Well, the "interest rate" isn't exactly what I hoped for, but I still decided to upload this... dunno why exactly as Hitomi vs. Tenka was never one of my, favorite matches, but oh well. Actually, right now, I'm most anxious about Horohoro vs. Kusari (and most terrified of Kumiko vs. Kitsune :D)... it's not that I dislike the other duels, but...
Anyways, here's the newest installment in the NNG tale. Hope you'll enjoy it:
Chapter #140: Pride of the Fallen
Title Page: Tsume is walking on all fours, sniffing the ground, as she follows a trail of paws
"Preparations are complete, Hisaki-sama" a man of long, black hair and peril-white eyes bowed before his master, while the latter looked at his over the shoulder. He allowed himself a slight nod at the news before turning on his foot as he headed towards his servant: "Excellent, lets not waste another moment" he ordered walking out the door.
The younger of the duo quickly raised back to his feet and followed, rushing through a narrow hallway. Soon enough they reached the sliding door, making the leader freeze. In a flash the his companion passed him, moving the blockade out of his way, thus letting Hisaki into a wide room with an altar in the center, located in the middle of a large seal drawn on the floor.
The roof of the chamber was held by a quartet of massive columns, each standing near the corner, while several, large candlesticks lit the shadows of the room. Four people, wrapped in brown cloaks stood at the edges of the altar, each with their heads lowered, allowing the hoods to hide their faces, even as the duo walked inside. But the most surprising feature was probably a young girl, no more then five years of age, tied to the top of the altar.
Hisaki walked closer to the young one, placing his palm on her forehead as she gazed at him, terrified, with her eyes as white as his. Her breath quickened, even after the man tried to shush her with a calm voice: "Fear not, Hitomi... it'll be over soon enough" he proclaimed, reaching for a short, steel staff, ended with a swastika-like symbol on one end.
As white veins engulfed her eyes, the girl could see the man's chakra getting pumped into the mysterious symbol while he sunk it into a bucket of hot, glowing coal. A moment later Hisaki pulled the iron bar away, allowing the sizzling noise to menacingly echo in Hitomi's ears as the swastika neared her forehead, its heat already warning the five-year-old what she was about to feel.
But as the red iron lowered, the doors suddenly broke into pieces, letting in another man, his eyes as white as everyone gathered in the room. The new arrival narrowed them, settling his gaze on Hisaki, his voice demanding: "Let her go! These practices were dropped and you know it! Let her go right now!" he repeated as veins began embracing his eyes.
"This is tradition" the other man spat with superiority in his voice, leaving no debate as to the righteousness of his act: "This is what helped us survived all these years and what will in the future. Besides, I feel no need listening to a Branch member..."
"Then, perhaps, you'll listen to the head of the clan" a new voice joined in from behind the arrival as a moment later a woman, only slightly younger then her companion, appeared behind the intruder's back, also carrying the same feature as the others: "That seal shall not be placed on any, other child ever again and all things associated with this ritual were ordered to be destroyed. This chamber is no different."
"But, Hinata-sama" Hisaki began, slightly nervous, but never got to finish as the woman raised her voice in one of her, few angry moments, all of which spelled trouble to those who opposed her: "Are you disobeying my, direct command?" she questioned, making the man shiver at the sudden change in her voice.
"O... of course not, Hinata-sama" the man bowed deeply, stepping away from the child. The heir's companion didn't wait long and instantly appeared next to the girl, untying her arms and legs as the youngster sobbed from fright.
"It's alright, Hitomi" he assured her, putting her in a tight embrace. "Everything is gonna be alright" he repeated, rocking the child. Meanwhile Hinata turned to Hisaki's servant, her face once more as gentle as it always is: "Thank you for informing us, Hisomu-san" she nodded towards the man, making the latter lower his head.
Hisaki send his underling a death glare before shifting his attention back to the man, who was still calming his daughter: "This is a mistake" he announced, making the father gaze at him. "Deep down you realize this already, Neji; seal or not, she is of the Branch family and nothing will ever change that."
The man, Neji, didn't reply. He just looked at his daughter, who finally calmed down in his arms and walked out of the room, soon followed by his cousin. Once things cooled down, he took the girl home, where his wife, Tenten, has already prepared dinner. The trio sat down to the table like nothing happened, yet Hitomi merely played with the food, staring blankly at the plate.
"What's wrong, sweetie?" the weapon mistress asked, immediately cursing herself in her mind for asking such a stupid question. Despite this, the young kunoichi didn't seem to take much note of her words words anyway, still mesmerized by her plate. Seeing this, Neji spoke up with his usual, calm voice:
"You're the first Hyuuga from the Branch family not branded with seal" he announced, making his daughter gaze at him curiously. "It's obvious those rooted in tradition may find that fact hard to accept. This is why you'll need to work even harder to prove that you're just as much of a Hyuuga as anyone else" he added with a smile, making the girl blush slightly as she gave a nod...
