Broken Angel: Rising Demon

by I LIKE FEAR 1-2

The Age of Man, is over. The Age of Magic, is about to begin. A Demon stands upon the Earth. A beast, named goddess by right of passing. Darkness settles upon the Earth, will this goddess usher in a golden age for humanity? Or will she cast them aside to drown in their own sins? Behold the rise of the demon, and the Kingdom of Albion. (Sequel to Broken Angel)

31. 31: The Sky is Falling

Alright you saucy devils, time for the next chapter. Sorry for the wait, I hope you all enjoy. I need to address why this took so fucking long, this chapter is 26,500 words long, so that's the first reason, but it basically follows two story threads, Riley's and Naruko's, so writing it was a pain in the ass. I actually went through and wrote most of the Toneri arc first, getting it out of the way, and then I went back and wrote in Riley's part in the story, leading up to the end. I'm sorry it took so long, but I hope this absolute beast of a chapter, was worth the wait. We get to see Riley's mates ascend, we seen the Toneri arc, and maybe the end of the world too.

Been building up to this for a while now, so I hope it's worth it. Time for all hell to break loose. (Also, just as a reminder for people, for any of the DC interactions, this is still very early in most of the superheroes careers. for example, Superman is probably just barely in his twenties, i know what they can do in their prime, this is still very early on for them, so just keep that in mind)

Broken Angel: Rising Demon

Chapter 31: The Sky is Falling.

-Kamui-

Riley stood before one of the black cocoons of the energy containing her mates. Within she could feel Yugito, or at least, she knew Yugito was within it, but… to say it felt like Yugito would be wrong.

"Your concern for them is warranted. But you needn't let it consume you. They are strong, and will survive this metamorphosis." The calm voice of Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, passed into her mind.

"All I can feel from them, is pain. Incredible pain. I haven't felt a coherent thought, pass through the minds of a single one of my mates in almost two days…" Riley responded with a growl.

"Pain is a part of life. Such changes cannot come without pain. You remember your own ascension. What it felt like. They experience much the same." Hagoromo said to her.

"I knew something would happen when we did this. I knew things would change, that they would. I just… I hate causing them pain. I hate feeling them in pain. I hate that I can't do anything other than sit here, while my mates are in pain." Riley said with anger permeating her every word.

"Their pain distracts you. Their safety and their happiness, means the world to you. It is alright to worry for them, and to wish them comfort, through the pain they feel. They will endure, and they will be stronger for it. But you must be ready to take on the brunt of their ascension. You can feel it can't you? In almost all of them, their humanity is slipping away." The Sage responded to her, his tone understanding, and maintaining an air of wisdom to it.

"What do you mean by that?" Riley asked, pulling her gaze away from the black mound of energy.

"You can feel it. Most of your mates are no longer human. When they emerge, they will carry the same burdens that you do. They will possess a new nature, one colored by their early lives as humans, but no longer bound to it. It will be up to you, to decide how you wish to handle this. You can either guide them in embracing what they've become, or you can teach them to fight for their humanity, to hold onto what they were. Either direction has it's benefits and detriments, and a decision for one, need not be the decision for another. They have spent years fighting for your humanity, now you are called upon to return the favor. They are bound to you in every way that matters, and it is from you they'll gain their greatest reserves of strength, and better fight these battles. So you must be mindful of what they become, and decide how best to help them in dealing with these evolutions they've undergone." Hagoromo explained to her.

"Alright, I get it." Riley said with a sigh. She allowed her eyes to drift over the collection of cocoons for several long moments before, shaking her head and taking several steps away. "Let's just get back to training, keep my mind occupied."

"Very well." Hagoromo responded.

Riley wandered a bit away from where her mates were, and settled into the grass, where she continued her lessons with the Sage. The first day of training, he walked her through the events of his young life, filling in what holes existed in history. Riley learned from him about his youth, about some of Kaguya's actions while she was the Rabbit Goddess. He told her about his training as a Sage, and his eventual fight against Kaguya. A battle that raged for days, and ended with Kaguya's defeat, and subsequent sealing.

He then told her about his life and travels, even about his sons and the creation of the Tailed Beasts. The point of his story was to build a foundation to help her understand Ninshū, and the connective properties of magic. It was there that the true lessons resided.

All magic of the Earth, descended from the God tree in some capacity. There were other influences, foreign and alien, but the primary make-up of magic on Earth, stemmed from the Shinju Tree. It had come to Earth millions of years ago, long before the rise of any intelligent beings on the planet.

Hagoromo did clarify something that Riley hadn't known before, and that was that Shinju was not the precursor to 'life' on the planet. Living things existed before the Shinju arrived, but what magic they possessed was incredibly faint. Almost non-existent. Magic itself is a foundation force of the spirit, and a spirit is part of the make-up of an intelligent, conscious lifeform. A certain amount of magical power was needed in a living thing for it to actually have a soul. Any creature that didn't meet that criteria, had few if any hopes, of actually developing things like emotions, feelings, hopes, and dreams. The spirit was a fundamental part of a sentient being, and there were few, if any sentient beings that could exist without a soul of some kind. Needless to say, lifeforms that existed before the God Tree arrived on Earth were exceptionally simple.

In essence, before the God Tree arrived, life was basically single celled organisms, and nothing more complex than that. After it arrived, more complex creatures began to evolve, as magic flowed into the world.

According to science, the first single celled organisms could have existed around three and half billion years ago, but multi-cellular organisms only rose up about six hundred million years ago. Meaning for almost two billion years before the Shinju's arrival, life was incredibly basic.

The Shinju's arrival changed things, it infused magic into a world that already had living things growing on it. According to the Sage, such an event was labeled as an 'experiment' by Kaguya. Hagoromo did not know what she meant by that, and for the longest time, thought it impossible for her to have any true knowledge of these events considering they would have happened millions of years ago.

Later, when he became the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, he gained access to some of it's memories, and was able to determine something he hadn't known before, and that was that the Shinju had known Kaguya for almost it's entire time on the Earth, which shouldn't have been possible.

Riley had questioned him on it, not sure she was hearing him right.

"Are you trying to say your mother is over six hundred million years old?" Riley asked him.

"Not at all. What I'm insinuating, is that she's been around for at least six hundred million years." Hagoromo replied.

"How is that possible. I mean being three thousand years old is one thing, but six hundred million, at least. That an unfathomable lifespan. And the Ōtsutsuki aren't higher magical beings. They're still living creatures. They aren't true immortals like demons or gods are. How it it possible she's been around that long, if she wasn't the host of the Shinju's power up until three thousand years ago?" Riley questioned him.

"I suspect for the answer lies in something akin to this pocket dimension of yours. I didn't gain access to all of the Shinju's memories, in fact I only found a few of them, but Kaguya never spent overly long with the God Tree. She would show up, inspect it with her partner, and then the two would depart. I suspect, that they, along with the rest of the Ōtsutsuki, are living within a pocket dimension where time flows so much slower than it does here. Millions of years for us, is only hundreds or thousands for them, in their own universe. It's obvious to me that my mother and her partner, were tending to the God Tree, during it's life. Their periodic checks on it, spanning millions of years, shows that they were waiting for something. What that was, I'm unsure." The Sage offered as an explanation, earning a thoughtful hum from Riley.

"She has been very quiet about most of her history, only really telling me things that happened, after she ate the fruit of the God tree, and later absorbed it. I didn't even know she had a partner with her until you told me about him. What ever happened to him, by the way?" Riley asked.

"I do not know. I never encountered the man, nor did my mother ever mention him to me. I do not believe they were romantically involved, nor do I believe they were closely related. I suspect they were partnered for whatever task revolved around the Shinju tree, and the Ōtsutsuki's tending of it. Only my mother could answer such questions." Hagoromo answered.

"I guess I'll have to ask her then, when this training is done. Do please continue." Riley let the conversation carry on. The Sage continued to tell her about life, about the nature of magic, and how it connected people together.

The point of his history lesson was to help her understand that despite life not being created by the Shinju, it had a hand in it's creation, and more importantly, almost all magic that existed today in and on the Earth, was generated from the Shinju tree. In many ways, the Shinju was what gave the Earth a soul, a spirit, gave the planet magic of it's own. Before the Shinju arrived, nature energy would not have been plentiful or abundant. Magic as a whole, would have hardly existed. Because of that, the Shinju could be seen as the progenitor of the world, and all it's magical creations. And now, after having sealed and than absorbed the Ten-Tails, and thus the Shinju, a part of Riley, was now made up of that progenitor.

He explained to her how that was basically the reason for Riley's immunity to most forms of magical attack. Any magic born of the Earth's magic, had little to no detrimental affect on Riley, because she was the made up of the Shinju, and thus the progenitor of that magic. It was like how her own magic, couldn't harm her, so long as she had decent control over it. Well since most magic in the world was seeded by the Shinju, one could technically classify the magic of most things living on the earth as her own magic.

Hearing that, Riley suspected she understood where he was going with his talk of connections. The Shinju seeded magic into the world, so everything earth-born that used earth-magic was using the Shinju's power, to some extent. In a way, that connected her to most living things on the planet.

The Sage was trying to help her understand such connections and how they could be used, what powers could be managed, if groups of people worked together.

Riley took to the lessons, allowing herself to contemplate what she could accomplish with such an understanding. The concepts were at least, interesting, so it helped keep her mind occupied.

For several days in Kamui, the two had such discussions, talking about the nature of magic, and it's power, and how such power could interact with, and between beings.

Eventually, the time came, and Riley felt one of her mates begin to stir, the cocoon of energy that had encased them, was finally breaking down.

She spent several hours standing over Katie's pod, waiting and watching as she felt Katie's pain fade away, and in it's place, a quiet slumber overtook her.

It took another day or so before the cocoon fully evaporated, and Katie was finally freed from it. When she was, she was naked, and disoriented. Despite the dim lighting of Kamui, she was nearly blinded when she first started opening her eyes.

"Eh… Wh-What… where am I?" Katie grumbled, pawing at the air, as Riley knelt next to her taking her hand, and offering her a smile.

"How do you feel, my love?" Riley asked, gently, taking note of their shared line of sight. Even as Katie winced up at her, Riley could easily see what Katie was seeing, a blurry image of Riley's form, and the radiant magic that poured off of it. That image slowly came into view as Riley helped Katie sit up.

"Holy shit… that felt fucking awful." Katie muttered as she rolled her shoulders and took in a deep breath.

"Yeah, looked like it. How do you feel now though?" Riley asked again.

"I feel… different…" Katie replied as she turned her gaze towards Riley. For a few moments longer, her vision remained blurry, when finally it began to clear. When it did, Katie blinked several times in confusion, as she too could see Riley, and see herself, through Riley's eyes.

"Woah…" Katie stated, blinking several times. The blinking did little to help, as it didn't stop her from seeing out of Riley's eyes, all it did was remove her own vision. It was such a weird experience.

Seeing out of Riley's eyes, but having no control over the eye movements, while also seeing out of her own eyes.

Katie let out a huff and sat back in the grass. Feeling dizzy and a bit noxious.

As she laid back and shut her eyes, Riley ran her gaze along Katie's body, searching for any signs of change. Katie was one of the few of her mates that still felt human, through whatever transformation they were undergoing.

Something still felt off about her though, her magical system was different. As Riley's gaze pierced the flesh, she could no longer spot the typical magical pathways a human possessed. Instead it appeared as if Katie's whole body was just a magical container, magic filling every space of her body, rather than being concentrated along pathways, the eight inner gates, and her magical core. The core was still there, mind you, but the Inner Gates were absent, as was the magical pathway. Instead chakra coils, or Tenketsu points, dotted her body, many more than normal, and spaced out evenly throughout her whole body.

It was a strange sight, one that confused Riley as she eyed it.

Katie, meanwhile, could see everything Riley could, and didn't immediately know what Riley was looking at. To her mind, Riley's eyes were trailing over her naked body, back and forth, running along every part of her, from her torso, to her limbs, to her face, it was quite the thorough glance-over, and it caused her to blush.

"Wh-what uh… what are you looking at?" Katie inquired, her eyes still closed.

"Your magical system. It's different. Changed. You no longer appear to have magical pathways." Riley answered, causing Katie to open her eyes and glance at Riley, confused, and somewhat concerned.

"What does that mean?" Katie asked, sitting up.

"All humans have a magical system, it usually comprised of three major parts. A magical core, where magic is made, and where the soul resides. Magical pathways, where magic flows through the body like a river. And tenketsu points, chakra coils, or whatever you'd like to call them. These coils store magic. You appear to be missing the magical pathways, and instead your core seems to be radiating magic outward. You still have magical coils that are storing your powers, but the pathways appear to be missing." Riley explained to her mate.

"Well what does that mean?" Katie asked again.

"I'm not exactly sure…" Riley admitted, curiously.

"Fascinating. Such a condition was common in my time. Powerful magical beings didn't possess the typical pathways that a people do today. Their bodies were instead, inundated with magic. The differences allow for a much higher capacity for magical storage within the body. Such individuals could possess magical levels close to that of one of the lower ranked Tailed Beasts. They were rare sights, often keeping to themselves, but when they did interact with humans, their powers often led to them being considered as gods, or god-like." Hagoromo made note, his voice carrying over to Katie as well who blinked several times in confusion.

"Who was that?" Katie asked.

"The Sage. Remember, we're connected fully now. I'm sure Kurama and the Darkness can also talk to you as well." Riley answered causing Katie to suddenly feel self-conscious due to her nakedness.

"Yeah I can talk to her. Feel her emotions clearly too. Put on some clothes if you're feeling exposed, you damn nudist." Kurama added, earning a squeak from Katie as she glanced around for some clothes.

Riley just shook her head and sighed, summoning some she kept in storage.

While Katie quickly dressed, Riley continued to speculate on what this could possibly mean in regards to Katie.

"So people in your youth had this same magical system and were seen by regular people as god-like. Were they? Or was that simply because magic was rarer to have in those days?" Riley asked aloud.

"A bit of both. Experiencing magic wasn't as common, but the powers on display were far grander than in today's era. These individuals held great power, but they weren't gods. At least, not all of them. Your mate though, is a god, at least partially. Her connection to you, has granted her a degree of divinity, making her more closely related to a demi-god than anything else." Hagoromo explained to them both as Katie finished dressing.

"A demi-god huh? That's uh… weird." Katie said as she rejoined the conversation.

"You're still human, you and Daphne from what I can sense, you two kept your humanity, but it's almost like you evolved into a higher form of human. If the Sage says that ancient humans possessed the same magical system that you do, and were thus stronger for it, I can only speculate that this was some sort of evolution that enhanced you. Not only making your human self as strong as it could be, but also adding in divinity to it." Riley stated, eyeing Katie with curiosity.

"You're gonna have to dumb a lot of this down for me, because I'm not quite sure I follow. Why would this have happened? I mean, I understand that bonding with you like this was gonna cause some changes, but altering my whole magical system?" Katie responded, not hiding her uncertainty and confusion.

"I'm not sure why you've changed in such a manner. You and Daphne are still human from what I can feel. Different, but human. The others though… well Gaia, Yugito, and Kaede are all demons now. I can feel it in them. They have no more humanity. Fleur is different, but not a demon, but something dark, all the same, Artoria is something less dark, but just as aggressive, and filled with wrath. I have no idea what's happened to Luna. Out of all of you, she feels the most… unnatural." Riley explained to Katie, causing her eyes to drift over to the shadowy cocoons containing her fellow mates.

As she did, one of them appeared to begin clearing up.

"Would you look at that, Daph appears to be waking up." Riley noted.

"Should we go check on her?" Katie inquired.

