Naruto POV~

I blinked, confused. Whatever thoughts that were running through my head came to a pause, pinwheeling in another direction. 

"Who the hell are you?" I asked the two very old and very wrinkly toads. The toads were helpful, but I was done summoning them. Their loyalty was to Konoha, and my loyalties were much too fickle. We would never contrast very well at this point. 

So what was this old hag of an amphibian doing here?

"I am Fukasaku, and this is Shima. We are the two great sage toads of Mount Myoboku."

I backtracked a bit. "Did you just call the Pervy Sage 'Jiraiya-chan?'"

They spluttered, the male (Fukasaku, but I wasn't calling him that) saying, "You call him Pervy Sage?"

"That's besides the point. I'm in the middle of something, what do you want? And how are you even here? I haven't summoned any toads in years."

The little asshole just folded his arms and said, "It's called a reverse summon. We can come to you as well. And yes, your place as a toad summoner is as good as revoked at this point, but Jiraiya-chan sent us to aid you in the likely case that he couldn't arrive himself."

I blinked slowly at them, then back at Obito, who would soon recover if we didn't do something soon. I turned my gaze on them again and scoffed, "What are a couple of old frog geezers like you going to do against the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki?"

The toads stared, then spluttered angrily again. Kurama was laughing so hard that I could hear it, and the chakras of the other eight were trembling violently enough that I could assume the same thing. I wondered what the people in Konoha were thinking when the three Bijuu staying there just burst out laughing for no reason.

"Watch your mouth, child." Shima said, tapping her webbed foot on the ground, "We are here to assist you. Whether or not you accept the help, Jiraiya-chan has asked us to protect you and we will do just that."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and turned my attention back to Obito, saying rather absently, "Do whatever you want. I have to get to Obito."

Kurama's bout of hysteria had worn off, and he turned serious again, though his chakra floated a bit lighter than usual. "Naruto. Even with all the Bijuu chakra you have, we don't have enough of my siblings' power to rival the Ten-Tails. And since you insist on getting through to that gaki's head, I suppose that's what we should do. The four Hokage should be able to drive him back far enough."

'Alright.' I clenched my teeth, trying to gauge the situation best I could. A solution was hard to find, though. It seemed that Obito figured out how to nullify ninjutsu with the truth seeker orbs, so now even that was out of the question.

What to do now...

Just then, Fukasaku turned to me and said, "I would like to test something out."

I scowled at him. "Do what you need but don't get yourselves killed. Pervy Sage would flay me."

Fukasaku rolled his eyes and snapped, "I have more age and experience than any of you young shinobi combined. I know my limits."

Just then, he turned to Shima and whispered something to her, and they went and ran straight for Obito.

Fucking hell...

I had no idea what they were doing, but Obito would show them no mercy if they went too close. 

Oh, damn it all. 

I extended a bit of Kurama's chakra and tapped them both with it. They stiffened, and I realized what I'd done.

'Kurama, can I share your chakra with others?'

"Supposedly, yes. They can't control it, but it will cloak them and defend their bodies from harm."

So then the two old toads ran straight for Obito in a cloak of red Bijuu chakra.

I didn't think they were going to spit into his face, but that's what they did. 

'They literally charged at Obito for that...'

"Hmph. Toads."

I was about to brush it off, label the little geezers as crazy, and then use their 'attack' as a distraction from my own, but then I noticed something. I paused, watching carefully as the slime they threw at him slid off of Obito. It moved much slower, seeming to actually stick rather than be completely deflected.

What was different about those toads' attack?

"I knew it. Sage chakra."

'Huh?'

"Those toads are from Mount Myoboku. They're also sages, and the chakra they use is nature chakra. When they use sage power, they draw energy from the outside world around them into themselves and use that rather than the chakra they already have within them. It's a very powerful and useful skill, being able to draw energy from your surroundings, but to acquire sage mode would mean learning and training long and hard, mainly from some of the Great Sage animals. That includes the sage toads of Mount Myoboku. Old man Sage of Six Paths was very fond of them."

I blinked, the pieces coming together in my head. I reached out my senses again and felt for the Ten-Tails chakra again. There it was, the ancient and vast power, suppressed by Obito at the moment but still there. 

I could see what he meant now. The reason the toads' sage chakra was working at nullifying Obito.

'The Ten-Tails used to be the Divine Tree, which was deep rooted with the chakra systems of the earth. It looks like the Ten-Tails itself is made of nature chakra.'

"Which would explain why sage power works to fight it, rather than ninjutsu." Kurama did something reminisce to slapping himself with one of his tails, "Why didn't I think of this before!"

'Well, we didn't know it would work, and it's not like I have sage mode.'

