Another chance Chapter 10: Hinata and Neji, a naruto fanfic

Okay, sorry this took so long. I had to study for finals and a bunch of other bullshit, meh. Also I want to make this clear: THE YONDAIME IN THIS FIC IS MINATO NAMIKAZE. I NAMED ARASHI KAZAMA THAT BECAUSE I SUCK AT MAKING UP NAMES!!

Well, here's the next chapter.

Chapter 10: Hinata versus Neji

Hinata eeped a little and looked over at Neji. She could feel the hatred radiating from his very being and truly feared for her life. Seeing the elder Hyuuga woman, Hinata wondered if she knew this was going to happen. Grabbing the slightly larger than normal flat water canteen, she undid the lid on it and hid it under her jacket before walking down the stairs, trying not to think of what might happen.

Neji, on the other side, was already down on the floor waiting for Hinata. He glared at her before she eeped and turned her head. He noticed that she had slipped something inside her jacket, but he wasn't all that curious about it. It didn't matter, Hinata was not going to continue on.

Hinata was still thinking about kiba also, and what he had said. While he had been carried out, he had told her to throw the match if she got Gaara or Neji, but Hinata did not want to give up. Naruto was watching.

" I never thought that you and I, of all people, would have to fight each other" Neji said, schooling his face into a neutral expression.

"Nor I brother" she said softly, focusing her will power into not stuttering in front of all the genins.

"What'd she call him?!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Brother?! Those two are brother and sister!" Naruto said, leaning over the railing. Arashi sighed, he just had to stand next to them.

"No, you freakin idiot. They're both from the Hyuuga clan, supposedly the most honorable and one of the most ancient clans of the Leaf. They're more like cousins than brother and sister. Hinata is from the main household and Neji is from the branch house." Arashi said, looking to where Haku and Gaara were standing. Lee just nodded at what Arashi had said.

"Watch who you call an idiot Shorty!" Naruto exclaimed, glaring at the little blond next to him. Who was, undoubtedly, the only one shorter than Naruto.

"I may be shorter than you, but your older than me, so that doesn't count!" Arashi exclaimed, that had been the first time anyone had called him short with it intending to be an insult. Naruto stuck his toungue out at Arashi before focusing more on the match.

"Then, if they're family, it must be hard for them." Sakura said, gazing sorrowfully at the two Hyuuga.

"That may be the case normally, but I have heard that for many generations now, there has been some bad blood between the two families" Said Lee, holding up his finger like a teacher giving a lecture.

"Why's that?" Naruto said, his attention being stolen yet again

"I'm not sure, but I know it has something to do with the Hyuuga bloodline. The first generation created rules and boundaries favoring the Hyuuga clan's Main Household, and the branch houses broke some of those rules. Since then, the two families have had a hard time with each other" Lee continued. Giving what he knew of Hyuugas from interacting with Neji.

"So then, this is like a family feud!" Sakura exclaimed.

"God, just shut up already! They're about to start!" Arashi yelled at them. Kakashi just watched the scene, his eyes dancing at the hilariousness of it all, before hardening as he looked at the two genin about to fight. He really worried for Hinata's safety. Neji was considered a prodigy, not a genius like Sasuke, but a true prodigy who might have been able to rival Itachi if he had been given proper training like that given to the main household. As it was, he was mostly self taught, going off the basics that all branch members were taught, and managing to create techniques known to only the main house. Of course, only Kakashi knew this, and felt it wasn't need to know information for his genin.

"Are you both ready?" Hayate asked.

"Before we do this, a word of advice. Hinata-Sama, withdraw from this match now. You know you were never meant to be a ninja" Neji spoke with a calm demeanor, his voice laced with an underlying hatred. "You're too kind and gentle. You seek harmony and avoid conflict, you allow yourself to be easily swayed by others. Heh, admit it." Hinata looked away as Neji continued.

"You have no confidence, you feel inferior to everyone else here. It would be better for you to simply remain a genin, but to register for the chuunin exams, you need a team of three people. You never even wanted to take part in these exams, but Shino and Kiba did and you couldn't bear to let your teammates down, could you?" Neji glared at her, his anger going away as he saw how much control he had over her.

