Author's Note: While it lacked a scene towards the end when it was originally published, the second chapter of the Hanabi Gaiden is now complete.

Now, enjoy the conclusion to the Tenseigan duel:


Chapter 113:

Rise of the Byakugan Princess, Part II

or

Family Feud

Mountain Graveyard

Despite the fact that he had left not even half an hour ago, Zetsu appeared once again inside the cave Obito and Orochimaru were using as a base of operations. Given the look on his face, he didn't bring good news.

"Uh, boss, I have bad news." Sometimes, Obito hated being right. "We just lost Toneri's Moon Puppets."

Of course, the Uchiha didn't guess the extent of such bad news. Orochimaru chuckled, seemingly amused by this turn of events. Obito glared at the Sanke Sannin, before turning back at his right hand man.

"What do you mean that we 'lost them'?" he asked, sounding exasperated. "They couldn't be destroyed, since they're scattered alongside different groups. Did Toneri recall them for some reason?"

"No, I mean..." the white half hesitated, as if trying to look for the most appropriate words. "They just... stopped working."

"What do you mean 'stopped working'?" Obito insisted, not getting what Zetsu was implying –or not wanting to get it.

"Well, one moment they were running as usual and then the next... they all stopped moving and dropped down like they were dead. We can't sense any chakra coming from them," the black half explained.

"And this happened to every puppet among our ranks," the white half added. "How could this happen? It's unlikely that Toneri betrayed us."

"If he did, he would have taken the puppets with him instead of deactivating them," Obito said, placing a finger under his chin. "Still, the why is irrelevant. Our army has lost a good chunk of its strength without them. Not helping that Toneri is still missing," Obito let out a weary sigh, as he pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly. "We need to find that secret island as soon as possible. How is the search going on?"

"The winged Zetsu are still looking. The sea around the Land of Lightning is extense, and the weather can be a hidrance," white Zetsu said in an apologetic tone.

"Send more to help them with the search. We can sacrifice some of our aerial strength," Obito ordered, before he turned at the Snake Sannin. "Orochimaru, do you have anymore reanimations in reserve?"

"A few. Do you want me to send them to the front?" Orochimaru asked.

"Yes. Quality over quantity, though. Send a few of your strongest," Obito told him.

Orochimaru grinned in anticipation. "As you command, Obito-kun."

"If we're able to keep the Alliance distracted for enough time, winning the war won't be a problem," Obito said.

Moon

"Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"

Toneri's eight Truth Seeking Balls merged into a golden sphere, that exploded in the form of a thick energy beam aimed at Hinata. She, however, merely moved a few of her own black orbs in front of her, and merged and shaped them in the form of a shield. The golden energy beam struck, but it failed to crack Hinata's defense. Toneri was unable to hide a grimace of frustration.

"My turn," Hinata said, smiling confidently, as her Truth Seeking Balls spun before merging into a purple orb. "Amethyst Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"

The lavender orb exploded into a storm of purple lightnings, spread in a cone towards Toneri's general area. The Otsutsuki tried to use his own Truth Seeking Balls to block Hinata's attack, but they were destroyed after taking a few lightning strikes, forcing the white haired man to flee from the incoming storm, dodging them as well as he could.

"I can use Truth Seeking Balls to nullify all your attacks," Hinata began. "But thanks to my Senjutsu, you can't do the same. Surrender already, Toneri. I just showed you you can't defeat me."

However, confidence quickly returned to the Otsutsuki, as so did that condescending grin he often had on his face, as he resummoned his eight Truth Seeking Balls.

"Please, you underestimate me. Yes, your new powers provide quite the obstacle to overcome," Toneri made a hand seal, and his black orbs started to glow with a green light. "But any obstacle can be overcome with enough creativity. Emerald Reincarnation Explosion!"

The glowing green spheres launched forward, and Hinata prepared to block them, keeping her guard up just in case it's a distraction of a trick. And indeed, the flying orbs passed by her at high speed...

"What the...?" Hinata asked, as she directed her sight to her back.

…and saw that they were going straight towards the rest of the Moon Squad, which were flying away on Sai's ink birds.

"NO!"

Hinata quickly flew in the same direction, sending her own orbs to the green ones, making them detonate prematurely.

"Three... four... five.. six..." Hinata counted, as she intercepted the emerald orbs, making one last effort to destroy the last two before they could reach her friends.

However, something slammed into her back, sending her tumbling down. She then realized that it was Toneri who attacked her from behind. However, her mind wasn't on Toneri, but on the remaining Truth Seeking Balls that were about to detonate near the rest of the Moon Squad. That is, until another flash of green rose to intercept them.

"Senjutsu Susanoo!"

Shisui jumped from the bird he was sharing with one of the Hyugas, and formed his Susanoo as fast as possible. His drill spear appeared on the chakra construct's hand, and used it to destroy one of the two emerald orbs. The other detonated before it could be destroyed, forcing the Uchiha to use his Susanoo to shield the other from the incoming explosion. The explosion made the green chakra construct burst as if it were a balloon, sending Shisui flying backwards. Fortunately, one of the ink birds flew towards him and caught him with its talons.

