Preword: Hello everyone and thank you for checking out this story.

Before we get too far in, I just wanted to preface this fic with a blanket disclaimer that this story is operating in Alternate Universe Territory. Many of the things you are familair with will be there, but many of the details will have also been changed. This includes the origins of things like the Byakugan, Sharingan, Curse Seals, as well as some alternations to a few of the characters' pasts.

When these things come up, I will do my best to explain them within the story, so the differences make sense narratively. However, sometimes the reason why things are different aren't always immediate, but I do hope to resolve those points as the story continues along. So when something comes up that isn't consistent with Canon, please just think of it as something made different by this Alternate Universe. Thank you for your understanding, and I hope you enjoy the ride.

I will occasionally leave Author's Notes (ANs) at the end of chapters when I introduce a a new jutsu or concept that is unique to the story, as well as the inspiration for these things. This includes any translations for the Japanese names of new techniques.

That all said and out of the way, on with the show! If you like it or have any feedback, please don't hesitate to comment and let me know! Thank you!


Hinata of the White Lotus

Awakening


"Hinata! Do your best!" Naruto cheered her on.

Despite the fact that her defeat against her cousin, Neji, was an almost certainty. In spite of everyone else having already written this match off as over; Her opponent, the proctor, even her own sensei. They, along with everyone else in this room, knew she was done for.

Yet not him.

The person whose opinion she valued most still believed in her.

Hyuga Hinata felt strength return to her eyes. She knew it wasn't just a trick of her imagination, because Neji saw it too. His slightly relaxed stance hardened and he raised his upright palm to prepare for her attack.

The very act of breathing hurt, Hinata's lungs having been struck earlier by Neji's Jyuken attack. Even so, Hinata forced them to work anyways, sucking in deep breath and charging her opponent head on. In the back of her mind, she knew it was pointless.

It was all as Neji had said. She was in despair, unable to overcome him and his overwhelming talent. In a short time, he had not only traded blows evenly with her, but had also meticulously been striking her tenketsu, the points which allowed chakra to flow. As she was, her Jyuken strikes would be ineffective.

Yet none of that mattered to her. This wasn't a battle against Neji anymore. This was a battle against her past self. She had changed, or so she wanted to prove to herself that she had. And the only way to prove that was right here, right now.

While Naruto was looking at her, and her alone.

She had always been looking at him. For years and years now she had watched him. Sometimes she wondered why that even was? She really didn't understand, but… when she watched him, she felt her courage grow. Like maybe even someone like her could do something if she just tried. As if even a failure like her had some kind of value.

That was why she charged head on to her defeat. That was why even when she tripped and stumbled right in front of her opponent, she turned that momentum into an attack, sweeping low at Neji's shins in a kick. Of course, he blocked it anyway. It gave her the chance to recover, striking at him now with a series of Jyuken blows.

No chakra came from her hands, but that hardly mattered anymore. She didn't know any other way to fight, for she had only been trained in the traditional Hyuga style her entire life. Trying to use fists would only make her more vulnerable to a counter. And at this point, the only real value to this fight for her was staying in it for as long as possible.

Neji stumbled backwards, momentarily overwhelmed by a rain of blows that should have been impossible. Hinata was surely not in the condition to fight as ferociously as she was, yet through sheer determination alone she was able to overcome her own limits.

It was only for a moment.

Neji recovered, stepping in and knocking Hinata's footing loose. She tumbled forward and right into his open palm. It struck her in the chin and sent her reeling backwards. With a scream she almost didn't recognize as her own, she flew back. In her condition, such a blow should have knocked her down.

Yet Hinata sucked in her breath and managed to steady her feet, skidding to a halt. There were murmured gasps of surprise from nearly every part of the room. Hinata broke into a fit of blood-filled coughs.

She willed the coughing to stop. And charged again. Even with the whole of her focus on the man in front of her, in the back of her mind she still knew that Naruto was watching.