"No! Y-you're wrong! Y-you're w-wrong." She stuttered, looking like she was trying more so to convince herself then Neji. "I wanted... I h-had to f-find out, I-I d-did it because I w-wanted to see if I-I could change m-myself" She said, becoming a little more confident, but still avoiding Neji's eyes.

'Hinata' Kurenei thought to herself. She remembered when Hiashi had first asked her to take Hinata under her wing so that he could focus on Hinata's younger sister, Hanabi's, training.

'Hinata has truly struggled more than most people realize to be who she wants to be' Kurenei thought, she was proud of her student.

"Hinata-Sama, you are the pampered offspring of the Hyuuga's main branch" Neji said, his hatred coming back.

"W-what?" Hinata looked up.

"People can't change no matter how hard they try." Hinata gasped, and started shaking at Neji's words. "They can't run away from their true nature. A failure will always be a failure."

Arashi looked over to his side and noticed that Mini Idiot looked like he was about to blow. Arashi himself was also angry, his Tou-san had told him that he had been dead last when he was in the academy, but now he was Tokikage!

"People are judged by their true nature. It is the way of the world, that is why we have elite and outcasts. We can change our physical appearance, improve our skills with training and studying, but ultimately, we are judged by what we cannot change" Hinata was shaking more and more as she hung on to every word he said.

"What can't be changed, must be endured. We are who we are, Hinata-Sama. And we must live with it! Just as I must live with the fact that you were born into the elite of our clan while I am from a lesser branch. I understand these things because I see the world clearly with the Byakugan. Despite your brave words, what your really thinking is that you'd like to run. Run as far away from here as you can"

"No! Y-you're wrong! You're wrong a-about me!" Hinata gasped, trying to fight back against the web of torment and anger he was weaving around her mind.

"Byakugan?" Naruto asked.

"It's the Bloodline limit for the Hyuuga Clan. A Doujutsu like the Sharingan, in fact, the Sharingan supposedly came from the Hyuuga Clan sometime ago. But for sheer power and insight, the Byakugan is far beyond the Sharingan." Sakura said, her brain coming in handy once it was being used.

Hinata started hyperventilating when Neji activated his Byakugan.

"My eyes cannot be deceived. Just one moment ago, in the slightest of movements, your gaze drifted to the upward left corner of the room. I saw, at that moment, you were thinking of your bitter past. And then, almost immediately after, your gaze drifted to the lower right. It was a mere flicker of the eyes, but to me it revealed all of your mental and physical suffering. Your seeing your old self and wondering if your life has prepared your for this moment. Your picturing the outcome of the battle, you see yourself losing."

Naruto stared, filled to the brim with true, unbridled, hate for the first time since he had thought that Haku had killed Sasuke. Arashi was watching him warily.

"And the way your holding your arms in front of your body like that? It tells me that your trying to build a wall between us, to keep me at bay. You want to keep me from raiding the deepest recesses of your mind!" Neji's voice was laced with Hate now, not even bothering to try and hide it.

"And why? Because everything I've said is true. Shall I go on? That familiar gesture of putting your fingers together or to your lips. I know that it is a desperate attempt to suppress your rising panic. Made all the more desperate because you know it id futile! It's all futile, Hinata!" He said, spitting her name out, purposely without the '-Sama' part in it.

"We are what we are. Whether you believe it or not, you already know!"

"THAT DOES IT!!"

Arashi covered his poor ears from the sound while everyone else looked at Naruto, including Neji and Hinata.

"Who gave you the right to tell her what she can and can't be! Come on!"

Arashi was still glaring at Naruto for yelling in his ears, but everyone else was looking at him in awe.

"Hinata! You just gonna stand there and take that?! Do something, you're driving me crazy!"

Hinata stopped shaking for a moment and looked down at the floor. She thought about the little trick the Elder Hyuuga lady had taught her, and wasn't sure if that would give her victory. But it would give Neji a surprise, and if she could catch the moment he would be off-guard, she might win.

'You're right. Naruto-kun, thank you'

Hinata Kazama watched it all, lost in her own memories of the fight. It had been the first time when Naruto had focused solely on her and was still considered one of her most precious memories despite losing.

