Journey of the Three Failures Chapter 4: The Tracker Team, a naruto fanfic

J3F\\\ Journey of the Three Failures

Chapter Four

I'm hurt! :( It looks like a lot of people didn't read my author's note (ramble) at the end of the last chapter, or even Lee's cute little preview, or you'd already know Neji didn't come alone! Nah, I'm just kidding, I don't care. But thanks if you did read it!

Thanks for reviewing, I really appreciate it! School's started (and I already have two projects), so expect slower updates.

Does anybody else HATE Hinata's English voice actor?! She sounds all whiny and bratty in the recent dub episodes. I think her voice was okay earlier in the series, but it seems like everyone's voice is just getting worse and worse. I know, I should just stop complaining and watch the Japanese version…

But anyways, let me stop rambling!

Whoops! Almost forgot again! Disclaimer: Do I look like a manga artist named Kishimoto Masashi? Really, I promise I'm not. I don't own NARUTO!

Journey of the Three Failures

Four: The Tracker Team

Part One: Hinata and Neji

Lee リー

It happened in a flash; Neji blurred with movement, and then he and Hinata were gone. The sound of someone crashing through branches reached our ears.

"Hinata!" Naruto cried, starting after them. I gasped, sensing the presence of others.

"Naruto, hold on!" I grabbed his shoulder to stop him just as two more ninja flickered to the scene, barring our path. The onyx-eyed avenger and the weapons mistress both wore hitai-ate bearing the same new symbol as Neji's.

Tenten's brown eyes lit up with relief as she met my gaze, only to be soon replaced by anger. Uchiha Sasuke's own expression was unreadable as he glared daggers at a shocked Naruto.

"You…" Sasuke whispered. "You really are…" There was something unsettling within his voice as he trailed off, and that look in his eye… It is almost like he is looking at a ghost…

The tension in the air pressed down on us as the two boys formerly of cell seven stared each other down. Finally Naruto broke the silence.

"Er… Hi…?" he tried cautiously.

Sasuke's face became hostile with rage, the only warning before his fist met Naruto's jaw. "Dobe!" he roared, "Sakura and I thought you were dead!! How do you think that felt?!"

Naruto stumbled away shakily. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he cried in a panic as Sasuke lunged forward. As I made a move to help, I heard my own former teammate draw a kunai. I turned to her, frowning.

"Just what is going on?"

"Sorry, Lee. I … I really can't express how … happy I am to know you're okay. But…" She blinked away tears that were beginning to form, and her face became serious. "We're bringing you back home, and we'll do it by force if we have to."

"You claim you are bringing us back home? What home – New Otogakure no Sato?!"

"You don't understand," she said quietly. "We're capturing you – before someone else does!"

She launched three shuriken with precision. I dodged them and charged.

Neji ネジ

My cousin's body crashed into several branches before she landed in a clearing. At first I frowned with displeasure as she laid face down and unmoving – surely that strike hadn't killed her? – but she promptly moaned and began to stir. I approached her at a walk as she began to get to her knees.

I stomped on her hand, and she flinched, lowering her head with a tiny whimper. I felt a small trickle of pleasure well inside me – but I would need more before I was content.

Much more.

"Get up, you sorry excuse for a Hyuuga," I spat, stepping away. Hinata looked up at me, trembling like a frightened rabbit as her wide eyes took in the markings of the Blood Seal. Her face and clothes were scratched up from pine needles, and she bled from a scrape on her arm.

"Neji-nii-san, wh-what's happened t-to you?"

"This is the awesome power Godaime-sama has granted me…"

"Fifth?" she whispered to herself as she stood.

"Of course, I hardly need this power to defeat or arrest you … but, rather unfortunately for you, I have something else in mind." With a small smile, I rushed her.

She gasped, activating her Byakugan as she struck out with a palm. I dodged with ease and clamped a firm hand onto her neck. Her teeth clenched, eyes wide and terrified.

It was incredibly easy to tighten my grip, I noted; I squeezed harder, and she shut an eye in pain.

"I could snap your neck," I said coolly. "It would be easy, Hinata-sama. I could even do it by accident. The briefest lapse in restraint, and…" My iron grip carefully contracted further, and her mouth opened as she tried desperately, uselessly to draw air.

"Your hands are free, Hinata-sama. Go on – why not activate this wretched seal?" I growled.

"No," she mouthed, for she could not speak.

"Activate it, or I snap your neck."

"I … won't," she answered, even as her face went blue. Her other eye closed.

I shook my head. "Pathetic. You're too weak to bring suffering on your enemy – the very enemy…"

I slowly tightened my hand and moved it down; Hinata bent slightly at the knees and leaned forward in reaction.

"… who would kill you…"

As I lowered my arm more I pressed harder against her windpipe; her Byakugan failed as she further bent at the waist.

"… in an instant!"

I released her.

She had only just begun to gasp in a breath when my foot swung up to slam her in the gut.

"AUGH!" I felt the air leave her sharply as she was lifted off the ground. I threw a fist at her face.

Hinata hit the ground and rolled several times before sliding to a stop on her side. She gasped with shortness of breath, and I waited for her to recover. To my surprise, she soon ground her teeth and began to stand. So, you've finally learned to somewhat take a hit. Am I supposed to be impressed?

Her eyes were frightened, yet at the same time determined. "T-tell me," she said softly, trying to hide her fear, "if you're clearly n-not aiming to arrest me, then what is y-your goal?"

"Hn. You mean it's not obvious?" I asked seriously.

"No, it's n-not. What do you want with me?"

I growled a single word. "Revenge."

Hinata frowned. "Revenge f-for what?"

I had an impulse to hit her – after all, I could clear the space between us easily – but managed to restrain myself. "Don't play dumb with me!" I shouted, pointing a finger and shaking in sudden rage. "You know what your family has taken from me! But now… Now you'll be punished. Before you die, you will suffer, just as I have!"

I expected her to be overcome by fear, perhaps begging for mercy or asking that I end it quickly. However, her face became empathetic. "Nii-san…" she whispered sadly, "please r-rethink this. I can understand your r-rage, and I truly am sorry a-about your father. I know you're … hurt and c-confused inside, but–,"

"I don't want your pity!" I screamed with a violent shudder, once again fighting to control myself. "And don't talk to me like you know everything about me! At least you have a father! You have no idea how much pain I've been through! How dare you suggest that you could possibly understand?!"

She looked to the ground. "So I d-don't know what it feels like … but s-still, anger and hatred c-can't be the answer. It hurts to see you like this, Nii-san!"

I frowned – of course, the desperate imploring of one who feared death. As if the Main House scum really cared… "It hurts you to see me like this, does it? Too bad. Unfortunately, even if you did care – and I doubt you really do – I couldn't care less what you want."

"Please!" she cried, "Neji-nii-san, I d-do care! What ever h-happened – don't you remember all those years ago? We were … best friends!"

My breath caught.

Two small children, holding hands, running, laughing. Smiling.

The younger, on short and still clumsy legs. Stumbles. Begins to cry.

"Little sister! Are you okay?" The boy, concerned. Carefully lifts her to her feet. Dusts her off. She brightens.

"Mm-hm! Thank you, Nii-chan!" she exclaims with a smile, cheeks a soft pink.

The boy gently wipes away her tears. "Don't cry! I'm never letting anything bad happen to you, Imouto-chan!"

The tiny girl grabs the boy in a hug.

"Neji-nii!

I grunted, a hand immediately flying to the mark on my neck.

"Neji-nii-san!" Hinata cried in concern.

I looked up, and froze as I was struck by how entirely she still resembled the sweet, adorable little cousin I had at one time been so naturally protective of. H-Hinata…?

My neck throbbed, and I shook my head vigorously as I held back a cry. My face twisted into a grimace. "Enough!" I hissed. "I've waited years for this day – for a chance to exact revenge! You're not about to convince me not to!"

She nodded, slowly, sorrowfully. "Then if there's n-no discouraging you … and if it will at all help ease the agony of your broken, restless soul…" Abandoning her stance to stand up straight, she spread her arms. "Please beat me until you are satisfied."

My eyes widened a fraction. Trying to throw me with reverse psychology, are you?!

"I'm not deceiving you, Nii-san. I won't fight back. All I ask is that you leave me alive... If you m-must kill me to be at peace, at least take me back to the village first. I need to see Hanabi-chan."

"Hanabi?" I said with a smirk. "Come to think of it… the last I saw of her, I was setting some branch Hyuuga on her after she spied on our meeting."

In an instant her face turned abruptly fierce, and it looked as though she might actually be refraining from an impulse to attack me. "Neji, she's a child – barely an academy student!"

"An academy student who needed to be put in her place."

My cousin's eyes narrowed into dangerous slits, a perfect Hyuuga deathglare; anyone else would likely have cowered under her gaze. "This isn't like you, Brother…"

"Does this mean you're angry enough to fight back? Not that it matters. You're dying today, Hinata-sama, at my hands – hands that I once thought were bound to protect you and your life, even at the cost of my own. Ironic, is it not? Yet at the same time, truly befitting of your demise. You, the great heiress, will be destroyed by your own lowly servant, like the pitiful failure you are!"

