Hinata of the White Lotus
The Realm of Tsukuyomi
Byakugan met Sharingan.
Hinata knew at that moment she had to look away. No- it was already too late for that. She should have never made eye-contact in the first place.
She very well might already be trapped in his Genjutsu. The Byakugan and the Hyuga in general had a natural resistance to Genjutsu, but it wasn't like they were immune entirely. If the user was strong enough, even she could be susceptible to their illusions. And she had to assume this man was more than powerful enough to trap her.
For this could be only one person. The number of known Sharingan users could be counted on one hand. Sasuke from their class. Kakashi the copy Ninja. And one other.
The one responsible for wiping out his whole clan: Uchiha Itachi.
Why was he here? What would one of Konoha's most infamous criminals have to gain from following her all the way out here?
"You again…" Itachi said, a hint of surprise in his own voice. It would appear he wasn't here for her, it was just a coincidence that brought them together again after this morning's meeting.
"Should we take care of her?" The taller man also pulled up his hat, revealing blue skin and gill-like marks on his cheeks. Adorning his head was the mark of the mist village, a slash cutting through the middle of it.
"Leave her to me." Itachi stated, his Sharingan and Hinata's Byakugan having yet to break away from each other. Hinata tried to move, but found her whole body was paralyzed. Was this fear… or some Jutsu cast by his Sharingan? The fact she couldn't even tell was a major problem. "Kisame, confirm that the Kyubi Jinchuriki is here."
"Kyubi…?" Hinata asked, her voice barely more than a squawk. She had no idea what a Jinchuriki was supposed to be, but she knew the legends of the Kyubi no Yoko well enough. Just what did any of that stuff have to do with her team?
"Hmm…" The fish-man known as Kisame ignored her question, peeking into the room. Hinata couldn't even shout out a warning to her team, letting them know danger was here. "I think I see him, alright. Blond hair, whiskers, dressed like a fire hazard?"
Naruto? Hinata still didn't understand exactly what they were after, but whatever it was it had to do with him. Knowing that didn't help her any.
"That's him." Itachi confirmed. "I'll take care of the girl, you go grab him." The spinning tomoe of the Sharingan stopped. No, it wasn't that it stopped, but the shape began to change. There weren't three separate tomoe anymore, but now a single shape, like a triple-bladed shuriken.
"No complaints if I shave a leg or two off, right?" Kisame reached for the giant weapon on his back, stepping past Hinata who still couldn't move. She thought to try and stop him. To shout for her team. Anything at all.
It was too late.
A moment later and she wasn't even standing in the same room anymore. In fact, she wasn't even in any kind of room at all. She was standing in the center of a vast lake- or maybe sea would be more accurate. There was no end in sight, the water stretching endlessly over the horizon.
If you could even call it a horizon. The sky was blood red, not the orangish-red of a setting sun, but a dark putrid red so vile that it couldn't possibly be replicated by anything in their world. That was how Hinata knew this place wasn't reality at all, but some dark dimension meant to trap her.
This was a Genjutsu.
In the sky above was a moon so black it looked like light itself bent around it, unable to enter that void hanging in the sky. The water below her wasn't even blue, instead reflecting the red sky and looking more like a pool of blood than a place of life.
Hinata had to get out of here.
"There is no escape from this place." Itachi was suddenly standing before her. One moment he was nowhere, she blinked, and then he was. Hinata tried to jump back, but her body wouldn't move. It wasn't parlyzed like before. This time she was bound in place, a rattling noise echoing out into the void around them when she shook her arms.
Hinata looked down to find her wrists had been cuffed, those cuffs connected to chains that went into the water before disappearing below the depths. She struggled against her bonds but it was no good. It felt like there were literal mountains beneath the surface of the water holding her in place, ensuring she would never escape.
"Time, space, and even mass." Itachi continued, walking up to her while brandishing a single katana. "All of it is under my control in the realm of Tsukuyomi." He swung the blade. Hinata didn't even have a chance to scream.
