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>>4777167
“I heard something like that from Tsunade-dono,” Kakashi admits. “That Naori-kun’s reanimation jutsu has no binding element to force a summoned spirit to submit.”

“It’s unseemly,” you roll your eyes. “No offense, Tobirama-tono.”

“None taken,” Tobirama-tono sighs. “It’s quite a barbaric jutsu, intended for barbaric times.”

“I expect we’re going to see some barbarism here too,” Hashirama-tono muses.

“Indeed,” Hiruzen-tono agrees. “It feels like we can expect the rest of our reinforcements soon. Naori-kun, may I ask what you intended when you summoned us?”

“Uchiha Madara is here,” you observe. “Tobirama-tono and Hashirama-tono have experience fighting him, more so than I. And Hashirama-tono’s wood release also has a reputation for dealing with tailed beasts. Against something of this size my own tactics are... untested.”

“And the shinobi who are on their way?” Minato-han asks.

“They’re part of an alliance,” Naruto explains. “They’re fighting to keep the last three tailed beasts out of Akatsuki... I mean, out of Madara and Obito’s hands.”

“No offense taken,” you offer to Naruto. “I know many in this world are used to seeing Akatsuki only as the enemy.”

“Maybe that will change soon,” Matatabi muses. “But right now we have to focus... Hashirama-san.”

“Two-Tails,” Hashirama-tono replies, nodding his head politely. “Which three are still free and are you in contact with them?”

“Gyūki the eight-tails and Kurama the nine-tails,” Matatabi replies.

“What the hell!?” you hear a familiar voice demand as the allied forces begin to arrive. “That’s old man Third, and I think that’s the Fourth who kicked our asses during the last war?”

“Good to see you, Kurotsuchi,” you nod curtly. “Who else is coming?”

“Damn near everyone,” she replies, still staring at the reanimated Kages. “These ones on our side?”

“They are,” Ryūzetsu insists.

“You knew about this?”

Ryūzetsu shakes her head. “No, but you won’t hear me complaining.”

“Same.”

The allied forces assemble rapidly... elements of Gaara’s division are here led by Temari, as are subordinates under Mifune’s command including many samurai. Darui and his unit arrive too, with Shikamaru and his team at the front. Whole clans are recognizable from Konoha – the Sarutobi, the Hyūga, the Aburame and the Nara. Your own subordinates arrive by air lead by Fū and Guren, towards whom you immediately gravitate.
>2/3

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>>4777169
“The situation is pretty dire here,” you admit. “It’s good to see you all alive so far.”

“We’ve been lucky,” Fū admits. “Nakkun... some pretty terrible things have happened today.”

“And if we don’t focus even worse may happen yet,” you reply. “We need to get through to command, formulate a strategy. You all follow me, we’ll serve as a relay to the four reanimated Hokages.”

“Reanimated what now?” Guren asks, before spotting Hashirama, Tobirama, Hiruzen, and Minato. “Well I’ll be damned. And here I thought Orochimaru coming back from the dead was the wildest thing I was going to see today.”

“Hold onto something,” you sigh, pointing at the Ten-Tails. “It’s about to get even wilder.”

“How do we even attack something like that?” Darui wonders aloud.

“We’ve all gotta work together,” Naruto declares. “After all, we’ve got the Hokages with us, ya know!”

>Is that alright with the four of you? Can you focus on keeping the Allied Forces alive?
>Hashirama-tono, your wood release will be key here. The Allied Forces need the Ten-Tails bound tight.
>Minato-han, Tobirama-tono… is there any way to link our Hiraishin formulae together?
>Other?

>>4777171
>Minato-han, Tobirama-tono… is there any way to link our Hiraishin formulae together?

>>4777171
>>Minato-han, Tobirama-tono… is there any way to link our Hiraishin formulae together?

>>4777171
>Hashirama-tono, your wood release will be key here. The Allied Forces need the Ten-Tails bound tight.
>Minato-han, Tobirama-tono… is there any way to link our Hiraishin formulae together?

>>4777171
>>Minato-han, Tobirama-tono… is there any way to link our Hiraishin formulae together?

>>4777178

You are not wrong. I enjoyed the quest before, not just during the Akatsuki missions, but when other things diverged. I loved it when we started saving Junchuuriki. I liked it when we saved Sasuke from himself and became his mentor. I practically clapped when we seemingly prevented Orochimaru's resurrection (because Sasuke had no reason to bring him back), released Minato and pissed Obito off by squishing the Rinnegan. But then it all turned out to havr been worthless, because lolcanonrofl. The QM didn't even bother thinking up a good excuse for Orochimaru being back. He just is, because canon. The QM didn't even roll for the Kages, or for Gaara and Oonoki stopping the Meteor; they just failed, because canon. The Rinnegan is back, because canon, even if it ironically means bending canon to bring it back. If nothing matters in the end, why not just step back and let canon sort itself out? At this point, I don't even bother voting, much less arguing. I pop in, read a few posts, leave and wait a week or a month before trying again.

>>4777171
>>Hashirama-tono, your wood release will be key here. The Allied Forces need the Ten-Tails bound tight.
>>Minato-han, Tobirama-tono… is there any way to link our Hiraishin formulae together?

ZOMBIE SQUAD LETS GO

>>4777229
You're right. This feels like a stepback in King's writing abilities, or maybe he's just dragging himself too thin by running two quests at once? Because while this started strong, Shinigami Savant was much better overall, through its entire run sans the infamous last few Threads that had zero interaction due to quest burnout at not following canon besides meshing the obvious plot points together and tossing everything else out of the window.

Nonetheless, I still come back to this quest every single day because's it's very enjoyable. Just... our choices as Naori feel hollow, ever since we left the Akatsuki proper.

>>4777171
“Minato-han, Tobirama-tono, I have an idea… tell me if you think it’ll work?” you muse.

Tobirama glances at you. “What are you thinking?”

“Is it possible to link our respective Hiraishin formulae?”

“Link them?” Minato muses thoughtfully. “I’ve considered that before… you figure if any of us can place a marking we can all make use of it?”

“That’s the idea.”

“I can teach you,” Tobirama-tono nods curtly. “But it will take concentration, and you can’t do that while carrying the fight against Madara and the Ten-Tails.”

“And Obito,” Minato adds.

“I know what I said,” Tobirama insists. “The Uchiha whelp is more your problem and Saru’s, not…”

To your surprise, Hiruzen calls your attention to the top of the Ten-Tails where you can see more figures than there should be. “It seems there’s been a falling-out… what is happening up there?”

“It would seem that Madara is forcing the ‘whelp’ to use some technique,” Hashirama reports.

“Oh no!” Minato seems to realize something. “Naori-san, mark me!”

You realize as you’re placing a hiraishin marking on Minato-han that something is very wrong… the tag you left inside Madara’s body as he regenerated from the meteor strike is gone. Did he find out about it somehow? Or was it simply too close to something that Tobirama might have done in your place to come as a surprise?

Minato-han teleports quickly to Obito, slashing through him with a marked hiraishin kunai in the style he made infamous, and an instant later you teleport to Minato-han to parry Madara’s response, leaving a shadow clone behind with Tobirama-tono. You can see more clearly now that something is covering part of Obito’s body, and he seems to be struggling hard – his face is red and sweating from exertion, his expression wrenched up as if in silent agony. You can also see that Madara has used a wood clone, which is connected now to the Ten-Tails by some sort of stiff umbilical cord that comes straight out of the flesh under your feet.

“That’s a good instinct, Yondaime,” Madara grins over your shoulder. “But you’re still too soft… you should have gone for his heart!”
>1d6, best of three
>DC 11
>SP: 6/6
>ES: 0/3 (0T)

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4778400
go high

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4778400

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4778400

>>4778400
In an instant you slash at Madara, and two things happen at the same time that surprise you. First thing is that his body seems to glow and resist Umekiri’s edge for a moment as he raises his right wrist to block your attack, and the second thing is what happens when you eventually slice through his forearm – you draw blood.

He backpedals and creates a trio of similarly maimed shadow clones with his one hand, and just a single seal. These you slice through with ease as you realize that they are all blind, and Minato adds to this by throwing several hiraishin-marked kunai. But in the mere seconds it takes you to do so the ‘real’ Madara regains his sight, and the wood clone attached to the Ten-Tails loses his.

“I can see in your eyes that you have questions,” Madara admits as you carefully raise your sword, ready to parry at any moment. “Questions I am now willing to answer.”

“What did you just do?” Minato demands angrily. “Why would you turn on Obito like that?”

“Turn on him?” Madara muses with a wild grin. “Nothing of the sort! I am simply retaking that which I gave to him decades ago – his life. I had his heart marked with a seal just in case of such a situation, and between my shadow and that seal I was able to force Obito do do as I wished. Had you removed that seal, Yondaime, I would not be alive right now, feeling this nostalgic rush of blood, so I really must find a way to express my gratitude.”

“You used his Rinnegan,” you frown. “By using Black Zetsu?”

“An extension of my will,” Madara informs you as Zetsu slithers back along the ground and into Madara’s left sleeve, dragging what looks like Obito’s right arm along behind him. The man then rips off his chest armor and tears at the kimono underneath, so that he can mount the stolen… or rather ‘reclaimed’… arm onto the stump you left. “Though as for you, Naori-kun, it seems I am going to need to repay your kindness by taking you seriously in a way I never did even for the five Kages.”

“After all, you must be rewarded for managing to threaten a plan that was in motion for decades by the time you were even born.”

“Yeah no,” you smirk as your shadow clone dissipates. “I’m not going to stand here and be lectured by a dead man!”

“I was brought back by the Rinnegan,” Madara begins with a frown. “I thought you were…”

And you interrupt him by slicing through the umbilical connecting his wood clone to the Ten-Tails, having left an illusionary image behind as you teleported to one of Minato-han’s hiraishin kunai.

“You took Obito’s idea and ran with it,” you muse, before swapping places with Minato-han and parrying Madara’s counterattack while Minato lands a large rasengan right against the chest of the wood clone, sending it flying off the top of the Ten-Tails. “Am I right?”
>2/3

>>4778674
“So that wasn’t it,” you muse, realizing that Madara still has the rinnegan. “Pity.”

