"Go ahead," Kanon nodded. Her Flower Realm was a pocket dimension she had created entirely on her own, fundamentally different from the Kamui dimension Obito connected to.
Within the Flower Realm, she was akin to a creator god; the entire space functioned as a distinct world, a separate universe.
Consequently, her intangibility suffered from absolutely no time limits. Konin had explained this specific mechanic to her, and everything she had seen and experienced on her journey so far only served to validate that claim.
Sure enough, at that exact moment, a colossal cluster of roots erupted directly in front of Obito. Crowned with massive flower buds, it resembled a manifestation of the God Tree itself.
"In a reality like this, there is nothing left worth keeping."
"This world is already dead."
Massive, terrifying spheres of chakra began condensing simultaneously at the openings of the four flower buds, drawing power from four separate directions.
These were Tailed Beast Bombs, charging all at once to launch a crossfire assault.
Obito manipulated the Truth-Seeker Orbs, pulling the platform beneath himself and Kanon closer to his body.
"Hey, old man Madara! Do you want to come inside and take cover?!" Kanon shouted across the battlefield toward Madara, who was currently locked in combat with Hashirama.
Madara's face instantly went dark with annoyance as he glared back at Kanon. Beside him, Hashirama burst into a booming laugh.
"Haha! I never expected a junior from your clan to address you like that! How wonderful!" Hashirama remarked, looking at Madara with a hint of genuine envy. He wished he had a junior like her.
If Kanon belonged to his own clan, it would be magnificent; her combat intelligence and raw strength were absolute top-tier, yet she spoke with such grounded humor.
"No need!" Madara barked back at Kanon.
"What do you mean 'no need'? Deep down, you actually really want to come over and hang out with us, don't you?!" Kanon teased loudly.
"You! Brats like you...!" Madara muttered, his eye twitching so hard he nearly swung his Susanoo's blade right at her.
"The old man's losing his temper! Quick, Obito, wrap us up with the Truth-Seeker Orbs!"
Both Obito and Madara felt a collective headache coming on, while Hashirama continued to laugh uproariously.
"It has been a very long time since an Uchiha this entertaining has come along, Madara."
"She really is perfect for you," Hashirama nodded. Though they stood on opposing sides, Hashirama was never the type of man to slander someone simply out of enmity.
Shinobi are neither wholly right nor wholly wrong; it is merely a difference in perspective that shapes a different kind of ninja, these were words Hashirama had spoken himself.
However, as he looked toward the four swelling Tailed Beast Bombs in the distance, his expression turned deeply serious.
"Hey! This is bad!"
"This is a disaster... releasing four of them at the same time..."
Staring at the Tailed Beast Bombs that practically blotted out the sky, Kurotsuchi sank into total despair. No matter how powerful an Earth Release jutsu might be, it couldn't possibly withstand an onslaught of this magnitude; the sheer scale of the attack was overwhelming.
Shikamaru was desperately forcing his brain to calculate a counterstrategy, but the harder he thought, the heavier the cold sweat poured down his forehead. This was quite literally a checkmate scenario.
Watching the technique Obito had unleashed, Kanon began analyzing how the opposition might attempt to neutralize it. The Flying Raijin Technique could only teleport a single Tailed Beast Bomb away at a time.
Even if Tobirama and Minato worked together, they could only redirect two of them, meaning that simply teleporting the bombs away was a dead-end strategy.
Tobirama cast a grim glance toward Hashirama in the distance. A crisis of this proportion could probably only be solved by his brother.
"What about you, Anija?"
Engaged in his fierce clash with Madara, Hashirama shouted across the field with a dark expression:
"Madara, hold on a second!"
"Your comrade is being completely reckless!"
Madara knew he had to keep Hashirama pinned down to buy time for Obito and Kanon.
"We were brought back by the Reanimation Jutsu anyway, so there is no need to care!"
"Keep fighting!"
Hashirama's wood clones were doing their best to rally the forces of the Allied Shinobi Forces, but the battlefield was descending into utter chaos. Seeing their morale plummeting, Hashirama roared out his strategic intent at the top of his lungs to give them hope:
"Don't give up, everyone! You still have me and my clones!"
"We just need to alter the trajectory of the Tailed Beast Bombs!"
"The Hokage will find a way to deflect them toward the ocean! I need everyone to construct Earth Release walls!"
"I will use the Deep Forest Emergence to guide the blasts out to sea!"
Because Hashirama had yelled his strategy out loud, Obito immediately caught wind of the plan.
"In your dreams!"
Hovering high in the air, Obito launched giant black receivers in all directions, weaving a hand sign to deploy the Six Crimson Ray Formation.
In an instant, the six massive black rods formed a perimeter, trapping the entire Allied Shinobi Forces inside the barrier. Obito's tactical counter became clear to Hashirama and the others.
By sealing everyone inside the barrier, the Tailed Beast Bombs would detonate within, completely contained from the outside world. Since Madara possessed a reanimated body and Kanon could utilize her intangibility, they could easily ride out the blast radius alongside Obito inside the protective shell of the Truth-Seeker Orbs.
Hashirama grit his teeth; this was a completely hopeless trap.
With the barrier set, Kanon turned her gaze toward Naruto, wanting to see if despair had finally overtaken him. However, the moment her eyes locked onto his, a sudden realization clicked in her mind.
Sure enough, Naruto didn't look overly panicked. It seemed their thoughts had converged on the same track.