I rushed toward her and swung a fist. She activated her dojutsu and dodged neatly, ducking back so that the strike passed in front of her face. I followed up with a chakra-less palm strike; she ducked under it and sent a sweeping kick at my shins. I leaned forward, hands meeting the powdery earth and feet momentarily leaving it to avoid the strike. As she spun to full height I pushed off with my hands and right foot, launching a kick for her gut with my left; she simultaneously leaned away and grabbed my ankle in both hands. As her shoulders hit the earth, she used my momentum to flip me over herself and try to slam me into the ground. I caught myself on my hands, and flipped to my feet a few yards away as she released me. Hinata sprang up as I turned to face her.

"You don't get it! I refuse to die here! I promised Imouto-chan I would return!"

"You mean that's why she was so convinced you were alive? How touching – and all the more pleasing to finish you!"

"I will not fail my sister!"

"The choice isn't yours! What is it with you failures? Do you think by promising it, you can win by pure stubbornness alone, because you have no real strength to depend on?! I think you're the one who doesn't understand. I will deal retribution for myself and my father – by making you suffer for me, and die for him! And what better way to make you suffer in death, than for you to know you've left your little sister all alone, just as Father was forced to leave me?!"

She attacked with a sudden palm strike in response. I dodged easily and landed a sharp jab in her gut, amused by her attempts. "There we go!" I said as she soon continued to throw strike after strike. "It could be much more fun if you fight back! How long will it be before the futility sinks in, and you realize your own utter helplessness?!" I spotted an opening and struck savagely through it. A simple palm to the chest sent her crashing into a tree trunk ten yards away.

She slid to the ground. When her feet met it I was sure her knees would give, but instead she stumbled forward, narrowly catching herself before charging again.

I grabbed her wrist as she struck out. She was preparing to try with her other hand when I forced the captured wrist backward. Her teeth locked, stifling a scream as I slowly bent it to an unnatural angle. Eyes watering, she was brought to her knees; her free hand pounded the ground, but she refused to cry out, would not give me the pleasure.

"Aren't we the stubborn one?" I sneered, "Mind still not broken? We'll have to do something about that." I drew back a foot…

A stabbing pain pulsed through my body. I didn't realize I'd released her until her head rammed hard into my stomach; I stepped back, and the next moment a palm connected solidly with my chest.

I was thrown off my feet by the surprisingly forceful blow, and landed on my back. I held my neck with a grimace as I looked at my forearm, observing as a second black ring burned its way into it, an inch from the first. The second stage, huh…? I thought with fascinated curiosity as I felt similar rings being etched around the other arm, my ankles and my neck. When I had used the seal in the village, I had never pushed it this far. I shuddered at another flash of pain.

"Nii-san!" Hinata gasped out. I sat up, glaring venomous daggers at her worried face.

"Stop calling me that," I spat. "And just what type of Juuken blow was that, Hinata-sama?" I had felt only a feeble drizzle of chakra; I knew that even she was capable of releasing an intense, damaging burst of energy in her strikes. I got to my feet, twitching as the seal pulsed again. "What are you … afraid you'll i-injure me? Are you t-truly that weak, and gentle, and hesitant?! You can hardly afford to pull your punches, filth! I'll make you scream in pain, howl for mercy!!"

She was cradling her wrist close to her body. Though her eyes had watered, her expression was clearly one of concern, not fear. "Neji-nii-san, you're not yourself! It's that mark on your neck… That seal is what's getting to you, isn't it?!"

"I–!" I loosed a hacking cough before I could retaliate. "You're wrong – agh! I am stronger than the Blood Seal – it doesn't c-control me… I could deactivate it at any t-time!" The bursts of pain and wild energy subsided, and I got a grip on the new power.

"Could you really, Nii-san?" she demanded gently.

"I thought I told you to stop calling me that!!" I shouted, enraged. I sprinted at her; she struck out blindly, and I raked my black claws from her elbow up, slashing open an almost healed kunai wound in her shoulder.

As I skidded to a halt behind her, she threw back her head and screamed, clutching her shoulder with the opposite hand. The agonized scream, the smell of the blood on my hand, the blood of the one I loathed with such passion, sent my heart racing in the thrill of it all. I bared my teeth in a smile, and in a moment found myself planting a foot between her shoulder blades.

She crashed to the ground with a crunch of snow; her bleeding arm stained the white powder crimson.

As I walked up to her trembling form, I made no effort to conceal my smile. I could hardly contain the exhilaration rushing through me. I felt powerful, invincible – and most important of all, I was finally exacting my revenge. She had to be breaking inside…

"What's wrong, Hinata-sama? Giving up?" I stomped on her back, and a small whimper escaped her. "But I thought you don't quit, and you never go back on your word!" A nudge of my foot rolled her onto her side. After a moment of contemplation, I kicked her; as her mouth fell open, eyes wide in shock, my smile only widened. Her back met a tree trunk with a sharp thud.

"Do you understand now?! 'I don't quit, I don't run, I won't lose' – they're all just words, stupid, pointless words that don't mean anything!"

A man. Smiles warmly, places a hand on a young boy's shoulder. White eyes that can be stern and cold. Now fond and loving, tears streaming freely from them.

"Tou-san?" says the boy. The boy who will soon be made a caged bird.

"Remember this, Neji… No matter how hard things may seem, I will be here to protect you…"

She tried to stand. I kicked her again.

As she went down, I grabbed the neck of her jacket in both hands, hoisting her from the ground and taking a step to slam her back against another tree.

"What is a promise even for?!" I screamed in her face. "It's nothing, do you hear me?! Foolish words doomed to fall before destiny – absolutely meaningless!"

For a moment we stared into each other's eyes.

"Neji-nii-san…" Hinata whispered hoarsely, that look of compassionate sorrow filling her eyes as she shed tears.

With a yell, I whirled and threw her to the ground. "You should hear your sister! 'Hinata-nee-chan is alive! She'll return someday, and when she does she'll be stronger than you!' All because she believes in your promise! But you won't be keeping your promise, Hinata! When I kill you, she'll learn how foolish she was, and she'll know to never again put faith in your so-called ninja way!"

As she began to get up, she turned her head to face me. "Nii-san … that s-seal is influencing you…"

"I'm in complete control of it! Do you mean to suggest this is the seal talking? I assure you, it's not – from the bottom of my heart, I hate you!"

"I d-don't hate you…" she said as she shakily stood. "I love you, my brother… I always have–"

The back of my hand met her cheek, and several specks of red peppered the snow as she fell. "Liar!" I hissed, "How could you possibly expect me to believe that?!"

She wiped her mouth as she rose again. "Must you ask me, Brother?" she droned the grim sarcasm in a near monotone, "Or are not your eyes all-seeing…?"

I realized with as start that she was indeed not lying; her face betrayed not the slightest trace of deceit. "If you love me," I growled, "you're a fool!"

I swung a fist into my cousin's face, sending her spinning on heel away from me. I darted in front of her and, fingers pointing downward, forcefully shoved the heel of my hand into her stomach. I was behind her only an instant to jam two knuckles into a point on her spine, and then was beside her, sending a hard sweeping kick at her shins. As she fell forward I was suddenly before her, driving a crushing fist into the center of her chest.

Are you dead yet? I thought acidly as she lied unmoving on her back. Her open mouth closed in a brief grimace before she rolled onto her side with a groan, and then her front. She pushed herself up and spat. "H-how long…" she whispered as she struggled to pick herself up once more. She turned toward me, her face near void of emotion and impossible to read as she spoke in the same eerily blank tone as before. "How long can you strike someone who does not fight back, Nii-san? If you are able to continue, your heart must truly be dead…"

"You're wrong there, Hinata. My heart is not dead, because it has burned with hatred every miserable second for the last nine years of my cursed life!"

"So here you strike one who loves you, while I do not strike though you hate me. Even if your heart is not dead, through this you will kill it, Neji-nii-san."

"And I will do it gladly, if it means I can take my revenge. So long as I can end your life, I don't care what becomes of me afterward… And since you're dying today anyway, I suppose I can tell you. It just so happens that Orochimaru-sama – Godaime Hokage, the ruler of New Otogakure no Sato – fancies my body as a new vessel for his soul."

"Wh… What?" she whispered, shock overcoming her previously emotionless features.

"Meaning that," I continued, "in fourteen months, when he will need to transfer his soul, my own spirit and mind will be destroyed as my body is made his container. To sustain his immortality, my life will be cut short to in turn extend his own. And frankly, I couldn't care less. As long as I kill you first, Hinata, I will be content."

A host of expressions played out on Hinata's pale face in the briefest moment as appalled horror became a complex mix of fear, anger, and intense remorse. "You m-mean … you mean you would willingly throw your life away?"

"Once I've taken yours, in a heartbeat."

She lowered her head and shook it slowly. "No…" she breathed, so faintly that I only just heard it. Shaking, she spoke barely louder. "If you despise me … hate me, to such an extent … if you've quietly been becoming so lost in darkness all this time…" Tears flowing freely, her fierce eyes met mine. "I've failed you, my brother."

