"ROAR!!"
The thunderous bellow erupted from deep within the Gedo Statue, a sound that seemed to tear through the very fabric of reality itself. Within Naruto's mindscape, the sealed Nine-Tails pressed against the bars of its prison, amber eyes blazing with recognition and barely contained fury. The great fox's expression twisted into something truly ferocious as the wails of its captured brethren reached its keen senses.
"Those bastards..." Kurama's mental voice dripped with rage. "They're torturing my siblings."
What made the situation even more intriguing—and disturbing—was that Naruto could hear them too. The young shinobi's face contorted in pain as the anguished cries of the Tailed Beasts resonated through his very soul. Even for a Jinchūriki, such perception should have been impossible without achieving perfect synchronization with his Tailed Beast. Yet here he stood, trembling as waves of alien suffering washed over his consciousness.
"The resonance between Tailed Beasts transcends physical barriers," Kurama explained, its voice softer now, almost contemplative. "But for you to hear them... your connection to chakra has deepened beyond what I expected, kit."
Across the battlefield, Sasuke's Sharingan spun lazily as he studied the massive statue. Through his enhanced vision, he could perceive the truth hidden beneath the stone exterior—several distinct chakra signatures writhing in apparent agony within the construct's hollow chest cavity. The chakra burned like captured stars, each one struggling desperately against invisible bonds.
"What incredible power," Sasuke murmured, his voice carrying a mixture of awe and disgust. The raw amount of chakra contained within that statue dwarfed anything he had encountered before, " Is this the true scope of the Akatsuki's plan?"
The battlefield trembled as Madara, forced to retreat under the relentless pressure of Minato's attacks, positioned himself beneath the towering Gedo Statue. His lips moved silently, forming words that carried the weight of ancient power and bitter experience.
"Troublesome," he thought, analyzing the tactical situation with the cold precision of a seasoned fighter. Since Nagato had deviated from the traditional sealing order—capturing Tailed Beasts from One through Nine—the statue's chakra network remained unstable. Every time it drew upon its tremendous power reserves, the imprisoned beasts sensed weakness and attempted to break free.
Of course, their rebellion was ultimately futile. Whether subdued by the statue's inherent suppression mechanisms or crushed beneath the overwhelming force of Madara's Rinnegan, the Tailed Beasts had no hope of genuine freedom. They were components in a grand design, nothing more.
High above on the statue's head, Minato's golden hair whipped in the wind as he extended his sensory capabilities to their fullest extent. His chakra swept the area in systematic patterns, searching for any trace of the Third Hokage's presence. Sarutobi-sensei must have been moved elsewhere, he concluded grimly. During his initial confrontation with the First Hokage, Madara had undoubtedly relocated the captured Hokage to prevent any rescue attempts.
The implications were troubling. If Madara was willing to separate his forces, it suggested either supreme confidence in his abilities or preparation for a more complex strategy. Neither possibility boded well.
"Behave yourselves."
Madara's voice cut through the chaos like a blade, carrying supernatural authority that seemed to resonate from the very depths of the underworld. The words weren't merely spoken—they were commanded, infused with the ancient power of the Sage of Six Paths' legacy. Within the statue's core, the raging Tailed Beast chakra gradually began to settle, their desperate struggles subsiding under the crushing weight of Madara's will.
Yet something had changed. The statue's massive head turned with deliberate, almost intelligent motion, its hollow eye sockets focusing directly on Naruto and Kushina. The sound that emerged from its throat was no longer the mindless roar of a construct—it was hunger. Pure, predatory hunger.
The growl that followed carried undertones of greed that made Naruto's skin crawl.
"You desire the Nine-Tails' chakra that desperately, do you?" Madara's lips curved into a smile that belonged on a demon's face rather than a human's. Among all the Tailed Beasts, the Nine-Tails held a unique position in the cosmic order. Whether through deliberate design by the Sage of Six Paths or simple cosmic chance, Kurama's power transcended mere chakra quantity.
The Nine-Tails was special—its chakra carried properties that the other eight Tailed Beasts lacked. Properties that were essential for the final phase of the Moon's Eye Plan.
With practiced ease, Madara reasserted his dominance over the statue's chakra network, forcing the Tailed Beasts back into submission. But this time, the suppression was different. Rather than simply containing their power, he compressed their essence, squeezing their very souls within prisons of crystallized chakra.
