“...Uchiha Flame Formation!”

Tobi slams his hand onto the rocky, battle-scarred ground. A cylindrical barrier of bright red flames arise, enveloping the Gedo Statue in a protective manner as the Eight-Tails lunges at it with a mighty right hook. The tailed beast’s fist makes contact with a loud thud, but the barrier stands strong with no visible signs of damage. However, what does happen is that the Eight–Tails’ hand is instantly set ablaze.

“Hot! HOT!! HOT!!!” Killer Bee screeches, swiftly pulling his hand back.

A concerned Naruto shouts, “Are you alright, Octopops and Eight-o?!”

“Do I look it?!”

The giant octopus hurriedly fans his burning hand.

“He’s erected a barrier. We have no choice, but to tackle the masked guy first.” Might Guy deduces the situation with one glance at the statue.

“That was always the plan.” Jin speaks up. That’s odd… one of the chakras here is getting stronger, a fuckton stronger…

This Jin knows full well he is nothing, but a shadow clone, an expendable unit, a pawn. Despite knowing this, he stands strong with the titular character and his supporting cast; they need all the help they can get at the moment.

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We need to remove Menma from the equation, but how…? Rito analyzes the state of the fight from on high.

The young boy stands atop a crystal dragon that flies over everyone's' heads, circling over them. It soars through the air like a snake slithers on the ground with an oscillating motion.

Based on Jin’s memories, the Limited Tsukuyomi is sustained by that bloody crystal ball… Rito’s sight falls on the catalyst for Tobi’s jutsu.

The crystalline sphere floats ominously in the air, a dull red light emanates from its translucent core.

I need that mongrel, Tobi distracted before I can even get near that ball. How am I gonna--?! Oh… that’ll work.

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“You underestimate the Sharingan! I can read your movements.” Tobi has just caught both of Guy’s nunchucks. “I’ll keep these…”

Tobi proceeds to suck up the nunchucks with his eye when he notices Guy smirking. Naruto leaps over the Blue Beast with a Rasengan in hand; Jin appears right behind the Akatsuki leader with a Rasengan of his own. The two ninja try to crush Tobi with their jutsu in a pincer attack, but they both pass through him and their attacks disappear.

Tobi finds this confusing, he is unsure whether or not if this is a feint; all he knows is that he didn’t do anything to make their jutsu disappear. He doesn’t dwell on it as two small explosions suddenly go off on his person, one on the back of his right shoulder while the other one is on his stomach. Tobi can’t even react to the pain as he is sent away like a ragdoll, only stopping when he crashes into a large rock.

*CRACKLE*

Everyone who heard the peculiar sound all gaze up, Rito is seen riding upon his crystal dragon. The dragon is currently diving straight down with its maw opened wide. The dragon leaves a trail of glistening crystal dust that mingles and mixes with the smoke and dust from the battlefield. With the grace of a gazelle, Rito’s dragon lunges for the crystal ball Tobi had thrown into the air and grabs it with its mouth.

The crystalline reptile holds the ball firmly between its large, jagged fangs. The pressure from its teeth increases to the point that cracks begin to form all over the ball's surface. The ball gives and countless shards are sent flying in multiple directions, Rito smiles in satisfaction.

“One less to worry about! No more crystal ball, no more enemy reinforcements!!” Rito shouts in elation, turning to face his allies. He gives them a thumbs up.

“You da man, Rito!!” Jin gives a thumbs up back. “Now go help Ayanami and the real me!”

“On my way!”

As Rito begins to fly off, Tobi throws several sharp wooden spikes with the Wood Style: Cutting Sprigs jutsu. However, they are all shot down by a giant fireball and subsequently burned to ash. Tobi’s eyes fall on the one who shot down his projectiles, Jin.

“Don’t worry about him, Tobi. Just talk to me.” Jin proudly stares down the Akatsuki leader with a smug grin. “I have questions for you. For starters: What was it like being crushed by all those rocks? How’d it feel to give your right eye up?”

“...?!” Tobi glares intently at Jin, his eyes squint.

Tension in the air skyrockets with all eyes focused on the red-headed Uzumaki, the mystery behind the Akatsuki leader has everyone interested in what Jin is asking. Jin slowly gets drunk on the drama, attention, and the ever rising tension.

“Jin, what’re you talking about?” Kakashi queries. “What do you know?”

The Copy Ninja’s eyes widen with realization, but he doesn’t want to believe what Jin is implying; he refuses to believe.

Jin ignores Kakashi and continues talking. “Don’t feel like answering that? Then what was it like to watch your childhood crush get impaled? How does it feel to be solely responsible for your master and his wife’s deaths? Tell me, man. I. Am. DYING. To know.”

