Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story.

A/N: Screw soul mates! This laptop is my one true love! Let's get this chapter underway!

Chapter 135: Relics of the Past

Caius was keeping a close eye on things as he manipulated Edo Tensei over two battlefields at the moment, mainly focusing on the main one for the time being. Especially because one of his aces was on what was currently the main battlefield, about midway from Konoha to the Mountain Graveyard, which remained a major base of operations, albeit not the main one. There were plenty of automatons and Shamblers to give the Alliance a good deal of trouble, but the real ringer he was bringing in to strike a blow against them was none other than Kokatsu Genshukuayatsuri. This man had been able to put up a solid fight against Raizen and Zion themselves, albeit they were not quite at the level they had been at the time of their death match, but regardless, he remained a solid threat capable of dealing with large numbers of high level foes. He was slightly worried about the fact he was now up against Itachi Uchiha, and Nagato Uzumaki, but not too much. They were definitely a fair bit of power behind where Raizen and Zion had been when they had fought Kokatsu, so unless they were able to outmaneuver him, Kokatsu would easily win, even without being an Edo Tensei… but let's play it safe at first, guide him to fight conservatively, assess what they were capable of, THEN dismantle them… he was down to "two" aces after all, no sense in making it "one" so soon…

…

"How are your new eyes?" Itachi asked Nagato even as he activated his Purified Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.

"It was a difficult transition at first, but once I adapted, these eyes Naruto replicated for me seem to be an even better fit than Madara's ever were," Nagato grinned, even as he ran through hand seals. "Summoning Jutsu!" When the smoke cleared, the ox was charging right at the Edo Tensei.

(A/N: OST Hurricane Suite plays)

"Is that all you got?" he asked simply, extending a hand, and blasting the ox back with a basic gravity burst. He then used gravity manipulation to levitate a bunch of rocks, and brought them down on the beast, burying it in rubble, causing a burst of smoke to emerge from that rubble.

"Off to a good start at least," Nagato grinned, glad his immediate gamble had apparently paid off…

"What?" the Genshukuayatsuri asked, not at all sure what Nagato was grinning about… except the rubble he had buried the ox under hadn't collapsed, in fact it had expanded… how? Mass should have vanished the moment the ox was dispelled, instead, it seemed to have increased. But instead, the rubble suddenly had a bunch of giant dogs burst out. "What the!?" he demanded. Normally, he would attack the dogs, but instead felt himself moving to dodge to avoid being surrounded. His mind was racing as he considered this… his controller must be familiar with the Summon in question, and there must be something about it that made attacking it directly a bad idea. Made sense, Rinnegan Summons were known to be tricky to deal with, nearly every single one of them from his experience had some kind of extra power in addition to whatever natural physical abilities they would naturally have. Still, that was an ox he had struck, why was it suddenly replaced with a bunch of dogs? Was that the trick, or did he do something?

"So, the Rikudo clan survived well after my time I see… you look a lot like him," the Edo Tensei said as he gazed at Nagato.

"Like who exactly?" Nagato asked, even as their opponent flew out of the reach of a snapping dog's jaws.

"Like the sole survivor of that clan, the one who killed me, along with that traitor from mine," the Edo Tensei remarked. Itachi called forth his Susanoo, and sent Yasaka Magatama Beads after him, followed by setting them ablaze with Amaterasu. Their opponent easily dealt with this via conjuring Black Holes, which absorbed them.

Of course, that was expected, and Nagato extended a hand and shouted, "Shinra Tensei!" He exerted a great deal of force to try and smash their opponent's own jutsu into him, but unfortunately, he reacted quickly enough to redirect them, even as one of them tore off a chunk of his shoulder, but Edo Tensei took care of that.

"Damn, knew it wasn't going to be that easy…" Nagato grunted.

"Of course it wouldn't be… we are dealing with one of Raizen's kinsmen… even if inferior to the man himself, they are a powerful lot."

"Inferior? Inferior!? I, Kokatsu, the last head of the glorious Genshukuayatsuri clan!? Raizen would never be able to win against me without being aided by that bastard of the Rikudo clan!" the Edo Tensei, now identified to them, roared in fury.

"Perhaps not at the time you fought him, but I can tell that as of now, he is easily the superior fighter," Itachi said. "When I battled Raizen, his movements were more refined, his control of chakra and the levels greater, he knew how to fight outside of the clan techniques, his reaction times were greater… had that been him we attempted to destroy with his own jutsu, he would have either avoided it entirely, or simply overpowered Nagato. Four out of five times, based on what I have seen, he would have your head on a plate if you fought again."

"So… you've fought Raizen before… interesting, it seems I have not been dead as long as I thought if he is still around…" He met Itachi's eyes briefly. " I do not recognize that Dojutsu, it is clearly not of the Elder Dimension…"

"It is the Sharingan, originally a lesser version of the Rinnegan created when the second Sage of Six Paths divided his bloodline to protect it from being misused in certain ways. His son was able to make it evolve into something nearly its equal. Sadly, I can't attain the same. However, in one way, my Sharingan is superior," he admitted, the violet hue of the purified version almost seeming to glow. After all, with Indra having corrupted it, it had fallen short of its real potential.

