Chapter 38: "Uh... Kakashi, why are they petting each other?"
"Next Match, Hinata Hyuga vs Neji Hyuga!" I paused a second after saying that. "Ooh! A family battle!" I exclaimed in excitement. "Do your best everyone!"
Neji and Hinata face one another. The former just gazed at his own sister coldly while the latter couldn't even meet her own brother's gaze. It's not hard for everyone to deduce that there is something wrong with the relationship between the two of them.
"Well... What are you waiting for? Hinata Sama..." Neji spoke suddenly with a cold and sarcastic tone in his voice. "You can win this match with a single hand seal. You don't even have to raise your fist." He took a step towards her. "Go ahead... Use it."
Hinata shook her head and took a step back. "N-no! I-I'm not going to use it on my own brother..." Her voice weak and full of remorse.
"Pardon me, Hinata Sama. But I am not having a pampered weakling like you as my sister..." That was a low blow. Hinata took a step back as if her brother just physically slapped her in the face. "See? You can't even stand up for yourself. You are nothing more but a failure; you don't deserve your title as the heir. You Are Nothing!"
A ridiculous amount of bloodlust appeared from the spectator's seat. I glanced at its direction and saw Naruto glaring daggers at Neji. His whisker marks bolded and I can see a faint red aura around his body. 'He is so dead...' I thought to myself.
"HINATA!!!" Naruto yelled out suddenly from his seat. "DON'T LISTEN TO THAT IDIOT!!! YOU ARE AWESOME, I KNOW YOU ARE!!! BELIEVE IT!!!" He yelled encouragingly.
"Better listen to him kit." The Kyubi said suddenly. "Don't want to embarrass yourself in front of your mate right?"
Hinata's expression turned into a mixture of courage and embarrassment. She gazed at her brother and made a hand seal. "Brother, I don't need the seal to prove you wrong... BYAKUGAN!!" Veins appeared in her eyes as she activated her family's doujutsu.
Neji scoffed at her and activated his Byakugan. "Once a failure is always a failure. You cannot fight destiny." He made the gentle fist stance and prepared himself.
What follows is one of the most graceful fights I've ever seen before in my life. They didn't punch or kick, to those who don't know any better (like me) it seems like they're just softly petting each other. A petting match if I say so myself.
I lowered myself down to the floor and sat down next to Kakashi. "Uh... Kakashi, why are they petting each other?" I asked him.
Kakashi chuckled a little after hearing that. "It is the gentle fist. A trademark Taijutsu of the Hyuga Clan. They fought each other by disabling their opponent's chakra pathways." He explained.
"What happen if they use it on me?" I asked him.
"Nothing." Kakashi replied simply. "You should feel grateful. Getting hit with just one strike hurts a lot." He added.
I nodded at his explanation and looked back at the fighters. It seems like Hinata started to waver in her strikes while Neji is struggling to stand up right. "So, if it came to the worst, you'll just be paralyzed right?" I asked Kakashi.
"No, a direct strike in the heart is more than enough to kill." I gulped a little after hearing that.
Suddenly Hinata leapt back and took a deep breath. She prepared her stance and thrust her palms forward. "Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!!" She exclaimed.
Neji who saw it coming smirked. He stopped in his tracks and start spinning rapidly. "Kaiten!!" A blue shell of chakra protected him from the vacuum burst.
The vacuum burst was dispelled the second it impacted rotating shell. Neji stopped in his tracks and moved in towards Hinata. He raised both of his palms and started striking Hinata relentlessly. "You're weak!" He sent a strike straight at her stomach. "You're nothing!" Hinata barely dodged a strike on her chest.
"That's not true..." Hinata glared at Neji and struck him right in the appendage. "I have people who believe in me!!!"
But nothing seemed to happen, Neji just smirked at her knowingly. "You..." She looked at her own hands and gasped a little.
"I sealed your hand... You're nothing now, there's nothing you can do against me..." Neji said with a cruel smirk on his face.
Hinata deactivated her byakugan and gritted her teeth in determination. "No..." She curled her palms into fist and put on the basic Academy Style Taijutsu stance. "I am not giving up!!!" She exclaimed.
