Bang!
As Toneri's body was blasted through the palace wall, Naruto moved with lightning speed. In the same motion, he reached out and gently took hold of Hinata's arm, pulling her away from the spot where her captor had just been standing. He immediately channeled a small, warm pulse of his own chakra into her wrist. The foreign energy controlling her mind shattered like glass under the pure, sun-like warmth of the Nine-Tails' power.
Hinata gasped, her body shuddering as her senses came rushing back. The world snapped into sharp focus, the fog in her mind clearing in an instant. She blinked, disoriented, and then her eyes fell upon the concerned face of the young man holding her arm.
"Naruto-kun?" she whispered, her voice filled with disbelief and overwhelming relief.
A wide, relieved grin spread across Naruto's face. "Hinata, you're okay."
"I knew it," she said, her beautiful eyes shimmering with unshed tears as a trembling smile graced her lips. "I knew you would come for me!"
A playful voice cut through the emotional moment. "You know, Hinata nee-chan, a few other people came to save you, too," Chiharu teased, a smirk on her face. "But I guess you only have eyes for my brother."
Hinata's gaze darted to the side, and a deep blush crept up her cheeks as she saw Chiharu and an embarrassed-looking Shin standing there. "Oh! Chiharu-chan, Shin-kun… thank you," she said quickly, bowing her head in mortification.
"I'm just kidding," Chiharu laughed, waving her hands. "But I can't really blame you. You should have seen my brother on the way here. He was acting even more impulsive and reckless than usual." As she spoke, she gave Hinata a conspiratorial wink.
The blush on Hinata's face deepened. She suddenly became hyper-aware of Naruto's hand still holding her wrist, and her entire body stiffened slightly.
"YOU BASTARD!"
A furious roar shattered the tender moment. Everyone's head snapped toward the sound. Bursting from the hole in the wall, Toneri shot toward them, his ceremonial robes torn and his face a mask of pure rage. He had just been humiliated at his own wedding, and his divine judgment had been interrupted by mortals.
Swish!
In a flicker of yellow light, Minato suddenly appeared, positioning himself between Toneri and the others. The enraged Otsutsuki skidded to a halt, his eyes widening in recognition.
It's him! Toneri thought, his rage momentarily tempered by caution. He remembered the immense, unfathomable power he had sensed from this man back in Konoha. Even with the Tenseigan awakened, that power still made him wary. And now, standing beside him was another, Naruto, who wielded a power of equal magnitude.
Minato glanced coolly at Toneri before turning to Hinata with a gentle, fatherly smile. "It seems you're alright, Hinata."
Hinata nodded, her resolve returning. She looked from Toneri to the two Namikazes. "Lord Hokage, Naruto-kun, you have to stop him! He's going to destroy the Earth!"
"We know," Minato replied calmly. He then looked at his daughter and Shin. "I've located Hanabi. Her condition isn't good; she'll need someone to look after her. I'm sending you to her now."
"Yes, sir!" they responded in unison. With a single thought, Minato activated the Hiraishin marker he'd placed, and the two of them vanished in a yellow flash, reappearing instantly in another palace chamber. On a bed before them lay Hanabi, a thick bandage wrapped around her eyes.
"That monster!" Chiharu whispered, her fists clenching. She and Hanabi were close in age and had a good relationship. Seeing her friend like this, violated and mutilated, filled her with a cold fury. "Dad, big brother," she seethed, her voice a low growl, "you have to make that bastard pay!"
Back in the ruined hall, Minato refocused on the mission. "Naruto, Hinata, your objective is to find the core Tenseigan and destroy it. That's the only way to stop the moon's descent."
Standing a short distance away, Toneri's pupils contracted. How could they possibly know that?
"But what about him?" Naruto frowned, glancing at the fuming Otsutsuki. He knew his earlier punch had only connected because of the element of surprise. He could feel the immense, volatile power bubbling just beneath Toneri's skin.
