"What did you just say?!"
Uchiha Itachi's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
A curve?!
Are you freaking serious right now?
A Tailed Beast Bomb that curves after being fired?
I couldn't even dream up something that absurd if I tried!
"Yeah, you heard me right."
Minato let out a helpless sigh and said, "After it was launched, the Tailed Beast Bomb actually curved mid-air… and came back."
He looked utterly resigned.
Seriously, what kind of nonsense is this?
Even a fool could see something was clearly off!
And in the face of something so sudden and bizarre, there was nothing Minato could do.
He could only watch, helpless, as his own son took the hit.
His eyes burned with rage.
This is going too far!
The smoke and dust slowly began to settle…
Naruto and Sasuke had already fallen unconscious.
"At least they're alive..."
Minato and Itachi both let out sighs of relief.
Though both boys were injured, thankfully, it wasn't too serious.
Yako stepped forward to see them, she frowned slightly.
"What's wrong?"
Minato asked, clearly anxious.
With a trace of hesitation, she said, "Both of them are hurt—badly—but not to the point of losing consciousness. And yet, they've both passed out. At the same time. That's... very strange."
Minato clenched his teeth and cursed, "Whoever the bastard behind this is... damn them to hell!"
Itachi asked in a grave tone, "Miss Yako, what should we do now? You can't tell when they'll wake up?!"
"I can't," she replied. "All I can do is heal their injuries."
"Please do," said Minato.
Itachi gave a silent nod, just as powerless.
Whoever's working in the shadows...
Who are they?
Where are they hiding?
And how the hell did they make a Tailed Beast Bomb turn in mid-air?
Question after question, and each one was more frustrating than the last.
...
Meanwhile — in the Pure Land.
The Sage of Six Paths sat cross-legged, floating in the air.
A projection shimmered before him.
It clearly showed Naruto, Sasuke, Minato, and Itachi.
He listened to Minato's furious rant with an unreadable expression.
So what if I'm the one behind it?
It's not like they'll ever find out.
Let them think it was Madara.
He is the current Big Bad, their number one enemy after all.
Later on, when Mother makes her appearance, they'll probably blame her instead.
And that's fine—she's strong enough to take it.
She wouldn't bother explaining herself anyway.
As for me...
Chances are, I won't be showing up at all.
His gaze shifted to Naruto and Sasuke.
He could prevent Mother's revival right now if he really wanted to.
But excessive intervention is never good.
Let her come back and stretch her legs a little.
And that sneaky little brat in black...
He had overlooked him in the past.
But not this time.
This time, he'd take care of him too.
Mother...
I really want to know—once that little black pest is out of the picture, do you have anything else up your sleeve?
Once you're sealed away again... maybe then you'll finally give up for good.
A faint smile tugged at the Sage's lips.
Perfect.
Everything was going exactly as planned.
Even though signs of his presence were starting to leak through, who would ever suspect him?
They'd all just assume some mysterious powerhouse was pulling the strings from the shadows.
The Sage slowly closed his eyes, as if falling into a deep slumber.
Wait—
Something's off.
Where's Indra's descendant?
The one unpredictable variable in all of this...
The Sage opened his eyes again, starting to search for Uchiha Funan.
But—
Thanks to Funan's careful concealment, the Sage couldn't find a trace of him.
The power Funan had displayed was already approaching the level of the Six Paths—
Approaching his own power.
Would he ruin everything?
A dangerous glint flashed in the Sage's eyes.
If it came to that...
He'd have to intervene once again.
...
At that moment, Funan had entered a state of total detachment.
He was fully immersed in devouring corpses.
Some were White Zetsu.
Some were grotesque creatures created from bloodline limits.
And others were captive shinobi from Iwagakure and Kumogakure.
The White Zetsu and bloodline monsters were already dead, scattered all over the lab in grotesque, mangled heaps.
But most of the shinobi from the Iwa and Kumo villages were still alive.
And now—
One by one, they were letting out blood-curdling screams.
The entire lab felt like a scene straight out of hell.
Funan's expression didn't change.
He just kept doing what he was doing, as if the screams didn't exist, as if he couldn't hear a thing.
