Chapter 717 Sakura V.S. Ōtsutsuki Toneri, Part Two

'It's coming!'

Just as Sakura was preparing to fly out to intercept the chakra cannon's shot, she caught a flicker of cyan from the corner of her eye, barely perceptible against the sun's fiery corona. It was lucky that she saw it then, because her senses of smell and hearing were completely useless out here in space.

Squinting against the sun's glare, Sakura opened her Byakugan and focused her sight.

"…!"

How in the world had Toneri ended up all the way over there!?

Sakura realised that Toneri must have followed her through the Moon Tunnel. Most likely, he had been caught in the spatial storm that formed when the formation shattered. He must have been flung somewhere between the Earth and the Moon, forcing him to complete the rest of the journey by flying.

The cyan dot picked up speed.

'Help me, Narutooo!' Sakura thought to herself. 'I can't touch Truth-Seeking Orbs!'

Toneri had seen her, and to make matters worse, his stolen eyes had finally awakened. Perhaps the collapsing space-time in the Moon Tunnel had caused him to experience more time than she had, giving him the time he needed to adapt…

'Celestial Sovereign Lotus Seal, Open!'

Turquoise bands bloomed from the lotus mark on Sakura's forehead, glowing faintly against her white skin. The strips raced down her neck, wrapping across her bust and wrapping around her limbs.

'He's fast!'

Toneri's figure flickered as he turned into a stream of light and soundlessly smashed into the moon's surface. Moon dust exploded outwards from the crater, blanketing the surrounding area in smoke. Without warning, spiralling waves of silver chakra tore through the dust, revealing Toneri fully clad in a cyan chakra cloak… Tenseigan Chakra Mode!

'Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!'

Fortunately, Sakura had still been using the Byakugan at the time, allowing her to see the attack coming and pre-emptively flicker out of the way. She reappeared moments later, weaving hand signs as she slid to a stop to Toneri's left.

'Plasma Style: Absolute Extreme Poles Electro-Plasma Thunderclap Railburst: Super Sakura-Flavoured Dango Caster Mk. IV with Gold Leaf Sprinkles on Top!'

Without bothering to take careful aim, Sakura fired a series of toroidal bursts of plasma in rapid succession in retaliation, but Toneri swung his hands in a circle, morphing his nine Truth-Seeking Orbs into a pitch-black shield before him.

The plasma dispersed harmlessly upon contact with the paper-thin black disc, as expected.

A Kekkei Tōta combining three chakra natures was no match for a Kekkei Mōra, which encompassed all five natures and yin-yang style. Nothing in Sakura's arsenal of ninjutsu could get past Truth-Seeking Orbs, which meant that unless she could land a direct, senjutsu-chakra infused blow on Toneri himself, she would never be able to hurt him.

Sakura switched to the Rinnegan and clapped her hands.

'Chibaku Tensei!'

All at once, the ground under Toneri's feet erupted as Sakura designated him as a new gravitational focal point. Already weakened from the opposing forces of the gravitational tug-of-war between the Earth and Madara, the moon's surface began crumbling into pieces and rushing towards the young Ōtsutsuki, but he simply waved his hand and reduced the boulders and rocks to dust using his Truth-Seeking Orbs.

Sakura pirouetted as the nine Truth-Seeking Orbs glowed with the same colour as Toneri's chakra cloak, each firing a beam of cyan at her, which she narrowly avoided by contorting her body.

'Chibaku Tensei!'

Sakura clenched her fist in Toneri's direction and increased the gravitational pull.

'Vapour Style: Skilled Mist Jutsu!'

Given that there was no atmosphere on the Moon, the acid mist should have instantly dispersed into the vacuum of space, but the gravitational burden Sakura had placed on Toneri attracted the mist, causing it to spiral rapidly towards him.

Toneri immediately stopped firing laser beams at Sakura and deployed his Truth-Seeking Orbs to defend himself, but it was too late to make a complete bubble around himself. No matter how he spread his Truth-Seeking Balls, he could not completely defend against the formless acid mist, which began eating away at his chakra cloak.

"…!"

Without warning, Toneri grasped at his eyeballs, his cyan chakra cloak flickering dangerously.

'His body hasn't fully acclimatised to the Tenseigan yet?'

Sakura thrust out her hand and flipped her palm.

"Universal Pull!"

Toneri's body jerked forwards as Sakura pulled him in.

"…!" Sakura soundlessly screamed. 'Chakra Enhanced Strength: Cherry Blossom Impact!'

A fraction of a second later, Toneri recovered.

His nine Truth-Seeking Orbs glowed dangerously, firing a rain of chakra bolts as he hurtled towards her, still affected by her gravitational pull. Sakura instantly abandoned her attack and weaved between the bolts, leaving afterimages as she flickered left and right to avoid the onslaught. She couldn't remain in Toneri's melee range, she wouldn't be able to dodge the Truth-Seeking Orbs orbiting rapidly around him if she remained too close to him.

'Chibaku Tensei!'

Toneri's eyes glinted as he raised his palm, using the Tenseigan's equivalent of the Rinnegan's Almighty Push to rebound the gravity focus back at Sakura, momentarily freezing her in place as random moon rocks began assaulting her.

'Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!'

Toneri splayed his fingers, spinning the Truth-Seeking Orbs into a ring of cyan from which a tornado of silver chakra emerged.

'Susano'o!'

Blood streamed from Sakura's eyes as she summoned the pink chakra titan to weather the attack, but the silver whirlwind blades began rapidly tearing through its defences, grinding through the Susano'o's ribcage faster than it could form.

'Crystal Style: Jade Crystal Hexagonal Pillars!'

Sakura selected herself as one of the targets for her own move.

A pillar of crystal abruptly jutted out beneath her feet, pushing her out of the gravitational trap's area of effect and up and away from the storm of silver energy that surged across the moon's surface. She was now high above the moon, but her opponent was a far better flier than she was…

In a flash, Toneri appeared in front of her in his dazzling chakra cloak…

'Ōtsutsuki-style Calamity Swallowing Pill Refining: Regurgitate Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!'

…and a torrent of white light escaped from Sakura's mouth and tore into Toneri. She had been keeping Ōnoki's particle style jutsu in reserve for the past two years, just in case she found herself in a situation where she had no time to weave any hand signs and had to defend herself.

"…!!!"

Caught unawares, Toneri took the searing blast of light head-on, but unfortunately for Sakura, Ōnoki's jutsu was not enhanced with senjutsu chakra, like the rest of her attacks. Instead of tearing a massive hole through his body, the particle beam merely disrupted his chakra cloak and left a nasty burn on his stomach, giving Sakura an opening to axe kick him in the head and send him crashing down onto the Moon in a silent explosion.