AN
"Blah" - Normal speech
'Blah' - Thoughts
"BLAH"- Jutsu

Naruto/Final Fantasy VII
Lost Son of Konoha

Chapter 36
Fourth Shinobi War Arc VI

The wings of his Susanoo armor outstretched Madara hovered high above the flames that engulfed the once prosperous village, its population long since meeting their end following the demise of their Priestess and their lands conquered soon after.

Several minutes passed and a small portion of the flames began to die down, revealing a sizable dome that was radiating golden energy that then unfurled itself to reveal Naruto standing there, not a single sign of any damage on him, the sight of this made Madara chuckle.

"So, your chakra cloak was able to withstand my Bakufū Ranbu." He said, a disturbing grin becoming visible through a gap in the Susanoo amor. "With each new ability you demonstrate it only makes the desire to claim this power as my own grow."

"Keep dreaming, you're crazy if you think I'll ever let you have it." Naruto retorted. "But if you want it so bad then why don't you come down here and try it."

"So defiant, just like that third rate excuse of a father of yours." Madara said, clearly amused as he created a chakra sword construct in each of his hands. "But that's fine, I don't mind. Be as defiant as you like, shout out and beat your chest. It'll just make my inevitable victory all the sweeter."

He then dived down from his position towards Naruto who at the same time conjured by four duplicates of himself, each of them also clad in their own chakra cloaks, lining up all five of them using the several of their chakra arms to create a spiralling orb of chakra that they changed the form of and shaping it into the form of a fūma shuriken shape that was spinning like a disk.

"FŪTON: RASENSHURIKEN RENDAN! Spiral Shuriken Barrage!" Each of them announced before launching them at Madara who was growing closer and closer towards them, the Uchiha patriarch momentarily vanishing before the spinning chakra disks could get close to him and carried on towards Naruto.

His first Naruto began manifesting Fūton chakra in the palms of both of his hands, his chakra arms shaping them into a pair of spinning chakra shuriken's. "FŪTON: RASENRENSHURIKEN! Wind Release: Repeated Spiral Shuriken!" With a Rasenshuriken in each hand Naruto then raised them above his, using them to block both of Madara's sword constructs.

The two chakra blades collided with one another, both locked in a futile attempt to overpower the other. Both men's eyes locked on the other, their eyes filled with the fierce determination to win reflected back at one another.

Just when it seemed that the two were locked in a stalemate two Naruto clones appeared, seemingly from nowhere, and jumped on the Uchiha patriarch's back and grabbing him by the arms, with all their might managed to pry Madara's arms back and away from Naruto.

Seeing an open Naruto lashed out with his foot and kicked Madara in the chest hard enough to launch him backwards a fair distance before tossing both of his Rasenshurikens at the man who was struggling against his two clones.

At the same time Madara's feet touched the ground where he skidded a short distance, all the while trying to free himself from the clones that were restraining him. Gritting his teeth Madara managed to free one of his arms, using the chakra sword in his now free hand to stab the Naruto clone that was still holding onto his other arm before quickly dispatching the other clone.

With the two clones dealt with Madara was alerted to the sound of something slicing through the air and looking round saw the two Rasenshuriken's that Naruto has tossed coming towards him. Not even flinching Madara raised both of this sword constructs and with a single swing knocked both chakra disks off course, sending them slamming into two of the abandoned and now burning buildings.

With nothing else to distract him Madara began scanning the area for any trace of Naruto, not wanting to let his prey escape him. "KYO HYŌ RASENGAN DABURU! Double Big Bang Spiral Sphere!" A voice from above was heard and looking up Madara saw the blond ninja hovering above him, a fair sized and rather unstable sphere of chakra in both of his hands.

His face set into a scowl Naruto hurled both of his unstable Rasengan's at Madara as he passed overhead, the two spinning spheres impacting with the ground which resulting in a large explosion, the release of light, heat and energy rocking the area whilst Naruto himself landed on ground just out of the blast range.

Raising his arms Naruto shielded his eyes as best he could as he was pelted by debris along with the force of the explosion, despite its destructive force he knew that even the Kyo Hyō was unlikely to damage Madara, as long as he had that Susanoo armor the Uchiha was seemingly unstoppable.

