A/N: This one should be fun and thought provoking. Might be a little...heavy for some people, though.
Time for chapter 22
Enjoy!
Naruto felt a bead of cold sweat drip down his forehead as he and Hinata stared at one another from across the stone floor. Half of the Hyuga girl's face was covered in a jagged, black pattern of markings, and they appeared to be glowing a subtle purple color.
'So that's what Orochimaru did to her. I'm not sure what those markings do, but I don't like the feeling I'm getting from her right now' he thought to himself as he prepared for the inevitable clash between himself and the Hyuga heiress. After several moments, said clash occurred, with Hinata blitzing across the space between them and launching a right-handed palm strike at Naruto's head. The blonde was able to rip his head off to his left just before the strike could connect.
'She's faster. Way faster' he thought to himself as he threw a short right-handed punch as a counter to the palm strike. As she had several times previously, the Hyuga girl ran face-first into the counter. Unlike before, her head did not budge as the fist slammed into her jaw.
"Is that all, Naruto-kun?" she asked as she mocked him by pouting girlishly. Naruto growled and retracted the punch he had connected with.
"Why are you calling me that?" he demanded as he threw a left-handed punch at her head. Hinata easily leaned back and caused the punch to miss her by inches. As he missed, Naruto fell forward and absorbed a hard knee to his solar plexus, causing him to gasp for air and back up.
"The better question is, why does it bother you?" she asked as she walked forward and prepared to strike him. The blonde narrowed his eyes and parried the jabbing strike the heiress speared towards his face.
"Now that you mention it, I don't really know. Have any ideas as to why it might bug me, Hinata-chan?" he replied, well aware of the dangerous game he was playing. Hinata immediately turned a shade of red that strongly contrasted with the black markings on her face. Instead of responding verbally, she stepped forward and threw a rugged, overhanded punch that snapped Naruto's head back and opened a cut underneath his left eye.
"Shut your mouth, you disgusting insect" she snapped angrily as she bared her teeth. The Jinchuuriki winced as he rubbed his gashed face.
"I never took you for much a puncher, but I guess I've been wrong before. What's your problem? It's actually been a little while since you've insulted me like that" he asked. Hinata stared at him silently for several moments.
"Am I not justified in being perturbed by an unfair reality?" she asked vaguely. Naruto sighed and shook his head.
"Oh please, you don't you jack about 'unfair'. Trust me" he said before charging forward and engaging his teammate. The blonde moved forward as though he was going to throw a punch, drawing a counter from Hinata in advance in the form of the same stepping knee he had been countered with before. As the knee drove towards his abdomen, Naruto pulled his punch back and whirled around, slamming his heel into the side of the heiress' head and sending her staggering back.
Naruto then leapt forward and followed up with a hard punch to the ride side of Hinata's ribcage that doubled her over. As he prepared to hit her again, the Hyuga girl seized him by the back of his head and pulled his face down into a hard knee that shocked his nervous system and froze him in place.
"Nothing? Oh, that's just rich coming from you, Naruto-kun. The source of another person's struggles should not critique that person's trials" she said as she cracked him with two punches on either side of his jaw. Naruto scowled and pivoted around HInata's next linear attack. He seized her around the waste from behind as she stumbled past him and hoisted her up in the air before slamming her down to the ground.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean? The source? I haven't done anything to you other than annoy you a little" he said as Hinata scrambled to her feet and broke away from the Jinchuuriki.
"You really are a simpleton. You see the world through a distorted lense. You understand absolutely nothing subtle" she said as she dusted herself off and re-engaged the blonde in a furious exchange of leads and counters. Naruto felt his confusion at the change in Hinata's demeanor increase as he ducked and dodged to avoid injury all while landing counter-strikes of his own.
'Where is this coming from? Why is she suddenly back to hating my guts? Those markings have something to do with it, but this still sounds like Hinata' he thought to himself as he and Hinata simultaneously landed hooking, left-handed punches to each other's jawlines. They both staggered back, but Naruto was clearly worse for wear as he struggled to regain his bearings. A dark smirk slowly spread across the Hyuga girl's face as the markings on her face slowly spread further across her body.
"Feeling tired? Good, just wonderful. I find you to be positively adorable when your face is a mask of blood and bruises. It just feels so...right to watch you break before me" she said with a disturbing giggle. Naruto felt his stomach drop at her tone and sinister smile. The situation was beginning to remind him strongly of something he had seen several weeks previously.
'It's just like that nightmare' he thought to himself as he pushed down his fear. He then made a solemn decision as he staggered to his feet and stared into Hinata's Byakugan.
'This is the last thing I wanted to do, but I don't have a choice' he thought to himself as his blue irises faded to red. He felt a surge of hot energy pour into his body. He assumed a taijutsu stance and steeled himself.
'I don't know what that seal is doing to you, Hinata, but I swear to god I'll tear it off your body if it means ending this sick dream'
Kakashi looked on with a mix of horror and shame as his students tore into one another at a torrid pace. As Anko had predicted, Hinata's mental state was clearly being affected by the curse mark, and it didn't appear to be on a road of recovery. The fight had become much more brutal and competitive since the Hyuga girl had given into the marking's influence and allowed the seal to spread across her body.
