Hinata: Byakurenden
Hinata vs Naruto
Hyuga Hanabi stood next to her father, gazing longingly into the Forest of Death, where her sister had disappeared, along with the Fifth Hokage and Uzumaki Naruto.
A metal gate separated them now, but even if it hadn't been there, Hanabi could feel the chasm that stood between her and her beloved sister. Not a physical gulf, but something more psychological. Hyuga Hinata wasn't the same person as when she had left.
No, that wasn't necessarily true. It was just a delusion brought on by Hanabi's own apprehension. Ever since it had been revealed that Hinata was the reincarnation of Otsutsuki Kali, she felt like an existence more than what Hanabi needed her to be: Her big sister. So while it wasn't like Hinata had changed- she was still the nice, sweet, thoughtful person she always had been- it also felt like she was going somewhere far away, somewhere Hanabi couldn't follow.
A fear that had partially come true when she set out on her two-year journey. After the appearance of a literal goddess into their world, her sister just up and left in order to train and become strong enough to deal with something that should be impossible to fight. And even though she had come back, she seemed to be looking somewhere far away, as if facing a destiny beyond the horizon which Hanabi couldn't see.
That scared her.
Just how far would Hinata go and where would her final destination leave her? While these were questions that couldn't possibly have answers at present, the fight they were all about to witness might help shed some light.
Hanabi and her father weren't the only ones interested in the outcome, however. A small gathering of some of the village's most powerful individuals were here, and they all had their own opinions and input for what they were about to witness.
"I'm telling you, this isn't even going to be close!" Jiraiya, the legendary toad hermit, boasted with a big booming voice, followed by an equally rapturous laugh. "I've been overseeing the kid's progress personally and while he may have the disposition of his mother, his talent surpasses even his father! I don't care how strong the Hyuga princess is, she has no chance." He folded his arms and grinned sideways, apparently trying to get a rise out of Hiashi directly.
"Hmph," Hiashi, for his part, didn't even turn to acknowledge the Sannin, and merely gave a small laugh under his breath. "The Hyuga have been and continue to be Konoha's strongest clan, and I believe my daughter will adequately demonstrate our power." He stated assuredly, allowing the challenge to hang hauntingly in the air.
"I hate to agree with the pervert here," Tsunade, the slug princess, responded next. "But it was only because of him that I agreed to return to the village, he's got a strange power beyond just his raw talent. I don't see how anyone could beat him at this point." Despite her claim, she seemed far from satisfied with her former teammate's ungracious boasting.
"Perhaps we should ask someone that has seen Hinata's progress for themselves," The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, said while turning to the Anbu guards posted just behind them. "Yugao, what can you say for Hinata's growth?" He asked.
"Sir," Yugao hesitated for a moment, unsure what she could say that wouldn't be too presumptuous for someone of her station. Despite her confidence in her and her team's strength as Konoha's elite assassination unit, everyone gathered here was in a class of their own. "I know little about the potential of Uzumaki Naruto, but I can say that even if you asked every Anbu here in the village to fight her, Hinata would not lose." She had no doubt this was true, but the same might be said about anyone here.
"Well, it's not like this spar is about win or lose." Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Ninja, seemed surprisingly, but perhaps not uncharacteristically, nonchalant about his expectations for the fight. "After all, this is just like the Chunin Exams. What's important isn't the result, but their performance and ability to deal with an evolving situation." What he was saying was exactly true, however…
"Try telling that to that loser, Naruto." Sasuke scoffed, but it didn't seem like there was any malice in his words. "He's been waiting for this since he kicked my ass over two years ago. He's determined to win." The way he said it seemed to imply that Hinata didn't have the same motivation.
"Hinata's not one to give up either." Kurenai replied, knowing just how stubborn her student could actually be. Many people didn't know that about her because she was so shy and reserved, but once she got something in her head, there was very little someone could do to dissuade her. That was why she had fallen in love with and remained to this day in love with the very person she was about to fight against.
"Well, we're about to find out." Asuma said, taking a quick break from his cigarette. "The match is starting." Like everyone else, he was using one of his contract summons to watch the battle vicariously. And just as he stated, Itachi had burst into crows with Naruto and Hinata still next to each other, having given the signal for the fight to begin.
Everyone watched as there was a moment's hesitation, both Naruto and Hinata unsure of what to do. Then they sprung into action as one, kicking off the beginning of what everyone had been waiting for.
Naruto didn't even turn, simply lifting his left arm and swinging a back-handed fist haphazardly. Hinata, in contrast, was more refined in her movements, simply moving her open palm to intercept. There was a loud clap, Naruto's first and Hinata's palm bouncing off each, the latter successfully deflecting his attack and knocking it over her head.
Had she activated her Byakugan and she could have channeled her clan's Jyuken technique into her open palm, but the fight had started so suddenly, she didn't yet have the time to utilize her dojutsu. And in order to do this, she needed distance- only for a brief moment. So she leapt to the side, attempting to put that necessary distance between herself and her opponent.
This was standard principle in a fight between Ninja; First you had to observe your opponent from a distance and prepare your techniques. Only a fool would just dive in head-first. A fool, or someone unexpectedly gutsy- in other words, Naruto. As she jumped to the side, he pursued her, instead of backing off like one would expect.
