The indescribable sound echoed from the weapon as it glowed brightly. It was ready to fire.

"Kiba! Move!" I called.

His eyes followed where mine were looking. I could tell that curiosity and fear took him as soon as he saw Lord Arata, but he pushed that aside to heed my advice. Akamaru stuck to Kiba as they ran out of the dangerous weapon's line of fire. I did the same, leaving the stunned Anbu Black Ops member on the ground.

Lord Arata released the trigger and I just barely escaped the range of its destruction. Unfortunately, Kei could not get to his feet in time and the power of the weapon hit him, causing his body to be pushed across the Three-Heads Prison with a force so strong that when his body collided with the wall, it splattered. The noise that it created once hitting the wall made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I suddenly became queasy. Though despite how awful the sound was, the sight of his body was much worse than the noise it made.

Blood covered the wall where his body landed along with a few chunks of what I could assume to be intestines and brain matter. The only parts that belonged to him that remained in full tact, though cracked in several places, was his bear mask, and an arm. As shinobi, we run across many situations that give us nightmares, or even scar us to a point where we need counseling. Through sheer luck, I have not run into any situations within my seven years as a shinobi such as that, however, this might be the one that will force me to seek help. And judging by Kiba's face, I can tell that it might be the same for him.

Lord Arata's cackling made me jump. Soon after that, I heard the sound from the weapon again. I knew that disarming him was not going to be enough this time – I had to find a way how to destroy it.

As I avoided the repulse from the weapon, I spotted a wire connected to the weapon from the energy vessel. Initially, I was not certain as to why it was connected to it when I realized that energy was being borrowed to allow the weapon to fire quicker without needing time to recharge. I could simply destroy the energy vessel to kill the vast supply of energy, but after what it did to Shino when he simply touched it, the results were unclear if it would have the same effect on me. I argued with myself briefly before deciding that it would be best to destroy it despite what would happen to me. Shino survived, maybe I will too.

I reached Kiba who was taking cover behind a rock and told him to distract Lord Arata so that I could break the energy vessel. While he didn't agree with it, he thought it to be the best solution for our chance to survive and arrest the corrupt feudal lord.

Our time to devise a plan was short lived since we knew that the weapon in our enemy's hands could break through almost any solid object. We dispersed just in time before Lord Arata fired his weapon once again.

Out in the open, Kiba shouted "Hey you traitorous bastard, I'm over here! Can't you see?"

Lord Arata mumbled something under his breath as he focused his attention on Kiba. My heart pounded with the knowledge of Kiba gathering all of our opponent's attention. If Kiba ended up like Kei Sairenji, I do not think that I would ever be the same. There would be no chance for me to recover from seeing him like that.

Though difficult, I pushed that thought to the back of my mind to focus on the task at hand – the energy vessel. Reaching it was the easy part, staying there undetected while trying to find out how to destroy it was not going to be as easy.

Cautiously, I reached out to touch the vessel as lightly as I could. I readied myself to retreat from the vessel in case it decided to repulse me across the cave, though when my fingertips grazed the side of it, nothing happened. I tapped the surface of the energy vessel a couple of times to be sure that it would not push me away, but nothing happened. I was baffled as to why it did not affect me. The only probable hypothesis that I could muster was that since Lord Arata was borrowing its energy, it did not have enough energy to repulse me. If that is the case, this is the only chance that I have to stop it entirely.

I rested a hand on the golden sphere. It was warm and I could feel energy radiating from it. I looked around to see if I could find a weak spot, but to no avail. I could not even figure out how it was operating, so I took it upon myself to strike the energy vessel. After my palm met the sphere, it pulsed. I back up to see what it would do, but nothing happened. That was when Lord Arata gained knowledge on me tampering with the energy vessel.

The rouge feudal lord turned to me, releasing the trigger as he did so. I moved just in time and the power of the weapon hit the wall. At that moment, when our opponent's attention was on me, Akamaru ran up to Lord Arata, biting him on the leg. Lord Arata screamed in pain and since he was not trained as a ninja would to keep composure while being attacked, he dropped his weapon and fell to the ground. He scurried away from Akamaru in hopes to escape only to run into Kiba.

Smiling, Kiba pulled Lord Arata up from the ground and rendered him unconscious.

"That was difficult," said Kiba. His face then twisted into confusion. "Where's Shino?"

"He touched the energy vessel and it incapacitated him. He is laying over there," I told Kiba after pointed him in Shino's direction.