Her vision spun through the air before there was a loud splash. It took her a couple seconds to realize she was looking up at her headless body, blood spraying out from the top of her neck where she had just been decapitated. The spraying blood rained back down on her, blotting out her vision bit at a time until there was only darkness.
Hyuga Hinata was dead.
Then she opened her eyes.
"W-what?" She gasped, looking around her. Everything was the same as before. The red sky. The black moon. The blood-like water. Her arms were still bound, restricting her freedom of movement. The only difference was that her head was still attached to the rest of her.
"I admit, I am curious." Itachi was standing in front of her again. He bent down so they were at eye level. "Earlier, your eyes were different. What kind of Byakugan was that?"
Hinata opened her mouth, but no words came out. Her breathing was ragged, and irregular. As if she was hyperventilating. She had to escape this place. Yet she knew it was impossible. There was no hope for her to break out of this Jutsu. She had to bide for time and hope someone from her team could break the spell.
"Why are you after Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, ignoring his question completely while also hoping she could get him to talk as she stalled for time. Any little bit of information she gathered while doing so would be a bonus.
"We don't want Naruto." Itachi answered, not appearing to care that she ignored him. "What we desire is the Kyubi sealed inside him."
"...Sealed?" Hinata asked, trying to understand what he meant. Rather, she wondered why he would even tell her in the first place. Was he hoping that if he answered her questions then she would answer him about her Nichiren Byakugan?
"Yes." Itachi stated simply. "Unlike what your generation has been told, the Kyubi wasn't destroyed, but sealed. Inside Naruto." The answer sent Hinata's mind reeling. Was that what it meant to be a Jinchuriki? And now the source of his third chakra made sense.
Hinata gasped as the pieces of Naruto's life fell into place. The hatred the adults had for him, why she had been told to stay away from him by all the servants. She could see it so clearly now that she felt like an idiot for not having put it together before now.
"Ask all the questions you want." Itachi seemed completely fine with complying with her. "I told you, time is under my control here. In the real world, only one second will have passed. But in here, I can make time stretch up to seventy-two hours."
"No…" Hinata whispered in disbelief. It wouldn't matter how many questions she asked, no help would ever be coming for her. Not if seventy-two hours in here was only a split second in the real world. It was the exact same as in the Eight-trigrams realm, where time was dilated. "Why…?" She asked, not even sure what she meant. Why was he doing this to her? Why was he after the Kyubi? Why had he killed his family that night? Any one of those questions would have been viable.
"I know it won't make sense to you… but it's all for the greater good." Itachi answered her vaguely, but it seemed he wouldn't divulge anything further than that.
"Greater good of what?" It wasn't Hinata who asked that question. She wouldn't have been able to form the words even if she had thought to. "Sounds like a load of bullshit to me." A soft green glow appeared below them, the mark of the eight trigrams cutting through the eerie red darkness like a beacon of hope.
"What is this!?" Itachi leapt backwards and outside the range of the Eight Trigrams.
The answer to his question didn't come in the form of words, but in footsteps. From behind her, Hinata could hear the small feet of a petite girl pace atop the water like a gracious dancer. Every step was music to Hinata's ears, her heart soaring and hope returning to her already battered spirit.
"Kali!" Hinata cried, turning her head to see her former life. Every time she had witnessed her, she had simply been floating in the air above the Eight Trigrams diagram. Now she walked, the clothes of the Shrine Maiden flowing beautifully with every step she took. The water below her footsteps rippled out, turning from the sickly blood red to sky blue as if her very existence was purifying the world. Finally, the Tensei-Byakugan in her eyes glowed radiantly in this dark world.
"Sorry I'm late, Hinata." Kali reached forward, poking the chains that bound Hinata with her finger. She must have struck the natural energy points, because the chains broke apart instantly, freeing Hinata who fell to her knees. Tears built in the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill over at any moment. "Now then, leave everything else to me." She whispered gently, while stroking Hinata's head with a kind, even motherly touch.
"I ask that you explain yourself." Itachi said again, drawing both their attention back to him. While Hinata's gaze was still terrified, Kali's was burning with silent, almost unnoticeable wrath. "You said that you were late, but surely you misspoke. No one can enter this world unless I look them in the eyes."
