over."- Fukasaku added, he relaxed his hand that he had balled into a fist, observing the madness of shinobi was never an easy feat to him, no matter how more composed than Shima he was.

_________________________

War was never something to celebrate, Madelyne thought. Her first war had been against the Ōtsutsuki Clan, and even though she had a rightful casus belli, she believed that victory was not something to rejoice over.

The Ōtsutsuki Clan might not have been entirely evil. Perhaps there were others like Kaguya hidden among their numbers. Certainly, the children who perished on their home planet when she destroyed it were innocent. Maybe they could have changed.

These doubts and many others plagued her after she returned home, only to confront the betrayal of her twins. If they could turn bad, who was to say the Ōtsutsuki Clan couldn't have turned good?

Yet, even with her regrets, Madelyne knew she would make the same choice again. She hated war, but if given the chance, she wouldn't choose differently.

To her, war was the antithesis of progress.

She acknowledged that war could sometimes bring about progress, but only as a byproduct—an outcome born of the chaos war left in its wake.

Lucian had taught her many things, including some of the supposed benefits of war. But based on her experience, the price was far too steep. Perhaps the shinobi of this world simply never made it worthwhile.

From her perspective, it seemed the only progress shinobi were making was in finding more efficient ways to kill. War, to her, was the antithesis of society itself.

She wasn't a pacifist, but she avoided war whenever possible.

These thoughts swirled in her mind as she watched The Alliance—including Kirigakure—form their lines a day's march from Kurugakure.

War was coming.

It was almost here.

"Are you ready, Nagato?"- Sayaka asked without taking her eyes off the shinobi on the horizon. From her vantage point, they were about 36 kilometers (roughly 22 miles) away, but distance was no obstacle for her eyes.

"Yes. It's time."- Nagato said, standing in his own body rather than Pain's.

"'Tobi', what's got you in such a mood?"- Kisame asked the frowning Obito with a faint grin.

Obito didn't answer. By now, his 'secret' identity was no longer a secret.

Apart from the last five members of Akatsuki, there was a White Zetsu clone and Pain's body present.

Sayaka raised her hand, initiating the Edo Tensei. Dust and sheets of paper wrapped around the Zetsu clone, which squirmed before Yahiko's soul was summoned from the Pure Lands.

"Eh? Nagat—"- Yahiko began but was abruptly cut off as Sayaka released the jutsu. His soul began to return to the Pure Lands, but she marked it and sent it into Abeyance before it could fully depart.

"This is my part of the deal. Now, go to your friends."- Sayaka ordered, her gaze still fixed on the shinobi gathering in the distance.

"[Gedo Art of Rinne Rebirth]."- Nagato intoned. The King of Hell emerged from purple flames, its mouth releasing a single green soul.

The soul sank into the body of Madara Uchiha, which slowly began to regenerate flesh. His hair regained its color as life returned to him.

*Thud*- Nagato's body collapsed forward, lifeless. Sayaka burned it with Amaterasu's black flames without hesitation, extracting the Rinnegan from his corpse.

"Who are you?"- Madara asked as he sat up in the casket, facing the largest chakra signature he had ever felt in life or death.

Sayaka turned to face Madara, and before anyone could react, her hands gripped his head firmly by the temples.

"Eh? I thought he was supposed to be an ally."- Kisame remarked.

Obito shook his head. He had long suspected that Sayaka had lied about meeting Madara, and now he had confirmation.

"He is. Sayaka-sama is sharing information—it's faster this way."- Black Zetsu explained.

*Thud*- Madara fell back into the casket. He hadn't even stepped outside it before Sayaka ambushed him.

"Argh."- He groaned, pressing one hand to his head and attempting to massage away the pain brought on by the sudden influx of information.

"Bring me some clothes, Madelyne."- He intoned, pronouncing her name perfectly.

Madelyne retrieved his clothing from her storage script. She had taken the liberty of enhancing even his undergarments to improve chakra generation. His red armor now bore script to enhance its durability, and his gunbai had been fortified similarly.

Madara shed his weathered robes and dressed without hesitation—no one in the room cared, nor did he.

After fastening the last clasps of his red armor, he extended his hand toward Madelyne. She responded by making the Rinnegan float down to his open palm.

As if replacing lightbulbs, he reimplanted his eyes. Channeling chakra through them, his enhanced biology—courtesy of Hashirama—secured them firmly into place.

Madara blinked slowly, adjusting to his restored vision, and then turned his gaze toward Madelyne, observing her for the first time.

A black-haired young woman stood before him, her bob-cut framing a pale face. Her figure was ample but far from indecent, her arms and partially exposed chest adorned with tattooed script. She wore black battle attire and possessed the most unnerving pair of eyes he had ever encountered.

"Are you ready?"- She asked. No further explanation was necessary.

"Almost."- He replied, forming a hand sign.

*Thud*- Obito's body collapsed to the ground, lifeless. Fūinjutsu and scripture crawled across his skin like living ink.

"... Why? He was useful."- Madelyne said, her tone more annoyed than upset.

"His hatred for me would have been as immense as the delusion I implanted in him. He would have turned on us. The stakes are too high for untrustworthy allies—not with the kind of fight you showed me lies ahead."- Madara explained, watching as Obito's body ignited in black flames.

"And the truth?"- Madelyne pressed.

"I didn't lie."- Madara said, his tone even. Then, with a sudden flare of chakra, he added, "But I won't tolerate Obito interfering in the most important dance of my life!"