"The second Sage of Six Paths?" Kokatsu asked in confusion.

"Yes, likely that very person that helped Raizen defeat you… you have been dead for a long time actually," Itachi replied. "Over a millennium. Raizen has cheated death all this time, which is why he is still here. If you truly hate him, then please help us fight you to the best of your ability so we can stop him."

"Hoh? Exactly what is he trying to achieve that you are trying to prevent?" Kokatsu asked in interest.

"He seeks to become a god and forcibly unite the Dimensions back into one under him, believing it will bring about peace," Nagato stated. "While I doubt you care so much about that, if you wish to spite your killer…"

"Heh… hah hah hah hah hah!" Kokatsu cackled. "So… he finally understood has he? I told him that the world would never accept him after he defeated me, I told him that the world needed to be forced if you wanted things to go your way… to become a God though… perhaps he intends to join forces with Yggdrasil…"

"How did you know that much?" Nagato asked, stunned.

"I was reached out to by a fragment of the Divine Tree myself when I became head of the Genshukuayatsuri clan… I refused him, I had no interest in joining forces with a god, man has more power than to need to rely on divinity to attain great things, the Genshukuayatsuri more than any other, but then, at this stage, Raizen wouldn't have a clan's worth of our blood to aid us, so it's now understandable… it's a shame really… had he wised up sooner, we could have achieved such great things together… no, I won't help you. I will see my own ambitions to conquer the Dimensions through… even if it is vicariously. Hey, whoever is controlling me via Edo Tensei… let me take this from here. I'm going to lend your cause my strength willingly."

...

Back at the hideout, Caius was rather surprised at this. He hadn't expected Kokatsu to accept his situation like this, and he considered it briefly, before deciding to oblige, but still keeping an eye on things.

…

"So, you are now going to take orders from Raizen?" Itachi asked, narrowing his eyes. "I wouldn't think the head of such a strong, proud clan would be so willing to toss such pride aside."

"Don't bother with the manipulations," Kokatsu said, unsealing a claymore and pointing it at them. "The rule of the world is that the weak are commanded by the strong. While I was reluctant to admit it before, Raizen has no doubt become so much stronger if he has been around this long, and he did defeat me, albeit with help that time. Regardless, I was beaten, so I must bow to the victor in the end. I was many things in life… but never a hypocrite. So then… come, and see if you have the strength to defeat me!"

"Amaterasu!" Itachi shouted without further warning, and instantly, Kokatsu was set ablaze. However, he blasted the flames away with a gravity burst, even as two of the giant dogs bore down on him. He swung the claymore, striking them with enough force to send them flying away, even as they bore deep lacerations. However, they each split in two at that moment.

"I see, so that Summon doubles every time it is hit, it's like severing a hydra head," Kokatsu remarked. "Why was it an ox first though?"

He turned to see a bunch of missiles headed his way, and jumped away, allowing them to go off, before spotting a laser at the last second, but was able to create a black hole to absorb it. Another dog lunged, and he sidestepped, and asked, "I wonder what will happen if nothing is left to multiply?" The black hole proceeded to vaporize the giant beast with a Kuesa. Nagato frowned and noted there were still eleven copies of the dog.

He dashed forward at Kokatsu, who blinked, and swung as they closed in with one another, and Nagato said, "Bansho Tenin." Kokatsu's eyes widened as his weapon was ripped from his hand, and Nagato ducked under it, flinging a chakra rod at Kokatsu, who deflected it with a gravity burst… only for a second one hidden in the shadow of the first to strike him in the knee, piercing his armor at the joint. With a hand seal, Nagato quickly attempted to suppress Kokatsu's chakra, long enough for Itachi to stab him with the Totsuka Blade as he manifested it.

Unfortunately, Kokatsu was powerful enough to shrug it off and avoided the attack, though one of the dogs was able to bat him aside. He flew through the air, and then attempted to blast it with another Kuesa, only for Itachi to leap in front of the beast and manifest the Yata Mirror, which was able to absorb the blast, and send back a shock wave that sent Kokatsu spinning and through some trees.

This sadly did little damage due to Kokatsu's armor, but it didn't need to do much, as Nagato quickly cast several hand seals and shouted, "Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld!" Kokatsu hit the ground just as it turned into a swamp. He started to sink, and Nagato followed up by flying above him and using a Shinra Tensei to force him further down.

Itachi once again swung the Totsuka Blade down at the former Genshukuayatsuri head, and just as the chakra blade entered the swamp, the whole thing exploded, and the Susanoo was dispersed as Itachi flew back from the massive gravity blast that caused that. "Damn, he's incredibly strong!" he cursed as he managed to land on his feet and skid back.

