A Punch Shatters the Mask! Obito Breaks Down Under Naruto's Scolding, Black Zetsu Betrays Madara!

On the southern main battlefield, fierce winds whipped about, carrying a heavy stench of blood.

Madara Uchiha stood atop a high cliff, looking down coldly. Deep within the rock beneath his feet, a viscous, chilling aura was silently rising. Madara paid it no mind, assuming his Ten-Tails Fruit had finally fully ripened.

"Obito's little performance is over," Madara said with a curl of his lips, crossing his arms with the air of someone holding certain victory.

Below, Naruto wiped muddy water from his chin. Mind's Eye of the Kagura told him Kakashi's chakra was rapidly weakening. He had no time to deal with that ancient fossil yammering away on the cliff.

"Quit spewing bullshit, old bastard!" Naruto shouted back without even lifting his head. He dropped into a firm stance, and the rock beneath his feet cracked into powder.

More than a dozen pale Ten-Tails spawn howled as they pounced, opening fang-filled jaws to tear Naruto apart.

"Get lost!" Pure golden light exploded from Naruto's body. A brutal chakra shockwave blasted the monsters into the sky, pulverizing them into chunks of flesh before they even fell.

He closed his eyes. Rather than forcibly activating the life-threatening Six Paths Observation State, he sank his consciousness directly into the sealing space.

"Kurama!"

Behind the iron gate, the massive Nine-Tails Big Fox bared his teeth, two tails slapping the water impatiently. "I've been ready! That fake has nothing but defective goods stuffed in his belly. Let's drag them out!"

The Ten-Tails outside had always been a patchwork monstrosity cobbled together from scraps. Obito had relied on the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to forcibly stuff it into his own body. But Naruto had long since come into contact with the various Tailed Beasts and retained seeds of their chakra. It was like