Hinata could hear her own heartbeat pounding in her ears as Neji descended to take his position on the arena floor. Knowing she had to come face to face with him to even surrender, she dragged her feet towards the center of the arena.
"I didn't think I would be fighting you, Hinata-sama," Neji said.
"Neji-nii-san..." Hinata murmured, but she was heard due to the complete silence of the arena.
"Older brother?" Sakura repeated.
"That jerk is your older brother, Hinata-chan?" Natsumi asked Hinata loudly.
"N-No... He's my cousin..." Hinata briefly turned her head to answer her best friend. "From the Branch House..." Understanding appeared on Natsumi's face, her question thoroughly answered. Hinata had told her about the two Houses of her clan before. Sakura did not know, so Kakashi explained to her about how the Hyuuga operated with Lee revealing that Hinata was a Main House member while Neji was a Branch House member.
"So it's a fight between relatives? It must be difficult for those two to fight," Sakura said.
"You're wrong, Sakura. Only Hinata-chan has it hard. Just look at Neji. He looks more eager to fight than the other way around," Natsumi corrected her. "Some bad things happened between the Main House and Branch House a long time ago, so they aren't getting along at all. At least that's what Hinata-chan told me."
"Must be a fight to settle the quarrels then."
"It's going to start," Kakashi pointed out.
"Before we start, let me warn you about one thing, Hinata-sama," Neji said. Surprised for a moment, Hinata looked directly at him from her depressed staring at the ground. "Give up. You're not suited to become a ninja." That statement shocked her severely, and only increased Natsumi's anger towards him. "You are too kind. You seek harmony and avoid trouble. And you just go along and follow someone else's idea. And... You have no self-confidence. You always feel inferior. That's why you thought it would be fine to remain a Genin. But you cannot register for the Chuunin Exam unless there are three people. You couldn't refuse the offers from your teammates, and the truth is that you are taking this exam unwillingly. Am I wrong?"
"You're wrong! You're wrong..." Hinata tried to protest, but her declining voice was not helping her. "I... I just... wanted to change myself, so I willingly..." Not only did she lose her voice to utter any more words, she lost the courage to look directly at Neji, instead looking away with a distraught expression.
"Hinata-sama. You are indeed a spoilt child from the Main House."
"Eh...?"
"People cannot change," Neji stated like it was an undeniable fact of the world, shocking Hinata further. "A failure is a failure. His personality and power will not change." Natsumi took personal offense to that, knowing herself that she was a failure in the eyes of her peers. "People cannot change, so that's why terms like 'elites' and 'failures' exist. Everyone judges you by how good your face, head, abilities, body shape, and personality are. There are things that cannot be changed. People suffer due to their limits, and live. Just like how we can't change the fact that I am from the Branch House and you are from the Main House." The more he spoke, the more furious Natsumi became. "My Byakugan has seen many things. That's why I know! You are just trying to be tough. You are really thinking about how you want to leave this place right now."
"That's not true! I really want to..." she shook her head in denial, shaking off tears that had built up in her eyelids unknowingly. When Neji wordlessly activated his Byakugan to glare at her, all she could do was shake in fear. Her eyes darted away to get Neji out of her line of sight before she herself turned her body away slightly, putting a finger to her lips to try and calm herself.
"You can't fool my eyes," he told her, getting her complete attention again. "You moved your eyes to the top left corner after you felt my pressure. This indicates you are recalling a past event. A harsh past of yours. After that, your eyes moved to the bottom right. This indicates you are imagining physical and mental pain. In other words, you imagined your old self and predicted the outcome of this match from past experiences. A prediction that says you will lose! Your action of putting your arm in front of you shows that you want to put a wall between me and yourself to create some distance. It's an action that shows you don't want me to look through your real feelings. That is because what I said is all correct. Also...! You touching your own lips is an action to show that your mind is disturbed. It's a defensive instinct that tries to lower nervousness and uneasiness." At having every single action of hers dissected, Hinata began to hyperventilate. Tears had started to build up again as she was forced to listen to the torturous truth Neji was laying out in front of her. "In other words, you know already... that you cannot change-"
"You can!" Natsumi shouted, interrupting Neji. He deactivated his Byakugan and glanced back at Natsumi. Hinata too heard her voice and looked at her, grateful for stopping Neji and stopping her hyperventilation. "Don't just label people like that, you idiot! Beat him up, Hinata-chan!" Natsumi jumped down from her spot on the balcony and approached Hinata, grabbing her arms tightly. "Hinata-chan!" she shouted in her face. "Why don't you say something back! It's making me get angry!" Hinata only ducked her head, but the fearful shaking of her body stopped completely. Neji, who at first thought of Natsumi as just a noisy girl, noticed that Hinata's demeanor had changed the moment she went to her.
