The Raikage growled when Madara flitted out of the way again. This  fight was taking too long. Even without his Sharingan, the Uchiha was a powerful enemy. The tailed beasts gave him strength.

Madara smirked and formed a few hand seals. Large rocks started rotating and flew towards his attackers. One particularly large rock flew at the Raikage, but before it could hit, Hiashi Hyuuga jumped in front of him and performed Kaiten. Debris flew in every direction.

The Raikage nodded at Hiashi in thanks.

Madara smirked and immediately formed other seals.

Slowly the ground changed to quicksand. He let out a dark laughter. “Do you still think you can defeat me?” He watched as the alliance sunk deeper into the ground. “You should have surrendered when you still had the chance. We could have settled things peacefully, but you decided to defy me.”

“We will never submit to you!” the Raikage growled and he formed a lightning sword.

One of the other ninja struggled with a jutsu to turn the earth back to normal.

“Then you will die!” Madara said, “but first I’ll take the Eight Tails and add it to my collection.”

“That I’ll have to see. You’ll never take Octo from me,” Bee pointed at Madara. “Ready Eight? Cuz here we go. Just sit back and enjoy the show.” He formed a few seals and tails appeared.

“No Bee!” the Raikage shouted.

Madara smirked. “Finally, it emerges.”

***

“Sensei?” Lee asked carefully, “do you think Taryn-sama will be alright?” He tried to sit up, but it cost him a lot of effort and he fell back into the pillows.

Gai scoffed. “You should focus on healing, Lee. That girl brought it upon herself. Stubborn, foolish, selfish…”

“She’s not selfish,” Lee said stunned, remembering how upset she had been after the encounter with her former teammate and the worried look on her face when she thought about her students.

“You don’t know her like I do, Lee.”

“How well do you know her, sensei?” Lee asked quietly, “have you ever done missions with her?” He looked at his hands. “Perhaps she has made mistakes in the past, but it wouldn’t be fair to hold it against her now. You always tell me that everyone deserves a second chance. Doesn’t she deserve one too?”

“Lee…”

“She called you a good friend,” Lee continued and he looked at his sensei, “so she can’t be all bad.”

Gai stared at him surprised. “She did?”

Lee nodded. “She protected me against her own teammate. That can’t have been easy for her. I’m just worried about her.”

“Don’t worry,” Gai comforted his student, “that girl has more lives than ten cats combined.”

***

“What can you tell us, boy?” the Tsuchikage demanded of the young dark haired shinobi in front of him.

Sai didn’t flinch. He was used to reporting and Danzou had been far more intimidating.

“Don’t be so harsh,” the Mizukage scolded the older man, “let him report. There’s no reason for bullying.”

“It’s alright,” Sai assured her. The rest of his unit had been excused and were either tending to their injuries or getting some well earned rest. Kankuro had been called to the infirmary where his sister lay still unconscious. The medics seemed to fear for her life. Haru had taken one of his summons to the infirmary. The dog  had a nasty slash in his side.

As team leader, Sai now had to report to the remainder of the leaders at Head Quarters, which wasn’t very large at the moment.

Gaara-sama was in the infirmary with his sister and Tsunade-sama had taken a small group to back up the Raikage in the fight against Madara.

That only left the Mizukage, the Tsuchikage, Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka and a Jounin from Cloud that he didn’t know.

Sai stood up a bit straighter and folded his hands behind his back. “We managed to find and corner him. I cut him with my sword and Zoraya tried to bind him with her Shadow Possession Technique, but he evaded it, just as we planned. We drove him towards the rest of our unit. Anko kicked him in Kankuro’s direction where Kankuro ensnared him in chakra strings and…”

“Yes, yes,” the Tsuchikage interrupted, “skip the fight. We believe you. Did it work? Is the jutsu broken?”

Sai nodded. “Yes. After a … persuasive… technique that Haru used, we managed to convince him to break the resurrection jutsu. Unfortunately we weren’t able to bring him in for further interrogation.”

“Why is that?”

Sai cleared his throat. “He was no longer able to perform any act of… anything.”

“You mean you killed him?”

“He is dead sir, yes.”

It was silent for a moment. “This is a good thing,” Shikaku said, “the jutsu is broken and Kabuto is no longer able to meddle in this war. Now we have only Madara to worry about instead of fighting our own comrades.”

“He is right,” the Mizukage agreed, “we have no use for Kabuto. Now that this resurrection jutsu is broken, there was nothing he could have told us that would have been of any use.”

