Chapter 18 - Bolt vs Onbara: Bolt's Awakening!

It wasn't the first time Hana had been caught by Onbara's explosive techniques, but this was undoubtedly the most severe. He could still hear a loud ringing in his ears as he struggled to pick himself up from the scorched floor. His struggle proved fruitless when he hit the floor again.

He cringed. 'My right leg – I can't even stand up on it...'

Hana looked back to see how serious the damage really was. A burn mark stretched up to his thigh from his ankle was in plain view. It was worse than he hip injury form before. He groaned.

'Miss Sakura is going to furious... I just healed from my old injuries a little while ago.' After sparing a moment to both pity and insult himself, a thought came to Hana. 'Bolt...'

He pushed himself up. "Bolt! Bolt, are you alright?! Can you hear me?!" Suddenly, he heard footsteps approaching. "Bolt...?"

The young Fujikaze's face became as dark as the soot that dirtied it when Onbara appeared in front of him.

"Unfortunately not, kiddo," Onbara said dusting off his shoulder.

Hana blinked in denial. Barely a scratch was on his gentleman's vest.

"What's with that look? It's completely different from the one you gave me back at the park. Man, did you have some eyes on you then. It was like a pup had transformed into a ninja hound." The yakuza shoved his hands in his pockets. "Sooo... what's the plan now? You're lookin like crap, your friend is probably in pieces, and your rescue operation, or whatever this is, is pretty gone to hell as this point. You got a Plan B?"

Hana lowered his face until his nose was almost kissing the floor.

Onbara sighed. "Come on, kiddo. If ya don't play along it makes me look like a bully."

"...why?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are you like this...? Why did you kidnap Ryoma? Why did you hurt Himawari? Why do you keep lying to Miss Beniko?" Hana looked up at Onbara with indignation heavy in his eyes. "Why?!"

Onbara gave Hana a look. It landed somewhere between annoyance and exhaustion.

"For the love of... Did you come all the way here just to lecture me; to tell me to stop being such a bad guy? Didn't we already go through this in the park?"

Onbara wafted some of the waning smoke away from his face. "I'm not some lost lamb who strayed onto the wrong path. I kill people. I threaten people. I hustle people. I do all types of horrid shit. What, I'm supposed to wipe the slate clean and start all over justbecause you gave me hope? You're a little too late for that, kiddo." Onbara moved one of his pocketed hands around. He pulled out something and threw on the floor in front of Hana. "Take that back to Benny. You can tell it wasn't my style."

Hana stared at the necklace sitting in front of him while Onbara walked away. He was letting Hana live. He was also symbolically cutting Beniko off. Both cases were acts of mercy.

And they both made Hana absolutely pissed.

He gritted his teeth, grabbed the necklace and said."...coward."

Onbara stopped, and looked back with a pissed off look on his face. "...what the hell did you just say?"

"I said 'coward.' Didn't you hear me the first time?" Hana asked while looking dead in Onbara's eyes.

Onbara got nostalgic. The look Hana was giving him now was the same look he gave him in the park. Onbara was still wondering where Hana got it from.

Hana kept glaring while he pushed himself off the floor. "A certain someone once told me: Cowards aren't people who run away from their fears. Cowards are people who run away, but then act like there was nothing to be scared of in the first first place..."

He got on his knees. "You say that you're a bad guy who can't change his ways. You brag about all the terrible things you do. You walk around like you're tough, but really, you're just scared."

Hana propped up his good leg. "You're scared of Beniko. You're scared of her grandfather, and you're even scared of me."

With all the strength he had left, Hana slowly pushed off the ground, his right leg still shaking terribly. "And the reason why is..."

He smiled. "You're scared of finding out that you aren't as bad a person as you think you are."

Onbara blinked. 'The hell is up with this kid...? Was he dropped on his head? He looks like crap, but he still tries to stand on that crappy leg of his just to lecture me some more?'

"...you're an idiot, ya know that?" Onbara said.

