Birth of the Golden Eyes
Disclamer: I do not own Naruto or anything you see here that you may have seen earlier. I am simply borrowing these for my own (and hopefully your) enjoyment.
Edit 4/21: A couple small errors that were niggling at me got fixed. Nothing major. Please read and review.
Hinata's dreams for the last week had been troubling. She never remembered much of them, not more than a few flashes, but those flashes disturbed her. Fighting Neji was the last thing she ever wanted, but each and every dream had placed her in a no-holds-barred fight for her life against her cousin in an unrecognizable arena. And, if the last flash of her latest dream was correct, he destroyed her. She couldn't remember whether she had died or not, but she had at least come close. And throughout each of her dreams, there was a voice--almost her own but not quite--that kept saying, "This doesn't have to end this way. Just let me in."
And now, like in her dreams, she was fighting with Neji--for a spot in the Chuunin Exam finals. Naruto's words had given her the resolve to continue despite Neji's harsh (but accurate) assessment of her skill, but the fight couldn't have been more one-sided. First Neji sealed the tenketsu in her arms to keep her Jyuuken from doing anything. Then he broke through her guard with contemptuous ease and blasted her heart. To his credit he hadn't dealt a killing blow, but it certainly caused excessive internal damage.
Hinata stood again, shakily, coughing up blood. And Neji just hit her again, harder this time. As Hinata stood again, she remembered her dreams, and the voice came again, "Let me in! He will kill you if you don't!" And, as Neji came at her once more, she threw open the gates of her soul.
The hit from that attack was the last blow that Neji would ever land on Hinata, even in practice spars. It threw her back with such force that she slammed against the wall. This would have indeed killed Hinata under normal circumstances, but this was hardly normal.
Hinata's mindscape was a little… odd. A beautiful, tranquil, still garden, but all in white and greys and black. Hinata was slightly confused as to how she got to where she was, but as this was obviously not genjutsu…. She stood in the center of the frozen garden, waiting.
Then, as suddenly as she had arrived there, a shimmer seemed to form before her, resolving itself into a human-like figure cloaked in gold. The figure stood with its back to her, as if assessing the surroundings. Then it spoke, the voice from before emanating from it, "So much suppressed emotion. What has happened to you, child, that your own mind is so bleak?"
Hinata stared, dumbstruck. Her mind? This world of alabaster, marble, and jet was her mind? The figure seemed to turn its head, as if looking over its shoulder through its hood at her. And, transfixed, Hinata told this strange stranger the story of her life. How her father's cold and harsh personality had taught her from an early age that she was not worth his time as anything other than his heir and a ninja, and how her failures as the latter during training had only intensified long-standing confidence issues, which in turn magnified her failures.
How one Uzumaki Naruto had caught her attention by his refusal to give up even in the face of overwhelming odds. How she wished that she could do more for him, but her station prevented her from even entertaining that as a realistic notion. How she had grown to feel things for him that she could never act on.
She told the story of the event that had started Neji's hatred for the main branch, and for her especially. How his belief in Fate's immutability seemed to assuage his hurt but enflame his anger as he believed that his own fate was sealed to servitude and forced devotion. And how it all came down to that damnable seal.
The woman--the figure had defined itself more as Hinata told her story--spoke next in a voice of controlled fury, "This Seal of the Caged Bird is an abomination. I did not give your ancestors the Byakugan so they could enslave the vast majority of the clan to its protection."
Hinata squeaked, collected herself, and asked, "You gave us the Byakugan?"
The answer came, "Yes. Long ago your forefather and his family did me a great service, and to repay them I gifted them with the Byakugan and the basic principles of what would later become known as the Jyuuken. I had heard that for several generations they had tattooed my symbol upon their brow in remembrance of the gift, but I guess that tradition died out."
"Not entirely," replied Hinata, "It has, apparently, been corrupted into two new 'traditions': the curse seal and the main family's bared brow."
"Be that as it may, your clan is a far cry from the Hyuuga I knew. My friends and allies--for so they were--would never have allowed anyone to use this seal, much less used it themselves. They were the champions of the downtrodden and would offer their aid to any good person who needed it.