'Annoying little pest' Neji thought, glaring at Naruto before returning his gaze to Hinata. His eyes widened slightly in surprise when he saw that her arms were by her side and her stance indicated confidence.

'The look in her eyes have changed' "If you don't forfeit the match, you know what will happen"

Hinata glared at Neji with the little hatred she could bring herself to feel, before forming handseals. Stopping on one, she called out, "Byakugan!" But before moving onward into a Taijutsu stance, she continued making more handseals, surprising Neji and anyone else.

Kurenei smirked, 'this must be what that other sensei taught her'

Shikamaru was the only genin who realized that too, and watched the match aptly.

Ending on the Rat hand seal, she thought to herself the name so no one would know what it was or even have an idea of waht it did.

'Suiton: Suiryuu jiheki' (1)

Hinata felt the water from the little bottle race around her body, following the lines of her chakra paths like a magnet. She separated her feet and then got into the Hyuuga taijutsu style before looking up at Neji.

"Defend yourself Brother"

Neji entered a stance identical to Hinata's, Byakugan activated.

"Very well then"

Lee recognized the stance as the Hyuuga style and got into a conversation with sakura about it. Arashi was watching the battle with a critical eye, to see if he might be able to pick up any tips from them.

An unknown sign seemed to appear before both of them as they attacked each other at the same time. Hinata threw a palm towards Neji, but he blocked it before sending an attack towards Hinata. They continued back and forth in this fashion, but something felt off to the Prodigy, however, as long as he didn't know what was wrong, Hinata would have the advantage. His attacks weren't doing as much damage as they should have.

Neji looked over her chakra systems, there was something strange about them. They looked a little too...flowy. That was the only word neji could think of. The chakra seemed to be flowing through her systems too easily, too much like water! That was it, 'water!' Neji thought to himself, remembering the object Hinata had hidden under her clothes.

Stopping for a moment and pulling away, he smirked. "You must have thought that was clever, Hinata-Sama, but it won't work now that I know what you are doing. Running water along the pathways of your chakra served two purposes. One: it blocked over 50 of the direct damage to your tenketsu and two: it was much harder to see when following your chakra pathways then if it was spread over your skin like a shield. It also makes it easier to do and control, does it not? All you had to do was attach your chakra to the water like a magnet, and it would follow your chakra paths, would it not?" Neji said, smirking.

Hinata didn't reply with anything but continuing to fight. Catching him by surprise, she managed a glancing blow to his chest.

Lee's eyes widened.

"Dang, she almost got him!" Naruto said.

"It was just a glancing blow" Sakura replied, berating him.

"No, that is what is so deadly about the Hyuuga style. Even a glancing blow is enough to cause death. That is the difference between our styles. I focus on outer damage, like breaking bones or shattering limbs, but the Hyuuga style focuses on disrupting the chakra pathways." Lee said, still surprised that Hinata had managed even that much against his eternal rival.

Neji gasped for breath. Why? That attack hadn't come close enough to do this! Yes, it may have hurt later, but it shouldn't make him have a hard time breathing. Trying his best to hide it, he continued in his assault against Hinata. They entered another dance of blows, fighting for dominance.

'She's slowly breaking through his guard!' Shino thought, proud of his teammate.

'Hinata!' Kurenei thought, not thinking she was actually going to possibly win.

The two fighters broke apart for a breath of air. Neji breathing a little bit harder, still not able to figure out how she had done that much damage.

"Yeah Hinata, Go!" Naruto yelled.

"They attack the chakra network?" Sakura wondered outloud when she noticed Neji was breathing a little harder. These people, are amazing!" She said. In awe, but more so in fear than in amazement.

"Yeah, you could say that again" Naruto said.

Arashi, meanwhile, noticed that he was definitely faster than the other Hyuugas, but his form wasn't as neat. He still agreed with his dad though, that the fastest one would win the race.

Hinata charged, seeing an opening.

"Yeah Hinata! Good hit-huh?" Naruto ended in confusion.

Hinata and Neji were frozen. Both had an arm straightened out and in almost identical stances. After almost a full second passed, Hinata coughed up some blood. Everyone in the stand (well, almost everyone) gasped.

