I do not own Naruto but then again I barely own anything as it is.
The Will Born in Protecting
Naruto's back healed slowly. The medics tried to take skin grafts from other places on his body but the skin patches simply died after being applied over the burn. They were forced to heal the wound with chakra. With the skin destroyed, the medics had to continue to forcibly re-grow the skin from the edges. It was painful for Naruto and the time consuming work drained even the strongest medic nins in minutes. At night, Naruto would dream of the cage and could hear a rumbling laughter. When Hinata was released from the hospital a week after the fire, there was still a four-inch wide area across most of his back that was not healed yet.
The pale-eyed girl said she would visit when she could but she knew her father would never permit it. Propriety and appearance were more important than feelings to the Hyuuga. The day after her release, Hinata was being woken early to family training. The doctors had said no sparring for another week and even Hiashi knew enough not to push things. The clan medic had agreed with the diagnosis that overtaxing Hinata's leg would make the recovery time longer. That did not keep the clan head from having Hinata do slow forms and range of motion exercises while he supervised Hinata's younger sister Hanabi's training.
The younger girl sparred with a branch member while Hiashi used a pointer to tap at Hanabi's form to correct it. Each tap meant that Hanabi had to stop and move in the correct manner twice before continuing the spar. The clan head frowned as he tapped his younger daughter once more. Hinata knew her forms well enough that she could perform them without a tap. Hiashi looked at his older daughter do her exercises off to one side and kept himself from sighing. It was in live sparring that her problems arose. The weakness was not in her technique. It was in a combination of her small size and her will to perform them. Somehow, Hiashi knew he had to find a way to get Hinata to find the confidence to overcome those flaws.
A clamor arose to the side of the training area. Hiashi turned towards it and activated his clan's bloodline; the Byakugan. His pale eyes would appear like those of a blind person to an ignorant civilian but they were a sign of a powerful dojutsu. Veins bulged on his temples chakra and blood surged into the eyes. His vision faded to a black and white world while chakra stood out as the only color. He spied something amiss to his left and turned as a trio of ninja appeared and hurled explosive tagged kunai at the training Hyuuga. Hiashi knew he could not immediately protect himself with the Kaiten because that would push Hanabi away, likely causing severe injury.
Events happened quickly.
The branch family member jumped between the kunai and the main family.
Hiashi grabbed Hanabi and pushed her to the ground at his feet. He focused his chakra and prepared to begin his Kaiten spin.
Hinata was further away so she went to one knee and crossed her arms in an X before her body, pumping chakra from her tenketsu points to form a defensive barrier without spinning.
Two of the kunai struck the branch member and exploded; throwing him across the training field to land in a bloody heap.
The third kunai landed next to Hiashi and exploded. A massive flash and bang filled the area. The chakra-enhanced explosion of light and sound was made worse on Hiashi with his Byakugan active. He saw the flash surround himself and Hanabi, stunning father and child while knocking Hiashi to the ground.
The three mystery ninja quickly closed in and one began to pick up Hanabi while a second approached Hiashi with a kunai on hand. The third came at Hinata almost causally as she was still in her defensive crouch. It was his last mistake as Hinata made two perfect juuken strikes on the man's thighs, closing down the man's ability to use his legs. As the man fell, she followed up with another chakra-enhanced strike to the temple, killing the man instantly.
"Oh, the weakling still has some fight in her." The leader crooned as he lifted the stunned Hanabi. He was not aware of his man being dead yet, only thinking him stunned. "Too bad she is going to die along with her daddy. The little one here will fetch a high price from the Cloud village."
"You will not touch them!" shouted Hinata as she leapt toward the ninja about to cut Hiashi's throat. The ninja stood back up as Hinata closed in. He did not seem to think Hinata a threat until he noticed his comrade was not breathing. He cursed silently. The supposedly weak girl had already taken down one of their number and if he left himself open to kill Hiashi, he could die himself. The kunai thrust out at Hinata who parried the blade as her training had taught her.
Hinata focused and made her attack. She had not mastered the Divine 64 strikes yet so she did the best she could. Hinata was at the thirty two strikes stage before her weak leg gave out. Even so, the first thirty two blows had all hit and the ninja fell stunned with the tenketsu to his arms and legs all shut down. The fatal blows would have been in the last series of strikes.
The leader growled as his second man fell to this so-called weakling of the Hyuuga. Holding Hanabi under one arm he prepared to leap away. The wounded branch member now got into the fray with a thrown kunai. He had pulled it from his own wound and sent it back at the attacker striking the kidnapper's calf; preventing the man from escaping immediately. However, the branch member could not follow up due to his own injuries and lack of weapons.
The kidnapper pulled the kunai from his calf and wasted precious seconds to inspect the wound. He would be able to fight but not run off quickly. His hostage would have to insure his escape.
Hinata took the opportunity to regain her feet and close in on the enemy. "You will drop my sister and surrender yourself." The voice dripped with malice and barely contained anger.
Hiashi was shocked at the tone in his daughter's voice. This was a Hinata no one in the clan had ever seen. Her Byakugan had activated after the initial explosion with no hand signs and her voice carried a tone that even impressed Hiashi as he was struggling to get to his feet. Shouts closed in on the training field as the guards were reacting to the explosions.
