Good day!
I'm back with another chapter. I've been on a bit of a kick recently, writing this story. I'm trying to keep the momentum strong while I'm still feeling so very inspired.
There are a couple of things I want to address before we start, but I'll save most of my post-chapter analysis for after.
First thing's first, I'm really grateful for all of the positive reception you guys have been giving me with this story, thus far. It really helps my motivation, knowing there are people out there who are enjoying my work. So thanks for that.
Secondly, we're slowly reaching the point of Naruto's awakening! I'm suspecting maybe another chapter or two before it becomes a thing. That's about the point that things are going to kick into high gear, I think. You may have noticed that the chapters are slowly getting longer; that's because I'm finding my groove, and nothing excites me more right now than the thought of writing the Chūnin exams.
There are some fun little things I want to try there; take heed that we're not going to be dealing with baby's first Chūnin exams arc. Things are going to be going a fair bit differently from last time, and I can't wait to show you what I've been cooking in the background.
In any case, everything else can wait until after.
Bold: Something said in unison and/or by a higher power
Italics: Something said either as an active thought, or as part of a memory
Being back home was surreal. Hinata gazed around her room; everything was as she'd left it, though she knew it had been cleaned. Likely by a member of the branch house, courtesy of her father.
Hinata sighed. He really shouldn't have troubled them with such a menial task. Certainly not in her name.
"Hey sis, where do you want me to put your things?" Her sister, Hanabi, had been kind enough to help her bring her possessions home from the hospital. Some gifts, courtesy of her teammates, stood out amongst the pile; the rest were simply scrolls and clothes, brought by her caretaker Ko, or Kurenai-sensei.
"Oh-um, anywhere is fine." She adjusted the box in her grasp to limply point toward the bed, knowing her sister would be dissatisfied with such a non-answer.
Cheerfully, the younger girl hefted Hinata's belongings, gently placing them down onto her bed. "Man, your teammates really are something else!" Hanabi began to sift through her belongings, knowing her sister wouldn't mind. "Who on Earth gives their friend a flyswatter as a gift?"
Kiba. Kiba did. Hinata supposed it was meant as a joke towards the third member of their 3-man cell, Shino. Their friend kept leaving some of his symbiotic insects on or around her. Hinata knew now from experience with the pair, that was just how Shino expressed his concern. Kiba, however, tended to be a touch insensitive, even if he did tend to mean well. Hinata had half a mind to throw it out, but Kiba-kun was also surprisingly thin-skinned, especially for someone who tended to make so many jokes at other peoples' expense. Some would call it hypocrisy; Hinata didn't quite have it in her to label her friend so harshly. Hanabi's prodding returned her attention, and Hinata simply shrugged in response to her earlier question.
"Oh, now this is cute!" Hanabi thrust an orange-colored frog under her nose. "Someone got you a frog plush? Was it a boy?"
"It's a wallet, actually. Um-It was a gift from Jiraiya-sama."
"The sannin!?" Hanabi blanched. "What on Earth did you do to earn a gift from somebody like him?" Hanabi stared at the wallet, then gave Hinata a suspicious look. "Wait, big sis, are you… you know, popular?"
Hinata really didn't know how to answer either question. "He and N-Naruto-kun know each other. I think he was just being nice."
Jiraiya's words echoed in her head, unbidden. "I'm not pissed at you, I'm just an asshole."
Hinata disagreed. The man could be quite nice when he wasn't shoving her crush off a cliff… Okay, maybe he was a bit of a jerk.. Learning that particular detail, that Jiraiya himself had been the cause of Naruto's internment, had truly challenged her patience with the man. It helped that he seemed genuinely remorseful, though she resolved to herself to never let herself, or Naruto, ever be left alone with the man near any cliffs, moving forward.
Hinata's eyes trailed over to Hanabi, who had taken to playing with the frog-shaped wallet. She was repeatedly popping the mouth open and closed, making cute little frog noises. Sometimes it was easy to forget that her sister was only nine-years old. Locking fully onto the wallet, Hinata felt a surge of affection for it.
'Naruto-kun, it looks like we have matching wallets, now.' She wondered if she'd be brave enough to show it to him, once he'd recovered. If she were being honest with herself, she was pretty certain that Jiraiya had been teasing her with the gift. She appreciated it nonetheless; joke or not, it was cute.
"Hey, hey Hinata? Earth to Hinata!" Hinata startled, brought back to reality by her sister's voice. "Geeze. Are you sure you're good to be home? You keep zoning out on me!"
"Ah, sorry, Hanabi-chan. I-I've just got a lot on my mind, is all."
Hanabi frowned. "Well you'd better shelve it for now and go see father. He told me to tell you he wants to see you once you've settled in." Hanabi grumbled under her breath for a moment, something about being 'delegated as a messenger girl'. "Don't keep him waiting; now that you're all healed up, he's definitely not gonna spare you any patience if you get on his nerves."
Hinata doubted whether her father would spare her any patience even if she were still injured. The harsh words he'd had for her from the very moment she'd awoken from her surgery suggested otherwise.
Hiashi Hyuga and patience didn't exactly go hand-in-hand.
Regardless, Hinata knew to heed her sister's advice. Better to get their talk out of the way sooner, rather than later. As Hanabi left the room, Hinata took a moment to school her features. Here, she was free to speak and act as she wished, even in the presence of her sister. They were close, and for that, Hinata was ever-grateful. Father was a different beast, however. Any weakness would be noted, and her father hated weakness of any kind.
Finally setting the box in her hands down onto her bed, Hinata caught a hint of orange inside.
"Ah, Naruto-kun's jacket." Jiraiya-sama had insisted that she take it; he'd asked if she could have it fixed, and Hinata had been all too happy to put her sewing skills to use, for her crush.
Hinata lifted the coat from the box, clutching it to her chest. "Naruto-kun," she murmured into the fabric. "I can't wait to give this back to you. Please recover soon." He would; she knew it in her heart. Still, "I hope you don't mind if I borrow some of your strength, until then."
Her mind made up, Hinata threw the coat over her shoulders, clutching it to her small form. Naruto was bigger than her, though not by much. He'd been growing though, inside that cocoon of his. Hinata wondered how tall he'd be when he emerged.
Priorities, Hinata. First father, then everything else.