Soon the force from the explosion began to wane and the onslaught of dust and debris began to settle, standing the epicenter of the devastation stood Madara, his Susanoo armor looking to have been heavily damaged and the wings had been reduced to a pair of stumps.

Madara could feel his chakra reserves begin to wane, whilst impressive in its own right it would seem that Sasuke's chakra reserves were lacking compared to his own, reserves that had been already tapped into before he'd taken control of this body. At this rate the Susanoo was proving to be a drain he could no longer afford the upkeep for.

'Damn, it seems that believing that this body and its reserves would be a match for my own was an oversight on my part…' He chastised himself. 'I've foolishly forgotten what it's like to work within the limitations of a mortal body…'

Slowly the Susanoo that surrounded Madara began to dissipate, fading away like a mirage leaving the long haired man standing there among the flames and destruction. The cancelling of Susanoo leaving Naruto rather confused.

"W…what, why did you get rid of that chakra armor?" He asked.

"Consider yourself fortunate Uzumaki. It seems that Sasuke's reserves were lacking in comparison to my own." Madara replied in a firm tone. "A shortcoming that will be remedied once I've taken that power of yours as my own. However don't think for a moment that I am powerless without Susanoo, I can assure you even without it I am far from powerless."

That said he began flipping through hand several seals. "KATON: GŌKA MEKKYAKU!Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!" Taking a deep breath another gout of flames were unleashed from Madara's mouth growing larger and larger in size till it transformed into a literal sea of flames, which covers a wide range as well.

Seeing the burning wave coming towards him Naruto was once more running for his life in an attempt to avoid/outrun Madara's jutsu only once more be unable to escape them as they drew closer and closer.

With no other choice Naruto skidded to a halt and turned to face the mass of flames that were almost upon him. Tapping into power of the creature that was sealed within him and released a high pitched cry, the chakra infused sound colliding with the sea of fire and blasted it apart, creating a path that led back to Madara.

With the way now clear Naruto charged towards Madara, charging up a Fūton: Rasengan as he ran before jumping into the air and dived towards the man, his Rasengan held out before him. Seeing this Madara reacted by charging up a Chidori and thrust it forward, the two jutsu colliding with one another.

"Surprised that I'm able to use Sasuke-chan's techniques?" Madara sneered. "This is his body after all and since I am in control of it I have access to his memories and abilities along with my own. In case you're having trouble comprehending it Uzumaki, you are practically facing off against the combined power of myself and Sasuke."

"Oh yeah, well guess what you're not as smart as you like to think you are. Cos if you were so smart you'd probably realize that you've missed something." Naruto replied. "SAKURA, NOW!"

Madara a sound from beneath him as heard and looking down Madara was in time to see the upper body of Sakura Haruno emerged from the ground, the pink haired konouchi grabbed a hold of one of Madara's ankle whilst her other hand radiated with the blueish/white aura of the Chakura no Mesu that she used the chakra blade to slice at the man's ankle tendons and severed them, the act causing a wave of pain to run through the Uchiha's body.

Madara a sound from beneath him as heard and looking down Madara was in time to see the upper body of Sakura Haruno emerged from the ground, the pink haired konouchi grabbed a hold of one of Madara's ankle whilst her other hand radiated with the blueish/white aura of the Chakura no Mesu that she used the chakra blade to sever the man's ankle muscles, the act causing a wave of pain to run through the Uchiha's body.

This proved to be just the opening Naruto needed, pulling his Rasengan back before thrusting it forward again, catching Madara in the chest, Sakura releasing her grip on Madara and allowing him to be launched backwards where he was sent crashing into one of the burning buildings.

"Naruto, are you alright?" Sakura asked as she fully emerged from the ground.

"Yeah, don't worry about me." Naruto replied, panting slightly. "Madara definitely lives up to his reputation, he might be one of the most powerful guys I've ever gone up against."

"I can't believe he feel for such a Genin level trick." Sakura said. "I'm beginning to wonder if unbridled arrogance is just natural trait of the Uchiha."

Naruto couldn't help but laugh at this. "Come on, let's go finish this." He told her before heading in the direction that Madara had been sent flying, Sakura following after him.

