The Allied Shinobi Forces watched in stunned silence, particularly Shikaku and the others back at the headquarters.
"This... This is impossible..." someone cried out.
"It's Kanon's jutsu!" Shikaku grit his teeth.
"Furthermore, the Ten-Tails was never pinned down by us. It remained completely motionless only because it was building up power to change forms!"
"Did Kanon purposely delay us just so it could undergo its transformation?!"
Hearing Shikaku's analysis, those around him felt a wave of helplessness. "Then how do we deal with this monster?"
"Right now, we don't have the luxury to handle all three of them at once."
On the battlefield, Kakashi looked up at the Ten-Tails and the three individuals standing atop it with a heavy expression.
"Even so, we must confront them. Otherwise, we are completely finished!"
Many of the shinobi were paralyzed with fear. Kiba Inuzuka looked on in shock, while Akatsuchi stepped in front of the ranks, bellowing at everyone: "If you have time to be afraid, you have time to knead your chakra!"
"Be ready to move the exact instant we receive the operational orders from headquarters."
On the other side of the battlefield, controlling the Ten-Tails was becoming increasingly difficult for Madara and Obito.
"The Ten-Tails is becoming harder to restrain. We need to use Hashirama's cells to bind it," Madara said as Hashirama's cells from his body burrowed deep into the beast's brain. Obito did the same with the Hashirama cells in his right hand.
"Do you not want to test just how much raw power the Ten-Tails possesses in this state? First..."
"Sigh, how much power could it possibly have..." Kanon shrugged helplessly. No matter how hard it hit, could it really be more terrifying than Konin's Divine Art: Higanbana – Chibaku Tensei? That technique had annihilated an entire star system.
Still, since Madara wanted to play around, she wasn't going to oppose him.
"Which of you is going to control it?" Kanon asked, looking at the two men beside her.
"I will show them the true meaning of despair," Obito said coldly.
"Are you sure you can handle it?"
"Rest assured." As Obito spoke, he began manipulating the Ten-Tails, gathering energy for a Tailed Beast Bomb.
A massive, conical light of a Tailed Beast Bomb materialized within the Ten-Tails' maw.
The Allied Shinobi Forces trembled in sheer horror.
"Shikaku-san, disconnect for a moment!" Kakashi called out.
"Why?!" Shikaku began to argue, but his pupils suddenly dilated.
The sheer volume of chakra radiating from the Ten-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb was something even he could not have fathomed.
At that moment, Kakashi clapped his hands together, intending to use Kamui to warp it away, but the buildup was simply too fast.
Turning sharply to Akatsuchi beside him, he roared, "Use Earth Release to elevate the terrain!"
Akatsuchi nodded, instantly catching onto Kakashi's intent.
Beneath the Ten-Tails, the bedrock surged upward. The sudden shift threw off the Ten-Tails' aim, causing the Tailed Beast Bomb to veer off course as it was unleashed.
Far across the landscape, the resulting blast caught the attention of Deidara, who was currently en route to reinforce the frontline. He burst into wild laughter, praising the display of pure art.
"Hahahahaha! Now that is art! Did you all see that?!" Deidara shouted in envy, pointing toward the distant explosion that was actively altering the topography and turning the night sky into broad daylight.
"We see it! Just keep moving, you bastard!" Hidan yelled, hefting his triple-bladed scythe. He had just been hastily put back together with a White Zetsu body by Konan.
Behind Konan walked Kabuto, clad in an Akatsuki cloak and sustaining his Sage Mode. He grit his teeth, deeply anxious that something might happen to Kanon.
By their side, Kakuzu had already replenished his five hearts, and Kisame's wounds had been fully healed. Led by Nagato, the gathered members of the Akatsuki pushed forward rapidly toward the main battlefield.
Back on the frontline, Kakashi witnessed the distant detonation, his expression fraught with dread.
"From that distance... compared to the previous Tailed Beasts, this is an entirely different realm of power..."
