---

“Madara’s launching the Infinite Tsukuyomi! We need to get back to the others!” Sasuke warns.

“I can see that…” Jin wittily retorts. “Tell me something I don’t know, Captain Obvious!”

Jin and Sasuke immediately flew away the moment they saw the moon turn red and gain Rinne Sharingan markings, they hurriedly dive back to their allies as fast as they possibly can. The two Susano’o flap their wings as much as they can.

Blood roars in Jin’s ears, sweat runs down his brow, his body shivers down to its very core. As Shippuden nears its end, Jin worries not for himself, but for the friends he has made over his journey.

“When a person has something precious that they want to protect then they become genuinely strong.”

Jin can’t help but dwell on the advice Haku told Naruto, these words replay on loop in the Uzumaki’s mind like a broken record. He feels a most strange and unusual sensation bubbling up from deep within him.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Tailed Beast Bomb Rasenshuriken!!”

Naruto has his Truth-Seeker Orbs hover over his head, he then converts them all into Tailed Beast Bomb, and adds wind chakra to create the shuriken-like blades around each of them.

“Sage Art: Lightning Running Beast Jutsu!!”

Ayanami forms a Lightning Blade in her hand, the jutsu morphs and takes the form of a hound made entirely of electricity with a cord of lightning connecting to the hand of the kunoichi; the black lightning the jutsu generates is due Ayanami’s six paths sage chakra.

The two chakra cloaked ninja fire their attacks at the numerous oncoming planetoids rain down from above. Massive and brilliant explosions blanket the sky; Ayanami’s jutsu streaks through the air, shattering as many satellites that it can ram while Naruto’s Rasenshurikens detonate, reducing the remaining meteors to nothing, but pebbles and dust.

As the explosions begin to die down, Ayanami makes out two glowing dots in the sky; one is purple, the other is yellow. These dots quickly grow bigger and bigger with each passing microsecond, the dots morph into two ethereal warriors, they effortlessly evade the straggling explosions in their descent. These chakra avatars flap their large wings and execute a power-dive before coming to a complete stop before their respective groups; the moment they make contact with the ground, the tremors occur and the floor crumbles under their feet.

A stumbling Naruto shouts, “Sasuke, Jin! Watch your angle of descent! I could’ve hit you w–”

“Look, just shut up and stay still, alright!” Sasuke impatiently interrupts.

Sasuke’s Susano’o wings spread out and cover Team 7 like a cocoon while Jin has his own avatar crouch low to the ground. Ayanami watches as its golden angelic wings spread out wide, encompassing the team in a protective barrier. As her three-eyed friend drops, landing safely on the ground, the kunoichi peers outside the Susano’o and witnesses leftover debris from Madara’s Planetary Devastation fall all around them; even as the ground shakes, Ayanami maintains her footing.

“So… how long do we have to stay cooped up in your Susano’o?” Ayanami inquires.

Patting himself down, Jin stops and thinks. “I… I don’t really know, the manga never addressed that. …I THINK we’ll be here for a couple hours.”

“About 4 or so hours actually.” Echo corrects.

“What?!” Ayanami blurts with surprise.

Rito, in disbelief, stares at the time-traveler and bellows, “FOUR HOURS?! What do ya mean, 4 hours?”

“Yes.” The future Jin replies.

Echo finds a decently sized and dusts it off. He then joylessly takes a seat and waits patiently; he looks up once he realizes that everyone is staring at him.

“I suggest you all get comfy, we’re gonna be here awhile…”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Yeager diligently escorts Yoichi, a young feudal lord, and Shion, a priestess, back to the Land of Ogres; they are currently nearing the border of the Land of Swamps. At their current pace, they will have reached their destination by the day after tomorrow.

They encountered a few bandits along their journey, but Yeager quickly dealt with them. And as Jin instructed, the blonde ninja rummaged through their corpses for money and any other valuables as their would-be thieves no longer needed them.

“Are we there yet? My feet are killing me.” Shion whines, wasting energy.