"Natsumi-chan... thank you," she whispered, her voice now full of quiet confidence. Natsumi grinned happily, stepping aside so she could look Neji in the face.
'The look in her eyes changed,' Neji noted. "So you're not going to give up? Don't blame me later on."
"Here!" Natsumi untied her hitai-ate and held it out to Hinata.
"Natsumi-chan?" Hinata was confused at her action.
"It doesn't matter if your own family or anyone else thinks you're a failure! Just know that I believe in you! I always will! Wear my hitai-ate for this fight, because you're not alone! You will always have my support! I'm always with you, even if it is just in spirit!" Natsumi proclaimed loud and clear for everyone to hear. Hinata nodded gratefully and untied her own hitai-ate to exchange it for Natsumi's own. Together, they tied each other's hitai-ate to their own necks, even finishing the knot at the same time. "Kick his butt, Hinata-chan!"
"Thank you, Natsumi-chan." With a firm nod, Natsumi returned to her previous location on the balcony.
"That's a very nice thing to do," Kakashi told her.
"No-one deserves to be talked down to like that. No-one, especially not someone like Hinata-chan," Natsumi replied. Kakashi understood the hidden message she had no idea she left behind. Natsumi probably went through something very similar to this, and Hinata did not deserve to suffer the same treatment as her. She might have grown less bitter once she knew why almost all the villagers hated her, but Hinata had done nothing wrong. From the way Neji had been verbally tormenting Hinata, it was likely the Main House had wronged him in something that he took extremely personally, just not Hinata herself. She was just the easiest target for him to vent his frustrations on.
***Break Line***
Hinata closed her eyes as she formed the seals to activate the Byakugan. It was completely unnecessary, but it helped her to focus on her Byakugan's ability to see the chakra coils. As she did, she remembered all the times Natsumi had cheered her on and their shared ninja way to never take back their words. When she first entered the Chuunin Exam, it was so she could change herself and be more confident in herself. She wanted to stop running away when she was confronted with adversaries.
'I don't want to run away anymore!' she declared to herself as she snapped her eyes open to reveal an active Byakugan. "Neji-nii-san, let us fight!" she challenged Neji as she took her Juuken stance.
"Very well," Neji accepted the challenge as he entered into his own Juuken stance with his own Byakugan active.
***Break Line***
"They're using the same Hyuuga style," Lee said after watching both Hyuugas. Natsumi and Sakura turned to him, wondering what else he had to say. "Her stance is just like Neji's."
"Hyuuga style?" Sakura repeated.
"Konoha's strongest taijutsu style," he explained. "Remember what I said before? The strongest Genin shinobi in Konoha is most likely on my team. That is Hyuuga Neji."
"So what? He's not going to win that easily against Hinata-chan," Natsumi replied, totally unimpressed, especially not after hearing him spout off at the mouth towards Hinata.
"Why is that? Is that because she too uses the Juuken?" Lee was confused at her confidence in Hinata.
"No, that doesn't matter. I only say that because right now..." Natsumi faced Lee directly with a smirk full of confidence. "Hinata-chan is the strongest Genin kunoichi in Konoha!" On any other day, Natsumi would have bragged that Hinata and her were the top two Genin kunoichi in Konoha. Today, however, she was perfectly willing to give the spot of top Genin kunoichi to her best friend. She could not even come close to claiming to stand next to Hinata due to the disruptive seal placed on her by Orochimaru, and especially not after her poor performance against Kiba. All she really did was prove just how much persistence, endurance and self-belief she had, nothing more.
"Hey! Don't be so rude when speaking to an upperclassman!" Sakura scolded her. When she tried to punch her in her anger, Natsumi deflected it away. Surprised at the defense, she abruptly lost her anger. She gulped when Natsumi glared at her, not pleased at being attacked.
