The footsteps echoed over the damp leaves of the forest as Naruto, Sasuke, and Madara moved away from the Akatsuki base. None of them spoke; the silence between them was not uncomfortable, but tense, charged with purpose. The sound of the wind barely whispered through the tall trees, and a layer of mist began to settle as they delved deeper into the woods.
It was Madara who stopped first. The ancient Uchiha turned calmly on his heels, surveying the clearing that opened among the trees. A wide, circular space, as if nature itself had reserved it for something monumental.
"This will do," he said gravely. "The earth is already thirsty for blood."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "You weren't expecting a conversation, were you?"
"Not with you two. But I did expect some logic. I assumed you'd fight together. Thought that's what friends did." Madara smirked arrogantly, his tone laced with mockery.
Naruto chuckled softly. "We're not the type of friends that do everything together."
Madara looked him over, evaluating him with disdain. "So you're going first? And your Rinnegan-bearing companion will just watch?"
"That's right," Naruto answered, his gaze calm but firm.
Silence followed for a moment. Then Sasuke spoke, his face utterly still. "I don't usually speak highly of Naruto... but maybe it's better if he goes first."
Madara raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised. "You're offering him up like a sacrifice?"
"No. I'm giving him the chance to teach you a proper lesson before I step in. We've got time... before this reaches phase two." Sasuke affirmed.
Madara let out a deep laugh. "A lesson, you say? How arrogant... although, coming from you two, it's almost endearing. Very well then... Naruto Uzumaki, amuse me."
Naruto stepped forward, walking steadily into the center of the clearing. "I'll do more than that."
Behind him, Sasuke crossed his arms and leaned against a tree trunk, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword at his side. A breeze kicked up dust from the ground, marking the beginning of a new battle.
Naruto narrowed his eyes with a confident smile and, without speaking, performed a rapid sequence of hand seals. Instantly, four shadow clones appeared beside him. Two of them immediately sat in the lotus position, beginning to gather natural energy in silence. The ones remaining exchanged glances, and one charged toward Madara without hesitation.
Madara watched the attacking Naruto closely, noticing the sudden increase in speed. "Interesting" he muttered, raising his guard. In response Naruto activated his Wind Breath without warning, and his body began to move like a gale, slicing the air with lethal grace.
Naruto's taijutsu was polished, brutal, yet elegant. His strikes came with wind blades formed without seals, slashing the terrain with each motion. Madara had to react precisely, dodging and countering as if fighting an invisible swordsman.
"This style..." Madara murmured during an exchange. "Are you a student of Shogo Uzumaki?"
Naruto just grinned as another wind burst formed in his palm. "Let's just say I learned a thing or two from him... but swords aren't really my thing."
Without responding, Madara activated his Rinnegan. In a flash, he used his gravitational pull to draw Naruto close nullifying his ridiculous dodging ability and struck with his sword, slicing through him in one swift motion. Naruto vanished in smoke.
"Tch... a clone the whole time..."
Before he could relax, the ground around him trembled and his chakra flared. Madara quickly formed hand seals and unleashed: Deep Forest Emergence. Giant trunks and roots erupted from the soil, rising like living pillars to crush everything in their path.
As the monstrous forest rushed toward the remaining four Narutos, the two clones who were meditating were dissipated in puffs of smoke. At that exact moment, the eyes of the remaining Narutos changed in a new form. A powerful natural aura enveloped them—they had entered Sage Mode. With renewed focus, they surged forward, slicing through the encroaching forest with perfect synchronization, as if sharing the same heartbeat.
Meanwhile, Sasuke remained still. His Sharingan spun and revealed its true form. With a subtle gesture, he activated Amaterasu. Black flames erupted around him like a living barrier, incinerating any plant that dared approach.
The forest trembled. The battle was only beginning.
The two Narutos in Sage Mode dashed through the colossal wooden constructs of Madara's Jutsu, dodging spear-like roots and hammer-like branches with supernatural agility. The wind seemed to be alive around him and protected him from the poisoned pollen that was ravaging the entire region. One of them burst forth from the foliage, charging Madara with a powered-up Rasengan.
Madara didn't hesitate. Seeing the incoming attack, he activated his Rinnegan's gravitational pull again, drawing Naruto closer. Just before the Rasengan could strike, he countered with a clean sword slash, hurling Naruto into a tree with force. The body burst into smoke.
"Another clone..."
But the true attack had just begun. From deep within the brush, a sharp whistle cut through the air. Concealed among the dense vegetation, another Naruto hurled a Rasenshuriken with pinpoint accuracy, aimed directly at Madara's exposed flank.
The Uchiha barely turned his head and, with his Rinnegan already active, absorbed the technique in a swirl of warped chakra. The Rasenshuriken vanished.
Madara scowled. "Already repeating yourself, boy."
Before he could finish mocking, the Naruto who had thrown the attack was already on the move, emerging from the forest with fierce speed. Madara reacted instantly. With a single hand seal, he created a Wood Clone beside him, and both performed simultaneous Jutsu.
Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku! roared the original, unleashing a massive wall of fire.
The clone followed: Fūton: Daitoppa! Strong hurricane-force winds surged.
