Having just finished the fourth fight of the preliminaries, Rock Lee felt excited. He had been waiting a long time for his turn to come. To his bad luck, in the next fight that was shown on the screen his name was nowhere to be seen.
"Ha, how is that possible!"
Scratching his head, Rock Lee was about to give up hope. He wished he could fight with all his soul, after all this is the flame of youth burning inside him. This is how he was trained by Guy-sensei.
On the other hand, Ino had already recovered from the last fight she had, just like Sakura. Now the two girls were looking at the battlefield, waiting for the next fight. At the same time, Naruto and Kiba arrived at the battle arena while looking at each other with a smile.
Everyone had different opinions about what they were seeing. Some were simply thinking, 'Naruto is definitely going to lose'. On the other hand, Toru was waiting to see the result of the growth of that boy they call Uzumaki Naruto. In the past, he used Naruto as his research assistant, though he almost always ended up ruining everything. Still, Toru could never get angry with him, he just thought that he had to start from scratch.
(For good results-big sacrifices).
Toru closed his eyes, and then the fight began.
Blow after blow, Kiba used something called a 'food pill'. Naruto was angry, as he considered what Kiba was doing to be cheating. Still, the fight was neck and neck throughout.
In the middle of the fight, Kiba used a strange jutsu, causing Akamaru to turn into a clone of him. The two went on the attack against Naruto, everything was going in Kiba's favor, but the blue-eyed boy used his wits to be able to defeat his enemy.
In the end, the result was:
[Summary of the sixth fight:
Inuzuka Kiba vs Uzumaki Naruto.
Time: 6.47 minutes.
Winner: Uzumaki Naruto
Decisive Strike: Uzumaki Burst]
Seeing the outcome of the fight, Toru was satisfied. Naruto had grown as a ninja, this could clearly be seen in the way he fought. Moreover, everyone in the battle arena was surprised, since, Naruto had managed to shut everyone's mouth with his victory.
But this was not over, as there were still some one-on-one fights left. But to make a long story short, the duels are summarized as follows:
[Seventh fight:
Abumi Saku vs Aburame Shino.
Time: 4.35 minutes.
Winner: Aburame Shino]
[Eighth fight:
Tsurugi Misumi vs Kankuro.
Time: 3.19 minutes.
Winner: Kankuro]
[Ninth fight:
Tenten vs Temari.
Time: 2.03 minutes.
Winner: Temari]
[Tenth fight:
Nara Shikamaru vs Tsuchi Kin.
Time 5.06 minutes.
Winner: Nara Shikamaru]
All of these fights went off without a hitch. At the same time, Toru had different opinions as the time progressed. First, although Shino was a bit cruel in clogging Saku's air ducts, this led to a safe victory. Although Toru is not one to call someone 'cruel', as he was ruthless enough to stab a man in the back to the point of taking his life.
Second, Kankuro has a very good handle on the puppet. The way he immobilized his enemy using the puppet's joints was amazing. For a moment, Toru thought it would be nice to be able to learn this kind of puppet handling jutsu, but considering the artifact Toru is developing, something like that would be useless.
Third, Temari was extremely ruthless when fighting. She didn't leave any chance to her enemy. She took care of blocking all of Tenten's attacks, as well as humiliating her in front of her teammate Rock Lee, who seconds later jumped into the fighting arena to protect her friend.
Finally, Shikamaru is a very capable strategist. He had already proved it in the ninja academy, but now he was able to bring out that strategic side he always tried to hide. Toru thought that this boy could become a chunin very easily.
All this brings us to the moment when the participants of the eleventh fight will be decided. Toru, Hinata and Ino watched the screen, which was displaying random names at a high speed.
"Let's go! Let it be my turn, let it be my turn!"
Crossing his fingers, Rock Lee closed his eyes and waited for the result, however, the names displayed on the screen ripped the will to live out of him, after all, his name was nowhere to be found.
(No way...)
Hinata's eyes widened as she saw the names on the screen.
Hyuga Neji vs Hyuga Hinata.
Looking at the screen, Neji smirked. After all this fight will be very easy for him. On the other hand, Toru narrowed his eyes as he saw the expression on Hinata's face. Somehow, the word 'fear' was written all over her face.
"I never thought I would have to face you."
"Me neither... Neji-onii-sama."
Already in the battle arena, Hinata and Neji looked into each other's eyes. At least Neji was the one looking at Hinata, as the girl tried not to look at the boy. This provoked different reactions from the spectators.
They are both from the Hyuga clan, however, Hinata belongs to the main branch of the family, while Neji belongs to the secondary branch. Summing up the story a bit, the main branch is the elite of the Hyuga, while the secondary branch and those that follow after it are just outcasts.
For years, ever since the main branch of the Hyuga clan created some rules to benefit themselves, the secondary branch has had a certain grudge towards the main branch. But that was about to change, as the best ninja of the Hyuga clan has been born in the secondary branch.
"This is bad..."
However, Rock Lee felt a little worried for Hinata, after all he knew Neji's true strength, so for Hinata, who is a Hyuga clan ninja as well, he has very high chances of losing this match.
It was the same for Ino, who looked worriedly at her teammate. Hinata is definitely strong, but if someone like Rock Lee lost to Neji, that meant that there was no hope for Hinata to win this match.