"Are you my upperclassman?" Natsumi retorted.
"Sakura, please try to refrain from reacting impulsively with physical violence," Kakashi advised Sakura. "I'm sure even you have moments that would provoke the reaction you just gave to Natsumi. Would you like Sasuke or Natsumi to punch you when those moments happen?"
"No..." Sakura admitted.
"Keep this in mind the next time you attempt to hit Natsumi for some silly thing that she does. When you try to deliberately hit someone outside of the settings of a spar, you are starting a fight with that person and throwing the first punch. They have the right to defend themselves and strike you back. For example, earlier when you tried to punch her, Natsumi is within her rights to throw a punch right back at you."
"But I wasn't trying to start a fight, sensei. I was just trying to get her to behave properly towards an upperclassman."
"With violence? Was it something that bad you had to punch her for it?"
"No..."
"So why did you think it was okay to try and punch her? Would you do that with any of the other Konoha Genins?" At Kakashi's questioning, Sakura only shook her head, feeling rather small now that she was being lectured by her instructor. "Was it because nobody ever tried to defend Natsumi when she was being made fun of during your time with her in the Academy? Because her only friend, Hinata, never interfered, only comforting her after everything is all said and done? Answer me, Sakura." She could only nod in humiliation. "If you're feeling repentant, then that's fine. But do you know what you've done, Sakura?"
"What have I done, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura was afraid to know the answer.
"It's one thing if Natsumi had struck you back, and it's another if she just defends herself and lets it go every time it happens. Since it's the latter, the answer is... bullying. You're being a bully to Natsumi."
"That's wrong! I'm not a bully! I never have been!" Sakura exclaimed in shock.
"I was being bullied by Sakura?" Natsumi asked, more surprised than shocked since she did not really feel like she was being bullied. She had dodged all the other times Sakura had tried to hit her when she had done something stupid in her eyes. Heck, the villagers were worse bullies even though they never tried to touch her.
"That's because you know you can defend yourself perfectly fine if she tries to hit you. That's why you don't feel that way," Kakashi explained to Natsumi before turning back to Sakura. "And, hitting someone who's unwilling to hit back, regardless if they can defend themselves or not, is still bullying. You feel it's safe to try and hit her or say mean words to her because she doesn't do anything to you in return, so you do it. And don't say you didn't, because I heard you clearly and I have seen it myself."
"Sakura! You...!" Natsumi faced Sakura, anger and disappointment showing clearly on her face. Letting out a shout of frustration because she did not know what words to say, she stomped off to stand with the remainders of Team 8. When Sakura tried to go after her, Kakashi stopped her by putting his hand on her shoulder.
"The only reason why I tolerated you bullying Natsumi is because she hasn't talked or complained about it to me. As your Jounin instructor, I have to make sure all is well with the three Genins under my supervision. If she had come to me to report your bullying, I have to investigate if it's true. But because I know it's true, we wouldn't be having this lecture right now. You'd be punished with whatever punishment I see fit instead."
"What kind of punishment...?" Sakura could not help but ask.
"Hmm... Anywhere from doing a few D-Rank missions on your own with reduced pay to dismissing you entirely from the team, depending on the severity." He chuckled as he eye-smiled at her when she turned deathly pale at the thought of her potential punishments. "You don't have to be so scared. I believe you have a good heart in you."
"I'm so sorry, sensei! I wasn't aware of this! I didn't mean to be a bully to anyone! Not even to Natsumi!" Sakura apologized with great panic.
"It's not me you should be apologizing to. You know who, right? I won't force you if you don't want to. As long as you refrain from doing it, I'm fine with it. But if you still persist, don't come to me complaining about Natsumi giving you a bloody nose or mouth because she put a quick end to a fight you picked with her because of your impulsive violence to her natural behavior."
"Yes, Kakashi-sensei..." Sakura mumbled her agreement, watching with sad eyes as Kurenai consoled a depressed Natsumi, most likely having overheard Kakashi's lecture. When they heard Hayate declare the start of the fight, Natsumi broke out of her depression and stared intensely at Hinata's fight with Neji.