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On the other side of the battlefield, Jin and Ayanami satisfyingly gaze at the aftermath of their battle. A large, smoldering crater is the result of Jin hammering away at Menma with numerous Rasengans. Menma lies motionless at the very center of the indentation; however their contention vanishes the moment Menma disappears in a puff of smoke.

“A clone? How did we miss that?” An annoyed Jin facepalms.

“Well… we saved Naruto, that’s a good thing.” Ayanami tries to cheer her friend up.

Jin gives her a side glance. “You’re a real glass half-full kind of person, ain‘cha?”

The leaf kunoichi shrugs with a smile.

“LOOK OUT BELOW!”

The two shinobi look up as Rito lands between them, his and his dragon’s combined weight coupled with the speed of their descent causes the ground to shake and crack.

“Hey, Rito. What brings you to our neck of the woods?” Jin greets the boy.

“Your clone told me to help you--and I think this might do the trick.” Rito reaches into his bag. “Back when the White Zetsu army attacked the camps, I took advantage of the confusion and swiped a few of these...”

The young genius pulls out a couple of pills and hands them to Jin and Ayanami. Jin eats his while Ayanami examines hers.

“Food pills?”

“Nah yeah, these are the ones that restore chakra. Thank the Ninja Alliance for labeling their supplies so meticulously.” Rito takes a pill for himself.

Ayanami takes her own pill and eats it; she is disappointed by its lackluster taste. As she swallows, she senses an evil chakra headed right for them, specifically Jin.

“Jin, look out!”

Jin senses the chakra too when Ayanami warns him, he quickly builds up chakra and activates his susanoo. Something does hit the ribcage on its left side, Jin turns to see what hit him were finger bones. The finger bones didn’t actually touch Jin, but they did pierce through the ribcage and are sticking out on the other side with cracks forming around where they hit.

They all turn to face their attacker, Menma. The masked man is seen holding his arms out with his fingers all pointing at Jin, he lowers them now that he has their attention. Ayanami, Jin, and Rito brace themselves for the coming fight.

“Last I checked, you don’t have Shikotsumyaku. What happened?” Jin breaks the silence.

“An early birthday gift to myself you could say, thank you for defeating Mizuki.” Menma’s tone is cold yet gleeful. “I have no interest in you three, but if you insist on getting in my way… You will die as well!”

Rito steps forward. “How are you still here? I shattered Tobi’s crystal ball, why aren’t you disappearing back to La La Land?!”

Menma doesn’t answer, he raises his right hand and gathers chakra into it. The chakra forms into a black and dark purple Rasengan-like orb of chakra surrounded by a series of white rings of chakra that orbit the main sphere. These rings then align into one disc-like shape around the orb, causing the rings to resemble planetary rings.

Wait--Rito broke the ball, but he’s still here and he has Kimimaro’s kekkei gen--Holy hell! Putting two-and-two together, Jin is overcome with fear and outrage. “Knngh! FUCK!!”

Jin surges with chakra, the very ground trembles due to Jin’s raging chakra; while he is upset over Menma’s increase in power, the real thing that’s causing his outburst is his lack of control over the situation. He holds out his right hand and forms a Fire Style: Gelel Rasenshuriken.

“Calm down, Jin! Why are you screaming?!” Rito calls out as he is forced to step back.

“Even in death, Mizuki tries to screw us over!! Menma managed to anchor himself to our reality by absorbing Mizuki, he’s even more of a threat than he already was now… HRAAAAGH!!”

Jin impatiently leaps high into the air, Menma follows suit; both prepare themselves for what is about to happen. While he hates the very idea of even risking losing his arm, Jin has to defeat Menma before he gets even an iota stronger; Jin knows his arm will grow back if it is blown off, but it’s the pain from the probable injury itself Jin is worried about. It feels like time itself has slowed down as the two get closer and closer, they can feel the wind being blown from each other’s jutsu.

Knowing he is close enough, Jin braces himself and shoves his hand forward as Menma mirrors Jin’s movements; their jutsu collide. Their clashes send out powerful waves of chakra that scar the immediate vicinity, incinerating everything nearby, Ayanami has to jump away to safety with Rito in her arms. Jin struggles to keep his hand steady as he tries to gain ground. Sparks violently fly out of the point of impact as Jin and Menma smash their attacks more and more into each other, the sparks coupled with the waves of chakra slowly swirl around the two adversaries and condense into a sphere of energy. The sphere emits a light that burns brighter and brighter with each passing second.