History Repeated: Double the Trouble

How long has it been?

One of the Uchiha's unknown members, Yoshida walked in the blistering desert. The light of the sun glimmered on the sand grains, making the horizon shift and waver with heat and resemble somewhat of a mirage. The young Uchiha knew to rendezvous with at least three other shinobi in order to revisit him. The last time they encountered, Yoshida and company were lucky to leave in a single piece. However, this time, the outcome will be different.

"I'm ready for you this time."

Chosuchi had gained weight again, recently bringing himself back to the full mass he had prior to his last fight. He had lost quite a bit of weight during that fight, but had landed the only substantial hit on either side during the whole skirmish against that man. He had a bit of his chakra stolen, which was probably still weaved into that seal, but no real harm had come to him.

Currently, he was up for another meeting, with some faces from the past. He trudged through the desert, water bottle in hand. This sand would make things interesting, screwing up footwork, though his current weight allowed him to walk without worrying about the stability of the ground. Today would be interesting, that he could say in the least.

Ace was travelling through the large desert, planing to meet with several other shinobi at the rendezvous point. He was very eager to fight Seireitou again, with the shinobi having devastated him in their last battle. Ace scanned the horizon for the rest of his fellow comrades, having spotting one of them already. Ace knew he'd be pushed to his uttermost limits in the event that would soon take place. "It won't be easy like last time..." Ace told himself as he continued walking. "He won't battle like he did last time, and neither will I..." Ace said aloud as he dashed forward. "My father always told me there was a time and place for everything... I guess this is the place, and the time must be quickly approaching..." Ace thought as he manifesting spikes on his arms and back; signs of his demonic form.

Extravagant methods weren't opted by Seireitou Hyūga this time around. In fact, as he was approaching the location for this incredible battle that was supposedly to occur, he chose merely to walk along the sandy plains of this region as though he were an elder enjoying a daily stroll in a park. His thoughts were quite empty and silent — not out of anxiety or nervousness, but out of simple calmness. He knew the opponents that were awaiting him up ahead and it did not strike even a single chord in his thoughts to invoke worry. If anything, Seireitou hoped that these opponents that had the bravery to challenge him like this would provide him with an enjoyable battle of souls.

Sannoto strolled along the desert sands, losing his footing in the malleable ground. He hated sand, unless it was dressed with women wearing bikinis. That was good sand. Finally, making it up the sandy hill, he saw other shinobi standing before him. He waved his hand, grinning and yelling, "Hey, I made it!". He was celebrating that he had made it. First challenge complete. Several shinobi grouped together, standing before one single shinobi. He must've been him. Seireitou Hyūga, the man that Sannoto had been called to fight against. "Hey, you!" he called, pointing towards Sei. "You banged my mom!"

Earlier that day...

"What Ni-San can I come, can I please come?!" A young girl shouted to the top of her lungs, as she sat in a man's legs. "Lord Shingi, please allow us to at least come." A broad man came strolling around corner, getting closer to both the man and the younger girl. Picking the young girl from his lap, then to the floor, he looked up at them. "Amaya, Raido, you two aren't needed today. Instead, I need you guys to run things here that is all." Heading towards the door, he exited the room. "If things get bumpy, promise me you'll summon us." Shingi continue out, without a single word.

Making his way to the given location, he began to take note of his setting. "Why couldn't Yoshida pick somewhere more suiting? Like a village or something. Destruction would have much more meaningful if we could see the things just fall." After a while, Shingi finally reached his destination. He looked around, and he could tell that the group was semi-prepared. Walking to each team member, he exchange a high five. Like an exchange of good luck. Looking up a Seireitou, Shingi smiled. "Is this him, almighty Seireitou Hyūga. So, where's Ryun? I'm sure you can start this without him, no?" Shingi's smile took over his face completely, his tongue slipped from his teeth. Emphasizing his snake-like persona.

Ryun Uchiha's arrival was less than extravagant. Arriving from seemingly out of nowhere, the Uchiha shinobi touched down on a large rock overhang, just beside his rival Seireitou. Not even a month had passed since the two's last confrontation. Ryun had to admit that he wasn't expecting to see Seireitou this soon again, but when the silver-haired man had informed him that they'd been challenged, Ryun had immediately made his way to the predetermined battlefield. In the plains below him, Ryun spotted several familiar faces. Even more familiar was the chakra his Rinnegan could see as clear as day. Sighing to himself, Ryun crossed his arms nonchalantly and casually surveyed the amassed challengers. The group was the same as last time. Their power had increased and a few new shinobi were among them, but Ryun didn't feel threatened. Few things gave him that sense of apprehension any longer. Instead, he turned his gaze to Seireitou, who had yet to acknowledge his arrival.

"So these are our opponents?" Ryun asked casually. "I see. It's been awhile since you and I fought side-by-side." Smirking, Ryun unfolded his arms, transforming one of his s into his signature shakujō. "Very well then. Let us reminisce upon a time when you and I were old war comrades."

"Whoa, whoa! Cut! Ryun, I'm sure you realize that there are four ninja here to battle you, right?" Yoshida piped up. He jokingly pouted and folded his arms. "But in all seriousness, let's get this going." He said, manifesting his Sharingan. "But I'd love to get to know you're friend afterwards."

"He possesses the truth-seeking ball... This will definitely make things a lot more interesting..." thought Ace as he analyzed the legendary uchiha with his eyes. Looking right next to him, Ace took note of Sei. Ace closed his eyes, opening them up seconds later, now in his Mantis Shrimp Sage Mode. Looking back at the 2 men off in the distance, he could clearly see their chakra in all of its glory. "The Byakugan may be special, but these eyes are too..." said Ace as he focused chakra around his body before surpressing it into a barrier, repeating the process several more times. "Well team, what's the plan?" Ace asked as he touched everyone, registering their chakra frequencies, as to not get them confuced if they shifted during the battle.

Chosuchi saw all these people manifesting their special eyes of specialness, while he could not. He pulled out a bag of chips out of his pocket, and started munching on them while the rest of group stared threateningly at each other. "I thought there were 5 of us," he mumbled as he continued to eat his snack. They were sweet and sour flavored potato chips, and they were good.

