Conviction

"Haha, well see about that." The Masked man said, then repelled his opponents successfully gaining distance.

Seeing this the odd clone and the teen flipped backwards landing a decent distance away, the constant crashing and shattering of stones temporarily came together for a deftly solid surface, a mockery of its former self.

The two dashed, instantly closing the distance, appearing on opposite sides of the man plunging their kunai at his head and feet respectively but the man immediately snaps into a vertical roll, spinning through the duo's attack.

With the man's collar blasting back to reveal his lone crimson eye glaring dangerously at the clone. Both Menma and Kurama upped the pressure, their burning desire for victory ever present in their eyes.

The man executed a dual bicycle kick that met the readied guards of the two, time looked as if it sped up, a tell tale sign of how fast the trio were moving.

Flipping out of the kick, the man quickly guarded against an overhead kick from Menma, he used the momentum of the attack to force him back and turned the see the fox was already in the air, moments away from dropkicking him.

The stranger quickly crossed his arms and blocked the attack, surprisingly the force of the attack pushed him back. He used the momentum to his advantage flying back to the approaching Menma catching him off guard. Having near 0 time to defend, Menma did the first jutsu he thought of.

"Iwa Toge Chakushu no Jutsu!"

Menma's voice blared with conviction as he fluidly went through the necessary hand signs as spikes raised out of the ground attempting to stop the man's advance.

Refusing to relent the man forced himself through the spike field weaving through all spikes, he was now an arms length away from burying his fist in the boys face only to stop as the boy completed the final hand sign.

A BARRAGE of spikes appeared over the head of the man, looking the boy dead in the eyes a light "Tch." escaped his lips before the deadly volley of spike came blasting at the man, All passing through him as if he wasn't there.

Seeing a chance to attack, Kurama darted back to Menma who had a faint idea of what the fox would do. 'Is he...' Sprinting through the debris at blistering speeds the Kyuubi leapt the rest of the distance towards the boy, arm shooting to his side, now momentarily on the same wavelength they both smirk in anticipation.

Meeting the fox halfway, the outstretched arm of Menma clutched onto the arm of his clone, rolling his body into a near horizontal spin, he redirected the fox, hurling him to his target at even faster speeds than he left the forest with.

Slamming into the man, Menma instantaneously reappeared next to Kurama, who had finally landed a solid hit on the man.

Now free falling through the air, the once still areal Battleground also fell with the combatants, a sea of colors crashing into the ground as they felt the end of the battle approaching.

Now shifting into a float, the shadow and the vessel, the tail beast and the Jinchuriki, looked to each other and smiled then they wordlessly plunged towards the stranger on the ground then immediately engaging in combat, they dodged, they slashed, they parried they smashed.

The duo finally managed to force the man in a difficult situation as he repeatedly had to dodge and positioned himself.

With a ROAR the duo sent the stranger FLYING into a nearby boulder that was falling with them, the man looked up to see the silhouette of two teens landing on a boulder opposite to him.

The duo then rushed across the areal battlefield inching closer to the masked man who responded by taking a stance and blocking both fists, feeling the full force of the attack, he staggered for but a moment, but that moment was all they needed.

Menma flipped up and threw a heavy axe kick slamming the mans head downward into a set of feet of the Kyuubi who was nearly parallel to the ground.

The stranger was punted backwards to the top of the boulder where Menma was waiting, kunai in hand as he charged the man. Pulling his fist back to add more force.

Menma punched the kunai upwards into the back of the man's neck, only for the attack to barely miss its mark, the stranger dropping even lower spun on his heel and sending a backward kick towards Menma.

With the already upward force of his attack Menma allowed himself to be lifted off the ground naturally avoiding the kick, immediately recovering he forward flipped into a rolling kick that phased through the man.

The instance the kick fully went through his head, the man pivoted up to a ECHOING double palm strike to the unguarded chest of Menma, the attack was so strong he could have sworn he felt his ribcage shatter, blood rushed from his abdomen to his chest then finally gushed out of his mouth, the collar and center of his shirt BLASTED open, the fabric gone without a trace.

Kurama quickly appeared and caught Menma, who stood up with blood dripping down his face, his determined eyes shining brightly as he looked at the fox.

"It's time to end this," he declared. Kurama nodded and launched the boy at the masked man.

"Go get 'em, kit," Kurama thought as he silently cheered, then vanished into thin air.

Menma kept his arms close to his body and pierced through the boulder, causing it to implode on itself. He glared at the masked man with intense focus as he gathered a swirl of purple chakra in his palm, shaping it into a purple orb with two white planetary rings around it. The masked man rushed towards him, ready to attack.

Despite throwing a kunai that phased through the masked man's head, Menma managed to embed it into his abdomen by twisting his body below his arm. With a deafening scream, he collided with the masked man and unleashed his jutsu.

"Take this! GREAT RASEN RING!!!" Menma shouted, enveloping everything in a blinding white light that faded into darkness.

.

.

.

"Hey, up...get up, kid!"

With a jolt, the boy's eyes snapped open as he clutched his head. He was disoriented and couldn't quite figure out where he was. His consciousness was swimming in and out, and his head felt like it was splitting open.

"Damn it! Pull yourself together, kid!" a voice urged him on.

It sounded familiar. Pervy...sage? The boy thought, his vision slowly coming into focus. Jiraya's concerned face came into view.

"Are you okay?" Jiraya asked, but Menma remained silent as he struggled to regain his bearings. Eventually, he nodded his head.

Jiraya let out a sigh of relief. "We'll talk about what happened later. For now, rest." With those words, Menma's body went limp, and he once again fell unconscious.

.

.

Naruto, Sakura, and Pakkun joined the fight between Sasuke and Gaara, and after a barrage of attacks from Naruto, Gaara transformed into the one-tail. Naruto summoned Chief Toad to help, and the fight continued until Naruto managed to get close to Gaara, who was merged with the one-tail's head.

Naruto asked the Nine-Tails for chakra, and it granted his request. He attempted to punch Gaara with the chakra, but his attack was stopped by Gaara's sand. Instead, Naruto resorted to a headbutt, successfully stopping Gaara. As they both lay on the ground side by side, Gaara asked Naruto why he fights for the sake of others.

"Because they rescued me from the hell of being alone," Naruto replied weakly. "They acknowledge my existence. That's why they are important to me...that's why I fight."

Gaara seemed to have a change of heart after hearing Naruto's answer. After his siblings came for him, the first thing he did was apologize for his actions. The encounter ended on a positive note.

Unfortunately, not everyone survived. On that very same day, Sarutobi Hiruzen, the third Hokage and former God of Shinobi, breathed his last. The sky was a beautiful blue, but it rained heavily, as if mourning his passing.

.

.

.

.

.

A/n: I wanna say thank you to all those who are reading this fanfic. It might not be the best, but I hope you all enjoy it. And thanks again to my friend aloliindisguise for his help with the fight scene, thanks again I am truly grateful.