Chapter 277 The Mighty Susanoo (Part 2)
"Of course, I still have to thank that little girl for her gift. The purity of your Byakugan is unparalleled, even in the history of our lineage. I will use these eyes to destroy this ninja world filled with evil." Toneri said, his face filled with fanaticism. "And you, as my bride, will join me in creating a brand new world."
Hinata frowned at this somewhat perverse statement. Then, she caught some information in his words and quickly asked, "What happened to Hanabi?"
"She's fine, but her eyes will be the key to unlocking a new world." Toneri reached out and touched his eye socket before speaking.
"How do you know what happened in the ninja world?" Hearing that Hanabi had been harmed, Hinata gritted her teeth. She knew that she could only feign compliance to extract more information and find an opportunity to break the deadlock. Fortunately, he didn't seem very bright.
"Hehe, originally I didn't care about the situation in your ninja world, but some time ago, a fellow clansman from the ninja world came to me. He told me about the current situation in the ninja world. That descendant of Hagoromo named Uchiha Touko plans to plunge the entire ninja world into war," Toneri said. "Therefore, I must reshuffle the ninja world. This is also the reason why our ancestor Hamura left our branch on the moon."
…
Inside Toneri's palace, the three of them followed the guidance of the instruments, dodging several waves of puppet patrols, and gradually penetrated deeper into the palace.
"I really didn't expect that there would be such a place on the moon," Naruto said, looking at the magnificent decorations in the palace.
"This place is very suspicious," Sasuke said at this moment.
"Yes, such a huge palace, and it's all made up of puppets. We haven't seen a single living person yet," Neji said. "If the information Master gave us is correct, another branch of the Sage's descendants lives on the moon. Then this place shouldn't be so quiet."
"That makes sense. All we've encountered along the way have been puppets," Naruto nodded. "By the way, what's the deal with the Sage's descendants?"
"Master told us that the Senju, Uchiha, and your Uzumaki clan's bloodline all originated from the legendary Sage of Six Paths. And our Hyuga bloodline comes from the Sage of Six Paths' younger brother," Neji explained to Naruto.
"Kurama, is that right?" Naruto looked up and asked from inside the sealed space. Naruto remembered that Kurama had mentioned the Sage of Six Paths to him before.
"You and that Uchiha brat do indeed have the old man's bloodline flowing through your veins, but I don't know anything about the old man's brother," Kurama said. "However, I can definitely sense a similar aura to the old man here."
"Is that so?" Naruto scratched his head.
As the three continued deeper, the puppet patrols they encountered became increasingly tight. Fortunately, Neji's Byakugan could warn of danger in advance, preventing the puppets from discovering them.
"It's probably going to be difficult to sneak past any further. The three of us aren't professional infiltration and reconnaissance ninjas, and with the current patrol frequency, our chances of getting through safely are very low," Neji said.
"Then what do we do? Are we going to make a move?" Naruto asked.
"We still can't pinpoint Hinata and Hanabi's location. If we act rashly, they might be in danger," Sasuke said.
"Let's try this first," Neji said, taking out a delicate little mechanism from the sealing scroll. He carefully placed it on the ground, and the mechanism activated, quickly moving deeper into the palace.
Soon, the small mechanism approached a patrol of puppets. Neji held his breath, watching the mechanism move rapidly towards the depths of the palace.
Only after seeing the mechanism slip past the patrolling puppets without them reacting did Neji breathe a sigh of relief.
"It seems these puppets only react to chakra. A purely electric device can bypass them," Neji said, taking out a screen. The footage from the drone he had deployed appeared on the screen.
"Is this something the Scientific Ninja Tool Research Institute has developed in the past few years? It looks really impressive," Naruto exclaimed.
"That's natural. The village didn't focus on this kind of development before, but since the teacher took office, the Scientific Ninja Tool Research Institute he established consumes nearly 40% of the village's income every year. If they don't produce some results, the other departments should have complained long ago," Neji said.
