Far below the celestial battlefield, on the surface of the Earth, the world was still fighting for its life.
In the Land of Water, the sky above the Hidden Mist Village was scarred by the fiery trails of falling rock.
BOOM!
Another meteorite, burning with scorching white light, broke through the clouds, its trajectory aimed squarely at the heart of the village.
"Damn it all, how many more are there?!" Atop the Mizukage building, Mei Terumi's face was grim, etched with exhaustion. Beside her, the surviving Mist shinobi were panting, their chakra reserves dangerously low after hours of ceaseless battle. Seeing another colossal rock descend upon them, a wave of bitter despair washed over them.
ROOOOAR!
A deafening roar suddenly erupted from the village's largest lake. The water's surface, over a hundred meters across, exploded upwards in a massive wave as a colossal, spined figure emerged from the depths. The Three-Tails, Isobu.
Its sudden appearance sent a ripple of fear through the populace. Shinobi and civilians alike stumbled back, the ingrained terror of the Tailed Beasts still a powerful instinct.
"Hold your positions! Do not panic!" Mei Terumi's voice cut through the fear. "He is an ally!"
Her words stunned the crowd into silence. At that moment, Isobu tilted its great head back and roared at the falling meteorite. All at once, the dense mist that gave the village its name, the very water vapor in the air for miles around, was drawn towards it. Countless streams of moisture coalesced above the village, forming a massive, churning torrent of water that surged into the sky.
The torrent slammed into the fiery meteorite with the force of an ocean.
HIIISSSSSSS!
A tremendous cloud of steam instantly enveloped the sky, and the once-unstoppable rock was slowed, cooled, and finally shattered into harmless pebbles.
"It… It's protecting us," a shinobi whispered in awe. The fear in the crowd vanished completely, replaced by a profound reverence.
After the Fourth Great Ninja War, Minato and the other Kage had granted the Tailed Beasts their freedom. They were no longer weapons, but free beings who could choose their own path. In this time of crisis, Isobu, who had once been sealed within their Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, had chosen to return and protect its former home.
And it was not alone. Across the world, the Tailed Beasts, once humanity's greatest fear, had become its greatest protectors. Matatabi, the Two-Tails, defended the Cloud Village. Son Gokū, the Four-Tails, smashed meteorites threatening the Stone Village. One by one, they rose to defend the homes of their past vessels, a testament to the new era of understanding Naruto had forged.
Then, as one, they all paused. From Isobu in the Mist, to Kurama within Kushina in Konoha, to Gyuki beside the Raikage, they all looked up. They could feel it. A battle of gods was reaching its climax on the moon.
"Minato… will Naruto, Chiharu, and the others be okay?" Kushina asked, her hand clutching her husband's arm as she stared at the terrifying star of light that had ignited on the moon's surface. Minato simply placed a reassuring hand over hers, a calm, unshakeable faith in his eyes.
Not far away, Sakura, Ino, and the others watched with expressions of shock and awe. Suddenly, a colossal shadow fell over the village. A giant, ethereal shinobi of purple chakra manifested in the sky—a Perfect Susanoo. Within its core, Sasuke Uchiha stood with a calm expression, his Rinnegan fixed on the moon.
"Tch. You're taking too long, you idiot," he muttered, though there was no real malice in his voice. "Hurry up and finish this."
On the moon, the heavens seemed to split apart.
"Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"
The colossal sword of light descended, a blow that could surely shatter the moon itself. Directly in its path, Minato's clone stood, his chakra utterly depleted. He glanced down at the ground beneath him, and despite the tense expression on his face, a proud smile touched the corner of his mouth.
CRASH!
The lunar surface directly below him shattered upwards. Naruto, with Hinata's hand held firmly in his, burst from the ground. They looked up to see the apocalypse descending upon them. Hinata's eyes widened in terror.
"Don't be afraid," Naruto said, his voice calm and steady. He squeezed her hand reassuringly, a confident, easy-going smile on his face that defied the world-ending threat above them. He closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, his consciousness reaching out across the world.