Kokatsu floated from the swamp, orbited by multiple boulders. One of the giant dogs leapt for him, but he simply produced several black holes and blasted them into the hound, which started to yelp as its flesh was contorted and tore as it was pulled into the holes, every cell sucked up within seconds.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Nagato shouted, once again calling forth a beast, this time the rhino, which charged Kokatsu from behind, shrugging off the rubble that launched itself at it, and tried to stab him on its massive horn, but he simply floated to the side… which resulted in him being struck by the horn of the ox the rhino suddenly turned into with a burst of smoke, causing the horns to suddenly be where he dodged to. He once again was send flying, but again with minimal damage due to the armor.

Two more of the multiplied dogs smacked Kokatsu to the ground, and he barely rolled to avoid another stab of the Totsuka Blade. While he was no longer being controlled to fight, Caius was still giving a few impulses to Kokatsu, and they were enough to tell him he needed to avoid a hit from that Susanoo weapon at all costs. This time, he was struck by a couple more Yasaka Magatama beads, and Nagato dashed at him, extending a hand in hopes of catching Kokatsu with Human Path, which was not as ideal as Itachi's weapon since it would just send Kokatsu back to the Pure Realm and have Caius simply need to bring him back, but it would at least end this current bout and give the Alliance time to get some countermeasures ready for Kokatsu's return.

Unfortunately, he was too slow as Kokatsu recovered and sent Kuesas at him from the holes he had so brutally used to dispatch that dog eariler. Nagato was forced to dodge, and the Kuesas hit two more does, vaporizing them. The ox attempted to trample him, but he launched several of his weapons right through its skull.

"I get it now, you combined a Henge with the Summoning Jutsu. You knew the controller of Edo Tensei would be guiding me, and had intel on the powers of your Summons, so you went with the idea of disguising them even as they were Summoned, and simultaneously cast those jutsu on it… Impressive. Had Zion thought of that, his threat level would have gone up pretty high," Kokatsu applauded.

"Tch," Nagato grunted, annoyed that his tactic had been read so easily.

"We need a new plan," Itachi said bluntly, meeting eyes with Nagato.

"Agreed."

"Tsukiyomi," Itachi stated, and they immediately found themselves in the genjutsu world Itachi controlled. "Did you master the Salamander Sage Mode yet?"

"No… while I have signed the contract despite my reservations, I simply don't have the skills needed to master it in the kind of time frame I was given… I can only manipulate small amounts of Senjutsu, not anywhere enough to enter even an imperfect Sage Mode. It doesn't help that my body is still not completely healed from all the abuse it's been put through… me using the Gedo Mazo and practically becoming a skeleton, my legs being disabled, and those chakra rods Madara put in me and the surgery to get them out definitely did not help. Despite her medical skills, my Uzumaki heritage, and the Tailed Beast chakra I have been given to help heal, I've been left with muscle tremors that are miniscule and barely affect me in most things… but keep me from achieving the absolute stillness needed to become a Sage. The King of Hell is an option, but the neurological damage is so delicate to treat, it'd cost me more of my lifespan than I am willing to give up, especially with all I've done to shorten my life already. I'll be lucky to make it far past 60, and I promised Konan we would build a happy life together after this war, so I really cannot afford to waste any more of my life force for something so trivial, and there is no guarantee I could even become a Sage even without the tremors… so unless I can find some kind of loophole, that path is forever closed to me."

Itachi nodded in understanding, and asked, "So… what else have you been doing to get stronger if not training to be a Sage?"

"Getting my body back in shape, learning some new elemental ninjutsu, studying technology to better use Ashura Path… and I created a new Animal Path Summon, after… after Sensei's second death. It was made to be a homage to him, but it only recently finished growing from the creation process, otherwise, I would have used it at the battle of Uzushiogakure."

"How powerful is it?" Itachi then asked seriously, to which Nagato gave a smile.

"I daresay it is the crown jewel of my Animal Path Summons. Also, while I may not be able to use Senjutsu myself for the reasons I stated, but I actually do have a small workaround to ensure I can do something with natural energy, even if it doesn't allow me to enter Sage Mode. I have to admit, that Sakura girl, upon learning she couldn't become a Sage, still finding a way to utilize senjutsu was a bit of an inspiration."

Itachi smiled, feeling a bit of pride for who was looking to be his future sister in law. "So… what are its capabilities?"

Nagato then began to speak, aware they had all the time they needed in this illusion, Tsukiyomi really was amazingly useful…

Kokatsu meanwhile perceived none of Nagato and Itachi's exchange, all he noticed was a mild bit of chakra being used for what appeared to be a genjutsu placed over Nagato. Immediately after, they turned their gaze back to him, and Nagato said, "Time for round 2!" He immediately started casting the hand seals for a Summoning, even as the remaining dogs formed up behind him. "Summoning Jutsu!" he shouted, slamming his hands on the ground, and with a burst of smoke, a massive Rinnegan eyed toad covered in sharp spines was called forth, about the same size as Gamabunta.

"It's time we put an old fossil like you back into the ground," Nagato declared.

