"It looks like that snake has no control over you. Why are you still fighting for him?" Naruto asked as Madara walked slowly towards him.
"Fighting for him?" The Uchiha burst into laughter. "Whatever his goal is, I don't care. But you have something that belongs to me. The Rinnegan. They are my eyes. I'm simply going to take back what is mine."
Seeing the large amounts of senjutsu chakra that started gathering around Naruto's fists, Madara smirked. "I take it that you don't want to comply? Fine by me!"
With a kama in his left hand and his trusty gunbai in his right, he threw himself at Naruto, all the while laughing in glee.
"Die!" the Uchiha shouted, slashing vertically with his kama at him.
Naruto met his attack calmly and threw a palm strike at the incoming sickle. It was a Frog Strike.
If Madara was surprised at the fact that his Kama couldn't cut up the skin on his palm, his Sharingan eyes widened in disbelief when his entire left arm exploded.
Momentarily, he couldn't process what the hell just happened. But Naruto didn't give him time to breathe and threw a Toad Sage Fist at him.
Despite his surprise, Madara was a veteran of a thousand battles, so he didn't freeze up. Just as Naruto's Toad Sage Fist was about to take off his head, Madara brought his gunbai in front of him and used it as a shield, shouting:
"Uchiha Reflection!"
A chilling gonglike sound reverberated from the impact of the punch with the gunbai.
Even as the Uchiha Reflection technique was activated, it could not completely nullify the monstrous strength behind the Toad Sage Fist. The result was that Madara and Naruto were both blasted backwards, with Naruto slamming painfully into the Four Crimson Ray Formation and Madara being flung back like a cannonball for several kilometres, unable to stop his momentum until he reached the end of the lake and crashed into its gravel shore.
'Sage Mode users really are troublesome,' Madara thought with a frown as he slowly picked himself up from the crater he had created into the ground.
'I'm not his opponent in taijutsu.'
It wasn't the first time someone had surpassed him in close combat quarters; after all, during the Warring States Era, shinobi who could open the 6th Inner Gate of View and 7th Inner Gate of Shock weren't that rare.
'But I didn't expect someone this powerful to exist in the current era.'
Once his Edo Tensei body completely regenerated, Madara dusted off his clothes and looked towards the lake.
'Here he comes!' he thought when his senses picked up the massive chakra signature approaching his location rapidly.
Right as Uzumaki Naruto appeared in his field of view, Madara put his hands together like in prayer and shouted:
"Mokuton: Deep Forest Emergence!"
The beach and the surface of the soil behind Madara all ruptured as enormous vines and roots grew out of the ground. The scale of that jutsu was ridiculous. In mere moments, several square kilometres of land were covered by a dense, towering forest, and Naruto found himself assaulted by enormous wooden appendages from all directions.
But the blond didn't lose his cool. No matter how grand the technique, no matter how powerful and dangerous-looking it was, in the end, it amounted to nothing.
All the wooden vines, roots, and branches that attacked him couldn't even touch the hem of his Akatsuki cloak. They were all absorbed by the power of the Rinnegan.
Hundreds of enormous lotus-like flower bulbs bloomed, and a dense cloud of toxin was released into the air. Nevertheless, that toxic pollen was chakra-based as well. It, too, was absorbed by Naruto through the use of his Preta Path.
It seemed as if Madara's Mokuton technique was useless, doing nothing but feeding his own chakra to the enemy.
Nonetheless, the Uchiha was undaunted. A wood clone split out of his body and started controlling the massive forest to continue attacking Naruto, while Madara himself thought:
'Even with the Rinnegan, there is a limit to how much chakra one can absorb at a given moment. The moment that his chakra absorption rate fails to keep up with the amount of chakra poured into the techniques coming at him, he will lose his immunity to ninjutsu.'
Bearing that plan in mind, a haze of blue light came out of his body as the 1st stage of his Susanoo took form around him.