"Yeah, and?" Kali asked so pointedly that Itachi could only stare at her. She sighed, as if already tired of the conversation. She then gestured between herself and Hinata. "Her eyes are my eyes. My eyes are her eyes. If you pulled her in here, then it's only natural that you pulled me in as well. The difference is it took my chakra time to assimilate to this place."
"...I see." Itachi mumbled, the gears in his head turning a mile a minute. It looked like he was still trying to assess who Kali was and what kind of threat she posed. "It was foolish of you to show yourself then. I already told her, but I-"
"I know, I know." Kali cut him off with a dismissive wave of the hand. "You control time, space, and mass here. I heard you too. Don't bore me saying the same drull stuff over and over again."
Itachi blinked. Then he was silent. It would seem he had no idea how to react. No doubt he had spent his whole life with others being terrified of him. He was the infamous clan killer, and not just any clan. But Konoha's strongest. His reputation was well earned.
"Is this bravado?" Itachi asked, seeming to come to the realization on his own. "You know you can't do anything, so you're putting on a defiant face?" He slowly lowered his guard, as if sensing there was no longer anything to fear.
In response Kali laughed. Not a small chuckle, but a full blown belly laugh. She threw her head back and laughed so hard it looked like she was howling at the pitch black moon. Itachi and Hinata could both only stare at her in bewilderment until she calmed down.
"Can't do anything…?" Kali asked, after finally managing to regain some control. "If you really think that's the case, why don't you try and do something to me, Fledgling?"
Itachi took her up on the challenge, ignoring the odd nickname. Without words he raised two fingers and pointed at her. Then he waited. Nothing happened. Several seconds passed and they all waited in dead silence. Itachi looked down at his fingers and then back at the area where Kali was standing.
He turned his fingers and pointed to a spot next to him. One moment there was nothing, the next a wooden chair appeared. Confirming he could still manipulate the world, he pointed back at Kali. Yet once again nothing happened.
"Troubles?" Kali asked, tilting her head and smiling at him sweetly. Itachi didn't answer, but his eyes trailed down to the purified area Kali had walked across. More and more of the water was turning blue, as if the world itself was healing. "Now you're getting it." She praised as Itachi seemed to put the picture of what was happening together.
"How is this possible?" Itachi asked her, sounding genuinely curious. "Only someone with the same eyes as me should be able to counter the Tsukuyomi. Mangekyo Sharingan has no equal counter other than another Mangekyo Sharingan."
"Guess that just means the world is a bigger place than you thought, huh?" Kali sneered at him. "So then what do you say we find out just which one is really stronger?" She cracked her neck, and rolled her shoulders before sliding into the gentle stance of the Hyuga.
"Your Mangekyo Sharingan or my Nichiren Byakugan?"
"Nichiren Byakugan?" Itachi repeated the words as if a child learning something new.
"Hinata." Kali said, addressing her now. "This is a good opportunity for you to watch and learn. I'll show you the pinnacle of what you can hope to achieve one day. This is still his world, so even if I go all out, I can't guarantee it will be enough."
"I-I'll help you…" Hinata forced her legs to work, but even she knew it was a bluff at best. Her knees were shaking so hard she could practically hear them.
"Sorry, Hinata." Kali smiled at her softly. "But the best way you can help is by learning." Not waiting for her to protest further, Kali made a single hand sign, that of the bird. "Futon: Spiraling Air Prison!"
Hinata didn't have time to react as a torrent of air lifted her up, trapping her inside a sphere of twisting wind. She tried to move, but the wind forced her limbs back inside the center of the orb. She was completely trapped, incapable of anything but watching.
"You can't seriously intend to fight me while in here?" Itachi asked her. When Kali turned back to him, she didn't answer with words. She simply reached down just below her navel and pressed the tenketsu point.
"Seventh Gate of Wonder: Open!" Energy so powerful that it shook the whole world radiated off of Kali, causing the once still water to become a distorted whirlpool. The blue and red water mixed together, altering the territory further and no doubt disrupting Itachi's control over the world. Blue vapor hung around Kali's form, clinging to her like an aura of power.
