War was a rumor.

War was coming.

War is here.

The Akatsuki are on the move, they were finally going to use the power they had been collecting.

The masked man named Tobi declared war when the nations refused to surrender the Nine Tails, the only tailed beast that remained free from their grasp.

But eight was enough.

Enough to destroy a good portion of the world.

Naruto had been training under another jinchuriki, Killer B, to learn how to control the Kyuubi. Though he and the beast were still at odds, it seemed to tolerate him enough to cooperate most of the time. Killer B had been taken by the Akatsuki just over a month ago, forcing the Allied Nations to change their course of action.

Just inside the village gates stood row upon row of shinobi. Anbu, jounin, and even chunin stood in green vests and faced the Hokage.

"Intelligence from Suna has revealed that the Akatsuki plan to attack on Konoha to capture the Nine Tails! We will meet with troops from the land of Water and Earth and we will defeat the enemy!"

Roars from the crowd was enough to send shivers down the spine of even the most stoic man.

"Let's move!"

A resounding cheer was heard as the mass of shinobi took off.

Corpses were strewn across the bloodstained grass. The bodies, still warm, all had eyes widened in fear, staring at nothing.

A single pair of footsteps calmly made their way around the graveyard.

"...h-help... p-pl-... help..." A broken voice called out.

The owner of the footsteps paused. They looked down to see a young boy, no older that eighteen years old, twitching weakly, just barely alive.

"Hm." The man squatted down next to the boy. He placed one hand over his chest and a bright flash of green appeared. The boy, now with the strength to open his eyes, turned his head over to thank his savior.

But he was not greeted by a savior.

A mask of orange clay swirled and framed around the left eye. A glowing, deadly red eye. The man was barely able to sit up and jump away.

"Y-You!" He stuttered. It was none other than the man who had slaughtered his comrades, the comrades whom now lay under him.

"Quiet." The man spoke and the boy immediately fell silent. "Bring a message to your Hokage. We will destroy your village along with your allies. Bring the jinjuriki boy or all the nations will pay."

The boy gaped, frozen in fear.

"Go." The man commanded, and next thing he knew, he was alone.

She knew from the moment the first tailed beast was taken.

She could hear them calling out.

She could feel their pain.

She had to help them.

Whatever it took.

It was about time, anyways.

"Sasuke! Take the right!" Naruto yelled.

The symphony of scrapes and clashes was deafening. The blood was overwhelming. But Naruto refused to give up: a mindset that he was now known across the nations for. Attacks were abundant in every direction, most of them came from the Allied Forces yet they were still losing ground. The army of artificial green things stood as an inpenatrable wall. No matter how many clones he made, they were all struck down within the minute. As much as logic told him to retreat, he kept fighting. He'd take down as many of them as he could, the waves had to stop sooner or later. He sent a pulse of air that shot through a crowd of the green beings, though the space he had made was immediately filled by more of them.

The numbers seemed infinite but that was no hindrance to him.

'What is this?' She asked herself, coming face to face with a familiar man.

The blonde one of the Akatsuki.

She knew he had died, yet he stood clear as day.

That was when she knew the stakes were high.

That was when she knew he would be back.

Soon.

Another loss.

The Great Nations' morale was at an all time low. They had seen yet another defeat that day, the masked man was relentless and cruel in a way they never imagined. That had to change their tactics or they would all be killed. The five kages gathered in a private room, discussing plans and methods while their people were out on the front lines.

Naruto refused to give up on this one. With the nine tails at his side, he did everything he could to take down that masked man.

Miss, miss, miss, hit, miss, miss, miss, miss...

The man was fast and wielded some sort of strange jutsu. Sasuke told him it was a jutsu that required the Sharingan, meaning the man was an Uchiha. No one could think of any Uchiha clansmen that would have, could have done this. They were all accounted for, even the ones who had betrayed the village had been eliminated as a suspect.

A man so ruthless and powerful...

"Everyone, we must not lose hope. The future of the world rests on our shoulders and we must bear it with pride! Today we will make history, we will face the enemy and we will come out victorious!"

Cheers echoed for miles.

Sakura sat a distance away from the crowd, eyes downcast. She was silent.

"What is it, Sakura-chan?" Hinata asked, kneeling down next to her.

She looked troubled.

"How is everyone so optimistic? They know there's no chance of defeating the enemy. We've lost so many battles but they act like we're winning the war!" She closed her eyes and clenched her fists.

There was a moment of silence.

"Even though it doesn't look good for us, we can't give up hope. What can we do other than fight and pray? Fight for the ones we love and pray for a miracle."