I raised an eyebrow; there was a new air about her. "I've just revealed that I'm a possibly insane maniac hellbent on beating you to death and willing to give my life for the immortal rogue sannin who took over our village. I honestly expected you might finally try to run away."

"I will never run away again," she said firmly, glowering.

"And why do you refuse to run?"

"You're … very precious to me, Neji-nii-san, and yet I have failed you. You see, if I hadn't run away that day, then maybe … maybe I could have saved you from this."

That day. The same day that we had learned just how different we were – the day cold, unforgiving reality had taught it to us.

Yes, without her saying, I knew, immediately, what day she spoke of.

The day Nii-chan became Neji-nii-san…

And Imouto-chan became Hinata-sama.

Two young children. One angry, one confused.

"Stop following me," the boy says, coldly, as he walks.

"Neji-nii, I don't understand… What did I do?"

"Just leave me alone!" He faces her, for the first time raising his voice at his cousin. The cousin once so precious to him. He turns to go.

"Nii-chan!"

The girl grabs his hand to stop him.

The boy's other hand flashes across her face.

The girl falls to the ground, looks up at him. Stunned disbelief. Fear.

The boy, shocked he has struck her. Immediately sorry. Far too angry to apologize.

"Just go away, Hinata."

She sniffles, her lip trembling.

She hesitates a moment. An instant. An eternity.

Then she runs off in tears.

"That moment…" she whispered, shutting her eyes in remorse, "A hug, anything, and maybe I would have saved you before it got this bad!"

"If you hadn't run away, or if I hadn't shut you out … then maybe. But it's in the past now. Things turned out the way they were destined to, and there's no resolving them now."

"You're right," she said. "It's come too far – at this point, a hug won't make everything better, will it Nii-san?"

"I'm afraid not," I agreed, taking slow, deliberate steps toward her, "but at this point? Who says I want to be saved?"

She calmly wiped her mouth, staring straight ahead as I began to circle her. I knew she was focusing her senses to their limits, alert and ready to move as I was. "If you don't care about yourself, then this time I'll protect you, Neji-nii-san. That's a promise."

My mouth twitched, but I soon smirked. So, she was trying to irk me? "Let me get this straight," I sneered as I continued to walk, a cat circling a defenseless little mouse. "I'm fighting to kill you before I die, and thus you're fighting to save your life for my sake, aren't you?"

"That's right," she confirmed, nodding slightly. Her fiercely determined eyes did not follow me as I passed in front of her. "If I can't save you by snapping you out of this madness, I'll save you by not allowing you to kill me, but either way–,"

I was directly behind her, and chose this moment to strike. I swung a clawed hand…

In one move, my hand was grabbed and a fist flashed to my cheek.

I tasted iron.

"So, you've gotten serious at last…?"

"I WILL save you."

Lee リー

I darted behind a tree that was a second later impaled by a hail of senbon. I peeked out from behind my cover, and then leapt silently to the treetop. At top speed I moved across several trees around the edge of the clearing before launching myself into the clearing. The foe spotted me in time to hurl three kunai, and I drew my own to swat them aside. My former teammate hurriedly jumped away just as I landed, and my strike missed her by a hair's breadth. I wasn't given a chance to pursue with an attack, however, as I was forced to dodge six precise shuriken thrown in rapid succession.

My face-off with Tenten was practically at a standstill. We knew each other, and she knew she could not defeat me in close combat just as I knew I could not best her (and would run out of tools far sooner) in a weapons clash.

Thus we both attempted to stick to our own specialties; Tenten stood at the advantage in the center of the clearing, while I tried to make surprise dashes from the safety of the treeline, each time repelled by her ranged attacks before I could land a hit. Meanwhile – because she of course did not intend to kill or even risk badly wounding me – Tenten could not unleash her more devastating techniques. As the minutes dragged on, we were both growing tired, but from the motion I was expending energy at a dangerously faster rate. The situation threatened that this could end badly.

And, quite unnervingly, not long ago a chilling scream had faintly reached us. While I was holding my own, and I had faith Naruto could match Sasuke, I feared Hinata may not be faring quite as well. It was a terrifying match-up; even I had never been able to best Neji.

If I had to, I would use my last resorts.

"I do not want to fight you, Tenten," I said as we stared each other down.

"Then surrender, and come back peacefully!" she cried. "What do you three think you'll accomplish with this?!"

"You do not understand–!"

"No, you don't understand! We're doing this to protect you!" she shot back. "As cruel as he is, Neji makes sense – this is the real world, Lee, and your life could be in danger!"

I frowned; I had a hunch I knew what sort of danger she spoke of. "Earlier, you said something akin to, 'We will capture you before someone else does.' What did you mean, and who exactly is 'we'?"

"You don't know … about the village, do you? Long story short, the rogue sannin Orochimaru took over and he's ruling with absolute power. As for who I meant by 'we'… remember the "war" that was going on when you left? It's … escalated."

There was something unsettling about her tone as she dragged out the word. "How much?"

"A lot. It's not some petty little pride-feud anymore, Lee. We're talking civil war."

My jaw dropped. How is that possible?! "What do you mean? How…?"

"'We'…" She pointed to the simple crest on her shoulder, the badge also worn by Sasuke and Neji: a hissing white snake coiled against the background of an upward-pointing black leaf. "The five of us are a special branch of officers, unofficially called Orochimaru's personal guard – but we get called Team Orochimaru, the snake squad, and… plenty of other more unpleasant things. But to the Failures, we're still just the Geniuses. The Failures have been leading the resistance, secretively stirring rebellion wherever and whenever they can, and slowly pulling together what they mockingly call 'New Konoha.'"

"How can you betray the village?!" I cried accusingly, glaring with the same hostility I would direct at an enemy.

"It's not like that! We're protecting the village! Orochimaru-sama has told us he wants his followers to join willingly or not at all. Our team has been serving Orochimaru under Neji's leadership to gather support and see that that goal is achieved. Godaime-sama hasn't said it outright, but Neji thinks that at some point, Orochimaru and his sound ninja will deal with the ones who refuse to give in – and when they do, they won't be as kind about it as we are. And… And the same goes for you three. If Sound jounin were to come after you, they wouldn't hesitate to kill you! Don't you see how hard Neji's fighting to help you? He's a hero!"

I shook my head. "Tenten," I said softly, "do you honestly believe that? Do you think Neji is doing this to protect us, or because he despises and cannot stand people like us?"

She flinched, and I knew she herself had thought this over more than once before. She looked to the ground in defeat. "So maybe his heart's not in the right place," she conceded, "but even if Neji himself is fighting for his own personal reasons, the point remains that stopping you is the only way to save you now!"

"So, you admit that Neji does not care for us…" My voice turned severe. "So you know as well as I do that Neji is trying to kill Hinata as we speak!"

She started in surprise. "Uh, um – I–,"

"Did you not think to try to stop him? We cannot allow our teammate to do this, Tenten!"

"Look, whatever's going on in the Hyuuga Clan, it's not our place to meddle in their affairs!"

I paused. "…He ordered you to hold us off…" I realized, "to keep us from interfering..."

"Neji is our squad leader. We had to follow his orders," she forced through her teeth.

She was unfazed as my glare intensified. "So you would abandon a fellow Konoha ninja? That is reason enough to turn your back on the unjust murder of a comrade?"

"Technically, she's a missing-nin. If our squad leader kills her, he's committing no crime."

"Then you are no better than them. I thought you were supposed to be heroes," I growled, voice shaking in rage, "who committed only charitable, virtuous acts of mercy and good will." I knelt down and slipped my hands into my leg warmers, retrieving two sets of weights. I stood and held my arms out to my sides.

Tenten's glare had promptly vanished. Her face paled, eyes wide and fearful as chakra began to dance around me.

"You claimed your sole intention … lied in saving the people of our village…"

"L-Lee…"

"But here your argument falls to the ground."

The weights crashed to the ground, and my heel crashed into Tenten's jaw. She was thrown into the air, and I was behind her in a flash.

"Shadow of the Dancing Leaf," I whispered, and she gasped.

I hardly needed the Sharingan to take a leaf out of Sasuke's book – in more ways than one.

"ULTIMATE HIGH-SPEED SHISHIRENDAN!!"

Naruto ナルト

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I cried as I caught a fist with a palm. "We didn't know the village thought we were dead!"

"Baka!" Sasuke bellowed, throwing another wild punch, "Can you imagine how much suffering Sakura and I endured?! Do you have any idea what it felt like to lose someone again?!"

I just barely used the kawarimi in time; the kage bunshin that had recently been on my left flew fifteen yards at a kick to the chest before disappearing mid-air. I grimaced.

I grudgingly admit that it was kind of … touching to learn that my cold teammate cared so much, but this was countered a bit by his apparent outrage in finding I was alive – and seemingly even more apparent intentions to change that.