"To think we're the last remaining members of Akatsuki from the original crew."- Kisame remarked to Black Zetsu.

"..."- Zetsu remained silent, uncertain of how to respond. As the true creator of Akatsuki—or so he considered himself—he still found the thought processes of its members baffling.

"Just don't let your emotions get the better of you."- Madelyne warned.

"You know what to do when the time comes. Your dream is within reach—don't screw it up."- Madelyne was afraid the hothead would lose sight of the goal under the influence of his fervor.

"I don't need you to tell me that. Even under the influence of this thing," Madara said, gesturing to Black Zetsu, "peace has always been my ultimate goal. I won't jeopardize it for something as fleeting as the thrill of battle."

With that, Madara swung his gunbai in a warm-up motion, his movements precise and deliberate.

"Sayaka-sama."- Kisame said in a servile tone.

"What do you want?"- Madelyne raised an eyebrow in questioning.

"Can you boost me?"- He asked.

"... Not without costing you your life."- She remarked.

"That's alright, but can you mark my soul as well?"- He asked.

"..." - Madelyne stared at him with suspicion, or more like confusion.

"Why?"- As far as she knew, Kisame was not one to sacrifice his life for the goal of peace. He was loyal, that much she acknowledged, but that was part of his shinobi way, not because he yearned for peace.

"Well..."- He grinned madly.

"Based on what I'm seeing, Akatsuki will meet its end this day. Even if I miraculously survive, what place will there be for me in this new world?"- He asked.

"So you knew?"- Madelyne asked. She was not overly secretive about how her goals differed from Akatsuki's mission, but that didn't mean she went around shouting out loud how little she cared for peace or how eager she was to escape this world.

"Your psycho sister was very open about her desire to depart this world with you. Madara has been vocal about unity and ultimate peace throughout his life. It doesn't take a genius to figure out you need something from the Ten-Tails and then plan to leave the world to him."- Kisame motioned to Madara.

"... You're not entirely right, but you're almost there. Okay, I'll mark your soul."- Madelyne slowly hovered over to Kisame, placing one hand on his chest and the other on his head.

Ink-like chakra and blood started to seep out from her palms.

"Brace yourself."- She commanded.

The inky fluid began to heat up, steam rising from it. Yet Kisame showed no outward signs of pain beyond the clenching of his jaw.

Slowly, his entire body was marked. After an excruciating 57 minutes, she was finished.

"What did you do to him?" - Madara asked, sensing a shift in Kisame.

"Mixed his life force (Life Span) with his chakra and a pinch of natural energy."- Madelyne explained.

"Were you trying to imitate Hashirama?"- Madara asked.

"Partially."- She replied.

"What does that mean?"- Kisame flexed his muscles, adapting to his newfound strength.

"It's similar to the Eight Gates but less fleeting and less extreme. You probably have five to seven hours left to live, but during that time, I don't think you'll be able to exhaust your chakra and you could heal anything short of dismemberment. So go wild. Flood this country, Sharkboy."- Madelyne said with a maddened grin.

A grin that sent a shiver down Kisame's spine.

"In the words of our departed artist, I shall go with a boom!"- He grabbed hold of his trusty blade, which squirmed in pleasure at the taste of his chakra.

*Boom!*- He jumped off the cliff where they stood, the ground cracking under the force of his leap.

"I'll see you during the merging."- Madara said before flying away like a speeding bullet.

*Boom!*- Not long after, a colossal Susanoo landed amidst the miserable souls.

"Zetsu, join me. No matter what, don't leave my body."- Madelyne said, holding back whatever disgust was bubbling in her stomach as the black thing wriggled toward her and hid under her battlewear.

'I'm almost there.'- She psyched herself up.

'Just one more performance and then I'll die. Luci will return like the eldritch terror he is and maul away all of my problems, then we will leave this decrepit hellhole. We'll leave things to Shukaku and Madara, we still need to find a protector for this reality, but I'm a mind away from leaving everything behind to Guy Senjurama, that's not such a bad idea.'- Madelyne thought to herself. 

She stayed on the cliff while overlooking the 'war'. It couldn't be called war. In reality, it was a slaughterfest. 

On one side of the battlefield, there was this gigantic bubble of water, gigantic being an understatement. The bubble covered an area so big she was sure it could fit a Konoha and a half. 

On the other side of the battlefield, there were men, chunks of ground, dust, stones, and more flying away from the origin of a Shinra Tensei mother to all Shinra Tensei. To make matters worse? There was so much fire that no matter who was 'lucky' enough to survive the initial burst of repulsive force, they were charred to the ashes.

"I wonder if things could have been done differently."- Madelyne said out loud. 

"Why? Mother is almost freed."- Black Zetsu asked. 

"Never mind."- She was talking to herself, not the disgusting thing currently merged with her. 

The 'war' continued for a few more minutes, and when Madelyne began to wonder if Madara was going to end up ending the whole thing on his own with a meteor shower, a change occurred. 

But it was not on the battlefield.

Madelyne looked above, at the evening sky. More specifically at Juno, the satellite sealing Isshiki Ōtsutsuki.

"Oh... These crazy, idiotic, desperate, stupid, and crazy children."- Madelyne said, finally accepting that the twins had turned fully idiotic and crazy.

"Madi-sama?"- Black Zetsu asked.

"They unsealed Isshiki."- Madelyne still made no attempt to move. 

"What?! Madi-sama will you be able to handle it? Isn't three against one too much?"- Black Zetsu asked, worriedly. 