Lagging behind the rest of the group, the exhausted priestess continues to drag her feet along. Sweat pours down her face as she gasps for air, this walk is the most physically taxing she has ever done in her entire life.

“We would be there sooner if you just let me carry you.” Yeager points out, rolling his eyes.

“No. You run too fast, and your back is really uncomfortable.” The priestess continues to complain. “You there. Carry me.”

“Uh, I’m the feudal lord of the Land of Ogres, you’re supposed to carry ME.” An annoyed Yoichi is quick to shut that down.

Before he was captured, Yoichi always made sure to exercise on a regular basis just to maintain the basic levels of physical fitness despite the many adamant protests from his servants; a brisk walk like this is no problem for him.

“Mein Gott, diese Göre ist furchtbar verwöhnt…” Yeager quietly mutters under his breath, massaging his temples. From what Jin told me, Naruto is the catalyst for her character development in the movie… But in this timeline, he doesn’t even know that she exists, let alone spoken to her.

“AAAAAIIIIIIIEEE!!”

Startled by Shion’s terrified scream, the two reincarnations are quick to turn around, the scrappy Yeager raises his fists and begins infusing chakra while Yoichi runs for the nearest bush, jumping into it.

“More bandits?!” Alert, Yeager scans the vicinity, looking for someone to hit.

“The moon!” A terrified Shion shouts.

Eye’s widening, the priestess’ jaw drops with sheer absolute horror and awe. The reincarnations watch as Shion slowly raises her trembling hand and points up. Yeager and Yoichi look up and see the full moon, but something is wrong with it; the moon itself has a blood red coloring with what appears to be the Rinnegan ripple patterns and nine tomoe.

“Oh… Don’t worry, everything’ll be fine.” Yeager states calmly.

As they know what will happen due to watching the anime, the reincarnations dismiss the moon with casual indifference; A facepalming Yoichi quietly exits the bush with a face red with embarrassment and Yeager leisurely finds a nearby log to sit on.

Still afraid, Shion skeptically looks back at Yeager. “Why do I find that hard to believe.”

“Look at it this way…” Yoichi tries to reassure the priestess with a bright and chipper attitude. “You’re about to have the BEST dream you’ve ever had.”

The moment the young lord finishes speaking, the moon changes color from red to a solid white, casting a brilliant light on them. The light being emitted is so bright that it can easily be mistaken for sunlight.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back at the Ninja Alliance headquarters, no one is working, no one is even moving. With the sudden emergence of a strange, piercing light outside, everyone stops in their tracks. Not a single sound is made, it is quieter than a graveyard.

Everyone simply stares at the moon with blank, emotionless expressions, Including Inoichi Yamanaka, the head of the Allied Shinobi Forces’ Intelligence Division drools at the mouth. As he slowly slips away into a deep sleep, thoughts of his family flood his mind.

“I-Ino… Jin…”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, as the team waits patiently for the Infinite Tsukuyomi to run its course, Jin is left in a state of perpetual discomfort; every cell in the Uzumaki’s body is sore from using the Susanoo. His healing factor is able to somewhat mitigate the pain, reducing the pain from fire, acid, and electricity to feeling like he has been pricked by countless cactus thorns.

C-Can’t believe I have to keep this up for 4 hours… Jin silently anguishes. Need to distract myself from the--what the–?!

The ground starts shaking again, Jin and the group sense powerful wood chakra coming from underground. They look out from inside Jin’s avatar and witness the roots of the Divine Tree blast out of the terrain, spreading all across the battlefield and beyond at ludicrous speeds. The team watches with disgust as some of the roots’ bark flake off and slither towards the many helpless Alliance shinobi, they coil up their victims’ bodies and quickly wrap around them, placing the slumbering ninjas in dangling cocoons.

Jin’s stomach churns as his discomfort has now skyrocketed as the mere sight of these cocoons remind him of a song he learned about in high school, it was sung by Billie Holiday in the 1950s and 1960s. This “distraction” had the exact opposite effect of what the Onikage wanted.

