Under Mufasa's strict orders, only the reanimated Kage and Madara Uchiha remained on the front lines.
The colossal abomination drifting overhead was covered in hundreds of golden Rinnegan.
If that nightmare fully awakened and swept the dunes with its ocular techniques, very few living shinobi would survive the fallout.
Reanimated warriors made the ultimate vanguard—they had infinite chakra and could regenerate from absolute obliteration.
While the Reanimation Jutsu was Mufasa's greatest tactical asset right now, he couldn't shake the lingering feeling that the technique harbored a deep, fundamental flaw.
Still, with an apocalyptic threat looming, now was not the time to run an autopsy on forbidden jutsu.
"Everyone, order your platoons to withdraw," Mufasa commanded, his usual sarcastic smirk vanishing into stone-cold gravity.
"Fall back immediately. Put as much distance between yourselves and this sector as possible."
Turning toward his own village's colossal mechanized base, he keyed his comms.
"Open the access ramps on the fortress and evacuate the allied forces together."
"Gaara, lower the boarding hatches now. Let anyone who wants to live climb aboard."
"If the shinobi from the other nations don't want to get swallowed whole, they'd better get on the transport."
The giant mechanical fortress could cross the desert wasteland far faster than a retreating army on foot.
The Fourth Raikage crossed his massive arms, scowling suspiciously. "Aren't you worried we'll hijack your giant mechanical weapon, brat?"
Mufasa offered a faint, chilling smile.
"I forgot to mention—the entire internal bay is wired with a localized demolition grid."
"Every quadrant your shinobi are sitting in is rigged with explosive fail-safes."
"If anyone gets funny ideas, I'll detonate the compartment and turn them into fireworks."
The gathered Kage shared dark glances, unified in their thought: 'I knew this scheming fox had a trap waiting.'
Even so, everyone understood that when this celestial meatloaf woke up, the ensuing catastrophe would level mountains.
The commanders barked rapid orders, sending their surviving forces scrambling into a full retreat.
"Fall back to your home territories!"
"Secure your perimeters and prepare for total war!"
"Maintain high alert on the march!"
The grand coalition against Sunagakure had collapsed into absolute shambles.
With the future of the world hanging by a thread, survival was the only mission that mattered.
The colossal fortress lowered its massive boarding ramps, venting pressurized steam across the sand.
While some shinobi hesitated out of sheer paranoia, others bolted inside without a second thought.
"Come on, Sakura! Let's go find Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, dragging his teammate up the metal ramp.
Jiraiya and Tsunade followed close behind, stepping into the massive transport bay.
Riding a high-speed mechanized fortress was certainly better than running across miles of burning desert.
Mufasa, Madara, and Hashirama watched the allied army vanish into the horizon, waiting until the dust settled.
Soon, only Mufasa and the reanimated legends remained standing within the perimeter of the transmutation matrix.
Above them, the dormant biomass pulsed rhythmically, slowly contracting as it digested Momoshiki's divine flesh.
The smaller its mass shrank, the denser and more volatile its concentrated chakra became.
Letting it finish that evolutionary cycle was a death sentence.
Hashirama stepped forward as the group's representative, scratching his head. "So, Mufasa, what is the game plan here?"
"Tobirama, sit this one out," Mufasa instructed cleanly.
"Fall back to maximum range and anchor the Reanimation Jutsu."
"If any of our vanguard gets wiped out, your sole job is to pull them back into the fight infinitely."
Tobirama clicked his tongue in mild irritation, but he gave a sharp nod and slipped away into the perimeter.
Madara turned his sharp gaze toward his lifelong rival. "Hashirama, get lost too."
Hashirama blinked in confusion. "Why me?"
"Take a look at yourself," Madara sneered, gesturing at Hashirama's ruined chassis.
Hashirama's entire right arm and shoulder were completely missing, eroded away by Mufasa's anti-ninjutsu decay.
"You can't even weave hand signs in that state," Madara pointed out bluntly. "Fall back to the rear before you drag the rest of us down."
The other reanimated Kage quickly chimed in with their agreement.
"Lord First, it's best you withdraw."
"With that kind of damage, you'll only end up as dead weight on the front line."
Madara's expression darkened instantly, his eyes narrowing with lethal venom.
"Watch your filthy mouths!" Madara bellowed, his killing intent washing over the Kage like a tidal wave.
"Who gave you trash the right to lecture Hashirama?!"