Finally… He was finally the one looking at her-

Her thoughts and her charge were interrupted, Neji's Jyuken slamming into her chest and his chakra striking her dead in the heart. Everything stopped. Time itself seemed to stand still.

She gave another cough, not of air; but only blood. And she fell. She hit the ground face-first, arm still extended as if to attack.

"You really don't understand anything." Neji said, his voice sounding far away. "From the very beginning your attacks had no effect." His voice was full of contempt and bitterness. "It's over." Even though he was the winner, why did he sound so defeated?

Darkness took her and she realized this was truly the end. She wouldn't be standing up again. In the end, had she really been so unable to change?

The sensation of pain gradually disappeared and she knew she had blacked out. Or… so she thought. Yet this was somehow different.

The moment she thought this and Hinata found she was able to pick herself up. "Huh?" She spoke without coughing blood. It was almost like she was healed, yet as she looked around there was only darkness. No… that wasn't quite right. There was light, but it took her several seconds to realize it was coming from below.

When she looked down she saw that a soft green glow was coming from a giant eight-trigrams diagram etched onto the blackness she stood upon. She had heard of this phenomenon before, as it was supposedly something advanced users of the Byakugan could see when tapping into the more powerful techniques of the Hyuga clan. It was the first time Hinata had ever laid eyes upon it.

"Does this mean… Can I still fight?" She couldn't help but wonder aloud. It was certainly different from how she had heard about it from her father, but she still wanted to believe this was somehow a sign. Perhaps a physical manifestation that proved she had been able to change herself.

"Well that's entirely up to you now, isn't it?" An unexpected voice answered Hinata's question and she spun around. Floating cross-legged in the middle of the diagram- directly above the yin-yang marking- was a girl not much older than herself. Like Hinata, she was a Hyuga, her Byakugan eyes the obvious indication of that.

"W-who are you?" Hinata asked. Yes, this girl was a Hyuga, but Hinata had never seen her before. She knew most everyone in her clan, at the very least in passing. Yet she had never known there to be a girl this close to her in age. What's more, her head was unmarked- An indication she was a member of the main family. Something that couldn't be possible.

"Hmm… we're going to have to save that conversation for after." The girl said, smiling apologetically. "For now, just think of me as an extension of your chakra. I'm sorry I can't be more specific than that, but any other answer will just raise more questions and you don't have time if your wish is to continue fighting."

Continue. That one word was the only thing Hinata truly heard.

"Y-You mean I haven't lost yet?!" Hinata spun around, but the scenery was the same as before. Only darkness. She failed to see how she was going to be able to fight like this.

"That's why I'm saying we have to hurry." The girl said, but didn't actually seem to be in any kind of rush to explain things. "Look, the straight and simple is: You're at the edge of consciousness right now. If you walk into the blackness, that's how you'll end up and the fight will be over here and now. But if you come this way and take my hand, you'll wake up." As she spoke, she held out her hand as if already expecting Hinata's answer.

"That's it?" Hinata asked, suspicion creeping into her tone despite herself. She didn't want to doubt this strange girl, but what she was saying sounded too easy. Too good to be true. She could be allowed to continue just like that?

"The action itself is easy enough, sure. But what comes after won't be." The girl warned. "Your heart is seriously on the verge of shutting down, you know? Well… it pretty much had to reach this state for me to be able to appear before you like this. Of course, this is also the result of your own actions. I wouldn't have been able to come forth if you hadn't pushed yourself either." She said.

"You're saying… that I was able to change then?" Hinata asked hopefully, taking a few hesitant steps towards the mysterious girl. "I was really able to do it? I was able to be like Naruto-kun?"

In response, the girl smiled confidently.

"Take my hand and find out for yourself." She said.

Hinata believed if she had been her old self, then she would have hesitated for several seconds longer. Yet she was proud to admit that the her in that moment did no such thing. Without missing another beat she took the necessary step forward and reached her hand out.