Focus, Jin! There’s no point in getting upset over the issues of a planet that’s literally dimensions away… A brooding Jin shakes his head clear thoughts concerning the real Earth. Okay, let’s see… Oh, yeah… all the reanimated Hokage are here…

The sage crouches down while placing his right index finger on the ground, molding chakra to sense his surroundings. Jin spreads his chakra out further and senses the chakra signatures of the cocooned shinobi all across the battlefield, he spreads his chakra out even further and detects the cocooned citizens of the Land of Lightning. Jin sends out even more chakra and further widens his search area until he eventually finds the one, he is looking for.

Teleported back to the Leaf like in the main timeline, eh, Minato? Jin thinks while activating his Mind Probe Jutsu, going through the list of sealing jutsu the Fourth Hokage knows. …the Four Symbols Seal… Eight Trigrams Seal, and… the Torii Seal? Hmmm? Eeny, meeny, miny--all of them!

Upon learning Minato’s jutsu, the corners of Jin’s mouth curve up, making a sly smile. If the team is unable to actually kill Moryo, they can seal him away instead as an insurance plan.

“Oi, Jin?” Rito asks, breaking the silence with a humorous tone. “About your costume change earlier… Should I either start calling you ‘Peter’ or ‘Eddie’?”

Mileena forms a mouth on Jin’s shoulder. “Heh heh heh…”

“You can call me either as long as I can call you ‘Jason’… Or do you prefer ‘Dick’?” Jin responds in kind.

“““Hahahahahahahaha…!””” Ayanami and Mileena burst out with laughter.

“HA HA HA!” Mecha-Naruto guffaws as well despite not getting the joke.

“Touché.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Half a year's worth of Infinite Tsukuyomi filler later, the piercing bright light of the ultimate genjutsu gradually grows dim before finally fading away, the dark of the night returns and spreads across the land. Sasuke’s Susano’o dissipates, telling Jin that the penultimate battle is upon them; likewise, Jin undoes his avatar.

“Finally!” A stretching Ayanami exclaims.

“Looks like that Zetsu guy wasn’t affected at all…” Naruto notes. “Sasuke, we gotta wake them all up from the genjutsu, but how?”

“With your tailed beast chakra, Naruto, and your Rinnegan, Sasuke, you simply need to make the ‘rat’ hand sign.” A shrugging Jin offhandedly remarks.

After hearing Jin’s words, Team 7 looks at the snake sage with surprise, their eyes as wide as saucers, even Sasuke glances suspiciously at Jin for a very brief moment.

Kakashi’s eyes squint. “Even if what you say is true… How could you possibly know that?”

Kakashi's query is met with dismissive silence as Jin’s attention is focused on Madara and Black Zetsu. Obito is seemingly unconscious as the pitch-black entity clings to his body.

“Do you think I’ll let you undo the Infinite Tsukuyomi? All that’s left is to get rid of you guys.” Black Zetsu scoffs at them with a sneer.

“Which *I*, the savior of the world shall do!”

Like a small meteor, Madara crash-lands right in front of Zetsu; the ground crumbles beneath the elder Uchiha’s feet at the moment of impact, kicking up a small thin dust cloud in the process.

In response to their threats, a black tendril sprouts suddenly from Jin’s left shoulder in fluid motion, the tip quickly increases in size, allowing for a pair of red eyes and a mouth to form.

“Hear me, old man. You go near my father, you die!” Mileena snarls, baring her razor-sharp fangs.

The tension in the air has immediately become so thick that it could crush a normal human being like a bug; Jin and Sasuke look around and see they are surrounded by Limbo Clones while Ayanami and Naruto can sense them. The air has become ripe with powerful chakra as the few remaining conscious people are all poised to attack.

Madara starts monologuing, “I won’t let you do anything else. I’ve just severed the karmic cycle of this world. I have–”

“You are BORING me to death with your hypocritical bullshit!” A scoffing Jin heckles. “Savior? HA! You ain’t no savior. You ain’t nothing, but another dime-a-dozen wannabe tyrant! A small, LITTLE man.”