"Is this what you wanted, sensei?" Shikamaru asked quietly as Naruto spun Hinata's jaw with an enormous punch. The jonin turned to his student and sighed,
"How did you find out?" he asked. The lazy genin gave him a bored look before turning his attention back to the horrific contest taking place down below.
"Anko doesn't know how to talk quietly. She and Ibiki were discussing your decision to make this whole thing happen last night. I overheard them" he explained. Kakashi nodded and uncovered his sharingan to better observe the match.
"As painful as this may be to watch, it's...necessary. This would have happened sooner or later, and its better for it to happen in a sanctioned environment rather than the battlefield. I would have preferred if Hinata hadn't been marked by Orochimaru, but it can't be helped" he said. Shikamaru growled and jammed a finger towards the battle as Naruto and Hinata exchanged brutal strikes.
"Necessary? Really? Just because you couldn't find the courage to sit down Hinata and get it through her skull that one person's success isn't her failure doesn't mean this is a good solution" he snapped. Kakashi did a double take as he was glared at by his normally-composed student.
"Let me guess, you were terrified of what would happen if Hinata rejected your advice. You were afraid that she would split and leave the team. You were afraid to lose your highest-profile student. Tell me, are you really any better than the damned villagers? You put your own status before Naruto and now he's suffering for it. Look at his face! He doesn't want to be fighting his teammate! He's holding back so he doesn't hurt her!" Shikamaru yelled, gaining the attention of the other genin. The silver-haired ninja stared at his student silently before sighing heavily and turning his gaze back towards the match.
"I don't expect you to understand my reasoning, Shikamaru. Some things need to be solved through violence. That's human nature, as sad as that is. You have every right to be angry, I don't blame you for that at all, but reserve your judgement until after the fact" he said. Shikamaru opened his mouth to protest, but shut it again and relaxed, realizing there was no point in arguing further.
"When this is all said and done, nobody is going to be happy. You know that, right?" he asked quietly after several moments. Kakashi chewed his lip absently and flinched as Naruto was launched backwards by a dual-handed palm strike from Hinata.
"Not immediately, no, but given time, this will benefit them both in the long run" he replied. Shikamaru took a sip from his canteen of water.
"I hope you're right"
Both Naruto and Hinata heaved deep breaths as they circled one another while they searched for exploitable openings. They were both battered and bloodied, and their cardiovascular abilities were beginning to fail them both. After another moment or two of tense silence, the genin charged towards one another and clashed together. Hinata struck first with a palm strike that numbed the blonde's left arm. Despite the damage inflicted to the limb, Naruto used the arm to elbow the heiress between the eyes. Sensing that they both had a potentially fading opponent before them, the children extended the exchange one layer further, throwing hard, right-handed punches simultaneously.
Naruto won the trade of strikes decisively, as his arms were slightly longer. The added range of his punch allowed him to connect a split second before Hinata and jar her jaw. The punch knocked Hinata to the ground, forcing her to scamper away and stand awkwardly. As she attempted to balance herself, she was sent to the ground again by a kick to her upper chest.
"Just give up, Hinata. Please, let's be done with this" the blonde reasoned futilly. Hinata growled and climbed to her feet.
"Every time you open your mouth, my opinion of you sours more. We aren't done until I say we are. I need this, and I refuse to let you rob me of it" she hissed. Naruto's lips tightened into a thin line.
"Why? Why do you want to hurt me so badly? What changed? You and I were...friends, or something close to it" he asked tensely. Hinata's hands curled into fists as she shook at his question.
"What changed? What changed is that I...realized just how inadequate you make me feel. Every time I see you train, you are demonstrably better than you were the day before. You make progress at a rate that just isn't normal. You've improved more in a month than I have in the past half-decade. I cannot accept that. I refuse to roll over and resign myself to the idea that I, an elite member of this society, is inferior to you, the village pariah" she explained as the markings thickened and spread across her skin to fill in the gaps between patterns.
"What? That's what this is about? Me getting better? You and I are teammates! We should support and cheer each other on! It makes me happy when I see you or Shikamaru improve. What makes you an exception to that idea?" Naruto demanded. Hinata shook her head and relaxed slightly as her body was consumed by the curse mark.
"You don't understand, Naruto-kun. To be born into great expectations. For your only option to be victory. To be viewed as a prodigy is not all it's cracked up to be. For me, loss is not an option. Especially against you. My world falls to pieces if you defeat me here and now. To preserve myself, I'm willing to put aside my shameless affection for you and do everything in my power to put you down. I'm sorry, but I must do this" she said, a trace of genuine emotion finding its way into her voice as her body morphed.
"I don't want to hurt you, Hinata. Please, don't do this" Naruto begged as the Hyuga girl's transformation completed itself. After a moment of silence, Hinata's body stopped changing.
