The Reincarnate

Chapter 1

"Hinata! Do your best!" Naruto cheered her on.

Despite the fact that her defeat against her cousin, Neji, was an almost certainty. In spite of the fact that everyone else had already written this match off as over; Her opponent, the proctor, even her own sensei. They, along with everyone else in this room, knew she was done for.

Yet not him.

The person whose opinion she valued most still believed in her.

Hyuga Hinata felt strength return to her eyes. She knew it wasn't just a trick of her imagination, because Neji saw it too. His slightly relaxed stance hardened and he raised his upright palm to prepare for her attack.

Even the very act of breathing hurt, Hinata's lungs having been struck earlier by Neji's Jyuken attack. Even so, Hinata forced them to work anyways, sucking in deep breath and charging her opponent head on. In the back of her mind, she knew it was pointless.

It was all as Neji had said. She was in despair, unable to overcome him and his overwhelming talent. In a short time, he had not only traded blows evenly with her, but had also meticulously been striking her tenketsu, the points which allowed chakra to flow. As she was, her Jyuken strikes would be ineffective.

Yet none of that mattered to her. This wasn't a battle against Neji anymore. This was a battle against her past self. She had changed, or so she wanted to prove to herself that she had. And the only way to prove that was right here, right now.

While Naruto was looking at her, and her alone.

She had always been looking at him. For years and years now she had watched him. Sometimes she wondered why that even was? She really didn't understand, but… when she watched him, she felt her courage grow. Like maybe even someone like her could do something if she just tried. As if even a failure like her had some kind of value.

That was why she charged head on to her defeat. That was why even when she tripped and stumbled right in front of her opponent, she turned that momentum into an attack, sweeping low at Neji's shins in a kick. Of course, he blocked it anyway. It gave her the chance to recover though, striking at him with a series of Jyuken blows.

No chakra came from her hands, but that was hardly relevant. She didn't know any other way to fight, for she had only been trained in the traditional Hyuga style her whole life. Trying to use fists would only make her more vulnerable to a counter. And at this point, the only real value to this fight for her was staying in it for as long as possible.

Neji stumbled backwards, for a moment overwhelmed by an assault of blows that should have been impossible. Hinata was surely not in the condition to fight as ferociously as she was, yet through sheer determination alone she was able to overcome her own limits.

It was only for a moment.

Neji recovered, stepping in and knocking Hinata's footing loose. She tumbled forward and right into his open palm. It struck her in the chin and sent her reeling backwards. With a scream she almost didn't recognize as her own, she flew back. In her condition, such a blow should have knocked her down.

Yet Hinata sucked in her breath and managed to steady her feet, skidding to a halt. There were murmured gasps of surprise from nearly every part of the room. Hinata's own belabored breath joined them, her lungs unable to hold the air anymore as she broke into a fit of blood-filled coughs.

She narrowed her eyes. Out of pain or renewed determination, even she had no idea. And she charged again. Even with the whole of her focus on the man in front of her, in the back of her mind she still knew that Naruto was watching.

Finally… He was finally the one looking at her-

Her thoughts and her charge were interrupted, Neji's Jyuken slamming into her chest and his chakra striking her dead in the heart. Everything stopped. Time itself seemed to stand still. Then she gave another cough, not of air; but only blood. And she fell.

She hit the ground face-first, arm still extended as if to attack.

"You really don't understand anything." Neji said, his voice sounding far away. "From the very beginning your attacks had no effect." His voice was full of contempt and bitterness. "It's over." Even though he was the winner, why did he sound so defeated? She had no idea. She really didn't understand anything.

Darkness took her and she realized this was truly the end. She wouldn't be standing up again. In the end, had she really been so unable to change?

Why was that?

Why?

All her pain disappeared and she knew she had blacked out. Or… so she thought. Yet this was somehow different. If she was truly blacked out, was it normal to feel this way? It was almost like she could move if she wanted to?

The moment she thought this and Hinata found she was able to pick herself up without any kind of problem. "Huh?" She spoke without coughing up blood. It felt like she was healed, yet as she looked around there was only darkness. No… that wasn't quite right. There was light, but it took her several seconds to realize it was coming from below.