"Good job, Shisui-san! Nice save there!" Tokuma shouted.

"Thanks! But I doubt I'll be able to do that again! So we better move!" the Uchiha replied.

Toneri tried to attack them again, but was swatted away by a gigantic purple hand made of chakra, completely by surprise. Looking down, the Otsutsuki saw Hinata had projected a giant purple arm made of chakra from her palm. As the rest of the squad flew away, Hinata quickly recovered and placed herself between them and Toneri, so the white haired man couldn't harm them again. She fixed the Otsutsuki with an angry glare.

"So, you acknowledge that you can't beat me, so you go after my friends instead, and attack me from behind while I'm busy helping them," the Hyuga seethed. "And you wonder why I prefer Naruto-kun to you? He would never resort to such a despicable tactic in order to achieve victory."

"Everything's fair in love and war, my princess," Toneri said, unperturbed by the insult. He summoned more Truth Seeking Balls. He extended his hand at Hinata, making the orbs to spin around it. "Plus, I do have a way to bypass the protection of your Truth Seeking Balls as well. Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"

The orbs merged into a silvery sphere, which exploded into a gigantic cone of wind that not only swallowed Hinata, but it continued advancing until it reached the rest of her teammates. Sai's ink birds burst into blots of ink, while everybody else screamed as they were flung away by the tornado.

"I need to keep everybody close to me!" Hinata desperatedly thought, as she projected two giant arms of chakra, which in turn split in two, grabbing several of her teammates, and using her telekinetic powers to pull the ones she was unable to catch close to her.

The tornado flung the group towards the ground, with such power it drilled a hole, sending them –as well as many large rocks– outside it, landing on hard rock ground.

Thankfully, none of them were seriously hurt, and all of them were able to get back on their feet soon enough. They realized that they were no longer in the Moon, or better said, inside it, given that the brown soil and green vegetation was replaced by a vast, endless extension of gray rock. It wasn't as dark as before, as something was projecting light onto them. It didn't take them to realize what it was.

"Look at that!" an Hyuga kunoichi said.

Everybody looked up, and saw a dark blue sky filled with stars, as well as meteors that lazily floated around. And between all of them, the Earth in all its majesty.

"That's the Earth," Sai pointed out.

"Then we must be on the Moon's surface," Shisui's deduced. "Come on, we have to-"

"Watch out!"

Suddenly, some of the meteors floating above rained towards them, opening a crater and raising a huge cloud of some where they landed, forcing the Konoha ninjas to scatter in order to avoid being crushed.

Hinata's eyes scanned the area looking for Toneri, something she didn't take too long to given the potency of his chakra. Leaving a trail of dust behind, the Hyuga rocketed towards the Otsutsuki as fast as she could, delivering a palm strike the moment he was in close combat distance. Unlike the previous time, Toneri was able to block and parry her attacks. Even if he was being pushed backwards, he was able to deliver a couple of counterattacks as well.

The two of them continued their aerial struggle. For any onlookers, it might look like a purple flame clashing and chasing a turqoise one, producing shockwaves and thunderclaps every time they crashed. However, there were intricate moves and skilled martial art blows being traded with each clash. Still, it could be garnered that the purple flame appeared to be the stronger party, as it constantly put the turqoise flame on the run.

From time to time, Hinata would generate a giant chakra arm in order to squash Toneri with, but after that first strike, Toneri learned to see those attacks coming and how to avoid them, much to the Hyuga's frustration.

"While admitedly hand to hand combat isn't my forte, we Otsutsuki are no strangers to the Gentle Fist," the white haired man said, smiling in a condescending manner, as he jumped back from a palm strike. "And I'm a very fast learner. You won't catch me off guard again."

Hinata delivered another palm strike, and projected yet again another giant arm of purple chakra. In a fraction of a second, Toneri sidestepped and rushed towards the apparently wide open Hinata, but that moment, the arm of chakra split into two arms of similar size, the second arm stopping Toneri in his tracks.

"I still have a few moves you haven't seen yet," Hinata told him, as both chakra arms retracted back into her body, while she merged her Turth Seeking Balls into a single purple sphere. "Try dodge this! Amethyst Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"

Toneri braced for the attack, but much to his surprise, Hinata threw the orb high into the sky, where it exploded into a mass of lightning bolts that quickly rained down upon him., forcing him to jump from one side to another constantly.

"Very clever, my princess," Toneri praised, his smile unwavering, much to Hinata's discomfort. She could tell the ground was starting to shake, as if something big was coming closer. "But I already have the perfect counter."

That moment, a gigantc stone statue of what appeared to be Hamura Otsutsuki emerged from behind a large rock formation. The statue was just the upper half of the body, and two grotesque oversized arms. Toneri was covered under the statue, which acted a shield for the Otsutsuki. With every lightning bolt, the statue lost of a chunk of rock and stone, but if Toneri was worried, he didn't show it.

"Hide behind that statue all you want. I'll destroy it and you won't have anything to use as a cover," Hinata said.

Toneri's smile widened, much to her furstration and worry. "Oh, that's where you are wrong, my dear princess. Observe."