The remaining shadow clone grabbed Sasuke's ankle before his foot returned to the ground, and I threw a punch at his face. He swiftly caught my wrist in one hand and slapped the other onto my shoulder for support as his other foot left the earth to smash into the doppelganger's face, destroying it instantly. What if that had been the real me?!

His hand left my shoulder and his feet met the ground. As his grip on my wrist jerked me toward him, his free hand curled into a fist.

Shima–!

POW.

I flipped head over heels before hitting the ground and rolling several times through the snow. I turned my head to spit before working my aching jaw carefully. Then, with a grunt, I opened my eyes … to see one enraged Uchiha dropping toward me from above.

I rolled far back on my shoulders, curling inward to raise my body from the ground. Sasuke's feet crashed down where my midsection would have been, and I sprang upward on my hands as I straightened my body. His downward momentum was shattered as my heel forcibly introduced itself to his jaw.

"Snap out of it already, you jerk!" I shouted as he staggered back. "What the heck's your problem?!"

"What's my problem?! You moron – what's yours?!" He launched himself at me, hurling six shuriken; I created three shadow clones, one in front of me and two to the sides. The one in the lead deflected the throwing stars with a kunai before it was run through by Sasuke's own knife. I threw shuriken through the resulting cloud of smoke, and the shadow clones joined in.

He ducked to dodge and was suddenly before me. Recognizing the position in a split-second, I crossed my arms to shield my face, but his foot instead jammed itself into my stomach.

"Ugh!" I was thrown into the air, and a moment later felt two fingers on my back. Not good!

"Shishirendan!"

Kawarimi no Jutsu!

Before the first attack landed, I had secretly exchanged myself with one of the shadow clones on the ground. I quickly flickered behind a tree.

Kuso! I thought, peeking out to see the clone collide with the ground and dissipate under Sasuke's final blow. I don't have time for this! Hinata could be in trouble! Still, while Sasuke was interested in beating me senseless, he definitely wasn't fighting the way he usually did. His anger was getting the best of him, making him sloppy and slower; maybe if I could rile him up and take advantage of it, I could wrap this up quickly.

I formed the hand seal and firmly thought through a precise plan before whispering, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu…!"

Ten copies appeared, each carefully coming into existence behind a tree, hidden from Sasuke's view. Let's do this…

A clone jumped out from its cover to throw a shuriken before darting back out of view. Sasuke dodged with ease. He was preparing to pursue when a different clone moved to do the same as the first; again he dodged, and as it hid another clone revealed itself for a quick attack – and then another, and another, all carefully coordinating movements so that more than one couldn't be seen at any one time. If we pulled this off well enough, it would create the illusion that there were no shadow clones. And then…

Now!

All at once, the ten replications charged toward Sasuke. Sweeping a look over them, his eyes narrowed.

"Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!!" he shouted, hands blurring through seals before ten furious fireballs were shot into each clone with deadly precision and explosive force.

I swore silently.

"Come out! Naruto!"

An eleventh clone raced into the open, creating two more kage bunshin itself. Sasuke threw six shuriken – three from his right hand, and then three from his left – and the two flanking clones stacked in front of the "original." The first three throwing stars embedded themselves in the lead clone, the last three sliced through a puff of smoke and into the second clone, and Sasuke's fist shot into the face of the last clone.

Think you've got the real me?! I thought, grinning mischievously as I body flickered from my hiding spot in a treetop while he was distracted.

I was behind Sasuke just before the final doppelganger vanished. And as the final doppelganger vanished, I was attacking.

He whirled just in time to catch my forearm on his, thrusting it upward as he threw a punch. As my other arm shunted the attack aside, a newly created shadow clone between us sent a shoulder into his unguarded stomach. Cringing, Sasuke stepped back before dropping a fisted hand toward the clone, but his attack threw him off balance as it dispelled itself first. As it vanished in smoke a new clone, coming into existence in the air before me, pushed a foot off my ready forearm to strike a knee into Sasuke's now unprotected face. It promptly dispelled itself as well as he was knocked back, but still another, appearing low to the ground, sent a foot into his back to kick him into the air before he fell. As it vanished, a new kage bunshin above dropped a heel onto his shoulder, throwing him to the ground.

With a grunt, he opened his eyes. "What the…?"

Two clones appeared seemingly spontaneously beside me, and all three of us dropped into a stance. "Surprised? I can use the shadow clone jutsu without hand seals now – and in just this month I've put together my own taijutsu style!"

He snorted as he got up. "Style? You mean that art of wild attacks and wide, clumsy motions?"

"Look who's talking, teme," I growled, and he sprinted toward me. I have to focus, remember the training…!

"And no–," I blocked an incoming fist. "That's not what I'm talking about!"

"Then what's your little style called?!" he asked as I continued to avoid his attacks without the clones' aid.

I smirked. "The Shadow Fist."

Suddenly I went on the offensive with a flying kick; Sasuke blocked with crossed arms, but as I had moved the shadow clone to my right had already begun lunging for the opening that would be created. The Uchiha grabbed my ankle and moved his arm to catch the kage bunshin's kick to his side, and then prepared to shove us away. Just before he did, I formed a new clone low to the ground – already poised to attack – beside him. It swept back its leg to hack Sasuke's feet from under him; as he fell and it disappeared, the clone that had been on my left the whole time drove in with a kick to send him flying.

He slid a good distance through the snow before stopping, and he gave a pained cough. Sitting up, he swore. "Lucky," he growled. "So, you make your shadow clones to strike through the openings you create…"

"That's right!" I boasted with a vigorous grin, certain I would triumph. "Normally it's tough for two or three people to fight one target with taijutsu together as effectively as they could, but," one of the clones picked up smoothly, "since we're the same person, we think alike and have no problem coordinating our attacks!"

"But how…" Sasuke began, "How can a kage bunshin be ready to attack the instant it's created?"

I chuckled. "Blown away by my progress, Sasuke-teme? All I have to do is visualize the place the clone will appear and the attack I want it to execute, and once it's formed it knows exactly where it is and what to do! Same deal with my trap earlier – as long as I run through my plan before I create kage bunshin, we can coordinate ourselves perfectly without a single word. What do you think? Pretty awesome, huh?"

"Shut up … you stupid loser!" He charged with a furious yell.

"I won't be much of a loser after I kick your sorry butt, now will I?" His attacks were wilder than ever; oddly, I was for once fighting in a far more precise and refined manner than he. Trading speed for power (something he may have been able to afford doing a month ago, but certainly couldn't get away with while fighting me now), he left more openings than ever, and twice more he quickly found himself on the ground.

"This can't … be happening!" He threw himself at me, but he was weakening fast; after a short exchange of blows I solidly put a fist in his stomach. He coughed a few drops of blood as he was knocked away, and fell onto his back.

My arm was still extended from the blow; in a moment I stood up straight and walked up to him, dispelling the two clones as I stopped at his feet.

"Are you ready to calm down and wake the heck up yet?" I asked seriously. "And how about telling me what's going on in the village while you're at it. What's the story on that headband?" I asked, eyeing what I could only assume to be the "New Oto" symbol on his forehead.

He grunted, baring locked teeth as he glared up at me with venom in his crimson eyes. "Even s-someone … as lucky as you … has to run out of tricks sometimes!"

Before I could react he caught one of my legs with his and forcefully tripped me. As I fell back, I looked up to see Sasuke jump toward me, a fist drawn back to strike. A shadow replication quickly appearing behind me grabbed a fistful of my jacket, throwing me back before vanishing; Sasuke's swing just barely missed, and he continued his charge as I easily regained my footing.

"If you think I'm out of tricks," I said, forming hand seals as I jumped back to dodge again, "you don't know anything about me!"

Uma, Tatsu, Tori, Saru, Inu, Hitsuji…!

Then, I tripped onto my back.

As expected, Sasuke believed it to be an accident.

I inhaled deeply.

He leapt up and dropped toward me from above.

I emptied the air of my lungs into my mouth, tightly condensing it.

"You're FINISHED–!!"

Wind Style: Air Bullet!

My back was pushed further down against the snow as the chakra-loaded ball of compressed air was expelled from my mouth, barreling into Sasuke's face with tremendous force.

He flipped head over heels more than once as he was actually thrown upward, higher into the air, before tumbling to the earth. He met the ground on his front with a sickening crack.

Crap! I think I overdid it!

I approached him cautiously. "S… Sasuke? You all right?" I asked nervously. I reached a hand toward him, but paused with a gasp. Weird little black markings were sliding down his arms. What is that…?

He began to move, and got to his knees.

"Sasuke?" I knelt down, reaching toward his shoulder. "Hey, Sa–?"

I was dumbfounded. I honestly didn't understand how it had happened. It just had – and I abruptly found myself pinned by neck to a tree, feet scrambling above the ground.

My eyes widened as his hand tightened dangerously. I grabbed his arm and struggled, seemingly with no effect, and was unable to avoid his murderous crimson gaze. His voice was wicked as he spoke.

"I will never … lose to the likes of you!"

