Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Enjoy!
Chapter 20
Help me
"Hinata... This is... If we don't do something fast, they will die..."
The Uchiha's eyes widen from the new revelation. He looked at his teacher, who faced the ground in shame. "Kakashi. Mind telling us what the hell is going on, now?"
Kakashi sighed in defeat. "Tenten and Lee's crystals have taken over their consciousness, and they are right now under genjutsu that even Kurenai can't stop. But that's not the important thing right now. If you look closely at their crystals," Sasuke and Hinata looked at their crystals that had a similar red dot in the center to the others, this time theirs were way bigger. Also similar to their comrades, their crystals was covered in this purplish color, it almost looked like chakra. However, the purple chakra seemed to circulating around their crystals' aura.
"That's the reason your nakama is in this state right now. That purple chakra is poison!"
Sasuke unconsciously summoned his katana out of anger. "So, they are the reason Naruto and Sakura are-"
"Don't, Sasuke! It's not their fault that they were the destined Guardians of hate." Kakashi was at the same time happy to see how furious Sasuke became when he saw Naruto and Sakura this hurt.
"But, if their crystals caused this, how come Sasuke and I are not effected yet?" Hinata asked.
"The Yin and Yang Guardians are an exception. Long story short, your crystals are the most powerful ones among all 12 crystals and are immune to the poison emanating from Lee and Tenten's. Had you two been here before this got out of hand, you would have been able to protect the remaining Guardians from the poison."
"Then, what do we do to reverse all of this?"
Kakashi looked at Sasuke with the obvious look. "We have to deactivate the crystals to stop the chakra from releasing more of its' poison."
"Will we save the others if we do that?"
"Yes, Kakashi-sensei, will we?" A voice from the bushes spoke.
Sasuke's grip on the sword tightened by the face that appeared. Orochimaru!
"Orochimaru, what are you doing here?" Kakashi saw as another figure came into sight. It must've been his partner. Lee and Tenten skipped over to their sides and awaited their next order. This is not good. If we break out in a fight, we will risk getting the other Guardians in between it all.
"Kurenai-!"
"I don't think so." Kakashi instinctively brought his kunai in front of him as to block Orochimaru's coming attack.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
"Kakashi!"
Kakashi was about to give the order nonetheless until he heard clashes between several metals. Kakashi saw as Sasuke and Lee had engaged in a sword to kunai fight. Kurenai was also occupied by Kabuto. Oh no, it begun!
The Yin Guardian looked as everyone had begun with their fights whereas she was standing in the middle of nothing. She looked at Neji's teammate that was ready to slice her throat open. This is what you have been training for, Hinata!
She took the Juken position and prepared for battle. Tenten dashed at Hinata, she switched from kunai to sword in the midst of her dashing. Hinata blocked the slash with her palm and tried to block the chakra flow in her arm but failed as Tenten kicked her away, making her bump into her teammates. Tenten unfolded a scroll and a massive amount of weapons flew towards the young heiress.
As Hinata recovered and saw the sharp items streaming her way, she quickly thought of jumping away until she realised the two bodies laying behind her. Oh no!
The young heirs gulped before taking her family's traditional stance again. I hope I can manage with the skills I can as of now! She started performing rapid hand movements, swaying the weapons to the side. She grunted from the sting on her left palm. Not good. As the the weapons were coming to an end, Hinata felt a harsh impact on her left side as Tenten had struck her with a gigantic hammer. "Ah!"
Sasuke brought his attention to the fight between the kunoichis and saw as Hinata had been blown into the forest with Tenten wielding on a hammer.
"Haaaa!"
"Huh? Ugh-!" Sasuke instinctively used his katana as a shield against Lee's heavy stomp. He must admit, Lee was on another level compared to the ones he had fought. His attacks were heavy and strong. Even with his Sharingan activated, Lee was too quick. Before Sasuke could prepare for his attacks, the damage had already been made. The Uchiha felt another blow at his abdomen, he yelped. If I let him land any more attacks, I'm doomed.
As Hinata was trying to stop her body from sliding and rolling any further on the ground, Tenten appeared from above and stomped on Hinata. Hinata let out a hiss as Tenten roughly kicked her away. Hinata helped herself up with the support of a tree. She didn't even get time to prepare herself as Tenten had already punched her cheek followed by another one. The Guardian of Hate took a hold of Hinata's arm and slammed her on the ground. She proceed by twisting the Guardian's arm.
