In My Way #1


~Five Years Before Graduation

There was a loud whipcrack.

It echoed throughout the Hyuuga great hall, and Hinata (stood demurely to the side with her hands clasped before her) couldn't help but flinch away at the sound. She needn't have worried, however. She was not the source of attention at that moment.

Hyuuga Neji's cheek was bright red from the chakra enhanced slap, but he did not avert his gaze.

"Do you have any idea what you have done?" Hyuuga Hiashi spat in his nephew's face.

Neji worked his jaw. "I saved my cousin-"

"Wrong answer!" Hiashi slapped him again, and again Hinata flinched. "Try again."

"Fine then." Neji's fists tightened at his sides. "I killed my father."

"You KILLED MY BROTHER!" Hiashi bellowed. Hinata had never seen him this angry; his face was red, his shoulders were shaking, and his eye bored into Neji's. The branch child refused to look away.

"I wasn't aware there was a difference-"

"You believe now is the time for jokes?"

"If we are discussing jokes," Neji snarled back, "then let us discuss a treaty that allowed Lightning to kidnap a clan heir from central Konoha with no repercussions-"

Hiashi struck him again. "A treaty only necessary because of your reckless missions, traipsing carelessly across foreign territory! A condition that would never have seen the light of day had you not seen fit to send Hinata running across the city unguarded! You thought yourself so witty, freeing my daughter from the party knowing I could not intervene without looking a fool. And now look what has come of your arrogance!"

"I saved Hinata!"

"But you doomed Hizashi!"

Hiashi moved to slap Neji again, but the twelve year old caught the man's palm on his own.

"I did not ask my father to die for me." He hissed.

"No." Hiashi snorted with derision. "You just made him love you. You made him care. So that when he died it was not defending the village, defending the clan, it was to protect you. A branch child with no future, no possible lineage and no one left to love him."

Neji glared. "Well perhaps. If you cared so fucking much for your dear brother, then you should have plucked that last eye out and DIED IN HIS STEAD!"

Hiashi stood there silently for a moment. Hinata didn't dare to breathe.

Then, slowly, her father reached up to his left eye and pulled off the medical patch covering it.

His empty socket stared out at the boy in front of him.

"I lost this eye in the swamps of Hidden Mist, in the third Great War." Hiashi said, quietly. "I was on the battlefield because my brother was captured and there were no other units willing to try and save him. The elders would have called me a fool, but I would happily have died to ensure his safely." His fist tightened around the eyepatch. "Unless I'm mistaken, you were responsible for that incident too, weren't you? He was captured supporting your mission."

Neji clenched his eyes shut.

"Shall I tell you what is funny?" Hiashi continued. "You are so desperate to protect those you care about, yet every time you intervene you only make the situation worse. And when you finally had the chance to die for your family, finally do the one thing the branch clan is supposed to, you found that you didn't have the nerve to do it."

Hinata didn't see Neji snap, but one moment he was stood there shaking and the next there was a whoosh of air and he collided with Hiashi. The two ninja met in a flurry of palms and elbows far too fast for Hinata to follow. After a moment, Neji was forced backwards by the sheer rage in his uncle's technique, and Hiashi had time to weave a select set of hand seals. "Caged Bird: Clipped wings." He intoned.

The seal on Neji's forehead began to glow a sickly green and he howled, putting his hands to his forehead and collapsing to his knees. Hiashi stood there, hands in position and gaze hard, as Neji writhed on the floor.

Hinata's hands clenched in front of her. She wasn't supposed to move, was supposed to stand there like a good girl and wait until she was addressed. But then she looked up.

Neji was looking at her.

"STOP IT!" She shouted, forcing her eyes closed. "Just stop it, please daddy..."

There was another moment, and then the hum of chakra let up, and Neji stopped screaming.

Hinata opened one eye, almost too scared to look, but regretted it when she realised Hiashi was not done. The elder Hyuuga stalked towards his nephew, and hauled him up by the front of his uniform. "Eight trigrams." He pronounced. "One hundred and twenty eight palms."

"NO!" Hinata screamed, but Hiashi didn't stop, pummelling Neji's defenceless body with palm strikes until he collapsed, helpless, to the floor.