Inside the ruined building Madara was lying in a pile of rubble, surrounded by smoke and flames. Gritting his teeth he tried to push himself back up only to discover that he couldn't move his left foot thanks to Sakura.

Taking a deep breath he utilized the power granted to him by his Kekkei Genkai and conjured up a partial Susanoo, the swirling mass of chakra taking the form of a skeletal hand that wrapped its bony fingers around his ankle.

Even if it was a drain on his (Sasuke's) resources he'd have to risk it.

Feeling the tight grip on his ankle Madara was about to get back to his feet when the sound of footsteps was heard and looking up was greeted by the sight of both Naruto and Sakura come into via the opening he'd made when he'd crashed through it.

To their surprise rather than saying then rant at them Madara instead simply chose to glare menacingly in response as he got back up, doing his best to ignore the pain originating from his left ankle.

"What, no snarky remarks about how much I suck. Given you seem to love mocking me every chance you get I'm a little surprised that your now giving me the silent treatment." Naruto said before shrugging. "Oh well, if you're not gonna talk then let's just do this."

Just as Naruto was about to reengage the long haired man he felt a hand on his shoulder, effectively restraining him. Looking over he found Sakura looking back at him, a serious look on her face.

"Hold on a second, before we finish him off we should at least take a moment to ask him a few questions because to this there's something I want to understand." Sakura said, she then shifted her gaze over to Madara. "I want to know why, why are you doing any of this?"

"Why? You question why?" Madara replied coldly. "Ignorant child, I realize the standards for shinobi as well as criteria for running the Hidden Villages has waned since my time but never did I imagine that it was no longer a priority for all ninja to learn their own history."

"Enlighten me then." Sakura retorted sharply. "Help me understand why you have gone to such lengths."

"Alright then, allow me to indulge you by sharing with you the history of the Uchiha and our conflict with the Senju. For centuries our two clans had been locked in a bloody conflict, one that was paid with the blood of both sides. And then one day when I was young I met him, a boy my own age that I would eventually learn was Hashirama Senju. Despite everything the two of us developed a bond, even facing each other on the battle field did nothing to weaken it. And through that bond a dream was forged, a dream of ever lasting peace between our clans."

"Is this story going anywhere?" Naruto cut Madara off, sounding very bored.

"Childish whelp, you ignorance and lack of manners only prove my point about the standards for modern ninja." Madara snapped before taking a moment to compose himself. He then continued. "In time Hashirama and I became the leaders of our respective clans and eventually we were able to take the steps to make our dream a reality, together we founded the village that you know as Konohagakure no Sato, a place where our two clans could forge a new future that was devoid of bloodshed and mistrust. A future that never came to pass. Instead of being seen as equals the Uchiha clan was slighted. For a time it appeared that despite all we did for its people they looked at us with fear and mistrust. Like we were monsters. The final betrayal came when Hashirama was appointed as Hokage despite him promising that he would make sure that I would be the one to hold that position. From there it became clear to me the mistake I had made trusting Hashirama and the Senju, that true peace between us is nothing but a fantasy."

"With this realization I tried to convince my clan to abandon Konoha, that it was nothing but a failed experiment, and one that we were better off leaving to die off. But instead of heeding me they refused, choosing the failed village over their own self-interest leaving me no other choice but to abandon them to their fate and they overtime succumbed more and more to Senju's creeping infection, it was more than I could stand. So I did the merciful thing and put them out of their misery."

"Hold on a second, are you talking about the Uchiha massacre?" Sakura asked. "Your lying, everyone knows that Itachi was the one who was responsible for that."

Hearing this made Madara chuckle. "Is that what you think, it seems that your unaware of the whole story. It is true that Iatchi carried out the deed, what was not reported is that he did not act alone." He replied. "I just so happen to come across the poor boy just prior to the massacre, so conflicted over whether or not to carry out the act. Believing that I might have finally found someone worthy to carry one the Uchiha name I offered to help him out."

"What!" Naruto exclaimed. "You're telling me that you were there that night, you killed your our family?"

"Correct and there you have it, now you understand. Understand the indignity that my clan suffered due to the Senju, the other members of villager, and even from within." Madara said. "Indignity and injustices that must be answered for and the world will be all the better for it after I have brought it to heel."