-Flashback end-
Hitomi glanced up as Tenka reached her, the latter's body still tightly wrapped in electricity. The redhead shown no emotions on her face as she held her hand above the fallen form of the young Hyuuga, speaking as calm as ever: "You cannot win... I suggest surrendering."
"Oh?" the white-eyed gennin responded just as calmly. "Just a moment ago you claimed to hate people with bloodline limits and now you're giving me a chance to give up? I'm getting some mixed signals here... either way, that's not gonna happen; you see, I made a promise and so... I'm gonna beat you" she proclaimed just before another charge got released from the moon-nin's grasp, hitting her hard in the back.
Hitomi let out a cry a pain surged through her body, burning her skin even further. She could feel her nerves aching as she tried to get up, only to receive another blow, which brought her back to the ground. The other kunoichi observed her struggle and zapped her again as the young Hyuuga attempted to push herself up for the second time, this time with the help of her hands.
"She can barely move" Takaru stated, narrowing his eyes. "The enemy has her pinned... what in the world does she think she's doing? There's no way she can win" he added with a slight note of worry in his voice as he turned towards the girl's teammates.
"Well, Hitomi-san hates to lose" Taki responded with an awkward smile, making Kusari's eye twitch at the announcement: "Are you kidding me with this? That redhead is obviously wacko! I doubt she'll hesitate to kill her, if that will be necessary to win! She has to forfeit..."
"Wouldn't you, in her predicament, do the same, Kusari-san?" Teela sudden joined the conversation, making the chain master glance at her. After a short silence, the boy shifted his eyes to the floor, while the kunoichi returned to watching the match: "It is true however that Tenka is very determined... it is highly possible she might kill your friend, should the latter fail to oblige..."
"Hitomi is too stubborn to admit defeat" Horohoro noted, ready to jump off the platform. But the instant his foot touched the rail, Funbo grabbed his shoulder, stopping the blue-haired gennin from interfering. As the ice user gazed at him confused, the heir of the Tanken spoke calmly and as emotionless as always: "The match has not ended yet."
"Are you insane?" Kai snapped at the staff wielder's behavior. "Ibuki said you were a cold bastard, but this is going over the line! Your teammate needs help! She will die otherwise!"
"It is preciously because she is my teammate that I'm doing this" Funbo replied matter-of-factly. "Rest assured that, should it be anyone of you, I wouldn't have bothered" he added with a stoic voice, making Kumiko shiver at the lack of any, human trait within her fellow gennin.
Meanwhile Tenka was already gathering more electricity in her palm as Hitomi pulled herself up a bit: "You're not gonna give up?" she rather stated then asked as the white-eyed kunoichi now stood on all fours, almost like bowing before her opponent. Annoyed, the redhead released another charge, but this time, before the attack could reach its target, the leaf-nin jumped back, a sudden explosion of chakra pushing her palms backwards.
"She used chakra to blast herself away" Akira noticed instantly as his teammate came to a sliding stop few meters away from the Tsuki gennin. With chakra slowly wrapping around her body, the young Hyuuga once more went into her fighting stance and charged forward, ducking under another bolt sent her way.
"This sensation" Nobu realized from the stands, narrowing his eyes. "It's similar to our Blood Brotherhood!" she thought surprised, glancing at his sibling to make sure the latter felt the same thing. A tiny drop of sweat running down Kumo's face left not doubt in his mind that he too came to the same conclusion.
With a sudden surge of electricity released to the ground, Hitomi jumped forward and spinning parallel to the surface, she threw her hand at Tenka, unleashing another blast, which hit the redhead in the chest again: "Hakke Kuushou!"
The pain made the moon-nin loose her concentration, dispelling the electricity already that spread on the ground. This allowed the white-eyed girl to land safely just before her adversary, her gaze set out front: "Jyuken po Hakke! Rokujuyonsho!" she called out as her hands launched forward, hitting Tenka's body with inhuman precision, too fast for the latter to even react: "Nisho! Yonsho! Hassho! Jurokusho! Sanjunisho! Rokujuyonsho!" she finished as the redhead got blasted back, falling motionless on her back.
"And that would be it" Tasuki concluded, his face calm.
But as Hitomi allowed herself to huff a few times, the other kunoichi quickly flipped back to her feet, electricity once more cracking all over her body. In a flash the Tsuki gennin thrust her arms at the young Hyuuga, releasing another charge at point-blank range. The white-eyed girl barely managed to roll to the side as the assault came, avoiding the hit by inches.
