Chapter 360: A Calamity Approaches

On the battlefield where the masked man stood...

Since Sasuke's departure, Naruto had been struggling alone against the rampaging, early-stage form of the Ten Tails. Even with his perfect Jinchūriki mode and Sage Mode, he could barely hold his ground.

This was absolute power suppression. The beast had no intellect; all its attacks were instinctual. Yet its sheer raw stats were so absurdly high that even simple movements posed a lethal threat to Naruto.

Fortunately, the battles on the other fronts were gradually wrapping up.

One by one, ninjas from those battlegrounds began converging on this final battlefield.

Truthfully, most didn't know if they could make a difference, but running away wasn't an option.

Even if they could only contribute a little, their presence here would still be worthwhile.

And so, over time, the top fighters from all villages began arriving.

From Konoha: Tsunade, Kakashi, Guy, Asuma Sarutobi, and several of the "Konoha's 11" led by Neji.

From Kumogakure: the Fourth Raikage and Darui.

From Kirigakure: the Fourth Mizukage, Mei Terumī.

And finally, from the battlefield where Natsuro had fought Madara: Ōnoki the Third Tsuchikage and his son Kitsuchi, Gaara the Fifth Kazekage, along with his siblings Kankurō and Temari, arrived on the scene.

"So that's the Ten Tails...?"Ōnoki stared in shock at the raging behemoth, his expression unusually grim. This battlefield was clearly just as dangerous, if not worse.

He had thought Madara's battlefield was the most dangerous... but in comparison to the Ten Tails, Madara's power seemed trivial. Thankfully, the Ten Tails lacked intelligence.

Perhaps they could exploit that.

Ōnoki quickly linked up with the intelligence division, where Shikaku Nara was already issuing orders based on the same idea.

Through everyone's collective effort — in truth, mostly supporting Naruto as the main damage dealer, they managed to break the masked man's mask and sever his connection with the Ten Tails.

"So it really is you… Obito." Kakashi stood stunned, staring at the now-unmasked Obito, who had descended from the Ten Tails.

He had suspected as much when he first saw Obito's Mangekyō Sharingan, and now, the truth was confirmed. Kakashi's mind reeled.

There were only two possibilities...

This person had somehow obtained Obito's eyes, or he was Obito.

Kakashi had always resisted believing the second, because if true, then the person responsible for his teacher's death, and the mastermind behind the Fourth Great Ninja War… was Obito.

This man was nothing like the cheerful, foolishly determined teammate Kakashi remembered.

"Obito… you survived? But why are you doing this? I always thought…" Kakashi had too many questions.

"Whether I lived or died doesn't matter," Obito replied coldly. He paused, then said, "...But since you want a reason… I'll give you one."

Kakashi watched intently, eager to know what had driven Obito to such madness.

"It was because… you let Rin die right in front of you." Obito declared, ignoring the chaos around him.

"Obito, you don't know what really happened—" Kakashi began to explain.

"Enough!" Obito suddenly snapped, "...No matter what you say, I saw it with my own eyes — Rin died by your hand!"

Then, forcing his rage down, he continued coldly, "But it doesn't matter anymore. What's the point of clinging to this miserable reality? I have no interest in a world that's about to vanish." Obito glanced up at the moon, as if he could already see the Infinite Tsukuyomi taking hold.

At that moment, several high-powered jutsu launched from all directions, targeting Obito.

The most eye-catching of them all...

"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!"

But it missed. Within the blinding light, Obito simply tilted his head and said, "Useless. Without Kakashi's help, none of your attacks can touch me."

His intangibility had weaknesses, but without knowledge of them, no one could exploit them within the five-minute window.

"Tch… that damned phasing ability again." Ōnoki grunted.

He looked toward Kakashi, who still stood frozen in disbelief. Whatever was happening, it was clearly affecting him deeply.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted, "I don't know what happened between you two, but now is not the time for you to give up! We have to stop him from going completely insane!"

"Naruto's right!" Guy added, "...The fate of the world is in our hands now. Only your Sharingan can reach that guy, so snap out of it!"

Finally, Kakashi returned to himself and nodded, "I'm okay now, Naruto, Guy. I was just… overwhelmed for a moment."

His eyes now filled with resolve.

He had made his decision long ago, as a teacher, he couldn't allow himself to falter here.

Kakashi stared at the unrecognizable Obito before him.

The Obito in his heart was long gone.

The one standing here was a monster in Obito's skin... the one who killed his teacher, and who caused his two students to suffer so much.

He had sworn, together with Sasuke, that they would one day avenge their loved ones. Sasuke for the Uchiha, Kakashi for his master.

And now, with everything culminating in this battle, it was time to settle it once and for all.

"Heh… instead of worrying about me, maybe you should be more concerned about the Ten Tails." Obito sneered... "You just severed my connection with it. Now it's completely out of control!"

At that moment, Kurama inside Naruto finally sensed what was happening and urgently warned him:

The Ten Tails is about to use Tenpenchii!

Naruto quickly relayed this to the intelligence division, but it was already too late. The technique had begun.