And indeed, much to Hinata's shock, as if times was reversed, the pieces of rock that had been teared from the statue flew towards it, rebuilding the statue, looking almost as if it was never broken.

"Impressed? You should be," Toneri said, as he flew from under the statue. "Now go, my golem! Crush my enemies!"

The statue let out a deafening roar, before dragging its body forward, leaving a wide furrow behind. Hinata floated back, a little unsure of what to do. She was confident she could beat Toneri, but with that unkillable giant statue helping him, she wasn't so sure anymore. Still, defeat or surrender wasn't an option.

"I thought I didn't have to use this so soon, but guess I have no choice," Hinata solemnly said.

Hinata clapped her hands together, and focused her chakra into a single point, and molded it. After a few seconds, she spread her arms with her hand completely opened, releasing all the chakra she has been manipulating.

At first, a pair of giant purple chakra arms projected from her palms, growing bigger as they moved, before they split in two as well. Similarly, giant chakra legs of the same color grew from her actual legs. The arms and the legs were soon connected by a torso that appeared from Hinata's body, and from the torso's upper part, a neck and a head formed.

While the body at first appeared to have a very generic form –four arms notwithstanding– it soon started to take shape. The legs and rear became a little curvier, as so did its chest. A long loincloth skirt formed around its pelvis, and extended down all the way to its ankles. An elegant top appeared around its chest. Vambraces formed around all four of its forearms, and leg guards appeared on its ankles.

Lastly, a female face that resembled an older version of Hinata appeared on its head, while long dark hair fell down her back. Two small horns grew on its forehead, while a headdress shaped like a fan with flowers around it formed on its head. Lastly, the humaoid construct opened its eyes, revealing two orbs of white-purplish light.

And floating inside its head, there was Hinata. She made a hand seal, and two shadow clones appeared besides her. They immediately sat in the lotus position, and like Shisui did before, began to collect nature energy and channel it through the chakra construct.

"Sage Art: Avatar of Kalika!"

The Avatar's feet touched the ground, producing a soft thud, and its four arms moved, adopting a fighting pose. After Hinata finally completed her ultimate jutsu, everybody, friend and foe alike, couldn't help but watch in awe at the sheer magnificence of the Hyuga Clan Head's chakra construct, which irradiated both power and beauty. It was still smaller than the Statue of Hamura, but big enough to be a match to it.

"Man... and here I thought that there was nothing like the Susanoo..." Shisui said, chuckling good naturedly.

"That giant avatar of chakra..." Tokuma began, narrowing his eyes at it. "It seems familiar. I swear I saw it somewhere, but I can't put my finger as of where..."

Wordlessly, Sai pulled out his sketchbook, and started to calmly flip its pages, until he found what he was looking for.

"That's because we did," the pale boy said, showing the picture to everybody.

Much to their shock, it was an almost perfect copy of the Avatar of Kalika.

"There were some statues like that in the temples we visited during our initial exploration," Sai explained. "And from what I could hear from the Moon Acolytes, they had some statues like that as well in their previous home."

"Yes, now I remember!" an Hyuga kunoichi said. "The Acolytes said that that's how Kalika was represented by the ancient Otsutsuki. They forgot what was the meaning behind the four arms and the horns. Now it's obvious those statues weren't of her specifically, but of her chakra avatar."

Toneri was also looking with his mouth agape at the Avatar of Kalika. After a few seconds, he was finally able to regain his composure, and ask a question.

"Just... what is that?" Toneri asked, unable to completely shake off the sense of amazement. "I studied all the knowledge my clan gathered about the Tenseigan, and no such thing was ever mentioned!"

"Because the Main House Otsutsuki made sure that no such knowledge fell on the wrong hands," Hinata replied. "Behold the Avatar of Kalika, created by Hamura's eldest daughter as a way to counter Indra's Susanoo."

Toneri's condescending smirk returned to his face once more. "I must admit it's pretty impressive. But I have the same power as you do. I don't know how, but I'll figure a way to replicate that avatar."

"I find that unlikely. The Avatar of Kalika can only be created with Senjutsu chakra. Tenseigan or not, this is something you won't be able to do unless you master Senjutsu and become a Sage like I did," Hinata said."And do you know who taught me Senjutsu?"

Toneri frowned a little, appearing uninterested. "No, but I'm sure you're going to tell me."

Hinata smirked widely, ready to savor this moment. "My boyfriend, Naruto Uzumaki, taught me how to become a Sage. It's thanks to him that I'm able to harness this power. That's one of the many, many ways that Naruto is superior to you."

Hinata could see the second Toneri snapped, his smirk disappearing, replaced by a snarl of fury, as a scowl developed on his face.

"I'm tired of hearing you talk about that boorish blond! I'm going to make sure that not only is he wiped out from the face of Earth, but that you won't even utter his despicable name ever again!" Toneri yelled, his blood boiling with rage. "Attack, my golem!"

The statue of Hamura let out a thunderous roar, and dragged itself towards Hinata, Toneri floating above it. Hinata commanded her avatar to move and meet the stone giant in the middle, its footsteps producing booming sounds.

