Hinata of the White Lotus

by froznx

On the verge of death in her fight against Neji, Hinata awakens an advanced version of the Byakugan. Now with the power of an ancient ally on her side, she begins to unravel the truth of their world and her place in it. As her powers and confidence continue to grow while facing off against increasingly dangerous foes, she becomes known as The White Lotus. This is her legend.

43. Hinata vs Kabuto

Hinata: Byakurenden

Hinata vs Kabuto

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The power of the first chakra gate already flowed through Hinata, her body an incandescent source of energy as the desert air seemed to tremble around her. The sand beneath her feet swirled in an intricate spiral, rising in wisps like a miniature storm whipped into existence by her chakra. It clung to the atmosphere, golden and restless, mirroring the turmoil within her. Her shrine maiden robes danced wildly as if caught in an unseen tempest, their pristine white edges flashing with violet hues as her chakra flared. Her dark-blue hair, tied neatly in a ponytail with Naruto's orange kumihimo cord, lashed about like an enraged animal's tail, betraying the emotions she struggled to contain.

The heat of the false sun hung oppressively in the sky, casting long, jagged shadows from the crumbled walls and ruined buildings of Sunagakure. The once-thriving village had become a battlefield, its streets littered with debris and the broken remnants of Sasori's puppet army. Severed limbs of wooden monstrosities lay scattered around her, their painted faces frozen in grotesque expressions of war. The eerie creak of still-moving puppets echoed faintly in the distance, a haunting counterpoint to the silence that surrounded Kabuto and Hinata.

Kabuto stood a few dozen meters away, his posture relaxed, as if mocking the devastation around them. He wore an Akatsuki cloak, its clouds frayed and dulled from years of wear and tear. His pale skin gleamed unnaturally in the sun, a sheen that hinted at the unnatural experiments he had undergone. His right was a grotesque amalgamation of flesh and power. Embedded in the limb were ten Byakugan, each one eerily alive, their pale irises reflecting a faint glow. They stared at her like accusing specters, unblinking and unfeeling, a grim reminder of the Hyūga lives he had stolen.

His face twisted into a smug grin as he adjusted his glasses with the same grotesque arm. His own eyes, now enhanced with the stolen Byakugan, met hers with an unnatural gleam.

Hinata's breath hitched, her body trembling—not from fear, but from an anger so intense it felt as though it might consume her entirely. She had never hated before, not truly. Even at her lowest, when she despised her weakness, it had been a quiet, sorrowful hatred turned inward. This was different. This hatred felt raw, untamed, and violent, as though it had been awakened by the force of Kali's rage buried deep within her soul. It twisted her insides, made her skin crawl, and filled her joints with a burning ache. It was an emotion she despised, one that threatened to overwhelm her sense of self.

Kabuto had committed atrocities she could never forgive. It wasn't enough for him to put out a bounty that had led to the deaths of six branch members of her clan. No, he had desecrated their bodies, plundering their eyes and melding them into his own. Every Byakugan embedded in his grotesque arm was a testament to his depravity, each one a reminder of the lives he had snuffed out for his ambition.

It was all for this moment, this mockery of her dream for a united Hyūga Clan.

"You've got quite the look in your eye, White Lotus," Kabuto sneered, his voice dripping with condescension. "Did I strike a nerve?" He raised his grotesque arm and flexed it, the Byakugan embedded in the flesh staring back at her like a grim audience.

"Shut up." Hinata's voice was low and icy, carrying none of the fiery rage she felt burning within. She disappeared from his line of sight in a blur, reappearing behind him with her palm raised. Hinata's strike drilled into Kabuto's solar plexus with an audible thud, releasing a devastating Jyūken strike infused with natural energy. The air around the point of impact rippled like water, the force of her chakra tearing into the core of his body. Her intent was clear—to hurt, to make him feel the full weight of her fury. Yet, to her frustration, Kabuto dissolved into a writhing mass of snakes.

The serpents spilled onto the cracked tiles beneath her, their scales shimmering unnaturally in the false sunlight cast by Sasori's grotesque puppet sun. They hissed and slithered away, dispersing like shadows under a streetlamp, their pale forms streaked with crimson markings that gave them an almost regal, otherworldly quality. They left behind only the faint, acrid scent of venom and smoke, a lingering taunt that mocked her strike.

Hinata barely registered the snakes, her Nichiren Byakugan pierced through the chaos of the battlefield, searching for Kabuto's true form. The sprawling streets of Sunagakure unfolded beneath her like an intricate map.

The village was a bustling haven of angular sandstone buildings and elegant, arched towers. Hinata pushed off the ground, her leap propelling her onto the nearest rooftop with a grace that belied the fury bubbling within her. The moment her sandals touched the cracked stone, her vision swept over the battlefield, locking onto a flicker of Kabuto's chakra perched on a rooftop several blocks away. She moved before the thought fully formed, her body a blur of motion as she darted across the rooftops. Her feet barely touched the ground, each step more like a whisper than a sound.

Below her, the streets were alive with chaos. Sunanin forces battled valiantly against the endless waves of puppets, their swirling weapons stark against the muted tones of sand and destruction. Explosions sent plumes of dust and debris into the air, the sounds of battle—a mix of shouts, clashing metal, and the sharp crack of jutsu—echoing through the desolation.

Sasori's puppets clambered over the ruins with mechanical precision, their soulless eyes scanning for targets. They climbed the broken walls of homes and shops, their segmented limbs clicking unnervingly as they crawled like insects. Some bore grotesque, oversized weapons—blades as large as a man, flamethrowers sputtering with fire, and sickles glinting under the oppressive light.

Hinata weaved through the chaos, her focus unyielding. She landed on the rooftop where Kabuto perched, his smirk unchanged, his grotesque arm resting casually on his hip as though this destruction were a game to him.

"You got here quicker than I thought you would—" His words were cut short as Hinata's ax-kick came down with meteoric force, cleaving through his neck and separating his head from his shoulders. The body wavered for a fraction of a second before dissolving into another den of snakes.

The serpents writhed around her feet, their crimson-lined scales shimmering unnaturally. Their forked tongues flickered as if tasting her fury, but they posed no real threat. Hinata's violet chakra flared, the sheer intensity of it sending the creatures slithering away in retreat.

"Another clone," she muttered, her voice a low growl. Her anger simmered just below the surface, like lava threatening to erupt. She scanned the battlefield again, ignoring the chaos below her as she searched for Kabuto's true chakra signature.

This time, she found him near what could have only been the Kazekage's residence. He stood just outside the grand building, his arm raised as if waving her over. Even from this distance, she could see his mocking grin.

Pushing off the rooftop, she soared through the air, her body cutting cleanly through the wind. Puppets leaped from the streets below, their jagged claws and weapons aiming to intercept her, but she moved faster than they could react. Her strikes were precise, each one dismantling a puppet in a single blow. One after another, they fell, their wooden forms splintering and collapsing into lifeless heaps.

She landed near the Kazekage's residence in a crouch. The building's grandeur was a stark contrast to the destruction surrounding it. Its domed roof was cracked but still stood tall, the ancient carvings on its walls glowing faintly under the oppressive light. The kanji for "Wind" seemed to pulse with an almost ethereal energy, as if the building itself was willing her to succeed.

"You're persistent," Kabuto called, his voice carrying easily over the din of battle. "But then again, I suppose you'd have to be, given your shortcomings." His grin widened as he adjusted his glasses, his eyes gleaming with malice. "Tell me, does it hurt, knowing you failed everyone? That everything you've done has only brought ruin to your clan?"

Hinata froze for a fraction of a second, his words slicing deeper than she expected. Her grip on her emotions faltered, the surge of anger threatening to consume her. She didn't respond, instead launching herself toward him with blinding speed.

Kabuto dissolved into another den of snakes just before her strike connected. She landed on the cracked sandstone with a growl, the serpents scattering beneath her.

She widened the range of her Nichiren Byakugan, scanning for his signature again. This time, it was more difficult to pinpoint. The traces of Asura's chakra in his grotesque arm made it stand out, but the energy felt diluted, as though he were deliberately masking it. Her gaze sharpened as she found him again, far below, hiding in a grand hall beneath the Kazekage's residence—and the winding pathways that connected the surface to his location would take too long to traverse. She clenched her fists, feeling the crackling intensity of the first chakra gate coursing through her body. Her fury demanded swift action.

A shortcut, then.

She positioned herself deliberately, her feet planted firmly on the cracked sandstone roof. The swirling sand around her began to still, drawn to the gravity of her intent. Raising a single hand, she focused her chakra through the Nichiren Byakugan, locking onto a natural tenketsu point hidden within the shifting sands below. These points were invisible to the naked eye, and even a trained Byakugan wouldn't be able to see them. But to Hinata, they glowed as clear as stars in the night sky.