Hana laughed. "Yeah. I've been told that a lot lately."

Onbara clicked his tongue. "Whatever... I'm done playing games, kiddo."

Onbara cracked his fingers while he approached Hana threateningly. Hana put his hands up. Suddenly, three shurikens flew from the smoke. Onbara noticed in time to dodge them, but then a familiar jumped from the smoke and kicked at the yakuza's head.

Onbara squinted while blocking with his arm. 'Damn brat... He used the shurikens as a feint.'

Onbara quickly made distance between him and the boys by diving back into the smoke.

"What, running already? I was just getting started, believe that!" Bolt shouted.

Hana was making a very relieved face. "Bolt! You're alright! ...are you hurt, anywhere?"

Bolt punched his palm."Yeah, right! Like I'd get hurt by something that wea- Ugh!"Bolt flinched and grasped his right shoulder. He saw the look Hana was giving him. "W-what..? This is n-nothing..." He looked down at Hana's leg and cringed. "It looks like you've got it way worse, anyway..."

Hana smiled sheepishly. "Yeah... I'm not doing so great right now. I don't think I can even use Windmill Style like this. And I lost master's chokuto during that explosion."

Bolt groaned. "Let me get this straight: you can't use that Chidori-thingy, you can't use your Windmill Style crap, and you lost the only weapon you had on you? Man, you really are useless."

"Sorry..."

Bolt cracked his knuckles. "Whatever. I can handle this jerk on my own."

On cue, Onbara's voice came from beyond the smoke, a strong tone of mockery present in it. "Oh, really~ You think you can take me on alone, blondie? You should be careful. Don't wanna end up like your sister, do ya?"

Bolt snarled at the comment. Though, it was obvious to Hana that Onbara was just baiting Bolt, the hot-headed blonde didn't bother thinking twice before diving into the smoke. It was by pure luck that he noticed the tag on the floor in time to jump away from it before it exploded.

"Dammit! He set a tag down beforehand..." Bolt stated while righting himself.

Hana tried to advise him. "Bolt, maybe you should-"

"Can it, momma's boy! I said I'd do this by myself, and that's what I'm gonna do!" Bolt snapped.

Hana reluctantly clammed up. It was obvious Bolt was not going to be cooperative. Not that Hana would be much help to begin with. All he could do was stand back and let Bolt handle everything. He bit his lip. He hated feeling so useless.

Bolt glared at the smoke. Explosive tags could literally be anywhere beyond the smoggy veil, and the impetuous Uzumaki wouldn't be reaching Onbara until he figured a way to get past them.

'Maybe... Yeah, that'll work!' Bolt grinned at the result of his sudden brainstorm.

"Come on, brat. What's takin ya, so long?" Onbara asked. "Your sister will be out of the hospital by the time you reach me."

Bolt's grin vanished. He dug into his jacket. "Yeah. Just keep talking. I'm gonna shut you up real soon!"

Bolt ran where he thought he heard Onbara's voice come from. Hana's eyes widened. He thought Bolt was committing suicide running into the smoke that he knew bombs were hidden in, but right before reaching the smoke, the blonde withdrew shurikens from his jacket and threw them in. Several explosions ignited a mere few feet in front of him, just as he had planned. Bolt had a clear pathway to Onbara now.

Or so he thought.

Right before exiting the cloud of smoke, a stool was hurled toward Bolt. He was surprised, yes, but he still dodged with ease. Unfortunately for him, the explosive tag that Onbara had stuck on the bottom of the stool was not so easily avoided.

"Boom!" Bolt heard, and everything on his right side suddenly stung like hell. His ear wouldn't stop ringing, and he swore he could smell something burning. He had no idea why he didn't immediately hit the floor, but somehow, he managed to stay on both feet; unsteady as a newborn deer, but still he didn't fall.

'Don't fall... Don't you dare fall...' he kept telling himself. 'If you fall, you won't get back up... So don't fall!'

