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The Ōtsutsuki were currently speaking with Kaguya.
They were not attacking yet, which was a good sign.
They were not attacking yet, which was also a bad sign.
…
Neither human shinobi understood much about the aliens' language, but considering it was Kaguya doing the talking...
Ino gave Orochimaru a very unimpressed look.
"What?" He asked. "I taught her well, didn't I? Any good negotiator needs to be able to weigh their options." Orochimaru nodded. "It is only logical that she would consider every card on the table."
Ino glared at him. He continued.
"Besides, she's still bound to her primary oath, she won't try to subjugate Earth too directly — she might leave with them, though." He shrugged.
"That's it…?" Ino growled. "That's all you have to say about it?!"
Orochimaru blinked, as though he couldn't understand why she was angry. "What else is there to say? As far as I can see, it is still a much better outcome than them finding her on the Moon and coming to attack us with someone who actually knows about Earth."
Ino pressed her palms against her eyes in frustration.
"I am not asking you to thank me, Ino." Orochimaru added. "But I might require your assistance, once more."
She let out a silent scream of rage.
Once more, Shisui cursed Umi's very existence.
…
Toru nudged Kage.
He gazed at his older friend with a mixed expression. His eyes crinkled in a smile, yet the crease on his forehead betrayed his worry.
"It's time." Toru said, with all the gravitas he could muster.
"What...?" Kage asked, squinting as though it helped him make sense of it. "…Time for what?"
Toru gave him a very serious glance. "It's time you use it."
"Use… what?" Kage frowned in complete confusion. "Look, we're not in one of Boruto's comics, I have no idea what you mean when you talk like that."
"Your ultimate jutsu — not the Rasengan." Toru tried again. He motioned toward Kaguya — it was important that she didn't hear what he was talking about.
Kage blinked in realization.
'…Risky, but…'
It could work.
He stared at the Ōtsutsuki — a mixed group, both men and women. His prodigious mind worked at a frantic pace, and Kurama offered suggestions — there was something of a trickster in him. Men and women. He could make it work… But it would take all of his creativity. Were Ōtsutsuki as a whole even truly interested in the finer arts…?
No matter. Kage shook his head. There was no time for doubt.
(Inside him, Kurama grinned with dark glee. 'This will be our best trick yet, Naruto. I'm counting on you not to disappoint!')
'No big deal, huh.' Kage shrugged. 'It's go time!'
Kage got ready to summon a veritable harem of clones. Each one of them would have to be more provocative than the last.
"…Okay, okay…" Kage nodded resolutely. He warned the others. "I'll bust out my best creation yet! A technique so seductive, even my old sensei would blush. When I make my move, you come in for the knockout blow! And if it all goes south… just tell Hinata I had no choice, okay? — Please."
Toru stared at him.
He raised an eyebrow. "What…?"
"…Actually, wait. When did I spill the beans about my Sexy Jutsu?" Kage wondered out loud.
The Uchiha clan was giving Kage a look - both Sasuke and Toru were staring at him, while Itachi was studiously avoiding eye contact.
(Itachi definitely needed to do something about Uchiha Naruto.)
"…What the fuck are you talking about?!" Toru shook him. "Sexy jutsu…? I'm talking about that silver tongue of yours! Use it!"
"Oh." Kage said, suddenly realizing what Toru was getting at. "Ooooooh."
'Oh.' Kurama echoed in his head.
"…I guess I can do that." Kage muttered.
'…Persuasion is just another form of trickery.' Kurama said, sounding a little disappointed. '…I suppose.'
'It's not trickery, you grumpy old fox!' Kage protested heatedly. '— I don't manipulate people!'
Kurama chuckled. 'Did I mention the word 'manipulation', perhaps? My bad if I did.'
'…'
…
Ino grumbled to herself.
Naruto was somewhere else, playing space tyrant with Karin. Sakura and Hanabi were still busy, apparently, and that meant relying on them would be even more of a stretch than usual. Toru and Kage were muttering among themselves, undoubtedly cooking up some shaky plan.
The mere sight of Orochimaru's face kinda pissed her off, right now… But aside from the three other Uchiha — who were once the only people here to take this as seriously as they should…
He was probably her best bet.
She synced with him once more, doing her best not to dwell too much on just how strange that man's mind truly was. No wonder he had never wanted to let people in.
Her studies could wait, though.
…
Kaguya was slowly making her way to the other Ōtsutsuki.
"…That's it?" Kage asked quietly, his voice shaking with emotion. "You're just… giving up?"
Kaguya turned to face him, with an already annoyed expression.
"…What are you blabbering about, you foolish child?" She asked, barely slowing down her ascent.
"That's the planet you've given everything for!" Kage yelled. "And you're just going to let these guys fuck it up?"
Orochimaru frowned — he knew where this was headed. Then he just chuckled. "This is never going to work."
But Kage was relentless.