When she looked down she realized that a soft green glow was coming from a giant eight-trigrams diagram etched onto the blackness she stood upon. She had heard of this phenomenon before, as it was supposedly something advanced users of the Byakugan could see when tapping into the more powerful techniques of the Hyuga clan. It was the first time Hinata had ever laid eyes upon it, however.

"Does this mean… Can I still fight?" She couldn't help but wonder aloud. It was certainly different from how she had heard about it from her father, but she still wanted to believe this was somehow a sign. Perhaps a physical manifestation that proved she had been able to change herself.

"Well that's entirely up to you now, isn't it?" An unexpected voice answered Hinata's question and she spun around. Floating cross-legged in the middle of the diagram- directly above the yin-yang marking- was a girl not much older than herself. Like Hinata, she was a Hyuga, her Byakugan eyes the obvious indication of that.

"W-who are you?" Hinata reacted defensively. Yes, this girl was a Hyuga, but Hinata had never seen her before. She knew most everyone in her clan, at the very least in passing. Yet she had never known there to be a girl this close to her in age. What's more, her head was unmarked- An indication she was a member of the main family. Yet that couldn't be possible.

"Hmm… we're going to have to save that conversation for after." She said. The girl then tilted her head, smiling apologetically. "For now, just think of me as an extension of your chakra. I'm sorry I can't be more specific than that, but any other answer will just raise more questions and you don't have time if your wish is to continue fighting."

"Y-You mean I haven't lost yet?!" Hinata spun around, but the scenery was the same as before. Only darkness. She failed to see how she was going to be able to fight like this.

"That's why I'm saying we have to hurry." Despite her words, the girl laughed and didn't seem to actually be in any kind of rush to explain things. "Look, the straight and simple is: You're at the edge of consciousness right now. If you walk into the blackness, that's how you'll end up and the fight will be over here and now. But if you come this way and take my hand, you'll wake up."

"That's it?" Hinata asked, suspicion creeping into her tone despite herself. She didn't want to doubt this strange girl, but what she was saying sounded too easy. Too good to be true. She could be allowed to continue just like that?

"The action itself is easy enough, sure. But what comes after won't be." The girl warned. "Your heart is seriously on the verge of shutting down, you know? Well… it pretty much had to reach this state for me to be able to appear before you like this. Of course, this is also the result of your own actions. I wouldn't have been able to come forth if you hadn't pushed yourself either."

"You're saying… that I was able to change then?" Hinata asked hopefully, taking a few hesitant steps towards the mysterious girl. "I was really able to do it? I was able to be like Naruto-kun?"

In response, the girl smiled soothingly and held out her hand.

"Take my hand and find out for yourself." She whispered gently.

Hinata believed if she had been her old self, then she would have hesitated for several seconds longer. Yet she was proud to admit that the her in this moment right now did no such thing. Without missing another beat she took the necessary step forward and reached her hand out.

With an audible clap, she took the girl's hand in hers. And a moment later all the pain returned and she could taste the iron-filled blood as it oozed from her barely open lips. The darkness of the void was replaced by her heavy-eyelids. She groaned, but it was almost inaudible.

Was that… had it been a dream just now? She had no idea. Everything hurt so badly that she could barely even think straight. Yet she knew one thing: This match wasn't over.

"Don't stop the match!" As if to mimic her sentiment, Naruto cried out those words.

"Are you an idiot?!" His teammate, Sakura, yelled at him. "She's clearly at her limit. Look at her, she's already fainted…" Her words dyed on her tongue, as Hinata struggled to her feet. As if to prove her wrong, Hinata slowly but surely rose up.

She found that the more she fought against herself the easier it became. Almost like she was healing… but that surely wasn't possible?

"It's possible." The girl's voice spoke in Hinata's ear and she spun her head around. That girl… it was indeed her, but it wasn't like before. She appeared less like a human and more of a ghost. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to call her a cloud of chakra, clinging to Hinata like a blanket.

"..." Hinata opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead it was just strained air and more blood. If she was healing, it wasn't quickly. Not quickly enough anyways.

"Why do you keep standing?" Neji asked in dumbfounded disbelief. "You're really going to die…" It wasn't a threat, but more a statement of fact. As Hinata turned to face him, her vision wavered.

