Chapter 82
Desperate beyond her wildest imagination, Sakura does everything she can to keep Naruto alive; the kunoichi has her hand inside Naruto’s chest, artificially pumping the hero’s heart for him. They are alone in the darkness of the Kamui dimension, surrounded by countless rectangular platforms.
“…!?”
Sakura is immediately put on edge as she witnesses the sudden appearance of a distortion in the form of a spiraling void just a few yards away. She protectively crouches over Naruto, like a mother would her cubs when she sees the one who enters the dimension, Obito.
The international terrorist is hunched over and breathing heavily from a mix of injuries and exhaustion, he uses a black shakujō like a cane. Weakly, the Akatsuki leader makes his way over to Naruto.
“D-Don’t worry… I’m here to h-help Naruto…” Obito wheezes.
Not convinced, Sakura continues to shield Naruto with her body. “How can I trust you?”
“Since I was young, I’ve never been able to walk a straight path. But I’ve finally gotten to where…” Obito crouches down before Naruto, he places his hand on the hero’s abdomen. “...I needed to go.”
Obito begins the process of transferring the Yin half of Kurama along with a portion of the One and Eight-Tails’ chakra to the young Uzumaki.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Huh, so that’s the Gate of Death? Cool.” Ayanami praises her taijutsu teacher.
With her Byakugan activated, the young Hyuga watches Guy battle Madara with admiration in her awed eyes. She’s seen Jin’s memories, but she still can’t believe the Noble Green Beast is this powerful. Ayanami now has an even greater respect for Guy than ever before.
Ayanami watches as Guy emulates flight by kicking the air, closing the distance between himself and Madara. Guy fires off a barrage of Sekizos at the Ten-Tails jinchuriki, the attacks cause tremors that can even be felt by the team at their current location.
Ayanami winces from the impact. “Ooh… those looked like they really hurt--I can’t even imagine how painful it would be to be hit by so many Evening Elephants.”
“I don’t have to imagine it…” A grimacing Jin mutters.
The Onikage is reminded of the events that occurred on the Land of Lightning’s coastline; Kabuto had reanimated Doctor Shinno and had him attack Jin, the young Uzumaki was impaled and saw his own entrails, the doctor activated the Eight Inner Gates on top of his Body Activation Jutsu and almost killed him.
Irritated, Jin rubs his stomach. Damn you, Kabuto!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, on another section of the battlefield, Team Taka along with Orochimaru are rushing toward Sasuke. A little earlier, Karin had sensed his chakra signature rapidly growing weaker all of a sudden, several other strong chakras appeared near him. Worried, the sensory ninja picks up the pace, taking the lead.
“S-Sasuke!” Karin calls out.
She can see Sasuke lying unconscious on the ground with a man with white, scaly skin and horns crouching over him, his chakra feels powerful yet disgusting. Around them, stand five other individuals, they too have white, scaly skin.
“Hey, you! I don’t know who the hell you guys are, but what do you think you’re doing with Sasuke!?”
Now close enough to have a better look, the team can see that the mysterious man is connected to Sasuke via a thick white tendril coming from his abdomen. Based on the moving bulges, something is being pumped into the downed Uchiha.
The five other individuals quickly move to stand between Taka and the mysterious man, taking defensive stances. Their faces are all expressionless, it is as if they are all mindless puppets just following their master’s orders.
“Ah, so it was you, Kabuto and… the Sound 5?” Orochimaru’s attention falls on the familiar faces.
“Not quite, Lord Orochimaru. They’re clones. Thanks to the biofeedback of the Body Activation Jutsu…” Kabuto keeps his focus on Sasuke. “…coupled with Sakon and Ukon’s kekkei genkai, I was able to create these fission clones of the Sound 5. These clones are far stronger than the original Sound 5 ever were considering they possess my sage chakra.”
Orochimaru stares at them with fascination while Team Taka is disgusted by this revelation. Karin’s body shakes with panic and rage; she strongly feels the need to attack the bespectacled snake sage.
The snake Sannin strokes his chin. “Interesting… Why didn’t you use this against Itachi when you had the chance?”
“I’m still learning what I’m capable of… and I didn’t know that he had such a troublesome technique at his disposal.”
“I don’t care about that--what I wanna know is if you’re still planning on absorbing Sasuke?” Suigetsu asks teasingly.
The young Hozuki points towards the tentacle connecting Kabuto to Sasuke, it continues to pump something mysterious into the insensible Uchiha.
Wearing an expression of contemplation, the snake sage quickly responds with, “I have no desire to do that anymore. I have no interest in trying to steal Sasuke either.
