Chapter 15: Chapter 15: The battle of Hyuga
Hayate examined the groaning Kiba then turned to Naruto. "The winner is Naruto Uzumaki!"
…
Naruto walked confidently up the stairs with his hands behind his head and a proud toothy grin on his face. When he got near Hinata she jumped into his embrace. "You were amazing!"
…
But in the distance a pair of eyes were glaring at her not feeling like celebrating.
"Silly Hinata…not a care in the world…"
Sakura ran up to Kiba before the medics carried him out in the stretcher. "Are you okay?"
He smiled slightly. "I'll be alright. Give me an update about the exams when you visit me at the hospital later."
"Yeah." Sakura nodded as the medics carried him away.
"Okay, it's time for the next match." Hayate announced.
Naruto stopped his little celebration and along with everyone else focused his eyes on the board. And that's when the letters stopped shuffling…and to all of the jonins' horror…they stopped at:
Neji Hyuga vs Hinata Hyuga
The matches were selected by random, but out of all the names it showed a truly shocking matchup.
Neji merely smirked and slowly and calmly made his way down the stairs.
Hinata's eyes widened in shock and her body started shaking with fear. She looked at the board again and blinked in disbelief. Seeing that she wasn't imagining things she glanced towards Neji for a fraction of a second before her gaze faced the floor and her shaky hands gripped the furry hem of her jacket. She was about to fight someone she spars against often at the Hyuga compound and whom she knows is far stronger than her. To make the matters worse, not only did Neji know how to exhaust her physically but he could also crush her emotionally as well, knowing exactly which hurtful words to use to break down her spirit.
She gulped in fear before feeling a pair of warm hands grip her shoulders. Looking up her eyes met Naruto's as he looked at her in determination.
"You can do this, okay? Don't worry, you got this, believe it. I know you'll do great. "
Her throat felt so dry. "Na…Naruto…I…"
"You've got this." He gripped her shoulders tighter. "Just don't let him get to you, ok?"
"Ok…" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When her eyes opened again there was no fear in them, just excitement and determination.
Naruto smiled at her. "Go kick his butt."
She nodded. Giving her a kiss on the cheek he let go of her shoulders and she quickly walked down the stairs to stand across from her cousin who glared at her. But his glare turned to surprise after he saw the look in her eyes. She wasn't as insecure as before, she was much more sure of herself.
"Lady Hinata…before we start I would like to give you a piece of advice…quit now, you know y-"
"Save the speech, brother." She interrupted him rudely but decisively surprising him even more. "Let's fight…Byakugan!" She got into her stance.
"What? Those two are brother and sister?" Naruto blinked in confusion. "She told me she only had a sister."
"No, they are first cousins." Kakashi explained.
Neji's look of surprise vanished and was replaced with anger as he got in the same stance activating his byakugan as well.
Naruto looked at them in confusion. "It's… the same stance…"
"Yes. The Hyuga clan has the most powerful taijutsu in the village. Hey are from the same clan so they will of course have the same stance as they were both thought the same thing growing up." Kakashi explained.
"Oh." Narurto's eyes turned back towards the two as they began exchanging blows. They both hit, punched and ducked in the similar way but there was no visible effect. The sharp punches could actually be heard through the air but neither of them made any kind of noise they just kept trying to touch each other. Neji aimed his hand at her head in incredible speed which she ducked just as fast by bending backwards and straightening her back again just as quickly showing just how nimble and graceful she was.
Naruto was confused again. "What are they doing? They aren't even hitting each other."
"The taijutsu of the Hyuga clan is special. With the power of the byakugan they are able to see the chakra coils flowing through the body and hit them precisely, for that they don't even need to touch each other, they can stop the chakra flow of the body part that they hit just by releasing a burst of chakra through their palms." Kakashi explained once again.
"Woah…that's amazing…" Naruto blinked looking at Hinata's fast moves. "Awesome…"
The two kept exchanging blows until Neji slammed his palm under her chin. The force of the blow sent her back pedaling a few feet before she stopped, barely managing to stay on her feet. Her eyes squeezed shut from the pain in her jaw, she started to cough and a few drops of blood leaked out of the sides of her mouth. Wiping them away with her hand she swallowed carefully and was met not only with a sharp pain in her jaw but also with the bitter metallic taste of blood.