Naruto's face twisted in anguish as the screams reached him again—not the roars of anger or defiance, but the silent wails of beings whose will had been stripped away. Under the crushing pressure of Madara's power, the Tailed Beasts were losing themselves, their individual consciousnesses dissolving into raw energy.
"There is nothing more tragic in this world," Naruto thought, his hands clenching into fists as fury and desperation warred within his heart. "To have your very self stolen away... to become a tool for someone else's dreams..."
His azure eyes locked with Madara's across the battlefield, and for a moment, understanding passed between them. Madara had recognized something in the young shinobi's gaze—perhaps the same fire that had once burned within Hashirama, or maybe something entirely new.
"In that case," Madara said, his voice carrying across the distance with supernatural clarity, "let us proceed."
"ROAR!"
The binding seals dissolved like morning mist, and the Gedo Statue erupted into motion with earth-shaking force. Its thunderous roar seemed to challenge the heavens themselves as it charged toward Naruto and Kushina, each footstep creating craters in the already devastated landscape. The ground didn't merely shake—it convulsed, as if the earth itself recoiled from the statue's unnatural presence.
"Damn it!" Minato's composed facade cracked as tactical possibilities flashed through his mind. He needed to intercept the statue, but Madara was already moving, positioning himself for maximum interference. The Uchiha patriarch rose gracefully into the air, azure chakra beginning to manifest around his form.
Madara's palm extended toward Minato, and chakra surged forth like a tide of liquid starlight. The energy coalesced into Susanoo's massive hand, its ethereal fingers reaching out to crush the Yellow Flash before he could interfere with the statue's approach.
Simultaneously, the Limbo clone—invisible to all but those possessing the Rinnegan—launched its own coordinated assault from an impossible angle.
"BOOM! BOOM!"
Minato's form blurred as he activated the Flying Thunder God technique, his body shifting through space to avoid the Limbo strike while simultaneously channeling Rasengan into his palm. The spinning sphere of chakra collided with Susanoo's arm, and the ethereal limb shattered like glass under the concentrated force of Minato's attack.
But the victory was momentary. Even as Susanoo's arm dissolved, deep blue chakra erupted around Madara's form like a pillar of divine light reaching toward the heavens. The energy gathered and solidified, taking the shape of an armored giant that rivaled even the First Hokage's Wood Release constructs in sheer scale and presence.
Sasuke's eyes widened as he witnessed the complete manifestation of Susanoo. His own chakra avatar, impressive though it was, seemed like a child's toy compared to this monument to power. "This is the pinnacle of Uchiha might," he realized, his Sharingan spinning frantically as it attempted to analyze the construct's structure and capabilities.
The perfect Susanoo raised its massive blade—a weapon forged from pure chakra and will—and brought it down in an arc that promised to cleave the battlefield in two. The attack was aimed not just at the approaching statue, but at Naruto, Sasuke, and everyone else in the vicinity. It was an indiscriminate strike meant to end multiple threats simultaneously.
Minato's expression hardened into something approaching desperation. His teeth ground together as he made a split-second decision, his form vanishing in a flash of golden light only to reappear directly in the sword's path.
A massive barrier of dark gold materialized in the air, its surface inscribed with complex sealing formulas that seemed to shift and dance like living things. This wasn't merely chakra—it was Minato's life force itself, compressed and shaped into a defensive wall capable of withstanding even Madara's devastating assault.
"BANG!"
The impact sent shockwaves rippling across the landscape, but Minato's barrier held. Without pausing to assess the damage, he transformed into a streak of rainbow light, his body shooting upward to engage the complete Susanoo at close range. Every second the battle continued near Naruto and Kushina increased the risk exponentially.
"We cannot allow those monsters to get any closer," Minato thought grimly. "Even I won't be able to protect them from a combined assault by the First Hokage and Madara."
"If this continues, the Tailed Beasts within Naruto and Kushina will be extracted," Kurama's voice resonated through Minato's consciousness, carrying an unusual note of concern. "And your chakra reserves will be depleted long before you can secure victory."
"I know," Minato replied tersely, though his options were rapidly diminishing. His speed and mastery of the Flying Thunder God technique theoretically allowed him to relocate both the Wood Golem and the Gedo Statue away from populated areas, but such an action would be ultimately meaningless. This was a battlefield where collateral damage was inevitable, and any of these titanic constructs could cause catastrophic destruction regardless of location.
