Chapter 390: Chapter 390: A Salute to the Birth of a King
The Yamata no Orochi had just shown up, didn’t even get to say anything, and was instantly torn to pieces by two chakra fists. Orochimaru’s body was completely wrecked, not a single part of him unharmed.
But the next second, his broken head lifted up, and a hand reached out from his mouth, pulling open his blood-covered lips. A new, unharmed Orochimaru crawled out.
"Bijuu Strength!" Kurama raised his fist as chakra gathered. There was no need for fancy tricks—just punch with everything you’ve got!
The newly appeared Orochimaru showed the instincts of a seasoned ninja. His hands moved at an unbelievable speed: "Summoning Technique: Manda!"
Thick smoke rose as Manda appeared. Just as he opened his mouth to yell at Orochimaru, a giant red fist was already flying toward him. As a snake, Manda reacted quickly and instinctively dodged.
His body twisted and barely avoided Kurama’s punch. Relying on past battle experience, he wrapped his entire body around Kurama’s arm, locking it down the moment Kurama swung again.
But that didn’t stop the force.
Boosted by chakra, Kurama’s strength was terrifying. Even though he stopped his punch due to the wrapping, the impact still slammed into Manda’s body.
In an instant, just like the Yamata no Orochi, Manda’s entire body split open. Blood poured out everywhere. His midsection looked torn in half, and you could even see the white bones inside.
"Raaagh!" In unbearable pain, Manda lost control and collapsed like a limp earthworm, howling in agony on the ground. "Orochimaru! You bastard!"
Orochimaru didn’t care at all about Manda’s injuries. In fact, his face was colder than ever. "I didn’t only summon you. Why are you the only one who showed up?"
Manda lay on the ground, his face full of killing intent. "You piece of shit! You summoned me just to use me as a shield!"
He hadn’t come here to help Orochimaru fight. As the most commonly summoned snake from Ryuchi Cave, he had come to deliver a message:
From now on, Ryuchi Cave is cutting ties with Orochimaru. They won’t serve him ever again.
But the moment he showed up, he got hit. His instinctive counterattack didn’t hurt the enemy at all, and now he was badly wounded. It would probably take years to recover from this.
Thinking this, Manda forced himself to look at the enemy, wanting to see what kind of monster could hit that hard—maybe even stronger than that woman from Shikkotsu Forest.
Then he saw Kurama charging up another chakra fist.
Manda: Orochimaru, I’m your damn father!
Manda’s face twisted with rage and grief. He didn’t want anything more to do with Orochimaru. With his injuries still bleeding, he turned into smoke and vanished on the spot.
Sensing Kurama’s chakra flaring up, Manda figured he had to leave immediately or he’d be mistaken for one of Orochimaru’s allies and killed on the spot.
Luckily, that last hit was just raw power, not a ninjutsu attack. So even though the injuries were serious, they were only on the surface. Ryuchi Cave had plenty of ways to heal that. But if he had taken a direct hit from one of those black chakra balls, he might’ve been finished.
Still, someone else would have to pass along the message now.
As for Orochimaru, he wasn’t surprised at all that Manda left the battle. Anyone would’ve done the same after taking that kind of damage.
You’d have to be an idiot to stay after getting hurt like that.
But now... Orochimaru really had nothing left to use.
He turned to look at Madara, just in time to see the Gedo Statue melting into Madara’s body—just like how the Tailed Beasts had been sealed inside Minato before.
From the moment Kurama launched his first chakra fist to now, Orochimaru had used three Edo Tensei summons, pulled out his trump card with the Yamata technique, and used his one-time emergency defense. He had nothing left. And all of that...
Had happened in less than five seconds.
Five seconds... It wasn’t much, but it should be enough.
With that thought, Orochimaru turned to look at Kurama. Staring straight at the huge spinning blade, he smiled.
He didn’t use any jutsu. Instead, he opened his arms and faced the blade that could easily kill him. With a deep smile, he burned that final image into his mind, letting it become the last memory carved into his soul.
"Die already!" Kurama shouted, swinging the spinning blade straight down. The massive weapon completely covered Orochimaru, and a huge explosion of power erupted across the ground.
The earth shattered again. What was once full of mountains and valleys had been flattened into plains from all the attacks—and now, it was starting to look like a basin. That one hit left another giant crater in the already ruined land.
Kurama stood in the middle of the dust cloud with a dark look on his face. He didn’t even need to wait for the dust to settle—he could already feel that familiar chakra.
"The power of the Sage... damn it, Orochimaru!" Kurama knew right away—Madara had done it.
As the dust cleared, he saw a familiar black sphere floating in the air. It had blocked both the spinning blade and the shockwave from that last attack.
