Madara and Naruto exchanged intense stares. Then team 7, their prisoner, along with the savior of the world, finally started walking toward the four Hokage.
For a battlefield, which was flattened countless times with the most powerful Jutsus anybody had ever seen, everything around the God tree was... calm. Not much dust, not much noise, not much of anything.
There were thousands of shinobi, raised from birth to fight until the last drop of their blood, all around them, hanging from the branches of a giant tree. They were helpless, caught in an endless dream. Peace and quietness were unnerving for everybody, especially after a full day of non-stop war.
One of them, a creature latched onto one Obito Uchiha, who was still unconscious, was unnerved for a different reason.
It took just a few steps for Sasuke to grab Naruto's hand and whisk him away from Madara.
With a whisper, just barely audible to the blonde's ears Sasuke asked "What are you planning?", Then an intense stare as if he was trying to bore into Naruto's eyes. While Kakashi and Sakura both moved closer to them, also wondering the same exact thing.
Naruto looked at his best friend in his only open eye. He took quite a long time to think. So long in fact that by the time he spoke, Madara was already hovering toward the giant trunk.
"I don't have a plan." He said, ignoring various looks he got from the rest of his team. He closed his eyes, as if concentrating, and made one of his truth-seeking orbs into a flat surface, then put it right in front of their legs.
Grabbing his shoulder to make him face him, Sasuke got close to his face and asked "What do you mean no plan? You're taking us there on a whim?"
"Not on a whim... I am hungry and thankfully he is too." Blonde answered as he stood on top of the black plank and motioned for others to stand there as well. They did so.
"For all you know, he might kill us the moment we set foot on that trunk, ever thought about that? Are you ready to have the deaths of your closest people on your conscious?" Sasuke said while trying his best to keep himself calm and collected. He was used to dealing with his friends' foolishness, at least he remembered those days better than most other things from his childhood. But this...
This was a different situation. The fate of the world depended on those two if the Sage of the Six Paths was to be believed. But is that even something he could believe after doing exactly what he said they must do and the outcome they got was his friend seemingly giving up? Sasuke was seething inside, mostly because he couldn't understand what happened to his friend.
If he knew one thing about him it was that he wouldn't give up. That was his whole thing. No matter how much weaker he was compared to his opponent he would always outlast them.
Deep down, in the depths of his heart, he was hoping that he would be the one to keep him from his plan, or rather the consequences of accomplishing his goal. He hoped that Naruto would end up stopping him, but he never thought about that properly, only through his subconscious mind. And now what? He was just going to give up?
"Madara agreed to a truce. He already won, so what will he gain by doing that?" Asked Naruto while concentrating once again to start pushing the black plank upwards. "Just calm down and enjoy the meal. It could be our last, ya know?!" Naruto said with an expression that was rare on his face, indifference. Kakashi and Sakura took note of that. Sasuke was frustrated.
"Fine, be that way, you were always all talk anyway. I'll think of something myself." Sasuke said with a scoff as he disentangled from his friend and stood right beside him as the plank finally reached the top of the trunk.
Madara saw and heard all of what was said between them and couldn't help but think something was not as it seemed. That or he just changed Naruto, at least in some way that he couldn't quite understand yet. The boy who took his tool and turned him into a human again, into a boy he met more than three decades ago, now looked like that tool itself. Madara eyed Obito and Zetsu, Then looked back to team seven.
Once all of them stood on the surface of the God tree, they looked toward the four Hokage, who were standing quite a long way away. Madara was not the kind of man to stand just underneath the four Hokage and then rise up to them, so their landing place ended up being almost opposite them.
"Now tell me, how long are you going to keep Obito and Zetsu in that prison of yours, Naruto?" Madara asked after they joined him on top of the trunk. Kakashi, who held Zetsu in a spherical water prison, looked toward the blond as well. Naruto put a hand on his chin as they started walking toward the center of the trunk. The four Hokage did the same.
"Well... Is it weird that I'd rather keep the creepy guy imprisoned?" Naruto asked while grinning. "Not at all" Kakashi and Sakura shared the same thought. While Madara smiled at him.
"We are supposed to have a feast, are we not?" Naruto nodded, "Then wouldn't it be inconvenient for your Sensei to keep his hand away for all of its duration?" Madara was very convincing, and giving ground in this situation was not a problem for Naruto, at least he hoped it wasn't.
