J3F\\\Journey of the Three Failures
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Yo! The results of that poll I mentioned last week? A tie! Between the results, there were nine for 'Post all three chapters over the course of one week,' nine for 'Post the three chapters a week apart,' and two for 'Post the three chapters a month apart.' I figured it would be fair to go with the one per week option; since the one per month option is closer to that one, I chose the one per week with those two as the tiebreaker. Thanks go out to the twenty who voted!
So in that case, what am I doing here a day early? After considering some feedback on the word length of the previous chapter (the real feedback, mind you, not the anon who commented on chapter 1 that he crapped himself at the sight of the word count, however amusing) and the general poor holiday timing of this, I decided it would be best to break the 29,000-word chapter 28 into two more manageable halves for you to read at your leisure. However, since I don't want to shortchange those who voted for the full chapter to be out in a week since 27, I'll go ahead and post the second half of 28 (the half that will now be called 29 ^^) tomorrow. Merry Christmas! :P
Thanks for reviewing, mundanebeast, Guywithafish, zigmas, LordofDrow, castrjoa001, Malix2, TwiliFay, Omega the darkness, MagykjayEmmax, and anons signing Elle, Anon, and Dan! All your feedback is greatly appreciated! :) And a thanks to all readers for sticking with this story so far!
Guys. I did it this time! I replied to every signed review! Now I've got to be sure to do it again XD
Okay, here's what the update schedule's looking like:
12/24: The Eye That Sees the World (you are here)
12/25: (8:00 AM, Central Time) Chapter Twenty-Nine, (formerly to have been the second half of 28) which needs its own name now that I think about it...
12/27: Two new colored pictures pertinent to 29, the content of which I can't yet reveal, will be uploaded on my dA
12/28: I've kept saying I'll change my ancient pen name. I'm doing it, dang it!
12/29: A teaser picture for Ch30 (the chapter in which the story sees the end of its action) will be uploaded on my dA
12/31: (8:00 AM, Central Time) Chapter Thirty (formerly meant to have been chapter 29), because why not?
Mmkay, I think that's everything I wanted to ramble about. Here we go!
Chapter songs are Nier OST: Emil (Karma), and Glory Seeker by Immediate Music.
Disclaimer: I don't own NARUTO!
Journey of the Three Failures
Twenty-Eight: The Eye That Sees the World
Part One: Glare
Neji ネジ
The blow was stunning; its speed alone might have been dumbfounding, even had I retained any breath.
Cruel pain stuck with the force to bend me double, but I was denied the chance to by a fist that snapped my head to the side, sending spittle flecking from my lips, before a lightning-sharp uppercut crashed up across my jaw, landing with an excruciating crack and jamming my teeth shut.
The world flared bright, dark, both at once. I blinked in bewilderment as I sailed end over end, my mouth finally opening, as I struck down on the back of my neck, to expel a bloody cry of pain.
I bounced, rolled several times, coughed – and looked up to see a girl leaping toward me, a five-foot tall fiend with snarling teeth bared and claws poised to strike, three rings of darkness set firm on each of her pale wrists, ankles, and neck. There was no more compassion in her wild white eyes.
Realizing this, I recoiled where I sat, face paling with one horrific notion as my eyes grew.
Sh-she…
She really will kill me!
Hanabi ハナビ
WHAM!
The ground shook at the impact; Neji, having rolled aside, was stumbling to his feet as Nee-chan rose, her back hunched, and moved toward him again.
Her claws pierced her own palm sharply enough to send black blood splattering to the grass.
Neji slipped narrowly aside, teeth clenched, as a scythe of dark power lanced past him. I clung to Chichi-ue's body, barely withholding a shrinking shriek of alarm as the same attack blasted by within a few feet of us, tearing the earth and crackling with intensity. My eyes were wide, still numb with shock.
She c-can't… see me…?
But Father… or, h-his body… I wasn't strong enough to move him, but I couldn't leave him here!
"You're not safe here!" Accompanying the voice of a young man I hadn't heard approach was the press of a hand against my back, and the sight of another hand slipping to lie against Father's arm. Suddenly we were on the sidelines once more, a safe distance from my rampaging sister.
Beside us Hiryuu turned his head through his shock, appalled. Harumi, Hikujaku, and Hitaka looked on, pale. Chest giving a shudder, Hiryuu pressed a hand to his mouth; wincing, the man almost seemed to begin to sway before he fell to his knees, head down.
There was still a knot in my throat. "Oji-san…?"
He looked up, turning wide eyes toward the corpse again. It was stark on his face – terror. He did not know what to think, what to do, what calamity lay ahead or how to face it.
Things were very bad.
He spoke quietly, lost and aghast.
"The clan's rightful head, and its Seer… Both lie dead…?"
I whimpered. My eyes shut, and I clasped a hand at my heart. I felt sick.
This can't be real. It can't be…
Hyuuga Neji… I will never forgive you!
Hinata ヒナタ
He escaped the range of a slash, tried to retreat – and yelled as I came to be at his side, seizing him by the hair to jerk him to a halt.
Recoiling with a wince, trying and failing to escape from my grasp, he let loose a hissing yowl of rage and fear, feral. I was battered with energy as he screeched through bared, thin fangs, and the ground tore itself apart at our feet as the first ring of his curse took root. But I kept my tearing fistful of his hair, undeterred, and brought my drawn-back fist momentously forward to slam into his face.
He was torn from his feet and shot to the earth top-first, mouth flung open as he struck on his shoulder and side with a crunch and, after brief delay, sent a rough crescent of shattered stone jolting up into the air behind him from the sheer force of collision.
He scrambled madly on all fours from the path of a fireball that passed and exploded behind him. Breath haggard as he rose, he turned his head with a grimace to see me rushing in pursuit. He was scared, and my roaring spirit feasted on the fear as I was charged and enthralled by the impulse to hurt him, to make him bleed…
"Stay AWAY!" he cried, launching a strong dome of chakra from his body in defense. The whirling wall caught against me, tearing at my body and my upraised claws as I snarled in resistance, feet inching back.
With an imperious shout of rage I set my stance, thrusting with my shoulder a dent into the revolving shield. His power scattered and, in the face of my refusal to be repelled, bowled him off his feet.
He was thrown toward the water; with a nimble roll as he landed ten meters from its edge, he slid into a crouch and wove three deft signs.
The lake at his back spat a slew of liquid needles toward me as I ran and swerved, charging head-on with hands and feet flinging me forward, racing, flying strongly over the earth. A scornful cry, thick with power, cracked into the air and bade the burning projectiles to vapor just before my face as I lunged, not a break in stride.
Neji rose to full height, eyes wide, trying to back away.
And I leapt upon him, a swing of my right batting a defending hand aside as my left palm, blazing, slammed with savage intent into his chest.
"Enshou!" I cried maliciously, as my hand burned through his vest and heavy claws sank into his shoulder. He crashed to the earth beneath me, screaming in agony, as searing flames rolled from my palm in abundance even while pressing into him; momentarily my palm burned flesh like a brand, beneath my arm that shook with pressing force, before I wrenched my claws decisively across his front, gouging cleanly from shoulder to chest to hip.
Rapid breaths pausing, fangs bared and ears angled back, I inhaled and roared at the wide-eyed young man pinned beneath me.
"W-wait, stop–!"
WHAM!
I'd lost my feel for remorse, as I struck again and again. He was such an easy target for every ounce of my withheld rage that I suddenly couldn't stop punching him, and relished in every bruising blow across his face, and the way his entire body quailed and shook with each one. This person deserved to suffer. E-even…
WHAM! WHAM!
"Please–!"
THAM!
"P-please, no more–!"
WHAM!
Even while he was crying in pain as I pummeled him, his voice high in pleas for mercy, and he choked on his own blood…
WHAM! CRACK! THAM!
S-stop…
WHAM!
I have to stop… This isn't me…!
CRAK! WHAM!
I may win the battle…
WHAM!
But if I lose myself to hatred, there will be no victory here!
"Why are you hurting me, Hina-chan?!"
I flinched at the name, at the doleful, thick-throated, distressed wail with which he cast it forth. Without thought, my fist had caught fast in the air before his face.
A wicked knee rammed into the small of my back, so sharply that I gagged. Stunned by the jolt of pain up my spine, I was slow to react as he lunged into me, arms encircling my waist as he caught me in a bear wrap and rolled to swiftly reverse our positions, straddling me. But by the time he was dropping his right first for my face, I was ready to grab ahold of his arm with my left hand, pushing the strike outward and heaving my weight into the slam of my right wrist below his underarm. He jerked from the hit to his ribs, and I twisted his arm to further weaken his hold, lever him off, and flip him beneath me again.
My fist drew back as I panted for breath, and I paused sharply as I took in his bloody face, nose, mouth, and eyes, his long splayed hair, as he flinched back miserably against the ground.