"Aaah! Ha!" Hinata cried. "S-Stop...!" She squealed on the floor, her hands searched the ground for anything that might distract Tenten enough to make her escape. She hissed as the pain became unbearable. No... I'm whining again... I must-
It wasn't long until the two heard a scream, nearing them. Before they knew it, Sasuke landed with a thud on the ground. "Hinata! The Uchiha yelled as he saw Hinata yelping on the ground. He was about to run over to Tenten until he sensed Lee's chakra above him. "Ngh!" He barely dodged Lee's surprise attack and saw as Lee was moving closer to him.
"Guess I'll have to step up." Sasuke performed the shadow clone jutsu. Two clones charged at Lee while the original skipped towards Tenten. Tenten let go of the kunoichi's arm and prepared for Sasuke's attack. Tenten summoned a chain this time and swung it at Sasuke. Hinata saw as the intense battle between Sasuke and Team Gai unfolded. A single tear drop couldn't stop itself from falling down her cheek. I'm still lacking behind... I'm being a burden..
The two clones also summoned a katana and concentrated their fire element onto the sword, sooner or later fire would light up the weapon. One of the clones swung his edge at Lee while the other came from above. Lee thought of moving to either sides, but he saw two other Sasuke's from both sides. "Huh?!"
Sasuke fired mini fireballs at Tenten. He saw how the kunoichi struggled to dodge the globes, especially when the heat was melting her skin. She had to let her chains go as they at some point had caught fire. Sasuke took the chance as he saw her hit a dead end and wrap her in the chains she once bore on.
He saw how the fight between the clones and Lee went and decided to end it. He performed the hand seals of Katon and released a Great Fireball at Lee, who had run out of breath from constantly dodging the attacks from the clone and getting no chance to strike. The taijutsu expert let an anguish yelp escape his lips as he crashed into a tree.
The Yang Guardian ran to his counterpart. "Are you okay?"
The young heiress subtly nodded. She didn't want Sasuke to see the dried tears on her cheek, so she kept looking towards the direction in which they came from. "S-S-Shall we go b-b-back and h-h-hel-lp?" M-My stuttering is back, too?... Hinata bit her bottom lip to keep her tears and whimper in.
Sasuke knew what she was hiding by covering herself behind her bangs. Nevertheless he nodded, taking a hold of her hand, to Hinata's surprise, and skipped onto a tree until they reached their previous battleground. Sasuke was shocked by the sight of even Kakashi having a hard time with outmanoeuvring Orchimaru's swarm of snakes. He was a chakra monster, to be able to perform so many charkha-absorbing justus in such a small amount of time. Kurenai was on the verge of collapsing. Not good.
The Uchiha flinched from Orochimaru's deep glare. He felt a constant vibration from his legs just by the look in his eyes that brought him back to their fight, the fight where he would've lost his life had it not been for a mysterious figure saving him. As much as Sasuke could feel his heart pounding from what he was about to do next. He still, hesitantly, summoned his sword. His feet got ready to launch at Orochimaru until he heard a tiny voice yell: "Wait!".
He looked over at Hinata, who always held her fist close to her chest when she was worried about something. "What?"
Hinata fell back a tiny bit by his cold tone. "L-Let m-me h-h-h-help.."
"No. You stay here and heal your arm." He said, thinking back to their fight with Yoroi. He didn't want to imagine the outcome with Orochimaru.
"B-But-"
The Uchiha felt his patience running thin. When he was about to tell her off, he felt a familiar chakra nearing both of them. A chakra that would bring unpleasant memories to them both.
Hinata saw Sasuke opening his mouth and then running towards her, picking her up and step down the tree. "W-What?" She asked when she saw the tree log split into two. Had Tenten and Lee already recovered?
Ororchimaru saw the scene unfold and chuckled to himself. He looked over at Kabuto, who in return, nodded to him. "Do you remember, Kakashi?" He spoke as he connected the tip of his thumb and ring finger together. The copy nin had a questioned expression on his face. He knew that whatever it was, it wasn't good.
