The forty-eight thousand surviving shinobi were drawn into the sky and split into two great currents.
Twenty-four thousand were pulled toward each wing of the Six Paths Susanoo.
As they neared the wings, each group split once more, twelve thousand attaching to the front and rear sections of each wing.
When all forty-eight thousand had settled into place, the golden chakra cloaks surrounding them merged into one.
The pale-blue wings of the colossal Susanoo were now draped in dazzling golden brilliance.
Naruto gazed upon his masterpiece, his heart surging with pride.
"It's complete."
"This is the final form of the Ninja Alliance Technique!"
— Six Paths: Ninja Alliance Susanoo!
Madara Uchiha chuckled.
"Heh. He really outdid himself this time."
Yet as Naruto's exhilaration peaked, sorrow rose to meet it.
He clenched his fists and looked down at the blood-soaked earth below, where two thousand shinobi would never rise again.
In a low, anguished voice, he murmured to himself:
"If I'd known Uchiha Jin had prepared such a vicious trap, I would have used this technique from the start…"
"Then those two thousand wouldn't have been slaughtered by Sister Konan after she was turned into a servant of evil."
"While I was forming the Six Paths Susanoo, Gaara and Darui were defeated too…"
"Thankfully, they're still alive."
His fists tightened.
"Don't worry."
"Once I lead everyone and destroy this demonic nest once and for all…"
"I'll bring all of you, and these forty-eight thousand shinobi, home safely."
"I promise."
Whoosh!
The radiant golden-blue wings beat once, stirring hurricane-force winds as the Six Paths Ninja Alliance Susanoo soared into the heavens.
Below, countless shinobi shielded their faces from the storm.
Kurotsuchi and Mei Terumī each carried a badly wounded comrade—Gaara and Darui—and landed beside Konan.
Mei spoke apologetically.
"I'm sorry. This is as far as we can help."
"Against what Naruto is using now, our strength is insignificant."
Konan nodded.
"You've done more than enough. Thank you."
After a moment, Mei asked quietly,
"May I ask you to spare the Kazekage and the Raikage?"
Konan replied coldly.
"Just this once."
Mei bowed her head.
"You have my gratitude."
Nearby, Obito Uchiha stepped up beside Madara.
Together, they looked up at the monstrous figure that had seized complete control of the skies above the Peach Paradise.
"So… what do we do about that?"
"To be honest, if this weren't an Edo Tensei body, I'd probably be sweating right now."
Madara's lips curled into an eager smile.
"What else?"
"Let's have some fun."
"If we don't play now, we won't get another chance."
Boom!
Madara's black hair flared upward.
Azure chakra engulfed him and shot skyward like a tidal wave.
Obito's Mangekyō Sharingan blazed.
Blue-green chakra rose around him as scale-like armor spread across the light.
Two Perfect Susanoo took flight.
Four Limbo clones accompanied Madara, each cloaked in its own shadow Susanoo.
Naruto swept his gaze over the six smaller giants surrounding him.
Only now, with the comparison before him, did he truly understand.
"Not all Six Paths are equal."
"Not all Ōtsutsuki are equal."
"And just like that…"
"Not all Susanoo are equal."
His massive hand gripped the hilt at his waist.
Slash!
The moment the blade left its scabbard, a crescent-shaped blue slash split the heavens and swept across all six directions.
Boom! Boom!
Madara and Obito's Perfect Susanoo were cut cleanly in half.
Only the four Limbo Susanoo survived, spared by their positioning.
Madara remained utterly composed.
"Obito. I'll cover you."
"Use Kamui shuriken."
With that, Madara drove his bisected Susanoo forward.
Even in its half-body state, it generated twin blades and charged through the sky.
From behind its mask, enormous Phoenix Flower fireballs poured forth like machine-gun fire.
The heavens were lit crimson.
Naruto looked down at them with contempt.
With a single sweep of his blade, he generated a gale that detonated every fireball.
Madara's half-body Susanoo burst through the flames.
Its twin swords unleashed a raging storm of slashes that scratched the armor of Naruto's colossal construct.
Madara's strategy was simple.
He had no illusions of defeating Naruto.
It didn't matter if he could only leave scratches.
As an Edo Tensei, he could spend chakra freely.
So long as he and Obito themselves avoided destruction, they could attack without restraint.
Even the slightest damage to Naruto's Susanoo would consume his Six Paths chakra.