Seireitou's Byakugan immediately pulsed into being, with a thunderous albeit subtle roar, as the cold white eyes took gazes at each of the challengers for brief moments. These were eyes that knew no equal when it came to acquiring visual knowledge from observation. All the world, but rivers and streams of energy that could be studied and read as though one were reading from a textbook. And from those flows of energy, all the information that could ever be gleaned from a lifetime of study was made available to the elder Hyūga master in mere moments.

The first observed was Yoshida. A young child, not even of drinking age. His clothing suggested a sense of comfortability with himself, an untucked shirt implying an almost uncaring attitude regarding his physical appearance, with a slight tinge of poor self-esteem based on his facial expression and how he carried himself in front of others. An Uchiha, clearly, by the feel of his chakra. Strong values, yet life has taught him the unfairness of reality and just how suddenly... life can take a hell of a downward spiral. The second was Chosuchi. An Akimichi based on chakra alone. But a feeling of difference when compared to purebred clan members. Physically different than the Akimichi as well. This suggested a deformity, perhaps he was mocked for it? But deeper in, with a clean observation, the immense mass that was hid by the slim shape made things even more clear. The third was Ace, a familiar face. Seireitou needed not to spend much time observing an opponent he had already faced once before. The fourth was... this obnoxious man named Sannoto. Upon arriving, and hearing the blonde man's ridiculous accusations almost made the silver-haired man chuckle with amusement. Not much to determine there, but if Seireitou knew anything, it was the boisterous ones to be wary. The fifth and final one was this one named Shingi. Set apart from the others, this one appeared rather reserved; almost noble. Though, that was merely based upon the clothes, but underneath the attire, a childish one prone to cover his insecurities with tomfoolery. Just as Sannoto, that one needed to be watched as well. And with that, he finally decided to speak directly to the people standing before him.

"A boy lost in emotions, an Akimichi deformity, a child holding powers he knows not of, a foolish pervert, and a monk with his head far too up his own ass... Misfits joining together with misfits in the hopes of compensating for each other's vulnerabilities... It is almost poetic." the silver-haired man declared, taking a step forward swiftly as the ground itself began to crack apart at that point. He spread his arms out, allowing a black aura to surround his arms from his fingers straight up toward his shoulders, forming a hand seal that allowed for the creation of two clones that stood on either side of him, as he crossed his arms across his chest. "This will be quite the soiree, my friend." he spoke once again, addressing Ryun.

Sannoto pulled a scroll from his pocket and opened it. Smoke filled the air, releasing a large, cleaver-like blade of the same proportion as the famed Zabuza Momochi once wielded. “Sugari no Ontachi”, the Senju man muttered to himself as he gripped the handle of the sword. He glanced over to Chosuchi and smiled, indicating that he had some interaction with the Akimichi Clan Leader sometime before. Then, he focused his attention to the rest of the group. “Alright boys,” he started, “The plan is simple. Chosuchi and I will take care of Seireitou, and the rest will go after Ryun.” Before awaiting a response, the latter stepped forward. Pointing his blade towards the three Seireitou men, he grinned. “Consider this payback for banging my mom,”.

Forming a handseal, Sannoto released another percentage of chakra in his body. Typically, he had three seals to restrain the amount of chakra he could use at one time, but for these opponents he would need all of it. Starting from his feet, his chakra surrounded him in a spherical shape with he being the center. Five feet in radius, the amount of chakra being released was massive. The earth trembled, pebbles levitated off of the ground and into the air. The very energy being released wisped throughout the wind, causing it to screech from the sheer amount of pressure his chakra was giving off.

The Opening Act
Seireitou rolled his eyes at Sannoto's obvious attempts at a taunt. But what later earned the Senju a smirk from the silver-haired man was the extravagant release of chakra that Sannoto had began emitting after drawing forth his special weapon. Seireitou's first move was not a wasted one. He had released the black aura of his will into the air around him which soon spread out. It would cover a vast area but not strong enough to offensively strike his opponents. The real purpose behind it was simple. Seireitou was experienced, seasoned; he knew the flashy tricks shinobi such as them would pull off. And flashy tricks meant enormous unnecessary releases of chakra. When chakra is released so carelessly, it becomes free and spread out, making it harder for its master to hold onto it effortlessly. Simply enough, Seireitou anticipated such a massive expenditure of chakra, from at least a couple of his opponents anyways, and would take advantage of their flashiness. His will would latch onto whatever chakra was released into the air carelessly by Sannoto, dominating whatever small portion of will Sannoto would have within them that could have been used as a trap, allowing Seireitou to turn Sannoto's own freely released chakra into neutral chakra and then absorbing it into his own supply. The entire process was subtle and slow, but continued at a perpetual rate as Seireitou was essentially siphoning off Sannoto's chakra now that he created a pathway allowing it to take place, meaning Sannoto would need all of his attention before fully understanding what was happening. But Seireitou would not allow him the chance.

It was at that moment that both of Seireitou's clones sprung into action. They would not afford Sannoto nor any opponent that dared challenge the Sixth Hokage foolishly a moment to consider the situation. The clone on Seireitou's left began to form a medley of hand seals, as several flaring balls of intense heat surrounded his body and were launched out into the air. Simultaneously, the clone on Seireitou's right formed a different set of hand seals and began to perform a blowing action, a massive coil of flames erupting from his open mouth. The flames began to dance around the scorch release balls and actually consumed them in the path of their dancing, with both clones matching one another's chakra frequencies so that they could collaborate and combine their techniques. "Now then... Blast Wave Wild Dance... Scorch style!" thought the main body of Seireitou as the clones released their combination technique onto the field, a massive red coil of flames so intense, even the strongest of substances would be rendered onto ashes, as it danced along the field and expanded its range, aiming to take out not only Sannoto himself but all others within the line of attack.

