Chapter Eighteen
"Here comes another one!" Sasuke shouted as his Rinnegan locked on a boulder-sized meteor inbound to the village.
"Units three and units four intercept the fragment approaching from the south of your position," Ino's voice sounded in Sasuke's head as she called in a team to break the fragment up into smaller pieces. Sweat now glued his black uniform to his body, much as it did with Ino and the black bodysuit she wore while attached to the telepathic array.
In another time, Sasuke might have admired the construction of the Sensor Division's headquarters, the top of which was a domed observatory with a commanding view of Konoha and the surrounding landscape. The view also gave him an unparalleled view of the nighttime sky and the unfathomable meteor storm descending toward the village. Towering overhead like an angry goddess shedding fiery tears was the imposing white of the moon. It's got to be getting pretty goddamn close!
A knocking at the doorway caused Sasuke to turn his head enough to see Kakashi and Itachi at the door; however, he kept his Rinnegan trained on the night sky. "Yes?"
"How are you holding up, Sasuke?" Kakashi asked.
"As well as can be expected," Sasuke's gaze remained focused on the next incoming swarm. Sweat began beading down from his armpits.
"Little brother, you've been at it almost twelve hours now. How about I take over for a bit?" Itachi offered.
"The teams out there playing catch," Sasuke gestured with his chin, "aren't getting a break." He pointed to the moon, "And the team up there clearly isn't getting one, either. Why should I be any different?"
"Sasuke, if you keep sharpening a blade too long, it eventually will crack," Kakashi warned.
A massive fragment the size of a house caught Sasuke's attention, "Lecture me later! We have inbound, and it's heading for Hokage Rock!"
"All available units respond to inbound track heading for Hokage Rock!" Ino transmitted with the urgency of being on fire. Even if it did not destroy the shelter beneath Hokage Rock, the meteor could bury the main entrance, making it near impossible to evacuate the refugees inside if needed.
"Shit!" Kakashi exchanged a look with Itachi, "That's our cue!" Both men ran from the room.
Sasuke's Rinnegan dragged him back to the nights sky. An even larger meteor was inbound, an inferno the size of an apartment block. If that impacts, it will level half the village! "Ino, I'll be back!" he ran from the room.
"Where the hell are you going!"
"That big one heading from Hokage Rock has a big brother, and it's going to land right on top of them as they break up the first one!" he shouted as he ran across the rooftops toward his target.
"All units! There is a second one inbound following the Hokage Rock target! All available units break off and assist!"
Sasuke's lungs burned as his legs carried him with inhuman speed toward the impending doom. He leapt into the air in time for the first meteor to be shattered with a massive airburst. Sasuke began channeling his chakra, feeling the sting of pins and needles as he focused the incredible lightning chakra to his left hand. Kakshi and Itachi stood frozen at the sight of their approaching death. NOT TODAY! The whistling of a hawk split the air as Sasuke rammed his Chidori attack full-force into the meteor.
The resultant flash turned night to day and briefly blinded Sasuke. "Sasuke?" Kakashi and Itachi called out as the meteor was reduced to dust.
"If he's not here to protect the village," Sasuke turned to look toward his brother and Kakashi, "I will protect it.
Lord Minato appeared in a flash, holding a glowing Rasengan in his right hand, "Sorry, did I miss anything?"
Sasuke stared back at the moon, "No, not at all." Naruto, please hurry!
Hinata stepped out of the cave that had been their makeshift shelter, using a hand to shield her eyes as she looked towards the artificial sun. Activating her now altered Byakugan, she could see the distortion Shikamaru had talked about plain as day. He's there, waiting for you to rescue him! Hinata slid down her ANBU mask, becoming the assassin she was. She would save Naruto, she would find Toneri, and she would kill him.
Hinata reached out through the chakra she shared through Nine-Tails. She could feel Naruto, desperate and straining against forces incalculable. Naruto, hold on! We're coming! She sent her thoughts towards him like an arrow, knowing he wouldn't be able to respond.
She turned back to see everyone standing at the cave entrance. Sai had already summoned the hawks. "All right, any questions?" Hinata asked. No one responded. "Good, let's get our boy back!" Hinata mounted a hawk with Kushina, Sai with Sakura, and Temari flew with Shikamaru. The group took to the air, flying towards the sun.