With an audible clap, she took the girl's hand in hers.

A moment later all the pain returned and she could taste the iron-filled blood as it oozed from her barely open lips. The darkness of the void was replaced by her heavy-eyelids. She groaned, but it was almost inaudible.

Was that… had it been a dream just now? She had no idea. Everything hurt so badly that she could barely even think straight. Yet she knew one thing: This match wasn't over.

"Don't stop the match!" As if to mimic her sentiment, Naruto cried out those words.

"Are you an idiot?!" His teammate, Sakura, yelled at him. "She's clearly at her limit. Look at her, she's already fainted…" Her words died on her tongue, as Hinata struggled to her feet. As if to prove her wrong, Hinata slowly but surely rose up.

She found that the more she fought against herself the easier it became. Almost like she was healing… but that surely wasn't possible?

"It's possible." The girl's voice spoke in Hinata's ear. Even without turning around, Hinata could see her with her Byakugan. It was indeed the same girl from the dream, but it wasn't like before. She appeared less like a human and more of a ghost. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to call her a cloud of chakra, clinging to Hinata like a blanket.

"..." Hinata opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead it was just strained air and more blood. If she was healing, it wasn't quickly. Not quickly enough anyways.

"Why do you keep standing?" Neji asked in dumbfounded disbelief. "You're really going to die…" It wasn't a threat, but more a statement of fact. As Hinata lifted her head to face him, her vision wavered.

No, it wasn't that it wavered. It was more like, the very air around her was shimmering. Was this chakra? The air itself, everything around her seemed to be glowing with life and some kind of energy. What's more, some of it seemed to be flowing into her and that had been the source of her slow healing.

"It's called Natural energy." The girl answered Hinata's unasked question. "The true power of our Byakugan has awakened and that's why you're able to see it now. It's also why you're the only one able to see me. Normally you have to remain perfectly still to be able to absorb natural chakra, but just leave that to me, as our chakra reserves are in the middle of mixing anyways. It's going to take your body some time to get used to these changes in the first place."

Hinata wanted to say she understood, but there was just far too much information coming in at once. This was on top of the fact that she was still in the middle of a literal life-or-death battle here.

She found her gaze glancing up to Naruto once again, but was surprised to find he also had the ghost of some chakra clinging to him. He didn't even seem to notice it was there, but he did catch her gaze and nodded at her approvingly. It felt like that nod alone was enough for her to focus up.

It was true, there were a lot of crazy, as-of-now-unexplained things happening to her, but more importantly than all that… her desire to change had unlocked some kind of new ability. So long as she understood that one simple fact, everything was alright. With this… she wasn't just fighting a losing battle to change herself. She was fighting to win.

"I can still go." She said, taking a step forward and nearly faltered. It wasn't so much from the pain anymore, but the still strange chakra floating all around them that was confusing her senses.

"Quit bluffing!" Neji sneered. "You're barely able to stand." It was exactly as the girl said, Neji failing to notice anything different about her and under the impression she was still too injured to keep fighting. "I can see your destiny with my eyes. I can see how you've cursed your own powerlessness…" He trailed off. His vision narrowed and then the veins around his eyes bulged, a sign that he was activating the true power of his own Byakugan.

"Your eyes…" He whispered. In truth, Hinata didn't even hear him but she could read his lips. "What have you done?" For a moment, she had no idea what he was talking about. But then she remembered.

She too had seen it. For a brief moment before she took the mysterious girl's hand. It was true, she had the Byakugan, but there was also something different about it. Her pale iris had been filled with a pure white shape, almost invisible, but certainly there. It had almost looked like a lotus had bloomed in her very eyes.

Hinata had no doubt her own eyes must have also taken on this distinct trait. Distinct, but difficult at a glance to notice or else Neji would have surely seen it from the moment she stood back up.

"Is this some kind of Main branch trick?!" Neji yelled, sudden anger overtaking her cousin. He charged at her, not even waiting for an answer to his question.

