Amidst the throng of tiny figures, two gargantuan titans manifested. As the massive blades of the Susanoo swung down, shinobi were sent flying in every direction.
"Is it ready yet, Naruto?!" Gaara roared.
"Wait... almost there," Naruto muttered, sitting on the ground as orange pigment began to surface around the corners of his eyes.
Kanon stood with her arms crossed, watching the Allied Shinobi Forces with a flat expression. Her Susanoo, however, was far from gentle. Its crimson greatsword swept through the air, instantly reducing dozens of shinobi into a bloody mist.
Beside her, Madara's Susanoo brought its sword down, causing the very earth to erupt. Countless ninja were swatted through the air like flies. In an instant, the battlefield had transformed into an Uchiha slaughterhouse.
Tongues of fire and bolts of Lightning Release struck the two Susanoo, but they failed to even scratch the surface.
Kanon's eyes shifted with disdain as she noticed sand beginning to crawl up, binding both of their Susanoo.
"Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation," Kanon whispered. The sand manipulating her and Madara instantly crumbled away.
However, Gaara's goal hadn't been the sand itself, that was merely a feint. In that moment, Kanon realized what Gaara was planning.
But Madara, standing beside her, simply evolved his Susanoo, manifesting two additional arms.
Shing!
The sound of four sword-strokes tearing through the earth erupted from Madara's side. Blue chakra blades surged outward, hacking away the surrounding shinobi like ants, reducing them to nothingness.
Gaara resisted with everything he had, and finally, Naruto's Sage Mode was complete.
"Sorry! It's finally done! Everyone, stay back!" Naruto shouted.
At that moment, Onoki reached Gaara's side and lightly touched Gaara's gourd.
"Go, Kazekage! Earth Release: Light-Weight Rock Jutsu!"
"I've lightened the weight of all the sand around you as well."
Gaara focused; the sand had indeed become incredibly light.
"Naruto, I'll cover you!"
"Yeah! Let's go!"
Suddenly, a sky full of yellow sand lunged toward Madara. Kanon was left untouched, as Gaara knew his sand could do nothing to her. Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation was a direct counter to his abilities; a shinobi like him was completely neutralized by that technique.
But Madara was different. If Madara's Susanoo was like Sasuke's, impervious to external attacks, then they simply had to use the sand beneath Madara's feet.
They only needed to wait for the opening.
True to their coordinated plan, Onoki launched a Dust Release beam toward Kanon's Susanoo to pin her down. Simultaneously, Gaara moved. They had to ensure Kanon couldn't support Madara for the plan to succeed.
But Kanon seemed to see right through them. She deactivated her Susanoo entirely, choosing to tank the Dust Release with her phasing ability instead, using the momentum to close the distance to Madara.
"Did she see through us?"
"No choice, we have to force it!"
Watching Gaara prepare to manipulate the sand beneath Madara's feet, Kanon felt a flicker of confusion. Is he trying to force a capture? But how could that work?
Just as Kanon was about to intervene, Madara shook his head at her.
"Hmm?" Kanon tilted her head.
"It's fine," Madara said indifferently, his arms still crossed.
In that instant, sand snared Madara's left arm, dragging him directly out of the Susanoo. Despite Madara being pulled out, Kanon did not move to rescue him. She understood that since Madara had stopped her, he must have a trump card.
"Go, Naruto!" Gaara bellowed.
"Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!" Naruto hurled the Sage Art: Rasenshuriken directly at Madara.
In that heartbeat, Madara's eyes shifted. The Mangekyō in his pupils transformed into the Rinnegan! He thrust out a single hand, instantly absorbing the Rasenshuriken into nothingness.
"So, that's your trump card," Kanon remarked calmly.
Temari was stunned; even Naruto stood frozen. This was the Rinnegan.
"This is... why?"
"Why does this guy have the Rinnegan?!"
Madara extended a hand, and an invisible gravitational pull dragged Kanon to his side.
"What are you doing?" Kanon pouted slightly, annoyed at being pulled by the gravity.