"If they were at their peak it would be too much, but they are probably in a worse state than me. I'm healthy, just underpowered, they are dead and underpowered, and as far as Kaguya said, Isshiki should be no different. This will be more like a fight between crippled gods than an epic clash among gods."- Madelyne was glad they were weakened, well, it didn't matter, they were already in checkmate given that she could end it all by taking her life right now.

"It is as you say, Madi-sama. If only you had the body Luci-sama created for you."- Black Zetsu said regretfully. 

Madelyne had gotten very good at ignoring Black Zetsu's comments by now.

Juno slowly shook—in a way only Madelyne's eyes could see from that far—accumulated dust eroded by solar radiation slowly lifted from its surface, cracks and ruptures spread throughout its volume, and the shaking and crumbling intensified before it slowly started to break away, and the pieces of the satellite were caught by the gravitational pull of the planet. 

A lull spread on the battlefield, Madara had sensed the rapid changes in the sky, and the soldiers—intrigued by his pause—followed his eyesight and spotted what made their enemy halt. 

"... Oh, what is that?"- One shinobi from Kirigakure asked. He understood what it was, the satellite was falling apart toward the planet, but he couldn't accept it. 

"No!"- Another shouted, it was the cusp of his disbelief turning to denial. 

"Where is it going to fall?"- Mei Terumi asked out loud, but no one could answer. No one on her side. 

"Mostly here."- Madelyne's voice resounded like a divine sentence to death.

"Sayaka!"- Mei Terumi exclaimed, she bit her lip in rage and clenched her fists. 

"Don't blame me for everything, Mizukage. That's the doing of your ally Hagoromo."- Madelyne waved her hand in the air as if pulling something, and Kisame and Madara flew to her sides.

"What's up, Sayaka-sama? I was having fun to die for."- Kisame complained, he was so immersed in the fight that he didn't realize the heavens were about to fall on him. 

"I'll just make sure you both survive the upcoming crash."- Madelyne pointedly looked at the collapsing Juno. 

"Ehhh!"- Kisame exclaimed.

"Maybe the planet is a bigger concern, Madelyne."- Madara remarked worriedly.

"... Maybe... Ok, I'll cushion the impact a little."- Madelyne erected a spherical barrier around Akatsuki. 

"Sayaka! Stop that!"- Mei Terumi demanded in panic while pointing at the falling moon. 

"No."- She replied. 

"Sayaka! Is this your doing?! Stop it!"- The Raikage flashed to the side of Mei Terumi and demanded. 

"Maybe the Eight-Tails could blow it away."- Madelyne smirked at the panicking Kages. 

"She said it's not her doing, she said the Sage did it. Can you contact B?"- Mei Terumi asked in a rush. 

"I can."- A affirmed. 

"Tell him to ask the Sage to stop this, through the Eight-Tails."- Mei Terumi demanded. 

""It's meaningless.""- A and Madelyne said at the same time.

"What do you mean?"- The Raikage asked. He said that it was late because he knew his brother was too far away for his message to reach on time, but Madelyne shouldn't have known that. 

"He is here."- Madelyne grinned victoriously and looked at the edge of the horizon, a colossal octopus ox was loading an equally colossal Tailed-Beast bomb. 

"No! What is that fool doing here?!"- The Raikage exclaimed.

"Saving you, and serving himself to me."- Madelyne replied. 

The satellite exploded and the debris was propelled by the explosion to the planet. 

"Do something, that's going to raze the surface. Peace reached due to the total annihilation of all sentient life is not the type of peace I'm striving for."- Madara demanded Madelyne.

"It's alright, I left several countermeasures in case my beloved twins decided to hold to planet hostage against me. 

Beyond the observable point of the horizon, far, far away from Kumugakure, going past the Land Of Fire, in the most inhospitable of landscapes, The Desert, sand coalesced into a single place. The sand raised and rushed into this place in a frenzy, in a movement more turbulent than the worst of the sandstorms. 

It was as if the desert, all of it, came to life. 

This was not entirely inaccurate, given that Shukaku had taken control of it all. 

*Thrumm*- A muffled sound, evoking a feeling that resonated with the insides of any creature listening to it. 

As if the desert were a giant beast, it pulsed with this thrumming heartbeat.

*Thrumm*- The desert started to ascend.

A column of sand that spread wide once it reached a certain height. Poetically, it looked like a pillar of sand holding the heavens from falling and ending all life.

*Thrumm*- From space it looked as if The Desert started to encroach on all the planetary surface area. 

But this was not exactly it. While it may appear like that from above, from below it looked more as if a huge sand cloud was claiming possession of the sky.

*Thrumm*- The sand cloud spread and encroached.

"This should be Shukaku, right?"- Madara asked, recalling some of the information Madelyne had shared with him. 

"Yes, he and others are on damage control."- Madelyne shared. 

"But will it be enough?"- Madara asked as the sand cloud took over the evening sky and absolute darkness graced his eyes. 

"I have others helping Shukaku."- Madelyne made floating specs of greenish light—reminiscent of the hue of the skies in abeyance—float inside the telekinetic sphere, not because she needed light to see but out of consideration. 

"Others? Why are they not here helping us?"- Kisame asked. 

"Shukaku didn't want to fight his father, Hagoromo. And the others are in damage control, although they are strong enough to stand with us, they are needed where they are, if you live long enough you'll see what I'm talking about."- Madelyne replied, taking into consideration the fleeting life force of Kisame. 

*Crackle!*- A spear of lightning chakra crashed against the telekinetic barrier. 

"Raikage, shouldn't you be saving your chakra for something more productive?"- Madelyne asked.