Ryun kept his arms folded as Seireitou's clones began their preliminary attacks. The scorching heat barely fazed him. Sannoto's words were bold if not entirely mental. Ryun knew this but didn't even attempt to entertain the man's foolishness. Seireitou had attacked in response, but Ryun himself remaining an immovable stone. If they really wanted to split them up, they'd have to force them apart, and if they thought it would be easy to do so, they were sorely mistaken. The Uchiha kept his Rinnegan trained on the opponents, scanning their chakra for any glimmer of activity which would allow him to prevent a blind sighted attack. Between Seireitou's Byakugan and his Rinnegan, the group below could have a hundred Rinnegan for all he cared, and it wouldn't make a difference. The group below him had a very short list of history together, whereas he and Seireitou had decades of war experience side by side, and even more than that fighting as rivals.

Almost as if completely ignoring Sannoto's bold declaration, Ryun glances briefly at the real Seireitou standing next to him, "You're telling me you didn't finish them in one blow? Does that mean you want me to clean up after you? You should know your place by now." Ryun snapped nonchalantly.

Even in the midst of such powerful opponents, Ryun's rivalry ties with Seireitou were more important to him, and he couldn't pass up an opportunity to take a pot shot at his rival's methods of attack. He knew such words would only further provoke Seireitou, but at this point, Seireitou was the more interesting combatant on the battlefield, so he decided to bicker with him rather than mess with the arrogant fools below them.

Seireitou had remained composed with an air of condescension surrounding him, no doubt due to his attitude toward his opponents. However, upon the release of his clones' combination technique, the silver-haired man's ears perked up immediately as he heard the voice of Ryun. And even without discerning the content of what he said, the tone at which it was delivered was enough to grasp the intention behind the uttered statements. And just the tone of his rival's voice was enough to warrant an annoyed look from Seireitou. "What nonsense are you blathering about? You've just been sitting on your ass while I've been handling these idiots over here. If anything, trash pick-up has been delegated to you, moron." the silver-haired man responded.

Ryun closes his eyes, very clearly disregarding his rival's snide tone. The two of them always had these kinds of arguments, no matter how dangerous the battle they were competing in. To them such interactions were merely second nature and it would take an opponent of almost deity level to stop such exchanges from taking place. Sighing to give the appearance of irritation, Ryun replied with his eyes still closed, "I refuse. Dealing a killing blow is a more than suitable task for a demon such as yourself."

Seireitou shot his rival a fierce glare that would frighten any man to piss themselves right there on the spot, but one that was commonplace to that of the Uchiha that stood before him. It wasn't anger nor anxiety, but a merely intense form of annoyance that filled the Hyūga's facial expression. "...the fuck'd you say?" he shot back.

Watching as the senior Senju's exerted chakra filled the air, Shingi shifted his position jumping behind the group. His role wasn't to be placed on the front lines, but to act as a full body support. Next up, was Seireitou's work, a sight Shingi would be dying to see, and of course, the Hyūga preformed well. As the clones began to preform the technique, Shingi couldn't bare to sit for any longer. Particles of sand began to emerge from his skin, floating around him awaiting his very command. It was easy to tell, that things were about to get bumpy, and it was even possible a few lives were gonna be taken. The sand began to form into a nimbus, at which he jumped on, soaring into the skies. "You people should be able to do something to avoid this. If not, then you have no place in this battle, and you will die." Shingi stated looking down below at his "team mates".

While up above, Shingi began to take note of the two opponents below. And seemingly, the two were at each other's necks. It could have been negative, or positive, either wouldn't benefit Shigi, but it reminded him of something. His very own relationship with that idiot. Hypocritical that Shingi rendered to him as an idiot, as Shingi would be in the process of making a dumb move of his own. Reaching into his tool pout, he pulled form a scroll. Slinging it out in front of himself, the sky was filled with a cloud of smoke. As it slowly cleared, Shingi revealed his signature puppet: Bat, who'd be also standing on a nimbus of sand as well. Both of Bat's arms would be laid out straight, and along its arms, ten compartments on each opened up. From them shot out a barrage of. "Secret Red Move Needled Hell." The array of needles were shot at both Ryun and Sei from up above - an aerial attack to say the least.

Seireitou first acknowledged the movements of Shingi, one of the five he knew he would have to be careful with given his unpredictable nature, breaking away from his argument with Ryun to reinvest attention to the fight at hand. However, this was a move that wouldn't require much effort to parry. Rather, as was true to the silver-haired man's nature, he would turn that technique against Shingi. The first step was simple. Just as before, a black aura surrounded one of his hands and gathered at his palm, allowing him to solidify it into a black rod. Holding it up to the barrage of senbon needles falling downward, the rod launched from his hand and flew straight for the rain of weapons. However, there was a special aspect granted to this particular rod, invoking the all-encompassing traits of the kekkei mōra, as the rod had been magnetized. Upon reaching the center of the senbon rain, it immediately attracted all of the needles toward itself and clumped them all together into an nonuniform sphere of metal needles. However, this maneuver was not yet finished. At its core, the kekkei mōra of this black rod — more specifically, the truth-seeking ball — was composed of yin and yang chakra. A ratio of the extremes of yin and yang, which allowed for the truth-seeking ball to yield explosions.

The same method could be applied here as well. Forming the seal of confrontation, Seireitou triggered the explosion, causing the center black rod to glow bright white as it caused a mid-air eruption of force. Two results would be produced here. The first was that the shock of the explosion would undoubtedly be sufficient enough in at least rattling the mid-air Shingi, who had only the unreliable surface of sand bound by chakra as his only means of remaining in the air. The second was that the explosion now allowed Seireitou to redirect the movements of these poison senbon needles, allowing them to now fly in all manner of direction. The silver-haired man would now turn Shingi's attack, originally meant for the two of them, against his allies. While not coming anywhere near Seireitou nor Ryun, the needles were now en route to strike all of the other opponents; having been positioned so that should the other opponents dodge his earlier scorch-style fire technique, these needles would serve as a lethal follow-up attack that would be even more difficult to avoid, if at all possible.