Barely thirty seconds had passed since the first explosion.
Hinata sidestepped to keep Hanabi on the far side of the ninja and his kunai needed to defend against an attack. Hiashi managed to stand but could barely maintain his balance and had blood coming from one ear due to a ruptured eardrum.
'Just another fifteen seconds. I just have to keep him occupied for another fifteen seconds,' Hinata thought.
The missing nin knew his time was running out so he put the kunai against Hanabi's throat. "You had better let me go, child, or you will be an only child again."
Hinata frowned and growled as she half stepped closer. The blade pulled back away from Hanabi's throat, showing blood on the sharp edge. Hinata charged.
The missing nin knew he could not take the time to kill Hinata and still escape so he thrust the kunai at Hinata when she charged. He expected the girl to attempt a parry thus leave herself open to being kicked away but Hinata let the blade impact her forearm. It slid between the bones of her forearm. She felt no pain yet. Hinata was only focused on her goal as she lifted it up and away instead exposing the man's chest to her strike. Anger fueled her blow as she pumped too much chakra into her strike. The insides of the missing nin's chest almost liquefied under the amount of chakra Hinata hit him with.
Hiashi had managed to get his Byakugan active once more and saw the hand of his older daughter nearly glowing as she overloaded the tenketsu in her hand; burning it with the amount of energy flowing through it. The missing nin fell like a brick. Hinata fell to her knees and pulled the still Hanabi close to herself and began to cry in relief. The blood on the kunai was only from a slight cut. Guards flooded the area as Hiashi reached his daughters and wrapped his arms around them both.
ANBU and medical ninja were summoned. The one surviving missing nin was bound and taken for interrogation. The bodies of the other two were removed for examination. The three Hyuuga main family members were rushed to the hospital. Aside from the cut on her neck, Hanabi was basically unharmed as she had only been stunned by the opening attack. Hiashi had a ruptured eardrum and eye strain from having his Byakugan active when the flash-bang went off. Hinata was admitted again due to her hand being covered in chakra burns and the deep knife wound to her forearm.
The captured kidnapper quickly broke under interrogation. His team had been working with the spy and slipped into Konoha with him. Their original plan had been to take one of Hiashi's daughters or an unmarked baby boy when ANBU was distracted with a theft by the spy. However, the fire and the increased security afterward had left them trapped inside of Konoha. They had waited and became more desperate until they just attacked the Hyuuga compound. A pair of bored Hyuuga sentries had died in the process.
After things were settled down, Hiashi went to see Hinata. The girl sat as erect as she could in her bed for her father as she recounted her actions. "This is difficult to understand, Hinata. You have shown poor ability against your sparring partners and lose to your sister regularly but when she and I were threatened, you reacted in a direct, clear and aggressive manner. You killed two chunnin level opponents and would have killed a third with the Divine 64 strikes had you completed it. That attack was not completed due to your leg failing from your recent injury. How could you complete those attacks when you could not demonstrate them for me against your sister?"
Hinata's head dropped down for a moment before she decided to put everything out into the open. She looked up and directly into her father's eyes.
"I do not wish to harm Hanabi-chan, Father. I see her and all I can see is Mother. Hanabi-chan has the same face as Mother. I am sorry for being weak like that, but I cannot harm her simply to demonstrate my ability."
Hinata's voice was barely above a whisper as she finished speaking but her nerve held. Hiashi just stood as he pondered his daughter's answer. "Yes, Hanabi-chan does indeed have her looks." He finally said softly. "Given how close you were to her, I am not surprised than you would let yourself see that when I would not. It seems I have a few things I need to rethink. For now, if you continue to show strength like you shown today, you will be a fine heir one day."
Hiashi bowed slightly and left Hinata alone with her thoughts. 'Father complimented me. He called me strong.' Hinata felt like dancing. It had taken almost losing her family but her father had acknowledged her.
Sarutobi hated paperwork. It mocked him on a daily basis. Some days it felt like papers would somehow become unsigned simply to jump back into the pile. Today, the cost breakdown for a replacement for the school building sat before him. The students were currently scattered around the village in whatever meeting halls and training areas could hold them. Even the meeting room in the tower was used several hours a day for instruction. They needed a central place again and quickly.
Sarutobi sighed softly. 'Our strength in numbers and quality of ninja is finally approaching the level it was at before the Kyuubi attacked and now this setback. Half of the non-clan students were withdrawn from the Academy as well. I really should have stayed retired but there is still no one worthy of the title of Hokage left in the village. Reports from Jiraiya tell me that criminals and missing nin are flocking to a new village in the Rice Country. Rock and Cloud are getting restless in the peace and have grown faster than us since the wars ended.'
'Dark days lie ahead and this time we do not have a ninja like the Fourth. We need something for the people to rally behind. Not just a single person that can be lost either. A team perhaps. One with the Will of Fire shining brightly in them. Much like the Sannin had been years ago, the ones who inspired the Fourth to become great. A new Sannin. I must get Jiraiya to contact Tsunade to see if she will return to see her old teacher. I have two people in mind already, now I need to find a third.'
End Notes
: I have the first 6 chapters ready to go but I will be waiting a few days between posting in order to work on edits and continue further into the story(Edited and Reposted)