Chapter 9

Alright, here's the whole thing! Enjoy!

"Are all the preparations complete?" Hiashi questioned in a clipped voice. A couple branch members hurried to finish some touch-ups before rushing out of the room as soon as they were done.

"Hai Hyuuga-sama," Neji answered in an emotionless voice, "Everything is ready, now all we need it Hinata-sama." He tried not to spit her name out, for it would anger Hiashi greatly to show such a sign of disrespect.

"Go retrieve her from her rooms Neji; I would like to get this ritual over with as soon as possible." Hiashi ordered without turning to look at his nephew. Neji bowed his way out of the room and hurried through the halls to the main family's bedroom area.

Without faltering he walked up to one non-descript brown door and knocked. "Hinata-sama, preparations are complete, are you ready for the ritual?" He asked not out of any true concern, but because it was expected of him to show her respect at all times.

The door slowly slid open and Hinata hesitantly stepped out into the hallway. Her hair was held up in a short ponytail to keep it out of her face, and she was wearing a pure white flowing gown that reached the floor. A petite bare foot was revealed as she slowly stepped up next to her cousin.

"Neji-nii-san….." She whispered reaching out to him only to have him step back almost unnoticeably, yet out of her reach. Her arms that had been stretched out instead went to wrap themselves around herself in a hug. "Nii-san…." Her voice was the barest whisper and her eyes remained fixed on the floor "….I'm so scared….."

She cautiously raised her head and met Neji's emotionless eyes with her own tear filled ones. She looked so pitiful at that moment that Neji almost expected to find himself feeling bad for her, but the only emotion he was able to feel at that moment was anger

"Come Hinata-sama, we shouldn't keep Hyuuga-sama waiting too long." Without waiting for a response he turned and walked away, Hinata obediently trailing behind him.

When they arrived at the room Neji opened the door and held it open for Hinata to walk through first. The normally courteous action was ruined by the cold glare that followed her as she entered the room.

Hiashi looked up when he heard the door open and stood in the middle of a circle that looked like it had been painted in blood. "Come Hinata, now you shall truly feel what it is to be powerful. Come, accept what is your right and you heritage." He dipped his hands into a bowl which appeared to hold the same substance that was used for the runes on the floor and held his arms out to Hinata not seeming to notice the blood that dripped off of his hands onto the once perfect circle.

"Come my daughter, it is time."

"Katsu, have you seen Neko-chan anywhere?" Naruto called as he sped into the kitchen. "I've looked everywhere, but I can't find her!" His voice slowly raised in pitch as he started to truly panic over the loss of his favorite companion.

Katsu only response was to grunt and go back to eating his eggs and previewing a mission that he was thinking about taking on. Any response he would have given would have been unheard anyway as Naruto was already in the next room searching for his beloved stuffed animal.

"I can't go to school without her, she'll never forgive me!" He cried as he once again threw the couch cushions onto the floor to look at what he might find underneath them. "Wait, what's this book?" Naruto called to Katsu from the living room, "Icha Icha Paradise volume 2? Is this yours?" Next thing he knew he had nothing but air in his hand and Katsu was slipping the book into a pocket.

"No matter how many time Ichiro asks, you never saw this, got it?" Katsu demanded before sweeping out of the room and back to his breakfast.

"Umm… ok, that was weird…." Naruto mumbled to himself before glancing at his watch, "Crap! I'm gonna be late!" He cast one more glance around the room before rushing out the door.

Naruto rushed outside and immediately leapt onto the rooftops for a clearer path to his destination. He hopped from roof to roof ignoring angry mutterings the villager made about "ninjas thinking they owned the town"

Eventually there were less and less building until the completely disappeared and he was left running through one of Konoha's many forests. He knew he was approaching the meeting place when he caught a faint whiff of barbeque chips. He grinned in anticipation and sped up for the remaining section and dropped out of the trees into a small clearing were they were waiting for him.

"It's about time you got here Naruto." Kiba called from where he was sitting playing with Akamaru. "We almost started without you." He deftly grabbed a small stick out of Akamaru's teeth and through it into the forest, the small dog hot on its tail.

"Alright, so what's our plan of action?" Chouji questioned around a mouthful of chips. His other conspirators gave him a blank look at the question.

"Well…." Naruto started somewhat sheepishly, "I was just thinking, Hurry and hope they don't catch us until we're done….." Kiba nodded his head in agreement before starting a tug-of-war with Akamaru over the stick and no longer paying attention to their conversation.

"Right! So, everyone ready?" Chouji nodded, his mouth too full to speak and Kiba merely waved the hand that wasn't holding the stick as if to say 'I was born ready, this is nothing' "All right, lets get started then!" Naruto ordered, taking control automatically. Kiba just gave him an annoyed look before getting up slowly to show that he would not be ordered around by the other boy.

Each of the boys bent down and grabbed a separate bucket that Chouji had managed to obtain and (somehow) bring out into the woods on his own. The trip back took much longer as all of the boys had to travel extremely slowly so that they wouldn't spill any of the contents in the buckets they were carrying.