***Break Line***
The two Hyuugas charged one another as they exchanged Juuken blows. They were expelling so much chakra that each of their palm strikes let out bursts of visible chakra. Still, none of their attacks got through to the other at all. They were all perfectly blocking each other, blocking or parrying in such a way that their palms would not even get close to landing a proper hit.
Even with her determination to prove herself, Hinata was no fool. She was well aware Neji was faster and more skilled in Juuken than her. It was clear even in their stances. Neji had the 'correct' stance, while Hinata had the 'wrong' stance. That was deliberate on her part, because she was never able to get herself to stay comfortable in the 'correct' stance. Her body never got used to it no matter how long she practiced, so she had to modify it. The end result was her 'wrong' stance, meant to compliment her body's natural flexibility. Her father constantly criticized her for it but eventually, though grudgingly, accepted it as her own unique stance.
Neji struck harder and faster, but Hinata was more nimble in her dodging. Her flexible movements enabled her to almost land a hit on his chest. It was just a nicked hit but it was still good. It would have still hurt. The proof was that he took a step back to recover from the pain he was feeling before going back in. Once again, the lethal exchange of palm strikes continued. Bolstered by the close hit she got, Hinata tried to aim for his chest again. At the same time, she knew it was not going to be easy as Neji would likely be more careful and take more advantage of his slightly longer reach. Deciding it was time to prove she had grown and changed herself, she prepared to use a slightly close-range Hakke Kuushou to outreach her cousin. When she tried though, she instantly felt something was wrong. Her chakra was not responding to her commands correctly. Or rather, it was far too slow. Aborting her attack at the last second, she saw Neji aiming his strike at her chest. At the range they were in, they would have exchanged clean hits with the other. Neji obviously knew this if he thought him being hit was inconsequential to the hit he would be landing. Bending her body backwards 90 degrees parallel with the floor to avoid the fatal hit, she quickly backed away from Neji.
"You caught on quicker than I thought, Hinata-sama," Neji commented, ignoring his missed attack. Hinata was panting hard at the close shave, panicked confusion showing clearly in her active Byakugan eyes. "Take a look at your arms, Hinata-sama." Knowing he would not take advantage of her when she checked, she rolled back the sleeves of her jacket. She gasped when she saw angry red dots spotting her arms.
"Did you... From the start, you were..." Hinata only now realized Neji's intention.
"Correct. My eyes can see the tenketsu," Neji said. When he saw her losing focus, he rushed forward to deliver a clean Juuken hit to her heart as well as knocking her off her feet, sending her back a short distance. "Hinata-sama, this is the difference in our unchangeable powers. It's the difference that separates the elites from the failures. This is the unchangeable reality." Hinata coughed out blood as she struggled to get up, only managing to look back at him from her downed position. "You were destined to regret this when you said you didn't want to run away. You should be in despair right now. This is your last warning. Give up."
"I'm..." Hinata groaned out despite the continuous internal bleeding she was suffering. "...not going to... take back... my... words..." Once again, she recalled the conviction Natsumi spoke with whenever she mentioned that phrase. It would always inspire Hinata to work that much harder without fail. "Because that's my ninja way..." She managed to stand with great difficulty and stared down Neji, her eyes never wavering. Tilting her gaze upwards to look at Natsumi, she saw her give an approving nod. Despite her injuries, she still managed to smile.
"Come," Neji beckoned when she reactivated her Byakugan. Right after that, her heart acted up again, causing her to cough out even more blood.
"Hinata-chan! Do your best!" Natsumi cheered very loudly for her best friend.
'Power has once again returned to her eyes,' he noticed the moment Hinata got cheered on by her. Knowing that her Juuken had been effectively sealed away, he was confused as to why she continued this futile fight. Now their fight resembled a normal sparring session between two Hyuugas without the use of chakra. He only indulged her because he wanted to know why a simple cheering could give power to a failure like her.
Despite the hopelessness of the situation, Hinata still held out hope she could pull off an upset and win. As she fought on, she recalled the times she always admired Natsumi for her unwavering determination. Simply watching her filled her with courage. It made her feel like she could accomplish something if she tried. It made her feel like she was worth something. The courage she was drawing from the pleasant memories was abruptly stopped when Neji dodged and countered with a palm strike to her chin, knocking her back again. The adrenaline flowed slower now that there was distance, but it also caused her heart to act up again painfully.