He was draining his stamina well dry when he spread his legs and supported himself on his knees.

Onbara, who had already changed locations, couldn't see Bolt clearly, but just the fact that he was standing shocked him.. 'Geez... what's up with you kids? Most yakuza on the streets wouldn't survive this long, but these brats just won't go down. Are they even human?'

"Yo, blondie. I love that moxy you got going, but maybe it's about time you finally threw in the towel?" Onbara advised, a subtle tone of mockery still in his voice. "I'm sorry about what happened to you sis and all that. Seriously, it was a freak accident. So how about we just call this one even?"

Bolt stared at the floor; the only thing he could see besides the smoke. '...even? After everything he's done... After all the people he's hurt... He wants to call things even, now?' Bolt squeezed his knees until they shook. 'This guy... I hate him! But I can't touch him! If only I could touch him! If only I see him!"

Bolt shut his eyes so tight, he thought they would never open again. 'I don't care anymore! All I want is to be able to do is find him! I just want...'

Suddenly, it hit him. It was like someone had dug a dozen kunai into his temple.

"W-what's happening?!" he asked while clenching his head.

He buckled to his knees, and prayed for the pain to subside. Eventually, it did, but it left an interesting parting gift. Bolt reopened his eyes. He looked around. The smoke was gone. No, that was impossible. He could still feel the humidity from the smoke brushing over his skin, after all. The smoke just no longer hindered his sight now.

He could also see further, even the area behind was now fully visible to him. He lacked vision in small spot coming from the nape of his neck, but besides that, he had a complete 360 degrees.

"Is this..? But there's no way I can-" Bolt touched his face.

He could feel the veins around his eyes, but he still couldn't believe it. Finally, he looked at his wrists and squinted. Blue pathways with chakra streaming through them were visible. For the first time, Bolt could see his chakra network.

There was no doubt – Bolt had unlocked the Byakugan.

Impossible. No way. It couldn't be done. Bolt was just imagining things.

But he wasn't. He eyes were real. His Kekkei Genkai was real.

He clenched his hands into fists. 'I can see the flow of my chakra now... Then can I-'

Bolt stood. He gulped heavily then held out his right hand. He began swirling his left over it, and he watched his chakra dance. He could always see his chakra in action when using this technique, but he could never see where it was going. This time was different. Bolt could see the flow. He calmed it when it got too wild, and fanned it when it got too weak.

Contain it, he kept telling himself. Contain it. Contain it. Contain it. Contain it. Contain it. Contain it.

Bolt stopped, and, to every preconception he had, a swirling sphere was left sitting in his hand. He had done it. For the first time ever, he had finally done it.

Onbara, who couldn't see anything, save for Bolt's vague figure beyond the smoke, wondered why the short-fused academy student hadn't charged him again.

"You gonna keep moping all day, blondie? Are waving the white flag or what?"

"...shut up."

"What?"

"I said shut up! I'm tired..." Bolt turned on his heels. "Of your stupid mouth!"

He charged directly at Onbara. The smoke was no longer an obstruction; he just ran through it. The bombs were no longer a threat, he just ran around them. All he had to do was keep moving, and, eventually, he reached his target.

Onbara couldn't believe it when he saw Bolt jump out of the smoke without setting off a single bomb. The strange swirling sphere in his right hand, was even more of a shock.

'What the hell?!'

"This... is for Hima!" He thrust the sphere toward Onbara's chest. "Rasengan!"

It dug into his vest, before sending him rocketing away; his entire body spinning like a windmill into the very mines he had set up. A chain of explosions lit up at least half of the room. It blew away the smoke, and even Hana then saw what was happening.

Bolt suddenly felt his eyes get heavy. He shut them, and the Byakugan was gone when they reopened. The explosions stopped and debris started to settle.

Bolt pointed weakly. "Didn't I say... I was going... to shut you up?"

He hit the floor, completely passed out. Hana stared at him with wobbling eyes.

"Bolt... you're amazing..."