Meanwhile, two silhouettes swept across the upper atmosphere. It was Madara and Kanon.
Kanon sat casually with her legs crossed atop one of Madara's Truth-Seeking Balls, while Madara flew alongside her.
"My chest feels strangely congested," Madara murmured, his voice tight. "My body feels unusually heavy as well."
"It's likely the Six Paths Tools," Kanon said, immediately recalling the Amber Purifying Pot and the Benihisa Gourd they had seized from the First Company to secure the Gold and Silver Brothers.
"Ah, of course." With a grunt of distaste, Madara spat the massive sage tools out of his mouth like a piece of unwanted phlegm.
"The tools of the Sage of Six Paths... utterly tedious gimmicks." Madara didn't even bother to look back as the artifacts plummeted toward the earth, continuing on his way with Kanon.
By sheer coincidence, the descending tools crashed directly into the path of Might Guy and Rock Lee, who were still sprinting toward the front lines.
Down below, the God Tree towered into the clouds, its silhouette casting a long shadow as a blood-red moonlight began to tint the edges of the horizon. The countdown to the end of the shinobi world had officially begun.
On another part of the battlefield, Minato stood panting heavily, a Rasengan spinning furiously in his remaining hand, while Kakashi kept his Chidori active beside him.
"You people are incredibly annoying..." Black Zetsu hissed in frustration. He had been forcefully piloting Obito's body to fend off the two Konoha shinobi, and the pressure was beginning to wear on him.
"Obito's consciousness is fading."
"Kakashi, get ready to move!"
Just as Minato prepared to strike, the Yin half of Kurama spoke up within his mind, urgently warning him to shift his chakra network into a sensory format.
The moment Minato expanded his sensory perimeter, his heart skipped a beat. He had been so entirely focused on the immediate battle with Black Zetsu that he hadn't noticed the tragedy unfolding elsewhere.
Naruto's Yang half of Kurama had already been violently ripped away. If the Yin Kurama hadn't intervened, Minato would have missed the narrow window to save his son entirely.
Right on cue, a desperate voice echoed from above as Gaara's sand cloud descended rapidly toward them.
"What's happened?!" Kakashi gasped, his eyes widening.
"The Nine-Tails inside Naruto was extracted by Kanon and Madara! At this rate, he's going to—"
Minato stared down at his son's pale, unmoving frame, a suffocating wave of guilt washing over him. Once again, he had failed in his duty as a father to protect his boy. In the silence of his mind, the words Kanon had once spoken to him rang out with brutal clarity:
"Out of the four Hokage, you are the one I dislike the least. In fact, I quite admire you. But… you are a terrible father."
The memory echoed through Minato's head, twisting like a knife and leaving an expression of profound agony on his face.
"Fourth Hokage!" Gaara shouted, breaking through his stupor. "The Nine-Tails inside Naruto told me to relay a message: you must transfer your half of the Nine-Tails' chakra into him immediately! That is the only way he will survive!"
Minato nodded firmly. Turning his gaze toward the enemy, he barked, "Kakashi, keep your eyes pinned on that creature!"
"Understood!"
Gaara immediately flanked Kakashi, both of them locking their sights onto Black Zetsu.
With the perimeter secured, Minato didn't hesitate for a single second. Though his Reanimated body was immune to death, he would have made this exact choice even if he were flesh and blood. This was the fundamental instinct of a parent. As his hands blurred through the seals, a torrent of memories flooded his mind.
He remembered the quiet evenings when Kushina was pregnant, the tender moments they had shared, and the solemn vow he had made to her:
"Don't worry. I will protect this child, no matter what happens, and no matter what it takes."
Kushina... our son is in grave danger once again... Minato prayed silently. It's my fault for failing my responsibilities as a father... Please, Kushina, lend us your strength.
With what I am right now, can I truly protect him?! No... this time, I absolutely must save Naruto!
But at the exact millisecond the Yin Kurama's chakra was channeled toward Naruto, a dark mass erupted from the earth. Black Zetsu intercepted the stream, instantly absorbing the Tailed Beast's chakra into himself.