Of course, Hinata knew that Naruto wasn't just any ordinary opponent. At every turn, he always managed to surprise his opponents, but that was because they always underestimated him. She was the one person in the world that wouldn't make that mistake, because to her, he was her inspiration and guiding light. So even when he leapt at her, she wasn't the least bit surprised. In fact, she had expected and prepared for it.
Naruto threw his whole weight behind his next blow, a straight jab in the form of a lunge at her. Hinata was a step too slow and he closed the distance on her, fist on a direct course to rearranging her nose. Or so everyone watching must have thought. Just as his fist was less than a second from smashing her face in and it looked like Hinata tripped and fell. She collapsed backwards, Naruto's fist flying clear over her head, missing by mere centimeters.
Only she hadn't tripped at all, but instead just allowed herself to fall, letting gravity do its work. As Naruto flew over her, she grabbed his outstretched arm with her left hand. Then with her right, she pressed up on his left shoulder. Bringing her legs up, she tucked partially into a ball, placing the bottom of her feet on Naruto's stomach.
And then like a tightened coil, she unleashed all the energy at once, using Naruto's own momentum against him to send his whole body careening through the air and right towards one of the massive trees. Of course, with every action, there was an equally opposite reaction and by throwing Naruto skywards, she had also slammed her own back into the ground.
Hinata gave a cough, the wind knocked from her lungs, but she didn't allow that to stop her. She couldn't allow it to. The force at which she hit the ground caused her to bounce and using the upward momentum, she flipped in one fluid motion, landing nimbly on her feet with nothing more than a slight skip to maintain balance.
In the same motion that she had done that, Naruto had also gained control of his airborne trajectory, spinning his body and slamming into the massive tree on the balls of his feet. If he was perturbed that Hinata got the jump on him and managed to succeed in creating the distance she needed, then he didn't show it. In fact, he looked tickled-pleased by the stunt she had just pulled.
Hinata closed her eyes, just for a second, standing completely still and allowing herself to connect with nature and the world around her. That was all she had to do. From there, Kali would handle the rest. When she opened her eyes, her pale irises had a mark in them- a barely perceptible white lotus. She had activated the Nichiren Byakugan, and could now see the very natural energy of the world around her, along with the other boons granted by her clan's dojutsu.
"I knew you wouldn't make it that easy for me," Naruto laughed, pounding his fists together in eager anticipation for the true fight that was to come. It had never been his intention to beat Hinata before she could use the true power of her eyes. If he was going to win, he wanted to do it with Hinata coming all out at him. All the same, he couldn't resist seeing how she would react to a pressured assault before she used her great power, and she didn't disappoint.
"…" Hinata didn't respond verbally, but she couldn't help the small smirk that involuntarily split her face at Naruto's praise. She had always wanted this, to one day stand on the same stage as him. Now she had finally gotten what she wanted, which was why she couldn't afford to hold back. However, even if that was the case, she wasn't someone that could recklessly charge in like Naruto did. So instead she settled into a defensive stance, curious to see what Naruto would show her.
She wouldn't have to wait long.
"Shuton: Moku Bunshin!" He called, preparing his tried and true wood clones. Only this time something was different. For he hadn't said Mokuton, but Shuton. In other words, not a Wood style jutsu, but Seed style. This was the first time she had heard of it.
Naruto had awakened the wood style when Hinata had helped nurture the connection between him and his own previous life, Asura. What she didn't know was that she had accidentally merged their chakra natures together, giving Naruto access to something even above a Kekkei Genkai: a Kekkei Tota. A combination of not just earth and water, but wind as well. Even he hadn't been aware of it at the time and so had been limited in the way he was able to utilize his Kekkei Tota. In his bout with Sasuke, he had learned the true nature of his abilities and had spent the past two years harnessing them.
It had also been thanks to this abnormal power that Naruto had been able to replace his once lost arm with a wood one. That arm was covered with white bandages now, but from the gaps in the wrapping, he hurled out half a dozen seeds- just as the name Shuton implied. Those seeds sprouted in mid-flight, transforming into wood clones that flew at Hinata like missiles.
Dodging them would have been easy. However, Hinata already knew exactly how Naruto fought. He threw his clones at her like this because he expected her to dodge. This would cause the clones to land around her in a seemingly haphazard assault. What would actually happen was the clones would land in such a way that she was surrounded and Naruto could then manipulate the wood clones to turn them into trees and trap her. So Hinata didn't bother to dodge. Instead, it was time for her to show a little of what she had been doing during her two years of training: elemental manipulation.
"Doton: Doryuheki!" Hinata slammed her hands on the ground, pumping chakra into the earth and creating a wall of mud that rose between her and the incoming clones. There were several loud thuds, the six clones bouncing off the sudden wall and collapsing onto the ground just on the other side. Had these been normal Shadow Clones, the force of the impact would have been enough to dispel the clones, but these wood types were far more durable than that. With a simple shake of the head, they all began stumbling to their feet.
"Raiton: Thunderbolt!" Hinata wasn't about to give them the chance, able to see through the wall with her Byakugan. They couldn't see her yet, giving her an advantage that wouldn't last long. Holding a spear of pure lightning in her hand, she wound up before launching it like a javelin. The bolt pierced through the mud wall- lightning the perfect counter for earth- and then proceeded right through the chest cavity of the first clone to fully get to his feet.
"Ah-" The clone couldn't even finish a full exclamation, staring wide-eyed through the hole in the wall, making direct eye contact with Hinata's Nichiren Byakugan for a brief second. Then he fell backwards, turning into a stump of wood with a burning hole in the middle.