Sakura didn't expect such words from Hinata, but when they finally sunk in, she was visibly calmed. A heavy sigh escaped her lips.

"When you put it like that, I guess you're right.. If we all keep doubting ourselves then we'll never win." A smile spread on her lips and she stood, eyes shining and mind ready. "Come on, let's go win ourselves a battle!"

Soon, their faction merged with Naruto and Sasuke's. The four stayed at the head of the mass of shinobi: the largest army to see battle in a long time. They made it to the battlefield where their enemy was already waiting for them.

A man, fully wrapped in bandages stood on top of a high cliff. The Tsuchikage, who stood among the army, had battled him before. He knew what he was dealing with and felt confident that they would be able to win this time.

That feeling was crushed the moment he saw the man who stood next to him.

He froze in shock and shook his head in disbelief.

'Impossible...'

"Kabuto, was it?" He asked the man standing on the cliff. "What do you want?" He narrowed his eyes.

The one named Kabuto chuckled lowly.

"What I want? I want the same thing you do." His eyes glinted with excitement.

The man ignored him, his eyes sweeping over the people below.

"Where is she?" He asked with a frown.

Kabuto turned to him.

"Who?" He inquired.

No response.

"Hn. I suppose she'll have to miss my show..." He stated before taking a step forward. "Don't get in my way." He leapt off the ledge and landed on the ground, right into the center of the mass of shinobi.

Blood splattered left and right, bodies were thrown carelessly, weapons were scattered next to their fallen owners.

"I-Its no use!" Sakura panted. "We can't land a single hit on him!"

"We have to keep trying!" Naruto yelled.

Not half an hour into the battle, just a three dozen shinobi remained alive, all injured to some degree. Their attacker, on the other hand, wasn't the least bit out of breath.

"Tsuchikage-sama! We have to retreat! There's no way we can defeat him now!" Sakura urged.

The old man frowned and grit his teeth, his logic and his pride were at odds.

"Retreat! All allied shinobi, draw back!" He shouted finally.

And even Naruto, who had become so well known for his bravery, turned and ran.

The bandaged man watched the scene unfold from atop the cliff.

"All is going better than expected... what great power I've created. You use it well, Uchiha Madara."

She prayed for the souls that would be lost that day.

She prayed for their forgiveness.

Just a little more time...

Silence rang loudly through the camp. Not even Naruto could say anything, not even he could cheer them up. He had fled. He couldn't forgive himself. If only he had been stronger, maybe things wouldn't have ended up like this.

Even the five kages couldn't stand against that power of the new enemy. Terror and shock shot through the hearts of everyone when they heard of their leaders' defeat.

But they were in a war, there was no time for sadness or pity.

"Madara-sama, who is it that you're looking for?" The man in the orange mask asked.

There was a chuckle before he answered.

"Someone very important. I will bring her to our side and our victory will be guaranteed." Madara smirked menacingly. "You've met her once before."

The masked man was silent.

'That woman with the strange chakra.' He thought. 'What is he planning...?'

"Hm?" The man with long brown hair looked down at his hands, seeming very confused. "Am I..."

"Brother. What's happening?" A man with spikey white hair stepped next to him, arms crossed and stoic.

"It seems we've been revived." Another voice joined in. A short, older man looked around.

"Who did this?" Yet another voice asked.

"Ah, how wonderful. Four generations of Leaf history standing right here." A man stepped into the cave. "What a sight." He chuckled.

"Orochimaru!" The old man glared, lowering into a defensive stance.

"Relax, Sarutobi. I'm not here to fight. In fact, I need your help. I cannot allow things to run their course in this war. I need all of you to help bring down the Akatsuki." He stated meticulously.

"And why should we trust you." The one named Saratobi demanded.

"You don't need to trust me, in fact, you could kill me right now. I'm just a clone, after all. But you're going to want to help your precious village. Your shinobi are being slaughtered in a field not ten miles away from here. You might want to hurry." He chuckled once more before disappearing.

A silence settled among the four men.

"Is there another war?" The white haired one asked.

"Seems like it." The blonde one answered.

"Well, lets go see whats going on."

Madara frowned at the sight before him. The persistence of these people would have been impressive if it was not so immensely irritating.

"What will you do now? The jinchuriki boy is the last one we need..." A deep voice spoke from behind him and a dark, shadowy figure stepped besides him.

Madara's frown deepened.

"I will take care of him later, before that, I need to find a certain someone." He seemed to grow angry just at the thought.

The dark figure shifted to get a better view of the pitiful scene below.

"Who is so important that they must delay the new world?" It questioned.

