XX-level Hokage

"An astonishing surge of chakra energy has appeared on Battlefield A." The sensory unit in Kumogakure instantly detected the change on Battlefield A. "What exactly is that?" Ao muttered to himself, sensing the Gedo Mazo.

They've already connected with the First Division. The thing looks like a giant humanoid monster, and its controller is believed to be Uchiha Madara! "Inoichi has transmitted specific information."

"The enemy leader has actually appeared on the battlefield in person. It seems we need to adjust our plans," Shikaku said, frowning. Just then, the members of the sensory unit suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

"Report! Killer Bee, Naruto Uzumaki, and Izumi Uzumaki have broken free of the barrier and are rapidly approaching the battlefield." "How is that possible? Why are they outside the island turtle?" Shikaku asked, puzzled.

“Don’t worry, Shikaku, we should have been prepared a long time ago, shouldn’t we?” Mashiro said softly.

"Well, he is Naruto after all." Shikaku could only sigh helplessly. Everything was as I had expected.

Masashiro's eyes brightened slightly.

At this moment, on Battlefield A, the attack by the Gedo Mazo caused injuries to many Allied Ninjas.

After repelling Choza and Choji, they continued to approach the Allied forces. "Retreat! Everyone retreat to the coast!" Huang Tu hurriedly issued the order.

Then, in an instant, he formed hand seals. "Earth Release: Mountain Wood Technique"

Two enormous semi-circular stone walls appeared out of thin air, attempting to trap the Outer Path Demon Statue inside, but the Outer Path Demon Statue stretched out its arms to block them.

Chakra continued to flow into the loess, constantly compressing the stone wall, but with the force of the Gedo Mazo's hands, the stone wall shattered instantly. Then, the Gedo Mazo's nine eyes emitted nine beams of lightning, sweeping indiscriminately forward.

"What was that?" Ino and the others were hiding on the outside of the cliff. The strong wind caused by the enormous energy made it almost impossible for Ino to open her eyes. Ino couldn't help but ask.

"It's beyond common sense." Choza stabilizing himself by plunging his weapon into the ground. "According to the Hokage, could that be…?" Shikamaru's expression was incredibly grim. The Gedo Mazo continued its advance.

Obito then took the opportunity to go to the location of the amber bottle.

The four ninjas guarding the amber bottle were instantly defeated by Obito.

Darui, who had also guessed the identity of the Gedo Mazo, immediately understood Obito's thoughts and hurriedly rushed to Obito's side.

“I won’t give you this ninja tool,” Darui said.

“I don’t need ninja tools, I need what’s inside. I’ll return it to you when I’m done using it, since you want it so much,” Obito said softly. Just then, Shikamaru’s Shadow Imitation Technique instantly controlled Obito.

"After using up the Nine-Tails' chakra from the Gold and Silver Brothers on the front lines, they planned to seal their Nine-Tails' chakra into that big guy," Shikamaru said as he appeared.

“It seems there are still a few smart people in the Allied Forces,” Obito said slowly. “Am I right?” Shikamaru asked softly.

"It's a bit of a shame that you're an enemy," Obito said, looking at Shikamaru.

Chapter 190: The First Day

Just then, the Gedo Mazo overcame the obstacle of the yellow earth and charged straight towards Obito. Its enormous body forced Darui and Shikamaru to scramble to avoid it.

Taking advantage of this moment, Obito disappeared with the amber bottle containing the Gold and Silver Horns, along with the Gedo Mazo that turned into smoke.

They retreated? The allied ninjas stared in disbelief at the suddenly vanished Gedo Mazo. Only Shikamaru and Darui understood that something terrible had happened.

In the woods next to the Akatsuki headquarters, the Gedo Mazo stood quietly, while Obito stood in the Gedo Mazo's palm, with the stolen Amber Purification Bottle behind him.

"This war cannot afford to fail; we must proceed with extreme caution. The long-held vision, the Eye of the Moon Project, will finally be realized tomorrow," Obito murmured to himself, gazing at the bright moon in the sky.

On the other side, in a cave, Orochimaru sat quietly on the ground, with Itachi, resurrected through Edo Tensei, standing beside him.

"It seems he has already obtained the Gold Horn and Silver Horn. Although this is a bit hasty, let's proceed according to plan. I'll keep my pieces for now," Orochimaru muttered to himself.

Immediately afterwards, all the Reanimation Jutsu ninjas scattered across the battlefield returned to their coffins and disappeared from the spot, including Granny Chiyo and Hanzo of the Salamander, who were being faced by the surprise attack team.