Once it reached close combat distance, the statue lifted one of its massive arms and brought it down towards the Avatar of Kalika. Hinata motioned the Avatar to lift its two upper arms, and caught the stone arm before it could hit the chakra construct. Still, the force and momentum of the arm pushed the Avatar back, which dug its feet into the ground to remain still. Hinata made several hand seals.

"Lightning Release: Double Thunder Palm Strike!"

The hands of the Avatar's lower arms crackled with electricity, before it thurst them forward, hitting the statue in the face. There was a flash of purple lightning followed by a thunderclap, electric bolts flew everywhere, and the statue, its face cracked, was pushed skidding backwards.

Before the Avatar could move in order to continue the assault, a storm of green chakra projectiles rained upon the giant chakra construct. Directing her sight upwards, the Hyuga Clan Head saw Toneri floating above her, his hands aiming down, firing green blasts at her. Hinata could feel how the blasts were slowly but surely breaking the Avatar. She then send all her Truth Seeking Balls outside, and formed a dome above the Avatar, protecting it from the emerald assault. The dome wasn't big enough to protect the whole Avatar, but it did block most of the attacks.

Toneri smirked. "You fell in my trap."

The white haired man send his eight Truth Seeking Balls at the Avatar of Kalika, flying past the protective dome, placing them at several points of its body, before they detonated. The chain of explosions made the Avatar stumble backwards, as it was engulfed in several clouds of smoke. However, when the smoke of the explosions vanished, the Avatar only had superficial damage, which Hinata easily repaired by directing more Senjutsu chakra into it. Toneri's smirk vanished.

"Let me guess, you defeated Shisui-san's Susanoo with that attack, and expected the same result with me?" Hinata asked, smirking back at him.

"It was merely a test to see the durability of that Avatar of yours," Toneri replied. "Because make no mistake, sooner or later, I will crack it."

"I'd like to see you try," Hinata replied, scowling at him.

"Is that an invitation, my dear?" Toneri said, as his smile returned to his lips. "Because I think I'm going to take it."

Ground vibrations alerted Hinata that the Statue of Hamura had already regenerated, and was once again charging towards her, its pace much faster than the first time. Toneri elevated above them, and made a hand seal. More asteroids were pulled from above them, and rained towards Hinata. The Hyuga made a couple hand seals.

"Lightning Release: Quad Lion Fists!"

The Avatar's hands clenched into fists, as they were engulfed by balls of amethyst fire. The fire-like chakra took the shape of lion heads, purple lightning crackling around it. Despite its colossal size, the Avatar of Kalika moved rather nimbly, causing small tremors with each step or jump it took to dodge the incoming meteors,, and smashing to pebbles the one it was unable to dodge with its lion-shaped chakra fists.

When the statue jumped at it, the Avatar used its building momentum to deliver such a devastating blow to its face, that the statue was shattered completely, breaking down into thousands of small rocks, scattered away by the shockwave created by the impact.

This time, Hinata was expecting for Toneri to attack while she was busy dealing with the statue. And indeed, she saw him merging his eight Truth Seeking Balls into a golden orb. But rather than the expected energy beam, the orb took the shape of an extremely long sword made of pure chakra. Toneri grabbed the newly created weapon, and brought it down.

"Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"

This time, Hinata was ready. She made the Avatar spin on its heels to meet the falling blade, and raising its upper arms –the lion chakra fists were still active– caught the blade before it could hit the Avatar's head. Hinata reflexively tried to counterattack with the construct's lower arms, but due the length of the golden sword, Toneri was too far away to reach him.

And she could see thousands of small rocks gathering and reforming into the shape of the Hamura statue. It didn't take long to realize what was Toneri's plan. As if he read her mind, he pushed down the golden sword with even more force.

"It seems that you're quite in a bind, my princess;" Toneri smugly said, as he watched how the Hamura statue reformed. "What do you plan to do to counter this tactic?"

"How about this?" Hinata asked. "After him!"

Suddenly, the clones that were channeling Senjutsu chakra opened their eyes, stood up, jumped out of the Avatar's head and rocketed towards Toneri.

"You can't use Truth Seeking Balls as long as you're using that jutsu!" the first clone said.

"You thought you made Hinata fell into a trap, but in the end it was her who trapped you!" the second clone said.

Toneri immediately dispelled the golden sword and attempted to resummon his black orbs, but the clones reached him before he could do it, and engaged him in yet another hand to hand duel.

Much to Toneri's frustration, these clones proved to be far more resilent and hard hitting than the ones he had fought before Hinata revealed her trump card. Then again, since Hinata had also reached a greater level of power, it was obvious that her clones would be stronger as well. At first, Toneri had been playing with what he believed to be the real Hinata and her two clones in order to test his new strength. It was now when he realized that Hinata was also probing him as well.

These clones not only fought with increased vigor, but displayed a greater level of skill. One clone would attack, and when Toneri was about to prepare a counterattack, the clone would retreat and the second clone would strike. Even with the peripherial vision, it was increasingly hard to keep his attention on two targets that were so vicious. He attempted to resummon the Truth Seeking Balls, but was interrupted any time he tried to do it, the last one being particularly brutal.