Flying through the distortion left her disoriented for a moment as the relatively normal world gave way to a bizarre mix of floating islands in a strange twilight. "We got company!" Temari called out. On the largest island, Hinata saw an imposing castle of unfamiliar design. From its battlements, dozens of puppets riding bird-like constructs sprouted forth. Hinata scanned furiously, looking for any sign of Naruto, Hanabi, or Akane. As she scanned, she detected another distortion on an island off to their right. While she couldn't see in detail, the area around the distortion glowed white with the cosmic energy Naruto had talked about.
Hinata banked the hawk to the right, eliciting a protest from Kushina, "Hinata, what the hell are you doing!"
"They're not at the castle!" she hollered over the gust of air passing over them as she dove them towards the target. By now, the other pairs followed suit. The island began to grow in her vision. "Once we land, keep the puppets off me best as you can!"
"I've got them!" Temari shouted as the group began a final descent. "The rest of you take out Toneri and rescue the others!"
"Temari…" Hinata began to protest
"GO!" Temari shouted as the group touched down. The sky over them blackened by the approaching swarm as Temari uncased her fan. Hinata fought every instinct to remain behind and fight; clearly the others were the same as they paused for a moment before following her.
The entrance to the passage leading below the island wasn't even hidden. He wasn't expecting us to get this far. Stay sharp! Hinata followed down a winding staircase carved deep within the rock. As she ran down, a squad of puppets ran up to meet her. Hinata drew out the Hyūga family's sword in a smooth motion, and raked it like a scythe through grain. The puppets fell to pieces, not even slowing her stride as she ran down the steps.
Eventually she reached the bottom of the steps to a cavernous chamber. Hinata's eyes locked onto the mass of chakra and cosmic energy. Byakugan, millions of them! Holding the mass above it was the vessel of the Tenseigan Altar, now modified with what looked like a massive gyroscope. At the base, the vessel stood atop a barrier holding Naruto, Hanabi, and Akane. Standing a short distance away was Toneri.
Hinata paused. If she did or said the wrong thing, Toneri could send the moon off its axis or possibly strand Naruto and the others into a position without escape. He wants you, get him to come to you! "TONERI!" she shouted, turning his gaze. As his head turned, there was a subtle shifting of the Tenseigan Altar. It's on a hairpin, just need to shift it slightly and Naruto can get free.
Hinata jumped down from her vantage point, hearing the protests of the others behind her. As she landed, Toneri carelessly loosened his grip on the now poorly balanced vessel. "If you want me so badly," she drew back her mask with a defiant glare, "come get me!" Hinata drew out her family's blade, and it ignited silvery-white. As expected, Toneri reached out with his invisible force to grab hold of her. As he did so, the gyroscopic structure slid to one side, and the cavern began to quake.
Naruto sat cross-legged, focusing his energy on remaining still and rationing his chakra flow into the barrier protecting Akane, Hanabi, and himself. As minutes stretched into hours, and hours stretched into more hours, the air within the barrier sat heavy, stagnant. Every few minutes, he'd crack one eye to see Toneri still straining to hold the Tenseigan Alter over them, waiting for the slightest weakness in the barrier to crush the three of them. A thin rivulet of crimson was now leaking from Toneri's nose, and man's cheek quivered with the supreme effort of balancing the weight overhead. Just a test of wills; your will against his. He will lose.
"N-Naruto-kun," Hanabi sobbed, "I-I'm sorry!"
"It's going to be all right, Hanabi," he spoke soft to calm her.
"Naruto, what if help isn't coming! I-I was such a goddamn brat to you and big sister!"
"Hanabi," his voice remained serene in spite of the swirling emotions within him, "I need you to stay calm; I need you to keep Akane calm. If I lose concentration we all die." Naruto spoke matter of fact. Panic right now was the true enemy, and the sweat raining off of Naruto reminded him of how precious little time they had before he and Kurama were exhausted.
"Naruto, there is something I haven't told you," Kyuubi spoke, reluctance deep in its throaty voice.
I'm all ears.
"Naruto, I have a way to get us out of this."
What is the catch, Kyuubi? Naruto knew it couldn't be that simple. Otherwise, Nine-Tails would have brought it up much sooner. Kyuubi, what aren't you telling me?
"Naruto, I have a more advanced version of the Tailed Beast Sage Mode. I didn't tell you during the war because I was afraid you might resort to using it too damn quickly," Nine-Tails sighed. "Given our predicament, it might give us the additional boost to beat this guy down and save Hanabi and Akane."
You're leaving something out. Something huge. Nine-Tails couldn't hide his deception any better than Hinata could.
