Hinata was never sure of herself, but the last few months had sent her into inner turmoil.
She had been thrown into a tailspin of insecurity, unsureness, and self doubt. It felt like she was caught in a whirlpool about to go under, or in the sink, circling the drain.
Hinata knew she was a horrible person.
Ever since she was younger, she had always known.
Talentless, meek, shy, weak, even compared to other girls.
Especially to other girls.
The one good thing about the Hyuga clan, is that they treated their females with respect. The Gentle Fist style was based on flexibility, agility, and Chakra control, traits that were common in Kunoichi. As such, her clan wasn't like the Nara, who viewed women as things that were nice, but better in the peripheral.
But none of that seemed to matter when is came to Hinata, who was weak even despite being the former heiress.
When put up against Ino, Sakura, or Tenten, all the girls were strong, and confident, and Growing outward, while all Hinata could do was shrink back into her jacket with her dumb chubby stomach.
Hinata hated that she was jealous, but she couldn't help it.
She originally didn't have a crush on Naruto. She had admired him because he never gave up. He was treated worse than her, but everytime, he got back up.
She watched him from afar, wishing she could build up the courage, talk to him, ask him how he did it, how he let their barbed words roll off his back like water, but words escaped her.
People like Naruto, had it so much worse than her, so why did she feel so bad?
Neji lost both of his parents, was forced to carry the cursed seal, because Hinata got kidnapped, and because of that, the scared clan elders sealed all the kids early.
Hinata failed everyone.
Hanabi, her little sister, most of all.
Hinata tried, she didn't want to fight her little sister for the position of heiress. But she knew she had to.
She needed to save her sister from that, from being bulldozed, crushed under the heel of the clan elders. Broken down to pieces, so she could be built up in the way they wanted her too. Cold, mercyless, in charge of their clan.
In charge of the cursed seal.
The seal that kept the majority of their family enslaved. That kind of power in the hands of a child would be disaster, and her sweet little sister was already becoming closed off, and stoic, at the age of nine she spoke like she was decades older, and viewed Hinata not as an older sister, but an obstacle to overcome.
Hanabi looked so much like the mother Hinata had lost, and every step of the fight hurt. Tears bubbled into Hinata's eyes, as she looked at the face so like her mother's, the mother who she promised to to protect her baby sister, and she couldn't.
She couldn't raise a hand against her baby sister.
It had only been three and a half years since she lost the fight, and already, the damage was extensive.
But Hinata was weak, and that moment of faltering cost Hanabi her childhood.
She would never forgive herself.
Hinata and Hanabi were different with how they dealt with pain. Hanabi grew cold, and emotionless, and Hinata became flustered, doubtful of herself.
But both of them rotated inwards.
Hanabi was hurting, and there was nothing Hinata could to to save her.
In her position on the forest floor on all fours, Hinata spat out a mouthful of blood as Neji spoke.
"So, this is the main branch." Disdain dripped from his voice like poison. He got into position, palms up and flat as he waited for Hinata to get up.
She couldn't save Hanabi.
Just like how there was nothing she could do to save herself now. It seemed Hinata was destined to fight her family and lose, no matter what.
His foot swung up lighting fast, kicking into her stomach and flipping her over and over, until she rolled to a stop in a ditch, her blood now mixing in with mud.
Her tears streaked down her cheeks, and she flinched when Neji spat, some of the spit getting on her face.
"Pathetic. Get up and fight." His words were like knives.
How many times had she been called pathetic in her life? By her father, the clan elders, the main branch, her peers.
It was in the sneers directed her way, the cheap clothes her father forced her to wear, his own way of saying how little he valued her. It was in the lack of training mandated by her elders, to keep her weak, and the laughs of her former classmates.
Pathetic.
He grabbed her hair, bony fingers cracking against her scalp as he pulled her up, only to slammed his knee into her solar plexus.
She crumpled, arms crossing over her stomach as she desperately fought for air that was driven out of her lungs.
Pathetic.
Hinata let out a gurgled scream as Neji cracked her nose with a well placed palm strike. Then again, what did she expect from the Hyuga prodigy?
Hinata had let everyone who had ever loved her down, her Mother, Neji,
Hanabi.
She deserved this.
