AN: Some villainy in this chapter.
Music of the update: "Call it love" by John Paul White "Whats so" John Paul White. "Leave a light on" by Tom Walker, "Play dead" by Tom Walker
"W-why?" Neji asked, bloodshot pearlescent eyes staring up at his uncle, the taste of betrayal bittersweet in his mouth. They said that it cut deeper when betrayal came from blood. They weren't wrong.
Neji screamed in agony as the seal activated again biting off his sounds as best he could. Blurry eyes couldn't make out his uncle's form from the tears as the pain blinded him. Searing pain kept him from focusing, harnessing his chakra. The seal. His veins felt like they were on fire. His whole life flashed before his eyes. Moments with his father, with Hiashi, with his team, with Gai. With Ino. He had saved the children, only to end up being a target for his uncle. And he knew this was the end. Hiashi would see this through. If Ino were here, she would have made a bad pun.
Rattled breathing. Oxygen filled his lungs, though it was painful. Bleary Pearlescent eyes looked up. The smoke and clouds couldn't hide the blue.
Deep regret filled Neji.
Ino.
He wouldn't be able to save her. He felt that loss most keenly. If he died here, she would be forever Danzou's pawn. He was helpless in the only way that mattered. He choked on that bitter knowledge, trying to draw up the reserves of his failing strength. He had to do something. He wouldn't just lay down and die.
Hiashi was furious as he stared down at his nephew. "Why? Why?" He screamed.
Neji choked trying to find words. Hiashi let up on the seal's lashings momentarily, as he towered over the broken branch member."You had everything. You had status, approval, the clan's support, power and abilities. You were at the height of your prowess. And you threw it all away like garbage."
"-everything...but freedom." Neji spat. Hiashi grabbed his hair, pulling him up by it, forcing Neji to look him in the eyes. And he activated the seal.
Malevolent waves streamed through Neji's being, ripping and tearing and shredding, wrenching every ounce of pain that could be mustered from him. He felt like his very nerve endings were on fire. He crumpled to the ground, whimpering as the seal wreaked havoc upon him.
"You threaten our very way of life, trying to break the seal, and you have the audacity to ask why?" He snarled. Neji felt the kunai at his throat and choked.
"The Hyuuga house has operated for centuries, because of it's traditions. Because the clan has stayed together. Bonded together. Fought together. And you would shake and crumple the very foundations of these houses to the core." Hiashi exclaimed.
"It had nothing to do with the Hyuuga, Uncle. I was trying to save-" Neji started.
Slap.
The sound of his uncles hand across his face shocked him to the core.
"You were family. Now you are a traitor" Hiashi accused, that disapproving sneer written across his face.
"I-I could say the same for you." Neji said sorrowfully, his fist to the ground as he tried to shakily rise.
Byakugan eyes that were just like his brother's looked at him with pity.
Hiashi's eyes narrowed.
"I know the excuses you'll make for it. But you cannot hide the resentment you still feel for the Hyuuga clan." Hiashi told him.
"You're wrong." Neji replied. "I did it for-"
"The Yamanaka? For too long you have been preoccupied with the tart that saved your life. Did you think she might help you escape your fate? Grow up, Nephew. You cannot fall in lust with every teammate you have. Even if you were to bear children, it would be to the benefit of the Hyuuga. Nephew, I wont allow it."
"I am not your slave!" Neji snarled.
"You have lost your way. I must stop you, since you so obviously cannot stop yourself. You were raised with discipline. And now you have thrown that very training to the wind-"
"What you allow- Argh-" Neji cried, feeling the rage enter him. The activated seal flared, biting off his scream.
This was it.
All of his hoping, longing, love, became tantamount to nothing because he was going to die here.
He could feel the seal sapping his strength, the life force, from him. And suddenly it stopped. The pain stopped. It was as if something was blocking him. Like a wall barring the way.
Her voice was clear, sharp, like the sound of war itself. He had never heard her sound so strong before. So resolute of purpose. She had never stood up to her father before, much less for him. Unworthy. The thought came unbidden to him and he hung his head in shame.
"Release him Father." Hinata ordered, defensive stance taken pearlescent eyes narrowed, the Byakugan already summoned. Hanabi stood beside her, taking the same stance. That stance was aggressive, indicated by the strength in her left foot, that she would move forward with impunity and momentum to stop him, to counter him. Did she realize what sort of a claim she was making? He wasn't worth this.