Then I landed one tremendous punch, wet knuckles cracking against his grimace to snap his head aside and fling a single streak of black blood from his lips to the dirt.
I panted as he lay unmoving, his arms splayed wide. I lowered my head, shaking; my voice cracked with my whisper. "You bastard…"
I seized his tattered shirtneck, and found the heart of my current distress as I voiced it.
"What will it take, dammit?!" I yelled at my dazed cousin. "Should I give you the same scar you gave me? Will I have to break up your body so badly Orochimaru wouldn't possess it if you begged him to? Wake up, Brother! Wake up!"
I shook him with the cry, having lifted him a bit from the earth. My father was dead, and all I could see in it just then was what the act meant for the reality of his killer's pitiful, filthiest soul… a reality I had so desperately resisted, and inaction for which someone else had paid the price. Tears came to my eyes as Neji stared back at me from inches away, dully emotionless, bleeding from his mouth and nose and eyes. A busted lip twitched.
"You, stronger than me…?" he rasped at a murmur, eyes blank. Even so close, his soft words were nearly silent to my weakened ears. He cracked a dry, empty smile. "More fit to lead…? Don't give me that load of garbage…"
"What are you even saying?" I breathed, apprehensive. "You need to stop this madness, Neji! P…please…!"
Awareness reentered his icy gaze. He lifted his large hands, slowly, and suddenly gripped my skull from either side, thumbs above my eyes. He had no interest in reason. He spoke tonelessly, unmoved by my desperate cries. "I'm saying… that if it's to destroy you, I don't care what I must forsake."
We were nose-to-nose as he began to rise; I kept my fistfuls of the neck of his shirt, as he squeezed my skull with rapt intensity, until I grunted. Still I held his dangerous gaze.
"You can't mean that," I persisted firmly, somehow, even as my heart shook. "Will you not accept reason, even if it should mean the destruction of all that you are? Of all we hold dear?!"
He was sitting up now. He drew a leg in, closer to him. "This isn't the way it was supposed to go," he growled.
"Answer me," I demanded, venomous. "And depending on what you say…"
"You'll what? Kill me, for this clan?" he spat. "Would you? You answer me."
I tightened my grip on the neck of his shirt. "Don't make me…"
His lip twitched in disgust. "Could you, with your soft heart, know how impossibly much I hate you? You're too weak! Sooner or later you'll have to accept… that we will NEVER understand each other!"
"Neji–!" I began – furious, plaintive.
"Stop existing! Hinata!"
His boot shoved hard into my belly, throwing me off him; I flipped in the air to land on my feet. Shoulders shaking in rage, he rose, wearily, to full height. He pressed a tattered sleeve to his face, dabbing and smearing away excess blood.
"And why – why should I believe your way is the right way, huh?" he demanded. "You can shout all the empty words you like – it was only through my leadership and Lord Orochimaru's generosity that we were enlightened, and the Hyuuga Clan was delivered from its hellish state! This clan that was wretched, filthy – I made it beautiful! We don't want or need your help. Don't you see it, Hinata? My people are free!"
"Your glory is an illusion!" I countered. I drove the tremble out of my voice. "If your people are free then what of mine?!"
"They would have had things remain as they were for eternity! Your people can sit behind bars and rot for all I care!"
"Older Brother, you fool! Why can't you understand it? In doing this the cycle, the chain of hatred will only be perpetuated! The Main household will hate the Branch families as you once hated the Main, and fight to subjugate you again and repress you further; and if that happens, the Branch's hatred will grow stronger still, until it erupts once more! We cannot give ourselves to any further bloodshed – or the Hyuuga Clan will destroy itself!"
He shook his head furiously. "It's just not possible, Hinata! Reconciliation will not come – my people do not seek it, nor do I! We've been wronged!"
"Vengeance is not a solution! We need to look beyond your people or my people, and start seeing our people!"
"Too little, too late," he snarled, bitter. "The cycle of hatred between us cannot be broken anymore, so the Branch shall fight – my people shall fight, and eradicate yours!"
"That's not the answer – I won't let it be!" I shouted back. "I said we need to look to our people, and I meant it – so as long as a single one of our people is suffering, I will not rest! I promise you this…!"
I sank strongly into my stance.
"If your resolve is to fight, I will crush your resolve under mine! And I will break the immortal cycle of hatred, once and for all! Come – Brother!"
"HINATAAAAAA!"
I intercepted a claw strike by blocking at his wrist as he rushed upon me. Grabbing his arm, I stepped above his knee to spring lightly off and over him, twisting his arm behind his back as I did so. He was already lashing his free hand toward me as I landed facing his back; I turned, lessening the impact of the knuckles clipping my cheek, and released him whilst spinning to jam my knee into a vulnerable part of his back.
I knew what I was getting into, when I started this battle intending not to kill my foe.
He grunted, quickly getting some distance and, collected, attacking again. Colliding claws sparked between us.
I'd known it, from the moment I resolved to fight you! But no one else was supposed to get hurt!
A trade of blows ended with a hook punch, slipped beneath my own strike, landing with a sting at my liver. Knocked a step back by the wallop, I kept my wits even while hugging my middle to duck under a clawed swing thrown in sharp followup, and jumped back to evade a curt heel kick swung up to drop toward the back of my skull. Then I recovered and squared my stance, stepping forward, drawing back my left palm, and driving directly into his opposing lunge.
So go ahead and strike me with all the hatred that's festered inside you… and see if I can't take it!
ZA-CRASHH!
The connection of the heart strikes was simultaneous, jarring us both. I unleashed my chakra with full force, knowing full well that I inflicted the same pain as that which assailed me, as his chakra seared through my chest.
Our eyes remained for several moments locked. Then I felt an erratic throb in my chest, and shut my eyes, lurching to spew a mess of black blood over his arm. Forcing my eyes open, I saw Neji smile in satisfaction even as his chest shuddered beneath my hand and a bit of blood broke from his bared fangs.
"Y-you see?" he wheezed, coughing to clear the gurgle in his throat. He sneered. "A-all of you are w-weak at heart… because you live by cheating your strength from mere control over a curse mark! You're finished…!"
Not yet. I slipped my extended hand under his arm and swept it aside, opening him to attack and swinging my right hand around.
Before my claws could reach him, pain pierced my chest; a storm of chakra, like shards of ice, had come lancing through from my back. Neji slipped aside as I was thrown a step forward. I glimpsed behind me a collapsing, liquid form, just before Neji's strong arm crossed my neck, the crook of his elbow locking against my throat. A water clone hit me…?
"You pride yourself in your sharp hearing, I'm sure," he remarked, strengthening his hold to frustrate my attempt to escape it. "Even if you can hear me speak, you can't detect a stealthful attack from behind – not with your ears still recovering from such extensive damage…"
To secure his advantage he had lifted me off my feet as he spoke, pinning my neck between his shoulder and his constricting arm. I swung an elbow out blindly, but the hit was weak; I tried to hook my foot around him, to pressure the back of his knee, but he lowered me suddenly, bending me over and leaving off on the extra pressure of his supporting arm to instead slam that fist up into my gut.
I felt muscle give painfully, as my heels were briefly kicked up from the earth.
"It's certainly ironic," he mused as I wheezed, "that neither you nor your darling imouto, who wanted so desperately to destroy me, were willing to follow unofficial custom by attempting to silence me with the juinjutsu." He scoffed. "You deigned to give me the fair fight that a member of the Branch heretofore was to have considered an honor, not their right to be afforded – not even knowing of the mark's nullification! Only your detestable father had the gall to seek to kick me back into my cage with that thing, the brand that is no more. But the field is now leveled – order has been restored, as we rise and fall into our proper place – and the weak are PREY!"
It was with maddened relish that he brought his fist to my gut again, his other arm still firm around my neck. I clenched my teeth, one eye shut, between the crushing strikes and the oxygen cutoff feeling quite unwell. It was with sheer willpower that I maintained the focus to choke out a response.
"J-just… take all the Branch's hatred out on m-me! And I'll defeat it… Ack… I'll still win this–!"
My words were cut short as he struck again. "You presume to know something about my hatred? You would boast of your body the strength to withstand it?!" he cried, not weakening in the least as I clawed his arm. "Do you think you know why I'm this way, you bitch?! It's because of you!"
THUD!
"Urk–!"
Each unforgiving strike was thrown around the arms that tried to cradle my midriff in defense, and solid enough to lift my feet from the earth, half-braced against him though I was.
"Haritsu…!"
THUD!
"Harumaru!"
THOK!
"Horo!"
THAK!
"Hireiki!"
BAM!
"Hoshiro!"
WHAM!
"And HIYUKI!"
THAM!