"Shit, move!" Another clone shouted, the remaining five spreading out and making a break for the edges of the wall. Two of them went right and three went left, Hinata trailing the larger group with her eyes and already forming the seals for her next jutsu.
"Katon: Hosenka!" Hinata built up fire in her lungs before breathing out a ball of fire. The ball burst into a series of miniature torches that bombarded the three wood clones the moment they had made it around the corner of the wall. They didn't stand a chance, the wood clones being blasted into pieces and what parts of them that remained, catching flame.
Four down, just two more wood clones to go. The last two had made it around the wall and were closing in on her, determined to narrow the distance and turn this into a melee battle. A chance Hinata wasn't about to give them, determined herself to fully display just what exactly it was she had been learning this whole time.
"Suiton: Suiro!" The moisture in the air and the ground around them liquified, turning into a dense prison of water that immediately trapped the two clones. It wouldn't hold them for long, and so before the water prison had even formed completely she already finished the seals for her final technique.
"Futon: Reppusho!" She concentrated all the wind on the palm of her hand, refining and sharpening it until she was positive in its destructive ability- and then thrust forward. Her open palm unleashed a maelstrom of invisible, razor sharp blades that ripped the water prison to shreds, prisoners and all. The clones collapsed into pieces, hitting the ground with wet slops, the water from the destroyed prison splashing against her ankles.
All five forms of elemental manipulation. That was what Hinata was now capable of, and Naruto had given her the perfect opportunity to show off each one, each right after the other in rapid succession. Round one of this fight between them had been her complete victory.
However, while she had shown off the fruits of her efforts over the past two years, he hadn't shown anything new yet. While the way he formed his wood clones was certainly different, the clones themselves had been exactly as she remembered. So while her victory in this round was resounding, it rang hollow. It was from here that Naruto would put further his own efforts.
The second round was about to begin.
"You're awesome as always!" Naruto praised, having not moved from where he had landed on the tree. Not only hadn't he moved, but he had gone completely still. No, to call it still would be selling it short, it was more like he was one with nature. "Now it's time for me to show you what I've been learning." He boasted, an explosion of energy wrapping itself around him.
Not just any energy, but the natural energy of the world itself. Just like Hinata's ability to interact with the world around them, Naruto had discovered the secret to Sage Mode now as well.
He opened his eyes, and they were no longer the usual sky blue that Hinata had fallen in love with- but an almost autumn orange. What's more, his pupil had changed, looking like an odd plus mark. The horizontal slit was wide and thick, like a toad's eyes. Whereas the vertical slit was thin and piercing, like a fox's.
It was only then that Hinata put everything together. She maintained sage mode by utilizing the shade of Kali at her back, her previous life unable to move and thus maintain perfectly still in order to mold the natural energy and pass it on to Hinata. Asura wasn't actually capable of that, as his and Indra's reincarnation was slightly different from Kali's. However, Naruto had one other ally he could rely on that didn't need to move.
The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.
Kurama and Naruto hadn't become close enough to call one another friends, and his seal still stood in the way from utilizing the full power of the Biju. However, the two of them had entered into an understanding of sorts, and the seal did little to prevent the natural energy Kurama was capable of gathering and molding for Naruto to use, and it had the added benefit of allowing him to sneak more of his own chakra through without causing any damage to the seal.
Hinata may have had the power of natural energy combined with the Hachimon, but Naruto now had the power of natural energy merged with the strength of the strongest Biju.
"Shuton: Tanesandan!" Naruto once again unleashed a barrage of seeds from his wooden right arm, but this time they were different. How exactly they were different, Hinata couldn't exactly tell, but these were much more powerful. Of that alone she was certain.
Every instinct inside her was telling her not to block these, but run. Hinata decided to trust that instinct, pooling enough chakra into her feet that when she leapt backwards, she went flying through the air several dozens of meters. It ended up being the correct decision, the seeds exploding only moments later.
Not just any simple explosion, but massive detonations that enveloped the entire clearing they had just been fighting in. Whole trees were consumed, the smoke cloud from the explosion jetting upwards like a pitch black column, the top spreading out like a mushroom.
"Yata no Kagami!" Hinata activated the power in her right eye, generating a shield just in the nick of time, the explosion knocking her even further through the forest than she originally intended.
The Yata no Kagami was a sacred tool that had been slipped into the world by Amaterasu, who had been hoping to use it to get into this world. Upon entering, she no longer had any use for it and so had allowed Hinata to keep it, seemingly only on a whim. Which was something she couldn't complain about, as the mirror served as an ultimate defense even above their clan's most prized techniques.
Even still, it had barely been in time to protect her against the awesome power of the attack Naruto just unleashed. With a flip, she landed on the trunk of the nearest tree and then couldn't help but stare at the mushroom cloud that occupied the area they had just been fighting.
She was so mesmerized by it that she almost forgot that she was in the middle of a fight. It was only when another seed flew just above her that she was reminded of her current predicament.
This seed was different yet from both the explosive seeds and the clone seeds. It was only as it sprouted that Hinata finally realized what it was that set all these groups apart; the elemental natures stored within them.
The clone seeds had the elements of water and earth stored within them, allowing them to hatch into the Wood style Kekkei Genkai. Then the explosive seeds had been a combination of water, earth, and wind; unleashing the full destructive force of the Kekkei Tota itself. These latest seeds only had wind and water.