Within the deep recesses of the tailed beast's mental plane, Black Zetsu sneered coldly, Nine-Tails... at long last, you belong to me!
Kakashi and Gaara stood frozen in sheer disbelief. Black Zetsu hadn't moved his physical host at all; he had used a subterranean jutsu to slip beneath the soil, launching a flawless blind-side assault on Minato's position.
Minato's reflexes were instantaneous, his Rasengan dropping toward the threat, but Black Zetsu had already retreated back into Obito's form.
Sensing the sudden shift in energy, Gaara whipped his head around and screamed, "What happened to Naruto?!"
Before anyone could answer, two figures descended from the heavens like falling meteors.
Boom!
A tremendous explosion tore through the clearing as Madara and Kanon slammed into the earth.
The Uchiha pair stood back-to-back, one towering and majestic, the other slender and lethal, striking a pose that mirrored the iconic arrival of Kakashi and Sasuke during the Chunin Exams. But the scenery around them was no longer falling leaves; it was a halo of pitch-black Truth-Seeking Balls.
True, unadulterated despair had finally arrived.
"Madara-sama... and Kanon..." Black Zetsu murmured, his tone shifting back to deference.
"You're taking too long, Black Zetsu!" Madara barked, his voice echoing with absolute authority. "I had to come find you myself!"
Madara's gaze locked onto the dark entity, while Kanon remained completely silent beside him.
"Zetsu, how much longer do you intend to cling to Obito's corpse?"
"My deepest apologies, Madara-sama... but I have successfully plundered the other half of the Nine-Tails from them for your sake," Black Zetsu replied smoothly.
"Excellent. Hand it over along with my left eye."
Minato, keeping his sensory network active, broke into a cold sweat as he stared at Madara. The pressure radiating from the man was suffocating, a Six Paths power far more absolute than anything Obito had ever wielded.
"The Fourth's Nine-Tails chakra has definitely been taken by that black entity," Gaara said, his voice dropping into a tense, heavy tone.
"Madara... how did you attain the Power of the Six Paths?" Kakashi asked, his voice trembling slightly.
But in the next heartbeat, both Sakura and Kakashi's eyes shifted entirely to the girl standing beside the legendary Uchiha.
"Kanon... did you do this?!" Sakura cried out.
"I did," Kanon answered flatly, offering no denial.
"Have you lost your mind?! Why would you side with a monster like Madara?!" Kakashi roared.
Kanon looked down at Naruto's breathless form. Though a flicker of sorrow brushed her features, her voice remained utterly detached as she spoke:
"Are you still repeating such naive nonsense, Kakashi?"
"I told you a long time ago: stop pretending to be my mentor. You don't have the right to lecture me."
"I also told you that to cultivate the flower field in my heart, I am prepared to bear the weight of any sin."
"Even if it means killing Naruto..."
As the words left her lips, Madara reached out and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"Cutting down one's own friends is an agonizing burden. There is no need to suppress it; if you wish to weep, let the tears fall," Madara said softly.
"I am not suppressing anything. I am merely stating a fact," Kanon replied, though her voice carried a distinct, involuntary tremor.
Right then, Black Zetsu began to peel away from Obito's physical frame, laughing coldly, "Now that Madara-sama is here, even if I leave this vessel, you pests can't do a single thing to stop me."
But before he could fully detach, his dark mass was violently wrenched back into place. Seizing the opening, Gaara yelled, "Let's go, Kakashi!"
The two shinobi repositioned themselves behind Obito just as the Uchiha's right eye snapped open.
"He's regained consciousness?" Kanon noted calmly, her hand resting firmly on the hilt of her Kusanagi Sword.
"You miserable piece of trash!" Black Zetsu snarled internally, fighting for control.
"It's not over yet..." Obito gasped out, his gaze cutting past the Leaf shinobi. "I have a question for you, Madara!"
Gaara prepared to launch an attack, but Kakashi threw an arm out to stop him.
"Naruto needs the Nine-Tails inside him to survive," Kakashi whispered urgently. "We cannot afford a single mistake. Unless we are entirely out of options, we cannot risk destroying the host."