"Do you think that there exists any amount of suffering you can bear that could possibly be enough to atone for their deaths?! Is that what you're saying?!"
My stomach felt like knotted mush; my eyes were wide, drizzling with pain and perhaps with something more. I winced, and my gaze slid aside, barely capturing his own from the corner of my eye.
"O-of course not…" I rasped. "This isn't even close…"
He yelled in frustration as he levered the next strike home; my head swam as blood sprayed past my constricted throat. Patches of hot wetness had glued my shirt to my front.
"Then come as close as you can, and pay with your pain and your life," he growled, reaffirming the headlock. His voice contained a sinister edge, cutting and low. "How I would relish in ending the Main House with my own hands, the way you ended them! Once I've finished with you, I'll tear down the rest of your household. I'll start by finishing my work on that brat sister over there!"
"Uhn…!" He had lifted me off my feet, tightening the lock again, and turned enough that we faced toward Hanabi and the others, who moved instinctively in front of her with panic in their eyes.
"But how should I do it? Should I wring her puny neck? Rip out her throat, like I did the Seer's? Snap her spine like a twig? Or drain her filthy blood to the last drop–?!"
In preparing to strike me yet again, he inadvertently loosened his chokehold on my gasping form. I took the hit, hard.
As I did, as crippling pain surged through me, I had the strength to hook my arms around his at the wrist and near the elbow, bracing it in place against the knee I thrust upward into it.
There was a crack; he screamed. I broke from his faltering hold, grabbing the choking arm and throwing him over my shoulder with a yell. I didn't care how much it hurt to move, or indeed even to not move; I closed toward him as he rolled to his feet, getting a foot in his gut the second he'd faced me. I lunged, using his doubling over to trap his head under my arm, and with my other hand pulled my forearm firmly up against his throat. He loosed a strangled sound of alarm, but I held him for just a few moments before kicking him in the gut, only once but as hard as I possibly could. His body jerked, and a foot flailed; I released the choke, moving aside and grasping the neck of his shirt to cast him to the ground.
Panting, I coughed some more and pressed a hand gingerly to my stomach; as my head cooled, I began to really feel pain. I'd taken too many direct hits too quickly, from someone so strong. Despite the number of hits he'd suffered before, I would probably be in worse shape than he was…
He glowered, the hand of his good arm massaging his bruised throat as he sat up. I scowled back.
"It's true," I said firmly as I could, blood dripping from my chin. "I've slain my own flesh and blood, as have you. In the case of that pack, we can argue all day about who's to blame, but it's in the past now! I've mourned their deaths as well… I've suffered. We both felt that pain! And that's why I want to correct our future. I'm determined to let this be the final day, the final fight, in which descendants of Hyuuga will senselessly spill their own blood!"
My fist had clenched; I caught my breath.
"Let Hiashi…Otou-sama be the last; neither you, nor I, nor anyone else must follow. If you intend to kill any more… then all I can do is stop you. There's no way I can accept your way of doing things, Neji."
"Whether you accept it or n-not," he began, rising to his feet and setting his arm bone with a grunt, "I like my way better. You think to mend the rift through sheer determination, forever denying your own limits. But the reality of it shows me a different and just path to averting destruction. Eradicating all that lies on the other side… that's one definitive way to eliminate even the most persistent 'rift,' is it not? The only question is of which side will FALL!"
And it's not going to be yours – is that it? Is that the shape your determination takes?
I leaned away from a punch thrown, and leapt far back to put some distance between us again. "So your answer is preemptive slaughter? Maybe that's the easy way, or the certain way… but that hardly makes it the right one!"
"It's what everything points to! Open up your eyes, Hinata – Hyuuga Hiashi is dead, and with him the old ways! We owe you nothing, least of all mercy, at this point! We're stronger than you!"
He attacked again, blazing by with a flash of claws as I evaded. Even with my Byakugan active, my reactions were duller with my hearing this way as he dashed about, finally blurring in to carve a slash across my back.
He looked contemptuously down at me as I staggered. My hands clapped together. Now or never.
Ushi-Tori-I-Mi-Tatsu–
If anything amused that I would even attempt to complete a sign sequence in plain view, he lunged to slash at my side as I tried to leap from his path. I didn't falter, hands still racing.
-Tora-U-Hitsuji-Mi!
A kick to the temple sent me sprawling onto my side. My hands kept clenched together as I struck down without catching myself, not releasing the sign of the snake.
"Give it up," he growled above me. "You can't match me this way. I may not be able to give you the humiliation of having your efforts spurned by the joke we call a system, but I can beat you into submission, and destroy you with these two hands!"
Planting a knee between my shoulder blades, he brought a hand to the back of my skull and pressed my face to the dirt. My hands trembled on the ground before me.
"B-but there's one problem with that plan…"
"And what's that?" he purred.
"It requires submission!"
My Byakugan deactivated, the last sight it had given me being his surprised eyes.
"Ninpou: Hinata no Jutsu!"
Light flared against my tightly shut eyelids, sparking across my sight even with my face buried in the grass. Even having used it before, I had no idea what Okaa-san's jutsu looked like, nor did I hope to ever find out. By Neji's screams, however, he had learned it precisely.
I pushed him off me with little resistance; he had collapsed, senseless, hands covering his eyes as he howled and hollered. I looked to the sidelines, noting that Naruto and Lee were blinking, eyes refocusing; the number of Hyuuga witnesses displayed varying degrees of confusion, some heads down, most pressing hands to their faces, some sitting groaning or fallen to their knees. And if they had been before, not a single Byakugan remained active. Only Hanabi was altogether unshaken; she had probably known, or remembered in the last moment, to shut her eyes.
I'm sorry, I thought for the others, though given their distance from the source the effects should fade soon. I couldn't have warned you…
"M–my eyes!" Neji screeched, shaking on the ground. "What have you done?!"
"Light Release: Art of the Sunny Place," I provided, reflecting momentarily on the first ninjutsu I'd learned – on secret training sessions, under the guise of walks about the clan grounds, and on the urgency with which my pregnant mother had led a talentless child to master this technique of her creation. "My Okaa-san did fear that a day might come when I would need to defend myself or my sister from our fellow Hyuuga. Her gift to me… It makes sense now."
"So y-you've…! How d-dare…?!" Neji cracked open watering eyes.
His stare was blank, unfocused.
It might be worth mentioning that almost every Hyuuga to live past eighty or so years has by then gone blind. It was an effect, or a price, of a bloodline that granted such acute vision. The primary cause was thought to be the Byakugan, which allowed that sharp, detailed eyesight to extend in every direction – inevitably perceiving the glare of the sun without facing it directly, and posing a tremendous and routine strain for the eyes' overloaded light receptors and the optic nerve. The effects wore us down over time…
So though the effects of this jutsu were temporary, what I had just done had probably cut the lifespan of Hyuuga Neji's eyesight by five or ten years, and for the sake of him – or either of us – having a chance to live long enough to fret about it.
"You boast of the secrets you know, Onii-san; here's another. Did you know," I began quietly, "that Hyuuga Hikari was almost completely blind by the time she delivered her second-born, and passed away in childbirth? For me, she watched this jutsu with a smile, so desperate she was to ascertain its effectiveness and see that I could execute it to perfection…"
Water was falling from my eyes, but even so, I smiled. "My parents may have done some bad things, or selfish things, or unfair things in their time. They made mistakes… but things like the impulse of a parent to protect a child should not be faulted. To me, my mother… both of my parents were heroes. Maybe that means I'm too given to my emotions as well, over logic or reason or reality. I don't know."
Neji had stood up, eyes shut; his teeth were clenched in fury as his nostrils flared. "So you would accept and stand by the sins of your lineage? Just like that, you would forgive your parents for making a mess, and leaving you this burden?!"
Though he wouldn't see it, I shrugged. "I'm their daughter. Wouldn't you?" I looked at my callused hand, flexing it familiarly. "Crimes committed in love… who's to say I wouldn't have made the same mistakes?" My head rose, my smile still soft. "But I can learn from them, to the extent that I'm able. Okaa-san's heart was in a good place, but she didn't reach far enough. Me alone living a happier life than those around me would never have been enough. I think… maybe that's why I've lived determined to build on her footsteps – to carry on her will and compassion, for the family I can only love, and bring equality and freedom to all the clan! No rule should deny humans the freedom to love!"
"But here you stand to impede our progress… Is it not you who's come to truly embrace your destiny more than anyone? To return here as you have, appearing before us with punitive might, to put the vermin in its place – as yet another upholder of the legacy of the Main?!"
"Chigau," I said, unflinching to his accusation. "I also want to move forward into a new tomorrow… but our fates are intertwined, so we must seek that tomorrow together. Leave none behind! That's what I feel, now. Then… only then, and only with everyone able to walk beside me, will I move toward the sun."