"That brat Hashirama does, though."

I sighed, 'I suppose he does. Well, now we have a new asset, so may as well use them. I better remember to thank Pervy Sage later. And maybe apologize to the toads.'

Kurama rolled his eyes and flickered his chakra. "Get on with it, gaki."

'Yes sir.' I mock saluted, bringing myself back to the fight.

I dashed forward. Obito, seeming more annoyed than anything, proceeded to smack the toads with the Ten-Tails chakra. Kurama's chakra cloak protected them from harm but didn't stop them from being blown back from Obito's attack. I caught them with two chakra arms and drew them back, plopping them on the ground in front of me.

"You noticed it, didn't you? How sage chakra nullifies the Ten-Tails?" I asked.

Fukasaku pushed himself to his feet and scowled up at me. "Obviously. Now are you going to continue being a brat or will you finally show some respect?"

I scowled back, and bit out, "Fine. I'm sorry. But this sage chakra could turn the tides a bit, or at least force Obito to stay on his toes."

The toads grumbled a bit more, but we finally managed some cooperation. It would have to do.

"Within different circumstances, perhaps we would have invited you to Mount Myoboku to teach you sage mode." Shima said, eyeing me. "That is, very different circumstances."

"Hm. No need to patronize me."

Fukasaku clapped his webbed hands together. "Seeing as you already have gained control over the Kyuubi's chakra, you don't seem to need it. Besides, you are no longer an active shinobi of Konoha, so it is pointless."

"Yeah, yeah, you only help Leaf shinobi. I get it. And don't go around insulting Kurama, that's his chakra cloak defending you right now."

They blinked at me. "You mean the Kyuubi?"

"I mean what I said."

They looked at each other, then we proceeded to go back to the fight. By now, Obito was giving the four Hokage a hard time, but my Rasengan attack bought them enough time to regain proper footing and hold their own.

Fukasaku and Shima were gathering chakra. I could sense it, now. The energy in the world around us was shifting. The gateways of the body usually held all of a being's own chakra within them, allowing them use of it but nothing else. This sage mode of theirs seemed to open those blockades, letting the outside chakra around them connect with them and bend to their will. The chakra flowed in and out, the amount varying depending on how much they needed to use, their body completely open to the flow of energy around them but with a certain level of control, which explained how they weren't being overrun by this immense energy. I could see what Kurama meant, needing to have extensive training to master it. The body could only handle so much chakra, after all. 

With enough practice, I was pretty sure I would be able to do this. Kurama's chakra worked a similar way, with both of us having to be open to each others flow of chakra in order for our chakra syncing to work to its full potential. I would just have to turn my attention to a much bigger source.

"If you want to learn this, you would have to get within the good graces of those toads. I have some knowledge of sage mode, but I probably won't be able to teach it very well."

'Those geezers?' I scoffed, 'Well, I'll worry about that later.'

Still, their sage attacks were working. They weren't the strongest and if it weren't for Kurama's chakra they would probably be a splat on the ground, but they were slowing down Obito enough for the rest of us to get in closer.

Now, there was one thing I wanted to do.

'The chakra from the other Bijuu is still within Obito. The Ten-Tails isn't as strong as it could be, is it?'

"No. He only took a fraction of their chakra. The most chakra he has is mine and even then it's only half."

'Even though they're all inside the Ten-Tails now, they still have separate consciousnesses right?'

"Yes. What are you getting at? You think we should try to pull them out?"

'Uh...yeah.'

Kurama sighed, "You're crazy. Fine, let's do it. That Obito brat has no idea what he's doing, trying to handle the Jubi like that. His control over it is sloppy. If we latch on hard enough, we should be able to get them out."

I grinned. 'The next time those two toads attack then. Get ready.'

"I'm always ready, gaki." Kurama grumbled, also baring his teeth. The other Bijuus' chakra hummed as well. 

Fukasaku and Shima launched another blow, driving Obito back but hardly making a dent in his defenses. 

'NOW!'

The Bijuu chakra inside me surged, the link connecting me to the other Bijuu flooding with their power. I dashed forward, reaching out a chakra hand combined with mine and Kurama's chakra, strengthened and anchored by the other Tailed Beasts. 

The wave of chakra latched onto Obito's, and we pulled.

It was a clash of two immense powers, and there was that moment, that fraction of a second when we just connected.

Obito and I faced each other, in a space where time didn't exist. I recognized this. The way two people in a fight just clicked with each other in a moment of collision. It was what happened when Sasuke and I clashed, one with Chidori and one with Rasengan. It wasn't the jutsu themselves that caused this. It was the link that forms during a battle of wills.

"Here we go again." I said, staring Obito dead in the eye.