You parry his gunbai with Umekiri, so Minato rushes forward and hurls a hiraishin kunai towards Madara as you’re temporarily paused.

“Hiraishingiri!” Tobirama announces, teleporting to the kunai and slicing just past Madara, who plants his left hand against the Second Hokage’s wrist to push the blade out of the way.

Then Minato teleports to the same kunai after it passes over Madara’s shoulder, and Madara finds that in the time it took him to counter Tobirama’s attack you’ve grabbed hold of his gunbai.

“Hiraishin: Ni no Dan!”

Madara is forced to release his gunbai in order to raise his right arm to block the incoming rasengan. The flesh warps and shreds, and to avoid being physically marked in the scuffle Madara essentially sacrifices that arm a second time.

He manages to get clear in an instant, and is clearly reappraising the situation.

“You’ve made an error, Uchiha Madara,” you smirk. “If you bleed, I know I can kill you.”

“That’s it!” he grins. “That’s the correct attitude!”

The Ten-Tails begins to convulse… as you suspected, the wood clone was probably intended to guide the massive beast’s actions. Without that, you suppose it’s good odds that the monster is completely mindless.

>The Allied Forces have had time to prepare, and while the Ten-Tails isn’t benefiting from Madara’s tactical sense is the right time to strike.
>The Hokages should raise a barrier, like the Shisekiyōjin, to keep the rampaging beast from wiping out the Allied Forces simply by mistake.
>Your concern is the revived Madara – you need to keep him away from the jinchūriki AND figure out what trick he used to use these rinnegan.
>You need to know what Obito's status is. Make sure he's dead, and you may even be able to salvage his eye for Kakashi-han's use.
>Other?

>>4778707
>Your concern is the revived Madara – you need to keep him away from the jinchūriki AND figure out what trick he used to use these rinnegan.
>Make a shadow clone and give the allied forces an order to escape, this fight is likely to kill them all if they stick around
>The hokages should tie down the ten tails with the shisekikyojin while they make their escape

>>4778707
>>Your concern is the revived Madara – you need to keep him away from the jinchūriki AND figure out what trick he used to use these rinnegan.

>>4778707
>>Your concern is the revived Madara – you need to keep him away from the jinchūriki AND figure out what trick he used to use these rinnegan.

>>4778707
>Your concern is the revived Madara – you need to keep him away from the jinchūriki AND figure out what trick he used to use these rinnegan.

>>4778707
>>Your concern is the revived Madara – you need to keep him away from the jinchūriki AND figure out what trick he used to use these rinnegan.

>>4778707
Your sole concern from here needs to be the newly-revived Madara – both in terms of keeping him away from the remaining jinchūriki, and in terms of figuring out exactly what trick he used to get hold of a replacement set of rinnegan so that you can neutralize it. If he gets the chance to summon Enma you reckon that you will lose a critical opportunity to limit his abilities, and if you manage this well you may just be able to keep him from devastating the Allied forces.

“Minato-han, Tobirama-tono,” you muse aloud. “I want you to help the Allied Forces make the most of this. I’ll fight Madara.”

“I advise against this,” Tobirama-tono offers calmly. “If our objective is to defeat Madara, then…”

“Yeah no,” you interrupt. “Losing the Allied forces to beat Madara is losing the war to win the battle. My mind is made up, so please respect my wishes.”

“If that’s a problem you can return to the Pure Land.”

Tobirama stares at you for a moment, before sighing. “That… won’t be necessary.”

Then he teleports away.

“Lord Second is worried about you, in his own way,” Minato-han explains carefully as he kneels to grab Obito by his wrist. “Take care of things here.”

“Right,” you reply curtly, still watching Madara while carefully avoiding his eyes. “As for you, Madara, this place doesn’t suit me.”

You toss a hiraishin-marked shuriken away from the Ten-Tails.

“Me neither,” Madara admits with a shrug. “Not an optimal place for a duel.”

In an instant you attack, and Madara counters with a fireball that gives him time to leap from the top of the Ten-Tails towards where you threw the kunai. You teleport to it so that you’re waiting where Madara lands.

“You could have tried to run off,” you muse. “Used the opportunity to summon Enma and recover your true rinnegan. Why didn’t you?”

“Because seeking to withdraw would give you an opening to exploit,” Madara admits. “Quite frankly I’m not sure you understand the situation you’re in – unlike the five Kages I intend to treat you as a worthy opponent instead of a child merely playing shinobi.”

“I’d normally be flattered, but this is starting to feel creepy.”

“You are a fine kunoichi,” he admits, “and you remind me of a woman I once felt great respect and affection towards. One who I grew to know in battle much as I knew Hashirama.”

“You’re talking about Uzumaki Mito.”

“Correct. That was a woman – fierce as the rest of her clan, savage almost. But cultured and elegant too, with a great sense of duty and loyalty towards those who had earned her affections.”
>1/2

>>4781108
“Yeah no, I’m not her,” you insist curtly. “So you’d best get that through your head. You don’t know the first thing about me… or about anything else from what I can tell. Worse still, you refuse to even consider the possibility that you may be wrong, and I right.”

“I offer you the wisdom of experience.”

“You offer me the bitterness of a loser.”

“I offer you comfort and fulfillment.”

“You offer me emptiness and solitude.”

“I offer to take away your pain and the weight of your long toils.”

“You offer to erase what I’ve learned from my mistakes, and to render my past sufferings and triumphs alike meaningless… why are you still trying to convince me?”

“I just wanted to confirm,” he sighs. “It seems a waste to end your life.”

“Even if I died here,” you counter, “I believe that I’m doing the right thing… protecting everything I care about. I could think of worse ways to go.”

“I understand,” Madara nods once. “Then I will not insult you again by trying to change your mind.”

>Lead off with kenjutsu. That’s the best way you can think of to test Madara’s ‘true’ power.
>Try to create an opening to use a Contract Seal technique. Gamble that he’s abusing Edo Tensei to keep his rinnegan.
>His eyes themselves are the problem. Find a way to neutralize the advantage they give him before he can leverage that advantage.
>Other?

>>4781115
>>His eyes themselves are the problem. Find a way to neutralize the advantage they give him before he can leverage that advantage.

>>4777910
I think that's an endemic problem with fanfic quests that take place during canon. A lot of the fun is "How would this new character change what happened" but you can only do that so many times before canon events can no longer happen. So either the mc won't ever see certain favorite events happen do to prevention or the mc's actions don't really matter so that certain canon scenes can happen. Personally I'd rather give canon the middle finger because what's the point of a new character if the big things don't change because of them?

Then again I'm just a random drunk lurker rambling so feel free to ignore me [\spoiler]

>>4781115
>His eyes themselves are the problem. Find a way to neutralize the advantage they give him before he can leverage that advantage.

>>4781115
>His eyes themselves are the problem. Find a way to neutralize the advantage they give him before he can leverage that advantage.

>>4781115
>His eyes themselves are the problem. Find a way to neutralize the advantage they give him before he can leverage that advantage.

>>4781115
>>Try to create an opening to use a Contract Seal technique. Gamble that he’s abusing Edo Tensei to keep his rinnegan.
Pain had rinnegan for all of his bodies, it isn't much of a stretch

>>4781115
>>His eyes themselves are the problem. Find a way to neutralize the advantage they give him before he can leverage that advantage.

>>4781115
Madara’s rinnegan place him in an interesting position at the moment – they present a vulnerability in one sense, as there’s something out there that you can attack to deprive him of their abilities. But if you allow him to use them he could end up summoning Enma and removing that vulnerability by regenerating his natural eyes, which you have to figure is his short-term plan. But on the other hand these eyes are themselves invulnerable in the sense that even if you can destroy them he can regenerate them – since they’re not his actual eyes, but probably instead are Edo Tensei recreations of his real ones.

That does however present a problem – how are you supposed to deal with his eyes without resorting to destroying them?

You do have one rather wild theory in mind that may actually work.
>1d6, first three
>DC 12
>SP: 6/6
>ES: 0/2

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4783362

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4783362

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4783362

>>4783362
The plan is that you’re going to have to plant a hand on Uchiha Madara for a second or two without having him cut your arm off, and you’re going to have to take some risks to pull that off. Because if he’s using the Edo Tensei to keep a copy of the rinnegan disrupting his control over the summons is the best way to interfere with that, and if he’s using some other trick then at least severing his connection to Enma will prevent him from recovering his original eyes.

In any event, the Keiyaku Fūin seems like your best bet.

As the Allied Forces rally against the Ten-Tails, using their numbers to surround the giant beast and combining their abilities to reach the sort of scale that battle requires, you square off against Uchiha Madara. His prowess at taijutsu is nothing short of astounding – while he isn’t as skilled at kenjutsu as you are he’s equally skilled with any form of physical combat you can think of. And now that he has his own physical body back he’s faster and more coordinated than he was before.

He uses nothing but a pair of kunai at first to parry Umekiri, flowing his chakra through the blades to keep pace with you. When those two blades prove to be ineffective, taking deep nicks to their edges, he abandons them for a sword he no doubt grabbed from a shinobi he killed earlier. Over several long seconds you start to tell that were it not for your sage mode he’d be physically stronger than you, and even like this his reaction time is slightly better than yours.

You eventually manage to position yourself correctly, subtly controlling the pace of battle so that you can be certain that a single move will do the job. And in that moment you use yin chakra flow to give yourself a precious instant to maneuver unopposed – using a shunshin to close the gap and plant your left palm against Madara’s chest. As the Keiyaku Fūin formula spreads across his breastplate he seems to realize what you’ve just done, and you’re forced to raise your arm to place Umekiri at the right angle to protect the right side of your body from his counterattack.

…
>1/2

>>4783651
The plan is that you’re going to have to plant a hand on Uchiha Madara for a second or two without having him cut your arm off, and you’re going to have to take some risks…

… wait.

There’s a moment of disorientation, but you do realize in that moment that one of Madara’s eyes is no longer showing the ripple pattern of the rinnegan. Instead it’s his mangekyō sharingan, which reminds you what Hashirama-tono mentioned about his abilities. The bastard just reversed the flow of time to un-do your use of the Keiyaku Fūin, which is the technique you were planning to use just now, and your own mangekyō’s perceptive abilities are probably the only reason you know it happened at all.