My fists clenched; I was possessed by the ideals, possessed by the vision. Somehow… I had never felt so confident. I pointed at him, suddenly. "Are you listening, Hyuuga Neji? I'm saying that I will turn these wretched tides of fate onto a new course! Where everyone can smile!"
His lip curled. "Naïve brat," he hissed. "All that you stand for – I'll destroy it all!"
I simply squared my stance, unperturbed. "You without your strong eyes, and I without my strong ears… Let us see if the field hasn't been leveled."
Hanabi ハナビ
"The one who would close the rift with compassion, and the one who would nullify the rift by annihilating the other side…" I shook my head, numb, as I watched my sister and cousin clash. "What's the point? Neji wouldn't have been able to match her, but she won't kill him. This is going nowhere…"
I cringed as Nee-chan received a blow; in an instant, however, she'd lashed back with her own. There was a wildness to their moves as they thrashed at each other with claws, no doubt unmistakable to each other with the scents of the blood that heavily stained their clothes, and continued to be added to. With only this and sound to defend on, Neji darted about and tore on the attack, claws glinting.
I felt sick as I watched it, but I could no more stop watching now than I could stop breathing. I clasped a hand at my belly, shaking.
"M'lady?"
Hiryuu's eyes were concerned. I shook my head again, jaw tensed.
"I'm f-fine…" I said, cursing the traitorous stutter. "Just a bit faint…"
Our attention snapped back to the combatants at a surprised cry. Neji had overbalanced in his evasion of striking claws, turning as he fell and quickly catching himself to spring away. He brought a hand to a fresh cut, scarcely a centimeter below his right eye, blinking rapidly as blood rolled down his cheek.
"Wh-what… what are you trying to do?!" he gasped.
Hinata prowled about him, her ears back, her moves slow, smooth and deliberate. "You called me naïve," she said, "but I didn't come here without a plan. I've spent a lot of time thinking about this – about what I could do if worse came to worst. If I couldn't simply 'succeed by willing it,' as you like to put it."
He jerked to dodge claws that whistled on the air. Distracting him with a sudden kick to his torso, she slashed for the same target as before; he weaved from a flurry of strikes, fearful disconcertment stark on his face.
Even as her moves grew erratic, her voice was calm, her words calculated.
"Orochimaru… won't take an imperfect body, will he?"
"N-nani?!" Neji cried, leaning from a strike that nicked his nose. Abrupt was the only way to describe her lunge past him, that brought her tearing claws across his side. Given no time to collect himself, he turned to avoid a slash thrown for his back – and his other hand snapped up beside his head, arresting by wrist the swing of swift claws at the level of his sightless eyes.
"Barring a slightly wider blind spot," she explained, voice steady as their locked arms were shuddering with force, "the Byakugan can more or less compensate for the loss of one eye… so to be sure, I'll need to ruin both."
Her other hand was striking on the tail of the words. Having grown rather perturbed as she mulled over his mutilation, Neji seized her wrist, captured her other hand, and rammed a brutal knee into her gut. "Are you out of your mind?! Are you that desperate to control my Fate?!"
She coughed… and chortled.
"I w-won't ask you to forgive me… but I will say that I'm sorry, Neji-nii-san."
And just like that, she snapped to bury vicious fangs in the meat of his arm and thrash away, tearing through muscle. The taste of bile rose in my throat as he screamed, she spat, and two of her clawed nails closed decisively for his left eye.
Face twisted in pain and panic, he snapped with shocking speed to roughly catch and bite the jabbing fingers. He snarled like a fiend, the strength of his teeth sending a spray of blood sailing from her hand.
Eyes furious with pain, she silently brought her other hand toward his face, pulling him toward her by his own fanged grip. Barely detecting the threat in time, he relinquished her hand and slipped outside the path of her claws, stumbling away as he did. He touched his good hand to the ground, rising as she leapt toward him, and squarely received the shin kick she slammed into the side of his neck. His neck deformed, grotesquely, and the hit broke through as he paled and melted into liquid, clear water that scattered with a crash.
The true Neji blurred into existence before her, already grasping her shoulder and slashing his claws hard across her front as he did so. But as if to trump him in the dizzying exchange, she went up in flame – a Fire Clone, sending Neji staggering from its explosion just as her real self, barreling toward him from behind and probably from downwind, drove a wicked punch into the flesh of his back.
He yowled, and she stepped in low to grab him around the waist, arms forming a secure lock on his tensed body before she lurched back sharply, with total abandon, to plow the back of his head and shoulders harshly into the ground. She scrambled around from beneath him, rising to drop smoothly into a punch that crackled on the ground as he rolled clumsily aside to dodge it.
From the roll, he was starting to rise to his feet – when his ear twitched, and he lunged, throwing flailing hands out to seize intently, desperately, upon her flicking tail.
She went rigid, mouth jumping open in a grimace, as Neji prepared to break the appendage in his hands…
And was bowled over by the force of a whipping backhand as, with a vengeful sneer, Hinata's retaliatory strike collided spectacularly with his face. Rather than being thrown, he was turned about by the high strike, sent smashing straight into the ground where he'd stood – flattened with enough force to shock a bursting wave of dust into the air.
And she was upon him, jamming a knee down into his bad elbow and wrapping a hand about his throat. He kicked weakly once, eyes tightly shut as she leaned over him, a broad smile overtaking her bloodstained lips.
There was the disquieting thing – never could I have imagined my sister inflicting harm on another person, and enjoying it. Least of all like this… But she had felt her goal within reach, fallen captivated to its drowning radiance, and now hungered blindly for its realization.
Her voice was hard-edged with cutting malice. "My words wouldn't reach your mind; it didn't take when I tried to beat sense into your flesh. So all I can do is mangle you so badly that bastard won't want your body!"
Earlier I might have praised this – the resolve to break things in necessary ways and sort their pieces out later, to serve a purpose. But not now… surely not like this… She was losing it!
What he did to Chichi-ue… it's getting through to her, after all. Her goal is sound, but she's quieted her heart. An objective, ruthlessly pursued without meaning or heart, without the compassion that bred it… S-something dangerous is happening to her!
There was hatred in her eyes now – a hatred warranted, but no less alien and terrible to witness, as her hand drifted toward his eyes, as he tried to turn his head away.
Neji's free hand, its torn-up arm bloodied, shot to latch onto her forehead. He thrashed desperately to free his other arm from under her knee, and crossed its hand under her chin, preparing to wrench. She broke from his hold, a hand having pulled one of his arms away, and he fought to sharply knee and shove her off.
They rose again, backing off from each other. Hinata's stance was low; Neji's posture was alert, defensive.
Kuso! I thought. Why can't you just hate him enough to kill him, and be done with it?! This is sick…!
But of course she couldn't kill him. At the same time as hating him, in some part of her she loved him.
Then these can't coexist. Not in her.
"M'lady?" Hiryuu asked, managing to take his eyes from the two.
I was shaking quite a bit, actually; my head throbbed, suddenly burning. What was this unbelievable pressure? Bringing a hand to my brow, I scowled at the ringing pain. My chest shuddered through breaths. Suddenly I knew, knew beyond a shadow of a doubt…
"This is – wrong," I managed, voice faint. "She's slipping. This is the w-wrong way–agh!"
"What's happening?! Are your wounds–?"
"That b-brainless animal–I c-can't let her destroy herself," I rasped, babbling, unable to blink. "That's what's – happening here – she's d-destroying herself! Her balance! I h-have to–stop her–!"
Searing pain flared through my skull, exploded between my eyes. I went limp.
Twenty-Eight, Part Two: Enlightened
Neji ネジ
I pressed a hand to my bleeding arm, brow furrowed anxiously. Focus – I had to focus on the threat before me. I sorted through the scents on my rapid breaths; I listened to her taking steps, hearing the very sounds of her body pushing through the air around it. She was walking around me. I turned with her movement, keeping faced toward her. Even if I couldn't see, she couldn't hurt me. She couldn't. Not if I stayed calm…
"Neji-nii-san," she drawled, voice lofty and supremely calm – but I could smell the unchained fury emanating excitedly from her, a hunter, a demon, scornful of my resistance. "How's your capability with limb regeneration?"
My mouth opened, shut, as I tensed. I hesitated, trying to sort through and calculate, between her desire not to harm me and her goal of adequately maiming me, what answer might keep her from–
PAKK!
That was my arm, breaking in two before I could answer.
There had been no sign of her approach until the instant of its decisive occurrence – only a grip twisting my wrist, and a shattering blow at my already weakened elbow, harsh enough to throw me from my feet. I screamed, landing on my side; after rolling twice I scrambled haggardly back, rising, gasping, gripping my busted elbow to stop the swinging of my lower arm. I shivered, teeth bared as a growl escaped me. Her behavior's growing more and more erratic–!