"TCH!"- He clicked his tongue.

"I think that fool mistakenly believed that the sand would suffice to protect the battlefield."- Madara spoke loud enough to ensure he was heard by the Raikage. 

"Ah, you're right."- Madelyne said. 

"Don't be mistaken, Raikage. The sand will focus on civilian centers, not here. Why else do you think the Tailed-Beast bomb flew past the sand cloud unobstructed? Did you think it was a one-way barrier?"- Madelyne openly mocked. 

Mei Terumi widened her eyes in realization, she had also believed that they should restart the fighting now that the sand was protecting them.

She wasted no time and moved to the scant remaining troops of the Alliance. 

"Use Earth Release! Brace for impact!"- She shouted orders. 

"You..."- The Raikage said, clenching his fists. 

"You will kill us all."- He enunciated.

"No, and yes. But when you are dying, please remember that it all started with the Eight-Tails, you could even go as far as to blame Hagoromo. None of this had to happen, I fulfilled a deal with the Eight-Tails, but it broke it, and you chose to reject my mercy and resisted what would have accounted for a rental transaction of 'your' Tailed-Beast. So maybe I will be the direct cause of your death, maybe Madara or Kisame, but no matter who it is, remember that you could have avoided all this senseless death."

And with her statement, the heavens ruptured and the meteor shower forced its way down. 

The blazing rubble broke through the sand cloud and Madelyne reinforced the terrain so that the planet's surface was not entirely demolished.

The first meteor made contact and—even after the reinforcement—the ground turned fluid. Not even a fraction of a second later, the second one fell. And so did the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and so on.

Madara and Kisame lost visibility soon enough, leaving them with only the greenish specs of light floating inside the barrier and their partners. 

Madelyne could still see, it was a privilege of her Luciangiven eyesight. 

"Did they all die?"- Kisame, somewhat dejectedly, asked. Not because he was mourning their passing, but because he was mourning losing his targets. 

"No, the meteor shower is not done, but a few of them are still holding on."- Madelyne shared. 

"What about outside?"- Madara asked about the outside of the battlefield. 

"Now that the Eight-Tails is out, I asked Shukaku to protect Kumogakure, but some meteors are still breaking through the sand casing."- Madelyne projected genjutsu to show them what she was seeing. 

Above the darkened skies of Kumugakure, the sand parted for a crumbling meteor—no doubt a result of the collision between the two—and streaks of light aggressively flew toward it. 

*Boom!*- An explosion of bright chakra flourished and any debris that made it out of it was small enough to be defended by the common rooftop.

"The Hyūga?"- Kisame made the obvious question. 

"Yes, but not only them."- Sayaka looked in another direction and the genjutsu changed. 

This time it was the skies of Iwagakure, similarly to Kumugakure, a few meteors made their way through the sand shielding, except this time the streaks of light were coming from a single source.

"Izuna?"- Madara asked.

"That's Sasuke, most probably your great-great-grandson, but he could also be your great-great-grandnephew. Did you leave any descendants?"- Madelyne asked as they watched Sasuke hurl javelin after javelin at the remnants of the meteors that managed to break through.

"I don't know."- Madara replied.

"That's understandable."- Kisame commented offhandedly.

Madelyne looked at them both, she was confused about what they meant.

"I had a few partners in my life, but no woman was mad enough to publicly claim she bore my child. As for Izuna... maybe. He had a few partners before Tobirama killed him. Then again, no woman would have dared admit to bearing a descendant of ours—we carried too much infamy."- Madara explained. 

"It is the same for me. Today, after I pass away, maybe I will be leaving a child fatherless, but I don't know, I'm a well-known rogue shinobi, no woman would claim to have given birth to a child of mine... Hahahahaha! Maybe it's for the best."- Kisame laughed.

Every time she looked in a different direction, Madelyne changed the genjutsu.

It was not only the Hyūga and Sasuke, the Futagami clan came out of the shadows and they proudly displayed their script-covered skins, affirming their status as people of the sand. 

"That's the Futagami? They were yours?"- Madara asked in surprise. He still remembers when the Futagami clan approached the nascent Konohagakure. 

"Yes, I needed a way to monitor the reincarnations of Asura and Indra, namely Hashirama and you, to find out if you were worthy of my support."- Madelyne explained. 

The reverberations of the meteoric bombardment were still going outside the barrier. 

"Were they not?"- Kisame asked, his curiosity still with him even during the end of his life. 

"Madara showed promise, at least his ideas, his execution was painfully stupid, and Hashirama was sinfully naive, if they had come together and done as Madara suggested, I would have supported them."- Madelyne bluntly replied. 

"What do you have to say about that?"- Kisame smiled and asked Madara. 

"I say that if you don't shut up I will shorten your already expiring lifespan to a few seconds."- The Rinnegan glared at Kisame. 

"Sayaka-sama, look! He's bullying the dying me."- Kisame said, hiding behind Madelyne and speaking in an uncharacteristic tone.

"Who is that supposed to be?"- Madelyne asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Hehehehe. Why, Tobi, of course."- Kisame replied with a mischievous grin.

"Disgusting thing, I blame Madara for that."- Madelyne complained. 

"I blame Zetsu."- Madara avoided responsibility. 

"Why is it my fault? You said you needed the Uchiha with the most talent, I brought you the Uchiha with the biggest heart."- Black Zetsu spoke from between the clothing of Madelyne. 

"You—" Madara couldn't finish his retort.