Her hand shot forward, a precision Jyūken strike aimed directly at the tenketsu point. The moment her palm connected with the ground, the effect was instantaneous and catastrophic. The sand erupted upward in a spiraling cyclone, whirling violently as though a storm had been unleashed from the earth itself. A deep rumble resonated through the village, a sound that echoed like a drumbeat of destruction.

The vortex carved a gaping chasm in the heart of Sunagakure, exposing the stone foundation beneath the layers of sand. The hardened stone buckled under the force of her strike, shattering into jagged fragments that rained into the newly formed abyss. Sunlight streamed through the swirling sand and debris, illuminating the darkened hall below with an eerie glow. The ground trembled as the chasm widened, sending loose fragments of sandstone plummeting into the depths.

Hinata leapt into the chaos without hesitation, her form a blur as she descended through the spiraling storm of sand and stone. The air grew cooler as she fell, the oppressive heat of the desert giving way to the chill of the underground. She landed on a mound of rubble, her arrival marked by a resonant crunch as the fractured stone shifted beneath her sandals.

Rising from her crouch, Hinata took in her surroundings. The grand hall was massive—an architectural marvel that stretched far beyond what she had anticipated. Its cavernous space seemed to breathe with an ancient presence, the air thick with the weight of history and power. The floor was made of polished sandstone, now marred with cracks from her violent entry. Intricate carvings adorned the walls, depicting swirling winds and desert landscapes, their details illuminated by faint, ethereal light seeping through gaps in the ceiling.

Towering statues of the Kazekage stood at the far end of the hall, their sheer size dwarfing everything else. Each monolith was carved with meticulous detail, capturing the essence of the Kazekage they represented. Each successive statue carried a weight of authority, their presence imposing and almost alive. The craftsmanship was so precise that even the folds of their robes seemed to ripple, as though caught in an invisible desert wind.

Yet Hinata's attention was drawn to the figure directly in front of her. At the other end of the hall stood a massive cage, its iron bars blackened with age and etched with sealing runes that pulsed faintly in the dim light. It loomed over the space, its presence a grim reminder of the power it had once been meant to contain. She recognized the purpose it must have once served immediately—this had been Shukaku's prison, the cage designed to hold the One-Tailed Tanuki. The air around it still seemed to hum with residual energy, the echoes of a beast that had once been bound within.

Inside the cage stood Kabuto, his smirk as infuriating as ever. His grotesque arm, bristling with Byakugan eyes, rested casually at his side. The ten pale irises along his arm glimmered faintly, their ghostly light giving his already monstrous appearance an even more sinister edge. He leaned against one of the bars, his posture relaxed, as though her fury was nothing more than a mild inconvenience to him.

"Well, well," Kabuto drawled, adjusting his cracked glasses with a flick of his normal hand. "I have to admit, your entrance was spectacular. A little destructive, but who's keeping track, right?"

Hinata ignored his words, descending the pile of rubble she'd landed on. Each step she took was deliberate, her movements graceful but charged with a barely contained fury. Her violet aura flickered dangerously, illuminating the shattered stone beneath her feet. Her gaze was locked on Kabuto, her Nichiren Byakugan focused not just on him but on the flow of natural energy around him. Something about his chakra was… different.

Kabuto tilted his head, his smirk growing wider. "Oh? You're not going to dignify me with a response? That's disappointing. After all, I went through so much trouble to get your attention."

Hinata's eyes narrowed as she continued her approach. She could feel the malevolence radiating from him, but there was something else—something ancient. Hinata's breath caught in her throat as she started to understand what it was. A wave of nausea churned through her stomach, sharp and overwhelming, like the first sickening drop of a plummet into darkness. It wasn't just the sight of him—grotesque and unnatural, his right arm riddled with implanted Byakugan eyes like a macabre display of stolen power. It was something deeper, primal, that twisted her insides and made her body tremble. It felt like she was gazing into something that should not exist.

Her skin crawled as her gaze fell on the creature draped around Kabuto's shoulders. The snake was massive, its thick, scaled body coiled lazily like a grotesque scarf. Its pure white skin shimmered faintly in the dim light of the hall, giving it an otherworldly glow that only added to its unsettling presence. The creature's eyes, slit and pink, seemed to pierce straight through Hinata's defenses, their gaze cold and calculating, as though it was measuring her soul against some unfathomable standard.

It wasn't just a snake. That much was immediately clear. The creature's presence radiated an ancient wisdom, an oppressive aura of age and power that sent a chill down her spine. Twin horns sprouted from its head, curving gracefully upward like the twisted branches of a dead tree, giving it the appearance of a dragon from myth. Its forked tongue flicked occasionally, each movement deliberate, as though even the act of tasting the air carried purpose.

The snake-dragon hardly moved otherwise. Its stillness was unnatural, not the poised stillness of a predator but the calm of something that existed beyond the need for movement or haste. Its aura suffused the space around Kabuto, amplifying his already grotesque form with an air of undeniable menace.

Hinata's body rebelled against her as her knees threatened to buckle under the weight of that presence. Her fingers twitched, her chakra erratic as her Nichiren Byakugan sharpened her perception of the unnatural scene before her. That dread clawing at her mind wasn't natural—it was something the snake-dragon emanated deliberately, a subtle manipulation that made her feel small, insignificant, powerless.

She gritted her teeth and forced herself to stand tall, her fists clenching as her anger surged to counter the fear. "You…" she began, her voice trembling as she tried to process what she was seeing. She knew. She already knew what it was that twisted her stomach into knots, but saying it aloud felt impossible.

Her Nichiren Byakugan flared instinctively, the glow of her heightened sight locking onto Kabuto's face. And then she truly saw them—his eyes.

They were the Byakugan, and yet they weren't. A white lotus bloomed faintly in the center of his pale irises, its petals delicate but unmistakable. The same pattern marked all ten of the Byakugan embedded along his arm, the ghastly display like a grotesque imitation of a sacred technique.

Her voice caught again, her words strangled by a mix of fury and disbelief. How? How could this be possible? The Nichiren Byakugan was hers—it was Kali's. It was meant to be the sacred inheritance of a reincarnation, something that tied her to her spiritual mentor and to a legacy of purity and understanding. To see it now, reflected back at her in the twisted form of a man who had murdered her kin, desecrated their legacy, and reduced their gifts to tools for his own gain—it was almost too much to bear.

Kabuto's smirk deepened as he watched the emotions play across her face. "Sorry to break it to you, Hinata-kun," he said, his voice oily and mocking. "But you're just not that special."

Her heart lurched as he stepped forward, his gait casual and taunting, stopping just behind the bars of the massive cage that separated them. He tilted his head, the glint of his corrupted Byakugan catching the dim light. "Oh, I see it now. You thought this was something unique to you, didn't you? A gift from your so-called destiny. But it's just a technique. And like any technique, it can be learned, replicated… perfected."

Kabuto lifted his grotesque arm, displaying the row of implanted eyes with pride. Each iris bore the same delicate lotus pattern as his own, their ghostly glow mocking her with every blink. "Do you see? The pinnacle of your power—your precious Nichiren Byakugan—is nothing more than another tool. And I've made it mine. Not just one pair, but six. The knowledge, the ability… it's all mine now."

He pressed his hand against one of the iron bars separating them, his pale fingers finding a natural tenketsu point with eerie precision. The moment he touched it, the bar splintered and exploded outward, its fragments falling away as though unmade by his chakra.

Hinata's mind raced, the impossibility of it all colliding with the cold truth in front of her. The Nichiren Byakugan wasn't just a matter of seeing—it required a mastery over natural energy that only Kali had ever truly perfected. It was a delicate and dangerous process, threading natural energy through the eight gates and into the eyes. A single mistake in the balance could mean death: turning to stone, or worse, causing a catastrophic chain reaction within the user's body.

It was knowledge that Kali had passed only to her chosen disciples. Even Hinata had taken over a year to learn to harness it on her own, her mastery born of Kali's direct guidance. For Kabuto to achieve it without that guidance, without even knowing Kali's name, was a violation of everything the technique represented.

But he hadn't done it alone. Her gaze flickered to the snake-dragon coiled around him, and realization struck her like a blow. The creature wasn't just a summon—it was the source of his mastery, the entity manipulating the natural energy for him, guiding it flawlessly into his stolen eyes. Its ancient, knowing gaze met hers, and she felt the weight of its age, its wisdom, and its malice.

"You killed them," she whispered, her voice hollow but trembling with rage. "The members of my clan… you killed them for this."

"For this?" Kabuto's lips curled into a mock frown, his tone dripping with mockery. He tilted his head as if Hinata had just insulted his life's work. "Science demands sacrifice, Hinata-kun. Progress isn't free, and those people—your precious clansmen—they were shinobi. They knew the risks the moment they picked up a kunai." His eyes, glowing with the faint pattern of the Nichiren Byakugan, dared her to deny him.