At that same moment, Hinata could see the atmosphere around several of the Jonin in the room shift, their very chakra affecting the natural energy around them. They were going to interfere. She didn't know how she could tell, but she somehow knew this was what the energy she was reading was conveying to her. They assumed she was still too weak to continue fighting. If she didn't do something in the next second, then the match would be over without her being able to have done anything.

"Tenketsu!" The girl called in Hinata's ear. For a moment, she didn't know what she was saying. There was no way she could strike Neji's Tenketsu from here. The Jonin would be too fast and would intercept the both of them before they could exchange blows.

Then she saw it. It wasn't his tenketsu she was talking about, but the chakra points of the natural energy around them. It too was floating with tiny points, the same as any human. No, they looked more like fractures. The nearest one was at her feet, the flow of the point stretching out to the wooden floor between herself and Neji.

No time to think, she bent down and lunged at it, a single finger extended to strike the small point on the floor. Her own tenketsu all popped back open, a surge of chakra greater than she ever had before bursting through the closed points like an active volcano.

To everyone around her it must have looked like she had collapsed again. This gave them all a moment's pause. That was all she needed. Her finger hit the point dead on. She half expected her finger to bend from suddenly striking the hardwood floor.

Instead she cut through it like butter. And caused a chain reaction, the wooden flooring between Neji and her being ripped asunder. Neji couldn't react in time. Even if he had time to react, there was no way he would have. For what she had just done was impossible.

The shattering wood battered his body and sent him sprawling. He was only saved from falling into the new hole in the arena by sheer dumb-luck, getting knocked aside and onto safe ground by the same attack.

As he laid there groaning in agony, shocked silence filled the rest of the room. The proctor was half-way to them, body still in a running stance but otherwise unmoving. Her Jonin-instructor, Kurenai-sensei, was halfway to vaulting the railing. Neji's teacher had actually reached the floor, but was hanging back just outside the range of her surprise attack. A step further and he would have fallen to the floor below.

"Yeah, you get 'em Hinata!" Naruto was the only voice to cut through the otherwise shocked silence. He simply didn't have the frame of reference to realize what Hinata did was truly amazing. For him, it was a matter-of-fact that she had such abilities. Somehow, this made her smile.

"I told you… I've changed. Neji-nii-san." Hinata turned to her cousin, who was stumbling back to his feet now. It would appear that her display of power had given hesitance to the Jonin that meant to interfere just now. She could sense that at any moment they would throw themselves in if things looked bad, but their curiosity at her new power was currently overriding that instinct. This wasn't so much as reading chakra as it was reading their very intent. Another new ability, it would seem.

"...You." Neji's breathing was ragged. But it wasn't from a sustained injury, but rather anger. He was absolutely radiating hatred now. Hatred directed at her… yet that wasn't entirely correct. He was more angry at the unfairness of it all. Their family, his own powerlessness, she was simply a vessel that represented everything it was that he truly hated.

She bit her lower lip. In a way, she hated this too. Even if she got this power, what was she supposed to do to help him? It was true, she had wanted to win and prove herself. But she hadn't realized that the power necessary to do that would only hurt her cousin more.

"I'll kill you!" Neji roared at the top of his lungs. All reason appeared to leave him completely now. This wasn't who he truly was. She knew that deep down. He needed help, and she wanted to be the one to give that to him. But right now she had to stop him, before he got consumed by his own anguish.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. Then she charged to meet him head on. It felt like her thoughts were more in tune with the ghastly girl clung to her back now. Because Hinata could sense her intent without her even having to say anything. She saw the tenketsu she wanted her to strike and Hinata didn't hesitate.

This time her finger struck the air between them, hitting an otherwise invisible point. The very air burst apart, causing a temporary vacuum that sucked the air right from Neji's lungs. His eyes were rolling up into his head before her Jyuken strike even hit him. He stumbled from the force of her blow, but she knew that was far from enough to put him down. Neji was the genius of the Hyuga clan, one whose talent hadn't been seen in over a hundred years. If just that was enough to bring him down, then their clan was already doomed.