The path to her father's personal study was as daunting as ever. It was little more than a straight shot from her room, really. But the walk had always felt so very long, even since she'd been young. Those days, she hadn't been nearly as afraid of the man; back then, he'd still held warmth in his eyes when looking at her. Nowadays, he rarely even had any for Hanabi, let alone herself.
'One step in front of the other, Hinata. You'll be done before you know it.'
"You seem to have recovered well." Hinata froze as a voice sounded from behind her. Her mind flashed backwards, and suddenly she was back in that arena, knees weak while her heart spasmed on her. Choking down a wad of saliva, Hinata willed her body to turn, and once more she was face-to-face with Neji.
He looked as pristine as ever, hardly a hair out of place. The boy's eyes roved over her with not even a hint of emotion, though the sneer on his face told her exactly what he thought of her.
"What's wrong, Hinata-sama?" Neji spat the honorific, as if disgusted by it. "Not even a warm hello for your dear cousin?" He did not wait for a response, instead locking onto Naruto's jacket, still clutched protectively around her shoulders. "I do hope you weren't planning to go see Hiashi-sama, swaddled in that eyesore?"
Hinata felt a surge of irritation and latched onto it. Anything to keep her cool; anything to keep memories of Neji stopping her heart, out of her head. She didn't think she could even look at the boy otherwise, not after what he'd done to her.
Hinata gulped as Neji began to approach her. As her back hit a wall, she realized that she'd been backing up. Now, she was thoroughly cornered. The leer on Neji's face told her he'd realized it, too.
"How was your stay in the emergency room, Hinata-sama?" Neji's polite tone was little more than a farce; every word he spoke dripped with his barely restrained malice. "Perhaps in the future, it'd be wise not to disregard my warnings with such foolishness." His eyes locked onto Naruto's coat again. "And avoid heeding the advice of that dead-last loser. He nearly got you killed."
"You're the loser." Neji blinked, a hint of surprise passing over his face, at her words. Hinata felt much the same; really, the words had just slipped out. A frown stretched across his lips as her words settled in his head. In any other case, seeing Neji upset would've sent her running.
But he'd crossed the line.
…
Huh… Was this what rage felt like?
Yeah, listening to him insult her hurt. She'd never before had it in her to speak in her own defense. But Neji hadn't just insulted her, he'd badmouthed Naruto, as well.
Unacceptable.
Maybe wearing Naruto's coat had emboldened her; maybe it'd just been a really long month. But suddenly the fear she felt for the boy was far outweighed by how desperately she wanted to put him in his place
"Y-you keep preaching to everyone about fate and its certainty; you keep telling everyone who'll listen about how you're destined to win." But by your own dumb logic, you were born a loser." Her cousin snarled, but Hinata was too wrapped up in her anger to even notice. "You speak ill of Naruto-kun for not being as talented as you are. You call him dead last and look down on him, but you know as well as I do that you're just deluding yourself! You don't have the guts to admit to yourself that you're your own worst enemy, because if you accept that fate is your own to shape then it means you're such a cruel, miserable punk, entirely by your own choice!"
Swept up in the moment, Hinata stepped into Neji's space, and the boy stepped back, instinctively. "Well here's some fate for you to choke on. You're going to fight Naruto-kun and you're going to lose badly. He's going to embarrass you in front of the entire village." Neji took another step back as she advanced. "And when he does, you're going to admit that your fate is nothing more than a crutch for you to prop your flimsy little ego up with.
As her tirade reached its end, Hinata suddenly was reminded of who she was speaking to. Her anger melted away in an instant, suddenly replaced with terror as her stunned speechless cousin finally found his teeth.
Neji's first strike was so fast that she barely even saw it. His palm collided with her face, launching her off her feet and flat onto her back. Thankfully, he'd had the modicum of sense not to use the gentle fist against her; she doubted she could've survived such a thing.
Still, it did not change the fact that her head was swimming. The taste of blood filled her mouth as Hinata scrambled to her feet, taking a defensive stance. She knew damn well that she was fighting a losing battle, but she would see herself right back in urgent care before she let Neji insult Naruto.
Neji's byakugan flared to life, the veins around his eyes bulging with violent intent.
"You've gotten awfully bold all of a sudden, Hinata-sama. Have you gone and forgotten what happened the last time we played this game?"
Hinata said nothing. She couldn't; her heart had clawed its way deep into her throat, blocking her voice. Instead, her own byakugan flared to life, attempting to match Neji's intensity. There was a world of difference between the two of them, a fact which both were well aware of.
Neji took one step forward, then stopped, his eyes reverting all of a sudden as he returned to a neutral position. It took Hinata only a moment to realize why he had backed off, so suddenly.
"The two of you would do well to keep your petty squabbles out of the compound." Hiashi Hyuga's voice washed over them both with a cold severity that demanded obedience. Neji and Hinata both knew better than to disobey the man.
"Yes, father/Yes, Hiashi-sama", Hinata and Neji voiced their obedience in unison, not wishing to provoke the head of the Hyuga clan.
Hiashi hummed, stepping forward. "Perhaps, Neji, it would be best that you make yourself scarce for the rest of the day, lest your cousin finally think to put that seal on your head to use."
The warning was far from lost on Neji, whose fist clenched with rage.
"Yes, Hiashi-sama. I apologize for the inconvenience my presence has caused. If I may, I will be leaving." Taking in Hiashi's short nod, Neji marched away.
"Oh, and Neji?" Hiashi glared coldly at the young man as he turned back to him. "Hinata, however misguided, is right about one thing." Both youths gaped at the man, but he only had eyes for Neji. "If you have time to lurk about the compound, harassing my daughter and patting yourself on your back over this 'predestined victory' of yours, then you should have time to prepare; to ensure that it remains as such ." A pressure had built between the two males as Neji began to sweat. "I will not have you embarrass this clan by losing in the first rounds of the tournament. Mark my words, nephew."
The now red-faced Neji offered a shaky bow to their clan head before making a hasty retreat, thoroughly chastised.
Once Neji had left, Hiashi's eyes panned over to regard Hinata. He raised an eyebrow at the girl. "I could hear you from my study… I never thought I'd see the day that you instigated a fight with your cousin."
"I-I would have never used the caged bird seal him, f-father!"
Hiashi hardly acknowledged her words, instead steering her into his study. "You were supposed to come see me, minutes earlier. Do you think I am made of time?"