"Lightning Release: Thunder Palm!"

One of the Hinata clones slammed her electrified palm into Toneri's face, sending the Otsutsuki hurling backwards.

"Heavenly Spin!"

The second clone, placed behind Toneri, began to spin mid air, turning into a rotating sphere of chakra the moment Toneri crashed into her. The force of the first strike grinded Toneri against the spinning sphere, before he was launched in the opposite direction. His flight was abruptly stopped when five giant purple fingers firmly wrapped arund his body, leaving him completely immobilized.

"I got you," Hinata said, looking at Toneri trapped inside one of the Avatar's lower hands.

The Avatar turned around as the statue finished reforming, and her two clones returned to their original positions, resuming their gathering and channeling of nature energy. The statue let out yet another roar, as it charged forward.

"Tell that thing to stop and lie down!" Hinata shouted at Toneri.

"As long as I'm in danger, it will never stop attacking," Toneri replied. "And neither will I."

Once again, lion-shaped chakra fists formed around the Avatar's uppper hands, ready to welcome the stone monster with a devastating punch. However, the statue halted its charge midway, rose its arms, and slammed them into the ground with as much force as it could gather. The result was a violent quake, followed by multiple cracks quickly spreading towards the purple four armed giantess, throwing massive chunks of earth and stone forward.

While she was surprised by such maneuver, Hinata didn't falter, and made the Avatar destroy the stones raining upon it with powerful and precise punches. Still, it was unable to catch some of the smaller stones, which hit it with a surprisingly deceptive force despite its size. The giant chakra construct fumbled backwards, and for a brief moment, loosened its grip on Toneri.

That brief moment, however, was all what the Otsutsuki needed. He borught his hands together in the form of a hand seal, and his Tenseigan Chakra Cloak exploded in a gigantic blaze of turqoise fire, consuming the purple hand, leaving the white haired man once again free.

"No!" Hinata shouted, as she tried to catch Toneri again, but without being disoriented first, the Otsutsuki proved to be too fast for the lumbering chakra colossus, and easily evaded its hand.

The Hyuga Clan head was forced to direct her attention back to the Hamura statue, who was once again charging towards her, this time showing no intention of stopping. It lurched at the Avatar, which caught the golem mid air by its massive arms.

"Does this thing ever give up!?" a furstrated Hinata asked.

"No, it doesn't," Toneri replied, smiling in satisfaction, as he floated over the two of them. "This golem is something my family created to destroy the Main Otsutsuki Family, and it earned us a good share of victories. It used to be linked to the Energy Vessel, but since I absorbed it, the statue is now linked to me. It will fight tirelessly and without pause to defeat my enemies. No matter how many times you destroy it, no matter how small are the bits you reduce it to, it will always rebuild itself to its original form."

"So you finally admit I'm your enemy, and not your lover who is in denial," Hinata said.

"I admit I was blinded by your beauty and kindness, but now I see we were never meant to be. I'm the last member of the Otsutsuki Branch Family. My ancestors, who sacrificed their eyes to power the Energy Vessel up, live now inside me. A Vessel that you destroyed. Because you, as the heiress of the Hyuga, the descendants of the disgraced Otsutsuki Main House, were destined to oppose me from the very beginning," Toneri said, shaking his head. "It was my heart's wish that we could have ended our ancestor's feud, but alas it wasn't mean to be."

"You're so wrong, Toneri," Hinata replied, as the Avatar and the statue pushed back and forth. "I'm not opposing you because of the past history of our families. I'm doing it because you want to destroy the very world I live in! I couldn't care less about past feuds of people long time dead!"

"You may think that, but that's because you fail to see the subtler nuances that lead to certain events happening. The hidden hand of fate," Toneri replied.

"I'm done hearing you ramble about fate," Hinata seethed. "Though since you like it so much, here's a prediction for you: your fate is to lose against me!"

Toneri chuckled in a condescending manner. "I find that unlikely. You can only beat me if you destroy my golem first. And the only way to permanently destroy it is to kill me. No matter your course of action, none of them shall lead to an outcome where you win."

"Then you may find yourself surprised at what's going to happen next," Hinata said, as her eyes fixed on the golem as well.

The Avatar, who was trying to push the golem back, pulled the rock monster towards it instead, much to Toneri's confusion. The purple four armed giantess spun to the side in order to avoid being slammed by the statue, and without letting the statue go and using the building momentum, spun the statue again, and again, and again, building more and more momentum. A tornado started to form around them.

"What... what are you going to do!?" Toneri asked, looking in shock and confusion at what Hinata was doing. He tried to get closer, but he was nearly smashed by the statue being spun, the blowback pushing him back.

The Avatar was spinning so fast while keeping the statue firmly held, they began to look like a purple and grayish brown blurry tornado. And then, the Avatar stopped all of sudden, and launched the statue into the dark sky above them. The golem roared, as it flailed its oversized arms trying to hopelessly get back to the Moon. However, the rock monster became smaller and smaller, until it could no longer be seen anymore, being lost forever in the vastness of space.