"So that's it huh? That's all there is to the main branches power?" Neji said, trying to scare hinata more, but he still had a hard time breathing.

"Wait, what? I saw Hinata hit Neji perfectly!" Naruto exclaimed, not very happy.

Hinata focused and ignored the pain. She pushed Neji's arm out of the way and tried for another attack. He caught her hand and hit a pressure point directly on her arm. Her thin water shield was good to defend from glancing blows, but a direct hit with all his power focused into it would shatter the shield. He was breathing even harder than before, it had started when Hinata's hand had stopped a few inches from his chest. He knew that he felt just a little better then what he would have if Hinata's attack had hit him. Why?

Breathing hard, but still managing to hide it, He held hinata's arm and went for another blow to her chest, but she backed up.

Hinata knew that she would be in a much worse condition if she didn't have the water flowing along her arms, protecting her from all but the direct blows. She knew that Neji had been blocking and hitting her tenketsu at the same time because of the chakra in the water flaring up. She looked at him and noticed that he was breathing erratically. She tasted the blood in her mouth and knew that Neji had gotten through the water to her heart. Hinata knew she had to end the fight soon while she still had a chance.

She gasped when she felt a hand push her backwards towards the wall. Falling on her feet, she lost control of the water and it soaked her clothes. Neji smirked as Hinata stood back up, blood pouring from her mouth and her clothes soaked.

"I-I will never b-back down. That is my nindo, my ninja way!" Hinata said, glaring at Neji.

"Heh, you no longer have a shield to protect you from my chakra. How do you plan to beat me!" Neji said, some sort of twisted pride in his voice.

"I never knew Hinata was as tough as she is!" Naruto exclaimed.

"She is similar to you, it would seem" Lee said.

"Come to think of it, she is always watching you" sakura added.

"Hmm" Naruto said, trying to get the rusty gears in his head to work, but they just wouldn't budge. "Wonder why" he said quietly. Mostly to himself.

Hinata gasped, as more blood came out of her mouth and she held her chest in pain.

'She reached her limit. Now would be a good time to quit Hinata' Kurenei thought sadly, fearing for her safety.

"Go Hinata! You can Do it!" Naruto yelled, cheering her on and giving her hope.

'Naruto watching me, I can't lose!' The water shield had prevented too much damage from being done to her that she could still channel chakra, if not as well. Pulling some of the water out of her jacket, she focused it around her arms.

'Strength has come back into her eyes' Neji thought to himself. He suddenly grunted and thought he could taste blood in his mouth. 'I can't hold the previous damage at bay for much longer, I've got to end this now!'

Hinata saw it, and she took her chance. They say that if a person is patient, they will receive a chance to become great. They just need to take it. That was Hinata's chance, and she took it like a robber would've taken a hoard of gold. Neji flinched when he first tasted the blood, and as soon as he flinched, he blinked. Blinking at the wrong time can be deadly for a ninja, and it was so in Neji's case. Hinata charged, and aimed for the heart. When Neji moved to stop her, her hand only stopped a fraction of an inch from his chest, but he had struck her full on again.

Naruto flashed in front of her eyes even as she and Neji continued their fight from the two heart blows. Both of them were fighting desperately, dealing blows that did from little to a lot of damage. Neji's rage was clouding his judgment as he started fighting sloppily.

'Naruto, I'm not sure why I watch you. But, when I do, you fill me with courage. You make me believe in myself, I feel that I can keep going, that I can succeed! That even I am worth something' "Ahhhhhhh!!" She pushed forward through Neji's guard, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her past him, using her own momentum against her as he struck her chin, where Neji kindly noticed that she didn't have a water shield there.

"Hinata!" Naruto exclaimed, worried for her and pissed at Neji.

Hinata broke into a coughing fit, blood dripping from her mouth. Neji glared before suddenly gasping, as he, too, started coughing blood.

This shocked everyone.

"W-what the hell did you do?!" Neji shouted in a rage before coughing again. Hinata smirked, barely on her feet.

"T-the jutsu I used earlier was laced with my chakra a-and followed the flow of my chakra from start to finish."

Neji gasped as he realized what had happened, and yet surprised at the same time that Hinata would be able to do something like that.