*Crack* *Crash* *Boom*- A golden, humongous blade shattered the telekinetic shield, slicing through Kisame and bisecting him before detonating.

Madara used his enhanced gunbai to shield himself, while Madelyne teleported to safety.

The explosion from the golden blade dwarfed anything the battlefield had experienced thus far, even the meteor shower's destructive blasts. It claimed the lives of everyone except the Raikage, whose lightning cloak protected him.

The blast surged outward toward Kumogakure, nullifying the Hyūga's efforts and taking their lives as well.

Madelyne—hovering above the explosion—tilted her head to the left just as a black, spear-tipped bō staff materialized in the space where her head had been moments earlier.

"What sort of monstrosity are you supposed to be? Hamura or Isshiki, whoever is in charge?"- Madelyne asked, visible disgust on her face.

"Why would you even consider that that failure Ōtsutsuki could ever overpower me in a battle of wills? He didn't even put on a fight, he simply surrendered himself to me. At least he understood his place at the twilight of his miserable life."- Isshiki said as if it were the most obvious of things.

"Ah, the parasite. You shall be referred to as Parasite from now on, that's your name since you live up to it even more faithfully than the rest of your equally parasitic kind."- Madelyne's old racism came to the surface. The revulsion in her face was not hidden. 

"What does a lesser being like you know?!"- The veins around his Byukugan (Tenseigan) popped out with his rage. He had never been looked down on in his life, even less by what he considered a lesser being. 

"Hey, Parasite, did Hamura turn crazy?"- Madelyne asked something that had been bothering her.

"DIE!"- But Isshiki couldn't stand the way she called him, so his reply was a rain of black spike-shaped Truth-Seeking Balls.

Madelyne teleported away, this time closer to where she felt the chakra signature of Madara and someone else.

"... Are you Hagoromo?"- She asked. The man standing opposite Madara looked similar to Hagoromo, but his chakra fell wrong in all different manners. 

"Madi, your reign of terror ends today!"- Hagoromo shouted. 

"... What?"- Madelyne asked, she was beginning to accept that maybe the twins indeed lost all lucidity. She looked at Madara in query. 

"Don't know."- He said. 

"This is the first I hear him speak, he has been ignoring me all this time. Look at his eyes, it's like he is not experiencing the same reality as us."- Madara pointedly gazed at the Rinnegan of Hagoromo. 

"What the fuck happened to these guys?"- Madelyne asked while tilting her head again, avoiding another strike, and then teleporting away, just an instance before Isshiki materialized in a striking stance where she previously stood.

"Keep that monster away from me, I'll take care of this crazy sage."- Madara exclaimed, he was unnerved by the monstrous chakra he felt radiating from Isshiki, it was something that dwarfed even Madelyne's, and by a lot.

Isshiki teleported after Madelyne, and to avoid collateral damage—even more—she kept to the skies. 

"Scourge, you should know your place and surrender to me, why are you trying to avoid the inevitable? You should be able to feel it, the difference between you and me."- Isshiki said, appearing right in front of Madelyne. 

"Well, you indeed have vastly more chakra than me... but that just confirms to me that you can't sense psionic energy."- Madelyne grinned predatorily at him. 

"What?"- Isshikki didn't understand what the word psionic meant. 

"This."- Madelyne pointed at his head.

Two things happened at almost the same time. The first, a spike of materialized psionic energy penetrated his skull, the second, Isshikki shrunk himself instantaneously to escape after following his instincts. 

The truth was that Isshiki hadn't been teleporting after Madelyne, he was shrinking and restoring himself after moving to her so fast that it appeared as if he could teleport. Meaning that his reflexes and movement speed were at a level that allowed him to almost replicate the result of teleportation, at least at a close distance. 

This is also why he survived an attack that was invisible to him, almost unscathed. 

In his shrunken estate, he brought a hand to the hole in his bleeding skull as it closed and mended itself. The whisper of death chilled his escalating rage. 

Madelyne made an aura of psionic energy surrounding her, to automatically attack in case he got close enough, and then loaded a beam of Dust Release. Ninjutsu was not effective against beings of a certain level, at least not the normal kind, because it could be absorbed or at least countered. 

For example, Hagoromo and Madara could quite literally absorb it, aided by their Rinnegan.

But in this case, two other enemies couldn't.

With her palm outstretched, Madelyne unleashed a beam of disintegration, directing it toward the towering figure of the Eight-Tails.

The beam pierced through the chaotic veil of sand, smoke, dust, fire, and death, surging straight toward the Tailed Beast's head.

But before it could claim its target, a lightning-cloaked figure intercepted, shielding the Eight-Tails from annihilation.

"Brother!"- The beast cried.

The Eight-Tails flung a tentacle and protectively grabbed the Raikage. Madelyne was going to continue her assault, but Isshiki made massive black cubes rain on her. 

"..."- She deflected them with a wave of her hand, while also redirecting the cubes toward the Eight-Tails, and waited for him to pop up...

But he didn't. 

She aimed at the Eight-Tails again, loaded another disintegration beam, and then exploded it—yes, she didn't shoot it, she detonated it—just before teleporting. 

Like a hawk, she observed from a vantage point as the explosion of Dust Release grew uncontrollably until it started to siphon in a particular direction. 

She wasted no time and attempted the same as disintegrating matter with Dust Release but with telekinesis over the area where the attack was being absorbed.

The said area looked as if a perfect half-dome had taken a bite of the location and left behind dust, nanometric dust.

"AGH!"- The parasite cried as he returned to his original size, missing his lower half. 