My struggles ceased as the two tomoe in each of his eyes revolved slowly, menacingly around the pupil. What is this? Genjustsu? Kuso… I can't move…

Though my now blurred vision was going fast, I watched as blue lightning sprang to life in his left hand. Sparks danced from it in a frenzy as he raised and drew back the deadly spear that was his arm.

What? No… no! He's lost it! What's he doing?! Why…?

"You're done!"

His hand plunged toward me, and a monstrous voice cried out.

'Gaki!!'

I NEED HELP!!

For the first time since that fateful match in that now insignificant-seeming chuunin selection exam tournament, a fierce and familiar chakra awakened.

And for the second time in my life, I felt my body fried from the inside out.

I saw a vicious, uncontrolled blast of red-orange crudely flare out in all directions.

...I was vaguely wondering where Sasuke had vanished off to when, as a baffling sensation of déjà vu throbbed in my head, the ground rushed to meet me.

"Itai…" I moaned perhaps two minutes later as my eyes opened. "What happened?" I stirred, and although my muscles passionately screamed their protest I managed to move.

I'm freezing… Why is it so cold?! I realized I'd been lying in water; my clothes were soaked from a neat puddle of snowmelt around me. I got to my feet, ignoring the stinging pain that pulsed through me at every movement, and blinked as I surveyed a blackened tree trunk behind me.

That's right… stupid kitsune gave me way too much chakra. For some reason I couldn't harness it like I usually can… The demonic chakra had rushed from the seal in one quick, intense burst; perhaps the Kyuubi had known this would happen, so thus had saved me in the only way it could by pushing its chakra out for only a brief instant before cutting off its power. I remembered the chakra shooting from my body, my gasping for breath as my neck was released, and Sasuke–

"Sasuke!"

I looked around and quickly spotted a tree ten yards off sporting a patch of broken branches; taking off in that direction, I soon found Sasuke twenty yards away. He sat on the ground, his back resting against the impact-splintered trunk of a tree, and though his head hung forward and his body seemed limp, he was just barely conscious. The strange pattern of black markings no longer decorated his skin. His clothes had been scorched and singed.

I grabbed him by the shoulders. "…Sasuke? Hey, Sasuke!"

Unfocused, eerily empty black eyes drifted up to face. I gulped nervously. Was he okay? Was he even back to normal?

His bloodied mouth moved, voicing hurt disbelief. "I … lost … to the dobe… How c-can this…?"

Yep, that was Sasuke. I carefully lied him down, saying as I did, "Now, now, Sasuke – big girls don't cry."

His eyes narrowed in annoyed frustration a moment. "I underestimated you – It won't happen again. But for now … I'll give you the information you want…"

"What?"

"You wanted to know about the village, right?" he asked. "I'll tell you all you want to know."

I was surprised by the offer, and by the calmness yet to be seen throughout our encounter.

"Oh yeah… Ok, thanks!"

ナルト/ リー / ヒナタ \ ハナビ \ ネジ

Four, Part Two: Cousins

Hinata ヒナタ

Gasping, I picked myself up off the ground. Neji, unnervingly, threw back his head and roared with thrilled laughter.

"What's the matter, Hinata-sama?! Is this the best you can do?!"

This is bad… I thought. I was no match for him in his monstrous present state, and if he decided to use Juuken I would be finished. However small, though, I did have one piece of good fortune: he was apparently unable to sustain use of his Byakugan, and had deactivated it a few minutes ago.

He wasn't himself; one moment he was madly ecstatic, the next he was deathly serious, another he was yelling in a wild rage.

I reactivated my kekkei genkai and focused on the mark on his neck – three black diamonds. An incredibly immense amount of energy was focused between them, and that dark chakra pulsed from it and through his body in waves. In my hopes of one day finding a way to remove the Hyuuga seal, I had read dozens of complex books in Konoha on different types of seals and sealing jutsu. It was because of this that I knew that some types of curse seal could have many favorable and adverse affects, on both the body and the mind...

He's letting hatred and anger blind him… Does he even know what he's talking about with this crazy plan, or is that the mark's influence? Either way, it's getting to him fast, and he doesn't realize it or doesn't care. But maybe if I could… Yes, that could work…

I took a deep breath and knelt down. Neji watched in mild amusement as I lifted the bottom of my pants legs to remove two hidden sets of weights.

He smirked, further exposing his two black fangs. "Well, isn't this hilarious," he said in an un-amused tone. "I don't know what's funnier – that you've picked up my teammate's moronic training method, or that you still think you have a chance. Tell me – why did Lee even have an extra set of weights with him?"

"They were in his short notice mission bag, with paper seals that lessened their weight for travel," I said, lying down the weights before standing. "He said it w-was … so that if he ever had to remove his weights in combat and couldn't return for them l-later, he w-would have a spare set to put on afterward." Of course, we had removed a large amount of weight from them – I wasn't close to Lee's level. After explaining it was of utmost importance, Lee had coached me each day in my transition – from with the weights to without – until I had honed it to perfection.

"You think that will really make a difference?" Neji barked. Then he was before me.

I caught a punch and dodged another before jumping away. "Not quite!" he declared behind me. I ducked his attack and planted an elbow in his belly. With greater speed than I would have been capable of before, I spun to the side and lowered myself in a sharp motion as I launched a familiar move.

"Konoha Senpuu!" I declared as my leg caught Neji across the shins – just as he was lunging forward to strike where I'd recently been standing. He toppled to the ground, caught himself on his hands, and rolled forward onto his feet.

Now! I focused my chakra to move faster still as I raced for him, drawing back a palm. When he turned toward me, I was near immediately on the opposite side of him in a crouch, again facing his back. I felt lighter than air as I sprang forward, lashing out with two fingers.

I was inches away when Neji turned his head, gasping as he realized my target.

The mark.

His face turned fierce.

Something crashed painfully across my attacking hand's forearm. The next thing I knew, something I saw made me instinctively shift to the left; my eyes widened as a hand shot past in a ferocious blur, opening three slashes on my right cheek. A second blur followed, tearing open my side.

Stunned with pain, I was beginning to curl forward when my back was slashed across diagonally. As I dropped to my knees my cousin appeared five yards away, standing up straight and casually lapping at the blood on his claws as he looked down at me.

The sight and the pain made my stomach lurch, but I ground my teeth and shoved off the ground, crossing two fingers of each hand in a seal. I flinched at the sensation of being ripped in two, and before I could recover found a fist in my middle. I gagged and bent double, dropping again to the ground.

Despite my pain, however, I turned my head and opened an eye to look up at Neji; with the same type of grin Naruto wore when he deceived an opponent, I laughed weakly.

"What's so funny?" he said, walking up to me. A foot pushed me onto my side.

Success, I thought, still smirking, Without his Byakugan, he didn't detect the drop in chakra…

He drew back a foot, and in an instant I was thirty yards away – after replacing with my hidden shadow clone.

My own Byakugan failed with pain as I cringed, pressing a hand to my side. Shakily sitting down, I hurriedly stripped of my jacket and cut a bit off with a kunai to serve as padding. I withdrew a roll of bandage from my kunai pouch and swiftly wrapped it a few times around my waist to secure the pad to the wound.

I got to my feet and began running. I needed to get to a clearing; with his superior speed and agility, if Neji found me here I would be at a disadvantage.

The kage bunshin's been destroyed!

I could see an opening in the trees twenty yards away … fifteen … eight … five…

He materialized before me in an instant, his pale face inches from my own, and shot a ferociously animalistic growl through his sharp, bared teeth as grey-black veins flared menacingly around his eyes.

With a shriek, I clutched my heart and keeled over. He sidestepped to let me fall.

I grimaced, clamping my eyes shut and trembling as my heart pounded rapidly, fitfully. I cracked an eye open and raised my head an inch to look up at my cousin.

"Oops," he said in false concern as he smiled laughingly, his dojutsu fading. "That's right – You're supposed to be refraining from any heavy exercise, training, or other strenuous activity as well as avoiding situations that may induce shock, surprise, intense thrill, stress, or fear until you're all better. Guess I forgot, Hinata-sama."

One hand still on my chest, I pushed myself up with the other, though my back remained hunched in pain. That was … almost word for word from the medical report for my last checkup in the village…

The thought was cut short along with my labored breathing as my eyes widened. I lurched forward again as a warm substance sprayed past my lips.

Oh, no… I thought, coughing weakly as I observed the red splotches in the snow – my fears confirmed.

Blood… I haven't healed yet…

"Plan on giving up yet?" a snide voice asked, suggesting all certainty I would be giving up sooner or later.

I shook my head slowly, struggling to get up. He waited patiently as I stood over several seconds with much effort.

"Finally," he said when I faced him. I couldn't even give a questioning look before a palm met my chest.

In the instant of contact, a furious surge of chakra tore through my body and out my back, before I was sent flying, skipping, tumbling, rolling into the clearing. I was heaving out more blood when I sensed a presence behind me.

I rolled away before his foot slammed down, and coughed again as he smirked. "You still think you can defeat me, even now?"

"I … have t-to…" Despite this, I knew for a fact that his Juuken strike could spell a time bomb, especially in my case. How long would my body hold out? At any time, my heart could…

But maybe it won't! Either way, this … it just means I have to hurry and find some way to beat him!