"What the hell is she talking about?" Naruto asked looking at Sakura, who shook her head, indicating that she didn't know. Lee also shook his head before Arashi spoke.

"The water she was using was laced with her chakra, fully following the flow of it. That means that even when she sent her chakra out of her hands to strike Neji, the water went with it, lengthening her reach and making her attacks stronger. It's really simple and easy, but it could probably only be efficiently used by a Byakugan user"

"Oh" Naruto said, but he still had confusion written all over his face.

"That means that even though her hand didn't reach Neji, her attack did" Sakura clarified.

"OH!" Naruto said, finally getting it.

Kakashi listened from the back but was thinking carefully to himself.

'How can an outsider know so much about the Byakugan and especially how the Jyuuken style Taijutsu works? No one ever told him about Hyuugas expending Chakra from their palms to attack and, if I remember correctly, he used a slightly messed up style of the Jyuuken against Chouji. I should mention this to the Hokage right away'

Hinata charged forward again, but lost her balance and paid for it when Neji did a full on blow to Hinata's heart. She fell forward, but Neji didn't move. His eyes were open in shock, before he also fell to his knees.

"Wait, what just happened?" Naruto said.

"I'm not sure, I didn't see" Sakura replied.

"As she was falling, Hinata spun and managed to hit Neji's lung" Arashi said calmly, focusing on the fight before him.

"You're kidding?! Yeah, Go Hinata!!" Naruto called out.

as it was, Hinata was not laying on her stomache like she should have. She was laying on her back. She had used the momentum of Neji's hit to spin in the opposite direction as she fell, both lessening the pain and damage, but also giving her a chance to give him a possibly fatal blow.

Neji fell to his knees, the water Hinata had managed to keep going around her arms had done the trick and almost doubled the clean blow's damage. Neji could barely breathe. Her chakra had gone straight through his first lung, rendering it temporarily un usable, and tapped his other lung, making it extremely difficult to receive air.

Neji then fell on his stomach, both contestants down for the count. Hayate looked at both of them before coughing and announcing ...

"WAIT!!" Naruto called. Everyone looked at him, before he pointed at Hinata. She was standing up. Slowly but surely, she stood up and looked down at Neji.

"N-neji, please understand. I am sorry for what the main branch did to you and yours, but for what it's worth, when I become head of the clan, I will remove the Curse seal from the branch family" she said with the hint of authority in her voice that was from years of being trained to take over the clan before she was handed over to Kurenei. She looked over at the procter before smiling a small smile.

Hayate quickly called out, seeing as Neji did not seem to be getting up, " winner: Hyuuga Hinata!"

Hinata promptly fell over half dead as soon as her name was called. Neji stared at the ceiling as he was carried to the hospital part of the building. 'Hinata-Sama saw why I was angry and fought anyway. She fought even though I was better than her, she fought even though she knew I would aim to kill her. Was she really telling the truth at the end? Hinata, I swear that I will do whatever I can to help you become head of the clan so that no more Hyuuga children will ever have to be branded with the cursed seal and they can all be treated fairly'

He calmly closed his eyes as he retreated in blackness.

"What the hell was Hinata talking about at the end there?" Naruto asked Kakashi.

"It's better if you don't know" he replied, before looking up at the board that was now flipping through names.

'I'm curious about that last fight. Hmm, yeah, he looks good.' "Hey, I'll be right back" Kankurou said to his team as he walked over towards where Naruto was standing a little ways from everyone else. Arashi was near him though.

"Hey, what was up with that last fight?" Kankurou said to Naruto.

"Why the hell do you care?!" Naruto practically yelled at him, still worried for Hinata.

"Geez, touchy" Kankurou said, "you know kid, you got spunk, I like you" He said, meaning it as a compliment.

"Well, don't take this the wrong way, but I don't like you!" Naruto said, glaring at Kankurou, who twitched as he thought to himself. 'This kid, is toast'

That was when the proctor decided to interrupt, announcing the next match. "Rock Lee versus Subaku no Gaara"

well, how was that? im going to try and make the chapters longer, but im beginning to reach writers block for this story.

(1) water style: water dragon shield

please review!