Madelyne knew the parasite would regenerate soon, so she attempted to pelter it with more disintegration—of the psionic type. 

A swirly gate of darkness opened below him and he disappeared to his dimension. Madelyne didn't pursue it. She teleported to the Eight-Tails.

*Crack*- And crunched the neck of the Raikage with her telekinesis. She wanted to reduce the possible obstructions that could get in the way of sealing the Tailed-Beast. 

"RUAAAGGHHHHH!"- The jinchūriki cried in rage over the loss of his brother. 

"Pitiful human, crying over the death of his captor and manipulator."- Madelyne purposely riled him.

|What did I miss?|

'Ah, Luci, I missed you lots. Your absence was greatly felt, Love.'

|I finished dealing with the circumstances that demanded my complete attention.|

'That's good, Luci... Also... We might have started a full-blown war with the other Hidden Villages, and by we, I mean me.'

*BOOOOOOOM!*- A Tailed-Beast bomb clashed with a beam of Dust Release from Sayaka.

|Was that the Eight-Tails?|

'Yes... The little shit sided with his jinchūriki and shared the objective of our plan with his host. Now, everybody is out to get us, but Madara and I believe that Hagoromo and/or Hamura are behind this, well that's basically confirmed at this point, it's just that their actions are so idiotic that I found it hard to believe, they possibly turned full on crazy, I don't know.'

|Madara was resurrected?|

'Yes, I marked Nagato's soul, made a deal with him, and he sacrificed himself. Konan was killed some time ago while we were capturing the Two-Tails, so he was eager to join her.'

"Monster! You're the scourge of this world! DIE!"- A man with a Tenseigan and a Kokugan, two vertical horns, and a horizontal one shouted while aiming at Sayaka with a black staff.

"No u!"- Sayaka blasted his mind with a psionic mind-warping attack while blinking away from the strike.

|... There's too much going on, how did you end up as the enemy of the world? And is that a fusion of Hamura and Isshiki?|

'It's that damn dam! Everything started with it! I think we underestimated its impact. Well, Obito was done in by Madara when he sided with us, so at least there's that.'

|Why? Let's start from the beginning, please.|- It was getting confusing even to the incarnation of illogicalness. 

'Right, otherwise I don't think I can explain this mess.'- Sayaka took advantage of the momentary confusion of her opponent to have a conversation with Lucian. 

"HAHAHAHAHA! COME ON, SAGE! LET'S DANCE!"

In the distance, Madara can be seen fighting with a Hagoromo-look-alike, which only served to add confusion to Lucian.

Lucian dived into Madelyne's memories and had her mind's avatar guide him through the recount of what led to the deviation of their plans. 

|I think I understand your disbelief... Why would they do something as stupid as this if they didn't turn crazy? And that's considering their record of idiotic decisions.|

'Yeah, that's why I was half a mind away from believing that maybe Shibai Ōtsutsuki was pulling some strings to annoy us.'

|I can see why you would think so, but I doubt it. He is probably focused on the main reality.|

'So, what will we do? The lack of Obito messes with our plans, doesn't it? Should I kill myself now?'

|Mmmmmm, not yet. If had not gotten myself a recent upgrade I would have suggested you kill yourself.|

'Oh? Really? Is it a cool upgrade? Something that can help us?'

|Probably. I will separate from you and manifest, I will then hold them back while you and Madara proceed with the merging.|

'You can do that?'

|I think, something like a soul that is materialized while it isn't, a Paradoxical Existence. There's more to it, but the holes in my soul awaiting healing are interfering with my new upgrade, and this is only a sliver of my soul, so there's only so much I can do.|

'That sounds interesting. Anyway, don't bother too much with it, if I die then we win, and if I don't then we win.'

|Yes, that's why I feel comfortable testing this while in the field, there won't be any real repercussions in case of failure.|

'Alright, then let's get this done, the sooner we end this the sooner I can leave!'

"Madara! Get ready!"- Madelyne shouted, her voice empowered by Sound Release.

"Now? I thought we needed to kill at least one of them!"- He shouted back. 

Madelyne didn't respond, she teleported to the rampaging Eight-Tails—it was amid loading another tailed beast bomb—and then placed a hand on it.

Lucian empowered her tactile telekinesis and she lifted the behemoth above her head.

It trashed and tried to reach her with its overflowing tentacles, but Lucian kept them at bay with masterfully placed strikes of telekinesis. 

Madelyne in a swift move—belying the heavy load above her head—threw the Eight-Tails to where she felt Madara. 

Before the beast could even reach the apex of its trajectory, Madelyne teleported to Hagoromo and kicked him with all her strength, and sent him flying to the disoriented Isshiki. 

Madara, with his years of combat experience, knew what to do and immediately summoned the Gedō Mazō. 

"Now what?"- He asked, tracking the approaching trashing beast as it flew toward them. 

|It's going to be uncomfortable. Tell him to close his eyes and not to open them no matter what, you as well.|

"Madara, no matter what don't open your eyes."- Madelyne felt a shiver down her back, for she understood what implied to materialize a piece of the soul of her eldritch friend. 

She had never seen the real soul of Lucian, he had always met her through a representation of him. Lucian once told her that it was because his soul was a cognitohazard to most living beings below a certain level of existence. 

Madara saw the trepidation in her eyes and shut his tight.

Madelyne didn't have time to do anything else other than close her eyes before she buckled over and started to vomit. 

She couldn't tell what she was regurgitating, the texture felt like chakra, souls, coarse sand, that of a boiling viscous liquid, and a solid piece of cold metal, all at the same time. 