"What do you hope to change?" Itachi had to yell over the sound of the storm-like waves crashing against each other. "This is still inside the Tsukuyomi!"
"Then it should at least be a fair fight, don't you think, Fledgling?" Kali flared her chakra, the combination of the gates and equivalent natural energy giving her inhuman amounts of both. She once again formed a single seal, this time the snake. "Doton: Great Rising Mountain!"
The shaking of the world grew even greater. The raging water began to bubble, something massive moving in the depths below. A moment later and it breached the surface, a new landmass emerging beneath Kali and Itachi's feet. Now, instead of fighting on the raging ocean, they fought on jagged, slippery rock.
"Now let's go!" Kali was off like a bullet, leaving a streak of blue vapor behind as she flew across the space between her and her opponent. Itachi didn't have a second to move, Kali's open Jyuken palm striking him dead in the heart. As he said, however, this was still his world.
Itachi burst apart into a dozen crows. Those crows flew around her, obscuring her from Hinata's view. Then those crows all transformed, turning into clones of Itachi. Each one held a katana. All at once, they stabbed inwards, threatening to skewer Kali from every angle.
Kali flicked her wrist, exuding her great quantities of chakra. The result of that simple movement caused a twister that blasted every single clone and sent them flying.
With a simple twist of her hand, Kali had created the most powerful Hakkensho Rotation that Hinata had ever seen. Even her father had to rotate his whole body to use the technique.
The flying clones transformed back into crows before converging in the air above to form a single Itachi once again. He was almost invisible to the eye, floating directly in the darkness of the black moon. He held up his hand. And without saying a word or forming a seal, he called down a rain of gargantuan fireballs.
"Show off." Kali scoffed, not backing down from the storm of molten death even an inch. She formed a single dog seal. "Suiton: River Dragon Lord!" The ocean around them once again stirred. Rising like a twister, a massive dragon snaked its way through the sky, mouth open as if in a mighty roar.
None of the raining fireballs got close to Kali or Hinata, the giant water dragon twisting its way in such a way as to intercept them. Each subsequent fireball that struck the flowing twister of water caused a massive explosion of steam. In seconds, the battlefield was changed again as molten rock flowed and a thick mist settled over them, obscuring Hinata's vision. She couldn't see Itachi anymore to know what he would do next.
"Amaterasu!" Itachi's voice reached her, sounding simultaneously like it was next to her yet far away. Almost like he had spoken directly into her mind. She didn't know the name of his Jutsu, but she immediately recognized it as being leagues above his technique just before.
The pitch black moon fell towards them. No- it had never been a moon. It was a sun, made entirely of black flame. The heat from that flame was indescribable. Like hell itself was descending upon them.
"Katon: Sage's Purifying White Flame!" Kali formed the tiger seal. Then she held up an open palm. From her palm there was a flash of pure white light. A flame so bright that Hinata couldn't look upon it. That raging white fire rose up to meet the falling black sun. It was like watching the collision of Yin and Yang itself.
The two opposing forces pushed against one another, neither one able to assert dominance against the other. Pure darkness tried to completely envelope the pure white. Meanwhile, the light tried to purge the darkness entirely. In the end, neither succeeded. The two attacks simply fizzled out, the white flames scorching one side of the battlefield and the black flames ravaging the other.
Standing in the ruins of their failed jutsu were Kali and Itachi.
"I admit, the Nichiren Byakugan is truly formidable." Itachi hadn't even broken a sweat. "However, the outcome of this battle was already written." This was still his world, even if Kali had managed to interfere with a small section of it. A world where pulling down a sun made out of black flames was as easy for him as having a thought. So no matter how powerful Kali proved to be, he was still untouchable. "Why do you still continue to fight and expend that much energy?"
"..." Kali stared at him, one hand on her hip. "You tortured a kind, sweet girl like Hinata and you have the gall to ask me why I'm pissed off? I thought you were supposed to be a genius or something?" Despite her disadvantage, she didn't sound worried.