Hinata doubted she'd be able to activate her Byakugan, but she didn't need to, she knew off by heart what that technique did to a person. She made to move forwards, but her father held a hand out to stop her. "Don't." He knelt down next to Neji. "If you have any pride, you will lay down and die here. If you survive, then I never want to see your face again."

With that, he turned and walked away. "Leave him, Hinata." He declared, on the way out. "He isn't worth your time."

The door slammed.

And Hinata was moving.

Heedless of her father's commands, heedless of the fact that half the compound could probably see what she was doing, she ran over and fell to her knees next to her cousin; placing her hands firmly on his chest.

"W...w..?" Neji couldn't get the question out, and Hinata knew he couldn't see, but she didn't really care she was too busy concentrating.

Pool the chakra in your stomach, centre of chi, then spread it outwards, bring it to your hands, don't sharpen it don't sharpen it-

Weakly, her hands began to glow green.

Neji's breathing deepened.

The simple act of transferring chakra was one of the most basic techniques any ninja learned, and one of the only things Hinata had learned; she'd only just started learning ninjutsu and she was probably doing it all wrong but she didn't care she just had to keep going.

Slowly, never once noticing the strange white marks spreading across his face, Hinata saved Neji's life.

After a few weeks, she would come to conclude it was the worst mistake she'd ever made.


Present Day

"I AINT THE SHARPEST TOOL IN THE SHED! SHE WAS LOOKING KINDA DUMB WITH HER-"

Sasuke and Naruto darted towards their teammate, and Kimimaro intercepted, catching Sasuke's arm and delivering a swift strike to his abdomen, then pivoting to throw out a kick in front of Naruto and knock him backwards, before launching a flurry of strikes back at Sasuke to push him away.

Then Hinata landed.

"Is it bad to say I actually quite like that song?" She smiled, pulling her hair out of her face.

"Hey, earth to Hinata?" Naruto spoke really slowly. "I. Am. Na-ru-to. This. Is. Sa-su-"

"I know who you are." She deadpanned.

"Oh, that's good." He smiled. "Hey, fancy helping us beat up this creepy pale dude?"

Hinata paused.

Kimimaro looked across at her. She met his eyes. He had no idea if this was going to work, but, "head north from here, past the valley of the End. Kabuto's waiting to escort you."

"Hinata." Sasuke warned.

The girl looked across the faces of both her teammates, and sighed.

Then she took of running.

"Shit-"

Sasuke and Naruto immediately rushed after her, but Kimimaro put himself between them again.

"No." He reiterated, palming his bone weapons.

Across from him, the Uchiha 'tch'd. "Naruto." He said, sideways. "Go after her. I'll deal with this loser."

The Uzumaki looked at his teammate in shock. "Sasuke, you can't-"

"My brother trounced this guy in like ten seconds." Sasuke flashed a smile sideways. "He can't be that hard."

"But-"

"Go." The dark haired boy reiterated. "Hinata needs you. Frankly, you're probably the only one who can get through to her. And besides that, I have a bone to pick with him for kicking me in the head."

"Hehe, bone." Naruto grimaced. "You better not take too long kicking this guy's ass, you hear me?"

Then he took off running, giving Kimimaro a wide berth.

Kimimaro let him go. He had a feeling he would be having enough trouble with the foe in front of him.


Sasuke took in a deep breath, and mentally congratulated himself on how completely suicidal he was being. "Teammates, am I right? Can't take them anywhere."

"Tell me about it." Agreed his opponent, with an eye roll. "I had to listen to Tayuya and Jirobo bickering the whole way here."

"Gotta love them, though."

"I suppose."

Sasuke chuckled, letting his posture sag for a moment. Then he straightened, and looked up.

"My name is Sasuke, of the Uchiha clan. Off in that direction are two of the most important people in my life, and I won't allow anyone to stand in my way."

The white haired boy, who couldn't be much older than sixteen, readied his blades. "My name is Kimimaro, formerly of the Kaguya clan. My master demands that I facilitate the lady Hinata's extraction to his location, and I won't allow anyone to pass me."

"Then it seems," Sasuke drawled. "That we are at an impasse." He drew Raito.

Step one: attempt a genjutsu.

But Kimimaro's eyes were firmly on his centre mass, and without eye contact Sasuke knew he wasn't strong enough to land anything the Sound ninja wouldn't detect.

