>>Prologue to chapter
Naruto entered the bed with Hinata after a long day at the Hyuuga residence.
"Himawari really enjoyed herself today…" Naruto said.
"She and your sister Hanabi, hanged out a lot…."
"Yeah…" Hinata agreed.
"Too bad Neji is not there, maybe Boruto could have enjoyed spending some time with his uncle…" Naruto said in a sad voice as he thought back to how he could not save Neji during the war…
"Boruto also enjoyed too… after all, you did take your time off from work." Hinata added as she turned towards Naruto to hug him as they slept.
"Hinata!"
"Mmm?"
"Which was the toughest moment, of your life?"
"During the Fourth war, I stood by your side when Obito was trying his best to bring you to his side…"
"Honestly, I was anxious that you would leave us…" Hinata said.
"You know, Hinata…"
"I did feel bad for Obito, watching him suffer alone while the whole world moved on…"
"Some of his words did strike some chords at that time…."
"But I am thankful, that you saved me when I was drowning in depression from Neji's death…"
"Mmm…" Hinata agreed.
Naruto regained his spirit as he asked
"Is there any other moment like that?"
"Mmmm…"
"There were three more…."
"One, was when Toneri took me to his palace."
"Second, was when you were forced down by Pain…"
"Third, was when I fought against Neji-niisan for the very first time…"
"Ah!"
"That battle," Naruto thought back to when he had first stood up for Hinata as he challenged Neji.
"That battle was the one I had feared the most at that time…" Hinata said as she thought back to when she was defeated by Neji.
"Naruto-kun, If it weren't for you I would not have been able to face him like that…" Hinata said as she hugged him tightly.
"I remembered how you always worked hard back then and Never gave up," Hinata said as she looked at Naruto's face.
Naruto became a bit blushed before he also hugged Hinata back.
"Hinata!"
"Mmm?"
"What if I had a chance to stop that battle before you ever got injured or before you even started the battle with Neji?"
"For the stopping part…"
"I would not appreciate that, because it would look like, you looked down on me…."
"As for the saving part instead of the jounins stopping Neji, I would probably want you to catch me in your arms…" Hinata said as she snuggled into Naruto's arms
Back in the Hall….
"What?"
"That was a shadow clone?" Kankuro shouted in disbelief.
Gaara and Temari also watched with disbelief, especially Temari who had her mouth open.
Ino could not believe that Naruto had defeated Kiba with just a shadow clone.
"That Naruto, He is way… out of our league" Ino commented as she turned towards where Naruto was standing.
"Kibkun!" Hinata approached Kiba was being taken on the stretcher.
"That Naruto…." Kiba struggled to sit up straight as he spoke.
"I couldn't believe he defeated me…" Kiba said with a sense of envy as he looked towards Naruto.
Naturally, Kiba did not know that the entire battle he fought was with a shadow clone of Naruto. He would probably hang himself if he did hear that part.
"forget that….."
"Hinata!"
"There are only six people left…"
"You, Chouji, Neji, Lee, one Sound guy, and the Sand guy."
"Listen, Hinata…"
"If the sand guy's name shows up next to yours, Withdraw quickly."
"And there's one more…"
"Do the same if you get Neji, too…"
"He will destroy you…" Kiba said with concern for Hinata.
Kiba lied down on the stretcher, after which the men started to him away…
"Well, let's announce the next match," Hayate said after which the board displayed the name randomizer.
("This is it!") Naruto frowned the moment the board started to change through the names.
(BEEP!)
< Hyuuga Hinata Vs. Hyuuga Neji >
"hunh!" Hinata became shocked as she felt a shiver down her spine.
Her expression froze with a bit of trembling as she stood in her place, not daring to move around as though a predator had cornered her.
Before going out of the hall, Kiba managed to force himself up on the stretcher as he stared at the giant screen.
("Definitely not good…") Kiba thought.
"This is going to be an interesting match…" Hiruzen thought.
Hinata slowly walked to the centre of the battle floor where Neji was eagerly waiting for her arrival.
"I never thought that I would fight with you…."
"Hinatsama," Neji said.
"-sama?" Sakura asked curiously.
"They're descended from one of the most honorable old families in the Leaf Village…"
"The Hyūga clan."
"Their relation is that of a head family and a branch family…" Kakashi explained.
Sasuke and Karin turned towards Naruto at this moment.
They both knew how important Hinata was to Naruto, especially Sasuke since he knew Hinata was Naruto's wife.
("Naruto! How do you plan to interfere with this fight?") Shikamaru thought as he looked towards Naruto from far.
Meanwhile, Kurenai had a bad expression across her face, since she knew the relationship between Neji and Hinata, and also Neji's hatred for the head family…
Neji saw Hinata avoiding eye contact with him, which he felt was being disrespectful.
"Just one more thing before we square off against each other in the fight…"
"I should advise you, Hinatsama..."
Hinata looked at Neji as he said...
"WITHDRAW!"
"You're not suited to being a ninja."
"You're too nice."
"You wish for harmony and avoid conflict; you're open to going with the thinking of others," Neji said.
("Hey this comment, the Third Hokage has the same qualities, doesn't he mean she is suited to being a good leader instead?") Naruto thought.
"And, you have no confidence in yourself."
"You're always feeling inferior…"
"You thought it's a good idea to stay as a Genin."
"However, you can't register for the Chuunin Exam without team members…"
"So you couldn't turn down when Kiba and Shino proposed it and,"
"The truth is, you entered the exam reluctantly."