'Even with the limitless amount of chakra of Edo Tensei, I poured a massive amount into the Deep Forest Emergence… Let's see how you'll deal with this on top of that.'
As he thought of that, he formed a Ram seal with his hands.
Simultaneously, four more arms popped out of his 1st stage Susanoo, and, in pairs of two, those Susanoo hands formed two more seals: a Snake seal and a Bird seal.
For the first time since the start of his battle against Uchiha Madara, Naruto revealed an expression of surprise as he raised his head and looked at the sky.
The day appeared to have turned into dusk as the sun was covered by a huge, flaming body of rock.
It was a meteorite of immense proportions.
It finally dawned on him what Madara's plan was: 'He's planning on overpowering the chakra absorption rate of my Preta path!'
The skin and flesh of Naruto's right arm peeled off, giving way to metal as it turned into a futuristic-looking chakra cannon. It was the ability of the Rinnegan's Asura Path.
The space around the arm cannon seemed to distort from the intensity of the chakra that was being condensed at the mouth of the barrel.
Aiming his Asura cannon at the enormous meteorite coming from above, Naruto shouted:
"Hakai!"
For nearly 15 seconds, the world turned a blinding white, and all sounds appeared to have ceased to exist.
It was an explosion more powerful than anyone alive in the current era had ever seen in their entire life. An immense fireball lit up the sky like a second sun as the enormous meteorite was vaporized; it was erased from existence.
The mushroom cloud resulting from the explosion punctured the thermosphere, and the shockwave that burst forth from it was felt over dozens of kilometres, mowing down any trees in its path.
If Amegakure had not been protected by the Four Crimson Ray Formation, it would have been razed off the surface of the earth.
When the massive explosion finally died down, Naruto turned his attention back to Madara.
"Was that the best you had?"
The Uchiha glared at him. "It looks like it's time for me to get serious."
More blue light came out of his body, and, in less than a second, a humongous avatar in the shape of an armoured samurai came into existence.
"Nobody other than Hashirama had ever seen my Perfect Susanoo and lived to tell the tale. Other than Hashirama, no one else had ever forced me to go all out. I will commend you for that. Stand proud. You are strong."
"Your praise means less than birdshit to me, old man," Naruto spat as his hands formed the seals for the summoning technique.
His beloved wife, Konan, was giving birth to his children now, but he couldn't be by her side to support her because of Madara. He couldn't care less about his acknowledgement.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
A plume of smoke filled the air, and a toad appeared in front of Naruto.
"...What the hell?"
It couldn't even be called a proper toad. It was definitely not the kind of toad that could aid him in battle. In the first place, Naruto's intention had been to summon not just one toad but the entire clan, the entire army of toads, just like when he had fought against Pain a few years ago.
Unfortunately, what stood in front of him was a toad no bigger than his palm.
"Tou-san said he can't come to help," the tiny orange-skinned toad said in a high-pitched croak. "The Snakes attacked Mount Myoboku. We are in the middle of a war."
As the little toad disappeared with another plume of smoke, Naruto finally remembered the Prophecy that the Great Lord Elder Toad had made for him two years ago.
"In the second vision, I saw a war between shinobi that engulfed the whole world. Not one nation managed to stay neutral. Even our Mount Myoboku was burning. All I could see was war, death, and destruction."
He clenched his hands into fists.
'So the prophecy came true after all.'
According to the little toad, Mount Myoboku was under the attack of Kabuto's Snake Summoning Clan. And if Kabuto's words were to be believed, Konoha had already been destroyed a second time by Nagato.
'The prophecy said that nobody stayed neutral. I assume it's about the five great Hidden Villages… Then, are Gaara and Sunagakure under attack now too? And what about Iwa, Kiri, and Kumo? What are they up to?'
Naruto's train of thought was shattered as Madara's mocking snicker reached his ears.
"What was that? Was that supposed to be your Summoning Technique?"
The Uchiha was howling with laughter.
"Alas, you've entertained me enough. I won't drag this on any longer."
