CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Confrontation, Part-1

Naruto watched Hinata raise a hand to her eye to wipe away a tear. He couldn't believe it either, after so long he had finally found her. He walked up to her to wrap her in a tight embrace, trying his best to remain composed.

"I missed you"

Hinata returned his embrace with a smile. She held him tight, overcome with emotion at finally being reunited with her love. Breaking their embrace for a moment, she reached up to kiss Naruto until a voice from behind interrupted the couple.

"Sister"

Hinata opened her eyes to see Hanabi walking up to her with a cheerful smile, tears streaming down her cheeks. Releasing Naruto, she took her little sister in her arms, allowing her to cry into her shoulder.

Sakura watched the happy reunion with a smile, leaning on the doorpost. "It's good to see you're okay Hinata"

Hinata beamed a smile at her friend. "Thank you all for coming to rescue me."

"It's our duty" Sakura responded with a smile. "Now, let's get out of here while we still can."

The group exited the room, running into the corridor. Naruto grabbed Hinata's arm to lead her down the route they took before.

"Follow me! I know the way out!"

He made to trace the same route they used to locate their target but to his surprise he discovered that Hinata refused to move.

"Come on Hina, it's this way!" Naruto tugged on her hand in his but his girlfriend still remained in the same position.

"Hinata! We don't have much time!" Sakura shouted with a sense of urgency. Impatiently, she addressed Naruto. "Carry her, she might be in shock"

Naruto moved to take her in his arms but to his surprise, Hinata stepped back.

"Big sister, what are you doing?" Hanabi asked, stepping closer to her. She didn't quite understand why Hinata refused to come with them anymore.

Hinata finally moved, stepping back from Naruto with tears in her eyes. "I can't go with you….. I'm sorry but I just can't". She bowed her head as she tried to wipe her eyes with her hands.

Naruto stepped closer to her and cupped her face in his hands. "Hey, look at me….. what's wrong?"

Hinata blinked away a tear and stared into the pair of blue eyes she had loved for as long as she remembered.

If you or the host leaves the premises along with the nine tails I will assume you have deserted and proceed with the right course of action. So choose wisely, Hyuuga

Her captor's voice rang in her head. She was faced with two options, and one was going to end with a dead Naruto…..

"Naruto-kun…. I'm sorry"

Naruto suddenly felt himself become weaker in an instant. He let go of Hinata and staggered backwards, struggling to stay on his feet. As he increased the distance between them, Hinata could be seen holding bright orange chakra that extended from the seal on Naruto's stomach.

Taken aback by the shock from what she was seeing, Sakura quickly snapped into action, running towards Hinata and shoving her away. As her friend fell down, Sakura hurried over to Naruto who had collapsed on the floor.

"Naruto!" Hanabi called out to him, running over to kneel by his head. The Uzumaki was still conscious, though he was fighting to stay awake. Confused, she turned to Hinata.

"What did you do?!"

Hinata rose to her feet, tears still pouring from her eyes.

"My job…..what I was destined to do"

She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. The she tried to get closer to Naruto on the floor still receiving medical aid from Sakura. Suddenly, Hinata found her path blocked by Hanabi.

"Hinata, I won't let you pass until you tell me what is going on. Why did you hurt Naruto?!"

"It's the only way to save him, to save all of you…. Please, let me pass."

But Hanabi remained rooted to her position with a frown. "I can't, not until I know what's going on"

"He's lost most of his chakra!" Sakura called out to her comrades. "Hinata, why did you take his chakra?"

"How did you take most of his chakra?" Hanabi added, still focusing on her older sister that she was beginning to suspect might not be trying to help them out.

"If I don't take his chakra and she does….he will die." Hinata responded to Sakura's question. "ALL of you will die unless I do it instead of her! Doing her bidding myself is the only way I can protect all of you."

"Her?" Sakura asked, puzzled. "Who is this person? Do you work for the enemy now?"

"Hanabi, Sakura, if you leave this premises with Naruto he is going to die along with everyone I know. I can't….I WON'T let that happen" Hinata stated. She took another step forward but Hanabi blocked her path again.

"Get back Hinata" she said with a whisper loud enough for her sister to hear. "I won't let you harm Naruto again"

Sakura called out to Hanabi, "I'm going to take Naruto somewhere else to heal him, don't let her get close". She lifted Naruto on her shoulder and ran off, leaving the two sisters alone.

"Why are you doing this sister? Come home with us and le-"

"Don't you understand Hanabi?" Hinata interrupted her. "I can't leave, I can't leave this place."

"But why?" Hanabi asked

"Because I don't obey her, Kaguya will kill everyone on this damn planet! That's why!" Hinata snapped at her sister. "How many times do I have to say it, you think I want to harvest everyone's chakra for her? But I've been left with no choice, I'm the only person that can do it without all of you dying"

"So instead of fighting back against the enemy you side with them?" Hanabi asked Hinata, anger in her voice. "Why are you so willing to give in to this woman's demands?!"

"Because we can't defeat her, she is too powerful"

"And how are you sure about that?"