***Break Line***
"Natsumi, I should thank you for helping Hinata all these years," Kurenai told Natsumi.
"Why, Kurenai-sensei?" Natsumi was confused at the sudden words of gratitude.
"During the times when you were forbidden to see Hinata to pick up your lunch, that girl was used to giving up when she did not have you to brighten her day. When you were gone on your C-Rank mission and you gave Hinata the mission to care for your home, she started to change herself," Kurenai explained. Natsumi listened intently as Kurenai told her about how at first, Hinata did poorly at missions and would get depressed easily. The drive Hinata had to change herself came from the simple mission Natsumi had given to her. As a result, Hinata was very different today than all those days. "I've never seen her with those eyes."
"Hinata-chan was always strong. I've seen her eyes like that many times before, when we trained together for all those years," Natsumi replied. "It's just that nobody really cared to believe in her. And if today is proof of anything, not even her family did." She then paused, as if remembering she did something terrible. "And... I'm also sorry, Kurenai-sensei. For the lousy impression of myself when you picked up Team 8 from the Academy. I thought you wouldn't be able to see just how strong Hinata-chan really was. I thought you wouldn't understand Hinata-chan at all. So, I'm sorry."
"It's quite alright, Natsumi," Kurenai brushed aside the apology. "I can understand why. Only Hinata understands you better than anyone, and you understand Hinata better than anyone. You don't ever want to let go of the person that is the closest to your heart. I hope you will always give Hinata your support now and in the future."
"Hinata-chan will have my support forever!" Natsumi declared proudly, causing Kurenai to smile back with pride at the young girl. They both turned back to the fight where Hinata was charging in again. This time, Neji did not bother with any theatrics and delivered a palm strike pumped full of chakra, making it appear like a beam of chakra was shot through Hinata. She collapsed to the floor and remained motionlessly. Kurenai silently praised Hinata for her efforts. Even though she had not won the match, she had succeeded in changing herself. Natsumi merely gritted her teeth, unwilling to believe that Hinata had been defeated. She knew Hinata was stronger than this. She had not lost, not yet.
"He aimed for her heart... That was a finishing blow by Neji," she heard Might Guy, Neji and Lee's Jounin instuctor, say. "I feel sorry for her, but she cannot stand up anymore." Natsumi's anger grew at his comment. She knew he did not mean anything malicious with it, but he did not understand Hinata. Who was he to say she was unable to stand anymore? Just like everybody else, he was underestimating her. That was what made her angry.
"I am going to assume that she cannot fight anymore-" Hayate started to say after a few seconds of observing Hinata's motionless body.
"Don't stop the match!" Natsumi yelled. "Don't stop it!"
"Hey, Natsumi!" Sakura scolded. "What are you talking about, stupid? She can't fight anymore. She fainted..." She trailed off when she noticed she was being ignored and a smile was on Natsumi's face. "What...?" she turned back to see Neji and Hinata, trying to see if she could see what Natsumi was apparently seeing. There was a collective gasp on their side of the balcony when they witnessed Hinata standing up again.
"Why did you stand up?" Neji questioned her. "If you push yourself, you're really going to die. Why?" In his anger at her continued resistance, he reactivated his Byakugan to prepare for another round of combat.
"I can still..." Hinata groaned as she stepped forward.
"There's no point in acting tough. You're barely able to stand up," he told her. "I can tell with these eyes that you have carried the destiny known as the Hyuuga Main House. You cursed your powerlessness, and blamed yourself. But people cannot change. This is destiny. There's no need to suffer. Let yourself go."
"You're wrong, Neji-nii-san," Hinata shook her head. "Because I can see... that you are suffering more than me."
"What?"
"You are the one who is confused and suffering inside the fate of the Main House and Branch House." For the first time in the entire match, Neji lost his temper. It was not just angry shouting either. He lost it explosively, charging forward with an enraged yell coupled with the intent to kill his relative.
"Neji-kun, the match has ended!" Hayate told him to no avail. 'This isn't good,' he noted when he realized Neji had a head start to Hinata. Fortunately, the other Jounins also sensed his intention to kill as they intercepted him with Shunshin.