Kakashi's Third Division confronts the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. The Four Kage of the past stand in a standoff on Battlefield B.

“I hope it’s really as you say,” the weasel asked.

"You believe me now, don't you?" Orochimaru looked at Itachi and said with a smile.

Naturally, he didn't completely trust Orochimaru. He had an incredibly powerful backup plan. If Orochimaru was telling the truth, this plan would be used against that person; if Orochimaru was lying, then this plan would be used against Orochimaru.

At this moment on the battlefield, the Edo Tensei user Mo suddenly disappeared, causing all the Allied Shinobi to breathe a sigh of relief. "The sand didn't react; they must have already retreated," Gaara said softly, opening his eyes.

“Since it’s a resurrection, the best strategy is to continue fighting by leveraging the advantage of immortality,” Onoki said, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Although no battle has taken place, their mere presence is a huge threat to the Allied Forces," the Fourth Generation Ai said seriously. "We don't know when they'll launch an attack; the lack of action is actually more troublesome," Mei Terumi said, frowning.

“You guys go down first, I’ll stay alert for a while longer,” said the Fourth Generation A. “Me too, I’ll observe from here a bit more,” said Mei Terumi.

Of the four Kage, the Tsuchikage is an old man, the Kazekage is a child, and the Raikage and Mizukage voluntarily took on the task of keeping watch. Gaara and Onoki walked down the mountain.

Matsuri brought Gaara a wet towel along with a yukata.

“Master, please use it. In this weather, we must conserve our strength,” Ji said.

Gaara shook his head, looked at Onoki, and said, "Give this to him first." "Auntie, you mean this short old man?" Yukata asked curiously.

“Foolish yukata, this is Lord Tsuchikage,” Cha hurriedly said, then handed the wet coins to Onoki.

As night fell, after the Allied Forces cleaned up the battlefield, the ninjas held a grand banquet to celebrate their hard-won victory. "Where are my ninja tools? Give them back to me!" Tenten, already drunk, tugged at Ino's sleeve and whispered.

"Didn't I say we couldn't use it?" Ino replied sternly. Using that banana leaf fan every day had caused considerable side effects, making Namino very...

They were worried, so they confiscated it.

"Yada~, that was really useful, it's such a pity," Tiantian said in a slightly coquettish tone.

Darui and Shikamaru did not attend the banquet. After vaguely guessing Obito's plan, the two were very worried. At this moment, Yotsuchi also came over.

“I have already informed them that Madara has taken the headquarters' ninja tools, and the tailed beast's chakra has been stolen. What a mess,” Darui said to Huangtu. “If only I had thought of that sooner…” Shikamaru was also quite annoyed at this moment.

"No. You all did a great job. There's nothing we could do if we couldn't stop them. In short, we've repelled the enemy today," Huang Tu comforted him. (Cloud Ninja Village)

Haiyi removed his intelligence device, his face extremely grim, and said, "About 40,000 out of 80,000 are the number of ninjas who fell in the Allied Forces today."

Aoya slowly stood up and said, "5 out of 10 sides, that's the number of enemies defeated today." "Both sides lost half their forces." Shikaku frowned slightly.

“But we have living, breathing people on our side, while the other side…” Haiyi’s tone was incredibly heavy. Meanwhile, on the other side…

Naruto, Killer Bee, and Kushina are rushing over.

“Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, for convenient lighting,” Killer Bee said with a smile, looking at Naruto who was shining brightly in front of him.

“Although Naruto has learned the Nine-Tails Mode, his relationship with the Nine-Tails is not harmonious. The Nine-Tails is still continuously absorbing Naruto’s chakra, but in order to let Naruto get used to the Nine-Tails’ chakra state, it can only be maintained like this.” Kushina said with great concern.

“Don’t worry, Naruto is very motivated right now. As long as he absorbs the Nine-Tails’ chakra one more time before his chakra runs out, everything will be fine,” Killer Bee said.

"This is the only way." Kushina was still very uneasy. At this moment, she was inside Naruto's body.

Kurama was sensing Naruto's physical condition.

"You recklessly use my chakra. I will always be inside you, always watching you, Naruto. You'll always be so naive," Kurama said. "It seems my chakra has restored much of your health. It's quite rare, Kurama. You rarely speak; I know you're lonely and want to find..."

"Let's chat, but I'm busy right now, we'll talk later," Naruto said to Kurama.

"You really think you can end the war single-handedly? That's impossible. You've vaguely sensed the enemy's strength, haven't you? Besides, you know Madara's methods..."