Kurama could feel that strong Sage energy. There was no doubt—Madara had become the Ten-Tails’ jinchuriki. He now had the full power of the Sage of Six Paths.
At this moment, in theory... a second Sage had been born.
The black sphere slowly opened under Kurama’s gaze. Inside stood Madara, now in his Sage form. He hovered in the air with his eyes closed, holding the Sage’s black staff. His face turned to the sky as if he were feeling something.
"Tch. Acting like you just woke up or something," Kurama muttered.
As he spoke, white chakra wrapped around him. A black staff just like Madara’s, only much larger, appeared in his hand. He slowly floated up, with nine tails swaying behind him like Hagoromo.
Madara opened his eyes. The red of his Mangekyou and the pale gray of his Rinnegan glowed together.
He smirked and clenched his fist. "So this is the power of the Sage? It’s not that impressive."
"Hmph, sure, the chakra comes from the old Sage, but you’re still way behind him. Honestly, you’re not even on my level," Kurama shot back right away.
Whatever. First step before a fight is to get all the hate aimed at you.
Where’s the damage dealer? Why haven’t they shown up? Where’s the jungler? Why’s the support missing too? How are we supposed to start this team fight?
"Hm. I can feel the gap between us," Madara said calmly, not denying anything. He even nodded a bit.
Kurama blinked. "Since you know, why don’t you just give up now?"
But Madara ignored that. Instead, he pointed straight at Kurama. "Still, compared to when I couldn’t feel your power at all, this is actually better.
Now you don’t seem that scary."
To be honest, for people like them, having a gap in power isn’t the biggest problem. Not being able to see that gap at all is what truly makes someone seem unbeatable.
Before this, Madara couldn’t sense Kurama’s chakra—he couldn’t even tell how strong he was. Even someone like Madara wouldn’t charge in blindly to get himself killed.
But now it was different. He could feel it. He was weaker than Kurama, yes, but he could clearly see the difference. And once you know what the difference is, you know where the top is—you know what you need to make up for.
That’s what really matters.
Kurama frowned and was about to throw out another insult, but then suddenly stopped. At the same time, Madara narrowed his eyes and smiled slightly. His Rinnegan started to spin.
A soft voice, almost impossible to hear.
"The actor... has arrived."
No one heard it. No one knew what it meant. But right after Kurama froze for a moment, he suddenly burst into wild laughter. That arrogant laugh, the crushing pressure coming off him—it was like a mountain was falling from the sky.
In the past, Madara would’ve had to resist this kind of power at least a little. But now, he didn’t have to. He just stared at Kurama as the Rinnegan in his eyes started spinning faster.
Kurama let out a loud roar, almost like he was about to shout, "Party time!"
"Uchiha Madara!" Kurama yelled. "Sure, you’re strong in a fight, but you’re no match for me! Even on my own, I could kill you! But now, you’re facing... the three heirs of the Sage of Six Paths!"
"Nine-Tails Kurama!"
Kurama clenched his fists, and his grin grew wider.
"Uzumaki Naruto!"
High in the sky, to Madara’s right, Tobirama appeared with Naruto. Naruto was floating midair, already in Sage of Six Paths mode, staring seriously at Madara with Tobirama at his side.
"Uchiha Sasuke!"
To Madara’s left, a huge black spiral opened up. Glowing purple tomoe spun within it. Sasuke stood inside a massive Susano’o alongside Kakashi and Sakura, his face cold as he looked down at Madara.
Kurama opened his arms wide and shouted in a dramatic voice, "Right now, the strongest trio has come together!"
"Let’s give a salute to the birth of a king!"
The remaining power of the Sage burst out. They didn’t know exactly what was happening, but both Naruto and Sasuke instantly responded and released all their chakra.
Their combined presence was enough to crush anyone. And with that, the great war officially began.
——
PS: As for the name of the Third Kazekage... yeah, he doesn’t have one.
PS2: About the Ten-Tails—technically, after the Gedo Statue absorbs the chakra of the tailed beasts, it needs some time to "wake up." That’s when it transforms from the skinny first form into a fat one, and eventually into its final form, with a Rinnegan as its eye and a body like a giant turtle.
In the original story, it was said that Obito couldn’t handle the full form of the Ten-Tails. That’s why Madara had him become its jinchuriki *before* it fully matured. But at the time, Obito was fighting Naruto, so he didn’t do it right away and waited until it was fully grown.
And then he lost control and almost got taken over by the Ten-Tails.
So, in theory, anyone can become the Ten-Tails’ jinchuriki at any stage, but the earlier you do it, the weaker the Ten-Tails is. That’s kind of the idea.
If that’s not accurate, just take it as headcanon. This part wasn’t really thought through when it was written.
---
You can read 10 Chapters ahead on my
pat