The Might of the God Tree

Naruto's golden light was like a flickering lamp in the darkness.

He stood at the very front of the line, his hands still held in a hand seal. The markings of Sage Mode flickered across his face—not because he lacked Chakra, but because he was pushing himself beyond his limits to sustain three things at once: the continuous gathering of senjutsu Chakra, the Nine-Tails Chakra cloak covering his body, and the golden light protecting what remained of the Allied Forces. Those three powers tore at each other inside him, every meridian stretched like a bowstring held over fire, ready to snap at any moment.

His breathing had turned into short, mechanical gasps. His lungs felt like a crushed bellows, every expansion accompanied by an ache in his breastbone.

"Naruto!" Kurama's voice exploded in his mind, more urgent than ever. "You can't keep this up! Your meridians have already begun to reverse—the Chakra is flowing backward, and your heart—"

"I know." Naruto cut him off. His voice was forced from his throat, so hoarse it was nearly inaudible. His eyes remained fixed ahead, fixed on the God Tree that was growing at a visible rate.

The God Tree was getting taller.

It was not a metaphor, nor an exaggeration. Its trunk was stretching toward the sky at several meters per minute. The ancient sealing patterns on its bark peeled away layer by layer like a shedding snake, revealing patterns beneath that were deeper and even more ancient. Above the clouds, its crown spread in every direction, its branches reaching down from the sky like countless greedy hands clawing toward the ground. New buds grew at the tip of every branch, opening faster and faster. The process from blooming to releasing purple-black Chakra pulses had shrunk from dozens of seconds to less