Because she was pathetic.
Just like how grass was green, Dango was sweet, and Neji was better than her.
"Why won't you fight?" Neji snarled in frustration, palm striking her so she stumbled backwards.
Hinata then realized he wasn't blocking her chakra points. He must not have thought she was worth it.
He was right. She wasn't a threat to him.
"You. The Main Branch." Vitriol rolled off his tongue. "Not so high and mighty now, are you?"
Hinata wanted so say that she didn't want to be born into the main branch. She didn't want to see the branch family, her family enslaved by a stupid pointless seal. She didn't want to use other Hyuga as cannon fodder. She didn't ask to be born into the main family.
The branch family had the cursed seal, but the main family was the truly cursed ones.
But at the same time, Hinata wanted to scream.
She wanted to yell, and shout, wail out her heart at Neji. Her normal meek self was horrified at the thought, but the Hinata of the past few months was enraged.
Her teeth grinded together, mud squelched through her clenched fingers.
She was seething.
She was Mad, So, so mad. Hinata kept it in, because she deserved it, but Hinata may have been born into the main branch,
But she was nothing like them.
"-ain Branch is full of cowards who hide behind seals they brand on children like cattle, they inflate their own importance, leave the best jutsu for themselves, the best foods, and clothes for themselves. They take and they take, and never give back, treat us like lesser beings-"
Hinata screamed.
Long and hard and loud, it echoed among the treetops, scaring away any birds that might have remained.
It started Neji into stillness and silence.
Hinata continued to scream, not in fear, but in rage. It echoed off of the trees, scared birds away, and rang in the stillness of the forest like bells.
How dare he?!
Everyday, she watches as Habani retreats further and further into herself. The bright vibrant, mischievous personality of her younger self is crushed like a bug.
Everyday, she deal with the sly comments from the elders, telling her that she is unwanted, useless, lesser, helpless.
Everyday, she is confronted with the reality of her situation like a raging bull, that she is helpless in her own household. She cannot save Hanabi. She cannot give her mother's soul peace. She cannot save herself, in that compound. She cannot leave, and yet she feels like she cannot stay there a second longer or she'll rip out her hair-
Her screaming cuts off.
"You think I don't know?!" It's so different from Hinata usual meek self that Neji remains frozen, byakugan eyes wide in shock. She didn't even stutter.
Her chest starts heaving with suppressed sobs, irritating the huge bruise forming above her belly button.
"You think I-I don't know what it's like to be helpless in my own home? To watch everyday as the people I love are crushed! You don't think I know what's it's like to feel helpless at the feet of my father, the clan elders?Y-you t-think I don't know what it's like to hate myself each and everyday?! To b-be told I'm less for just being me? For caring?"
"You don't have the curse seal on your head!" Neji roared.
He charged towards her, chakra lighting up his hands.
This is it.
He reared upwards, chakra laden hands going to the chakra gait at her heart.
Time froze.
He was going to kill her. He was going to stop her heart.
Her heart roared in her ears and air rushed around his deadly palm strike. His eyes zeroed in with a manic focus right below her collarbone, intent on stopping her life for good.
Hinata's hand shot upwards, lit with chakra and struck the gate at the base of Neji's neck, her other hand shot forward, blocking Neji's attack by deadening all the chakra points in both of his arms.
He fell to the ground, temporarily paralyzed. Hinata panted harshly, hands on her knees.
She was done with being everyone's punching bag.
So, so, done.
The clearing was dead silent for a moment, and Hinata briefly reveled in disbelief at the fact that she had just taken Neji down in two moves. He had really underestimated her, and maybe she had too.
It was a novel thought, finally winning over someone, something, but looking down at Neji in the dirt, she was unable to feel a sense of victory, even considering all the bruises on her body.
She immediately felt guilty at herself for enjoying her victory over Neji. He wasn't the clan elders. He wasn't her father.
His face was squashed into the dirt, eyes wide and seeing everything and yet nothing. He looked...defeated. Hopeless.
She turned him over so he could breath, then sat down heavily.
"..."
Hinata expected him to be screaming at the top of his lungs, but instead he was dead silent.
"...How? It was my destiny to kill you." Neji said in a voice barely above a whisper.
Hinata didn't know what to say. She never thought anything like this would happen.
