"What's going on?!" Hiruzen and Minato both gasped in sheer shock.
In the next heartbeat, Aoda shot toward the Ten-Tails at breakneck speed. The surrounding splinter clones didn't even attempt to strike the great serpent, allowing it to glide all the way to Kanon's side.
"Aoda? What are you doing here?" Kanon let out a radiant, breathtaking smile, gently patting the serpent's snout.
Aoda gave a soft, raspy chuckle. "Kanon-sama, I never expected it would be Sasuke who summoned me. I am here to aid you."
"There is no need, Aoda. Go back and get some rest."
With those words, Kanon reached her hand into the Flower Realm, pulling out several containers of premium tea leaves.
"When you return, remember to present this to the White Snake Sage as a gift from both Kabuto and myself."
"And make sure you take excellent care of her on my behalf!"
"Are you truly certain you do not require my assistance?" Aoda asked, visibly bewildered.
"I am certain!"
"Very well... Kanon-sama, please watch your back."
Aoda balanced the premium jars of tea atop his head, dissolving into a massive plume of white smoke and vanishing instantly.
The most humiliatingly awkward person on the battlefield was now undeniably Sasuke. Gamakichi, Katsuyu, Sakura, and Naruto were all staring blankly at him.
Left with no other alternative, Sasuke formed a hand sign and summoned a giant hawk to suspend himself in mid-air.
It couldn't be helped; every single summoning beast residing within Ryuchi Cave swore absolute, primordial fealty to Kanon first and foremost. Now that he stood in a life-or-death confrontation against her, the denizens of Ryuchi Cave would never lift a finger to aid him.
Naruto and Sakura held their tongues, knowing better than to comment, as Sasuke pointed directly at the main body of the Ten-Tails across the field.
"Fly us across! Leave the main body at the center and Kanon to me."
Naruto briefly exchanged notes with Gamakichi while Katsuyu marvelled at the fact that Sakura had finally gathered the necessary chakra to summon her, remarking how proud Tsunade would be.
Staring at Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and the opposing Kanon, Hiruzen roared at the top of his lungs: "A new era has dawned! Move out!"
Spurred by the Third Hokage's thunderous war cry, the three members of Team 7 moved simultaneously.
"Take flight, Garuda!"
With a sharp screech, Sasuke's hawk carried him swiftly into the sky, soaring toward the Ten-Tails.
"I'm counting on you, Katsuyu-sama!" Sakura commanded, directing Katsuyu to cast her broad-scale division networks to begin healing the entire battlefield.
"Gamakichi! Jump!" Naruto bellowed, pointing toward the colossal beast. Gamakichi launched himself forward in a single, massive bound, sailing clean over a sea of splinter clones.
As gale-force winds buffeted the area, Sai braced himself against the pressure. Looking at Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura before casting his eyes toward Kanon perched imperiously atop the Ten-Tails, he muttered beneath his breath:
"So this... is the original Team 7..."
Gamakichi unsheathed his tantō, deflecting an onslaught of splinter clones while barking at Naruto to weave his signs and prime his jutsu immediately.
Up in the heavens, the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken spinning in Naruto's palm emitted a deafening, terrifying screech. On the opposite side, Sasuke stood firm atop his hawk, his Susanoo manifesting an arrow composed entirely of Blaze Release: Kagutsuchi.
"Sasuke!"
"I know!"
Backed by the roaring cheers and watchful eyes of their former academy peers, Naruto and Sasuke unleashed a synchronized assault, perfectly matching each other's chakra ratios.
Watching the two techniques intertwine, tears welled up in Sakura's eyes. How deeply she yearned for the nostalgic days when Naruto, Sasuke, Kanon, and herself were all fighting together on the same side.
"Wind Release: Super Big Ball Rasenshuriken!"
"Blaze Release: Susanoo Kagutsuchi!"
Witnessing the incoming cataclysm, Kanon offered a slight nod of approval. "An ingenious concept. To successfully fuse Blaze Release and Wind Release like this, they have to maintain an identical ratio of chakra down to the exact decimal point, don't they?"
Tobirama nodded in subtle amazement. He had never witnessed a Kagutsuchi of such immense magnitude. Facing the spectacular sight, he murmured in awe, "An achievement like that is exceptionally rare, even for comrades who have fought side-by-side for decades."
Minato smiled with pure, unadulterated pride. "A shuriken spinning like a windmill, paired with an arrow darker than the deepest lacquer... I shall name it: Scorch Release: Halo Hurricane Jet Black Arrow Style Zero! Actually... never mind, that was terrible."
Hearing two legendary Hokage heap such immense praise upon Naruto and Sasuke, Madara rested his chin in his palm, speaking with casual indifference:
"They're just two worthless brats. Do not make the mistake of underestimating her; she is the one who truly earns the right to be called a child of the Uchiha."
Just as Madara anticipated, Kanon had instantaneously deconstructed the dual nature transformations of the combined jutsu. When it came to composite techniques, she had been researching them since the tender age of six!
Kanon's Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan spun in a slow, hypnotic rhythm. Under the intense glare of her crimson eyes, she brought her hands to her chest. She watched the incoming assault from Naruto and Sasuke bear down on her and the Ten-Tails.
Yet, she remained seated, refusing to even stand. However, her expression grew freezing cold.
Within her palms, the blinding light of Dust Release flickered, but it manifested as a pitch-black hue, dense with the writhing flames of Amaterasu.
"Flower Release: Celestial Dust Explosion."