"The service your ancestors did for me was, in fact, one of the most selfless acts I have ever seen. I had asked their aid in battle against an oni who had raised an army of his own to ravage the land. During the battle, the oni attacked me from behind, but I was saved by the head of the family himself. He had thrown himself between me and a kunai poisoned with one of the deadliest toxins known. He died there, but not before saying that his only regret was that he hadn't seen the oni earlier so that he could have stopped the attack entirely.
"It is from that regret that the Byakugan was born. As my thanks to his family I gave them eyes that could do what he had wished for and more. And I gave them a new fighting style that could only be fully utilized through those eyes."
They both stood there for a short time. Hinata broke the silence in a quiet but firm voice, "My dream is to change my clan. At first I thought only to rid the world of the Caged Bird Seal, but now I intend to make the ideals of my clan what they once were."
The goddess--for that is what she must be--raised her right arm in an imperial manner, gesturing for Hinata to look to that side. Hinata obeyed, wondering why.
Her question was answered immediately. There stood an altar of obsidian with the Hyuuga clan's crest of the teardrop-flame inlaid in marble. And on the altar sat a sword, held in an ornate teak stand.
"You wish to change your clan, to bring back to it the ideals that brought it to my attention?" asked the goddess, who had moved behind Hinata, "Then here is my test. This sword is alive and aware. However, it is, at present, asleep, waiting for one whose soul can properly wield it. You must wake it."
Hinata stared at the sword, took three hesitant steps, and stood before the altar. She reached out and stopped just short of the hilt. 'What if I'm not the right one?' She blinked, and in that blink, she remembered. She remembered Naruto: his determination in the face of adversity, how he always kept trying. Then she grabbed the hilt and lifted the sword.
Little did she know it, but the garden around her began to color as she remembered Naruto and picked up the sword. The goddess smiled at this. She definitely was the one. As Hinata raised the sword, the blade began to glow white, then it burst into ethereal white-and-gold flame.
The goddess spoke once more, "You have the ability, Hinata, to change yourself and your clan, and more importantly, you have always had that ability." She seemed to smile, "You just needed a push.
"The powers of the sword are yours to command. Simply recall the feelings that came to you when you held it and you will find them. I believe we have spent long enough here for one session, now."
And, as suddenly as Hinata had found herself in her mindscape, she was back in reality. She had just hit the floor from her slam into the wall. However, she didn't feel any of the impacts' effects on her body. She stood up once more, eyes closed, but this time she didn't cough up anything. She had been healed. She concentrated, doing as the goddess had told her and bringing the warm feelings of power to the front of her mind.
Because her eyes were closed, very few people noticed the change immediately. Neji noticed, of course, because he had his Byakugan active and could see her tenketsu opening themselves… and the change in the color of her chakra--from a normal blue to a brilliant gold.
Shino noticed. His bugs kept him apprised of the physical situation. Shikamaru noticed, but then again, what doesn't he notice? What he noticed was the steadiness with which she stood and the apparent lack of injuries.
Naruto noticed. The power radiating off Hinata did something to him. Whatever the snake-nin had done to him was undoing itself in response to it. He felt his own chakra restoring itself like normal, but then he felt an odd pulse and seemed to hear a song… and he felt more powerful than ever and knew that it was Hinata's doing.
Gaara noticed something, though he wasn't sure where it came from. Shukaku had quieted, and he seemed to hear a song coming from somewhere.
Then Hinata opened her eyes, and the whole room knew something had happened. Her Byakugan was still active, they could tell that from the bulging veins by her eyes. However, her eyes were not the normal Byakugan anymore. They seemed to be a flickering gold--like a flame… like her chakra.
The room at large was taken aback by this development. Neji, however, merely scoffed and offered his usual retort, "Fate's decrees cannot be denied, not even by a change in your eyes." Inwardly, however, he was becoming more and more nervous by the second. Hinata shouldn't have been able to do what she did… any of it.
Hinata merely smirked--an expression never before seen on her face. "A change in my eyes is not all that I now have on my side." No stuttering here, which, when looked upon in hindsight by all present, should have been the biggest forewarning of the magnitude of the change that had taken place. It certainly was for Kurenai at the time.