Naruto and Sakura stared back at Madara, both of them looking on in stunned silence as they assimilate then information that had been shared with them.

"That…that might be the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Naruto said, from the sound of his voice it seemed that it was taking everything he had not to face palm. "You're telling me that your whole reason for doing this is because you're a sore loser."

"You dare mock me!" Madara snapped. "I share with you the history of my clan and you trivialities it in such a childish manner."

"No, I have to agree with Naruto, your story is quite ridiculous." Sakura spoke up. "Instead of trying to dissuade people of their fears they had towards the Uchiha by doing good in the world all you did was justify them. That new future that you and Hashirama dreamed of could never be achieved with the leader of one side is being a bratty child."

"I know right, when you get down to it your whole reason for doing this is because when it came time to appoint the First Hokage the people of the village were given a choice and decided that they liked the other guy better." Naruto added. "As misguided as he was even Sasuke had better motivation for the direction his life took, a direction that your actions are in part responsible for. For a so-called genius you really are an idiot."

"I should have known I was wasting my time on you." Madara said coldly. "No more talk, I will take your power as my own Jinchuriki. With the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan combined with the power of Kyuubi no Kitsune I will fulfill the dream Hashirama and I had. I will bring peace to this word under my rule."

"Bring it on you crazy bastard." Naruto retorted. "Your insanity ends right here right now."

"KATON: GŌKAKYŪ NO JUTSU!Great Fireball Technique!" A stream of flames escaped Madara's lips causing them to jump backwards and out of the way of the flames, giving Madara the opening he needed to escape the burning building and back outside into the streets.

In the open air once more Madara turned to face the two Konoha ninja, launching another Gōkakyū no Jutsu at the two Konoha ninja, both of them managing to avoid it before Naruto rushed towards him.

Watching as her teammate charged Sakura stayed behind him at a small distance as she channeled chakra into her leg before raising it up and brought it back down, her foot impacting with the ground causing it to shake and crack open.

At the same time Naruto used Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique) to create dozens of clones, each of them conjuring up a large. "ŌDAMA RASEN TAIRENGAN! Big Ball Spiralling Serial Zone Spheres!"

Just as was about to react to the hoard coming towards him Madara felt a small stabbing pain that seemed to originate from his left eye, it only lasted a few seconds but it was enough to momentarily give him pause.

Shaking it off with a flick of his wrists two shurikens appeared in both of his hands that he threw at the multiple Naruto's before flipping through hand seals. "TAJŪ SHURIKEN KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!Multiple Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!

In several small puffs of smoke dozens of shurikens appeared as they flew at the Naruto's, several of them finding their targets and making them vanish in a puff of smoke. Yet that did not halt the wall of blond ninja as they continued to charge ahead forcing Madara to bob and weave in an effort to avoid being hit by their large spheres of spinning chakra.

One by one he was able to avoid each of the Naruto's as they came at him, either sidestepping them or dispatching them before they could reach him. That was until ground suddenly shook, momentarily off guard as well as off balance, giving several of the remaining Naruto's the chance they needed.

Three of the Naruto landed their Rasengan on Madara, use them to knock him into the air where he was met by dozen's more clones appeared waiting for him. Before he could respond to this Madara once again felt that stabbing pain once again, delayed response giving the blond clones their opening.

"UZUMAKI NARUTO NISEN RENDAN! Naruto Uzumaki Two Thousand Combo!" The Naruto's engaged Madara, raining blow on his before all but two of them disappeared, the remaining duo both delivering one final punch that sent the Uchiha back down to earth where he collided with the ground.

His teeth gritted and his face full anger Madara tried to pick himself up from the small cater that had been creator when he'd hit the ground. "This…this is unacceptable." He snarled as both Naruto and Sakura approached. "I am Madara Uchiha, the strongest ninja is this whole damn world and I will not be shown up by two children."

"You're so full of shit, you go on and on about how the village was unjust and unfair towards your clan but the truth is that you don't care about them and never did." Sakura retorted, her voice and features twisted in anger. "You killed them because unlike you they wanted to make the alliance with the Senju work, even if they eventually ending up paying your sins, and took Sasuke's body as your own because you're a selfish old man who uses everyone around him for his own gain."