The Tsuchikage grunted, but nodded and turned back to Sai. Well done boy. You’re dismissed. Take some rest. We might call on you again.”

***

“Hiashi, update us on the situation.”

Hiashi Hyuuga looked up at Tsunade who had appeared at his side with a group of five other Jounin. One of them was carrying a small object that resembled a sword.

He glanced at the Raikage and Bee who were attempting another attack on Madara. “He’s using the power of the tailed beasts,” Hiashi said, “no matter what we try, we can’t land a blow on him. But for some reason he can’t use his Sharingan. That’s the only advantage we have though.”

Tsunade nodded and glanced at the two Jounin from Stone that flanked her. “We need to be quick, before he realizes what we’re up to.”

“You have a way of defeating him?” Hiashi asked.

“We have a plan,” Tsunade corrected him, “but first we need to get Bee out of here. The Eight Tails must be kept safe. We might still need his strength later.”

“That’s not going to be easy,” Hiashi said, “he won’t be very compliant to the suggestion of leaving.”

“It’s not a suggestion,” Tsunade answered, “it’s a requirement. If he stays, the plan is bound to fail.” She formed a few signs and glanced at the Stone nin again. “You know what to do.”

They nodded at her and she vanished to reappear again between Bee and the Raikage.

The Raikage looked at her confused. “Tsunade, what are you doing here? You should be at Head Quarters.”

“There’s no time to explain,” she said, “Bee needs to leave right now.”

The Raikage narrowed his eyes. “You have a plan?”

Tsunade nodded. “Yes,” she muttered, keeping an eye on Madara who was growing a tail. ‘We need to get started.’

The Raikage gritted his teeth and nodded. In one fluent movement he jumped at Bee and threw him out of the way.

Bee gasped and stared at the Raikage confused. “Brother don’t step in my way. Eight and I want to play.”

The Raikage simply shook his head. “No Bee. We need to leave.”

The serious tone in his voice made Bee pause. He glanced at the other shinobi as he considered the Raikage’s words. ‘What do you think Eight? Should we go or should we wait?’

“They seem to have a plan,” the Eight Tails said, ‘We should leave them to it. Besides… that weapon they brought is making me uncomfortable. It’s pulling on my energy.”

Bee glanced at the sword briefly. Now that the Eight Tails had mentioned it, he could feel it too. ‘But if that sword’s affecting you, why doesn’t Madara feel it too?”

“Because he doesn’t speak with his Bijuu the way you talk with me. They are just tools to him. Vessels filled with power. He hasn’t noticed anything yet. That’s why we must go. They wasn’t you to leave so that sword doesn’t accidentally hurt us instead of Madara.”

“In that case we should go. Perhaps we should aid Naruto.”

“No,” the Eight Tails said, “we should let Naruto deal with Sasuke alone. We will only add fuel to the fire. It’s time to head back to Head Quarters.”

***

“The boy spoke the truth,” Inoichi said, “we’re receiving reports from all over the battlefield that the resurrected are vanishing. It seems Kabuto really did break the Edo Tensei.”

“Good,” Shikaku sighed, “then perhaps we still have a chance of winning. We’ve lost too many fighters already.”

“Our last hope is the weapon from Suna,” the Mizukage mused.

“Don’t worry,” the Tsuchikage said through his teeth, “the shinobi I sent with Tsunade are two of the strongest of Stone and completely in sync with each other. They’re identical twins and they don’t need words communicating with each other.”

“Still,” Shikaku said, “Madara has fused himself with seven of the tailed beasts. He needs to be approached with care.”

***

“Sakura!” Shizune shouted when she spotted the girl emerging from one of the infirmary tents.

The pink haired girl looked up and hurried over to the group of medics that were carrying a stretcher with an injured shinobi.

“We need your help,” Shizune spoke once Sakura had reached them, “he’s in critical condition.”

Sakura nodded and glanced at the wounded shinobi. As soon as she laid eyes on him, she gasped. She would recognize that young face anywhere. ‘No… that’s…”

***

“Now!” Tsunade shouted as the second tail started to grow from Madara.

The two shinobi didn’t hesitate and the first took a hold of the sword after making three quick signs.

He flitted out of the way and reappeared behind Madara.

His brother Zee stood back, waiting to take over from Jay when he’d run out of chakra.

“Earth Seal, Spike Cage!” Jay shouted and he cut the sword in Madara’s direction.

Madara chuckled. “You think a puny jutsu like that will stop me?” But then he gasped when he felt a pull on his chakra. He could feel the one tailed beast Shokaku stir in agony. “What is that weapon?” He narrowed his eyes and launched himself at Jay.

