Author's Note:
The winds inside Suna blow more violently, carrying the sand in a strong storm that almost completely blocks the sun. The entire village is like a ghost town, everybody taking refuge inside in order to escape the storm.
Matsuri makes her way inside Gaara's office with a tray holding two hot cups of tea. Naruto and Gaara sit across from each other holding cards in their hands as Matsuri comes and places the tea before them. Both the Kage place down a single card with a blank cover and they surge a small portion of their chakra into the cards, revealing two images. The card on Naruto's side reads “Kage” while Gaara's reads “Daimyou”.
“My win,” Gaara says.
“What the hell are you talking about?!” Naruto complains, “There's no way a Kage would lose to a Daimyou.”
“The Kage answers to the Daimyou. Power is measured in more than just skill in combat.” Gaara says calmly.
“Ahh whatever, this game is stupid anyway.” Naruto looks past Gaara and out into the desert storm that plagues Suna. “It's been a while since we've seen each other,” Naruto comments.
“We saw each other during the chuunin exams a few months ago.” Gaara points out.
“I meant like this, a simple visit between friends. We used to do this more often.” Naruto takes his cup of tea and sips it.
“Things have gotten more chaotic within the Ninja World, we have more responsibilities to deal with now.” Gaara returns.
Naruto sighs and puts his elbow on the table and leans his face against his hand, “Yeah I know.” Silence instills for a moment and Naruto's expression goes south as he continues to watch the violent storm in Suna, “Things certainly have gotten hellish.”
Gaara notices the shift in his friend's expression and knows the tides of conversation have began to turn, “How's Shikamaru holding up?” Gaara asks.
“He's doing well, aside from the side affect of his fight.” Naruto says, “Temari and Tenzen are starting to deal with it a little better, Shikamaru on the other hand...” Naruto goes silent before finishing his sentence.
Gaara understands the meaning of Naruto's silence. Gaara turns around to look at the sand storm behind him as well, “Young Temari is taking it pretty hard to.” Gaara responds, “To lose one's identity as a shinobi is a difficult thing to bare. For Temari, who idolizes her father, it must be rather nerve racking. I'm surprised Tenzen is taking it well.”
“He's too young to completely comprehend it. He's smart as hell, even smarter than me but there's somethings that you just can't use your brain to understand.” Naruto says.
“You would know this personally don't you Naruto?” Gaara mocks, giving a snide smile to his friend.
“Ahh whatever!”
The two shinobi remain silent for a while watching the storm, the tension in the room intensifying with the issues the Ninja World faces. The secrecy of Iwagakure, the experiments in Kirigakure, the spies that lay within Sunagakure, and the epidemic of Kabuto. The issues of the world flood together in a storm just like the one that torments Suna now.
“This is quite a storm...” Naruto says.
“AHHHHHH!” The cry of a forsaken soul echos through a dark hallway as a hooded figure, shrouded in the darkness walks towards a dim light at the end of the hall. Just before the ominous being enters the room the sound of a blade cutting through flesh is heard.
“Shinji-kun...” Kabuto says, bringing his head up from the shadow of his hood, “You keep killing our test subjects.”
“Forgive me Kabuto-sama, he couldn't stand the pain anymore so he tried to kill himself and take away our data. I just prevented the latter from happening.” Shinji says with a smirk.
“I guess it's inevitable with such insufficient matches.” Kabuto says.
“What about that one shinobi from Konoha, that canine specialist from the 11?” Shinji suggests, “He seems pretty capable for the job.”
“No, no, I have other plans for Kiba.” Kabuto says, “We may just have to have Mika act as the catalyst herself. We'll just have to keep her sedated when we're not using her is all.”
“I'll try a little while longer. We won't need her until later anyways.” Shinji says.
“Very well,” Kabuto says. Kabuto begins to walk out of the room as silence ensues, “I won't fail again.” Kabuto's voice drops as well as his cynical expression. His face now bares scorn.
The sky over the land cries with heavy rain over the chaos on the battle fields. The heavy rain, mixes with the blood on the ground from the countless corpses that spread across the war torn continent.
“Don't worry, I'll get you some help,” a shinobi says holding a wounded and barley conscious comrade on his back. The shinobi dons the flak jacket of Kiri and his 'Shinobi' headband around his neck.