Obito glared directly at the two Uchiha standing before him. One was the man who had pulled his broken body from the rubble and methodically engineered his descent into darkness. The other was the girl whose life he had personally dismantled, steering her down that very same path of despair, shattering her world just as Rin's death had shattered his own.
Locking eyes with the legendary ancestor, Obito demanded, "Madara! To you... what exactly was I?!"
"Hehehe... Hahahahaha!"
"Don't be ridiculous," Madara sneered, his laughter dripping with utter contempt. "To ask such a tedious question at this stage of the game."
"To me, you were never anything more than an extension of myself. You were Madara."
"The ones who reject the hypocrisy of this world are Madara and Kanon."
"Those who put those thoughts into motion to realize the Infinite Tsukuyomi... they are all Madara."
"With the sole exception of Kanon, every tool utilized for this grand design is Madara!"
Obito's frame trembled violently as the memories of Rin surged through his consciousness.
"That was the path I once chose to walk," Obito muttered hollowly.
"During the era before my resurrection, I entrusted everything to you, allowing you to walk ahead of me as my vanguard," Madara continued smoothly. "That was the path I paved for your sake. And for that, I am truly grateful, especially since your actions ultimately brought Kanon to my side."
"You were meant to sacrifice your life under the mantle of Madara to achieve our ultimate goal."
"To become the savior who rescues this wretched world. The reality that the Sage of Six Paths left behind is nothing but a miserable failure."
Obito didn't reply; his eyes shifted silently to Naruto's limp form, a final, unyielding resolve hardening within his chest.
Unaware of the shift, Madara turned his gaze toward the surrounding shinobi, his voice rising as he laid bare the history of their world.
"The actions of the Sage of Six Paths did nothing but exacerbate the contradictions inherent in human nature."
"Kanon, who stands beside me, is the absolute proof of that failure. Even if hearts are linked, the only truth humanity ever learns... is that people are fundamentally incapable of truly understanding one another."
"Of course, I have already transcended the limitations of a mere human."
"No matter how you look at it, chakra does nothing but breed conflict, constructing nothing but a facade of false hope."
"You and I are exactly the same. In our pursuit of peace, we inherently crave war; that is the immutable reality of existence."
"And within this reality, the parasitic energy known as chakra forces us to endure an endless cycle of agony."
"Because those who possess power will inevitably hunger for conflict, while those who lack it are doomed to lose everything!"
"Kanon is the living testament to this truth! Only by her standing at my side can we forge a brand-new world that rises far above this broken system!"
"Through the Infinite Tsukuyomi, we will create a dreamscape entirely devoid of this detestable chakra."
"A world free of agony, featuring a beautiful, endless flower field where peace reigns supreme, where souls can converse without deception, where death no longer exists, and everyone can truly understand one another."
"And I, the final and absolute master of chakra, will be the one to guide humanity into it."
"Which is why you are me! You are not Obito!"
"Because Obito Uchiha was a pathetic child who possessed nothing but standard Uchiha chakra."
"A boy who challenged Kakashi Hatake simply to become Hokage and win the affection of Rin Nohara."
"Yet, because his power was nothing but a fragile illusion, he ultimately watched everything he cherished burn to ash."
"This world is an absolute hell! Have you forgotten?!"
The moment Madara's roar echoed through the clearing, fresh tears of blood spilled over the eyelashes of the girl beside him. In her mind's eye, she was six years old again, standing frozen as she stared at the lifeless bodies of her parents pooling in crimson.
"That's right... this world is nothing but a living hell!!!"
Kanon screamed, her voice cracking with manic intensity as she glared at Obito. "You bastard! Hurry up and return to our side!"
Staring at her, the phantom agony of losing Rin pierced through Obito's soul once more, the memories of his past and present bleeding into one another.
Madara extended a hand toward him, taking a slow step forward as their silhouettes seemed to merge into a single towering shadow.
"From this day forward, you are the savior of this world!"
"Even now, you can still be that savior!"
————
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]