"They weren't killed for the sake of a mission." Hinata's voice lacked the fire of her anger, carrying instead a chilling clarity that demanded attention. "They died because you put a bounty on their heads." She fixed her gaze on him, the pale glow of her own Byakugan locking with his. "You exploited them, their families, their lives—just so you could play god."

Kabuto's smirk twisted into something sharper, more menacing. He lifted his grotesque wooden arm, displaying the embedded Byakugan like trophies. The faint white lotus patterns on the irises glimmered eerily as he spoke, his voice rising with theatrical conviction. "And look what their sacrifices have achieved!" he declared, spreading his arms wide as if unveiling a masterpiece. "With this power—the ability to see the tenketsu of nature itself—do you realize what we can uncover? The secrets of existence! The very fabric of the universe, laid bare! You'd deny that for sentiment? For tradition?"

Hinata flinched, just slightly, as for a moment her enhanced vision betrayed her. Behind Kabuto, she saw a haunting tableau: the lifeless forms of her fallen kin, their faces frozen in expressions of pain, their empty eye sockets accusing her in silence. She blinked, and the illusion vanished, but the weight of it lingered.

"This power will advance us by generations," Kabuto continued, his voice taking on an almost zealous edge. "And you—what would you do? Keep it hidden? Let it rot in obscurity, all because you're too scared to embrace what must be done? Don't you think that's selfish?"

"Enough." Hinata's voice was quiet but resolute, her body trembling—not with fear, but with the effort of containing the storm within her. The sharp finality of her tone sliced through Kabuto's rhetoric, silencing him mid-breath. Her fists clenched at her sides, and her chakra began to hum faintly in the air around her. She didn't trust herself to say more. If she did, she wasn't sure what she would do—or how far she'd go.

Kabuto's smirk returned, more smug than ever, oblivious to the tide he had unleashed. He thought her silence meant she was backing down, that her resolve had faltered under his logic. "You're so naïve," he sneered. "That's what I've always found so amusing about people like you. Idealists, clinging to outdated notions of morality and legacy. But don't worry—I'll show you what true progress looks like."

He took a step closer, and Hinata's vision flickered. For a moment, it wasn't Kabuto she saw, but something else—something ancient, coiled, and burning with malevolence. It was Kali, or at least the shadow of who Kali had once been. Her presence loomed behind Hinata, a ghostly echo of rage and bloodlust that resonated with the fury already coursing through her veins.

Kabuto, oblivious to the looming shade, continued. "You're angry, I get it. But you'll thank me one day when the fruits of my work reshape this world. Your clan's loss? A footnote in the pages of history. Their lives traded for—"

She was fast—blindingly so—the first chakra gate still open from its earlier subconscious triggering. The sand around her feet shifted in her wake, leaving faint spirals in the air as her shrine maiden robes fluttered violently against the force of her motion. But no matter her speed, it was no guarantee of landing a decisive blow. Against an opponent like Kabuto, whose eyes mirrored her own, the advantage of the Nichiren Byakugan made raw speed a secondary factor.

Unlike the Sharingan, which dissected the subtlest muscle movements, the Nichiren Byakugan read the currents of natural energy—ripples and eddies invisible to all but those blessed or cursed with this heightened perception. Kabuto's mastery of the stolen eyes made him equally adept at reading these telltale signs. As Hinata closed in, her movements a blur, Kabuto sidestepped at the last moment, the faint smirk on his lips one of complete confidence.

But his confidence was premature.

Hinata's strike wasn't aimed at him at all. Her glowing finger passed harmlessly through the space he had vacated. Instead, it landed on a natural tenketsu point floating just behind where he had been standing. The point erupted in a burst of concussive force, the air collapsing inward with an audible whoomph. A sudden vacuum formed, dragging everything in the immediate area toward the focal point—including Kabuto.

"What the—?!" Kabuto's eyes widened as the force yanked him forward, his feet skidding against the uneven stone. Before he could counter, he was hurled straight into Hinata's waiting strike.

Her enhanced Jyūken strike landed squarely against Kabuto's chest with devastating force, the raw power of her chakra tearing through his body like a lightning bolt. The precise impact targeted his heart, and the reaction was immediate and catastrophic. His chest caved inward slightly under the crushing blow, a sickening, wet thud reverberating through the chamber as the force rippled outward in a shockwave. His ribs bent inward from the strike, their unnatural shift creating an audible crunch that echoed in the vast hall.

Kabuto's eyes widened, bloodshot and bulging as his lungs seized, unable to draw breath. A strangled gasp escaped his throat, half choked by the blood surging upward. His entire body recoiled, bending forward unnaturally, his arms flailing helplessly to steady himself as he was thrown backward. Blood sprayed from his mouth in an arc, painting the shattered stone floor in crimson streaks.

The force of Hinata's strike sent him flying, his body twisting and contorting midair like a ragdoll caught in a storm. His limbs flailed erratically, his wooden arm bending grotesquely as it whipped through the air. His head snapped back violently, the momentum carrying his limp form across the chamber. He slammed into the far wall with a deafening crash, the impact splitting stone and sending chunks of debris tumbling to the ground.

The wall splintered on contact, cracks spiderwebbing outward from the point of impact as if the very structure were shuddering in pain. Kabuto's body crumpled against the cold, jagged surface, sliding down in a heap, leaving a streak of blood smeared behind him. For a moment, he lay still, his chest heaving faintly as his body struggled to respond. His heart, reduced to a shredded, unrecognizable mass, failed to pump blood properly, leaving his ashen face covered in a sheen of sweat and blood.

Yet, even as his body fought against the inevitable, Hinata stood tall, her Nichiren Byakugan locked onto him. She could see it in perfect, harrowing clarity—the minute threads of natural energy coursing through him, knitting the destruction she had wrought with unnatural speed. His heart, though obliterated, was already beginning to regenerate. Each pulse of natural chakra was like a lifeline, weaving sinew and muscle together with eerie precision. The glow of sage-enhanced healing illuminated the grotesque wound, the sight both a marvel and an abomination of nature.

Hinata's lips pressed into a thin line, her gaze unflinching. She understood now how Kabuto's mastery over medical ninjutsu had fused seamlessly with the natural energy he wielded. This wasn't just healing—it was the culmination of years of study and obsession. Kabuto had transformed himself into a being capable of defying death itself, the perfect convergence of medical brilliance and sage power. For anyone else, her strike would have been final. Against him, it was only a temporary setback.

Her voice broke the eerie silence, sharp and cold, each syllable like a dagger. "Stand up," she commanded, her tone carrying the weight of unyielding certainty. "I know that wasn't enough to kill you."

There was no malice in her words, only a clinical understanding of the battle before her. And she was prepared to strike him down again, as many times as it took.

Kabuto groaned, the sound ragged as he peeled himself from the fractured wall. Dust and rubble tumbled from his battered form as he straightened, his breath wheezing through bloodied lips. Yet, despite the pain etched across his face, a cruel smirk crept into place. His mirrored eyes gleamed with a sinister confidence, reflecting the unnatural resilience that coursed through him.

"You're as sharp as I expected, Hinata-kun," he rasped, his voice dripping with mockery as he wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his sickly, wooden arm. The white lotuses in the Byakugan embedded along its length glowed faintly, pulsing in rhythm with his recovery. "But don't let that go to your head. You're not the only one who's learned to wield the forces of life and death."

The smirk widened as he tapped the center of his chest, where her strike had left a gaping void moments ago. Already, the flesh was mending, the regenerative process a testament to his grotesque mastery. "It's not just Sage Mode," Kabuto continued, his tone smug despite the blood still staining his lips. "My medical prowess is unparalleled. Combined with natural energy, it makes me unstoppable. I've transcended mortality, Hinata-kun. You're fighting against perfection."

Hinata's glare didn't waver, her quiet resolve like tempered steel. Her hands rose, chakra pooling in her palms as she prepared to strike again. She didn't care how many times she had to break him down. He could regenerate his body a hundred times over, but it wouldn't stop her. She would tear him apart until there was nothing left to heal.

He extended the grotesque limb, the embedded Nichiren Byakugan glowing ominously like ghostly beacons. One by one, the eyes on his arm pulsed with unnatural light, focusing in concert. A single eye zeroed in on a natural tenketsu point in the floor between them, its glowing iris sharpening like the tip of a dagger.

With a sharp pull of his chakra, Kabuto twisted the point's flow, unleashing a seismic ripple through the stone floor. The ground beneath Hinata's feet shifted with a deep, grinding roar, the tiles shuddering as they buckled and slid forward in a jagged line. It was as if the earth itself had turned against her, dragging her closer to Kabuto like an unwilling marionette on stone strings.