(A/N: End OST)

…

Kakashi was leading a small task force that had rendezvoused with the Surprise Attack Division towards a large village that didn't quite qualify as a ninja village, though it did have a militia trained in shinobi arts. In that task force were several shinobi from his Division, and a few others, including Akari's two teammates, Daisuke and Kiyoshi. Surprisingly, Danzo was in the task force as well, having recovered from the bout with Madara, something Kakashi suspected Hashirama's cells had something to do with. He wondered if Danzo had volunteered, or if it was Minato who had strong armed Danzo into it, but he was fairly sure it was the latter. Regardless, it had Kakashi a little on edge. It was a force of about four hundred shinobi.

The reason they were going there was due to a captured member of the fanatics of Raizen's religion being captured some time earlier, during the ending stages of the battle for Uzushiogakure, and they managed to get intel from her, detailing a backup factory Derek had set up in said village, where transportation seals were linked to the factories in Uzushiogakure, where equipment and materials were sent upon the capture of the island before destroying the factories there could happen.

It hadn't initially made sense to the kage why the higher ups of that village would allow Raizen's side to build their factory there, as they were known for a lack of corruption to those that actually knew of the village, so money couldn't have been a reason for allowing it… but then Karin had briefly turned her Sensory jutsu towards the village in question and cleared things up: there was a Zetsu presence, and it made sense… they had killed the higher ups, and replaced them with transformed Zetsu in order to put it under their control. Of course, this meant Madara was in on that part of things, since he commanded the Zetsu, or he simply did not care what a few were used for, so long as it meant more trouble for the Allaince. Regardless, if the intel was correct, Derek was trying to finish building another Kinzoku Kyojin, which was a significant threat, as well as a few thousand more Automatons by the end of the week, so they were going to take care of that little issue before too many more enemies could be produced.

As they approached, Kakashi called for a halt, and made several hand seals. "Summoning Jutsu!" Several dogs had been called. "Disperse and see if you guys can't find any kind of traps ahead," Kakashi requested. "Be careful though."

Pakkun nodded, and dashed off as the rest of the Hounds scattered. Daisuke shifted nervously as Kiyoshi chuckled, his crossbow out. "Do you really think they're expecting us, or is the Captain just being a little paranoid?" Daisuke asked, though he activated his Sharingan as if to be ready himself, reveling in just how… refreshing it felt ever since it had changed from crimson to violet.

"They'd have to be mad not to be prepared for an attack," Kiyoshi said reasonably. "It's not paranoia if it's reasonable caution."

Pakkun soon returned, and reported to Kakashi, "There are several small patrols of Automatons and Shamblers up ahead, not a lot of them though. Seems they wanted to avoid drawing attention."

"Good… that seems as long as we are careful, we can take them out undetected and get into the village to find the factory without too much issue," Kakashi sighed, before dismissing the Summons. "Let's move."

Sure enough, the difficulty level was set quite low at this stage… so how did things go so badly less than an hour later? Having just finished a patrol off, there was suddenly multiple bursts of smoke, and multiple Edo Tensei coffins rising from the ground, and Kakashi's eyes widened. How had he missed it? This had trap written all over it, it had been way too easy to deal with the patrols… and with a bit of thought, he realized how they were now surrounded by a couple thousand Automatons, Shamblers, Chimera, and a few Edo Tensei as the lids of the coffins fell to the ground. Hidden under a layer of dirt was storage seal after storage seal, having hidden the mindless soldiers, and the Edo Tensei suspended in animation.

Stepping out of the lead coffin was a figure with dark hair, and who looked very familiar to Daisuke. "No way… Former clan head Fugaku!?" he asked, shocked. Sure, he had only been about 3 at the time of the man's death, but he had seen the pictures of him in Sasuke's home, being his student and sharing a clan with said teacher after all, not to mention being related to Itachi's fiance, so he definitely visited often enough to be able to recognize him.

Kakashi sure as hell recognized Fugaku as well… they had not been on good terms when Itachi had killed him, what with the fact that he was consistently pressuring Kakashi into returning Obito's last gift to the Uchiha clan, something Kakashi obviously just as consistently refused to do. The Uchiha as a whole hardly took kindly to their bloodline being in the hands of someone outside the clan.

"...the Second Hokage... even beyond the grave, he just continues to do so much harm to members of the Uchiha, doesn't he?" Fugaku grunted, looking at his Reanimated body. "Even dead, I just can't seem to get away from the bastard's influence."

"Don't speak ill of my mentor," Danzo interjected, looking quite pissed despite his calm tone and demeanor. Fugaku glared up at him.

"Well well, if it isn't the man who consistently made life as difficult as possible for the Uchiha clan," he smirked. "Perhaps there is a silver lining to being brought back from the dead… though I do wish that I wasn't turned against the Leaf like this?"

"Oh? Weren't you planning a coup?" Danzo asked derisively.