Though they argue more than anyone that I know, Kiba cares for Shino like a brother. He frantically rushed to Shino's side, propping him up against the wall. He shook him a bit and called out his name. Miraculously, he came to and Kiba and I released a sigh of relief.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

Weakly, he nodded his head. Shino told us "The energy vessel sapped almost all of my chakra. Don't go near it."

"We're done here anyway," said Kiba. "We can take Arata and go back to the village so you can rest. Tomorrow at dawn we'll make our way back to the Leaf."

"Not yet," I said. "We have to destroy the energy vessel."

"We can't," said Shino. "It will take your chakra. I was lucky to survive. You might not be, Hinata."

"What if one of the villagers wander into the cave and touch the energy vessel? We would be responsible for not eliminating the issue. Do you know how many people could die from it?" I said.

Kiba's mouth tightened. "I agree. We can't let anyone die, nor can we let someone stumble upon it and recreate the same weapon that Arata used. We have to destroy it."

I faced the weapon, ready to destroy it when Kiba grabbed my arm.

"I didn't say that you were going to be the one to break it," said Kiba. "You can't die here. You have to lead your clan."

"I know that, but I have to try," I said. "I touched it and it did not affect me. If anyone can destroy it, it has to be me."

It was a gamble, but I knew that I had to try. Thinking back to the theory I had when Lord Arata was borrowing the energy from the sphere, I realized that the energy radiating from it never decreased when he shot at Kiba. Whatever the sphere is made of, I think that it is safe to assume that I am immune to it.

"Hinata," said Kiba with pleading eyes.

I smiled to reassure him. "I will be alright."

He let go of my arm to allow me to approach the energy vessel. I felt my teammates' eyes on me as I inspected the golden sphere. There was no sign of a way to turn it off; the only thing that I could think of to permanently shut it down was to physically destroy it, so I tried attacking it with a few palm thrusts. It pulsed a few times, but it was not enough to break it, let alone disable it. I decided to try something stronger.

Generation after generation, the Hyuga clan passed down jutsu that only members of the Hyuga clan can learn. When my father tried training me to become the leader of the clan, he tried to teach me those techniques, but since I was untalented and weak, I was unable to learn what he wished to offer to me. No matter how much I practiced, I made no progress. When I finally accepted that I would not be able to learn those techniques when my father wanted me learn them, I created a jutsu that convinced my father not give up on me. I called it Gentle Step: Twin Lion Fists.

It is difficult to perform successfully since it requires precise chakra control and the slightest mistake will cause it to lead to failure, meaning that even though I could not see well with my Byakugan, I was forced to activate it to better control my chakra.

I concentrated chakra to my hands, morphing its original wild form into the shape of lion heads. Not only do the heads cause significant damage to a person, it also drains a plentiful amount of chakra with each strike distributed. I was hoping that the strength from this technique would be enough to break the energy vessel.

I rushed towards the energy vessel, concentrated chakra to my feet so that I could jump high enough to hover above the sphere, and then, when I was in position, I dived down fists first at the top of the sphere. Cracks formed at the top of it and they spread throughout the energy vessel until it reached the bottom. Moments after I landed on the ground, the sphere broke, and instead of it breaking into pieces, it disseminated into golden dust, spreading throughout the cave.

I noticed as soon as the object was destroyed that my Byakugan was now fully functioning. I had never known anything to impair the Byakugan unless it was genjutsu, a jutsu that creates illusions, like the mist shrouding the Village Hidden Among Dreams and the Forest of Mythical Beasts. When Lord Arata is returned to the Leaf Village, I must ask Ibiki Morino, the interrogator and warden of the maximum-security prison, to question him about the energy vessel. Knowing that there is an object present that can disable something as powerful as my Byakugan is frightening.

"That was amazing," said Kiba as he ran up to me. "Are you okay?"

I nodded my head. "Yes, I am fine."

Kiba breathed a sigh of relief for the second time today. "Good, good. Now we need to get back to the Village Hidden Among Dreams."

"W-Wait," I said. I picked up the now useless weapon that Lord Arata dropped. "We should give this to Tenten to examine. Maybe she can find out how it works."

Tenten is a Jounin like us that specializes in ninja tools. She can name and use any weapon you can think of, but I doubt that she has ever seen this before.

"Good idea, Hinata. You carry that in your knapsack while I carry this," said Kiba as he tied up Lord Arata and slung him over his shoulder. "Can you walk, Shino?"