His arm shifted, several of the Nichiren Byakugan on his grotesque limb rotating, their glowing lotuses locking onto different natural tenketsu points spread across the walls behind him. The stone groaned in protest as his chakra poured into them, twisting and reshaping the material with eerie fluidity. Jagged shards of rock began to protrude from the walls, stretching and warping until they formed a forest of razor-sharp spears.

With a swift motion, Kabuto thrust his arm forward. The spears shot from the walls like vipers striking at their prey, each one aimed with deadly precision at Hinata. The air was filled with a sharp, whistling sound as the projectiles tore through it, their jagged edges gleaming under the flickering light of the false sun overhead.

But Hinata was already in motion, her Nichiren Byakugan tracking every movement with surgical precision. She stepped lightly, her footwork fluid—even on the sliding ground—as she adjusted her stance. The sharp crack of stone filled her ears, but her focus remained unshaken. With a sharp inhale, her chakra flared, and her hands moved in a blur.

"Shugohakke: Sixty-Four Palms!" she cried, her voice cutting through the chaos. Her palms sliced through the air, each motion leaving behind shimmering streaks of blue chakra that interwove to form an intricate, glowing lattice. The barrier of chakra spread out before her, its web-like structure shimmering with vibrant energy as it solidified into a nearly impenetrable shield.

The first spear struck the barrier with a deafening crash, splintering into harmless fragments that clattered to the ground. Another followed, and another, each one meeting the same fate as Hinata's hands danced through the air. The force of the impacts rippled through her barrier, sending faint vibrations up her arms, but she held steady, her expression calm and unyielding.

Kabuto's jagged projectiles kept coming, an unrelenting onslaught that filled the air with the sound of breaking stone. The fragments rained down around her, bouncing harmlessly off her protective web.

Hinata's movements were swift and fluid, each strike perfectly timed, each motion precise and deliberate. Her Nichiren Byakugan mapped the flow of energy around her, guiding her every action with a clarity that left no room for error.

Kabuto's sharp gaze narrowed. "Impressive," he muttered, though the begrudging admiration in his voice quickly gave way to a sneering edge. "But let's see how long you can keep that up."

With a sharp motion, Kabuto yanked upward on the natural tenketsu point beneath Hinata's feet. The stone platform she stood on shifted violently, tilting upward and rising like an accelerating elevator. The grinding roar of moving stone filled the chamber as the ground beneath her became a weapon in Kabuto's control. At the same time, another tenketsu point on the ceiling flared to life, manipulated by the glowing Nichiren Byakugan embedded in his arm. A massive stone pillar began descending with terrifying speed, its bulk shadowing Hinata as it raced downward to meet the rising platform in a deadly vise.

The two slabs of stone, one rising and one falling, hurtled toward each other with destructive intent, the chamber quaking under the force of Kabuto's manipulation. The sheer speed of the attack left little room for hesitation, but Hinata's Nichiren Byakugan caught every movement with perfect clarity. She felt the flow of natural energy, tracing the lines of Kabuto's intent, and her response was immediate.

"Juhō Soshiken!" Her voice rang out like a bell, sharp and commanding, cutting through the cacophony of the collapsing chamber. Her hands surged with chakra, blazing with brilliant blue flames that took the form of roaring lions. The fiery constructs snarled and growled as they formed, their manes crackling with wild energy. The room was bathed in their ghostly light, the feral brilliance of the lions casting dancing shadows across the fractured walls.

Hinata leapt into the air with the grace of a hawk, her body twisting horizontally in a powerful spin. Her shrine maiden robes billowed around her, the orange kumihimo cord woven into her hair streaming behind her like a comet's tail. She raised her blazing palms, and the lions' maws opened wide, their ferocity almost tangible as they roared in unison.

Doton: Kajujishi!" Hinata's voice rang out, the chakra roaring through her tenketsu surged, flooding into the lion-shaped constructs wrapped around her fists. Earth chakra pulsed through the jutsu, thick and heavy, binding with the lions' forms and solidifying them even further.

The transformation was immediate—the once-fluid shapes hardened, their fiery outlines dimming as cracks of molten earth traced across their forms like veins of magma. The lion's in her hands doubled—no, tripled—in weight.

Her timing was flawless. As the two stone pillars raced inward, threatening to crush her in an unyielding vise, Hinata thrust both arms outward with a shout. The lion heads struck the slabs with explosive force, their earthen cores rippling with raw chakra. Cracks spiderwebbed outward from the impact, dust and debris bursting into the air as the pillars shuddered under the pressure.

Hinata's muscles strained, her veins bulging from the exertion, but she held firm. Her Nichiren Byakugan flared, locking onto every fault line and weak point in the stone. The massive pillars shattered into countless shards, each fragment bursting outward in a shower of debris. The fiery lions didn't simply destroy the stone—they incinerated it, the heat of their chakra-infused flames reducing some of the debris to glowing embers. The chamber lit up with bursts of fiery light, the destruction casting fleeting shadows of the Kazekage statues that loomed above, silent witnesses to the chaos.

A shockwave rippled outward from the impact, strong enough to send loose stone and dust tumbling from the chamber's already fractured walls. Flaming debris scattered in all directions, the shards of rock glowing with residual heat as they clattered to the ground in a chaotic symphony.

Despite the overwhelming destruction, Hinata remained poised. She landed gracefully amidst the chaos, her feet finding purchase on the uneven ground. The blazing lions that had erupted from her palms burned brighter, their flames intensifying as if fueled by her resolve. The chakra constructs snarled silently, their glowing eyes locked on Kabuto with an almost sentient malice, the ethereal blue smoke curling around them like an aura of wrath.

Her Nichiren Byakugan too remained fixed on Kabuto as her breathing steadied, her expression one of unshaken resolve. This technique wasn't merely a weapon—it was a testament to her growth, a culmination of years of discipline and her pilgrimage to master herself and her abilities. The Twin Lion Step wasn't something inherited or borrowed—it was her creation, her answer to the demands of the battlefield.

Kabuto stumbled back, the confidence in his smirk faltering as he processed the sheer power of her counterattack. The walls bore deep cracks, spreading like veins in a fractured relic, and the statues of the Kazekage loomed above them, their once-pristine forms now shrouded in dust and shadow. They stood as silent, imposing monoliths, frozen tributes to the leaders of the Sand, giving him an idea.

The Nichiren Byakugan on his arm flared ominously, the pale lotus patterns in their irises glowing with intensity as he directed their gaze toward the statues. One by one, the massive stone effigies began to stir. At first, the movement was subtle—a shift of weight, a faint grinding noise like tectonic plates shifting far below the surface. Then, the impossible happened. Stone that had stood still for decades began to move, as if awakening from a deep slumber. The colossal statues, each depicting a Kazekage with their unique robes and symbols of power, stepped forward, the sound of their movements a deafening roar that reverberated through the chamber.

Their forms were massive, each towering so high that even if Hinata craned her neck to its limit, she couldn't see their heads clearly through the haze of dust. Every step they took sent shockwaves through the hall, causing loose stone to tumble from the fractured walls and filling the air with choking clouds of debris. Their movements were surreal—slow, deliberate, and unnervingly fluid for beings made entirely of unyielding stone. Arms that had once been folded in stoic poses now reached outward, their joints grinding and cracking with every shift, as though the statues themselves were protesting this grotesque animation.

The air grew thick with the oppressive weight of their presence. These were not mere puppets or simple constructs; they were towering reminders of the might and legacy of Sunagakure. The sheer impossibility of it made the sight almost nightmarish, the way the statues moved despite their seemingly rigid forms. Cracks formed and spread across their surfaces as if the stone rebelled against the manipulation, yet they pressed forward, their arms raised in a synchronized motion to strike.

Kabuto's smirk returned, albeit shakily, as he gestured toward the advancing titans. "How's this for a demonstration, Hinata-kun? Even the Kazekage themselves bow to my will."

But Hinata didn't flinch. Her eyes remained locked on the statues, her expression calm, almost cold. The trembling ground beneath her feet, the deafening roars of stone grinding against stone, and the sheer immensity of the animated Kazekage did nothing to shake her composure. She exhaled slowly, the ethereal glow of her Nichiren Byakugan flaring as she tracked every movement of the titanic statues, analyzing the flows of natural energy coursing through them.

For all their overwhelming size and presence, Hinata remained unimpressed. She stood her ground, her shrine maiden robes billowing in the wind generated by the colossal movements. The fiery lions around her hands flickered brighter, their glowing eyes reflecting her determination. She didn't need words to convey what she thought of Kabuto's display. Her calm demeanor, the faint tilt of her head, and the confident stance of her body said everything.

