[Accelo]

Does anyone run the negative all the way up from the rear-mounted battery all the way up to similar locations as you would the hot wire?

I would run both the hot and the ground all the way to the starter/block.
You just need to do this for the 200 to 400 amps starter draw. Only other option is grounding the battery to the frame and then running another battery sized cable from the frame to the starter.

Be sure you have all the factory grounds in place. Consider adding some also.

From the starter positive I would then run a 6g or 8g wire to a mega fuse to somewhere in the engine compartment.
That will give you a place to terminate the connections, for the rest of the motor/vehicle draw, with a minimum of unfused wire.
Maybe you will want the mega-fuse closer to the battery. You could even use two of them to reduce the unfused wire even more.

Everything will have to be first class as any short to one of the large positive cable is nothing short of a vehicle fire. The battery isn't likely in a location you could get to easily to disconnect it.
If it is accessible consider adding a battery cut off switch to the battery negative terminal as a last resort.