"Okay, if you guys are ready, you can start whenever you want."
Kicking off the eleventh fight, Hayate coughed before stepping back a bit so he could judge this match.
"Before we begin. Hinata, I want you to listen to what I'm about to say."
Looking over his shoulder at her, Neji glanced at Hinata before speaking again.
"Surrender now, your destiny was never to be a ninja."
Hearing his cousin, Hinata's expression changed completely. As if his words were sharp knives. At the same time, Toru didn't like this.
He had known Neji since he was six years old, no doubt he could see the grudge this boy had with the main branch of the Hyuga family. And after so many years, that grudge only increased.
(He's even more arrogant than before...).
Without a doubt, this boy's arrogance had grown over the years. Although Toru, as a six-year-old boy, was only able to meet Neji a couple of times, as Neji was always training and pushing himself to the limit to get better. But he could see it clearly, the darkness in that boy's gaze.
"You are very weak and kind. You always seek peace and avoid conflict. People influence you easily."
As he said these last words, Neji looked at Toru. It was as if the part about Hinata being easily influenced was said to Toru himself. Likewise, Hinata was keeping quiet as she looked at the ground.
"Admit it, you lack confidence. You always feel inferior to everyone else. You should have stayed as a genin, but to register for the chunin exams you need a team of three. You never wanted to get involved in this, but Toru and Ino did, so you didn't want to let your teammates down am I wrong?"
"Yes... you're wrong. I did want to participate, I thought... I thought... I could become strong and... change my ways... even a little bit."
As if he had heard something unpleasant, the veins around Neji's eyes swelled. Then, he opened his mouth again, speaking once more.
"Hinata...you're the spoiled daughter of the main branch of our family. People can't change even if they try!"
Those words were like a bullet straight to the heart. Piercing the flesh, giving the victim, a dose of reality. It made the fearful expression on Hinata's face more noticeable.
"People are judged by how they really are. A person can improve themselves by studying and training, but in the end, we will be judged by how we are, we will be judged by those imperfections that we can never change. I know what you feel Hinata, you want to run away from here, you feel afraid, you feel weak. All that, I can see it, because I see the world as it really is, with my Byakugan."
Hinata didn't know how to answer, she couldn't even move. She felt pathetic, because everything Neji said was true, Hinata in the bottom of her heart knew it.
After that, Neji clasped his hands together, at the same time, the veins around his eyes swelled up even more and then....
"Byakugan..."
Activating his dojutsu, Neji could see everything, even the slightest movement of a bird's wings. Hinata noticed this, and tried not to look Neji in the eyes, for a second she looked at the ceiling, then looked at Toru, who returned her gaze coldly.
"I can see it... a second ago, you looked at the top left of the ceiling. Even though it was only a thousandth of a second, you blinked and then looked at Toru. I can see it in your gaze, I can see you're panicking."
Just hearing his words, Hinata felt like she was panicking. Neji knew how to choose his words very well. This made Hinata bring the dejo to her lips, she was trying to calm down, but she couldn't. Sweat was running down her forehead and small tears were peeking out of the corners of her eyes.
"That bad habit of putting your finger to your lips, the way you looked at Toru. You try to look for a way to escape, however, you don't succeed, this makes your fear and panic increase. Your breathing becomes heavy, and all this... because you know what I said is true."
Having heard everything Neji had to say, Naruto clenched the metal bars tightly. This boy was too arrogant, so much so that it even made Naruto's anger flare up. Toru was able to realize this in time, so he moved a little closer and tapped Naruto's shoulder.
"Eh...?"
"Easy, I understand how you feel. So, leave this to me."
When Naruto heard those words, it was as if he had been transported back to the past, when he was the research assistant. Those words were exactly the same words Toru said back then.
So, with a relaxed smile, Naruto gave a thumbs up and said:
"She's your teammate, I guess you should take care of it yourself, haha."
Scratching his head, Naruto let Toru intervene in this family discussion.
"Hinata..."
Everyone heard Toru's voice echoing in the battle arena. So, everyone turned their attention to Toru, including Hinata and Neji.
"Don't listen to Neji's words, after all he doesn't know you. No one can tell you how to be or what to do, just... kick your cousin's ass."
After hearing what Toru said, Naruto simply burst out laughing. It was exactly what he was going to say, only with better words. Likewise, Ino smirked before shouting.
"You can do it, Hinata!"
As if these words had purified all negative feelings from Hinata's heart, a small smile formed on her lips , before the expression on her face changed. Now, the 'Serious Hinata' mode has been activated.
(Damn bastard)
Neji looked at Toru with a disgusted expression on his face. A second later, he looked at Hinata and noticed that the expression on that girl's face had changed. Now that girl looked more confident.
(There is no longer fear or panic in her eyes...).
"Listen, Hinata. If you don't give up now, I will show no mercy."
Increasing the strength in his Byakugan, Neji looked at Hinata, however, she didn't respond and began to connect the hand seals until....
"Byakugan!"
_______
I'm back! I already have internet, and this week I plan to post daily chapters. I have other chapters already finished, so if this fanfic reaches 35 stones of power, I'll post the next chapter :D