She did not bother to explain herself or make excuses. Of course, she had only been stalled because of Neji. She knew this; her father knew this. She didn't very much think the man cared, and attempting to convince him to care would only irritate her father, further. "I'm sorry…"
"Sit."
Hinata did so, taking her place across from her father within his study. Unprompted, he began to pour the pair a cup of tea. Lemon and ginger, his favorite. Hinata hated the taste of both, but knew better than to complain to the man.
Hiashi served the steaming hot cup to his daughter, finally taking notice of the jacket on her person. "Where on Earth did you acquire such an ugly thing?"
Hinata had to fight to keep from glaring at the man. Nothing good would come of it.
"That is the Uzumaki boy's jacket, is it not? Answer me."
"Y-y-yes, fa-" Deep breaths. "Yes, father."
"So that's where you've been running off to… I'd heard he was placed under urgent care. I don't recall permitting you to visit him."
Hinata once again said nothing, simply clutching Naruto's coat tighter to herself. She didn't want to be there; her father knew she didn't want to be there. She had long since given up on earning the man's approval. Now, the only thing she had was fear of his wrath.
Her eyes remained firmly affixed onto the table.
"Look at me when I'm speaking to you." When she did so, he sneered. "Now where did all of that fire from earlier go?" He took a sip of his tea, after a moment adding, "Perhaps if you'd spend less of your time chasing after some boy and more time on your studies, you wouldn't need me to save you from your cousin." Hiashi leveled a stern glare on his daughter. "Moreover, I strongly question the logic of picking a fight with him the same day you arrive from the hospital, which may I remind you, he put you in. You know as well as I do that Neji does not care for the main branch. This goes double for you, who is to be heiress, some day. Are you trying to die an early death?" Were it not for the unforgiving coldness of his tone, Hinata might've almost thought the man concerned, for her.
"Thank you for your concern, father. May I be dismissed?" Hinata flinched as her father's nostrils flared.
"I will tell you when you are dismissed, daughter." With a snarl, he leaned forward, his byakugan suddenly pulsating. "Tell me, how exactly do you expect to command respect within this clan when you can hardly look your own father in the eyes?" He watched, remorselessly as his daughter struggled to blink back tears.
'I am the way I am because of you.' Hinata made sure to choke down that particular retort.
When no words left the girl's lips, Hiashi finally sighed. "You are dismissed, Hinata. Throw that blasted jacket out; you look like a bum." After a moment, "And I forbid you from seeing that boy any longer. You have more pressing matters on your plate, like catching up with your studies."
Hinata's nostrils flared as her father's demands were fully registered. She defiantly slipped her arms through the sleeves of the coat and stood.
What would Naruto say, in her shoes?
Unbidden, the words slipped out before she could think to stop them.
"I'll wear, see, and go where I damn-well please."
There was a brief, almost infinitesimally small moment where neither side had registered what had been said. Then all at once, Hinata and Hiashi both went a deathly pale, one in terror, the other a mix drink of shock and fury.
"P–p-p-p-ple-please ex-excuse me!" Hinata bolted from the room, and Hiashi watched her go, still somewhat stunned.
As his daughter cleared the distance from the door and shut it behind herself, Hiashi once more mastered himself and took a steady sip from his tea, the faintest hints of a smile breaching his lips.
"It looks like my dear daughter may have some fire in her, yet."
The warring states period was a very different time, as Naruto was coming to understand. Times of relaxation were few and far between, as everyone seemed to have something to fight about. Most ninja, shinobi and kunoichi alike, tended to die early deaths, as a result of the constant struggle. It was simple statistics, really. The more often you fought for your life, the more opportunities you had to screw something up…
It was rare that one survived even one such screw up, during this time.
Mito was as lucky as she was, gifted. That much was a certainty. It was the only reason she could even afford to stand here, vengeance on her mind.
The opponent of the day was a regular -a rival, if you would. Akari Kaguya was a different breed of ninja, even amongst the surplus of monsters within her own clan. She was powerful, violent, and even a little crazy. That was fine…
Mito tended to get a little crazy, herself.
She'd opted to dress light, for the occasion. No amount of layers would stop Akari's Dead Bone Pulse. Armor would just slow her down; would see her into an early grave. An angry red scar, erratic and throbbing, stretched across her sternum, flaring across her left breast and even the side of her neck.
No, she knew from experience that armor would do little good against a foe like this.
Naruto breathed in sync with Mito, their heartbeats accelerating to a painful crescendo. Then with one deep breath, they both stilled to a crawl.
Calm. Don't lose your cool against her again; it would do no good.
"Heya hot stuff," Akari cackled. She wiped a streak of blood from her blade, onto her pants leg. "What kept you? You almost missed the party! "Mito's eyes panned downward to the red-haired young man, crumpled before the woman; she had planted her bare foot onto the dead man's head, using him like a footstool.
Megumi Uzumaki. Lok'haathe, rank two. Twenty-two years old. Expecting a child, any day now.
The rage Mito had for this woman was the result of a long and bloody conflict between them. She'd never been able to truly beat her before; the last time she had tried had nearly been the end of her. Her foe had played with her, scarred her, and killed her clanmates.
She would not get another chance to do so.
Mito felt her fury become ice in her chest.
Slinking her eyes upward to meet her opponent's, Mito smiled. It was a cruel and vicious sort. "Unfortunately, it seems as though we were both deployed on different battlefields. Your own clanmates weren't quite as up to snuff as yourself."
"Pfft, like I care." Akari rolled her eyes. "I've been waiting all day to take another shot at you." She brandished her blade, twirling it into a reversed grip. "Let's mince the words, Red. You know I'm not really the patient sort."
That was fine by Mito. She was itching to put this rat in her place.
The ground cracked beneath the pair, suddenly being upheaved as they clashed. Mito's iconic crescent blade was a streak of light, meeting Akari blow for blow. Akari was simply playing, favoring a simple, rapid thrusting style. Mito knew better than to let the woman so much as scratch her. Wary of her foe, she parried each strike with a master's finesse. Akari used the entire length of her body to strike with the very tip of her blade, much like a fencer. Each stab would do little damage, by itself; certainly not enough to even slow someone like Mito. But Akari's blood limit was different from the rest of her clanmates.