The earth split apart in violent tremors. Floodwaters surged in from unknown places.Tornadoes ripped through the skies. Lightning cracked randomly, deafening the air.

In the distance, what should have been a dormant volcano began spewing molten lava.

"This is… Tenpenchii?" Naruto's eyes widened.

If this continued, the Allied Shinobi Forces, defenseless as they were, would suffer massive casualties.

"Kurama!" Naruto shouted.

"Tch… unbelievable," Kurama muttered in frustration.

Still, he formed a hand seal and used his chakra to evenly distribute power among every Allied shinobi on the battlefield.

"Thanks, Kurama!" Naruto said, panting.

"Tch! I told you not to call me Kurama!" Kurama turned his head, annoyed.

Meanwhile, Kakashi spotted the perfect opportunity, while the Ten Tails was channeling the catastrophe, its body was immobile.

Now was the time to use Kamui.

Kakashi's Sharingan transformed into Mangekyō form. He locked onto the Ten Tails.Blood began to stream from his eye.

"Don't even think about it!"

Suddenly, Obito emerged from a rift in space and dragged Kakashi into the Kamui dimension.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto cried out, powerless. Having just shared most of Kurama's chakra, he no longer had the strength to stop it.

All he could do was watch helplessly as Obito pulled Kakashi into another dimension.

"Naruto! Don't worry about me! While Obito's gone, you all need to take down the Ten Tails!" Kakashi shouted loudly, understanding that he had no way to resist being pulled into the Kamui dimension.

As Kakashi disappeared, Tenpenchii continued to rage on, and everyone stood in shock at its sheer power and scale.

This terrifying disaster, akin to a natural cataclysm, was sure to sweep across nearby nations. Even residents far from the epicenter who hadn't evacuated in time would be struck by the lingering aftershocks.

But right now, no one had the luxury of worrying about them...

Because if they didn't defeat the Ten Tails here and now, the entire world would be destroyed.

Everyone would die.

Once the cataclysm finally ended, the Allied Shinobi Forces looked down at the reddish chakra still cloaking their bodies, it was Tailed Beast Chakra. They all knew that their survival had only been possible because Naruto had shared his power with them.

Otherwise, they had been at ground zero for a god-level natural disaster, surviving that was no small feat.

But soon, they realized something. The tailed beast chakra on their bodies was slowly fading and vanishing.

They turned and saw Naruto, slumped on the ground and panting heavily, while medics behind him tried desperately to restore his strength.

So even the legendary Nine-Tails, said to have infinite chakra, could run out?

Now that they no longer had the Nine-Tails' chakra, how were they supposed to fight the Ten Tails?

That thought crept into everyone's heart.

Just then, a heavy thud echoed from afar.

As the smoke and dust cleared, everyone saw a tall blue figure.

"That's… a Susanoo?!" someone recognized it instantly.

"Madara Uchiha?!" Ōnoki's eyes widened. He shouted, "Where's the Hokage?! Where's the Sixth Hokage?!"

A terrible thought formed in his mind... If even the Sixth Hokage had fallen, then what hope did they have?

"Hm? The Sixth Hokage isn't here yet?" Madara overheard Ōnoki's yell and looked around curiously, "...I assumed someone with space-time ninjutsu would arrive before me. Looks like he wasn't in a hurry."

Hearing this, the surrounding shinobi all breathed a sigh of relief. They didn't know why Natsuro hadn't arrived yet, but at least this meant… he was fine.

"What, are you all worried about the Sixth Hokage?" Madara sneered, amused by their reactions.

"...You weaklings worrying about him is laughable."

No one answered him. Madara found that a bit dull and added, "He doesn't need your concern. After our battle, I admit, he is without question the strongest man of this era. So instead of worrying about him, worry about your own situation!"

Despite being excited during their fight, Madara had clearly been at a disadvantage the entire time. If not for being an Edo Tensei, he probably would've been killed multiple times.

Even with that body, if the battle hadn't been interrupted by the Ten Tails' Tenpenchii, he likely would've been sealed in the end.

But Madara wasn't discouraged at all. If he couldn't win with Edo Tensei, then he'd just get revived, regain his real Rinnegan, become stronger, and fight again.

Give up? That word didn't exist in Madara's dictionary.

Madara looked around the battlefield but didn't see Obito anywhere. So he's in the Kamui dimension?

He narrowed his eyes at the berserk Ten Tails. Even during the earlier catastrophe, he had suspected it had gone out of control, and now that was clearly the case. And Obito wasn't even nearby.

"What the hell is Obito doing?" Madara growled, clearly displeased. To prevent Natsuro from interfering with his resurrection, he'd have to deal with Obito soon.

Madara turned to the still-large crowd of Allied shinobi.

"Well then… let's clear out the ants."

As he spoke, the Ten Tails behind him opened its massive abyss-like maw and began forming a black, ominous chakra sphere, a Tailed Beast Bomb.

Meanwhile, Naruto was still recovering, too exhausted to fight.

Faced with the incoming Tailed Beast Bomb from the Ten Tails, despair spread through the ranks.Last time, Naruto had protected them from the Tenpenchii... But who would save them this time?

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Currently on Chapter 414 - Another Power System