Ironically, the ones who were still alive—the Iwa and Kumo shinobi—turned out to be the least effective for his purposes.
White Zetsu were warriors of the God Tree.
Overflowing with life force—Funan's internal God Tree practically craved them.
As for the bloodline monsters... no contest.
Hiruko had used countless rare materials to create them.
They were on a whole different level.
When it came to vitality, there was no contest—he far surpassed even White Zetsu.
Funan sat silently, eyes closed, devouring the energy.
Inside his body, the fruit of ocular power continued to evolve, its level steadily climbing.
The Rinnegan.
It was close.
Very soon, he would truly stand at the summit of the shinobi world.
His blood surged through his veins, growing hotter by the second.
It felt like it was about to boil.
Who knew how much time had passed...
Deep within Funan's body, a golden fruit slowly took form.
A level seven fruit.
At last.
Gazing at the fruit, a storm of emotions welled up in Funan's heart.
Years of relentless effort.
Countless sacrifices.
Since his reincarnation into the shinobi world, he had spent many days in fear, haunted by uncertainty.
But now, in this very moment...
He finally had the strength to face his nightmares head-on.
He would ascend to the same realm as the Sage of Six Paths himself.
The fruit fell.
And merged with Funan's body.
At that instant, an overwhelming and terrifying aura exploded forth.
The sheer pressure threatened to rip apart the specially reinforced laboratory.
Tremendous power rampaged inside Funan, crashing violently, almost tearing his body apart from the inside out.
He clenched his eyes shut, gritting his teeth in agony.
Two streaks of blood-red tears trickled down from his eyes.
"It's here!"
"It's coming!"
"Zehahahaha...!"
Funan let out a laugh that sent shivers down the spine.
"I can feel it!"
"My power... it's still rising."
"The entire shinobi world—will vanish."
"To all my enemies—starting today, I'll be your worst nightmare!"
...
"Cough, cough!"
A dry hacking cough echoed as Uchiha Madara emerged from the dust.
He looked at Senju Hashirama and said, "Well, this is unexpected. Hashirama, was this your plan? No, can't be—you're not clever enough for something like this."
"Hahaha!" Hashirama laughed heartily. "That's right, Madara. You're as sharp as ever. This one's all Tobirama's doing."
Senju Tobirama: "..."
Uchiha Madara: "..."
Wait, was I complimenting him just now?
Still, neither of them made a move.
Because deep down, they knew—this was the real Hashirama.
If he ever did start scheming intelligently, they wouldn't know how to deal with it.
"I'll admit that last attack caught me off guard," Madara said with a mocking smile. "To think it actually killed me once. Impressive. But tell me, Hashirama—how will you handle the next one?"
[Vrrrmmm—!]
The Divine Tree trembled. Several cannons once again began to charge with energy.
Sage chakra surged through Hashirama's body.
"Sage Art: Gate of the Great God!"
With a fierce cry, he summoned a barrage of massive red torii gates from the sky, slamming them down upon the Ten-Tails.
"ROAR!"
Even in its transformed Divine Tree state, the Ten-Tails couldn't suppress its howl of pain.
"Hashirama!"
Madara shouted angrily and charged forward.
With him here, Hashirama still dared to attack the Divine Tree?
Was he being ignored?
"Back off, Madara!"
Hashirama yelled back just as furiously.
If they let the Ten-Tails fire again, how many of the Allied Shinobi Forces would be left?
"It's almost time... just a little longer..."
Madara muttered to himself as he picked up speed, barreling toward Hashirama.
[Boom!]
Once again, the two clashed in a thunderous impact.
"As expected of the first generation and Uchiha Madara..." Minato murmured in awe. "That chakra... it's like a bottomless pit. If it were me, I'd have collapsed ages ago."
"You..." Tobirama glanced at Minato, frowning. "You're not seriously tired, are you?"
"Huh?"
"My brother and Madara are both reanimated," Tobirama said, baffled. "You and I are too. Our chakra is infinite. Why are you saying things like that?"
Minato: "..."
Tobirama gave him a deep look of disdain.