Moreover, moving them would only delay the inevitable. Madara's strategy was sound—exhaust Minato's strength through constant pressure while positioning the Gedo Statue to extract the Nine-Tails at the optimal moment.
As these thoughts raced through his mind, the sun began its final descent toward the western horizon. Darkness was preparing to claim dominion over the world, and with it would come new dangers and opportunities.
Meanwhile, on the coastal battlefield...
The setting sun painted the ocean in shades of crimson and gold, its dying light reflecting off waves that had been stained with more than just natural coloration. The brutal battle raging along the shoreline had left the sea littered with bodies—White Zetsu constructs and brave shinobi from various villages floating together in death's democracy.
The salt air carried the metallic scent of blood and the acrid smell of expended chakra, creating an atmosphere that spoke of desperate struggle and immense sacrifice.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
The ground trembled rhythmically as massive summoned creatures maneuvered for position. Gamabunta, the great toad boss, stood flanked by Katsuyu's healing segments and the imposing bulk of Manda's replacement. Together, they formed a triangle of power around their opponents—Hanzo's salamander and the Second Mizukage's giant clam.
"Ten Thousand Snake Formation!" Orochimaru's voice carried an edge of theatrical flair even in the midst of desperate combat. Above Manda's head, the Sannin's pale hands wove through complex seals with fluid precision.
"BANG!"
The earth beneath the salamander's feet erupted without warning, cracks spreading outward like a spider's web before the ground simply gave way. From the resulting chasm surged a torrent of serpents—not mere snakes, but a living flood of scaled death. Each individual serpent was small, but their collective mass formed a crushing tide that lifted the salamander's considerable bulk and hurled it aside like debris in a flood.
The resurrected Hanzo was forced to abandon his mount, leaping clear as the serpent tide threatened to engulf him. But Orochimaru's strategy extended beyond simple displacement—the continuing flow of snakes created a barrier that limited Hanzo's mobility options, forcing him into increasingly predictable movement patterns.
"Ribbit! Ribbit!"
The two elderly toads perched on Gamabunta's head—Fukasaku and Shima—suddenly opened their mouths in perfect synchronization. What emerged wasn't the typical croaking of their species, but a harsh, discordant sound that seemed to bypass the ears entirely and attack the mind.
The sonic assault spread outward in visible waves, distorting the air itself as it enveloped Hanzo's airborne form. The legendary shinobi's eyes glazed over as the genjutsu took hold, his body going rigid in mid-flight as his consciousness was trapped within an auditory prison.
Seizing the opportunity, Jiraiya launched himself upward with tremendous force, his fist drawing back as chakra gathered around his knuckles. The punch that followed carried not just physical power, but the accumulated weight of decades of training and the desperate need to protect his student.
"BANG!"
The impact was devastating. Hanzo's chest caved inward under the assault, ribs shattering like kindling as his body was driven earthward with meteor-like force. His form struck the ground with enough violence to create a crater, his broken frame embedded in the devastated earth.
"Perfect opening!" Jiraiya landed gracefully beside his fallen opponent, his hands already moving through the familiar motions of seal formation. Though he had learned much of his sealing knowledge from Minato, his student had also shared certain techniques from the Uzumaki clan—advanced methods that surpassed most conventional sealing arts in both power and complexity.
Drawing a specialized scroll from his equipment pouch, Jiraiya completed the final seal with practiced efficiency.
"Seal!"
The scroll unrolled with supernatural speed, its surface glowing with activated chakra as it began to wrap around Hanzo's motionless form. The binding was thorough and complete, designed to contain not just the body but the reanimation technique itself.
As the sealing process reached completion, something unexpected happened. The pitch-black eyes that marked Hanzo as one of the reanimated dead began to clear, consciousness returning to the legendary shinobi even as his physical form was rendered immobile.
A sound emerged from behind the salamander's mask—soft, almost inaudible laughter.
Jiraiya turned away, satisfied with his work and already analyzing Tsunade's ongoing battle with the Second Mizukage. But as he began to move, Hanzo's quiet voice reached his ears.
"The Three Sannin of Konoha," the legendary shinobi said, his tone carrying genuine admiration despite his current circumstances. "You have indeed surpassed the achievements of my living days. Perhaps... perhaps that is as it should be."
The words carried weight beyond mere acknowledgment—they were the passing of a torch from one generation to the next, recognition that even legends must eventually give way to those who come after.