So, step two: hit it until it dies.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" He called, trying not to stagger at feeling his chakra suddenly dip down to a quarter (how does Naruto do this so casually-) before running with the three other him's at Kimimaro, swords drawn.

"Willow dance." Declared Kimimaro, calmly making one step forwards and swinging.

The fight devolved into chaos. Sasuke, Sharingan active, could keep track of the proceedings perfectly, but he was surprised to find Kimimaro was also having zero trouble. He had grown bones from both palms and knees, and was soundly countering every slash Sasuke made towards him. It became immediately apparent that this guy was good. Very good. Even outnumbered four to one he was able to easily manipulate their respective positions so that he was never fighting more than two Sasuke at a time, and while he was on the defensive, it seemed that he was more keen on analysing Sasuke's technique than anything else. The Uchiha was quickly reminded that he'd only learned the basics of kenjutsu a couple months ago, and there was a certain moment where Kimimaro realised the same thing. Sasuke knew he had realised it because the Sound-nin shifted to vicious attacking, immediately popping one of the clones and putting the other three on the defensive with ease.

Sasuke continued to give ground, a dark look on his face as another clone popped, leaving him and his final duplicate alone against the swirling bones.

"You are outmatched." Kimimaro told him. "I will attempt to spare your life."

"Sounds suspicious." Sasuke grit out, "Why the hell would you do that?"

"Lady Hyuuga would prefer it if you were spared."

"Aww, how nice of her. But go fuck yourself."

"Very well."

Kimimaro moved in. He grabbed the last clone's sword from it and buried it in it's chest, dispelling it immediately, before lunging towards his real opponent.

Sasuke jumped forwards over the leg sweep, twisting into a vertical spin that would have split Kimimaro along the spinal cord if he hadn't dodged gracefully to one side. Then as Sasuke was landing, not facing his opponent, Kimimaro turned silently and thrust his palm bone towards Sasuke's back.

It was a strike that would have been completely impossible to block...

CLANG

...unless you could predict what they were going to do. Sasuke turned with a smile, three-tomoe eyes glinting. See, there was one thing Kimimaro had failed to account for:

The Sharingan was broken as fuck.

Sasuke spun in place and severed the bone that had just stabbed towards him, grabbing it in his off-hand like it was a regular kunai, then swept his sword forwards. Kimimaro parried, then reposted, but Sasuke was gone, continuing to press his offensive.

Suddenly, Kimimaro was on the back foot again, the barest hints of surprise showing in his face.

Sasuke had been overjoyed that Kimimaro had wanted to observe his technique, because it had given him time to do the same.

He'd done it using eye-hax that let him scan Kimimaro's entire fighting style, (multiplied by four due to shadow clones), but it still counted.

Sasuke, without even needing to think about it, had a comprehensive model of his opponent's technique that was refined and tested every time an action was taken. He knew what Kimimaro was going to do before he did it; as long as it was physically possible for Sasuke to succeed, Sasuke was going to succeed, and lo and behold he was succeeding.

He began to understand, just a little bit, why the second Hokage had tried to shove all the Uchiha into one corner of the village.

He ducked under another bladed kick and threw his stolen bone-dagger, forcing Kimimaro into an acrobatic manoeuvre to both pull his foot back and catch the projectile. That movement became even more acrobatic when he saw the explosive tag attached to the bone (that's what happens when you don't watch my eyes, asshole,) and attempted to throw it back. It detonated in the air between them, and the smoke finally allowed Sasuke to complete the great fireball hand seals without Kimimaro seeing them.

He was an experienced ninja, of course, so quickly jumped away to escape the blind spot from the explosion, but he jumped left. Just like Sasuke had predicted, based on his final movements.

Kimimaro was wreathed in fire.

Well, that was easier than I anticipated. Sasuke kept up the fire for another five seconds before stopping.

What was remaining was a burned patch of grass aesthetically resembling the Uchiha clan symbol, and in the centre a-oh come on.

"How are you still alive?" Sasuke deadpanned.

"I created a bone exoskeleton around my body." Kimimaro replied. "Your brother attempted a similar technique, with similar success." His skin had taken on a reflective sheen and was a paler white than before, though now there were black markings indicative of a cursemark being active. Sasuke noticed with amusement that it was the same shapes as his own curse mark, then noticed much more soberly that he didn't have his anymore, and also what had happened last time Hinata had turned her's on. Kimimaro's hair and clothing had been mostly burned off, though his unmentionables were still barely covered.