Hinata's hands, still encased in the blazing forms of her twin lions, moved with precise, fluid motions as she formed a quick series of seals. The energy surrounding her began to shift, the fiery blue of the lions darkening slightly, sparking erratically with crackling electricity. A low hum built in the air, growing into a high-pitched whine as arcs of lightning danced around her fingers and between the jaws of the chakra-formed lions. She inhaled deeply, her voice cutting through the heavy, charged atmosphere.

"Raiton: Shishinari!"

The lions opened their maws wide, revealing the heart of the storm they carried within. Blinding bolts of electricity erupted from their mouths, spiraling outward in jagged, unpredictable patterns. A single instant passed in silence before the charged energy detonated with a blinding flash and a deafening thunderclap, the sound resonating through the chamber like the roar of a furious lion. The force of the blast sent shockwaves rippling outward, shaking the very foundation of the hall.

The towering statues, which had loomed over her just seconds earlier, seemed almost alive in their final moments. One had raised a massive stone fist high above her, the weight of the crushing blow seconds from descending. Another had shifted to pin her in place with a crushing stomp, its enormous stone foot hovering precariously above her. The others moved in unison, their monumental forms converging with earth-shaking inevitability.

But they didn't land their attacks.

The statues froze mid-motion as the spiraling arcs of lightning slammed into them. Sparks surged through the stone, lighting up the veins of cracks and imperfections that spread across their surfaces like wildfire. The energy pulsed through the constructs, detonating from within.

One by one, the statues crumbled, their enormous forms collapsing into heaps of shattered rock. The sound of their destruction was a symphony of chaos—grinding stone, explosive bursts of energy, and the metallic ringing of debris ricocheting off the chamber walls.

The statues' remnants sizzled with residual sparks of electricity, glowing faintly in the dim light. The once-mighty monuments of Sunagakure's Kazekage lineage were reduced to rubble, scattered across the floor of the chamber. Dust filled the air, swirling in chaotic patterns before settling.

Hinata stood in the center of the destruction, untouched by the chaos, the glow of the lions around her hands intensifying rather than fading. The lions' fiery eyes seemed to glint with a predatory menace, glaring at Kabuto as if alive. Their forms crackled with arcs of blue lightning, as if daring him to try again. Hinata's composure was unwavering, her piercing gaze fixed on Kabuto as she stepped lightly over the rubble, moving closer to him with measured purpose.

Kabuto's confident smirk was now a thin, nervous line. His eyes darted between Hinata and the destruction she had caused, unable to hide his growing unease. He had been so certain of his control, so assured of his superiority. Now, faced with the undeniable power of the woman before him, his carefully constructed arrogance began to crack.

"E-Elemental Manipulation?" he stammered, his voice cracking as he tried to process what he had just witnessed. This was no simple elemental jutsu, no ordinary application of Raiton. It was something entirely unique, crafted with the precision and mastery of someone who had poured years into perfecting it. Kabuto's mind raced, his encyclopedic knowledge of jutsu falling short. He had never seen or heard of such a technique before.

Hinata stepped forward with measured grace, the rubble crunching softly beneath her sandals. The air around her seemed charged with an intensity that demanded attention, yet her expression remained unreadable, calm in its stoic determination. Her blazing lions flickered ominously, their glowing eyes locked on Kabuto, mirroring her own unwavering gaze.

"You seem really confident in those Nichiren Byakugan," she said, her tone cutting and precise, carrying no more weight than necessary. She stepped lightly over the fractured remains of the statues, her every movement deliberate, controlled. "And for some reason, you seem to think I am too." A shadow of a smile threatened her lips, not of amusement but irony. "It's almost funny."

Hinata had never stopped doubting herself—not once. For as long as she could remember, those doubts had shadowed her, whispering in the quiet corners of her mind. Even now, wielding a power tied to Kali's legacy, she could not pretend it was hers alone. The Nichiren Byakugan were granted to her, not earned. They were a gift passed down through her connection with Kali and the lifetimes she could barely comprehend. And that was exactly why she couldn't rely only on them, why she had to carve her own way forward. That desire was what led her to creating the Twin Lion Step.

Her voice softened but sharpened, a blade honed against her own insecurities. "Do you know what it feels like to doubt yourself every day of your life, Kabuto-san?" Her gaze pierced through him. "To wonder if you're strong enough, worthy enough, to stand on your own? To know your power doesn't belong to you but to something—or someone—greater?"

Kabuto's smirk twitched at the corners. He was listening, but his pride refused to let him falter just yet.

Hinata's voice rose, but only slightly, a quiet storm building. "But here's the difference between you and me. I've lived with that doubt. I've learned from it. I've used it to grow. You? You trample over others, tear apart their lives, all because you're too afraid to face your own weakness."

The words hit their mark, and for the first time, Kabuto's facade cracked. His smirk melted into a sneer, his lips curling as his brow furrowed. "You don't understand anything about me," he snapped, his voice low but edged with anger. "Don't act like you've had it harder than I have. What do you know about clawing your way out of obscurity? About earning your place in a world that doesn't even see you?"

Kabuto's anger bubbled to the surface, breaking through the cracks in his carefully constructed arrogance. "You just sound like some privileged brat who doesn't understand the power she's been gifted. Do you even realize what you've been handed? Or do you just take it all for granted?"

Hinata stopped, letting the words hang in the air for a moment. The tension crackled between them, but her calm never wavered. "At least I didn't get my power by trampling over the lives of others," she said softly, her words a razor slicing through Kabuto's defenses. She stepped back, both arms moving behind her in a fluid motion as the chakra lions on her hands began to roar.

"Katon: Bakushi!" she called, her voice a command that ignited the energy around her. The lions erupted in a blaze of light and flame, their forms collapsing into bursts of raw power that propelled her forward. Her body cut through the air like an arrow, the explosion launching her toward Kabuto in a deadly arc, the blue flames trailing behind her like a comet.

Kabuto snarled, the anger now fully consuming his calculated composure. "You're still going on about that!?" he roared, his hand shooting out toward a natural tenketsu point beneath him. The earth responded to his chakra manipulation, launching him into the air like a springboard to meet her mid-flight. Their eyes locked as they closed the distance, their resolve clashing as fiercely as their powers.

Hinata's flaming palms streaked toward him, their ethereal blue glow carving arcs through the air. Kabuto's wooden arm moved in perfect synchronization, the embedded Nichiren Byakugan glowing with a sinister light as he their Jyūken techniques clashed midair.

The collision of their chakra-infused blows created a shockwave that rippled outward. For a split second, it seemed as though the air itself split between them, the opposing forces locked in an intense stalemate. Then, the energy burst free, throwing both combatants apart with equal ferocity.

Kabuto landed in a crouch, his feet skidding across the fractured ground as his hand instinctively rose to guard. Dust and debris swirled around him, but his gaze remained locked on Hinata. He wasn't retreating—not this time. For years, he had clawed his way to this moment, stepping over the corpses of countless others to rise from obscurity. He'd been the overlooked, the forgotten, the side character in everyone else's narrative. But now, facing Hyūga Hinata—the so-called White Lotus—he finally felt the culmination of his efforts.

Across the battlefield, Hinata planted her feet, her breathing steady as her blazing palms shimmered brighter, refusing to extinguish. Her gaze was sharp, unwavering, and filled with a calm fury that sent a chill through Kabuto despite his bravado. Neither moved immediately, the silence between them heavy with anticipation. Their blows had canceled each other out, but the fight was far from over.

Kabuto allowed himself a moment of grim satisfaction, the faintest smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as he watched Hinata's step forward. Her every move was precise, her form flawless, her power a reflection of her inherited legacy. Yet, to Kabuto, that was the difference. She had inherited her strength. He had earned his.

She was everything they said she was, Kabuto thought, his Nichiren Byakugan eyes glowing as they read the currents of natural energy surrounding her. The guiding lines, those intangible paths that determined the flow of strikes, shimmered faintly in his vision. But it didn't matter. He had studied every technique, dissected every principle. His body had been turned into the perfect weapon. He wasn't the underdog anymore.

As they closed the distance, the battle became a deadly dance of pure taijutsu. Palm struck palm, wrists clashed, and elbows deflected in a whirlwind of movement too fast for the untrained eye to follow. Kabuto moved with precision, his years of medical training giving him an intimate understanding of the human body. He knew exactly where to strike, where to deflect, and how to dismantle his opponent. And with the Nichiren Byakugan augmenting his vision, he could see the natural energy flowing through the air like a map, each strike and counterstrike following those shimmering lines.

This was where he proved it, he thought, his smirk growing as he matched Hinata blow for blow. He would surpass her. He would surpass all of them.

Yet, as they exchanged strikes, Kabuto's smirk faltered slightly. She was relentless, her movements unyielding, her strikes growing sharper with each passing second. She wasn't fighting to match him; she was fighting to overwhelm him.