'WHat IS THIS? ACid?'- She asked mid-retching.

Something changed, she wasn't sure what it was, but something did, and she stopped vomiting.

"Madelyne!"- Madara shouted, he also felt something went horribly wrong.

"|'M̴̡̧̢͉̼̲̙̗̙̫̻͙͎̥̪̤͖̗̠̘̗͔͇͙̪̼͚̯̲̭̗̳̘̜͈̘̬̞͐̔͋̀̐̔̑̿̽͒̓̊̉̔͋͗̾̿̈́͑̉̈́̑̾́̓́̚̚͜͝͠͝͝͝ͅḘ̵̛̛͕̰̻̠̹͇̹̲̘̻̳̭̫̎͋͆͋̅͌̉̊͛́̄̔̀̿̒̄̎͒̅̿̈̂̿̍̍̈́̀̇́͑͊̉̈́̅̈́͗̀̒̓̒̓͂͐̉̚͠͠ͅͅ'|"

A voice that wasn't, a sound that corrupted the sapient and sentient, and a reverberation that spoke concepts to your subconscious just as it did your conscious.

"AAAAGHHHH!"

"AAaaaaGahAgHGG"

Madara and Madelyne felt their body giving up on their hearing sense, blood flowed down their ears and eyes. 

'I'm sorry, for some reason, I can't control this.'- Accompanying Lucian's thought transmission came a warm flow of healing chakra. 

*Boom!*- The Eight-Tails landed. Lucian buffered most of its impact and then commanded the statue to absorb the Tailed-Beast. 

Neither Lucian nor Madelyne bothered to mark the soul of B for a later resurrection.

*Tud*- The husk of B fell dead after the Eight-Tails had been almost instantly absorbed. 

"Get to it, I will stall them but I won't last long in this state."- This time Lucian spoke by making the air vibrate with his telekinesis.

Madara and Madelyne—with their eyes closed—couldn't see how the primordial slurry of conceptual bullshit who was performing a very good imitation of the unholy child between a Muk and the Six-Tails was filled with holes, the missing parts of his soul.

Lucian's body—the physical manifestation of his soul—could be better described as an aggregation of slitted eyes of different colors. There were so many eyes that it shone with a multicolor light. There were tendrils and tentacles of the slurry of eyes swaying outwards, claws, horns, hair, and fur floated in the primordial slurry of void-tinted eyes. 

Leaving the mind-warping viscosity of Lucian's body (Soul) aside, another hole opened right in the apparent middle of the eldritch slime, but this hole was different from the other cavities, this one was purposely created by him, and from this 'mouth', a shrieking wail of a frequency so high it was basically pure energy blasting in a conical spread toward where Lucian saw Hagoromo and Isshiki scrambling to their feet. 

*QZREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!*- The acoustic waves were moving so fast that the atmosphere ionized and plasma was lighted by the electrical discharge that ensued. The frequency was so high that the mass of air displaced created a zone of lower temperature. Accompanying the sonic blast, flashes of lightning, plasma, and ions painted the landscape. 

The ground was ripped apart and dragged forward by the momentum of the sound wave. 

Hagoromo covered his body in an egg-like shield made of his Truth-Seeking balls and Isshiki opened a portal behind him. 

'Go, start the merging.'- Lucian spoke in their minds, his sonic attack forcing him to do so.

Madara, Madelyne, and the unacknowledged Black Zetsu started the merging.

Given the necessities of their situation, they opted for an alternative method, or more exactly a method to allow Madara to remain and Kaguya to be unsealed while conserving their individuality. 

Madara dragged the newly born Ten-Tails and sealed it in him, he then created an eggshell—not unlike Hagaromo's—around his body, and Madelyne jumped inside of it.

The last thing they both heard before the eggshell fully closed was another screeching wail. And in such a manner, the complete absorption of Madelyne's chakra began, just as the unsealing of Kaguya did.

"We have to stop that! Or else the shinobi world will perish! We can't let my mother descend! It's not time yet! It doesn't matter!"- Hagoromo frantically started to attack Lucian with senjutsu of all forms and manners. 

"Shut up, you demented lunatic!"- Isshiki shouted. 

"The only use you've had in your life is unsealing me, now stop wasting space!"- Isshiki skewered Hagoromo through his chest with a swift strike of his hand, and Hagormo was killed and absorbed, leaving only a blob of flesh that used to be his vessel (Body).

"Ah, now this is closer to what it should be."- Isshiki murmured as he felt the increase in his power. 

Isshiki observed the monster standing between him and the egg containing Kaguya. 

"What sort of thing is this?"- Isshiki couldn't feel chakra from the eldritch slime of draconic eyes. He couldn't even detect the barest of most insignificant life signs, which is why he didn't treat Lucian as a living being—which he truthfully wasn't. 

The monstrous slurry of the void seemed content on standing guard in front of the eg while it eyed Isshiki standing still as he evaluated it.

Isshiki was starting to get anxious, he couldn't find a feasible approach to reach the egg or to end Lucian. The void slime was projecting a field of telekinesis, he could see that much given that the dust in the air collisioned with the shield, giving away its round shape. He had to be careful of the sonic attack—if that discharge of energy could be called that—because last time he only avoided it by exiting space. Energy attacks of any matter were useless, Hagaromo helped expose this with his frantic senjustu attacks before Isshiki absorbed him.

He didn't want to acknowledge that a thing like that could exist. 

