The Ties that Bind
This is the Allied Shinobi Forces Jutsu!
How pitiful.
Yeah.
This hope that they're all clinging to doesn't exist.
Just like their very lives, at this point.
It seems Ten Tails is ready.
Fifth Gate of Closing! Open!
So this time, they're coming after us, not Ten Tails...
Well...
Taking the enemy's brains is a fundamental strategy...
I'll follow the strategy and...
take down those two, who are the brains of the Ten Tails!
For that to work...
they would need to stop the Ten Tails first!
What?! I thought we had immobilized the Ten Tails!
Are you okay?! Damn it...
My shoulder's dislocated...
Look at the Sensing Water Sphere...
It's practically like a small planet.
But that's...impossible!
So we didn't immobilize Ten Tails, after all?
It merely stopped moving on its own
in order to amass power and undergo transformation?
How are we going to be able to stop it?
And now we can't target those two either!
But we have to stop that thing or else it's over for us.
I'm about to pee myself...
Instead of freaking out, infuse your chakra!
Be ready to move as soon as we get the plan from HQ!
We must immobilize Ten Tails...
or else we can't go after the brains that are controlling it...
But how?
Even with the jutsu of my clan who specialize in immobilizing...
the effect would be miniscule compared to the amount of chakra expended.
Inoichi!
Link me to Kakashi!
Roger!
Kakashi, it's me!
There's something I want to confirm
regarding the intel from the last battle sequence...
It's going to start getting more difficult to control Ten Tails soon...
Reinforce your bond with it using Hashirama's cells.
Don't you want to check out Ten Tails' power in its current state?
First, let's...
Yes, let's show them...
...despair!
Shikaku, I'm going to let you go for now!
What's the matter?!
This is...
No way!
Lord Shikaku! Lord Inoichi!
My Kamui won't make it in time!
Displace it upwards using an Earth Style technique.
Right!
That far away?
It's so much greater than all the previous Tailed Beasts!
What power!
It's wobbly from just that little counter...
Its control isn't perfect yet.
Next!
Unbelievable! Such a far-off city destroyed in an instant!
It's been acting strange for a while, it seems to be aiming far away!
So all the cities, and people are within its range of fire?
Then that means the evacuated Feudal Lords,
everyone protecting the villages...
plus all the citizens of each nation aren't safe?
Our shinobi on the battlefield are fighting to protect everyone else...
Those two are trying to eliminate our reason for this war.
That's the direction of--!
Th-This is...
What's wrong, Lord Ao?!
Please listen to me calmly.
Here, eh?
Well, Shikaku... What do we do?
Just keep doing what we must do.
It will be our last act.
Put me through to everyone on the battlefield.
I have a plan to stop the Ten Tails!
Finally got them.
We've now smashed the brains of the Allied Forces.
Like I said before, it's fundamental strategy.
Shikamaru...
We're in the middle of a war.
Don't waste any words on me.
Or on Ino.
Like Dad said, we just have to do what we have to do.
Wait... What exactly just happened?!
You are the key to our plan.
Not about that!
I'm asking what happened to Shikaku and Inoichi?!
Neji! Rotate clockwise!
Got it!
- Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation! - Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation!
A-Amazing...
Don't just stand there spacing out, Naruto!
This is a battlefield and we're in a war.
People will die!
But if we are defeated and lose this war...
everyone will die!
Of course I know that!
Shikamaru and Ino's father would likely say, that as shinobi,
they're glad to have died before their children.
Just as my father did.
Naruto, your power is critical to the plan.
So until we execute it...
We must protect you, Naruto!
Hinata!
Know this!
The Hyuga are the mightiest among the Hidden Leaf!
There he goes... I was hoping to take them down
before they started with the speeches, but...
It's hard to control Ten Tails well.
This ought to do until the next transformation, but...
Afterwards...
I suspect only a Jinchuriki will be able to control it.
Though for me to become the Ten Tails' Jinchuriki...
I'll need to be fully alive,
not hosted within a corpse as a Reanimation.
Reanimations like you are perfect for large-scale suicidal attacks.
But the reason you haven't launched
the Ten Tails Tailed Beast Bomb at them, blowing yourself up as well,
is because I'd get caught up in it and die too.
And the reason that would be a problem,
is because in order for you to truly be brought back to life
and become a Jinchuriki...
you need me to sacrifice myself
and perform the Gedo Art of Rinne Rebirth on you.
In short, you're in a delicate position right now
where you're entirely at my mercy.
Don't forget that.
Well, well, that rug rat sure has become the wily fox.