“Hurry into the trenches, we need to keep out of their way!” Another shinobi yells towards the others.
The Kiri shinobi heads towards the deepened trench with his comrade on his back. As he runs, the earth begins to rattle following a roar of a large crash on the earth. The fatigued shinobi stumbles to his knees from the unexpected quake and looks behind. He gazes at the large humanoid manifested chakra of Madara's Susanoo picking itself off the ground and the five Kage standing before Madara *Incredible...*
“Hey!!” The captain yells once more. The Kiri shinobi notices he and his comrade as the only ones left in the field and he quickly gathers himself and heads towards the trench. He gets with the others underground and hands the wounded shinobi over to a medic. “What are your elements boy?” The captain addresses the young shinobi.
“Suiton and Doton.”
“Alright, go help squad two secure us.” The captain instructs.
“Right!” The young shinobi heads over to the location of the second squad on the orders given, *I never imagined...that there existed this type of power.*
“Mokuton: Kajukai Korin (Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowing Trees)” The ground beneath the Five Kage quickly shatters making room for the roots and trees of Madara's wood technique. The large dense wooden roots completely alter the field and large floral buds begin to appear on the wood. The wood technique extends even past the immediate field where the Five Kage reside and into the backwaters to the shinobi taking refuge from the battle. As the dust and debris from the rising wood decreases, a large amount of sand is seen blocking the wood back towards the army of shinobi and over the five Kage. “You only prolong your deaths with these feeble attempts.” Madara says standing over his creation, looking down at the five strongest shinobi of the shinobi world.
A leaps up through Gaara's sand and through a section of the wood created and stands before Madara, his Raiton armor in its second stage. Tsunade and the others quickly follow suit and stand alongside the Raikage. The fatigue that plagues their faces only gives off the aura of shinobi who've been broken in every way except will. “We won't die here, not before sending you back to hell!” Tsunade begins leaping across the pillars of wood that stand between her and Madara, ascending to his position. She jumps off one branch straight towards Madara at high speeds.
“Foolish girl.” Madara's Susanoo raises his left arm and proceeds to swing it towards Tsunade. The arm only reaches half way before it's blocked by a large mass of sand. The sand condenses and quickly wraps around the arm and heads to wrap around the torso and upper part of it's body. “hmm?” Madara notices Gaara focusing his sand around his technique. Madara makes the half tiger seal and the free hand of his Susanoo waves its free hand above it's head creating several individual Yasaka Magatama. The large humanoid manifestation launches them towards Tsunade and the area's past her. Gaara goes to make another shield of sand in front of Tsunade however he notices the rest of the projectiles heading towards the other shinobi behind him and the rest of the Kage.
“Damn,” Gaara claps his hands and several large bursts of sand in the shape of shuriken shoot out from the already existing sand shielding the army. Each of them strike and deflect Madara's projectiles and protects the rest of the joint army.
As he does this, Mei inhales and she quickly releases three large globes of lava towards Tsunade and the projectiles. “Hokage-sama!” Mei yells in a warning. Tsunade quickly changes her glance behind her and she lands on a nearby limb and leaps down into the crevices beneath her as the globes head towards the projectiles. Mei makes one seal and the properties of her technique change quickly. The lava solidifies and becomes a rubber substance and the moment they make contact with Madara's techniques, it causes them to ricochet back towards him. The right hand of Susanoo makes several other magatama however they're all linked together like a chain. Susanoo whips the chain back at his projectiles, sending them flying away from him.
A short moment after, Madara's eyes shift to his left as he sees Tsunade at point blank range from him, charging up her fist, “What now you smug bastard?!” Tsunade launches her fist but it stops a mere inch from Madara's nose.
“How about that?” Madara says cynically. A large root extends into Tsunade's stomach all the way through, “I can freely control and manipulate any part of this forest and much faster than you can react girl.” A sudden kick sends Madara flying back just as he finishes his sentence. The impaled Sannin poofs away revealing a shadow clone and the real Tsunade stands on the pillar where Madara stood.