No, Neji forced himself to remain standing. Despite losing consciousness for a brief second, he managed to come back through sheer anger alone. His palm flew forward, aiming for Hinata's heart. She deflected the strike, knocking away his wrist with her elbow and twirling around to stand behind him. She swung at the back of his head, but the Byakugan gave nearly three-hundred and sixty degree vision, allowing him to see such an attack. He bent forward, dodging her strike. In the same motion his foot came up in a scorpion kick aiming to catch her in the chin.

Hinata jumped in the direction of the kick, dodging it by a hair's breadth, and flipping backwards to land several paces away in a crouch. Despite having healed somewhat since absorbing natural energy she was far from fully recovered. Her heart strained and Hinata had to keep from spitting up blood. Any further weakness such as that might give the Jonin a reason to cancel the match. The one thing she couldn't hide, however, was her labored breaths. Like it or not, she needed a minute to recover her strength. Certainly, she had found a new power, but it still might not be enough even now.

Not against Neji. He stood with his back to her, but she knew he was looking with his Byakugan. Scanning for any weakness. She had been able to land a couple blows thanks to his overwhelming anger, but it would be naïve to think that would continue to work. Their exchange just now seemed to have calmed him, even if only slightly. His breathing was under control and his stance slowly shifted.

"You're in range of my vision." He warned. Just that small phrase was enough for her blood to run cold. She knew what was coming next. Neji intended to aim for her Tenketsu. Not one at a time like before, but he intended to shut down her chakra system in one fell swoop by striking sixty-four of her critical points with one attack. But how did he know such a technique? It was reserved for the main clan, and even she hadn't mastered it yet despite the fact she should have. No- it wasn't such a crazy thought. This was Neji, after all. It would be more weird if he hadn't somehow figured it out.

Neji spun on his heels, closing the distance between himself and Hinata like a twister. His fingers were extended, aiming to strike the first of sixty-four consecutive blows. What he was actually doing was following an invisible line, his every move being guided by the power of the eight trigrams. So long as he followed the path laid out for him, trusting in his eyesight and the power granted to him, his body would automatically do the rest.

Under ordinary circumstances anyways.

Once you were within range of the technique, there was very little you could do to escape it. After all, it was impossible to see the line guiding his movements. However, Hinata now had a trump card that even he couldn't emulate. Like Neji, she could see inside the eight trigrams dimension. It was exactly the same as where that girl had been. She could see into this world and beyond it. That was why she could see the natural tenketsu points... as well as the very line he was following to execute the technique.

And if she could see it, she could counter it.

"Two palms!" Neji called. His fingers struck-

Empty air.

Hinata's tenketsu should have been exactly where his fingers stabbed. This was an immutable truth. Even if she moved, the line guiding his movements should have steered him to strike his mark. Yet at the end of the line she wasn't there, as if she was altering fate in real time right before his very eyes. Neji grit his teeth, but didn't allow his surprise to disrupt the technique. Hinata may have been able to dodge the first two strikes, but the technique only picked up speed from here. And in the condition her body was in it was impossible for her to dodge all sixty-four.

"Four palms!" He swung again, Hinata's body nimbly bending out of the way at the last second, the invisible line once again failing him and causing his technique to miss. "Eight palms!" The pace of his strikes quickened. Hinata dodged those as well, but on the last one her legs buckled and he saw her chest heave. She was at her limit. "Sixteen palms!" He intended to end it here, now that she could no longer dodge.

Finally, his finger connected. Only it wasn't with Hinata's tenketsu, but her elbow deflecting his blow to the side. Then the tip of her palm. Instead of simply dodging his rampant onslaught, she was blocking it now as well. She was reading his movements perfectly, as if knowing how he was going to move better than even he did. She was gasping for breath, her heart skipping every other beat. Yet against all of this she kept fighting him. She kept running against her fate, overcoming it again and again with every blow she managed to prevent.

