On the wind-swept roof of the Raikage building, A stared at the message from Konoha, his face a thunderous scowl. "Faith is not a strategy, and stopping a falling moon is not so easily done!" he roared, his skepticism overriding any trust he had in the Fourth Hokage. Minato may have saved the world once, but this was a threat of a different magnitude.
"Do as I say!" the Raikage bellowed at the trembling shinobi. "Prepare the cannon!"
Just as the order was given, a new figure landed on the rooftop with a jaunty pose, one hand pointing to the sky, the other to the ground.
"Hold your horses, wait a minute! Listen to your brother, ya stupid fool, don't you dare commit it!"
Killer Bee bounced on the balls of his feet, his trademark lame rap rhythm completely at odds with the apocalyptic tension gripping the village. Since the end of the war, the Eight-Tails, Gyuki, had happily returned to his Jinchuriki, and Bee's life of rhyming and fighting continued unabated.
"Bee! What are you doing here?!" the Raikage snapped, his glare shifting to his brother.
"My man Gyuki's got the real scoop for you, so listen to the Eight-O, ya big dummy, yo!" Bee rhymed, striking another pose. Suddenly, his body went still, the goofy energy vanishing. A deeper, ancient consciousness took over.
"Raikage," Gyuki's voice rumbled, speaking directly through Bee's mouth. "The Fourth Hokage and Naruto have found a path to the moon. They are moving to engage the enemy controlling its descent as we speak. You must be patient."
The information was startling, but it was the source that gave A pause. He trusted Gyuki implicitly.
"An enemy… on the moon?" the Raikage grunted, the idea still sounding like something from a children's story.
"Yes," Gyuki confirmed. "The Hokage anticipated your disbelief. He asked Naruto to have me pass on this message to you personally. He said to tell you this: he loves this world as much as you do. He has people and a home here that he would give his life to protect. Trust that he will stop this."
Deep in the subterranean world, at the exact moment Toneri reasserted his control, a massive wave of Tenseigan chakra flooded the area. Naruto's head snapped up, his sensory perception locking onto the source instantly.
"There!"
Without another word, Minato scooped up Chiharu while Naruto created a chakra arm to secure their teammate, Shin. With a burst of speed, they shot into the air, flying directly toward the epicenter of the energy flare. They arrived to find a shimmering distortion high in the artificial sky—a celestial mirage. The full, cratered surface of the moon seemed to hang just meters away, so close it felt like they could touch it.
"Where's the entrance?" Naruto asked, looking to his father. He could feel the Tenseigan's power pouring from the illusion, but he couldn't see any kind of door or passage.
"Let me find it," Minato replied, handing Chiharu over to another of Naruto's chakra claws. He flew upward alone, ascending until his outstretched hand was nearly touching the shimmering lunar image. It was, as he suspected, a powerful projection, a visual echo created by the immense energy of the spatial gateway. The real moon was still a universe away.
Even so, a strange pressure pushed against his palm, a tangible resistance in the fabric of space itself.
"So that's how it works," he murmured with a chuckle of understanding. A sphere of pure, stable chakra began to spin in his raised palm. "Every space-time ninjutsu, no matter how complex, requires a chakra key to turn the lock."
This technique felt ancient, sharing principles with both Kaguya's portal abilities and Minato's own distortion-based ninjutsu. While he couldn't replicate Kaguya's innate power, he understood the theory. With a gentle push, the chakra sphere in his hand merged with the lunar illusion.
Buzz!
A soft light emanated from the point of contact. The illusionary moon rippled like water, and then the space before him twisted, warping and tearing open until a swirling, stable vortex hung in the air. Through the shimmering portal, Minato could see the alien outlines of Otsutsuki palaces.
"It's open! Let's go!" he shouted to the trio below before plunging directly into the gateway.
Naruto, Chiharu, and Shin exchanged excited, determined glances and followed without hesitation. As they passed through the portal, they were hit with a disorienting lurch, the familiar, stomach-dropping sensation of spatial displacement that came with the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Swish!
The four of them emerged into the silent, airless void above the moon's surface, their bodies automatically enveloped in a thin layer of their own chakra to survive. But they were not alone. The moment they arrived, the sky filled with dense, dark shadows. An army of black-clad puppets, identical to the ones that had attacked Konoha, swarmed them from all directions, each riding atop a giant, ghastly-looking bird.
