The colossal wooden tendrils swept toward the remaining survivors of the Allied Shinobi Forces like a tidal wave. Naruto and the others watched the scene unfold, their expressions trembling with terror.
The sheer scale of this Wood Release technique plunged everyone into the depths of despair, a despair brought upon them by Madara.
"He can even use Wood Release...?"
"It looks like this is the end..."
As the forest of death surged forward, not a single face remained calm.
"Dammit, I'm almost out of chakra! What do I do?!" Naruto bit his lip, his mind racing.
At that moment, the voice of the Nine-Tails echoed within him.
"Naruto, I'll lend you a hand this time." The Great Fox looked down at him.
"You want me to hand over my body again?"
The Nine-Tails shook its head. "No. I'm just giving you chakra. I don't like Madara. Rather than be manipulated by him, I'd rather choose you."
Watching Madara unleash the Deep Forest Emergence from his vantage point, Kabuto gave a cold laugh from his subterranean lair. "As long as I can utilize Madara indirectly, the tide of battle remains under control."
"Kanon-chan, I truly didn't expect him to become such a powerful pawn for us."
"No, he is no pawn," the girl clad in her blue ninja attire whispered. "He can release the Reanimation Jutsu at any time."
On the battlefield, the forest was closing in. Naruto watched the countless wooden boughs charging toward him and lunged forward.
"Naruto!"
"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
In a sudden burst of white smoke, thousands of Narutos appeared. Working in pairs, the clones began forming Ultra-Big Ball Rasengans, charging headlong into the approaching forest.
"Go, Naruto!" the Nine-Tails roared.
"Giant Rasengan Barrage Line!"
With Naruto's furious roar, thousands of shadow clones slammed their spheres into the Deep Forest Emergence. A chain reaction of massive explosions erupted, momentarily overwhelming the advancing wood.
Madara watched Naruto's struggle and smiled. "You were right. He's a handful."
Naruto dropped to one knee, the chakra provided by the Nine-Tails spent in an instant. He was at his limit; he felt as though his very form might dissipate at any second.
Seeing Naruto collapse, the Tsuchikage, Onoki, forced himself to stand.
"Naruto... that's enough. Leave the rest to us."
"Tsuchikage! Your wounds!" Temari cried out.
"I have finally found the moment to reclaim my true self..." Onoki actually smiled. "To have opponents such as these... it is enough! I will face them!"
Temari spoke with helpless concern, "Don't be reckless, you're severely injured."
Madara looked down at the dying Onoki and spoke flatly, "How unsightly, Onoki. I wanted to test other jutsu, but it seems you no longer have the strength to dance."
Onoki glared up at Madara and the girl beside him.
"What's with that look? It seems you've finally come to understand pain a little," Kanon said coldly.
With a flick of her slender hand, a Chidori Sharp Spear nearly a hundred meters long pierced the heavens, effectively bisecting the sand-choked battlefield. The sky darkened as lightning flickered, but the light from Kanon's blade was more blinding than the storm itself.
"I told you, the era of the shinobi is coming to an end. It is time for you to move on to the next world."
Madara nodded in agreement. "Onoki, after the lessons of the past, you should know exactly how great the gap is between us."
Looking at Madara's face, Onoki was reminded of the words Madara once spat at him: "There is no such thing as an alliance. A weakling like you has only one choice: submission."
The Madara of the past overlapped with the one before him, but what terrified Onoki even more was the girl standing at his side. Madara was a dead man brought back to life, but Kanon was a living terror. At only fifteen, she possessed such power; if she wasn't stopped here, the entire shinobi world was doomed.
"We shinobi have always been mired in internal strife, fighting endlessly for the interests of our own nations and villages," Onoki began. "Ignoring other lands, focusing only on plunder! Plundering and being plundered in return."
"Hatred continued to swell, and for that, we fought three Great Wars."
Madara scoffed. "That is what it means to be alive. To think you've lived to this age and failed to learn from the pain of the past." He turned to the girl. "Kanon, do you understand the true nature of this world?"
Kanon looked down at the dying soldiers as memories flooded her mind—parents, clansmen, friends, comrades, the village. Every loss felt like a blade carving into her long-dead heart.