"Hyoton: Makyo Hyosho!" The seed sprouted into a mirror made of pure ice. The mirror reflected not Hinata, who was right beneath it, but Naruto. That shouldn't have been possible, as with the three-hundred-sixty degree view of the Byakugan she could tell Naruto wasn't behind her. Then it got even more strange, Naruto falling out of the mirror, transforming from a flat existence inside it into the real deal. She didn't understand the principle behind it, but he had just used the mirror as a kind of space/time Ninjutsu.
As Naruto fell towards her, he caught another seed with his right hand. This time, the seed only had the power of earth and wind inside it. Unlike the last few, he didn't throw it, instead keeping it held within his palm. There was a whirl of energy, Naruto spinning the chakra in his palm until the seed was trapped in a spiraling vortex the size of a small orb.
"Jiton: Rasengan!" First it was Wood and then Ice Style, now it was Magnet. The Rasengan he created was covered in some kind of strange seal. She didn't know what this technique was capable of, but she also wasn't about to test it with her real body.
"Kage Bunshin!" Hinata formed a crossed seal, utilizing what had once been Naruto's signature Jutsu. A clone made of pure chakra popped into existence, standing directly in the path between her and Naruto. At the same motion as she created the clone, she quit channeling chakra into her feet, causing her to simply slip from the trunk of the tree and enter free fall.
Meanwhile, her clone jumped forward and threw herself right into Naruto's Rasengan, not giving him a chance to turn it on the original. Hinata watched as the seal from the Rasengan spread, trapping the clone and restricting its movements. At least until the destructive force of the spinning chakra vortex ripped her clone apart.
Hinata continued to fall, her increasing velocity putting greater distance between herself and Naruto. Or so she had hoped.
"Hyoton: Makyo Hyosho!" Naruto must have accounted for her fleeing downwards, six more seeds sprouting into mirrors of ice. Each mirror was already reflecting a wood clone, each clone holding a magnetic Rasengan in their hands. As the clones jumped out, completely surrounding her from every direction, Hinata couldn't help but feel stupid for being so proud earlier.
So what if she was capable of using all five elements now? Naruto was capable of a Kekkei Tota, and not just that, through the power of his Kekkei Tota, he had access to three unique and powerful Kekkei Genkai that he could use simultaneously. It wasn't like he could use these Kekkei Genkai freely, having to rely on the seeds he created to do it, but that hardly seemed like a hindrance considering the power he was currently displaying.
No, this wasn't the time for her to fall into despair. Just because she couldn't win in a fight of the elements wasn't enough reason for her to give up. After all, learning elemental manipulation had only been a means to an end for her. She had many other ways to fight yet. Placing a finger to her temple, Hinata pressed on the first of the eight most important Tenketsu in the human body.
"First Gate of Opening: Release!" Energy twice as great as before now swirled around Hinata, and she felt power course through every fiber of her being.
Just as the Naruto to the nearest mirror began to jump out at her, she turned and struck a different Tenketsu. Not one on the human body, but a point of natural energy that hung in the air all around them. By striking this point, she could manipulate the very fabric of nature itself. And by stabbing it like just now, she could cause destructive chain reactions. Such as a rupture that reached the mirror of ice, causing it to shatter into a million shards, along with the wood clone.
Hinata landed on the forest floor and the remaining five clones followed suit, each one still holding the magnetic Rasengan. They didn't dare approach her carelessly after having witnessed what she was capable of with just a flick of the finger. She couldn't afford to be as cautious, a single hit from one of those Rasengan capable of locking her movements and settling the fight then and there.
She dropped down, striking this time at a natural Tenketsu point deep in the earth. The clones seemed to realize what she was doing and all jumped for her at once, but it was too late. The ground itself began to shake, the land rolling like waves out on the open sea. The trees surrounding her split and shattered, the earth itself crumbling into large blocks that battered and destroyed the wood clones.
Meanwhile, the real Naruto had only just managed to catch up, landing on a broken block of earth and nearly stumbling right off the side because of the odd angle it stuck out at. Despite the situation, he was still grinning like crazy, only growing more and more excited the longer the fight went on. It felt like there were a million things they both wanted to say to one another, but the fight was too far along now for that. The only thing left to them was action. That would be how they conveyed their feelings to one another.
With enough force to shatter the blocks of earth they stood on, the two crossed the distance to one another in under a single second. The terrain around them was completely transformed, no more trees in their immediate vicinity and the ground too broken to run straight across. Hinata swung her open palm, but Naruto blocked the Jyuken strike by deflecting with his elbow. At the same time he had struck with his right arm, and Hinata had caught it by the wrist.
They disengaged, landing on another block before skipping off with the same force as before. And once again, neither was able to break through the guard of the other. There would be no breaking this stalemate, both of them able to read the flow of natural energy around them and using it to predict what the other would do.
"Second Gate of Rest: Release!" Hinata pressed her finger to the other side of her temple, opening the next gate and allowing even greater power than before to flow through.
As if not to be outdone, Naruto urged Kurama to push through more of his own chakra to stabilize the natural energy he was sending out. Explosions of wind and energy whirled around both of them strongly enough to lift their clothes and jostle their hair.
Hinata knew that with this, there would be no end and they would just go back to the status quo they had been at. Seeming to think the same thing, Naruto once again began generating that swirling vortex of chakra in his right hand. As he did this, Hinata slipped into her stance.
