"The Allied Shinobi Forces Technique? It is nothing more than a gathering of a mindless rabble," Madara said indifferently.
"We will use this jutsu to stop you!" Naruto roared.
Observing the scene, Obito and Kanon merely shook their heads with casual disdain. Obito spoke up, cutting straight to the core flaws of the newly formed alliance.
"Wrong. Even if you succeed in stopping us, it remains entirely meaningless. Why can you not understand?"
"This technique of yours will fall apart the moment the war ends, and some among you will inevitably repeat our mistakes."
"In this world, no matter how hard you struggle, you are predestined to fail."
Obito grit his teeth, his voice darkening. "Look closely, there is no such thing as hope in this world!"
Standing at the very center of the Allied Forces, Naruto bellowed back at Obito in defiance.
"No matter what you say, I firmly believe that hope will always exist!"
Madara glanced at Naruto and said coldly, "What is the point of debating the existence of hope in the middle of a war? Let us put an end to this quickly."
At that moment, Kanon, standing positioned between Obito and Madara, raised her hand. A Chidori Sharp Spear extending hundreds of meters sliced through the night sky.
"Firmly believe in hope? Hahahahaha!"
Kanon's wild laughter echoed as her expression contorted to the absolute peak of madness, yet it remained breathtakingly beautiful. In stark contrast to her visage, the power she held in her hand was an absolute, primordial terror.
"Then take that 'hope' you believe in so blindly, and drag it down to hell with you!"
Boom!
A terrifying flash of lightning descended. Though the Allied Shinobi Forces deployed multiple layers of defensive jutsu to withstand it, the resulting explosion was nothing short of catastrophic.
The pupils of Naruto and Kakashi shrunk in horror. In the sector struck by the Chidori Sharp Spear, a chaotic surge of lightning and explosions erupted, reducing the area to scorched earth. Amid the smoking crater, nothing remained but agonizing shrieks and desperate weeping.
"Look at that, Naruto! Is this the hope you wanted?" Kanon shrieked hysterically.
"Bastard!"
"Everyone, charge! This is the final battle!"
The Allied Shinobi Forces swarmed forward like a tidal wave, rushing directly toward the Ten-Tails.
Countless shinobi advanced in dense formations. Meanwhile, Shikaku's voice echoed within Naruto's consciousness, praising his quick thinking. Naruto's deliberate delay tactics had bought Shikaku the precious time he needed to formulate a strategy.
Communicated to the entire battlefield through Inoichi Yamanaka, the message was clear: in this battle, the Allied Shinobi Forces had to seize the initiative at every turn. They could not afford to give Kanon and her allies any room to counterattack.
First, they used the Hiding in Mist Technique to mask their movements, immediately followed by a coordinated strike to blind the enemy.
Sure enough, over in the Kumogakure ranks, Darui aimed directly at Kanon atop the Ten-Tails. Behind him, a massive contingent of Cloud shinobi synchronized their hand signs to release the same jutsu.
"Storm Release: Circus Laser!"
A blinding barrage of white light surged forward. The piercing radiance forced both Obito and Madara to shield their eyes, and even the Ten-Tails squinted. Only Kanon, who had fully activated her Sage Mode, remained completely unaffected.
Seeing this play out, Madara instantly discerned their strategy.
"I see. Their true objective was to blind the Ten-Tails."
"Next comes the Hidden Mist from before, alongside the insects from the Aburame clan."
"Coupled with the massive clouds of dust kicked up into the airflow by the Storm Release..."
"It is a flawless way to destroy our vision while preventing us from tracking their movements."
"After all, given our massive size, we have no way to hide."
Madara spread his hands and surveyed the shrouded environment. He let out a cold, mocking laugh. "But you all seem to have forgotten one crucial thing."
"We have Kanon."
Suddenly, amidst the dense mist, a terrifying white light erupted. A massive pink dragon materialized out of the glare, instantly obliterating the unit that had been sustaining the Storm Release into a bloody mist.
Immediately after, the pink dragon bit down on the orb it carried. Across the battlefield, a flash of white light akin to a miniature sun flared to life, accompanied by a deafening, catastrophic screech and violent atmospheric vibrations.
"Sage Art: White Rage Technique," Kanon muttered under her breath.
The horrific, concussive noise caused the air itself to vibrate violently. Countless shinobi began bleeding profusely from their eyes, noses, and ears due to the sonic pressure, while others were instantly blinded by the flash.
Before the technique triggered, Obito and Madara had placed their hands on Kanon's shoulders, while Kanon slammed her palms onto the back of the Ten-Tails. The three of them, along with the colossal beast, entered a state of intangibility, completely bypassing the destructive effects of the White Rage Technique.
As the intangibility expired and the White Rage Technique subsided, Madara and Obito looked out across the battlefield, cold sneers gracing their faces. Scores of shinobi lay dead where they stood, blood dripping from their faces.