The reanimated Kage bristled, glaring back with clenched fists.
Madara cracked his knuckles with a vicious smirk. "If you have a problem with that, step up right now. I'll beat every single one of you into dust."
The Kage rolled up their sleeves, ready to brawl on the spot.
Mufasa rubbed his temples, feeling a massive headache coming on.
'Good grief. We're staring down an apocalyptic world-ending entity, and these legendary ancients are squabbling like toddlers on a playground.'
"Enough already!" Mufasa snapped, stepping between them.
"I'll patch up Hashirama's combat issue myself."
Gliding over to Hashirama, Mufasa surveyed the missing shoulder with an apologetic wince.
"My bad about that earlier," Mufasa admitted. "I didn't dial back my output in time."
Hashirama had taken the brunt of an alchemical deconstruction matrix, leaving his soul vessel permanently truncated.
Hashirama waved it off with an easygoing grin. "Don't sweat it. A real battle demands everything you've got."
"Though I have to admit, I'm not much use without an arm to weave jutsu."
A sly, mischievous grin spread across Mufasa's face.
"This is an existential crisis for the entire shinobi realm. How could we leave out the legendary God of Shinobi?"
"All it takes is a tiny sacrifice from one other person, and you'll step onto the field stronger than you've ever been."
"Who?" Hashirama asked, tilting his head.
Mufasa turned his gaze directly toward Madara. "Him, obviously."
Madara narrowed his eyes warily. "What are you scheming, brat?"
"Just answer the question: do you want overwhelming power or not?" Mufasa challenged.
Madara scoffed, crossing his arms. "Fine. Spill it. What do we have to do?"
"Don't worry, it'll make both of you ridiculously overpowered," Mufasa assured him.
Clapping his hands together, a sharp jolt of electromagnetic lightning flashed across Mufasa's palms.
When the light faded, a pair of ornate pendant earrings rested in his grip.
"Here. Take one each."
"One goes on the left ear, and the other goes on the right."
Hashirama and Madara took the artifacts, examining the polished stones with deep suspicion. "What are these things?"
"Allow me to introduce the ultimate trump card," Mufasa announced with a grin.
"These are the Potara Earrings—relics designed for absolute warrior fusion."
"Warrior fusion?!" they echoed in unison.
"Exactly. When you put them on, your souls and physical bodies merge into a singular, transcendently powerful warrior."
"Once you remove the earrings, the fusion cleanly dissolves with zero side effects."
"So, what do you say? Ready to suit up?"
Mufasa stroked his chin, musing on the naming conventions of supreme fusions.
In Dragon Ball, Goku and Vegeta formed Vegito through the Potara and Gogeta through the Metamoran dance.
Following that logic, the fusion of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha ought to be named Uchiha Hashirama.
"Clip them on, then grab hands to initiate the sync," Mufasa instructed.
"And make sure your mental frequencies are aligned!"
Hashirama and Madara clipped the earrings into place and clasped hands.
FZZZZT!
A blinding, celestial brilliance erupted from their clasped hands, engulfing both legendary shinobi in a pillar of golden light.
When the radiance faded, a brand-new yet terrifyingly familiar warrior stood upon the sands.
He possessed Hashirama's broad, stoic facial structure and commanding jawline.
His hair was an untamed, spiky mane of raven locks identical to Madara's iconic silhouette.
A Konoha forehead protector gleamed across his brow above the crimson lacquered battle armor of the Sengoku era.
A colossal sealing scroll was slung across his lower back.
In his left hand, he gripped Madara's iconic Gunbai war fan; in his right, he rested the massive broadsword of the Senju clan upon his shoulder.
When his eyelids snapped open, a pair of immaculate, pearlescent-white Rinnegan flared with absolute ocular supremacy.
Hovering silently in an arc behind his back were nine dense, pitch-black Truth-Seeking Orbs.
One, two, three... a complete set of nine black spheres radiating the pure, unadulterated power of all elemental creation.
While the other reanimated Kage stared in absolute incomprehension, Mufasa nodded in deep satisfaction.
'Of course it worked.'
'Ashura's sovereign chakra fused directly with Indra's sovereign chakra—blending pure Yin and Yang with all five core elemental transformations.'
'When all seven natures combine, manifesting Truth-Seeking Orbs is basic arithmetic.'
Even more absurdly, the fusion triggered an immediate spiritual resonance.