Naruto scoffed. Different was an understatement…
The Dead Bone Pulse was a blood limit that Mito, and by proxy Naruto, had studied extensively; they had certainly had to kill enough Kaguya to have a rather intimate understanding of how that clan's jutsu worked. The user's chakra points were interwoven with their skeletal structure, allowing them to directly infuse their bones with chakra; the process was as natural for a Kaguya as breathing, as they understood it.
As their chakra output was raised, their bones would begin to rapidly produce dense calcium deposits, allowing them to strengthen their bones to a density not unlike steel. What's more, their bones became malleable enough to have their shape changed in an instant. The ability to freely change the shape of their steel-like bones was a formidable skill, even just in a vacuum. It was an impressive offensive tool that essentially came with built-in armor. Mito had once compared it to having an entire arsenal on you at any given time, in addition to a full suit of impenetrable body armor.
A diagonal slash was ducked, and Mito raised her crescent blade, using the curve of the weapon to easily deflect a follow up. Hopping back, she evaded a wide sweep as Akari spun back to a ready position, landing firmly on the ball of her right foot.
A lunge, then.
True enough, Akari blitzed forward, extending her blade before her to further pressure Mito.
'A defensive style is ideal. I'll need something solid.' Dance of Mountains: Mammoth's Charge.
Mito took a powerful step forward, bracing her entire body as she met the lunge with a firm posture. A sound akin to metal on metal screeched in her ears, and Mito swung her arm outwards, completely throwing Akari off balance.
Catching herself, Akari stumbled, once more bracing herself on the ball of her right foot.
'She's going to swing.'
Mito leaned back, allowing the blade to miss her. The faint spurt of a vile, pink liquid discharged from the weapon, and she took care to give it a wide berth before slamming her foot between Akari's ribs. Her foe yowled as the attack hit its mark, sending her skidding back, onto her back.
Akari had seemingly been born with a unique mutation in her blood limit that distinguished her from the rest of her clanmates. Her bones were a touch softer and more flexible than most within her clan, with her being able to freely change the shape of them for a brief time after they had already been separated from her. That alone was dangerous; Mito would need to actively keep track of all bones on the battlefield to ensure that she did not get caught lacking. However, it was hardly the most lethal of Akari's arsenal…
Rolling to her feet, Akari gripped the length of her blade and pulled. Mito watched as bone, nearly liquid in its constitution, sprouted from Akari's gripping palm. It covered the blade and began to grow, solidifying into a naginata with a lengthy curve.
Ah, so she was looking to abuse her reach.
Akari gripped the shaft with both hands and pointed the blade at Mito. "No more games, Red!" As if accentuating her point, the woman's entire body began to sprout a set of bone-white, curved spikes. She looked like a tall, lanky porcupine.
Akari's most dangerous, distinguishing characteristic was her ability to discharge a pink secretion from the hollow tips of her bones.
Naruto felt Mito's scar throb painfully, at the thought.
They'd called it scarlet rot. Even a single scratch would infect the afflicted with a viral condition, which would ravage their body from the inside. Mito's memory overtook his thoughts yet again at the sight of Akari's blood limit, now in full tilt:
Mito's younger brother lay gasping in the campsite. The thin scratches that woman had inflicted upon him had gone nearly black around the edges, in the mere half hour since they'd recovered him. His wounds had widened, as if pried open; a thick, vile pink pus had built up within the tissue. It was making it impossible to close the wound. A medic had tried to drain the fluid, but had been hit with a spurt. Her arm had needed to be amputated.
"H-hey, big-haaah, big sis?"
Mito offered her brother a gentle smile. They both knew he would die. She would be strong for him, now. "What is it, X'omaa, do you need some water?"
"Ah, well- I just wanted to tell you that-" Kenji spasmed, his eyes rolling to the back of his head as a wave of agony overtook him. "Haah- Ouch. I just- I just really think y-you should take that Senju guy up on his offer. He seems like a stand up guy."
Mito swallowed, wanting to embrace the boy; she knew better, though. "I'll send him a letter."
"Good…Good."
Kenji Uzumaki went still, his eyes clouding over as he succumbed to his wounds.
It was only later, once it was her turn to battle that woman's curse that Mito came to understand just how much her baby brother had suffered.
Naruto knew exactly how much that loss had hurt his grand-aunt. He had felt her loss so intimately that it may as well have been his own. This was now as much his fight as it was, Mito's.
Akari twirled her weapon around her body, suddenly taking off towards her opponent. She came at Mito with a wide swing, clearly looking to use the advantage of reach against the woman.
Mito had no intentions of letting this fight drag on any longer. She brandished her crescent blade in a defensive stance. The two trench-like metal ridges on either side of the blade were a new addition, courtesy of the Uzumaki woman. Excellent for trapping blades, but hardly their primary function.
Stepping forward, Mito met Akari's charge, much to the surprise of the Kaguya. Keeping low, Mito ducked the initial swing, then cartwheeled over a sweeping kick. She then interposed her blade between herself and Akari, blocking a hasty shoulder check. Landing firmly, Mito duck as two finger bones, roughly shaped like discs, attempted to skewer her head. She sidestepped as she felt them try to catch her on their way back. Then, Mito backpedaled as Akari once again rushed her, now an angry ball of viral spikes. Mito once again took her Mammoth stance and met the woman's charge. The fury behind Akari's attacks was such that Mito could no longer simply knock the woman off balance. Instead, she was forced to weather the woman's attacks while waiting for an opening.
"Come oooon," Akari sang, spinning and flipping at Mito in a deadly dervish. "You'll never avenge your cute little brother if all you do is run away!"
Mito felt her rage spike, but mastered it. She would never make the same mistake, twice.
The pair began to speed up, Akari now using every blade on her body in an endless storm of attacks. Mito twirled out of the way of a kick, then raised her own leg to intercept Akari's foot as the woman tried to mule kick her. Pushing off from her foe's foot, Mito knocked her off balance and slammed her foot into Akari's temple, stunning her spike-clad opponent.
All at once, Mito felt her battle spirit rise, her chakra surging in response to the opening, hard won. "My turn." Her chakra bloomed, growing thrice over in intensity. The seals, meticulously carved into the side of her blade's edge, began to glow a molten yellow. All at once, the trenches in the side of her blade expanded, suddenly spewing a thick, ink-like substance. In no time, her crescent blade had taken a form reminiscent of a giant, bladed brush.