“I’ve just ended the long history of fighting amongst shinobi. There are no men like me.” Madara argues with arms folded.

Ayanami stands strong before this madman. “There are always men like you.”

The Onikage facepalms before continuing. “And to think I was afraid of you when you appeared in that desert. How embarrassing…”

The Ghost of the Uchiha grimaces, the veins in his forehead bulge, and his hands shake with rage. Madara grabs one of his Truth-Seeker Orbs which transform into a gunbai, his weapon of choice.

“I’ve had just about enough of your insolence, foolish children! Black Zetsu, this is your last mission. Help me crush them.” Madara takes a deep breath and calms down.

“Yes, Lord Madara… IS THAT WHAT YOU THOUGHT I’D SAY?”

To everyone, but the reincarnations shock and surprise, Black Zetsu plunges his left hand through Madara’s chest; deeply addled and shocked by the unexpected betrayal, a wide eyed Madara is left speechless with blood trickling down from his mouth.

“B…Black Zetsu?! How dare you…” Madara angrily coughs.

“Heh heh heh…”

Jin lifts his head from his hands, revealing a smug grin as his expression. He cannot help but find Madara’s current predicament, his fall from grace, hilarious.

The Onikage sneers, “This is happening because you put your trust in the one being you shouldn’t trust. You thought yourself to be some ‘master planner’ but in reality, you were just a pawn in someone else’s scheme. A FOOTNOTE if you will.”

“Wh-What are… you… talking about?” Madara utters between coughs.

“It’s just as Jin says…” Black Zetsu goes on to explain. “My dear Madara, you have also been caught in a phantom dream, a dream that I crafted. My will doesn’t belong to you. My will is the will of Kaguya!”

“K-Kaguya?!” Madara blurts out with surprise towards this revelation.

“He just mentioned Kaguya…!” Sasuke speaks with dread.

Sakura asks, “Kaguya? Who’s that?”

“Kaguya Otsutsuki is the mother of the Sage of Six Paths.” Ayanami answers, keeping her eyes trained on Madara.

“GWAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!! GWAAAAAAAARGH!” Madara screams in agony.

Massive amounts of chakra erupt from the ground like geysers, it all goes pouring into the Ghost of the Uchiha; the chakra geysers force everyone to leap back, their eyes still trained on Madara. His candle white body quickly inflates as if it were a balloon due to the sheer amount of chakra being absorbed with what look like large tumors bursting out of his cloak.

“This chakra… it feels comparable to Moryo’s!” A tense Ayanami ascertains, infusing her own chakra.

“I sense that--hell, I can SEE that!” Jin retorts.

“FINALLY!! SOON, I WILL ATTAIN ULTIMATE POWER! UNLIMITED POWER!!!”

Jin and Ayanami look up and watch a howling Moryo dive from above, the ecstatic demon elegantly lands some distance away, his claws eagerly digging into the ground with anticipation. The reincarnations notice that all of his superficial wounds have healed, the one head the Naruto severed is still missing.

Jin immediately turns his attention back to witness Black Zetsu slowly melt off Obito’s body and coat Madara’s. Naruto and Sasuke ran ahead to try and prevent Kaguya’s revival but were quickly ensnared by Madara’s hair.

Chakra proceeds to pour into Madara who continues to swell as Black Zetsu slowly spreads across the elder Uchiha’s bloated body. The mass of flesh stops inflating and quickly shrinks down; except for Moryo, everyone goes dead silent with dread.

Madara is gone and in his place, stands a pale-skinned woman with soft facial features. She has extremely long, sweeping white hair. She possesses white clear eyes, and her eyebrows are cut very short and round--a symbol of nobility, and she wears a red shade of lipstick on her lips. Most noticeable, she possesses two brown horns that stick out from her head and a Rinne Sharingan in the center of her forehead. She wears a high-collared hime-kimono which has tomoe running down the center and edges of the gown, adorned with intricate gold and purple lines.

“Kaguya…”