Of course, I could not use the seal to stop him. It could defeat him without taking his life, true; but if I used the Hyuuga seal to claim victory, he would never be saved from this path…

Neji vanished suddenly, and I looked to see him directly above me. I rolled to my feet, dodging; his palm made a small crater in the ground as well as lifting a fine mist of powdery snow that sparkled around him as it settled. "Heh…" he said with a grin, and instantly he was in front of me.

If I take another palm…! I avoided the palm thrust with a backwards roll, and then deflected another, caught a punch on a forearm, ducked a kick, blocked three quick jabs, dodged a palm, swatted away two fingers, stepped back from a claw swipe, leaned away from a straight punch–

My back had met a tree.

I ducked with a yelp, and a fist flashed over my head. I heard a great crashing, crackling noise as I rolled past Neji, getting to my feet and whirling to take the Juuken stance behind him. I shuddered as I watched the tree fall; the few feet of the trunk that remained cut off in a jagged, splintered edge.

He turned to face me, a mad glint in his black and white eyes. "Careful, Hinata. If I get caught up in the rush of the moment, I might just accidentally take off your head." The gruesome words were spoken with disturbing ease.

He's gone mad–!

"Look at you." I froze in shock as he placed a hand on my wounded shoulder from behind. "Trembling like a leaf…" I felt as something warm lapped slowly across the bleeding slashes on my cheek, and I shivered harder. "You're hurting, aren't you?" he whispered in my ear, "You're forcing yourself to even remain standing. It's hopeless, and you know it. You're going to die." Tears quietly slid down my face as he continued, taking a step back and clutching my shoulder painfully. His other hand rested a moment on the center of my back, and then pulled away. "But don't feel bad. After all … this was destined."

And I could hear a palm buzzing with energy cut through the still air, aimed for my back, where it would hit and shove chakra through my spine, my heart, and kill me.

–"I will return … I promise."–

–"To never go back on our word – Believe it!"–

–"Who says I want to be saved?"–

–"…this time I'll protect you, Neji-nii-san. That's a promise."–

My eyes snapped open, Byakugan blazing.

I won't fail you!

With all my strength, I jerked a heel back into his shin as I leaned forward and smacked his forearm upward with my elbow. He let out a yell, and the same elbow slammed into his ribcage. His grip on my shoulder faltered, and I pulled free to turn and face him.

He chuckled as I took my stance. "You … idiot! Do you honestly think you have a chance?! You're not destined to win – why do you not see that yet?"

"No matter what, I have to stop you!"

He snorted. "It's all up to fate to decide. If you think you can prove me wrong, and you have what it takes to bring me down … please do try!"

I crossed my arms to block a punch; he continued a barrage of blows, punishing my forearms as I shifted them to catch each strike. A heavy kick to the center of my forearm sent my feet skidding back. Neji closed in, and I drew and quickly raised a kunai as I regained my balance; our knives locked at the handles. He smirked.

"Too bad," he said, forcing me downward with alarming ease. I was almost on my knees when I coughed, and a foot flashed toward my belly. I spun out of the knife lock to dodge, and as he fell past me I lunged in, piercing his shoulder with my kunai.

His eyes widened with surprise … then narrowed with malice.

With a wild cry, his fist slammed into my hastily crossed arms to send me skidding back again. Glaring, he pulled the weapon out of his shoulder.

I gasped as something thudded into a tree behind me, and I noticed a few strands of hair falling to the ground. Neji took a step toward me.

"You little–!!"

His eyes grew, his mouth twisting suddenly into a grimace, before be fell to his knees with a howl of pain.

"Nii-san!" I screamed in concern, running up to my cousin and kneeling down in front of him, hands on his shoulders. Eyes tightly shut, he shuddered before hacking a black substance onto the ground. I blanched in horror as I realized it was blood.

He vomited more black blood. I moved closer and reached a hand under his arm to pat him on the back as he continued to cough and choke uncontrollably. "Neji-nii-san, what's happening? Are you okay? Nii-s–!!"

"Get AWAY from me!!"

THUD!

"Urk… GAH!!"

I could hardly even register the crushing blow landing beneath my ribcage before my gut tightened sickeningly, my bloodline failed instantly, and my vision flickered so that my wide eyes just barely saw the spray of crimson leaving my mouth as I was thrown into the air.

My back crunched into the snow, and I slid a few feet. I stiffly and slowly rolled onto my side, gasping and coughing shallowly. Unblinking, I pulled my hurting body into a trembling little ball; with a grunt, I closed my eyes in pain a long moment, and then cracked them open again.

He's not thinking straight anymore…

But how much? How much had he lost it before that seal took over?

I felt him step on the side of my head. "Scum," he snapped, grinding his foot against me and pressing harder. The pressure sent a throbbing pain searing through me. "How dare you lay your hands on me?!"

Still wheezing slightly through clenched teeth, I whispered, barely audible, "You w-were … ch-choking … I was-s … trying t-to help y–,"

"Who says I need your help?!" he screamed in a roar. I was relieved of my headache as he raised the foot, and I realized what was coming.

Kawarimi!

Twenty yards away, I heard the sharp crackling of an unfortunate log being crushed. Then … a roar, as if of pain. "I'LL KILL YOU!!"

He's growing more feral as this goes on! I have to do something! At this point having recovered my breath, I leaned against the tree behind me and formed a hand seal.

"Look at you, Hinata … shivering in fear, hiding like a coward," he called, indicating both he was using his Byakugan and had somewhat cooled down for the moment. "Come out! Stand up, and face me like a Hyuuga!"

Ushi, Tori, I, Mi, Tatsu, Tora, U, Hitsuji–!!

"Too slow!" Neji said as he appeared before me. I jumped aside with a shriek as his palm splintered the tree bark. Clumsily stumbling to my feet, I ran as hard as my legs would carry me before leaping to the treetops. In a few seconds I broke the edge of the trees, jumping into a wide, open field of snow. To the north and west stood a massive, rocky cliff side, and the trees I'd just left were the east; very far to the south stood more forest.

My feet skidded a good distance along the surprisingly slippery ground, and then I ran twenty yards further before I turned to face my opponent, who remained near the treeline.

A wet cough painfully tore from me, and I clasped a hand over my heart. It's getting worse…

"You're not feeling so well, are you?" Neji taunted, and charged.

Grinding my teeth, I ran through a new string of seals, focusing almost all the chakra I had left. It was risky, but I had to try. It could be my only chance.

"Mi, Hitsuji, Saru, Ne, Uma, Tora!" Please work…! I thought, and inhaled.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" I cried, spewing a stream of blazing chakra from my mouth just as Neji landed before me.

He jumped back with impossible speed and power just before the massive fireball that formed could touch him. As he flew back and the blaze shot after him, his hands flashed through over forty seals in seconds, almost too quickly for my eyes to track. I could just barely read the impossibly rapid hand motions with my Byakugan.

Ushi-Saru-U-Ne-I-Tori-Ushi-Uma-Tori-Ne-Tora-Inu-Tora-Mi-Ushi-Hitsuji-Mi-I-Hitsuji-Ne-Jin-Saru-Tori-Tatsu-Tori-Ushi-Uma-Hitsuji-Tora-Mi-Ne-Saru-U-I-Tatsu-Hitsuji-Ne-Ushi-Saru-Tori-Jin-Ne-I-Tori–!

Chakra blazed from him as he exclaimed, "Suition: Suiryudan no Jutsu!"

Holding the sign of the bird, he landed in a crouch as, with a deafening crack, a pillar of water wider than he was tall erupted through the ground behind him.

This wasn't a field of snow at all, but a frozen lake.

The spiraling column of liquid arced down and flew past Neji to blast through the fireball. As it raced toward me, the head of the massive spear formed into the face of a vicious-looking dragon, demonic slits of gleaming yellow for eyes. It soared upward before coming plunging down with a monstrous cry.

I dodged to the side with a sharp burst of chakra from my feet, and the water dragon missile crashed through the thick ice with unreal force. I landed and staggered as the ice crackled and shifted sharply when the dragon emerged twenty yards away, rocketing from the ice before diving and leveling as it homed in on me once more. Get wet, and I'll freeze! That is, if the impact didn't kill me…

I rose to my feet, spun my body, focused my chakra…

"Hakkeshou Kaiten!" I shoved chakra out in all directions, and saw with my Byakugan as a weak, uneven dome of chakra energy formed around me.

The water dragon's head burst on contact with the flimsy bubble, which immediately began to give under its strength. I prepared to jump away, but the instant my rotation ceased a firm hand locked onto my arm. Then, with an animalistic cry, Neji flung me into the air.

My injured shoulder seared with pain, and then down was up, and up was down, and I lost all sense of direction, and my head rang, and I didn't know whether I was rising or falling, and I wanted to vomit, and a dragon was rushing at me…

And then a wall of iciness slammed against me, propelling me back, and I gasped and gagged and gurgled, and I couldn't breathe, and my skin felt like it was burning, and my back hit something hard, and I was held in place while more blazing cold liquid shredded and pounded against me, and then it ended, and I was moving, falling, freezing, and then my front met something solid…

And then the ground and several of my ribs cracked.