"...Why didn't you use it."
Hinata flinched, eyes wide.
"The punishment of a Branch member attacking a Main branch member is death. I know you can use the curse seal, Hinata. You were heiress first. Why didn't you?"
"I-I don't want to kill you!"
"And yet you killed my father."
Hinata exhaled harshly, tears dripping down her face again.
"D-do you think I wanted to be kidnapped? Do you think I wanted your f-father to die?" It came out tired, and worn, and Hinata was almost surprised, except she was too emotionally exhausted to be anything else.
Because she was tired.
So, so tired.
Everyone judged her. No one bothered to see anything else in her but a shy nervous girl who could only stutter when she spoke.
They judged her when she was kidnapped when she was three years old, and how she because quiet and scared after that. She was judged for being unable to go to the academy when her mother died, too upset to learn. She was judged when she couldn't strike her little sister who had her mother's face, and she was judged when she didn't make it to the top of the class, because she was scared of being put down by her clan since she didn't know the material.
Neji's eyes stared into nothing.
"I-I know what's it's like to feel helpless. P-powerless. Like n-nothing you do matters, b-because, at the end of the day. You're stuck."
His eyelashes fluttered.
"Y-you feel like you can't do a-anything! That you are considered l-lesser for that, and like you c-can't change that."
Hinata sniffed, and wiped her face.
"I'm s-sorry your father died Neji."
He grit his teeth and screwed up his face in grief and anger. It was clearly killing him to hear her speak and apologize to him.
But they both needed to hear this.
"What h-happened to him was wrong. He shouldn't have had to d-die, and I will never be able to say sorry e-enough."
He had closed his eyes at this point.
"B-but I didn't want to be k-kidnapped. I-I didn't want your father to die, and I don't w-want any of the branch family to be sealed!"
Neji's snapped open in shock.
To talk openly and disapprovingly of the curse seal was treason in the Hyuga clan. Many a branch family member have gotten their brains liquefied because of it. Some Main family members were killed too.
But Hinata was serious. She, she hated it. They shouldn't have to live like this. The Branch family and the main family were still family, and you're supposed to protect family.
Family was precious.
It was a lesson she had learned when her mother had died, suddenly and without explanation, and Hinata found her cold in her bed.
She learned it whenever she saw Hanabi, eyes growing colder and lifeless as she was shaped into heiress.
It was when Sasuke Uchiha came to school, transformed from a boy she made sandcastles with to one who sat hungry at lunch because his family, his mother had died too and he didn't know how to cook.
It was now, looking down at her cousin who had just tried to kill her, and wanting to help him and everyone else remove the curse seal.
Even if it cost her her life.
Hinata was done with rolling over and showing her stomach. She would be like Sakura now, growing stronger and doing her best. And maybe Hinata couldn't change anything, but she could try, because what the Main family was doing was wrong.
Neji was staring at her now, eyes wide in incomprehension.
"You would remove the seals if you could." It was a question and a statement all in one.
She nodded firmly, narrowed eyes and trembling lips daring him to tell her no.
He blinked.
Once, twice, and then started crying.
Nothing like Hinata's ugly gross sobs, where her fat face scrunched up, but tears that rolled off his cheeks like rain drops off a window.
His face didn't scrunch up, but smoothed out, too drained to pull an expression.
Hinata leaned down, and with her hand not cupping her broken nose, she brushed dirt off of his face. She readjusted his headband so it covered the curse mark.
"W-what has happened to you is wrong, brother. A-and everyone else too. From t-the bottom of my heart, I'm sorry, a-and I will do everything in my power to help y-you and everyone else too."
Neji didn't respond for awhile, tears still silently streaming down his face. Hinata activated her byakugan, to see if his chakra points were still blocked.
They were, but before Hinata removed them, she wanted to hear what Neji had to say.
He takes a deep breathe, and then another, and finally speaks.
"...I will help you."
Even with his stuffed nose, he still spoke regularly and properly, even if his voice cracked a little. He was looking away from Hinata
She blinked in shock, before smiling gently.
Hinata knew a part of her should be mad at him for attacking her, and a part of her was upset at that. But she understood.
How could she hate Neji when she understood exactly why he did it?