"I guess that is true." Looking at his team, Naruto added "Kakashi-sensei, can you... release him... it? they? Whatever is it anyway?" Naruto asked turning back to Madara, who seemed like he was thinking about the answer.
"I hope you know what you are doing Naruto." The copy-ninja said as he formed a half-ram seal with his free hand and released the prison as they got near the center of the trunk.
Kakashi slowly put down his hand so that when the water disappeared around his friend, he would land safely.
Zetsu was thanking his mother for this kind of turn of events. "Finally, I can get to Madara and complete my plan!" Once free he slowly moved toward the savor of the world. He was barely a meter away when they heard:
"Wood Style: Four-Pillar Prison Jutsu"
Looking toward the new space that imprisoned Zetsu, Naruto narrowed his eyes and started counting in his head.
"Is that really the manifestation of your will?" Hashirama asked after releasing the snake seal and looking straight into annoyed Madara's eyes.
"It is."
"Well then... Isn't it a perfect fate for him to be imprisoned for the rest of eternity, in a space it does not belong, nor wants to be in?" Hashirama asked while looking at Madara with a smirk, knowing that his war buddy understood exactly where he was going with it.
Madara was about to respond but was cut off.
"Old man First, It has at least twelve pillars, that's a lot more than four, don't you think?" Naruto asked. That made Minato and Hiruzen smile sheepishly, while Tobirama frowned at him. Sakura palmed her face and mumbled how it was not the time for his jokes. Kakashi and Sasuke simply kept their poker faces, even if it was getting exponentially harder for one of them to do so.
"Heh, That is exactly what my brother said the first time I showed it to him!" Hashirama said while laughing with his belly in his hands. Madara and Naruto exchanged glances, and then he spoke again "So, You finally accomplished your dream, huh? To be honest I liked you better when you had just red eyes and were not so... grey."
Madara smiled with triumph, "Possessing the strongest weapons in the world should have its consequences. But no matter, it's not as if appearances change anything. I won." he said as he moved to look toward the horizon, where he could see many of the shinobi in their cocoons. "Unlike you, When I plan something, I always accomplish it." He added looking back at Hashirama and waiting for the inevitable...
Tobirama scoffed at that while Hashirama got a "depressed" look with his shoulders slumped and head down. Hearing Tobirama scoff made Madara roll his eyes in annoyance. He always hated how that man was always taking away the pleasure of seeing the "God of Shinobi" act like a depressed child, especially when he was its cause. He looked toward the blonde boy who was looking at Zetsu's new cage.
"How long are you going to take before getting to the "feast" part of this feast?"
"A feast?" Was the combined thought of every Hokage.
Naruto looked back to the man speaking to him. Then he nodded and turned toward his father. "Hey Dad, can you uh..." He stopped when he looked down at Minato and saw the lack of hands. "Can you do something about that?" he asked after turning back toward Madara.
"Do what, exactly?" Madara questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, Obito was just like you when he touched Dad with one of those black balls, so can't you... undo the damage?"
Madara looked at Minato, examining his state of 'unhandedness'. He walked up to the Yellow Flash, pointed his palm to his chest, and made his truth-seeking orbs touch the ends of his hands just barely. After a few seconds, the orbs went away from Minato and his hands slowly reassembled themselves in a paper-like fashion. "Not too unlike Konan's Jutsu" Naruto thought. Naruto then looked at Madara, caught his glance, and pointed toward Tobirama, who also lacked one arm, as if asking him to heal him too. Madara gave him a funny look and whispered "Not a chance."
"Thank you Madara-sama, But I don't understand what you wanted me to do?" Minato asked after looking at his son.
"Right, I didn't explain that. We need Ramen, a whole bunch of it, and..." Looking around to count all the people that were there "Everything else you can get back in Konoha." Seeing the questioning looks coming from every Hokage, including his dad, he added "We agreed to a truce, just before Madara kills me I wanted to eat ramen and ask him a few questions. So naturally the most obvious way to do that was a feast." He was about to continue after catching all of their reactions but he couldn't.
"That is your plan?!" Tobirama exclaimed nostrils flared, eyes wide. Madara looked at the man he hated the most, then back toward the blond boy waiting for his answer.
"Why does everyone keep asking me about that?" Naruto asked with a slight grin to the only man who did not expect to be asked that. Madara was visibly confused.