"Hinata, no-" Neji coughed, body spasming, still reeling from the pain. He fell back, trying to find the strength to stand. Old habits died hard. He had to protect her. But now the truth was apparent. Had been apparent since Naruto had defeated him and shown him the light. He choose to protect her.
"My own daughters." Hiashi exclaimed, shaking in his fury. "My own flesh and blood would choose a branch member, over their own father." Hiashi finished eyes narrowed.
Hinata stood resolutely. Hanabi side eyed her sister but did not waiver. Neji felt the tears in his eyes. Main House members standing, for a lowly branch house member. His own cousins stood by him, for him, against their father. He could barely fathom it.
"I can't overlook this, Father. You know in your heart that this is wrong." Hinata told him, with unwavering conviction. She didn't even stammer.
"I will not stop. I cannot abide by the way this generation has ruined and maligned the traditions of the Hyuuga clan. Of the will of fire itself, in Konoha. This is not the village I once knew. I will not allow it, this lie, this perversion of the our former glory. Not now. Not even for you, daughter." Hiashi replied. Chakra ignited around him and Hinata summoned her courage.
He felt hands on him and tensed.
"Hush. It's me" Hanabi told him. "Hinata will keep father at bay, I have been ordered to heal you, and remove the seal." Hanabi told him.
Bloodshot pearlescent eyed her incredulously.
"It is time." Hanabi replied with a shrug, as if she wasn't dismantling generations of oppresion. Neji was too numb to even process such a thing. She began pouring healing chakra into him. He felt the muscles and tears binding themselves together. Then she began to chant, and he recognized the seals she whirled through, similar to his own process of trying to find the cure for Ino. And he felt the seal fading.
"Ahgh-" Hinata cried, as she was thrown across the field, slamming into a tree.
"You cannot hope to defeat me." Hiashi told her.
Hinata struggled to her feet, as Hiashi walked towards her.
"I won't run away. Not anymore. This is wrong." Hinata told him defiantely, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Neji rose to his feet, Hanabi with him. Hiashi turned.
"We will stop you Father." Hanabi told him with certainty.
"You too, my daughter? You would all stand against me?"
"Yes." Neji replied, getting into a Jyunken stance.
"Then come." Hiashi replied beckoning them closer. "and I will tear down this generation"
…...
Danzou's smile was eerie as he stared at the Uchiha Heir. Maniacal. Like an addict who'd found his prized stash. Fuu and Torune came to stand near their leader as Yama stumbled to her feet. Ino pulsed again beneath the surface, and she knew without a doubt something was infinitely wrong, as Sasuke stepped forward, sandles scrapping on the rock as he moved, katana in hand.
"Now Yamanaka. This is your fleeting moment where you can change the course of Konoha forever." Danzou told her rising up, as Torune and Fuu prepared jutsu.
"I order you to perform Shinten Kugutsu Juin no Jutsu on Sasuke." Danzou exclaimed.
Yama felt the call of the seal, felt his words. Heard them. But it didn't matter. Something like the sound of a clareon call echoed in her head. And all see saw was red spinning tomoe of the sharingan.
Yama was trapped inside her mind, falling into an ocean of red, Ino's voice screaming to her before she couldn't breathe, lost under the red waves.
"Yamanaka. NOW!" Danzou ordered.
Sasuke's laughter split the air like an earthquake, shaking the ground around them, as it divided, and echoed, crackling and crushing. His laughter was higher than his normal tenor voice and it shattered across them. The effect was as eerie as it was grating.
"You think I didn't plan for this? That every step and move wasn't calculated. You're weak, you sadistic old fool." Sasuke's voice echoed, the old man flinching, as he stepped back, rolling up his sleeves.
"You think I don't know that your plan was to use the Yamanaka girl to stop me? That I don't know that you have Uchiha eyes covering your body? Eyes that you ripped out of my kinsmen, my family yourself?! Do you think I don't know what happened with my BROTHER!" Sasuke shouted.
He snapped his fingers, and suddenly Yama turned, seals flying in fury as Fuu and Torune flinched, from Sasuke's sharingan inflicting damage on their psyches. Danzou could not move, bound in place by the seals he was slowly trying to overcome. He reached into his his palm gauntlets for the emergency blades he kept stashed, and slowly sliced the bandages on his arms.
Yama slammed the final seals, and their bodies dropped to the floor, lifeless, as the hay dolls lay at her feet. Root Anbu soldiers rose to slay her, and they too met their end quickly, as the seals flew from her hands, her fist slamming into the ground. Her knee swayed, her hand shaky, as sweat poured down her neck.