Immense power did not mean limitless stamina.
Until Jin—the true final trump card—returned, their role was to wear Naruto down.
Boom!
The lower half of Madara's destroyed Susanoo, which had crashed onto a mountain peak, did not vanish.
Instead, it melted into deep blue fluid and reformed into a walking Susanoo.
It drew back a chain of Yasaka Magatama and launched them skyward.
Whoosh!
Naruto's downward slash split both the mountain and the reconstructed Susanoo in two.
At that instant, Obito's upper-body Susanoo lowered its stance.
A storm of Kamui shuriken hurtled forward.
Hagoromo's voice rang urgently in Naruto's mind.
"Naruto! You cannot let those hit!"
"I know!"
The free hand of the Six Paths Ninja Alliance Susanoo ignited with pale-blue chakra.
— Susanoo: Nine Hundred Ninety-Nine!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
An endless barrage of Yasaka Magatama erupted, intercepting the Kamui shuriken.
The sky filled with violent collisions and swirling dimensional distortions, sealing off the airspace between them.
"Now."
"Restore our Susanoo," Madara said with a faint smile.
"And…"
The Limbo shadow Susanoo moved.
From four directions, they attacked simultaneously.
Their blades did not target Naruto himself.
They targeted the golden wings.
Naruto's face changed.
"No!"
He shouted to the thousands clinging to his wings.
"Everyone! Attack Madara's shadow Susanoo!"
"Shadow? What shadow?!"
"We can't see anything!"
"What!?"
Naruto's mind exploded with realization.
His Rinnegan could see the Limbo clones and their Susanoo perfectly.
But the allied shinobi could see nothing.
Whoosh!
To protect them, Naruto folded his wings inward, narrowly avoiding the attacks from left and right.
Clang! Clang!
The support arms extending from the wings caught the blades of two Limbo Susanoo.
With a powerful twist, Naruto shattered them both.
"AAAAAHHHH!"
The crisis was averted, but the violent maneuver sent shockwaves through the forty-eight thousand shinobi attached to his wings.
To them, it felt like the most brutal amusement park ride imaginable.
Many vomited.
Some lost control of their bowels.
Others fainted outright.
But before they could recover, the surviving two Limbo Susanoo attacked again, striking from front and rear toward the left wing.
"You will not hurt them again!"
Naruto roared.
The left wing slammed backward, knocking away one attacker.
His left fist shot forward.
BANG!
The Limbo Susanoo ahead exploded into fragments and crashed to the ground.
Naruto wheeled around, wings flaring, and lunged toward the final Limbo clone.
— Limbo: Instant Swap!
In an instant, Madara switched places with the clone.
Boom!
A meteoric Great Fire Annihilation slammed into Naruto's faceplate.
It caused no real damage, but disrupted his rhythm.
The Kamui shuriken followed.
They carved horrific holes into the armor.
"Damn you!"
Naruto seized Madara's Susanoo like a chicken and hurled it into the earth.
Then he descended, stomping down with colossal force.
The Susanoo disintegrated completely.
Naruto beat his wings and rose again, ready to finish Obito.
Crack!
A gigantic wooden hand suddenly clamped around his ankle.
Naruto looked down in shock.
From the dust below rose Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands.
That single moment of surprise was enough.
Boom! Boom!
Two Chibaku Tensei meteors struck his back from above and below.
The giant lurched downward.
"No!"
Realizing Madara's intention, Naruto roared and tried to force himself skyward.
But the final Limbo Susanoo rammed into him in a suicidal collision.
The ascent stopped instantly.
From below, Madara's voice thundered.
"Down you go!"
The True Several Thousand Hands seized both ankles and, using the momentum from the meteors and collision, dragged the giant downward.
SLAM!!!
The Six Paths Ninja Alliance Susanoo crashed into the earth.
The immense wooden Buddha toppled forward, pinning Naruto's masterpiece beneath it like a mountain.
"Stay down!"
From the great circular halo behind the Buddha, a thousand giant fists drew back.
Madara's voice rang with wild exhilaration.
"Hashirama!"
"Lend me your power!"
"Let me smash this rotten Will of Fire to pieces!"
— Top Transformed Buddha!
RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
Thousands of flaming fists rained down like a divine storm upon Naruto's Six Paths Ninja Alliance Susanoo.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"
As the colossal construct was pummeled mercilessly, blood began to rain from beneath its wings.
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