Though unsteady, Shino stood up on his feet. The village was not far from this location, but Shino could not make it that far without support, so I placed one hand on Shino's lower back while I held his hand with my other. It took some time, but we made it back to the village without incident.

We took turns watching Lord Arata at the inn and as soon as day broke, we ventured out back to the Hidden Leaf Village. With an extra person travelling with us that is not an agile shinobi, the trip home was slightly longer than it would have been without him present. By the time we found our way through the Forest of Mythical Beasts, it was sunset. We had no choice but to set up camp.

Again, we took turns watching our surroundings for threats and to make sure that our corrupt feudal lord did not escape. Since Shino needed the rest because his chakra levels were severely low, Kiba and I were left to keep watch. He looked out first and then it was my turn. Before Kiba turned in for the night, he told me that Lord Arata remained quiet and did not seem the slightest bit interested in what Kiba had to offer despite how much Kiba pressed him for answers, yet when it came my turn to keep an eye on Lord Arata, the corrupt feudal lord felt as though he was in a position where could try to persuade me to see eye-to-eye.

Tied up against a tree opposite of me, Lord Arata said "I am a lord and you are a lady. As people of equal nobility, you must understand why I tried to remove Lord Hokage from his chair."

"We do not know why you did any of this to begin with," I said, "and nobility has no correlation pertaining to our points of view on who belongs in the Hokage chair."

"Sure it does! As people born into nobility, we have influence and power that no one else has in the village. Kakashi was a street rat before he climbed the ranks and somehow made Hokage. Little does he know how the system works. A street rat has no business sitting in that chair."

"Lord Hokage is the leader of our village because he showed great strength and leadership when we needed it most. He has proved to not only the Leaf Village, but the other great nations as well that he is suited for this position. He has earned it. Titles such as nobility has nothing to do with it."

"It has everything to do with it," he said.

"No, it does not. You will see for yourself how much titles matter when you go to prison."

Lord Arata's body stiffened. "Prison… Are they going to interrogate me?"

"You will be interrogated by Ibiki Morino himself," I said.

Ibiki Morino's reputation goes global as the most terrifying man to be locked in a room with. To be certain that he has gathered all of the information he needs, he tortures the person that he is questioning. Little know how he tortures them, but it is safe to say without wavering that the acts he performs upon them are unspeakable and have no limits, so when Lord Arata heard his name leave my lips, his skin turned ghostly pale. He then decided to make a deal with me.

"If I tell you who I am working for, will I still have to meet with Ibiki?" he asked me.

"We already know who you are working for. It's Yuji Fuma," I said.

He shook his head. "No, I am not working for Yuji Fuma, though I was working with him for a short time before I reached the Village Hidden Among Dreams. The person who hired us is not a street rat like Yuji."

"Before you reached the Village Hidden Among Dreams? That means you really did destroy the small village not far from the Leaf! Where is Yuji Fuma now?"

"We went our separate ways after we destroyed the village. I don't know where he is now."

"Then, who are you working for?" I asked.

A smirk formed on Lord Arata's face. "If you want to know that, then you need to make sure that Ibiki Morino is not going to be the man to interrogate me."

"That is not my call," I said.

"Shame," he said. "I guess that you will never know who is was that hired me."

I smirked. "We will find out, Lord Arata. Ibiki will simply ask you."

Lord Arata frowned. "Okay, I will tell you. Like I said, the person who hired us is not a street rat. He-"

My blood ran cold as I heard a familiar noise from behind me. Though faint, I knew indefinitely that it was the same sound as the weapon that Lord Arata used.

I quickly sprang to my feet, activating my visual jutsu to locate who was about to attack us. With a swift scan of the area, I could say with certainty that no one was there, but the noise of the weapon and the rustling leaves told me otherwise. Just as I was about to move towards the source of the sound, the noises stopped.

I glanced back at Lord Arata whose eyes were wide with fear. He said to me "Untie me."

"No, you are not going anywhere," I said.

"They are here to kill me. Please, untie me!"

"No one is here."

"You cannot see them with your Byakugan because they aren't human, but they are out there watching us. Untie me before it's too late!"

"I will not let anything happen to you. Rest assure, you are-"

The Byakugan can allow the user to see their surrounds in a three-hundred-sixty-degree angle, so even though I am facing Lord Arata, I can also see behind me. As I was speaking to calm Lord Arata, I saw the glowing blue light closing in from the distance, however, I reacted too late and the light passed me by, hitting its target. The corrupt feudal lord's face exploded, covering me in its remains. Horrified, I stood there looking down at a now headless man.