"Neji, cut it out," Guy warned him. "You have made a passionate promise with me that you will not argue with the Main House."
"Why did the other Jounins come out?" Neji demanded. He accepted the interference from his own Jounin instructor and the proctor, but not the others. "Does the Main House receive special treatment?" He did not notice at the time he was stopped, but he had hit someone who arrived to stop him from killing Hinata before the Jounins made their move.
"Natsumi-chan!" Hinata cried out when blood was forced out from Natsumi's mouth and splattered on her face. Natsumi was the first to react to Neji's explosive anger and the first to make her way to Hinata, even before Hayate tried to stop him by declaring the match was over. She had taken the hit to her own heart as she stood protectively in front of Hinata, exposing her back to Neji.
"Are you okay, Hinata-chan?" Despite the blood dribbling from her mouth, Natsumi still had a grin on her face. "Sorry, I got you disqualified... but I think I was a little too slow for that." She laughed softly before her own heart acted up from the Juuken strike and she coughed out blood, being careful not to aim it at Hinata's face this time.
"Natsumi-chan, no..." Her worry for her best friend stressed her heart to the breaking point, where she collapsed to her knees and started coughing violently.
"Hinata!" Kurenai went to her student's side where Natsumi had already laid her on her back.
"Hinata-chan, stay with us! Hey!" Natsumi bit back her own pain and the urge to cough out more blood to tend to her.
"Natsumi-chan... I..." Hinata spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. "Was I... able to change... a little?" That was the last thing she said before completely losing her consciousness.
"Hey, the failure there," Neji called out to Natsumi. "Let me warn you about two things. If you're a ninja, stop with that unsightly cheering. And one more thing. A failure is a failure. They cannot change."
"Do you want to try?" Natsumi challenged with an angry scowl on her face. She lost control over her own actions when Neji smirked at her. She charged towards him, ready to make him eat his words only for Lee to bar her path just like how she protected Hinata. "You...!"
"I understand how you're feeling, Natsumi-san. But you should fight in a proper match," he told her. "A failure will defeat a genius with hard work... The main matches will be interesting. But I may be his opponent. I will hold no grudge if you were to match up with him."
"What proper match! What main matches!" she yelled at him, surprising him enough to turn and face her completely. "He just tried to kill Hinata-chan, his own relative, even after the match was over! He just tried to kill my best friend! On purpose! Outside the match! Take your damn 'proper match' and 'main matches' and shove them in someone else's face!" Frustrated at the pointless interception, she let out an angry huff and made her way back to Hinata. When Hinata coughed out even more blood, she hurried back to her side. Kurenai realized that her student was going through ventricular fibrillation and glared at Neji, suspecting him of trying to kill Hinata from the start.
"If you have time to glare at me, I believe you should use that time to look at her," Neji advised with an insufferable, arrogant grin.
"You bastard!" Natsumi yelled, her anger reignited at his words. Before she could make a second rush towards him, her heart acted up and she fell to one knee, coughing out blood rather harshly.
"Medical team! What are you doing? Hurry!" Kurenai demanded. Natsumi watched in stunned silence as the medics tended to Hinata, only going to her side when she heard Hinata would not last ten minutes if left untreated.
"Let me go with her! I need to see if she'll be okay!" Natsumi demanded from the medics.
"You can't! She needs emergency treatment! You have to wait!" one of them brushed her off as they rushed to treat Hinata. Horrified, she could only watch her dying best friend be taken away. There was nothing she could do for Hinata now. When she spotted the patches of blood on the floor both of them coughed out from the Juuken strikes to their hearts, she got an idea. She used the fresh blood on her mouth and mixed it with Hinata's blood on the floor.
"I swear..." Natsumi vowed as she dragged her fingers through it and held them out in a fist towards Neji. "I will win!" As though her heart was just waiting for her to make that promise both for herself and for Hinata, it acted up much more severely than the earlier times. Instead of just coughing out blood, she heaved out a blob of it, bloodying her entire mouth as she fell face first. She would have dropped into her own blood if Kurenai had not caught her.