Madara and his humanoid defense go crashing through several of the trees and wooden branches of the forest before he loses the momentum of the kick delivered to him and he hits one of the trees. His right arm and the right arm and the right side of his torso is completely shattered and immediately begins to restructure. “hmmm.” A shadow appears above Madara as he begins to regenerate and he looks up to see A with his hands cupped and he violently slams his fists down on the resurrected shinobi. Madara is sent flying downwards through more large wooden roots until he makes impact with a ground of lava muck. Across the field, Mei's hands are placed on the ground and she successfully manages to create a lava coat across a layer of the forest. She claps her hands and makes the snake seal and the lava that Madara now resides in shoots up individual tentacles and wraps around him and quickly harden and restrict him. Madara looks up and notices parts of Susanoo suddenly becoming petrified as the small Tsuchikage stands on its shoulder using his Doton chakra to his aid. As well, Gaara's sand begins to quickly come forward and restricts Susanoo.
“It's over!” Oonoki says. Gaara's sand begins to come and shoot towards Madara with the sealing tag placed on it.
The wood surrounding Madara begins to branch outwards towards the sand and blocks its path towards Madara. Several of the branches extend towards Madara's hardened lava trap and shatters his retrains freeing him. Madara rises and climbs to the top of the pillars just created and looks at his ultimate defense as it is completely restricted, “Your level of arrogance is befitting of children.” Madara comments. Just then the large buds at the top of the forest begin to blossom and three large flowers appear on the wooden structures.
Tsunade and A both appear before Madara on the pillar in a mere second. Tsunade and A coordinate their attacks well, letting loose a barrage of punches and kicks towards Madara. As fast as they are however, Madara keeps up with every one of their movements with his Sharingan, making sure to avoid everyone of their attacks. A launches a lightning fast punch which Madara manages to escape and he places his hand on a branch of wood. The wood branch transforms in an instant to a katana and Madara grasps it and swings it towards A, infusing his Katon chakra into the blade. The blade glows red and the heated metal goes to slice through A's torso. In mid swing, Madara's wrist is kicked by Tsunade, his hand shoots up and he is quickly disarmed. Madara jumps backwards to get him some distance, however Tsunade jumps right with him and she goes to launch another round house kick from his left side. Madara ducks quickly and then kicks off, shooting backwards again as A appears in flash to rush him just as he ducks. Just as Madara gains a stable footing, A appears in front of him and launches his fist. Madara puts up his left shoulder and arm to absorb the impact, which he does. The force of A's punch causes Madara to slide back slightly but the legendary shinobi displays surprising physical strength to endure the blow without taking much damage. Tsunade comes from the right side and launches a side kick and Madara leaps up, creating a large platform like pillar of wood for him to land on.
A jumps upward, shattering through a section of the wooden pillar and goes to launch another punch. Displaying great reflex, Madara swings his arm down, using A's own momentum to draw him downwards and into his knee. Madara smashes a powerful knee into A's face which sends him flying back, “Speed isn't always an advantage you know.” Madara says. Tsunade appears again from the right side to launch a side kick but Madara causes a thick pillar of wood to rise between them. Tsunade bursts through the pillar and continues on and kicks Madara, who has his guard up. However he takes the blow without budging any and quickly grabs Tsunade's leg. “You lose power,” Madara holds onto Tsunade's leg as he whips her into the ground to the left, “As more obstructs your path.” He whips her again in front of him and it causes a small crater in the platform. He then twirls around and whips her out in front of him right into A, who catches her. “I've fought your types before, shallow fighters who focus on the crutches of speed and power but no real skill. It takes little to figure out how to exploit your weaknesses.” Madara says. Madara puts his hands together to form the tiger seal and inhales deeply “Katon: Goka Messhitsu (Fire Release: Great Fire Destruction).” Madara then exhales an incredibly large stream of flames outwards towards the Kage.
Mei comes in front of Tsunade and A, “Suiton: Suijinchu (Water Release: Water Encampment Pillar)!” Mei exhales an extremely large pillar of water from her mouth which collides with Madara's flames. The resulting collision of the two techniques is a large steam that rolls through the entire filed. “Kazekage-sama I need a barrier around us!” Gaara diverts a large sum of sand in front of the other three Kage and widens it to reach around them and protect everything from just in front of them to the entire area behind. Mei makes two hand signs, “Futton: Yuni Kansei (Boil Release: Boil Control)*.” The created steam from the two techniques suddenly begins to head towards Madara. The steam effortlessly melts through the solid wood structure as it travels towards Madara.