"Couldn't have said it better myself Sakura. Every misfortune that the Uchiha suffered was because of you." Naruto added. "Maybe if they'd had a better leader maybe the then the coup that Sasuke's dad tried to stage probably wouldn't have happen and Itachi wouldn't have had to sacrifice himself to maintain peace in the village if it weren't for you. Itachi may have been misguided but despite everything he still cared about his brother, putting his faith in him to make a new future for the Uchiha clan. But that was never going to happen, all because of you."

Madara glared at the pair as he sprung back up to his feet, his eyes burning with anger. "You…you dare to judge me. No one judges me." He snapped. "I am Madara Uchiha, compared to you I am a…"

His words were cut off when once more Madara felt the stabbing pain coming from his left eye, this time greater then it had been previously, causing him to grip his face in both hands. "N…no…this body is mine," He cried out, "I…won't give it up…" He then let out a howl, as if his body were set ablaze, his cries and trashing about causing both Naruto and Sakura to halt in their tracks, confused and shocked by this.

"N…Naruto…" Sakura managed to say, shocked by what she was seeing.

"Don't ask me." Naruto replied, "I have no idea what's going on.

Just as quickly as it began Madara's cried suddenly died away and his sporadic movements ceased, turning to face the two Konoha nin's, both of whom were still both very confused as well as wary of the long haired man.

One of Madara's hands fell away to reveal his left eye, the crimson orb framed by the circular scar left there by Naruto when he'd stuck Sasuke in the face with a Rasengan all those years ago, revealing that the Sharingan had changed in appearance. A design of which was familiar to both Naruto and Sakura who looked on in shock.

"N…Naruto, what are you doing?" A voice said sternly, his voice that was certainly not Madara's. "Finish this aready…"

The sound of this made both Naruto and Sakura flinch. "S…Sasuke…" Sakura exclaimed.

"Teme?" Naruto added, his tone matching Sakura. "Is…is that really you?"

"Of course it's me you idiot." Sasuke retorted. "I've managed to regain enough control of my body to restrain Madara but you need to hurry up. I can't keep this up forever and I can feel him struggling regain control. So what are you waiting for, kill him."

"But if we do that…that will kill you as well." Sakura replied.

"I know. This is what I want, to be free of the curse that Madara placed upon my clan." Sasuke told her. "So do it, do it before he takes over again and you miss your chance."

He then shifted his gaze to Naruto, seeing the grim expression on his former friend and teammate's face. "Don't worry," He said. "I'll drag Madara into Hell with me."

Naruto took a deep breath. "Alight then." He said, his tone serious. He then began channeling his chakra into the palm of his hand, once more a familiar spinning orb taking form that began to grow in size.

It was then Naruto felt a weight on his hand and looking down saw that Sakura hand placed her hand on his, shifting his gaze his eyes met hers and the two of the stared at one another, their eyes telling the other all they needed to be said. The spinning sphere made from both their chakra's then began change in shape, taking on the form of a large spinning four pointed disk.

"DAINANAHAN RASENSHURIKEN! Team Seven Spiral Shuriken!" They both cried out as they began to dash forward, thrusting the large spinning chakra disk forward that cut through Sasuke's chest, slicing him in diagonally from his right shoulder to his waist. The two body parts falling away as before both hit the ground.

Even before the pieces of the body hit the ground Naruto was running with Sakura close behind. Drawing close they could see that Sasuke's features had returned to being his own.

"Sasuke…" Naruto cried out as he came to a screeching halt, getting down on to his knees so the dark haired man could see him better.

Sasuke coughed, a spurt of blood escaping his mouth with each one. "Dobe…" He managed to say, more blood escaping from his mouth. "Its…it's done…"

"Yeah, it is." Naruto replied. "It's over."

Sasuke then shifted his eyes over to Sakura. "You're not going to start crying are you?" He asked her. "I…I remember that you used to do that a lot."

"B…baka, who do you think I am." Sakura replied, her voice cracking up a little. "I…I'm not that weak…"

Despite himself Sasuke chuckled. "You two are hopeless." He said, "Listen up, you two better look out for each other. Kami knows you wouldn't survive if the other one wasn't there to watch your back."