I ducked, and heard the whistle of parting air – a kick, hacking over my head.
I can't predict what she'll do!
Staggering from the path of another strike, I threw myself to the ground. She wouldn't attack a prone target. I had a second to think.
"Argh!" I hacked, breath flung from my mouth as she took the opportunity to stomp hard between my shoulder blades. N-no–!
She stomped again. I spat blood, and fell flat.
I was lifted by the back of my shirt, and hurled painfully onto my back. Turning onto my side, I blinked up at the blurred, predatory figure that approached slowly in my darkened sight. Pain – there was pain, and I wanted no more of it. My body shook.
"Wh-who are you… to inflict pain so callously?!" I cried, frantic.
She was indifferent, her voice calculating. "By the rate at which your arms are healing," she observed, extrapolating, "you can't replace lost limbs, can you…?"
"S-stay away!" I hissed, crawling backwards. "Just stop…!"
"Your eyes, or an arm," she said, ruthlessly cold. "Choose."
I went stiff, frozen but for a steady tremble and the roaring pulse of my heart.
I can't…
…stop her…?
My mouth was dry. She stepped toward me, reaching out.
How can this be? This feeling… I'm… Somehow, of this person, I'm…!
She lifted me by the neck of the shirt. She drew back her hand, prepared to choose for me. My all but sightless gaze rolled skyward as I hung from her grasp, helpless.
I-I'm… scared!
"Nee-chan!"
A plaintive, distant cry pierced the winter air, and Hinata froze.
The strength in her arm very slightly slackened; a cloud of confusion overtook her, and I detected that she had turned her head in the direction of her sister's screech.
Something strange then happened to Hinata's energy; it shook. She gave a surprised breath. But, more important by far…
My teeth clenched. She's distracted!
And seizing wildly upon a reawakening glimmer of hope, I shoved forward, tackling her, gripping her strongly about the neck as we fell. My free hand drew back; my unseeing eyes were wide.
"DIE!"
But her focus was turning back toward me. Her hand had risen, to tap soft fingers to my brow, as I felt her eyes on mine.
"Brother…" she breathed, mournful, and it all flashed white.
Hinata ヒナタ
It had all happened in the moment I made eye contact with Hanabi. In a flash, like a sack of bricks, it had hit me; in a moment, like a dream, it had passed.
I was dazed when Neji leapt upon me with a yell, knocking me off balance. Stunned, I turned bleak eyes upon his furious face, my heart heavy, my pale face quietly glum.
"Brother," I sighed, my fingers brushing up to his forehead.
And again through line of sight, I shared what I'd been given.
The light fades upon a wood, streaks of sunlight dappling the earth through breeze-stirred leaves. A group of puddles, surfaces beginning to quiver – and dashed, scattered by a flash of several rapid sets of hooves, small then large.
"Hyah!"
A horse whinnies at its skillful rider's whip on its reins. The man's dark hair is long and straight, tied back as is that of most of his light brown-robed fellows; it jumps at his back as he meets the eyes of another, nodding.
"The signal," he grunts, over the thundering of hooves, in the heartbeat their white eyes lock.
The pale-faced man nods in response, drawing an arrow smoothly from the quiver on his back even as his horse leaps to clear a decaying log. Light is falling from between the trunks of the trees in the distance.
A bow upraised, and in a fluid motion the arrow is sailing up high, well through the treetops.
The first man smirks; he knows that the average eye would never spot the flying projectile from any good distance.
Nonetheless, when the herd of wild boars their men have chased are flushed into the open, not five seconds pass before they are felled, almost at once, by the well-placed arrows from the prepared archers hiding on a ridge off to the side. Not one shot is wasted: an arrow from the sky, just as surely, buries itself in the last beast's neck, collapsing it midstride from its mindless flight.
The two in charge have peeled off to the side, while the rest of the horsemen go on to tend to their prey. The first, energetic man leaps from his horse with a whoop, addressing the archers as they stow their weapons and head to help with sorting out their haul. "Great work, everyone!"
From his mount, the paler man nods his agreement with a smile. "Superb shooting, as I would expect. Another job successful…"
The energetic one chuckles. Pride is clear and radiant on his face as he watches their men work. "Isn't it amazing, Older Brother? Ordinary humans could never do this. The gods smile upon us, just as always!"
The older brother coughs; the younger turns in time to see him slump against his horse.
"Aniki? Aniki!"
"I'm f-fine," the elder says, trying to straighten. "Just a little winded… No need to cause a fuss." He looks upon the others, wondering how many might have noticed. "Father's clan is in my hands now; I mustn't be weak."
The younger smiles fondly. He can only admire his aniki's commitment. "Come, rest in the shade…" He helps his brother down from his mount. "We're doing fine; Father's clan is more renowned and prosperous than ever. That's why they say if you want a task done right, you call a Hyuuga."
"Do you speak as my advisor, or as my cute, concerned otouto?" the elder says with mock-seriousness. He cannot help but smile, catching a hint of his brother's merriment. "We make good use of our gifts, as any…" He takes a breath, soothing his tired lungs. "Our family shall eat well tonight. The farmers who paid us to be rid of pests will be satisfied, while the next settlement over should pay us handsomely for the meat and hides of the excess game…"
The young man looks toward the sun, smile serene on his prematurely aged face.
"I require only a minute's repose. Then, let us assist the others."
The younger chortles good-naturedly. "Sure thing, Aniki."
What on earth…? Neji thought, his blank eyes trembling in their sockets as they held mine.
The brothers, older by many years, standing before an imposing line of their disciplined kinsmen in finer robes. Face stern, the younger strides forward to bow to a man in elaborate armor; the general bows back, though less deeply.
–"How'd we get from bandit-clearing to this? We are wanderers – nomads – not mercenaries."
"This lord desires employ of our skills. He controls a large amount of land; he offers to pay us a generous sum per warrior…"
"I don't deny that we could use the gold right now, Aniki, but this isn't bounty hunting. We won't be dealing with criminals or ruffians – just ordinary soldiers, and soldiers less gifted than we are…"
"Enough. For the Hyuuga, we will win the man his civil war; the wise council of elders has already approved my decision. But…"
"But?"
"You will pose as our leader."
"If this is about all the fools who think you too frail–!"
"Those fools are our kin! Your approval of me is appreciated, but it is not enough! Our allies and enemies must believe our leader is competent; that is a judgment more often than not based quickly on appearances. Hopefully," he adds wryly, "with this mission's success, our family will think as much of their leader as you do…"–
"It is to my understanding," says the general, stroking his thick beard, "that you people need not to be supplied with additional weapons?"
The younger brother nods. "Hai. At close quarters, you see… we fight with our hands."
The stout man smirks. "Curious creatures… Let us see if your way of doing battle is as fearsome as they say."
A handshake.
–"You renege on our deal?! We silenced scores of your enemies! Our clan lost two men fighting your war!"
"And we lost many, many more! You unnatural people – fighting unarmed, and surviving!"
"Did you never intend to pay for our work? You unscrupulous, honorless–!"
"Enough, brother. It's pointless…"
"H-hmph. Your clan may rest here tonight. By midday tomorrow, however, we expect you off of our lands."
"…Hai."–
The older, lying awake beside his wife. His weathered brow wrinkles.
–"They're whispering again, aren't they?"
"Let them…"
"My plan failed–,"
"It wasn't your fault, Aniki. You wanted to do your best for them. You couldn't have known."
"But you never once thought that seeking out battles was a good idea. And now, thanks to my foolishness, our future is uncertain again… They're so restless. To know we received nothing for that hell… Perhaps the wrong son was born first, as they say."
"No! This is the way we do things, and I accept it. That's why I've stood by you! No one loves father's clan more than you do. And you're smart, Aniki. Our future will be fine."
"Arigatou…"–
Leaving his temporary quarters, walking down the hall. Thinking. He would readily hand his brother leadership to alleviate the tension, if only their ways did not frown so strongly upon it. Would it make him a coward, fleeing the responsibility he owed? No… he couldn't concern himself with what his brethren thought of him now. He could support his brother still, and for the good of the Hyuuga…
Yes. Once they had returned tomorrow, he would see the elders to discuss this. Surely at least the wise one would see the reason to his request. Then, even the most stalwart traditionalists–
A collision, with a man who rounds a corner at a sprint.
The leader topples; the man, masked, glaring fearfully at him and bolting by, tearing through a screen wall, vanishing.
"What…?"
A sinking feeling. Somehow knowing to seek his brother's room.
Finding him dead, along with his young wife. Learning that children, the leader's own nieces and nephews, suffered the same fate.
An assassin… sent to dispose of the 'leader' of the betrayed mercenary clan…?