>Call him out. See how he responds when he knows that you know his capabilities.
>Play along for now. His response will tell you whether HE remembers what happened.
>See if you can determine the limits of that ability – its range, its duration, and so forth.
>Other?

>>4783653
>Play along for now. His response will tell you whether HE remembers what happened
bite za dusto?

>>4783653
>>Play along for now. His response will tell you whether HE remembers what happened.

>>4783653
>Play along for now. His response will tell you whether HE remembers what happened.

>>4783653
>>Play along for now. His response will tell you whether HE remembers what happened.

>>4783653
>Play along for now. His response will tell you whether HE remembers what happened.

>>4783653
>>Play along for now. His response will tell you whether HE remembers what happened.

>>4783653
>>See if you can determine the limits of that ability – its range, its duration, and so forth.

Rewinding time without knowing what happened to cause you to rewind time is a sus ability at best; it doesn't *do* anything unless someone breaks the pattern, and Naori only noticed it even happened because of her own Mango Smoothie.

>>4783653
>1d6, first three
>high roll

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4784843

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4784843

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4784843

>>4783362
dumb question but do you ever touch up on his mangekyou abilities outside of susanoo?

>>4784843
You want to keep the fact that you’ve noticed this technique to yourself, at least for the time being while you figure out more information. So you try to follow the approach you think you’d have done had you not noticed Madara messing with the passage of time, which is easier said than done since you’re now trying to do things in a specific way rather than doing what comes naturally to you.

If Madara notices a change in your approach he doesn’t mention it as you clash repeatedly, forcing him to abandon his kunai as they chip out. Instead he switches to a hand-to-hand style focusing on your wrists and arms, carefully keeping you from landing a deadly strike with Umekiri. You were aware of this problem of course – many swordsmen assume that they have an advantage against an opponent with an empty hand, but that’s not always the case. Any opponent capable of stepping in and fighting inside your reach can use the principles of stop-hitting against you, which means that a shinobi swordsman has to be ready to use other styles of combat in such cases.

For you that means knee strikes and kicks, at one point even trapping Madara’s wrist between your elbow and knee to snap the bones. In exchange Madara lands a knee against you as well, though not very well-placed, forcing you to step back.

“Impressive adjustment,” Madara chuckles as he flexes his wrist, using the muscles in his own arm to splint the bones so that they can start regenerating.

“You have the First Hokage’s healing abilities,” you frown.

“And you have an incredible eye,” Madara counters. “I have only ever known one other person who could sense when I used my mangekyō, and that was my brother.”

“Yeah no, I can’t take credit,” you admit, readying Umekiri’s blade for the second act.

Interesting though... he hasn’t used that ability offensively at all, and to your awareness you’ve only seen him use it once defensively. Such a useful power to have you’d think he’d use it a little more liberally than that if he could, which implies to you that it takes a lot more of his chakra to use. There are a couple of possible reasons for this of course.

>Investigate those possible reasons. You need to know the limits of this ability.
>If he can’t use it in quick succession, then you need to force him to use it again.
>You need help – Ryuzetsu and your summons would be all too happy to lend a hand.
>Other?

>>4785403
>>If he can’t use it in quick succession, then you need to force him to use it again.

>>4785403
>If he can’t use it in quick succession, then you need to force him to use it again.

>>4785403
>If he can’t use it in quick succession, then you need to force him to use it again.

>>4785403
>>If he can’t use it in quick succession, then you need to force him to use it again.

>>4785403
>If he can’t use it in quick succession, then you need to force him to use it again.

>>4785403
>1d6, DC 13
>SP: 6/6
>ES: 0/2 (0T)

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4787324

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4787324

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4787324
Nat6 here we go

>>4787371
Oh wait it wouldn’t even mattered, I misread the dc as 12 instead of 13. Either way not to bad if we’re willing to pay the cost.

>>4787324
>Burn 2 SP
>Burn 1 SP and take 1 ES
>Take 2 ES
>Fail

>>4787374
>Burn 1 SP and take 1 ES

>>4787377
>Burn 2 SP

>>4787377
>>Burn 2 SP

>>4787377
>Burn 1 SP and take 1 ES

>>4787377
>Take 2 ES

>>4787377
Needs a tiebreaker.

>>4787377
Burn 1 and take 1 es

>>4787377
If he can’t use that technique successively then the best plan is to feint, to attack him with something that can force him to use the technique to reset time, but with the intention of following up with something just as effective but entirely different. And you have an idea.

You throw five hiraishin-marked paper shuriken and as they’re in flight, you create five shadow clones that teleport to them and weave hand seals. The setup forces Madara to create wood clones of his own, which barely appear in time.

“Fūton: Daitoppa!”
“Katon: Dai Endan!”
“Raiton: Bakurai!”
“Doton: Doryūsō!”
“Suiton: Muzirappa!”

Your five attacks are expertly countered by Madara’s wood clones – not one against one but strong against weak – he read your hand seals. He uses water against your fireball, an Uchiha-style fireball against your massive wind blast, a wind bullet against your lightning bolt, a lightning bolt against your earth spheres, and an earth rampart against your water blast.

But your clones are already weaving hand seals as they teleport together.

“Doton: Doryūdan!”
“Katon: Hōsenka!”

“Katon: Karyūdan!”
“Futon: Daitoppa!”

And for you and the fifth clone,

“Suiton: Suiryūdan!”
“Raiton: Kangekiha!”

This time it’s three incoming attacks – a dragon bullet of earth superheated with fire release chakra flow, a fire dragon bullet stoked by a wind release technique, and a water dragon bullet charged with an electric shock. It would take a kekkei genkai to counter each of these three attacks, and with the senjutsu enhancements to each Madara’s wood clones are forced to use Susanō’ō to serve as an ablative defense for the real Madara.

As for him, the real Madara takes the opportunity created by his wood clones to attack you, using his own Susanō,ō to crash through what defenses you can hastily raise… or so he thinks.

“This is the real you!” he declares as he strikes the shadow clone you swapped out for.

“Yeah no,” you smirk as you charge in with Umekiri raised, storm release chakra flowing through it already. “Guess again!”
>1/2

>>4787761
If he can’t use that technique successively then the best plan is to feint, to attack him with something that can force him to use the technique to reset time… which you get the feeling he just did. So if you’re right you struck him the first time, trying to get him to use that technique to save himself from what could have turned into a lethal blow.

You throw five hirashin-marked paper kunai and as they’re in flight, you create an illusion of five shadow clones and charge Madara yourself with Umekiri ready for a thrust.

“Sorry,” he taunts you as you aim the thrust at his heart and find the spine of Umekiri’s blade pushed out of alignment to the right-hand side. “But this time I win.”

This time you make no comment.

Instead you briefly target Madara with another illusion through Umekiri’s blade, using your yin chakra flow to do so. The attack works against Madara’s sense of timing, giving you an instant to land a palm strike against his ribs on his right side – the side where he lost his own arm, and where he tore open the clothing under his armor to expose his actual, living skin tissue. That means the hiraishin mark doesn’t go onto something he’s wearing, but a part of his body he can’t simply get rid of.

“Damn!” he curses. “All that effort was just to force me into this position?”

“So yeah,” you smirk as you raise Umekiri into a guarded stance. “I’m willing to bet it won’t be easy to just rewind that so it never happened.”

>Press the advantage. Abuse the hell out of the hiraishin marking.
>You need to keep him off-balance. He’ll be expecting kenjutsu.
>Bring in summons. The advantage of numbers will continue stacking the deck.
>Other?

>>4787772
>Press the advantage. Abuse the hell out of the hiraishin marking.
GIVE HIM THE JUICE

>>4787772
>>Press the advantage. Abuse the hell out of the hiraishin marking.

>>4787772
>>Press the advantage. Abuse the hell out of the hiraishin marking.

>>4787772
>>Press the advantage. Abuse the hell out of the hiraishin marking.

>>4787772
>Press the advantage. Abuse the hell out of the hiraishin marking.

>>4787772
>1d6, first three, DC 12
>SP: 5/6
>ES: 1/2 (1T)

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4788675

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4788675

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4788675
Uh oh

ahaha not good at all

It was a good run guys.

Uuh.. do we have rerolls?

Well if there's any time to actually fail then it's against the big guy himself.

uh... can we get a reroll? if madara gets to cheat time several times, we should get to do it at least ONCE

SAME TYPE OF STA-- MANGEKYO

>>4789271
Eyestrain (ES) *is* our cheat. If we had one less ES, we could pass this.

>>4789309
I was under the impression that ES was just part of our regular Sharingan shenanigans? We've had it since we unsealed the one Itachi planted into us, after all, and that wasn't a Mangekyo.

>>4789360
ES is the cost of using eyehax, since our Sharingan is implanted. It covers basic eyehax like predicting movement, as well as the advanced eyehax of Benzaitennyo

>>4788675
You’ve placed the marking, and so now it’s time to abuse that fact as much as humanly possible.

The results of your first attack come as a surprise to you, as Madara is able to dodge the slash. The second attack is a flat thrust which bends into a horizontal slash, which Madara is able to parry. Next you teleport to a paper butterfly nearby, before teleporting back with a turning diagonal sweep up from your lower left. This he blocks as well, very carefully positioning himself – not in response to what you were doing, but in anticipation.

“So you’re sensing my chakra before I use it,” you growl. “Damn you.”

He charges you boldly, and after a brief flash from your blade you turn and strike under his right arm... and all he does is let it hit him there. He grabs your wrist, and between Umekiri’s edge having been stuck into his torso and his hold on your forearm you’re momentarily stuck there.

“The preta path...” you realize. “What are you...”

...

You’ve placed the marking, and now it’s time... to figure out what happened on the previous attempt. He may be able to perceive when you’re about to use your chakra, and so he assumes that you’re getting ready to make use of the hiraishin technique. That’s how he could anticipate it when you were planning to attack, and his abilities to keep up in taijutsu make it possible to do something about it.

“What are you doing?” you demand as he takes off his armored chestplate and shrugs off the garment underneath so he can tie it off around his waist. This reveals a face on his chest – Hashirama’s face. “Come on, put that away!”