'Dance of Storms: Kraken Waltz'
Mito surged forward, her arm and blade nearly duplicating twenty times over as she ravaged her foe with a staggering dervish of ink-stained slashes. Half of them met their mark as Akari hastily tried and failed to protect herself. The boiling hot ink stained Akari's flesh as she staggered back, hissing in pain.
Abruptly, Akari began to cackle, using her fingers to prod at the shallow scars left in her flesh. "Not a bad combo! Your attacks are as cruel as ever, Red." Standing up straight, she carelessly wiped the ink-stained blood from her fingers on her ruined pants leg. "But not nearly cruel enough to put me down! You couldn't even breach my bone armor!"
Mito raised an eyebrow, finally gracing Akari with a polite smile. "I'm afraid you've misunderstood your situation, my dear." Dropping from her own battle-ready stance, Mito sighed. "You just lost our fight." Snorting at Akari's stunned expression, Mito added, "Everything from here on is little more than a formality."
For the first time since they'd started their fight, Mito saw a crack in Akari's composure. She was flustered.
"Fight's over, you say? Well since you're so confident, let's just skip the games and put it all to rest, yeah?"
Mito slung her weapon over her shoulder, coolly regarding the Kaguya before her. "As you wish."
Once again, Akari lunged forward, this time far faster than ever before.
She needn't have even bothered.
Mito blurred forward, slamming a palm into Akari's chest. Her foe skidded back, confused for a moment, then made a short, squawking noise as Mito pushed the offense. Leaping upwards, Mito broke into a short spin before delivering a brutal roundhouse kick that snapped off on Akari's cheekbone like the crack of a whip. Blood spurted as her whole jawbone crumpled, leaving Akari floundering in shock.
Mito followed up by sliding in with her back to the woman and slinging her still-shouldered blade lower to catch the following strike with the curve of her blade. Gripping the handle with two hands, Mito heaved the weapon up and over, snagging Akari's naginata and ripping it out of her grasp. Sensing her foe to be off balance, Mito then dropped low and swept her left leg outward, catching Akari by the heel and dragging her legs into a wide spread.
"W-what the hell? How did you-" Akari was cut off, suddenly choking as Mito's right hand tensed like a spear, stabbing into the windpipe of her enemy. Akari tried to stumble back, but was off balance, and Mito gripped the moment of weakness like the coil of a viper, slamming a brutal knee into Akari's groin.
Stumbling to her knees, Akari tried to prop herself up but lost her footing as Mito's heel smashed into the side of her head. Stunned yet again, she had little answer to the Uzumaki as her leg raised high, delivering an axe-kick that crushed her skull against the earth.
Blood pooled from the top of Akari's head, leaking out like a cracked faucet. She tried to move, but found she was completely paralyzed, now. "W-wha… How'd you-" her slurred words were interrupted as Mito circled around the woman, delivering a bone-shattering kick to her ribs. They snapped like the twigs of a dying tree as Akari went rolling, coming to a shallow stop near the corpse of Megumi Uzumaki.
"It's a technique I drummed up, specifically for you." Mito's smile never left her face as she stowed her blade on her back, snapping shut the leather clasps that kept it secure.
"I call it the Compass Needle. It's a three-way contract seal, embedded within your bloodstream."
Naruto questioned the logic of explaining to a foe how your ability worked. But he also knew that Mito had been dying to use this on Akari.
Mito raised one finger. "On one level, it roots itself into your chakra system, mapping you out down to the subatomic level. I know everything you're going to do before you've even fully decided."
A second finger joined it. "On the second, the wounds that the seal takes root in are made to hemorrhage chakra, being siphoned off into this big weapon of mine. Thanks for the most-generous donation, by the way."
A third finger. "Last, but not least, it inverts the flow of your chakra… Instead of making your bones stronger, you've just been making them easier for me to break, the more riled up you're getting."
God, it felt good to brag.
"It won't matter if you tell anyone how it works. The only real counter is to not get hit… Good luck with that, by the way." Mito snapped her fingers, and four ghostly, spiked chains burst from her back, rearing up like the bodies of a centipede. All at once, they lunged toward Akari, effortlessly puncturing the woman's body at each limb. Akari screamed as she was hauled up above Mito, strung up like a marionette.
"For the record, I could have just used these to kill you just fine. But I wanted to make a point, dear." The chains fully burrowed through Akari's limbs, now coiling around her and prying at her wounds. "This little game of ours stopped being fun the moment you made it personal." To her credit, Akari grit her teeth, glaring defiantly at Mito.
"If you're gonna kill me then hurry up and get it done. I'm sick of listening to you kiss your own ass!"
Mito chuckled. "Yeah, that's fair." There was a loud 'squelch' and Akari screamed as three of her four limbs were all ripped from her body. Only her right arm remained. "I'm not gonna kill you, but you'll really wish I had." Mito shrugged. "Your days as a warrior are over. Make sure to tell your clanmates to keep my brother's name out of their mouths." She shrugged, tossing Akari behind her like garbage. "And also, consider this the end of our conflict. This is a threat, of course… The next time an Uzumaki dies at any of your people's hands, I will walk my happy ass into the very heart of your camp and butcher you all like pigs. Every man, woman, and child will be rendered down to ground meat and I won't bat an eye… Are we understood?"
Akari did not respond, likely having passed out from the pain. Mito sighed. "Maybe I should leave her with a note?"
Naruto shakily separated himself from Mito's consciousness. His grandaunt had grown so much colder, as the years had gone by. Oh, her principles had remained largely the same, and for that the boy remained ever grateful. Still, there was a world of difference between the spirited little youth who had happily danced with her peers, compared to the hardened warrior who had so casually threatened genocide.
"Do you think she would have done it?" Kushina's words reached him through his fog. Naruto easily shook it off, turning to fully meet his mother.
"Oh, absolutely." She'd meant every word that she'd said. That, among everything else, stood out to Naruto as the most concerning. Mito hadn't been bluffing, and it was a credit to their intelligence that the Kaguya clan had seemingly realized this. Conflicts between the two groups had come to a screeching halt, the day Akari Kaguya had dragged her ruined body back to her clan's camp, a politely worded note branded into the flesh of her back. Her wounds had been poorly healed, courtesy of Mito; just enough to get Akari back to her people. Akari had supposedly taken her own life mere days later, unable to live with the shame of being left unable to fight.