"How does that even work?" Sasuke asked. "Bone is rigid. It's on top of your skin, right? What even are your joints?"

"It's ninjutsu. It doesn't have to make sense." Kimimaro deadpanned right back. "Also, that genjutsu attempt just now was pathetic."

"Touché." Sasuke shrugged. Then he looked again and snorted. "Your hair's all burned off. You look like a marble covered in eyeliner."

Kimimaro's eyes narrowed. "Camellia dance."

A bone grew out from his hand, and he viciously snapped it off, wielding it in one hand and oh shit different fighting style.

Sasuke put his hands together, then was forced to jump sideways and interrupt himself as a hail of white bullets tore apart his previous location; bone shards fired from Kimimaro's left hand. Then they were suddenly in melee range, and Sasuke was desperately blocking the really fast strikes from his opponent.

Now he was fighting someone with a zero-cooldown ranged attack and a stick.

Oh, and legs, which he realised when a roundhouse caught him in the ribs and propelled him backwards through the air. Coughing up blood, Sasuke righted himself and poured some lightning release chakra into Raito, swinging it midair to launch a wave of electricity towards Kimimaro...who dodged it. Typical.

Sasuke landed and immediately rolled, bringing his sword up to cut at a few more incoming projectiles, in one case flattening the blade and punting a bullet up into the air, before Kimimaro was back on top of him. The curse mark's influence continued to be completely overpowered, and Sasuke found himself being battered backwards repeatedly, eventually unable to stop a knee to the stomach and falling to the ground.

He attempted another genjutsu.

"Stop that." Kimimaro glared, and dispelled it, and brought down his blade for a killing blow. Sasuke started making hand seals.

Kimimaro presumably thought it was a bluff; there was nothing in Sasuke's line of sight after all, why would he be using the substitution technique? But there was a single bullet, falling down from the sky, that was about to enter Sasuke's vision right...

Kimimaro's blade came within a millimetre of his skin when he finished the technique. He vanished in a puff of smoke, the bone stabbed into the grass next to a small white bullet, and Sasuke twisted in midair, falling down to embed his blade in Kimimaro's back.

"Larch dance." Declared the Sound ninja, boredly.

Sasuke reacted a split second after the spines grew from every spot on Kimimaro's body, barely managing to avoid impalement in multiple locations, instead forced to twist into a landing that still got him cut across the face, stomach and leg.

He froze.

"Not bad." Kimimaro remarked, before spinning in place.

Sasuke jumped away and back-pedalled as Kimimaro turned into a whirlwind of pain, coming to a stop only when Sasuke was a solid fifty feet away from him.

The sound ninja ejected all the bones from his body, and turned to give Sasuke another blank look.

"I know this is kinda rich coming from me." Sasuke bit out. "But your powers are bullshit."

"Surrender." Kimimaro stared. "You will only be rendered unconscious."

"Aww, come on." Sasuke fell into a sprinter's pose. "One more try."

Kimimaro remained still.

"Phoenix fire jutsu!" Sasuke declared, beginning his sprint with a hail of flak meant to disorient and pressure.

Kimimaro let most of the small fireballs fly harmlessly by him, catching those that were on target with arms and knees with no visible pain. Undeterred, Sasuke drew Raito, charging with it pointed straight towards Kimimaro's heart. The Sound-nin looked straight into his eyes, unflinchingly. Then, when Sasuke was right on top of him, moving far too fast to stop, he moved. Again uttering "Larch Dance." He let the spines grow out from his body to stab deep into flesh and bone.


If there was one thing Itachi had taught Sasuke, it was that genjutsu was an insidious thing. Seriously, it was an ass. The weirdest part was that with the exception of a few techniques that 'I'll tell you about when you're older', every single genjutsu was completely dispellable. Easily, in fact, for any ninja worth their salt, even Sharingan genjutsu. The simple trick was noticing it was there in the first place. Sensory types were better at catching the attacker's chakra latching onto them, but the rest of the ninja are trained to notice when the world they're perceiving changes from reality. Making someone see flashing colours may be a great distraction, but it's not subtle, and it's the sort of thing Kimimaro would halt almost without thinking about it.