No, it wasn't that it wavered. It was more like, the very air around her was shimmering. Was this chakra? The air itself, everything around her seemed to be glowing with life and some kind of energy. What's more, some of it seemed to be flowing into her and it would appear that had been the source of her sudden healing.

"It's called Natural energy." The girl answered Hinata's unasked question. "The true power of our Byakugan has awakened and that's why you're able to see it now. It's also why you're the only one able to see me. Normally you have to remain perfectly still to be able to absorb natural chakra, but just leave that to me, as our chakra reserves are in the middle of mixing anyways. It's going to take your body some time to get used to these changes in the first place."

Hinata wanted to say she understood, but there was just far too much information coming in at once. This was on top of the fact that she was still in the middle of a literal life-or-death battle here.

She found her gaze glancing up to Naruto once again, but was surprised to find he also had the ghost of some chakra clinging to him. He didn't even seem to notice it was there, but he did catch her gaze and nodded at her approvingly. It felt like that nod alone was enough for her to get her head straight.

It was true, there were a lot of crazy, as-of-now-unexplained things happening to her, but more importantly than all that… her desire to change had unlocked some kind of new ability. So long as she understood that one simple fact, everything was alright. With this… she wasn't just fighting a losing battle to change herself. She was fighting to win.

"I can still go." She said, taking a step forward and nearly faltered. It wasn't so much from the pain anymore, but the still strange chakra floating all around them that was confusing her senses.

"Quit bluffing!" Neji sneered. "You're barely able to stand." It would appear it was exactly as the girl said, as Neji didn't appear to notice anything different about her and seemed under the impression she was still too injured to keep fighting. "I can see your destiny with my eyes. I can see how you've cursed your own powerlessness…" He trailed off. His vision narrowed and then the veins around his eyes bulged, a sign that he was activating the true power of his own Byakugan.

"Your eyes…" He whispered. In truth, Hinata didn't even hear him but she could read his lips. "What have you done?" He called out to her. For a moment, she had no idea what he was talking about. But then she remembered.

She too had seen it. For a brief moment before she took the mysterious girl's hand. It was true, she had the Byakugan, but there was also something different about it. Her pale iris had been filled with a pure white shape, almost invisible, but certainly there. It had almost looked like a lotus had bloomed in her very eyes.

Hinata had no doubt her own eyes must have also taken on this distinct trait. Distinct, but difficult at a glance to notice or else Neji would have surely seen it from the moment she stood back up.

"Is this some kind of Main branch trick?!" Neji yelled, sudden anger overtaking her cousin. Before she could react, he charged at her. At that moment, she could see the atmosphere around several of the Jonin in the room shift and change, their very chakra affecting the natural energy around them.

They were going to interfere. She didn't know how she could tell, but she somehow knew this was what the energy she was reading was conveying to her. They assumed she was still too weak to continue fighting. If she didn't do something in the next second, then the match would be over without her being able to have done anything.

"Tenketsu!" The girl called in Hinata's ear. For a moment, she didn't know what she was saying. There was no way she could strike Neji's Tenketsu from here. The Jonin would be too fast and would intercept the both of them before they could exchange blows.

Then she saw it. It wasn't his tenketsu she was talking about, but the chakra points of the natural energy around them. It too was floating with tiny points, the same as any human. No, they looked more like fractures. The nearest one was at her feet, the flow of the point stretching out to the wooden floor between herself and Neji.

No time to think, she bent down and lunged at it, a single finger extended to strike the small point on the floor. Her own tenketsu all popped back open, a surge of chakra greater than she ever had before bursting through the closed points like an active volcano.

To everyone around her it must have looked like she had collapsed again. This gave them all a moment's pause. That was all she needed. Her finger hit the point dead on. She winced, expecting her finger to bend from suddenly striking the hardwood floor.

Instead she cut through it like butter. And caused a chain reaction, the wooden flooring between Neji and her being ripped asunder. Neji couldn't react in time. Even if he had time to react, there was no way he would have. For what she had just done was impossible.

The shattering wood battered his body and sent him sprawling. He was only saved from falling into the new hole in the arena by sheer dumb-luck, getting knocked aside and onto safe ground by the same attack.