For Hinata, this battle was a paradox. It was familiar, yet utterly foreign. She had trained like this countless times with her father, with Hanabi, and with the other members of her clan. The precision of Jyūken was second nature to her—palm against palm, deflection against deflection, the brutal elegance of their fighting-style a constant rhythm in her life. But this was different. Kabuto wasn't a Hyūga. He wasn't bound by the traditions of their clan. He fought with the same precision, but his strikes carried an unpredictability born of his own twisted ingenuity.

And the Nichiren Byakugan complicated everything. These weren't the ordinary Byakugan she was used to countering. They saw deeper, farther, revealing not just her movements but the very intent behind them. The guiding lines of natural energy—the invisible paths that guaranteed a strike would land—intertwined and collided between them, disrupting and fizzling as they clashed. It was a battle of wills as much as skill, and neither could gain the upper hand.

Kabuto's mind raced as he calculated his next move. He could feel the strain, the sweat beading at his temple as he deflected another strike. His strategy crystallized. He would give her an opening. Let her strike him. But just as her blow landed, he would use a natural tenketsu beneath her to skewer her from below. A strategy only he could fully utilize. For no matter how much damage her strikes caused him, he would heal. The same couldn't be said for her.

His smirk returned, confidence surging as he spotted the perfect point—a natural tenketsu nestled just below her feet. This was it. The White Lotus fell here.

He began to loosen his defense, subtly allowing his guard to drop. A feigned misstep here, a slower deflection there, and finally, Hinata's palm surged through his defense. He braced himself, ready to activate the tenketsu point and turn the battle in his favor.

But the strike never came.

Kabuto's eyes widened in shock as her palm tilted at the last moment, her hand arcing upward in a sharp, deliberate motion. His thoughts couldn't catch up to her movements, his smirk shattering into stunned disbelief as her hand swung like a blade.

The world slowed as he felt the searing pain rip through him—not in his chest, but above his shoulder. The sickening sound of flesh being severed echoed through the chamber, and after the briefest moment, Kabuto realized what had happened.

Hinata's palm strike hadn't been aimed at him. It had been aimed at the snake.

The grotesque serpent coiled around his shoulders like a living scarf convulsed violently as her chakra-infused strike connected, severing its head in a clean, decisive motion. A sickening wet snap echoed through the chamber as its spine shattered, the headless body writhing for a brief, grotesque moment before slumping lifelessly. Thick, dark blood sprayed from the neck in heavy spurts, splattering across Kabuto's wooden arm and staining the cracked stone beneath them.

The serpent's lifeless form uncoiled, its slick, pale scales dragging against Kabuto's back before collapsing to the ground with a nauseating, wet thud. The head, eyes still wide and glassy with latent malevolence, rolled to a stop at his feet, its forked tongue lolling grotesquely from its open mouth. Kabuto staggered back, his breath catching in his throat as he instinctively reached for the fallen creature, his mind reeling from the sudden loss of his sage mentor. The acrid scent of blood and bile filled the air, mingling with the faint ozone of Hinata's lingering chakra.

But her attack wasn't finished.

"Wha—!?" Kabuto's startled shout turned into a guttural scream as Hinata moved with relentless precision. Her heel slammed into his kneecap with the force of a sledgehammer, the joint snapping backward with a grotesque crunch. His leg buckled, the unnatural angle eliciting another cry of pain as he struggled to maintain his balance.

Before he could collapse, Hinata was already in motion. She ducked low, sliding beneath his flailing form like a shadow. Her palm surged upward in a devastating Jyūken strike to his shoulder, her chakra ripping through the tenketsu and severing the flow to his wooden arm. The limb spasmed violently before falling limp, the embedded Nichiren Byakugan dimming as the nerve signals ceased entirely.

Kabuto gasped, his body jerking uncontrollably, but Hinata didn't let him recover. Gripping the dead weight of his dislocated arm, she twisted it with brutal efficiency, the sickening sound of tendons tearing and cartilage snapping echoing in the chamber. She swung him with shocking strength, his body helplessly following the momentum as she hurled him face-first into the jagged rock wall.

The impact was catastrophic. His glasses shattered instantly, shards of glass cutting into his face as blood sprayed from fresh lacerations. The side of his skull cracked against the stone with enough force to send fissures spiderwebbing outward, bits of rock crumbling away under the sheer force of her throw. Kabuto's vision blurred, his head ringing from the brutal collision, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as he slumped against the wall, gasping like a man drowning.

Only then did Hinata release him, allowing his battered body to collapse into a pitiful heap on the bloodstained floor. She stood over him, her blazing palms still flickering with latent chakra, her gaze cold and unrelenting. To her, this wasn't just a fight—it was judgment. And Kabuto was being made to feel the weight of every life he had stolen, every sin he had committed.

"You bitch!" Kabuto wailed, his voice cracking under the weight of his agony. The pain was excruciating—lightning bolts of torment shooting through his shattered kneecap, his dislocated shoulder hanging uselessly at his side, and the raw lacerations on his face throbbing with every heartbeat. The searing ache made coherent thought impossible, reducing him to pure, unfiltered rage. He gasped for breath, the edges of his vision pulsing red as the burning humiliation of his situation mixed with his anguish.

Did she even understand what she had destroyed? That serpent wasn't just a snake. It had been his lifeline, his connection to the great sage of Ryūchi Cave—a symbol of his mastery over power most mortals couldn't even dream of attaining. The great white serpent had been a fragment of immortality, a source of knowledge as old as the earth itself. And she had severed it with brutal indifference. Even if he tried to explain its importance, he knew she wouldn't care. She would only throw her dead clansmen in his face, comparing their meaningless lives to his monumental achievement, as if they were remotely equivalent.

But his defiance began to falter as he forced his gaze upward, meeting Hinata's eyes. Her cold, detached expression held no pity, no hesitation, only the certainty of someone who was fully prepared to do worse. She stood over him with an air of quiet judgment, her hands still glowing faintly with chakra, as though she was merely biding her time before continuing his punishment.

"Don't worry," she said coolly, her tone almost dismissive, as if his suffering was an afterthought. "You'll heal quickly enough." Her words carried no comfort—only a promise of more pain. "You have enough natural energy left for me to make sure you understand the cost of those eyes."

Kabuto froze, his breath hitching. The meaning behind her words settled into his chest like a stone. Was she planning to make him suffer enough to atone for every life he had stolen to create his monstrous power? Enough pain to equal the lives of six of her clansmen—and more?

His anger flickered, overshadowed by a strange unease that began to claw at the edges of his mind. It wasn't the Hyūga girl herself that unnerved him. His Byakugan didn't need glasses to see, and when he looked at her now—really looked—he finally saw it. The realization hit him like a sledgehammer to the chest, driving the air from his lungs. How had he not noticed it before?

Clinging to Hinata's back was a shade—a ghastly, malevolent entity that made his blood run cold. The figure was unmistakably similar to her, almost identical, as if it were a twin carved from shadow and wrath. But where Hinata's presence radiated the calm intensity of a storm before it breaks, this creature seethed with bloodlust and an ancient, consuming rage. Its form shimmered with the dark aura of malevolent chakra, its eyes burning like twin suns of hatred.

Kabuto's heart raced as he stared at it, his mind screaming at him to look away, yet unable to obey. The thing's gaze locked onto him, not with hatred, but with the detached cruelty of a predator who had decided it was time to kill. He could feel its will pressing against him, filling the air with a suffocating weight. The shade's aura spoke not just of war but of divine retribution, as if it existed solely to raze worlds and leave nothing but ash in its wake.

He could see it now, how the creature's wrath poured into Hinata, feeding her own anger and driving her to violence. She wasn't simply angry; she was being transformed into an avatar of this being's rage, its relentless need to conquer and destroy.

"These two…" Kabuto whispered hoarsely, his voice shaking as sweat dripped down his temples. "These two aren't shrine maidens. They're demons…"

The thought sank deeper, drawing primal fear from somewhere buried in his genetic memory, a terror so ancient that it felt older than language itself. This wasn't just fear of death; it was a fear of something far worse—being erased, obliterated by a force that existed beyond human comprehension. He had clawed his way up from nothing, convinced himself that his genius and determination would place him among the gods. Yet now, standing in the presence of something truly divine, he felt like a child.

Kabuto scrambled back, his fingers clawing at the cracked stone floor, his leg useless, his body trembling. He didn't even have the presence of mind to hide his terror. All he knew was that he had to get away—get as far from her, from it, as possible.