"So after this, she married the Shodaime?"
Kushina nodded. "This was one of her last battles before she retired as a warrior… I think even she realized that all the fighting was turning her into someone she was uncomfortable with."
Naruto admired the woman's self awareness, if nothing else. "And in doing so, she forged ties between the Uzumaki and Senju clans." He scoffed. "Not that it did much for us in the long run. Konoha stood by while our clan and home was ravaged by the Cloud, Mist, and Stone village's alliance."
"It's complicated." Kushina held her son to her chest, nuzzling the crown of his head. "Konoha would've had to really stick its neck out to be of any help to us during those last few days. It would've been asking them to actively take major losses for our own sake."
"Then they should've taken those losses," Naruto bit back. "What good is an alliance if there's no loyalty behind it. I've seen enough of Granny Mito's memories now to know that our clan would've come to Konoha's aid in a heartbeat, losses be-damned." He raised his head to look at his mother as she began to chuckle. "What's so funny?"
"Ah, it's just-" Kushina buried her nose into her son's braids, giggling as a few loose strays tickled her nose. "That's kind've the issue, I suppose. For our clan, we had wildly different ideas of what alliance met, compared to other villages. For us, an alliance of that magnitude -one sealed by a political marriage, no less- made Konoha as good as family, to us. As far as our leaders were concerned, the people of Konoha were simply extended members of our clan. Of course we would've fought for them… But I guess it was a bit naïve to have simply expected the same from them" She frowned, tears pricking the edges of her eyes. "As far as Hashirama Senju was concerned, the Uzumaki were 'friends', who ultimately served to benefit his goal of forming a hidden village. I doubt he had bad intentions by any means… But he and Mito learned pretty quickly that they weren't exactly on the same page about a lot of things."
"You mean the Kyuubi…"
"Yeah, for our people, our personal freedoms are one of them major tenets by which we live our lives. Imagine how upset Auntie Mito must have been when she learned that Hashirama had captured all of the tailed beasts, then simply given them away…"
The scene around the pair began to shift, yet again.
"What in god's name were you thinking!?"
Hashirama flinched as his wife raged. She snatched up a coffee table and hurled it, the object slamming into a wall beside him and leaving a hole through it. He was thankful that she at least had enough sense not to actually aim for him.
"Ah, well I thought if -"
"You thought? YOU THOUGHT!? That's the problem, Hashirama; you didn't think at all! Why in the hell would you just 'give them away'?"
Hashirama took a breath. His wife could be scary when she was mad, but he was certain of his logic. "Just listen to me for a moment, alright?" He was thankful as Mito took a breath, dropping herself into one of the few remaining chairs that had survived her tirade. "The moment we got the Kyuubi in our control, we had to expect that it would create a major power disparity. The fox is single-handedly one of the most dangerous things on the entire planet, Mito. We can at least agree that the other villages would've taken issue with us just having it under our control, right?"
Mito sneered. "That in of itself is my problem with your logic." She stood up from her chair, suppressing the urge to throw it at Hashirama in response to his clueless frown. "You're assuming that we 'have the Kyuubi under control.'"
There was a long pause between the pair. Hashirama struggled to understand her point, eventually just asking for clarification.
With a sigh, Mito clutched her belly, where the seal containing the beast resided. "I don't 'control' the Kyuubi. At best, I'm keeping his power subdued while I find some remote place to chuck the damn thing, upon my death. The tailed beasts are not our playthings, Hashirama. They are living things to be respected, not controlled, and most certainly not to be captured and handed out like a fucking gift!"
"You were going to release it?" There was something weird in Hashirama's eyes that Mito didn't like.
"Of course I was going to fucking release it! I only sealed it in me at all so Madara couldn't use it to kill you! The Kyuubi was never meant to stay with me!"
Indeed, she had only kept it for so long because she had known the fox would rampage, in its anger. Now, the two were somewhat stuck with one another. Even still, it had only ever been meant to be a temporary living arrangement, between the two.
"Mito," Hashirama began, sighing. "Mito, you can't just release the Kyuubi. If it goes free, who knows what kind of damage it could do."
"It was handling itself perfectly fine before it was sealed. It only attacked at all because Madara forced it to, Hashirama. Once it understands the situation I know it'll go back to its business." She knew that, for certain. She could sense the creature's emotions, nearly as intimately as her own. The Kyuubi was angry, bitter, and even a touch vengeful. But it was not mindless. The Kyuubi could be spoken to; talked down. It could be reasoned with.
Hashirama was quickly putting a rather huge dent in the reasoning part though, Mito was coming to understand.
"And if you're wrong? What if you release it and it ends up rampaging again? What if I'm not there to subdue it, or you're not there to seal it again? What then?"
"Let me ask you this," Mito cut in. "Why on Earth would the Kyuubi want to attack us, knowing there are people who could trap and seal it, if provoked? It has little to gain and much to lose, attacking your village. On the other hand, by enslaving its kin, all you're doing is stacking reasons for it and the other tailed beasts to hate us!"
"They can hate us all they want, so long as they aren't blowing people up. And it's not 'enslavement', Mito. Once they understand their role in this world of ours, I'm sure we'll all be able to understand each other."
Mito gaped. Had Hashirama always been so naive? So ignorant? He meant well, or at least she certainly hoped he did…
But Mito could not support the man.
Not on this.
"What changed, then?" Sharing a look with his mother, Naruto gestured around them. "What made her change her mind? The Kyuubi wouldn't be here with me if she'd stuck to her guns…"
"The other villages grew arrogant with the power they'd been 'given'. They began to weaponize the tailed beasts through the use of jinchuriki."
"Power of the Human Sacrifice…" Naruto frowned, tasting the word. It came from the Uzumaki's tongue. "Is that what we are? Sacrifices?" He hated that.
"Unfortunately, yes. We became sacrifices, little more than shells by which to hold the tailed beasts; weapons that they could point at each other as they saw fit, a deterrent for wars that happened regardless. The hubris of the other villages made them want the other tailed beasts for themselves, to add to their power." Kushina groaned, throwing herself back and staring at the empty, white sky. "That's one of the reasons that the first shinobi war kicked off, as I understand it. Essentially the moment that Hashirama died, every village which had previously 'played nice' grew emboldened by Konoha's loss. You know the rest, I'm sure."