Madara did not respond.

The figure hummed and, with a frown, disappeared from sight.

Madara's eyes were glued to the battle below, his clones kept the shinobi busy and away from him. They were not killing any of the allied forces, however, something that had not gone unnoticed by the dark figure. Madara was stalling, that much was clear, but why?

"Hokage-sama, we can't get past the clones, there are too many of them!" A communications shinobi sent the telepathic message to Tsunade who was back in Konoha recovering from her injuries.

"What are the numbers?" Asked the Hokage in return.

"Barely a hundred of us and about fifty clones."

"Where is the real Madara?"

"He's here but he's not doing anything, just watching."

A pause.

"Hokage-sama?"

"I'm sending renforcements. Hold out until they get there."

"Understood."

The woman stood from her hiding place and quickly went to inform the others.

Four figures sped through the forest and emerged at the edge of it. A hundred yards away was a bloody battleground on which neither side seemed to be advancing.

"It's Madara." Tobirama stated.

Hashirama only nodded grimly as the four sped towards the scene.

"This chakra..." Madara took a step forward. A shirk spread across his face as excitement rushed through his veins. As if on cue, a blur crossed his vision and four figures appeared on the battlefield below.

"You!" Hashirama pointed a finger straight at the Uchiha. "Stop this nonsense now!"

Madara's smirk only widened as he jumped down, landing ten yards in front of the First Hokage.

"Originally, I had wanted to wait for a certain friend of ours to arrive. But I guess we'll just have to start by ourselves." He mused. The ground began to rumble as a huge mound of earth shifted behind him. First they saw a head: an earthen, almost skeletal head of a humanoid entity. The body followed, it had black spikes jutting from its back, a partiality decayed torso made it seem as if it was made of wood.

The statue now stood at its full height, towering over all of the shinobi who stood paralyzed in fear.

With a leap, Madara landed on the twisted head of the statue.

"It's time we end this." His eyes glinted with malice and he grinned with excitement. The mouth of the statue dropped open and a single chain shot out, heading straight for Naruto who was frozen in place.

A loud thump was heard as the chain was stopped by a huge tree whose branches twisted to trap it.

"Don't think it'll be so easy." Hashirama frowned as he formed a long chain of hand seals. Slamming his palm to the ground, a large cloud of smoke appeared behind him, soon clearing to reveal another statue. This one was of a pristegious looking being who sat silently, thousands of arms forming a halo behind him. Hashirama leapt onto the head of the statue, already prepared for an all-out battle.

"Escape this area!" The oldest one of the four, the Third Hokage, commanded the shinobi troops who were staring, mouths dropped open in awe. "Get away and find shelter! Quickly!" He urged.

One of the shinobi, who seemed to suddenly snap out of his daze, turned and began running away from the inevitable battle. Another man followed. Then another. Soon, the entire army was sprinting away, desperately putting distance between them and the oncoming destruction. Naruto and Sasuke stayed with the army for a while before quickly splitting off and heading back towards the battlefield without anyone noticing.

They refused to run away. Not again.

"Madara! You must stop! The path you follow will not lead to peace! There will only be more suffering!" Hashirama called. He knew it wouldn't help.

Madara's expression of anger and malice did not change, if anything, he only became more apprehensive.

"What do you know of peace? Once I acheive Infinite Tsukoyomi, the new world will be under my control!" He chuckled at the thought of it. "So, Hashirama, let's settle this now." Madara clasped his hands together and a blue sussano appeared around both him and the statue beneath him.

With its new armor, the demonic statue opened its mouth and a glowing black orb began materializing inside.

Hashirama's hands came together and the statue's arms shifted to face their palms towards their enemy. A red glow began forming around each hand and small white specks could be seen scattered among the red.

The air became heavy with the sheer power that radiated off the two men.

The black orb grew larger.

The red glow intensified.

The orb crackled with energy.

The glow molded into spikes.

In a flash, both the orb and the spikes launched forward and collided, instantly throwing smoke and debris up in the air, clouding everyone's eyes.

With a strong gust of wind from Hashirama, the smoke was pushed away and revealed the destruction that remained.

Or rather, lack of destruction.

Instead of cracked ground and broken trees, the only thing out of place was a red orb floating where the two attacks had collided. The red soon faded and disappeared, revealing a figure standing inside.

The person had both arms outstretched to either side, head lowered with long white hair covering their face.

The black creature peeked out of the shadows at the new source of chakra. Very familiar chakra. Its eyes landed on the figure standing at the center of the battlefield and it froze in shock.

The white hair-

The chakra-

"...mother...?"