You notice that the face gains markings around the eyes and forehead, which resemble the markings when someone uses senjutsu chakra.

“So this is how it feels!” he crows. “I always knew Hashirama was partial to this and now I understand why!”

That much power... Madara was already keeping pace with you pretty well with just his dōjutsu, but until now your sage mode has given you a slight edge despite the fact that without it he’d be noticeably stronger and faster than you. But now that he also has senjutsu, the tables have turned.

>Use the Kongō Fūsa to keep Madara at bay.
>Rely on summons and clones to split his attention.
>Match him using the Gates Sage Mode.
>Other?

>SP: 5/6
>ES: 0/2 (2T)

>>4789585
>>Match him using the Gates Sage Mode.
Fuck!

>>4789585
>>Match him using the Gates Sage Mode.
I don't think we're going to out-summon him, given all the bullshit that a rinnegan can do, and the Kongo Fusa is something we've been using already. I think it's time to step it up.

>>4789585
>>Match him using the Gates Sage Mode.

>>4789585
>Match him using the Gates Sage Mode.

>>4789585
>Match him using the Gates Sage Mode.

>>4789585
>>4789650
I agree with you, we must step up our game

>>Match him using the Gates Sage Mode.

>>4789585
>Match him using the Gates Sage Mode.
It's time. If we die, we die.

File: 1526231522330.jpg (60 KB, 500x500)

60 KB JPG

>>4789585
>Match him using the Gates Sage Mode.
can you keep up with me?

>>4789585
Due to work-related issues (they're 'asking' me to pull two 1-hr workdays that get me outta bed at 4:30) no updates tonight.

Writing is partway there, I just can't even right now. I can barely keep my eyes open.

>>4792014
Employers being shitty seems to be a constant these days. Stay sane Queen!

>>4792014
Late night, come home, work suck, I know
IRL > Quests
Stay sane

>>4792014
Relish in the suffering, king. Tell yourself you like it. Tell yourself that you want even more.
It's the only way to make it through.

>>4789585
There’s only really one option – you need more raw power to match Madara’s new usage of senjutsu, and there’s only one place to go from sage mode. It’s not going to be easy or safe, but it’s probably better than trying to fight him from such a disadvantage so you feel like you truly have no other option. The second gate of healing, the Kyūmon, is the plan, and twice your power of sage mode is as far as you dare go.

Umekiri and whatever blade it is that is in Madara’s possession meet, and you carefully judge the force each of you is able to put into zeriai, puching blade against blade just under the guard of each. You ‘win’ the zeriai as it resolves, your own physical strength proving the greater of the two, and your speed and precision prove to be greater as well as you strike. Madara tries to use several of the oji-waza against you, trying to set up counterattacks, but the variations of the uchiotoshi-waza are all too familiar to you by this point.

His strikes are powerful of course, but you still have all the slight edges in dealing with Madara’s improvements.

He seems to know it, and weaves a few quick hand seals. “Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku!”

This time, the mass of flames burns white-hot, and is vastly more powerful than any fire technique he has ever used in the past. Your response is an equally powerful ranton technique that absorbs and forces its way through the sea of fire... but had that technique been aimed at the Allied Forces the strategy would have left many hundreds to die before Madara’s flames.

In turn he summons five of the Rashōmon, defensive gates that are shattered one after the other but which succeed in taking the bite out of your Rekuyemu without feeding it more chakra. By the end he can use wood release to break up your counterattack and gain time to leap away, only for you to teleport to your hiraishin marking. Madara evades your attack, parrying it in the nick of time, and you have to quickly create a shadow clone that pushes off you to pursue him.

“A clone won’t be enough!” he insists as he plants a kick in your clone’s gut.

“Maybe not,” she admits as she substitutes out for several marked shuriken made from sealing tags

You form the seal of confrontation. “Shiyō Kibaku Fūda!”

Of course, the Susanō’ō is what he selects to face the onslaught of explosions and for good reason – it manages to weather the storm perfectly well. But what it can’t weather is the combined might of two Uzumaki Naoris using the gates sage mode together, with your clone kicking the Susanūō’ūō from the front and your real body attacking with Umekiri from behind.

“Senpō: Rekuyemu Taifū!”
>1/2

>>4793448
Your clone’s kick braces the Susanō’ō so that it takes the full force of your kenjutsu attack and chakra flow, which blasts the avatar wide open and forces Madara to absorb the chakra to survive. He raises one hand to catch your wrist and kicks your clone in the chest hard enough to make it pop, and in response you shift your weight around his grasp and drive your knee into his elbow twice – once to provoke a reflex response, then a second time instantly afterwards to take advantage of the involuntary relaxation of his muscles.

Each of these movements, wherever they’re made starting from the ground, cracks the earth under the force of your muscles pushing off. Each blow creates a small void where air is displaced, thundering away at each other time after time.

In an instant Madara disengages, weaving one handed seals with his left hand as he uses his own muscles to pop his right elbow back into position. You kick off the air behind you in an imitation of what Lee and Guy might do at a similar level of amplification, finding yourself pleasantly surprised that you can actually do that sort of thing. As you close the distance, cracking stone beneath you as you pass in a wide curve to follow Madara’s footwork, you weave hand seals of your own.

Snake, ram, hare, dog, then a specific form you don’t recognize as one of the “normal” hand seals.
“Senpō: Mokuton – Mokuryūdan!”

Rat, tiger, dragon, tiger, then the zai mudra, held close to the corner of your mouth – symbolic of an old religious deity of the sunrise, sometimes worshiped in the oldest koryū as a goddess of wisdom.
“Senpō: Ranton – Rankiryūdan!”

Madara’s technique takes the form of a serpentine dragon of wood with glowing eyes, and yours takes the form of a horned dragon of glowing blue, splashing rainwater and trailing crackling smoke from its fanged mouth. Both are on a scale completely different from when someone like Kakashi might use it, winding and twisting faster than anything of that size has any business moving before they finally clash.

The chakra absorption qualities of each seem to reduce the size of the explosion, almost as if it became an implosion instead halfway through.

>This is going nowhere. You need backup to tip the balance.
>If you attack the Ten-Tails it might shake things up a little.
>This is giving the Allied Forces the time they need.
>Other?

>>4793691
>>This is giving the Allied Forces the time they need.

>>4793691
>>This is giving the Allied Forces the time they need.

>>4793691
>>This is giving the Allied Forces the time they need.
Yeah, we aren't going to be able to do this forever.

>>4793691
>>This is giving the Allied Forces the time they need.
>>Other?

>>4793691
>>If you attack the Ten-Tails it might shake things up a little.

>>4793691
>This is going nowhere. You need backup to tip the balance.

>>4793691
>This is going nowhere. You need backup to tip the balance.

>>4793691
>>This is giving the Allied Forces the time they need.

>>4793691
>This is going nowhere. You need backup to tip the balance.
>This is giving the Allied Forces the time they need.

>>4793691
There’s a phrase among the regular forces of most villages: “hold until relieved”. It’s not something most people want to hear. It means that you’re expected to keep fighting until you’re either killed in that fighting or someone else can come along to support you – withdrawal is not an option. This battle against Madara has quickly become a “hold until relieved” sort of situation.

No one in the Allied Forces can come out here and do the job you’re doing better than you can. Naruto, Yugito, and B are leading the fight against the Ten-Tails and your understanding is that Itachi and Sasuke have only just blown through the last layer of Kabuto’s defenses to fight against the man himself. So quite simply no one is in a position to keep Madara tied down and separate from the Ten-Tails.

His reanimated eyes must remain fixed on you as long as possible, and you have to keep him from getting his true eyes back by any means at his disposal. If you were confident that you could simply kill him in this state you could do so – in fact that would be your objective in an ideal situation. But instead, you know that you can’t keep your gates sage mode up forever. In short bursts you can out-fight Madara, but especially with his time-resetting mangekyo overexerting yourself would quickly become winning a battle but losing the war.

And so you find yourself falling into a more careful pacing. Fewer blows that could kill a normal person just from being too close, and more moments of pretending to assess Madara more carefully. After all, kenjutsu often falls into that sort of pacing naturally – looking at an enemy’s stance for weaknesses, or scanning for evidence of a loss of resolve. Neither of those things exist at this level but you can at least act as though you think they might.

“You seem to be slowing down,” Madara muses as you exchange slashes, each of your movements carefully considered and expertly executed. “You’ve been using the eight inner gates to empower your sage mode, so I suppose it’s to be expected. Brief bursts of peak exertion suit this form of yours better.”

“Yeah no,” you frown. “I’m getting a little tired of your analyzing me all the time.”

“I can’t help it,” Madara admits. “It’s a fascinating technique that erases any gap there may have been between you and Hashirama in his prime. In fact I think that you and I have well exceeded that point.”

Your eyes flick momentarily towards the Ten-Tails, where at the moment Hashirama, Tobirama, Minato, and Hiruzen are all focused on maintaining a Four-Crimson_Rays barrier around the beast to limit the chances it may have to wipe out the...
>1/?

>>4795884
... and there it goes, blowing itself up inside the barrier. Had anyone been in there with it they’d have been vaporized, unless it was someone with a defensive barrier on the level of what you can create. And even you would probably be hurting if you were obliged to take that kind of attack head-on rather than teleporting away to a hiraishin marking.

From the top of the Hokages’ barrier, a massive plume of smoke and dust rises, right through the clouds and into the sky above before spreading on the high-altitude winds.

“That’s a problem for you, isn’t it?” you muse with an almost cruel grin. “Not being able to get back to it?”

“Actually, no,” he admits. “I was just about to wrap things up here. Do you have anything else that you can make use of?”

>There is one technique, but I haven’t used it before. Usually I’d say it was too dangerous.
>Try using self-hypnosis. It may help your unconscious mind make better use of your senjutsu.
>I haven’t introduced you to my summoning partners yet.
>Other?

>>4795940
>>There is one technique, but I haven’t used it before. Usually I’d say it was too dangerous.

>>4795940
>>There is one technique, but I haven’t used it before. Usually I’d say it was too dangerous.

>>4795940
>>There is one technique, but I haven’t used it before. Usually I’d say it was too dangerous.