"It'll be an hour or two before she fully awakens, so we've got some time to focus on you. Best get used to having only two fields of view because as everyone starts waking up, this is gonna get a lot more fucked up." Riley said with a smirk, earning a grumble from Katie.

The two then engaged in a light bit of training, Katie practicing spells and molding her magic. She found herself able to accomplish greater feats with less difficulty. Her powers had most definitely grown.

Riley examined her mates, as Katie carried out her tasks, Riley watched her magic, studied it as it flowed and shifted within Katie's body. She could see how two stores of power now flowed through her mate. One was a newer type of magic, Katie's own. The other, was Riley's which passed into her, via the Chakra Receivers embedded within her body.

For the moment, it appeared that Katie could only draw upon her own magic, none of her attempts at spellcraft, had caused her to call upon Riley's.

Riley took her time to carefully examine Katie's magic as she went about practicing spells and channeling her power. She watched how her magic moved, reacted, and shifted within her, all so she could gain a greater understanding of how the changes Katie had just undergone would affect her.

It was as she was studying Katie that a third field of view, filled their sight line causing Katie to freeze and then rub at her head, experiencing vertigo.

Riley offered her a pat on the back before heading over to where Daphne now sat, staring out across the expanse of Kamui, trying to understand what she was seeing.

Similar to Katie, Daphne was now completely naked, though she also had no visible signs of physical differences. Her body hadn't changed at all, at least, not on the outside.

On the inside, Riley couldn't find any major changes either. Unlike Katie, her magical network remained unchanged, which was odd.

Daphne slowly regained her focus and managed to turn her gaze towards Riley.

"Hello my love. Sleep well?" Riley asked with a smile.

"I feel nausea." Daphne muttered as Katie stepped up beside Riley.

"That'll happen. Here, let me help you get dressed, while you adapt to your new field of view." Riley offered, summoning some clothes for her to wear.

As she helped Daphne to dress, Riley began to explain to her what was going on, and what she was experiencing. How she had evolved into something else, while retaining her humanity, but Riley wasn't quite sure what she'd changed into.

This didn't exactly make much sense to Daphne, who was trying to understand how she could be different, while still remaining human.

Riley could clearly feel her confusion, a trait she would have to get used to, and decided to elaborate, explaining further how Katie had changed.

Once things became clearer, they began trying to figure out how Daphne had changed.

Upon closer inspection, Riley took note of how Daphne's magic seemed to be constantly expanding. It was slow, incredibly slow, almost imperceptive if she wasn't using her Byakugan, but Riley was eventually able to spot the constant expanse.

Her use of the Byakugan, also bore interesting fruit as Daphne and Katie could both see the things that Riley was seeing, so they got to experience what it was like to use the dojutsu.

It was as they were speculating on what could possibly be causing Daphne to essentially be constantly producing magic, despite her reserves being full, that they came upon something more. Riley had taken Daphne's hand and was examining it when she noticed that the places where she was touching Daphne were seemingly glowing. Closer inspection revealed that as she exerted more pressure on Daphne's arm, caused her magic to glow further.

"What the hell is happening?" Kurama inquired, confused at what they were seeing.

"She's not absorbing my magic, but she's absorbing… something from me." Riley noted.

"I don't really feel anything, I can see what you're talking about, but I can't feel any difference." Daphne offered.

Riley continued staring for a moment, as Katie stepped up to them and started poking at Daphne's other arm. As she did, they were able to see through her eyes, how the spots where she poked at Daphne, seemed to lighten a bit, almost as if Katie were injecting bits of magic into Daphne's body with each touch.

"She's absorbing the kinetic energy of the touch." The Sage noted, a literal microsecond before Riley came to the same realization.

To test that theory, Riley began exerting pressure on Daphne's arm. Taking her forearm in both hands and beginning to squeeze it.

It wasn't hard enough to cause damage, but enough to begin causing discomfort.

"That doesn't exactly feel the best, but… something's happening." Daphne stated aloud, as her arm began to light up, glowing as more magic seemed to manifest from her skin and pour into her reserves.

Riley released Daphne and stepped back.

"Daphne, hold up your hand, I want you to catch my fist." Riley instructed.

Daphne did just that, and Riley threw a weak punch into Daphne's hand. The punch was hard enough that it should have caused her pain, and at least caused her palm to redden.

Instead, a surge of magic passed through Daphne's hand, and up her arm.

"Okay, I definitely felt something with my magic on that one." Daphne noted as she glanced at her hand.

"Did it hurt?" Katie asked.

"Yes and no. I hurt on impact, but I don't feel anything anymore." Daphne responded as flexed her hand.

"Alright, again, this time harder. Sorry Daph but this should be enough to break bone. So please forgive me, it's in the name of science." Riley ordered, earning an unamused look from Daphne while Katie let out a laugh.

"Let's just… figure this out…" Daphne sighed as she held up her hand, and braced herself for the pain.

Riley didn't allow the anticipation to hold for to long, and quickly drove her fist into Daphne's hand, release a loud smacking noise into the air.

A powerful surge of energy shot up Daphne's arm, almost like a visible ball of bright light, that could be seen by those with the ability to perceive magic.

Daphne cursed and shook her hand. The pain was strong enough that for a moment, she felt that Riley had broke some of the bones in her hand. But almost as soon as she felt the pain, it vanished, and she glanced down at her palm, flexing it in confusion.

"That… didn't hurt as bad as it should have." Riley noted, having felt what Daphne felt through their connection.

"You're right. It didn't… what the hell?" Daphne muttered in confusion.

"Alright, here's another test. Daph, think fast!" Katie shouted before punching Daphne in the shoulder, earning another curse as Daphne spun around and glared.

Again, the noise of the impact was loud, surely bone-cracking. In truth, Katie was a lot stronger now than she was before and didn't realize how strong she'd become. The explosion of light as magic rippled through Daphne's upper torso, showed that Katie had accidentally hit harder than Riley had.

"Ow…." Daphne growled, while Katie's eyes went wide in surprise.

"No broken bones. And the pain is immediately gone." Riley noted, taking in what Daphne was feeling.

For a few seconds, Daphne sent a death glare at Katie who was backing away with her hands raised in surrender. Finally she rolled her shoulders and realized that Riley was right. She didn't feel any lasting pain. Not from Riley's punch, nor from Katie's.

"Your muscles are absorbing the kinetic energy from our hits. You feel a bit of pain because that energy has to pass through skin and fat, but it stops as soon as it hits muscle." Riley noted aloud.

"How is that possible, I've never been able to absorb kinetic energy, only thermal energy?" Daphne asked, turning her gaze to Riley.

"It must have something to do with whatever evolution you went through. Katie evolved into some sort of demi-human while it appears like your bloodline had altered. How much I'm unsure, but we should run some tests to figure it out." Riley speculated.

From there, the trio began running said tests. It was quickly discovered that Daphne still possessed the ability to absorb thermal energy, but she could now absorb kinetic energy, as well as electrical energy. And from what it appeared, her ability to do so was now passively active. She could still activate it, bringing the absorption point, up to her skin, but without activating her ability, all forms of energy were seemingly absorbed by her muscles.

For example, if Riley kicked her in the chest, her skin may turn red, or even start swelling, but her bones and organs would receive no damage what-so-ever as all of the energy would be absorbed by her muscles and converted into magic.

It was the same with thermal energy. Daphne could hold her hand over a fire and burn the skin, but energy would quickly become absorbed by her muscles once it pierced through the outer layer of skin.

It seemed like this passive effect worked for all forms of energy entering into her body from the outside. It would be absorbed as it passed through her muscles. And of course, Daphne could still activate the power, which created a sort of barrier around her body, roughly a quarter inch over the skin that absorbed all energy passing through it, and converted it into magic. This of course had an interesting side effect, as when activated, Daphne would be blinded and deafened, and she would also become a black void as she absorbed light waves, and sound waves.

This proved that her ability to absorb energy was linked to all forms of energy, from light, to kinetic, to sound. She could absorb all form of it, and turn it into usable magic. Of course as noted, there were drawbacks to activating the ability as she was blinded, and deafened, but she could still see through Riley's and Katie's eyes, and they could still see Daphne's magic, even if Daphne herself became a black outline of nothingness, because she absorbing all incoming light.

Riley was confidant that Daphne could learn to control what types of energy she was absorbing, and activate certain parts of her ability at will. This led to further speculation on just why she'd gained this new power.

It was the Sage who eventually made note that Daphne's ability to consume all forms of energy, gave her a sublime control over energy, almost like an Elemental.

Riley quickly saw the similarities, and began speculating if Daphne had evolved into some sort of Energy Elemental, able to absorb any and all forms of it, and turn it into power. If she was an Elemental, than she'd only be able to use base magic with no element, and magic tied to whatever power she was an Elemental over.

Daphne had known a few Water Style techniques before, and when she tried to perform them, she found herself unable to use them any longer, which all but confirmed it in Riley's mind. Daphne was now an Elemental, one who had power over energy itself. This made Daphne nearly indestructible, as it didn't seem to matter how potent the incoming energy was, her body could absorb it.

Even with the power active passively, there was almost no way to hurt Daphne now. Energy would only pass skin deep and be absorbed once it hit muscle. So she could be damaged by blunt force, stabbing weapons only went skin deep. Basically ever part of her body, covered in muscle was now immune to incoming energy. Her only weaknesses now were disease and poison. While it was annoying to lose access to some of the abilities she'd worked hard to obtain, her newfound powers made her basically unkillable in battle, and with her being the Naraka Path, and able to regenerate any damage done to others using the King of Hell, her newfound resistance, made it nearly impossible to stop her from doing just that.

For the next day or so, Riley, Katie, and Daphne trained, learning the extent of the latter two's new powers and abilities. Katie's physical abilities had skyrocketed, and it went far beyond the enhancements the Rinnegan would normally provide. She had the speed, power, and reflexes to easily go toe-to-toe with almost any Jonin in the world. All she needed was the experience and skill, to use her newfound powers.

Three full days after Daphne awoke, was when the next of Riley's mates began to stir. By now, Riley knew that they'd seen the tamest of changes in Daphne and Katie. What came next would be far more wild, and she was one hundred percent correct.

Artoria was the next to awaken, and when she did, it was with far more fan-fare than what any of them were expecting.

Instead of her cocoon just fading, as it had for the other two, her's burst open, unleashing a torrent of flame, and magic, and from within, emerged a monstrous red dragon.

"What the hell!" Katie cried out in disbelief.

"What? She… turned into a dragon?" Daphne muttered in disbelief as the towering creature roared out in fury.

"She became that which she was most like." Riley hummed in thought as she stared up at the creature.

Artoria had taken the form of a large red dragon. The beast stood as large as Deimos, with massive wings that stretched through the air. Each wing was nearly a hundred feet long. The beast had a long neck, draped in golden and red scales. It's head was covered in horns, with fiery eyes that carried the Rinnegan, within them, though purple in color, they blazed with fire seemingly burning within them.

The dragon's mouth was filled with twisted teeth, and from it's very breath, Riley and the others could see magic expel from her body. This creature radiated massive quantities of magic, on a scale close to a Tailed Beast such as the Zero or One Tails.

The dragon possessed front and hind legs, and a tail longer than it's main body. At the end of it's tails was a bone-like club, covered in jagged spikes.

Red and gold scales covered it's entire body, with darker scales on it's back, and lighter ones on the belly.

The dragon showed signs of discomfort, confusion even. It finally drew it's gaze to Riley who slowly advanced on the creature while Katie and Daphne held back.

"When Merlin said you had the spirit of a dragon, I kind of thought he was exaggerating. I guess not…" Riley hummed, earning a crawl from the dragon as it lowered it's head down towards her.

"Wow… I think I'm beginning to understand how this works. Katie and Daphne evolved in connection to their bloodlines. With Katie becoming like a demi-god from greek mythology, powerful, and skilled, while Daphne gained heightened magical powers, tied to her bloodline, becoming an Elemental. Artoria became a dragon, due to her dragon blood, which means that Gaia, Yugito, and Kaede all became demons, due to having demonic ties. Gaia and Yugito, due to being Jinchuriki, which means they've probably become Tailed Beasts, kind of like you did with me, and Kaede became a full demon, her demonic half absorbing her human half. No doubt Fleur and Luna have also evolved into something tied to their ancestry, or inherent abilities." Kurama stated to Riley, earning a hum of agreement from Riley as she got within arms reach of the dragon's head.

The beast's mouth was large enough that Riley could probably stand upright in it's mouth, if it opened to it's full length.

"You recognize me, don't you my love. Even dragon's have mates, surely even in this state, you know who I am." Riley said to Artoria, locking eyes with her lover.

The dragon stared back intensely for several long moments. Finally, it's eyes began to soften, and as it's eyes softened Riley could feel Artoria's fury fade. The dragon's body began to glow, as if burning from the inside. The brightness grew in intensity before the light, and the dragon's body fell into itself, collapsing into the shape of a woman.

Riley smiled at the site as Artoria appeared where the dragon once was, having returned to her human form. She looked almost exactly as she once had, except for two major differences. Both having to do with her eyes. She had the Rinnegan, and her pupils were now slitted, like a cat's or more accurately, like a dragons.

Artoria blinked several times, taking in slow breaths as she did. Her gaze was still locked on Riley, and after a few moments she realized that she was completely naked.

Her armor and battle-dress quickly manifested to cover her as she turned her gaze away from Riley and blushed.

Riley allowed herself to laugh as she approached Artoria, Katie and Daphne trailing behind her.

"That… was unexpected." Artoria stated, glancing around to locate Excalibur and Caliburn. Both blades lay in the grass where her cocoon had been. She quickly retrieved them, as Riley began explaining things to her.

She was quickly sat with Riley and the others, coming to terms with this change. She was a dragon now, but not just an ordinary dragon. Some kind of dragon that hadn't been seen in centuries. According to both the Sage, and Kurama, there did exist dragons once that could shape-shift, they were known as High-dragons. But none were left in the world. The last one Kurama had met was nearly six centuries ago, and he'd killed that one when it picked a fight with him.

Artoria recognized the existence of the creature, as she had met one also during her travels, though never knew the difference between it and a normal dragon.

Once she was able to understand what had happened to her, and her fellow mates, they set about finding out how to control this power. It took some time to determine just what triggered a transformation, and it turned out that it was Artoria's anger that led to her transforming. Riley had felt fury ebbing off the creature, and after encouraging Artoria to draw upon her own wrath, she was able to unconsciously transform. From there, she would have to be calmed down in order to return to a human form, but it seemed that whenever she became furious, she would transform.

Artoria was not a temperamental person, and had excellent control over her emotions, but there was a new aspect thrown into the mix that the four took notice of while helping Artoria, and that was their connection to Riley, which seemed to have an affect on their temperament. It didn't make them quicker to anger, but their connection to Riley did seem to enhance their anger, making it more intense.

Artoria concluded that she had to gain control over her transformations before they returned to Albion. She would not allow a moment of frustration to lead to her turning into a monster.

So training resumed, and another full day went by before the next cocoon opened, this one being Fleur's.

Fleur's emergence from her cocoon, was similar to Artoria's in that great power erupted from it, and a fiery heat bellowed out. This heat though, did not burn, instead it carried with it, feelings and emotions.

Fleur sported several changes to her body, beyond the presence of the Rinnegan. From her head, just above the hairline were two horns that grew backwards and curved upwards, and from her back, were two long white-gold wings that matched her hair color.

All four women felt their jaws drop at the sight of Fleur, who appeared more radiant then any of them had ever seen. It was like her Allure was being unleashed at full blast on all of them.

"Hey, Riley! Riley… breathe! Snap out of it! Don't let the sexiness distract you!" Kurama tried to break Riley out of her dumbfounded amazement.