Needless to say, such display left all the onlookers speechless with their mouth agape. Toneri included. He opened his mouth to say something, but only incoherent noises came from it.

"And done. Because of the Moon's much lower gravity, I've been able to launch it much higher than if it we were on Earth. I might not be able to permanently destroy it, but I doubt it will be much of a bother now," Hinata said after the Avatar of Kalika stopped spinning. "Surrender now, or you might follow its fate."

"...you... you..." he began, stammering. "The statue of Hamura... how... how did you..."

Toneri didn't have time to dwell on his confusion and astonishment, as the Avatar of Kalika stomped its way towards him. He flew out of the way just in time to avoid being grabbed again. The current situation snapped the Otsutsuki back to his senses, as rage began to overpower his fear and amazement.

"You surely want to take everything away from me, don't you?" Toneri seethed as he narrowed his eyes at her.

"You want to take everything away from us," Hinata fired back. "You helped Akatsuki kill countless people, and many more that will die!"

"The world of the Sage of the Six Paths isn't worth saving. If the ninja nations weren't forced to join forces against a bigger threat, they'd continue trying to kill each other;" Toneri insisted.

"That's how you justify the blood of the innocents dripping your hands?" Hinata furiously retorted.

"They were doomed to die one way or another. Their deaths at our hands at the very least will pave the way for a better world."

"No world that needs the death of innocents to come into existence can be deemed as 'better' by any stretch of the imagination!" Hinata replied, as she started to make hand seals. "Sage Art: Lightning Release Divine Lightning!"

The Avatar aimed its upper hands at Toneri, and multitude of purple lightning bolts shot from each of its fingertips in a wide cone. Toneri, meanwhile, charged his Truth Seeking Balls with chakra, making them glow green, and started to spin them sround himself as he moved, creating a makeshift shield that deflected the lightning bolts.

"The orbs alone might not be able to nullify your jutsu, but the rotation make them more effective at reflection," Toneri said with a smirk. "I thought about it when I remembered your Heavenly Spin. And that's not the only page I'm going to take from your book! Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"

Toneri's Truth Seeking Balls started to spin before merging into a silvery energy ring that exploded into a powerful tornado, swallowing the Avatar of Kalika. Toneri started to move his hands upwards, making the tornado to change its angle so it faced upwards.

"He plans to hurl me into space like I did with with his statue!" Hinata quickly realized, as she commanded the Avatar to crouch and use its four hands to anchor itself to the ground. Still, the wind carried a lot of power, and slowly pushed the giant chakra construct back, threatening to lift it.

Thinking what she could do, Hinata sent her Truth Seeking Balls towards Toneri, but when they were almost caught in the massive wind vortex, Hinata was forced to recall them.

"What can I do? None of my attacks are fast enough to overcome a gale of this potency!" she thought in desperation, as the Avatar struggled to stay attached to the rocky ground. "I'll need something faster than... than..."

Suddenly, a realization hit Hinata. She reached her ninja tool pouch, and pulled out the collapsible chakra bow Tenten had given her.

"Yes, I think this might work," Hinata said, nodding to herself, as she unfolded the bow, the seals on it glowing to life, and generating a purple string made of chakra. Hinata pulled the string, generating a chakra arrow.

"A bow? Seriously? That's the best you can do?" Toneri loudly mocked, letting out a malicious laugh. "Perhaps you weren't as skilled and powerful as I had first thought, princess. Now disappear!"

Toneri increased the power of the wind. Cracks started to appear around the ground where the Avatar was grabbing, before the wind finally teared the ground the chakra giantess was attaching to, and was send flying into the sky This didn't leave Hinata much of a time window.

"Just one shot. But I know I can do it," Hinata said, as she narrowed her eyes. Then, she loosened the string, and two things happened.

The first one was that the arrow was released, and flew straight towards Toneri.

The second was Hinata's Truth Seeking Balls quickly merging into an amethyst orb of pure chakra, placing itself just in the pathway the arrow would take to reach Toneri.

The result was the arrow piercing the orb, and absorbing all its energy, turning into a purple arrow made of pure lightning, which carried enough speed to overcome Toneri's tornado and enough power to finally put an end to the last Otsutsuki.

It should be mentioned, though, that only somebody watching these events in slow motion would have been able to appreciate this string of events. For the onlookers, Toneri included, what it looked like was that Hinata's bow released a lightning bolt rather than an arrow at Toneri. The white haired man was unable to move in time, and the lightning arrow pierced his chest, slamming him against the ground, before it exploded in a storm of lavender lightning bolts.

Toneri let out a scream of pain, the very last sound that would leave his lips.

The tornado finally dispelled, allowing the Avatar to return to the Moon's surface. And after Hinata checked that no chakra came from Toneri's body, she finally allowed herself to dispel the clones gathering nature energy, as well as the Avatar. The Hyuga Clan Head floated herself to the ground, and once her feet touched it, she felt a wave of exhaustion course through her body, making her fall to her knees.

"Hinata!" she heard many voices yell her name before collapsing.

Sometime Later

When Hinata opened her eyes, darkness was all what she saw.