"Using that much chakra all at once would be lethal to us in a matter of minutes."
You're saying it would kill both of us?!
"I'm saying this as a last resort. We're probably waiting for the moon to blow at this point."
Are you saying you can't sense your double in Hinata?! Naruto panicked at the thought of Hinata being dead.
No, but I can't tell much more than that. Using this much chakra to maintain the barrier means I can't break focus, either.
Absolutely not happening, then! If there is even the thinnest chance that help is coming, we are not killing ourselves in the hope that it might be enough to do the job here. Even if we succeed, do you think Hanabi and Akane could self-rescue with us dead?
"Kid, I know it's a bad option, but it's there if you decide all other hope is lost."
Grey despair weighed heavy on Naruto's shoulders as the hard reality of Nine-Tails words set in. If help didn't arrive soon, the game was over regardless. Goddammit, you're Hagomoro's heir! You are a descendant of Lord Hashirama, the first Hokage! You are Naruto, son of the Yellow Flash and Red Hot Habanero Princess! You are the father of Himawari, the girl who moved time itself for you!
Naruto retrieved the image of his daughter that had burned into his brain as he lay in the hospital, recovering from the stab injury to his heart. He poured over her cute cheeks, the whiskers that looked so much like his own, the beautiful sapphire eyes she would have from him, and the flowing black hair her mom would give her. Naruto fixated on her sweet smile. Naruto grit his teeth and steeled his resolve back into the barrier. He expanded his mind out to the void, feeling with the very fiber of his existence for even the faintest glimmer of Hinata. To his surprise, he heard her like a blessing of the divine, "Naruto, hold on! We're coming!" The voice was unmistakable.
Naruto smiled, even as he felt blood dripping down from his nose, "Help is on the way, Hanabi!" his excitement made holding the intolerable weight bearable. "Be ready, we're going to have to move!"
Akane began to cry again, but Naruto filtered out her wails, sensing the approaching light of heavenly guardians. "It's over Toneri," Naruto allowed himself a chuckle. "You've lost."
"Don't you ever die!" Toneri's focus slipped, as did the massive vessel above them, as he seethed with anger and frustration.
"It's not too late," Naruto spoke out through the space between them, "We could coexist peacefully."
"I've seen your peace!" the mix of chakra and cosmic energy in Toneri's eyes became turbulent. "Don't think for a minute that the others like you could ever exist peacefully!"
"And yet, we're the ones trying to save creation."
"TONERI!" Hinata's voice boomed like a divine smite. She landed behind Toneri, causing his gaze to shift.
Naruto noted the significant shift of the vessel above them. "Hanabi, come here, and bring Akane over," he commanded. Naruto caught the faint glint of mom's glorious hair. "Akane, I just need you to be good for a few more moments; we're going to see Mommy!"
"MOMMY!" she wailed.
"If you want me so badly," Hinata pulled back her ANBU mask and brandished her family's blade, "come and get me!" Toneri reached out with his invisible force, grasping Hinata with an invisible hand. NOW!
Toneri's grip holding the Tenseigan Altar slipped, Naruto shifted his chakra as the vessel fell to the side. In blink of his eye, Naruto let go of the barrier, raced to Hanabi and Akane, and he teleported them to the marked Shuriken Mom was carrying. They arrived at the outcrop above the vessel as the tumbling mass caused the room to shake. "MOMMY!" Akane cried as she reached out for Mom.
"My baby!" Kushina snatched up Akane in her arms, her tears joining her daughter's.
"Sakura," Naruto called out, "take Hanabi!" He set Hanabi down, "I'm going to help Hinata!" He turned back and leapt down to the cavern below.
Temari stood and spread her fan as the group descended below. She didn't even try counting the number of flying enemies; there were so many that they covered her in shadow. Any normal person would frightened. Of course, I'm not normal.
Temari's lips tightened into the arrogant grin that made her legendary as the Shrew of the Sands, the Blonde Bitch of Suna. It was the look of a woman surrounded by dead men. Temari whipped her fan once to prime the air around her, waiting for the enemy to close the range. Come on, come and gets some, you rotten sons of bitches!
After months in traction, multiple surgeries, frustratingly slow physical therapy, and long patient months of pushing her limits in training; she was back. She whipped her fan again, thrilled to be alive, thrilled to be in battle again. The enemy closed within a dozen meters in an impenetrable swarm. She whipped her fan again, continuing to pirouette as she swirled the air currents around her with a deafening roar. "AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" she roared with the swirling winds as they formed a tornado that tossed her would-be opponents around like bath toys caught in a waterspout. She closed her eyes as the wind threatened to dry them out.