"Looks like Toneri knew we were coming," Minato observed, his eyes calmly assessing the overwhelming number of enemies.
"What do we do?" Shin asked, his voice tight with fear. The sheer size of the enemy force was enough to make even a seasoned shinobi hesitate. He knew Naruto and Minato were on another level, but this was an entire army. He looked to Minato, who was simply watching Naruto with a faint smile.
"Naruto, what's the plan?" Minato asked, already knowing the answer.
"The plan?" Naruto's eyes narrowed into a determined glare. "We go straight through!" He pulled Chiharu and Shin closer with his chakra claws and shot forward like a golden comet.
Just like his mother, Minato thought with a surge of fatherly pride. No time for subtlety when the direct path is open. This was his battle plan, too. Since their arrival was no secret, there was no point in hiding.
As Naruto charged, the locust-like swarm of puppets converged on him, raising their palms in unison.
Fzzt! Fzzt! Fzzt!
A dense barrage of purple energy beams shot toward them, crisscrossing the black sky.
In response, Naruto's hands blurred through a single seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
In an instant, dozens of golden-cloaked Narutos appeared around him, each sprouting Nine-Tails chakra arms of their own.
"Rasenshuriken!" they all roared in unison.
In seconds, a storm of miniature, shrieking typhoons of wind and chakra formed in their hands. With a collective heave, they were launched in every direction. The resulting onslaught was absolute. The energy beams were shredded on contact, their power completely overwhelmed by the Rasenshurikens' microscopic wind blades. The puppets and their mounts were caught in the chain reaction of explosions, a series of concussive blasts that tore through their ranks and cleared a massive hole in their formation.
Swoosh!
Minato was the first to burst through the smoke and fire, followed closely by Naruto, still carrying Chiharu and Shin. Shin glanced back, his eyes wide with awe and a touch of fear. He knew Naruto was strong, but he had never witnessed it firsthand. To obliterate an entire army in a single, instantaneous volley… it was the power of a god.
Naruto wasn't paying attention to the past battle. His sensory perception was locked onto the structures below. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "Found her!" he shouted, pure joy in his voice. He had pinpointed Hinata's chakra signature.
"You take them and rescue Hinata," Minato instructed, having already located Hanabi's fainter signature in a separate location. "I'll handle Hanabi."
"Got it!" Naruto nodded.
The two of them accelerated dramatically, splitting off like twin meteors of gold, streaking toward two different palaces on the lunar surface.
CRASH!
The roof of a grand ceremonial hall exploded inward in a shower of wood, stone, and dust. Naruto landed in a crouch amidst the debris, with Chiharu and Shin beside him. As the dust settled, they took in the scene. In the center of the opulent hall stood Toneri, dressed in the formal, ornate black robes of an Otsutsuki wedding ceremony. At his side, her arm linked with his, was Hinata, dressed in a matching black bridal gown. Her eyes were glazed over, her expression completely vacant.
"Hinata nee-chan! We're here to save you!" Chiharu shouted, but Hinata gave no sign that she had heard.
Naruto saw this, and a cold fury began to build in his chest. He could feel her chakra—it was there, but it felt… clouded, suppressed, caged within her own body. He glared at Toneri, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous growl. "What did you do to her?"
Toneri looked up at the intruders who had just destroyed his roof, his expression one of calm, detached annoyance. A faint, condescending smile touched his lips. "Ah, you must be Hinata's friends from that primitive world. You've arrived just in time for the ceremony." He gestured to the captive bride at his side. "Tell me, as my bride, isn't she beautiful?"
"Let her go!"
The roar was pure, unadulterated rage. Before Toneri could even finish his sentence, Naruto exploded. He crossed the entire length of the hall in a golden flash, a sonic boom cracking the air behind him. Toneri's eyes widened in shock, but he had no time to react. Naruto's fist, glowing with the power of the Nine-Tails, connected squarely with his jaw.
BANG!
The impact was devastating. Toneri was launched backward like a cannonball, smashing clean through the far wall of the palace and disappearing into the building beyond in a cloud of shattered rock and debris.