“I wish I had my gumbai,” Madara begins, simply stands as the water vapor comes towards him. Less than a meter away from him, the vapor disperses and Gaara's sand begins to lose form. “However it's not a necessary tool for this fight.” As the sand falls, Madara comes to see the Kage through the clearing. Tsunade, A and Mei lay on the ground, barely conscious and Gaara leans on a knee, his consciousness fading.
“What...what is this?” Tsunade shifts her eyes and notices the flowers high above her, “No...it can't be.”
“It certainly makes it harder to focus chakra when you have no energy to even focus.” Madara says, “The pollen from this flower is extremely potent...it'll render you unconscious in a matter of seconds.”
Oonoki looks down from the sky at the other four, “I have to get down there...”
“It's no use boy!” Madara says. His voice reaches Oonoki high in the sky, however Madara keeps his back towards the Tsuchikage as he speaks. Suddenly the stone and sand around Susanoo begins to break and fracture and in a sudden burst, the petrified Susanoo is freed and holds a different form. Susanoo quickly waves it's right hand and smacks the small Tsuchikage down with the other Kage and Madara's aura of chakra returns. “Don't you get it yet? Not even the Five Kage stand a chance against this power. The only person who could have ever hoped to defeat me is Hashirama, nobody else can even hope to come close, not even Tobirama with his cursed techniques. Though I suppose I owe my current being here to one of his techniques.” The Five Kage of the Ninja World lay helplessly on the ground as Madara stands with his arms folded. The dreaded Susanoo towering its mighty presence over the battle field over the defeated Kage. “Now that, that is over with I should get to the Kyuubi, judging from the state of things, I can't leave it up to him.”
Madara turns around and begins to leave, however he suddenly finds himself unable to move past a few steps. “Where do you think you're going?” Kabuto's voice resonates in the head of Madara. “You haven't killed them yet, finish the job.”
“You again,” Madara says with annoyance in his voice. “I don't have time for this nonsense.”
“You don't really have any choice I'm afraid,” Kabuto begins, “You see, I know all about your plans with Tobi and, while they don't much concern me, I have my own endeavors to achieve. As strong as you are, you play a rather crucial piece in the insurance of my success. So I'm going to need you to get rid of those five pestering shinobi and then you may proceed onto deal with Naruto.”
“You're obviously ignorant to the scope of my power, which is evident from your foolishly resurrecting me with this jutsu, however...” Madara shifts his eyes as he says his last words and he quickly claps his hands together as a large cubical forms around him and his Susanoo. A huge amount of dust is released in an instant, however it's quickly absorbed in a sphere that surrounds Madara as he uses the Pretta Path of the Rinningan. “It seems they're much too stubborn to let me go about my marry way.” Madara turns around to see Oonoki standing in front of the other four Kage, who are all up and standing firm. Though they're bodies show the exhaustion they stand determined and as willful as ever, “I'll indulge your request.”
“You underestimate us Madara!” Oonoki says, “Until our last breath we will never give up!”
“That persistence of yours is nothing more than wasteful. It irritates me beyond comprehension, the utter stupidity of those who do not know when they've lost and refuse to just lay down and die.” Madara says as his blood red Sharingan stares intensively at them.
“Hmph, than you'll love Naruto.” Tsunade says with a smile, “He is the pure incarnate of the will of our forefathers, and the one who's will burns most intensively inside us. Too bad you'll never get the chance to see him.”
“Such a loud mouthed child, it's hard to believe you're a descendant of Hashirama. As for this Naruto character, I'll show just how dimly that flame burns by first killing you all...and then once again when he meets you in the afterlife.” Madara claps his hands making the snake hand sign and five clones of wood manifest and they all activate incomplete Susanoo with their Mangekyou Sharingan, “Now...lets begin.”
To Be Continued...