Everyone… lend me your power!
Instantly, a chorus of powerful voices answered in his mind.
"Hmph. About time!"
"Alright, Naruto!"
"Let's show him what we can do!"
FWOOM!
Behind Naruto, nine brilliant chakra claws, each a different color and attribute, erupted into existence—Shukaku's sand, Matatabi's blue fire, Isobu's water, and all the rest. They arced over his head, and at the tip of each claw, a Rasengan began to form, each one swirling with the unique nature of its Tailed Beast.
"You bastard," Naruto whispered, his eyes snapping open. His gaze was like a physical force, piercing through the blinding light of Toneri's attack to lock onto its creator high in the sky. "I'm going to wake you up from this stupid dream!"
The nine colossal Rasengans, each the size of a small mountain, flew together and merged into one. The surface of the moon was bathed in a dazzling, multicolored light as the chakras of all nine Tailed Beasts combined into a single, perfect sphere. It was a swirling, beautiful, and terrifying vortex of unimaginable power.
"Super Tailed Beast Rasengan!"
Like a meteor rising to challenge the heavens, the planetary-sized Rasengan shot upwards, colliding with the descending Golden Lightsaber.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
An earth-shattering, yet completely silent, explosion erupted on the moon's surface. A circular shockwave of pure force, visible from Earth, expanded across the lunar landscape, kicking up a tidal wave of dust and rock.
"What!?" High in the sky, Toneri's face was a mask of horror as he saw his ultimate attack, the culmination of all his power, halted in its tracks.
But what happened next was even more impossible. The beautiful, chaotic energy of the multi-colored Rasengan began to overwhelm the pure, focused power of his golden sword. Cracks appeared in the golden light, spreading rapidly before his attack was not just stopped, but utterly consumed and shattered.
BANG!
The golden light exploded into a harmless shower of sparkling particles.
Swish!
From the heart of the dissipating energy, a golden rainbow shot upwards. Toneri was still reeling in shock when Naruto, still holding Hinata's hand, appeared directly in front of him.
"Whether it's the Earth or Hinata…" Naruto roared, his voice filled with righteous fury, "I won't let you take away what I love so easily!"
"BELIEVE IT!"
His fist, glowing with the full might of his Six Paths Sage Mode, shot forward. Toneri's defensive green chakra cloak, the pride of his Tenseigan, disintegrated on contact, offering no resistance whatsoever. The punch landed squarely on his face with the same devastating force as before.
The green light of the Tenseigan Chakra Mode vanished. Toneri's body went limp, a kite with its string cut, and plummeted toward the ground below.
CRASH!
He slammed into the lunar surface, the force of the impact carving another deep crater. In the center of it, his body was embedded in the rock, broken and defeated. Naruto's single punch had annihilated all of his power.
"What… what kind of power is this…?" Toneri choked out, his voice filled with disbelief. He had believed the Tenseigan to be the ultimate power in the universe. Yet this boy had crushed it, had crushed him, with an attitude of absolute, overwhelming superiority.
In his eyes, the celestial, star-like patterns of the Tenseigan flickered, collapsed, and faded away into nothing, leaving behind only the ordinary, blank white of the Byakugan.
At that exact moment, in the void of space, the moon, which had been hurtling towards its doom, shuddered to a complete stop. Its momentum halted, its trajectory broken. Without the power of the Tenseigan to guide it, it began to slowly, peacefully drift back into its proper, ancient orbit.
Above Konoha, Sasuke's Rinnegan perceived the shift before anyone else. The battle was over. A rare, faint smile touched his lips. The chakra around him dissipated, and the colossal Susanoo faded away. He landed silently on a rooftop next to his parents, Fugaku and Mikoto.
Minato, standing beside Kushina, lowered the hand he had raised to shield his eyes. He wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulders and chuckled, a sound filled with relief and boundless pride.
"Naruto and his team were successful," he announced to the worried villagers. "The enemy has been stopped. The crisis is over."