How could she hate him for having the courage she never had- to stand up to someone in the main branch?
She was upset with him for trying to kill her. She would have to be disturbed to not be. But she didn't hate him for it.
"I'm going to unblock y-your chakra points. Will y-you remain calm if I do?"
Neji's face remained passive in shock, but her eyes reveal his chakra swirl in surprise.
He nodded.
Hinata slowly and carefully unblocked his chakra pathways.
Neji remained silent throughout, and Hinata could feel, rather than see, his eyes on her with her byakugan, but said nothing, focused on unblocking his network. It was substantially harder than blocking it in the first place.
Finally, after sweating over Neji for minutes, Hinata unblocked the last point in his neck.
He was still for a moment, and Hinata leaned away to give him room to get up.
He sat up slowly, propping his torso up onto his elbows.
He still seemed to be in shock. He kept on opening and closing his hands, just looking at them, and then at her.
He couldn't seem to believe it.
Neither could Hinata.
She held out her hand to him, to help him up from his place in the dirt.
He quietly turned to stare at her hand, at her open palm and slightly extended thumb. There was blood on the knuckles, and dirt around the fingertips. It was open and welcoming.
Neji reached up slowly and took it.
Hinata released a breath she didn't know she was holding. She pulled Neji up, being mindful of his sore arm and neck. His hand tightened fractionally around her's, almost as if he too was suspended in a state of disbelief.
He stood to his full height, a few inches taller than Hinata, but didn't let go of her hand. And despite his height over her, Hinata didn't feel small anymore.
"Whats going on here!?"
Startled, they jumped apart, Hinata wincing at her sides.
Team Gai, Team seven, and her own team, Team eight. There were two others, Haku, and a girl who she had never seen before, with bright red hair, who was staying very close to Naruto.
Hinata was suddenly very aware of the blood dripping from her nose and the various cuts and bruises across her hunched figure.
Kiba snarled and Shino's bugs rose in an agitated cloud as they jumped in front of her.
"You were trying to kill her!" Kiba growled, and Hinata wanted to protest, but Kiba was right.
"R-really, everyone calm down!"
Silence.
Wow, was that her? Her voice had take on an almost authoritative quality to it, and considering she almost never spoke above a whisper, her shouting stunned everyone into silence.
"Hinata, are you alright? Karin and Haku said they sensed something." It was Naruto.
Naruto was talking. To her.
Hinata's face became alarming red and she swayed on the spot, the leaves blurring into splotches of green.
Kiba grabbed her arm, alarmed.
Hinata blinked furiously, then righted herself, forcing down her blush.
"It's o-okay, really. We were j-just..talking."
"You have injuries. Why? Because he 'talked' with his fists." Shino said, voice agitated.
Neji squared his jaw defensively, and his teammates moved to his sides as Hinata's teammates tensed beside her.
"W-wait-"
But before Hinata could sing another single word, the red-haired girl-Karin, screamed.
They all jumped.
"What!?" Sakura snapped at Karin, startled. They weights on her arms and legs moved as Sakura shifted into a fighting stance.
"I sense it too!" Haku's voice was urget, with a tint of fear, and Hinata and Neji activated their byakugan.
If Haku, calm, composed Haku was scared, then they all better start praying.
"What is that!?" Neji gasped in shock.
Hinata strained her range, and there on the edge of her vision, she saw it.
A bright blob of monstrous, seething, chakra, and three smaller ones in front of it. The smaller signatures were completly dwarfed by the huge one shining like a sun, flickering in terror.
Without waiting for the others to catch up, Hinata jumped into the trees and called out behind her.
"We need to m-move! Team Ten is in Trouble!"
Things are picking up steam now. And I wasn't kidding when I said all the female characters were getting envelopment. Anyway, Hinata grew as a person in this chapter, so did Neji, and that will defiantly have changes in the future of this story.
And I'm actually gonna rant about that for a little bit.
The lost potential of all the girl characters in Naruto is insane.
