Important! THERE HAS BEEN A CHANGE IN THE LAST CHAPTER. I was never completely satisfied about the Hinata chapter and a few of you wrote me to tell me they felt the last chapter with Hinata was kind of weak. Originally, I had written it differently and I still don't know which version I prefer so I decided to post the other version here and replace the chapter. So, don't be surprised if Hinata's fight begins again in this chapter. If you preferred the old version I left it as it was on Ao3.
Hinata heard her name being called and her heartbeat sped up. When Neij's followed hers, she felt nausea roil in her stomach and felt like a frozen hand was squeezing her throat. Then two hands were on her shoulder and she looked into the atypically serious eyes of her Inuzuka teammate.
"Hinata you can't fight him, he'll beat you into a pulp, that asshole hates you, you know it".
Hinata looked down and considered it for a second. She certainly wasn't up to par with her talented cousin and while the word "hate" made her want to defend him it wasn't much of an exaggeration. She felt her hands tremble where they were hidden in her sleeves and unconsciously drew her shoulder up. Was it arrogant to even consider going against her family member, someone who truly fullfilled the standarts of excellence and mastery the Hyuga prided themselves on... She felt terribly inadequate. She wasn't as cold and efficient as her mother, as determined and focused as her sister, as brilliant and as certain as her cousin. At the end of the day she was an average genin at best in a clan of geniuses. Kurenai may insist that she had many skills and talents of her own it was very hard to believe her and in the privacy of her own mind Hinata agreed much more with her father's harsher assessment of her skills. Rationally she had no chance to win this fight but a part of her, the part that her aunt Saimei called her "unattractively stubborn side", refused to give up. Because while she was neither talented, nor proud, nor especially intelligent there was one quality she admitted to possessing: a kind of quiet and discreet durability. People may hate her or dismiss her or belittle her and it might hurt her but a part of her had learnt to go on.
It was that part that made her climb down the stairs and look straight at her cousin.
He seemed grimly determined and angry in a cold and focused kind of way.
"You are wrong to fight me. I am stronger, and you are weak. You don't make a good shinobi, you wish for harmony and avoid conflict, you accept and never resist, and you can no confidence in yourself. That's why I think you are better off remaining a genin and truthfully that's what you believe too. You never wanted to fight in this exam, but you did it because you were too scared to admit that to your team. That again shows how weak you are. It is not your fault, you can't change it. People are born weak or strong, privileged or disadvantaged. Just like you were born in the main clan and will forever remain from the main clan and I was born a branch member and will forever remain a branch member, you will always be weak and scared and gentle, and I will walk the road of shinobi. Don't fight because your defeat is unavoidable".
Hinata gulped, it was hard to resist the words but, in a way, she felt more serene now. What Neji said was true: she would lose, everything pointed that way but maybe, if destiny really existed, then her destiny was to fight anyway: to show herself and show Naruto that even if she did not have a shinobi's skill yet she could have a shinobi's honor. There would be no more running away. She looked up to the railing. Her gaze swept across her team, looking tense and nervous and landed on Naruto. The boy had a pinched look, both of his eyes pinched in annoyance.
"You can't fight me" Neji droned on.
"Don't listen to him, you can do it Hinata".
Despite the gravity of the situation she felt warmth fill her. She knew that she could fight, and Naruto was rooting for her.
She turned back to her cousin her eyes focused through the Byakugan and she could read the anger and the determination in his form just like he could in hers.
"This is regrettable, but if you insist I will defeat you."
The fight started immediately and for the first few minutes she felt in control. While before fighting had never appealed to her, for the first time in her life the flow and rhythm of the battle became welcome, almost soothing. She felt like she finally understood her body. Each hit and kick and dodge seemed to flow together, everything was a succession of quick movement and immediate response. The tempo increased. Soon enough the fight became harder. Neji got her in the chest, then in the thigh. Then he struck her arm and to her horror she felt how her pathways got blocked. Pain from the pent-up chakra began to radiate from her chakra conduits. She should give up now that she still could but that same feeling of stubbornness and the rush from the fight forbid it. When he hit her she fought back, when she fell, she got up and even if she knew that each hit was more likely to create lasting damage she felt a kind of calm and certainty, she had never felt before.
