Hello everyone, I am here to talk a little bit about some important and unimportant things about specific subjects and how they work in my AU, as well as rant about Naruto related stuff and the Boruto anime/manga because I can.
Let's start with the big guys in the room: The Bijuu.
One thing that I massively hated in the war arc was how Kurama was not only revealed to be split in half, but also massively more powerful than any other Bijuu in existence, making all the others completely obsolete. I mean come on! Naruto with half of Kurama defeats 7 Bijuu working together under Obito's control!
Sure, a perfect Jinchuriki should be more powerful than a wild Bijuu, but that was just absurd.
Therefore I had in mind a change that I was going to implement in this AU no matter what: All Bijuu are relatively comparable in power. Yes, Kurama the Kyubii is the strongest, but the difference isn't very noticeable. In a fight between Bijuu, there is always a 50% chance for one to win the other.
Another note is that every Jinchuriki who defeats his Bijuu and gains its chakra has a chakra cloak like Naruto does, but different for every beast. And another detail is that all Bijuu modes are the same, with the Jinchuriki becoming the Bijuu themselves and not having some chakra avatar instead.
They also have are attributes that allow them to fight one another on equal terms. Here is the list:
Shukaku: He is capable of sand manipulation and sealing with Magnet Release. The chakra cloak that the Jinchuriki gets is basically a monk rob made of sand (a nod to the original backstory of Shukaku as a monk turned monster). The perfect jinchuriki state gives an additional tail.
Matatabi: She (I decided to make Matatabi a female) is capable of producing psychokinetic flames, i.e. she can control her flames with her mind. She is also the most agile Bijuu. The chakra cloak that the Jinchuriki gets a chakra cloak that is like Kurama's chakra cloak in canon, but with blue and black flames covering the body instead of yellow and orange, and the perfect Jinchuriki state gives two tails and cat ears.
Isobu: He has the ability to create powerful corals, has the best defenses of all the Bijuu, can swim really fast and breath underwater. The chakra cloak that the Jinchuriki gets is basically a coral armor that makes him look like a mini Isobu, with the three tails added in the Perfect Jinchuriki state.
Son Goku: Possesses the Lava Release kekkei genkai. The chakra cloak that the Jinchuriki gets is basically having his body be covered by hot magma, while the perfect Jinchuriki state also creates four tails made from the rock and magma.
Kokuo: He has the Boil Release kekkei genkai and is the physically fastest Bijuu. His horns are deadly as well. The chakra cloak that the jinchuriki gets is having the body become a cloud of corrosive steam. The perfect Jinchuriki state stabilizes the cloud and creates five tails made from the steam.
Saiken: Can produce corrosive acid from his body to damage opponents. The chakra cloak that the Jinchuriki gets is also very basic: having his body covered by the corrosive acid and creates six tails made of the acid.
Chomei: Also a female in this AU, Chomei only has the special ability to fly, which is in itself a very useful ability. The chakra cloak that the Jinchuriki gets is a green armor that covers their body with wings.
Gyuki: The physically strongest out of all the Bijuu, he can produce ink that he can use to seal others and blind opponents. The chakra cloak that the Jinchuriki gets is an armor with ox helmet while the perfect Jinchuriki state adds eight octopus legs.
Kurama: The Bijuu with the largest pool of chakra, he can super-charge his attacks, making them much more powerful than usual. The chakra cloak that the Jinchuriki gets is a bit different than canon (and I will explain why). Instead of being covered by a yellow cloak, the fiery cloak is an orange cloak, with the perfect Jinchuriki state giving it nine tails, black whiskers and two big fox ears made of fiery chakra.
Now, the reason that I decided to change the color of Kurama's chakra cloak is because as much as I love the design in canon, it always bothered me that the cloak is gold instead of making Naruto be orange. Yeah, I know, it was meant to be a marketable Super Saiyan copy form, but that's what Six Path Sage Mode could be.
It's my AU and thus I decided to only have Six Path Sage Mode gold-colored and thus make KCM orange-colored.
Okay, now that I've got that out of the way, I want to discuss something I have mixed feelings about. And by discuss, I mean rant like a raging bull. I warn you all, there will be a ton of swearing because when I'm angry and ranting, I swear more that usual.
I want to talk about Post-retcon Hashirama Senju and Madara "My Gary-Stu plot armor is as invincible as Aizen "Kyoka Suigetsu goes brrr" Sosuke's" Uchiha. Let's start with our favorite villain, Madara.
Madara is an utter badass and is really cool and really fun to hate him. You can't get your eyes off of him. However, his power was way too bullshit in my opinion. This is what caused the power escalation go beyond control and that really ruined my enjoyment on the world in retrospective.
Every ubber badass legend was seen of having a tangible chance of losing. Pain was an absolute monster and would have won against Naruto without outside interference, but he was shown to have weaknesses and capable of losing if there was enough info on him, having someone strong enough fight him while having an insane amount of prep time. Point is, Pain/Nagato was shown capable of losing.
Itachi was shown capable of losing to Sasuke, who didn't have a Mangekyou, even though he almost won despite holding back, going blind and dying from illness. But without Susanoo he would have died to Kirin. Itachi was seen as someone beatable.
The Third Raikage seemed untouchable and one who you would think couldn't be defeated, yet he did die against 3,000 shinobi and fought against the Gyuki. Naruto managed to find a strategy to defeat him.
Madara couldn't be defeated no matter what was thrown at him. He never showed to be dropping a sweat against anyone and he was so goddamn invincible that there was the need for the whole reincarnation and Ridoku power-up crap just to keep up with the damn Uchiha. Then another left-field shitty twist got him killed.
Nothing could faze him when he was either an Edo Tensei or alive. Numbers? Just fodder to him, 5 kages included. Power? Nobody could fucking compete with him in power. Strategy? Who needed that when basically every potential plan the alliance could create would be shat on by this fucking asshole.
Point is nothing would work against him. His power was way too high to work in the Naruto world. Even Hashirama, the guy Madara wouldn't shut the fuck up about got stomped by a Madara with no eyes! WHILE IN SAGE MODE, FOR FUCK SAKE!
Now let's talk about Hashirama. While I don't like the retcon in which Hashirama was the God of Shinobi and strongest Hokage, despite earlier in the manga it was stated somewhere that Sarutobi was the strongest, that is something I can live with. The fact that he has Mastered Sage Mode I can live with. The fact that Wood Release can somehow contain Bijuu chakra I can live with.
What I can't live with is that he was an uber god who spanks all 9 Bijuu combined like they are fucking house pets! Because Madara had such impressive feats, Hashirama had to look even better so that Madara's constant praise justified. By beating both Madara and Kurama with perfect Susanoo, all other Bijuu became as completely invalid as the shinobi alliance.
What my ranting has been trying to get to other than releasing my steam, is to say that my major decision in this AU was to heavily, and I mean heavily nerf those two. I will ow describe how much.
Even though they are the strongest in their era, both Madara and Hashirama can hold their own in a 1v1 fight with a single Bijuu and live to tell the tale, whereas other kages need a lot of help and support just to survive a fight with a single Bijuu. They do not possess as much raw power as a Bijuu, but their many techniques and skills manage to close the gap enough to hold their own.
That is how strong Hashiram Senju and Madara Uchiha are in this setting.
Sorry for all the ranting and I hope you all have a great day.