Tenka was not done however as she quickly swung her right hand to the side, unleashing a sizzling whip which swooped at her adversary, forcing the latter to jump back as the scourge smacked the ground with a blow. The leaf-nin had no time to celebrate though as the redhead's second arm was already pointed upwards, summoning the lighting to rain down upon Hitomi.
The girl strafed left as the attack drilled into the spot she stood a moment earlier and ducked when another whip came, swung parallel to the ground. Quickly she flipped back as the electric charge spread through the ground, getting out of its range while Tenka glare at her, panting, her body still wrapped tightly in the current.
"Hyuuga taijutsu is aimed to disturb the flow of chakra and attack inner organs of the target" Galu explained, slightly confused. "Rokujuyonsho shuts every tanketsu point in the body; with this, there's no way to utilize chakra! How the hell is that redhead able to do it after that?"
"She uses electricity" Kitsune replied with a note of amazement in his voice. "Incidentally, most of the body functions are initiated through a form of electric current, as the nervous system is based specifically on that; any command, conscious or subconscious, is activated through the nerves which send information to the brain and vice verse. With this you can stop some of the processes constantly taking place within your body like cease breathing, even making your heart freeze... at least in theory. Much of the chakra paths are bind to that rule as well. Most likely that Tenka girl had her electricity interfere with the chakra flow internally. I doubt she managed to nullify Hitomi's attack entirely, but even keeping few of the tanketsu points opened allows her to utilize techniques effectively."
"You seem to be even more fierce then before" Hitomi noted as she changed her fighting stance a bit. Noticing this, Hinata widen her eyes as the chakra, which was still leaking out of the young kunoichi's body, now seemed to circle near the skin like a drill. "This leaves me little choice then... you know, my clan's Gentle Fist is feared as the most dangerous form of hand-to-hand combat in the world, but that's not exactly true" she announced, narrowing her eyes. "I'll show you... Hyuuga's ultimate taijutsu!"
-climbing to new heights!-
And that would be it. Yes, Hitomi will be using a new variation of taijutsu; it's actually a move I had planned for her every since she was created (a taijutsu style original for NNG as no Hyuuga in my, other fics will be using it :D). Actually, the flashback at the start of the chapter was supposed to take longer (a whole chapter), but with the final exam taking along as is, I decided to shorten that part – that is why Tenten was present at the table, even though she officially didn't hear Hitomi's promise (check Hitomi's elimination match for details)... either way, it isn't of great importance to the story itself (Tenten being present that is), so hopefully you don't mind.
Konoha #7 (Naruto): Murasakki Kumiko, Tanken Ibuki, Gekido Takaru, Hagane Kusari, Haisha Kai
Konoha #3 (Shikamaru): Konpaku Rei, Rikoteki Kogane, Amagasa Toku, Debano Kitsune, Gusoku Hanamaru
Konoha #4 (Hinata): Igaku Mikka, Inuzuka Tsume, Benda Kokoro, Hatake Senkou, Kobushi Galu
Konoha (Shino): Hamano Taki, Hyuuga Hitomi, Manako Akira, Tanken Funbo, Horohoro
Suna #1 (Temari): Aoru, Torune, Tarakudo, Takai
Suna #2 (Kankuro): Sabaku no Sabure, Hari, Dekai, Karame
Kusa (none): Hokku Tobane, Kanraku Nezumi, Kuchibashi Taka, Kyohaku Tokame, Wanabi Hizoku
Tsuki (Hinami Hoshiru): Junsei Teela, Tenka, Chishio Nobu, Chishio Kumo, Kihako Tasuki
Kane (unknown): Futatsu
Kumori (Tategamaru): Saiken Tenma
Fight 8: Hyuuga Hitomi (15) vs. Tenka (16)
Fight 9: Hokku Tobane (17) vs. Sabaku no Sabure (18)
Fight 10: Murasakki Kumiko (19) vs. Debano Kitsune (20)
Fight 11: Junsei Teela (21) vs. Kanraku Nezumi (22)
Fight 12: Horohoro (23) vs. Hagane Kusari (24)
Fight 13: Aoru (25) vs. Hamano Taki (26)
Fight 14: Torune (27) vs. Hari (28)
Fight 15: Amagasa Toku (29) vs. Kyohaku Tokame (30)
Fight 16: Kobushi Galu (31) vs. Karame (32)
Fight 17: Takai vs. Wanabi Hizoku
Fight 18: Tanken Funbo vs. Gekido Takaru
Fight 19: Benda Kokoro vs. Tarakudo
Fight 20: Manako Akira vs. ?
Yeah, no jutsu encyclopedia this time, but the only technique used was from the manga itself, so, as my recently favorite character would say "no big" :D I've also updated Legacy of the Leaf fic, to those who are interested. With that said, thanks for reading and until next time.