"She was mine, before she was ever yours, Danzou" Sasuke told him with a sneer.
"How-"Danzou exclaimed in horror. He was biding time.
"She and I ran into each other in Sand. Did you think it was an accident? Some coincidence? This was all designed with one thing in mind. To end you." Sasuke told him, sharingan tomoe whirling with intensity. He was going to savor every moment of this.
Danzou's black eyes narrowed. "If you think to beat me-"
"I don't need to" Sasuke replied, with a snap of his fingers. "She will"
Yama's hands whirled through seals, and Danzou was powerless to defend.
…...
Yama's eyes flickered under the red water. The sharingan. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't look away. She felt the splash, heard the sound as something was coming for her hard and fast. She felt the arms wrap around her and she fought it, until she heard her voice.
"Stop it, I've got you. I'm going to get you out." Ino replied.
Ino. Yama's eyes filled with tears. She had never been happier to see her. Ino's strong legs kicked, and she grabbed onto a rope that seemed to extend into the darkness, pulling the both of them up. Yama tried to hang on but she felt herself slipping. Ino did not let go.
"Come on Yama. I can't do all the work" She complained, hanging tight to the rope as she tried to pull Yama up with her.
Yama's eyes filled with tears. "Ino. Ino I was wrong. I'm so sorry."
"It doesn't matter now. What matters is that I'm going to get you out." Ino replied firmly, periwinkle strong and resolute.
Yama choked on the look. "Listen, you have to reach out to Neji."
"What? Why?" Ino exclaimed. "I thought you hated-"
"Because he knows how to turn off the seal. Danzou once he gets free from the bindings, and he will, will kill you..us..." Yama said with desperation, clinging to her.
"How do you know this?" Ino demanded.
"Because I know why Danzou wants Sasuke." Yama replied with trepidation.
Ino's eyes stared incredulously.
"He wants his eyes Ino. They eyes he stole all those years ago from each and every Uchiha. You need to get that seal off now or we're dead." Yama told her, clinging to her and the rope. Ino groaned, and reached out mentally to Neji.
…...
Neji focused, Byakugan flaring as he blocked each and every one of Hiashi's hits, redirecting and adding his own volley of attacks with his cousins. His eyes widened as he felt her, her touch inside his head.
"Neji" she called.
"Ino?!" Neji exclaimed, and she could hear and feel the myriad of emotions he projected. Love, Confusion, Shock, Disbelief, Fear, Love.
She'd have to teach Neji to sheild his thoughts and emotions later. Right now she drank it up, drawing strength and hope from it, from him. She had missed him fiercely.
"I'm here." She replied. He could hear her chuckling in his mind. \\
"You're hurt!" She exclaimed as she took in his current state.
Hiashi's blow to his face stunned him.
"Focus" Hanabi scolded.
"I need you to hold him for a bit." Neji told them.
"Can do" Hanabi replied, and Hinata with a firm nod. Neji pulled to the side while the two of them covered him.
He felt her chakra. How the hell was she doing this? He could feel the strength flow into him, her healing chakra.
"It's a seal" Ino explained. "I might have sort of left a seal on you at some point." She said sheepishly.
"Sort of- Ino?! How is it that you're alive? Are you okay? Are you back?"Neji asked her questions rapid firing out of him as his brain fought to catch up with his heart. His mind fizzled with nuerons firing off, and she could feel the Dopamine and Nereprinephrine racing through his veins.
Surprised, she felt the presence of Vasopressin.
Ino felt her throat catch. She hadn't expected that.
"I'm okay." He could feel the pleasure, like sunlight radiate off of Ino at his questions."I'm stuck with Danzou and Sasuke. I need you to show me how to do the seal removal, so that I can get the seal off before Danzou gets free. Can you walk me through it?" Ino asked.
"Ino, Asuka is safe. She's with Kurenai. I got them out, they've been evacuated"
"Thank you." Ino breathed a sigh of relief, feeling her throat catch again. He knew how important Asuka was to her. And he'd saved her. This man. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
"I know. Prodigy Genius" He grinned.
"About that seal-" Ino began.
"Yes, but-"and she could feel the stream of emotions flowing through him like a kaleidescope around him whirling. Joy, sorrow, frustration. He had so much he wanted to say to her, to convey to her just how happy he was to feel her presence again, to hear her voice. And just how desperate he was to have her in his arms again, to show her how he felt, to truly appreciate her for all that she was. He had no idea that his brain was projectively streaming his emotions in light and color around him.