"That's the world you loved, once!" Kage said. "And these scumbags are going to defile it! You were its protector, its ruler for so long! And now… you're just going to let them try their hand at destroying it?"
Kaguya's face was stony, her eyes cold. She scoffed.
Kage waited. That was usually the moment where silence helped.
It did.
"Oh, but I did protect this world. And humans forgot very quickly that I once shielded them from worse dangers." Kaguya spat.
Kage nodded to himself. A bit of token resistance, now.
"Protect?" He asked, shaking his head as though he couldn't believe it. "You killed so many—"
"I had to make difficult decisions, back then. And perhaps humans' fear… might be understandable." She said, her eyes blazing. "It was out of sheer necessity. My clan would have wiped out every single one of you miserable worms." She said. "What are a few thousands or more in comparison? I have nothing to apologize for."
Kage's eyes lit up, as though a fire within him that had been doused had suddenly started to burn brightly again — he knew the beats of a good… conversion.
"But don't you see?" He pressed, his voice shaking with raw emotion.
"See what?" She spat.
He spat, too. "That means you cared! You really cared about this planet! Even more so! You cared about humans! Despite your words! All those difficult decisions, they were made out of love and protectiveness, weren't they?"
The humans shared strange, angry looks. Toru shrugged, unsure where Kage was going with that. Ino muttered something rude about millions of lives under her rule, lost.
Kaguya's eyes narrowed, her anger palpable. "Love? Protectiveness? Hardly. It was a matter of survival. A means to an end."
"So you're going to deny it, then?" Kage pressed on, his voice growing louder. "You cared about this world and its inhabitants!"
"What of it?" She almost laughed. "That was a long time ago—"
"So you did. That's it, then? Earth is just going to fall into ruin — all this sacrifice was for nothing?!" Kage asked, eyes shining with the disbelief of a man who had seen this path but not taken it.
Kaguya made a derisive noise.
"You were betrayed, for what you deemed to be... necessary evils." Kage's voice was heavy with emotion. "They left you! Earth, your children, everything you cherished, gone in the blink of an eye! You truly loved them! It must have broken your heart… shattered your soul!"
Kaguya's three eyes widened in anger.
"Do not go there." Her voice was growing colder by the second.
Kage was not one to be cowed by mere words. He stood his ground, resolute. He went there.
(He had a job to do.)
"I…" He started.
"What is it now…?" She asked, quiet as the hush of evening.
His eyes met hers.
"…It must have been terrible." Kage said, true understanding shining in his eyes.
Kaguya's expression shook for a moment, but then hardened once again.
"That pain… of being all alone. That feeling of being betrayed by the ones you loved more than anything."
Silence.
"What would you know of it?!" She spat. "You are nothing but—"
"I…" Kage began, almost quietly. He lowered his eyes. "I have been alone, before."
"You are nothing like me. I do not care—"
Kage's eyes rose again, ablaze with the single-minded determination that had turned his homeworld on its head.
He stood tall, with a fierce resolve. Kurama made him glow.
"I know how hard it is… being surrounded by hateful faces." Kage gritted his teeth, his voice thick with emotion. "So I did something about it! I proved everyone wrong! And… I have people who care about me now… People that are important to me. They saved me from my pit of loneliness. People that I love—"
Kaguya's eyes were still wide with anger. Kage hurried on.
"I… have a wife. A son. I have a daughter. I have a village." Kage continued.
"…What of it, fool?" She scoffed. "Are you trying to find my empathy, perhaps? You are as presumptuous as you are—"
He spoke over her. Orochimaru watched with amused eyes.
"I care about all of them. So damn much it hurts!" Kage said, grasping his stomach and wincing in pain to accentuate his point. "Just thinking of losing either…" Kage winced in the true pain of the abandoned. "I would give my life for them!" He shouted. "Just like I know you would have done, back then!"
There was a moment of silence. Kurama grinned - Naruto had found his angle.
"Because I know you understand what it's like. Right, Kaguya?" Kage asked, his eyes misty. "It's horrible that such a pure feeling could become so… twisted. That's just cruel."
"…"
"Yes, that's right! You would have sacrificed anything for them, isn't that right 'ttebayo?"
"…"
"I can't even begin to understand what you went through… Kaguya."
"…"
She glared at him. He stood his ground once more.
"You cannot even begin to understand—"
"That's right." Kage said quietly. He was pretty sure he had said that already, was she not paying attention? "I know I can't. But… To have gone through all this… and still wanting to protect Earth…"
Kage felt several disbelieving glares upon him. Orochimaru chuckled derisively, too.
He ignored them. There was a speech to deliver.
Besides, Kaguya was paying attention. "…In your own way, I mean." He added.
Kaguya stared at him.
"That means…" He said. "…That means you still have faith. That you still have belief! And… And love for this place, too!" He only barely stumbled upon his words here.
"…"
"Which means that no matter how much it hurts, you keep on walking. We're not so different—"
Seeing the split second of utter fury in her eyes, Kage switched angles smoothly.