She was lying down. It took her some time to notice that she was inside a sleeping bag. Extending her hand and feeling her surroundings, she touched a sheet of tarp, making her realize she was inside a tent. She tried to get out of the sleeping bag. Her body felt numb, but thankfully not sore, so even if she wasn't moving as fast as nimble as she usually did, at the very least nothing hurt.

She wondered what could be outside, tempting to use the Tenseigan's enhanced vision to check her surroundings, but her dizzyness dissuaded her from. Plus, her instincts told her that, given where she woke up, she must be among friends.

Pushing the tarp away and getting out of the tent, Hinata's vision was filled with bright orange, some some black blurry figures on it. As her eyesight adjusted, she realized that there was a campire, with several torches lit around it. There were some people sitting around the campfire, but was unable to identify any of them.

"Hey look, Hinata-sama is finally awake!" she heard a voice that sounded like Tokuma's.

Soon, the Hyuga Clan Head was surrounded by many people: her fellow clansmen, Shisui, Sai, and much to her surprise, some members of the Moon Acolytes.

"Good to see you back on your feet, Hinata-sama. You were starting to worry us," a Hyuga kunoichi said.

"Are you feeling better?" a Moon Acolyte asked.

"Where are we?" the still disoriented Hinata asked. "And... what happened?"

"To answer your first question, we returned to the inside of the Moon," Shisui replied.

"We agreed it was better to bring you to a safer place so you could recuperate in peace. The surface of the Moon wouldn't do," Sai added.

"And to answer your second question, after you finally ended that creep Toneri for good, you lost consciousness," Shisui continued. "We believe due to exhasution. Since you brought the Tenseigan Chakra Cloak to a whole new level, and used it on a pretty intense fight."

"I... I see..." she said, her mind slowly clearing. "How long have I been out?"

"It's a bit hard to tell given that the artificial sun is out, but I think that about two or three days," Shisui replied.

"Two days?" Hinata asked in shock. "And we're still here?

"We discussed to make the return trip without waiting for you to wake up. But there were concerns that you might not survive the journey back home via the Gate Seal if you weren't rested enough," Nori intervened. "But don't worry, we haven't been wasting time while you were resting. The cave with the portal is not far away from here, so we can return to Earth as soon as we can."

"I see," Hinata said, shivering a little.. "What... what happened with Toneri."

"He's here," Shisui said, pulling a sealing scroll from under his flak jacket. "The forensics are going to have a field day making an autopsy to an actual Otsutsuki. Hokage-sama will be pleased with the secrets his body will reveal to us. Though," Shisui then pulled a second sealing scroll, and handed it to Hinata. "I believe this should be yours."

"Huh?"

"Those are his eyes. Or better said, your father's eyes," Shisui explained. Hinata's face was solemn. "For some reason, they turned back into normal Byakugan when we went to check his body. Anyway, we heard you saying how you wanted to return your father's eyes to his grave, so there you go."

"Oh... thank you," Hinata said, putting the scroll inside her ninja tool pouch. "After so many years, my father will be able to rest in peace."

"Do you feel ready to return home, Hinata-sama?" Tokuma asked.

"Yes. I'm feeling a little numb, but I guess that's from all the time I spent sleeping," the blue haired young woman replied, hoping that that was the reason behind the numbness. "Hopefully I can shake it by moving it a little."

"Awesome. Everybody, pick up the camp! We're leaving!" Shisui said, clapping his hands twice.

Hinata shivered a little again. "Why it's so cold all of sudden? Or it's just me? Nights didn't used to be cold here."

"The artificial sun is no more," Nori told her. "Hence the temperature is slowly but surely dropping. That's why we had to set up so many torches, since there is no light either."

"Oh. That means that without light and heat, all the vegetation here is doomed to die," Hinata said with a tinge of sadness.

"There's nothing we can do about it," Nori said emphatically, shaking her head. "The Energy Vessel was what allowed living beings to exist in this place. And now that it's gone..."

"I know," Hinata nodded.

"I'll help the others packing the camp. You stay here and relax, we'll be home in no time."

Hinata nodded as she watched Nori walking away. She sat down corss legged, and closed her eyes. While she didn't plan to move anywhere, she wasn't going to relax. She could hear the noise made by her fellow ninjas as they packed up the camp and chattered among each other. Their voices and noise began to muffle and lower, little by little until they could no longer be heard. Hinata then felt another presence with her, and that moment, she opened her eyes.

Once again, Hinata found herself inside of an ethereal looking temple made of fine purple stone. There was somebody there with her, though she wasn't aware of her surroundings just yet.

"Hello, Hanabi-chan," Hinata said.

"...huh? Oh!"

In front of her was a distracted and a bit confused Hanabi Hyuga.

"I hope it wasn't a bad moment," Hinata replied. "I could feel your chakra was at peace, but I might have been mistaken."

"No, it's fine. You didn't catch me in the middle of a battle or anything," the younger Hyuga said. "So, you're going to tell me that your mission was a success, right?"

"Yes. How did you guess that?"

Hanabi smirked. "Because there have been reports of all of Toneri's puppets suddenly going inactive. We all assumed it was you, because, well, what else could have happened?"