As he laid there groaning in agony, shocked silence filled the rest of the room. The proctor was half-way to them, body still in a running stance but otherwise unmoving. Her Jonin-instructor, Kurenai-sensei, was halfway to vaulting the railing. Neji's teacher had actually reached the floor, but was hanging back just outside the range of her surprise attack. A step further and he would have fallen to the floor below.

"Yeah, you get 'em Hinata!" Naruto was the only voice to cut through the otherwise shocked silence. He simply didn't have the frame of reference to realize what Hinata did was truly amazing. For him, it was a matter-of-fact that she had such abilities. Somehow, this made her smile.

"I told you… I've changed. Neji-nii-san." Hinata turned to her cousin, who was stumbling back to his feet now. It would appear that her display of power had given hesitance to the Jonin that meant to interfere just now. She could sense that at any moment they would throw themselves in if things looked bad, but their curiosity at her new power was currently overriding that instinct. This wasn't so much as reading chakra as it was reading their very intent. Another new ability, it would seem.

"...You." Neji's breathing was ragged and agitated. But it was obviously not from a sustained injury, but rather anger. He was absolutely radiating hatred now. Hatred directed at her… yet that wasn't entirely correct. He was more angry at the unfairness of it all. Their family, his own powerlessness, she was simply a vessel that represented everything it was that he truly hated.

She bit her lower lip. She hated this too. Even if she got this power, what was she supposed to do to help him? It was true, she had wanted to win and prove herself. But she hadn't realized that the power necessary to do that would only hurt her cousin more.

"I'll kill you!" Neji roared at the top of his lungs. All reason appeared to leave him completely now. This wasn't who he truly was. She knew that deep down. He needed help, and she wanted to be the one to give that to him. But right now she had to stop him, before he got consumed by his own anguish.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. Then she charged to meet him head on. It felt like her thoughts were more in tune with the ghastly girl clung to her back now. Because Hinata could sense her intent without her even having to say anything. She saw the tenketsu she wanted her to strike and Hinata didn't hesitate.

This time her finger struck the air between them, hitting an otherwise invisible point. The very air burst apart, causing a temporary vacuum that sucked the air right from Neji's lungs. His eyes were rolling up into his head before her Jyuken strike even hit him.

He flew across the room, crashing into the wall on the opposite side and collapsing to a heap. Just like that and the match was over. What was once a fight that Hinata couldn't possibly win had become the biggest upset of the preliminary matches.

"Winner… Hyuga Hinata." Hayate proclaimed, albeit without the confidence that usually came with such declarations. No one cheered for her. Even her own teacher looked at her with a mix of shock and worry.

Then one voice cut through the silence.

"Whooo! Way to go, Hinata! Alright!" Naruto whooped and cheered for her, his voice and his alone the only support she would receive. Yet it was enough for her. If he was the only one in the world that would cheer for her, she would still be fulfilled. She smiled up at him. Not a big smile, but a shy one full of unexpressed emotion.

However, she also found herself once again drawn to the ghostly visage on his back. Why did he have something too? Just what was it?

"That… is probably Asura." The girl answered Hinata's question. "I guess you would call him my cousin. That runt you have a crush on appears to be his latest reincarnation." Hinata felt her cheek's color red at having her feelings so bluntly put into words, but it only lasted for a moment before she realized what the girl was saying.

Reincarnation? If Naruto was the reincarnation of this Asura and he had taken that shape… then this girl must be-

"You more or less got it right." The girl finished the thought for her. "My name is Otsutsuki Kali… and you are my latest reincarnate. The reason you're able to see us is the true power of your new eyes: A Byakugan unique to me and my reincarnations. Your clan knows it as-"

"The Tensei-Byakugan."

Chapter End

AN: Hello everyone. I haven't been posting much recently as real life has been a bit busy. But I'm back with another new idea.

This will be a Naruhina fic, which I haven't written in a while. I'm thinking of going a Mokuton-ability Naruto for this fic in particular. As for Hinata, her new eyes are the Tensei-Byakugan (Reincarnate's White Eye) which is different from the Tenseigan from The Last movie. I've always thought it's kinda sad that the Byakugan doesn't get its own Mangekyo version, since to me it's always been the most interesting Dojutsu in the series. Natural Energy having Chakra points is actually an idea inspired off of the Death Points from Kara no Kyokai and Tsukihime.

That's all for now. Hope to see ya guys around next time.