And Ino felt the tears, her lip quivering. She could feel all of it from here.
But she couldn't falter now. Too much depended on them.
It wasnt fair.
Goddamnit.
They didn't have enough time. There was never enough time. Why the hell was the universe always against them? She shook off her feelings. This was too important. They could kiss and makeup later, if they both survived. They had to stop both Sasuke and Danzou andwhoever else the hell was deciding that inavading a good idea, and save Konoha.
"There's no time, Neji." Though he had never heard that much regret in her voice before. "Just like in training, teach me how to use the jutsu."
"Alright." He sighed.
She could feel his feelings projecting again. Pride. Memories. Love. So much Love. It made her want to laugh. It made her want to cry. She composed herself, sheilding her own emotions from him. She wanted nothing more than to bask in the feel of him. She promised herself she wouldn't waste any more time when this was over.
If they survived.
"You want to start off with the inverted horse." Neji began.
…...
"Nii sama" Hinata cried.
Neji shook off the reverie of Ino's words, and he jumped into the fray, with quiet fury. Hinata and Hinabi had been fighting a loosing battle. They were fighting a winning battle now. Neji lashed, attacking with such precision and accuracy that it wasn't long before they'd managed to shut down Hiashi's tenketsu. Without the use of his chakra and with 3 of them attacking with everything they had, he was on his knees.
Neji gave one last blow, to knock him out. Fatigued, but only minorly, he turned to the two sisters, his cousins, and awaited his fate. He felt Hinata wrap his arms around him.
"Thank you Neji nii sama."
Neji flinched. "You aren't going to place the seal back on?"
"No." Hinata replied firmly. "No. I will not allow another person to bear the seal. It ends here. Now." She said, eyes filled with tears.
"I am so sorry for what has happened to you. But I will allow it no longer." Hinata said, bowing in apology. She placed Katsuyu slug in his hand, and he felt the healing go through him. Pocketing the slug, Neji crushed her in a hug.
"I am so glad that your wisdom will guide us Hinata sama. But I must go." He said, disappearing as he disappeared.
…...
"Kakashi, do you copy?" Neji called. Katsuyu relayed.
"I read you Neji." Kakashi replied.
"Where is she?"
"Intel has them placed at the mountain of kages, but you are-" Kakashi began.
"I'm going-" Neji interrupted.
Kakashi sighed. "I figured as much but protocal does dictate I have to try to give the orders."
"Where is Tsunade sama?"
"Hokage tower. We are trying to get there to help her with her battle with Orochimaru but sound ninja are making that a difficulty." Kakashi said.
"Then it sounds like we've both got our work cut out for us. Any other orders?" Neji replied.
"Not orders. More like suggestions at this point. Dont interfere with Sasuke or Danzou. Your priority is Ino. And Neji?"
"Yes?" Neji replied.
" Try not to die." Kakashi told him.
"Will do" Neji replied.
…...
Ino came back to herself and realized that the waters had rose.
"INO!" Yama shrieked, as she was almost underwater. Ino's arm protested as she yanked her higher onto the rope, climbing up further herself. Kami sama one handed climbing hurt like hell. This was the kind of challenge Lee would have soiled his jumpsuit for. Her heart ached for a moment. She missed Lee.
"Yama you're gonna have to climb." Ino told her between clenched teeth.
"Ino, I can't. It's like it's pulling me down." She cried.
"If you dont climb, we're both gonna die here." Ino snarled, pulling harder, as she scrambled up the rope. It felt like she was being torn in two.
"No." Yama told her eyes serene and serious. "No you wont."
Ino glared at her "I promised you, that we were both getting out of here alive. I fucking meant it" She screached, pulling harder. Her arm was about to be ripped out of it's socket.
Yama gave a sigh. "And you've kept that promise Ino, a thousand times over. I'm staying here, to keep the Sharingan at bay. If it has one of us, it wont have you." Yama told her. "Go. Go and kick his ass." She bid.
"Goddamn it Yama. It doesn't have to be like this." Ino felt the tears.
"Of course it does. When is our life ever fair? If you start crying over this, I swear I'm gonna end you. Get going and make sure we dont die. Get rid of the seal, we will figure it out."
"Point taken." Ino groused. "and Yama..." Ino paused searching for the words.
"I know." She replied with a knowing smirk. "Less sap, more action. Get moving"
"Bitch" Ino grumbled, climbing up the rope with a half smile.