"As I said, nothing else matters now but this. Whether you like it or not, I'm going to punish you for disgracing me" she said as she stared into his eyes. Naruto froze as he beheld the girl before him. Her forehead had sprouted small, pointed horns, and her hair had darkened from blue to black in color. Her sclera had turned black as well, making her lavender irises defined to the point of seeming to glow.
"You told me once that you weren't good with people. I figured you just meant that you were awkward, but I see that the problem is bigger than that. I care about you, way more than I probably should. I think about you every single day. I want you to be happy, and I really think that you can be a great person to be around when you are" Naruto said with a sigh as he prepared himself for a fight that he knew he would be battered in.
"What are you getting at?" Hinata asked as she assessed the Jinchuuriki carefully. Naruto spat blood out of his mouth and stepped forward.
"You push away the people who love and care for you. You keep suppressing your own personality for the sake of your ego. You enjoy being praised, you enjoy compliments, hell, you even said that you liked being carried by me. You're just as human as the rest of us. Just to warn you, I won't go away. No matter how much you hurt me" he said firmly. Hinata sighed and vanished from sight. She reappeared with her palm flattened against Naruto's stomach and her mouth pressed to his ear.
"Let's see if you still feel that way after I pull you apart at the seams" she whispered in his ear. She then forced her own chakra into his abdomen and launched him backwards. Naruto hit the ground with a 'thud' and coughed up a sizeable amount of blood. He rolled onto his stomach and attempted to stand, but fell down again.
"Don't bother. I've ruptured your intestinal tract and liver. It won't kill you, but fighting on won't be possible" HInata said as she appeared in front of him. Naruto growled and forced himself to his feet, the demonic chakra in his body slowly healing the detrimental wounds.
"That's your other problem. Assuming you know the limitations of your peers" he said before throwing a brutal, full-power punch to the left side of the corrupted Hyuga's jaw. The strike sent Hinata tumbling to the floor. The heiress clenched her teeth and leapt to her feet before rushing towards Naruto and seizing him by the shoulders. She then reared her head back and slammed her horned forehead onto his, splitting his skin and sending a spray of blood onto her own face as a consequence.
Much to her shock, Naruto refused to budge. Instead, he grabbed the sides of her face and pressed his forehead into his further, deepening the wound and increasing the flow of blood from the deep punctures.
"What on earth are you doing?" she demanded in confusion. Naruto gave her a strained smile and softened his grip on her face.
"I just needed to be in close contact with you. This can be over now" he said softly. Before she could reply, Naruto forced a mix of his own chakra and the fox's chakra into her body. The energy quickly began to counteract the corrupted chakra of the curse mark, resulting in Hinata's horns retracting and her body returning to its normal state.
The curse markings soon began to disappear from the Hyuga girl's body, prompting Hinata to shove him away and look on in shock as her teammate dropped to his knees, completely spent from the action. The Hyuga girl was now fully normal once again, with the only remnant of the curse mark being the tattoo on the side of her neck.
"What have you done?" Hinata whispered as Naruto heaved ragged breaths and struggled to his feet. He coughed painfully and covered his mouth to prevent blood from splattering on the ground.
"I suppressed the curse mark with a mixture of mine and the fox's chakra. You won't have access to that seal for a little while. It probably cut a year or two off of my life-span, but it was more than worth it" he said. Hinata then backed up a step as Naruto labored toward her. After retreating several more steps, the heiress leapt forward and slammed a fist into Naruto's forehead, stopping him in his tracks momentarily.
"I still can't let you win. I won't let you-" she began. Before she could finish the sentence, Naruto vanished from sight and reappeared behind her.
"Save it. You'll thank me for this someday" he whispered in her ear before striking a nerve on the back of her neck, rendering her unconscious instantly. He reached down and caught her before she could face-plant. He then gently laid her on her back and looked to Hayate.
"Call the match" he said. The proctor made his way to Hinata and checked her body before waving his arms over her and pointing to Naruto.
"Hinata Hyuga is unable to continue! Naruto Uzumaki is the winner!" he announced to the observing genin. The moment the result was announced, Naruto fell to his back and allowed his eyes to shift back to their natural blue color. Kakashi quickly made his way down the stairs and over to his fallen students. He knelt down next to Naruto and clenched his jaw to control his emotions.
"Are you alright?" he asked. The blonde tried to chuckle, but only managed to hack up bloody phlegm instead.
"I'm feeling great, Kakashi-sensei. Like a million dollars" he said as he was hoisted onto a stretcher by the medical team. The jonin followed the stretcher as it was carried away.
"As awful as that fight was, what you did at the end was both genius and heroic. And thank you for holding back. I...know you could have ended the fight any time you wanted to, but you chose to give her a chance to vent instead. You're a great example to follow, Naruto" he said. The Jinchuuriki smiled at the kind words, but lost consciousness before he could speak. Kakashi sighed and turned to return to the other ninja.
'Hinata, if you throw him to the wayside, you're only hurting yourself'
A/N: That was really fun to write. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.
See you next chapter! Read and Review!