This officially marks 100 chapters for me on the Narutobase Fanfiction forum. As a result, I have been working on this project which I origionally planned to have as one large chapter, however I decided to turn it into a min prequal to my current series; Shichiyo Gaiden. For those of you who are following along and understand the context of certian characters and situations, you should be able to follow this with no problem. Those of you who are just starting here, there is little bits of context you may not immediately understand upon reading. However the setting of this series is the event that has set the foundation for the main series, the Fourth Great Shinobi World War. This is my alternative version to the Naruto story that is still currently going on. The events that happen here will lead to what is happening now in my current story. This series starts in the middle of the war where some events are the same, however they will change drastically from what is going on in the manga now. This first chapter places us in the battle field where the revived Madara Uchiha fights the Five Kage. This first chapter marks the beginning of the first Arch of the series titled "Unforgettable Tides" I certianly hope you all enjoy, 
Chapter 1: Madara Uchiha vs. The Five Kage
The winds inside Suna blow more violently, carrying the sand in a strong storm that almost completely blocks the sun. The entire village is like a ghost town, everybody taking refuge inside in order to escape the storm.
Matsuri makes her way inside Gaara's office with a tray holding two hot cups of tea. Naruto and Gaara sit across from each other holding cards in their hands as Matsuri comes and places the tea before them. Both the Kage place down a single card with a blank cover and they surge a small portion of their chakra into the cards, revealing two images. The card on Naruto's side reads “Kage” while Gaara's reads “Daimyou”.
“My win,” Gaara says.
“What the hell are you talking about?!” Naruto complains, “There's no way a Kage would lose to a Daimyou.”
“The Kage answers to the Daimyou. Power is measured in more than just skill in combat.” Gaara says calmly.
“Ahh whatever, this game is stupid anyway.” Naruto looks past Gaara and out into the desert storm that plagues Suna. “It's been a while since we've seen each other,” Naruto comments.
“We saw each other during the chuunin exams a few months ago.” Gaara points out.
“I meant like this, a simple visit between friends. We used to do this more often.” Naruto takes his cup of tea and sips it.
“Things have gotten more chaotic within the Ninja World, we have more responsibilities to deal with now.” Gaara returns.
Naruto sighs and puts his elbow on the table and leans his face against his hand, “Yeah I know.” Silence instills for a moment and Naruto's expression goes south as he continues to watch the violent storm in Suna, “Things certainly have gotten hellish.”
Gaara notices the shift in his friend's expression and knows the tides of conversation have began to turn, “How's Shikamaru holding up?” Gaara asks.
“He's doing well, aside from the side affect of his fight.” Naruto says, “Temari and Tenzen are starting to deal with it a little better, Shikamaru on the other hand...” Naruto goes silent before finishing his sentence.
Gaara understands the meaning of Naruto's silence. Gaara turns around to look at the sand storm behind him as well, “Young Temari is taking it pretty hard to.” Gaara responds, “To lose one's identity as a shinobi is a difficult thing to bare. For Temari, who idolizes her father, it must be rather nerve racking. I'm surprised Tenzen is taking it well.”
“He's too young to completely comprehend it. He's smart as hell, even smarter than me but there's somethings that you just can't use your brain to understand.” Naruto says.
“You would know this personally don't you Naruto?” Gaara mocks, giving a snide smile to his friend.
“Ahh whatever!”
The two shinobi remain silent for a while watching the storm, the tension in the room intensifying with the issues the Ninja World faces. The secrecy of Iwagakure, the experiments in Kirigakure, the spies that lay within Sunagakure, and the epidemic of Kabuto. The issues of the world flood together in a storm just like the one that torments Suna now.
“This is quite a storm...” Naruto says.
~Underground in Otogakure~
“AHHHHHH!” The cry of a forsaken soul echos through a dark hallway as a hooded figure, shrouded in the darkness walks towards a dim light at the end of the hall. Just before the ominous being enters the room the sound of a blade cutting through flesh is heard.
“Shinji-kun...” Kabuto says, bringing his head up from the shadow of his hood, “You keep killing our test subjects.”
“Forgive me Kabuto-sama, he couldn't stand the pain anymore so he tried to kill himself and take away our data. I just prevented the latter from happening.” Shinji says with a smirk.
“I guess it's inevitable with such insufficient matches.” Kabuto says.
“What about that one shinobi from Konoha, that canine specialist from the 11?” Shinji suggests, “He seems pretty capable for the job.”
“No, no, I have other plans for Kiba.” Kabuto says, “We may just have to have Mika act as the catalyst herself. We'll just have to keep her sedated when we're not using her is all.”
“I'll try a little while longer. We won't need her until later anyways.” Shinji says.
