Rabbit Princess [Gaara] [3]

☾ 19 ☽

Tsukiko fetched Hinata from Hanabi's room, and the purple-haired girl was herself surprised to know how quickly Tsukiko had managed to find the location of the Tenseigan. Tsukiko quickly explained to her everything that had happened, and how they needed to hurry up.

The location of the Tenseigan was directly below the castle. The small celestial body floating within the crescent moon-shaped rock base – it was confirmed when Tsukiko had Hinata use her eyes to see that it was the only place where the Byakugan didn't work.

"My field of vision is distorted," Hinata informed Tsukiko. "It's just how I couldn't see that Toneri's base was located in that artificial sun when I came here..."

"Just what I thought," Tsukiko muttered. "It appears that the Tenseigan is hidden within a barrier made just for blocking the Byakugan. Come, hold onto my arm,"

Outside the castle, Tsukiko took Hinata along and they jumped down from the edge of the rock base to the small celestial body. From the outside, it appeared to be a simple cluster of rock, but it had an entrance, and there were levels inside made by humans.

Silent and dark, a corridor waited for the two girls, and the two of them continued down the pathway, leading them to the centre of the hall. Tsukiko looked up with bated breath.

A large eyeball, twenty meters in diameter, floated in the wide-open space in the centre. It was none other than the Hamura's Tenseigan. Hinata looked at Tsukiko.

"Shall I try first?" Hinata asked. "You can observe from here, and once we have figured out the weakness, you can break your restrains and we'll work together,"

"That sounds perfect," Tsukiko agreed, impressed with Hinata's perspective and also rather glad at how open she had become. "I believe in you, let's do it,"

Hinata took her stance to destroy it but before she could do anything, tall puppet shinobi with their faces wrapped in bandages, along with their subordinates, swooped down on her and Tsukiko.

Tsukiko spun around to fight them as well, however, now it was setting into her head that she was severely weakened. She was able to fight against the puppets, using Taijutsu that trashed them into smithereens but her reaction time had slowed down immensely.

It wasn't until she felt her knees shaking that Tsukiko recognised that Toneri had managed to fulfil his wish – he had snatched a great deal of her Chakra, and awakened his initial phase of the Tenseigan.

"Tsukiko,"

Upon her name, Tsukiko swept around to see that Toneri was standing right behind her. And a few feet away from her, Hinata no longer had the freedom to control her body. Tsukiko looked up at Toneri's face to see that he was glaring coldly down at her.

"What are you doing, Tsukiko?" Toneri questioned, his voice hard and Tsukiko knew that she could no longer keep up her passiveness. "What are you doing here with that girl?"

"You're in the wrong," Tukiko told him, her voice flat. "Hinata and I have met with Hamura's soul. He entrusted us with the true decree at the tomb of the Otsutsuki's main family, whom your ancestors destroyed. Your actions are contradictory to what he believed,"

"You have betrayed me..." Toneri said lowly.

"This is not about betrayal," Tsukiko responded. "Hamura doesn't want you to do this. He does not and has never wished for the destruction of the world that the Sage of Six Paths has cre –"

"Shut up!" Toneri shouted at her, and Tsukiko flinched back. "It's a lie! Hamura has only one decree! To destroy the world of the Sage of Sixth Paths!"