"And Mito kept the Kyuubi in the family then, for what- to make sure it couldn't get captured by the other villages?"
Kushina nodded. "By themselves, capturing the Kyuubi was a pipe dream for the other villages. They lacked the prowess with sealing jutsu, for one, and the raw power needed to subdue it, for two. Hashirama had practically handed both to the other villages. With the tailed beasts now subdued and under their control, those villages could experiment on the tailed beasts they'd been given to figure out what means worked to keep them in check. At the same time, they now had one or even multiple tailed beasts that they could use to subdue the Kyuubi with. Had Auntie Mito simply let it free, it's more than likely that the Kyuubi would have been tracked down and captured by somebody else. There was no way she was ever going to risk having something like the fox pointed at Uzu."
Naruto felt wetness in his hair and realized that his mother had begun to cry.
"She was right, ya know… When the enemy alliance stormed Uzu, they did so with the very same tailed beasts that Hashirama had fucking handed to them. He gave them the very things they needed to butcher our people. Cloud, Stone, Mist… All of them combined wouldn't have made a dent in our defenses if they didn't have six of the nine tailed beasts leading the charge!" Kushina sobbed, and Naruto turned, wrapping his mother in his embrace. He'd never really had to comfort another person; he'd never had the privilege, rather. He simply followed her lead, doing exactly as she had done for him, the day they had met. Tucking her head underneath his chin, Naruto took a page out of Mito's book and sang to her.
"Wo'karaa, suult'r a-agot'e…"
His tears joined his mother's. There was this fun, quirky little quality of the Legacy Seal that he'd had the pleasure of learning, firsthand…
"Ma'akiine kami da wo'karaa…"
The experiences of his ancestors were as much his own, as they were, theirs. Every moment in time; every piece of joy, of pain… Every loss.
Big sis, can you sing to me, again?" Kenji's youthful voice pulled a groggy Mito from her rest. "I-um, I'm sorry. I just had a nightmare and I-"
"Don't worry about it," Mito chuckled. Wrapping her baby brother in her embrace, she helped him crawl into bed with her. I'll always sing for you, X'omaa."
Mito held her baby brother, and her eyes burned with tears as the scene morphed. His expression was blank, his skin pale and cold. Mito stroked his face and kissed his hair, choking back tears.
"En'timae, qi- wo'karaa. Tsalo-tzatzikii, my sunshine."
Hinata's team was an odd bunch. Shino was the logical one, always thinking things through -perhaps a bit too much, at times! He was the rationale of the trio, tempering Hinata's anxieties and Kiba's hotheadedness with cool logic.
Kiba was the fun one, always loud and full of spirit. The dog-like boy was quick to make a joke to lighten the mood, even when he really oughta keep his mouth shut.
He was like Naruto, in that way; they'd been friends, once. Though, the two of them didn't really seem to like each other, these days. Hinata supposed it was simply the result of a rivalry, gone bitter. Kiba tended to try to dominate conversations; his ego was a bit on the inflated side. It worked out fine enough among a pair like Hinata and Shino, who was only slightly more talkative than herself. Less so, in the face of a more spirited bunch.
Still, Kiba generally meant well, and his loss against Naruto had seemingly put a lid on his ego.
Something which Hinata was sure would help the boy in the long run.
When he saw her, he cheered, racing alongside his companion dog, Akamaru, to meet her halfway.
"There you are! I was thinking you wouldn't show up at all, slowpoke!"
Hinata weathered her friend's taunt with a shy smile. "S-sorry to keep you guys waiting." She restrained the urge to bow, knowing neither of her teammates expected such a thing. Instead, she waved at Shino, who had approached the pair at a much more leisurely pace.
"Kiba and I were both worried about you. Why? Because the injuries you sustained against your cousin were quite grievous."
"I apologize for worrying you." Hinata shared a short nod with her friend. The half a dozen kikaichū insects he had stealthily directed onto her were thoroughly ignored. She wasn't quite squeamish enough to be bothered by them, not when the trio had been friends and teammates for over half a year, now. She knew how Shino worked. "I-is Kurenai-sensei not here yet?"
"I am," their sensei contradicted; she waved as their heads snapped up to regard her, lounging on the branch of a tree. "I just wanted to give you all a chance to get reacquainted."
"Hey Hinata, isn't that Naruto's jacket?" Kiba pointed the adornment out, his tone filled with disbelief. "Hey, you two didn't go on a date or something, did you!?"
Hinata blushed at the teasing lilt in her friend's voice. "N-no that's not-" She paused, remembering to take a breath, first. "I'm just holding onto it for him. H-he's still in the hospital." Her team read the somberness of her mood, with even Kiba frowning.
"Is he getting better, at least?" He grinned as Hinata perked up.
"Oh, yes! M-much better. The doctors said he may come out, a-any day now!" Hinata didn't try to fight the grin that spread across her face. This was a safe space, after all. "They said he'll make a full recovery!"
"That is quite impressive. Why? Because I am of the understanding that his wounds were quite daunting." Shino made space in the circle for their sensei to join them as they spoke.
Kurenai threw her arms over Kiba and Shino's shoulders, leaning down a touch to smile at Hinata. "Has his team gone to see him yet?"
Ah. Well that was the big question, now wasn't it?
"N-no. Not as far as I'm aware."
There was a pause between the group, then Kiba snarled. "Oh that's fucked up! You mean none of them could even stop by to check on him? What the hell is Sakura even doing that's got her so busy she couldn't even pop in to make sure her teammate hasn't kicked the bucket?"
Hinata felt a surge of affection for her teammate. Yes, Kiba could be crass, rude, and even insensitive. But his loyalty was firm. He and Naruto may not exactly be friends anymore, but her dog-like friend would stand up for him, all the same.
She wished Sasuke and Sakura could be more like Kiba, for Naruto.
"You're certain that none of them have gone to see him?" Kurenai looked pretty pissed, herself.
"I can't say for certain," Hinata shrugged. "But I've been there to see him nearly every day… I haven't seen any of them even once."
"Absolutely fucking foul," Kiba barked. Akamaru matched his cry with one of his own. "I have half a mind to give that pink-haired little twat a piece of my mind!"