"Natsumi!" Kurenai checked on her the same way she did for Hinata. Fortunately, it was not as bad as Hinata's condition, but it was steadily getting worse. 'It's no surprise it's this bad. Hinata took two good hits to the heart while Natsumi took a killing blow. It's a miracle the both of them lasted as long as they did.' "Calm down. Don't stress your heart further. You'll only make it worse." Natsumi only nodded, her eyes becoming unfocused as she started to slip into unconsciousness. "I'll take you to the medics."
"Kurenai-sensei... I want to be... next to Hinata-chan... in the hospital..." Natsumi groaned out, not willing to faint until she said everything she had to say.
"I'll make sure of it," Kurenai promised. Relieved, Natsumi blissfully passed out.
***End of Chapter***
Differences
Hinata and Neji's relation as cousins.
Canon: Kakashi and Lee explain about the Main House and Branch House of the Hyuuga family.
My version: Being best friends with Hinata, Natsumi has heard about this from Hinata herself some time in the past, just not the private details like who Hinata's relatives are. The only one she is aware of prior to knowing Neji is her cousin is her younger sister Hanabi.
Naruto's encouragement to Hinata just before she hyperventilates.
Canon: He encourages her from the balcony.
My version: Natsumi gets up close and personal to encourage Hinata. As a sign of eternal support, they exchange their hitai-ate for Hinata's match to show that even if Natsumi can't help, she will always be there and supporting her in spirit.
Lee's statement that Neji is the strongest Genin in Konoha.
Canon: Lee states that the strongest Genin in Konoha, regardless of gender, is Neji. When Lee and Guy explain about the Juuken and how they attack the chakra circulatory system and Naruto says that Lee knows a lot, causing Sakura to punch him for speaking way too informally to an upperclassman.
My version: I changed the words a little, making Lee say that Neji is the strongest Genin shinobi, a male ninja, in Konoha. Natsumi retorts that Hinata is the strongest Genin kunoichi, a female ninja, in Konoha. As for the explanation of Juuken and how it attacks the chakra circulatory system, Natsumi already knows what Juuken can do so she doesn't ask about it. Sakura still tries to punch her for disrespect towards an upperclassman but she deflects it away.
Kurenai silently praising Hinata for her growth after her loss.
Canon: Kurenai keeps the praise to herself.
My version: Kurenai gives credit to Natsumi for helping Hinata grow.
Neji attempting to end Hinata's life after the end of their match.
Canon: Neji is stopped from harming Hinata by various Jounins.
My version: Before anyone else realizes Neji wants to kill Hinata, Natsumi is already making her way to Hinata when Neji screamed angrily and charged towards her. As a result, she is closer to him when the Jounins stop him, meaning his attack landed on her instead, causing her the same severe injuries that Hinata had suffered.
Lee stopping Naruto from fighting Neji prematurely.
Canon: He explains that they should fight in a proper match and Naruto accepts.
My version: Due to her friendship with Hinata, Natsumi takes the post-match attack much more personally. She instead yells at Lee about how the attack was not part of the match. She still ceases her charge towards Neji.
Hinata being stretched away by the medics.
Canon: Naruto watches her get taken away and swears on her blood that he will win if he fights Neji.
My version: Natsumi wants to stay by Hinata's side but gets rejected. Due to suffering the same injuries as her, she mixes her own blood with Hinata's blood as a promise to both herself and to Hinata. She swears on their combined blood that she will win if she fights Neji.
Extra Scene: Kakashi talks to Sakura about her impulsive violent tendencies to inflict pain on Natsumi whenever she does something silly with her natural behavior. He explains that she is bullying Natsumi because Natsumi is not trying to fight back, only defending herself. If she accepts the blow in good nature, like Naruto does in canon, then it can be passed off as a thing between friends, but she doesn't. Whatever friendship had developed between the two girls is now damaged.
***Break Line***
This is the end of the preliminary matches. For the one-month wait before the main matches, I will focus on Natsumi more since Hinata is mostly out of action from her injuries. She still will make some appearances despite that. Also, Jiraiya makes his appearance next chapter! Expect hilarity to happen between the two! And perhaps a little bit of perversion on the Toad Sage's part...
I look forward to getting more readers who like this story! Do Follow/Favorite/Review this story, and big thanks to those who are kind enough to do so!