>>4795940
>There is one technique, but I haven’t used it before. Usually I’d say it was too dangerous.

>>4795940
>Try using self-hypnosis. It may help your unconscious mind make better use of your senjutsu.

Gotta keep him here longer.

>>4795940
>Try using self-hypnosis. It may help your unconscious mind make better use of your senjutsu.

>>4795940
>>There is one technique, but I haven’t used it before. Usually I’d say it was too dangerous.

>>4795940
>Try using self-hypnosis. It may help your unconscious mind make better use of your senjutsu.

>>4795940
>Try using self-hypnosis. It may help your unconscious mind make better use of your senjutsu.

And whenever possible: cover his face in paper. It's extremely distracting but a relatively cheap tactic to keep hampering him with minimal effort. Just gotta be sneaky with layering it in with our other stuff and weaving in a surprise paper facial whenever it's most inconvenient for him.

>>4795940
>>Try using self-hypnosis. It may help your unconscious mind make better use of your senjutsu.

>>4795940
>1d6, high roll
>taking the best three of four

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4796686
GO HIGH!

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4796686

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4796686

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4796686

>>4796686
“Well,” you admit with a frown. “There is one technique I’ve never used – I decided it was too dangerous.”

“Well let’s see it!” he goads you. “You know as well as I do that you’re just delaying right now.”

You frown at him, but you also nod in agreement. “So yeah, just remember that you asked for this.”

First you take several leaping steps back to give yourself space.

It takes a very specific position, with Umekiri raised over your right shoulder edge-up and pointed towards Madara, your body in a bladed stance. You gather natural energy through Umekiri and flow ranton-transformed senjutsu chakra back into her blade, spinning and compressing that power until the chakra’s movement is easily audible. Not the whine of a rasengan, but a howl like a raging storm.

The air around you crackles as you draw in massive amounts of power from your surroundings, beginning to swirl and spark. There’s a blue glow that grows stronger with every passing moment – had you not taken a moment to dull Madara’s sense of time, he might have wised up and tried to stop you before it was too late. But he does eventually realize the level of raw power that you’re putting into this attack, and his eyes widen as the implications become clear.

>Release the power you’ve been building up in a single strike.
>Turn that power inwards. It is after all your own power to use.
>Other?

>>4797564
>Turn that power inwards. It is after all your own power to use.

>>4797564
>>Turn that power inwards. It is after all your own power to use.

No way we're falling for the old trope of putting all your bank into a single strike only for it to get rendered moot by plot contrivances.

>>4797570
my thoughts exactly.
one strike can be avoided, cancelled, ect.

>>4797564
>>Turn that power inwards. It is after all your own power to use.

>>4797564
>>Turn that power inwards. It is after all your own power to use.

Sustain, i don't think we can end it in one strike.

>>4797564
>>Turn that power inwards. It is after all your own power to use.

>>4797564
>>Turn that power inwards. It is after all your own power to use.

>>4797564
Madara realizes that he needs to stop you, and you realize that you don’t really feel like slinging this attack in Madara’s direction. You have no idea how much stronger his rinnegan’s absorbing barrier has grown with his senjutsu enhancing it, nor do you know what might happen if he fails to stop it. It’s a nightmare of a technique you have in your hand right now, potentially capable of absorbing and compressing chakra infinitely without your control.

So instead you turn that inward, drawing it back in through Umekiri’s blade.

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIk9ah4zaWo

It happens in an instant.

As Madara hurls a wooden spear at you with speed and power only a sage could possibly manage, you exist somewhere else.

He realizes that he’s strayed too close, stopping just out of your reach before kicking himself back and moving to weave a hand seal – only to find your blade buried into the bones of his right wrist. His reactions are just quick enough to keep from losing his arm.

“What is this?” he frowns. “You never touched me.”

“Thinking a bit slowly, are we?” you muse with a smile. “Or is it that I’ve started to think that much quicker?”

The air pops and crackles around you, though your surroundings have calmed. It’s a convection current, you realize, of a sort. Natural energy flows into your body, is transformed within as it blends with your chakra, and enhances your very existence to form a nimbus around your body. So this is what a chakra form like the Raikage’s lightning chakra mode feels like.

“You did mark me,” Madara begins to realize. “Didn’t you?”

“Only for an instant,” you admit. “That is the difference between the lightning chakra mode you may be familiar with and the ranton sage mode, the degree of control I have over it. In an instant I can scribe a hiraishin formula on your body, though it doesn’t last long.”

“That was how you dodged the spear so easily,” he finally concludes.

“My reaction time is faster now as well,” you add, “enough to make full use of the hiraishin.”

>Close combat is your friend now. You can mark him just by getting close.
>You have sufficient power now. You should end the threat of the Ten-Tails.
>Don’t be hasty. Madara is cornered, so you must be wary now more than ever.
>Other?

>>4797707
>>Close combat is your friend now. You can mark him just by getting close.

In honor of canon Gai, I must vote for this.

>>4797707
>>Close combat is your friend now. You can mark him just by getting close.

>>4797707
To make this explicit, "Storm Sage Mode" adds a chakra cloak instead of boosting it with the gates. The specialty of this mode is controlling the flowing chakra of the cloak - with fine enough control Naori can scribe temporary sealing formulae onto nearby objects.

In this case, a hiraishin mark.

>>4797725
>Close combat is your friend now. You can mark him just by getting close.

>>4797707
>>Close combat is your friend now. You can mark him just by getting close.
>>4797725
...does that include exploding seals?
>Seal of confrontation. "Explode"

>>4797759
...now there's a thought.

>>4797759
Not really optimal. If she made it strong enough to inflict a wound on Madara, it's such a short-lived marking and she can only place it at such short ranges that she'd be blowing herself up too. It goes by so fast that she needs the enhanced reflexes the new mode grants her to take advantage of it.

>>4797707
>Close combat is your friend now. You can mark him just by getting close.
hype

>>4797707
>>Close combat is your friend now. You can mark him just by getting close.

As much fun as it would be clapping the cheeks of the ten-tails, Madara is STILL the most dangerous person. Naruto and Sasuke can handle it now that Obito is dead...I think.

Is this basically Magia Erebea with storm chakra?

>>4797707
>Close combat is your friend now. You can mark him just by getting close.

>>4797707
>>Close combat is your friend now. You can mark him just by getting close.

>>4797707
>Close combat is your friend now. You can mark him just by getting close.

>>4797707
>1d6, DC 11
>best three of four
>SP: 5/6
>ES: 0/2 (0T)

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4798423
GO HIGH!

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4798428
Aww ye it's time for the beatdown.

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4798423

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4798423

>>4797890
Hiraishin away when explosion detonates

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4798423
in case >>4798441 doesn't count

>>4798499
Thanks for pointing out I misclicked my quote.
At least we can spend a SP if that fuck up made it not count.

>>4798428
>>4798447
>>4798499
These are the three that will count, so the SP regen is greater than the cost. I'll just go with that and put SP at 6/6.

>>4797707
“How wonderful!” Madara muses with a wild grin. “You fight like your predecessors from the Sengoku... I do believe that I could dance with you like this forever! I, Uchiha Madara, name you to be the strongest kunoichi, Uzumaki Naori!”

“Yeah no, you still don’t get it do you?” you frown, your disappointment obvious even to Madara.

“What do I not ‘get’?”

“That I’ve never once considered myself a ‘great’ kunoichi,” you inform him, lowering your blade to waki-gamae. “I was groomed by Akatsuki as early as the academy – inducted into an organization where even the weakest members could kill kages and capture jinchūriki.”

“You have polished your skills to the very highest level!” Madara insists. “Even I acknowledge this!”

“But those skills are totally overkill for a shinobi,” you observe. “With this form I could place explosive seals directly onto a group of enemies and blow them up just by being near them – but why would I do that? What possible use would a technique like Ranton Sage Mode have on any other day?”

“I concluded some time ago that the point of improving myself any further was not to serve as a shinobi, but because from time to time there may be a day like this one. My skills exist solely for the purpose of killing people like you, Uchiha Madara.”

You take a moment to dig your feet in, carefully preparing to use the fast footwork that you’re gradually becoming accustomed to through this fight to the death with Madara. As you do so your chakra whips around your stance as you rouse yourself from a resting state.

“Defend yourself!”
>1/2

>>4798661
You are Fū, and you know something about what just happened that the other people around you don’t. This Obito guy and this reanimated Madara guy weren’t friends exactly... in fact you’re realizing that they weren’t even really ‘allies’ at all. The way Madara just killed Obito was totally uncaring, like someone tossing out some broken and unwanted piece of houseware.

That sort of disregard is something you’re painfully familiar with, and even though it’s hard to feel any pity for Obito after everything you’ve seen since this war began you almost can’t help it.

“He killed Uchiha Obito?” Guren wonders aloud as Nakkun goes to work in an instant.

Kurotsuchi watches as Nakkun’s attack forces Madara to leave the top of the Ten Tails, and she tears after him just as swiftly. “Shouldn’t we be helping her?”

One of the other shinobi from her small force, a young guy maybe a year or two older than you with tan skin and white hair, shakes his head. “Naw, better not.”

“He’s right, Kurorin,” you agree. “Nakkun doesn’t like fighting, she likes testing her skills – so she only looks excited when she’s fighting someone really, really strong. And that’s the look she had on her face just now.”

“What’s going on over there?” one of Nakkun’s other subordinates chimes in, pointing at the Ten Tails.

You can see that it’s starting to glop off bits of itself, which fall to the ground and start to take on wild shapes – like what a little kid who’s only ever heard secondhand what ‘animals’ look like might doodle on a piece of paper. The Ten Tails lets out a roar as the horrors shamble towards the |Allied Forces.

>Meet them head-on: the more you take out the fewer people die.
>Be careful, these things probably have more to them than it seems.
>Take to the sky. If you can pester the Ten Tails it may help more.
>Other?

>SP: 4/4

>>4799566
>>Meet them head-on: the more you take out the fewer people die.

>>4799566
>Be careful, these things probably have more to them than it seems.

>>4799566
>Be careful, these things probably have more to them than it seems.

>>4799566
>Take to the sky. If you can pester the Ten Tails it may help more.