"Thirty-two palms!" Neji roared, his throat tearing. This was it. After thirty-two strikes, the technique hit the pinnacle of its speed. If even this wasn't enough for him to break her down, then there was truly nothing left he could do. As he gave into despair, Hinata was on the verge of collapse herself. What this battle had turned into wasn't a battle of skill, but attrition between Neji's will and Hinata's failing body.

"Sixty-four palms!" The final strike fell, the one and only one to connect with Hinata's tenketsu.

It hit her in the upper left shoulder. However, to call this a victory would be a mistake. Hitting only a single tenketsu and closing it wasn't enough to disrupt the general flow of chakra. Certainly, if even a few of his blows had managed to connect and Hinata might have had trouble unleashing her Jyuken effectively, but just one was of no concern. And that last one only connected because Hinata had turned her defensive battle into a last ditch offense. She had been waiting for the very moment Neji finished his technique. For it was in that second when he would be most vulnerable to a counter-attack.

This was her all or nothing gamble, turning the timing of Neji's final strike into the last one of the match; one way or the other.

Neji reeled as Hinata bent low, hands stretched out far behind her, shrugging off the single blow to her shoulder. Then she thrust forward with both palms at once, hitting him in the solar plexus with a mighty blow. One that even he couldn't possibly shake off.

He flew across the room, crashing into the wall on the opposite side. Time seemed to stand still for half a second, before he then slid down the wall and collapsed into an unmoving heap. Just like that and the match was over. What was once a fight that Hinata couldn't possibly win had become the biggest upset of the preliminary matches.

"Winner… Hyuga Hinata." Hayate proclaimed, albeit without the confidence that usually came with such declarations. It wasn't something she could blame him for, finding it hard to believe herself.

Even after awakening to this power and it had been touch and go for her. Her heart still felt like it was threatening to give out at any moment and her breathing had only gotten more irregular as the fight went on. There had only been one thing truly pushing her on.

No one cheered for her, even her own teacher looking at her with a mix of shock and worry. In that silence, one voice then rang out like a crystal bell.

"Whooo! Way to go, Hinata! Alright!" Naruto whooped, his voice and his alone the only support she would receive. Yet it was enough for her. If he was the only one in the world that would cheer for her, she would still be fulfilled. She smiled up at him. Not a big smile, but a shy one full of unexpressed emotion.

However, she also found herself once again drawn to the ghostly visage on his back. Why did he have something too? Just what was it?

"That… is probably Asura." The girl answered Hinata's question. "I guess you would call him my cousin. That runt you have a crush on appears to be his latest reincarnation." Hinata felt her cheek's color red at having her feelings so bluntly put into words, but it only lasted for a moment before she realized what the girl was saying.

Reincarnation? If Naruto was the reincarnation of this Asura and he had taken that shape… then this girl must be-

"You more or less got it right." The girl finished the thought for her. "My name is Otsutsuki Kali… and you are my latest reincarnate. The reason you're able to see us is the true power of your new eyes: A Byakugan unique to me and my reincarnations. Your clan knows it as-"

"The Nichiren Byakugan."


Chapter End


AN: So the new eyes are the 日蓮白眼 (Nichiren Byakugan - Sun Lotus White Eye).

The name is inspired by the Nichiren sect of Japanese Buddism, which felt fitting considering many of the inspiration for the Hyuga clan. The simple idea of expanding the vision to also being able to see Natural Energy and those chakra points, is actually inspired off of the Death Points from Kara no Kyokai and Tsukihime.

Kali is an Original Character for this story, a cousin of Indra and Asura, and a transmigrate, just like them. The name Kali isn't Japanese, but instead follows the Hindu naming trend of her cousins, in order to provide consistency.