"Oi." Seireitou stated, returning his attention to Ryun, as though what he did earlier by countering Shingi's attack was akin to telling a child to go to the corner for being disorderly so that he could resume speaking to a fellow adult. "Right about here is time for the death blow. But it seems like it's too much for you." he mused in continuation of their previous argument.

Ryun's expression betrayed comic annoyance. The Uchiha was no more concerned with Orochimaru-look-alike, Shingi, than he was with any of the other combatants. None of them had so far done anything to pique his interest than they had to pique Seireitou's. Instead, the Uchiha kept his Rinnegan eyes trained on his loud-mouthed rival and moved quickly to counter his jab. This began with a surrounding his body as he leaped and took to the skies.

"How amusing…" Ryun retorted as the perfect-stabilized form of his Susanoo took shape, complete with wings and enlarged Gudōdama. With a tremendous flap of it wings, the enormous construct took flight, causing the ground beneath it to virtually implode under the intense stress of the shockwave. This was meant to both show off and to stroke his ego in front of Seireitou. The two were always looking for ways to one-up the other in their displays of might. "Why don't you confirm with your own flesh…" Ryun continued, glancing back at Seireitou from within the skull of the construct. "…whether or not it is too much for me."

With that, Seireitou's look of annoyance with his Uchiha rival had suddenly turned into one of amusement. No, rather, the proper term in this particular case was curiosity. Observing Ryun take flight clad in his signature technique, it was clear what direction this scenario was heading; surprisingly enough, it wasn't uncommon for the Hyūga and Uchiha to spontaneously engage in a fight of their own even while supposedly fending off another threat as comrades. It was due to their nature as rivals. "How interesting..." mused Seireitou, as his lips curled into a wicked grin of anticipation. It was then that a white aura quickly surrounded his body, spreading outwards at an incredible rate as it wrapped around Seireitou in a manner similar to that of Ryun's Susanoo, taking on the form of a woman with a flowing dress, matching the height of the red Susanoo facing him. "I've been wanting another go at you ever since our fight a month ago!" he responded back, the Kaguyahime charging toward the Susanoo bearing the intent of clashing with his rival in a momentous exchange of force, seemingly having forgotten about the opponents surrounding them.

For that of typical shinobi the chakra expenditure for them would be exceptional. However the Senju's reserves stood among the greatest in the shinobi world. Coupled with largeness and a quick recovery rate, thanks to the Senjutsu, the amount he was spewing was hardly taking any toll on his body. As a senju, his will as absolute. When he claimed that he would make Sei pay, he meant every word of it. Before he could continue his train of though however, he noticed enormous balls of flames approaching his position. Fire and lightning, he hated those two elements. They were the only two things he couldn't turn into metal.

The blazing red orbs seemed to have some materialization to them. He would take a gamble. Suddenly, the chakra expenditure came to a cease, and he pulled his blade upwards. His right arm extended backwards, with the blade sitting high in the air slightly to the right of his body. One orb approached his body, quickly. Stepping forward towards the orb, swinging his blade towards it, he deflected the red orb. It flew into another one of the orbs, causing them to explode rapidly. Three more emerged from the smoke accompanied by waves of flame.

Sannoto dashed across the sand, using his chakra as a way to stabilize his footing on the desert-like terrain. He was able to use all of his speed he possibly could. Dusty trails were kicked up in the air as he skimmed across the terrain. The orbs and the waves of flames hovered above him. He leaped into the air, towards the orbs and clouds of fire themselves. Deflecting one orb into the other, and slicing one in half, he faced only the fire abyss himself. "No worries," the man muttered as he grinned, allowing the flames to strike him directly.

Seconds passed before he emerged out of the flames, completely unscathed. Molten Metal appeared over his flesh. His metal armor formed naturally, protecting him from harm's way. It was his ultimate defense. Seconds later, he landed back on the sand. Before he noticed that Shingi commenced an attack, Senbon from his own comrade rained down upon him, striking his metallic armor and simply bouncing off. "Phew, that was a close one!" the Senju exclaimed, barely escaping Seireitou's attack.

He wasn't out of harm’s way yet however. Before him was a large, truth seeking ball. Black orbs, circular, malleable…Yep, Sannoto had heard tales of the ninjutsu-canceling balls, however he had never seen them used to such an extent. During the fourth war, his only knowledge of the technique was with Obito, who didn’t seem to have much control anyway. This was absolutely mindblowing. How would he dodge this? Ninjutsu, no. Genjutsu? No, he didn’t even know how to use genjutsu. Taijutsu? Outrunning that ball would be impossible, especially in this sand.

He cursed under his breath. “How…what did Naruto use? Think, Sannoto!” he said was the ball approached gradually closer and closer. Suddenly, his eyes widened and grinned. He charged his blade with natural energy combined with his own metallic chakra. metallic rockets formed on his feet, releasing large quantities of chakra that would allow him to take temporary flight. He charged towards the truth seeking ball that headed directly for him and his comrades. With a fierce swing of the blade, he struck the surface of the ball, infusing his senjutsu imbued chakra into the construct. Combined with natural energy, his chakra could have an effect.

Chakra shot from his sword and into the black moon. Rapidly, the truth seeking ball began to turn into a grey powder like substance. Large quantities. Instead of falling however, it remained in the sky as the same shape, until all of it had been turned into that same substance. “Take this!,” Sannoto yelled, directing his yelling to both Seireitou and Ryun and as he flipped himself around, allowing the chakra to shoot directly into the grey powder. “Magnesium and explosives makes a BIG flash! Hope it takes those dojutsu out right now!”. Sannoto closed his eyes and stopped shooting chakra. He plummeted to the earth as a big flash overtook the scene. Considering the largeness of the truth seeking ball, this attack would be just as big. Luckily, they were fighting each other, allowing the Senju to take them by surprise. Hopefully..