"Many of us had reached our limit due to the discrimination against us. We only sought to seize power so as to renegotiate our place in the village, even if it came to bloodshed. In the end however, you turned my son against me, and I could not bring myself to cut him down… so you won then I suppose. I wonder what you did with the eyes of the clan members who sided with me after they were killed? Might that have something to do with the different chakra signatures I am seeing in that right arm of yours?" he asked, his Sharingan focused squarely on the old war hawk. "You play at protecting the village, but tell me something Danzo… when was the last time you sacrificed something of yourself to benefit the village… rather than something of the village to benefit yourself?"

Danzo opened his mouth, but, to his shock… could come up with absolutely nothing initially, before stating, "I had to gain power, so I could one day lead the village to lead the world into a new age, to move forward towards the dreams it was founded for."

"Wasn't one of the founding principles something to do with not putting children on dangerous missions? How did you train the kids you conscripted into ROOT again? Something about making them murder one another for the purpose of killing their emotions?" Fugaku asked rhetorically. He glared at Danzo intensely, his Sharingan going to Mangekyo, which he had gained in the Third Shinobi War, but barely used for obvious reasons, and certainly wasn't going to use it on Itachi, even if it had meant his death. "I was on the front lines in the Third Great Ninja War Danzo… where were you? Cowering, building your private army, justifying it as a necessary measure to protect the village, when you only wanted to boost your own agenda. Honestly, I'm surprised to see you out here fighting in whatever war this is. I'm guessing the Hokage, Minato or whoever else is in the position right now just isn't as forgiving of your snivelling nature as a close personal friend had been."

"I am not a coward!" Danzo shouted, casting hand seals.

"Danzo, stop!" Kakashi tried to order Danzo, but it was futile. Apparently, Danzo had simply been pushed too far.

(A/N: OST Himoji plays)

"Kakashi-san, what should we do?" Oboro asked Kakashi quietly, being in charge of the Surprise Attack Division with Kankuro having taken leave to see to Gaara's missing arm to replace it with a puppet arm. Even as he spoke, Danzo fired off a few Wind Style: Vaccum Bullets at Fugaku, and the undead Uchiha simply dodged, letting the jutsu tear apart a couple Shamblers.

"There are too many for us to defeat here and now in open combat," Kakashi said, already thinking hard. "We need to break away from the fighting somehow." He immediately thought of the kunai of Minato's he had kept on him for that kind of emergency, but his Sharingan could see a layer of chakra a fair distance away in all directions, and he deduced it was a Space/Time Barrier that prevented direct teleportation in and out. So unless they could get outside of that, calling for help like that was out. Figures they'd spring something like that if they bothered to set a trap to begin with.

Kiyoshi nodded grimly and took up a position near Daisuke, who drew his pair of katana blades, and Kiyoshi spotted an opening to shoot at an Automaton, his lightning enhanced crossbow managing to pierce the shielding and hitting a vital seal and making it drop as Daisuke used his katana to carve up a Shambler, using Fire Style to blast it backwards at first, and moved to get among a group of them. When one struck him, he used his favored abused jutsu: Substitution, with tags put on the log in question, blasting the Shamblers in question for serious damage.

Oboro meanwhile had singled out one of the Edo Tensei, aware that genjutsu was mostly pointless against the mindless cannon fodder, so picked a jonin Reanimated on the enemy side to keep at bay with his illusions. This Edo Tensei was a Kiri Jonin that had made a decent name for himself during the time of the First Great Ninja War, and had briefly been considered a potential candidate for the Seven Great Ninja Swordsmen, but simply had not been up for it.

That said, the shinobi was skilled enough to dispel the offending illusions and nearly got Oboro with his broad sword, but Oboro was quick witted, and managed to dodge, which was a good thing too, as this weapon was coated in poison as well, an acidic brand that a few flecks of flew free and got on Oboro's sleeve, burning it slightly and his arm before the potency ran out. One could only imagine what a deep slash would do with that amount of venom getting into the victim's bloodstream. Talk about overkill, jeez.

A couple of shinobi rushed to help Oboro, but one got cut down quite quickly, and the other would have too had the swordsman not noticed Kakashi blitzing him with a Lightning Blade in hand. He moved to block, using wind chakra in the blade to counter the lightning of Kakashi's attack. But he seriously underestimated the raw power of Kakashi's signature move, and despite having the elemental advantage, Kakashi's jutsu pierced straight through and impaled the walking corpse, giving Sai the chance to seal it in one of his ink scrolls. "Right element, wrong caliber," Kakashi stated simply as the Edo Tensei as the ink tiger dragged it into the scroll.

Back at the enemy's base, Caius simply scoffed and put a seven into the taken pile. A bit of a blow, but hardly a major loss.

Meanwhile, Danzo was on the defensive as Fugaku proved to be the superior fighter, not to mention, Danzo was clearly off balance. Everything that had been happening recently, with all of his efforts to bring the Leaf Village to the top of the world, it was all falling apart spectacularly. The only reason things had not turned out worse was because others had cleaned up several of his messes… was everyone who had been chewing him out right? Was he truly a coward?