"Young Fleur's radiance has grown vastly. Even her demonic mate is distracted by her. I sense divinity emanating from her powers, it's much like Katie." The Sage noted as Riley tried to regain her senses, and clear her mind of any and all lewd thoughts that had to do with her wife.

"I sense darkness there as well. Not wholly demonic, but as dark as it can possibly get without crossing that line." Kurama noted.

"Veela were always suspected to have been descended from either Sirens, or Succubi, maybe there's some truth there, or perhaps it's a combination of both?" Riley offered as she regained her senses and shook off Fleur's enhanced Allure. She glanced at her other mates, and found the only one looking away was Artoria, though her face was beat red, and Riley could clearly sense her arousal.

Daphne was lost in Fleur's Allure, her gaze clouded over, it took Riley passing her own will through Daphne to break her free. Katie was far worse, slowly approaching Fleur, her senses completely enraptured by Fleur's beauty. If allowed to, she'd no doubt try to have sex with Fleur, which was something Riley knew would greatly upset Fleur. Turning Katie into a mindless sex slave, was an abhorrent idea that Fleur would never want, but it was obvious that her own mind was clouded by desire and lust as she reached out for her mate, enticing her closer.

Riley sensed hunger, churning within Fleur, a desire for something more than sex.

She quickly sent a surge of her own will through her bond with both of them, snapping them out of their trance and causing both to look at her in surprise.

The two then glanced at each other, and both took an unconscious step back from one another as they realized what had happened.

"My goodness… Katie… I… I did not mean… I…" Fleur stuttered out and backed away further.

Katie blinked several times as she realized she had just been completely enthralled by Fleur, and had very nearly had sex with her, right there in the field. It was something that was difficult to describe. It wasn't like she had suddenly wanted to have sex, it was more so like a need. Like fucking Fleur was an absolute in her mind and it completely erased any thoughts of decency or hesitation. If Riley hadn't stopped them, she'd have tried to fuck Fleur right there. Nothing else seemed to matter in the moment.

"So that's the power of Allure. I never would have guessed it could be that… strong…" Katie stated, blinking several times as Riley stepped past her and approached Fleur.

"I did not mean to… I… I have not had an accident like zat in all my life… Katie I am so sorry." Fleur said to her as Riley stepped up to Fleur.

"It's okay… I'm just… shocked that I fell for it so easily. I've seen your Allure before but this was… so much more intense." Katie responded as she approached Fleur as well. Daphne and Artoria joined them as well.

"Your Allure has magnified in power. I'm not talking like two or three times more powerful, it was enough to even start occluding my mind. I don't know if I could have been completely enthralled like Katie was, but it stirred up feelings in me, that were about as intense as when I'm having an episode. I'm worried that if Kurama didn't snap me out of it, your powers might have triggered me to have one." Riley stated, drawing Fleur's attention to her, and causing her to visibly pale, and deflate at the idea.

Fleur brought up her hands to run over her head, as she did so, she felt her horns and let out a surprised yelp.

It took her a moment to realize what she was feeling and recognize the alternate fields of view that she was sharing in.

"Yep, those are horns, you have wings too." Riley noted, stepping up to Fleur and reaching past her to trace the feathers of one of her wings.

"Why do I have wings?" Fleur asked as she glanced over her shoulder at the two new appendages she sported.

"My guess is because something in your ancestry had wings and horns, and you've evolved into whatever that was." Riley answered.

Fleur blinked several times as Riley offered her some clothes to put on. Once dressed, Fleur was brought up to speed on what was going on.

She learned about how each of her fellow mates had undergone some sort of evolution, just as she had, and while she had grown wings and horns, Artoria had completely transformed into a dragon.

It was around two hours after Fleur's awakening that Luna emerged from her cocoon. This one, Riley was very cautious off, since she couldn't make heads or tails of what Luna had turned into. Everything about what she was sensing from Luna felt strange, and when she emerged, Riley half expected to see some alien creature appearing in her place. What she got was something far more mysterious.

Aside from the Rinnegan, nothing about Luna's appearance had changed. At least nothing that couldn't be overlooked on first glance.

With that being said, there were two major differences that left the group dumbfounded. One was magical, and one was physical.

The magical difference was that Luna's magic was now completely unrecognizable. The only part about it that was familiar was Riley's own magic. Aside from that, Luna's magic was awash with every color imaginable. Blues and greens, yellows, and reds, browns, blacks, whites, all washing together, ebbing and flowing. Colors would rise in prominence and than break apart into a half-dozen other colors.

Luna claimed to feel nothing wrong, despite this, and yet, the color of her magic wasn't the only thing about it that changed. The colors all felt different. Some colors gave off darker vibes, some lighter. Riley's magic was the only constant, Luna's continuously changed and shifted.

The physical change was equally as fantastical. Just barely noticeable beneath Luna's skin, you could see the ebb and flow of light. Dim greens and soft reds, flowed beneath her skin. It was barely perceivable, it's not like she was glowing, but if you looked closely, you could see it.

Luna's hair seemed to sparkle upon closer inspection, and color could be seen drifting through it as well. Dim globs of color that slowly drifted through her, though they didn't match the colors of her magic.

No one knew what to make of it. Riley couldn't make heads or tails of what she was seeing. The Sage didn't recognize any of these signs, Kurama had no ideas. The only one with anything useful to offer was the Darkness. When asked if he knew what was going on with Luna, he only responded that she had become that which all things are made of.

When asked for clarification, it simply replied with one word. 'Chaos'.

Tests revealed very little, if any change to Luna's ability to use magic. Beyond the strange things that were seen, her magic responded naturally, and she claimed to feel fine, a claim that Riley believed, since she could feel the same through Luna.

It was a mystery, one that Riley sought to unravel in time.

Though within two days, Riley's remaining three mates began to awaken.

First was Kaede who emerged basically unchanged. She was a full demon now, or perhaps more accurately, a full blooded devil. Her powers had amplified, the number of vectors she possessed had increased, as did her range with them. Where once she had over a dozen vectors, and relatively short range of around four meters with them, now she possessed nearly forty vectors with a range closer to twenty-five meters.

Her speed with her vectors had also increased, able to launch out her vectors at hyper-sonic speeds. Needless to say, the deadliness of the Diclonius Queen had increased drastically.

Beyond that though, she appeared unchanged. She did display a bit more motion sickness than the rest of her fellow mates as she adapted to the additional sight-lines but beyond that, she seemed her same old self.

Gaia was the next to awaken, and just as Kurama had suspected, when she emerged it was as a Tailed Beast. Gaia was reborn with a single tail, similar in nature to Shukaku's though thinner. Her ears were also pointed now, and her pupils were shaped like sharp diamonds, again, just like the One-Tails, and her Rinnegan was a sandy yellow.

She'd undergone a demonic transformation, similar to Riley's though Riley had to go through her growth, maturing over time, Gaia appeared to be full grown, or at her full power. She now equaled the One-Tails in raw power, making her the second strongest of Riley's mates, after Yugito who would no doubt end up as a Two-Tailed Beast, just like Matatabi.

Getting used to becoming a demonic creature wasn't going to be easy for Gaia or Yugito, as they'd both been working for most of their lives, to not be controlled by the demons that inhabited them. Or in Gaia's case, she worked to hold onto her own humanity, and not remain the demon her father had helped to make her.

Now though, she was that creature, through and through, thankfully though, she had Riley to aid her in maintaining her focus and sanity. In her own words, Gaia described her transformation as feeling like a part of herself she'd buried long ago, has risen back to the surface.

Riley promised to help her, and that settled Gaia's mind a bit.

The last of Riley's mates to awaken was Yugito, who emerged less than an hour after Gaia. Just as expected, she was now a Two-Tailed beast. Just like Gaia and Riley, her ears were now pointed. Her canines were elongated, and the hue of her Rinnegan were similar to the Two-Tails' eyes, one being yellowish, and the other greenish.

She now sported two fiery tails, born of blue flames, making her appear like the Two-Tails in human form.

Both Gaia's and Yugito's respective Bijuu were ecstatic to see what had become of their hosts. Shukaku being the more vocal of the two and expressing his joy that now Gaia was immortal meaning he didn't have to ever be sealed in someone else, he could just stay with her.

It was touching, in it's own way, though the One and Two-Tails became far more interested in speaking with their father, as they realized the Sage was spiritually present, and he was able to speak directly to them, due to their newfound connection to Riley.

It took several days for everyone to get used to the changes they'd undergone, as well as dealing with the fact that they could all now see through eight additional sets of eyes. There was also the newfound strength of their bond with Riley. Each one could now clearly feel her emotions, and even hear her surface thoughts, as they were occurring. Riley could feel the same with her mates, sensing their emotions on a very deep level, as well as reading their thoughts. After a few days of just trying to get a handle on the changes to their physiology, the ladies began to train in their newfound powers.

Many discoveries were made as each day went on, as each one learned how to control both sets of powers they now possessed, those from the Rinnegan, and those from their evolution.

While Riley aided them in their training, she took the time, while they were resting, to learn more from the Sage, and expand her understanding of magic. His lessons became fundamental to her training with her mates, as she learned how to use the connections that magic could form, in order to give power, and draw it, from her lovers.

It was incredibly interesting, and each discovery brought with it new possibilities. As they trained though, they were unaware of the events occurring out in the world.

-Pentref Cysgodian Hud, Albion. September 4th 2000-

The battle continued to rage as the legionaries pushed back the invading puppet horde.

The puppets were decently skilled, but not overly dangerous to the highly trained forces of Albion. The puppets fought with skills below your average chuunin, and while they had a few interesting tricks, their greatest assets, were their numbers, and lack of fear. They fought without needing to worry about injury, so their assaults were ruthless, and they could easily overwhelm a small group if the legionaries weren't careful.

Naruko had just sent her seventh enemy puppet crashing into a wall with a hard kick. It shattered into pieces and collapsed, leaving her standing over it, glaring down at it's broken body.

"What the hell is going on? Why is this happening now?" Naruko thought to herself as she leapt up onto a rooftop and surveyed her surroundings.

Fighting could be seen all around the village as hundreds of puppets swarmed in. The magical barrier that surrounded the village, as well as the wards set in place to protect it, would have caused any intruder to be placed into an illusion if they had tried sneaking into the village. Unfortunately you couldn't place a puppet into an illusion, you could only place the puppeteer into one, which begged the question, where the hell was the puppeteer?

Naruko focused her gaze on some of the attacking puppets. She could see the magic flowing within them, keeping them animate, but she couldn't detect any sort of chakra wire, or magical thread, tying them to whoever was manipulating them. Meaning they were somehow being controlled remotely, without a tangible connection. Something like that was possible, but it required sublime chakra control, and Naruko didn't truly believe it was possible for one person to control so many puppets remotely. Logically this had to be the work of a group, but then how were they coordinating this attack? They had to be able to gather info on what was happening in the battle so they could react and order their puppets around.

So many questions flooded her mind, and after a few moments she shook her head and let out a growl.

"Naruko!" She heard Kakashi call out to her, as he, along with Ino, Gregory Goyle, and Hana Inuzuka along with her three ninken, landed by her side.

Naruko glanced over at them for a moment before returning her gaze to the village, her gaze drifting over it.

She heard Kakashi start to say something to her, when her eyes fell onto a small clutch of puppets racing across rooftops towards the outer walls. This immediately struck her as odd, because it looked like they were attempting to leave the village.

It took her only a half moment to spot one of them carrying someone in it's arms, and a half second later, she realized who it was.

"Hinata!" Naruko cried out, as she shot forward.

"Naruko wait!" Kakashi called after her, not realizing what she'd seen.

"Hinata?" Ino verbalized as they raced after her.

"Hana, those puppets, they have lady Hinata!" One of Hana's ninken informed her, picking up Hinata's scent as they gave chase.

"Damn. Why are they kidnapping Lady Hinata?" Hana asked aloud.

"I have no idea, but we have to stop them." Kakashi responded, hearing what the ninja dog reported, and understanding Naruko's sudden actions.

Naruko shot forward at top speed, intent on saving her fiance. As she closed in on the troop of fleeing puppets, an explosion shook the area as the upper half of Madara's Susano'o appeared in the distance among a crowd of puppets.

This action occurred in the direction the puppets were fleeing in, causing them to bank hard, and begin moving in another direction looking for a way out.

Their change in path, allowed Naruko to close a lot of the gap between her and them.

"Kakashi, catch Hinata!" Naruko shouted as she stuck out her hand. She didn't wait for his acknowledgment, hoping that he had heard her. She focused on the puppet carrying Hinata and activated Banshō Ten'in.

The puppet stopped just as it leapt into the air, and immediately began flying back towards Naruko.

It was unable to stop itself in the air, and Naruko focused her strength into a solid punch that shattered the puppet into pieces right as it closed in on her.

This action sent the unconscious Hinata flying past her. Thankfully Kakashi had heard Naruko's command and caught the slumbering woman which he quickly passed off to Ino for her to check on her.

The troop of puppets immediately launched an attack, attempting to dog-pile Naruko, but she activated Shinra Tensei blasting them all apart.

A rain of puppet body parts showered the are around Naruko, none of the puppets having survived her defensive move.

She glanced around, looking for any other enemies. Finding none, she raced over to Ino and Hinata.

"Is she alright?" Naruko asked, kneeling by their side.

"Yeah, she's fine. Looks like she was just knocked out. There doesn't seem to be any other damage." Ino responded, and she worked her magic to try and rouse Hinata from her unconscious state.

"The enemy is retreating…" Kakashi noted as he stared out over the village, watching as the remaining puppets jumped over the walls heading away from them.

"What the hell were they after? Why did they try to kidnap lady Hinata?" Hana wondered aloud.

"I have no idea." Kakashi responded, glancing over at Hinata who began to stir.

"Ehm… mhm… Boruto!" Hinata shouted as she shot awake, panicking.

"Whoa, Hinata… settle down!" Naruko grabbed her shoulders, trying to direct her attention as she started to freak out.

"N-Naruko?" Hinata blinked several times as her eyes focused on Naruko.

"Yeah it's me. Are you alright?" Naruko asked.

"Am I…. Don't worry about me, what about Boruto, and Hinabi!?" Hinata cried out.

"What about them?" Naruko responded.

"They were kidnapped! I saw a man in Boruto's room. He had white hair, and pale skin. His puppets had Boruto and Hinabi!" Hinata explained to them, causing Naruko's gut to sink.

"Hana!" Kakashi began to order.

"Right, come on guys." Hana ordered her ninken pack as they raced towards the Hyuuga household.

Kakashi than sped through handsigns and summoned his own ninken pack, giving them orders to follow Hana and join in the hunt for Boruto and Hinabi.

"I'm going to go looking. Hinata, you get fixed up. When you're all better we can look together. Kakashi…" Naurko began, rising to her feet.

"Let's go. Ino, get Hinata somewhere safe and make sure she's alright. I'll send word to Lord Itachi, and let him know what's going on. Gregory, stay with them and protect Hinata. The enemy tried targeting her for some reason, and they might come back for her." Kakashi ordered his team.

"Yes sir." Ino and Gregory responded. Hinata tried to argue but her head was still throbbing and it was hard to focus.

"It'll be alright, I'll find them, I promise." Naruko swore to Hinata, earning a nod from Hinata, before she raced off with Kakashi to join in the hunt.

"Please find them… and please be safe." Hinata offered silently as Ino lifted her to her feet, and with the help of Goyle, they carried her to a safe location to help her deal with her head trauma.