Had, in fact. Thrice.

No, the real reason Genjutsu was often vaunted as the most difficult and most deadly of the ninja arts were when it was used for little things. An idea planted in the back of the mind you might never have thought of otherwise. A branch looking a little longer and sturdier than it really was. A voice calling your name, to make you avert your eyes for a brief, crucial moment.

Such things won wars.

Of course Kimimaro was well trained, and even Genjutsu like that he might have caught if he was focusing.

But with all his attention on timing the execution of his opponent, and having just seen and shattered a much larger, sloppier illusion, he didn't notice the innocuous little trick Sasuke had slid underneath.

A genjutsu that made Sasuke seem a teensy bit faster than he really was.

So instead of unleashing his spikes to skewer Sasuke right as he reached him, Kimimaro became a human pincushion when the Uchiha was two steps away.

Which allowed Sasuke to adjust his body position, dart in between the bones, and run him through with his sword.


Kimimaro's eyes widened in genuine surprise, and Sasuke wasted no time grabbing Raito with both hands and yanking it up and out, carving a gash up through Kimimaro's shoulder and scrambling backwards.

Kimimaro lunged desperately after him, swinging wildly, but was quickly forced to one knee.

Sasuke carefully controlled his gag reflex, there was blood everywhere. He had missed the heart, barely, but a brief review of all the organs upwards of chest-centre left him wondering how the hell Kimimaro was still alive.

He was considering whether a great fireball now would cauterise the wound or be the final nail in the coffin, when he heard a low chuckling from the Sound-nin. "Very impressive." Wheezed Kimimaro. "You are strong. I understand now why my master considered you."

Remember, Sasuke. Itachi had once said. When a seemingly downed opponent starts complementing you and/or laughing maniacally, it's time to start worrying.

Sasuke gulped.

"Unfortunately," Continued Kimimaro, "you have spat in the face of that offer." He spat himself. Unsurprisingly, it was blood. "And I cannot allow you to further insult him by denying him his other prize. So even if it tears me apart..." He looked up. His eyes had taken on a familar black and yellow theme. "You are going to die here."


Naruto wondered, briefly, if it was weird that he knew how Hinata smelled. It wasn't perfume, because she put that on when she did the clan stuff and it was horrible, but in a world where everyone smelled like some combination of body odour and ineffective deodorant, Hinata managed to maintain a distinct but subtle scent of lavender wherever she went, even during the strenuous physical activity of Gai's lessons.

It was probably a kunoichi thing.

Naruto was fully aware that being so intimate with someone's smell was the sort of thing that warranted raised eyebrows and wolf whistles in everyday life, but wasn't really sure if that applied here.

Given he was using his Kyuubi powers to track her scent and hunt her down through the forest.

He pushed onwards, knowing for damn sure he was faster than her in a flat sprint, and was rewarded as the trees parted in front of him and he spotted her some distance away.

She, of course, could see him just fine wherever, and had apparently decided it was best to stop and wait for him on top of the head of some big stone dude.

So this was the valley of the End he'd heard about. Two massive stone statues set up by ninja who were definitely compensating for something, flanking a massive waterfall. The river roared as it flowed straight over the cliff wedge and down into a lake below, while the wind whipped around the tops. It was dramatic as hell.

He loved it.

Hopping up onto the adjacent head, he pointed a finger across to his teammate. "Hinata! I don't know what Bony told you, but it's time for you to come home! You can't just-"


Hinata blinked. Naruto had struck a dramatic pose and was gesturing wildly. Her ears caught a few snippets of words from him across the river.

She tilted her head. "What?"


She looks like she's listening! "Me and Sasuke are super worried about you!" He continued. "And whatever it is you're trying to do, it can't be more important than-"


"I can't-" Hinata sighed. "Naruto I can't hear you-"


"So no matter what! You gotta-" Naruto winced as Hinata put two hands in her mouth and whistled, the high pitched sound interrupting his train of thought.

Looking across, he saw her overact putting a hand to her ear while waving the other one uselessly, then making a 'come over' gesture.

"Oh..." he realised. He jumped off the dude's head, and ran across the top of the waterfall over to her side.