I never considered you a friend.
Fine then.
You decide our next move then.
We continue.
They will know despair...thoroughly.
Wood Style!
Cutting Sprigs!
There's so many of them!
Just try to evade them.
My Mountain Jutsu should at least slow it down
until Nine Tails' strength returns.
Except I need some time to build up enough chakra!
Hold on, everybody!
Cha!
So many!
My Rotation can't keep up!
Thanks, Neji!
I can activate Sage Mode now!
I can't keep relying on you geniuses!
Now it's my turn!
Rasen Shuriken!
Here's a few more!
Eight Trigrams: Air Wall Palm!
Damn it! A focused attack!
There's too many!
Hinata and Neji's Air Palms won't be sufficient...
Byakugan!
Earth Style! Mountain Jutsu!
Medical Team!
Where are you?! There's a critical injury here!
Hurry!
No...
I'm no longer...
Neji...
Brother...
Naruto...
Lady Hinata...
is willing to die for you.
So...you hold more...
than one...life in your hands...
And it seems...that my life too... may have been...
one of them....
Why? Why did you do this here?
You were going to change the Hyuga!
Long ago, those words of yours, freed me from the shackles of fate.
Why would you go so far for me?
Even give up your life...
Because...you called me a genius...
Unlike me, you're not a failure!
Father...
I finally understand... the freedom you felt...
choosing to die in order to protect your comrades.
Didn't you say you wouldn't let your friends die...?
Naruto!
I'll never let my comrades die!
Those words... "I'll never let my comrades die."
Now look around you... and say it again!
I told you to say it again!
As the bodies of your comrades grow cold in your arms...
take in their deaths!
Neji's...dead?!
Hizashi, forgive me...
I let Neji--!
This will continue...
And your flippant words and ideology shall become lies.
This is the end result of hope and ideals.
This is reality!
Naruto...
What is there for you in this reality?
Your mother and father are gone, as well as your master, Jiraiya.
And if you keep standing against us,
you'll continue to lose your friends one by one.
This shall become a world
where no one who acknowledges you will exist.
Obito...
The only thing that awaits you...
is your worst nightmare, which you know quite well!
Solitude!
You've become exactly like the old me, Obito.
Naruto will give up shortly...
Which will break the will of the Allied Forces.
Why must you cling to reality?
Enough of this... Now come join us, Naruto!
Brother Neji just said,
that you hold more than one life in your hands.
Do you know what he meant?
"I'll never let my comrades die."
Neither those words nor the conviction behind them are lies!
Because he was able to successfully store them in his heart,
and live them out to until the end!
Brother Neji did!
It's not just you, Naruto...
We all hold those words and feelings in our hearts.
They're what bind our lives together...
and make us comrades.
If we all give up and discard those words and feelings,
Neji's final act will have been for nothing.
And that is when... your comrades truly die!
For you are then no longer comrades.
That's...how I feel.
So, stand with me, Naruto.
Because never going back on one's word...
is my Ninja Way too!
Naruto...
Lady Hinata... is willing to die for you.
So...you hold more...
...than one life!
Don't forget about me!
I know.
I take my bonds seriously!
I'd never abandon my comrades!
But in reality, Neji is...
Stop your rambling!
I'll beat you up and take over your body for good this time!
And did you also forget?
Your mother and father did the same thing Neji did
just after you were born.
They sealed me, their archenemy inside you,
and entrusted the future to you and died.
Your life was already linked to two others from the time you were born!
Will he just stand back and see how Naruto responds...?
It seems Naruto makes him uneasy.
Enough!
Don't be hasty!
You're going to harm yourself as well as Ten Tails!
I don't care!
Ten Tails hide is tough!
They're going to hit us!
Recharging completed!
Be careful, Lord Bee!
Go get 'em!
Take this!
Lord Bee!
Don't go overboard!
There's no need to worry...
Protecting the Alliance is my territory!
That's right.
It wasn't just Mom and Dad.
Yeah...
It hasn't just been my life...
up until now.
Thanks, Hinata!
It's all thanks to you standing by my side.
And Neji...
Thank you.
Naruto's hand is so big...
and strong, but most of all...
Let's do this, Hinata!
Yeah!
It's comforting!
I haven't been able to save many comrades...
An existence where one can only await one's death inside a cage...
It's a nice analogy.
You're all exactly like that brat who just died a pointless death.
Neji's will isn't dead yet!
Next time on Naruto Shippuden: "Those Who Dance in the Shadows."
THOSE WHO DANCE IN THE SHADOWS
Tune in again!