The Perfect Susanoo unsheathed its massive katana and swung it at Naruto. But, just like before, since it was a being of chakra, the Susanoo's blade melted like a liquid at contact with Naruto's palm, getting absorbed by the Preta Path.
The ground under Naruto's feet cracked as he jumped with his entire strength, launching himself straight towards Susanoo's head, where Uchiha Madara was located.
However, two more gigantic swords slashed at him.
'Gakido!'
His Preta Path absorbed the chakra of the incoming swords too, but the momentum of those attacks didn't disappear, and Naruto's jump was blocked, making him unable to reach all the way up to Madara's head.
"This is useless. Your Susanoo, as big and destructive as it may be, still can't hurt me. Ninjutsu is useless against the Rinnegan! I don't have time to be playing with you now," Naruto said, starting to lose his patience.
Madara chuckled.
"It's true that we both have the Rinnegan, so using ninjutsu against each other is ineffective. But while you don't have time to play around, I have all the time in the world. And, while you are a being of flesh and bones, I am not. I don't need to rest. I don't need to eat and drink. I don't need to sleep. I don't run out of chakra. I am immortal."
Naruto frowned. He may have been an Uzumaki, but that didn't mean his stamina could outlast an Edo Tensei.
"In the end, this has become a battle of attrition. It is a battle that you cannot possibly win," Uchiha Madara said. "I'll give you one last chance. Return my Rinnegan to me. Give me the Rinnegan, and I promise to let you and your village live. I swear it upon my name."
Naruto didn't deign him with an answer.
'I'd have to be an utter idiot to believe his words now. Should I summon the tailed beasts?'
It was part of their contract that, in times of need, they would help each other. That was their deal in exchange for making them immune to genjutsu and freeing them from the Gedo Mazo.
'No… I shouldn't do that. I promised them that I would not use them, that I was not secretly seeking their power. Maybe it would be okay to summon Kurama again, but I shouldn't trouble the rest.'
Forming the seals for the Summoning Technique again, he placed his right hand on the ground and said in a deep voice:
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Gedo Mazo!"
White smoke blanketed the entire area.
A second later, Madara's eyes widened in disbelief as 8 massive crimson-red tails slammed into his Susanno, sending his enormous avatar skidding backwards for hundreds of meters.
"Long time no see, Madara," a deep growl came from within the white cloud of smoke.
Naruto was no less surprised than the Uchiha either.
"You guys, what are you doing here?!"
He had summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, yet now, other than said Statue, seven bijuu appeared alongside it.
Except for the Eight-Tailed Demon Ox and the One-Tailed Sand Racoon, the other seven bijuu were now standing in front of him.
"What sort of question is that? Is this not what we agreed upon?" the Four-Tailed Monkey said in an irascible tone.
"Yeah! Yeah! Why didn't you summon us sooner?" the usually upbeat Saiken also spoke in a rather reproachful tone.
"I've always wanted to get back at that cursed Uchiha. There was no way I would miss out on this opportunity," Kurama said.
"Kurama just can't be honest with himself," Matatabi snorted, her voice dripping with amusement. "He is the one who rounded us up in our mental plane to come help you. He was sick with wor-"
"You shut your gossiping mouth, cat!" Kurama barked at her.
While most of the tailed beasts began bickering amongst each other, a large sphere of purple chakra started gathering at the mouth of the Seven-Tailed Beetle.
"I won't let you!" Madara shouted as he drew out two of his Perfect Susanoo's swords and slashed with both of them, launching a cross-shaped blade of light at the beetle.
At the very last moment, the Three-Tailed Turtle jumped in front of Chomei to protect him, and the Susanoo sword slashes that were capable of slicing through even mountains shattered into a shower of lights when they clashed against the giant turtle's thick shell.
Seeing that his ranged attack was blocked like that, Madara willed his Perfect Susanoo to attack directly, in close quarters.
However, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path let out a roar and charged at the Susanoo, tackling it.