"The day the 12 Guardians all came together and fell one by one, expect for the Guardians of Hate. Do you remember the cries, screams, and desperation the rest of you were in. You tried everything in order to stop the poison from spreading any further. But did you know, extracting the chakra is way easier than you think. Hehehe." With that said, the sanin snapped his fingers and in a minute or two, a moan from one of the fallen Guardians was heard. It was then followed by the next one and the next.
"No way." Kakashi was astounded by the simple snap that magically had seemed to remove part of the poison from the fallen Guardians' crystals. "How did you?..."
"It won't be a secret if I told you now, would it?" He chuckled once again as the Guardians tiredly looked around them in confusion. He smiled at the scene of the Yin and Yang Guardian facing yet another challenge. A challenge that they had faced before. Now, will the result be the same though? Hehehe.
Hinata watched as the tall and muscular figure stood from the ground, he had two other figures behind him. By the sight of their new opponent, her heart fell. Not him... Anybody but him...
You could see the smirk from his mask, and Sasuke was ready to wash it away from him. The Yang Guardian cursed under his breath as the new oppoenents kept popping out of nowhere. First Lee and Tenten, and now him. However, Sasuke had noticed the sudden movements from the bodies laying on the ground, which in a way relieved him. The Uchiha took the lead and prepared for an intense battle that was about to unfold until he was once again stopped by none other than Hinata.
"Stop, Hinata."
Hinata felt that she finally found the voice in her that wanted to tell Sasuke off for once, but it still came out as a stutter. "Y-You can't b-b-be serious t-t-taking t-them on by yourself?"
"What other choice do I have?"
Hinata was taken aback by his coldness. She wasn't on his level, but she could at least help him in some way or another. Her bangs hid her teary eyes while her fist reached her chest again. "I-I want to f-fight with you..." She whispered.
Sasuke found her constant whimpers annoying and he found no time to waste, but a part of him couldn't stop his mouth from asking her to repeat herself.
"I-I want to f-fight with you!" She beamed.
"T-he te-st w-w-with the s-s-s-scroll, the f-f-ight wi-th O-Orochimaru where you almo-st d-died, L-L-Lee and Tenten, a-a-and now t-t-this..." Her voice came out shaky due to the tears that kept falling, and a few hiccups would escape in between her babbling. "All in one day..."
Sasuke flinched from her mentioning of his fight with Orochimaru. How did she know about that?
"I want to help you for once, Sasuke-kun!" Hinata had not been this furious ever since her fight with the rogue where he kept tormenting her with the fact that she had Sasuke's crystal. She was getting tired of being automatically sidelined as soon as the stronger ones came in the picture. The fight with Yoroi only proved how much of a burden she was. And this case was no different.
Before the Uchiha could have another say, he heard footsteps from behind and sensed Tenten nearing them. As Sasuke was about to engage in a battle with her, a scent of lavender passed him and in another moment Tenten had been harshly kicked to the side. The Yang Guardian was astounded by the culprit. "Hi-"
She only looked him past her shoulder and cut him off. "I'm going to fight with you, whether you like it or not." She said dashed towards the Tenten that was still recovering from that surprise attack.
The Yin Guardian pinpointed her chakra points with her Byakugan activated and targeted those points, resulting in a sloppy Tenten that could barely keep herself up. Hinata took the chance and struck her at the abdomen, sending the kunoichi straight into a tree. Hinata saw Tenten being engulfed in a red color, as it disappeared Tenten had returned in her regular clothes.
Every standing ninja was left overly shocked by the new Hinata that entered the battlefield. Even the Guardians were left speechless. Especially Neji and her teammates.
Hinata... Kurenai thought. She smiled to herself by this sight of Hinata.
The Uchiha mentally smirked to himself. He knew that Hinata had trained hard for this moment, but it wasn't that he thought she was weak. He just couldn't bear letting the same incident with Yoroi happen again. He was at loss for words when she returned by his side. He knew he might have hurt her as she hid behind her bangs like before.
"Fine."
"Huh?"
He looked at her with annoyance. Is she serious? "You wanted to help, right? Then help me."
"Sasuke-kun!"
"But," the Uchiha looked her straight in the eyes, which caused a tiny blush across her face, "I won't let the incident with Yoroi repeat itself."