>>4799566
>Be careful, these things probably have more to them than it seems.

>>4799566
>Be careful, these things probably have more to them than it seems.

>>4799566
>Meet them head-on: the more you take out the fewer people die.

>>4799566
>>Be careful, these things probably have more to them than it seems.

>>4799566
>>Be careful, these things probably have more to them than it seems.

>>4799566
>1d6, high roll
>best three of four

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4801343

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4801343

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4801343

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4801343

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4801343

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>>4801343
Many shinobi charge forwards to engage the monsters as they approach, almost like they’re excited to fight against something that’s not the Ten Tails or Madara, but you shout over the noise as best you can so that at least some pause.

“Wait! There’s gotta be more to those guys!”

Floating papers dart between the monsters and the bulk of the Allied Forces, and the hail of wood spears mostly hit those papers which explode in a spectacular show of fire and splinters. The shinobi caught on the wrong side however don’t make it, and once the smoke and dust clear you can see the gory results for yourself.

“We need help here!” you shout at miss Konan, who has arrived from wherever it was the wind had taken her after she helped the Hokage out.

“Allow us, young lady,” the white-haired reanimated man in blue armor insists calmly. “The preparations are in place.”

The younger blonde-haired man puts his hands on the red-armored man and the old man’s backs, and they all disappear before reappearing in the distance all around the Ten-Tails and its stock.

“Ninpō: Shisekiyōjin!”
“Ninpō: Shisekiyōjin!”
“Ninpō: Shisekiyōjin!”
“Ninpō: Shisekiyōjin!”

The four reanimated hokages use the same technique all at once, raising a four-walled red barrier that rises high above the Ten-Tails on all sides. Now that the massive beast is temporarily separated, the other jinchūriki fall back for a moment to try to recover a little strength.

“Well that’s progress,” you admit. “So what now?”

“So now we still need to go in there,” miss Konan insists. “But we need to go in with a strategy.”

“I’ll go,” Naruto-kun insists.

“Same here, fools,” B-san adds.

Yugito-san shakes her head in disagreement. “I think we jinchūriki should stay away from the Ten-Tails for now. Madara is still bound to try sealing us into it somehow.”

“Agreed,” miss Konan nods curtly.

“Come on!” Naruto-kun insists loudly. “You can’t tell me to just let people go in there and get themselves hurt or killed while I stand around out here, ya know!”

“Yugitō-neesan, Naruto’s got it right,” B doubles down. “Who cares if tomorrow’s bright if everyone else dies tonight?”
>1/2

>>4801806
"Naruto-kun," miss Konan tries to insist, "there is too much riding on you to be reckless now."

"And I've got too many things to take care of to be playing it safe, ya know!" Naruto shoots back.

“Fū, you understand right?” Yugitō sighs. “You try talking some sense into them?”

>Actually, I kind of agree with them Yugitō-neesan. Sorry.
>Naruto, I get it. But if something happens to you ALL THIS is for nothing.
>What say we back them up, miss Konan? Split the difference?
>Other?

>>4801833
>>Naruto, I get it. But if something happens to you ALL THIS is for nothing.

>>4801833
>>What say we back them up, miss Konan? Split the difference?

>>4801833
>>What say we back them up, miss Konan? Split the difference?
Either we back them up or Naruto maybe starts looking for a dramatic opportunity to jump into the fight.

>>4801833
>>What say we back them up, miss Konan? Split the difference?

>>4801833
>Naruto, I get it. But if something happens to you ALL THIS is for nothing.

>>4801833
>>What say we back them up, miss Konan? Split the difference?

>>4801833
“Let’s split the difference,” you suggest. “Miss Konan, we could use their help and if we team up with them we can keep them safer than if they were charging in alone.”

After considering the situation for a moment, then considering how Naruto and B are likely to behave in the next few minutes if they’re forced to stay here, miss Konan sighs. “Fine. But we do this in teams – Fū-kun, you, Darui-san, and Kurotsuchi-san will go with Yugitō-san. I will take Kakashi-san and go with Naruto-kun. Mifune-san and Guy-san will go with B-san.”

“Any disagreements?”

The three teams separate, and groups of capable shinobi pack in behind those three teams which will serve as a spearhead. A lot of shinobi from Konoha and from Ame join the group behind Naruto-kun of course, and Kumo’s shinobi split between B-san’s group and Yugi-rin’s. Guren-san joins your group together with Yugi-rin, as do many shinobi from the Stone.

When it’s finally time, the four Hokages begin to lower the barriers in places – allowing you all to head in, but keeping the Ten Tails from being able to take out everyone all at once. The monsters are more than ready, you’d almost say they look anxious to attack you.

>Open strong with your blasting scale powder, clear a path for Yugito and your team.
>Take to the skies, either draw the enemy’s attention or attack unhindered from above.
>Use your assault blades to plug any holes in your team’s formation and keep them covered.
>Other?

>>4804534
>>Take to the skies, either draw the enemy’s attention or attack unhindered from above.

>>4804534
>>Open strong with your blasting scale powder, clear a path for Yugito and your team.

>>4804534
>Use your assault blades to plug any holes in your team’s formation and keep them covered.

>>4804534
>>Take to the skies, either draw the enemy’s attention or attack unhindered from above.

>>4804534
>>Take to the skies, either draw the enemy’s attention or attack unhindered from above.

>>4804534
>1d6, best three of four
>SP: 4/4

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4807072

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4807072

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4807072

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4807072
anything is better than that 1

>>4807072
You use the wings that having been Chōmei’s jinchūriki lets you grow, and take to the skies – staying low to be sure that you can react instantly if anyone below needs any help. From here it’s easy to see the extent of the problem – you may not be outnumbered, but they’re definitely a large number of enemies and they’re all bigger than any of you, covered in wicked-looking spikes and with massive fang-filled mouths.

“I’ve got you!” you insist from above, weaving some hand seals and biting your thumb. “Kuchiyose: Bees!”

You don’t expect them to do all that much, but the more things buzzing around above the battlefield the more of a distraction it will be, and who knows? Maybe the poison or the genjutsu will achieve something.

Between the bees, the hail of guided exploding kunai from your Sōshūjin, and the chakra threads themselves you can make pretty decent headway and still keep most of your comrades alive. At least, at first.

You were right as it turns out, the monsters really do have more to them than you saw. Those spines and spikes are all tree roots and branches, which they can fire out like spreads that branch out when they strike a person. You’ve seen this sort of thing before, and it’s disgusting but effective. You manage to make enough of a nuisance of yourself that while Darui, Kurotsuchi, and Yugito all pummel, incinerate, and fry the monsters, a lot of the wooden spears are coming your way instead.

In fact, it’s not long before most of your time is dodging rather than attacking. The other groups are making good progress as well – Naruto, Kakashi-san and miss Konan in particular.

>Go to ground, see if you can make better progress.
>Attack the Ten-Tails directly, see if you can hit a sensitive spot.
>Keep doing what you’re doing – it’s working.
>Other?

>>4807378
>>Keep doing what you’re doing – it’s working.

>>4807378
>Keep doing what you’re doing – it’s working.

>>4807378
>Keep doing what you’re doing – it’s working.

>>4807378
>>Keep doing what you’re doing – it’s working.

>>4807378
>>Keep doing what you’re doing – it’s working.

>>4807378
>Keep doing what you’re doing – it’s working.

>>4807378
>1d6, first three
>DC 10
>SP: 4/4

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4809116
i'm here for nat 6 and nothing fucking else, dice

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4809116

>>4809122
And the dice are here for you it seems.

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4809116

>>4809144
Had to jinx it, huh?

>>4809203
The DC was met at least

>>4809116
You have to keep doing what you’ve been doing. Every one of those monsters that’s aiming at you isn’t firing those spears at the Allied forces – at your friends – down on the ground below. And that makes it worth the risk.

While you weave your way nimbly through the thicket of wooden spears, you take a few moments here and there to fire back as best you can. You can use the Rinpungakure technique to give yourself a bit easier a time dodging, and so long as you’re well ahead of where the Allies have advanced to you can set off the explosive scale powder with tags wrapped around kunai – or just dropped loose if you have to do it that way.

For all your trouble you watch Yugitō and the others gain ground. Little glimpses show you that Darui and Kurotsuchi are pulling a lot of weight: Darui using his showy glowy ranton attacks to blow out the joints of their enemies and Kurotsuchi using her sticky quicklime to paste them down. Then Yugitō can come in after her and use suiton to cement them down long enough for the shinobi coming in behind them to finish the job with reasonable ease. A few still take a fatal blow, this being a war and all you guess you have to grudgingly admit that it’s unavoidable, but thankfully that’s not many. Not nearly as many as it could be, at least.

“How is it?” you call down to Yugitō, dropping down low for a moment.

She spares you a glance. “Slow.”

“Can I do anything?”

“Focus straight ahead?”

“Can do!”

The next time you get the opportunity you blast a hole in a pack of the smaller monsters just ahead of Yugitō and let them push into the open space that left, getting your group perilously close to the Ten Tails itself.

>Scale Powder in the eyes!
>Go around behind it, attack from behind!
>Clear space for Yugitō and the others to transform!
>Other?

>>4809385
>>Scale Powder in the eyes!

>>4809385
>>Scale Powder in the eyes!

>>4809385
>Scale Powder in the eyes!
And murder hornets in it's ears!

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>>4809385
>Scale Powder in the eyes!

>>4809385
>>Scale Powder in the eyes!

>>4809385
>MEANWHILE
After several minutes being stitched back together underneath Katsuyu, Tsunade-hime finally reawakens to a scene of total defeat. Her kimono-styled top is shredded around her waist, where she had been literally cut in half and left to die by Uchiha Madara some time before. Nearby she spots Orochimaru, her fellow sannin, sitting patiently on a large stone with one leg crossed over his knee.

“I see you’re done napping,” he muses. “Don’t worry about the other Kages, Katsuyu-dono managed to save their lives as well.”

There’s a groan from nearby as A rises to his elbows. “What was that... I feel like someone broke my neck?”

“There’s a reason for that,” Mei observes, refusing to even get up off her back. “It’s because Madara snapped your neck.”