Focusing on Sasuke, Karin’s eyes widen. Sasuke’s Chakra… I can just barely sense it!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jin and the team watch as an ominous red glow appears in the distance, the color is reminiscent of dead autumn leaves that have fallen off their tree. This crimson glow amasses into a thick construct of chakra, manifesting the form of a red burning dragon that can be seen by all on the battlefield.
“Hmm?” Jin detects two chakra signature spiking. Almost at the endgame now…
The Onikage can sense the chakras of Naruto and Sasuke, they are more powerful than ever before, rivaling him and Ayanami. They are currently on a warpath, heading straight towards Madara.
The dragon charges forward with such strength and ferocity, the ground underneath the team trembles and quakes as the creature gets closer. Even the air is starting to get warmer as the dragon closes in proximity, they are unfortunately in the red dragon’s path.
“Holy crap!” Jin shouts.
“Everyone, get out of the way!” Ayanami commands.
Jin quickly grabs hold of Rito while Ayanami snatches Echo and Mecha-Naruto, they jump out of the way only mere moments before the creature passes through. The team can all see Guy hovering inside the beast, kicking Madara in the stomach.
They continue to watch as the dragon makes its way to the base of the divine tree and runs up its trunk; Guy leaves a trail of scorch marks and molten rock in its wake. Guy’s Night Guy carves away some of the tree’s bark as the dragon travels up the trunk and nearly reaches the bud before arcing off. The crimson dragon dissipates, leaving both Madara and Might Guy to fall from a great height; with a loud thud, they crash at the base of the tree between two of its roots.
“Finally… Jin? Ayanami? Are you ready to fulfill your destinies?” Echo speaks cryptically.
“We were made for this!” Ayanami gives a thumbs up.
Jin, however, takes a moment and looks down at his trembling hands, he closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and slowly clenches his fists; his hands stop shaking. The Uzumaki looks up from his hands and gives his future-self a look of determination.
“Let’s win and LIVE to tell the story…” Jin speaks with fire in his voice. “…Time to go!”
The team all rush toward where Guy and Madara landed, Jin senses powerful lava chakra being infused while the tremors start up again; there is a massive explosion that separates the tree from its base and roots. The divine tree has just been cut down.
“HEAR ME, WEAKLING WHO HARBORS FEAR… TAKE ME INSIDE YOU. TAKE IT ALL… TAKE ALL OF THE DIVINE TREE INSIDE YOU!”
Jin winces in pain as a voice rings loud in his head. “Oh, hell no--I know what you really are and what you’re all about! I'm not absorbing you! FUCK YOU, BITCH!!”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While Madara is currently in the process of soaking up the divine tree, Naruto has retreated back to deliver Might Guy to safety. With his newly acquired six path abilities, he has just saved Guy from his certain doom from using the Eighth Gate of Death, now he is just a smoldering body just barely alive when Naruto sets him down near Lee and Gaara.
“…But I thought that he had activated all Eight Gates?” Lee asks with tears in his eyes.
“Yeah…” Unsure of what to make of it, Naruto looks down at his right palm. “…But it feels like I’m able to do al--whoa!”
“Hi, guys!” Ayanami cheerfully waves.
Their conversation is interrupted by the sudden and unexpected arrival of Jin and Ayanami, he stares down at the barely alive, smoking corpse that is the Leaf’s Noble Blue Beast. The leaf jonin is covered in cracks that glow from the heat, this terrible sight makes Jin recoil with disgust.
“Guy, you… look like shit. Better fix that!” Jin picks Guy up by his arm to everyone’s surprise.
Lee balls his fists and takes a fighting stance. “Put Guy-Sensei down!”
“Don’t be so hasty, Bushy Brows… I’m going to heal him.” Jin gives the taijutsu expert a sly smile. Guy is already regarded as a war hero. If I heal him, I’ll gain more brownie points so less people will want me dead and we’ll have another body to throw at the Boruto era threats… Ooh, I REALLY like that idea…
Jin uses the Naraka Path to summon the King of Hell, he tosses the roasted Guy into the ethereal entity’s gaping maw, and it starts chewing. Moments later, to Naruto, Lee and Gaara’s amazement, the King of Hell spits a fully healed Might Guy out; his skin is as smooth and fresh as an infant's and all of his injuries are gone.
“Wha–! *cough* *cough*” Gasping for air, Guy wakes up. “W-What? I-I’m still… alive? How?”
“GUY-SENSEI!!!”
With tears running down his face, Rock Lee elatedly embraces his beloved master tightly.
“Naruto saved you and *I*, Jin healed you. You're welcome…” Jin speaks in a calm yet serious tone. “Gaara? Lee? Take Guy and keep a safe distance away. This is no longer a battle between ninja, but gods and monsters.”