Ryun and Seireitou weren't caught off guard. Not even in the slightest. The two rivals were used to squabbling with one another while fighting against many powerful opponents. Myoken, the Akatsuki, the two had learned to attune their senses to the surroundings while they focused on showing off in front of the other. In fact, noticing Sannoto's intervention, the two shinobi craned their heads, a look of raw annoyance on plastered across their faces. If there was one thing the two of them hated most, it was having their rivalry interrupted by foolish upstarts. Turning in sync with one another, a true demonstration of their excellent coordination with one another, both lashed out: Ryun's senjutsu-laced Susanoo would protect him from the Truth-Seeking Ball's effects, while managing to reflect it back using a weapon made of another of his enormous Gudōdama, while Seireitou's Gentle Fist shockwave would blast back the metallic sphere with the equivalent force of Ryun's Susanoo's own attack.

In essence? This would send the enormous time bomb right back at the combatants below, causing a brilliant flash, followed by a truly devastating explosion that would threaten them all. In the face of such devastation, both Ryun and Seireitou remained stone faced, annoyed at the interruption, and spoke in unison: "You're in the way… Get lost!"

Turning back to one each other as the blast detonated beneath them, Ryun regarded Seireitou with a smirk. Both men turned and glanced at each other as the shockwave from the blast below struck them, blowing their hair violently in the resulting wind.

"Now then…" Ryun breathed, glancing at Seireitou again.

"…Where were we?" Seireitou replied, his thoughts as much in sync with Ryun's as Ryun's were with his.

Ace's Counterattack
Ace watched as the denotation occured in extremely slow motion. His eyes went from each of his teammates, before looking at Ryun and Seireitou. "Rittaikouzoubunkatsu!" said Ace suddenly gesturing as his team appeared in a group where the opponents were and the opponents in the sudden explosion. "These shinobi are true forces to be reckoned with... We must use precisly coordinated attacks from now on or else this may be our last battle..." said Ace to the team as he signaled for them to disperse.

The explosion would unravel to reveal that things didn't go exactly as Ace planned. In fact, they didn't go over that way at all. As the light faded along with the explosion, the opponents would see that Seireitou and Ryun were once again unaffected: this time through an act of defense. Mirroring what Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha had done in the previous war, by combining Susanoo and Tailed Beast Mode, Ryun had used the moment it had taken for Ace to reflect his own reflected attack, to armor Seireitou's Kaguyahime with his Susanoo. The result was a tremendous female structure, in the shape and likeness of Kaguya, armored in the light-repellent and durable armor of Ryun's perfect Susanoo.

The enormous structure had ten enormous Gudōdama floating behind it, courtesy of Ryun's own techniques. Now it was impossible to separate the two, forcing the opponents to fight them as a unified front. And Seireitou and Ryun were a fiercesome duo together. Glancing out from the combined technique, Ryun sighed at the sight of his foes above him, glancing at Seireitou with renewed annoyance, "…They are most persistent. However…"

Ryun immediately noticed the flaw in Ace's strategy. Other than him, none of the other combatants were capable of flight. Using his tremendous Gudōdama as a medium, Ryun quickly formed a group of around a dozen magatama, which he then launched at his stranded foes, hoping to at least glean a small strike upon them.

As they appeared in the air, gravity took hold of the shinobi, grabbing Ace's attention that noone else seemed capable of flight except him. Ace also took note of the newly fused entity below. "This is getting way out of hand... I have to fix this and seperate them" said Ace as he appeared next to each shinobi, tagging them with a seal. With the swipe of a hand, Ace teleported displaced the shinobi with a section of sand that took their place, putting them on the ground. Ace looked on at the truth-seeking magatamas came his way. Ace quickly focused on the approching attacked, attemping to send them to a subspace region, and out of the battle. "Now that his truth seeking balls are gone, I can deal with them directly" thought Ace as he floated in the air. "I'm going to seperate you two right now!" yelled Ace as he seperated Ryun and Seireitou from the fused Susanoo and Kaguyahime. Focusing once more, He focused at Ryun and Seireitou more specifically, [Spatial Tunnel|ensuring they wont come within 2000 feet of one another for a long time]]. Ace then began converting sunlight into chakra via chakra-photosynthesis. Ace felt a bit strained from the use of such a technique repetitively, but had immense faith in his abilities.

However, it was futile, Ace's attempts were far too brazen and Ryun's Rinnegan saw him molding chakra long before he was able to initiate his plan. By focusing his Rinnegan, Ryun absorbed the ninjutsu being used against them, completely preventing Ace from not only sending them into hyperspace, but also from separating the tremendous construct the two had combined together. Even if Ace had somehow included senjutsu chakra, Ryun's own senjutsu training would enable to him to keep the chakra balanced without fear of losing control of it. Ryun kept his arms folded, clearly annoyed by Ace's foolish attempt to split the two up. Glaring down at him from the immense Susanoo-Kaguyahime structure, Ryun's voice came out booming, echoing across the valley:

"Don't be a fool." Ryun barked. "Ninjutsu is useless against one who can use the Rinnegan. Furthermore, this chakra structure cannot be separated. You lot will have to learn to work together… or die together. Make up your minds."

Ace looked frustrated as his efforts were in vein as everything simply reverted to normal before his eyes, appearing like a genjutsu almost. "Well, it looks like I'll have to reply on good old senjutsu enhanced Taijutsu..." said Ace as he concentrated strength into his fist. "Damn, he simply absorbs everything I throw at him..." Ace though before he looked at the immense structure before him. Being that this next technique didn't utilize chakra at all, as well as manipulating gravity itself, which can't be blocked, or absorbed, Ace figured it be his best chance. "Take this!" said Ace as he unleashed a titanic gravitational attack towards the chakra construct.

Ryun observed the attack through the sight of his Rinnegan: "Its super-pressurized air? No… Rather the pressurized air manipulates gravity itself. In that case…"

Stretching out his hands, and therefore, the hands of the tremendous structure, Ryun once again channeled his power through the Rinnegan. This time, a tremendous gravitational shockwave erupted out from it colliding and reflecting Ace's gravitational attack back at him in addition to demolishing the area directly around the combatants. Ace's comrades would be forced to flee backwards to avoid being struck by the tremendous gravity well and Ace himself would no doubt be caught in the shockwave. The result was a tremendous crater etched into the ground beneath both Ryun and Susanoo's combined chakra structure, which was now floating off the ground due to Susanoo's wings being apart of it. Once again, Ace had failed to faze the two combatants.

