Chapter 12;

Final Defiance

Hiashi pulled his head back barely avoiding the tip of Neji's katana. The fact that Neji truly was a genius was once again showing itself clearly. After only three days of training with Odana he had already mastered the basics. He could now find and attack his uncle using sound alone no matter how silently he tried to move.

They suddenly stopped as the sound of an alarm caught their attention. "That alarm...have they come already?" Hiashi wondered out loud.

"Damn right we have." Came a voice from across the training yard.

Both of the Hyuugas turned in the direction of the new person. Standing there was a person Hiashi had never seen before, definitely not a Konoha shinobi. "Who are you?" He asked calmly.

"I'd tell ya to ask yer son there, but he can't even see me these days can he?" He ended his line with a slight laugh.

"I don't need to see you...I'll never forget that voice, Shogoten Juube. And this is my uncle. My father is dead." Neji growled back at him.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I had a feeling ya might survive...why I destroyed those damn eyes'a yours. Never met anyone else who could see me while I was invisible. But that's alright, cause I'm here to finish the job now!"

Neji raised the katana in the direction of Juube's voice. "Stay out of this Hiashi. This is my fight alone."

Hiashi didn't take his eyes off of Juube. "You're not ready yet, Neji. This is the man who beat you so badly when you were at your best and killed the Tsuchikage. Let me deal with him."

"He's not as strong as he thinks. He took me by surprise last time and the only reason he defeated the Tsuchikage was because the Tsuchikage couldn't see him. He's nowhere near the strength of a Kage...his only real advantage is his stealth and that's worthless against us."

Hiashi sighed and let his stance relax. "Fine. But I'm not going to let you use revenge as an excuse to die. If things start to look bad I'm jumping in."

He didn't even acknowledge his uncle's response as he charged forward at Juube, the katana held at his side. He slashed horizontally as he reached the point where he had heard the man's voice. Metal collided with metal as Juube defended with one of his daggers. "Ya honestly think ya can beat me blind, kid? Ya must be outta yer damn mind!"

Neji pulled away and rolled to the side as Juube drew his dagger sideways, sending an arc of energy where he'd been. Hiashi ducked under it and it continued into the wall of the house, exploding on impact.

Neji lunged at him again from the side swinging the katana at his head this time. The Elite dove backwards sending energy from both of his daggers this time. Neji flipped over them and brought the blade down as he fell. The tip touched flesh, drawing a red line across Juube's chest. "Interestin'. Ya can fight even without yer eyes."

Juube started rapidly slashing his daggers through the air, sending tons of his energy attacks at Neji. The noise they made as they cut through the air was fairly loud, making it easy to dodge one or two, but so many at once made it difficult to tell exactly where they were coming from.

As quickly as he could he began to dodge them, but Juube wasn't letting up. He was doing well until he heard his uncle shout "Neji! Watch out!"

But by the time he heard it, it was already too late. With all the noise from the energy and the effort he'd put into dodging he failed to notice that Juube had suddenly started firing only half as many attacks. That fact along with the reason why only came to him when one of Juube's daggers pierced through his chest. He'd thrown it and used the other to fire energy to guide him right into it's path.

He felt the dagger be pulled out, immediately followed by a foot connecting with his face. He stumbled backwards holding his nose, which he was fairly certain had been broken. If he could see this wouldn't have happened...but now he was losing to the same man again. Before Juube could attack again ten shuriken came flying towards him from the side. He turned and cut them all down with his daggers as Hiashi charged in at him.

-

Kakashi lay on his back on a table in Konoha's hospital. Five medical ninjas surrounded him, working as quickly they could to heal the massive wound in his chest. Jiraiya's earth clone had gotten him there just in time. Even a minute later and they probably wouldn't have been able to do anything to save him. Things still weren't looking good, but there was hope.

The door burst open and Sakura came running in followed closely by Tsunade. They'd been training when a shinobi gave the news. Sakura had gone running immediately and Tsunade had chosen to follow. "Kakashi-sensei..." She said in a voice that was almost a whisper.

The medics had removed his mask and shirt to make their work easier. It occured to her that this was the first time she'd ever seen his face, but she hardly cared at the moment. Tsunade walked up to one of the medics and simply said "Move over."

He obeyed and she took his place. She was known for her ability to fully heal wounds that nobody else could even begin to do something to help with. Sakura had picked up some medical techniques during her training, but right now she felt like all she could do was stand against the wall and watch.

-

The back of Juube's hand struck Hiashi's jaw, knocking back for the third time since they started fighting. A small stream of blood was coming from Juube's mouth from Hiashi's first attack. He'd hit him in the chest with an open palm and while he appeared fine on the outside, he could feel that the attack had struck him internally. He'd quickly realized how dangerous the man was and hadn't allowed him to get a second hit.

Hiashi barely dodged an arc of energy as he got back up and went at Juube again. The two were about even in skill and strength, but Juube had the advantage of range. Another energy attack came at him and he spun in place rapidly, dirt flying up around him. When the energy hit the defense it reversed and flew back at Juube. He cancelled it out with a second one and charged again the moment Hiashi stopped rotating.

Before he could fully regain his balance Juube's dagger stabbed into his stomach. Juube turned, pulling it out and stabbing him again in the shoulder before finishing with a kick to his chest. Hiashi hit the ground on his back and lay there, the pain in his gut preventing him from getting back up.

He smirked as he looked at the two Hyuuga's in front of him, one unable to get up and the other blind and badly weakened. "Looks like it's over...gotta give ya some credit though. Ya lasted longer than most people d-"

He stopped speaking and spit out blood as a palm hit him in back, damaging his internal organs the same way Hiashi's attack had done. He turned around and was instantly hit not by a fist or palm but by two outstretched fingers. More of the same type of attack followed rapidly, each one hitting a different spot. Hiashi smirked as the final attack hit. "Nice timing, Hanabi."

Juube stared at the little girl that had just attacked him as he realized that his body seemed heavy. Like she'd just somehow prevented him from using a vast majority of his strength. He used what strength he did have to raise one of his daggers over his head as it started to glow with energy. "Dammit! You little bitch!"

He never got the chance to swing the dagger and release the energy though as he suddenly found that his arm was no longer attached to his body. Neji stood just behind him, his katana covered in blood. He turned and looked at the boy, fear and shock in his eyes for the first time ever. He couldn't do anything but stand there as Neji drove the katana through his chest.

He coughed up more blood and fell to his knees as Neji pulled the weapon back. "Looks like...this is the end, huh? I've got just one request before I die..."

"What makes you think I'll give you a last request? You deserve nothing." Neji responded with hatred clear in his voice.

"Maybe not, but my request benefits yer little village more than it does me. If it has to end like this, I at least wanna piss off that old bastard Yukio one last time." He reached into a pocket inside his shirt with his remaining arm and pulled out the Fire Relic.

"What is that...?" Hiashi asked as he stared at it.

"This's what we attacked yer village for. We destroyed that Hidden Stone place for one just like it. If I can't hand this to the old bastard myself, then he ain't gettin' it at all. So just defend it...a tiny bit better this time." Juube dropped the relic and fell on his face the moment he finished speaking.

-

Naruto lay in a bed in Konoha's hospital, right where Jiraiya's clone had left him. Nobody was in the room with him, as he was there simply to rest and had no wounds. Nobody was there, so nobody saw his eyes slowly begin to open. Eye's that weren't Naruto's, but instead the blood red eyes of the Kyuubi.