Within an hour, Hinata was cleared to return to duty, thanks to Ino's healing. She was escorted by Goyle, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Choji as they caught up with Hana who was busily searching an area along the coast of France, Kakashi not far off with Naruko searching close by. The trails had gone cold, just beyond the English channel, and no signs could be found of where the puppets could have gone too. The only explanation for the sudden disappearance was the use of a port-key or some other form of magical teleportation.

-September 5th 2000-

They returned to the village an hour later, to report to Itachi what they'd found.

Now Itachi sat with his top advisers, along with Minister Lucius, Merlin, and even Tom had chosen to make an appearance to offer his aid. Naruko and Hinata stood in the background while the meeting was going on, both silently worrying for their missing son as well Hinata's sister.

"It's the Ōtsutsuki. It has to be. It's just like Luna Lovegood's prophetic vision. Meteors raining down on the planet, and eventually the moon crashing as well, and then a great flood. These meteor showers these last couple of days, were just the prelude to their attack. Scientists watching the sky have already made an alarming discovery. The moon itself is about six percent closer to the earth than it should be. We know what's coming, what the end goal will be, but what we don't know if what the kidnapping. Why kidnap Hinata, Boruto, and Hanabi?" Shikaku explained all of the currently known details to those gathered.

"Did your assailant say anything to you, lady Hinata?" Itachi questioned her.

"He didn't say much. He called me his princess, asked me to come with him, but he didn't say anything else." Hinata replied.

"That doesn't offer us much. Hinata's description of the man, paints him as an Ōtsutsuki. Meaning we know where he's most likely going to be hiding." Shikaku noted.

"On the moon, or more specifically, in it. How do we go about getting there?" Itachi mused.

"I know how." Came the voice of Black Zetsu as he emerged from Kaguya's sleeve and rose up in the center of the room.

"You do?" Itachi questioned, curiously.

"Yeah, there's a portal that allows for travel back and forth between the two locations. It's been locked for a long time, only an Ōtsutsuki can open it. It's most likely open now. I can show you where it is." Black Zetsu responded, eyeing Itachi intently.

"Why would he leave the portal open, what makes you think he wont have closed it once he makes it back through?" Tobirama inquired.

"He tried to kidnap Hinata as well. She's still here though. That attempt failed. Logic would dictate he still wants her for some reason. So I'd put money on that portal still being open because he wants Hinata to come to him." Black Zetsu explained his reasoning, earning a nod of agreement from Itachi, Madara, and Tobirama.

"We need to launch a rescue mission and counterattack." Tobirama stated.

"I agree. A small but powerful strike team. What can we expect to face on the other side of the portal?" Itachi questioned Zetsu.

"The Ōtsutsuki clan. Hamura's descendants. They'll most likely have the Byakugan, and at least one of them has the Tenseigan, if lady Luna's visions were accurate. So be ready for an extreme threat level." Black Zetsu answered.

"Alright… a small elite strike team to deal with the Ōtsutsuki, what about the meteor shower, and the moon?" Shikaku glanced at Itachi as he put the question out there.

"If the meteor shower is being directed at us from the moon, than we can expect the attack to follow a western trajectory. Europe was hit first, than us, meteors are landing in the Atlantic now, and will soon pass over North America. Eventually the Elemental Nations will be hit, as will most of Asia. The bombardment will most likely continue without pause until the moon collides with the Earth, meaning the Ōtsutsuki are most likely planning an exodus of some sort. Albion is safe for now, the barrier is active and it shielded us from most of the damage, but our allies will not be so lucky. We need to prepare a meteor defense force, to help protect as many of our allies as we can. So long as the barrier is up, we don't need to worry about Albion, but everyone else is still at risk." Itachi stated.

"Than we'll need a heavy hitter to destroy those incoming meteors, especially the big ones, like the one that landed in Paris. We still don't know how bad the damage was there, but the body count was no doubt in the hundreds of thousands at least." Shikaku noted.

"Send Hashirama to lead the meteor defense team, he has the power to deal with them easily, and he can heal the injured." Madara suggested.

"And you'll lead the counterattack team?" Itachi guessed.

Madara nodded at that.

"I understand the wisdom in your suggestion my old friend, but I think we should reverse our roles. Either one of us can destroy the incoming meteors, and either one of us can assist in dealing with the Ōtsutsuki." Hashirama argued.

"Than why suggest the switch?" Madara asked.

"One reason, I'm a better healer than you. If the Ōtsutsuki are numerous and we're forced to engage them multiple times, someone has to be there to heal our team, and while a normal medic is a given, having two there will increase our chances." Hashirama explained, earning a thoughtful look from Madara, who then nodded in agreement with his logic.

"Hashirama is right, while either of us have the power to handle leading the counterattack, he is also capable of filling a support role if needed, and we cannot allow this mission to fail." Madara conceded after a few moments.

"Than Lord Hashirama will lead the counterattack team, while myself and Lord Madara will lead defense units, to try and minimize the damage. Shukaku, any ideas for the Lord Hashirama's team?" Itachi questioned his top strategist.

"Lord Hashirama as squad leader, Shikamaru as their tactician, Ino as a healer, Shino as a tracker, and Sasuke, Naruko, and Hinata. Hinata needs to go, the portal may not open if she's not there, and we both know Naruko isn't going to hang back. This team should have the strength necessary to face off against the Ōtsutsuki, and overwhelm them. Speed is of the essence here, we have only a few days. The moon is getting closer, and it could crash into us in a few days. So we need speed, and power." Shikaku answered after a few moments.

"Lord Hashirama, go and gather your team, leave as soon as you can, Black Zetsu will guide you to the portal.

"I'll go with them." Kaguya spoke up, earning a curious look from Itachi, while Madara glanced at her with surprise.

"You will?" Itachi questioned.

"If the portal is closed for whatever reason, I can open it. I know of the powers required to create such a method of transportation, and I am an Ōtsutsuki. Beyond that though, I think it's time I saw what has become of my other descendants." Kaguya responded.

"Very well lady Kaguya. Your logic is sound, and your help much appreciated. Lord Hashirama, depart as soon as possible." Itachi commanded.

"I will. We wont let you down." Hashirama responded with a smile.

"Stay safe out there, and keep an eye on my wife." Madara offered to Hashirama.

"I will. You stay safe as well my friend, and make sure we have a world to come back to." Hashirama replied, earning a chuckle from Madara, who then turned to Kaguya, and gave her a curious look.

She stared back at him for a moment, before her gaze fell.

"I will see them safely through to the other side of the portal." Kaguya said to him.

"Be safe, my love." He responded earning a nod from her and a light smile.

"Naruko, Hinata, gather what you need, we will depart within the hour." Hashirama instructed the two, earning nods from both.

As people began dispersing, Itachi was left with Tom, Lucius, and Merlin.

"We'll send word to the Elemental Nations and warn them about what's coming, we'll do what we can to stop as many meteors as we can, try and limit the devastation. Though given the nature of Luna's vision, we know a flood could be on the horizon, perhaps it's wise to order our coasts evacuated?" Itachi suggested.

"Yes, I agree. I hope it does not come to pass, but we should do whatever is necessary to reduce the risks. The barrier will not stop the oceans from rising, so long as there is not magic within it. Keeping our coastline clear of civilians will help to limit the number of deaths, should the worse occur." Merlin concurred.

"Any thoughts towards informing Riley?" Tom asked.

"She has a close bond with her nephew, if I tell her he's been kidnapped, she'll rush back to save him. We cannot allow her training to be disrupted, less she lose the chance to learn from the Sage. It's been over eighteen hours since she left, less than two and a half days until she and the others return. We have to try and handle this ourselves or at least buy enough time for her training to conclude. We all know just how quickly Riley can and would return if she knew what was happening. If the situation looks dire, we'll contact her, but for now, we need to try and handle this without her." Itachi answered.

"Let's do what we can for now, I very much doubt these next two days are going to go by slowly." Merlin noted.

Itachi nodded in agreement and set to work.

Word was sent out to all of their allies, magical and muggle alike. It didn't matter if they were believed or not, all that mattered was trying to save lives, and give people a chance. At the end of the day, no one could claim that they didn't know of the threat, though the greater danger of it, was kept a secret to avoid a panic.

People would be warned that the meteors were crashing due to the an event occurring with the moon, which was causing it to draw closer to the Earth, but the Ōtsutsuki's involvement was kept a secret for now.

Itachi prepared two teams that would travel to the Elemental Nations to protect their allies there, or at least do what they could to help protect them. They could save everyone, but they had to help who they could. One team would go to Suna, the other to Kumo, with warnings given to Kiri, and their forces in Iwa, so that they could all prepare. Once the meteor shower passed by the Elemental Nations, the two teams would use portkeys to travel back to Albion and head to Europe to try and protect the continent as best they could, and again when the rain of meteors passed, they would head back to the Elemental Nations.

With a plan in place, everyone set to work.

-Kamui-

Some weeks had passed in Riley's pocket dimension, each day being filled with grueling training. One benefit of Riley's mates ascending to a higher form of existence was that they tired far slower and recovered quicker. Some, like Katie, Yugito, Gaia, and Kaede, could recover in mere moments, as the latter three were full demons and just needed magic, while Katie's bloodline was seemingly always active now, ensuring that her stamina was always peaked. She never seemed winded or tired, and with the ability to draw power from Riley, Katie could basically keep fighting forever.

Luna didn't seem to get tired, she just got sleepy, which was odd, but than again, everything about her was, so that wasn't much of a change. Fleur did tire, though she regenerated quickly, and she could regenerate almost instantly, if she engaged in physical activity with one of her mates. Much like her Allure, Fleur's ability to generate power from the act of sex had also been enhanced. Kissing, and a light bit of petting was enough for her to fully recover from a tired state, and Riley strongly suspected that something more intimate would empower her even further, though they'd yet to try.

While Daphne could still get tired physically, it was nearly impossible for her to run out of magic if she wasn't using high level spells repeatedly. With her ability to convert energy into magic, the heat from daylight caused her to be constantly generating power. And it wasn't just daylight. Kamui was naturally cooler because it was always cloudy, and Riley preferred the cold when she was training as it helped her focus, so while it was never warm in the pocket dimension, there was still heat to it, and Daphne could draw that in.

It was the same as body heat, if she cuddled up next to a person, the heat drawn from them didn't just warm her, it helped her recover quicker, which brought with it the added benefit of Daphne becoming a bit more cuddly now, which Riley very much enjoyed.

As for Artoria, well she still tired, it just took a very long time to get her there.

Aside from physical exhaustion, there was little else that hindered their training. Riley's mates almost never ran out of power, thanks to their evolution, and their ties to Riley.

Riley's power constantly passed into them, and while they had to be taught how to draw upon it, and learn to control it, it was a near limitless energy source for them to call upon.

Most of their early training involved just that, them learning to use their new powers, and control Riley's magic. The latter was far more difficult for them, as Riley's magic was incredibly dense, and difficult to manage as it was also temperamental and stubborn, like Riley was.

Fleur was the first to make any headway with it, and when asked how she managed it, she described it as being just like dealing with Riley. All you had to do was show it some love and affection, and it would do whatever you wanted.

It honestly surprised Riley with how quickly they began to learn how to control Riley's magic, once Fleur figured out how.

In the end, every part of Riley was a sucker for the affections of her mates, even down to her magic.

Regardless, progress was being made, which was very encouraging. It wouldn't be long before Riley could start training her mates to use the powers of her eyes, and they could truly become her paths.

-The Elemental Nations-

Black Zetsu led the troop from their arrival destination towards where the portal was located. They traveled in silence for several hours, keeping pace with the entity as he led them to an underground spring, hidden within a cave.

Upon arriving they discerned that the spring was filled with magical waters, an acted as the portal that would lead them to the moon.

"It's open?" Hashirama questioned as he gazed into the pool.

"Yes, it's definitely open. We should be able to swim through to the other side. It'll be strange, but you needn't worry about drowning. This is not ordinary water." Kaguya assured them.

"What will you do?" Hashirama asked.

"I'm going with you." Kaguya responded.

"Are you certain my lady? I know you are quite skilled in the sealing arts, but you're not a fighter. Your descendants could lay beyond, and they may not look upon you so favorably." Hashirama warned.

"I know of the dangers. Yet I will go all the same. Just… don't tell Madara that I did, I'd never hear the end of it if he knew I placed myself in such danger." Kaguya replied, earning a snort of laughter from Hashirama.

"Very well. Is everyone ready?" Hashirama turned to the rest of the team.

A chorus of affirmations quickly followed, before Hashirama turned and began to advance into the pool.

Most everyone began to follow after him, save for Hinata and Naruko.

"You ready for this?" Naruko questioned Hinata.

"Yes. I just hope they're both okay." Hinata replied, allowing a bit of worry to show.

"They will be. We'll get Boruto and Hanabi back. I promise you, if it's the last thing I do, I'll make sure they get home safe." Naruko said to her, pulling Hinata into a hug, which she returned.

The two then turned to the portal and began to advance, only to halt when they felt a presence nearby.

They stopped and turned to face it, finding the man that Hinata had described, standing not far from them.

"You… it's him, Naruko! He's the one who took them!" Hinata cried out, falling into a fighting stance, as Naruko did the same.

Naruko took a moment to examine the man, and immediately noticed something was off. He was pale, with white hair, and he kept his eyes closed. He radiated with magic, but something was off about it, something that Naruko couldn't quite place.

"I did not come here to fight you, my princess. I came to ask you to put aside such aggression. You don't have to worry, your son is perfectly safe. Come, join me, and I will take you to him." The man offered to Hinata, holding out his hand to her as he did.

Hinata hesitated for a moment, her stance wavering. For half a moment she considered her options, but any choice she could have made was stripped from her when Naruko shot forward.

The man began to backpedal as the two engaged in a quick taijutsu bout.

A few combos were unleashed, before the man jumped back. While he was in the air, Naruko charged a Rasengan in her hand, and held out the other, catching him with Banshō Ten'in, she pulled him back towards her, and slammed the spiraling sphere right into his chest, sending him careening across the cave.

His body slammed hard into the cave wall, causing the wall to crack.

Naruko held her fighting stance as she watched his body crumble to the floor, and she saw the magic in his body quickly begin to flee. It took her a moment to realize that this was just another puppet.

"Damn!" Naruko snapped as she glared down at the broken faux corpse.

"We should hurry after the others, we've no time to waste." Hinata said to her, after a moment of quiet.

Naruko nodded, and took Hinata's hand as they stepped into the pool and swam down into it.

They found themselves traveling through a strange tunnel, and for a moment, both felt a genjutsu begin to fall over them. Naruko flared her magic, and Hinata did the same, allowing the two to avoid whatever that trap was meant for. They kept an eye out for the others as they passed through the portal and emerged from the other side. As they came out of the portal, they found themselves standing in another cavern.

-The Moon-

When they arrived, they found the rest of their team surrounding the body of some sort of massive crab, creature. The being was wrapped up in tree branches and covered in black flames.

It appeared to be dead.

"What the hell is that?" Naruko asked.

"A guardian of some sort. What took you so long?" Sasuke inquired, glancing over at them.

"Our mysterious kidnapper paid us a visit, using a puppet." Naruko replied.

"He wanted me to go with him, asked me to follow him." Hinata added.

"That confirms that he wants Hinata to be here, she isn't just any old target. He wants her specifically." Shikamaru noted.

"Well… we've made it. Now we should see what's waiting for us." Hashirama declared, gathering up his subordinates and guiding them out of the cavern.

On the outside, they were greeted to an incredible sight. Above and around them, they could see the world expanding in all directions.

They stood in the interior of the moon, proving that it was indeed hollow.