Hearing this made both Naruto and Sakura laugh. "Don't worry, I won't let him die so easily." Sakura assured the dying man. "I'll reach into his chest and restart his heart by hand if I have to."

"That dose sound like something that you'd do." Naruto added.

The tension broken Sasuke then leaned his head back onto the ground and let out a sigh. "Hey, do you…do you think they're waiting more me?" He asked. "Itachi and the others?"

Naruto let out a humorless chuckle. "Yeah, I know they are." He replied. "I bet all of them can't wait to see you again."

Hearing this Sasuke also let out a small laugh, one tinged with pain. A silence then fell over the three of them, anything they had left to say seeming to die before they could bring themselves to say it.

Before long the last flickers of life faded from Sasuke's eyes as they rolled into her back of his head and the sound of his last breath escaped his body.

Sasuke, the last of the Uchiha, was now dead.

Letting out a sigh Naruto reached forward and closed Sasuke's eyes before falling into a sitting position, the golden aura fading from his body.

He'd known since the last time they'd met during the Konoha Invasion that if he and Sasuke ever met again that only one of them would walk away, there was just too much bad blood that had built up between them to have any other outcome.

Then why? Why did he feel so empty? He felt…nothing, this was a victory that he felt no pride in. Not since the death of Sarutobi-Jii had winning ever felt so hollow.

No sooner had the Yokai cloak vanished he was suddenly overcome with a feeling of fatigue, the fight first with Sasuke and then Madara having taken more out of him then would have believed.

"Naruto…" The sound of Sakura's voice was heard, concern in her tone.

"I…I'm alright," He assured his pink haired teammate, noticing that the demon chakra that he'd shared with her also vanishing. "Just…just a little winded. Guess that fight took a little more out of me then I thought."

The pair sat there in silence, both of left with nothing but a bitter sense of loss and emptiness. "Naruto," Sakura spoke up. "We won, right?"

"Yeah." He replied, his voice sounding defeated. "Yeah, we won."

Death… it wasn't what he thought it would be. He'd expected darkness but instead a brightness had filled him vision, the sights, sounds and smells of the ruined battlefield had faded away, consumed by the white and taking with it all feelings of pain and fatigue along with them

Sasuke lay there, staring up at the brightness for who knows how long, hours? Seconds? Whatever this place was it seemed like time in it was hard to judge, if it even existed here at all.

Sitting up he took stock of his surroundings, finding himself in a field of flowers within this white void, one that stretched on and on no matter what direction he looked this field just seemed to stretched on forever.

Just then a noise, the sound of a tune being hummed, was heard coming from behind him Sasuke got to his feet and spun round and was met by the sight of a woman with long brown hair a short distance away from him, clad in a white sun dress with pink trim. The woman was knelt on the ground picking the flowers and placing them into a basket that sat at her side.

She looked up and he was met by a pair of warm green eyes, a warm smile spreading across her lips as she got to her feet.

Then from out of nowhere dozens of what looked to be green whips appeared, swirling around as they moved towards Sasuke and coming to a stop before him, as they swirled around what looked to be the outline of a humanoid form took shape quickly followed by features following afterwards.

For a moment Sasuke was stunned, the appearance of the person that now stood before him making his breath catching in his throat. "I…I…"

Hearing this the man let out a chuckle as he reached out and tapped Sasuke on the forehead, a small smile then appearing on his lips. "Welcome home, little brother…"

AN And with that another chapter is fini and we are one step closer to the end of this tale. Not gonna lie this chapter as a whole (this and the previous chapter are pretty much 1 chapter that got split into 2 cos it was running super long, the whole this ended up being 13,238 words long) was a real challenge to write.

I'm sure you all have questions so I'll do my best to address them.

First lets deal with Naruto VS Sasuke and Naruto and Sakura VS Madara.

For many Naruto VS Sasuke is the fight that everyone has a lot of expectations for, even Kishi knew this even if the way he totally nerfed Naruto just so he wouldn't be stronger then Sasuke, so trying to come up with something that lets then utilize everything, or at least most of, they've learned and power they've accumulated over the run of the story. I did my best, not sure if its my best work but its got to be better then the canon final fight between the two of them.

