Chapter 564: 529. Change of Battle Plan
Minato ponders Izuna's previous words while witnessing the 'battle' between Izuna and the black Abyss dragon.
Izuna's words shook him quite a bit. He would be lying if he said he was not worried about the future.
'To think Izuna-kun is shouldering such a heavy responsibility all by himself.' Minato sighs and continues watching Izuna's battle.
HAAH...
Izuna teleports above the giant black dragon. He clenches his fist and compresses the reddish-black aura.
The black dragon opens its giant maw and leaps towards Izuna in the sky.
Bang...
Izuna greets him with a fist.
BOOM...
Izuna's fist distorts the surrounding space. The giant black dragon turns into a black streak and smashes into the ground.
Rumble... Rumble...
A massive crater appears at the point of the impact. The black dragon's body continues to pierce through the ground. It bores a hole through one half of the gigantic planet and slams into the core of the other half.
Rumble... Rumble...
Massive shockwaves spread across the surface of the entire planet. However, an invisible force acts upon the planet and calms the surface.
Crack... Crack...
Izuna cracks his knuckles and glances at the still-struggling black dragon.
"It had fun beating the shit out of this black dragon. He gave me lots of trouble when we first met."
Izuna and Minato fly in the air and glances at the unconscious black dragon lying in the middle of a massive crater. Almost ninety percent of its body is destroyed and yet it's still regenerating slowly.
"Izuna-kun, what kind of technique was that? There was no chakra involved in it." Minato asks curiously.
"It is a pure Taijutsu technique. I call it the 'Eight Inner Chakra Enlightenment'. You can say that it's the advanced version of Guy's 'Eight Inner Gates."
Izuna clenches his fist, and the reddish-black aura covers his fist again.
"I will teach it to you all later."
Izuna turns his attention to the unconscious black dragon.
Shiing...
A gleam flashes past his left Rinne-Sharingan. Several highly advanced sealing formations shroud the black dragon. The seal compresses its body and seals it into a small glass orb the size of a marble.
Izuna grabs the marble ball and glances at the figure trapped inside it. A purple kanji for 'Seal' flashes on top of the seal and Izuna tosses it beside it.
A small spatial rift opens up and consumes the glass marble.
"Minato-san, let me show the true nature of this world to you?"
Minato's vision turns blurry for a second and in the next second, both of them appear outside the entire star system of the planet.
"This is..."
Minato's eyes widen in shock as he notices several God trees remain spread across the various planets of the entire planet system.
"Just what kind of place is this?" He gasps in shock.
"This place is an orchard- an orchard of the Otsutsuki clan for farming the chakra fruits. And the inhabitants of these worlds are nothing more than the fertilizers for these chakra trees. The foolish people of the shinobi world worship these trees as 'Divine Trees', but there is nothing divine about them at all. It's more like a devil's tree than a divine tree." Izuna chuckles as his words wake Minato to reality.
"Umm... Izuna-kun... just how far is this world? Er-I mean this dimension from our shinobi world?" Minato asks the most pressing question.
"This world or this dimension is quite far from our shinobi world. There are at least a hundred worlds or dimensions of varying size between the two worlds." Izuna informs Minato.
"So, if the person who destroyed this world were to make his move, it will take him at least a few hundred centuries to reach the shinobi world," Izuna reveals the information.
"Then, Izuna-kun... you..." Minato glances at Izuna with a skeptical gaze.
"Just how strong are you, actually? And how did you even achieve such a kind of power?" Minato asks him.
Sigh...
Izuna sighs heavily.
"Every power comes at a cost and I paid a fair share for this power." Izuna closes his eyes as he recalls the bittersweet memories of the past.
He opens his eyes and turns to Minato.
"Minato-san, I will reveal everything about my journey and whereabouts after this war. For now..."
Swoosh...
Izuna rips another spatial rift in front of him.
"Let's visit a few other worlds and witness their legacy."
Thus, Izuna takes Minato on a cosmic journey.
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A few hours after the desert company battle against Madara, the exhausted higher-ups gather in a camp.
The medic-nins treat their wounds as they enquire about the situation of the coastal battlefield.