The roaring air currents whipped away sweat and tugged at Temari's outfit as she spun fast at a figure skater. Her grin spread further as she slowed to a stop. The thrill of having generated a wind-style attack of such intensity left her satisfied as orgasm. She opened her eyes, and the ground around her was littered with damaged puppets and bits of puppets still raining down around her. "Now that was fun!" she laughed.
"Temari!" She turned to see Sai, Sakura, and Kushina approaching. Kushina carried Akane and Sakura carried Sakura over her shoulder.
"Naruto? Hinata?" she asked as she folded her fan. "
Sakura spoke, "Still down there with Shikamaru; he told us to bring these two back to the tunnel."
Dammit boy! "Sai, get them out! I'm going after my husband!" Temari ran down the passage only to be greeted by him running up. As he reached her, the ground began to quake.
Shikamaru watched his best friend drop off his baby sister and Hanabi only to turn back and jump back into the fray without hesitation. Valiant as ever, but he could stand to stop and think a second. He eyed the happy reunion of Akane with her mom, and Sakura tending to a now blinded Hanabi. Remove distractions, get control of the situation. "Sai, take Sakura, Kushina, and the girls. Get them back to the tunnel and prepare to extract!"
"Extract?!" Sai protested.
"The moon still might go kaboom any minute! I'll try and help Naruto and Hinata! GO!" he barked. Sai did as instructed and guided the group up the stairs.
Naruto and Hinata were now locked in battle with Toneri. By now, Toneri had abandoned any pretense of affection toward Hinata as he picked her up with his invisible force and slammed her into the cavern wall. Shikamaru jumped down from his vantage point, landing behind the target, and sent out a shadow thread to ensnare the man.
As he made contact, Shikamaru froze the man in place, but the effort to hold him was much greater than even holding Hidan had been. "Lights out, asshole!" Naruto surged forward and brought a spinning crescent kick across Toneri's face. The pasty man's head jerked backwards, and he went limp in Shikamaru's grasp. Blood stained the man's pallid flesh a tarry crimson.
Shikamaru turned his gaze from their fallen enemy to the massive energy vessel that now leaned precariously on the cavern wall. "Naruto, Hinata! Destroy it!"
"Shika, get yourself out, this could blow the whole island!" Hinata warned as she and Naruto ran past. While not one for leaving his friends behind, Shikamaru understood the need to prevent casualties. He turned, vaulted himself to the stairway, and ran as fast as his legs could carry him.
Naruto had a million things he wanted to say to Hinata. At the moment, the best he could manage was, "I'm sorry!"
"Apologize to me later," she said as the jumped onto one of the outer rings of the Tenseigan Altar.
"Hinata, don't touch it! It will start draining your chakra," he warned
"Naruto, it only affects those not carrying Hamura's chakra," she nodded, "Dammit, now I'm sorry!"
"For what?" he asked.
"I take it you tried destroying it already, right?" He nodded in reply, "Naruto, had I fully trained you on how to use your Byakugan and related abilities, you probably could had destroyed it by yourself!"
"Well, what's done is done," he shrugged, "Can you infuse me with your chakra; that should protect me from the effect." He held out his hand, and Hinata took it. Her hand was soft, pleasant, and Naruto sensed the warm presence of her purple-blue chakra slowly tracing up his arm to his heart. All boundaries between them vanished, and their hearts began beating in sync with one another. Naruto was renewed, as if he hadn't spent almost a dozen hours trying to hold this damn alter from crushing Akane and Hanabi. Time for some payback!
Naruto began pooling wind-style chakra to his hand, shaping in, concentrating it. Hinata added to the flow, until the Rasengan pushed their fingers apart. The swirling orb glowed a brilliant ultramarine purple as it swelled to the size of a beachball and continued to grow until the orb was as wide as a man stood tall. "Ready?" he asked.
"I've been dreaming of this!" Hinata's chakra burned as the Twin-Step Lion Heads formed at her hands. One merged with the Rasengan to form an even larger lion head. They jumped down from their perch and rammed the mass of chakra full force into the energy vessel at the center of the gyroscope.