Which brings us the scene that Naruto and Sakura to share with Sasuke as he's dying, that was also rather challenging to write although for different reasons, mostly stemming from being one of those things you know what you want it to be but aren't sure of the best way to write it down. It might seem like it comes from out of left field given my feelings towards Sasuke as a character, don't get the wrong idea in no way is he redeemed nor do Naruto and Sakura forgive him for what he's done, but it seemed appropriate given their history together and even though they'd drifted apart.

Second Madara, yeah he's dead for real now and good riddance to him.

You can probably tell that I have a really strong dislike for Madara as a character, as much as I hated Sasuke, Madara just ended up being way worse. Not helped by Kishimoto hyping him up, also fan girled over by him with his whole 'OMG Madara is sooo kewl, he should have been Hokage instead Hashirama cos he's super lame', only for him to appear in person and he's nothing more then a 'mwhaha mustache twirler' who's stupid OP. FYI being stupidly over powered doesn't make you an interesting character, case in point Evolt from Kamen Rider Build (which was a terrible show BTW) who's probably the most powerful villain in the entire Kamen Rider franchise but as a character is sooo unbelievably boring.

And we all know what happened, Kishi wrote himself into a corner cos Madara was so OP that there was no way for the hero's to win so he hand wave his main villain away and pull Kaguya, the god of chakra who's somehow still weaker then Madara, out of his ass.

On a side note I came across a post on Reddit titled 'Unpopular opinion: Madara damaged the series before and much more than Kaguya not only plot wise but power and theme-wise' by u/DraftDraw from the r/CharacterRant page which breaks down a lot of the problems that Madara that sums up a lot of my problems with him, heck it even offers a better solution to how he and Kaguya could have been portrayed: Madara as historical figure that died but lives on though his ideas and philosophies that someone has adopted, similar to how Ras al Ghul was presented in Batman Begins.

As for Kaguya, she and long with the Rikudō Sennin and their sons are left as figures of legend, part of a story that no ones entirely sure it they actually existed or not.

Also I want draw attention to one of the replies that breaks down his master plan and reading it you just realize how much of a moron Madara truly is. Basically it goes...

'Be Madara - Meet Senju - He's cools and fills anger in heart - Senju brother is a major asshat and gets brother elected as leader - read stone tablet - Realize humans are shit and mind control is only solution - Get First Hokage Cells by engaging in giant fight and biting his arm - Fake death with shadow clone and magic eye powers - Hide in hole for dozens of years - Unlock Rinnegan - Save Obito - Give Rin three tails so Kakashi kills her - Have Obito witness death and join master plan - Give rando-Uzumaki kid Rinnegan - Die - Have Obito create Akaksuki and follow master plan - Get all Tailed Beasts - Have Obito use Rando-Uzumaki to resurrect - Become 10-Tails holder - Mind control everyone - Eternal happiness - Jk - Be Black Zetsu - Coax Indra and Ashura to fight - Repeat for centuries failing every time until Madara - Manipulate Madara by changing stone tablet - See previous plan - Betray Madara when he was fulling master plan - Summon Kaguya - Form White Zetsu army - Beat Momoshiki - World now belong to the Rabbit Mom'

So yeah for this story my version of Madara I just had him go crazy rather then a whiny little bitch who's still salty over the people of Konoha picking Hashirama to be Shodai Hokage because they liked him better. IMO it makes far more sense, or at least to me it does, because honestly if you think that trapping the entire population of the planet inside an unending dream world and you being the sole occupant of an empty world seems like a good idea to you then your probably insane.

Anywho I'm done for now. With all the major players, the Akatsuki, Sasuke, Madara and Orochimaru dealt with only Genesis remains. Next chapter will be Cloud VS Genesis, will begin and hopefully it will be a lot more straight forward to write then this one was as well as won't end up being stupid long, although I really shouldn't be making any promises given how this one turned out.

Remember to take care of yourselves and stay safe cos the world is crazy right now, feel free to leave feedback because I'm genuinely curious what you all thought of this one and I'll hopefully see you all in September.

Till next time, peach out y'all.