Ace observed his teammates attempting to run. Due to gravity's range and its effect overall, Ace knew he would waste time trying to save them with shunshin. Instead, he focused his eyes on his teammates and teleported them outside the blast radius. Knowing he couldn't evade the attack himself, he covered his body in a thick layer of Metrochronium, using the metal within him as the source. As gravity kicked in Ace plummeted to the ground, as the gravity kicked in, adding to the already large crater of sand. After a minute or two, Ace phased out of the sand before assaulting the massive being with repetitive long range punches and kicks, setting the being ablaze with heat equivalent to the temperature of the surface of the sun, as a rate 3.8 times faster than a lighting strike, something the rinnigan may be able to see, but something the body couldn't possibly react to in time; the enemy only being protected by armor of their combined beings. "I'll take advantage of the Deva Paths flaw of 5 seconds on gravitational attacks." though Ace. "Take this!!!! said Ace as he unleashed an entire legion of gravitational attacks at the shinobi before him, setting the entire construct ablaze as well as hitting them with the force of 1,500 times gravity ten to hundreds of times a second, not to mention the after effect of the massive cavitation bubbles he was generating, alongside the immense heat melting the sand underneath them into glass. "They won't be able to withstand this kind of long range attack for long... Damn I need so backup..." said Ace to himself as he kept attacking.

Prior to all this, when Seireitou and Ryun first began their squabble, the two clones of the former had launched themselves in different directions to escape destruction. Each of them landed in the east and west directions of the battlefield, stepping onto the sand with a powerful pulse that escaped their heels at the moment of contact. But following this, they both remained still, observing the subsequent battle from afar.

Ace was mistaken to focus too heavily upon Ryun and not the other man beside the Uchiha: Seireitou himself. It was then that Seireitou took control in momentary lieu of Ryun, both palms of the large spectral female structure thrusting forward. With respect to the differences between Seireitou and Ryun's fighting styles, so too did the tactics change as well during this fight. Now a direct method of confrontation was utilized, with both palms thrusting forward directly for Ace's straightforward attacks. "Wind School: Twin Palm Penetration!" An immense vibrational force erupted from the palms as they were transmitted through the air, sending ripples of extraordinary force that not only neutralized Ace's continuous assaults but would render him temporarily unable to move due to the level of pressure subjected around him; thereby preventing him from ever executing that gravity move he wanted to pull off.

"You are still the same weakling as you were the last time. But doubly as foolish. In this fight, you are also facing the God of Taijutsu himself! I told you before that arrogance must be earned. And your techniques fall short of that. You rely too heavily on your tricks and moronic contraptions, while devoting less time on your body's actual muscles and the movements of said muscles." he had explained. After all, Seireitou had now two different cases where he could observe Ace's movements. And with the silver-haired man's level of knowledge, experience, and skill, he could correctly deduce the flaws in a hand-to-hand fighting style; just as Ryun himself could instantaneously deduce the weaknesses in any ninjutsu. It was how the two of them acquired their respective titles. "Such poor strikes could never hope to muster enough power to reach me!" the silver-haired man subsequently declared before the massive spiritual structure clapped its hands together, forming a tiger hand seal followed by the horse sign. Seireitou himself, on the other hand, was busy formulating a different maneuver; forming the ram hand seal.

Without fail, the sky had suddenly turned an ominous red. Inside the Kaguya-shaped clad in armor structure, Seireitou had shut his eyes momentarily before opening them with a fierce stare following it. A bright red glow overtook his normally silver hair for a brief moment before fading away, as massive balls of fire began falling from the illuminated skies; numbering at around six, each nearly reaching the same size as the collaboration structure created by the Hyūga and Uchiha's teamwork, each bearing such intense heats that only a shield as powerful as Ryun's Susanoo, which was guarding the two of them, would be able to resist successfully without damage. Meanwhile, the Kaguyahime-Susanoo structure thrust its hands out in the same instant toward the temporarily incapacitated Ace, who had foolishly come close to the Hyūga Uchiha duo without considering the ramifications of such a move. But now it was too late. "Dust Release: August Star of Heaven!" roared the mind of Seireitou as a huge white cylinder formed at the palms of the structure and fired an immense beam of force directly at the close-range Ace; packing the strength to eradicate everything and anything that was unfortunate enough to be within its line of attack.

"You may be able to paralyze my body, but you can't paralyze these eyes..." thought Ace as he used Order of Interaction to render the attack useless. Ace then used Order of Time to rewind time within he's personal space, giving him the ability to move again. Ace looked above, easily registering the extemely high temperatures from the technique. "I have full control of the electromagnetic spectrum, so radiation and the lames that make them will never burn me..." Ace decided he was going to definitely need some time to formulate a plan of his own. Suddenly a dimensional rift opened and out stepped his parallel counterpart before they both disappeared, leaving so quickly that the brain can't comprehend that they were there. "Take care team... I'll be back in a while..." thought Ace as he left the battlefield knowing at least his team was safe form the attack.

The sight was unruly, literally nothing Shingi had ever witnessed before. In all honesty, Shingi hadn't prepared himself for this, and it was a mess up on his end, as his sloppy work would be dealt with later. For now, he could only capitalize on what he could do a that quick moment. Bat vanished, much like a desummoned, and Shingi quickly placed the scroll back into his ninja pouch, while also pulling out a few kunai of his own, three in each hand. "While I despise those that classify themselves as "gods", I think I'll allow you to pass since you're sort of well..." Shingi launched the quick set of kunai up at the large structures.

Reaching back into his pouch, he grabbed another, and threw it a set distance behind him. "Since things seem to be going a bit fast, I guess I should probably catch up. I shouldn't have allowed myself to slack in the first place, I mean we are fighting Kaguya and Hagoromo after all." Shingi stated, watching as his Kunai would begin to proceed. Looking closer at the kunai, one could see a small ball tagging along with each of the kunai, with unknown intentions.