"Alright, I'll go, but... where exactly can I find already-made Ramen?" Minato asked, trying to take away unwanted attention from his son. But mostly trying to keep himself from thinking about his son's possible death.
None of them said anything until Kakashi spoke, "There is an emergency supply vault with many foods already made and sealed for safekeeping." He explained, "Seeing as how nobody else would need it anytime soon, you could go and retrieve that."
"Will there be enough ramen for all of us?" Naruto asked the most pressing question, to which Kakashi nodded.
"Tsunade finally managed to fill up the emergency supply units? in just a few years?" Hiruzen asked with a proud expression, to which Kakashi also nodded. He then looked toward the First Hokage and whispered "See, Your grandaughter is better at managing the village than any of us ever were." To which Hashirama and even Tobirama gave him a proud smile.
"Uh... And where could I find that vault?" Minato asked his student.
"It's not exactly easy to explain where it is..." Kakashi said. "But I could take you there." He added while looking at first Naruto and then to Madara.
"Fine, go on, the more people working means it will be done faster," Madara said with a sigh.
"Yes! I'll come with you too!" Naruto almost shouted with excitement. But that excitement was short-lived when he felt an arm grab his shoulder.
"You and your friend will stay here," Madara said making Naruto pout and slump his shoulders down. "You pinkie..."
"Sa-Sakura" Sakura said to him.
"Sakura, follow them as well, and make sure to bring the best wine you can find," Madara ordered.
That made Sakura angry, who was he to order him around like that. "And why would I take an order from you?"
"Because otherwise, I will kill you." Madara answered so calmly it felt as if he had just killed thousands of people with no hesitation. Sakura then remembered that he did exactly that and started shaking.
"Hey hey, come on, you can't kill any of us before the truce expires. You are not that dishonorable are you?" Naruto dug holes in Madara's eyes with his intense stare. Then he looked toward the pink-haired girl "Sakura-chan, can you please help Dad and Kakashi-sensei on their mission?"
Sakura kept quiet only nodding and avoiding looking toward the blond. Mostly because if he looked at him, she would also have to see the terrifying eyes of the Rinnegan master.
"Kakashi, Sakura, please stand right in front of me." Minato requested and they did so. He grabbed both of their shoulders and disappeared in an instant.
***
The Flash of light, accompanied by the three people standing in a triangle formation appeared on the head of the Fourth Hokage's monument.
"Alright, Kakashi lead me to the vault. Sakura, go to the best place you know and grab the wine. Use this to seal them away." Minato said as he handed her a small piece of paper and a three pointed kunai. "And push your chakra into this so that I know you are ready to come back."
"Right!" Sakura said and jumped toward the only place she knew that sold anything good enough for their feast.
Kakashi and Minato began running in a different direction and they quickly reached it.
Just underneath the Hokage monument was a small crack in the rock and pushing his chakra into it, Kakashi opened it and led Minato inside. The cave-like structure quickly turned into the most advanced room Minato had ever seen. Nobody except for a Jounin or somebody of a higher rank could access it, if the seals around them were any indication.
They quickly started reading the names of different foods and took the ones they needed. Minato was looking for ramen, but Kakashi managed to find it first.
He handed it to Minato with a face that was unnatural to him. Or rather, not often shown on Kakashi's face.
"What's going on?" Minato asked in his sweet, fatherly tone.
That one question, but especially his tone was enough to make Kakashi crack. He barely showed it, but Minato could feel that he was not well.
"I'm sorry sensei, I failed you. I failed to take care of Naruto. He was suffering and I didn't do anything, anything that would've made his life easier. I'm so sorry..." Kakashi cried, tears clearly visible in his speech. That made Minato tear up himself.
"You... You managed to make him a splended Shinobi. I couldn't have asked for anything better." Minato said as he grabbed Kakashi's shoulder and turned his face to him.
"Without Iruka and Jyraya-sensei, I don't even know what kind of person he would be..." Kakashi continued his explanation. Minato pursed his lips together, his heart was breaking every moment he thought about the life his son has lived. And when he thought about how his life might end, he got a determined face. "I could never forgive myself for it."
"Well then, You have failed. So be it." Kakashi only now looked up to his sensei and was surprised when he saw a smile latched onto his face.
"But don't worry, you don't have to forgive yourself, I… didn't and will not forgive myself for sealing the nine-tails in Naruto." His voice broke a few times, while he was trying not to visibly cry like his student.