"Enough playing around," Kurama ordered his siblings. "Everyone, follow Chomei's example!"
Naruto's first intention had been to tell the bijuu that ninjutsu was useless against a Rinnegan user, but then he recalled how Madara tried to overpower the chakra absorption rate of his Rinnegan by attacking him with Shodaime's Mokuton and with the massive meteorite.
'Wait. Maybe they're onto something,' he thought.
Therefore, he decided to keep his mouth shut and let the bijuu do what they wanted.
No, he didn't just watch; four extra arms grew from his torso, for a total of six. Then, six Rasenshurikens took form in his hands, all of them with a different nature transformation: wind, fire, lightning, lava, boil, and magnetic.
Seven tailed beasts with seven enormous bijuudama and Naruto with six Rasenshurikens that were just as strong.
An explosion even more powerful than the one that had vaporized the meteorite before boomed.
⁂
Prior to the tailed beasts' arrival, Naruto's and Madara's battle had reached a stalemate where neither could easily kill the other. The two were equally matched, with Naruto holding a small upper hand in their previous clashes.
However, once the seven bijuu and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path joined the fray, the result of the battle was set in stone. Even despite the fact that he was an Edo Tensei with limitless stamina, self-regeneration, and infinite chakra, and even after using Izanagi two times, Madara had been unable to turn the tides of the battle.
"To think you'd use my own tactics against me to win," Madara said with difficulty.
With the bijuu and Naruto joining hands to fire bijuudama and Rasenshurikens at him, even the defense of his Perfect Susanoo had been unable to hold on for long, and the chakra absorption rate of his Preta Path had been overwhelmed too.
Currently, blind in both eyes, Madara was desperately struggling to hold onto his soul with both hands as he was stuck in a tug-of-war with Naruto, who was using the Human Path of his Rinnegan on him.
Unlike the previous Edo Tensei corpses, whose souls Naruto had effortlessly ripped out after destroying their bodies, Madara wasn't easily giving up on his life, even after half of his body had been obliterated.
"You fought a good fight. Just go to sleep, old man," Naruto said calmly, his visage greatly contrasting with Madara's agonizing facial expression.
"You don't understand what you're doing!" the Uchiha shouted through gnashed teeth.
"I know exactly what I'm doing. I'm protecting the people I love, my family. I'm fighting to protect my people and my land."
"It's all meaningless!" Madara screamed, but then he let out a groan as yet another portion of his soul got pulled out of the confines of his body. "You're going to destroy everything I worked for my entire life! You're kicking away the only chance at peace this accursed world ever had!"
But the blonde was unmoved. "Your time has passed, Madara. You are a ghost of the past, and you should stay there. The present and the future are for the living to decide."
As he said those words, he forcefully yanked out the last segment of the soul that Madara had been clinging to.
The remains of Uchiha Madara's Edo Tensei body greyed out and cracked completely before scattering in the wind.
Uchiha Madara was dead.
⁂
"Kami-sama…!"
A chorus of gasps came from a large number of shinobi and kunoichi when they saw an immense meteorite catching fire from the friction with the atmosphere as it fell towards Amegakure.
Their cries only increased in volume when that meteorite was vaporised and a massive explosion blinded them all, despite how far away they were from the scene; they were gathered at the border between the Land of Rain and the Land of Fire.
Going by their dark clothing, grey flak vests, and the symbols on their headbands, they were ninjas of Kirigakure. With Konoha destroyed, the Kiri army cut straight through the Land of Fire on their way to Rain, not fearing any retaliation.
The spectacle of lights and the sounds of massive explosions continued for a while, dousing the ninjas' courage and making them go weak in the knees.
"Do not falter," the eyepatch-wearing man who stood at Mizukage's side shouted when he realised from everyone's facial expression what they must be feeling. "I can see it with my Byakugan. Uzumaki Naruto may have won his battle against Kabuto and his Edo Tensei, but he was not left unscathed."