A handful of spikes broke from the earth and trapped Madara in place.

Madara laughed darkly and Jay looked in shock as the spikes trembled and then crumbled.

He took a firmer grip on the sword and intensified his efforts. This time the spikes stayed in place.

Jay turned the sword and stuck it in the ground. He gasped when he felt a pull on his own chakra.

“Jay!” Zee gasped.

“Don’t break his concentration,” Tsunade warned, “everyone stay alert. If he breaks free again, attack. The most important thing is the protection of that weapon and Jay and Zee.”

The remaining shinobi nodded. “Hai.”

Sweat was dripping from Jay’s face and he gritted his teeth.

Everyone gasped when Madara started to transform as the One Tail’s chakra was slowly being drawn towards the sword.

Hiashi Hyuuga activated Byakugan. “There’s a clear stream of chakra between Madara and the sword,” he informed the others, “but it’s draining the boy’s chakra as well.”

“I know,” Tsunade stated calmly.

Jay was forced to his knees and he panted heavily. The earth cage started to tremble again and the half transformed Madara lifted his hands to weave some sings. “Sand Storm,” he hissed.

Immediately a fierce wind lifted the sand around them, making its way towards Jay.

“Not if I can help it,“ one of the onlookers said, “Wind Style: Wind of Fury!”

A huge tornado appeared and dispelled Madara’s jutsu.

Jay gasped again.

“Zee,” Tsunade said anxious,

“Not yet,” Zee muttered as his eyes stayed fixed on his brother. He waited a few more seconds before racing to his twin’s aid. Just when Jay was about to collapse, Zee took a hold of the sword. “I’ve got it.”

Jay nodded and stepped aside. “Rest brother,” Zee continued while his eyes focused on Madara.

He had followed the whole scene closely and couldn’t help be a bit worried. Jay had a huge amount of chakra and he was almost drained. The One Tail hadn’t even been extracted yet. If it took this long for one Bijuu, how long would it take to deal with seven? And then there would still be Madara himself. ‘One thing at the time,’ he told himself.

He could feel the sword pull on his chakra and he could feel the power of the One Tail through the weapon as well. He wasn’t going to let it win.

“They’ll need help,” the Raikage noted. The twins were already looking exhausted.

Tsunade nodded. “I know. Get ready. If he breaks free, don’t hesitate. The sword won’t affect our chakra unless we come in immediate contact with it. Attack Madara, but don’t break Zee’s jutsu.”

“Understood,” the Raikage said.

“Yes,” Hiashi nodded.

The remaining shinobi nodded as well and took a stance to attack.

The cage started to crumble.

“On three,” Hiashi said with his Byakugan active, “one…”

A large crack appeared on one of the cage bars.

“Two…”

A loud crack was heard and Zee fell to one knee. He gritted his teeth and put more chakra behind the jutsu when the cage that held Madara crumbled completely.

“Three!”

Five shinobi jumped at Madara at the same time.

***

“If it’s my life you want,” Naruto said, “then take it.”

Sasuke glared down on him, his katana still in hand. “You’re not serious.”

“I’ve never been more serious in my life.”

“Don’t mock me, Naruto,” Sasuke growled.

Naruto just looked at him calmly. “You said you wanted to severe all ties once and for all. Here’s your chance. Because I know I can’t make you come home. That means I’ve broken a promise and I never go back on my word. I failed. So go ahead. Take my life.”

“Don’t think I won’t do it,” Sasuke said in an icy voice, though Naruto’s behavior confused him. He gripped his sword and lifted it.

“I just hope you’re satisfied afterwards,” Naruto said, “that it will solve your revenge. I hope it will be enough that after killing me you can move on.”

Sasuke lifted his sword even higher. His eyes were dangerously dark.

Self-sacrifice is what defines a ninja.”

Sasuke’s eyes narrowed as Danzou’s words flew back into his memory. He growled. He didn’t want to think about that bastard.

“Settle for hating me…”

Sasuke growled, trying to stop the flashes in his mind.

He sat on the floor, trying to stop the flow of tears. He had never felt so lonely. No friends, no home and now he didn’t have a brother anymore either. He had never thought it would hurt so much.

“Stop it!” Sasuke growled.

“Huh? Stop what?” Naruto asked confused, but Sasuke didn’t answer him.

“You’re not alone…”

A little voice in the back of his mind drew his attention, but he pushed it away. No. There was only one way out of this.

He lifted the sword above his head and with one swift movement it came crashing down.