“Ah. That would explain it.”

“Does anyone else feel that?” the Tsuchikage enquires as he tries to stand up. “Something’s going on in that direction... east, I think.”

“It’s Uzumaki Naori,” Gaara informs him calmly, having woken up a few minutes beforehand. He struggles to get to his feet as well, having until this point been propped up against his sister’s fan. “She’s fighting against Madara.”

“Be careful, Gaara!” Temari insists.

A finally manages to sit up all the way. “So she took over the Allied Forces. What have the casualties looked like?”

“That girl is fighting Madara alone,” Orochimaru tells him with a smirk. “She surpassed us all a long time ago. This is now a battle between two sages.”

“I thought that was what I felt,” Gaara replies, sweeping up some nearby sand. “I’m going over there.”
>1/2

>>4812662
“I’m coming with you,” Mei insists as well. “My pride won’t let me sit still long while she’s fighting alone. Just... give me a moment here. Madara put a pretty good-sized hole in my chest.”

“It’s the Allied Forces that could use your help,” Orochimaru adds. “Uchiha Madara has somehow managed to gain access to senjutsu chakra and has the rinnegan, while Uzumaki Naori has evolved her sage mode to a new form.”

“Is that even possible?” Tsunade-hime asks nervously. “What would it even look like?”

“A chakra mode drawing on one’s affinities,” Orochimaru explains, massively simplifying the matter for brevity. “I theorized such a thing was possible, but Minato-san deemed the base form to be too slow and quit developing it, while Jiraiya was never especially good at it.”

“So this is some kind of storm sage mode?” Tsunade presses. “That’s... slightly terrifying. What could that possibly do beyond normal sage mode?”

“It would be like Han and Roshi, I would imagine,” Onoki frowns. “Terrifying indeed – both those chakra modes were incredibly powerful.”

“Yes, but also limited,” Orochimaru insists. “If amplified by senjutsu chakra, I would imagine the resulting Futton cloak would be acidic to the touch, for example, rather than merely enhancing its user’s physical power and speed.”

“It clearly enhances her chakra,” Mei shakes her head, before immediately regretting the careless gesture. “Or am I the only one who can feel that fight in their bones even from here?”

Onoki grits his teeth, clenching his fists at the same time – quite possibly without realizing. “We’re the five Kages, dammit... and we’re still alive, so we can’t just keep sitting around here all day! Kazekage, how many of us can you carry on your sand?”

“All of us if need be.”

“Then we should get to it,” Mei insists curtly, rolling over onto her elbows before forcing herself up. “The Allied Forces need us.”

“I will share some of my chakra,” Orochimaru offers, extending a series of summoned snakes from his sleeve. “But I should warn you now, the battle that your Allied Forces have entered is not much safer than fighting Uchiha Madara was for the five of you. That being said, however, the battle between Uzumaki Naori and Uchiha Madara is now beyond the point where any of us can assist.”

“I have faith in her and in Naruto,” Tsunade-hime insists. “Though I can only speak for myself.”

“Agreed,” Mei nods curtly.

“Then we all have no choice but to put our faith in those youngsters,” Onoki muses, “and direct our efforts elsewhere.”
>2/2

>>4812693
You double down on the annoyance strategies – using both summoned bees and your Rinpungakure against the massive Ten Tails. It’s only possible to get the scale powder into one of its eyes at once, since the other eye is on the far side of its head, but the bees manage to get inside what you think must be its nose.

But before anyone can actually land any decently-powerful attacks on the Ten Tails it finally gives you a direct response: it bellows. And it’s such a powerful sound that it becomes a physical force, completely blowing many of the Allied Forces off their feet and sending them tumbling back towards the walls of the barrier. You manage to stay upright but only just.

“Yugi-nee!” you shout over the noise. “This isn’t gonna work!”

“Everyone who can, fall back!” she shouts. “Darui, Kurotsuchi-san, cover us!”

“Right!” Darui shouts. “Kurotsuchi-san you take the lead!”

“Yōton: Sekkaigyō no Jutsu!”

A moment later Darui finishes weaving his signs. “Suiton: Suijinheki!”

The two techniques combine to create a hardened concrete barrier that gives many of the allies who were chasing after you a few precious moments to recover their footing, gather their wounded, and retreat. But even that partnered ninjutsu starts to chip and flake away, especially at the top of the wall where large chunks quickly start to tear free and fly past the retreating shinobi the wall’s meant to protect.

“Get out ahead of us!” Yugitō calls out to you. “Tell the Hokages we’re on our way out!”

It’s difficult, but you manage to fly straight to one of the reanimated hokages – the one with long black hair and red armor. “We’re coming out!”

The man opens a hole in the barrier and the Allied Forces flee back through it, then he closes that hole again. And your comrades begin to count their dead yet again.

“Okay, so that didn’t work,” Naruto admits frankly. “But Kurama and I have a plan.”

He holds up his hands and makes a hand seal, creating a bunch of copies of himself that run through the members of the Allied Forces. As they pass you see them spreading chakra cloaks – the same sort you used to have when you were learning to use Chōmei’s chakra.

Except instead of just one person it’s everyone you can see from here.

When one of Naruto’s clones passes you get one too, a familiar feeling.

>Okay, time to try this again. But this time, with Kurama’s chakra.
>This time we need a plan – and we need to all work together.
>All that matters is hitting as hard as possible – if that doesn’t work nothing will.
>Other?

>>4813289
>>This time we need a plan – and we need to all work together.

>>4813289
>This time we need a plan – and we need to all work together.

>>4813289
>This time we need a plan – and we need to all work together.
People of earth, give me your energy!

>>4813289
>>This time we need a plan – and we need to all work together.

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>>4813289
“This time we need a plan!” you insist loudly. “I know that sounds kinda weird coming from me but that just goes to show you.”

“Agreed,” a voice in your head startles you into raising your hands, ready to throw a punch before you realize it’s headquarters. “We’ve been analyzing the data from that last attack, and the tailed beast chakra Naruto-kun just distributed through the Allied Forces. I think we can do this.”

“What are you thinking, Shūkaku-san?” Yugitō asks aloud.

“We’ll explain everything,” Nara Shūkaku insists, “but if your tailed beasts don’t think it’ll work let us know. The first step is going to be getting close – we’ll need ranged ninjutsu users, mostly wind release to give cover and lightning release to blind the Ten-Tails. Then we need earth release users to use a massive Chidōkaku to drop the Ten-Tails into a pit, and lava release users to fill the pit with as much quicklime as they can. Then we’ll need water users to add water and the Sarutobi clan to use their fire to set that mixture into concrete.”

“And then?” you ask.

“Then we hit it with everything we have,” Naruto pounds his fist into his hand. “I can get behind that, ya know!”

“Multiple tailed beast balls for one thing,” Nara-san adds. “But we’ll also need all the reanimated Kages and miss Ryūzetsu. Unless I’m mistaken there’s a technique using your bodies as a catalyst to create exploding tags? It was Lord Second’s technique, and Uzumaki Naori-san recreated it?”

There’s a pause where people that aren’t nearby are replying, and you’re left to guess that they said yes.

“Good. Then unless any of the jinchūriki or tailed beasts have a disagreement we should begin as soon as possible.”

>1d6, best three of four

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4815095

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4815095
>>4815095

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4815095

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4815095

>>4815095
Once the plan has been communicated to the Allied Forces, you all head back inside the barrier – only this time, clones go with you as well. One shadow clone of the silver-haired Hokage and one of the old man to be precise, staying in formation with Ryū-kun a little behind the front lines.

The wind users make the first move to provide some initial cover.

“Fūton: Okakeami!”

The shinobi, mostly from Gaara and Temari’s village, use a bunch of their giant fans to fill the air with slicing invisible blades – or at least, mostly invisible. There’s a bit of a shimmer in the air as the pressure changes, though you’ve been told most people wouldn’t be able to see it as clearly. That gives a large number of shinobi, mostly from Yugi-nee’s village and led by Darui, an opening to use their own combined technique.

“Raiton: Raigen Raikōchū!”

The flash is bright enough to burn your eyes even after you closed them, so you can only imagine it had the effect you wanted on the Ten Tails. You have to imagine it, your eyes being closed and all. But evidently it did give the shinobi from Konoha and Iwa time to get in closer.

“Doton: Daichidōkaku!”

A stupendously large square area of land simply drops out underneath the Ten Tails, which howls as it clearly failed to anticipate that happening. The lava users, mostly from Iwa and Kiri, are quick to follow through led by Kurotsuchi right up front.

“Yōton: Sekkaigyō no Jutsu!”

The lava users pour enough quicklime onto the Ten Tails to trap its legs, while the water users follow close behind. These don’t come as one technique, since all the shinobi doing it rely on different versions of the same concept. Waterfalls, walls, waves – even Kurotsuchi gets in on the action, staying right up front.

Meanwhile, Naruto, B, and Yugi-nee have started on their part of the job – transforming and readying tailed beast bombs. Ryū-kun and the two Hokages start to bombard the Ten Tails as well, focusing on its eyes and head with a stream of nonstop explosions that only seem to get more intense as the seconds pass.

>Add scale powder to the explosions. Make sure that thing can’t see what’s coming.
>Call Kurotsuchi and Darui’s units back – things are about to get messy.
>Something’s not right about the Ten Tails… usually a creature would be attacking you back.
>Other?

>>4815503
>>Something’s not right about the Ten Tails… usually a creature would be attacking you back.

>>4815503
>Something’s not right about the Ten Tails… usually a creature would be attacking you back.

>>4815503
>Something’s not right about the Ten Tails… usually a creature would be attacking you back.

>>4815503
>>Something’s not right about the Ten Tails… usually a creature would be attacking you back.

>>4815503
>Something’s not right about the Ten Tails… usually a creature would be attacking you back.

>>4815503
Something about each step of this whole process strikes you as being distinctly wrong, and in a flash of insight you know what it is.

“Hey, creepy voice-in-my-head guy!” you shout aloud. “If you’re still there get me the yellow hokage!”

“I’m not... fine,” the man agrees. “I’ve got Namikaze Minato-dono.”

“Who’s this?” a new voice asks you curiously.