"...You know about me." Itachi noticed only from the way she referred to him as a supposed genius. "Yet I've never heard about you before. How has someone as powerful as you managed to stay hidden until now?" He asked.
"Maybe not everyone is a glory hound like you?" Kali answered with a noncommittal shrug. "I do my job and keep out of others' business normally. You just happened to pick the wrong person to cast under your Jutsu this time."
"I see." Itachi sighed, shaking his head slowly as if disappointed. "It would appear there is no getting any genuine answers out of you while you're still so defiant. In that case, I'll need to break your spirit." Spectral red armor radiated all around him. "Let's see how strong you can remain in the face of the God of Storms: Susanoo."
"Hmph!" Kali snorted, forming the dragon seal. "I've been dealing with things as trivial as the insecure gods since before your family had a name. You're about a thousand years too early to be threatening me." She raised her right arm, taking a stance as if to throw a baseball. A bolt of lightning appeared in her upraised hand. "Raiton: God Slaying Lance!" She called, taking a mighty step forward and launching the lightning bolt with a powerful throw.
There was a clap of thunder and a flash of light. In the span of less than a tenth of a second, her spear had crossed the distance between herself and Itachi. However, to her surprise it bounced off completely, deflected by a shield held in the left hand of Susanoo.
"Oh… the Yata Mirror?" Kali sounded genuinely impressed, letting out a whistle. "And… It looks like the Sword of Totsuka." She noticed the sake-gourd held in the Storm God's right hand. No sooner did she speak did the gourd unleash a blade of pure energy. She stepped to the side, the blade occupying the spot she had been standing just seconds before.
"You are well informed." Itachi didn't bother to deny her observations. "I think it's becoming clear to me what exactly it is you are. Only someone of great age could have all the knowledge and power you seem to possess." In only the span of a few minutes, he was beginning to parse out Kali's true nature.
"You want a medal or something for being smart?" Kali asked, before being forced to dodge again, jumping over the sword this time. Each swing of the giant sword caused massive damage, splitting the earth and causing waves of the ocean to come flooding back in.
"Continue to be sarcastic for as long as you can." Itachi didn't have to move at all, letting the Susanoo protect him and swing as it pleased. "Even as powerful as your Jutsu are, you cannot bypass the Yata Mirror. It's only a matter of time before you slip up and get struck by the Totsuka Blade and get trapped in its sealing Genjutsu."
Kali didn't respond, landing in a crouch after dodging the latest swing from the sword. She held her hands in front of herself, the palms facing each other. There was a swirl of energy and the pulse of something ominous. Susanoo stopped, as if sensing something was about to happen.
"Senjutsu Hiden: Truthseeker Orb!" Kali released a shaky breath. It was like the very air around her changed. Something was there now. A black orb, floating between Kali's hands. It didn't look impressive, yet the very presence of it held weight.
Hinata and Itachi both realized they had just witnessed the birth of something terrifying. They felt it in their bones, a primordial part of their very DNA reacting to the appearance of something that shouldn't exist.
Itachi felt himself break out in a cold sweat. He forced Susanoo to move. To strike Kali down before she could unleash whatever that thing was in her hands. It was too late.
Kali stood up to her full height. The orb transformed, turning into a staff. It was as if it was fluid, able to take any shape desired. The sword slammed down on top of her head, but Kali simply held the staff up. It wasn't a swing, just the simple motion of placing it between herself and the sword. The moment the Totsuka Sword met the staff and the red blade was destroyed.
Not in a grand, dramatic fashion. One moment it was there, the next it simply ceased to exist. Like the staff had erased it from ever being there at all. Itachi knew at that moment what the orb was. Kali had already used every form of elemental manipulation individually. This orb was all of that put together, and then held in place with the power of In'yo. Chakra mastery wasn't enough to create this orb. Its existence defied logic.
"What was that you were saying about the outcome already being determined now?" Kali asked, smirking at Itachi. There was a flash of blue vapor as she crossed the distance between them. Susanoo held up the Yata Mirror but it was no match for the power of the Truthseeker Orb. Its shape changed again, turning into a layered series of disks that simply blasted a hole clear in the spectral armor.