"Byakuren: Some no Mai - Yaezaki!"
"Rasengan!"
Once again the two clashed, this time wielding their prospective Jutsu. Hinata's fist coated in white chakra met with the swirling vortex. There was a flash of light followed by a loud bang and the two were sent flying backwards in opposite directions from each other. Neither one was able to properly land, skipping across the broken terrain until they tripped and began rolling head over feet.
In truth, Hinata's technique hadn't been completed. The first dance of the white lotus was supposed to be a series of strikes, not just a single blow. Yet the power of Naruto's Rasengan had been enough to disrupt the dance right from the offset. Just where had he learned such a technique that it could compete with Kali's legacy, she couldn't help but wonder.
Naruto wasn't done with the surprises yet either. As the two of them both stumbled to their feet, they took stock of the distance between them. There was enough space they would be hard pressed to hear each other even if they shouted. Yet with the current power flowing through them, it wouldn't take them more than a second to close the gap.
"Third Gate of Life: Release!" Hinata knew there was likely little point, but she decided to push herself even further on the off chance she could outpace Naruto, if even only for a second. As she did that, Naruto once again held a single seed in his hand and was building a Rasengan around it.
Hinata knew she shouldn't allow him to finish whatever technique he was planning, but she couldn't help but be curious at the same time. A decision she quickly regretted as the Rasengan got bigger and more elaborate, taking on the shape of a shuriken with the vortex at the center.
"Shuton: Rasenshuriken!" The seed he placed in the swirling shuriken of chakra didn't contain just two elements like before, but all three. Even separate and both techniques were truly fearsome, but together… Hinata couldn't help but be curious about what kind of power this technique was capable of.
She wouldn't have to wait long for an answer, Naruto winding up the technique and throwing it, the dense orb of chakra slicing through the air and flying right at her. She was half tempted to just use the Yata mirror to block the technique, but even with the legendary tool, she didn't want to risk allowing this technique to get that close to her. No, it was better to redirect it.
Hinata struck another natural Tenketsu point, but this time not with the intent of destroying it, but instead manipulating it. The wind itself shifted, catching the incoming attack and tilting it skywards. It flew high over Hinata's head and into the forest where it disappeared beyond the trees. A moment later there was a bright flash, the technique detonating and taking out yet another section of the Forest of Death.
Unlike the last time, Hinata didn't bother to linger on the destruction and the sheer absurdity of it. If Naruto was using techniques of this level, there was only one thing for her to do.
"Fourth Gate of Pain: Release!" Visible waves of chakra rolled off Hinata now and covered her like a cloak. The chakra began taking shape, lifting her up and growing outwards exponentially. This was the same technique she tried and failed to use against Amaterasu. To think she would use it against a comrade, least of all Naruto, was almost inconceivable.
However, it was clear to her now that Naruto truly intended this fight to have nothing held back. That was the only reason he would throw something like that last attack at her. He believed both that he had to in order to match her and also he was confident enough in her to have done something about it. Against that conviction, she couldn't possibly pull her punches, as that would only serve to disrespect his commitment to this battle.
As the shape of the chakra around her began to become clearer, Naruto clued into what was going on. Not to be outdone, his wooden right arm started expanding, growing so large that it trapped him inside. Just like Hinata's chakra was beginning to take a bestial shape, Naruto's wood did the same. While Hinata's chakra took the shape of a lion, Naruto's took the shape of a fox.
They both grew larger and larger, until the two avatars stood at half the height of the giant trees that comprised the forest around them. While Hinata's lion was a being of pure light-blue chakra, in a way similar to how the Mangekyo manifested Susanoo, Naruto's fox had taken on more of a hybrid composition. The majority of it was made entirely of wood, but the joints, mouth and eyes all glowed with red, steaming hot chakra. At the base of the rear were four gigantic flowers, and as those flowers bloomed, pitch black tails sprouted from the pistils.
"Byakuren: Tsugi no Mai - Akejishi!"
"Kurama: Stage Four!"
The two of them shouted, the chakra lion and wooden fox charging, their movements dictated entirely by the will of the people inside. The ground beneath them shook, every step of the beasts carrying real weight. And when they crashed, the resulting thunderclap reached as far as the Hokage Monument where it then echoed throughout the whole village.
The two beasts turned into a flurry of claws and snapping jaws, each one trying to gain dominance over the other. Kurama's wooden arm slammed on the ground, occupying the space where the Akejishi had been only tenths of a second before. From that single interaction, Hinata was starting to gain an idea for the strengths and weaknesses of their avatars.
Her Akejishi was fast and nimble, hopping from space to space and gracefully leaping through the air with elegance that should have been impossible for its size. However, her attacks lacked true power. Whereas the wooden Kurama avatar was slow and clunky, the wooden limbs only able to move as they were thanks to the chakra-infused joints. However, each blow carried real weight and had its opponent been anything other than a lion made of pure chakra that couldn't feel pain, then he would have won from the first exchange.
Sensing she wasn't going to gain any kind of advantage while fighting out in the open terrain, Hinata willed her lion to retreat, leaping away from the clearing and dashing into a thick part of the forest which hadn't been destroyed by their battle yet. The four-tailed Kurama wasn't going to let her go that easy, raging after her with a loud, feral roar.