"Ao is right," the Mizukage also said. "Uzumaki Naruto is just one man, not a god, and his chakra is not infinite. He is weakened. This is the perfect time for us to strike! This is the perfect time for us to regain what Akatsuki has stolen from us."
⁂
A similar scene was happening at the border between the Land of Rain and the Land of Grass. The Kumo Nins were watching with bated breath the clash of titans happening in the distance.
Unbeknownst to Naruto, Kabuto's scheme had run much deeper than he thought. After Iwa and Kumo's crushing defeat at the hands of Amegakure, playing on Iwagakure, Kirigakure, and Kumogakure's desperation to get back their bijuu, Kabuto forged a secret alliance with the three Hidden Villages.
Kabuto had not come to Amegakure all alone. He had not been the only one to aim for the moment when Konan went into labour in order to launch an attack on the Land of Rain.
Kirigakure and Kumogakure had stationed their armies at the border of the Land of Rain too - it was their full power this time around. As for Iwagakure, they attacked Sunagakure so that Rain would be unable to ask for reinforcements.
With Konoha already destroyed and Suna under assault, the Land of Rain was left with no allies and nobody else's support. Between the full might of two Great Hidden Villages and Kabuto, who had the Mangekyo Sharingan and his army of Edo Tensei, the anti-Rain alliance was convinced that they were going to win the war easily this time around.
However, while Mizukage and her advisors were on the same page, working together to raise the fighting spirit of their army, the situation was quite different in the Kumogakure camp.
Away from prying eyes and ears, the new Raikage, Darui, was in the middle of a heated debate with none other than Killer Bee, the Eight-Tails Jinchuuriki.
"There is no winning this, Darui! You're going to doom everyone!" Killer Bee shouted.
The once-jovial man looked like a shell of his former self. He had lost a significant amount of weight, and he was no longer speaking in rap rhymes either.
"We've been over this before, Bee-sama. Uchiha Madara, Pain of Akatsuki, Uchiha Itachi, the Mad Bomber Deidara, and many other legendary Shinobi who had perished are now on our side. Our victory is certain," Darui said impatiently.
"Uzumaki Naruto has signed a summoning contract with all the tailed beasts! Gyuki told me this! And he has grown far more powerful than the last time we tried to attack Rain. Don't do this, Darui. You still have time to turn back and live another day."
"That is enough!" Darui raised his voice.
"Darui-"
"No. You had the chance to become the Raikage. You were the Elders' first option, but you turned it down. You were the one who pushed this responsibility onto me," said Darui. "You made me the Raikage! It's time for you to obey the orders of the Raikage, just like everyone else."
As Killer Bee became silent, Darui continued:
"Do you want us to retreat? Now? Did you forget how many of our comrades lost their lives at the hands of that butcher? Did you forget the cruel fate he forced on A-sama? Did you forget how A-sama committed suicide by refusing to eat and starving himself to death instead of living paralyzed?"
"There is no turning back for us. Uzumaki Naruto and Kumogakure cannot coexist."
It was unlike Darui to let his temper get the better of him, but Killer Bee's insistence on retreating over the past few days had grated on his nerves, leading to the present situation where he became unable to hold it in anymore.
Killer Bee no longer spoke. He turned around and left the Raikage's tent without saying a word.
"Where are you going? Bee!"
But he didn't receive any answers.
Not long after Killer Bee's departure, another Kumo nin came into the tent hurriedly and said:
"Raikage-sama! The Mizukage contacted us via radio. It's time!"
⁂
"That damned snake escaped again," Naruto muttered, irritated.
Once he ripped Uchiha Madara's soul out with his Human Path and his Edo Tensei body scattered in the wind, Naruto didn't spend a long time talking to the bijuu. He was too anxious to go see his wife in person. He couldn't wait a minute longer to see his newborn children.
"Thank you so much for coming to help me in this battle! If it wasn't for you-"
"There's no need for flowery words between us, Naruto," Matatabi said, smiling in understanding.