Neji must see it too. That while ostensibly he was winning, he was also allowing her, for the first time in her life, to escape her own failures. It made him angry and more violent and it came to a point where she felt the last of her strength disappear. Blood filled her mouth and black dots filled her field of sight.
She heard Neij's cold voice like it was a mile away.
"The responsibility of the main house has been put upon you, but you aren't made for it and you will only ever suffer from it."
It should bother her, what he was saying. But maybe because of a sudden revelation or maybe because of the blood loss a startling clarity came over her.
Struggling to talk despite the looming unconsciousness and slurring the words despite her effort she answered him:
"It's not only me who is suffering, it is you Neji. You will always bear the resentment against the main house that mistreated you, and as long as you carry that hate you will be the one suffering."
This was the last straw: she saw the blurry face of her cousin spring towards her and a detached part of her brain thought "This is it, this is the end". She had no time to feel scared and only felt a fleeting sense of disappointment, then she collapsed before knowing if Neji truly attacked her.
Kakashi saw the Hyuga girl collapse and the boy plunge at her. In a second, he was behind him, his presence quite superfluous as several other jonin-masters had also launched themselves into the arena to stop the boy.
He took in how medics came and crounched around the girl. Naruto was by her side and seemed deeply disturbed when they carted her away. His hand went to the blood in the sand and he lifted it, balled as a fist. The boy's eyes were strangely frigid, his pupils drawn into pinheads. He was fixing the Hyuga boy. That one did not seem to mind and without breaking his gaze scoffed.
Naruto got up and growled. There was a new intensity to his whole demeanor. His usual restless energy reigned in and concentrated on his anger.
"You're going down."
The Hyuga lifted an eyebrow and, as a clear dismissal, turned around and walked back to the stands. The rest of the jonin and genin followed him soon after.
The second-last match ( a suna boy against Rock Lee) was heartbreaking but for Kakashi it was overshadowed by the last one. Certainly, he felt uneasy and almost angry when Gai revealed he had taught Lee to open the first five gates and the boy showed that he was more than ready to use that knowledge to sacrifice his body on the altar of his nindo. Certainly, he was set off by the unmistakable feel of a bijou' s chakra and the Suna's boy childish, bloody madness.
But for all the respect and sympathy he had for Gai (for all the debts he owed him) and all the empathy that respect earned his student, Lee wasn't his. Not his student, his charge, his teammate, his responsibility, his precious person.
Sweet young Sakura.
It had been a double match. The number of attendants was uneven, the last fight would be held in two phases: First Choza's son against the last girl from rain, then the winner against Sakura.
Observing how the first two opponents entered the arena Kakashi already felt a kind of apprehension creep into the back of his mind. The Ame girl had an air of dark concentration, of almost manic determination surrounding her. She was tall for a girl her age, probably 15 or maybe 16. She was lanky in an androgynous way and moved in long careful strides. Her lower face was covered by a high collar and her long lanky hair obscured her face even more.
Her expression however was striking. Her eyes had a vicious, hurt gleam to them and her eyebrows were drawn up in what could be both extreme anger and extreme fear. It gave her a feral air, something primal and base.
Kaskashi looked down, it was understandable really. He wouldn't want to be in her shoes. The Ame-nin had fought with a new-found vigor after the years of civil war that had almost annihilated them. Under Hanzo it was known that a ninja who had failed a mission would be judged for treason when coming back. Death was the likely outcome. It was hard to know if under their new mysterious ruler things were any different. There had been whispered rumors of "reeducation camps" where those who were not appropriately useful for their nation were sent.
The three genin must have been cherry-picked to represent their nations strength, and until now had failed their mission the first one by being defeated by a Konoha-nin, the second by a Suna-nin. All the weight of that responsibility was now laying on her.
Choza's boy looked way less tense. He looked...worryingly unperturbed. Kakashi threw Asuma a look and saw that the jonin was watching his pupil with a mixture of worry, exasperation and hope.
It was a complete massacre. Choji certainly demonstrated that he knew his family jutzu well he even tried a few interesting moves but lacked all the finesse and intelligence his father had demonstrated during his long career. Well, it seemed that the boy just wasn't ready yet. His teacher picked him up and his team gathered around him.
Kakashi looked to Sakura. The girl had not let her opponent out of her sight, but the Ame-girl had revealed very little: she was quick, very good at evading, frighteningly efficient with senbon. Nothing Sakura hadn't already known from her first encounter with the Ame-nin in the Hattori ruins during the second task.
