Kaguya Ōtsutsuki Strikes

The Return of Madara Arc spans from chapter 657 to the current. It covers the revival of Madara Uchiha and his attempt to complete the Eye of the Moon Plan after the defeat of Obito Uchiha. This arc is preceded by the Ten-Tails Revival Arc.

Revival of Madara Uchiha
A defeated Obito watches as Naruto attacks an immobilised Madara from atop the Shinju, that Hashirama managed to subdue besides being pinned down himself. The Allied Shinobi Forces notices the direction of Naruto's attack and begin rushing to the location. Shukaku agrees to assist Gaara with stopping Madara, with the other tailed beasts following suit. Sai flies to the top of the Shinju to collect Naruto while Madara recovers from Naruto's attack. Meanwhile, Obito, who is incapacitated due to the extraction of the tailed beasts, resolves to using the Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique to revive those who have been killed during the war, stating that he finally understands Nagato's actions. Before he could do so, however, Black Zetsu emerges and takes over his body, forcing him use the same technique to revive Madara instead. Much to the shock of Naruto and the others, and his own satisfaction, Madara is revived in the flesh.

However, as Madara's eyes crumble, having bestowed them to Obito prior to his death, he is suddenly struck from behind by an Amaterasu, courtesy of Sasuke. The legend is unfazed though, and simply absorbed the technique. As his armour falls away, Madara reminds Hashirama about the conversation they had under the Naka Shrine, stating that he believes the unity stated refers to the combination of both Uchiha and Senju, revealing the face of Hashirama on his chest. Stating that the face was due to Kabuto, Madara quickly bypasses Naruto and Sai, so as to grab onto his old enemy and drain him of his senjutsu chakra, turning the face on his chest into Sage Mode. Sasuke then goes on the attack, wishing to kill Madara now that he is really alive, however the older Uchiha manages to grab the younger's blade, planning on taking Sasuke's eyes until he gets his original back.

Meanwhile, Obito, Kakashi and Minato learns about Madara's revival. Just as Black Zetsu attempts to take the Rinnegan, the former Hokage and his pupil simultaneously attempt to attack the creature, who quickly attaches itself to Obito before they reach it. Explaining that he is Madara's will, it recalls how it escaped. Though Chōjūrō managed to pin the upper half down, after bisecting Black Zetsu, the lower half was also sentient and escaped to help his master later. Back with Madara, the Uchiha attempts to influence Sasuke into joining his side, but the younger adamantly refuses. Both Sai and Naruto attempt to attack Madara in a pincer attack, but he manages to push both back while escaping Sasuke's blade. As he instantly starts healing, Madara then turns his attention to the incoming tailed beasts. Seeing that they were between the beasts and Madara, the Allied Shinobi Forces quickly get out of the way, with Killer B and Gyūki's help.

Tailed Beasts vs. Madara
Gaara, together with Shukaku, launch a mass of sand projectiles at Madara. Gaara then manipulates the sand in the Uchiha's blood to temporarily immobilise him as he is ricocheted between Matatabi, Isobu, Son Gokū, Kokuō and Chōmei, before landing in a sticky field courtesy of Saiken. Gaara and Shukaku then act quickly, attempting to seal the Uchiha before he could recover. Though they manage to do so, Madara still manages to break out using Susanoo, but is quickly knocked back down by Naruto and Kurama. They are then joined by Gyūki, and together, the beasts use their tails to rain down a barrage of hits, stripping away the Susanoo to get to the man within. Though the attack costs Madara his right arm, he manages to escape. A White Zetsu then emerges from the ground which carried Madara's Rinnegan. Taking the eye and the clone's right arm he attaches both, claiming that now the real "fun" begins.

Though temporarily overjoyed at being alive, and able to "feel the fight", Madara quickly returns his attention to the battle. As the Uchiha prepares a summoning, Kurama shudders as he recalls how Madara had used to summon it, which receives a chastening from Shukaku, who in return gets a warning about the "mere" human. As the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path is summoned, the object in question suddenly emerges from Obito. Kakashi attempts to warp it away, but only manages to take an arm. As the tailed beasts wonder at how Madara is capable of summoning the statue, Naruto quickly manages to figure it out himself. Back with Obito, Black Zetsu again attempts to take the Rinnegan from its weakened host, but through pure will power, Obito manages to prevent it. When Zetsu states that the Rinnegan is to return to Madara, Obito claims that he has hidden the right eye and Kakashi will crush the left. However, Black Zetsu mocks his host's ignorance, stating that White Zetsu has already found and returned the right eye, and Obito would be dead if it wasn't attached to him. It goes on to say that the only reason that it still attached to the dying man, is because he knows that Kakashi and Minato would have already killed it otherwise.

Madara soon recovers from the damage he received earlier, claiming to White Zetsu that he has gotten careless considering he now possesses Hashirama's recovery power. He then resolves to be more careful, and will instead use the Rinnegan's ability to the fullest. Madara then uses Rinbo: Hengoku, and while at first it doesn't seem to do anything, one by one, each of the beasts are blown back. He then launches chains from the statue, which attach to, and starts pulling the tailed beasts towards it. Madara declares he will extract the Eight and Nine-Tails from their jinchūriki. As the two targeted jinchūriki continue to struggle against their restrains, Naruto attempts to exit the Tailed Beast Mode, but finds that he cannot suppress Kurama's chakra as Madara deemed his efforts futile. The White Zetsu Army clone inquires as to why Madara did not go after Shukaku first. Readjusting his strategy after contemplating his minion's words, Madara turns his focus on the One-Tail. Intercepting Madara's assault, however, Gaara creates two enormous sand-hands to help stop the chain from dragging the tanuki into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Declaring that he would not let Madara have the beast, Shukaku is shocked by the Kazekage's actions; which causes the beast to remember the time when it was sealed within Gaara as a child and its declaration to prey upon his mind, should he ever fall into deep sleep. As the memories came pouring in, Shukaku also remembers the words of his previous jinchūriki: the priest who had foretold the beast of the day someone would come who would cause the beast to understand the words which were carved into his own hands: "heart" and "acceptance". This lead Shukaku to notice that the kanji for the word "love" (which was craved on Gaara's forehead) was actually a combination for the kanji for "acceptance" and "heart". As the White Zetsu Army clone decries Gaara's actions — having protected the creature which caused him to suffer for so long, and also that Gaara won't die even if Shukaku is sealed in the Demonic Statue — Madara equips his Susanoo and launches one of its swords at Gaara. As the sword hurls towards Gaara, Shukaku intercepts it, declaring that it prided itself on its Absolute Defence after all. Sending another sword boomeranging across the battlefield, Madara is able to break the section of the chain Gaara held and reconnect it to the beast all while sending the sword directly at Gaara whose automatic defence protects against the attack, but he was still knocked down. Telling the young man not to overdo it, Gaara notes that because he was no longer a jinchūriki, he could stay up as late as he wanted, as Shukaku's equal. As all the beasts get dragged in, B severs one of his own tentacles, while Kurama calls out to Gaara to ask a favour. Naruto is then ejected from his Tailed Beast Mode shroud. Gaara calls out to Naruto, who begins to fall to the ground.

Episodes