Kabuto's good arm shot forward in desperation, seizing a nearby natural tenketsu point visible to his Nichiren Byakugan. He ripped it apart with reckless abandon, his chakra lashing out violently to destabilize the flow of energy within the chamber. The ground trembled violently, cracks spider-webbing outward as the floor split apart with a deafening roar. A yawning chasm tore through the hallway, the jagged edges sliding apart, splitting Kabuto from the White Lotus in what felt like his first victory since the battle began.

On the far side of the chasm, Hinata stood motionless, her glowing eyes locked onto him like a predator calculating its next move. Kabuto didn't wait to see what she would do next. His body, still wracked with pain and barely held together by the remnants of his regenerative energy, jerked into motion as he turned and bolted in the opposite direction. Every step was a battle against the searing pain in his twisted knee and throbbing shoulder, but the primal instinct to survive overpowered everything else.

As he fled, he grasped at another natural tenketsu point, yanking it apart with just enough precision to raise a barrier of stone behind him. The wall shot up with a thunderous crack, sealing the gaping chasm behind him and buying him a few precious seconds. He grabbed two more points as he sprinted down the collapsing hallway, summoning another pair of barriers to block her pursuit. Each use of the Nichiren Byakugan drained what little natural energy he had left, the glowing patterns on his arm dimming with every desperate tug of chakra.

Sweat poured down Kabuto's face, mingling with the blood from his earlier injuries. He could feel the toll of his actions, the energy reserves he had painstakingly gathered during the fight now dwindling to nothing. The once brilliant Nichiren Byakugan implanted in his arm flickered and dimmed, one by one reverting to the lifeless pale hue of a standard Byakugan.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" he cursed under his breath, panic rising in his chest as he stumbled. The walls around him seemed to close in, his own barriers offering no solace as he realized just how cornered he had become. Without the natural energy to fuel his eyes, his abilities were rapidly failing him. The sense of omnipotence he'd felt moments ago was now replaced with the crushing weight of mortality.

He just needed more energy. Just a little more.

Biting into his thumb, he began weaving chakra into a summoning seal. He had no choice now—he'd need another ally. Perhaps another disciple of the great dragon sage could buy him enough time to escape. He didn't dare stop moving as he prepared the jutsu, his bloodied hand smearing red across the fractured floor as he prepared the summoning circle.

But he never got the chance.

The walls he had so painstakingly erected exploded in an instant, reduced to dust and rubble that rained down around him. The air reverberated with the sound of destruction, the force of the blast nearly knocking him off his feet. Kabuto turned, dread coiling in his gut, and found himself face-to-face with her once more.

Hinata emerged from the debris like a force of nature, her form wreathed in the luminous glow of her Nichiren Byakugan. She moved faster than his mind could process, closing the distance between them in a single, fluid motion. Her hand shot out, catching him by the throat and slamming him onto the hard ground. The pressure of her grip crushed his windpipe, cutting off his frantic gasp for air. His feet kicked uselessly, scraping against the uneven floor in a desperate attempt to find purchase.

Kabuto clawed at her arm with his remaining hand, his nails raking against her skin with no effect. His eyes bulged as he struggled to breathe, his vision swimming with black spots. All he could see was her unflinching gaze, cold and merciless, as she drove him to the brink of suffocation.

"P-Please wait…" he choked out, his voice barely a rasp. Panic consumed him as he realized the futility of his struggles. He had ripped apart countless lives to claim the power he now wielded, and yet in this moment, he was utterly powerless.

"It looks like you need more natural energy," Hinata observed coldly, her voice cutting through Kabuto's ragged breaths like a blade. Her words should have sounded clinical, detached—but to Kabuto, they carried a sense of grim finality.

Suddenly, his vision shifted. The world around him, previously dimming with his fading energy, flared to life. The natural flow of chakra surrounding them became painfully clear, glowing threads weaving through the air like veins of light. And in that moment, he saw the barely perceptible lotus marks blooming once again in the eyes along his ruined arm. It was a cruel irony—he had no energy left to enter Sage Mode on his own, yet Hinata was forcing it upon him.

At first, he didn't understand why. Was this her way of prolonging his agony, a method of ensuring he would feel every ounce of her wrath before she finished him? Perhaps it was meant to mock him, a demonstration of how little control he truly had in this moment. But as the enhanced vision of the Nichiren Byakugan sharpened, revealing the intricate flows of natural energy within his own body, he noticed something horrifying.

His legs felt numb. At first, he assumed it was from her grip—his body was in shock, battered and starved of oxygen. But as he focused his vision downward, he saw the truth. His legs were no longer his own. They were turning to stone.

Panic set in like a wildfire. His mind raced, desperately trying to piece together what was happening. Hinata wasn't using the natural energy to heal him, as he'd hoped in some twisted moment of false reassurance. She was forcing an imbalance. Too much natural energy coursed through his system, disrupting the delicate balance that Sage Mode required. The result was catastrophic. His flesh, his chakra, his very essence was being petrified—turned into an unfeeling, unyielding stone prison.

He clawed at her wrist with renewed desperation, his nails scraping against her skin to no avail. His remaining arm flailed, reaching for something, anything, that might save him. But he was helpless. The stone had already spread past his knees, his legs locked into immovable pillars.

Kabuto's breathing hitched as a wave of pure terror engulfed him. His thoughts spiraled. This couldn't be happening. Not like this. Not here.

He had spent his entire life clawing for significance. He had endured ridicule, humiliation, and pain, all to rise above his station as a mere side character in the stories of others. He had trampled over lives, dissected dreams, and stolen futures in pursuit of his own. He had done everything, sacrificed everything, to stand here as a man of consequence. And now? Now he was about to die in a forgotten hallway, reduced to nothing more than a grotesque monument to his failure.

No one would ever know who he was.

The thought struck him harder than any of Hinata's blows. He wouldn't be remembered as the cunning disciple of Orochimaru, the man who unlocked the secrets of the Nichiren Byakugan. He wouldn't be feared or revered. He would be nothing. Just another casualty of the chaos he had sought to master.

"No," he rasped, his voice a raw whisper as the petrification crept higher. His torso began to feel heavy, his movements slowing as the stone crawled toward his chest. "No, no, no…!"

The terror overwhelmed him, his breath hitching as tears blurred his vision. He couldn't die like this. He wouldn't die like this. He didn't care who heard him, what power answered his call. He just needed someone—anyone—to save him.

Amaterasu. Orochimaru. Anyone, his mind screamed. Don't let him end like this. Please. Not like this.

His prayers were answered.

Hinata's fingers tightened around Kabuto's throat as he gasped, choking on the precious oxygen that refused to reach his lungs. Her glowing Nichiren Byakugan bore into him, unrelenting, as she seemed ready to finish what she had started.

Suddenly, a firm hand gripped her wrist, wrenching it away. "Hinata, enough." Sasuke's voice was low, almost a growl, as he appeared beside her in the blink of an eye. The Rinnegan in his eye glimmered with restrained power, and his Sharingan pinned her with its unflinching intensity.

Kabuto collapsed to the ground in a coughing heap, his lungs greedily drawing in air as his hands instinctively clutched his throat. The sight of him sprawled on the floor, reduced to such weakness, only fueled Hinata's anger. But the interruption stayed her hand—for the moment.

Hinata's head snapped to Sasuke, her expression uncharacteristically hard. "Why are you stopping me?" Her voice was cold, yet trembling at the edges, as if barely able to contain the roiling emotions underneath. She tugged at the wrist Sasuke still held, and he released her without resistance, stepping between her and Kabuto.

"Because I need him alive," Sasuke said simply, his voice carrying that same stoic detachment that had become his trademark. "Only he can undo the Edo Tensei—and stop the First Hokage, whom Naruto is fighting right now. Or have you forgotten?"

The mention of Naruto caused a flicker in Hinata's eyes, a crack in the veneer of her rage. Her shoulders relaxed, if only slightly, and she glanced away for a moment, her mind clouded with conflicting thoughts.

"Fine." The word came sharp and quick, like the snap of a twig. She crossed her arms, her expression still tight with frustration. "But after that, I'll kill him myself. You shouldn't have a problem with that."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. For a brief second, a flash of his own memories surfaced—the burning desire for vengeance that had consumed him, and the emptiness it had left behind. He let out a quiet, deliberate breath. "I'm not going to let you do that, Hinata."

The words hung in the air, and for a moment, the tension between them felt like it could ignite the very space around them. Hinata stared at him, her anger giving way to confusion. "Why?" Her voice was quieter now, almost fragile, but still tinged with the frustration that bubbled beneath her surface.

Sasuke's response was calm, yet heavy with meaning. "Because I've been where you are now. I've stood at that edge, with revenge burning so brightly it was all I could see. But it doesn't end where you think it does. Killing Kabuto right now, in this state, with these feelings—it won't give you peace. It'll only change you. And not for the better."

