"It's a promise, then!" Hashirama stood up and turned to Tobirama. "Tobirama, get ready to fly us outside."
"I am currently restrained by the seal, so I cannot use the Flying Raijin Technique," Tobirama replied helplessly.
"What about you, Orochimaru?" Hiruzen asked, shifting his gaze toward his former disciple. "You said earlier that you would listen to Sasuke, correct?"
"Naturally, I will accompany you all," Orochimaru nodded.
Standing nearby, Suigetsu was completely stunned. He turned to Jugo with an expression of sheer terror. "What about you, Jugo?"
"I am going as well. Protecting Sasuke is my mission."
Suigetsu's expression went entirely blank. Are you kidding me? There are four of the strongest reanimated shinobi here and three absolute monsters. I'm the only normal person among them. If I follow this crowd to the battlefield, I'm absolutely a dead man.
Thinking this, Suigetsu immediately began looking for an opportunity to slip away.
Before long, the group arrived outside Konoha. The Hidden Leaf Village was already half-rebuilt. Hashirama gazed out over the expanse and smiled.
"This kind of scenery really brings back fond memories."
At that moment, the Third Hokage walked up behind Orochimaru and asked in a detached tone, "Orochimaru, why have you chosen to help Sasuke? Didn't you once wish to destroy the village?"
Orochimaru lowered his head, speaking evenly to Hiruzen. "Having spent so much time inside Anko's body, I've come to realize a few things. Right now, I'm simply intrigued by Sasuke's entirely different way of living. He, like his younger sister, has carved out his own path. I am highly interested in the two siblings at the moment."
Before Orochimaru could elaborate, Hashirama's voice boomed. "Hokage! High atop the Hokage Rock that watches over this village, burn its image deep into your minds!"
Seeing Hashirama getting all fired up, Tobirama let out a helpless sigh. He truly had no counter for his older brother's antics.
In a flash, the two of them vanished on the spot. Minato placed a hand on Hiruzen's shoulder, and they, too, instantly disappeared into thin air.
I can finally see my son! Fugaku, it seems your daughter and my son share a deep bond... Naruto, as your father, I was never able to give you anything in life. So this time, I'm going to deliver a massive gift to you... I hope it helps you bring back your beloved Kanon.
Minato's internal monologue filled the Third Hokage, Hiruzen, with an acute sense of guilt, but this was a war he absolutely had to participate in.
"Come then, a war after all this time! We'd better stay sharp!" Hiruzen bellowed to the rest.
"Madara, you won't escape this time," Tobirama said coldly.
"Though the timing is inappropriate, I find myself somewhat looking forward to seeing an old friend. Wait for me, Madara!" Hashirama chuckled softly. "The world can never entirely rid itself of conflict, but this shall be the final war!"
The four Hokage stood atop their respective stone faces, overlooking the place to which they had dedicated their entire lives, working themselves to the bone, the place they would protect even at the cost of their own lives.
Hashirama nodded subtly, casting a glance at the three Hokage beside him.
"Move out!"
…
Meanwhile, at the center of the battlefield, the Ten-Tails was forced backward several hundred meters. Standing opposite the Allied Shinobi Forces, the three Uchiha stared forward with icy detachment.
"I'm different from you! I refuse to sever the bonds I already have, and I won't allow you to cut them either!"
Naruto glared resolutely at the three opponents across the field, his voice ringing with absolute determination.
"You shouldn't try to maintain it..." Obito shook his head, looking down at Naruto.
Sure enough, at that exact moment, Naruto's Nine Tails Chakra Mode flickered out and vanished.
Standing beside Obito, Kanon pointed a finger toward Naruto, her voice freezing cold: "Die."
Behind them, the Ten-Tails raised its massive palm. Simultaneously, the three Uchiha rapidly wove a sequence of hand signs, unleashing a coordinated assault toward the Allied Shinobi Forces.
"Fire Release: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
"Amaterasu: Storm Dance!"
"Fire Release: Storm Dance!"
Two terrifying torrents of fire, carrying the pitch-black flames of Amaterasu right down their center, surged directly toward the Allied Shinobi Forces alongside the devastating strike from the Ten-Tails.
This cataclysmic assault, capable of instantly wiping a hidden village off the map, tore across the battlefield, causing the very earth beneath to fracture and split open.
Seeing this, Naruto desperately funneled every shred of his remaining chakra to protect the Allied Shinobi Forces. However, his efforts were futile against what lay ahead, as what Kanon had unleashed was the unquenchable Amaterasu!
In an instant, the shinobi standing at the absolute vanguard were incinerated into ash. Naruto realized with agonizing clarity that he couldn't save everyone; he could only push his body to its absolute limits to salvage whomever he could. He forcefully increased the density of the Nine-Tails' chakra cloaking the shinobi in the rear, while those in the front lines had already been completely consumed by the black flames.
Finally, the wall of fire swept past, and the black flames dispersed, an indicator that the corpses had been burned to absolute nothingness. Thanks to his intervention, a significant portion of the shinobi in the rear survived, though a few unfortunate souls still perished in the crossfire.
Choji stared down at his own hands, trembling as he realized that if he had been standing even a few steps further forward, he would have been turned to ash in an instant despite the protection of Naruto's Nine-Tails chakra.