As the words fell, Kanon extended her hands outward. Instantly, the Dust Release structure in her palms expanded exponentially. The black cone vanished into the ether in a fraction of a second, and in its place, Naruto and Sasuke's Scorch Release: Halo Hurricane Jet Black Arrow Style Zero ground to a dead halt.
Because at that exact moment, the entire continuum of space directly ahead of Kanon was being systematically deconstructed. But this time, it wasn't just mere disassembly, the midnight-black Amaterasu flames seemed determined to consume and erase everything from existence.
The moment the Scorch Release hit the threshold of the Celestial Dust Explosion, the black flames were disassembled by the Dust Release, while the Rasenshuriken was utterly swallowed whole by Kanon's Amaterasu.
Sasuke's black flames were completely nullified. Then, by utilizing an identical ratio of chakra with her own Amaterasu, Kanon violently wrestled control of the technique!
The redirected Scorch Release: Halo Hurricane Jet Black Arrow Style Zero flipped mid-air under Kanon's Kagutsuchi control, hurtling straight back down toward the Allied Shinobi Forces.
BOOOM!!!
A catastrophic, bone-chilling explosion tore through the center of the army. The shinobi caught in the epicenter were instantly blown to pieces.
Dozens of others were splattered with the black flames of Amaterasu, reduced to nothing but ash within mere seconds, while the shockwave of the Rasenshuriken's detonation sent waves of pure terror rippling through the ranks.
Kanon finally prepared to stand up and join the fray personally when she suddenly detected a familiar presence. A look of genuine surprise washed over her face, followed immediately by a breathtakingly beautiful, ecstatic smile.
She cupped her hands around her mouth, jumping up in pure excitement as she waved frantically toward the horizon, shouting at the top of her lungs:
"I'm over here!"
The entire battlefield followed the sound of Kanon's voice, turning their heads toward the distant skyline.
At that exact instant, a brilliant flash of light pierced through the heavens as an orange dragon draped in prayer beads materialized in the sky.
"Sage Art: White Rage Technique!" Kabuto's echoing voice boomed across the field as a blinding, disorienting light erupted over the battlefield, accompanied by a paralyzing, high-frequency frequency of sound.
Yet, the ringing had barely started before the jutsu abruptly ceased, replaced by countless stone spires erupting from the earth beneath the Allied Forces, impaling dozens of shinobi instantly.
But the onslaught was far from over. Hidan tore through several shinobi with his triple-bladed scythe before spinning the weapon flawlessly off Kakuzu's hardened skin, sending it flying into the sky where it was cleanly caught by a massive clay bird.
Having completed his Earth Grudge Fear hardening, Kakuzu immediately unleashed Fire Release: Searing Migraine and Wind Release: Pressure Damage.
The combined frontline of the Allied Forces was instantly decimated by the sudden, overwhelming ambush. Before they could even attempt to regroup, a colossal, multi-headed bird plowed through the ranks, tossing squads of shinobi into the air.
Naruto and the others tried to refocus their attention, but the sky suddenly filled with several giant clay birds. Astride the clay creations, the Akatsuki's aerial division had officially breached the airspace.
As the Alliance forces prepared to launch a counterattack, Kisame Hoshigaki leaped down from the clouds, his fingers blurring into a sequence of hand signs.
"Water Release: Great Explosive Water Colliding Wave!" A monstrous deluge of ocean water erupted from Kisame's mouth, instantly forming a massive, ellipsoidal water dome that trapped countless incoming attacks and battalions within its depths.
An entire sector of the battlefield was transformed into an inland sea, where Kisame glided through the currents with terrifying, shark-like agility.
Up in the sky, a massive paper bird cut through the clouds above the battlefield. Instantly, an infinite cascade of paper sheets rained down, each one covered in a dense network of paper bomb scripts.
Deidara hurled a specialized piece of explosive clay into the center of Konan's descending paper sheets, roaring at the top of his lungs:
"Art is an explosion!!!"
Hundreds of thousands of explosive tags detonated in unison, blooming across the battlefield like a garden of cataclysmic fire.
Nagato descended from the largest clay bird, dropping directly into the center of the chaos. He looked upon the reeling Allied Forces with an expression of cold, detached finality, speaking softly:
"Foolish mortals. Before God... kneel."
"Super Almighty Push!"
An absolute, terrifying repulsive force radiated outward from Nagato's body. The pressure was so immense that it literally sheared the topsoil clean off the earth, upending the entire battlefield. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were completely incapable of resisting the localized gravity distortion, sent hurtling backward through the air.
Across the leveled landscape, the only individuals left standing were the Hokage, who were desperately straining to maintain the Four Crimson Ray Formation.
Utilizing the massive clay birds, the members of the Akatsuki descended as one, landing firmly atop the head of the Ten-Tails right beside Kanon.
"Kanon! The Akatsuki has come to aid you!" Nagato bellowed, his voice ringing with absolute authority.
"Thank you, everyone!" Kanon let out a joyous, beaming laugh, throwing her arms around Nagato and Konan in a tight embrace.
Seeing this, the rest of the Akatsuki members offered nods of approval, smiles breaking out across their faces.
"How could a spectacular bloodbath like this possibly be complete without me?! Lord Jashin, witness me!" Hidan prayed fervently, raising his scythe.
"I only hope that once this war is concluded, we can strip the Five Great Shinobi Countries of every single cent they possess," Kakuzu remarked, giving a firm nod.