The girl ran towards Neji, dodging the gentle fist strike coming her way. She raised her fist up and delivered a nasty blow at Neji. 'SMACK' she hit his face with her fist before delivering a crushing roundhouse straight at his ribs.
Neji staggered back in surprise. "You..." His glare intensifies and he made a very familiar stance. "Are within range of my divination..." He said with a cruel smirk on his face.
"Two!" The Hyuga struck her sister with two palms. "Four! Eight! Sixteen!" His hand is a blur as he hit Hinata again and again, crippling her. "Thirty Two!" He made another thirty consecutive strikes. "Sixty Four Palms!!!" He stepped forward to deliver the final blow.
I watched in slight fear when Hinata starts coughing up blood. Her whole body shook, yet she refused to fall. "Just give up..." Neji taunted. "You are destined to be trapped in your own powerlessness and weakness." His eyes blared to life. "My eyes can see it all."
Hinata refused to fall however. "Brother... This is nothing..." Blood poured out of her mouth. "This is nothing compared to..." She coughed a little. "Compared to the pain of suffering you felt right now... You are confused by the fate of..." She gasped a little and put a hand over her chest. "The fate of our family, the head and the branch... You are angry, sad, and confused..."
Killing intent burst out of Neji and I know that this time, it's gonna be casualty.
"That's enough!!!" I soared out of my seat and dived down towards them. I stood in front of Hinata and took the strike to the chest for her. A tingling slightly ticklish sensation appeared on my skin, but that's it. "Neji!"
Neji, blinded with anger struck my body again. Only this time, four jounins appeared and held him off. "That's enough Neji!!!" Gai exclaimed as he held Neji in a deadlock. "You've sworn to me to never ever let your family corrupt your decision!"
I turned around and saw Naruto, Sasuke, and Lee crouching down in front of a downed Hinata. Kurenai and I run towards her to inspect her condition. The Jounin put a hand over her neck and gasped a little. "She's having a cardiac arrest!!"
Oh crap... I glanced at Naruto and saw my life flashes in front of my eyes. "Naruto... Calm down..." I glanced at the others. "Get Neji out of here NOW!!!"
I created a strong barrier around Naruto. "Sasuke!! Do you still have that Chakra Seal?" I exclaimed as I felt Naruto slowly forming the Kyubi cloak.
Sasuke took out a paper tag from his pocket and swiftly planted it on Naruto's back. The blonde jerked back in shock before dropping down right beside Hinata. "Phew... That was close!" I exclaimed. "Now, where the hell is the medic!?"
The Uchiha took out a scroll from his pocket and opened it. He set it on the ground and a plume of smoke appeared from the scroll. "Oh! Summoning scroll!" I exclaimed in amazement. "What are you summoning Sasuke?"
A very familiar figure stepped out of the smoke. She coughed a little and waved away all the smoke around her. "Okay... Definitely too much residual chakra... Phew." She looked around and saw Sasuke standing beside her. "Sasuke kun! You summoned me! Do you need my help?"
Medic summoning scroll... Why the hell hasn't anyone thought about it?
"Doctor Haruno!!!" Kurenai exclaimed after seeing Sakura appearing near her. "Quick, Hinata needs your help!"
Sakura looked at Hinata lying down unconscious beside Kurenai. She whips out her chakra flashlight and crouched down in front of her patient. "What happened to her?" Sakura asked as she scanned the girl with the flashlight. "All her chakra pathways are blocked... It's too risky to open it forcefully, I'm just going to regulate her vital organ for now..."
Then she stood up and looked around. "I need a stretcher, where's Naruto." Then she noticed Naruto lying unconscious beside Hinata with a chakra seal behind his back. "Perfect..." She muttered before looking at me. "Haios, help me carry her to the nearest medical wing."
I nodded and gently lifted up Hinata with the force. "What about Naruto?" I asked her.
Sakura glanced at Naruto. "Sasuke kun, would you please carry that idiot?" Sasuke smirked and hauled Naruto with one hand. "Thanks! Don't open the seal until I tell you okay?"
With that, the four of us plus Kurenai walked away from the arena. "Hayate senpai!" I exclaimed towards Jounin who stood beside Neji in the opposite end of the arena. "I have to go, can you?"