A spectral, ethereal projection tore through the veil of reality, manifesting directly above the warrior's head.
Mufasa looked up, his jaw dropping slightly.
'Holy hell.'
'Is that Hagoromo Otsutsuki?!'
The Sage of Six Paths slowly opened his ethereal eyes, gazing down upon the fused entity.
His spiritual presence manifested simultaneously within the warrior's mental landscape and in Mufasa's physical line of sight.
As for why Mufasa could perceive an astral soul—his alchemical and electromagnetic mastery had long since dismantled the boundaries between science and spiritual energy.
The Sage of Six Paths stroked his long beard, visibly stunned.
"You bear the unified chakra of both Indra and Ashura..."
Then the ancient sage paused, scrutinizing the spiritual matrix beneath him.
"Wait... this is not a single transmigrant. Two distinct souls have fused their spiritual baselines into a singular consciousness!"
"What in heaven's name transpired here?!"
"How did the two of you achieve such intimate spiritual harmony?"
"Could it be that you two..."
The ancient sage's train of thought was veering into dangerous territory.
Achieving complete body-and-soul unity through raw emotional resonance was terrifying to contemplate.
Born from the combined will of two supreme rivals, the fused warrior possessed the traits of both men—including Madara's unhinged arrogance.
"Shut your ancient mouth, old man!" the warrior barked, his voice carrying the dual resonance of Madara and Hashirama.
"What right do you have to pry into my head?!"
"Get lost before I cut down your phantom form!"
The Sage of Six Paths held up a calming hand. "Peace, my sons. I am Hagoromo Otsutsuki, the Sage of Six Paths. You are my direct descendants."
Hagoromo launched into the ancient history of his sons—the prodigal, conceited Indra and the clumsy, hard-working Ashura.
He explained how their transmigrating chakra clung to the Uchiha and Senju lineages across centuries, perpetuating an endless cycle of hatred and war.
Tears of profound relief welled in the ancient sage's eyes.
"To think that in this generation, my sons have finally reconciled their hatred and achieved true, harmonious unity."
"Nothing could bring me greater joy."
The fused warrior crossed his arms, scoffing coldly. "Don't flatter yourself, old man. We only snapped these earrings on to deal with an immediate threat. There is zero reconciliation here."
Hagoromo blinked, hurriedly asking what kind of threat could force such an extreme measure.
The warrior pointed his broadsword toward the sky, explaining the arrival of the Otsutsuki enforcers and the hundred-mile flying biomass.
Hagoromo turned his gaze skyward, freezing solid as he perceived the terrifying energy pulsing within the meat mass.
Even as a disembodied soul, the apocalyptic pressure radiating from those hundreds of golden Rinnegan sent chills down his spine.
"Alas..." Hagoromo sighed heavily.
"I dispersed my spiritual authority into a planetary barrier to shield this world, never expecting the main Otsutsuki branch to breach our perimeter so soon."
"To think they brought a biological siege weapon far more terrifying than the Ten-Tails itself."
The ancient sage genuinely believed the flying mass was an advanced war engine deployed by the Otsutsuki empire.
"A planetary barrier?" the fused warrior asked, raising an eyebrow.
Hagoromo nodded somberly.
"Indeed. Hamura and I knew our clan would eventually track our signature."
"To protect the ninja world, Hamura took up vigil on the moon, while I dissolved my spiritual power into a cloaking veil around the planet."
"Yet not long ago, an incomprehensible cosmic force shattered my barrier like glass, exposing our coordinates to the void."
Hearing those words, Mufasa's eyelid twitched slightly.
'Wait a minute.'
'Was that glass-shattering sound from earlier actually me blowing up Hagoromo's planetary firewall?'
'So... because I cracked the barrier, the Otsutsuki fleet locked onto our location.'
'And because the Otsutsuki invaded, this giant Rinnegan meatloaf was born.'
'Does that mean the root cause of this entire cosmic disaster is actually me?!'
'I'm the literal harbinger of chaos here!'
'Well, there is no way in hell I'm admitting that out loud.'
Mufasa casually whistled, gazing innocently at the desert clouds.
"The ninja world stands upon the brink of absolute annihilation," Hagoromo declared gravely. "Seeing you cast aside a millennium of bloodshed to stand united brings peace to my spirit."
"Allow me to grant you my blessings."
"Speak your wish, my child."
"I shall bestow my complete Six Paths Senjutsu and divine ocular powers upon your form!"