"The only thing you can do is use the rest of your life to try and be the best teacher and the best friend you can be to my son. Use your time wisely. Only then will you realize that doing what you can right now is always more important, than getting angry or sad about what you did or did not do in the past. Will you do that for me?"
Kakashi smiled and wiped the tear from his only visible eye. Then he looked back to Minato and said "Yes, Sensei. I will not fail you again."
Minato smiled back at him and then he felt Sakura's chakra coming through his kunai. He quickly took out another paper and wrote what seemed like a thousand page poem on it while taking only a few seconds to do it.
Then he grabbed Kakashi's shoulder and disappeared. They appeared right beside Sakura. Then Minato grabbed Sakura's shoulder disappeared once more.
***
"I would never get tired of seeing that," Naruto said with awe. Madara agreed, but only in his heart as he too observed the fascinating Thunder god technique in action. "Old man First?" Hashirama looked toward Naruto "Can you help us out with a table?"
"If we are going to have a feast, we are going to need a table worthy of our status!" Hashirama said and made a snake seal.
Without uttering another word a wooden table rose. A long rectangle, decorated with majestic ornaments. Then he thought for a few seconds and now eight chairs rose on one side of the table, while just one on the opposite side.
Madara saw what his old friend did and smirked. Walking toward the chair meant for him and sat down as if he was tired from standing for almost twelve hours straight.
"Wow, this is amazing! It looks like it was made by a brilliant craftsman!" Naruto exclaimed with awe.
"It was one of my hobbies after all. If only somebody else also had a hobby to keep himself grounded in reality rather than pursue a plan with no good outcome" Hashirama said while looking at Madara, who just scoffed at him.
"Somehow I fail to see your problem with eternal peace, Hashirama."
"Eternal life in a lie sounds as bad as it can get Madara! You took away their freedom, their right to live and experience the joys of this world. To have children and grandchildren of their own."
"All of that will happen in their dreams too." Madara corrected the First Hokage.
"Yes, and none of them will be real. All of it will just be a fantasy... And if it was so brilliant, why won't you join all of them there?" Hashirama questioned.
"Somebody has to keep an eye on them and I am going to make that sacrifice for the good of the rest of the world," Madara answered while holding his face with his fist, keeping his elbow pressed on the table.
"Help me get this right, You just gave them the perfect world, and you won't join them at any point? Not even if you get rid of all of us?" Hashirama asked with a skeptical tone, to which Madara nodded and opened his mouth to say something but he was cut off.
"As hypocritical and self-contradicting as ever." Tobirama said with a scoff.
Hearing that Naruto smiled and turned toward the table after taking a long glance at Black Zetsu and an unconscious Obito.
"Let's sit down shall we," Naruto said to the first three Hokage. And they acquiesced to his request.
Soon all the Hokage sat down at the table, in order of their ascension to the title. Naruto sat just one chair away from Hiruzen, keeping it free for his dad to occupy when he came back. Naruto patted the chair to his other side while looking at Sasuke who was observing all of this quietly. He looked at the blond, realized what he wanted him to do, and scoffed while turning his head away from Naruto. Both Madara and Hashirama took note of that action, and both of them did so for vastly different reasons.
Within a few seconds of a bone-chilling silence, Minato, Kakashi, and Sakura came back, Empty handed.
Naruto was about to question their lack of Ramen. But he kept his mouth shut. Minato came up to the table and placed a piece of paper covered with various Kanji in the middle of it. Then with a half-ram seal, he closed his eyes and the table was now full of many different kinds of food. A lot of meat, a lot of vegetable dishes, but most of the food was Ramen.
He then looked at Naruto and gave him two of the same kind of paper. For some reason, one of them was much heavier than the other. And Naruto thought that sealing things into other things shouldn't make a difference in weight, considering how he was not affected by the giant fox's weight even a little bit. "Maybe he put a lot of food in this one".
"Sit here Dad," Naruto said with a beaming smile. He would finally get to share a meal with his father. That made his eyes get a bit watery. The same thing happened to Minato as he took his seat to his son's left. "Come on Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan!"
Kakashi accepted the invite and sat down on Naruto's right, and then Sakura sat down on Kakashi's right. Looking toward Sasuke she caught his glance and patted the chair to her right, but Sasuke didn't even scoff this time, choosing to stare at Madara, who was watching all of this unfold with a smile on his face.