Yet, before the alliance could even process the carnage, Akatsuchi and the rest of the Iwagakure vanguard slammed their hands onto the earth.
"Earth Release: Moving Earth Core!"
The ground beneath the Ten-Tails collapsed, sinking its massive body deep into the earth. Following up immediately, countless Iwa shinobi joined Kurotsuchi, weaving signs and roaring in unison: "Earth Release: Lime Buster Technique!"
On the other side, the Kirigakure shinobi followed up seamlessly: "Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
Finally, members of the Sarutobi clan leaped forward, spewing a massive torrent of fire into the pit below: "Fire Release: Great Flame Technique!"
Watching the onslaught, Madara expressed a hint of genuine surprise. "Incredible. To think that shinobi from five different villages could achieve such seamless coordination."
Kanon raised her head, locking her gaze alongside Obito onto Naruto, who was currently charging up a Sage Art: Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.
It was true; without pinning down the Ten-Tails, the Allied Forces stood no chance of launching an effective assault against Kanon, Obito, and Madara. Their only viable strategy was to strike at the leadership, to take out the three individuals atop the beast's head to halt the activation of the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Inside the minds of the Allied Forces, Shikaku quickly barked out orders: "All non-physical attacks are useless against Madara! Taijutsu users, go after Madara!"
"Obito and Kanon can phase through all attacks, but intel suggests this can only be sustained for five minutes. The same rule should apply to Kanon!"
"Coordinate closely with the Medical Corps! Maintain a relentless, continuous assault for over five minutes without letting up!"
"Naruto, look closely. This is exactly what you called it, the Allied Shinobi Forces Technique!"
Instantly, thousands of shinobi, including Naruto, leaped into the massive crater.
At that exact moment, a faint smile surfaced on Madara's face. He looked down at the incoming forces and murmured softly, "How pathetic..."
"Indeed. The so-called hope they rely on simply does not exist."
"And as of this moment, neither will they." Obito shook his head, looking almost pitying.
"The Ten-Tails needs time to transition. Kanon, I leave this to you," Madara remarked casually, watching the swarm of Taijutsu specialists closing in on him.
"So this time, their target is not the Ten-Tails, but us?"
"Sensible. Taking out the enemy leadership is the foundation of military tactics."
As Naruto plummeted down alongside the massive vanguard, his pupils suddenly dilated. He realized with a jolt of horror that there wasn't a single trace of dismay or panic on the faces of Madara and Obito.
Something is wrong! Why?! The moment the thought flashed through Naruto's mind, reality struck him like a physical blow.
"Oh no!" He spotted Kanon's hands already forming signs, slamming them firmly onto the ground.
The Nine-Tails' chakra flickered violently in Naruto's right hand. Leading the charge at the very front, he did something completely unexpected—he manually detonated his own Sage Art: Rasenshuriken in mid-air.
A colossal shockwave of wind erupted, violently blasting the majority of the descending shinobi back out of the crater. However, a small fraction of the vanguard was still caught in the downward trajectory.
"Watch out!" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs.
The remaining shinobi had no idea what Naruto was trying to achieve by forcibly blasting away the very allies who had jumped down to fight.
But in the next split second, a cold sweat washed over everyone as pure terror took hold.
Midway through their descent into the abyss, tens of thousands of earthen spikes violently erupted from the walls of the crater. They skewered the vanguard clean through, right before the eyes of Madara, Kanon, and Obito.
The allied shinobi trapped inside the pit were obliterated in an instant. Before those hundreds of ninja could even comprehend what was happening, they were impaled and torn apart by the sudden onslaught of jagged spikes protruding from the bedrock.
A horrific rain of blood and shattered bone cascaded from above, reflecting the crimson hue of the moon overhead, a grimly fitting backdrop to the slaughter.
Only then did Kanon slowly lift her hands from the head of the Ten-Tails.
"Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation: Crimson Lotus Hell," she murmured coldly under her breath.
Her execution had been flawless; she had manipulated the surrounding earth to sprout tens of thousands of spikes instantaneously, aiming to wipe out the descending vanguard in one fell swoop.
Had Naruto not perceived the trap and used the explosive shockwave of his detonated Rasenshuriken to blow most of them away, the casualties would have been absolute.
Yet, those he failed to save were thoroughly reduced to a mangled slurry of flesh and bone amidst the crimson lotus landscape.
With a massive leap, the Ten-Tails bounded out of the pit, dragging a gruesome trail of blood and bone fragments along with it.
Kanon, Madara, and Obito looked down upon the remaining Allied Shinobi Forces with chilling indifference, looking at them as though they were nothing more than insects.
The Ten-Tails had shifted forms once again. Though its appearance had grown significantly more grotesque, its movements had become extraordinarily agile.
Naruto grit his teeth in intense pain. His right hand had been severely injured when he detonated the Rasenshuriken at point-blank range. Despite the protective shroud of the Nine-Tails' chakra working to heal him, the sheer force of the blast had dislocated his shoulder entirely.