"Uh. I mean… Because that's who Kaguya is! Not just the Alien. Not just the Ōtsutsuki Betrayer! Not just the monstrous Rabbit Goddess! Not just the Sage's Mother!" Kage roared. "You're Kaguya of Earth!"
Silence stretched. Kaguya was still as a statue.
Toru waited with bated breath. Orochimaru looked toward Kage. Then toward Kaguya. Then back. And so on.
Orochimaru chuckled, but Kaguya only sneered.
Kage idly wondered if he needed to lay it on even thicker.
An angry sound resounded.
A quiet, mocking chuckle.
"Is that it…?" She asked.
"Mostly, I think." Kage admitted. Tough crowd.
"You are a fool. More of an imbecile than either of my sons were."
"Is that so?" Kage asked, his tone soft and nonchalant. "Well. I have long accepted that fact." He just said. "I do not need to be anyone else. Just me, and that's good enough."
Kaguya scoffed. "You foolish idealist. You should be ashamed of yourself." She said. "Good enough means nothing. And greatness is not a matter of body… but of the mind! It is determined by the strength of one's vision and determination! Something that you're sorely—"
"Oh…?" Kage asked softly. He was at his best when he improvised, anyway. "Perhaps it is true."
He paused. What came after mirroring, again…?
Whatever.
"But then again… The woman you once were would have easily taken down a few Ōtsutsuki, but it seems you've lost your edge. Were you truly afraid of just two of them?"
Kaguya whirled upon him, her anger palpable.
"Two? Fear…? Me?!" She growled. "Two of them?! I shall annihilate a dozen, even a hundred, if I have to!"
Kage nodded encouragingly and she went on.
"I killed Momoshiki!"
Kage gave her another nod.
"I will kill Isshiki as well!"
He nodded again.
"No matter how many of them! Whether Isshiki or the next one comes for me or not! I did not build my empire to have it taken apart by my clan!" She roared.
Kage gave her a slow nod, this time. "Oh, really…?"
Her rage continued to boil. Her voice rose.
"Anyone. Whether man, woman, Ōtsutsuki. Anyone who thinks they can claim Earth for themselves will have to go through Ōtsutsuki Kaguya first!"
"Oh?" Kage shrugged, unaffected. "Guess we'll settle who rules Earth later. Once your relatives are gone, I mean."
Kaguya glared at him, her eyes blazing with fury.
He grinned.
She stared.
A soft sound resounded.
Quietly at first.
Then, less so.
Kaguya laughed.
It was an honest laugh.
It was a sound that hadn't been heard in a thousand years on this planet.
Kaguya continued to laugh.
"Perhaps." She began. "Perhaps there is one thing you are not so bad at, after all, human."
Kage smiled. Kaguya looked away from him.
She gazed into the distance, lost in memories of the past.
She began to speak, quiet as a whisper.
"…My home planet was a desolate, frigid land."
Silence stretched. Orochimaru shook his head in incredulity. The aliens were starting to wonder what was happening, exactly — only one of them understood the humans' language. Kaguya continued.
"On Tsuki... There was… no sun that rose into the sky, only the bleak light provided by the moons." Kaguya paused. "The cold winds that blew across this vast emptiness only carried with them the reminder that this was all there was to life."
Kage waited patiently.
"Up on Tsuki… There was only the cold. And our clan's quest for power."
Orochimaru stared.
"But Earth… Earth wasn't like that." Kaguya said, staring up at the sky. "It was not peaceful, far from it. But… When the sun rose, it brought with it… something else. Something…"
She chuckled, lost in memories of old.
"Something hopeful. To me at least. And this planet was teeming with… energy. Life. It is what made it such a perfect place to plant the World Tree. So Isshiki and I did. And then I…" She paused.
Kage smiled slightly.
"You didn't want to leave anymore." He said.
"…Indeed." Kaguya nodded. "And I didn't want to destroy this world either. So I killed Isshiki. Or so I thought."
She paused for a moment.
"We… are a clan of conquerors. Some say it is in our blood, even. But I… I wanted something else for this world, back then. Perhaps I forgot."
Kage nodded in understanding.
"I… coveted that land. I suppose." Kaguya breathed out. "More than I cared for expanding our clan's empire. It can only be called selfishness. But… I do not regret it."
Kaguya fell back to the earth. So did her thoughts.
"Everything I did…" She said. "Everything I've lost."
She was remembering it all.
"All that was good. All that was not."
Her childhood on Tsuki. The deep-seated belief that power was all that there was. She had been a sensitive girl once, although one only too willing to go with what she was told was their imperial duty.
Then there was Earth. The tentative hope she had felt for this place, along with the bitterness that her clan would come to take all of it away someday.
(Not this time. Not if she had anything to say about it.)
Then Isshiki, supposedly dead by her own hand. No way back.
And then there was love.
And then there were her sons.
Kaguya remembered it all.