Kanon glared at Madara and Obito in irritation.
"To miss a shot like that, are you two suffering from old-age cataracts? Well, old man Madara, you actually might be."
"Obito! Are your eyes as bad as the old man's? How could you let it shoot so wide?!"
Kanon relentlessly pressured the two, causing both of their weathered faces to flush with a hint of embarrassment.
"Losing its balance from just that... it seems the control is still incomplete!" Madara shouted.
"Dammit, try controlling it yourself then!" Obito barked back, snapping at Kanon who was simply sitting idly by without lifting a finger to help guide the beast.
"It's clearly because you two are just too weak. If I were at the helm, they'd all be dead by now!" Kanon puffed out her cheeks, staring them down.
"If you think you're so good, then you take over!" Obito yelled back, entirely exasperated. This girl was truly something else...
"Look at your age compared to mine! If I were your age, I would have already flattened the entire shinobi world! You useless fool!" Kanon scoffed, continuing her mockery of Obito.
Madara's mouth twitched. At a critical moment like this, Kanon and Obito were actually standing there bickering.
Because of the argument with Kanon, Obito's focus slipped, leaving Madara to handle the Ten-Tails alone. Under the strain, the beast began to lose control, firing off Tailed Beast Bombs erratically in every direction.
"You two brats! Stop arguing!" Madara roared.
Both Obito and Kanon paused, turning simultaneously to look at Madara.
"What do you want?!" Madara looked at the pair, slightly taken aback by their sudden unified front.
"Why are you trying to play peacemaker, old man Madara?! It's clearly this guy who can't cut it!"
As Kanon spoke, she raised her fist toward Obito.
Obito instantly caught her drift and bumped his fist against hers.
In truth, Kanon forcing the Ten-Tails to lose control and fire randomly was a calculated move to completely scatter the Allied Forces' focus. This alliance had been formed primarily to protect the people of the Five Great Nations.
With the Ten-Tails' indiscriminate Tailed Beast Bombs raining down across the continent, the civilian populations and standing armies of those nations were being thoroughly obliterated.
Indeed, Madara, Kanon, and Obito intend to erase everything!
The Allied Shinobi Forces had focused so heavily on the apparent infighting and bickering among the three that they completely overlooked the distant territories and towns being vaporized by the stray blasts.
"Our intentions should have been noticed by now," Kanon said softly.
"Then let us target their headquarters," Madara and Obito replied with cold sneers, angling the Ten-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb toward the sky.
Boom!
The Tailed Beast Bomb launched, streaking across the horizon into the far distance, leaving Naruto and the others frozen in shock.
As if sensing the trajectory of the oncoming projectile, Shikaku closed his eyes and looked up at the sky. He gently patted Inoichi Yamanaka on the shoulder beside him.
"It's coming for us."
"Shikaku, what do we do?" Inoichi asked.
"We do what we must. This is our final duty. Connect me to everyone on the battlefield!"
"I have formulated a strategy to stop the Ten-Tails."
Down on the main battlefield, Shikamaru's pupils contracted to pinpricks as he stared at the Ten-Tails, more accurately, at Kanon. Kanon was looking directly back at Shikamaru, a mocking sneer plastered across her face.
The absolute contempt in her gaze stripped Shikamaru of any will to resist. He could only stare blankly at her, finally understanding the true meaning of the despair she had once spoken to him about.
Seeing the utter horror in Shikamaru's eyes, Kanon felt a surge of deep satisfaction. This brand of despair was something she had tasted countless times before.
Even now, whenever she dreamed, she would envision the people dearest to her being torn away one by one while she stood by utterly powerless, her night ending only in bitter tears of regret.
"What a magnificent expression, Shikamaru, Ino," Kanon laughed aloud from atop the Ten-Tails.
Tears streamed down Ino's face. They both knew with absolute certainty that after this day, they would never see their fathers again.