Looking from his right to left, Madara observed Hashirama, Tobirama, Hiruzen, Minato, Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura, And an empty chair that was supposed to be for Sasuke. Just behind himself was the prison that held the manifestation of his will, he looked back at Naruto who was looking at him.
"You know, I don't really need to eat, right?" Minato said to his son.
"You can eat, right?" Minato nodded. "Then what's the problem?"
"I guess you're right," Minato said with a smile.
They started eating and while they did so none of them said a word. The Four Hokage, and the Team Seven with the exception of Sasuke, ate quietly.
While nobody said a word, that did not mean they didn't "discuss" many things by simply glancing at each other.
Sakura tried more than once to at least hand Sasuke a bowl of food, but each time she was shut down with an angry stare. Naruto looked at his friend every time that happened and sighed.
Hashirama looked towards Madara, then towards his brother and Hiruzen, then to Naruto a few times, always in that order.
Minato was mostly looking at his son and wishing he could share this meal with Kushina as well.
Hiruzen was both proud and sad knowing how that day could end.
Kakashi was looking at his student and his Sensei with his signature eye smile. While sometimes glancing at Madara.
And Naruto... Well, Naruto, aside from those glances back to Sasuke, and a few appreciating smiles toward his dad, was fully absorbed in ramen.
"Thank you, God, for this meal." Naruto said and put his chopsticks beside his bowl with a satisfied smile.
All of the people present at the table, and even those standing quite a bit away from it looked at Naruto with wide eyes. Feeling the intense stares, especially one from Madara, he looked up and locked his eyes with two Rinnegan eyes and smiled.
"Time to play the game."
***
"How did you manage to create something like that anyway?"
Tobirama looked at Naruto's clone with narrowed eyes. He just explained to him how the Reaper Death Seal worked. For a jutsu that takes your life, it was surprisingly easy to activate, given that you focused properly. Just nine seals and a clasping of hands.
"It took years of research. Ancient scrolls from a few different places." Naruto looked on with great interest, so Tobirama continued. "Uzushio, the land of your ancestors, was built on an ancient monument, a structure with a shape of a donut." Naruto gasped at that. "What?"
"I didn't know you had donuts... back in your day..." Naruto quickly answered to seemingly constantly irritated Hokage.
"How old do you think I am?!" Tobirama asked with a raised eyebrow and voice.
"Well, err... I don't know..." Naruto did the most math he ever had in his head all at once and said "A hundred?"
Tobirama's eyes first narrowed and then widened. "Yes, that's close enough." Naruto punched the air with triumph when he heard that. "But that does not mean we didn't have most things that you do now."
Before Naruto could even try to apologize, Tobirama raised his hand and continued "It was mostly thanks to the scrolls found in that structure that helped make the Uzumaki clan the masters of the Sealing Arts. Though it must be said that their vast chakra reserves were also crucial." Tobirama then looked back at Naruto's awestruck face, and with a smirk of his own continued. "When Mito Uzumaki married The elder brother, she brought many scrolls with her as part of her dowry." Rolling his eyes at Naruto's lost face he added "It's customary for a bride to bring something of value from her home when marrying into a new village. That is called dowry."
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense!"
"Most of these scrolls were the ones that they couldn't crack themselves. That is where I found a way to establish a connection to the realm of Death and subsequently managed to devise a jutsu to summon a Shinigami." He then heard Naruto gulp at the mention of the 'god of death'. He smiled.
"H-How ancient were those scrolls exactly?" Naruto asked as they finally reached their target, and after a moment Tobirama answered.
"In my estimation, they were written well before the sage of the Six Paths, or even the emergence of chakra itself."
"How could you possibly figure that out?" he asked with a skeptical look.
"The best evidence is the scrolls themselves. For people who knew this much about the Unseen Realms, They don't mention chakra. Not even once."
As astonished as Naruto was he finally managed to bow to his Jiji who was now standing in front of them. The Third Hokage himself bowed to the Second and smiled at Naruto.
"I'm glad you're alive Naruto." after a pause and a returned smile from Naruto he asked, "What's the state of affairs on the front lines?"
"Nothing I can brag about just yet Jiji. Boss sent me to bring all the Hokage back to the trunk of that giant tree." Seeing how Hiruzen opened his mouth to ask a question, Naruto preemptively answered "I don't know the exact plan, but if I were him, which I kinda am, The only thing I would count on is the Reaper Death Seal. That's what Old Man Second was telling me about."