She quickly got back in her stance and rushed towards him and they started invisibly hitting each other again. Neji looked at her in confusion between the punches she seemed to mainly aim at his shoulders. Feeling a numb sensation grow over his left arm he realized what she was doing and quickly pushed himself away from her.
Panting and shaking a bit, she looked at him with a pleased expression in her eyes.
His left arm relaxed against his side and he pulled up his sleeve to reveal red dots all over his shoulder.
He glared at her in anger. "Since when can you see the chakra points?!"
She smiled slightly. All that training she did paid off, her byakugan developed quite a bit. Not only can she see the chakra points but she can also see a lot further away.
"And since I am able to see them…I know that you can see them too…that's why I was holding back."
"How did you learn to be so cunning?"
"Well, I have got the Leaf's most unpredictable ninja as my teammate." She smiled glancing at Naruto who gave her a big grin.
"Heh, well I hope you did not also pick up his tendency to fail."
Hinata's expression became serious. "let's continue, brother."
After another dozen of swift blows Hinata almost got Neji again.
"Did she hit him?" Sakura's eyes widened.
"No way! She barely touched him!" Naruto griped the railing.
"Even so, she must have hurt him somewhat." Lee added.
Naruto turned to face him. "What do you mean?"
"That is what makes the Hyuga clan the most powerful taijutsu users." Gai continued. "Their taijutsu is not like the taijutsu Lee and I use. We concentrate on inflicting external damage while the Hyuga taijutsu attacks internal organs and the flow of chakra through the body."
"No matter how hard you train your internal organs won't get any stronger, even the most powerful shinobi is vulnerable to this type of taijutsu." Kakashi added.
Naruto turned back to Hinata in amazement. "Woah!"
But the amazement was short lived as after a few minutes Neji rolled up Hinata's sleeve showing that he'd been doing the same all along…hitting her chakra points leaving red dots all over her arm.
But Hinata wasn't going to quit, repeating her nindo in her head over and over as she exchanged blows with her opponent.
"All these years I've been watching you Naruto…but now…finally… you're the one watching me…I cannot look bad in front of you…Naruto…watch me…"
WHAM!
And Hinata flew a few feet before landing on her side with a short scream of pain. She panted and turned towards Neji.
"See? This is what separates the elite from the failures."Neji lowered the hand he used to strike Hinata. "You sealed your destiny the moment you decided to continue with this match, you know you cannot win."
Hinata just smirked at him.
He looked at her in confusion before a drop of blood dripped out of his nostril. "What?" He wiped it and looked at the blood on his fingers. "You…" He started to cough. "How?!"
"Yeah! She got 'im!" Naruto cheered.
"Impressive." Kakashi blinked.
Lee tightened his fists. "She actually managed to hit him…"
Kurenai looked in amazement. "Hinata made some amazing progress from the last time I saw her. I hope her father changed his opinion about her from that time I came to his compound thinking that she would be on my team."
But as Hinata got up on her feet the damage that Neji's blow had on her became apparent as she coughed out blood and fell to her knees again.
"Hinata!" Naruto gripped the jar in his hand.
"You better quit before it's too late."Neji warned her.
"I never…go back…on my word…"She slowly got back on her feet. "That's my nindo…my ninja way."
Sakura blinked. "Where have I heard that before?" She looked at Naruto.
As if feeling her eyes on him, Naruto turned to Sakura. "Hm?"
"She's stronger than I thought she was." Sakura admitted.
"Hinata's really tough, you know." Naruto told her.
"I see." Sakura smiled.
"We all do." Kakashi added.
Naruto nodded in agreement.
Kurenai looked at Hinata's shaking form. "She's at her limit…one more blow and she's done."
Naruto's head snapped towards her."What?!"
"Neji blocked her chakra flow." Kakashi frowned. "She won't last much longer."