Walking as quietly as they were able, the boys traveled along little-used side paths that lead up the mountain to their destination. All of the boys jumped when Chouji's stomach growled. Kiba glared at him angrily while Naruto scanned the woods to see if anyone had heard the surprisingly loud noise.

"C'mon" Naruto whispered to the other two boys "We have to hurry cause I told Ichiro I'd be back in time for lunch" with that comment the three boys sped up the smallest amount causing the contents of their buckets to slosh over the sides and onto the ground.

"Ok, let's get started," Naruto said before grabbing a paint brush, dipping it into his bucket of blue paint and diving off onto the Hokage monument and landing carefully on the fourth's nose.

Kiba followed suit, leaping onto the thirds nose instead. "I've always wondered what the Third would look like if he had been an Inuzuka!" He called to Naruto and proceeded to paint the stripes of his clan onto the Third's cheeks.

Chouji looked at his friends as they painted graffiti onto the faces of the previous Hokage then glanced back at his bags of chips. Finally, he decided it wasn't worth the effort, and sat down to eat his chips while keeping watch for any ninja's that might investigate.

Naruto swiped one last stripe of paint across the fourth's face, a wide grin on his face. "Perfect." He declared, motioning to Kiba he told his friend that he was done and scurried up to the top of the mountain to collect and dispose of the supplies they used for their overdone prank.

Naruto grinned widely as he looked proudly upon his masterpiece. Absentmindedly he wiped some paint off of his hands onto his pants legs. "Now, let the chaos begin."

Hiashi put a few finishing touches onto the design on Hinata's face before stepping back to look at it, he nodded, pleased with how it had turned out. "Perfect" He commented before carefully stepping out of the circle. He walked over to a small table with materials on it a grabbed a towel which he used to wipe the remaining blood off of his hands.

Finally, he turned to the two children in the circle and smiled, "Now, let us begin."

The two children in the circle were facing each other, looking like polar opposites. Hinata, dressed in pure white, looking nervous and innocent had strands of had fallen out of her ponytail and into her face. Neji, dressed in all black had an emotionless expression on his face as he glared across the circle at his cousin.

They both had runes drawn on their faces in blood. On Hinata, they merely made her look purer, as if she was trying to remain innocent in a world of corruption. But on Neji's face, the bloody runes made him look darker, as if he wore the blood of other's on his face with pride.

When they started the appropriate motions, it merely magnified their differences. Hinata fumbled and almost messed up many times, and was biting her lower lip nervously with a slight look of fear on her face. Neji performed all of his motions perfectly with a grace that made all of them flow together so that you could not tell when one series stopped and another began.

As they moved, their motions slowly sped up so that it was almost unnoticeable. At the same time, both children started to gather chakra into their hands, making them nothing but blue blurs to Hiashi's watchful eyes.

At the exact same moment, they both stopped. They lifted their heads, and met each other's eyes, their individual chakras flaring around them, Hinata's ponytail was long gone, leaving her hair to fly around her face, yet she did not break her eye contact with her cousin. This was the crucial moment. Here she could not afford to mess up.

No one said a word. There was no battle cry or jutsu name that had to be called in order for this to work. It was all about concentration, and chakra control.

And then it started.

Hiashi watched with fascination as the chakra around Neji calmed. The veins around his eyes tensed, as if he was using the Byakugan but when Neji opened his eyes Hiashi was surprised to see that instead of the usual Byakugan eyes he expected to see, Neji's eyes were glowing. His chakra blue eyes stared deep into his cousins and became brighter and brighter until they were painful to look at, yet Hinata did not break eye contact, it seemed as if she was frozen in place unable to look away.

Quickly, Hiashi activated his own Byakugan and was able to see what was happening. All of the chakra that had been flying around Neji earlier was being condensed and shoved into his eyes. Slowly, the chakra continued to build up until all of the excess chakra that Neji had collected was in his eyes. For a normal person, having so much chakra focused into one area could be fatal, but for a Hyuuga, it was a mere annoyance.

Then, when he was no longer able to focus chakra into his eyes, Neji focused on a new destination for all of the chakra that had built up to go, straight into Hinata's waiting Byakugan eyes. Hiashi watched in fascination as the stream of chakra used his daughter's Byakugan as a door and traveled straight into her body. He watched as it flowed to all of the tenketsu, flaring out and making her chakra path's wider, clearer, and stronger.

Finally, all of her chakra paths were cleared of any blocks and were left stronger than maybe even his own. Yet, the flow of chakra continued to travel into her eyes. Hiashi watched horrified, yet oddly pleased at the same time, as the incoming chakra, which had no where to go, started to burn through areas with no chakra path at all. His daughter would be powerful, for she would have more tenketsu and chakra than any Hyuuga that had ever lived.

And it was all thanks to him.

Polls

Naru/Hinata- 36

Naru/Kyuubi- 28

Naru/Kin- 11

Naru/Ino- 12

Naru/Tenten- 3

Naru/Tayuya- 1

Naru/Anko- 1

None- 3

All right! Looks like Naru/Hina is winning, but Kyuubi's right on her tail! Please review and I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter out! Just out of curiosity, how many people skipped past the Naruto parts to read about the ritual? Review and tell me!

With loads of thanks for your patience,

Nobodykaires