However, Kanon lacked a deep understanding of the Nine-Tails' unique mechanics, making the concept feel a bit far-fetched. If they were to utilize the Flying Raijin Technique of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, by linking it with Naruto's chakra network, they could theoretically teleport the entire Allied Shinobi Forces outside the barrier.
She didn't know if Naruto and the Nine-Tails could actually pull off a feat of that scale, so she chose not to interfere with Obito. She wanted to observe exactly what kind of trump card Naruto was holding.
Beside her, the Truth-Seeker Orbs began to warp, encasing both Obito and Kanon within a protective sphere. Obito traded a glance with her before casting a cold, detached look down at the battlefield below.
"The war is about to end. Naruto, that man over there has accomplished absolutely nothing in his life. He failed to protect your mother, and he failed to protect his own subordinates. You know what tomorrow is, don't you?"
"It is the anniversary of Minato and Kushina's deaths. The very day your parents died!"
"In this world, death marks the absolute end. Do you understand?"
Kanon remained completely silent, simply watching Naruto. She never used psychological warfare like that to intentionally wound her friends; despite standing on opposite sides now, she had never spoken to Naruto in such a cruel manner throughout their entire lives.
As she looked at Naruto, her expression was entirely tranquil. She understood the agonizing weight of losing one's parents all too well. Obito's words were meant to break Naruto, but they cut directly into Kanon's own heart.
Her Mangekyou Sharingan trembled slightly; she deeply despised that line of attack.
Yet, in the distance, Naruto simply extended his fist toward Minato.
"I have an idea, though I don't know if it'll actually work."
"Kanon might have already seen right through it, but at a time like this, we have to give it a shot."
"Dad, can you bump fists with me?"
Right before the black shell of the Truth-Seeker Orb sealed completely, Kanon spoke up, her voice drifting across the field to the downcast Naruto with quiet intensity:
"Before you die, never forget that the day your parents passed away was also the exact day you entered this world."
As the words faded, the Truth-Seeker Orbs sealed shut, isolating the two inside a perfect shield against the impending cataclysm.
"Yeah, Kanon's exactly right," Naruto murmured, lifting his head to flash a bright, defiant smile toward the black sphere.
Hearing Kanon's parting words, Minato looked at his son, his eyes growing visibly misty.
At that exact moment, the Yang half of Kurama within Naruto reached out to borrow chakra from the Yin half within Minato.
"Just like Kanon said, Dad... your story didn't end there..."
"Because I am the beginning of your continuation!"
Minato stared at Naruto standing beside him, his mind flashing back to the memory of the crying newborn infant from years ago. That tiny baby seamlessly overlapped with the powerful young shinobi standing before him now, sending a torrent of emotions rushing through his heart.
Kushina, can you see him? Our Naruto... has truly grown into an incredibly strong child.
Minato didn't know that Naruto had always been strong from the very beginning. Whether he was being spat on and ostracized by the village or growing up alongside Kanon, his resolve had never broken. Though he had stumbled into periods of deep doubt, someone had always been there by his side to pull him back to his feet.
With a surge of power, Naruto entered his full Kurama Mode, slamming his fist against Minato's. Deep within their consciousness, the Yin and Yang halves of Kurama performed the exact same gesture, linking their essences.
In that singular heartbeat, Naruto and Minato's chakra networks fused into a single entity. The Yang Kurama spoke to his Yin counterpart: "Your chakra is a massive help. It worked exactly as I figured it would."
"Of course it did. After all, we were originally one and the same."
"Besides... they are father and son."
On the outside, the Tailed Beast Bombs continued to swell, growing even larger than a fully transformed Tailed Beast. Shikamaru knew that the surrounding Six Crimson Ray Formation was far superior to the Four Crimson Ray Formation the Hokage had deployed earlier.
No matter how hard he racked his brain, he couldn't find a logical way out. Staring at the apocalyptic scene, their only hope left was to pray for a miracle.
Sasuke watched Naruto intently, having witnessed the entire exchange. Kanon's earlier words had carried a sharp, ironic sting for him as well, reproaching him for abandoning a living younger sister for the sake of a dead older brother. But now, he had firmly resolved to protect Konoha, execute his own revolution, and become the next Hokage. Therefore, he absolutely had to stop Kanon from casting the Infinite Tsukuyomi, because Itachi had told him that such a reality was nothing but a false, manufactured peace.
Sasuke turned to Naruto and demanded, "What's the plan?"
"Give me a second to focus my mind," Naruto said softly.
Minato looked at Naruto in sheer astonishment, having just received the full scope of the plan within his inner consciousness. It was precisely as Kanon had predicted.
Naruto intended to utilize the chakra threads he had previously attached to every single member of the Allied forces, using Minato's Flying Raijin Technique to teleport the entire army outside the barrier in one sweeping motion.
Staring at Naruto's unyielding, resolute expression, Minato gave a slight nod, even as a profound sense of guilt and helplessness welled up from deep within his soul.
It was as if Naruto could hear the silent crying of Minato's heart. His father was apologizing, carrying a deep shame that he had failed as a parent.
"I'm sorry... Naruto. The road you walked to get here... must have been so incredibly painful."
As Minato's thoughts drifted, Naruto flashed a grin full of ironclad determination:
"Dad, the road might have been rough, but along the way, I made the most important and absolute best friends a guy could ask for."
"Besides, the real hard work is still ahead of us!"
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NOTE: This fic has been completely translated. If you want to read the whole story head over to my p-atre-on: p-atre-on.c-om/Overgod [Just remove the hyphen to access normally]