"For one, I'm the only person that's even seen her!"

Hanabi took a deep breath and shook her head, doing her best to hold back her tears. "I don't know what's gotten into you Hinata…" She readied her battle stance. "But we're going to figure it out once we get back home…..one way or another"

Hinata was taken aback for a moment but she collected herself and inhaled deeply.

"Hanabi, I'm sorry…" She slowly raised an open palm to face Hanabi. "But I can't leave here without finishing my task"

Hanabi's eyes continued to water but she blinked them away and wore a frown.

"Then I'll have to stop you however I can"

Out in the courtyard, Squad two was still engaged in combat with the seemingly never ending waves of guard puppets.

"Over and over…" Sasuke said through clenched teeth before sending a large fireball towards a group of enemies approaching him. A few metres away, Konohamaru found himself being surrounded by a dozen puppets. He grabbed his staff with both hands and spun it around rapidly overhead. As he did so, the staff multiplied it's length by several magnitudes, smashing the surrounding enemies into piles of wood. Satisfied, Konohamaru slammed it's tip to the ground with a wide grin. He collapsed to his knee to catch his breath, prompting Moegi to scurry up to his side.

"Just hang in there, you're doing great." She said with a smile as her healing ninjutsu reenergized her teammate.

"Thanks, though I wonder what's taking Naruto and the others so long" Konohamaru said, looking up into a large window from the courtyard.

"We have our own issues to deal with" Moegi replied, referencing even more puppets storming the courtyard."

Konohamaru stood up with a frown as he saw the large group of enemies approaching them. "Moegi, you should probably head back to cover. You're the only medic on our team" he suggested to his teammate who ran back to safety with an understanding nod. Konohamaru picked out Sasuke and called out to him.

"Mr. Sasuke! Can't you do something about all those guys?"

Sasuke looked over his shoulder at the approaching group of enemies. "I have to be careful not to damage the main building" he said to himself as he thought of something to do. Then a voice from behind him interrupted his thoughts.

"I got this!"

Sasuke turned to its direction to find Tenten running up to him. She immediately dropped an open scroll on the ground and bent over it, pausing to smile at him

"Leave it to me"

As she weaved a set of hand signs, an even larger scroll shot out of the one in front of her, soaring upwards and towards the approaching group of enemies. It then began it's downward descent, creating a large arc above the group of guard puppets.

[Ninja summoning: Airstrike]

An absolutely massive barrage of kunai, shuriken, spears and swords appeared from the scroll overhead. They shot out continuously, crashing down to the earth to impale everything that was caught underneath them. Tenten directed the rain of weaponry by controlling the scroll overhead, slowly moving it with her hand seal and making sure to target every enemy in a wide arc. By the time the bombardment had finally ended, every single puppet in the vicinity was destroyed.

"Woah! Tenten that was amazing!" Konohamaru ran up to her with an expression full of admiration.

Tenten stood up with a smile on her face. "Meh, It was nothi-"

A dark, metallic rod suddenly manifested in her chest before she could complete her sentence, protruding from both sides. Looking at her wound in disbelief, Tenten felt her body go limp as her vision blurred.

"Tenten!" Konohamaru rushed to catch her before she hit the ground. With tears in his eyes, he looked around for his teammate "Moegi! Moegi!"

Sasuke watched in horror as Moegi made her way to Tenten's body to try to save her. Then his gaze was directed towards a pale skinned individual slowly descending from above.

Gently landing in his feet, Isshiki addressed the group of shinobi.

"You've made quite the mess here haven't you?"

Hanabi locked eyes with the person in front of her. The discovery that her own sister was collaborating with the Otsusukis broke her heart, but she wasn't about to allow it to weaken her resolve.

This Tenseigan of hers, I can't let her extract my chakra, She noted in her mind, focusing on Hinata's light blue eyes as she activated her own Byakugan. the pair watched each other quietly, each of them silently praying the other would suddenly back down from whatever they were about to do.

But both sisters firmly believed in their individual causes, and considered them worth fighting for. So the confrontation that was currently happening was all but inevitable.

Hanabi struck first, attacking Hinata with a rapid succession of palm strikes. She found all her attacks get parried away but she kept on increasing the pressure, trying to bypass her sister's defenses.

Hinata was firmly on the defensive. She deflected attack after attack from Hanabi with the expertise that only a true master of the gentle fist could display.

But Hanabi was no slouch.

Deep down, Hinata knew she would have to counter with her own attacks. It was only a matter of time before Hanabi managed to land a solid hit on her.

Hanabi struck low, aiming for Hinata's chest. Her attack was countered once again but she quickly followed up with another blow aimed at her head, and two more at her shoulder and abdomen.

Frustrated at seeing all her attacks amount to nothing, Hanabi darted behind Hinata in an attempt to catch her off guard and kicked at her side. To her surprise, her sister reacted in time to catch Hanabi's leg in her hand and flung her away.