Naruto was encouraging her loudly, but Sakura seemed entirely concentrated on her fight. The exam proctor had announced a five-minute break to let the Ame girl recuperate. Said girl had only offered a sneer.
Sakura was looking fixedly at the arena her two hands clamped around the raillery. Kakashi tried to think of some words of encouragement. He came up blank.
"I' m scared...", the girl muttered without moving her gaze away" ... but I' m excited also, to fight."
Finally, she looked up from to pierce him with large, pale green eyes.
"I have to do this." Her voice was steelen. She sounded very mature but at the same very much like the young frightened girl she was. Her resolve made her look less the little enamored girl she usually acted like and more the grown shinobi she may one day become.
She walked down the stairs slowly, one step at a time and stood against her opponent, her back straight.
"We met before, the other girl chuckled. You won' t be able to run this time. Are you sure you shouldn't forfeit?"
Sakura shook her head and her long mane swirled with the movement.
"Well, then!"
The Ame-girl barely waited for the proctor's signal and threw herself at Sakura.
One fist to his student's head. The girl threw herself backwards, rolled, jumped to avoid kunai. A shadow behind her. The Ame-nin was aiming for her neck: a "pop" and a small rock fell to the ground: substitution jutsu. Sakura was breathing heavily on the other part of the training ground.
The next minute the girl from rain was close to her again. Sakura was holding her own, more or less. Taijutsu really wasn't her forte. However, in the next few minutes her movement became more fluid, more measured. She even tried a few faints of her own.
That's when the girl from rain launched into a series of hand signs. Kakashi lifted his headband quickly and swore. He knew that jutsu: it was somewhat popular in water and rain. A water-jutsu with a very nasty side-effect: the water was corrosive.
The first attack was evaded easily but from then on, the fight became more and more perilous. Sakura evaded every attack but only just. She seemed more hesitant, she must realize that each attack could mean death or at least a grave injury.
The water was moving like an independent being, soaking the sand, rising again, singing the back of Sakura's dress. Already a few patches of skin had been harmed by splashes. Suddenly the water split into two distinct masses that formed long skeletal hands. They moved in tandem with the Ame-girl's real hands giving the girl the appearance of some sort of deity or witch.
Sakura was quickly overwhelmed. One wrong move and the watery hands had closed down on her ankle. The pink girl cried out and Kakashi tensed.
"So, I hope this has taught you a lesson." The girl smirked while moving Sakura like a ragdoll, the yellowish water slowly eating away at her skin. She threw her headfirst a few meters away, discarding her with a calculated disinterest and looking up at the Konoha ninja watching the fight.
"This is the skill of Konoha genin. I' m not impressed. Forfeit, little girl, this isn't a playground."
Sakura was laying despondently. The Ame-girl approached and opened her mouth to say something.
She never got to. Sakura rolled around and flicked two kunai at the girl. At such a short range the Ame-girl only managed to evade one, the other found its mark on her lower thigh and she almost buckled. She made the hand signs and her watery hands appeared again, however they didn't catch his student. Sakura had rolled out of their path, jumped close to the girl, evading each movement with a new-found energy. When kicked she rolled away, never stopped moving, shadowing her opponent, never giving her enough space to direct her dangerous attack, playing with substitution jutsus with a kind of desperate genius. Finally, she took advantage of the girls weakened left leg and managed to trip her up. She grabbed the Ame-nins throat but a second later the watery hand was holding her skull pushing her away, there was a sizzling sound then a thump when the Ame-girl kicked her unconscious form away. Her opponent was enraged and threw the other watery hand towards Sakura.
Everything happened very quickly. Kakashi felt a strong spike of fear and hate. He was in the arena before he had time to realize what he had done. With one hand he had the younger girl safely tucked against him and moved out of the trajectory of the lethal attack, with the other he had a kunai at the Ame-nin's throat. For a moment he saw himself cutting the kids throat and almost felt her warm blood on his hands. He was peripherally aware that Asuma was also behind the Ame-nin a hand at her neck. Kurenai held her wrist, Gai was on her other side, others were around.