"What?! Naruto is fighting against the masked guy called Obito?" A slam his fist on the armrest of his chair.
"Why would he do something so reckless?"
"He is not alone. Lord Jiraiya and Lady Mizukage are also fighting alongside him. Their opponents are the former Edo Jinchurikis, that are being controlled by Obito."
"What?! How could that be? Wasn't Edo-Tensei dispelled earlier?" Onoki also questions the authenticity of the news.
"No, all six of those Jinchurikis are still fighting on the battlefield. Their presence has something to do with the Rinnegan."
"Rinnegan?! Does Rinnegan have such a technique?"
All of them turn to Konoha shinobis for answers.
"We don't know!" Sakumo shakes his head.
"The full extent of Rinnegan's power was never explored. And we were never able to recover Pain's Rinnegan since it was stolen by that masked figure." He adds.
"Damn it! First Madara and now him!"
"Madara?! What Madara?!" Fugaku and a few other Uchiha clan elders ask in surprise.
"Of course, it's the real Madara Uchiha. Not the fake Madara that masked fellow was masquerading as," Onoki replies to him.
"But didn't Madara die a few decades ago? How is he still alive? Unless he was brought back as..."
"Yes, your guess is correct. Kabuto resurrected Madara as an Edo-Tensei." Rasa nods and continues.
"Not only that, it seems like Madara, Kabuto, and the masked Uchiha Obito seems to have some sort of grand plan that they worked on for decades."
"Plan? What plan?" Fugaku asks with a frown.
He suddenly recalls the content of the Uchiha Shrine's Stone Tablet that was passed down in the Uchiha clan since the days of the Sage of Six Paths.
Reading the letters on that tablet requires a powerful Dojutsu technique and only Mangekyo Sharingan can decipher a major portion of that information.
Suddenly, Sakumo, Kakashi, Fugaku, and a few higher-ups of Konoha recall the information left behind by Izuna.
"Akatsuki... so the goal of the Akatsuki to revive the ten-tails is real?" Onoki and others are shocked by the revelation.
The higher-ups of Konoha could only sigh at the distrust of Kumogakure and Iwagakure.
"Be careful! Madara is missing from the battlefield. He might head your way to capture Naruto." Gaara warns them.
"Madara is heading towards us!" The expression of Fugaku, Akira, and Yagami changes slightly. Especially Akira, who is nervous as well as excited at the prospect of meeting his father for the very first time.
'Perhaps, Dad won't even recognize me since he doesn't even know of my existence. I wonder, does Dad still retain his feelings for Mother after all those years?'
Akira clenches his fist.
'I have to face him and ask him myself. Perhaps the bond of blood runs thicker than the hatred for the world in his veins.'
The discussion continues as the group exchange intel for a period.
Finally, Shikaku breaks the silence.
"Our current battle strategy isn't suitable for the safety of our shinobi. In these four years, we lost sixty percent of our allied shinobi force, and the other twenty percent are grievously injured. Only a rare few shinobi can partake in battle. Even then, the continuous battles have taken a physical and mental toll on them."
Shikaku glances at all the leaders, commanders, and vice-commanders in front of him.
"So, it's not feasible for us to push our remaining shinobis to their death." He adds.
"Shikaku, what do you want to say?" A frown.
"Raikage-sama, by the change of plan, I mean the time for the final confrontation between both sides has arrived. We will pick our most elite shinobis, equip them with our remaining supplies, and devise a battle formation to confront Madara, Obito, and the tailed beasts."
Hmm...
Onoki, Rasa, and others ponder over Shikaku's words. After some time, Onoki opens his mouth.
"Shikaku is right! We can't meaninglessly sacrifice our remaining shinobis. Their battle is over with the fall of the Zetsu army. Now, it's time for us elite shinobi to lead them to victory."
"I also agree with Shikaku-san!" Rasa also nods in agreement.
"Fool ya fool! That plan is cool!" Bee chimes in from Kumogakure's side.
"S-shut the f-fuck up!" A bashes Bee's head with a punch.
"Since this fool has agreed, then this seems to be the only perfect plan."
"There are no perfect plans!" Shikaku shakes his head.
"Then we just have to make one!" Kushina's voice echoes in their head.
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