“Very well,” Kabuto says. Kabuto begins to walk out of the room as silence ensues, “I won't fail again.” Kabuto's voice drops as well as his cynical expression. His face now bares scorn.
***Fourth Great Shinobi War***
The sky over the land cries with heavy rain over the chaos on the battle fields. The heavy rain, mixes with the blood on the ground from the countless corpses that spread across the war torn continent.
“Don't worry, I'll get you some help,” a shinobi says holding a wounded and barley conscious comrade on his back. The shinobi dons the flak jacket of Kiri and his 'Shinobi' headband around his neck.
“Hurry into the trenches, we need to keep out of their way!” Another shinobi yells towards the others.
The Kiri shinobi heads towards the deepened trench with his comrade on his back. As he runs, the earth begins to rattle following a roar of a large crash on the earth. The fatigued shinobi stumbles to his knees from the unexpected quake and looks behind. He gazes at the large humanoid manifested chakra of Madara's Susanoo picking itself off the ground and the five Kage standing before Madara *Incredible...*
“Hey!!” The captain yells once more. The Kiri shinobi notices he and his comrade as the only ones left in the field and he quickly gathers himself and heads towards the trench. He gets with the others underground and hands the wounded shinobi over to a medic. “What are your elements boy?” The captain addresses the young shinobi.
“Suiton and Doton.”
“Alright, go help squad two secure us.” The captain instructs.
“Right!” The young shinobi heads over to the location of the second squad on the orders given, *I never imagined...that there existed this type of power.*
“Mokuton: Kajukai Korin (Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowing Trees)” The ground beneath the Five Kage quickly shatters making room for the roots and trees of Madara's wood technique. The large dense wooden roots completely alter the field and large floral buds begin to appear on the wood. The wood technique extends even past the immediate field where the Five Kage reside and into the backwaters to the shinobi taking refuge from the battle. As the dust and debris from the rising wood decreases, a large amount of sand is seen blocking the wood back towards the army of shinobi and over the five Kage. “You only prolong your deaths with these feeble attempts.” Madara says standing over his creation, looking down at the five strongest shinobi of the shinobi world.
A leaps up through Gaara's sand and through a section of the wood created and stands before Madara, his Raiton armor in its second stage. Tsunade and the others quickly follow suit and stand alongside the Raikage. The fatigue that plagues their faces only gives off the aura of shinobi who've been broken in every way except will. “We won't die here, not before sending you back to hell!” Tsunade begins leaping across the pillars of wood that stand between her and Madara, ascending to his position. She jumps off one branch straight towards Madara at high speeds.
“Foolish girl.” Madara's Susanoo raises his left arm and proceeds to swing it towards Tsunade. The arm only reaches half way before it's blocked by a large mass of sand. The sand condenses and quickly wraps around the arm and heads to wrap around the torso and upper part of it's body. “hmm?” Madara notices Gaara focusing his sand around his technique. Madara makes the half tiger seal and the free hand of his Susanoo waves its free hand above it's head creating several individual Yasaka Magatama. The large humanoid manifestation launches them towards Tsunade and the area's past her. Gaara goes to make another shield of sand in front of Tsunade however he notices the rest of the projectiles heading towards the other shinobi behind him and the rest of the Kage.
“Damn,” Gaara claps his hands and several large bursts of sand in the shape of shuriken shoot out from the already existing sand shielding the army. Each of them strike and deflect Madara's projectiles and protects the rest of the joint army.
As he does this, Mei inhales and she quickly releases three large globes of lava towards Tsunade and the projectiles. “Hokage-sama!” Mei yells in a warning. Tsunade quickly changes her glance behind her and she lands on a nearby limb and leaps down into the crevices beneath her as the globes head towards the projectiles. Mei makes one seal and the properties of her technique change quickly. The lava solidifies and becomes a rubber substance and the moment they make contact with Madara's techniques, it causes them to ricochet back towards him. The right hand of Susanoo makes several other magatama however they're all linked together like a chain. Susanoo whips the chain back at his projectiles, sending them flying away from him.
A short moment after, Madara's eyes shift to his left as he sees Tsunade at point blank range from him, charging up her fist, “What now you smug bastard?!” Tsunade launches her fist but it stops a mere inch from Madara's nose.