Their laughter, their embraces, the love she held for them in her heart-
How much she had wanted to see them one more time, in spite of everything. How truly she had loved them.
How much she still did.
She closed her eyes, imagining one last moment with them, feeling their arms around her. The longing was almost unbearable, and yet, she took comfort in the knowledge that her love for them was real.
Because this one feeling didn't change, even as everything else crumbled around them. As everything always crumbled around her.
This pure feeling; this hope, this love…
This one did not crumble.
This one was unbreakable.
And it would never fade away.
Kaguya felt a single tear roll down her face. With a deep breath, she opened her eyes, determination shining in them as she gazed ahead.
She glared at the Ōtsutsuki; a fierce expression.
Kage spoke again, with a burning intensity.
"What will it be, Kaguya? Will you turn your back on Earth?" He asked, his voice filled with urgency.
"…No. I will not." She said. "I will… I will fight by your side today."
Orochimaru was impressed, he couldn't deny it.
The Ōtsutsuki looked entirely taken aback.
They were talking over each other, with no semblance of unity. Perhaps they understood what had just happened. Perhaps they just had no idea how to work together anymore.
Whatever it was, Kaguya launched herself at them.
Toru blinked.
"…I can't believe this actually worked. …Nor why - it made no sense." He said, staring at Kage. "You're… Damn. What."
"Impressive." Naruto just chuckled. "Brainwashing, really…? And here I thought I was bad. Good job, my evil twin."
"…" Kage didn't answer.
"…You okay, man?" Toru asked.
Kage tasted ash in his mouth.
"…Yeah. I'm good — I think I'll go fight some aliens now. Please don't ask this of me again." He muttered. "I feel really dirty. Some things are not meant to be weaponized."
"Unlike children, right?" Naruto asked evenly.
Kage didn't answer.
…
Orochimaru's eyes were so bright with interest it almost hurt to look at them. Charisma was something to be trained, he knew already. But this… this was how cults were started.
(That came later, though. There were still more guinea pigs —… invaders to defeat.)
With Hanabi, Sakura… Isshiki.
She liked to imagine herself a pretty peaceful person, usually.
Sure, she was not Hinata. And sure... some people could get under her skin very easily — Toru and Sakura were close to the top of this list, but that was mostly because they seemed to treat pissing her off as a full-time job.
Sure, there was a fair amount of people across worlds that deemed her to be entirely out of control — which was wrong, because if people truly thought that her husband was the reasonable one, something was wrong with them.
Sure, she tended to take a more… relaxed approach to things when he was around, but that was just because she enjoyed his company.
So… Sure, she did enjoy the feeling of a thrilling fight, of a palm strike finding flesh, of a debilitating finger jab cutting a battle short. Perhaps she even relished in it.
She admitted it pretty freely now, too. It wasn't as though she were still living with her former clan, where such things were frowned upon. Like most of everything.
With people like Naruto, Sakura and Karin — when she got into it — around… There was no need for Hanabi to hide her little penchant for fighting anymore, really.
Training, feeling her strength growing with each passing day was as good of a hobby as any.
Fighting an enemy so strong that she could simply let go… Well, that was something.
And fighting Isshiki, Hanabi let go.
She flowed through well-practiced forms, and she was like the Wind.
Isshiki was a strong opponent, a man — if alien — who had had at least a millennia of experience. And unlike what some of them were apparently like, he did not take his abilities for granted. When he moved, he moved fluidly, with the practiced ease of a master.
Hanabi could admit he was a better Taijutsu fighter. She could.
He did not bother with using elemental release, and so she didn't either. He lunged forward, a black rod extending, aimed for her face.
Old and young instincts roared, lost in battle-rage.
A swing of his staff was countered by a light flick of her wrist, and her palm slammed into his chin.
Isshiki's head reared back and she frowned. She was pretty sure that she had meant for this strike to pierce his brain entirely—
His staff slammed into her face.
She probably couldn't defeat him in melee combat. She still went for it.
He leaped back, forcing her to cross the distance with a powerful step.
It was a feint, of course, and his hand struck, aimed at her ribcage, now. A razor-sharp… thing expanded quickly, guided by his arm.
A Truth-Seeking Orb split into tiny threads, wrapping around his arm and the expanding blade. It stopped them both. Hanabi focused her chakra through the same threads.
She flipped backwards, index and middle finger swiping the air vertically.
A blade of lilac light almost bisected Isshiki.
And the only reason he managed to escape it at all was because he cut the trapped arm in order to shrink himself.
She thrust her hand forward.
"Six Paths: Vacuum Palm."
Isshiki felt as though he just met a wall. Which wasn't entirely untrue, because the shaped Truth-Seeking Orb that slammed into him and returned him to his normal size might well have been one.
Then it wrapped around him tightly.
Isshik used a space-time jutsu to escape being crushed as she had intended. Hanabi locked on to him and followed.
A flame grew to his hand and he seared the wound shut.