Voices, swirling, clashing–
–"He hired an assassin, plotted to kill his own brother–,"–
–"The coward knew he was weaker, feared the comparison,"–
A palm thrown at the chest, knocking a young man from his feet, his white eyes wide as they glaze–
–"They're mad. It's a r-revolt,"
"We must get m'lord to safety!"
"Fleeing is just as well a declaration of guilt! If we try to explain–!"–
–"They wish to overthrow the order that has sustained us so long! These seekers of chaos!"–
A staggering form, vomiting blood, crumpling. An arrow piercing an eye.
–"Our people are favored by the gods! Our ways are absolute!"–
–"Our power cannot be controlled by them!"–
–"Our power will go to the strong!"–
A battleground steeped in silence. A glum youth, kneeling by one of the strewn bodies, gazing into vacant white eyes.
"Why… why do we fight this way?"
"You know why we fight," says his cousin beside him, somber but insistent.
"Do we? People dead because our ideas are different… Look at them – we're all the same, aren't we? We talk about Hyuuga honor and pride. We talk about controlling these blessed eyes, while we use them to destroy each other. Why? Without the colors of our robes, we would never even tell our houses apart!"
He strikes the earth. "We're family, right? So why can't we stop? So we drove them off this time. What comes next?"
A man – his uncle. "Stand up, lad."
He obeys, and is slapped to the ground.
"This is what it means to be a Hyuuga. Who are you to quit? You'll endure, and fight hard like your father fought, my father fought, and his father and grandfather and great-grandfather before him – to prevent our destruction. Those cowards out there are not your family, no matter how damned much they look like you!"
–"A girl was born with a curious power…"–
–"It's her… Stay away from her."
"But why, Kaa-san? She's one of us, after all…"
"She's… strange."–
–"When the time is right, you will be the one to silence our enemies, my girl."
"Hai…"–
–"I-it's HER!"
"Monster!"
"Retreat!"
"If we all shoot together–!"
"Sh-she's dodging them! It's useless! We can't fight that!"–
"At last… the conflict is settled. For the heavens, smiling upon the destined victors, have blessed our house with a new and glorious gift…"
A row of dozens of men and women, hands bound, kneeling before a man who strides down the line with his chin up, surveying them. His daughter stands nearby, tall and lithe, a powerful, silent threat; further back, the warriors of the victorious house are arrayed for this historic occasion, and look upon their former foes.
"We have fought far too long; at last, thanks to my daughter's great powers, the Hyuuga will today be united again! And for ensuring the integrity of this peace…"
Stopping at the head of the line, the leader draws a ceremonial wakizashi.
"Your surrender has been appreciated."
In this way, each warrior of the quashed house over the age of fourteen is executed, one by one. The white-eyed children, left behind to make what they can of the Hyuuga martial arts from whatever they already know – allowed to live, as controllable strength, population, and a future expansion to the gene pool.
The Branch is born.
–"So we can't fully reproduce the fighting style. But even without knowing the specialized forms and techniques they hide from us, I can still learn to shoot a bow. We still have the White Eyes power, same as them!"–
–"The Branch families are becoming rather proficient in archery. Perhaps more so than us…"
"Their bows are stronger. I fear to shoot at the same range. If they realize this…"–
–"Strange things are at work in the world. Ideas called 'chakra' and 'ninshuu' are floating around, spread by some lunatic…"–
Hired by opposing groups. Fighting people who move in ways familiar but strange. Arrows sailing; elements, coming to life, thrown in retaliation.
–"Th… these are the people who call themselves 'ninja'? What powers they've honed…"–
Bodies, unmoving on the ground.
–"Only a handful, but they were able to give us trouble… If we had to really fight, with more shinobi, could we win?"–
–"We must adapt. Even after surviving this long as the strongest warrior-clan, it would be fatal not to."–
–"The Hyuuga, a clan of shinobi…"–
Somewhere, someone learns about curses and seals. A clan head in the age of shinobi, catching wind of the notion.
Pursuing knowledge.
Developing a certain mark, with the benefit of an ample supply of disposable if unwilling test subjects.
Putting the perfected creation to almost urgent use.
I was conscious of my back starting to hit the ground.
Passing time rolls on. Flickering scenes – the smiling face of a Hyuuga not unlike Neji, but aged in his early twenties. Another Hyuuga – his older sister – distraught despite his charismatic calm. Both have plain bands tied fast about their foreheads.
–"Maybe you were born into the wrong house, but you're a genius! Why waste your life this way?!"
"For what we've always believed in, I have to try. Someone has to. Why should I exempt myself simply for being a 'genius'?"–
The scene settling – the same young man, assuming his stance before an older Hyuuga whose fine garb seems unsuited for combat. The older man's brow is tense with agitation.
The youth challenges his own fate, even whilst the awareness of his protest's utter futility shines in his bold silver eyes.
His palms enshroud themselves in lightning.
The 'battle' begins with the drop of a witness's hand, and the old man forms a seal.
The younger man: rigid, mouth open in a silent scream–
Crumpling–
Twisting–
Convulsing–
And with a jerk, dead.
Gods…
A handsome young man – a frighteningly young Hikaru-sama, untold wisdom already flashing from the teenager's incongruously young eyes. He is indeed the youngest present at the meeting; among the others, a man we somehow know to be our fathers' grandfather.
The leader and advisors of a clan of mercenary shinobi, discussing the hand a fledgling, upstart settlement called 'Leaf' has extended. As if the names Senju and Uchiha were not formidable enough together; rumor had it that the Sarutobi were considering joining this ninja village experiment…
An agreement, an answer, an oath.
Settling down in a permanent home…
Much time passing. A candlelit room materializes, housing several somber occupants – my father, his father, like ghosts. Their father. Several adults of the Hyuuga. The Sandaime Hokage.
A proposed solution to the crisis with Cloud.
One brother accepts; the other protests.
Hizashi striking Hiashi, much to the shock of the remainder of the room's occupants.
The decision to protect one's older brother, not one's leader or the head of the Main House…
'Stop!' Neji thought, shattering the scene. 'Let me go!'
'Not yet!' I answered, gritting my teeth, and plunging us back in.
A flickering stream of experiences – travels well outside the village, even to the feared lands to the north. Serving under the Fifth Hokage. Seeing places ravaged by war and outlaws. Training with the wolves. Learning to love the taste of raw meat. Learning to make people talk. Suppressing dissent. A fight, under the blood moon. Anguish…
Convergence strikes with a flash.
And there is Neji, flying back, his torn out throat trailing blood in his wake.
Looking in shock at his wide eyes and motionless form, at my own dripping claws, dripping with his blood–
Hyuuga blood. Our blood…
Starting as Hanabi's tentative hand meets my arm. Pushing her comfort off with a snarl, and backing away.
"Nee-chan… there was no other way…"
Turning, bolting off into the woods without looking back.
What have I done…
A new day. Walking the busy grounds – a haunted shell, health deteriorating, eyes dark against a too-pale face.
Passing a Hyuuga who glares. "Murderer…"
Freezing, withdrawing. A grip on her sleeve – my sleeve – Hanabi, pulling me along with a mutter to ignore it.
Continuing on for but a moment before whirling to deflect a strike thrown at my heart.
Shocked awareness of several Branch Hyuuga leaping toward us. Instinctively grabbing Hanabi, and repelling them with the Kaiten. The two of us separate, fighting back-to-back as chaos breaks loose. Hiryuu, Harumi, Hikujaku, young Hitaka, and, incredibly, all Hyuuga bearing the Blood Seal have joined the fray in our vehement defense. Black claws rend flesh; with a screech a man pushes himself to the fifth ring, kicks another Hyuuga away from me, and leaps upon another rushing assailant. Hanabi's eyes are wide but focused as she dances about the attackers, a small terror felling them decisively, shocking me not only with her skill. Our grandfather's masterful Sixty-Four Palms, split between five hapless foes – and an arrow from the blind spot, dropping him. Hitaka, shooting the shooter, an instant before another's arrow pierces his eye.
Myself, fighting on through horror, despite arrows embedded in my shoulders and back.
Giving up, this time so easily, on trying to defeat them without killing them…
So much death by day's end, before help from the village arrives, led by a certain blond, and the conspirators surrender. Sitting on the steps, knees up, my head in my arms. My house is strewn with blood. I can't look at him. I can't look at anyone…
A doubling back – a shift to a new reality, where an arrow is piercing my heart.
Neji keeps his grip on his bow, pale and panting, as he watches me take one step back from the point-blank shot, and topple.
He presses a hand to his heart, controlling his breath. It's over… It's over now.
Realizing, with a strange, cold calm, that his revenge is complete.
Time blurs onward.
Hyuuga Hajime-kun, having grown into a young man – a leader. But his face is tense – his eyes unblinking in confusion as he resists.
Finally forced to bow, by the command of a Neji who is no longer Neji. A serpentine smile shines upon the true leader's face.
