"Naruto!"
"He's awake!"
Yamato stopped dead, eyes widening in relief as he looked at Naruto, who had just woken from Kakashi's grasp and was standing there laughing ecstatically. He wanted to run over and check on him.
But Kakashi, sharp-eyed as ever, grabbed his arm.
A chunk of earth tore itself free from the ground, rocketing skyward just inches from where they had been standing.
"That gravity's affecting this area! We need to get out of here!" Kakashi barked.
"But Naruto…" Yamato pointed behind him, confused.
"Yamato, that's not Naruto!" Kakashi yanked him away, dragging him clear of the gravity field's influence as they fled the danger zone.
He exhaled sharply. "It's that monster… Menma is back."
"Menma?!" Yamato's relief twisted into terror. "No! The Second Hokage sealed him away!"
"If it's really him, then what he just said—'unrestrained, completely in control of his body'…" Yamato trailed off, unable to finish.
Kakashi nodded, expression grim. "Naruto shouldn't be the dominant personality anymore. It's also possible that Naruto… simply vanished."
He shook his head and sighed. "The Second Hokage must have failed. Menma lied to everyone and went into hiding."
"His goal was to become the dominant personality—to take full control of his body and never be bound by Naruto again."
Kakashi reached that conclusion based on the clues and his own understanding of Menma.
"Is that how it is…?"
Stunned by the revelation, Yamato quickly forced himself to accept it. "Well… with Menma around, the village is safe. We don't have to worry about Akatsuki anymore…"
"Maybe." Kakashi knew Akatsuki had been brought here by Menma. He didn't have the heart to shatter Yamato's naive optimism.
Based on what he knew of Menma, Akatsuki—having been used—was done for. As for the village's safety…
That depended on how Menma viewed the Second Hokage's sealing of him.
---
"Hahahaha!!!"
Menma roared to the sky, eyes closed, savoring the bliss of total freedom. No more restrictions. No more being yanked back into his body at a moment's notice.
Even the gunpowder smoke hanging in the air tasted sweet to him—like ambrosia.
Only when he felt his feet sway did he slowly open his eyes.
"Gravity?"
He looked up. The massive stone sphere was already forming. Countless rocks rose from below, engulfing everything in their path.
"So it's Chibaku Tensei…"
Menma withdrew his gaze, pupils shifting from azure to eerie blood-red.
A terrifying surge of chakra erupted from his body, radiating a chaotic mix of gold, red, blue, and black light.
Whoosh—!
In an instant, silence fell.
Then, every rock that had been launched into the sky within meters of Menma crashed back to earth.
The gravitational pull within that radius had been neutralized by the surging chakra and ocular power emanating from him.
With the floating debris no longer blocking his view, Menma could now see the distant, looming silhouette of Susanoo.
"Over there… not bad."
He smirked. "They didn't finish him off immediately. Guess this shadow clone left him for me as a gift to warm up."
A cruel smile curved his lips as he walked effortlessly toward Pain, the epicenter of gravity. With each step, the earth and rocks floating in his path settled—then rose again.
Pain, at the center, instantly noticed the anomaly.
"That powerful chakra… who is it?"
Frowning, he turned to look in Menma's direction. Watching the terrain shift and rise—moving closer—his bad premonition and sense of crisis peaked.
"I must deal with the shadow clone quickly, then confront that approaching threat!"
Pain's gaze snapped back to the shadow clone. Chakra surged from his body like a tidal wave.
"Despair, wind! This is the Deva Path—a divine power beyond mortal comprehension!"
Pain unleashed his full chakra output, roaring as his features twisted in agony.
At the same time, on the edge of the Hidden Leaf—
Inside a structure camouflaged as a paper clone technique, Nagato grimaced. Emaciated, riddled with black rods embedded in his back, and seated in a massive wheelchair, tears streamed down his face as he roared in sync with Pain on the battlefield.
"Ha!!"
"Ha!!"
Rumble!!!
Under Nagato's reckless chakra output, an entire patch of earth tore free and rose into the sky.
This intensified, crushing gravity was too much even for Menma's clone. His body, wrapped in a massive Susanoo, floated uncontrollably into the air.
Yet, Pain saw no fear on the shadow clone's face—only a mocking smile that grew wider with each passing second.
Finally, after the shadow clone crashed into the giant stone sphere in the sky, Pain saw him point behind him and lip-read his final words.
'He's here, right behind you.'
Boom!
After reading those lips, the shadow clone vanished in a puff of smoke.
At that moment, a powerful chakra—one that even defied gravity—appeared behind Pain. He spun around sharply.
His Rinnegan eyes trembled violently.
"Naruto… no. This power, and the Sharingan… you're Menma!"
"But why… why is your chakra identical to Naruto's?!"
Previously, Nagato had believed Menma's resemblance to Naruto was some trick. Now, he was certain: Menma was Naruto, the Nine-Tails jinchūriki.
That explained the source of his tailed beast chakra and how he knew so much about the Hidden Leaf.
But why was Menma doing this? Why orchestrate a plan where he captures himself, tortures himself?
Was he insane?!
Facing Pain's unspoken question, Menma walked forward with a smile. The ground, previously floating due to gravity, froze in place, locked down by his overwhelming chakra.
"Let me reintroduce myself. My name is Menma—the primary personality of this body."
"Primary personality!" Hearing the term, Nagato instantly understood what was happening.
"So that's it! You have dual personalities!"
"And every plan you proposed was to make Naruto's personality collapse… so you could take control of the body!"
"You guessed right," Menma said, his smile widening.
Ignoring the repulsive force trying to push him back, he walked up to Pain and extended his hand.
"Nagato, come be my subordinate."
---