He was pretty unhappy, though. She read his lips from afar. It was nothing particularly interesting.
something something monkey something something inferior being something something how could this be something something
Her eyes took all of the battlefield in.
And so she ducked, in order to avoid the dead Ōtsutsuki that had been thrown in her general direction — likely on purpose.
"Gods!" Hanabi grunted. "Can't you keep this fight somewhat clean?!"
Sakura chuckled as she appeared out of seemingly thin air. Hanabi powered down for an instant — the two of them together were enough of a threat.
"I'm very sorry." Sakura said, very insincerely. "I might have trouble controlling my strength, you know."
"Sure thing."
"You see, I combined Tsunade's jutsu — the chakra-enhanced blow one — with my favorite weapon of the moment." Sakura began to explain, like a proud mother. "I call this technique the Rupturing Water Dagger."
"Yes." Hanabi said dryly. "I did see the part where the alien imploded, right before he exploded and flew toward my face — you have blood on your face."
"Right." Sakura laughed, making no effort to wipe it off. "I forgot about your fancy new eyes. Anyway, that's how Urashiki died — I heard the other call his name when he was blown apart."
"…Please go back."
"Of course, of course." Sakura nodded. "I still have to pick their eyes for my disciple, maybe for Yugito's child, too. See? I'm trying my best to be a cool auntie - minus the rice wine… And people still say I hate kids."
She disappeared again.
Isshiki stared at her.
"Right. Sorry for the interruption. She won't ruin our fight." Hanabi nodded at him. "Let's continue?"
"…Your name. What is your name, monkey?" He asked.
Hanabi grinned. "Why, I'm glad you asked, bighorn. I am Uzumaki Hanabi." She tried to remember his name, but couldn't manage. Issun?
Isshiki nodded solemnly.
"Very well." He said. "I believe you might make a suitable sacrifice for one of our World Trees. Not for Earth's, but the next one."
She snorted. "So you mean to take me alive, on top of it?"
"Yes."
He folded his arms in front of him. When he opened them again, chakra exploded out of him in a burst of power. There he stood; shimmering light made his body glow.
Hanabi smiled. She let her own chakra shroud her.
She thrust a palm forward the next instant. Isshiki disappeared, faster than he had been before.
And then he was behind her. Hanabi conjured a large shield from one of the dark chakra orbs she was wielding. Isshiki slammed into it. He didn't manage to go through. And he was quick enough to disappear again before she caught him.
Hanabi dashed after him.
Her elbow slammed into his face. Isshiki struck back, and his fist found its way into her nose, breaking it.
(There was something a bit exhilarating about getting punched in the face after so long, Hanabi thought.)
She clawed his face with a two-finger strike — one meant to reduce his brain to mush — that left twin gouges through his forehead, close to his third eye. Her fingers lingered there for a short instant.
He leaned backward and his leg slammed into her, kicking her upward.
Then he was behind her again, striking with a dark blade.
He struck nothing but Wind, left over by her replacement technique.
"What?" He growled.
She tried to strike his heart. Her palm strike didn't connect at all.
"How did you…?" He asked.
Hanabi didn't answer. He was taking it seriously, by now.
They resumed their deadly dance.
She blocked his retaliating kick with her elbow.
He swiped at her with his other hand, and she moved swiftly to dodge it. He pressed on, a roared battle cry escaping his lips. There was something of the Gentle Fist in his moves. Or perhaps it was the other way around, instead.
Still, for a moment, she indulged him, and slipped into the familiar stance.
She swatted his strike away, barely brushing against his wrist.
Deflecting palm strike after palm strike, she recalled every grueling drill, back when she had been a child.
He struck. She tried to strike.
He was better.
What little damage they managed to inflict to the other was quickly healed by the strength of their chakra.
Isshi unshrunk a rod, forcing Hanabi to call upon her Truth-Seeking Orbs again. She used it as a shield.
Then he did it again.
And again.
Isshiki leaped forward like a snake, hand extended.
He was pulling out all the stops, now. Pillars, rods, blades, shards of something that looked like glass - but wasn't - erupted. Hanabi wasn't sure whether her orbs could take the beating or not, so she didn't bother with them.
She jumped away, and he began his mad chase.
Hanabi weaved through the barrage of death, and she was nothing more than a lilac blur in the sky.
He was gathering terrible amounts of chakra, and it suddenly felt as though the sky were falling.
The… things came at her faster.
"Huh." Hanabi muttered as the sun was obscured by rocks and cubes full of chakra — she could still see through them, but it was much more difficult.
Rocks appeared all around her, slamming into her form with violence, until she was stuck in a compacted sphere of them. Was he going to seal her, now?
Isshiki did not hear her annoyed mutter.
He did see, however, twin plum-colored rays of light that shone through the dome. One time. Two times. Four times.
The blades extending from her hands acted as an extension to her reach.
So Isshiki kept his eyes on the blades, which he knew could extend even more.
Hanabi saw it. She grinned, because she already knew he thought her to be a fool. A powerful one, certainly, but a fool still.