Itachi was too stunned to even move. His mind was completely devoid of thought. All he needed to do to save himself was think of something, anything. Yet he was too preoccupied with the existence of the orb to even manage that.
"Got'cha!" Kali smirked, stepping up to him, their bodies so close they were practically pressed up against one another. She didn't swing at him with the Truthseeker Orb. Even if she did, it wouldn't actually allow her victory. There was no actual way to beat Itachi in this world. Not so long as he had the Mangekyo Sharingan. Which is why her goal from the beginning had been to create this opening.
In her left hand was the Truthseeker Orb. With her right hand, Kali held nothing. She channeled chakra into her thumb and index finger, reaching up and pressing directly in the middle of the slashed Leaf headband on Itachi's temple.
The physical contact jolted Itachi back to his senses. He made a grunt of surprise, leaping backwards and putting some distance between them. In that same motion he activated the power of his right Mangekyo, aiming to hit Kali directly with Amaterasu.
The Jutsu didn't activate.
"...What?" Itachi landed on the water, glancing down at his reflection. His Sharingan, it was normal. Not the three-pronged Shuriken of his Mangekyo, but a standard three-tomoe Sharingan. "What did you do to me!?" He yelled, anger and desperation leaking into his voice for the first time since he could remember.
Kali lifted a thumb, hiking it at her forehead. "Take off the headband and find out." She said with a smirk. Itachi ripped it off without a second thought, looking back down at the water to check his reflection.
"This is…" Itachi whispered, recognizing the mark on his forehead but only vaguely. Something about it was different from what he knew, but he didn't know the original well enough to say what it was.
"It's a modified version of the curse seal that the Hyuga clan uses to mark the branch family." Kali answered for him. "Technically, it's something I made in order to deal with my cousin, Indra, in case he ever became a problem for me, but it came in handy in this case."
"What do you mean by a modified version of the curse seal?" Itachi asked. He knew the curse seal was something created to keep the Byakugan from being stolen. When a member of the branch family died, the curse seal would activate, destroying the Byakugan. What he failed to see was how that applied here.
"I think the answer is already pretty obvious." Kali laughed, seeming to find Itachi's distress funny. "It seals your Mangekyo Sharingan. The power of a god you've been borrowing to torture people and make them suffer for days inside this time-dilated dimension. The black flames of the sun goddess. And your storm god armor. It's all gone, sealed until you die."
"That's… impossible." Itachi mumbled, despite already knowing his words stood in contradiction to everything he had seen before now. He had watched this girl do the impossible multiple times already. The fact she was here in the first place had already been an impossibility, and yet she continued to perform miracles with every action she took since.
He held up a trembling hand, hovering it over his ordinary Sharingan eyes. Everything he had done up until now. All the sacrifices he had made, the people he had hurt. If he didn't have his Mangekyo Sharingan, then what was the point? He couldn't achieve what he had been building towards. There would be no light at the end of this long, dark, tunnel.
Unless… an idea began to form in the back of his mind. It was crazy. Impossible even. Just as impossible as everything that happened up until now. Yet the idea had taken root and the more he thought about it, the more he started to believe it might just actually work.
For that to happen though, he was going to have put his trust in the hands of the person that had just taken everything away from him.
"If anything, I did you a favor." Kali said, walking away from him and towards Hinata. "Those eyes were making you blind, you know?" She didn't even appear to care about him anymore, lowering the wind orb that had trapped her reincarnation and freed her from it.
"Kali… you won." Hinata said, taking the hand that was held in front of her to help hoist her up to her feet.
"This fight is far from over, Hinata." Kali corrected her. "Remember, only a second has passed in the real world. He doesn't have his Mangekyo Sharingan anymore… but he's still someone that wiped out his whole clan. And you also have his partner to worry about."
What Kali said was exactly true. And Hinata already knew that in the back of her mind. The Tsukuyomi world around them was already starting to crumble without Itachi's Mangekyo to maintain it. Any moment now and they would be thrust back into the real world. Only Hinata wouldn't have Kali there to fight for her out there.