Flickering, shattering, shifting. Voices–
"You bit her, didn't you?!"
The scene materializes. Three teens at the edge of the woods by the grounds, two standing, one sitting, curled up, in the shade of a tree–
"She'll be consigned to that squadron!" one of the boys shouts, furious.
"N-no," the other whimpers, remorse, fear, stark on his face. "N-no one has to know it–,"
"The changes aren't that easy to hide!" the first youth hisses, baring his fangs and shoving the other up against a tree. "You can already smell the difference, can't you?!"
The girl, somewhere in her scattered head wishing they would just stop fighting… She lifts her head, fanged teeth parting numbly as her nervous white eyes look in horror upon her steadily trembling hands.
A flash – to another village, carved in sand and wind. A full moon illuminates a scene of carnage – throngs of monstrous Hyuuga slaughtering shinobi, civilians, fleeing children. With feral cries, the mindless, bloodthirsty horde carries out an indiscriminate attack that came without warning, with frightening speed and ferocity. A fiend tears voraciously at the innards of a victim, until a blast of wind comes slashing into him; three of the beasts rush upon a squad of fan-wielders. One of the cursed ones, set aflame, tears through enemies with roars of rage and contempt despite the knives and shuriken dotting his burning form, and crushes a man's skull before a decapitating strike finally fells him. A familiar swordsman, now almost six feet tall – a refugee, tearing through the invaders with sharp moves of a blade that trails purifying light. But there are so many of the berserkers, and each so fierce…
A white-faced man, seen standing atop a building, declines to dirty his own hands. He smiles at the delectable scene, veins protruding about his golden eyes as he points at a weakened, cornered group of shinobi, lazily bidding his baying, snarling pets on the attack.
Sand crashes through the bestial ranks, snaring, tearing, crushing – destroying among others the once-scared girl from before. A youthful redhead in his twenties, the Kazekage's hat draped over his back beside a massive gourd, rises into the air upon clouds of sand, weathered teal eyes cold upon the ringleader. He flies toward him with a cry of war and outrage, drawing back an arm that bursts through its sleeve in transformation.
At the calm man's point and command, the beasts fling themselves eagerly upon the ruler of the Sand, breaking through his defenses with savage and bewildering force; one rakes open his side, another tears off his arm, and shocked raccoon-eyes glaze as a third's wrenching fangs claim his throat.
The snake man, the Neji who is not Neji, laughs and laughs and laughs, cackling out his grand amusement in the bloody night as another village is made his own, a new land to enlarge his collection…
Neji broke us from the sequence with a yell, his transfixed, blank gaze tearing away, eyes snapping shut, and his good hand slapping away my palm that had come to rest on his cheek. I blinked as the connection broke, and he leapt off of me, hastily backing several steps away.
I sat up slowly, still shaken. Neji pressed a hand to his skull, unfocused, sightless eyes staring off into space as he trembled. "How – how are you showing me these things – these lies?!" he screamed. His face was running with sweat.
I lifted a hand, wiping trails of water from beneath my steadily dripping eyes. With an unexplainable, terrified calm I spoke. "I could only share it because we're connected," I said, looking down. "You and I, the same as Hanabi and me…"
There was something unsettling, outside the disturbing content of the visions – outside even the question of how Hanabi had received them.
The outcome of this battle… wasn't something that should affect the victor in the Konoha-New Oto civil war. It couldn't…?
I shook my head. "There's a bit more," I insisted, starting to get to my feet. "Please – you need to see the rest of it."
"I won't!" he cried. "Witch! You think those cheap illusions will deceive me?!"
Overcome by terror, he progressed his curse to the fourth ring.
You fool! I thought, evading a wild swing. I blocked the furious strikes of his good hand, my shifting arms growing battered as I backpedalled. "You know it was true, just as I do! You can feel it in your blood! With our hearts joined, you've seen for yourself that my intentions are sincere–!"
His broken arm snapped into shape, and its sudden punch slipped by to plunge deep into my stomach. I gagged, an eye shut as I staggered back with an arm across my middle. I glared back at him, hoarse.
"It's j-just as I know that your words from before weren't sincere… You don't want to forsake this clan; it's why, troubled by Hikaru-sama's words, you've spent so many sleepless nights poring over tomes in the village library and the texts in the Main House and clan archives, searching for an answer!"
I ducked under a claw swipe; he was enraged. "How do you know that?!"
I blocked at his forearm, stopping another slash. "We both want to avert destruction! But if we're to do it, neither one of us can die!"
Too slow, I took a jab to the face; I blocked another, and a slash cut near my ear. Backpedalling, I took another shot to the head, a backhand, and a staggering kick to the gut, before a jump kick to the face bowled me over, sending me to the ground.
I lay half on my front, coughing a glob of spit and blood into my hand as Neji approached.
"I already found my answer," he said, shaken. "A future without the Main House is the best we have–!" His words were cut short as he narrowly dodged the fireball flung, screeching, from my hand.
I used the distraction to launch into my own attacks, which he dodged; we locked forearm to forearm, and a spark between our eyes lit up the image of Neji's sprawling body, his throat torn out. A few more rapidly exchanged blows found us locking our claws with a clang, and the image shared was one of my crumpling corpse, an arrow protruding from its chest.
Our claws shuddered between us. My teeth ground. "We must not…!"
We broke apart – and I sprang upon him again.
"We must NOT walk either of those paths!" I yelled, as four palms were locked.
As with before, the reflex of pushing chakra to both of his hands was immediate – but within an instant the energy of his left hand faded from my right, as he remembered its harmlessness. It was a struggle to hold my ground as he pushed against with me, trying to pressure my fingers and wrists with his superior strength. Our gripping claws pierced each other's hands. I glared into his frenzied eyes–
–A bloody, failed coup, a clan destroyed–
–A conqueror, unleashing his thralls upon the world–
"Get out of my head!" he yowled, banishing the scenes of catastrophe, and the immense weight of his chakra shattered, searing, through the buckling resistance in my left palm.
I withdrew, palm smoking and charred, and fell on my rear.
Neji, to his dismay, was beginning to be pulled along by the hand firmly attached to my right palm. My teeth clenched.
The Chakra Concussion Blast seared up his arm, obliterating any trace of resistance to scramble his chakra flow, dislocate his shoulder with a solid clack, and hurl him into the air.
He landed awkwardly. After a moment of shaking he gripped at his arm, letting out a distraught cry. Panting, I stood. "I'm sorry for before. I had lost my way… but I get it now. Only one of pure spirit and rightful blood can do this, can settle things properly. Hanabi might have filled this role, but failed because she was too swayed and shaken by the terrors, the harshness of the world, and succumbed to hatred. But you can't make me give in to hating you! No matter how badly I might want to, for the suffering you've caused, or how much easier it would be… if I give myself to darkness, I cannot succeed! None of us will!"
I stepped forward once, meeting his eyes with a warning as he gathered himself. "That's why I'm asking you to give up. We cannot fight each other. Our enemy is Orochimaru."
"Y-you lie," he whimpered, voice soft. "You're weak, so you depend on such lies…!"
"Would you still call me weak?" I challenged, laying a palm over my heart. "My weakness has taught me how to fight, and struggle for my power. It's only with these skills that I've been able to grow strong… even stronger than you. This arm's chakra network that you destroyed is no different. It pushed me forward."
"Learning 'strength,' from a weakness?" he spat, face red as he clutched at his arm in pain. "What nonsense…!"
"You've seen it yourself," I persisted, voice firm. "With this strength, I'll keep fighting you and my own hatred for as long as it takes. I'll say it now: you won't outlast me. Give up."
He hung his head, shaking as his eyes were lost in shadow. His lips moved.
"What?" I asked.
"There's no way… no way you're stronger than me!" he screamed, aura blazing as he sprang swift into an explosive punch. I dodged outside the blow, preparing to counter – and he whirled, his trailing hand catching hold of my striking hand's wrist with a firm clap as he turned his back to me.
Shimatta–! I thought as he sank and hurled me over himself, throwing me into the air. With blinding speed he took to all fours, jumped to the fifth ring, and leapt to ram a shoulder into my torso as I fell upside-down. I yelled, thrown and sent tumbling back by the hefty blow.
With a growl I escalated my own curse by one ring, reaching the fourth, and rolled onto my shoulders as I had nearly come to a halt. I drew in my legs and then flung from the ground in an upward kick, catching Neji in the midst of his dropping attack; one bare foot caught against his bely, slowing his descent as I bent that knee, before my other foot struck into his chest with a thud, knocking him away. I sprang to my feet, and he managed to flip back and land on his own.