The fusion of the two created an even more devastating inferno, roaring across the battlefield. The heat was so intense it made the air shimmer.
Seeing the incoming firestorm, Naruto closed his eyes and tapped into the power granted by the Sage of Six Paths. His body responded immediately. His hair gleamed golden orange, his skin marked with glowing chakra patterns, and his clothes were wrapped in a vibrant energy cloak. Behind him, six Truth-Seeking Orbs hovered, rotating slowly— his six paths mode in full effect.
Naruto raised his hand. One of the orbs floated to his palm, where he shaped it perfectly into a new Rasenshuriken. He hurled it with force, and the technique cut through the firestorm, feeding on the flames and growing in power. The gap it carved caused the fiery wall to collapse inward as the Rasenshuriken pushed on toward its target.
Before Madara could react, the technique was upon him. The Uchiha attempted once more to absorb it, but his Rinnegan trembled—unable to consume this energy.
"What... is this...?"
A burst of pure energy exploded across the battlefield, wiping away flames, trees, and mist alike. Madara's body was flung like a ragdoll, engulfed in light and shadow, before crashing violently into the earth.
Naruto descended calmly, his gaze locked on the smoking crater where Madara had landed.
"That was for everyone you left behind."
Madara's body, reduced to smoldering fragments by the fusion of the Truth-Seeking Orbs and the Rasenshuriken, lay at the center of a smoking crater. Slowly, bits of blackened flesh began to knit themselves back together. The regeneration process was sluggish—unnatural, even for an Edo Tensei. Naruto's chakra, so dense and pure, interfered with the typical automatic recovery. Only through Madara Uchiha's overwhelming willpower and prodigious strength combined with the power of his Rinnegan did his body begin to reassemble. What felt like hours of agonizing strain to him had in fact only been a mere few minutes.
Meanwhile, Naruto gently hovered over the battlefield, stopping at a tree canopy where Sasuke waited. Reclining with his hands behind his head, Sasuke rested calmly in a circular clearing where every plant had been reduced to ash and no poisonous pollen lingered in the air.
"Well, looks like he's going to take a while to recover..." Naruto commented, still surrounded by flickers of energy.
Sasuke opened one eye and gave a calm nod. "Excellent. I want to test myself against Madara Uchiha… I grew up with the legends of his battle prowess."
Naruto chuckled lightly. "He's better than I expected... but I think Hinata was much harder to face."
Sasuke didn't reply, but the faint curve of his lips betrayed a hint of approval.
Suddenly, Madara's deep laughter echoed from the treeline. His half-reformed body rose slowly. "Where is the yellow brat? Has he decided to hide behind the other one?"
Sasuke descended with poise, unsheathing his katana. The band on his forehead now hung loose, revealing his Rinnegan. "Time to settle things between Uchiha... Let's see if you live up to your legend."
A silent agreement was established, and time flowed slowly as Madara was restored to full strength.
The first move was almost imperceptible. Sasuke vanished in a burst of lightning beneath his feet. His Lightning Breath boosted his speed and reflexes to superhuman levels. Madara barely raised his sword when Sasuke's blade, engulfed in the black flames of Amaterasu, came down.
In a desperate motion, Madara blocked, but it was useless—the flames devoured his weapon instantly. He tried to absorb them with his Rinnegan, but realizing too late that he couldn't suppress them when they were over his arm, before they spread he severed his own arm before the flames consumed him.
Sasuke leapt back, dodging Madara's retaliatory strike. "Surprised?" Sasuke said. "I can absorb chakra too... which is why I know exactly how to modify my flames to bypass that trick."
Madara didn't respond. A partial Susanoo formed around him, mirrored by a wooden clone at his side. Sasuke forged a solid spear of Amaterasu, dark as obsidian, and hurled it. The spear tore through the clone with brutal force and surged toward Madara, who now summoned his full-body Susanoo. The impact was tremendous, but his armor held—barely.
Sasuke smirked, raising his own full-body Susanoo in reply. The two colossal avatars clashed furiously, their ethereal katanas crossing in a battle that turned ninja into titans. Swift and merciless, the strikes from Madara and Sasuke shredded earth and trees alike. The battle flowed under the feet of titans for minutes. Naruto, watching from above, had to further retreat to avoid the terrible onslaught.
Amaterasu's flames spread across the land, staining the skies black as their fury ignited the heavens. But from within his Susanoo, Sasuke elevated his chakra and lightning surged from his palm, the storm responding in turn. "Kirin!" he roared, and a colossal bolt of lightning crashed down, drawn by the Amaterasu's heat, slamming violently into Madara's Susanoo.
The result was catastrophic. The ground trembled, the skies split, and Madara's Susanoo cracked with deep fractures, chunks of armor falling like molten rubble. Madara inside it was severely damaged by Sasuke's terrible attack but was already beginning to regenerate.
Then, an even greater shockwave rippled through the forest.
BOOOOOM!!!
In the distance, a monstrous figure emerged on the horizon. Behind it trailed ten writhing tails, its chakra so dense it pressed against their bones even at this distance.
Madara began laughing maniacally, little paper fragments still falling from his half-regenerated shoulder. "The time has finally come!"