Fugaku sent a fireball at Danzo, and Danzo ducked, beginning to undo the seal on his arm. However, Fugaku was done playing games, and focusing on his right eye for the Mangekyo, stated, "Hachiman." Danzo blinked as he saw multiple objects Fugaku had touched and clearly marked with a seal of some type move and launch at him.

"Telekinetic manipulation," Danzo correctly deduced even as he dodged. (A/N: Yes, this is the same power Shin had, I just gave it a name. Fugaku's left eye has a variant, same name like Kamui: it lets him mark an object with his mind if it's within his view, rather than a touch, which seems like a clearly superior version, however, unlike the touch variant, you can only mark 8 objects at a time this way, and each mark only lasts a minute before it needs to be applied, rather than needing to be removed in the case of the touch variant.)Fugaku then proceeded to call forth the skeleton of his Susanoo, which was as far as he had developed the technique due to his sparing use of Mangekyo in life, but it was still a force to be reckoned with as he leapt after Danzo, the burning yellow color easily seen, and smacked him with a lot of force, but he was luckily able to pull off a Substitution and escape the otherwise killing blow.

Before Fugaku could follow up with Danzo, several lightning covered kunai impacted his Susanoo, cracking the skeletal structure pretty extensively, one actually piercing, and grazing Fugaku's shoulder. He turned to see that Kakashi had thrown them. "Kakashi Hatake," Fugaku said. "…what happened to the Sharingan you gained?" he asked curiously.

Kakashi blinked, before realizing he was talking about the current coloring of the eye. "Your son, Sasuke, broke an ancient curse on the Uchiha bloodline. The Sharingan is no longer gripped by the relic of the past that is the Uchiha hatred… it only remains in the red form for those who refuse to let go of the past and stop pursuing hatred, looking to the future. Old grudges should be buried Fugaku."

"...it would be nice if the villagers had remembered that after the Nine Tails attack, but if they had, I would never have rebelled. My hatred was not about past events Kakashi. It was about the discrimination that was happening in the time I was alive. Tell me, is it still happening?"

"...there is still bad blood, but your sons and widow are striving to put that in the category of history, and things have improved significantly."

"...good… despite our differing philosophies, I am proud of them for changing the course of events the Uchiha was headed for… I hope it sticks this time," Fugaku said, before suddenly his body moved and the Susanoo attempted to crush Kakashi under its fist, which Kakashi prudently dodged in all haste, though he was grazed by a fireball, and his eyes widened as one of his weapon pouches unfortunately caught fire, and he very quickly unclipped it from his person, and tossed it at Fugaku before the flames could reach the exploding tags inside it.

Unfortunately, it stopped at that moment, suspended in midair. "What the!?" Kakashi demanded as the pouch flew back at him, striking him in the gut at high speeds, and the entire roll of tags went off due to the flames.

Meanwhile, the rest of the fight was going poorly, despite the best efforts of the group, Omoi for example was able to defeat a Chimera and several automatons, but not before the Chimera had squashed two people in his unit flat. After sealing up that Edo Tensei and creating several ink ogres to try and get some relief in his area, but a Shambler had clawed him deeply over the torso, and he was bleeding heavily. They were simply up against much too overwhelming numbers, and their own number had dropped to just over half the original amount, and there seemed to be no opening to escape the death trap.

Daisuke was panting heavily, having abused the Substitution several times now, and expended all of his tags, and still the enemies kept on coming, and to make matters worse, he had been stabbed by an Automaton before having been able to break away. He clutched his bleeding side, wheezing, even as Kiyoshi, covered in minor injuries himself, skidded to a halt next to him.

"Doesn't look like the odds of getting out of this are that high," Kiyoshi admitted as he fired the hidden crossbow bolt in his weapon to destroy another Automaton. He dug in his pouch and tossed Daisuke a food pill and several rolled up tags.

"Don't talk like that, we're going to get out of-" Daisuke started to say, before a shadow came over them, and he looked up in time to see a Chimera aiming to squash them flat, and no time to dodge. However, he was suddenly sent flying out of the range of the Chimera's paw, courtesy of Kiyoshi thinking fast, and shoving him with a quick shove and all his might, and getting smashed to the ground in the next instant, even as he pulled out his last few exploding tags.

Daisuke looked on, stunned. There was no way… this wasn't happening… but his eyes weren't lying. His Sharingan had captured every excruciating detail as it had happened, the moment the paw made contact with Kiyoshi's head, crushing him down and snapping his neck in that instant, before the thud of the paw hitting the ground, and a spray of blood. No warning, no final words from a dying comrade, just… gone like that…

Daisuke clenched his fists with enough force to make the nails draw blood from his palm as the tags Kiysohi had with him went off, doing a lot of damage to the Chimera's paw, but as the undead creature had no sense of pain, it simply adjusted the way it moved as it moved towards Daisuke. Kiyoshi had been his friend in the Academy, his teammate under Sasuke along with Akari. They had all made chunin together, and it had simply been ripped away, just like that…

His eyes began to morph as he finished processing this, the three tomoe of his Sharingan twisting into a new design, now looking like three kunai laid out to make a six point star, three of the points being the blades of the kunai, and the other three being the handles, alternating.