He was still fully concentrated on his instincts, the mindset of countless missions kicking in. With one hand he lifted his headband looked into the threat's eyes and eliminated it. The Ame-girl fell to the ground. In the same movement he checked Sakura's pulse, present, if quick. He looked at the injury. Her scalp was a mixture of blood, scorched hair and sizzling water. He felt an unconscious whine escape his throat at the sight and felt something inside twist. A bead of the acid was running towards her eye and with trembling hands he brushed it away, feeling it eat at his gloves and skin.
He suddenly realized that someone was talking to him. Asuma. His head snapped up.
-Kakashi?...Come on Kakashi...listen to me. You have to give her over to the medics, quickly.
That' s when he realized that he was gripping Sakura's body tightly and killing intent was rolling off of him. The other jonin were looking at him warily. Gai was restraining a panicked looking Naruto and Kurenai had a firm grip on a growling Sasuke.
He looked around. Medics hands lifted Sakura out of his grasp and quickly began their work. He stood up numbly and suddenly his boys were around him looking at the medics and Kakashi could do nothing except watch them to, mutely, wishing he had known before he had signed her up for the exam.
Sakura would live, they weren't sure if her hair would ever grow back. She had regained consciousness a day ago. The boys had remained with her the whole time she was unconscious, almost an entire day. Kakashi hadn't dared and had remained in the hallway looking fixedly at his cramped hands. On the left one the acid had left a pink wound and he couldn't help worrying it.
He had only left for a few hours the day before when the Hokage had called for him. He had received an official reprimand for slapping a dangerous genjutsu on a foreign participant but the Ame-girl's jonin hadn't dared to press for more punishment. Attacking an unconscious opponent with the intent to kill was a fault that was far graver.
He had nodded absently at the announce that his pay would be withheld for the next month and rushed back to the hospital when he was allowed.
Sasuke and Naruto had just left Sakura's side to go get some sleep. "She was very upset about the hair thing" Naruto said quietly before leaving.
When he entered Sakura's room the girl was indeed sniffling quietly. A drip was hanging near the side of the bed.
He approached wondering what he could say. "I' m sorry" didn't really cover it. God he was terrible at being sympathetic.
"How are you?" He blurted out and immediately wanted to hit himself. How obtuse could he be, was there any way to be more helpless.
"I' m alright. My mom is really pissed though." The girl said between quiet sobs. She sniffed and wiped at her tear streaked face.
"I think she is convinced I'll never be able to marry now."
The girl smiled weakly at him and Kakashi felt even more helpless. He often forgot that Sakura hadn't been raised like them and went home every evening to a different world with a completely different set of expectations. She hadn't grown up around women with missing limbs and ugly wounds and scars across the face who didn't care one bit about that because at least they did come back home."
"It' s... it really is ok. At the academy the boys, they never cared about that. Kiba has a big bite scar on the arm from when a dog of his uncle bit him. And Daiki hurt himself on the finger quite bad while training with shuriken and Akio got a scar on the forehead from the time he got into a fight with an older genin. The boys they would always brag about it and show them around. They called them battle scars. I know it was kind of stupid. All the girls would laugh about them, but we thought they were kind of cool. We were really silly. Anyway, I suppose now, I have my very own battle scar, maybe it's also kind of cool."
She smiled a little wobbly smile and he only nodded.
He tried to think of something and extended his hand somewhat awkwardly. He had thought of patting her hair but remembered half way there that it wasn't advisable, her head was still wrapped in bandages. His hand hovered uselessly but was snagged by two smaller hands. Delicate fingers slipped under his sleeve and pushed it up a few inches and traced a white scar that run from his wrist to his hand.
"It's ok sensei." The girls voice was somewhat slurred by tiredness and pain medication and her grip was weak.
"I am almost happy because even though I was very scared I did not back down. I want to be as fearless as the boys. I don' t want them to leave me behind."
Kakashi gave her his usual smile and pushed her back gently.
"They won't. You proved to them time and time again that you earned your place in the team. Don' t worry and sleep well Sakura, get better."
The next few days were filled with rather trivial matters. The boys were training, the finals would be held in two weeks, the jonin were still occupied with security measures and a good chunk of the population was very involved in betting pools. Various rumors began to circulate and everyone from the old women at the tea houses to the young boys hiding from their parents in nooks and crannies were adding their own theories. Only one event stood out in Kakashi's mind. At least one member of team 7 was visiting Sakura at any point in the day. Soon after she first woke up he had the dubious pleasure of meeting her mother.