They dashed through the trees now, the Akejishi dodging and weaving through every gap just barely wide enough for it to slip through. Kurama, meanwhile, just staggered through like a drunken boar, knocking over trees like they weren't even there. Still, he couldn't keep up with the nimble dexterity of the lion and before long they lost sight of it completely.
Not for long, as there was a loud whooshing through the air, the lion descending from above after having leapt to the highest trees and using them as a jumping-off point to make an aerial assault. She slammed into Kurama hard enough to knock him over and by the time he stumbled back up with a blind swing, the Akejishi was gone again.
"Screw this," Kurama growled, capable of his own speech now that they had taken this form. He began shaking, bubbles of blue, red, and black chakra popping out from the chakra joints and tails. He opened his mouth wide, the wooden jaw cracking to allow it to unhinge further, gathering the bubbles in a swirling vortex not entirely dissimilar to the Rasengan.
Only this one was much more dense. As Kurama's jaw snapped shut around it, his mass increased so dramatically that the ground beneath him partially collapsed, being pushed down by the immense weight. Then they waited, wooden ears twitching, on the alert for any sign of the approaching danger. Finally, they heard it. Coming from directly behind them. Spinning around completely was impossible with their current mass, but they didn't have to, just craning the neck enough to take aim.
"Biju-dama!" Naruto and Kurama's voices overlapped, as they released a beam of pure orange. Hinata's eyes widened, and she forced the lion to drop, just barely dodging below the attack at the last possible second. The beam arched overhead, flying into the center of the forest where it struck the tower that had been used as the staging ground for the preliminary matches.
The tower disappeared, along with the entire radius around it, nearly half forest enveloped in the bright light of the explosion. And to think, that was only the power of Kurama at four tails. If he was to unleash all nine… Hinata didn't want to even consider the implications.
What's more, at her current strength, she didn't have a technique capable of matching that. If she opened the fifth gate, she might be able to… but that wasn't an option. While she was resolved to go at Naruto with her full potential- just as he wanted- there was also the limit Itachi had placed on this spar: If either of their attacks reached outside the bounds of the Forest of Death, then the perpetrator was to consider themselves forfeit. If she went to the Fifth gate and their Jutsu clashed, it was highly likely it would end in a double-forfeit. A conclusion in which neither of them hoped for.
No, she had to do this within the confines of the fourth gate- but how? She couldn't hope to generate such power… which meant she had to somehow use their strength against them. And if that was the case, then she only had one idea. She didn't like the thought of it, but she also didn't see many other options.
Forcing the Akejishi back to its feet, she once again disappeared into the forest and retreated from the wooden fox. And just as she predicted, they once again began to prepare another volley of the Biju-dama. There was no reason they wouldn't, as a technique such as that was their clear path to victory. They couldn't catch her in melee, so the only real option was an overwhelming show of force.
Hinata gave them the chance to prepare their attack, waiting until they had gathered the scattered chakra orbs and mixed them into a dense sphere for consumption. Only the very second the bomb's preparation was complete did she jump back into the fray, her entire strategy relying on this timing. The pair seemed to be expecting that, finding her almost immediately this time. And they had an ace up their sleeve as well.
"Renzoku Biju-dama!" They called, intending not just to fire a single bomb, but a continuous burst of them. For if she was going to dodge one, they would just cover their bases with a barrage instead.
Hinata had underestimated their power and had she known it would be more than one, she wouldn't have gone with this strategy. It was too late now, no time left to second guess herself.
"Wha-" The pair had no idea what Hinata was intending as she dissolved the Akejishi, turning it into wisps of chakra that she flew out of.
Using these wisps like jet-fuel, she propelled herself forward fast enough to shatter the sound barrier, causing a series of sonic booms. In the blink of an eye, too fast for either side to stop what was about to happen, she landed on the jaw of Kurama's open mouth, the heat from the bomb and growing light the final warning of its imminent detonation.
"Yata no Kagami!" Hinata widened her right eye, utilizing the sacred tool at point-blank range. The moment her absolute defense went up and the Biju-dama slammed into it.
What happened next, neither of them could say. There was a bright flash of blindingly pure white light. Then nothing. They didn't hear or even feel the explosion as it went off right in front of their faces. It felt like they had entered into a void, floating in the infinite darkness.
There was no consciousness here, no reincarnations or previous lives, or even their physical forms. They just ceased to exist. To Hinata, that actually sounded kind of nice. It was easier than all the pressure and expectations and impending dread of what she knew was to come. However, it wasn't something she could avoid forever, no matter how much she wished she could. Because there was too much in this world she wanted to protect. As if this thought allowed her to manifest her will, she felt a voice calling her back from the void.
"Nee-sama!" Hanabi's desperate cry cut through that darkness and dragged Hinata back into reality. And unlike the nothingness of the void, reality hurt. It really freaking hurt.
Hinata gasped, eyes shooting wide open as her body racked with pain. What happened… and where was she? It took several seconds for her memory to catch back up and slowly she was able to piece everything together.
The series of explosions had been so powerful and all encompassing that even the Yata mirror couldn't protect her completely. The remaining wisps of chakra from the Akejishi had acted as a partial buffer, but that was all. Hinata had still been blasted across the forest, landing just on the outskirts.
Meanwhile, the wooden Kurama avatar had been completely obliterated. The wood and chakra had been thick, protecting Naruto much in the same way as Hinata had been. He was just nearby, having been propelled in the same direction. And also like Hinata, it looked like he was still trying to get his bearings, propping himself up on a nearby tree and eyes glancing around as if in a haze.
