Naruto sensed the danger and dodged at the last moment.
A masked man, appearing from nowhere and holding kunai, stood before them and said,
"Indeed, quite the excellent partner."
He looked at Naruto and said, "There's a scent in your body that repulses me. I will kill you for it!"
Uzumaki Menma stared at that face — identical to his own — and felt, from the body's aura, a deep loathing for Naruto.
He could not suppress the urge to destroy him, though Kiyosuke and Obito being there stopped him from lunging immediately.
Rin stepped up to Uzumaki Menma's side and said,
"Obito, I want to create a world with only you in it, so please—don't stop me."
"Sorry, but I have to stop you. I can't just stand by and watch you go down the wrong path like I did!" Even if this Rin wasn't the Rin he knew, she was Rin — that was enough for Obito to act.
Kiyosuke said, "Let's split up the fight. Obito, Naruto — you two handle Rin. Leave this brat to me."
"All right!" Obito nodded.
Naruto clutched his burning stomach and agreed to Kiyosuke's plan.
"Big talk for someone useless!"
Uzumaki Menma eyed Kiyosuke with contempt, formed hand seals, and a blue magic circle flared behind him.
"Nine Masked Beasts!!!!"
The Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Golden Snake, South Sage, North-Sage, Death God, and Celestial Maiden appeared one by one and attacked Kiyosuke.
"I will kill that guy. His very existence and chakra make me sick and furious. I must kill him!"
"Heh. Don't flatter yourself. You're only affected because you also have a Nine-Tails. You're not all that. In reality you're nothing." Kiyosuke was openly annoyed with Uzumaki Menma.
How could someone with both parents intact become so twisted? Who knows how it happened — he'd simply gone off track. If Kiyosuke had been around, he'd have disciplined him into behaving.
This kid needed a good beating. Today, as an elder, he planned to teach this brat some respect.
Facing the nine beasts' assault, Kiyosuke stayed calm. He opened his mouth and expelled a sea of flames, suddenly surrounding the nine beasts in a ring of fire and trapping them. He knew it would only hold for a while — but that would be enough.
On Rin's side, Obito and Naruto fought together. Obito, fully aware of Kamui's power, wouldn't be easily bested — even if his opponent was the Rin he could not attack.
That was the world's distortion: in this reality, Obito died at Kannabi Bridge and wasn't taken by Uchiha Madara, so Madara chose Rin as a pawn. But would Madara in this world really be the same silly figure as Hashirama Senju?
Still, Rin's descent into darkness was right in front of Obito, and he had to confront it.
With Naruto fighting beside him, they worked far more effectively.
Both sides held one another in check. Aside from intangibility, Kamui couldn't be used, so escape wasn't an option.
Their fight was far from over.
The nine beasts pushed through the flames and attacked again.
Kiyosuke remained composed and charged directly at Uzumaki Menma.
A figure lunged out and blocked a blade from the Death God.
"The Death God's chakra — looks like it's worth a little taste!" Kakashi Hoshigaki — wearing an Akatsuki cloak — appeared and shielded Kiyosuke from the strike.
Not only him — the entire Akatsuki organization showed up here.
"Akatsuki?"
Naruto looked up, puzzled. "Why are they here?"
"Mercenary group Akatsuki? Damn. The Hokage actually hired them." Rin snorted. She'd known tonight might fail and planned to retreat first.
"This is another distortion of this world." Obito looked at the Akatsuki's full roster and laughed. Pain noticed the illusory Obito wearing the Akatsuki cloak and raised an eyebrow but said nothing, instead announcing, "The Hokage hired us to rescue people. Move out!"
"Yoo-hoo!!!"
Hidan charged first, and the others followed, engaging the nine beasts.
"Damn!" Uzumaki Menma saw this and immediately fled. The situation was ruined. Even as a Nine-Tails jinchūriki of this world, he could not handle so many opponents — it was too much.
"Think you can run? Did you ask your uncle?" Kiyosuke sneered, then dashed to block his path. In his palm he held a ball of flame.
"Get lost!"
Uzumaki Menma formed a black Rasengan in his hand and hurled it at Kiyosuke.
Boom!
The blast exploded, and both were thrown back.
A figure flew out, his cloak tattered and a half of his mask shattered, revealing a half-face with six whisker marks. Kiyosuke came flying out after him, laughing. "Kid, you're dead meat!"
"You're the one who's dead!"
Uzumaki Menma roared and charged at Kiyosuke in large strides.
They exchanged taijutsu blows. Uzumaki Menma was shocked to find that even without the Nine-Tails' power, he couldn't match Kiyosuke. He was being suppressed. How could Asakawa Kiyosuke be this strong?
"You're sloppy with your ninjutsu! Weak in taijutsu! Your footwork's loose! Nothing about you is decent — you really think you can fight me like this? Dream on!"
Kiyosuke's shouting didn't stop. The Akatsuki rescuing Sakura glanced over, feeling like Kiyosuke was scolding a junior.
Those nine-faced beasts had already been cleared — they'd turned into mask-wearing foxes, likely some strange secret technique.
But that wasn't their concern. They'd been paid by the Hokage, and now they were executing the mission — that was Akatsuki's professionalism.
"You— you old man — why won't you just die?!" Uzumaki Menma screamed.
Bang!
Kiyosuke's plain, unadorned punch hit his face. The mask cracked and fell away, revealing a face indistinguishable from Naruto's.
Aside from hair color, the person before him was Naruto.
Oh — Uzumaki Menma's hairstyle was like Minato's, with two strands hanging down.
But all his hair was black.
Coloring his hair so young — imagine how bad it would be when he grew up.
Wringing his neck, Kiyosuke said, "Uncle here is actually pretty angry! Ready for some iron-fisted education?!"
"You…" Uzumaki Menma instinctively stepped back, feeling he'd misspoken. But pride kept him from backing down. He tried to preserve his swagger and spat, "Heh — you useless old man. Wait here for me to finish you off! Hahahahaha—gaah…"
Another punch sent him flying. This time, he didn't even see his own shadow.
The speed was just too fast!
"I'm a bit older, sure, but I'm not some decrepit old man yet," Kiyosuke said.
"I still train regularly."