The woman definitively shared some resemblance with her daughter. The same pointed nose and clear green eyes. The striking hair, however, Sakura must have inherited from someone else. She was certainly pretty, just like her daughter but on her the same features had something cold and restrained. Her hair was bound back in a knot and her whole demeanor pointed towards an air of formality. Her eyes when she lifted them toward Kakashi were angry.
"So, this is your teacher."
The last words had been formulated with an insulting kind of hesitation.
Kakashi only hummed.
Sakura was obviously uncomfortable and was throwing glances from one to the other.
"Mom, this is Kakashi sensei, sensei this is my mother Haiko Haruno."
The woman looked down at her folded hands for a second then looked back up to him.
"I don' t know how you dare call yourself her teacher after what happened to my daughter. As far as I can tell she is a child who was dragged into an inhuman competition. She is my daughter, my flesh and blood, and I will not let someone take advantage of her and ruin her life even if he is one of the so-called elite of the village."
Her noses-trills were flaring, and life had entered her cold expression. "She loves Sakura deeply" Kakashi realized and felt something drop inside of him. She was essentially right. She did overlook something fundamental however. Sakura loved being a ninja, more and more she proved that she was cut out for it. In a lot of ways, it was too late, he doubted Sakura could be happy if she had to quit everything she had learnt to love, the strength and independence only a shinobi carrier could grant her. Once one had a taste for it...
Her mother didn't wait for an answer and after a last cold look she left the room. Sakura was looking down at her hands.
"What do you think Sakura."
"I... I' m not sure. I don' t want to stop being a ninja. I asked. My mother said that maybe if I am a medic and only work in the hospital she would allow it."
"Do you want to work in the hospital."
"I'm not sure. I...I don' t think so."
Kakashi ruminated for a second.
"I will try talk to her again. I will do my best to change her mind."
A few days later he made his way to the civilian district with the only civilian clothing he owned. The experience was almost bizarre, all of it was so far outside what he was used to, he felt uneasy.
Sakura's mother opened when he rang. In her defense she greeted him politely if coldly and invited him in. Sakura's father joined them soon later. He was a tall man, broad in a way that was neither muscular nor adipose. His hair was pink, albeit a deeper shade and Kakashi wondered for a second if Sakura's hair would become like that when she was older and if it ever grew back.
"You must understand shinobi-san", Sakura's mother began, "that I am aware that we owe our safety to you. However, I am a mother and as such my responsibility will always be first and foremost for my child."
Kakashi nodded. He understood that. He wanted to approve even.
"Sakura is a very intelligent young girl, you must both know that. She is also very ambitious and incredibly focused. To go so far as a civilian shows her force of will.
I can see why you may think that a shinobi's life could harm her. But can you tell me, in all honesty that she would be satisfied by a civilian's life?"
The woman looked away for a second and almost to quickly answered.
"She would get used to it."
Kakashi stared at her.
The woman sighed and let herself slump back in her seat.
"You may be right. I don't know anymore what to do for her. We weren't even allowed to that exam. I can neither help her, nor guide her. She is surrounded by people from clans who are stronger than her. What will her future be?"
"She will get stronger, without a doubt. She has a team that loves her and will always be at her side."
"And what if she fails, what if she makes a mistake, what if ...she dies. I would not be able to bear it."
Kakashi gulped.
Sakura' s mother was obviously upset. He wondered why he had thought she was cold. Now her eyes were shining with affection and fear. She seemed lost.
"We know so little about your world, but I don't want my daughter to have to bear all of the pain and suffering that is going on. Here she would be safe."
"And she wants to help protect this very safety."
For the first time Sakura' s father spoke up.
"She is our daughter and we are proud of her. I trust her and know her. I believe that she can match any of the clans' children one day. She's not there yet however. Can you promise, on your honor or whatever you hold dear that you can protect her until she is ready."
Brown eyes were looking at his with absolutely no fear, only a fierce determination. He would not lie under that gaze.
"I swear I will keep her safe, whatever the cost to myself or the village. Until she is able to stand on her own two feet in our world I will watch over her."
He left feeling strangely at peace. It had been an easy promise to make. A promise he had made to himself and to people long gone. These three kids were his responsibility. He would not fail them.