~*****~
My gaze remained on the Senju ring in my palm. Seeing her like that-- It made my blood boil. I followed after Naruto's chakra signature, intent on regrouping. "Ren--" I hear Tsunade's voice ring out.
I stop in my tracks. "Ma'am."
"What is your location?" She inquires seriously.
"Anywhere you need me to be." I express. "I've still got thousands of clones within each battle."
"Madara has made his way onto the battlefield. And he's leading a small unit." Tsunade states.
"Then I'll head him off." I shoot forward, ignoring her command to wait for backup. "Is he with... a bunch of former Jinchuriki?" I question. Tsunade doesn't answer. "I guess I have my answer. Relay this information to Naruto. I'm not going to wait for him."
~*****~
I finally arrived back at the desert where I left Gaara's platoon. Naruto's clone was still there. "Naruto," I bark as I land besides him.
"Are you the real one?" He questions.
I shake my head. "I'm following a chakra signature. Apparently Madara is on the move." I explain.
"Wh-What is this?!" I hear another shinobi gasp as Naruto attempts to respond.
"What are you sensing?" The Tsuchikage barks.
"Over there!"
"That's-- That's the second Tsuchikage." I mention. "Didn't you seal him away, Gaara?" I question.
"Impossible... He used Fragmentation in that state?" The Tsuchikage gasped.
"Fragmentation?" I echo.
"Lord Mu was able to split his body and create clones. No... Not clones. It's closer to say he can split his body into two. Although his strength would be cut in half, too."
"It's not him!" The sensory shinobi barked. "There's someone else!"
"That's--" I gasp loudly. "That's impossible! He can't be--" It was like I'd seen him thousands of times before hand. Millions of images popped into my head. Millions of battles with him. "Madara.... Uchiha!" I gasp. "Then who's-- Who's under that mask!"
"What do you mean?" Naruto questioned.
"His eyes-- He's been reanimated! Madara isn't the one behind this war-- Someone else is!"
"I thought HQ reported Madara traveling with a bunch of Jinchuriki going the opposite direction, right?" Temari snapped.
"But there's no mistake!" I exclaim. "I locked onto Madara Uchiha's chakra signature, and it lead me here!"
"How would you recognize his chakra?" Lord Tsuchikage questioned. "He died before your generation!"
I snort and my lip swerves up at the prospect of a great battle. "I guess you could say it's in my blood." I mention. "The Senju and Uchiha had always been at odds. I guess the vicious cycle will continue."
Nature Chakra flooded my system. Gaara attempted to capture them, but it wouldn't be that easy. My boiling blood was a testament to that.
"Get ready," I hum lightly. "He's on a whole new level than those we've fought."
~*****~
The battalion roared out battle cries as they charged towards Madara. He took down each shinobi in his path as if it were child play. "Gaara, you and the Tsuchikage must recover. Naruto, you got anything left?" I question.
"No, sorry, I used it all up in that last fight!" He explains.
I shake my head before running towards the Uchiha decimating our battalion. I land a hard slug against him, sending him flying. He stands as if nothing happens and turns his gaze on me. A thrilled grin covers his face. "I know those eyes--" He mentions as he forms the tiger seal. "Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
"Water Style: Raging Waves!" The two jutsu slam against one another, resulting in a stalemate. Steam enveloped the area, cutting visibility down. My fist met with his, cracking against one another wildly until we stopped in the middle of all the shinobi on the field.
Using his Susano'o, we fought within the giant fortress, our hands locking together as we struggled to take an inch. "Tell me, child," He hummed calmly. "Just who are you?"
"You fought my ancestor long ago." I respond just as calmly. "I am the direct descendant of Hashirama Senju. And with his blood coursing through my veins, I will defeat you just as he did."
His grin only widened as I entered into my sage beast mode. "Oh yeah? Well, we'll see about that, won't we little Hashirama." His eye morphed into one I knew all too well, and I was blown back. The pain radiated all throughout my body from the force of the blow. I groaned as I gazed upwards, glaring at the meteorite falling towards us, and the Tsuchikage flying towards it. I flipped onto my feet and began dispersing all my clones in the sacred temple of the sea. All the nature chakra had flooded inside of me at once, and I immediately turned my gaze upwards, leaping up to brace my hands against the meteorite as a second one came in. I tried my hardest to keep it at back, but it just slammed us against the ground.
"Tsuchi-- Tsuchikage--" I gasp. "Are you all right?" I ask the elderly man below me. My hand and knees were against the ground besides him.
"Ren! Gramps!" I hear Naruto shout.
"It's all right!" I hear the stone shinobi shout. I turn my gaze onto him in shock. "But he's seriously hurt!"
"Madara Uchiha," I growl out. A flash of pain surges through my gut and I can hear Ameonna stir.
"That chakra-- I've only felt it once before..." She murmurs lightly. "Madara Uchiha... Yes... He's summoned me once before..."
"It's them! At four o'clock!" One shinobi bellows.
My gaze flickers upwards at an oh to familiar jutsu. "He can use Wood Style?" I gasp irritably. I shake my head wildly and stuff the pain down in my body. "Get back!" I revert back to Sage Mode. "Sage Art Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands!" Thousands of lotus petals begin to fly everywhere as the large, wooden structure pushes from the ground, stopping the onslaught of the emergence forest jutsu. "Sage Art Fire Release: Lotus Rapture!" Fire erupts from the thousands of lotus' littering every hand and branch, destroying the forest Madara had constructed.