Neji ネジ

I watched with a satisfied smirk as my water dragon scooped her spinning, falling form from the air to drive her into the cliff side. When the length of the water missile had finished crashing against her, she fell from the depression that had been formed. I observed as my cousin's petite form tumbled to the earth, landing face down to send a spiderweb of cracks racing through the ice.

I flickered to Hinata's side. "You dead yet?" I asked, gathering a fistful of the neck of her shirt to lift her by. She cracked open dazed eyes and groaned in protest.

"You're a bloody mess," I noted, looking over her soaked clothes, the red scratches littering her shivering body, the way her legs hung limp beneath her and her head lolled to the side, eyes weakly glaring at nothing in particular, and the trails of blood and … water? … leaking past bluish lips, as well as from a clearly broken nose, and down her pale face.

She shut her eyes a moment and turned her head groggily, shaking it in a lethargic movement as she tried to blink away stars.

Curious, I asked, "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Her unfocused white eyes squinted in bewilderment at the single finger in front of her, and then widened as she blanched and heaved a large amount of water onto me.

Lovely… I thought with a scowl as she coughed and sputtered. "Still, having taken in so much ice water, it's a wonder you're even still alive…" I shoved her away, and she staggered backward dizzily, holding her head in pain and lack of balance. Reaching the tree line, she found support against a trunk.

"What'll it be, Hinata-sama? Will you drag out this fight and prolong your suffering until your heart fails or you die of the cold, or will you sit still and allow me to finish you off now?"

She spat blood, training fierce but still dazed eyes on me. "Neither… I w-will stop y-y-you…"

I laughed. "I can see the anguish and weariness in your eyes. Your entire body is tense with the cold. I'm sure more than one of your ribs has been broken. It's taking everything you have to think through the pain, isn't it? And every ounce of that beloved willpower of yours to move despite the numbness that's sinking in. But whether you admit it or not, all people have their limits. Your reaction speed will be slower than normal. Now… I am going to move to kill you, and you will be unable to dodge fast enough."

She shook her head in dismay, teeth bared. "No…"

"Yes. Here in the end your promise and your desire to fulfill it doesn't matter anymore, does it?" I bent my knees. "Farewell, Hinata."

I shot toward her…

And found my hand buried in tree trunk, Hinata's head a centimeter away.

She dodged – how?!

"Hakke Nishou!" she shouted as her Byakugan awakened, and I felt two quick jabs.

What the – Oh no!!

Hinata ヒナタ

"Yonshou!" I hit four more of Neji's chakra points.

"Hachishou!" Now eight…

"Juurokushou!" Focus!

"Sanjuu Nishou!" And now, as fast as I can…!

"Rokujuu Yon–!!"

As my right hand was shooting in for another rapid-fire strike, I jerked it back and in front of my face.

Four deep gouges opened across the back of the forearm – and four distinct blades of chakra sliced through the arm far deeper, and twice as painful.

For a moment, everything seemed to be still and silent. I began to fall back, wide-eyed in shock. Neji's arm was extended from the brutal strike, his claws still blazing with a thick black energy. A spray of blood was flying from my arm in the direction of the swing.

Then the pain registered, and I screamed. I sank to my knees, holding my arm; Neji laughed, seemingly unaffected by my attack.

"A correctly executed Sixty-Four Palms, and you might have actually had me. But you still can't see chakra points very clearly, can you? Obviously not well enough to target them accurately in battle – half of your strikes missed. Also, I assume your Byakugan is so poor that you can't distinguish at a glance whether a tenketsu is open or closed, because you struck at several more than once. It's useless to waste a hit on a tenketsu that's already closed, Hinata."

I swore, shutting my watering eyes. My arm was blazing with an unbelievable level of pain.

"Then, with your lack of speed, I was easily able to counter your technique. Now, how is it that you aren't freezing?"

I explained as I slowly got up. "I'm g-good with fire chakra. I learned from a scroll that Naruto-kun… found, a simple technique to make my chakra w-warmer…"

"So, the very energy flowing through your keirakukei keeps you warm from the inside… Pretty useful out here, isn't it? But still, you must be running low on chakra. That technique will fail soon, won't it?"

I ground my teeth. He's right. Even with the little chakra this jutsu expends, I can't keep it up much longer. It's already weakening… I feel so cold… "But … but it doesn't matter! I'm not letting you do this to yourself for some deranged traitor!"

"What do you know about Orochimaru-sama?!" he demanded.

"I know that he's using you! You're walking into his trap, Nii-san!! That seal had blinded you!"

He was furious. "Orochimaru-sama is misunderstood! He's a revolutionary man, a genius! And it was he who gave me the power to challenge the Main House!"

"Aren't you the one who always said you were destined to serve the Main House for eternity?"

"I thought I was – but it's quite clear now the Main House was always destined to fall. The "destiny" I once thought I was bound to – that was a miscalculation on my part, for I never could have imagined someone as great as Orochimaru-sama would come to the village and help me overthrow your family. But he changed everything! My caged bird seal will be removed, and until my death I will rule the Hyuuga Clan! Even if only for a year, I will be leader, show the head family its foolishness, and set in motion this grand new age in Clan Hyuuga that was always destined to come about! Can't you see – it will be for the better!"

"Neji-nii-san … that's terrible! I always wanted to change the clan, but this is not the way to do it! We should unite the Hyuuga, not destroy one of its houses!"

"Well, it's too late now, isn't it, Hinata?! The Branch is done waiting for change. Now that we've been given this opportunity, and fate has granted me this power, the Main House will pay for its ways. And I'll readily kill anyone who gets in my way, even if it means slaughtering you and the entire Main House myself!!"

I shook my head, nearing tears. "Nii-san, you have to stop this… It's not our place to kill each other over clan politics! We're just kids!"

"Feh. It's time you started growing up, Hinata-sama!"

Neji sped toward me, and just as I hastily crossed my arms in defense – he vanished.

A cruel fist hit the center of my back.

I crashed smack into a tree trunk with a solid thud that rang in my ears. Then I fell back to the ground, and a large amount of snow previously resting on the thick needles and branches above fell on top of me.

I felt my technique fail, and the pain in my ribs and the sting in my arm faded as my wet body grew comfortably numb. For a second, the idea of taking a nap seemed strikingly appealing…

Wait… No… I can't breathe… I have to move!

When I found I couldn't move, I almost panicked, fearing I was either paralyzed or lacked the strength to free myself, and would soon freeze to death. Then I distinguished through the numbness a pressure on my forehead.

He's holding me down… but I doubt I could move if he wasn't…

But even if I couldn't move, I could mould chakra.

Reaching deep inside myself, I drew out the last measly drop of chakra I could muster. I dispersed it to as many tenketsu as I could, as though preparing for the kaiten technique. Then, improvising, I converted it to fire chakra … and forced it away.

A wave of warm chakra ignited as it left my body, the flare of energy melting all the snow as well as forcing Neji's foot off my forehead. As he stumbled back, I gasped in a deep breath of air.

Panting, I rolled over and got back to my feet quickly as I could. Okay… I'm completely out now…

"Hn. Not a bad trick, but you're suffering chakra exhaustion, aren't you? You're swaying, and from how hard you're shivering, I'd say that jutsu of yours has stopped working."

"Y-you're right… I don't have enough left f-for a decent Juuken strike. But I made a p-promise, so I have to keep trying to the end!"

I ran at him, lunging forward and turning my body to strike out with my right palm…

Neji flickered with movement, and a firm grip caught my wrist and wrenched, hard, in a clockwise motion. Before my wrist could snap, I turned the arm with it and jerked backwards by reflex, bending so that my upper body was almost parallel to the ground.

I got only an instant to take in Neji's position: left hand on my wrist, right foot on the ground, left foot oddly pointed at the sky above me.

Then, in a decisive blow of terrific force, his heel dropped squarely into my gut.

Neji ネジ

I drove down with all my strength. Drops of crimson spurted past her lips, and her wide eyes promptly rolled back in her head as she went limp, dropping like a stone.

I eyed the bloody mess splayed on the ground before me, and then nudged her with a foot. "Out cold," I remarked.

I knelt down, looking at her face a moment before laying a hand over her struggling heart. "My poor, pitiful little cousin…" I said tonelessly, stroking her cheek with my other hand. "You've brought about your own demise…" I brushed a few strands of hair from her pale face.

"You will look down and thank me … for putting you out of your misery."

I raised my palm from her chest. The hand lit up, glowing with darkness, blazing with the icy black fire of death.

"Die, Hinata."

The hand plunged down, cutting through the air, twelve inches from her prone form, ten, five inches from her chest, two inches to fall before the palm struck, and obliterated her defiant heart, and killed her, and surely fulfilled my purpose, and spilled her blood, and made me complete at last, one inch, half…

"NO!!"