Hinata watched Hanabi tumble in the air and land on her feet. With her Tenseigan, it didn't take too much effort to track every move Hanabi was about to make by observing the flow of chakra in her. Hinata could spend all day parrying all her blows but it would take far too much time.

She still had a mission to do. And the more time she spent fighting Hanabi, the slimmer her chances of getting to Naruto.

"Hanabi, stand down"

Hanabi remained in a crouched position, observing her sister.

"No" came her answer, even as she realized she was outclassed. Fighting Hinata was like fighting a more skilled version of her own self, she noted. She seemed to read Hanabi like a book, though it was to be expected since she was heavily involved in her training.

Hinata is refusing to strike back, I can use this to my advantage….

"You stand no chance, I don't want to hurt you Hanabi" Hinata pleaded with her opponent but it fell on deaf ears.

"I won't let you hurt Naruto. I'm not giving up" Hanabi declared as she rose to her feet and reached for three shurikens from her pouch.

Hinata sighed and readied herself again. "You're not one to quit sister" She felt a rush of pride witnessing Hanabi's doggedness, even if it was to her own detriment.

Hanabi's lips curled in a one sided smile. "Us Hyuugas are stubborn like that."

With that, Hanabi leaped onto the wall of the corridor and sprinted across. Making her way towards Hinata, she let a weapon fly. Ignoring her target simply dodge her projectile, she let two more fly from her new position on the ceiling and jumped down to her sister with her palm raised as fast as she could, not intending to give her time to react.

Hinata dodged all three weapons easily enough and swung a kick to knock aside Hanabi while she was still in mid air.

[Eight trigrams air palm]

Hanabi sent a gust of wind towards the floor before she could land on it, giving her enough counter thrust to slow down her descent. She watched Hinata's kick harmlessly swing underneath her and as her older sister was still balanced on one leg mid-attack, Hanabi finally found her opening.

"Ugh!" Hinata's head was sent crashing into the wall from Hanabi's mid air kick, temporarily disorienting her. She opened her eyes just in time to block a blow aimed at her shoulder but she wasn't fast enough to stop Hanabi's follow up punch to her jaw, and felt the next two hits connect too. She had to do something, just playing defense wasn't going to cut it anymore.

Yes! Now I just have to finish this….. Hanabi said in her mind as she prepared to deliver the 64 palms before Hinata could regain herself.

[2 palms]

But just as she focused on her sister's chakra points, Hanabi could only catch the twinkle of blue in Hinata's eyes as she evaded her first two attacks and appeared behind her.

Hinata grabbed the back of Hanabi's jacket and flung her to the ground, watching her roll back to her feet immediately.

"Dammit!" Hanabi said through clenched feet as she rushed her sister with a kunai in her hand.

Hinata carefully observed Hanabi sprinting towards her with her Tenseigan. This time, she was going to fight back.

She ducked under Hanabi's first swing and responded with a quick jab to the head. Quickly, she grabbed her arm with one hand and disarmed her with the other. She felt her grasp on Hanabi's wrist weaken as her little sister suddenly leaped over her, twirling in the air and landing behind her. The rapid release of chakra from every point in Hanabi's body let Hinata know it was time to put distance between the two of them.

[Eight trigrams Palm rotation]

Hinata leaped away with a backflip in time to evade Hanabi's rotation, landing just in time to see Hanabi running towards her again.

I'm sorry sister, but this has to end

She evaded Hanabi's palm strike, stepping to the side and quickly responding with an uppercut. Enraged, Hanabi struck again, only to hit air and narrowly evade a palm strike from Hinata. Once more, she lashed at her sister, catching a fist to the jaw for her recklessness. Dazed and disoriented, Hanabi could do nothing about the barrage of attacks that Hinata dealt out next, ending with her arm extended towards Hanabi's stomach, her fingertips mere inches away.

"Stay down"

Instantly extending her knuckles outward to connect with her abdomen, Hinata watched as Hanabi sliced through the air from her attack, crashing to the floor and sliding a good distance until she finally came to a stop.

"Hinata….. stop" Hanabi struggled to get back on her feet, coughing up blood. Hinata observed her from down the corridor without saying a word.

With great effort, Hanabi wobbled onto her left leg before collapsing again, clasping her midsection in pain.

"I can't….let you….."

"It's for your own safety Hanabi" Hinata replied, maintaining her gaze on Hanabi. Her heart ached seeing her sister in such a state, though she tried her best to remain firm.

"I don't need you to protect me!" Hanabi shouted at her as loud as she could with her injuries.

Hinata blinked away a tear and replied. "Hanabi, don't come any closer"

Clenching her teeth, Hanabi struggled to get back on her feet just as a firm hand rested on her shoulder, preventing her from rising.

"You know, you should listen to your big sister sometimes."

Hanabi raised her head only to see the smiling face of Sakura looking down at her.

"S-sakura…."

The medic knelt close to Hanabi and looked over her injuries, briefly healing her.

"You're hurt. Go get some rest, see if you can reach Moegi outside." Sakura rose back to her feet and redirected her gaze towards Hinata down the corridor.

"I'll take it from here"