All around them, the world was curved upward. The area around them was massive, though smaller than one would expect. They could make out the distant locations that were no doubt hundreds of miles away, with just a glance.

The entire area was illuminated by some sort of artificial sun at the center of the empty space in the core of the moon.

"Wow… now that is a sight." Hashirama noted.

"It's incredible. I never could have imagined anything like this." Hinata murmured.

"Truly a marvelous creation." Shino agreed.

"Where in the world are we even going to start looking for Hanabi and Boruto?" Ino questioned.

"And where are all the enemy reinforcements? We made it past the guardian of the portal, where's the backup? Where's the troop stationed nearby to warn of intruders?" Shikamaru wondered, aloud, taking note of the eerie silence that permeated the landscape.

Despite the interior of the moon being covered in green forests, and blue lakes, there was little in the way of sound. Aside from general noise of insects, there were no others sounds to signify sentient life nearby.

Hashirama glanced around, at Shikamaru's question. He then brought his hands together, and began gathering nature energy.

The troop watched as Hashirama activated his Sage Mode, and began to extend his senses outward in search of life.

"What do you sense, Lord Hashirama?" Shikamaru inquired.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. I sense no higher lifeforms, anywhere." Hashirama answered.

"Are you certain?" Hinata inquired, worry beginning to set in.

"I'm certain. There are no unique chakra signatures anywhere within my sensory range, and I can feel across the entire interior of this landscape." Hashirama responded.

"So then where are they? Where are all the Ōtsutsuki? Where's Boruto and Hanabi?" Sasuke questioned.

"I have no clue. The largest chakra source I sense is coming from that star in the sky. Beyond that, I sense no other dense chakra sources." Hashirama replied, concern filling his voice.

The group was silent for a few moments before Kaguya finally spoke.

"We should head to the nearest town, and try to figure out what happened here. I can see villages dotting the landscape in the distance, so let's start our search there." She suggested, Hashirama quickly agreeing.

"Any luck on your end Shino?" Shikamaru inquired, as they began to move towards the nearest village.

"My insects are all turned around here. The change in gravity and shift in magnetic fields is throwing them off. They need some time to acclimate." Shino responded, earning a nod from Shikamaru as they raced off.

With Hinata using her Byakugan, they were quickly able to locate and enter the nearest town. It was completely abandoned, old stone structures and decrepit wood furniture was all that remained.

After a quick search through the town they went to the next, and then the next. After the fourth town they investigated, the group decided to make camp and rest. The sun had begun to dim, changing into something akin to a moon. Or at least it appeared like a moon, bathing the world in a dim white light, almost akin to what one would experience on the night of a full moon.

Hinata and Naruko chose to step away from the group, and take a moment to themselves. They were standing over by a small lake, taking in the moon light.

After a few moments, Naruko made an attempt to reassure Hinata, knowing full well that she was beginning to lose some of her composure.

"Hey, everything is going to be alright, we'll find them." Naruko offered to her, hopefully.

Hinata offered a nod, and a small smile, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"I know we will… it's just… Boruto… he's just a baby. He has no idea what's going on, no idea that he's in danger. Every moment he's out there alone, something bad could happen to him. And I just…" Hinata responded, showing more and more of her worry as she spoke.

"He's going to be fine, Hinata. I promised to find him, and you know I never break my promises. We'll get him back. Him and Hanabi." Naruko tried to reassure her, trying not to let any of her own worry slip through. She had to be strong now, focused. Hinata was fighting with every inch of her sanity to not panic over the loss of her son, and Naruko was doing the same.

"Thank you, Naruko. I… don't know where I'd be without you. Thank you…" Hinata offered with a gentle smile, this one truly genuine.

Naruko pulled her into a hug, taking the moment to steady herself, and regain her focus.

Suddenly, the two felt a presence.

Their eyes shot over to the lake, finding the man who had tried to kidnap Hinata, standing there, upon some sort of floating boat.

Unlike before, his eyes were now open, and reflected a pale glow. Incredible power, churned within his eyes, indicated some sort of Dojutsu, yet the markings of the Tenseigan had yet to appear, signifying that he wasn't yet using the Dojutsu.

"Hello, princess. I've come to retrieve you. You wish to see your son, do you not? Come with me, and I'll take you to him." The man offered, extending a hand to her.

"You! Who are you?! What the hell do you want with Hinata!? Why the hell did you kidnap Boruto and Hanabi?!" Naruko roared at him.

"My name is Toneri Ōtsutsuki. What I want from Hinata is her hand in marriage, and I have brought her son and sister here, because they had an important role to play in ensuring princess Hinata's survival and the fulfillment of my mandate. Come with me, Hinata, agree to be my wife, and I will take you to your son, and sister." The now revealed Toneri answered.

"You… what…?" Naruko was left dumbfounded for a moment, while Hinata's eyes went wide.

"Why you son of a…" Naruko began, but she was cut off by a voice in her mind.

"Naruko… please. Trust me. I need to go find Boruto and Hanabi. I need to make sure they're safe. Come find me, Shino placed one of his insects on me, in case I was kidnapped again, use it to find me. Please trust me." Hinata sent through the Gravemind link. Hinata and Naruko were both tied into it, Naruko having linked with it during the Fourth Great Ninja War, and Hinata afterwards, once she had officially joined the Legion.

Naruko held for a second, frozen in place. Hinata whispered an apology to her and began to pull away.

"Please… be safe. Keep him safe. I'll find you soon… I promise." Naruko sent back, as Hinata finally pulled away and accepted Toneri's hand.

"Come my princess. Let us go your new home." Toneri replied with a warm smile.

The small craft he was on began to lift into the air and drift up into the sky. After several moments of standing dumbfounded, Naruko decided to act. She couldn't just let him leave, even if that was now part of the plan. She needed to try and go after him, otherwise he may suspect something, and that could lead to Hinata getting hurt.

"You bastard! Give Hinata back!" Naruko roared as she shot after him, jumping up atop a tree and leaping high into the sky. She began to speed through handsigns.

"Wind Style: Rushing Air Bullet!" Naruko cried out, taking in a deep breath, before firing out several condensed blasts of wind.

Toneri turned and glared back at her, waving his arm and stopping the attack from hitting them with some sort of magical barrier.

He was about to charge an attack to fire at Naruko when he was forced on the defensive when a purple arrow of chakra shot out of the forest. Toneri once again blocked the strike, as Sasuke jumped out of tree line behind Naruko, Susano'o already partially wrapped around him, as he did.

He quickly caught up behind Naruko, her falling into Susano'o and being carried along with Sasuke as they jumped higher after Toneri's craft that seemed to be heading up to the moon.

Naruko was about to convey the plan to Sasuke when Toneri charged up an attack.

His hand began to glow a bright bluish green and incredible energy gathered there.

He then released that energy in the form of a small ball of light.

It shot towards them, Sasuke using Susano'o's body and a sword of black flames to block the incoming shot.

The ball of light, struck the black flames, swallowing them and crashing into the constructs chest, right in front of Naruko and Sasuke. Naruko saw the attack begin to press through the construct, and she began charging a Rasengan to counter it.

A second later, Susano'o's chest collapsed and the sphere of light, struck Naruko's Rasengan.

Sasuke placed his hand beside hers, and channeled his lightning element through her activating Chidori causing the two techniques to mix.

The rotating sphere of lightning held off against Toneri's attack for several long seconds before the greenish light suddenly wrapped around their combination attack. As it consumed their attack, both felt the urge to move, to retreat from what was coming next, but found themselves unable to move, as if held in place by an unseen force. Toneri's attack then split passing into each of their hands, and into their bodies. Both felt their magic get swallowed up by the light, and then pull out of them.

From a distance, Hashirama watched the green light shoot into Naruko's and Sasuke's bodies, and then leap out of them, taking with it a massive amount of their magic. The two halves of the light then fused back together and experienced a sudden cataclysmic destabilization.

The greenish light turned white and then exploded, creating a massive blast of energy.

The blast consumed the entire area, and Hinata couldn't help but cry out for Naruko, watching as her and Sasuke both vanished in the explosion.

Her captor paid her little mind, and she could begin to feel the heaviness of slumber begin to overtake her. He was using some form of magic to put her to sleep. She fought it for a moment, just long enough to try and see what had happened to Naruko and Sasuke.

For a few moments, she feared the worse. The explosion tore through the interior of the moon, blasting a mile wide hole, straight through to the exterior.

After a few moments, Hinata's spirits were lifted as she spotted Naruko and Sasuke, both still intact, but falling towards the hole that had just been made.

Before they could fall much further she saw a Wood Dragon shoot out of the forest, catching the two, and taking them back to Hashirama.

She let out a silent sigh of relief.

And let out a silent prayer that the two would recover quickly. For now, she had to feign being a prisoner, and try to locate Boruto. Her son was her top priority, Naruko and Hanabi, a very close second.

Naruko was tough, she'd survive. She had too. She had made a promise, and Naruko never broke her promises. So with those thoughts in mind, Hinata allowed herself to fall into slumber.

"Jeez… what the hell happened to them?" Shikamaru asked as both Naruko and Sasuke were laid out before Hashirama, who was currently in the midst of trying to stabilize them.

"Almost all of their magic has been ripped out. That's what the explosion was. Almost all of their combined power. Thankfully because of their nature as best friends, and it being their own magic, it didn't do as much damage to them. The explosion didn't hurt them as much as it normally would, but it still did considerable damage to their bodies. That coupled with having so much of their magic ripped out, has left the two in critical condition. I'm going to stabilize them, and then we need to head somewhere safe so I can focus on healing them." Hashirama responded.

"What about Hinata, that guy took her?" Ino questioned.

"I have one of my beetles on her. It'll help me to track her. Plus she's tied to the Gravemind. If the enemy if unaware of that link, she can feed information back to us." Shino responded calmly, earning a nod from Ino.

"Hinata, please be careful. Naruko and Sasuke are in a bad way, but I'll do everything in my power to help them. Send us whatever information you can, and stall the enemy for as long as possible. We'll find our way to you." Hashirama sent to Hinata, though he earned no response from her.

Silently cursing, Hashirama focused on Naruko and Sasuke.

Despite what he'd said, the two were actually in a much worse way than he was letting on. Despite very few physical injuries, they had almost all of their magic ripped out of them, leaving them completely drained. That coupled with their injuries might just leave the two out of the fight for days, possibly even a few weeks if he didn't think of something.

With so little magic in their bodies, the two were about as close to death as they'd ever been.

While Naruko and Sasuke lay motionless, deep within the realm of their subconscious, something strange was occurring.

Both found themselves in some sort of mindscape, though it was not their own. And sitting before them, was a strange being. A man in white robes, a man with horns, who's eyes shined with the mighty Rinnegan.

"Hello… it is time I spoke with the two of you. I am Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki." The man began, earning shock and surprise from the two.

From there a discussion began, one of incredible importance. Yet despite the magnitude of the discussion taking place, those on the outside were completely unaware, and would continue to be so, until the two woke up.

-Kamui-

Each day bled into the next with near unending training. Riley's earlier words to Fleur had been spot on in regards to how fast time would fly by.

With each passing day, Riley's mates grew in power. After learning to control Riley's magic, and learning how to use their newfound powers, the ladies began learning how to use the Rinnegan. One thing they quickly learned was that they could only use Riley's magic to activate their ocular abilities.

In that area, the eight of them were coming along nicely. No one seemed to have a harder time learning the abilities than anyone else. The difficulty for each path seemed to be consistent for them. Learning to use the powers was moderately difficult. Learning to coordinate and fight together while sharing a field of view was much more taxing, and mentally exhausting.

While they didn't tire as easily, Riley still allowed them a few hours of sleep every night, and during that time, she'd focus on training with the Sage. Taking in his many lessons. Once they'd moved past the concepts and principals of magic, he began to teach her in unique abilities possessed by those with the Six Paths Powers. She learned how to control the ebb and flow of energy in unique fashions and how to harness the strength of Six Paths Senjutsu. Her understanding of Soul Magic was increased as the Sage taught her how to use her spirit to communicate with others, and reach out to the physical world in unique ways.

Riley took to her lessons, as she did so often whenever presented with the opportunity to expand her understanding of magic. While she and the Sage were of two different minds, when it came to magic, and how it should be used, she still respected the man, not only for his accomplishments and power, but for his strength of will, and mastery over magic.

The two debated on occasion, though Riley never allowed their difference of opinions to get in the way of the opportunity she had to learn from one of the founders of magic.

So as each day went by, more lessons were learned, and a further understanding of these new powers was gained.

-Europe, September 6th 2000-

Nearly two full days had passed since Riley's departure.

The Legion currently had forces deployed in eastern Europe and they were doing what they could to destroy the incoming meteors.

What was first thought to be an impossible task, was made much easier by the arrival of some unexpected allies.

Madara was fully encased in his Perfect Susano'o and he flew high in the sky, destroying the largest of meteors with his swords and attacking the smaller ones with Yasaka Magatama, an action mimicked by Itachi elsewhere on the continent, from the ground.

Madara was about the hammed another large comet when a red and blue blur passed before his gaze and slammed into the rock, stopping it in it's tracks and pushing it back up into the heavens.

The blur than lowered back down, floating towards Madara.

"So you finally caught up." Madara hummed with amusement.

"Sorry, got a little caught up down south. How are things up here?" Superman asked.

"Lighter than expected, but I'm seeing larger rocks falling. It's easier to intercept them, but if we miss any, the damage will be far more catastrophic." Madara responded as he gazed up at the darkened sky. His eyes finding the moon, which was now much closer than it was before, nearly half as close to the Earth as it should be.

"I know what you mean. Any ideas on what we're going to do about that?" Superman inquired, his gaze also rising to the moon.

"The Legion is working on it. Though if our first plan fails, we'll have to destroy it." Madara answered.

"Not looking forward to that." Superman said to himself before his eyes caught another incoming meteor and he rocketed off after it.

Madara glanced after the strange man, but said nothing. The arrival of Superman, as well as the Green Lantern, Riley had encountered several times, had been incredible boons to their defensive measures.

The two had joined up with them when the meteor barrage made it's second pass over Europe. And with their help, along with several other strange beings with powers of their own. They were actually putting up a good defense. The problem was the area. The area of affect for the bombardment was nearly two thousand miles wide. So the meteors could land anywhere in that stretch and they hadn't stopped coming.

They seemed to also be specifically targeting cities and towns, which hadn't gone unnoticed. Madara did not envy Lucius who was probably getting about ten thousand requests for information, ever single minute from the various governments and news organization that he quickly taken note of the Albion team playing zone defense.

Despite the aid of Superman, and the Green Lantern, the planet was still taking a brutal pounding. Meteors that were destroyed often broke into tiny fragments that reigned down all over the countryside. This caused significant damage, basically acting like flaming hail, if that hail was shot at you out of a rifle.

Massive swaths of territory were on fire, whole fields and forests, cities and towns were set ablaze, even if they were spared from the direct impact.

Superman had the best answer to this problem, by simple catching the meteors and shoving them back out into space. But that was much slower than just destroying them, and because of how thin they were spread, anything that slowed them down, allowed more meteors to hit the ground.

Elsewhere to the south, Itachi destroyed another incoming meteor, blasting it apart from long range with the Yasaka Magatama. His eyes were beginning to bleed, due to heavy use of his Mangekyou Sharingan, but thankfully, having traded eyes with Sasuke, he had no fear of going blind. Even still, he was growing tired.

Another comet came barreling into the atmosphere, this one caught by an aura of green energy that shot out from the ring of the Green Lantern John Stewart.

He sent the rock hurtling back up into the sky before lowering down to near where Itachi stood.

"You doing alright?" John asked, noticing Itachi's bleeding eyes.