Quickly as they impacted, Naruto pulled them back as the cosmic energy holding millions of Byakugan together dispersed outwards, sending them flying into the stairs. The cavern shook, and gravity seemingly inverted within the chamber. For a moment, the whole chamber spun until it came to a stop just as suddenly. "What the hell was that?!" Hinata groaned as she pried herself off the stairs.
Naruto expanded out with his Byakugan, seeing the cosmic energy flowing around them. "It worked!" he shouted. "The moon is moving away from earth!" The weight of the end of the world came off his shoulders, only for the cavern to begin crumbling. "Let's get out of here!" He grabbed Hinata by the hand, and they mounted the steps back up to the surface.
A narrow pool of light taunted Naruto as bits of rock flew by and the stairs below them began to disintegrate. Naruto reached the surface and fell flat on his face, washed over by relief. However, relief turned to panic as his hand noted a conspicuous absence. "HINATA!"
"Naruto, where is she?!" Sakura shouted.
Naruto expanded out his vision as surveyed their surroundings. I'll never forgive myself if I lost my grip! Search as he might, he couldn't see Hinata in the wreckage of the cavern. A sickly thought froze Naruto as he noted that Toneri wasn't in the rubble, either. He turned his gaze back towards the castle, floating in the distance. Inside the grand hallway, Naruto took in the sight of Toneri. He had Hinata's arms over her head in some kind of restraint. You bastard, if you put one hair out of place! Toneri summoned one of his orbs and rammed it into her chest.
Naruto's hands clutched into fists as Toneri turned Hinata into a puppet on a string. Even with her under such a spell, Naruto could sense her revulsion as Toneri planted his lips on her. "He's got her in the castle!" Naruto called out. He turned to Shikamaru, "Get the others out!"
"Like Hell," Shikamaru huffed, "We didn't come this far just to lose Hinata as well!"
Naruto expanded his vision, "Shikamaru, the dimensional rifts are collapsing! If we wait too long none of us are going to get home!"
"Son," Mom shouted, "we all go home or nobody goes home!"
Naruto turned his gaze back to the castle. The puppets had taken Hinata away, were changing her clothes. Hinata, hold on! We're coming! "All right, time to storm the castle and save the princess!"
Hinata raced up the crumbling stairway, watching the portal of light growing larger and larger. Almost there! As she reached the apex of the stairs, something dark and cold drew her back away from the light. Before she could scream, she felt the dizzying sensation of being teleported. As she landed, her arms were thrust overhead. "You've betrayed me the last time, Hinata," Toneri's stolen Byakugan burned with fury.
"Toneri," she tried to be reasonable, "Hamura's decree was to protect the earth, not destroy it!"
"DO YOU THINK THAT MATTERS!" he screamed in her face. "No matter," his face turned back into its disgusting, self-assured visage. "They can have the earth, but they can't have you!" He summoned a green orb to his hand.
"Toneri… no!" Hinata protested as he rammed the chakra mass into her chest. The force holding her arms in place released, but her limbs became rubbery. Hinata struggled to summon the strength to move, but at best could barely contract a single muscle fiber. It was as if her mind was disconnected from her body.
"I'll have you," his cold fingers lifted her chin, his caress making her nauseous. "And you'll have me," Toneri planted his lips on hers, tongue penetrating her defenses. NOOOOOO! Tears leaked from Hinata's eyes as he violated her. A kiss was supposed to be a comforting thing, a retreat from reality. Now, she'd spend the rest of her life trying to wash his taste out of her mouth. If you can get away! "Puppets! Prepare her for our wedding!" Toneri ordered and walked away.
Hinata had not choice. Her legs carried her even as she struggled to drag her feet. The puppets escorted her to a ready room and began removing her outfit. Hinata could do nothing as she was stripped and dressed in an elaborate, archaic wedding dress colored black. Oh god! I don't want to do this!
Despair filled Hinata, and she closed her eyes. She'd lost. Toneri had her, even if the earth had been saved. "Hinata, hold on! We're coming!" Naruto's voice came through the void like divine intervention. She only hoped he arrived before Toneri could do anything else to her.
Author's notes: Hello everyone, and thank you for reading. Let me open with an apology. Between technical issues, a crazy work schedule, and a sick wife; I'm releasing both late and a much shorter chapter than I hoped for. Next chapter will be the final showdown with Toneri as well as a curious twist to the story. If you've been reading since Volume 1, you might have picked up on a few subtle hints. I hope you enjoy, and again, apologies for the lateness and shortness of the chapter.