"I will fight him!" I hear the Tsuchikage growl.
"Just sit back, old man! You're in bad shape!" I snap behind me.
Madara and Lord Mu had leapt down. "You can't dance anymore, Ohnoki." Madara stated. "Don't give me that look. I've already demonstrated our difference in power."
"We shinobi are weary of all this endless fighting." Tsuchikage murmured. "We've kept on fighting for the sake of our nations and villages. Without a care about other nations and villages, we just take! We take away, then they take away in an endless cycle... Hatred has caused three wars!"
"That is life." Madara hummed. "I can't believe you've lived this long and not learned a thing from the pain of the past."
"I've lived longer than you!" He shouted. "I've learned twice as much! It's because I've experienced pain in the past that I can consider what would be best for the future!"
"Yet, this is the fourth war." Madara shrugged. "This is what's different?"
"This war is different!" Tsuchikage barked. "Unlike the past wars where we took from each other... this time, we are fighting together in order to achieve something different. By watching them, I've learned that time does not simply pass by!"
Naruto is helping me up as I try to dispel the throbbing pain in my body.
"Though slow in pace, the world is accruing its past experiences... and heading towards peace."
"There's no need for the world to mature any further." Madara simply stated. "It can slumber in the genjutsu of the Eternal Tsukuyomi!"
"Long ago, you made me forsake myself." Tsuchikage mentioned. "That's why... I will defeat you here... and reclaim myself! The one who will slumber... will be you!"
Just as he falls, a large, white tentacle shoots from my back and wraps around the Tsuchikage. "Then we'll help you reclaim yourself." I state softly before standing on my own two feet.
"It seems Little Hashirama can still dance." Madara scoffs.
Just as they close in, a flash of light appears before us, and Tsunade and the Raikage appear on the field.
~*****~
"Lady Tsunade, Lord Hokage," I breathe out. "Lady Mizukage!" All Five Kage are on the field now.
"This is wonderful," Madara hums. "This will make my test worthwhile." He praises.
"Thank you, Princess Tsunade." Tsuchikage grunts as she heals them.
"Ren, lend me your chakra. We'll heal these two. Raikage, Mizukage! Buy us some time!" She orders.
"Yes ma'am," I hurry over and begin healing the two with Tsunade. "Are you okay-- you used your mitotic regeneration again." I murmur. "Didn't I say you only had a few more left?" I warn.
She hisses lightly. "This is different from that time with Pain. I only healed myself! I have more than enough chakra!" She explains.
"Then heal us too, I may be a clone, but we can't afford to disappear yet!" Naruto states.
"It's not necessary." Tsunade quips.
"Wh-Why?!" Naruto barks.
I just gaze at her incredulously. "This is no longer just a war to protect you, two." Lord Tsuchikage mentioned.
I wince and fall to my knee, my healing halted. "I'm-- I'm at my limit." I mutter in annoyance. "I'm out-- Out of chakra!"
~*****~
I nearly fall to my knees as my clone in the desert disappears. "Shit--" I gasp out, my body shivering at the small amount of nature chakra returning to me. "That was-- was almost all of them." I shake my head wildly and dispel the ringing before closing in on the Masked Madara with the Jinchuriki. I clasp my hands onto his shoulders, sending him forward as Naruto appears from nowhere, slamming his forehead against the mask.
"An attack from both sides," Masked Madara hums delicately as I get some distance.
"You all right, Naruto?" I question.
"Yeah, that mask is harder than I thought. I should've at least cracked it." Naruto states as I leap over to them.
"Ren," I hear a soft voice. My gaze flickers to the elderly woman before me, both her eyes mismatched from the usual Yukimura Kekkei Genkai.
"So, they reanimated you, an old woman you remained locked in a room at the Yukimura compound." I recite softly. "I wish I could say I've longed to meet you... but if you would have just... held on... I wouldn't have lost my mother."
She hums lightly, her gaze casting downwards. "Yes... Poor Ayame did not deserve to have her child bear such a powerful being. It would seem I have been tasked at securing you and the ten tails."
"You can't extract her. Father made sure of it." I state firmly.
"They don't need to." She simply retorted. "Please. Run." She whimpered before her consciousness is taken. She closed in, leading me away from the other two in a vicious attempt to capture me. And for an old, frail woman, I suspected she wouldn't have the skills, considering she'd been cooped up all her life, but she was hard to avoid. I'd never met anyone with so much speed-- she rivaled Guy.
She kept coming after me, even with the other jinchuriki focusing solely on Naruto and Bee. An arm wrapped around my waist when the old woman performed a sacred jutsu known for subduing Ameonna when touched. I gasped out and landed on the ground harshly, gasping out in surprise when two familiar figures appeared before me. "K-Kakashi-- Guy!" I exclaim.
The old woman landed besides Masked Madara, her expression never faulting. "You're of no use to me if you cannot keep up with the ten tails." He hummed irritably.
"What can I say? She's her host. The goddess has her own divine karma." She hummed, seemingly reverting back to her old self. "And I'm afraid, it does not work on the dead, as you would have hoped."
"You're useless, then." He hums, and she crumbles in her spot. I gape as she just disintegrates. " I have no use for weakness."