"Nee-sama!" Hanabi shouted again, drawing Hinata's own vision to the source. Her little sister stood pressed against the edge of the chain-link fence, looking like she might try to tear her way through at any second. The rest of the spectators weren't far behind, every single person staring in undisguised awe at the power wielded by the two young Ninja.
"Hanabi-" Hinata sat up and tried to say. However it wasn't words that came out, but blood. She coughed, bright red liquid spraying across the grass and weighing it down. Her efforts to rise to her feet were in vain as she was forced to her hands and knees. Her entire mouth tasted of iron and her vision wavered.
Forcing herself to stay together, Hinata examined her body with the Byakugan. She was whole and nothing seemed broken, but her body had been battered pretty badly. Once again she was thankful to the skillful sewing technique of the Hinoshita clan, as even her Shrine Maiden robes were perfectly intact, although covered in a heavy layer of soot.
Not that it looked like Naruto was much better. He was covered in burns, his Chunin vest having been incinerated entirely and several holes sporting the black spandex he wore underneath. He might have been healing, but it was slow as the natural energy along with the demon fox had used a lot of the chakra they molded for him already .
The same could be said for Hinata, in that the healing was also a painfully slow process. The power of the eight gates no longer coursed through her and while she wasn't suffering the drawbacks from having opened up to the fourth gate, she was also no longer benefitting from the increased healing rate that much natural energy could provide.
The fight wasn't over, but it just about might have been. Itachi was the only other occupant that stood inside the fence, and when Hinata met his gaze, she could tell he was silently asking her if she wanted to forfeit. She shook her head, once more forcing power into her legs and pushing herself to her feet.
Naruto did the same, gingerly stepping away from the tree he had been using for support. He stumbled slightly, but managed to catch himself and straightened out his stance. His autumn burnt-orange eyes locked with the white lotus in Hinata's iris. They nodded at once another, signaling their determination to keep going. They wouldn't stop until one of them had won.
Neither one of them was going to be throwing around their most powerful techniques in their current condition. But as things stood, it wouldn't take something even a fraction as big as before to end things. Just one good blow could be the deciding factor now.
Strength entered both their bodies and slowly they began to raise their right hand, extending their index and middle fingers in the seal of confrontation. They held the pose for several seconds, waiting for some signal that might never even come.
A sudden gust of wind blew through the night sky, the sun having set while they fought in the shade of the forest. The wind rustled their clothes and blew their hair, lifting fallen leaves and blowing them in their path.
That was the signal, they decided as if of one mind.
"Moku Bunshin!" Naruto threw down six more seeds, creating an equal number of wooden clones. They all charged, running right alongside the original who threw caution to the wind and freely entered within the range of Hinata's Jyuken.
Hinata was reminded of the very first spar she and Naruto ever had. It felt so long ago now, yet that fight had started just like this; He and his clones charging her head on.
Like back then, the first two came from the front, throwing wild haymakers. Hinata turned her body, ducking low and under the thrusting fists. She then side-stepped past the clones as they also ran past her.
The next two attacked her from the sides, catching her in a pincer movement. Hinata was still crouched low, and pushed chakra into the bottom of her feet. Just before the clones reached her she jumped up, flying high over either clone's head.
As they passed by underneath, the last two clones joined the fray. They ran up to ones she just dodged, jumping on their shoulders and using them as a boost to give chase through the air. They thrust upwards in an uppercut, but Hinata could already read the path of their trajectory. She spun around, performing a backflip and dodging their fists by a hair's-breadth.
She reached the ground several seconds later, landing in a crouch. The two clones that attacked first were on her again, this time striking from behind. Hinata didn't stand up, spinning around in a sweeping kick that caught both clones off guard.
As they stumbled over themselves and fell, two clones came at Hinata while crouching low and two flew at her from above. Hinata slid at one clone, tripping him and sending his full weight crashing on top of her. She hit him with a Jyuken, knocking him aloft and into the unsuspecting clones above. They collided into one another, the three turning into a tumbling ball of limbs that crashed into the ground a moment later.
The last clone was then caught unaware, distracted by the sight of the flailing. He didn't even react as Hinata stepped into him, striking him with the full force of a Jyuken that sent him flying.
It was so much like their first fight, it couldn't have been a coincidence. Yet it was also different enough that Hinata could feel Naruto's growth. Unlike the first time, these weren't shadow clones that burst in a single strike. These were wood clones and would keep getting up no matter how many times she struck them.
And she was nearly out of energy.
"Jiton: Rasengan!" The original Naruto had fallen a step behind his clones, having put all his energy into creating the magnetic Rasengan. He was aiming to end this by binding her movements in place with the magnetic seals. As he ran at her from behind, the first two clones also charged her head on. Hinata ran at those clones and caught their forearms, using them to flip herself clear over them. As she landed with a skip and a hop, the other flailing group of clones had managed to disentangle themselves and were scrambling for her now.
She was surrounded. And the original Naruto held the trump card to victory in his hand. Meanwhile, she had nothing. No energy, no strategy, and no path to victory. What could she even do in this situation?
The only possible way to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat was to catch Naruto off-guard. Even just thinking that sounded like a joke to her. Naruto was the number one most unpredictable, hyperactive Ninja of the Leaf. He was the one that always managed to surprise his opponents with his ingenuity and on-the-fly tactics.