"Cool it, Kiba." Kurenai's words caused Kiba to relax, immediately. Her palm met his head, stroking his hair affectionately. "It's good of you to show such loyalty to a comrade…" Then, she sighed. "It's not our place to interfere in the affairs of another team, though. You know I'm just as displeased about that as you are." She huffed, in response to the boy's scowl. "Nonetheless, if Kakashi does not see fit to grace his student with a visit, and Naruto's teammates cannot seem to find the time, then I suppose it is only right that we step up on their behalf and offer our support, in their absence."
The team, even Shino, all shared a smile amongst each other.
"Yes, Kurenai-sensei!"
The training grounds were ruined.
Yep, well and truly ruined- no, devastated. Or maybe annihilated was more accurate?
Tenten snorted.
Yeah, some variation of completely freaking demolished was accurate enough, she decided.
In the center of the chaos stood her teammate, Neji. His stance was shaky, but he nonetheless stood tall in a crater of his own making. Weapons of all kinds lay embedded in the earth around him, courtesy of Tenten, herself.
"Well, hah-that looks to be about as good as it's going to get, eh buddy?" Tenten frowned when Neji didn't respond. "Hey, don't tell me you're giving me the cold shoulder too, now? I thought we had something special!"
Neji wobbled for a moment, turning slowly to regard all of the damage they had done, together. "It's not good enough."
"Waah?" Tenten gaped. "Dude, look at this place! Not a single one of my attacks managed to get through!" She gestured around them, both of their eyes stretching across the expanse of the field to spot the several hundred additional weapons strewn about the area. "We've been at this for hours, Neji. We've had to move locations twice, now! This is as good as it's going to get!"
"It's not good enough!" Neji's head snapped her way, his byakugan eyes glaring at her. Tenten took a step back. "What if he catches me in the air? I still can't keep it stable while airborne!"
"Well you could uh-"
"Or what if he comes from below? What if he uproots the earth, somehow!? I can't rotate if I'm unstable!" Neji punted a crumbling rock, sending it skyward. "I can't just beat him, Tenten. I have to destroy him. I have to!"
She didn't get it. Neji had been so self-assured, just days prior. Now, he was acting frantic, manic even! What had happened to send him into such a panicked frenzy?
"Alright Neji… Again, then. But after today, you're gonna have to spend your last few days preparing with Gai-sensei. I need some rest."
Neji gave the girl a short nod, saying nothing else. With a sigh, Tenten procured a pair of scrolls, unfurling them in front of her. A dual-string of seals writhed on the surface.
Definitions:
Lok'haathe (Warrior)
Wo'karaa, suult'r a-agot'e… (Be unbothered by the waves of trouble)
Ma'akiine-qi, kami da wo'karaa… (Steady your spirit for god and be unbothered)
En'timae-qi- wo'karaa; tsalo-tzatzikii (Spill your spirit and be unbothered; we make peace)
Okay! Let's talk about this chapter!
First things' first, I'm having a lot of fun writing Hinata, but I'm a bit on the fence about the direction I'm currently taking her.
Here's my understanding of Hinata as a character:
Hinata's shyness largely seems to stem from her own insecurities regarding her place within her clan and her perception of her validity as a kunoichi within the village. Throughout pretty much all of Naruto (especially part 1), she NEVER stands up for herself, by her own volition. The only times that Hinata seems to take the initiative in part 1 is when she is being directly pushed to, by Naruto. She fights Neji because Naruto encouraged her to; what's more, she did so, knowing 100% that she was fighting a losing battle. So we can establish that Hinata is too afraid to act purely on her own behalf, but will do things, even stuff she knows to be a bad idea, if she feels she is doing it for Naruto.
To THAT end, I feel like it isn't unreasonable that she'd say or do some out of pocket stuff if she feels like she's defending Naruto; doubly so if she's feeling actively motivated by Naruto's presence (that being the jacket).
I wanted several of her moments within this chapter to feel like something Hinata COULD do, given the right push, but ultimately something that she, herself, could not see herself doing. Hence her interactions between Neji and Hiashi. Let me know how you feel about that, because I'm honestly not certain.
Second order of business is Naruto's relationship with the memory of Mito and how that will develop him.
Understand that the Naruto you're seeing develop is one who is essentially watching the major moments, both positive and negative, of Mito's life. He is becoming intimately aware of how cruel the world is from the perspective of someone who fought, lost, and thrived during the warring states period. With this in mind, expect him to be at least somewhat influenced by those experiences.
However, Naruto as a character is one who is defined by his empathy, not just for his friends, but even for his enemies, when he can afford to. Thus, he walks away from Mito's experiences understanding her perspective, but feeling put off by her actions. He does not judge her because he understands how she got there, but he does not condone them because he doesn't have that kind of cruelty in him.
I hope that makes sense, and I hope you guys didn't cringe at my attempt at writing emotions! I'm not great at it, but I can't improve without trying so you guys get to be my guinea pigs; sorry!
Thirdly, I mentioned earlier that things will be changing for the Chūnin exams. This is the start of that. As you can see, Neji will be taking Naruto far more seriously, between Hinata's confidence in him and Hiashi's chastising of him. We'll see more of how that plays out later, and I'll be happy to discuss my thought processes with Neji as we progress.
As for Team Eight, I don't have a clear enough direction for them yet to discuss them in full, but I want their relationship with Hinata to be a relevant part of her side of this story, even if only a little bit. To that end, I thought it necessary to introduce them while at the same time finally tackling the unfortunate issue of Naruto's own team.
Remember what I said a while back: This is not a bashing fic. That doesn't mean some characters aren't going to be jerks, sometimes.
Last order of business relates to the Language that the Uzumaki speak and its ultimate place in this fic:
I'm debating creating a full spreadsheet for you guys to look through at your leisure if you want to keep up to date with certain pieces of Uzumaki colloquial. I'll always explain to you what something means if I suspect that you'll have trouble understanding or at least guessing what is being said, though. As I said, I want this language to have major significance so I'm planning to use it at least semi-frequently. But I don't want to force you guys to learn the SparkNotes of a whole dang made up language just to enjoy my story. Let me know in your reviews whether you'd like to see more or less of it. Regardless, I'll be going out of my way to make sure that it doesn't become TOO prevalent. If any time should come that characters end up speaking exclusively in this language, I'll probably just use underlines for it, that way it's not too overbearing. Again, let me know!