“No time,” you insist. “Why hasn’t the Ten Tails attacked us back yet?”

“There could be a few reasons,” he muses thoughtfully, and then there’s a pause. “Oh. Oh crap.”

“Yeah,” you frown, “it’s waiting for us to all get inside the barrier with it.”

“Naruto!” you hear the Fourth Hokage shout. “Shūkaku-san, get me my son, right now!”

There are a few seconds where you’re not sure what’s going to happen, because you can’t hear the rest of the conversation as the Ten Tails charges what you recognize to be the largest and most powerful tailed beast bomb that you’ve ever seen – perhaps to have ever even existed. That thing will make any chakra cloak completely pointless, even with Kurama’s help every single shinobi from the Allied Forces who came inside this barrier is going to die if nobody can do something.

You just have to hope for those few seconds that you made the right call. You can’t even even run, because you know it would be pointless.

...

Then you suddenly find yourself outside the barrier.

“Yahoo!” you shout triumphantly, realizing what must have happened even as most of the shinobi present struggle to figure out what must have just happened.

The Ten Tails fires off its bomb inside the barrier, which distorts and twists as it absorbs the impact, before smoke and fire rise up from the top of the barrier which towers high above the battlefield.

Then the barrier collapses.

“Damn,” the Fourth Hokage hisses, now apparently exhausted. “I used up too much chakra to pull that off... the barrier weakened on my corner.”

“Don’t apologize,” the silver Hokage insists curtly as he joins the Fourth. “You saved the entire alliance. That was the point of the barrier in the first place, so it’s fine. It works out the same.”

“This must be what the beast wanted,” the old Hokage reckons. “We all made the mistake of assuming it had no ability to reason, which is why it took us all by surprise. Now we must focus on...”

“It’s charging another one!” you shout.
>1/2

>>4817151
“Tobirama, can you teleport it?” the long-haired Hokage asks.

The silver-haired Hokage shakes his head. “Sorry brother. But unlike the Fourth here I never learned to use it in conjunction with a barrier.”

“Then we’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way!” the long-haired Hokage declares, raising his voice to a roar. “Earth-style users, prepare to put as many walls as you can in the line of fire, and I’ll do what I can as well!”

He weaves hand seals, and raises a series of wooden walls just as others in the Allied Forces raise their earthen walls. You can see Ajisai summoning her defensive gate and adding it into the mix, and Konan-san using walls of hardened paper. There are even a few people who help raise other kinds of barrier techniques, making for a real patchwork of defenses that are raised just in time.

The Ten Tails launches its attack, and as it approaches Gyūki and Matatabi fire attacks into it to try and slow it down, or maybe detonate it early. That doesn’t work, and it begins carving through barriers one after the next.

“Damn it!” Gyūki curses. Jumping into the way he tries to stop it with his massive bulk, but the blast just pushes him across the ground. “I can’t stop it!”

He’s knocked out of the way and the blast keeps coming...

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q_sH1cj4As

... only to stop for a moment as a lone figure appears in the way.

Then the blast is simply gone, a little short of the Allied Forces.

The figure glances over her shoulder, past hair that glows faintly red, and calls out. “So yeah, you should all probably brace?”

Then she starts walking towards you, even as the wash from the distant blast hits you from behind, whipping her hair and throwing many of the allies around like toys. Many of them, having missed Nakkun’s warning, assume they’re being attacked from that direction.

She reaches you and the Hokages.

“Thanks for leaving that marking, Minato-han,” she muses with a smile. Now that she’s closer you can see her body is surrounded by a faintly visible aura, which occasionally crackles with electricity. “I didn’t have the time to set up anything that far...”

“Uzumaki Naori!” a new voice roars as Uchiha Madara rejoins the battle. “So this is where you went!”

“Yeah,” she frowns. “Shut up a moment and wait.”

Madara’s arm detaches and streaks straight for Nakkun, who catches it midflight and sends a jolt down its length, setting off a series of explosions before tossing it back at Madara’s face.

“I said wait!” she repeats herself.
>2/3

>>4817171
You are Uzumaki Naori, and you’ve just teleported away the largest single attack you’ve ever seen where it won’t harm anyone... too much, at least. A bunch of them got blown off their feet but they’ll survive. But soon after the blast washes over you, more good news – familiar faces.

“Sasuke!” Naruto greets his teammate. “Boy are you just in the nick of time!”

“Karin,” you greet your cousin. “Good timing. Things went well?”

“The Edo Tensei is ended,” she tells you. “Everything else is... well... it’s not my story to tell.”

“It got a bit personal?”

“It did.”

>Resume your battle with Madara. That’s the place where you’ll do best.
>Sasuke’s appearance is an advantage – you can coordinate your efforts.
>You need to observe Madara’s next moves – the situation has changed.
>Other?

>>4817332
>>Resume your battle with Madara. That’s the place where you’ll do best.

>>4817332
>>Resume your battle with Madara. That’s the place where you’ll do best.

>>4817332
>>Sasuke’s appearance is an advantage – you can coordinate your efforts.

>>4817332
>>Sasuke’s appearance is an advantage – you can coordinate your efforts.

>>4817332
>Resume your battle with Madara. That’s the place where you’ll do best.

>>4817332
>Resume your battle with Madara. That’s the place where you’ll do best.

>>4817332
>Resume your battle with Madara. That’s the place where you’ll do best.

>>4817332
>>Resume your battle with Madara. That’s the place where you’ll do best.
>>Sasuke’s appearance is an advantage – you can coordinate your efforts.

>>4817332
>>Sasuke’s appearance is an advantage – you can coordinate your efforts.

Because treating Madara like a casual nuisance to be ignored at will is hilarious.

>>4817332
>Sasuke’s appearance is an advantage – you can coordinate your efforts.

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>>4817332
Madara is still in the mode he took on when he chose to start using the rinnegan’s powers seriously a few minutes ago – what he said would lead to a ‘more sophisticated’ battle. In other words he’s been abusing the Preta path’s Fūjutsu Kyūin technique and the Asura path’s body modifications more liberally, having grown two extra faces to let him use more powerful rinnegan abilities with those extra eyes while keeping his key mangekyō active to reverse time whenever he needs to. He’s also been using those little bomb-laden chains, the rocket punch (which is still delightfully stupid), and the extra arms.

What’s been a bit more of a problem even for you are the Shinra Tensei and Bansho Ten’in.

“What’s so ‘sophisticated’ about this,” you grumble under your breath.

Fū glances at you. “Maybe the rocket punch? I think it’s pretty cool.”

“Fū?” you sigh. “Have I mentioned today how much I adore you?”

“Not so far.

“I adore you,” you insist, ruffling her hair.

She grins in response to the sudden attention. “Yay.”

“So yeah,” you muse aloud, “good to see you Sasuke… but I’m going to keep fighting Madara myself.”

“We could help you!” Naruto protests.

You shake your head. “No. Madara is using the rinnegan abilities a bit more seriously now – including the Preta path’s Fūjutsu Kyūin. If he were to steal your Kurama chakra or my own Seiran chakra mode it’d be over right then and there, but with Seiran mode I can scribe fūinjutsu formulae onto him to disrupt his chakra absorption. So right now, I’m the only one who can fight him.”

“And those explosives?”

“I can keep them from hitting the Allied Forces,” you insist, “using arcs of ranton chakra like I just did. But the Deva path is a different matter. You’ll all have to be careful.”
>1d6, best three of four
>high roll

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4818991

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4818991
And here we go

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4818991

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4818991
aiming for a 6 but anything better than a 2 is ok by me.

>>4818991
“Then we’ll attack the Ten Tails again,” Sasuke insists, biting his thumb and weaving seals. “Kuchiyose: Aoda!”

“I’ll go too,” Naruto decides, doing the same. “Kuchiyose!”

Sasuke is suddenly standing atop a massive snake, which he clads in the armor from his Susanō’ō, while Naruto seems a bit confused at which toad he ends up standing on top of.

“Hey wait, you’re Gamakichi!?” he shouts. “You’ve gotten huge ya know!?”

“Well what do you expect!?” Gamakichi shoots back. “You keep callin’ the boss every damn time and all, of course I’m gonna get bigger in the mean time!”

“Jeez, sorry,” Naruto grumbles.

“Then I’m going as well!” a new voice insists, as Haruno Sakura joins her former... well, technically current... teammates. “It’s my turn to take over for Tsunade-sama.”

She allows some kind of sealing marks to spread from the center of her forehead across her face and upper arms, before weaving hand seals of her own. “Kuchiyose: Katsuyu!”

It’s impressive that she’s able to summon something that massive, you don’t remember her having nearly enough chakra for that sort of display. You also hear a from all around you some whispers about a ‘Three-Way Deadlock’ – which you’d gather is an old turn of phrase for the Sannin, who taught each of the three young shinobi who are taking the lead now in the fight against the Ten Tails.

But your own fight has to take priority over watching the results of theirs.

Madara has learned not to attack you with any single massive blasts of chakra, while you’ve learned to be more conservative with how you use your own chakra. His waves of fire and water have to be broken with Kongō Fūsa barriers, or else carefully defeated by short-range ranton flow techniques. Occasionally he still tries novel ways to get his hands in close, and releases those little explosives at every chance he gets only for you to destroy them with powerful surges of flowing lightning.

At first it’s difficult to discern his intentions – whether he intends to attack the Allied Forces, seize the jinchūriki one at a time, or return to the Ten Tails. But after a few seconds he positions himself enough times to make it more clear that his true focus is on the Ten Tails, likely to reunite with it and use it as a source of power. You have to figure he intends to become its jinchūriki, but there may also be a need for him to gather more power to make full use of that state.

>Try to kill him outright. His plans come to an end if he dies.
>If you were to become the jinchūriki yourself this war would end.
>What you need in any event is to force him to reset time again.
>Other?

>>4821209
>>If you were to become the jinchūriki yourself this war would end.
IT'S TIME.

>>4821209
>>What you need in any event is to force him to reset time again.

>>4821209
>>If you were to become the jinchūriki yourself this war would end.

Probably a terrible idea, but fuck it.

>>4821209
>>If you were to become the jinchūriki yourself this war would end.

KAGUYA TAKE THE WHEEL