"Ah, true. Anyway, besides that, I wanted to tell you that there haven't been any casualities among my team. We'll be back on Earth soon," Hinata told Hanabi.

The younger sister beamed with joy. "That's awesome! Guess the mission went just peachy, right?"

"Eh, not as 'peachy' as you thought. Toneri was here, and proved to be quite the obstacle. In the end we managed to beat him, but it was quite the narrow victory," Hinata explained.

Hanabi's smile disappeared, replaced by a grimace of horror. "What!? That creep was there!? I thought he would be here with the rest of Akatsuki! Did he know that you were going there or something?"

"As a matter of fact, he did," Hinata replied. "He... he was listening to our conversation when you contacted me some days ago."

Hanabi's face fell. "How did he do that!?"

"Hanabi-chan, Hamura's chakra links the two of us. But Toneri also has such chakra, hence we were linked to him. That's how we was able to notice our conversation and eavesdrop it," Hinata explained.

Hanabi's palm slapped her face, as she groaned into her mouth.

"Oh, shit! Shit, shit, shit! I'm so fucking stupid!" Hanabi cursed, gritting her teeth in frustration. "I'm VERY sorry! I don't know what came over me, I swear I'm not usually this careless!"

"It's okay, Hanabi-chan. We're in the middle of a war, to not be able to think clearly. Everybody makes mistakes," Hinata reassured her little sister.

"No, it's not okay! This mistake could have costed you your life!" Hanabi insisted. "You said your victory against Toneri was a narrow one!"

"Yes, but in the end, we won. All's well what ends well. Don't fret about it anymore, okay?" Hinata said, smiling warmly at Hanabi. "I know you must feel bad with yourself, but that won't help anybody. You can keep this in mind if it helps you focus better and not make other mistakes with what's left of the war."

"Okay. I'll do that. Sorry again, though," Hanabi repeated, lowering her head.

"Plus, your blunder did have its good parts. For once, it managed to keep Toneri away from the war, and now he won't be able to harm anybody anymore," Hinata said.

"Guess that's a good thing," Hanabi admitted.

"Yes, and that's not the best part. Tell me Hanabi, have you used Sage Mode in battle?" Hinata asked.

Her little sister shook her head. "So far, I didn't find any enemy that merited such thing."

"Alright. See, during my time in the Moon, I've been studying a jutsu that combines Senjutsu with the Tenseigan Chakra Cloak," Hinata began to explain. "For starters, by using the power boost granted by Sage Mode, you can take the Chakra Cloak to the next level."

"Really? That's awesome! Had I know that, I would have used Sage Mode since the war had begun!" Hanabi excitedly said.

"It's not as easy as using the Cloak when you're in Sage Mode," Hinata said, as if reading Hanabi's mind. "You need to stay very still and concentrated in order to merge both modes, for they will refuse to become one."

"Hey, if you did it, that means it can be done, right?" Hanabi confidently replied. "But don't worry, I'll prepare while I'm not battling so I can have it down by the time the time to fight comes."

"Good," Hinata nodded in approval. "Lastly, I'm going to pass you this jutsu that will be very useful. You'll be able to use it once you reach the highest level of Tenseigan Chakra Cloak with Senjutsu. The name is Avatar of Kalika."

Hinata spent a couple hours explaining Hanabi the details of the jutsu. However, what were a couple hours in their shared mental dimension was only a few minutes in the real world. By the time she snapped out of her trance, the others have already finished packing everything up.

"Ready to go, Hinata?" Shisui asked.

"Yes," Hinata said. "There's no time to waste."

And thus, the group made their journey back to Earth. Hinata was hoping that nothing bad would happen before her arrival, and that Hanabi wouldn't need to use the Avatar of Kalika. However, she was unable to shake a bad feeling off of her body, as if a threat even greater than Toneri or Obito was about to fall upon her friends and comrades.

She prayed such bad feeling didn't come to pass.


Author's Note: And thus, Hinata's character arc comes to an end. Toneri represented the complete opposite of all what Hinata stood and fought for, so his defeat at her hands made the more sense to me than being beaten like Naruto, as in canon.

Another thing I never liked about Toneri was how he was spared at the end (with Hinata even offering him to return with them to Earth. Like, what the fuck, girl? This guy kidnapped your sister, mindraped you into being his lover and attempted to commit planetary genocide. We all know you're pretty kind but everything has a limit). And after all the shit he did, both in this fic and in canon, he deserved to die. Besides, the series hardly did anything with him after that. So yeah, Toneri doesn't get to live here.

While I said that this is the end of Hinata's character arc, it doesn't mean that she isn't going to appear anymore. She will play a major role in the final arc, though it will be a few chapters until we see her return. She still can get a lot of mileage out of the Perfect Tenseigan Chakra Cloak and the Avatar of Kalika. Speaking of which, now you know the meaning behind the statue with the horns and the four arms. I hope you liked it, because you'll see it more times once Hinata gets back to fighting.

Thanks to Ookami88 for betareading this chapter.

Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter. As usual, make sure to leave your thoughts on it (or just say that you liked it if you don't feel like writing something long) in a review. Revies make me really, really, really happy!