Isshiki gathered his chakra and watched her closely.
It turned out to be a costly mistake.
For him.
Her chakra pulsed, so quickly that he wondered what she was about to do.
Isshiki was caught off guard when she teleported directly to the mark she had placed on his forehead, exploiting the perceived distance between them.
And the fact that most space-time jutsu were slower to use than this particular one.
"Wha—"
She ran him through, plunging her hand into his gut with a brutal force, tearing through flesh and bone alike.
It was a gentle fist strike… technically.
Because she had made sure to aim for his Hara tenketsu — located slightly off to the right and down in Ōtsutsuki, when compared to humans.
"Surprise." She grinned. And she kept a tight grip over his chakra, preventing him from regenerating his gut or reopening his tenketsu. "I played the fool."
"How did you…?" He growled out.
(She had left a Thundering Wind mark on his forehead when her fingers had brushed against it.)
"I'm a ninja." She shrugged.
He growled. And he did know what a ninja was, after close to a thousand years of half-awake consciousness around humans.
She motioned to the mark on his forehead, right next to his Rinnegan.
Only then did he turn his Byakugan inward, noticing the seal she had placed upon him. She detonated it the next instant, ruining his third eye entirely.
(They had no use for it anyway.)
With a swift, merciless motion, she swiped her hand to the right, slicing him in two.
"Not again." He muttered.
She summoned chakra to her left hand, in the form of blades that punctured his chakra nodes.
"…Ever happened to you, then? Getting cut in two…?" Hanabi asked.
She waited for him to regenerate… or to pull any sort of bullshit, really. Still, she kept blades of lilac light firmly lodged into his main tenketsu. Which would keep his catalog of options fairly limited. And if he tried to shrink himself… he'd end up in pieces.
Isshiki unleashed a string of curses upon her.
"…Ah. You can't heal." She observed. "Anything else you can do, then…? No…? Well, it was a decent battle, I guess."
She advanced upon him, ready to deliver the final blow.
Suddenly, she paused, leaving him staring in confusion as to why she had stopped.
'Mercy, perhaps…? How naive.' He thought, lifting his finger.
He pulled upon what little chakra he could still reach.
More rods, of course. They unshrunk from microscopic size and fell upon her in a barrage.
With lightning-fast reflexes — but mostly another teleportation mark —, she effortlessly dodged his latest murder attempt.
"…Isshiki, right?" She asked. "I remember now."
He muttered something that she didn't listen to, as she stabbed through his brain.
Sakura let out a long, relieved breath.
Three of them had been a pretty ambitious bet, even for her.
But she had managed.
There was the telltale feeling of a space-time jutsu being used. She didn't react outwardly, because that was Naruto — well, his clone.
"…Again?" He asked. "That's pretty ghastly."
"What…?" Sakura chuckled, as she resumed the corpse-robbing. "It's not like they're going to use their eyes anymore, right?"
"…Guess not." Naruto muttered. "Are you done here?"
"Yeah…" Sakura grumbled, from her spot on the floor. "It went pretty well, I'd say. Except this new eye is useless."
She climbed back to her feet with a grunt.
"Still in fighting shape?" Naruto asked.
"Eh." She admitted. "Not in 'Ōtsutsuki-fighting' shape. These guys had some pretty annoying chakra-stealing abilities. That and Kamui together… Man, I should have fought the other guy instead. How hard could it have been, really?"
Naruto just nodded. "I see."
"Why? Do they need help on the other side?"
"Well, it's a bit of a moot point if you're exhausted." He simply said. "We'll manage. Worst case, they'll just have to use this fancy Ten-Tails chakra."
Sakura stared.
"…But, that's…" Sakura began.
"Boring?" Naruto lifted an eyebrow.
"…Yeah." She admitted. "The aliens don't have even a full Ten-Tails to fight back."
"Do I look like I give a fuck?"
Sakura stared at him, squinting.
"…No?" She asked in frustration. "Look. I'm no mind-reader. How should I know?"
"That's right." He nodded. "I don't care."
Sakura sighed.
"Get yourself a boyfriend who will pick you up from Hell, they said." She grumbled. "I should have stayed in Konoha, married some nice civilian boy — had three pink-haired kids and a cozy divorce settlement."
"Option's still on the table." He laughed.
Something went wrong the moment she stabbed Isshiki to death.
Not the stabbing itself, though. That one went about as well as mortal blows usually went for her.
(pretty well)
Except people usually didn't explode into chakra smoke right after their body died.
And they definitely didn't come back with even stronger chakra.
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki emerged from the smoke. He was rejoicing, full of confidence.
His Rinnegan was missing entirely, though.
"Heh heh heh…" Isshiki laughed. "You are a fool, Uzumaki Hanabi! Thanks to you, I live again!"
She stared.
"Ah!" Hanabi sighed in relief. "I was afraid that this was it already."