But they were no longer children. They had to learn to accept this agony, for they carried responsibilities of their own.
As the Tailed Beast Bomb struck its mark, Kanon flung her arms wide. A cataclysmic, blinding flash of explosive fire erupted from the coordinate of the Allied Shinobi Forces' headquarters.
Then came the shockwave and the deafening roar. In that single instant, Inoichi Yamanaka, Shikaku Nara, and the rest of the staff fulfilled their final mission.
Watching Kanon stand in the center with her arms outstretched, tears spilling from her eyes even as her expression remained wildly ecstatic and maniacal, both Madara and Obito frowned.
At this moment, Kanon exuded an aura that made it impossible for even them to truly empathize with her. It was the manifestation of an endless, suffocating darkness and despair washing over her soul.
"That was a magnificent shot!!!" Kanon screamed, her face contorted in madness.
"Indeed. With this, the leadership of the Allied Forces is finished. Well, it is standard protocol."
Choji Akimichi looked at Shikamaru and Ino, his heart aching as if pierced by a blade.
"Shikamaru..."
"We are in the middle of a war, there is no need for useless words!" Shikamaru grit his teeth, his eyes locked dead on Kanon.
At that moment, Naruto, clutching his injured shoulder, stared at the scene in a complete daze. He looked up at Kanon, his voice trembling slightly. "How... how could this happen..."
Neji stood by Naruto's side, shouting at him: "It means that you are the linchpin of this entire operation!"
"No! I'm asking about what happened to Shikaku-san and Inoichi-san!!"
It was Kanon who answered him.
"They have likely been reduced to ash, Naruto."
Naruto snapped his head around, tears spilling from his eyes as his cerulean pupils shrank to their absolute limit.
"Kanon!!!"
The moment the words left Naruto's mouth, a Rasenshuriken detonated not far from his side. A group of allied shinobi were engulfed by the energy, their bodies torn to pieces.
Before Naruto could react further, a massive chakra blade from a red Susanoo came cleaving directly toward their position.
Hiashi leaped to Neji's side.
"Neji, shift to the right!"
"Understood!"
The two instantly unleashed Eight Trigrams Palm Revolving Heaven, attempting to deflect the strike from the ribcage-form of Kanon's Susanoo.
However, the terrifying kinetic force of the impact blasted both Neji and Hiashi clean off their feet, sending them flying backward.
"Neji! Hiashi-san!" Naruto screamed.
"Don't lose your focus, Naruto! Knead your chakra quickly! This is a battlefield, and we are in the middle of a fight!" Hiashi roared back in warning.
He and Neji stumbled back dozens of paces before finally stabilizing their footing. Hiashi called out to Naruto once more:
"People will fall! But if we lose this war, every single soul will die!"
"I know that!" Naruto yelled back.
"Before the operational plan can be executed, no matter what..."
Hinata leaped in front of Naruto, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Hiashi and the others.
"We must protect Naruto at all costs!" Hinata cried out.
"Hinata..."
Hinata looked up at Kanon, who was currently shrouded in the crimson ribcage of her Susanoo atop the Ten-Tails. The cold, elegant, and exquisite features of Kanon's face left Hinata somewhat struck.
The Kanon standing before her now overlapped perfectly with the childhood Kanon who had once given her something to believe in. Hinata raised her palms, her Byakugan flaring to life as she stared directly at her.
"Remember! The Hyuga are the strongest in Konoha!" Hiashi bellowed.
"The Hyuga? The strongest?" Kanon jabbed her hand into Madara's side as he continued to manipulate the Ten-Tails.
"Old man Madara, what do you have to say about the Hyuga being the strongest in Konoha?"
Without a word, Madara unleashed a direct Majestic Destroyer Flame toward the trio. A violent explosion erupted, instantly sending all three of them hurtling backward through the air.
"The Hyuga?" Madara said indifferently. "They aren't even fit to carry Uchiha's shoes..."