"Damn you to Hell!" he yelled, teeth bared. He was losing control; his mark throbbed with an angry black light, and he gripped his neck, eyes widening in malice. "I had found my purpose in life! I was born stronger than the rest so that I could see my brethren to f-FREEDOM! It's my duty… to eliminate any threat to that freedom without fail!" He stifled a cry, gaze rocking skyward. "So you – can't be stronger than me! It's not FAAAAAAAAIIIR!"
"Don't!" I warned. "You couldn't defeat me as a Hyuuga, but you won't even compare as a beast. If we both do this, I can promise the gap will only broaden from here!"
He laughed, eyes deranged and unhinged as he wheezed, lips spraying blood. "Such confidence, when you were always weak!" he growled, fangs thickening as he screeched in excitement. His voice was growing deeper, harsher. "Th-that a RUNT like you would challenge me – it makes my blood BOIL!"
"If that's really how you feel…" I shut my eyes momentarily, breaking away from my own mark's influence. Despite the time that had passed, I could still feel it in me – the stored power of Naruto's blood. I lifted my hand, sucking a half-dried spot of Neji's blood from a knuckle. Back hunched, he cocked his head in amusement as I looked up again, unimpressed by his rising, redoubling power. "Show me your full strength, and I'll go ahead and quit pulling my punches."
Teeth locked in a broad grin, unblinking, he shuddered once beneath the force of the frenzied power arcing and spiraling madly about him – and threw his arms wide, claws splayed, and head back as a hellish roar exploded from his throat, and his chakra blazed black.
A string of shockwaves battered the air and earth around him. The curse twisted his body as it saw fit, altering his feet, thickening his claws, setting short white hair sprouting to blanket his skin. Then opaque energy engulfed his howling form, erupting in a column of darkness fired into the gray skies.
It trickled down and cleared, leaving the young man with his head back, chin pointed skyward, visible skin shrouded in snowy fur patterned with wild black stripes. With a convulsive breath he righted his head, revealing the black-furred, sharp lupine ears that protruded from the crown of his skull, and his long hair, black as night, splayed half across his shoulders and half down before him as he sank smoothly to all fours. He opened his black-and-white eyes with a growl, his animalistic grin baring dark fangs and contorting the markings on his face as he caught scent of me, fixing me with a feral hunter's glare and flicking his strong black tail left and right in wicked anticipation. His tongue flashed across his glistening fangs.
I knew the look in his eyes, and the feeling that created it – the high, the rush of excessive energy pulsing and pounding its way through one's veins. The feeling of being unstoppable.
"Can you speak as a human any longer?" I asked.
In answer he launched himself toward me with a roar, at incredible speed.
I dropped one foot back, bending my knees and clenching my fists as I pulled back in my stance.
Youki…
"RELEASE!" I snarled, lurching forward as my inner power awakened.
His blurring form was smashed sharply into existence by my skull connecting with his. A long, random crack jolted and snaked out from the earth at my back foot. Then the compacting ground exploded all around me, in the same instant that Neji was blown backwards with a shriek and sent tumbling harshly away.
Moved not an inch, I looked up with a brief frown at the blood that dribbled from my forehead, in a thin tendril falling in one moment between my eyes, beside my nose, and dripping from my lips and chin. Pretty tough…
Neji had picked himself up, wary, and watched me finish a string of seals. I spat the fireball skyward, not bothering to launch it toward an enemy who would so easily dodge it. The bolting streak of darkening flame tore through the air before splitting into five, crimson pieces doubling back and spiraling in a ring as they dropped toward the earth. One blazed by an inch before me as they swept together again, swirling to snap with a shock of rolling flames into the proud form of Kurogiba at my side.
"What's with the flashy entrance?" I muttered to the Wolf of Fire, who stood tall, head upraised, as he glared down at our opponent. The five foot tall spirit looked to me, taking note of my blackened hair and the inky patterns that adorned my skin. Seeing me in more or less good shape, he smirked.
"Took you long enough," he rumbled, the dark fire of his fangs flashing.
"Forgive me," I said. "I need your help now, Ani-ue."
He only grinned belligerently back. His voice was hearty, a boastful boom that rang out as he turned his gaze forward, head high. "Then let's show this flailing pup how true Ookami fight!"
ナルト / リー / ヒナタ \ ハナビ \ ネジ
End Chapter Twenty-Eight
Kurogiba: Time to end it-! Oi, oi, the chapter's over? Wait! I just got here!
Hinata: Tomorrow, Ani-ue.
Kurogiba: Hrmm... (grumbles) Do I at least kick some ass?
Hinata: All of it.
Kurogiba: Fine.
(static-)
Hinata: If I'm fighting alongside Ani-ue, it's the Kurotsumeken!
Naruto: They're finally throwing their absolute best at each other, huh?
Lee: They cannot go on this way for much longer!
Neji: I'll bet it all on this!
Hinata: I'll walk into Hell right alongside you!
Hanabi: Impossible! He can't know that jutsu!
Hinata: Next is Chapter Twenty-Nine: As Beasts. Die by this hand, once I've ensured it is a hand that cannot save you!
Jutsu, Techniques, and Powers used that weren't used last chapter. Pretty much.
Houkou (咆吼): Yell; roar; howl. That always unnamed roaring technique with various effects. The pitch, timbre, duration, shrillness, and nuances of other components of the utterance can impact the properties of the roar wave produced, such as the intensity of a 'cutting' component or 'force' component. Neji tends to use sound and pressure waves, perhaps the means by which he dramatically shattered a distant boulder at the end of ch24; Hinata uses some variation to kill Harumaru earlier that chapter, probably one from the derived technique Howling Beast Wave, the power of which is amplified by a sacrifice of the wielder's blood.
Suiton: Mizusenbon (水遁・水千本 ): Water Release: Liquid Needles; fires a number of water needles from an available source.
Enshou (炎掌): Blazing Palm. Sometimes used by first spitting on the hand; at heightened curse chakra or youki concentration, the saliva igniting ability becomes unecessary since the power of the wielder's elemental affinity is enhanced.
Hinata no Jutsu (日向の術): Art of the Sunny Place; creates a flash of light of blinding intensity. Attempted and failed (seals interrupted) in Ch4.
Chakra Concussion Blast: Technique perfected in Ch13, to defeat Sound jounin Midori with a direct hit. Derived/perfected from the first useful seal formula of those Hinata initially tried to correct her arm's chakra flow with, the Chakra Cannon that was accidentally used to bust up a tree but later injured Itachi in Ch7. Where the chakra cannon simply drew chakra to gather in the palm until a breaking point is reached, the Concussion Blast integrates the claw scars into its seal design, ratcheting the chakra's intensity through five barriers before blasting the trapped opponent the palm is chakra-adhered to. Used despite the knowledge that it will permanently ruin the remains of the chakra network of Hinata's right arm.
Ketsueki no Juin: Meigetsu no Kasei (血液の呪印・明月の化成): Cursed Seal of Blood: Full Moon Transformation/"Bright Moon Transformation"; something of a second state to the Blood Seal, a transformation triggered every full moon to encourage the cursed one to hunt. Through frequent use, the power becomes easier to tap and activate at will. Said to invoke the guise of a youkai, providing high regeneration rates and superhuman pain tolerance, but causes inexperienced users to berserk.
Reikuchiyose no Jutsu, Ka (火): Spirit Summoning Technique (Fire). Derived from Goukakyuu no Jutsu to summon Hi no Ookami Kurogiba.
How was the chapter? Hinata rampages and whales on Neji, but finds despite her partial responsibility for Hiashi's death she can't bring exactly bring herself to want Neji dead. They argue and scuffle some more, simultaneously landing direct Juuken strikes, but Neji claims the upper hand by taking advantage of Hinata's deafness. Neji lands a number of blows, which Hinata takes until he muses on killing Hanabi. Neji declares his intention to eradicate the Main; Hinata argues the need to end the cycle of hatred within the clan. Hinata uses her mother's jutsu to blind Neji, for whom the battle becomes considerably less fun as Hinata falls on her backup plan of maiming him to make him an undesireable vessel; things get more desperate. Hinata starts losing it, but snaps out of it when Hanabi calls her name and shares a sequence of visions from the 'ancient' Hyuuga clan to the future, which Hinata shares with Neji, but is interrupted following the sight of the pair of parallel futures apparently triggered by their deaths. Neji refuses to accept it, and the two soon engage in a second palm lock, which he wins, before Hinata takes out his left hand with a chakra concussion blast. We finally see Neji trigger his fullmoon state, and Hinata releases her youki and summons Kurogiba. Any thoughts on the action, the terrified Neji? Hinata's 'gift' from her mother, and motivation? Her 'erratic' phase, and Neji's taste of helplessness? Hanabi? Or any parts of the the clan history/vision sequence?
Best points, worst points, good, bad, favorite parts, least, done well, done poorly, questions, comments, etc- please review!
Happy holidays :3
-Hinata0321