Neji operated the drone, searching deep within the palace. About ten minutes later, he found Hinata's room.
Toneri had already left, leaving only two puppets guarding Hinata.
The subtle movement of the drone entering the room quickly caught Hinata's attention. She recognized it as a drone produced by the Konoha Ninja Tool Research Institute. After a slight movement, she guided the drone to hide behind her back with her fingers, then began transmitting information to Neji using Konoha's exclusive sign language.
"The enemy is called Otsutsuki Toneri. He has stolen Hanabi's eyes, and he plans to use them to evolve into a higher form of the Byakugan to destroy the ninja world?"
Neji translated Hinata's message word by word, then his expression changed drastically. In such a short time, Hanabi had already met a tragic end!
"Hmph, Toneri Otsutsuki, huh? It's time he learned the price of harming Konoha's children." Naruto's expression turned cold.
"Let's find Hanabi's location first, then split up. Naruto, you go to Hinata's side, Sasuke and I will go to Hanabi's side, okay?" Neji said.
"Okay, let's do that." Naruto nodded.
About ten minutes later, the drone that had left Hinata's side finally found Hanabi's room. After the three of them sketched on a makeshift map for a while, they determined their route.
"Get ready." Naruto took a deep breath, and his chakra exploded instantly. He entered Kurama Mode and transferred his chakra to Neji and Sasuke, who simultaneously ignited chakra flames around themselves.
"Go!" Naruto shouted, and the three of them dashed out like arrows. The intense chakra reaction almost instantly triggered the palace's puppets' alarm mechanism. Alarms blared throughout the palace, and a large number of puppets began to rapidly converge on their direction.
"What?" Deep within the palace, where the giant Tenseigan resided, Toneri, hearing the alarm, whirled around, a hint of anger flashing across his face. "Those ninjas are truly persistent. It seems destroying them was indeed the right thing to do."
With that, Toneri turned and sped towards the sound of the alarm.
Naruto transformed into a golden lightning bolt, darting and weaving through the palace's not-so-spacious corridors. His golden chakra fox claws flashed intermittently, tearing apart the puppets that appeared around him.
Naruto stormed into the room where Hinata was imprisoned. A flash of golden light appeared before Hinata's eyes, and the two puppets guarding her were torn to shreds by Naruto.
"Hinata, I've come to save you!" After dealing with the puppet, Naruto turned around with a bright smile.
"Naruto-kun?" Hinata's face showed a hint of surprise when she saw Naruto. After seeing the drone from the village's Science Ninja Tool Laboratory, she knew the village had sent someone to rescue her, but she didn't expect that the person who came to rescue her would be Naruto, who had been missing for almost a year since he left without saying goodbye that day.
"I rushed back as soon as I received Neji's message. How are you? Are you alright?" Naruto asked.
"I... I'm fine," Hinata said haltingly. Although she knew the occasion might be a little inappropriate, Hinata's face involuntarily turned red again.
"Can you still move?" Naruto asked, seeing this.
"I... I can't mobilize my chakra," Hinata said, looking down.
"Can't mobilize your chakra?" Upon hearing this, Naruto probed Hinata's body with his own chakra and quickly discovered that there seemed to be some kind of seal on Hinata's chakra.
"Damn it! Why are there sealing techniques everywhere!" Naruto was overwhelmed by the sight of sealing techniques. Gritting his teeth, he scooped Hinata up in his arms. "Hold on tight!"
"Eh? Naruto-kun..." Hinata wanted to say something, but the scent of Naruto filled her nostrils, and the little girl's brain briefly went blank. She could only instinctively wrap her arms around Naruto's neck.
The next moment, Naruto transformed into a streak of light again, shattering the puppet blocking the doorway with a Rasengan before rushing out of the room to meet up with Sasuke and Neji.
By this time, Sasuke and Neji had also brought Hanabi, who had lost her eyesight and fallen into a coma, out of the room.
After the two groups reunited, they were about to break out when rhythmic footsteps echoed from the depths of the palace behind them.