“How about that?” Madara says cynically. A large root extends into Tsunade's stomach all the way through, “I can freely control and manipulate any part of this forest and much faster than you can react girl.” A sudden kick sends Madara flying back just as he finishes his sentence. The impaled Sannin poofs away revealing a shadow clone and the real Tsunade stands on the pillar where Madara stood.
Madara and his humanoid defense go crashing through several of the trees and wooden branches of the forest before he loses the momentum of the kick delivered to him and he hits one of the trees. His right arm and the right arm and the right side of his torso is completely shattered and immediately begins to restructure. “hmmm.” A shadow appears above Madara as he begins to regenerate and he looks up to see A with his hands cupped and he violently slams his fists down on the resurrected shinobi. Madara is sent flying downwards through more large wooden roots until he makes impact with a ground of lava muck. Across the field, Mei's hands are placed on the ground and she successfully manages to create a lava coat across a layer of the forest. She claps her hands and makes the snake seal and the lava that Madara now resides in shoots up individual tentacles and wraps around him and quickly harden and restrict him. Madara looks up and notices parts of Susanoo suddenly becoming petrified as the small Tsuchikage stands on its shoulder using his Doton chakra to his aid. As well, Gaara's sand begins to quickly come forward and restricts Susanoo.
“It's over!” Oonoki says. Gaara's sand begins to come and shoot towards Madara with the sealing tag placed on it.
The wood surrounding Madara begins to branch outwards towards the sand and blocks its path towards Madara. Several of the branches extend towards Madara's hardened lava trap and shatters his retrains freeing him. Madara rises and climbs to the top of the pillars just created and looks at his ultimate defense as it is completely restricted, “Your level of arrogance is befitting of children.” Madara comments. Just then the large buds at the top of the forest begin to blossom and three large flowers appear on the wooden structures.
Tsunade and A both appear before Madara on the pillar in a mere second. Tsunade and A coordinate their attacks well, letting loose a barrage of punches and kicks towards Madara. As fast as they are however, Madara keeps up with every one of their movements with his Sharingan, making sure to avoid everyone of their attacks. A launches a lightning fast punch which Madara manages to escape and he places his hand on a branch of wood. The wood branch transforms in an instant to a katana and Madara grasps it and swings it towards A, infusing his Katon chakra into the blade. The blade glows red and the heated metal goes to slice through A's torso. In mid swing, Madara's wrist is kicked by Tsunade, his hand shoots up and he is quickly disarmed. Madara jumps backwards to get him some distance, however Tsunade jumps right with him and she goes to launch another round house kick from his left side. Madara ducks quickly and then kicks off, shooting backwards again as A appears in flash to rush him just as he ducks. Just as Madara gains a stable footing, A appears in front of him and launches his fist. Madara puts up his left shoulder and arm to absorb the impact, which he does. The force of A's punch causes Madara to slide back slightly but the legendary shinobi displays surprising physical strength to endure the blow without taking much damage. Tsunade comes from the right side and launches a side kick and Madara leaps up, creating a large platform like pillar of wood for him to land on.
A jumps upward, shattering through a section of the wooden pillar and goes to launch another punch. Displaying great reflex, Madara swings his arm down, using A's own momentum to draw him downwards and into his knee. Madara smashes a powerful knee into A's face which sends him flying back, “Speed isn't always an advantage you know.” Madara says. Tsunade appears again from the right side to launch a side kick but Madara causes a thick pillar of wood to rise between them. Tsunade bursts through the pillar and continues on and kicks Madara, who has his guard up. However he takes the blow without budging any and quickly grabs Tsunade's leg. “You lose power,” Madara holds onto Tsunade's leg as he whips her into the ground to the left, “As more obstructs your path.” He whips her again in front of him and it causes a small crater in the platform. He then twirls around and whips her out in front of him right into A, who catches her. “I've fought your types before, shallow fighters who focus on the crutches of speed and power but no real skill. It takes little to figure out how to exploit your weaknesses.” Madara says. Madara puts his hands together to form the tiger seal and inhales deeply “Katon: Goka Messhitsu (Fire Release: Great Fire Destruction).” Madara then exhales an incredibly large stream of flames outwards towards the Kage.