An Army of Death
Seireitou let out a sigh of disappointment. "He hasn't changed... And none of them are putting up a good fight. Seems like I'll have to up the ante a little..." came to mind as he allowed Ace to leave this time. A minor issue. While he could've stopped the boy in the same method he did so before, such effort would be wasted in the silver-haired man's opinion. If he wanted to run away, who was the Shiroyasha to stop him? Instead, his attention was focused on the other remaining opponents. Controlling the arms of the massive construct once again, its hands reached out and grabbed onto two of the large Gudōdama belonging to Ryun. "I'm going to borrow two of these. It'll be best that both of our wills command this technique rather than merely my own." he explained as he formed a one-handed seal of confrontation.

---

Once he formed the hand sign, the two large spheres exploded into an innumerable amount of smaller black pieces that were each roughly humanoid in size. Little by little, each of the hundreds upon hundreds of Gudōdama fragments began to morph and shape themselves into actual human shapes resembling Seireitou and Ryun respectively; evenly distributed. The result was a literal army of Seireitou-shaped and Ryun-shaped Gudōdama ranging in the hundreds, if not thousands, all imbued with the will of the Hyūga and Uchiha respectively. "End them..." ordered Seireitou with a calm voice filled with dark intent. All it took was a mere hand gesture signaling the attack as the massive army charged forward for the four remaining opponents; preparing to crush them in one fell swoop of overwhelming might. Of course, they still had the impending descent of the flaming balls of death approaching them from above.

Looking up above, Shingi's faced lacked all forms of emotion or in other words: lifeless. Reaching into his tool pouch, he withdrew another two kunai. Holding each kunai on the index fingers of both his hands, he preformed hand seals: snake, horse, rat, ram, then finally, one that was akin to his processing jutsu. "I cant believe he found time to get up and run like that..." Shingi stated referring to Ace. Throwing both kunai high into the air, his entire appearance began to change, undergoing something new of its own. First was the obvious darkening of skin color, from his forehead to his nose. His hair began to change a dim orange, where he now took the appearance of a whole new being. All granted through his unique kekkei genkai.

Now as one would focus their attention back up above, from both of Shingi's kunai a formula spread out from them. The basic extension of one formula on its own could cover a large scale, but now with two, it was nearly fail proof. As the flaming balls would fall down, they would find themselves transported back to Ryun and Sei. This was granted the kunai from earlier that Shingi threw, that were also marked with his formula. Watching as his plan would slowly unfold, he prepped himself for the army heading his way.

Very far from the battle field, half way across the world to be exact, Ace as his parallel appeared within Yoshigakure in the land of Plasma, very far west of Sunagakure. "I figured that I'd use shunshin instead of my Phasion Technique, as Seireitou would most likely try to halt my travel" said Ace as he and his parallel walked onto the special training grounds. Ace preformed a handsigns, causing exactly one hundred and fifty physical clones to appear. "Listen up clones, I need my secret technique completed within the next hour, as this is a life and death situation." announced Ace. "Four teams for 25 clones will help further the completion of this technique, 25 for each sector, with a total of 4 sectors. The other 50 will come with me. Parallel, stay here and keep things in order" Ace added before using Ocular Focus Teleportation on the clones and himself, sending them to his dimension, more specifically, the Neo Dimension. "You know how this dimension works team. 40 of you will each use the Dyson Sphere Technique: Endless Power on yourselves using the many suns within this dimension, and beam the chakra from yourselves directly to me teammates which I tagged with the Chakra Transmission Seal, while the last 10 of you will meditate and gather natural energy, sending it to them as well. Using this metheod, the team will actually stand a chance against out opponents" said Ace as he began concentrating on a new jutsu.

It was then that Seireitou, with the mastery of his Byakugan's abilities, noticed the subtle transfers of chakra to the opponents via one of Ace's methods no doubt. After all, only he was the one absent from the battlefield. "It isn't much of a threat, but that child spits upon the honor of a warrior with such a disrespectful maneuver. I can not allow it." came to mind as he formed another hand seal, summoning forth another full-body clone; same as the other two he summoned earlier on. In that same instant, he placed his hand upon Ryun's shoulder and then allowed his third eye to burst open, causing a powerful pulse to surround everybody in the area as the entire lot of them — Seireitou, Ryun, the former's three clones, the hundreds upon hundreds of humanoid Gudōdama, and the remaining four opponents save for Ace — were shifted onto another dimension. One of Ryun's own, which he was given permission via the physical touch upon the Uchiha's shoulder, a world of mountains and associated terrain; a far more fitting region for battle. Following this, the clone within the Kaguyahime clad in armor focused a hand sign and its eyes glowed bright blue — closing off this dimension from outside intrusion. By doing so, he managed to interfere with Ace sending chakra to the other four but also closed Ace himself off from the new battlefield; making it impossible now to jump in and rescue his teammates. "Now then... Where were we?" came to mind as he gestured once more and ordered the Gudōdama humanoids to attack the four of them.

Sannoto looked at the massive army approach him. He and three others, Shingi, Yoshida, and Chosuchi were trapped in a mountain-like dimension. The Senju had heard rumors, but now they seemed true. “What in the?” he inquired, before directing his attention to the massive army. Thousands of soldiers charged towards them, all with a massive killing intent radiating from their beings. He looked upwards, spotting Sei and a clone of himself in his massive chakra construct. “Maybe, if we beat him..”, the Senju started, intending for the others to hear his plan, “We can escape this place and the army will disappear.”

Forming two steel gloves imbued with senjutsu chakra, Sannoto threw them towards the Akimichi. “Chosuchi, you’re on duty. Destroy that thing.” The Senju rested clenched his blade tightly. “The rest of us, will take care of the army. We’ll carve you a path!”