But before anyone could catch their breath, the eyes of Obito, Kanon, and Madara shifted simultaneously into their Mangekyou forms.
"Yasaka Magatama!"
"Apocalypse: Flower Burial!"
To complement their offensive, Obito unleashed a massive volley of kunai from the Kamui dimension, raining them down upon the Allied Forces.
"Damn it! Here comes the next wave!"
Naruto exerted every ounce of his strength to expand the Nine-Tails' chakra shield. While Obito's kunai and Madara's Magatama were successfully intercepted, the Apocalypse: Flower Burial acted like a relentless gatling gun, savagely battering the Allied Shinobi Forces.
The razor-sharp cherry blossoms tore through the defenses of the Nine-Tails' chakra cloak in a matter of mere petals.
Agonized screams began to echo across the dirt as the flying blossoms cleanly severed the limbs of several shinobi.
Watching this unfold, Sakura collapsed heavily to the ground. She knew Naruto's chakra had been constantly safeguarding everyone, but under this kind of continuous, high-intensity drain, how much longer could he possibly endure?
Evidently, even with Naruto pushing himself to his absolute limits, he was entirely incapable of halting the advance of the Apocalypse: Flower Burial. More and more agonized cries pierced the air across the battlefield, underscoring Naruto's ragged, heavy breathing. He was truly doing everything within his power.
Yet, it was not enough. He had saved many, but he had failed to protect just as many. Looking out over the field now littered with corpses, Naruto's expression turned immensely grim.
When the wave of attacks finally abated, countless shinobi shifted their gazes back toward the ridge where the three Uchiha had been standing, only to find the spot completely vacant.
"Where did they go?"
"How did they just disappear?"
Confusion rippled through the ranks of the battlefield.
Right at that moment, Kakashi's sharp roar snapped everyone back to attention.
"Above you! Naruto!"
Sure enough, directly in the airspace above Naruto, a space-time vortex materialized as Obito emerged, driving a clenched fist straight down toward him.
Possessing the ability to sense negative emotions, Naruto reacted instantly, leaping clear of the impact zone. Obito touched down on the earth, a mocking sneer gracing his features.
"Naruto, look behind you."
The moment Obito's words left his mouth, before Naruto's feet could even touch the ground, Kanon stepped smoothly out of her Flower Realm. Her Kusanagi Sword flashed through the air, cleanly severing Naruto's left arm with a single stroke.
In that instant, sheer horror washed over everyone, including Kakashi and Might Guy.
Yet, a subtle smirk played at the corners of Naruto's mouth. With a loud poof, his form vanished into a cloud of smoke.
"What?! A Shadow Clone?!" Obito muttered in surprise.
But elsewhere on the battlefield, a genuine cry of agony rent the air.
Everyone tracked the sound, only to find Naruto's actual body pinned high in the air, his chest completely impaled by Kanon's sword.
Across that section of the field, cold sweat poured down the face of the real Naruto as he hung suspended from Kanon's blade.
"How naive. Did you truly believe I wouldn't anticipate you using a clone to draw our fire, Naruto Uzumaki?"
"Kanon! Let me down right now!" Naruto yelled. Protected as he was by the Nine-Tails' chakra, a localized injury of this nature wouldn't kill him despite the agonizing pain.
Observing the scene from a distance, Obito let out a sigh of relief as he looked up at the impaled shinobi. "Naruto, constantly fighting a defensive battle solely to protect the masses... maintaining a status quo like this is entirely meaningless."
Right then, a violent surge of crimson chakra erupted from Naruto's true body, creating a concussive shockwave that forcefully blasted Kanon backward.
"Trying to control all the chakra I gave you at once is far too reckless! Besides, the Ten-Tails seems to be gathering its chakra again!" Kurama roared within Naruto's inner world.
"Attempting to rely on a raw chakra burst? Futile." Kanon lunged forward, closing the distance to Naruto in a literal fraction of a second.
Her blade swept across his chest, unleashing a spray of fresh blood, though the wound healed almost instantaneously under the nourishment of the Nine-Tails' chakra.
"I'm not finished yet." Kanon drove a solid fist straight into Naruto's face, sending him tumbling violently across the dirt for several meters.
Seeing Kakashi and Guy rushing in to reinforce Naruto, she simply utilized her intangibility to slip cleanly past their synchronized assault, reappearing directly behind Naruto to deliver a savage kick that cleanly snapped his leg bone.
Naruto collapsed heavily onto his knees. Witnessing his plight, Hinata prepared to charge forward to assist him.
"Don't come over here!" Kakashi barked a warning.
Kanon turned her gaze toward the approaching Hinata and unleashed a palm strike. The air pressure from the strike tore forward, phasing straight through Kanon's own forehead as she shifted dimensions.
Immediately following the maneuver, she fluidly reversed her grip on the Kusanagi Sword, plunging the blade straight back into Hinata's abdomen, the exact spot that had only recently been healed.
Hinata coughed up a mouthful of blood. Before she could react, Kanon delivered a brutal kick square to her face, sending her blood-splattered form crashing onto the earth, rolling for dozens of meters across the battlefield.
————
NOTE: This fic has been completely translated. If you want to read the whole story head over to my p-atre-on: p-atre-on.c-om/Overgod [Just remove the hyphen to access normally]