Mei comes in front of Tsunade and A, “Suiton: Suijinchu (Water Release: Water Encampment Pillar)!” Mei exhales an extremely large pillar of water from her mouth which collides with Madara's flames. The resulting collision of the two techniques is a large steam that rolls through the entire filed. “Kazekage-sama I need a barrier around us!” Gaara diverts a large sum of sand in front of the other three Kage and widens it to reach around them and protect everything from just in front of them to the entire area behind. Mei makes two hand signs, “Futton: Yuni Kansei (Boil Release: Boil Control)*.” The created steam from the two techniques suddenly begins to head towards Madara. The steam effortlessly melts through the solid wood structure as it travels towards Madara.
“I wish I had my gumbai,” Madara begins, simply stands as the water vapor comes towards him. Less than a meter away from him, the vapor disperses and Gaara's sand begins to lose form. “However it's not a necessary tool for this fight.” As the sand falls, Madara comes to see the Kage through the clearing. Tsunade, A and Mei lay on the ground, barely conscious and Gaara leans on a knee, his consciousness fading.
“What...what is this?” Tsunade shifts her eyes and notices the flowers high above her, “No...it can't be.”
“It certainly makes it harder to focus chakra when you have no energy to even focus.” Madara says, “The pollen from this flower is extremely potent...it'll render you unconscious in a matter of seconds.”
Oonoki looks down from the sky at the other four, “I have to get down there...”
“It's no use boy!” Madara says. His voice reaches Oonoki high in the sky, however Madara keeps his back towards the Tsuchikage as he speaks. Suddenly the stone and sand around Susanoo begins to break and fracture and in a sudden burst, the petrified Susanoo is freed and holds a different form. Susanoo quickly waves it's right hand and smacks the small Tsuchikage down with the other Kage and Madara's aura of chakra returns. “Don't you get it yet? Not even the Five Kage stand a chance against this power. The only person who could have ever hoped to defeat me is Hashirama, nobody else can even hope to come close, not even Tobirama with his cursed techniques. Though I suppose I owe my current being here to one of his techniques.” The Five Kage of the Ninja World lay helplessly on the ground as Madara stands with his arms folded. The dreaded Susanoo towering its mighty presence over the battle field over the defeated Kage. “Now that, that is over with I should get to the Kyuubi, judging from the state of things, I can't leave it up to him.”
Madara turns around and begins to leave, however he suddenly finds himself unable to move past a few steps. “Where do you think you're going?” Kabuto's voice resonates in the head of Madara. “You haven't killed them yet, finish the job.”
“You again,” Madara says with annoyance in his voice. “I don't have time for this nonsense.”
“You don't really have any choice I'm afraid,” Kabuto begins, “You see, I know all about your plans with Tobi and, while they don't much concern me, I have my own endeavors to achieve. As strong as you are, you play a rather crucial piece in the insurance of my success. So I'm going to need you to get rid of those five pestering shinobi and then you may proceed onto deal with Naruto.”
“You're obviously ignorant to the scope of my power, which is evident from your foolishly resurrecting me with this jutsu, however...” Madara shifts his eyes as he says his last words and he quickly claps his hands together as a large cubical forms around him and his Susanoo. A huge amount of dust is released in an instant, however it's quickly absorbed in a sphere that surrounds Madara as he uses the Pretta Path of the Rinningan. “It seems they're much too stubborn to let me go about my marry way.” Madara turns around to see Oonoki standing in front of the other four Kage, who are all up and standing firm. Though they're bodies show the exhaustion they stand determined and as willful as ever, “I'll indulge your request.”
“You underestimate us Madara!” Oonoki says, “Until our last breath we will never give up!”
“That persistence of yours is nothing more than wasteful. It irritates me beyond comprehension, the utter stupidity of those who do not know when they've lost and refuse to just lay down and die.” Madara says as his blood red Sharingan stares intensively at them.
“Hmph, than you'll love Naruto.” Tsunade says with a smile, “He is the pure incarnate of the will of our forefathers, and the one who's will burns most intensively inside us. Too bad you'll never get the chance to see him.”
“Such a loud mouthed child, it's hard to believe you're a descendant of Hashirama. As for this Naruto character, I'll show just how dimly that flame burns by first killing you all...and then once again when he meets you in the afterlife.” Madara claps his hands making the snake hand sign and five clones of wood manifest and they all activate incomplete Susanoo with their Mangekyou Sharingan, “Now...lets begin.”
To Be Continued...