"I don't think I can fight him… I'm not nearly as strong as you." Hinata had thought she was getting more powerful. That was until she saw what Kali had truly been capable of when she was alive. The gap between them… they might as well have been worlds apart. Even if Hinata trained for a hundred years, she didn't see how she was supposed to reach that level.
She knew Kali had shown her that fight to allow her to see what it was she could be some day. To give her confidence. But all it really did was the opposite. It made her realize how little she had moved forward at all.
"You don't have to be as strong as me to win." Kali patted her on the shoulder, smiling gently. "I believe you can do it."
"No, she's right." Itachi said, seeming to have found himself and turning towards them. "She can't defeat me and even if she could, Kisame would simply finish her off after. He has no mercy and kills without hesitation. Right now, he's really about to shave off Naruto's legs just to ensure he can't flee."
"No one is asking you, Fledgling." Kali snapped, not even turning to look at him. "You lost, so just sit there quietly until we're back in the real world."
"What if I told you there was a way for her to win?" Itachi asked suddenly, taking a couple hesitant steps towards them.
"Not really interested." Kali sighed, this time glancing backwards in his direction. "If you're trying to bargain so I'll unlock your Mangekyo Sharingan then forget it. It's not possible. The curse seal can't be removed once it's placed by any means other than death."
"I've already accepted that." Itachi persisted. "We don't have much time." The skyline was nearly completely gone now. Any moment and their immediate vicinity would begin crumbling too. Kali clicked her teeth in agitation, looking to weigh the pros and cons silently.
This was someone that had just been torturing Hinata until Kali had interrupted and he was a known traitor to the village, going so far as to kill his own kin. She doubted he could be trusted to keep his word. Yet he was also correct. Hinata wasn't ready for the battle that was about to happen outside. Not her or any of her teammates.
"Dammit…" Kali cursed under her breath. She didn't know what Itachi's game was. No one accepted the loss of such power so quickly. Not without having some kind of contingency in mind. Whatever this deal was, it could only be beneficial for him. Whereas the only thing they would get out of it was a higher chance at survival. And they didn't have time to discuss the terms beyond that.
"Kali… let's listen to him." To her surprise, Hinata voiced her opinion. And it was in support of teaming up.
"Hinata?" She asked, not understanding how she could trust this man. "He tried to torture you!" She shouted, her anger briefly getting the better of her.
"But… maybe he also had his circumstances?" Hinata couldn't stop herself from pressing her index fingers together, unused to talking back against the person that had helped her so much up until now.
She couldn't say for sure, but she got the feeling Itachi had been going easy on her with the torture too. He had only killed her once, and it had been in a way that was entirely painless. As if to give her an idea of what he was capable of, but only to facilitate a conversation. It seemed like he had wanted information. Hinata had no real basis for these feelings, but something just told her he wasn't the great evil he was painted as.
Kali stared at Hinata for several long, agonizing seconds. The whole time the world around them fell further and further apart. Finally, she let out a frustrated sigh.
"Ughh… Fine!" She relented, stepping back from Hinata. "If that's what you want to do, I'll support you. This is your life, after all." Having said that, she turned back to Itachi. "That doesn't mean that I won't make you regret it if you let any more harm come to her." She warned.
"I have no doubt you could." Itachi nodded in acknowledgment to Kali's threat.
"Thank you, Kali." Hinata smiled at her previous life, before stepping forward and wrapping her in a tight hug. "For saving me, too." She really did feel bad for going against her wishes, especially after all she did just now to fight Itachi for her sake. Yet she also felt like it was worth putting her trust in him, if only because the only other option was having to fight.
In the end, Hinata would rather trust in someone else rather than treat them as an enemy. Even if that someone was a notorious villain from their village.
Hinata stepped back away from Kali and looked up at Itachi. This time they looked at one another not as enemies, but unlikely allies in need of each other's help. Sucking in a deep breath, Hinata prepared herself for whatever it was she would have to do.
"Please tell me what you had in mind."