Hiruzen was in shock for some time, before his facial expression morphed into sadness and then guilt. After cleaning his throat he spoke "But could you overpower him? Without restraining him properly you can't seal him away, just like I couldn't kill Orochimaru."
"Yeah, I know that. Old Man Second explained that in excruciating detail." Naruto said as they started moving toward their next target when Tobirama motioned for them to follow. He didn't seem amused. "I think even if I can't kill him, I could maybe take away his ninjutsu, just like you did to Orochimaru." After a small pause, he added "Or maybe I could just seal his eyes with it and then the rest of you could manage to overpower him."
At the very least, it will weaken Madara and give us enough time to end the Infinite Tsukuyiomi." Tobirama said.
The plan made sense but Hiruzen could not stop his heart from squeezing as if tons of pressure was put onto it. After a moment of silence and deep thought, he got an idea.
"We could pass this information to Kakashi discreetly. He will undoubtedly sacrifice himself for the world." With that Hiruzen was hopeful. Losing Kakashi would be a tragedy, yes, But at least Naruto would survive. His optimism was promptly crushed by the answer of his young friend.
"Kakashi-Sensei is really strong, no doubt about it, but at the moment I am much more powerful. If we are to seal Madara, the most powerful human in history, we should sacrifice the one who has the best chance of restraining him."
"He's right, Saru. I understand the grief of letting someone so young do this, He may act like a buffoon..." Tobirama said as he looked towards pouting Naruto "But the will of fire is burning brightly within him. We have to use this chance."
Naruto went straight to cloud nine. Hearing this type of praise from the grumpy Hokage was exhilarating, but he didn't get to enjoy this moment for long as they reached the next target. The man was smiling at them as he spoke.
"I agree Tobirama. His will of fire might be burning with more passion than ours ever has before. Question is... What's your plan?"
Naruto went behind the first Hokage and started taking out the truth-seeking orbs, or rather, rods in this case, from his back and neck, that was keeping him from moving around while answering "Old man Second taught me how to summon the Shinigami to seal Madara away."
Hashirama's beaming smile was quickly replaced by a serious frown as he whispered "The Reaper Death Seal." And saw Hiruzen sorrowfully nodding, while Naruto released an approving "mhmm" sound.
"When I heard Madara's scream shake the battlefield... I thought we won." He took a few seconds while he regained control of his body and stood up slowly. Only after he was standing tall he continued "But now, we have to help another kind sacrifice himself, without even having a guarantee that it will work?!"
Hiruzen agreed with his sensei, and Naruto was about to answer, but he couldn't.
"We are never guaranteed anything in this world, and perhaps, you should know that better than any of us, elder Brother."
Hahirama looked at his brother, "He sacrifices himself, Madara is defeated, then what? Everything goes back to the status quo until some other threat forces another generation of children to die? and so on?" Hashirama looked at the sky, and Naruto quickly mimicked his motion.
"What else can we do then? True peace is as much of a reality as this Infinite Tsukuyiomi is real." Tobirama said as he pointed towards the tree branches that held the cocoons of shinobi all around them. " Doing what we can to stop Madara and break the worldwide genjutsu is our best course of action, and trusting the next generations to live better than we did is our only hope." As he finished Hashirama slowly nodded and looked at Naruto with determination, the blonde looked like he was in a trance.
The First Hokage was ready to learn where they should go next when he heard "Son of a gun!" coming from the youngling.
All three Hokage was now watching the blond-haired boy with a different variety of confusion.
"You are right Old man Second. Maybe true peace is not possible." Tobirama nodded at that, "But most things would be better than living in a lie." The First and The Third Hokage nodded at that, while Tobirama narrowed his eyes and examined the beaming and slightly... Mischievous smile of Naruto as he turned to him. "Can you find my dad? I can't sense him anywhere on the battlefield."
Lighting up his chakra for a moment, Tobirama said "He's back in Konoha."
"Wow... You can sense that far away?" Dumbfounded Naruto asked.
"I can sense anyone all around the world if I wanted to..." Naruto's jaw was in freefall "But, finding your father was easy, I simply pinpointed the last used point of the Flying Thunder god Jutsu."
"You are so awesome, Lord Second! I wonder why they barely mentioned you in the academy."