The Chimera lunged, and was suddenly stopped by a silver, skeletal arm of Susanoo. Daisuke slowly rose as the hand squeezed down on the head of the beast. "You're all… going to pay!" he shouted.

(A/N: End OST)

A/N: How's that for a fast update? Again, I love having a laptop! Actually published this close to midnight, would not have been able to do that relying on library computers! Now for Reviews!

Apoca17lypse:

So Nagato is officially back on the battlefield and with Itachi no less. I'm assuming that he will be at his previous mastery of the rinnegan eyes Naruto gave him as he was with Madara's, or maybe even better. Looking forward to the next chapter; especially the Nagato and Itachi duo in the upcoming fight

rasEnshur1KEn:

Indeed, Nagato was able to remaster the Rinnegan, and now we know he isn't going to become a Sage, at least not the conventional way he was initially planning.

mellra:

Oh boy, and I thought things couldn't escalate much more, but I'm glad you proved me wrong! Sounds like we're in the eye of the storm right now and next chapter brings us right back to the thick of it. Hopefully, our heroes won't forget about Obito being a legitimate threat, as they did that in the previous timeline to their peril. And I wonder what Ace Caius has up his sleeve? Can't wait to see the next chapter where we get to see an awesome team-up! Keep on being awesome!

rasEnshur1KEn:

I will gladly keep being awesome! And you will just have to wait and see!

SkywardStrike:

So, we reach the aftermath of Uzu. Despite the short chapter thus, we can cover a couple of the big names and how things are going for them following all that chaos. Interestingly, this chapter is divided between the heroes and the villains' reacting to the recent developments in their own ways, and I was surprised at how much more interesting the latter is.

Straight to the point then, we open with the heroes' side: Naruto and Sasuke resting after their loss to Raizen. Neither really seems very shocked about the arm, which is somewhat in character granted, but I feel like a wasted opportunity, all things given. I guess, in the end, it really isn't that big a deal given that they both will be swinging around prosthetics in no time. Its not like this part doesn''t have its moments. Naruto reacting to Sakura having taken down Richard was funny, and Sasuke and Sakura embracing is pretty sweet.

But like I said, the interesting part of this chapter is not the heroes, but the villains. First off there's Raizen, also still recovering from the battle, which he then finally admits how close he came to actually losing. You wrapped the loose end that is that one glades, and on hindsight that makes it seem even more so like sheer luck that he won. Honestly, even with what he says, he still seems to be underestimating them both slightly. He claims that if he'd fought them both at his living prime, he would've lost. I would go one step further and say that if this was him a few months ago he would've lost. The paths really did a lot of the job for him in that fight after all. If this was just Raizen with his pair of EMS, he'd be mincemeat. Or if Sasuke was fully healed from the start, for that matter. The defining factors on the fight are so minuscule that it really drives home the point that, for the first time pretty much ever, Raizen was cornered by someone, and nearly didn't escape with his life. Clearly, its worrying for their team's bigger plan, which is why he won't be taking the two on so soon.

Meanwhile, Madara is doing his own thing. He's gotten his own power-up, and the way he mentions 'two sets' makes it clear that he's had another two pair of eyes implanted onto himself somewhere. Likely two pair of Mangekyou with abilities he can use and abuse…question being, which? I thin Shin's ability would be an interesting one to play around with, but that's only one rather than a pair, so I'm in the dark as for what that is.

A bigger surprise though is that Obito not only knows that, but he doesn't care. Because, somehow, he surpassed Madara. Fair enough I guess, Naruto's not the only one who's been training for this decade and a half. Obito, clearly being the superior mastermind and fighter now, will probably overshadow Madara to compete with Raizen for the spot of final villain as things go forward. How he'll do that and in which ways he became stronger is beyond me, but its got me curious. Obviously, there's the Rinnegan to account for, but I imagine there is also a lot more to it. He was always one with a lot of potential, so I'm curious what he'll be doing now as things go forward.

Finally there's the fourth man and the possibly the biggest wild card, Caius, who alongside Derek, is going through his deck of Edo Tensei. I like how he's using a deck, by the way, that does make it a lot more easily to visualize things. It brings a couple questions, of course. After all, if all his Kings were the Shodaime Kages, what about the other one that Kabuto did resurrect? Are they just thrown about with the numbered cards? Because that seems somewhat unbefitting. Still, there aint such thing as a perfect system either way. That said, I am curious regarding some of the cards, like the four queens. One of which, maybe the Paladin, which I am fairly sure is Raizen and Alexis' daughter…

And speaking of which…Caius, you piece of shit. Without Elemental Infinity, she might not be as combat ready as in life, but she more than makes up for that for the sheer personal effect such an Edo Tensei could have on Raizen if called upon at just the right time. This is something I feel Caius will hold onto until the last possible moment, then use it to stab Raizen square in the back. Or not. But probably yes.