Knowing that it would be difficult to predict his actions, I decided to use my power... The Nine-Tails revealed its true nature.

"I won't fall for your tricks," Naruto said, turning his head away with a haughty air.

"Hahahaha, it seems you've gotten smarter." Kurama laughed, looked at Naruto, and said.

"Let's talk after the battle. Gana, I'm leaving now." Naruto turned around, waved, and disappeared into the mental space.

"If your comrades are killed, hatred will follow. Do you want to defeat all your enemies before that happens? In any case, defeating your enemies means bearing their hatred. Do you really think you can shoulder that responsibility?" Nine-Tails stood up, brandishing its nine tails, and said.

"Don't always underestimate me," Naruto said, turning around with utmost seriousness.

"You don't understand at all, you're too naive. Can you really erase all hatred and shoulder all of this?" Nine-Tails said angrily.

“He really doesn’t understand, and he’s really naive, but he might actually be able to bear the hatred you’re talking about.” Just then, a clear female voice suddenly came.

At this moment, Naruto's eyes were lifeless.

Nine-Tails also noticed this side and looked around the spiritual space.

At this moment, in the mental space, Naruto and Killer Bee stopped moving and stood on a large tree, completely calm.

"Naruto? Killer Bee?" Kushina called out hastily, sensing something was wrong. But neither of them responded.

"Don't worry, they're alright." Mashiro suddenly appeared behind Kushina and said softly. "Mashiro, what are you doing here?" Kushina asked in confusion.

"Shh, wait for me a moment." Mashiro held up a finger to Kushina's lips and whispered, then closed her eyes.

At that moment, in Naruto's mental space, Mashiro appeared out of thin air in front of Kurama. "We meet again, Kurama."

Chapter 191: Izumi and Itachi

"You are... a brat from the Hyuga clan?" Kurama asked, his face fierce as he looked at Mashiro who had suddenly appeared.

"Nine-Tails, what kind of person is Naruto in your eyes?" Mashiro asked softly. "What?" Nine-Tails asked, somewhat puzzled.

Mashiro's eyes instantly turned into light blue Rinnegan as he stared straight at Kurama, saying, "Your heart must be very complicated, facing Naruto. After all, in some ways, he is very similar to the Sage of Six Paths."

"What are you looking at?! What's your relationship with the Six Paths Elder?" Nine-Tails roared.

"Hamura once told me that Kurama was a crybaby. Is it resentment that turned you into what you are now?" Mashiro said softly. "This name... you do know the old man." Kurama's expression calmed down.

"Perhaps there are other things I can't tell you, but Hamura needs your strength, so try to trust Naruto. He will give you the answer you want." Mashiro looked at Kurama and said seriously.

“The answer.” Nine-Tails’ tone was somewhat deep.

Mashiro smiled and disappeared from Naruto's mental space.

In reality, Mashiro gently opened her eyes and then reached out to hug Kushina. "Did you miss me?" Mashiro asked softly.

"I don't even want to think about you," Kushina said, her face slightly flushed.

Seeing this, Mashiro chuckled and asked, "Naruto should know about your relationship by now, right?" Kushina nodded gently.

“That’s good. I will reveal your identity after the war,” Mashiro said softly. “We’ll see then,” Kushina said somewhat flusteredly.

For some reason, she didn't want to return to her identity as Kushina Uzumaki, because if she did, she would become very far removed from Mashiro.

"How did you end up here? And you suddenly took control of Naruto and Killer Bee. You startled me," Kushina asked.

"It's nothing, just adding a safety net to ensure things go smoothly," Mashiro said softly. "How's the battle going?" Kushina nodded and continued to ask.

"Of the 80,000 allied troops, 40,000 were killed or wounded, and of the 100,000 enemy troops, 50,000 were defeated. On the surface, it should be an evenly matched contest, but in reality, the allied forces were at a disadvantage," Mashiro said softly.

Hearing these numbers, Kushina frowned slightly; this war was far more brutal than she had imagined.

"Don't worry, Naruto will be alright. He's already activated Nine-Tails Mode, and almost no one can defeat him in a short time," Mashiro said softly, seeing the worry deep in Kushina's heart.

"While I am worried about Naruto, I respect his choice. I understand his heart. What makes me uneasy is how many more orphans this sudden war will create," Kushina said.

Mashiro did not answer.

He gently kissed Kushina on the cheek and said, "It will be over soon, I promise." Then he disappeared into Kushina's shadow.