"I don't think we need your explanation," Tsunade said as she stood over him with her fist still clenched tightly.
Hiruzen, who was watching the scene the entire time, shook his head and sighed, Even now at their age, those two still behave like children.
(On The Arena Floor)
"Will Hyuuga Hinata and (cough) Hyuuga Neji please step down to the arena floor," Hayate said. The two Hyuugas made their way to the arena floor. When they got there, they stood at a distance from each other face to face.
"Final fight: Hyuuga Hinata against Hyuuga Neji. Begin!," Hayate said.
Hinata stood in front of Neji, maintaining herself while trying to keep from shaking from nervousness. Neji, the proclaimed 'genius' of the Hyuuga clan spoke coldly, "Hinata-sama, you should give up. You can't win."
"Neji-niisan," Hinata said.
"Niisan," Sakura asked.
"They are cousins," Ino informed, "Hinata is from the main house, while Neji is from the branch house."
Neji then activated his Byakugan, veins pulsating next to his eyes. Hinata stayed quiet while Neji remained motionless. After a few minutes of Neji not moving, and Hinata shaking, Neji spoke up, "Give up. Hinata-sama, your body says clearly that you're afraid. You'll always be weak. There's a reason for the words 'genius' and 'drop-out.' It's our destiny to always be separated by an unchangeable fate called birthright. Some are born to be strong, while some, like yourself, are born to be weak. You should-"
"I've heard enough," Hinata cut in sternly as she looked up and stared at the surprised Neji, "I chose to become a kunoichi and participate in the exams to better improve myself. Naruto-kun and Ino-chan know that about me, as does Kurenai-sensei. They believe in me."
Neji snorted though he was shocked to see that Hinata didn't look scared any more; instead she looked determined. She looked up at Naruto and Ino, and found that they both were smiling brightly at her, encouraging her to do her best. She smiled back, before activating her Byakugan and sliding into the Jyuuken stance, her right leg bent and in front of the other, her left hand pointed towards Neji, palm first, while the right hand was by her hip.
"So, you aren't going to back down," Neji said with a smirk and mirrored Hinata's pose, "Very well."
The two Hyuuga combatants charged at each other. They met and began striking each other with their open palms. Hinata tried to palm Neji's stomach, but Neji blocked and sent a palm towards Hinata's chest. She dodged to the left and tried to strike back. Neji evaded as well. This continued for a while.
The fight continued like that for a while, neither of the two Hyuuga gaining the upper hand. That was when Hinata attempted another forward palm strike at Neji who sidestepped to his left as Hinata went forward pass him. Neji however was caught off guard when Hinata speedily raised and brought her left leg backwards and stuck her foot hard against his face.
Neji was thrust away backwards before hitting the ground on his back. A moment later, he managed to get back on his feet while rubbing his face which now had a shocked expression. He couldn't deny that her attack hurt a lot and left him dazed momentarily. He couldn't believe that Hinata managed a blow that hard on him; and to his face with her foot in fact! Feeling something warm seeping down his chin, Neji rubbed his lips only to find that he was now bleeding from a busted lip.
What the…There's no way she managed to catch me off guard like that, Neji thought to himself for a moment as he tried to remain calm as his anger was boiling inside him.
"Yes, she did it," Ino cheered. Neji soon understood what she did; Hinata managed to combo the Jyuuken with that hard kick to his face. Occasionally such a maneuver wasn't achievable, as rapid muscle movement worn off the chakra control required for the combat style to truly have an effect and not just be wasted chakra. Hinata however had managed to accomplish this to some degree, it didn't have the full influence of an accurate Jyuuken but it was strong enough.
Neji gritted his teeth as he looked at Hinata. The boy had always looked at her as being weaker than he was and he refused to be defeated by her. No, fate would not allow for it, he said to himself. He was the Hyuuga prodigy, the one who was given the strongest Byakugan abilities in the Hyuuga clan and he wasn't going to be defeated by the one he regarded at the weaker.
He rushed forward again, and the two continued to trade blows with the Jyuuken. Though Neji's raw skills were better than Hinata's however, Hinata's agile and lithe figure allowed her to level the match.
"Kurenai-sensei," Shino said, "It's clear that Hinata has improved over the course of time."
"She's changed in many ways Shino," Kurenai replied, "I've known Hinata for a long time and I watched how she's grown from the shy and closed-in girl she used to be. It wouldn't be an overstatement if I said that her time with Naruto-kun and Ino has helped mold her into the young kunoichi she's worked so hard in becoming."
Shino quietly nodded as he and Kurenai continued watching the fight. Naruto looked on proudly at how Hinata was holding her grounds against Neji as they exchanged blows after blows against each other. Since Naruto had helped Hinata work on her speed and Byakugan for quite some time, she was able to evade many of Neji's assaults and counter with attacks of her own, some of which managed to make contact on him, leaving some noticeable bruises on him. This only served to further infuriate the male Hyuuga.
I guess she's not so weak after all, eh Neji, Naruto smiled as he saw the boy's frustration. What Neji did next however caught Hinata entirely off guard.
"Kaiten!," Neji yelled as Hinata, who stood barely three to four feet from him, was struck hard from the spinning attack of chakra, launching her far from him and onto the ground with a harsh thud. The Hyuuga girl struggled to get back up, standing on unstable limbs. She then looked as Neji assumed a stance that she had seen countless times.
"You are now in my field of divination," Neji spoke coldly. Hinata had little time to counter before he rushed at her. She knew she wouldn't survive it and the injuries to several of her vital organs had already been delivered from his last attack. One injured organ wasn't too much of a problem, but several injured vital organs combined compounded with Neji's next assault, she'd certainly die from the strain placed on her body.
Hinata's hands moved in poetic motion in front of her as she repeated the pattern over and over and over again until her hands started picking up speed in near blur vision.
"Shugohakke Rokujūyon Shō (Protection of Trigrams Sixty Four Palms)," Hinata whispered under her breath. Her hands moving at incredible speed while blocking each of Neji's strikes. Neji and everyone else in the chamber looked with widened eyes as they watched history in the making; a new ground-breaking jutsu that could protect from the Hyuuga's most devastating attack. Naruto grinned at this.
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