Tobirama looked at Hiruzen with one raised eyebrow. Hashirama laughed with his hands on his belly.
"That's because you barely paid any attention, Naruto" Hiruzen said with a warm smile. Naruto nodded at that and looked back at Tobirama with a sheepish smile. "Can you please bring him here? we need to get back to the trunk of the god tree."
Tobirama nodded and vanished.
Hashirama put his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "What are you planning exactly? Madara won't sit around and wait for you to seal him away."
"Yeah, Yeah, I know that. The boss may be planning something different, Maybe I don't have to summon the Shinigami just to stop him." Naruto said with an intriguing expression, the kind Hashirama had on his face when he was planning to win a battle in a way that would make his younger brother furious. Ah, good times. He wanted to hear him elaborate. Unfortunately, a man who just appeared behind them had a thing or two to say about that.
"You plan to do WHAT?" came from the Fourth Hokage. They turned around and saw the two Flying Thunder god users standing side by side.
"Err... Hi dad! That's just a last resort... just in case nothing else works, you know."
Minato looked angry, this was one of the very few instances when he was angry. He got close to Nartuto and kissed him on the cheek. A slight flash of light appeared and vanished from his cheek. If you were quick enough you'd see a chain of Kanji's.
"What was that?" asked a blushing and confused Naruto. Minato smiled at him and that made him feel calm as his dad answered.
"I won't allow you to do that." looking at other Hokage he continued. "I died for Konoha, my wife, also died for Konoha. Both of us did so to give our son a chance to live. I will not allow you to die." His words were filled with power. Hashirama could see what made Hiruzen choose him to be the Fourth Hokage and smiled.
"It is exactly because of your sacrifices that he could live and now has a chance to save the world."
Minato shook his head and turned towards the Second Hokage. "My son is not a pig, raised just so he can be sacrificed. Not for Konoha, not for the entire world." Turning back to Naruto he added, "With the seal, I just put on you, you will never manage to summon the Shinigami."
Others already were thinking something like that was the case, but Naruto's face almost hit the ground.
"You can seal things with a kiss?" he asked, not hiding even a bit of astonishment. "But I'm just a clone!" he added to which Minato shook head and whispered "That does not matter." with a smile.
"Fuinjutsu is a pathway to many abilities, some consider to be... Unnatural." Hiruzen answered vaguely.
"How did you even learn something like that," Blonde asked.
To that, Minato visibly blushed and said "Kushina taught it to me. I'm sure there will be some scrolls about it back in Konoha." He finished while smiling sheepishly. He would scratch his head, but couldn't.
"In the forbidden scrolls," Hiruzen started, trying to relieve some of Minato's embarrassment.
"Of course! Everything halfway useful is forbidden. Why am I not surprised..." exclaimed Naruto with great mock disappointment.
All four Hokages lowered their heads at that.
"You just took away our best chance of defeating Madara!" Tobirama said as he looked back up and toward Minato. Hashirama was ready to calm him down but Naruto beat him to it.
"Old man Second, For all we know my real self might not even consider the Reaper Death Seal as an option. So let's go and hope for the best."
Tobirama examined both blonds for a minute and then said with a sigh "Alright. But if he still dies without sealing Madara, I will make fun of you for all eternity!" He finished speaking while looking at the fourth Hokage.
"Time to go, we can't be late." Everybody agreed to Naruto's words with a synchronized "Right" and they started moving.
"Oh, I almost forgot, old man First." Hashirama looked toward the youngling with a "Hmm?"
"What's the deal with that Black Zetsu guy?" He then looked toward Tobirama and with a grin asked "Did you create the 'zetsu' jutsu too?"
"I don't know what you are talking about."
With both fists in the air, Naruto was celebrating.
"I knew there was a Jutsu you didn't create!"
Tobirama mumbled something about too many blond jokesters running around.
"The first time I sensed the black blob of a creature was when we entered the battlefield. I don't know any jutsu Madara might possess that can create it. I don't even know if he was created with a jutsu." Hashirama said and observed Naruto's thoughtful look.
"He did say that Zetsu was his will incarnate... If not a jutsu then how did he manage to create it?" Seeing as how all four Hokage shook their heads he muttered "Troublesome" under his breath. The Hokage continued walking toward the trunk, while Naruto's clone went in a completely different direction.
Some kilometers away, one of the cocoons hanging from a giant tree branch sneezed.