"Step back," Madara said simply. He took Kanon's slender arm and leaped back to stand beside Mu, who was being controlled by Kabuto.
"Just as I suspected. The ultimate evolution of the Sharingan is the Rinnegan," Kabuto said softly through Mu.
"I awakened these shortly before my death. You're called Kabuto, right? What did you do to my body?" Madara asked quietly.
"Didn't I tell you? I made you even better than you were in your prime, all to better assist Kanon-chan."
"You... actually discovered the secrets of my body!"
"A rat like you, who couldn't even decipher the Uchiha Stone Tablet, actually cracked my secrets!" Madara said with clear displeasure.
"I simply formed a hypothesis based on Orochimaru-sama's data and my own years of research," Kabuto replied. "And now, you've proven it. The Sage of the Six Paths... through the power I've cultivated in you, I can finally catch a glimpse of the power of a god."
Kanon looked on, slightly dazed. Sage of the Six Paths, god-like power, she didn't care much for the jargon, but she understood the gravity of the situation.
"Don't misunderstand. This power wasn't 'created' by you," Madara corrected. "Kanon, we are under the Reanimation Jutsu. Your dōjutsu should be able to avoid this strike, right?"
As Madara spoke, both he and the Susanoo behind him began to weave hand signs.
"What is it?" Kanon wondered. Then, her expression shifted. As a sensory-type ninja, she was the first to detect the anomaly above them.
"You really are insane." A beautiful arc curved at the corner of her lips. This was exactly to her liking.
Madara slowly raised his arms, his fingers tracing through the air as if performing a simple gesture, but every movement thrummed with the power of total destruction.
"Tengai Shinsei!"
With the fall of his voice, an unprecedented surge of chakra erupted from his body.
The sky seemed to tear open. A gargantuan dark shadow gradually manifested in the blue expanse, a mammoth meteorite large enough to blot out the sun.
The soldiers of the Allied Shinobi Forces looked up to see a celestial mass of unimaginable scale plummeting toward them with the force of an apocalypse. Panic and despair surged through the ranks; they knew the impact of this meteorite would be enough to annihilate them completely.
There wasn't a ripple of emotion on Madara's face, as if everything about to happen was merely a cog in his machine. He let out a low, cold laugh, his gaze resolute and chilling, as if declaring that the new era of the shinobi world had arrived, and that he and the Kanon beside him would be its masters.
Some shinobi stared at the sky, their faces masks of utter despair, having lost all will to fight.
"Dammit..."
"How is this possible..."
"What even is that?"
Cold sweat poured down Naruto's face, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks.
"We aren't even in the same dimension..." Temari's body trembled.
"Is this... the power of a god?" Gaara said grimly.
Onoki couldn't utter a word, staring fixedly at the meteorite in the sky. Seeing the shinobi around him lose their will to fight, sinking to the ground in defeat, he began to roar at the crowd.
"It's not over yet! Stop talking like failures!"
"Do you plan to just throw your lives away for nothing?"
"Do whatever you can to try and stop it!"
With a roar of defiance, Onoki flew toward the descending meteorite.
"Everyone, run as far as you can!" Gaara commanded the troops.
Kanon watched the meteorite with a blank expression, knowing full well that these people had nowhere to run.
"Are you planning to kill us too?" Kabuto asked through Mu.
"Of course. The Reanimation Jutsu was originally intended to be used for suicide attacks," Madara said. "We will regenerate in no time. And Kanon's dōjutsu won't be affected by this meteorite at all."
As he spoke, Madara noticed a single figure flying toward the rock.
"Is that the old Tsuchikage?" Kanon asked.
"A ninja who can fly... then he must be that brat Ryōtenbin from the Stone," Madara sneered.
"He wants to lighten the meteorite's weight to stop its fall?" Kanon instantly surmised Onoki's plan.
"A futile effort. It is time for this era to end."
With those words, Kanon twirled the Kusanagi Sword in her hand and sheathed it at her waist. Her mocking gaze watched Onoki fly toward the meteorite, devoid of a single shred of emotion.