No wonder he was the shortest-lived Hokage in Konoha's history.
Serves you right!
With that brain of yours, who else but you was going to die early?
"Second Hokage, what should we do now?"
Itachi quickly cut in to break the awkward silence.
"What else?" Tobirama sighed. "Keep attacking. Best case, we interrupt their next strike."
"Attack...?"
Just hearing that word made Itachi flinch instinctively.
That last Tailed Beast Bomb they launched?
It made a U-turn midair and came back.
Can you even imagine that?
Can you believe it?
If they attacked again... who knew what disaster might happen next?
"Sigh... Don't worry." Tobirama let out a breath and looked at Naruto and Sasuke. "Whoever's hiding in the shadows is clearly after them. Now that they're unconscious, and their location is relatively secure, that person might not interfere with our attacks."
"Good point."
They had already noticed that the enemy's main target was Naruto and Sasuke.
Hearing that there wouldn't be any more misfires or backlashes, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. Reenergized, they resumed their assault.
[Whoosh!]
Several high-level attacks launched—two of them even bounced back.
Thankfully, someone had been prepared and deflected the returning blasts in time.
But—
This mishap was like a slap across Tobirama's face. His expression darkened immediately.
"What now?" someone asked, anxiety creeping in.
They quickly issued orders to begin a retreat.
But!
With the enemy poised to strike, how far could they really get?
Would they make it out of range in time?
Tobirama scanned their surroundings, then suddenly shouted, "Yako!"
"Here!"
"Minato!"
"Here!"
"Shisui, here!"
"You three, with me. We'll use a sealing technique to trap the Ten Tails."
"Seal it?"
"Yes." Tobirama's tone was grave. "We'll use the Four Red Yang Formation."
Eyes lit up.
"That technique?"
This barrier could isolate the target from the outside world, with walls of burning flame.
Nothing could get in—and nothing could get out.
Anything that touched the barrier walls would be scorched.
It was a perfect blend of offense and defense.
And with this technique, they could definitely block the Ten Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb.
No more hesitation.
The four quickly positioned themselves around the Ten Tails and began forming hand seals.
"Four Red Yang Formation!"
[Boom!]
[Hummmm...]
Walls of blazing red flame rose slowly, trapping the Ten Tails inside.
"Roooaaaar!"
The beast howled in rage.
Its tree-like body thrashed wildly.
Too late. The Tailed Beast Bomb was already sealed off—there was no interrupting it now.
It fired a blast anyway, only for it to slam into the barrier and be reflected back.
A massive cascade of reversed flame exploded skyward, like a volcano rupturing the heavens.
"We did it!"
Cheers broke out.
This hit was even more effective than their earlier attempts.
"That big tree... is it trying to kill itself?" someone murmured with a hint of hope.
The smoke cleared.
The Ten Tails stood before them, smoke rising from its body.
Severe burns covered much of its frame.
Its chakra signature was rapidly declining.
Uchiha Madara narrowed his eyes.
Then, without warning, he used Shadow Clone Jutsu.
The clone vanished in an instant.
"Madara, what are you doing?!" Hashirama shouted.
Seeing Madara's sudden move filled him with unease.
But—it was just a shadow clone. What could it possibly accomplish?
"Heh... you'll find out soon enough," Madara replied, locking eyes with Hashirama like a predator eyeing its prey.
...
[Thud!]
A White Zetsu corpse hit the ground.
Its eerie green eyes stared ahead—locked onto one man.
Kakuzu.
Nearby stood Kakashi and two others.
Only Obito was left on the other side.
The rest of the White Zetsu army had been wiped out. Black Zetsu was still around but hiding—too afraid to show himself.
Still—
No matter how much he didn't want to come out, when he received the latest intel, he had no choice but to emerge from underground.
He glanced at Obito and muttered, "Obito, Madara's growing impatient. And... the situation's turning against us."
"The Allied Shinobi Forces' elites have already finished off their opponents and are headed here. Our disadvantage will only get worse. Maybe... maybe it's time to initiate that plan..."
He never finished his sentence.
Obito's cold gaze alone was enough to shut him up.
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