"I'll live. It's just a side effect." Itachi responded passively.

Another meteor came bombing into sight, this one far larger than most others.

"Damn." John muttered as he rose back into the sky and headed towards the massive flaming stone.

Before he could reach it though, something strange occurred.

In a blinking, yellowish flash. The meteor vanished.

"What the hell…?" John wondered aloud. Blinking several times in confusion.

"That was…" Itachi began, his eyes wide in disbelief. He glanced around, and his eyes eventually fell onto a figure in the distance, standing upon a far off cliff.

He could just barely make out this figure, who wore a long dark hooded coat.

"Minato Namikaze… is that you?" Itachi wondered to himself as he watched the figure vanish in a yellow flash.

For a few moments, Itachi stood tense before finally letting out a sigh and shaking his head.

"A threat to the entire world, you can't just sit back and watch. Well, whatever your reasons Lord Fourth, know that I appreciate the help. We can go back to being enemies once this maelstrom has passed, and the entire world is no longer hanging in the balance." Itachi concluded to himself. If that truly was Minato, than now was not the time to pursue him. He'd tell Riley about this when she returned, but for now, best to just accept the help, and carry on.

-Kamui-

The dimension shook as powerful shock waves ripped through it.

Riley stood observing the devastation as Yugito let out a huff and rolled her shoulders. Having just unleashed the fire based powers of the Dhyana Path, Yugito was left drained by the sheer power of the cataclysmic abilities.

She glanced back at Riley who was observing with a keen eye. Riley offered a small nod and smile, to show that Yugito had deployed the power correctly, and successfully, which earned a content sigh from Yugito as she sat on the ground.

Riley smirked at her mate before taking in the sights of her other lovers.

Luna and Fleur were both meditating. Katie and Artoria were dueling with swords, Gaia was practicing the use of cursed seals with Shukaku, while Daphne and Kaede were working on training with Daphne's elemental powers, by having Kaede throw multiple heavy objects at Daphne who then had to take the hit from them by actively using her powers, which she'd managed to gain more control over these last few months.

Nowadays, Daphne could use her bloodline selectively, only activating parts of the energy absorption, allowing her to see and hear things when it was in an active state.

Much of their time had already been spent, and Riley knew the day was coming soon when it would be over. Hagoromo expressed that his power was starting to wane, meaning time was almost up.

Riley dedicated as often as she could to his teachings, but each day she completed a new lesson, and each day he had another. When not in conversations with Riley, the sage would spend his time communicating with the Tailed Beasts.

Riley knew that all three were extremely grateful for the opportunity to spend so much time with their father, and so Riley and the other rarely chose to interrupt their conversations.

The days had bled together, and soon their time here would come to an end. Riley was very proud of how far her mates had come. They were all as strong as Jonin now, with some, like Artoria, Gaia, and Yugito going upward and even beyond Kage level.

Many of her mates were S-Ranked in terms of their powers. They'd just need experience and skill, to make it so. After so many months working with them, Riley was confidant that she knew what they all were. Gaia and Yugito were Tailed Beasts. Kaede was a full devil. Daphne was an Energy Elemental. Katie was some sort of Demi-human, something similar to beings like Hercules, or Achilles. Fleur had become what the ancestor of Veela was, something with divinity, and incredibly dark powers. Artoria had become a High dragon, or a Red High Dragon. And Luna, well after months of study, Riley was confidant that Luna wasn't human. She looked human, felt human, but Riley knew that something more was going on. Luna didn't know what she was, she claimed to feel the same, and while Riley believed her, she knew that something about Luna had fundamentally changed.

She couldn't yet figure out what it was, though weird things had begun happening around Luna, or more specifically, her magic. Due to it constantly changing, it's affect on the world around it was also changing. If Luna was actively releasing magic from her body, than any number of things could happen depending on the magic that was drifting out of her at the time.

Dark magics that made the others uneasy, light magics that were comforting, nature magics that almost made Luna feel like she was a sage, and the there was all the other alien magics that were simply foreign to Riley. So aside from Luna, Riley had a decent grasp on what her mates had become.

She'd learn more, as time went on. Each day brought new revelations, so with that in mind, Riley ordered Yugito to prepare again. The training wouldn't be over until they were forced to leave. So for now, best to use every moment available.

-The Moon, September 7th 2000-

Hashirama sat beside Naruko and Sasuke. Both were recovering quickly and he expected them to wake up soon. Despite his original fears, the two hadn't been left with magical exhaustion. Instead they recovered incredibly quickly, at least as far as exhaustion goes.

Usually when a person is reduced to such low magical levels, they're left bed ridden for days, and it could take as much as two weeks to fully recover. The two were already fully recharged after just over a day.

Something strange had occurred with the two, something Hashirama couldn't quite place. He sensed foreign power within them, but it was a strange kind of foreign. It didn't match their power, and yet, at the same time, it felt like they did.

He couldn't place it, but he knew it was familiar.

Kaguya had stayed close by the entire time, and had listened when he'd told about this strange occurrence. She didn't know what to make of it either.

It was just as familiar to her, as it was to Hashirama, and yet, she couldn't quite place this strange power that was healing the two and aiding them in recuperating.

It wasn't long before the two started to stir, and slowly, there eyes opened.

"Naruko, Sasuke." Hashirama said to them, as the two slowly sat up, both groaning in discomfort.

"Lord Hashirama, grandmother?" Naruko noted, glancing at the two.

"You're finally awake." Hashirama returned with a smile.

"How long were we out?" Sasuke inquired, as he held his head in his hand, obscuring part of his face, as he took in several breaths.

"A little over a day. We've located where the enemy base is, and Hinata has been feeding us information from her location." Hashirama answered.

"Hinata? Is she alright, did she find Boruto and Hanabi?" Naruko asked.

"Yes. She found them both. Our enemy is a man named Toneri. He's a descendant of Hamura Ōtsutsuki. He's the only remaining Ōtsutsuki left. All the others seem to have perished due to infighting. He stole Hanabi's eyes, used her Byakugan as a medium to awaken the Tenseigan. He doesn't seem to have full control over it yet, and he's experiencing heavy migraines, but it appears he's adapting to the power, and will soon be in control over it. He plans on marrying Hinata, as she's another of Hamura's descendants, he seems to be slightly crazed. He's told Hinata something about a mandate left by Hamura to watch over the earth, and if people began using chakra for war, if they despoiled Hagoromo's gift to them, than they were to be destroyed. At least, that's what Toneri believes the mandate was. He claims to have the gift of prophecy, and he's seen the earth being destroyed, he's seen a great flood wash over it, and consume all life. He believes it's his destiny, his purpose to fulfill Hamura's mandate, and destroy the world." Hashirama explained to the two, all of the information that Hinata had fed to them during her time in captivity.

"Alright, than we need to begin planning how to stop him." Naruko said.

"Already handled. As I said, we've located the enemy base, it's hidden within a barrier in the sky. Within the sun/moon. The construct that provides light and warmth to this place. There's some sort of energy vessel hidden deep within, something that Hinata claims is very important, it controls the moon, allows it to be manipulated. She seems adamant that it must be destroyed. The last message she sent to us was over two hours ago, and she hasn't been responding since then, so I believe it's prudent that we begin moving." Hashirama informed the two of them.

"We'll need to be cautious, he has access to the Tenseigan and it's powers. He was able to easily best the two of you, despite you training, due to the powers of those eyes, powers not even Riley has mastered. We must be very cautious about how we approach him." Kaguya added.

"Him beating us, wasn't just his skill, or power. We were held in place, we were supposed to take that hit." Sasuke responded, as he removed his hand from his face and raised his gaze to Hashirama and Kaguya. Both of whom let out gasps as they saw his left eye.

In his eye was the ripple pattern of the Rinnegan, though it carried with it, two sets of concentric tomoe. Equaling six in total. A Rinne-Sharingan, of his very own. He only had it in one eye though, as the other remained normal.

"That's the… the Rinne Sharingan! How did you get it?" Hashirama asked, in bewilderment.

"The Sage." Naruko replied as she glanced down at her right hand, where a mark had appeared, that seemed to be a sun. Sasuke also sported a mark on his left hand, that appeared to be a crescent moon.

"Hagoromo? How? How is that…" Kaguya began as she suddenly realized why the power felt so familiar to her. As did Hashirama, who now realized that he recognized it from when Riley had absorbed part of the Sage's power from one of his ancient tools.

"The Sage reached out to us, while we were unconscious and he claimed to have been the reason we were hit by Toneri's attack. Only when we were close to death, could we hope to communicate with him. He said he'd been waiting for us, for a long time." Sasuke answered.

"Why?" Hashirama asked.

"We're the descendants of his two sons." Naruko responded.

"And their reincarnations, apparently. Their souls lie within us." Sasuke added.

"Yeah, the Sage told us that he'd been waiting for a time when his sons were reunited and could be a family again. He'd been tempted to come and speak with you and grandfather Madara, in the past lord First, but decided against it, as you two were destined to separate, which you ended up doing. It was only because of Riley that you came back together, but by that point in time, The Sage's sons, Asura and Indra, had moved on, passing down to me and Sasuke. The Sage said that our friendship, our rivalry, our bond, almost like that of siblings, was just like his sons. He claimed that he'd seen a vision of the future long ago, he saw his sons reunited, standing together to face an unspeakable threat, one that he knew they'd need help in facing. So before his death he used him powers to look into the future and see all of his descendants. He then waited until he found the ones he'd seen in his vision, and it turns out it was me and Sasuke." Naruko continued on.

"The Sage used his powers to preserve three pieces of his soul, one was meant for Lady Riley, his mother's heir, and the other two were meant for us, the reincarnations of his sons. He told us that a great threat was coming, and that we'd need to awaken our true power in order to face it. So he gave us access to the powers he'd bestowed onto his sons so long ago. The Six Paths Yin and Yang Power. Naruko received the Yang half from Asura, and I got the Yin half from Indra. Or in another way, she got the powers of the Sage's body, I got the power of the Sage's eyes." Sasuke added onto her explanation.

"I see. Just like Indra and Asura. So he awakened the power of his sons' spirits within you. Granting you both the Six Paths Power. That caused Sasuke to awaken the Rinnegan and gain an incomplete Rinne-Sharingan. While it doesn't appear to have altered you any Naruko. Your eyes remain the same, and I don't see any other changes." Hashirama stated.

"Well, the powers I gained were more focused around Senjutsu. The Six Paths Senjutsu to be specific. That coupled with the sensory powers of my own Rinnegan, and it's almost like I can feel everything around me. It's so weird." Naruko informed him.

"So Hagoromo granted you these powers to defeat Toneri?" Kaguya asked.

"No. Not Toneri, though he thought that it would help. He granted us these powers to keep the earth safe. He said that one day, more Ōtsutsuki would come, ones that were far stronger than even you, lady Kaguya. He warned us that we'd need this power, just in case, and that he knew it would be the two of us that would help protect the world, just like he saw in his vision. He granted us each these powers, as well as access to half of his Six Paths: Chibaku Tensei." Sasuke replied, glancing down at the seal on his palm.

Naruko did the same, both remembering the Sage's words to them.

Kaguya stared at the marking on either of their hands, remembering those markings clearly. The technique they spoke of, was the one that had been used to seal away her powers so very long ago. It wasn't just a regular Chibaku Tensei, which was more like a powerful physical attack, than a seal, though it could create a purely physical seal in the form of a large satellite, but it was still just earthen stone at the end of the day. The Six Paths variant of the technique was far more powerful, and it ripped out the targets magic. So not only did it encase one in a massive earthen sphere, that most likely would crush them, but it was also an incredibly powerful sealing technique that could seal away a target as powerful as the Ten-Tails.

"It's one time use only. So we have to use it wisely." Naruko hummed, as she too stared at the marking on her palm.

"Toneri is just a nuisance that gave the Sage the opening he needed to talk to us. We probably could have taken him, had the Sage not held us in place to take the brunt of that attack. This power is meant to save the world, when the time is right. Or at least, give us a chance. This guy is just some pissed off nobody, we'll deal with him, and move on to far greater foes." Sasuke declared after a moment of thought.

"Well, this is certainly an interesting boon. We can't dwell on it now though. We have just over twenty-four hours until the moon strikes the earth, if it's current speed is any indication. Shino has found a way in, and knows of the opposition we face." Hashirama stated as he rose to his feet, the other following with him.

"An army of puppets, and several floating islands, around a primary castle." Kaguya informed the two of them.

"Alright then, let's hear the plan, and get to work. I'm done having this guy torment my family." Naruko declared with a fire in her eyes.

-Later-

The attack began in earnest.

Sasuke used his Susano'o to carry their team up into the faux moon/sun. The entrance was hidden under illusion, but Sasuke and Naruko could both see through it, and Naruko's newfound extrasensory perception allowed her to easily sense out everything around her.

The puppets tried to halt their advance, launching condensed balls of magic at them, but they just splashed harmlessly against Susano'o as it flew through the air, carrying the team with it.

They passed into the barrier, finding themselves in some wide open pocket dimension. A world filled with dark clouds, and several floating islands. Many of these islands had structures upon them, with the largest having a towering, ancient castle, encompassing most of it's area.

"I sense Boruto and Hanabi there." Naruko informed her team.

Sasuke carried them over to the castle where the group raced inside, fighting through hordes of puppets that tried to stop them.

It was clear as day to the rest of the group, that Naruko and Sasuke hadn't just gotten a power boost. There strength was on another tier from before. And that said a lot, because both of them were some of the strongest in the Legion. Naruko led them through the castle, using her sensory abilities to lead them right to Hanabi and Boruto.

They burst into a bedroom, to find Hanabi unconscious, laying in a large beds. She had bandages wrapped around her eyes. Boruto, meanwhile, was also unconscious in a smaller bed nearby.

While Hashirama and Ino raced over to Hanabi, Naruko ran over to Boruto.

She stopped over her son, and gave the boy a once over to make sure he was safe and unharmed.

He didn't have any injuries but he seemed to have been put to sleep with some sort of spell, or jutsu.

Deciding it was best not to wake him, she scooped the boy into her arms and carried him over to where Hashirama and Ino were finishing checking up on Hanabi. The girl's eyes had been removed, but beyond that, she was unharmed, and simply kept unconscious by the same power that Boruto was affected by.

"They both appear to be alright." Kaguya noted.

"Yeah. We need deal with Toneri quickly. Find a place to hide or hunker down." Sasuke stated.

Naruko nodded in agreement to that, and passed Boruto over to Kaguya.

"Keep an eye on him, grandmother." Naruko asked.

"I will. Don't worry." Kaguya replied kindly, holding her great-grandchild to her.

"I'll keep some clones with you guys, to help deal with the puppets. Hold your ground while we deal with this bastard." Naruko said to Ino and Shino, earning nods from both.

"We'll be fine. You three go stop this guy, and get Hinata back." Ino assured them.

"Good luck." Shino offered.

"Thanks. Best not to dally, let's go." Hashirama instructed, earning nods from Naruko and Sasuke as they all headed for the door.

Just as they passed outside, Hashirama closed the door, and used his wood style chakra to reinforce it, so that the puppets were less likely to break through.

The three then headed out of the castle, cutting through whatever resistance got in their way.

Once on the exterior of the castle, Naruko pointed out one of the islands floating nearby where she could feel Hinata's presence.

They fought through more puppets, that tried to halt their advance but they provided little in the way of resistance. The three quickly made it to the island and rushed inside, finding it to be some sort of temple.

All three of them could feel a monstrous power coming from within, meaning it was no doubt the energy vessel Hinata had warned them about.

They raced inside, finding it to be some sort of temple.