Everyone turned around and saw a figure slowly emerging from the depths of the palace.
"Otsutsuki Toneri?" Neji frowned as he looked at the newcomer.
"Ninjas of the ninja world, daring to trespass here, then stay and atone for your sins!" Otsutsuki Toneri said as he approached the group. When he saw Naruto holding Hinata, his expression instantly twisted in anger.
"Who are you? What do you intend to do to my chosen bride!" Otsutsuki Toneri roared at Naruto.
"Bride?" Neji was instantly enraged. Good heavens, this guy not only stole one of his sisters' eyes, but it seemed he was also planning to steal his other sister's body?
"You dare to covet a noblewoman of the Hyuga clan?" Neji said coldly.
"It's not your place to decide who Hinata marries," Naruto replied in a deep voice.
"Noisy insect! Die!" Otsutsuki Toneri raised his hand angrily, a faint blue light flashing in his Byakugan. "Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"
"Naruto!" Neji shouted. Naruto stomped his foot, and golden-red chakra flames instantly expanded, forming a massive shield that enveloped the group.
The repulsive force of the Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion slammed heavily onto the chakra shield, causing the Nine-Tails' chakra shield to shake violently. However, the person inside the shield remained unharmed.
"Is this all the power you have? You think you can destroy the ninja world with such meager strength? Don't daydream!" Neji roared, unfurling a series of scrolls. After a series of flashes of light, all sorts of spears and cannons instantly appeared, then aimed at the opponent and fired them all!
A burst of blue-green light shone, and a barrier also appeared around Toneri, blocking Neji's attack. However, inside the barrier, Toneri suddenly clutched his eyes and screamed in pain.
"Damn it! Is that eye power he gave me almost used up? And why did the Tenseigan's movement have to come at this time?" Toneri gritted his teeth, taking advantage of the last bit of time the protective shield was still there, he turned and fled. "Just a moment, once these eyes have evolved, I'll make sure you all die here!"
"Hmph, trying to escape? Neji!" Sasuke sneered, and arcs of electricity instantly appeared around him as he crossed his arms. Seeing this, Neji pulled out a handful of steel balls from his waist and threw them at Toneri. The steel balls increased in speed as they passed through the magnetic field formed by the arcs of electricity around Sasuke, hurtling towards Toneri.
However, at this moment, the puppets that had gathered earlier blocked Toneri's escape route one by one, and were blasted into dust by the steel balls accelerated by the magnetic field.
"Should we chase after them?" Sasuke turned and asked.
"Let's retreat first. Although we haven't retrieved Hanabi's eyes yet, the safest plan right now is to inform our teacher about the situation here, and then bring the village's army to attack." Neji took a deep breath, then looked down at his sister's bandaged eyes in his arms, and gritted his teeth.
But just then, the palace suddenly shook violently, the ceiling began to crumble, and a violent energy erupted from the depths of the palace.
"This aura... Byakugan? How can there be so much?" Neji's expression changed drastically after sensing the energy emanating from them. However, the next moment, his limbs suddenly stiffened, and he collapsed to the ground.
"Neji?" Naruto panicked upon seeing this, and he and Sasuke caught the fallen Neji and Hanabi in his arms.
"What's going on? Genjutsu?" Naruto suddenly remembered Neji's condition when they passed the lake and quickly looked at Sasuke, hoping for a confirmation. However, after all, his understanding of genjutsu was probably even less than his teacher's.
"It doesn't seem like genjutsu. At least, disrupting his chakra wouldn't wake him up," Sasuke said, shaking his head after trying it out.
However, in just a short time, the palace was on the verge of collapse. Seeing this, Naruto could only shout, "Kurama-nii-san!"
The chakra flames around Naruto suddenly expanded, instantly condensing into a giant golden nine-tailed fox, protecting everyone within it while simultaneously pushing open the palace's ceiling.
________________________________________
Can't wait for the next chapter?
30+ advanced chapters are already available on Patreon!
👉 patreon.com/Horizons685
______________________________________
(End of Chapter)