The reinforcements who arrived weren't limited to Uchiha Itachi.
The trio rescued earlier by Senju Haruto—Gaara and his companions—also appeared on the battlefield at this critical moment.
Although relations between the Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Sand were tense during this period, Gaara would never ignore the debt he owed to Haruto for saving him.
And more than that—they were both Jinchūriki. There was a bond between them, one forged by shared pain and silent understanding.
"Haruto!"
Seeing Haruto falling from the sky in his newly awakened Nine-Tails Mode, Gaara didn't hesitate. Ignoring the toll on his body, he summoned every grain of sand he could command.
With a surge of chakra, Gaara manipulated the earth beneath him, raising waves of sand into the air. The sand coalesced into a massive arm, the likeness of Shukaku's limb, reaching upward to catch the colossal form of the Nine-Tails and halt its fall.
Haruto glanced down at Gaara and the others, gave a firm nod, and acknowledged Gaara's support.
Using the momentum of Gaara's jutsu, Haruto rose again to Itachi's altitude, clenched both fists, and hammered them against the massive falling meteorite.
If they could just shatter it, the village below would be spared.
But Uchiha Madara would never simply stand idle and watch their efforts.
His hands flashed through seals once more.
If one meteorite wasn't enough to break their hope and force them into despair… then why not two?
Heavenly Meteor Technique!
A second meteor tore free from the heavens, drawn down by Madara's will, casting an even greater shadow across the land.
"All your efforts are meaningless. Futile! No one—no one can defy the power of a god!"
Madara's voice rang cold across the battlefield as the second meteor began its descent.
The moment it collided with the first, the impact amplified their force, sending shockwaves through the sky. Even Itachi, clad in the complete form of Susanoo, faltered. His ethereal warrior groaned under the pressure, slowly sinking beneath the weight.
And yet…
Though Itachi still wore the cloak of the Akatsuki, every ninja on the ground could see clearly:
This time, Uchiha Itachi was fighting on their side.
He was burning everything he had to prevent Madara from annihilating them all.
Recognizing this, Gaara let go of his own distrust toward the Akatsuki, at least for this battle. He raised new tides of sand into the air, shaping two massive arms to help Itachi bear the crushing weight of the falling stone.
Meanwhile, Haruto and the Nine-Tails fought with all their might. But no matter how fiercely they struck, the meteor was too vast, too overwhelming to destroy outright.
"What kind of weakness does this jutsu even have?!" Haruto shouted in frustration. To him, the meteor had none—it couldn't be broken, and leaving it unchecked would doom the village.
"Haruto! Use your strongest jutsu!" Itachi called out, his voice calm but urgent.
At the same time, his words carried across the battlefield, urging every shinobi to concentrate their attacks on a single point.
If even one meteor could be shattered, the pressure on all of them would lessen dramatically.
Madara's power was about overwhelming quality. Their only chance was to counter it with overwhelming quantity.
To make their coordination flawless, Yamanaka Haiichi activated his clan's secret art, linking the thoughts of all the shinobi together.
"Haruto! Use the Tailed Beast Bomb!"
Kurama's voice thundered within Haruto's mind.
Until now, Haruto had been unable to manifest the Tailed Beast Bomb, unable to balance its yin and yang chakra. But with Kurama actively guiding him, the difficulty was vastly reduced.
"Got it!"
Haruto drew back, retreating midair as chakra gathered in his maw, condensing into a dense black sphere—the Tailed Beast Bomb.
"Itachi! I've got it ready!"
From below, Gaara clenched his fists. With the Yamanaka link, he called out to Itachi, signaling that he had stabilized the meteor's descent enough for Itachi to evade.
"Well done," Itachi muttered, sparing Gaara a sidelong glance. He was genuinely impressed by the boy's tenacity and strength.
If Senju Haruto didn't intend to unite the shinobi world himself… then in time, this Gaara could very well become Kazekage.
Thanks to Gaara's intervention, Itachi was freed to act. He raised his Susanoo, focusing its power, and unleashed the Yasaka Magatama against the meteor.
From below, the other shinobi prepared their own jutsu. Though most were ordinary compared to monsters like Haruto and Itachi, their combined power still mattered.
But their attacks could only connect once the meteor dropped lower, into their range. Until then, they waited, chakra burning, hearts pounding.
Haruto formed shadow clones, distributing Kurama's chakra among them all. Through Haiichi's mind-link, every ninja's strength was gathered, amplified by unity.
Gaara tightened his grip and carefully lowered the meteor bit by bit, inching it into range.
"This sight…"
Watching the shinobi fight together, Madara's expression softened slightly.
"Hashirama… perhaps this is what you wanted to see all along."
For that brief moment, every ninja on the field acknowledged one another, trusted one another. Their collective power grew immeasurably.
A storm of jutsu erupted skyward, all focused on a single point.
BOOM!
The heavens themselves split with the sound, and the colossal meteor shattered midair into countless fragments.
As stones rained from the sky, Madara's eyes narrowed. Even he was shaken.
"So… this is the power of shinobi."
And once the first meteor was destroyed, the second lost much of its threat. Haruto and Itachi combined their might, hammering it apart until it, too, crumbled.
Every shinobi present drew a sharp breath, then erupted into wild cheers.
Madara simply watched, silent, a faint smile curving his lips. Arms spread wide, he stood amidst the rain of stone, basking in it.
Though it had been the collective effort of the shinobi that brought victory, none could deny that the one who made it possible—was Uchiha Itachi.
"…I never imagined this."
When Madara thought of Uchiha Sasuke, he had felt regret. A boy of great talent, wasted on the wrong era.
But Sasuke's gifts, impressive as they were, could not compare to Itachi's.
Before such a genius as Uchiha Itachi, Madara couldn't even say "born in the wrong era." Because no matter the era—Itachi would have shone as the strongest of the Uchiha.
"Itachi—I will remember your name."
Madara's voice thundered across the field, fierce and almost reverent.
"Among all the Uchiha I have ever known, you are unmatched! None surpass you!"
His Susanoo roared to life, the towering colossus materializing in full as Madara bellowed:
"Come then, Itachi!"
And yet—even now, he did not release his Susanoo's true complete form.
Itachi's eyes narrowed, recognizing what that meant. "As I thought… you're not that masked man."
But Itachi didn't waste time pressing him. Instead, he stepped back, landing beside Senju Haruto.
"My Susanoo can only hold for three more minutes. Haruto—we must end this quickly."
Without waiting for his response, Itachi commanded his Susanoo once more. Its form flowed like armor, wrapping around the Nine-Tails itself.
In its left hand—a blade, the Totsuka Sword.
In its right—the Yasaka Magatama.
Armored Susanoo!