"And now, with access to my full power, and days to spare, thanks to my consumption of the others…" He smiled ominously. "I shall find my next vessel."
"Okay."
Hanabi entered her Mangekyō Byakugan Chakra Mode, once more. Idly, she noticed that it was a mouthful. And also that she was starting to feel the strain of it, by now. Lack of practice with it, likely.
Well. She would have to finish this quickly, then.
There was nothing like a high-stakes fight.
"Let's have it, then." She smiled.
Isshiki smiled too.
Then he disappeared.
"What…?" Hanabi muttered.
He was not here at all, not anymore. Had he gone back to fight the others…?
Or…?
Ino answered no.
Hanabi pushed her eyes further and saw where Isshiki had appeared.
Right next to the already exhausted Sakura.
Hanabi cursed. There was no more mark on his forehead, after he had died. And she needed Sakura's permission to jump to her.
"I guess I'll use it too, then." Sakura muttered.
Naruto lifted an eyebrow. "And who's going to help you control yourself, if I'm not around? You can't change back so easily."
She shrugged, feeling a bit heavy. "Toru or Hanabi will, I guess? Don't worry, I'm not gonna fuck myself up. Once was enough."
"I—" Naruto's clone began.
His eyes narrowed. Lightning crackled around his form.
Isshiki appeared right next to them, already moving. Sakura's eyes widened, and her Sharingan took in every detail of his face.
As he was a simple clone, Naruto only managed to put himself in between the Ōtsutsuki and Sakura.
Isshiki roared; the full strength of his chakra was a heavy, cloying thing. His blade cut through Naruto's throat like chaff.
"And now, for you…" Isshiki began to gloat, making sure not to meet Sakura's eye. "I have other plans—"
Something else caught his eyes.
There was a small dome of crystalline water, hovering in midair, right above Sakura's palm.
It reflected something. Something red.
Something red, and adorned with tomoe.
Isshiki cursed.
"Rinne-Sharing-on." Sakura said, sounding weary.
"…"
The Rinne-Sharingan's pattern appeared in Isshiki's eyes. He stopped moving entirely.
He just stared in the far-off distance, waiting.
Hanabi appeared the next moment.
"Well." Sakura began, straightening her shoulders, trying to look less tired than she really was. "…Yeah. That's kinda awkward."
Hanabi was glaring at her.
"How could I have known?" Sakura chuckled. "Look, I thought all Ōtsutsuki were immune to visual genjutsu or something."
"…That was because of the Rinnegan." Hanabi growled. "Which he doesn't have anymore, because I destroyed it."
"I know this now." Sakura laughed. "Who would have thought, though? I have to tell Toru about the fact that until he gets his own… I might well be the best Genjutsu user alive."
"…"
"…Okay, I had a feeling it might work."
"…"
"Ah come on. You gave me shit for fighting too messily just before. Now I use pragmatism and you still give me shit? What are you, Ino?"
"…"
"Look, I'm very sorry for stealing your win, but you let the guy get away in the first place." Sakura said.
"…"
"Ah, also… I guess that means I'm leading, right?" Sakura asked, trying to look as humble and unconcerned as she really felt. "The three I got plus the two he swallowed — phrasing — as well as he himself… That's six aliens for me! To… How many did you get…?"
"…"
"That's right." Sakura nodded in a friendly manner. "Zero it is, then. Not bad."
"…"
"Ah." Sakura sighed, leaning backward again. "Well I guess you can go and take care of the shit outside — I'm going to sit this one out." Mostly because she was exhausted. "You can take Isshiki with you, I guess. Be nice, though."
She turned toward him. "Well… Here goes nothing. Obey her, Isshiki." She ordered. "...Also, whatever you do, don't heal your Rinnegan."
Hanabi growled, but did so. Isshiki followed.
Ōtsutsuki Tawara grinned in savage satisfaction.
He had been called here by Isshiki, after close to a thousand human years, while he had been on a remote planet.
Isshiki was someone Tawara privately admired. Born a commoner, his strength had let him rise through the ranks until he was adopted into one of the main houses. And there, he had continued his ascension.
Some people — particularly those born in the main house — resented him for it. People such as Momoshiki, for one.
That Isshiki was almost certain to be allowed to attain a Rinnegan himself was not endearing him to the Nobleborn.
Tawara was almost certain that Isshiki would one day rise to join the Twelve Generals. Ascended, transcendental beings that were tasked with guarding the King himself.
Well, that came later.
First... Tawara and his men had to find out what had happened to Tsuki itself - and how to fix it. It was impossible to feel its presence, as of now.
But Tawara had no worries. Not with Isshiki and his strength here with them and more of their armies on their way.
And speaking of strength…
The humans were strong, certainly. Especially for how weak their race was supposed to be.
But they would be defeated.
Soon, in fact. There were seventeen Ōtsutsuki fighting, as of now. More were coming.
Already, they had the advantage.
…Alright, perhaps several of their strong members were dying to the humans. The golden-shrouded one and the black-haired Rinnegan user seemed to take their job very seriously. …Were they counting aloud?