When it looked like he would have no other choice other than to approach Lucian and try to batter it away, one of the tendrils crumbled. 

"Ah, I understand."- Isshiki said with a faint smile. 

He shrunk and attacked Lucian by opening a portal above him dropping tonnes and tonnes of stone. Lucian waved a tendril and his telekinesis blasted away the falling avalanche. The same tendril crumbled and became dust in the wind.

"Whatever that is, it's on a timer. The more it exerts itself, the faster its end approaches."- He said with a vicious smile. 

So he acted with that in mind. He didn't close the portals above Lucian, no matter how much chakra he was spending keeping them open, but that wasn't all. While the stones were falling on Lucian, he launched his black spikes at him from the front.

Lucian waved a tentacle and this one crumbled away, just before delivering a compressive force that attempted to squeeze out his head like a water balloon. In the last second, Isshiki ducked slightly and was able to avoid losing his head completely, although the top half of his head was compressed beyond saving, to him it was not a mortal wound. 

Same as how an Otsutsuki couldn't be killed under normal methods, his mutated body could function regardless of its physical state. 

"AGHHHH!"- But that didn't mean it came without repercussions. Pain being one of them. 

"How did it find me?"- Isshiki wondered out loud, he was still shrunken so technically he should be invisible, at least Madelyne couldn't detect him in this state, evidenced by how she could never target him individually during their battle. 

But the way the tentacles followed him was proof enough to figure that he was plainly visible to the void slime.

Even with all of this information in his mind, he didn't take another approach. As a matter of fact, he started to attack with chakra, for he had noticed that even absorbing energy was taking a toll on the monster. 

So, with a portal constantly dropping stones from above, and black spikes from the front with the occasional chakra attack, Isshiki slowly but surely wilted the void slime down.

While this was happening outside the egg, inside Black Zetsu had just been repurposed by Madelyne and Madara. 

In the shared mental space created by the merging, Madara and Madelyne evilly laughed as they witnessed the end of Black Zetsu.

"Fufufu~Hehehehe."- Madelyne laughed. 

"Madi-sama!"- The betrayed Black Zetsu cried in existential pain. 

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"- Madara vindictively laughed.

"Ughh! Help me, Madi-sama!"- The betrayed cried.

"Fufufu~Hehehehe."- Madelyne laughed. 

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"- Madara vindictively laughed.

"It hurts!"- It pitifully howled.

"Fufufu~Hehehehe."- Madelyne laughed. 

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"- Madara vindictively laughed.

And in such a manner, Black Zetsu, slowly and painfully, was banned from existence. 

"What's going on?"- And with his 'totally needed' sacrifice, Kaguya's soul exited her seal and she was successfully unsealed. 

"Kaguyis!"- Madelyne called her in the way she used to do it. 

"Madelyne? What happened to Black Zetsu?"- She asked, she had sensed the presence of her will and followed it. 

"Of course, it was killed."- Madelyne openly declared.

"Why?"- Kaguya tilted her head.

"It was the will of a fully corrupted you. Why do you think I killed it?"- Madelyne gave her a solemn look.

"... I..."- Kaguya lost her words after understanding the implications. 

"It looks like my time is up."- Madelyne smiled softly while seeing her legs turn translucent. 

"Madelyne?"- Kaguya worriedly asked.

"Don't fret, this was always the plan. We won. Madara here will help you, I left you my body, half of the accumulated chakra went to him and the other to you, it's definitely not enough to win against Isshiki, but it should suffice, just hold on until Lucian arrives."- The only reason Madelyne and Lucian were giving Isshiki such a hard-fought battle was that they counted with psionic energy, Madara and Kaguya didn't. 

"We just need to hold on, that's all woman, don't put on such a grave face."- Madara dismissively said.

"Will we be able to even do that, child?"- Kaguya was right in her apprehension. She was weakened and Madara was not strong enough to fight someone on Isshiki's level. There was also the matter of compatibility, Isshiki's outmatched them, overwhelmingly so.

"Madelyne left helpers outside."- Madara added. 

"Who?"- Kaguya asked Madelyne.

"Some of my descendants and followers, there's also Shukaku. I believe a well-placed sandstorm will do wonders on Isshiki, it should at least annoy him."- Madelyne was thinking that even if he shrunk himself, if the sandstorm was fierce enough, he wouldn't be able to go about it all nonchalantly.

"Okay, I'll see what we can do. Please don't take too long."- Kaguya pleaded. 

"Don't worry, Kaguyis. It won't be long."- Madelyne said as the last of her faded. 

On the outside, there was a pitiful amount of the primordial blob of void. 

"Disappear!"- Isshiki shouted desperately, he sensed that the egg was growing in power and was pulsing as if getting ready to break. He didn't know what it meant, but so far every move his enemies had pulled has been to his detriment.

*Crack*- The eggshell cracked. 

Lucian seeing this, understood that his already limited time was up. 

*QZREEEEEEEEEE—*- So with the last of his will, he unleashed another sonic attack, only to fully crumble midway. But that was enough, he had stalled long enough.

—————————————————

Pure Lands.

Madelyne appeared in her soul state in the Pure Lands, succinctly followed by the white featureless Lucian. 

'Is it done?'

|Yes, now it's time to fix me.|- Lucian reached with his hands to hers.

'I'll wait for the good news in Abeyance.'- Madelyne smiled, as if the weight of the world had just been lifted from her shoulders, and reached for his hand and felt as the soul resource she had collected was passed to her friend. 

She disappeared with the same smile on her face and Lucian did as well.

___________________________________