When had she ever been the one to surprise him?
Wait- was that it? No, there was no way that would work. As Hinata wrestled with the idea, she was forced to jump backwards and just barely dodged the hands of the clones attempting to capture her. There was no time to debate this.
She was a kunoichi of the Leaf, and that meant she had to use every tool available to her to try and achieve victory. No matter how ridiculous it might seem.
Hinata skidded to a stop, determined not to run away anymore and face Naruto head-on. The original, still holding the Rasengan, seemed to notice the final resolve in her hardened gaze.
He smirked, eyes full of appreciation. He respected her resolve to keep going right up until the end. Or perhaps it was because she had fallen right into his trap.
Two hands broke free from the dirt below her, the last clone that she sent flying with the Jyuken earlier having disappeared from sight. That was because he had started burrowing, coming up below Hinata to catch her off-guard. The momentary surprise cost her, the other clones coming from both sides and snagging her arms.
She was completely trapped now, unable to block or flee as the original Naruto leapt at her, brandishing the swirling vortex guaranteed to end the whole fight.
Or so she allowed him to believe, the Byakugan capable of seeing underground. She knew the clone was coming, and so had prepared her chakra for this moment.
"Jyuken!" Hinata unleashed chakra not just from her palms, but arms and legs as well, creating a radius of chakra completely around her that buffeted the clones' internal organs and caused them all to release their hold.
It was too late, however.
Naruto had closed the distance and there was no way for Hinata to get her arms up to defend herself in time. He swung his Rasengan. And Hinata leapt to meet him anyways. She couldn't strike him with her fists, let alone possibly get a foot around in a kick, so she did the only thing left to her.
She captured his lips in hers.
It was the only thing she could think of, as that had been the one thing she did that truly took him by surprise.
Time stopped for a brief moment, no one else knowing how to react. In the midst of such a brutal battle, a kiss had been the last thing they were expecting- this included Naruto.
All he had to do was bring his arm down. If he just did that, his Rasengan would connect without fail and Hinata would have her movements sealed. Yet his mind had completely frozen, unable to understand what was happening.
No, he understood perfectly what this was: Hinata's pent-up feelings for two years now overflowing into this single action. If it had been only an act of desperation, he wouldn't have been affected by the tsunami of emotions that bombarded him, overtaking his senses and locking him into inaction.
While time may have frozen for him and everyone else, Hinata hadn't stopped moving. Her palm slammed into Naruto's navel, slapping the seal that housed Kurama. Striking those tenketsu, she temporarily locked the seal and blocked Naruto's access to both the demon fox and the natural energy it was providing. The attack didn't end there, Hinata channeling all the natural energy into one last burst and holding it in the palm of her hand.
The kiss ended a moment later, Hinata pulling back and locking eyes with Naruto for a brief second. She had thought she might feel remorseful or even embarrassed at having used such means to catch him off-guard. Yet the only feelings in her heart now were butterflies and satisfaction. So it was with a small, sweet smile that she whispered the name of her final attack.
"Senpo: Jyuken." She unleashed the wave of chakra that had built up in the palm of her hand. Naruto was blasted backwards, leaving a trail of white chakra remnants that were the dissipating remains of Hinata's jutsu. He flew right into the same tree he had been using as support before with enough force to knock blood from his mouth.
At the state they had both begun this last stage of their fight, everything was good as over. Yet as Naruto slid down the tree, he managed to catch himself with his feet. He was still standing, but only by putting the full weight of his back into the tree behind him.
He gasped for breath, orange eyes slowly transforming back into their usual blue. Yet the spirit of competition still burned brightly inside him. He wasn't going to quit until one of them couldn't go on anymore. Unless-
"That's enough." Itachi stepped in between them.
"I can keep going." Naruto wheezed, each word a labor in and of itself.
"And how do you plan to do that?" Itachi asked pointedly, not even feeling the need to note that he no longer had access to his most valuable assets. Not that such things had ever deterred the stubborn blond in the past.
"Watch me," Naruto declared full of pride, pushing off the tree and stepping boldly forward- only to collapse face first a moment later. He seemed to struggle against gravity for several more seconds before his limbs went limp. "…Yeah, alright. I think you might have a point this time." He relented quietly, voice muffled against the dirt.
Even in defeat, he couldn't help but be the unpredictable, hyperactive knucklehead that Hinata had fallen in love with.
Itachi let out an exasperated sigh, like he was dealing with a rambunctious little brother. Then he turned to Hinata, smiling at her faintly. It was only when their eyes met that the reality of what happened truly began to set in.
Hinata couldn't believe it. Had she… had she actually…
"Winner: Hyuga Hinata."
Chapter End
AN: Alright, so that was the big fight.
I have a lot of my own thoughts, but I think I'll refrain from commenting and just hope the prose itself conveyed everything I was intending. Anyways, I'm looking forward to the reactions so if you had thoughts of your own, please let me know!
This is the second time the Akejishi (明獅子）debuted in the story, but the first time it really got shown in action, so I want to talk a little more about the inspiration behind that, which is the Lion Dance (獅子舞い Shishi mai) that can be seen at traditional Japanese festivals, and in other Asian cultures. The motive behind its movements and fighting style was loosely based on that and it seemed appropriate for the second "dance" of the White Lotus.
Next time should be talking about the implications of everything and some more set-up.