Within they were forced to fight through a small army of puppets, before arriving at a room where an apparent marriage ceremony was occurring.

Toneri had Hinata with him, and quickly ordered the puppets in the room to attack.

Sasuke and Hashirama fought off the puppets while Naruko shot past them, intent on rescuing her fiance.

"You're an annoying one." Toneri noted with distaste.

"And you're just a coward, who's too much of a loser to ever actually pursue a woman. All you know how to do is watch and obsess. You don't know Hinata, you don't understand her. Even now, you have to mind control her, in order get her to do what you want." Naruko responded, glaring at him.

Toneri returned her glare for a moment before smiling.

"You want her back so badly, why don't we see what she thinks about that." Toneri responded, releasing Hinata, who came charging at Naruko, intent on attacking her.

Naruko backpedaled and danced around Hinata's strikes. She could clearly tell that Hinata was under some sort of mind control. Focusing the powers of her Rinnegan, she located the foreign chakra within Hinata's body, and after avoiding another strike, she grabbed Hinata, and used her ocular powers to draw out the foreign magic, releasing Hinata from Toneri's control.

The effect was near immediate. Hinata let out a gasp, and began breathing heavily. She then wrapped her arms around Naruko, hugging her.

"I knew you'd come." Hinata whispered to her.

"Of course. I promised you didn't I." Naruko responded with a smile.

"Annoying." Toneri growled as he held out his hand, using his control over gravity to pull Hinata back towards him, while also pushing Naruko away, separating the two.

Naruko flew into a wall, while Hinata flew back into Toneri's arms.

"This time, you wont be breaking free." Toneri declared as he prepared to place Hinata under his control again.

Before he could complete the spell though, a spearing pain passed through his head, and he let out a scream and clutched his head.

Hinata took the opportunity to break free and rush over to Naruko, who was pulling herself out of the hole she'd made in the wall.

"Come on, we have to go quickly! The Tenseigan is nearby!" Hinata grabbed Naruko's hand and started pulling her along.

Just as she did, Hashirama and Sasuke cam running in, and quickly followed the two.

"The Tenseigan? What do you mean by that?" Naruko asked as they ran.

"The energy vessel I warned lord Hashirama about. It here, in this temple, just up ahead. It's powered by the eyes of all of the Ōtsutsuki who lived here, including Hamura. I had a vision, Hamura spoke to me, asked me to destroy the energy vessel so that it couldn't be used for evil. Toneri misunderstood Hamura's decree. He thinks Hamura wanted to destroy the world if it failed, but Hamura wanted to help them, to correct them if they lost their way. I know it sounds crazy, but I promise it's the truth." Hinata explained as they ran into the chamber that housed the massive energy vessel.

"Not as crazy as you might think." Naruko noted as she laid eyes on the construct that radiated unspeakable power.

It took the form of a massive pale globe filled with golden yellow light. Within the light, blazed the pattern of the Tenseigan, in white light. A floral like pattern that seemed to be focused on them directly.

"That's what we need to destroy right?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes." Hinata replied.

Nodding, Sasuke activated his Eternal Mangekyou and unleashed a blast of Amaterasu, on the large orb.

For a half-moment the fire surrounded the orb, only to quickly be absorbed by it.

"Damn…" Sasuke growled.

"Only a descendant of Hamura can interact with the orb, any other form of magic will just be absorbed. I'm the only person here who can attack it, but I'm not powerful enough on my own to destroy it." Hinata told them.

"Well, what if you had some help?" Naruko asked with a grin, holding out her hand.

Hinata offered her a smile, and placed her hand on Naruko's.

The two then channeled their power together, Naruko using her strength to empower Hinata's.

Much to Naruko's surprise, Hinata drew upon a greater reserve of power than Naruko would have thought possible. Her chakra turned a deep purple as she called upon a well of power that didn't entirely seem her own.

Choosing to hold off until later to ask her about it, Naruko channeled her own strength into Hinata's attack as she formed her Twin Lion Fists.

The two then leaped into the air and slammed the attack into the energy vessel. After a moment of resistance, it shattered, like a giant glass orb.

Power exploded out, and along with it, hundreds and hundreds of Byakugan eyes.

They drifted outward, as if unaffected by gravity. Each eye seemed to radiate with a whitish glow, and they hung in the air.

The room quickly darkened as the light of the vessel faded.

"Good job. It's time for us to go." Hashirama said to them.

The two nodded, and joined Sasuke and Hashirama as they fled out of the building.

Along the way they told Hinata about Boruto and Hanabi, assuring her that the two were safe.

As they made their exit, the building began to shift and shake. No more puppets moved to engage them, all of them seemingly deactivating, having been powered by the loss of the energy vessel.

"Something's wrong." Naruko noted as they ran outside, parts of the temple collapsing around them.

"Could it be that?" Sasuke responded, glancing over his shoulder as they ran.

The other three turned and saw what he did. Climbing out of the top of the temple was some sort of massive stone golem. It looked like the upper torso of a person, but with elongated arms, and it was absolutely titanic in size.

The golem turned it's gaze down to them and raised an arm. The four quickly jumped away as the golem brought down it's hand on where they'd just been standing.

The giant turned to them and leaped into the air, intent on crushing the four of them.

Hashirama brought his hands together, and out of the ground beneath them, a massive wooden construct rose up.

"Wood Style, Wood Golem Jutsu!" Hashirama intoned, causing a large wooden golem to rise up and catch the stone golem falling towards them.

With a shout, Hashirama sent the stone golem flying, tossed away from them with great force.

"Where the hell did that thing come from?" Sasuke questioned.

"Toneri. He's still here. Wait… shit! Below!" Naruko shouted, glancing down as the ground beneath their feet began to rip apart.

Wind shout out and the four were lifted into the air. Hashirama's Wood Golem caught them, cradling them to it's chest as it too was lifted into the air.

The blast of raw power, appeared almost like a tornado, rising and twisting up around them, pushing them through the air.

They shot away from the temple, straight through the edges of the fake moon/sun, and then slammed into the interior of the moon. The force of the attack kept pushing shoving them through the moons surface and out of the hollow planet.

For a half moment, they started drifting into the sky.

To stop their ascent, Hashirama created a wood dragon, from the stomach of the golem that shot out and grabbed at the moon's surface, digging in and catching them, pulled them back down.

The four were placed onto the ground by the Wood Golem, and glanced around at the surface of the moon.

"Why am I able to breath right now?" Naruko asked, glancing at Hashirama and Sasuke.

"Because there's air." Sasuke answered.

"How?" Naruko asked again.

"It feels like the air here is very thin, like being atop a tall mountain. We can breathe, but we must keep our focus, if you don't concentrate, the low oxygen levels could lead to feinting." Hashirama warned.

"Yeah, but why is there air here? Humans have been to the moon. People walked on it, they didn't find air here!" Naruko clarified her confusion.

"Oh… I'm not sure. Maybe it's coming from the hole that was just punched out of the interior of the moon. Or the one that was made when Toneri attacked you guys before?" Hashirama suggested.

"Is now really the time to worry about this?" Hinata asked.

The three glanced at her, and then glanced around once more.

Out of the hole that was just made, a mechanical bird flew out, and on it's back was a very pissed off Toneri.

"You wretched fools. I will show you what true power is!" Toneri snarled at them.

Sasuke and Naruko started to race forward only for the ground to begin exploding beneath their feet. The two leaped ahead, while Hashirama grabbed Hinata and jumped on top of his Wood Golem.

Out of the ground, the Stone Golem's hand shot out, grabbing Hashirama's Wood Golem by the leg and starting to pull it down back into the interior of the moon.

"Go! Deal with Toneri, I'll handle this thing." Hashirama ordered Naruko and Sasuke.

Both offered him their best wishes before turning to face Toneri.

Hinata offered a silent good luck to her partner as she focused on aiding Hashirama in whatever way she could against this monstrous stone construct.

"This is the power of Hamura Ōtsutsuki! The power to control the moon!" Toneri declared as his body was consumed in a greenish blue light. He activated some sort of chakra mode, that caused his whole body to glow with power. The intensity of his Tenseigan had reached it's peak and he was ready to go all out against Naruko and Sasuke.

"You ready for this, Sasuke?" Naruko asked with a smirk.

"No holding back. It's do or die." Sasuke replied.

"I'm not worried. This coward had to wait and hide until Riley left so he could carry out his apocalypse. He was a nobody yesterday, and he'll be a nobody tomorrow. Let's do this!" Naruko responded, earning a nod from Sasuke as they two shot forward to engage the enraged Ōtsutsuki.

-North America, Earth-

Another meteor was shoved out of the atmosphere by superman. He quickly shot to the next, doing what he could to stop the largest ones first.

The meteor shower had grown in intensity to the point where it seemed unending now.

On the ground, all over the continent, near to the largest cities, the Legion kept up it's defense, now just following the meteor shower as it traveled, only resting when it passed over the ocean.

Itachi and Shisui stood together, staring up at the blazing sky, that was currently falling on their heads.

"Think it's time to call Riley back?" Shisui inquired with a smirk.

"Yeah, seems about that time." Itachi responded with a sigh.

"Riley, we need you to come back. A meteor shower began not long after you left, and now the moon is hours away from slamming into the Earth. A single Ōtsutsuki has attacked us from the moon, and he kidnapped Boruto and Hanabi. A team is up there right now fighting him, but we're running out of time. I hope you've gotten far enough in your training because we need you back now." Itachi sent to her.

-Kamui-

Riley sat in meditation, floating over the ground, a circle of Truth-Seeking Orbs spinning lazily beneath her. In the sky directly above her were ten massive earthen spheres, each one nearly ten kilometers across, each one matching a corresponding Truth-Seeking Orb, as it drifted in a circle.

Riley's eyes drifted open, as she heard Itachi call out to her over the Gravemind link.

"It seems our time is up." Hagoromo noted from within her mindscape.

"It would seem so." Riley responded, disappointment and anger filling her tone.

"An attack by the Ōtsutsuki, while we were away, how convenient." Kurama growled in annoyance.

"This was coordinated, your enemy watched from afar and attacked when you were gone. A descendant of my brother." The Sage stated as Riley ceased with her floating and recalled her Truth-Seeking Orbs, the group of ten settling beneath the skin of her back.

"If this bastard has kidnapped my nephew than his life is over." Riley snarled as she mentally called out to her mates to come to her.

Within moments they were all gathered around her.

Riley was silent for a moment as she glanced around at them, finally her gaze settled onto Luna.

Luna stared back at her for a moment before taking in a breath and averting her gaze.

"What's going on?" Katie asked.

Riley continued staring at Luna, and instead of verbally replying, allowed Itachi's warning to play through their minds, as each of them heard what was going on, Riley remained focused on Luna who was vividly reliving the prophetic vision she'd seen.

Clear as day she watched meteors tear through the sky, and the moon fall to the Earth. And then the flood came, waters washing over most of the world. It truly was an apocalyptic disaster, one that would shake any rational person to their core.

"I promised you, that I would stop this from happening. I'd never break that kind of promise." Riley said to her, drawing Luna's gaze back to her and earning a soft smile from her beloved mate.

"Thank you, Riley. I know you'll do everything in your power to keep the world safe." Luna said back to her.

"We should head back, no point in delaying it." Artoria stated, Gaia nodding in agreement, both worrying about their own countries and what had befallen them.

"She is right. The time has finally come. You've learned the lessons that I've needed to teach you." Hagoromo voiced his agreement.

"I understand. I don't think I'd be able to remain, even if there was more for you to show me. My nephew is in danger, and I love that little boy, I'm not gonna let some kidnapping psychopath do whatever he pleases with him." Riley responded.

"I know. It's one of the reasons that I have high hopes for you. Despite your dark nature, you hold those you love, close to heart. After our time together, I can say with confidence that you'll do great things in the world." The Sage said to her, offering a bit of praise, a rarity for the old man, as he often kept things very formal.

"I guess this means goodbye, father." Kurama noted with obvious sadness.

"Oh man, this sucks! It was great while it lasted, we'll have to tell the others all about it." Shukaku added.

"Indeed. They'll be so jealous. Though, I will miss you father. This time was too short." Matatabi offered as well.

"I am a part of you, my children. Never forget that. And this isn't goodbye. We will meet again, one day." Hagoromo said to the three.

"We will?" Shukaku asked.

"Yes. One day all of you will stand before me once more, and I'll have the chance to marvel at your growth. Until such a day, do not mourn our parting, take joy in the time we had together." Hagoromo said to the Tailed Beasts.

"Father, before you leave, there's something I wish to tell you." Kurama stated.

"What is it, Kurama?" The Sage inquired.

"You were right. All that time ago, when you said that we'd separate, and walk through darkness, but that one day we'd be reunited and that we'd find someone who would care for us, you were right. I've found that person, the friend I've always wanted. I just wanted you to know that you were right." Kurama offered to his father, earning a smile from Riley who heard him, and a smile from the Sage as well.

"Know that your joy, brings me joy. I am happy to know that you've found friendship, and camaraderie, in this girl. I look forward to the day when we can meet again." Hagoromo responded.

"As do I, old man." Kurama agreed.

"Thanks for the training Lord Hagoromo. It means a lot to me that you took the time to do this. Your lessons have helped expand my understanding of magic, and I hope I can use what you've taught me to better protect those I care for." Riley offered to the Sage in parting.

"It was for that very reason that I offered you this training. You are my mother's heir, but you are not her. You would never compromise those you love to accomplish your goals. You love with an intensity that reminds me of my sons. It is my great hope, that in spite of your dark nature, you will continue to use your powers to fight for this world, and the people you hold closest to heart. Before we depart, there is one thing I would ask of you." Hagoromo stated.

"And what would that be?" Riley inquired.

"Do please look after my mother. She has been given a second chance at life. She shouldn't live her life in fear, wondering what-if. She is free to live a life of peace and happiness. Do look after her, she was always such a fearful thing, despite her powers." The Sage asked of her.

"I'll look out for her. She is my grandmother after all. I'll do everything in my power to keep her safe. That's a promise." Riley responded to him, earning a smirk from Sage, as he offered a nod of gratitude.

Not long afterwards, Riley felt the Sage's power dissipate, his essence fading back into the afterlife.

For several long moments she stood in silence before finally speaking.

"Let's go home." Riley declared, earning a chorus of agreements from her mates.

-Back in the Real world-

For a few seconds, there was silence.

Then Itachi felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Should have known something like this was gonna happen. Shit never seems to work out right." Both Itachi and Shisui glanced over to find Riley standing there, gazing up at the sky.

"Welcome back." Itachi offered.

"Yeah, hope you got enough training in, because it's time to put it to good use." Shisui added.

"Yeah. We got enough training. Call back your friends from the sky, make sure they're out of the way. We'll handle this." Riley offered as she stepped forward, and made a few handsigns.

Itachi called out over the radio, contacting Superman, Green Lantern, and Madara, all of whom were in the sky right now, and called them down to the ground.

A rush of smoke surrounded Riley, and from it emerged eight figures.

Itachi's eyes went wide as he felt the power coming off of Riley's mates.

"What the hell?" Shisui muttered, feeling it too. All of Riley's mates seemed changed. Dark powers radiated through them, and from them, and within all of their eyes, was the Rinnegan.

"Why are we stopping, what's going on?" Came the question from Green Lantern as he lowered nearby. Superman lowering down as well.

Madara's Susano'o landed behind them, and the man himself drifted out of it and dropped near to them.

"Welcome back." Madara offered to Riley who smirked at him.

"Happy to be back. Why don't you rest for a bit grandfather. We'll take some of the weight off your shoulders." Riley offered him, earning a shrug from the man.

