Black Zetsu, who had been lurking beneath the earth, burst out of the ground and shot toward the spot where Madara lay.
Unfortunately for him, someone had been tracking his every move.
Hanabi, the youngest Kage-level alive, only eleven years old.
From the start, she hadn't joined the battle against Six Paths Obito, even though her Yin–Yang Release could've been highly effective against him.
Her lack of direct combat wasn't just because she was weaker. No... her role had been different from the very beginning.
She'd been shadowing Black Zetsu's position, eyes locked on him the entire time.
His escape technique blended perfectly into the terrain. Ordinary Byakugan couldn't pick him out at all.
But Hanabi's eyes, just like Hinata's, carried Hamura's bloodline, awakened by his power.
She didn't have the Tenseigan like her sister yet, limited by her young age and body, but her gaze was still sharp enough to track him.
Even when Guts and Hinata fought, Hanabi stayed in the rear, seemingly idle, yet never once taking her focus off the black shadow beneath the battlefield.
It had been Guts's order to her and Hinata before he'd charged in.
And when Madara fell, Hanabi moved before anyone else, slipping past Kakashi and Minato in a blur.
"Hanabi?"
Konan and the others blinked, not expecting her to make a move now of all times.
A heartbeat later, she stomped down, her small sandal pinning Black Zetsu's neck to the ground.
"Don't even think about running…!"
Her tiny hands clamped onto him, Yin–Yang Release locking him in place. Hinata appeared an instant later, placing her palm on his back to double the restraint.
The two sisters, one in front and one behind, forcibly immobilized him.
"This… this power… Hamura's Yin–Yang?!" Black Zetsu's voice shook.
He couldn't comprehend it. How could two little girls be wielding the Yin–Yang Release of Ōtsutsuki Hamura, Sage of Six Paths' younger brother?
"They… they can't know my plan. Impossible! Even Madara didn't!"
Madara's brow furrowed. To him, Black Zetsu was nothing more than a fragment of his will an errand boy. Why, then, had Guts seemed to place such importance on him, even in victory?
The sisters didn't waste time. Their Yin–Yang Release surged together, and Black Zetsu's form began to unravel into nothingness.
"Guts! You bastard! How did you!!!"
His last curse was cut off mid-word, snuffed out before he could speak further.
The ancient parasite who had manipulated Indra's reincarnations for a millennium, the shadow behind countless tragedies, was erased, not by gods or legends, but by two girls who hadn't even reached twenty.
For someone like him, a schemer on Danzo's level but older, slimier, and far more dangerous...Guts didn't even spare a glance.
[Special Achievement Unlocked: "Millennium Scourge." Template character: Issei Hyoudou. Completion rate: 48.03%]
Guts raised an eyebrow at the notification. Nearly halfway complete and this was only Naruto's second top villain.
Madara's voice drew his attention back.
"It's me… who lost, right?" The words were ragged, weak.
The Ten Tails was slipping from him. Extraction didn't require elaborate rituals, just beat the Jinchūriki within an inch of their life and wait for the beast to flee.
A simple, brutal method. Nobody in the anime had ever pulled it off this easily.
"I've gotten everything I want from this world," Guts said, crouching beside him. "But the Rinnegan? That's a curse. I'll see it destroyed."
Madara chuckled faintly. "The loser doesn't get to object. I've been to that world anyway… cough!"
He spat blood, then continued. "At the border between the Land of Earth and Land of Fire… a grotto. My old base. Inside is a way to split the Ten Tails back into the Nine."
"Didn't think you'd actually help," Guts said with a smirk.
Madara laughed, coughed harder, and his life force flickered. "Aha…"
And then, just like that, Uchiha Madara, co-founder of Konoha, legend of his era... was gone.
Perhaps this ending was kinder. No betrayal from Black Zetsu, no indignity in his final moments. Just the dignity of dying as himself.
"Sensei!"
"Guts-kun!"
"Guts!"
The familiar voices snapped him from his thoughts. Hinata, Hanabi, Shisui, Minato, and the rest rushed over, their joy giving way to shock.
Because looming behind Guts… was the Ten Tails.
As massive as a mountain, yet curled up tight, trembling.
Not rampaging.
Not firing Tailed Beast Bombs.
The Ten Tails was afraid.
"Guts, what is going on?" Minato's voice held equal parts relief and confusion.
Beside him, Kakashi was carrying Obito's body or rather, what was left of it.
From the moment Obito had first shown the intent to kill, Guts had written him off. No sentimental waiting for a last-minute redemption like in the anime.
No "maybe he'll turn good again." The second he crossed that line, Obito was on the hostile list for good.
"I've temporarily suppressed this beast," Guts said evenly, giving the shivering Ten Tails a glance over his shoulder.
"Next step is splitting it back into the eight tailed beasts. After that, whether they become Jinchūriki again is up to their own choice or yours."
Unlike the others, Ten Tails wasn't just another bijū. It was an immortal body in the truest sense... kill it, and it would still return, no decades-long wait like the rest.
Sure, Guts could burn it to nothing with his dragon flames right now… but why bother? This world was his now, and the tailed beasts were his pets, whether they liked it or not.
The plan was simple, turn it back into the eight bijū, let them roam free, and do whatever they pleased… so long as they didn't cause trouble.
If they did? Well, pets that bite the hand that feeds them don't last long.
And if some new Jinchūriki wanted them? Guts wasn't going to lose sleep over it.
There was no such thing as Naruto's "Talk no Jutsu" here, but after this war, both shinobi and bijū alike should have learned one simple truth, they'd better know what's good for them.
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