"I can sense your impatience. Don't waste your breath talking to us now," Kurama chuckled. "Go to your wife. Go to your children."
Naruto bowed to them respectfully, from the waist.
"Thank you. Truly!" he said sincerely. "I will treat you all to a feast soon, I promise."
"Are you sure about that? Can you really feed seven mountain-sized tailed beasts?" Kokuo, the five-tailed horse asked in amusement.
"Stop bothering him, you," Chomei admonished his sibling. "Just go, Naruto. We'll talk later."
And with that, the seven bijuu and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path vanished in a dense cloud of white smoke.
Not sparing another glance at the devastated scenery he was leaving behind, Naruto was just about to order his Shadow Clone to summon him into Konan's hospital room… but, a split second before he could do that, his Negative Emotion Sensing rang the alarm bells in his mind.
For a short while, he glanced at his surroundings in confusion. As far as his eyes could see, there was only the desolate wasteland that was left in the wake of his battle against Madara and the vast Lake of Amegakure. There was not a living soul around.
Making use of the Deva Path, Naruto flew up to get a bird's-eye view of the surroundings. He finally saw the reason why his Negative Emotion Senses went wild: two armies consisting of over 10k shinobi each were advancing towards Amegakure from the South and from the East.
"Goddamnit!" he let out a swear. "Shit just keeps coming, one after another!"
He was at his limits. Too many things had happened in such a short time; he was just a human too, after all, not a machine.
The pain of watching the remnants of his mother's chakra vanish from his seal...
The stress and anxiety over the safety of Konan and his newborn children...
The rage he felt at watching Nagato commit suicide for the sake of not harming his own people...
The life-and-death battle against Uchiha Madara...
All these had left Naruto drained both physically and emotionally.
And now, two immense armies of ninja were approaching, their malevolent intent as clear as day in his mind.
Naruto watched silently, without moving an inch from his spot, as the two armies spread out on top of the Lake, surrounding Amegakure no Sato from all sides.
"Uzumaki Naruto! This is the Mizukage speaking!" came a woman's chakra-amplified voice. "We have been watching you! We know of the battle you've just gone through! We know you're tired and that your chakra is almost exhausted! But we are giving you one chance! Relinquish the tailed beasts in your possession, and we shall let you and your village live. Should you refuse to comply, you and everyone else will be culled!"
When Naruto didn't answer right away, the new Raikage yelled too:
"You're facing the full might of two Great Nations. Resisting is meaningless in your current state! There is no escape for you now. You are surrounded, Uzumaki Naruto! Surrender, or die!"
Naruto's ringed, purple eyes glinted with ferocity as he glared at the 20,000 ninjas who were preparing to siege his home.
The greed, anxiety, and lust for power that were oozing out from the Raikage and the Mizukage… the mixture of hatred and terror in Kumogakure ninjas' eyes who were gnashing their teeth as they stared at him… and the fear and dread that came off from hundreds of Kiri nins clutching their swords with trembling hands… None of that was lost on him. He could see it all. He could feel it all.
Naruto's calm, steady voice rang in the ears of everyone on the battlefield when he spoke:
"All I'm surrounded by is fear. And dead men."
Four arms burst out from his torso, for a total of six, and he slapped his palms together, two by two, like in prayer.
"Chibaku Tensei!"
As his six hands parted, three black spheres of chakra came from between his palms and rose high up into the air.
The surface of the lake distorted as the water, along with entire chunks of rock, sand, and earth started levitating, heading straight to the black spheres floating in the air.
Screams of panic and terror erupted from the thousands of ninjas surrounding Amegakure as they all lost control over their bodies and got pulled up into the air too, slamming into the bodies of rock and water forming around the black spheres.
The ninja of Amegakure watched in a mixture of shock, awe, and reverent fear from the safety of the Four Crimson Ray Formation as thousands of their enemies met a brutal end, smashed into a gory paste or buried alive inside the three massive rock formations forming above the Lake.