The force of a wrecking ball threw me twenty yards in an instant; a tree trunk crackled noisily in protest behind me. I stared a moment at the furious face of the one pinning me to the tree.

"Hello, Lee." A fist bloodied my mouth. "Nice to see you, too."

"What were you just doing, Neji?!" he screamed. "What is wrong with you?!"

I spat blood at his face. "Well, I've never known you to lose your temper."

I was thrown back the way we'd come, and tossed every which way by a hail of lightning blows.

"You – were – prepared – to – kill – her!!" he raged, striking at each word.

I caught a fist. "So what?" I caught another. "You're slow. You've been using the gates, haven't you?" I head butted him hard, and he stumbled back with a cry. "Get in the way, and I'll kill you."

This only served to further enrage him. "What has happened to you?!"

We launched ourselves at each other, and thunder rang out through the clearing as the one-sided pounding became an even trade of rapid blows.

Then, growing bored, I stopped holding back.

Twenty seconds later found a gasping Lee leaning against a tree for support, face contorted in pain. I felt no pity. I had warned him.

"I am NOT done yet!!" he said, stepping toward me.

"You people…" I shook my head. Unfortunately, it would seem Lee refused to be helped; in that case, I had no choice. I've been wanting to test this out anyways…

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"Sorry, Lee, but you're in range…" I lowered into a stance, activating my Byakugan. "So prepare yourself … for the Dance of the Quasihemidemisemiquaver! Juuken-Oto Ninpou: Storm of Heaven's Orchestra!"

I closed in at top speed.

Lee's eyes widened.

He tried to move.

He wasn't fast enough.

I drew back a palm.

And just as I landed the initiating strike, fire coursed through my veins as my brain was set ablaze.

Hinata ヒナタ

I watched in horror as he screamed in agony and went down, tearing madly at his hitai-ate. I… I s-swore I would never…

I hadn't had time to think about it; I had just acted.

Unable to believe I'd actually done it, I abandoned the one-handed seal with a start as Neji began to writhe wildly in pain.

His screams ceased. Chest heaving for air, he lied unmoving a moment. Then he spotted me, and his face maddened.

"I'll KILL you!!" he cried, shoving toward me – but halfway he crumpled abruptly, voice cracking as he screamed at the top of his lungs. "Okay!" he screeched, tormented, "Please – make it stop!!"

I was taken aback. "I'm not doing anything, I already d-deactivated–!"

"Kami, MAKE IT STOP!!" he bellowed desperately, miserably, furiously at the sky. Agitated birds for some distance took to the air in fear.

What have I done – what have I done?! I thought, crawling to his now shuddering form. I knelt down before him, a hand on his shoulder as he retched out a mouthful of blood.

"Nii-san, don't die on me!"

"My… my NECK!!"

Trying not to panic, I sat him up and looked through the neck of his chuunin vest and the black turtleneck underneath it; sure enough, the three black diamonds blazed with an angry black energy, visibly loosing surges of chakra in waves. This seal … somehow, it's reacting to the Hyuuga curse mark!

"Listen, Nii-san! The seal on your neck is killing you! Fight back! Try to deactivate it!"

He shook his head feebly, eyes big with terror. "It's t-too strong … too strong–!" he whimpered, before grabbing at his hair and screaming bloody murder. I shuddered at the cry of anguish. I coughed, and I hardly noticed. I couldn't care less about the blood that had just left my mouth.

I watched him continue to suffer. I'm … helpless… I can't s-save him…

My breath caught as he clung to me in a painful embrace. "I don't want to die!" he wailed as he shuddered again, holding onto me as though for dear life.

H… He's crying…

I wrapped my arms around him as another series of shudders racked his body.

There was a faraway look in his eyes as he whimpered three words.

"Imouto-chan, I'm scared!"

My jaw dropped. He's high off the pain – thinking in the past!

As my fourteen-year-old cousin wailed out like a small child, I cupped his head in a hand, holding him close and attempting to comfort him. I rubbed his back soothingly. "Sshhh… It'll be okay, Nii-chan."

But I knew it wouldn't. I was freezing. My heart was failing. A violent reaction of curse seals was destroying him. We were dying together.

"Imouto-chan…" he croaked, voice tight with pain as his hug strengthened, causing me to gasp. Whimpering, he rested his head on my shoulder. I coughed again. We rocked slightly, slowly, back and forth together. "Imouto-ch-chan…" he repeated. "I can't take i-it – AAAAHHH!!" He screamed out in pure agony, and I held him tighter.

"I'm here for you, Neji-nii – just stay with me!"

"I can't!" he bawled, "Everything hurts! Please, make it end – make it end!!"

"No!" I cried as I realized just what he was requesting. "Listen to me! You will survive!"

…I'm lying, I realized in despair, We're both dying here…

"H-Hina-chan," he squeaked with a hiccup, nuzzling his nose against my neck.

"Promise me you'll survive!"

"I… I wanted to ap-pologize… I d-did," he said, his strained voice weakening. He was going, fast. "I w-was scared… I thought y-y-you'd be m-mad at me … after I h-hit you the other day… You d-don't hate me, Hina-chan?"

I was shocked into silence. I found myself quickly in tears. "No… no, no! I could never hate you, Neji-nii! I forgive you!" I cried, sobbing.

He pulled away a moment to give a small, weak smile that should have looked very out of place on his pale, marking-decorated face, but he soon cringed and cried out, pulling in close once more. "So you re-really do care, I-Imouto-chan…?" he asked weakly in a moment, nose nestling into my neck.

"Yes! Whatever it takes, I want you to live! You have to!"

What next happened was possibly the last thing I could have expected. With Neji in such a state, I can't imagine I was quite sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this.

My jaw dropped with a sharp intake of breath, eyes widening considerably, as I felt his fangs sink into my neck.

Then a staggering bolt of energy blazed through my body.

And then there was pain. We screamed together.

Naruto ナルト

"Lee!" I called, weaving swiftly around trees, "Hinata! Where are you?!" Kuso! They have to be close! Why don't they answer?!

I had been finishing tying up Sasuke and Tenten in a cave when the screams had first reached me. The cries were anguished, tortured... and horrifying. First they had been in one voice, then another had joined it; a minute ago, all had fallen silent.

I didn't know if that sign was good or bad.

I saw more light up ahead, and soon the trees thinned until I emerged from the forest into an open area. To the north was a cliff, and nearby much of a large frozen lake with a few gaping holes in it had been reduced to cracked, broken ice.

When I came upon the scene, first to catch my eye was a hideous green sweater, and I saw Lee, bruised and battered, leaning unconscious against a tree trunk a few yards away; a trail of red was peculiarly running from his ear.

Then I saw the girl.

Her back was to me, so I could not see her face. She was knelt down and perfectly still, and her head was inclined in such a way that if she was indeed conscious, she was looking down at one now very normal-looking and peacefully sleeping Hyuuga Neji held gently in her arms. There were three slash marks running diagonally across her back, and a deeper claw injury on her shoulder – and I wasn't sure if my eyes were deceiving me, but the blood that stained her arm appeared to be much lighter in color than the dark, fresher blood near the wound. The raven-haired girl's skin was deathly pale, and her neck was encircled by an inch-thick band of black.

Who in the…?

Then the motionless girl stiffened as the tattoo on her neck vanished, and her short jet hair became a deep blue, and recognition blindsided me as she gave a tiny, soft-voiced moan and fainted.

ナルト / リー / ヒナタ \ ハナビ \ ネジ

End chapter Four

Ya didn't see that coming! ;)

Naruto: As we all learn what's happened to Konoha and our friends and teammates, the three of us realize what we have to do. This time we weren't ready, but next time we'll be prepared! Alright! This just means we have to work harder than ever, and do whatever we can to protect the village and even that jerk Neji! But how will the three of us fare when new obstacles arise? It's tough, but together we'll get through it somehow – you can count on that!

Lee: So be ready for more insane action…

Hinata: More grueling challenges…

Naruto: And more… NINJA WARRIOR!!

Lee/Hinata: …??

Hanabi: Someone hit him…

Neji: FROSTED FLAKES!!

Naruto: Wtf?!

Lee: Ahem. Anyways… Next time! Chapter Five: Dawn of the Red Moon!

Yeah… just had to lighten the mood. I don't own Ninja Warrior or Frosted Flakes either!

Who knows what a quasihemidemisemiquaver is? ;)

Yes, I am such a dork that I have the Water Dragon Jutsu hand seals memorized. I can run through the signs in sixteen seconds!

Sorry for the long chap! I know it doesn't show much how Lee has improved, but he will later. How were the battle scenes, and the drama? Was the Naruto vs. Sasuke action good? Was Sasuke OOC? I just thought that's how he would probably react.

Also! It is NOT NaruSasu or NejiHina! Naruto and Sasuke are just friends/rivals with brotherly love like in the series, and Neji and Hinata … well, pretty one-sided cousinly love. (No red line! Apparently cousinly is a word!)

How was the chapter? Sad, angst-y, suspenseful, exciting? Please review and tell me what you thought of it!

Until next time!

:o)Hinata0321:o)