Chapter 326: Greeting the Host

Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 326: Greeting the Host

"Mmm… you sound very confident in yourself. I thought that having been beaten by my companions would have humbled you a bit," Naruto commented as he noticed the change in Toneri's aura.

He was getting ready to attack.

Toneri made a gesture with his hand.

All around the great hall they were in, countless statues had been placed, and the moment Toneri willed it, they began to move.

These golems rushed at Naruto the instant they came to life.

"I won't make the same mistake again. This time, I will use my full power to destroy you and that damned planet you came from!"

Naruto felt the impact as one of the golems punched the back of his head. "Then I hope this isn't your full power and that you have something better to offer."

Another golem attacked, but Naruto didn't even try to avoid it.

A massive stone fist hit his chest, and the rock hand that touched him was shattered into pieces.

Naruto's body was covered by an invisible layer of his own Divine Energy. An attack of this level had no chance of harming him.

"I'm just getting started!" Toneri huffed. He had not expected much from his golems, but even then, he had been disappointed with the poor results they showed.

Six Truth-Seeking Orbs manifested at his side before he threw them at Naruto like projectiles while the latter was distracted with the golems. "Take this!"

The explosion generated by the orbs was violent enough to wash away most of the remaining golems. However, Toneri didn't mind this, as they were doing little to nothing. So they might as well serve as a distraction.

A thick layer of dust arose from the resulting destruction.

Toneri was unable to feel Naruto's chakra at all, so with his vision occluded, he had no way of knowing the result of his attack.

Both he and Hidan stared at the settling dust without blinking, they didn't want to miss an instant.

"Impossible!" Toneri shouted when he saw the figure of Naruto emerge from the dust, looking completely intact.

"That can't be…" Hidan was also shocked. He knew Naruto was incredibly strong, but he also knew just how powerful his new Master was. Even his previous leader would have likely lost, despite the power of the Rinnegan.

Toneri bit his lip and focused more of his energy to create another Truth-Seeking Ball. He grasped it in hand, transforming it into a gigantic golden sword made of pure chakra, one that was capable of slicing through anything in its path, including the Moon itself.

He then brought it down on Naruto with no hesitation. "Die!"

The blade reached Naruto and cut him vertically from shoulder to foot.

Or at least that's what Toneri was expecting to happen.

The blade had stopped at Naruto's shoulder and hadn't moved from there.

"A chakra blade… interesting. One would think that such a simple technique would be more common, but I don't recall seeing this before."

"How can that be?..." Toneri pushed the blade with everything he had, but no matter how much he tried, he could not pierce Naruto's flesh.

"Wait…" He could now see it clearly. It was not Naruto's skin that had stopped his attack, but instead, it was some sort of protective barrier made of golden chakra.

Naruto grasped the blade with his hand and increased his grip until it shattered into countless particles of light.

"I was a bit curious about what you could do. But I have to admit, this is very disappointing. Kaguya had much more fascinating moves than you."

"K-Kaguya?! You saw the Goddess?!" Toneri didn't want to think about that just yet. But he had been concerned about running into the Goddess ever since he felt the seal break apart. That was not someone he wanted to face.

Naruto noticed how scared he had become at the mere mention of her name. "See her?… I killed her."

"N-No… you're lying!" Toneri took a step back. "That can't be true… even my ancestors determined that it was impossible to kill the Evil Goddess, so they had to seal her instead," he exclaimed.

"I don't think that's true, though." Naruto was sure the Sage could have found a way to kill her. But at the end of the day, she was his mother, so perhaps he couldn't bring himself to do that and chose to seal her instead.

"It matters little to me if you believe my words or not."

Naruto began to walk toward Toneri. "Since you have nothing more to show me…"

"Stay away from me!" Toneri shouted. He didn't want to believe what Naruto had said about killing the Goddess, but a part of him knew he was telling the truth.

This meant that the human in front of him had somehow surpassed the level of the gods. And if that was the case… he had no chance of winning.

"Master! You have to kill him!" Hidan shouted. He wished he could do something to help, but he was only a head.

Naruto continued to walk toward Toneri, getting closer and closer.

Toneri's body became surrounded by a cloak of chakra.

A large Truth-Seeking Orb appeared in front of his hand before he grasped it, generating a powerful silvery typhoon.

"Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"

Toneri's attack destroyed everything in front of him, pushing a massive amount of debris from the palace until it was stopped by the barrier.

"Where is he?…" Toneri saw no traces of Naruto. If he had been hit by the attack, there should at least be some blood, or something left behind.

"Master!"

Toneri heard Hidan shouting his name.

"Above!"

Toneri's eyes shot upward just in time to catch a glimpse of Naruto's fist.