Hayate nodded. "Of course..." He coughed a little. "I'll take it from here Haios san..."
[LINE BREAK]
Meanwhile inside a room in Tanzaku Town Hotel...
An orange portal slowly formed in the middle of the room. A brown haired woman stepped out of it carrying a passed out blue haired woman in her arms. She gently put the woman on a bed nearby and took out a chakra seal from her pocket. "Sorry Konan chan... But I don't like where you're going with the Akatsuki..."
Vida pressed the chakra seal on Konan's chest. The blue haired woman's eyes snapped open the second she did that. "Wh-what?" Konan struggled to get up, but orange energy whips held her on the bed. "Vi-Vida! What are you doing!? Let me go!"
Konan watched in horror when another portal formed beside Vida. At the other side of the portal, a frail looking red haired man stood on a device of some sort with an orange man standing beside him with piercing all over his body. "N-no... No! Vida what are you doing!?"
The sorcerer binds Konan with even more orange strands of energy. "Well, this is me taking over Akatsuki in just three simple steps!" She lifted Konan up and walked into the portal with her. "Step one: Disable the Angel. Check!"
Nagato was about to say something, but orange energy whip covered his mouth. "Sorry! But you're not saying anything, you know how simple encouragement from loved ones can destroy a well-made super villain plan right?" Vida said.
Suddenly, the orange haired man rushes in towards Vida. Before he can do anything though, a portal appeared in front of the man that leads to some sort of a snowy wasteland. "I love this power..." Vida muttered before closing up the portal.
Then the sorcerer made a pushing motion with her hand and reality suddenly cracked like a mirror. "Step two: Trap both the Angel and the God inside the Mirror Dimension. Check!" She exclaimed with a grin on her face. "I never knew it'll be this easy!"
Konan struggled against her bonds again, but the seal kept her from doing anything. "Vida, you traitor!!! I trusted you!!!" She tapped into her inner most power, trying to burn through the seal. "You will reg..."
Her words were cut short when a huge blade suddenly burst out of Nagato's chest. "No..." Konan turned around and saw the Asura Path standing behind Vida with one of its many hands inside a portal.
"Huh... I never knew you can summon your paths inside the Mirror Dimension..." Vida commented while closing the portal, effectively cutting Asura Path's hand off. "Now, to make sure your pesky King of Hell whatsit can't heal you up." She walked up towards Nagato with a Kunai in her hand. "Gotta kill you now..."
"NOO!!!" Konan cried out. "Please no! Just kill me instead! Don't hurt him!!!" Tears start streaming down her face as she started sobbing in misery. "Please... I'm begging you, I'll do anything! Just don't kill him!!!"
Vida looked at Konan and smiled. "Konan chan, breaking apart your soul, mind, and will is my whole plan..." She flung a Kunai straight at Nagato's head, effectively killing him. "Oh look! He's dead now... No more Nagato, no more Yahiko, you're pretty much alone now..."
Then the sorcerer stood up and stretched out her arms. "Step Three! Kill the god and break the angel. Check!" She walked towards Nagato's corpse. "Now for the tricky part..." She pulled the kunai out of Nagato's forehead and closed her eyes in concentration. "Hmm..."
Blood slowly pours out of Nagato's closed eye socket. Vida opened her eyes, revealing her usual green eyes but with a slightly invisible ring around the pupils. "Huh... Do I look good with a Rinnegan?" She took out her pocket mirror and admired herself. "Hmm... Looks weird... I think the Sharingan is sexier..." She looked at Konan. "What do you think girl?"
Konan doesn't respond to her however. She just looked down to the ground with an empty look on her face. Tears still streamed down gently from her eyes, but she doesn't seem to be crying. "Hmm..." Vida walked towards her. "Did I break you already? I was going to rewind time and kill Nagato over and over again but..." She shrugged a little. "Guess that's all..."
"Wait..." Vida turned around and saw Konan looking at her with empty eyes. "Aren't you going to kill me?"
Vida shook her head. "Nope! I'm just gonna head over to find a human sacrifice to resurrect your BF." She said easily. "Well, not resurrect, resurrect. More like, Edo Tensei kind of Resurrection. Zombie slaves are pretty darn effective no?"