"Okay, so, that was a little embarrassing." He admitted, walking up to the top with her. "Do you want me to restart the speech, or-"

"No thanks, I think I understood the gist." Hinata replied. She didn't look any different, even from up close.

"So..." Naruto shifted on his feet. "...Watcha doing?"

"Going to live with the suspicious snake man from the forest." She explained.

"The one that put you through three days of agony and nearly killed you."

"Yes, that one."

"Could you, like, not?"

"No."

"No you won't go, or no you won't not go, or no you won't not not-"

"I'm going, Naruto." She told him.

"Yeah but the thing is..." he paused, trying to vocalise his feelings. "WHY?"

She grimaced. "I...can't explain it."

"Yeah that's hella suspicious." He squinted at her. "Are you being mind controlled?"

"What?"

"Say something the real Hinata would say."

"No."

"Damn, you're a dead ringer."

"You-"

They paused.

Naruto snorted.

Hinata sighed as he started full on laughing.

"This isn't something you can fix just by making me laugh, Naruto." She said, after a while.

"But-"

"It used to be." She continued. "Back when we first became a team, I...wasn't in a good place. I was angry, and sad, and hurting. And you helped." She looked up at him and smiled. "You genuinely helped, both you and Sasuke. You helped me stand. Now it's time for me to walk on my own."

Naruto frowned. "Is this more from that race hypothesis thingie?"

"I suppose." Hinata looked over Naruto's shoulder. "You should go help Sasuke. Kimimaro is dangerous, and it would be a serious blow to Orochimaru if he was defeated."

Naruto looked at her in confusion. "One; Sasuke'll be fine, two; you're plotting against the guy you're betraying us for, and three; you're still betraying us for Snakeface?"

"Yes."

"No." Naruto crossed his arms. Then thought about it, sidled around her so she was between him and the waterfall, and crossed his arms. "That mark made you crazy before it was sealed, and now it's stronger. You're not in your right mind, and if you are then you're just being stupid. We're both going back to help Sasuke, and then we can talk all we want about this later."

Hinata winced, fingers clenching into fists. Then she relaxed them. "Fine." And suddenly she moved, and Naruto found himself grabbed by the lapels and thrown behind her. There was a moment of vertigo as he passed over the stone dude's head and crashed down onto the top of the waterfall.

"I don't want to do this." She called over the edge to him. "Go back to Sasuke. If you get in my way, I'll move you."

He glared.

It took him a few seconds to climb back up to the top of the head and grab her arm as she was walking away. With her eyes she obviously knew he was coming, and her face as she turned back to him was more resigned than everything.

"Bull." He snarled. "If you don't want to do this, don't."

She twisted her arm free of his; he grabbed it again.

"It's not that simple." She shot back.

"Sure it isn't." He replied, derisively. "This is about your cousin. It's always about your fucking cousin. You're so desperate to catch up to him that you'll go join a terrorist to make it happen, and you don't give a damn about the rest of us!"

Her eyes narrowed. She freed her arm and batted his away when he reached for her again, pressing one palm to his upper chest and walking him a few steps backwards. "Don't you dare imply that I don't care."

"Oh really? What the hell am I supposed to think? I haven't seen much caring in the last few days!"

"Then you are blind!"

"No, you are crazy!" He pulled her arm off his chest and shoved forwards with his shoulder, pushing her backwards. He took a deep breath. "You're crazy." He repeated. "Which is fine. I've gotten used to your regular brand of crazy over the past few months. So I'm going to drag your ass back to Konoha whether you like it or not, and apologise later."

Hinata stared him down. "I'm not crazy." She said. "But I understand I'm failing entirely to explain myself, so I can't expect you to know any better. So I'm going anyway, even if I have to beat you down to stop you following me. I'll apologise later."

They stood for a moment, facing each other down.

"Shikimaru and Kankuro both forfeit." Naruto pointed out.

"I beat Sasuke, and you beat Gaara." Hinata followed his train of thought. "But we never did get a final round of the chunin exams, did we?"


Oh I know some people are gonna be freaking pissed. I'd ask you to trust I know what I'm doing, but I haven't known what I was doing since I turned eleven.

Sasuke is making his application for teammate of the year, Hinata is making her application for worst teammate of the year, and Naruto is just sort of upset.

Tune in next week for condensed child violence.