Just think about it for a second. We could have had Sakura Haruno, the civilian born who was placed on a team with a literal weapon of mass destruction, the last member of either of Konoha's founding clans still in the village, and the legendary copy nin. Instead of us getting her reacting to that, and how it compared to her background, we get a forced love triangle. We could have seen her bringing hope and medical care to remote villages, and connecting the world and spreading compassion. We could have seen her convince Pein that there was a better way through her medical work and lifting others up. We could have seen her overcoming the discrimination in the shinobi world, could have seen her rise with the help of her parents from a world against her, and blazing a path for all like her, but no.
And then there's Hinata. We could have watched her deal with her trauma from the kidnapping, the death of her mother, and the fight with her sister. We could have watched her stifling under the Hyuga. We could have watched Hinata forge connections with Neji and the branch family, grow into herself with their support, and work to get the caged bird seal removed, because it was a family matter. She could have been an inspiration to overcome trauma and forge bonds despite the odds. We could have seen her reconciling with her little sister and leading the hyuga into a brighter future. But no.
Tenten. Hey, isn't is weird how all the fanboys forget that she knows fuinjutsu? One of the most powerful techniques in Naruto? The reason the Uzumaki were destroyed, in fear of it? The thing that some of the most powerful shinobi in all of naruto knew, including the Fourth Hokage, The Second Hokage, Kushina, Jiraya, and to some extent, Tsunade and Kakashi? Can you imagine the potential her character had? She could have done amazing things, could have been a great weapons mistress with no last name that rose out of literally nothing to stand next to some of the strongest shinobi to ever live, to be recognized with no last name, but instead, shes struggling to sell weapons out of a failing shop.
Ino. A clan heiress. Coming from a position of privilege unlike Tenten and Sakura, and respected in her clan unlike Hinata, she could have been a great foil to them. We could have seen her learn to accept her position as future clan head, to become a leader, and her compassion for those less fortunate like Sakura. We could have seen her become a medical shinobi and specialist in therapy(Because Konoha has none) and revolutionize that field. We could have seen her, with Sai, uncover the injustices suffered in Konoha's past because of Root, and because of Konoha's toxic mentality in general, and handing out justice using her position of power. But no.
Temari. The eldest daughter of one of the strongest Kazekage. Who had a bloodline. Temari herself, with years of experience over her little brothers could have easily become kazekage instead. She could have had the same bloodline limit as her father and brother. She could have forged alliances herself, but all of this is overlooked. She could have gone done in history as one of the strongest kage but no.
Karin. Ohhhhh, where to start? How about the fact that she is the last full blooded Uzumaki on the planet? The fact that her past has heavy themes of sexual abuse? The fact that she was in Orochimaru's "care" longer than Sasuke? What did she see, what did she learn? I want to know. And does she know about her heritage? She had three, THREE! Not one, or two, but three! Incredibly powerful Uzumaki bloodlines. She is more powerful than both Kushina and Mito, who was the wife of the first hokage, had the same sensory powers, and who were both jinjuriki? We could have seen her learning about that, coming to terms with her heritage, but no. We could have seen her learn fuinjutsu, uncover the Uzu ruins, but no. We could have seen her react to Naruto, but no. We could have seen her become leader of the sound village, lead it into a new age, but no. All of this is brushed off in order to call her another crazy fangirl.
Konan. S-rank missing nin. Badass. One of the leaders of an entire country, locked away from the rest of the world. The second in command of one of the most powerful (terrorist)organizations on the planet. Unique fighting style. Considered a god. We could have seen her lead Ame into a new age, embrace Naruto's Ideology, Form her own ideology, to learn from hers and others mistakes, but instead she dies in a 5 minute fight against Obito so Kishimoto can show off another Over powered ability. Like Kakazu. We could have seen her, a reformed terrorist, spreading peace. Instead, when Nagato was brought back, her brother figure, didn't even bother to ask how she was doing. Didn't care.
Keep in mind that I am not trying to discredit these characters, or say they were nothing, because that's wrong. I think all of them were great. But that pales in comparison to what they could have been. They all could have had passionate, compelling, moving stories that drove the narrative, and inspired people. And that's not to say they don't do those things, but...
Once you see that all of the above listen either became housewives, were killed, or are struggling in obscurity as 2d characters, its disheartening.
Honestly, I don't know whats worse, the fact that there are so many overlooked girls on this list or that these are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
Question of the chapter: What do you think of Hinata's newfound resolve?
Many thanks to reebajee!