Naruto's neck slowly turned towards his teammate."Hinata…"
Then something in him burst. "Go Hinata! You can do it!"
"Naruto…" Hinata looked up at him and then charged Neji again.
"When I watch you…" They exchanged blows again. "I feel full of courage… I feel that I can keep going…that I can succeed… that even I am worth something… "
"HYA!" She was about to punch Neji again but he was quicker, punching her instead. She took a few steps away from him and grimaced in pain.
But that didn't stop her. She charged Neji again, both of them had their hand out to strike…but only one of them missed…
Everything seemed to hold still. It was like time stopped, there was no movement or sound in the room. Everyone's breathes caught in their throats…
…until Hinata collapsed to the ground in a dull thud… her byakugan deactivated by itself and she coughed out more blood before collapsing… her hand was still out…because it didn't manage to connect with Neji's stomach…but his managed to hit hers.
"You're finished." Neji deactivated his byakugan and began walking away from her a bit wobbly still feeling the blow she managed to inflict to him.
"No! Hinata!" Naruto's heart skipped a beat.
Hayate walked closer to Hinata. "Since she's not able to continue-"
"Don't stop the match!" Naruto yelled out.
"Naruto, she's unconscious!" Sakura's eyes widened.
But Naruto just smiled.
Everyone's eyes went towards Hinata and everyone gasped in shock…she was slowly getting up again.
Neji looked at her in disbelief. "Why won't you give up? You'll die! Just stop and end your suffering!"
"You're wrong, brother…" She panted. "The one who's really suffering... is you."
"What?"
"You are the one who's all torn up because of the fate of the main and side branches if the Hyuga clan."
Neji growled in anger and charged her.
Hayate ran towards them. "Neji no, the match is over!"
But just before he could strike her all the jonin blocked him from doing so.
Hinata felt her heart ache and started coughing before her legs gave out.
Naruto gasped and jumped over the railing and ran towards her catching her just before she hit the ground.
"Hinata!"
"Nar..u…to…I…"
"Shhh, it's ok. You did great, believe it."
"B-but I… lost…"
"You're a winner to me." He said softly and kissed her forehead."Relax now…"
She smiled and her eyes slowly closed and her breathing calmed.
"Is she going to be ok?" Naruto turned towards his sensei.
"She'll be fine, just take her to the hospital."
Naruto nodded and was about to pick her up but a voice stopped him.
"Hey, you…loser."
Naruto turned to Neji and frowned.
"I have two pieces of advice for you…Firstly, if you want to call yourself a ninja stop the stupid cheering, it's disgraceful…and second…once a failure always a failure."
"We'll just see about that." Naruto said angrily. "Because remember, I'm going to the finals…" He dipped his fingers in Hinata's blood and held his fist out towards Neji. "And when I get there…I vow to beat you."
"Hmph." And with that Neji walked away.
Naruto pulled out Hinata's handkerchief and wiped the blood off of his hand and then wiped the blood off of the sides of her mouth then stuffing if back into his pocket he picked up Hinata bridal style and started walking out of the arena.
_________________________________________
Walking out of the arena he was met with medics who transported them to the hospital using a transportation jutsu Kakashi often used. After Hinata was in safe hands Naruto was told to go back to the arena but he refused wanting to stay by her side. Sitting in the waiting room Kakashi showed up in a puff of smoke.
"She's in surgery…" Naruto said grimly.
"You missed the two last matches."
"I don't care…"
"And also since you weren't there…the matchups for the finals were decided."
"And?"
"You're up against Neji."
Naruto gulped."Good."
"Go home, it's getting dark…you'll see her tomorrow."
"She's gonna be ok, right?"
"Yes, she's in good hands…go."
________________________________________
Getting back to his apartment it was weird being there without his roommate. All of a sudden it felt so lonely. After taking a shower he went to his bed. "I guess I'll sleep here tonight." But plopping his head on the pillow he felt something hard underneath it. "Huh?" He stuck his hand under the pillow and pulled out a locked. "This is Hinata's…"
He opened the locked. Inside there were two pictures. One was a beautiful woman who looked like Hinata and the other one…
…was a picture of him…
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