No matter.
Tawara and his clan pressed on, with the intention of thinning the humans' numbers.
Among the Ōtsutsuki group, Tawara was the only one who understood the humans' language. And so he was the one to relay the important information to the rest of them.
Such as the priority targets.
Starting by the strongest among them. Kaguya, who he had hoped to pull back into the fold once more, and the golden-shrouded, yellow-haired one who held the biggest part of Earth's Ten-Tails.
After the former two would come the black-haired Rinnegan user's turn. Then the two others — a yellow-haired woman and a black-haired child. And then finally, the three who bore the Sharingan. These three were all black-haired, a strange shade no respectable Ōtsutsuki would want to be seen in public with, dyed or not.
There was a flash of white light.
Tawara halted.
A human female bearing the Byakugan — tainted — appeared out of nowhere.
And…
So did Isshiki.
"…My Lord?" Tawara asked, slowly.
His Lord didn't answer.
Isshiki did not answer.
"Answer him, Isshiki." The woman ordered, sounding annoyed and amused at the same time.
Isshiki just nodded at Tawara.
His growing dread did not diminish. How…?
No.
He did not like the pattern in his eyes. He did not like it at all.
"Kill them, Isshiki." The Byakugan woman ordered curtly.
No.
Before Tawara even had time to think, Isshiki attacked them.
This was bad. Isshiki was as strong as five Ōtsutsuki, he knew.
"Toru. Ino." The Byakugan user continued. Tawara heard her over his worry. What he couldn't hear, he could read upon her lips.
"Yeah?" The yellow-haired one answered slowly. "Is Naruto finally coming…?"
"I don't think he can make it. Also, his clone got dispelled. Sakura… is probably taking a nap."
The Sharingan user - Sasuke - shook his head in disbelief. "Sensei-less behavior."
"…Typical." The yellow-haired one growled. "In that case…?"
"He said to go for it." The Byakugan user said. "More of them are coming, by the way."
"Yeah. Okay."
The man named Toru — the Rinnegan user — grunted in displeasure. "Great. And when you inevitably lose your minds, I get to do some damage control, right…?"
"Right." The Byakugan user almost laughed. Lilac flames began licking at her shoulders, shaping itself slowly.
"Ah, well." Toru grumbled. "If our local slumlord said so…"
Something in the three's chakra changed.
Tawara thought he had imagined it, at first. But there was something very familiar going on.
It felt like something awakening.
Or a gate being opened, perhaps.
Or as though they had turned themselves inside out, perhaps.
Whatever that was, pale chakra emerged around the three of them.
And their hair turned just as pale, as well.
On Tsuki.
Karin labored for breath.
She just had time to seize hold of her chakra - her own, because they had exhausted the Ten-Tails chakra for today, likely - and shape it into chains around her arm before one Guardian stabbed down.
Ice broke entirely under her feet and she was sent careening through freezing waters. Above ground, — well, ice — lightning exploded; new fires bloomed around Naruto.
She gathered chakra in her hand, and the heavy waters answered her will. They parted, lifted and exploded upwards in a powerful geyser.
Another application of chakra to it and the pillar exploded in deadly spires.
Naruto directed the torrent with his sword of Thunder, adding his own element to the raging waters.
Karin snapped to attention. She ducked under a heavy blade, and a sharp chain hacked down through one Guardian's leg. It bubbled as he fell.
Naruto swiped in for the kill — as temporary as that was. Then he was dancing with his sword around the others, face serenely unconcerned.
Sometimes he barely moved at all.
Sometimes he strode forward, as though he were a god of battles, along a path that had been carved for him.
His gleaming blade fell like a thunderclap, parting flesh, rending lightning.
Yet no matter how many times he cut them, the Guardians kept on standing up. Their flesh bubbled, hissed, and they revived themselves.
Blood pounded in Karin's ears, and she caught a thrown spear with her bare hands, with difficulty.
Lightning bolts lanced out of the sky, their reddish glints lighting up the dark in an ominous way. The ice was burning.
Naruto was grinning.
They were drawing more and more attention. Already, there were more Ōtsutsuki watching, from far away. They did not join the battle, however.
He likely was intending on giving them a show. Something to remind them to stay in line. Or perhaps he was just enjoying the thrill of the fight. It was hard to tell with him, sometimes.
Whatever it was, she might have to remind him of what they were doing, in case he got carried away.
Karin followed his warpath, reaching for the last Guardian he had felled.
The Guardian started to rise again, and Karin struck before it could reform. Chains to shield her from the blow. Earth to enclose the creature.
Then more of it.
She gathered more chakra to herself. Karin hoped they didn't have any way of breaking the seal. And if they did, she hoped it would take them time they could ill afford. Karin slammed her hands together, as if in prayer.
"Chibaku Tensei!"
Karin breathed out, wiping the sweat off her brow. That was one.
Eleven more to go.