Hinata's lips parted as if to protest, but she hesitated. The weight of his words pressed against her, and for the first time, the anger in her eyes began to dim, replaced by something harder to define. Doubt.

"This is different," she argued quietly, though the conviction in her voice faltered. "He… he deserves this. He's done so much evil—he desecrated my clan, he—" Her voice cracked, and she looked down, her hands trembling.

Sasuke studied her in silence for a moment, his sharp gaze softening. He knew all too well the battle raging within her. "You're right—he does deserve it. But that doesn't mean you deserve to carry that weight." He stepped closer, his voice steady and firm. "You've always been kind, Hinata. You and Naruto… you showed me that strength isn't just about power, but about what you choose to protect. Don't let him take that from you."

Hinata's breathing slowed as his words sank in. Her eyes flickered to Sasuke's Rinnegan, and then past him, to the heap that was Kabuto. For the first time, she noticed the tears pooling in her eyes. Her fists clenched at her sides as she inhaled deeply, centering herself.

"I…" She exhaled shakily, closing her eyes. "I don't know if I can just… let it go."

"You don't have to," Sasuke said softly. "But don't let it consume you. Don't let him control your story." His gaze flicked briefly to the shade of Kali clinging to her back, visible only to his Rinnegan. It pulsed with raw, bloodthirsty energy, feeding on Hinata's emotions like a parasite.

Sasuke placed a hand on her shoulder, his chakra flaring as the human path of his Rinnegan activated. The connection between Hinata and Kali wavered for a moment, the flow of emotions disentangling as he created space between the two. Hinata gasped softly, her knees wobbling as the anger that had felt so overwhelming just moments ago began to recede.

"Why?" she asked, her voice trembling, though this time it carried more sorrow than anger. "Why does it feel like I need her?" Her eyes glistened with tears she refused to shed.

Sasuke sighed, his voice softer now. "Because it's easier to let someone else's rage fuel you. But if you rely on it, you'll lose yourself. And I know Naruto wouldn't want that. Neither would I."

Hinata stood there for a long moment, her breath uneven as she processed his words. Slowly, she nodded, stepping back both physically and emotionally. It was all she could manage for now.

Kabuto hadn't moved from where he lay, his body trembling as if the terror hadn't fully left his system. Or perhaps it was simply because he couldn't—his legs were still encased in stone, the unnatural transformation rendering him immobile. His good arm braced against the cracked floor, propping him up awkwardly as he struggled to meet Sasuke's piercing gaze. The spinning tomoe of Sasuke's Sharingan seemed to bore into his soul, promising no mercy.

"W-Wait!" Kabuto raised his remaining arm in a gesture of surrender, his voice cracking slightly under the strain. "You don't need to do that!" He gestured weakly toward Sasuke, who was already preparing his chakra, his intent to cast a Genjutsu clear. Kabuto swallowed hard, his throat dry and his fear of what Hinata might do still a cold knot in his chest. "I'll undo the Edo Tensei. No tricks. It's the least I can do… after you saved my life."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, his expression unreadable. Saved him? Sasuke doubted that had ever been his intent. If he had intervened, it was only to prevent Hinata from crossing a line—not for Kabuto's sake. But now wasn't the time to indulge in his own distaste. They needed Kabuto alive and cooperative, and that meant weighing his next words carefully.

"I don't trust you," Sasuke said bluntly, his Sharingan flaring. "And I know the steps to undo the Edo Tensei. If you deviate even slightly I'll cast the Genjutsu anyway. Do you understand?"

Kabuto nodded frantically, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. "I understand! I'll cooperate." His eyes darted past Sasuke to where Hinata stood, her expression unreadable but her glowing Nichiren Byakugan still trained on him. Just the sight of her made his breath hitch, the memory of her ruthless efficiency fresh in his mind. He couldn't take any chances—not when she was still standing there, a goddess of wrath who might decide his life wasn't worth sparing after all.

"Good," Sasuke said coldly, straightening up but keeping his gaze locked on Kabuto. "Start the seals. Slowly."

Kabuto raised his trembling hand, his movements cautious as he began to form the necessary seals. He moved deliberately, every flick of his fingers felt like a lifetime, and his eyes flickered nervously back to Hinata as though expecting her to lunge at him at any moment.

"Focus," Sasuke snapped, his voice cutting through the tension. Kabuto flinched, his attention snapping back to his hands.

"I am! I am!" Kabuto stammered, his fear evident in every syllable. He completed the next seal, his movements steadying slightly as he forced himself to concentrate. The truth was, he knew he was beaten. His elaborate plans, his calculated manipulations—they had all come crashing down in the face of an opponent he couldn't outsmart or overpower. And now, with Sasuke and Hinata standing over him, he had no choice but to comply.

The chakra around him began to shift as the seals took effect. "There. It's done," Kabuto said, his voice hoarse as he lowered his hand. He dared a glance at Sasuke, then quickly looked away. "The Edo Tensei is undone."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, his Sharingan still spinning. "We'll see." He stepped closer, his presence looming over Kabuto. "Don't even think about trying anything else. You're not out of danger yet."

Kabuto nodded weakly, his lips pressed into a tight line. His gaze drifted back to Hinata, who hadn't moved from her spot. The intensity in her eyes made him shiver. Even though Sasuke had pulled her back, Kabuto couldn't shake the feeling that she could end him in an instant if she wanted to.

And after everything he had seen, he knew she wouldn't hesitate.

---

Naruto stood in the aftermath of their battle, surrounded by the stark and surreal beauty of a frozen tundra that seemed entirely out of place near Sunagakure. The once-scorching sands had been replaced by a landscape carved by Naruto's ice-based jutsu during their clash. The air was frigid, carrying the sharp bite of frost, and a thin veil of mist hovered just above the ground, giving the scene an almost ethereal quality.

Hashirama's paper-white Edo Tensei body began to glow faintly, cracks of golden light running across his form, signaling the jutsu's unraveling. The stark contrast between his warm, ethereal glow and the icy tundra around them was striking, as if he were a living fragment of sunlight in a world subdued by cold.

Naruto noticed the light and smirked. "Finally," he said, not without pride. He dismissed his remaining ice clones with a flick of his wrist, letting them dissolve into crystalline mist. "I told you Sasuke could do it!"

Hashirama's deep, rich laugh echoed across the platform. "You really trust him, don't you?"

Naruto gave a small nod, his gaze drifting for a moment as if replaying a thousand memories in an instant. "It's not about trust anymore. Sasuke and I… we're more than teammates, more than friends." His eyes gleamed with determination. "He's my brother."

Hashirama's expression softened, his glowing body pausing for a moment as if touched by the sentiment. "Brotherhood… That bond between you reminds me of someone I once knew. Someone I let slip away because I couldn't hold on when it mattered most." His gaze turned wistful, distant, as he thought of Madara, the friend who had been his other half and his greatest regret. "I hope you'll have better luck than I did, Naruto."

Naruto's blue eyes met Hashirama's with unflinching resolve. "I won't let him go. No matter what happens, I'll keep fighting for him. For all of us. That's my promise, and I never go back on my word!"

The First Hokage's face broke into a wide, genuine grin, the light from his dissolving form now bathing them both in a soft golden glow. "I believe you will. You've got the same fire I saw in my younger self, and more. You'll do great things, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto's chest swelled with pride at the praise, though his face remained serious. "You're leaving, huh?" His voice was quieter now, almost reluctant to ask.

Hashirama nodded, the golden light around him growing brighter, his form starting to lift from the ground. "Yes, it seems my time here is over. Uchiha Sasuke has undone the Edo Tensei. But before I go…" He looked down at Naruto, his expression as warm as the sun that shone above them. "Uzumaki Naruto, the future Rokudaime Hokage. I leave the village, and its future, in your care."

Naruto's heart thudded at the weight of those words. He straightened, his hand forming a fist over his chest as if to accept the responsibility. "You can count on me."

Hashirama began to ascend, his glowing form fading like a star being swallowed by the dawn. "I know I can." His voice was gentle but firm, his presence leaving an imprint even as he disappeared.

And then he was gone, leaving only the echo of his words and the faint glimmer of light in the air. The stillness was overwhelming, a stark contrast to the chaos that had consumed the battlefield moments earlier. Naruto stood there for a second longer, his gaze fixed on where Hashirama had been.

The quiet didn't last. Explosions in the distance snapped him out of his thoughts, the battle still raging around the village. Naruto glanced up at the false sun hanging ominously in the sky, the centerpiece of Sasori's grotesque masterpiece. His lips curved into a feral grin, the fire in his eyes reigniting.

"Time to finish this," he said, his voice brimming with determination. He turned toward the source of the explosions, his resolve unshakable as he prepared to dive back into the fray. This was his battlefield, his mission—and he wouldn't stop until victory was theirs.