Gaara looks Jin squarely in the face and sees he is completely serious, the air he gives off is indescribably tense. He turns to Naruto and Ayanami and sees that they give off a similar air as well, the Kazekage then has his sand travel under the two taijutsu specialists and hoists them into the air.
“N-Naruto? Jin? T-Thank you…” Lee stammers, wiping away his tears.
“Naruto? When you become Hokage… we should go have a drink together sometime.”
“Sure!” A smiling Naruto replies.
Courage! Courage, Jin… You CAN do this!! Terrified beyond belief, Jin tries his best to give himself a pep talk.
While the sand sibling flies away with Lee and Guy, Ayanami, Jin, and Naruto swiftly race to where Madara is situated. As they get closer, they can see the self-proclaimed savior hovering in the air, reveling in his newfound strength as he’s just finished absorbing the divine tree.
“Heh heh heh… Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!” Madara cackles joyously. “The time when all become one has come.”
While Jin takes one of his Truth-Seeker Orbs and has it morph into a scythe and has it rest on his shoulder, Ayanami tightens her headband and cracks her knuckles. Naruto picks up one of his father’s kunai that happens to be on the ground and puts it in his mouth, holding it with his teeth.
“You three can’t possibly take me down. I’ve essentially become immortal now! Don’t you see? I’ve become a god!” Looking down on them, Madara proudly monologues.
“Stupid old man… the 3 of us aren’t going to beat you…” Ayanami snaps back.
“Hmm?” Madara cocks his head to one side.
Jin finishes the kunoichi’s sentence. “The 4 OF US will crush you, you filthy, decrepit, old wretch!!”
Just as the Onikage finishes speaking, Ayanami activates her Tenseigan Chakra Mode and Naruto activates his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode and stacks it on top of his Six Paths Sage Mode; his body is now coated in yellow chakra; a sort of circular design is featured prominently over his stomach; the whisker-like markings on his face become thicker to resemble the ☰ trigram; six magatama markings are present on or around his collar; various other dark designs appear along his body, sometimes densely enough to give the appearance that he's wearing a bodysuit beneath the yellow coat. A pattern consisting of a Rinnegan-like marking above nine magatama also appears on his back.
At the same time Sasuke appears with his newly acquired six paths yin abilities. He is currently in his Curse Mark Second State and his visual prowess has increased greatly; his right eye has the Eternal Mangekyo activated while his left eye has evolved into a Rinnegan with three tomoe on each of its two innermost circles.
“Your time has come, Madara.” The young Uchiha carries himself with cold, unflinching confidence.
The Ghost of the Uchiha continues to look down on the four shinobi; he quietly assesses their powers and is not impressed.
Madara belittles them by sneering, “Heh… Jin and Naruto Uzumaki! Sasuke Uchiha! And Ayanami Hyuga! No matter how strong you get, yo–”
“Show your reverence and kneel before my splendor!” Says a mysterious and demonic voice.
To everyone’s shock and confusion, the ground begins to shake violently, and the night sky is blotted out by the emergence of fierce thunderclouds. Lightning strikes the terrain and boulders of varying sizes rise up and float ominously in the air. The clouds begin revolving in the same way a tornado forms, but no cyclone forms, the clouds just swirl.
Naruto stumbles from all the shaking. “Wh-What in the world…?!”
“RAAAAAAAAWWWWRR!!” The mysterious voice releases a blood-curdling roar.
Still whirling around, the clouds part, creating an opening for a creature to descend from the heavens. It is a draconic being with eight serpentine heads, each head possessing rows and rows of razor-sharp fangs. Its size is comparable to that of a tailed beast, its massive wings create gale-force winds with each flap. Its body is as black as the night with a dark violet aura outlining its body, its eyes are red like blood.
Gritting his teeth, Jin sweats as he senses the abomination’s chakra, it greatly surpasses Madara’s chakra by far in terms of both size and power, cold and angry, and brimming with hatred and evil. Peering deeper into the abyss, Jin can detect the chakra signatures of Kazuya, Hiruko, the dragons of Mount Koryu, and many more; it feels like their chakras are all screaming in agony. It feels like the monster’s chakra is trying to pull Jin in and devour him, mind, body, and soul. Annihilate every trace of his existence.
“*I* am the supreme master of the universe! *I* am the great destroyer, the taker of life! Worship me, give praise unto me! Me, the powerful, the majestic! Me, the invincible, the almighty, and divine! All hail Lord Moryo!!”
Huh… I wondered how Moryo was ever able to beat and absorb Kaguya… and now I know. Jin broods, he is so consumed by fear that his demeanor performs a 180% and comes off as calm. “Well, damn… we are so fucked.”