And on the topic of Aces, the other one he has is already in the battlefield wrecking shit in the form of Kokatsu. I really didn't expect another Edo Tensei like that to come into play this early, him in specific being something I predicted was being saved for a Gokage rumble against him. But maybe he will survive this and get pulled out of the battlefield, saved for some other time. Really doesn't seem that hard to believe given that last time it took Zion and Raizen to take him down, both of which were stronger than Naruto and Sasuke now, both of which are stronger to the ones who will be fighting him, Nagato and Itachi. Still, its bond to be a good rumble, regardless of who wins.

Anywho, bit of a short chapter, but I enjoyed its developments nonetheless. Since its still riding the hype wave created by last chapter very effectively, Imma give this one an 8/10

rasEnshur1KEn:

Indeed, Kokatsu will be a challenge to beat, but a Gokage rumble is already reserved elsewhere. I think the lesser Kage would be like 10s and 9s. Didn't really think of reviving Emiko, but I think that is a great idea, and will be put into consideration. And yeah… I ain't that good at being cryptic, am I? Then again, you're still off with your guesses on Madara, though still pretty close. Although I did in fact import Shin's abilities, as you saw in this chapter.

A-LionGleek:

Definitely worth the wait! And I'll admit, I am very pleased indeed that you have finally gotten yourself a laptop of your own. That definitely ought to make things somewhat easier and faster for you when it comes to this story (I would know). Sorry you had such a tough week though. But on the bright side, here's a new chapter for me to review. That being said, well it's certainly good that the powers Zurui stole have successfully returned to their rightful owners, that apparently Zurui's body doesn't NEED to be destroyed in order for him to be out of reach for the Edo Tensei (THANK FUCKING GOD!), and that Naruto and Sasuke will soon get Hashirama DNA-based replacements for their lost arms. And yep, Sakura definitely had some words to give to Sasuke over his little stunt. And on another note, hoowee it is nice that Raizen is fully admitting that he definitely had a close call (and nice way to fix up that little plot hole that Skystar had pointed out) and he and Caius and the rest of the villains definitely still have their work cut out for them if they want to continue allowing the heroes to find it challenging to defeat them (though I have a feeling I will soon regret saying this :/). I really can't help but wonder who all the Edo Tenseis left are (especially the 'secret Ace'). And of course I am definitely still also dreading the moment Raizen finally puts whoever his new chosen target for it is under the thrall of that ocular mind control feature he mentioned a while back. Also, I can't help but wonder, who exactly is the Edo Tensei currently being fought at the end of this chapter (or, if he's someone seen before in canon, can you remind me who it is?)? That in mind, duly noted on Toneri. If he makes it, awesome. If not, oh well, this story is still plenty awesome so far without him. I still would like to know (and I mean REALLY would like to know) if there will be any chance of a t-rex and a giant lion armed with an ultrasonic roar being added to the animal path summoning repertoire. Pretty please tell me?

rasEnshur1KEn:

I actually came up with another use for the eye in question, also, there already was an Animal Path T Rex, it's Zion's. As for the lion… we'll see. Might make an Animal Path for that…

narustar93:

I think the final ace is Alexis and if caius is the arrogant fool I've come to know. He will play that ace then Raizen will ask him release her or he will force Caius to release all the edo tensei he has in his deck. Then kill caius then fight Naruto and Sasuke then maybe die. Rasenshu1ken sama will you give Sasuke his Shrarinigan powers when you give naruto his six path sage mode? Good chapter and interesting take on how Sakura would react to Sasukes lapse in judgment.

rasEnshur1KEn:

Not sure what you mean about the powers question, but let me just say, there is more than one damn good reason Caius is keeping his ace up his sleeve. It's only coming out under very specific circumstances.

:

an you completely avoided my question about why you've apparently completely abandoned anything and everything to do with Drakmus and his gang since it's been quite a few chapters since you've even made mention of them. Also I don't think the Mokuton cells of Hashirama would do anything to Naruto unlike what happened to Danzo. Reason I think that is the fact that Naruto is actually related to Hashirama even if distantly and then there's the fact that he and Hashirama share some chakra characteristics due to both being the transmigrant of Asura so I believe the Mokuton would probably naturally bond with Naruto.

rasEnshur1KEn:

Don't exactly appreciate you calling attention to the fact that I am not bringing something like that up, when odds are good I have secret plans regarding them :P. Seriously, if I avoid a question, there is a good chance it's because I want some things to be as complete a surprise as possible. But no, I have not forgotten about Drakmus, and really, I just kind of missed the query regarding him, else I would have mentioned that that is something I would prefer to remain mum on. And no, I am not giving Naruto Wood Style. Gotta preserve some drama, don't I?

So everyone, hope you enjoyed the fast update, and maybe I will get another one out before the week is out! Fingers crossed!

Next Chapter: Full Circle: Danzo

And yes, that chapter title means exactly what you think it does :P.

Please Review, keep my happiness high going strong!