"As long as individual differences exist, there will always be friction," Kanon stated. "In this chaotic shinobi world, true peace can never exist. Every step forward on the path of the shinobi brings disaster to countless people."
"The 'Order' the Five Kage want... that is not a word that belongs to the weak. I will establish my own order."
Kanon walked to Madara's side and raised her small fist, a gesture for a fist bump. Madara chuckled and met her fist with his own.
"Exactly. The concept of 'shinobi' is a failure; it is the actions of the modern Five Kage that have led to this state of affairs."
"Villages were meant to protect family and comrades," Kanon shouted at the crowd below, her expression deadly serious. "That 'Will of Fire' bullshit only cares about the village, not the people in it! True peace lies in... Unification!"
"Is that so? Is that the answer you've reached?" Naruto looked at the seemingly delirious Kanon with a pained expression.
"Correct! The Infinite Tsukuyomi is the ultimate proof. Even if it is just a dream, if I can see them again, what does it matter if it's a dream?!"
"Naruto, you always self-righteously assume I've lost my way. But the ones who have strayed are you, Konoha! The First Hokage, Hashirama Senju!"
"You are all just a bunch of brainwashed fools, trying to use your brainwashed 'Will of Fire' to indoctrinate others. I have long since grown tired of you."
"So... just die." Kanon waved her hand.
Everyone's eyes widened in horror as a massive Kirin descended from the clouds, instantly obliterating the front lines of the battlefield.
Temari and Dodai were vaporized in an instant within the lightning, leaving not even a corpse behind.
"Temari!" Gaara roared, collapsing to the ground in agony.
"The pain of having someone precious stolen away is the same for everyone, Gaara. Now, can you still find it in yourself to forgive me?" Kanon's three-tomoe Sharingan erupted with an endless killing intent and despair as she stared down at the kneeling Kazekage.
"Kanon Uchiha! I... I will kill you!" Gaara's rage boiled over, spittle flying from his gritted teeth, the power of pure hatred.
Naruto could only watch helplessly as Kanon was swallowed by the darkness. His pupils dilated to their limit. Right before his eyes, she had killed Temari and Dodai.
"Naruto, I don't know what you were expecting, but this is reality," Kanon laughed maniacally, stepping onto a jagged rock and shouting down at him. "You think I've strayed? Then come and kill me!"
Madara observed the exchange. He could tell the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki meant something to Kanon, a bond perhaps similar to his own with Hashirama.
"You and I really are alike, Kanon."
Kanon didn't respond to Madara, her gaze fixed on the few survivors. Onoki, however, interrupted.
"I have lived a long time, so I understand more than you. It is because I know the pain of the past that I think about what must be done to ensure the best future."
"The result everyone is fighting for in this war is different from the goals of the wars of the past! That is why I stand here! Kanon Uchiha, it is time we settled this!"
"Only then can the world, slowly and surely over time, grow toward peace."
Kanon shook her head dismissively. "Old man Tsuchikage, you've gone senile. Without overwhelming strength, how can you maintain such a peace?"
Madara agreed, nodding slightly. "This world has no need to grow further. It only needs to slumber within the genjutsu of the Infinite Tsukuyomi."
"Madara, it was you who once made me abandon my true self! So now, I will defeat you and reclaim it! The one who should be slumbering... is you!"
As Onoki stood, those around him were inspired by his words, their fighting spirit reigniting.
"It seems you still have the energy to dance," Madara remarked, standing side-by-side with Kanon. The two truly did look alike in that moment.
"For myself, and for the future, we will defeat you!" Onoki yelled.
"Rest assured," Kanon said, stretching indifferently. "You have no future."
…
"Tsunade-sama," Katsuyu said hesitantly.
"You there, Mabui! Prepare the Heavenly Transfer Jutsu!" Tsunade commanded. "Get over here!"
"The Heavenly Transfer Jutsu is for transporting objects," Mabui warned. "It's different from the Summoning Jutsu or your own techniques. It cannot be used on humans!"
Ignoring Mabui's concerns, Tsunade gritted her teeth. "We don't have time to argue! We won't know if we don't try!"