"Is that wrong?" Neji asked.
"T-That's wrong…"
"That's not true…"
"I…"
"I only…"
"I wanted to change that about myself…" Hinata said in a weak voice that seemed to be drained of confidence.
"Hinatsama"
"It is a fact. You are a spoiled one of the head family."
"People can never change…"
"A failure will always be a failure…"
"And…."
"HINATA!" Naruto interrupted.
"Don't just take it!"
"Argue Back!"
"I'm getting irritated watching him bad mouth you as though he is the one who brought you up…"
"Make him eat those words" Naruto encouraged.
"Tsk!" Neji glared at Naruto.
He turned back towards Hinata only to see that Hinata's body language and her expression had changed.
Hinata had overcome her fear as she stood up for herself this moment with fighting intent reflecting across her eyes.
She brought her hands together.
As she did this, her nerves stood out from the side of her eyes, and she opened it
< Byakugan >
"I challenge you!" She announced.
Naruto felt happy as he was reminded back to the times when Hinata had stood up in the face of adversity, in the ninja war, again when he faced pain and to this very battle.
Sasuke looked at the fight with keen interest as he thought back to what Lee said.
"Sasuke-kun….That day when I told you both me and Naruto were amongst the top, I withheld an information for you...."
Sasuke "….."
"The thing is, there is a man on my team, whom I cannot defeat. He also possesses an eye bloodline similar to yours…."
Sasuke thought back to Neji who had left with TenTen the other day.
"His name is Hyuuga Neji…"
"Hyuuga…..!!" Sasuke stood up.
Lee murmured "The strongest Taijutsu style in the Village Hidden in the Leaf…"
"The Gentle Fists!"
>>BEGIN<<
Hinata launched herself towards Neji as she sent a few palm strikes.
Neji moved about as he stood in one place and dodged all the palm strikes.
It was Neji's turn to stoke back as he sent forth palm strikes too,
The fight continued with palm strikes being parried and blocked until Neji sent one straight to her heart.
"Blerg!" Hinata spurted out blood,
"HINATA!" Naruto screamed almost feeling the same impact on his heart.
"Hah!" Hinata exhaled as she slapped Neji's palm aside to send a palm towards him.
"Hmph!" Neji snorted as he grabbed Hinata's incoming hand and sent a hit towards Hinata's chakra point.
"All this time…" Hinata gasped sensing all her chakra network blocked.
"Yes…I could see… them!" Neji said as he sent Hinata down to the ground.
Naruto clenched his fist and kept grinding his teeth to control himself.
"Hinatsama!"
"What we have here is an unchangeable difference in abilities."
"It's what distinguishes an elite from the failure."
"It's a brutal unalterable fact."
"You were destined to regret having said that you don't want to run away anymore, the instant you said it."
"And now, you must have abandoned yourself to despair!"
"This is your Ultimatum!"
"WITHDRAW!"
Blood kept dripping from Hinata's mouth.
"Right…"
"Now…"
Hinata spoke slowly as she trembled, raising her upper body.
"I'm sticking…."
"to every…"
Hinata panted as she finally stood up.
"word I said…"
"Because…"
"That's."
"My"
"Ninja Way!"
Naruto kept watching unable to take his eyes off from Hinata.
Sakura turned towards Naruto as she said.
"Come to think of it…."
"She's always watching you…"
Naruto nodded
("Just a little bit Hinata…")
("I will catch you in my arms I swear…")
"HINATAAA!!!!"
"YOU CAN DO IT!!!!" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs.
Feeling her spirit return, Hinata ran at full speed to confront Neji again.
Hinata and Neji exchanged palm strikes towards one another again for a minute or two…
Blocks after blocks, palm strikes parried with each other.
"Hah!" Neji exhaled as he sent a palm in a manner of an uppercut, which completely caught Hinata off.
Hinata was sent flying.
("NOT NOW!")
("NOT NOW!") Naruto repeated to himself barely able to keep himself controlled.
Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Karin noticed Naruto trying hard to maintain his anger.
("It must be extremely hard for Naruto") Shikamaru thought.
Hayate walked to Hinata.
"As further fighting is not feasible under these conditions…"
"DON'T STOP IT" Naruto screamed interrupting the verdict.
"Ah!" Everyone was shocked to see Hinata trying to stand up once again….
Especially Neji.
Hinata finally stood up as she kept breathing heavily…
"Why do you stand up again?"
"If you continue like this, you'll really die!".
Hinata limped towards Neji.
She barely managed to stand…
("I will not be caught looking bad…")
("Especially when he is cheering up for me…") Hinata declared in her mind as she looked towards Naruto.
Naruto encouraged Hinata with a courageous expression across his face which gave her the strength to resist Neji once more for a final stand.
Neji felt threatened by Hinata standing up again.
"AAHHHHH!!!!" Neji howled as he ran towards her.
At this moment she felt extremely threatened.
Her body was unable to keep up.
She felt her knees weaken almost losing her balance.
Knowing that she could not run anymore, she unconsciously injected some chakra onto the seal Naruto gave her.
(poof!) Naruto appeared behind her, while at the same time the jounin appeared around Neji.
Hinata fell into Naruto's arms.
"Naruto-kun…."
"You did well Hinata, take some rest," Naruto said to her, after which she lost her consciousness.
Naruto then placed his hand over her chest as he healed her heart which was injured by Neji's palm strike using his six paths power, stealthily.