'Something's caused a major change mentally, too. She's not going to let Neji play his mind games anymore.'
Hinata's eyes seemed to flicker more now, which served to magnify the intensity of her gaze. She launched herself across the room, straight at Neji. He dived to the side just in time to keep her from hitting him. She turned immediately and hit him just after his rollout, her arms moving faster than Neji could track. She had sealed the tenketsu in his arms before he knew what was happening. And it hurt. This was far worse than what he had taken during his training. Hinata's golden chakra was like a blazing wildfire in his chakra coils and it was burning far longer and hotter than anyone else's chakra would have. He couldn't move his arms from a combination of sealed tenketsu and the excruciating pain.
Hinata's next move was to take out his legs. This was far simpler because she only had to hit the chakra coils in his knees and he was crippled, due to her fire-and-light-natured chakra and its effects. Neji dropped to his knees, unable to do more than stay upright, and that only barely.
Hinata walked behind him, then pushed him over. As his face hit the ground he heard the referee announce, "Winner: Hyuuga Hinata!" Neji was stunned. Hinata, the weakest member of the Hyuuga clan, had defeated him, the clan prodigy.
Hinata rolled him over and stared into his eyes. "Fate is not unchangeable, Neji-niisan." She reached down and pulled off his hitae-ate. She glowered at the seal momentarily, then formed a hand-seal that Neji had never seen before. She reached back down and pressed two fingers to the seal and muttered "Kai." There was an audible snapping sound and Hinata spoke, "Let the past become the past, onii-san. Put aside your grudge and help me. Together we can change our clan."
She unsealed his tenketsu and dissipated the chakra that still burned his coils, then offered him her hand. He took it, "From this day forth," he said, "I shall serve you with all my heart."
"No," said Hinata, "You shall serve with me with all your heart."
The goddess smiled again at these words. Hinata would certainly go far.
-End-
AN: A glossary (for dummies) and some explanations.
Onii-san/-niisan: the first is a noun, meaning brother. The second is a suffix attached to a name that signifies that the named is brother to the speaker.
Hitae-ate: the band of cloth that all shinobi wear with a band of metal with the symbol of their village on it. Neji wears his on his forehead, like most ninja do, Hinata wears hers around her neck.
Tenketsu: chakra pores. Openings in the chakra circulatory system that enable chakra to be released. The Jyuuken can be used to close them, which can cancel the ability to use jutsu, as well as hinder movement.
Jyuuken: the fighting style of the Hyuuga clan. It uses chakra with pinpoint accuracy to either close tenketsu or cause internal damage.
Byakugan: the Hyuuga clan's bloodline. It enables the holder to see nearly 360 degrees in all planes with a very small blind spot behind the first thoracic vertebra. It also allows limited "X-ray" vision and can be used to see over long distances.
What exactly happened with Naruto (and to a lesser extent Gaara): Hinata's ambient chakra has an effect on certain seals when she uses the power of the sword. The five-pronged seal that Orochimaru put on Naruto was dissolved. Hinata's sword-powered natures (fire and light) affected Kyuubi. The Fire nature called to Kyuubi as a spirit of fire, which made Naruto feel stronger. The Light nature calmed the Bijuu (and through Shukaku, Gaara) down (through the weird song that Naruto and Gaara seemed to hear (they had no better way to describe the feeling.))
Why those natures?: I stole the sword from Elizabeth Haydon's Symphony of the Ages. It's Daystar Clarion, elemental sword of--you guessed it--Aether (starlight) and Fire. I picked Daystar Clarion because of the effect I explained on Naruto. It gives him a reason to first notice Hinata, should I write more in which they get together (I'm a huge NaruHina fan (and I reserve the right to write as I please, which means I ignore reviews demanding more.))
The Goddess: I intended this to be Amaterasu (and the symbol the Sun), but I'm honestly not sure if she would work in this role. Thoughts?
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this. Real reviews are appreciated, I will answer questions if you PM me with them. Flames will be given to a professor at my university who knows the art of fire-eating (and there is one.)