"I could go for a bit of relaxation. Been a busy few days." Madara replied.

"Ladies… what's say we deal with this situation, and than go meet our Ōtsutsuki friend on the moon?" Riley asked her mates.

"Sounds perfect to me." Daphne stated, her eyes focusing on a large incoming meteor. Katie stepped up behind and grabbed her. She quickly tossed Daphne into the sky, right at the incoming meteor which was nearly two hundred meters across.

Daphne flew right into it's path and outstretched her hand.

The meteor flew right into her, and almost instantly stalled in the air, much to the surprise of those watching below.

She was carried forward about a hundred yards, but the meteor seemingly stopped in it's advance, Daphne's hand seemingly all that was needed to halt it.

They watched as the blazing heat of the meteor quickly receded, and within a moment, it was as cold as ice.

Then, in an instant, Daphne shoved against the meteor, returning the energy she'd absorbed in the form of a blast of magic, causing a monstrous explosion that ripped the meteor apart, vaporizing most of it, leaving nothing behind bigger than a postage stamp.

Madara raised an eyebrow at that, while Riley smirked.

"Training went very well, it seems." Madara noted with a chuckle.

"Oh yes. Luna, love. Mind putting a stop to this shower?" Riley inquired.

"Of course." Luna replied, bringing her hands together.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Luna declared, causing the whole area to be consumed by smoke.

"What the hell?" The Green Lantern stated in surprise.

"Oh wow…" Superman muttered, glancing up.

John Steward followed his gaze, to find something crouching over them. Something utterly massive.

"Go, Michael." Luna commanded. A low bellow released from the titan's mouth as Riley's familiar rose into the air, splitting into ten copies of itself, each one flying in a circular formation, extending higher and higher into the sky, and getting further and further apart.

"What is that thing?" Superman asked, as he watched the massive beast ascend into the sky.

"It was once a servant to the Angel of Carnage. Ralael. Now it serves me. It is an unbreakable defense, an unyielding shield, and it'll blanket this continent in a barrier that'll shield it from attack." Riley responded.

"Can Michael manage such a task?" Madara inquired as he watched his granddaughter's familiar rise higher into the sky.

"He can now. He was summoned by the Animal Path, his powers are further enhanced because of it." Riley answered.

Another meteor came bombing past the ascending demons before they could reach their position. This time Gaia stepped forward and raised a hand. From her palm emerged a black chakra receiver. It slid out of her palm and into a drill of sand that formed in front of Gaia's palm.

Once the receiver was fully embedded within the sand cocoon, Gaia sent it flying through the air at supersonic speeds. The small drill shot into the incoming meteor, lodging the chakra rod within it as well.

Gaia then brought her hands together, focusing on the chakra receiver. Her chakra quickly spread through the incoming meteor, breaking it down, and turning it into a cloud of sand.

This burning hot cloud of space dust rushed down towards Gaia, the palm of her outstretched hand, opened, revealing some sort of machine embedded in her palm. As the Machine Path, Gaia had received a few upgrades to assist her in battle. Embedded in both of her palms were storage devices that could hold massive quantities of sand, allowing her to carry her arsenal with her, without being slowed down by a heavy gourd. This increased her combat speed, and ensured that she was never without means of fighting back.

The devices on her palms, were circular, containing six slots on each. Each slot was a different storage container. On both of her hands three of the six slots were in use, both carrying three different types of sand for her to use. One held regular sand, one held iron dust, and one held golden dust. She sealed away the burning hot moon dust into one of the open slots on her right hand. Since these storage containers were held under stasis this blazing hot sand would remain hot until it was released, giving her access to a potent weapon for a later encounter.

It took only a moment to seal away most of the asteroid, and by the time it was gone, Michael had reached the appropriate altitude.

All ten of the clones, simultaneously held their lances horizontally in front of their chests. A massive surge of magic tore through the air, as each one began to radiate light. Like ten stars, they blazed in the sky, drawing attention from those below. Many people looked up to the glowing white lights in the sky, and those with access to telescopes had their minds blown by what they were seeing.

In unison the clones let out a low bellow and from their lances, beams of light shot out. These beams raced across the sky, joining with the beams released from the neighboring titans. In the skies above nearly seventy percent of North America, a gigantic decagon of energy appeared in the air. On the interior of this object, a pale white film spread out from the edges, racing across the sky until it all joined in the center.

People below were left dumbstruck as the darkness of night was lit up by this massive geometric shape.

Less than twenty seconds after it finished manifesting, another meteor tore down from the heavens. It slammed into the barrier and exploded, fragments of it send gliding across it's surface, but neither rock nor flame passed through the barrier.

"Incredible…" Itachi noted in amazement.

"Where the hell was that the last few days?" Green Lantern asked turning his gaze to Riley.

"Sorry, I was busy in my own pocket dimension. The one responsible for this waited specifically for the moment I would be away." Riley responded, staring up at the barrier, visibly impressed.

"How's Albion?" Artoria asked Itachi.

"Safe, my queen. The hidden village was attacked, shortly after the meteor shower began in earnest. We repelled the invaders and activated the barrier around the country. Our forces have since been leading the meteor shower, doing what we can to protect those on the ground." Itachi explained as he offered a bow to Artoria.

"What of Suna?" Gaia inquired.

"We aided in the village's protection, Lady Kazekage. No meteors landed within." Madara answered.

"As you can see we picked up some allies along the way." Shisui added, jerking a thumb at Superman and the Green Lantern.

"Thank you for your assistance in protecting my country. I'm in your debt." Gaia offered to the two men.

"Don't worry about it." Green Lantern waved her off.

"Yeah, this isn't about gaining favors. The whole world is in danger, and we've got to work together in order to keep it safe. This shield of yours will be a great help, but we've still got the moon to worry about. It'll fall on our heads here in the not to distant future." Superman offered as well.

"You needn't worry. I'll go and deal with the prick who's causing this. Just keep people safe down here, the moon isn't falling on us today." Riley offered as she rolled her shoulders and focused her gaze onto the moon. She could sense the chakra of Sasuke and Naruko, as well as an unknown third party, and this power was absolutely blazing off of the moon's surface. They had to be fighting on the far side of the moon, or in it's interior, because she couldn't see them, but they were definitely fighting.

"Ladies… I'll be right back." Riley offered to her mates before vanishing in a flash of light.

-The Moon-

Naruko and Sasuke were battling with everything they had against Toneri. The last of Hamura's Ōtsutsuki descendants hammered them with all the powers of the Tenseigan, but the two had some experience fighting high level opponents such as this, they'd trained under Riley after all.

The two launched themselves at Toneri as he charged up an attack, only to be blitzed when something appeared beside Naruko and shot forward at near impossible speeds. A solid punch landed hard, right in the center of Toneri's face, sending the man soaring backwards across the lunar landscape.

Naruko blinked several times as she took in what just happened. She almost instantly recognized her sister, and felt a great weight lift off of her. Naruko had no doubts, this fight was now over.

"Hey uh… what the fuck happened to the two of you?" Riley inquired, glancing over her shoulder at the two, taking in their recent changes.

"Nearly died, met with the Sage of Six Paths, told us we were his son's reincarnations, gave us their powers. That's the short of it." Naruko responded, causing Riley to raise an eyebrow.

"Right. We'll talk more in a minute." Riley stated as she turned back to Toneri as he rose up into the sky, and glared down at them.

"So you're the prick who kidnapped my nephew, and is now endangering the planet I call home." Riley noted as she returned his glare.

"You're too late. I have achieved perfection! The Tenseigan is mine to command. The earth will be destroyed, and theirs nothing you can do to stop it!" Toneri snarled at her.

Riley stared up at him with a bored expression.

After a few moments her eyes turned red, and she released the full potency of her Killing Intent, Toneri's eyes went wide and he felt his body tense as Riley's aura began to radiate pure wrath.

"You know… a thought just occurred to me. You tried to blow up the earth… my baby is down there…" Riley growled, her tone becoming hellish.

Sasuke and Naruko both shared a look with one another and began backing away from Riley.

"You could have hurt my baby. You could have hurt all of my children! You kidnapped my nephew. That I just can't allow to pass. Hows about I show you what happens to those who touch what's mine!" Riley growled out.

"Hey Riley, just a quick ask, uh… he has Hanabi's eyes, so if we could get those back intact…" Naruko asked, causing Riley to glance at her.

Riley was silent for a moment before nodding. Then she vanished in a burst of speed.

Despite her desire to make Toneri suffer, Riley didn't drag out the fight, nor did she play with him. She rushed up towards him, dodging the Truth-Seeking Orbs that he attempted to launch at her, and drew her Zanpakutō.

"Bare witness to this wicked world. Unleash Chaos, Ralael!" Riley intoned, transforming her weapon into it's warhammer state.

Toneri saw her aim, and tried to use some Truth-Seeking Orbs to form a protective sphere around himself, but all it was unable to hold back Riley's incredible strength. She was well aware of what the Truth-Seeking Orbs could do, and also what their weaknesses were. So she held back on the magic, and simply closed the gap, and with a mighty swing, drove the warhammer hard against the blackened sphere, shattering it under her incredible strength, and driving the hammer right into the side of Toneri's head, causing him to sail back down to the moon's surface below.

Riley than popped open the warhammer's chamber and poured the magic of the Killing Curse into it. She then primed the warhammer, and shot down towards Toneri who was pulling himself back to his feet. She appeared before him, and with another mighty swing, she drove the hammer into his torso, unleashing a blast of green magic, that tore the man's soul clean out of his body.

Toneri's eyes went wide, as he collapsed, his death coming so quickly, he didn't even have time to register what had happened.

Riley glared down at his corpse as she reached out and drew his soul in, passing it into her private soul well, so that she could torture him for all of time.

"I know I shouldn't be surprised that she ended that so quickly, but I am." Sasuke noted as he and Naruko approached her.

"Cowardly little shit." Riley spat, glaring down at his corpse.

"Thank goodness that's finally over." Naruko stated with a sigh.

"It's not over yet, we still have to stop the moon's advance on the Earth." Sasuke said.

"Just give me a moment. I'll rip it out of Toneri's memories." Riley responded, closing her eyes to focus.

While Riley focused on the Toneri's memories, Hashirama approached with Hinata, Toneri's Stone Golem, having been destroyed, the moment he was killed.

"Riley, you're back." Hashirama greeted her.

"Hey. Yeah, Itachi called, said some crazy shit was going down, so I came back to help deal with it. You guys look unharmed, where were you?" Riley inquired in response.

"Just dealing with some annoyances." Hashirama responded with a shrug and a smile.

Seeing Toneri's corpse, Hinata slowly approached him. She stared down at him with obvious pity in her eyes.

"He was just a lonely boy, left alone to wallow in this empty life. I wonder, could things have been different if he'd had people who cared for him?" Hinata wondered aloud.

"Maybe. Maybe not. But he made his choices. Regardless of the life he lived. He chose to attack us, he chose to get on Riley's bad side, and it got him killed. I'd have probably done the same to him, for kidnapping my fiance and my son." Naruko admitted, as she joined Hinata.

Hinata offered a sad nod at that. After a few moments she let out a sigh and turned to Hashirama, asking him about retrieving Hanabi's eyes,

He quickly set about examining Toneri's body, and then went about removing his eyes to return them to Hanabi.

"You figure out how to stop the moon?" Naruko inquired as Riley created a handful of Shadow Clones and they dashed off, heading for the large holes blown into the moon so they could gain entrance to it.

"Yeah, I saw how he did it. My clones can handle it easy enough. The moon doesn't have all that much mass to be honest, being hollow and all, I've probably moved denser objects during training." Riley responded, turning her gaze up towards the Earth.

"Get a look at that view, ladies." Riley hummed over her mental link to her mates. She felt joy and wonderment from them at the sight of the Earth in all it's glory. The moon was quite close to the Earth now, meaning Riley's view of it, made for a spectacular sight.

She allowed a few moments to pass, for her mates to enjoy the sight of their home from space, before turning her gaze back to the body of Toneri as Hashirama finished extracting his eyes.

"He thought he was fulfilling his ancestors orders. Hamura Ōtsutsuki left a decree to his descendants, they were to watch the Earth, and if humans started to misuse Hagoromo's gift, then the Ōtsutsuki were meant to go down and correct them, teach them the right way. Somehow this edict got mixed up over time, and it led Toneri to believe that he needed to destroy them. I… had a vision of Hamura while I was here, he granted me some of his chakra and told me what he really wanted. Toneri saw a vision of the end of the world, and that, coupled with Hamura's Celestial Decree, led him to conclude that he had to destroy the Earth and start over." Hinata offered as an explanation to Riley, who slowly nodded, still sorting through the bastard's memories.

"He was a fool. And a damn coward." Riley stated, shaking her head and letting out a growl as she did. Regardless of his misconceptions, the man had done terrible things, and had tried to destroy the world. As far as Riley was concerned, for that alone, he was beyond redemption.

"At least he was stopped. That's one prophetic catastrophe averted." Naruko noted.

Riley offered a hum at that. She definitely agreed, happy to know that one of Luna's visions had been averted. This was the easy one though, the next one, would be much more difficult, because at it's core, was an Archdevil, a foe beyond even Riley.

Riley let out a sigh as images of Toneri's past flitted through her mind. She suddenly focused on a memory that she was familiar with when she spotted the flood that consumed the world, similar in nature to Luna's vision.

Riley watched Toneri's prophetic vision play out, it showed a blinding light consuming the south pole, all of Antarctica disappearing into this light, the whole frozen continent vaporizing in an instant. She saw massive tsunamis race across the surface of the Earth, threatening to wash over every coastline on the planet. Most of the worlds population lived on the water, so such a catastrophe would have killed billions.

Riley shook her head and let out sigh, having to have averted such a catastrophe.

"Where are the meteors and the moon?" Kurama asked, watching the vision alongside her.

Riley blinked several times as she replayed Toneri's vision in her mind. In his vision, it showed the south pole, it showed a vision, seen from the moon's surface. The south pole erupted in a blast of light, red waves surging out from it's epicenter. Out of the light, four streams of glowing white energy erupted into the sky, shooting out hundreds of kilometers into the air. For a moment, they appeared almost like very long wings. They held in place for only a moment, before receding into the light, and then the light receded and a tsunami raced out from it's boundaries, Antarctica now gone.

Riley blinked some more as she watched the vision again, her gut starting to sink.

"Riley… uh… I'm not seeing any meteors, or the moon crashing… What the hell is going on?" Kurama inquired.

"It wasn't Toneri…" Riley realized with horror.

"What?" Naruko asked, giving her sister a confused look.

"It wasn't Toneri that caused the flood! He saw it too, just like Luna did, but she saw his part in it as well. She saw the moon crashing, the meteors, it made me believe he was responsible! But he didn't see any of that! He wasn't the cause of the flood, something else was!" Riley stated in panic as her eyes shot back to the Earth, focusing now on the south pole.

Naruko and Sasuke shared a glance with one another, as Hashirama rose to his feet.

"We need to get back, warn the others." Hashirama said to them.

"I've already told my mates." Riley replied, her gaze still locked on the south pole, her teeth grinding together as she realized her mistake.

Hashirama was about to speak again, when he saw Riley visibly convulse.

"Shit!" Riley hissed as she saw massive torrents of magic rip across the south pole. It was magic rivaling the scale of the upper Tailed Beasts, something between the Eight and Nine Tails. Power of an unimaginable scope.

Riley was about to flash back to the Earth when it happened. A red light ripped through the southernmost part of the Earth, and just like that, Antarctica vanished.

-To Be Continued-

Holy fucking shit, I made it! It's done, it's here! I'm so happy!