Chapter 377: Meteor Shower
Boom!
Toneri extended his left hand, and a beam of light shot toward Neji.
Whish!
Neji destroyed it with a single move: Eight Trigrams: Vibration. He immediately launched a counterattack.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Neji didn't use any flashy special abilities. He relied solely on an advanced form of Gentle Fist Vacuum Palm. Wherever his physical strikes landed, large-scale destruction followed. The entire region looked as if the world were splitting apart.
Toneri's eyes gradually shifted as he focused on dodging Neji's attacks. However, it was clear he was struggling.
Boom!
Before long, he could no longer hold his ground. His body began to undergo a transformation, erupting with a surge of powerful chakra. He entered a brilliant Green Chakra Mode. Several green Truth-Seeking Balls were fired toward Neji.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Neji..." Hinata watched, her heart filled with anxiety.
"Hinata!" Naruto caught Hinata as she slumped over, looking up at the battle between the two. He observed Neji's attacks and raw power. Naruto thought of Kaguya Otsutsuki. These strikes were very similar to Kaguya's Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack—almost a carbon copy, though the chakra wasn't as overwhelming as hers.
Whish!
A green beam of light streaked past. Naruto, holding Hinata, quickly evaded, instantly entering his Sage Tailed Beast Mode.
Bang!
Slash!
On the screen, a deep trench was carved across the entire surface of the moon.
Swish! Swish!
"Dad, what are those things falling from the sky?" Keigo Tobitake pointed at the other screen monitoring the moon from the ground.
On the observation feed, clusters of meteors were raining down from the sky. Because the moon was not a natural formation and was extremely close to the Shinobi world, the meteors could be seen tearing through the atmosphere, generating massive heat through friction and bursting into flames.
"Those are just meteors. Let's go out and play for a bit later. It's better to save the village's funds for our experiments. If they damage anything, Konoha will just have to divert the budget to repairs," Tonbo said.
Hearing this, Kabuto and Orochimaru grew tense. Currently, Tonbo was only investing in Otsutsuki-related projects, not their other interests. If the money ran out, they'd have to find funding for their own research elsewhere. That was unacceptable.
"Move out." Orochimaru took the lead.
Kabuto hurried out behind him. Tonbo followed; he also wanted Konoha to allocate more funds. Scientific research couldn't be done behind closed doors; if the village's grants led to new inventions, he could apply them to his own studies as well.
"Summoning Jutsu: Golem!"
Toneri slammed his hand onto the ground, and a massive stone giant emerged. Both sides attacked simultaneously.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Giant boulders were hurled from the golem's hands, their sheer power making the air tremble.
"Eight Trigrams: Domain."
Neji's Tenseigan spun, generating a sea of ocular power within his mind. A massive Eight Trigrams formation enveloped the area for several kilometers. As soon as a boulder entered the domain, its straight flight path curved upward, though its speed remained undiminished.
"So this is the power of the Tenseigan."
Neji was astonished by the sensation of the jutsu. In such a short time, he had experienced the definition of true power.
Eight Trigrams: Vibration! This allowed him to strengthen the release of Vacuum Palms through his ocular power, creating world-shattering force.
Eight Trigrams: Domain! This allowed him to control the direction of everything moving within the field, changing the vector of target objects. It was like manipulating vectors themselves—though from his initial understanding, it only worked on moving targets.
"Rebirth Explosion!"
Seeing Neji's power, Toneri was again struck by disbelief. Several Truth-Seeking Balls rotated in his hand, surrounded by green chakra.
Swoosh!
A massive hurricane kicked up, blowing a large number of meteors off the lunar surface and sending them hurtling toward the Shinobi world. Facing this attack, Neji used his Domain once more to reverse the direction of the wind.
Boom!
"What's the situation? What's happening on the moon?"
The disturbances on the moon naturally caught the attention of the Shinobi Allied Forces and the Ninja Association. Through ultra-long-range telescopes, they saw the chaos on the lunar surface and the falling meteors.
"Bring out the Space-Time Chakra Cannon. I will destroy those things. If necessary, I will seal the moon itself."
In the Hidden Cloud Village, the Fourth Raikage, Ay, ordered his subordinates to roll out their ultimate treasure: the Space-Time Chakra Cannon. He signaled the other four Kage of the Alliance. This was now a direct threat to them all.
Kakashi appeared on the communication screen. Seeing the cannon, his eyelid twitched. "Naruto and the others are up there. They'll handle it."
Suddenly, a giant fox appeared in their observation mirrors, joining the fight against Neji and Toneri. Beams of light occasionally struck the moon, causing it to fragment and send more meteors falling.
"Ready to fire at any time," Killer Bee said, sounding listless and dejected. Even though Naruto was up there, Bee was still in a slump. Over the past year, he had failed to pass the exam for the "One-Star Music Ninja" title; he was beginning to suspect the Association was targeting him. He, a once-in-a-century musical genius!
"The Cloud was hiding a weapon like that? Too cunning," Onoki remarked, his eye twitching at the sight of the cannon. A weapon capable of sealing the moon was no small matter.
"Crane Wing Formation, ready! Long-range units, prepare...!"
Kakashi was organizing the ninja units to handle the falling meteors.
"Lord Hokage, what is that?" a ninja suddenly asked.
Kakashi looked over. He saw three figures standing suspended in the air, their backs to the troops. The silhouettes were very familiar.
"Kabuto, Orochimaru, and Tobitake Tonbo!" a Byakugan user identified them and quickly informed Kakashi.
"Aren't they supposed to be doing research? What can three people do against this? Just delay the damage?" Kakashi watched them, not quite understanding. Facing such a massive, wide-scale attack, the impact of a single person was usually limited. If handled poorly, they could even injure themselves. This kind of area-of-effect disaster required an army.
"Oh, Kakashi, remember to allocate those saved funds to the R&D Department!"
Orochimaru suddenly elongated his neck and made a face at Kakashi. He then turned his gaze toward the meteors falling from the sky.
The other Konoha ninja watched the three of them in shock. What were they planning? They knew how strong these three were—one started the Fourth War, one was a Sannin, and one was a Hero of the World. But... surely even they couldn't solve a meteor shower like this.
"No problem, as long as you can minimize Konoha's losses," Kakashi replied.
He just feared the three of them wouldn't be enough. There were too many meteors. Each one looked like it would require a powerful ninja or a combined unit attack to neutralize, and there were far too many of them to count.
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