"Leave him to me," Minato stated, his voice leaving no room for argument. "Stopping the moon is the priority right now. And it's a task only the two of you can accomplish together."
Minato still couldn't transfer his chakra to others the way Naruto could. The core Tenseigan, with its planet-moving power, would be protected by a formidable energy shield. Hinata's Byakugan was the key, but her power alone might not be enough to break through. She would need Naruto's overwhelming chakra to force the issue.
"I understand!" Naruto nodded. He took Hinata's hand again, this time with firm resolve, and pulled her with him as he dashed out of the palace.
Toneri's eyes darted after them, but he remained rooted in place, his attention locked on the man before him. A strange confusion warred with his caution. The power radiating from this Yellow Flash was immense, yes, but it felt significantly weaker than the god-like presence he had sensed in Konoha.
Minato turned his full attention to Toneri, his blue eyes losing their warmth and turning cold and analytical. This clone has roughly thirty percent of my main body's chakra. It might not be enough to defeat an awakened Tenseigan user, but… A faint smirk touched his lips. With the speed and reflexes granted by Yin-Yang Release, stalling him won't be a problem. He briefly glanced at Toneri's glowing blue eyes, careful not to stare directly into the active dōjutsu.
FWOOM!
Toneri's hands flew through a seal, and a tempest of rich green chakra erupted around him, shrouding him in a vibrant aura. Black magatama, similar to Naruto's, appeared on his robes. This was the Tenseigan Chakra Mode.
In response, a cloak of dark golden chakra flared to life around Minato as he entered his own Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.
Toneri raised his arm, and a black sphere, identical in appearance to a Truth-Seeking Orb, materialized in his palm. He clenched his fist, and several of the orbs spun together, coalescing and twisting space itself. The energy they contained was terrifying.
"Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"
The spinning orbs transformed into a colossal blade of golden energy, a storm of destructive power that screamed towards Minato.
Swish! Minato vanished an instant before the blast hit.
BOOM!
The golden beam tore through the palace, obliterating everything in its path. It shot out into the lunar landscape, carving a trench hundreds of meters long across the gray, dusty surface before finally dissipating.
Minato reappeared in the air outside the hall, his eyes slightly wide as he took in the sheer destructive force. The Tenseigan's power is completely different from the Rinnegan's. It's focused on raw, overwhelming physical attacks.
"Such speed!" Toneri appeared before him in a flash of green, his face a mixture of surprise and frustration. In his Tenseigan Chakra Mode, his speed and reactions should have been absolute. No mortal could possibly keep up. He had sensed the blood of the Sage in Naruto, but this man… he should have been an ordinary human. And yet, the aura he possessed felt fundamentally different from that of any other shinobi.
ROOOOAR!
At that moment, a deep, grinding roar echoed from the palace below them. The entire structure began to shake violently. A colossal stone statue, easily the size of a Tailed Beast, ripped itself free from the building's foundation and stood tall, its empty eyes locking onto the distant, fleeing figures of Naruto and Hinata. It raised a fist the size of a house and brought it crashing down.
Minato saw the attack but made no move to intercept it. He didn't need to.
From the direction of the attack, Naruto's defiant shout rang out. "KURAMA!"
A sun-bright pillar of golden chakra erupted towards the heavens. The chakra solidified, forming the massive, nine-tailed avatar of Kurama, who met the golem's stone fist with its own chakra-forged one. The two colossal beings locked in a titanic struggle for dominance.
Seeing his ultimate guardian intercepted, Toneri's face turned grim. He knew he couldn't stop Naruto if he couldn't get past Minato first. And with the speed the Yellow Flash had just demonstrated, simply overpowering him with physical attacks would be a futile effort. He had to change his tactics.
Toneri raised his hand toward Minato, and a black light began to coalesce in his palm. The space around Minato warped, and a powerful, irresistible gravitational force seized him, pulling him forward.
He didn't panic. Instead, his analytical mind was already dissecting the new information. Just as I thought. Similar to the Rinnegan's Deva Path. It seems he can manipulate gravity as well.