"There's only so much the mind can take before concentration is broken completely." Not too far off from the battlefield stood a man, his red coat blowing in the wind, his hair following suit. He noted the large figure in the distance just before it vanished. "That image, it possessed the energy traits of my mother, Kaguya." A faint voice spoke to Kisui, a part of Hagoromo's spirit. Kisui agreed as well, noting the figure from his memories shared with Hagoromo. He made his way down to the battlefield, noting the damage done. "Let's see if we can find out how a battle just suddenly stops. There's got to be a reason for a battlefield to just vanish." Gazing around the area, he noted a large amount of energy being pulled elsewhere, as if it was being pulled into another dimension. "I've heard of this technique before. It's a technique that is unique to Kaguya's Byakugan, a powerful ability that can create and destroy dimensions at will. Whoever did this must possess Kaguya's energy."

"A path, who needs a path? They're wide open, army or no." Chosuchi said as he put on the gloves. Being transmuted vs created like a ninjutsu, these senjutsu enhanced gloves served three purposes. One, they protected him from Black Balls of Doom, as the senjutsu enhanced gloves could resist their primary effects and could touch them without issue, while two, the transmutation process left them completely immune to chakra absorbing effects, as they were real matter, not chakra constructs. Thirdly, the senjutsu in the gloves helped enhance his already ridiculous punches.

Between that, chosuchi had two more things going for him. His physical ability in terms of raw speed and strength matched, if not exceeded everyone on the field by a considerable margin. His ability to stand normally under the effects of his max weight allowed him to move at incredible speeds when he was at his minimum weight. That plus his familiarity with those moves, due to him needing to use them constantly to be able to move around without sinking into the earth, allowed him to use them without hand seal, meaning instant switching. All this meant in terms of raw physical power, there was nary a person on the planet who could hope to match him. Now all that power was pointed at the construct in front of him.

"Well, it's time for that thing to go bye bye" He jostled as a pair of wings appeared off his back. He burned a little into his fat reserves, he'd probably need it. That combined with Chakra Enhanced Strength should cause this next hit to pack a massive wallop.

Chosuchi took a stance, before lightening himself. He pushed off the ground, rocketing forward at extreme speeds, bypassing the army of black men before they even had a chance to approach him, and slamming his fist into the belly of the susanoo/long hair lady right after switching to his max weight.

"Knock Knock" He said as he slammed the fist into the thing, focusing a massive amount of force into a single point on the construct. No amount of armor should be able to handle that much force in a single spot, especially when the force is sage enhanced.

Shingi's move was ingenious. And for any other opponent, this would be disastrous. But he seriously underestimated who he was dealing with. Moving of their own accord, as per their nature, the Gudōdama surrounding the Kaguyahime — courtesy of Ryun's Susanoo — began to form an absolutely massive shield above their heads; blocking the hail of fireballs that plummeted downwards. It was of little concern and Seireitou instead paid attention to the actions being taken by the others following this maneuver.

It was truly impressive for an Akimichi to show such skill with body manipulation. But it was hardly a matter worth too much concern. Chosuchi sealed his fate in attacking on his own so recklessly. The Kaguyahime was an extension of Seireitou himself; as such, he could therefore channel his techniques through it in the same manner he himself utilizes techniques. Upon the Akimichi entering the space close to contact, a massive rotating sphere of chakra surrounded the structure and began to provide a strong resistance against the man's heavy assault. However, it was clear that this would only suffice as a means of hindering the attack, given how strong it was and the amount of mass being carried through. But Seireitou was fully aware of this. He had no intention of that technique being the only method to stopping the assault. But because of this, both the speed and subsequent force behind the attack had dwindled significantly, which allowed Seireitou to now defend properly. Lifting the arms of the Kaguyahime, the hands formed a triangular open-palm motion. "Earth School: Mountain Stance." The structure's hands managed to successfully block the incoming fist of the Akimichi, but in this exchange, the hands quickly gasped the Akimichi's hand and held on tight. Whether this hold would last long or not was irrelevant, for the Kaguyahime only needed to remain within contact for a brief number of seconds.

At that moment, Seireitou demonstrated yet another example of how the Kaguyahime, even clad in the Susanoo's armor, still served as an extension of himself. Black veins began to snake along the arms of the construct as a black mass escaped the fingertips and began to surround Chosuchi; aiming to devour him and acquire his chakra which would leave him on the brink of death. Given the close proximity and the fact that the Kaguyahime was in direct contact with the man, escape was nigh improbable. "Watching these four, the man named Sannoto is the ringleader. He is the only member of this party that is concerned with teamwork, meaning... If he is taken care of, the team will undoubtedly fall apart and that will be the end of them." he thought to himself as he turned toward Ryun, giving him a slight nod as though he were signaling him to do something.

When Chosuchi charged into Seireitou’s massive construct, Sannoto charged directly into the swarm of the army that lay in front of him. Slicing each and every construct with his large cleaver blade, he tore through the mindless zombies. Using the radioactive properties of his blade, each slice gave off a clean explosive blast that dismembered some of the soldiers that Sannoto was fighting. He glanced upwards, only to see Chosuchi’s assault had failed. The man was being corrupted by black veins of some sort. Gross, but Sannoto didn’t do anything. He knew that he would get himself out of there.

During his glance, one of the soldiers took advantage of Sannoto’s distraction. Slicing one of his own blades made of that black substance, he aimed directly for Sannoto’s left forearm. Ducking wasn’t an option. His metal armor wouldn’t reach in time. He pulled his blade backwards quickly, as if he was charging it for an attack. During the pull-back, his own blade collided with the soldiers, deflecting it with force along. Swinging It forward, he took out the truth-seeking ball humanoid. Defending and attacking simultaneously. Now that was a strategy.

Sannoto jammed his sword into the earth, allowing it to act as a placeholder for his massive broadsword. Clapping his hands together, chunks of iron, magenisum, aluminum and other various metals that were prominent in rocky terrain, compliments of ryun’s dimension, were pulled onto the surface. This would save him chakra. Hundreds of chunks floated aimlessly in the air, hundreds of clones emerged from the chunks, growing in rapid proportions. Before the massive army stood another massive army themselves, all clones of Sannoto himself. Commanding his army of his own, they charged into battle to meet the might of the black warriors.