Title: Title at the End.
…
"I didn't expect her to be this strong already." Shun said to himself as he watched Hinata battle Tendo without losing outrightly.
Overpowered he may have made some people, but still, In Front of an ability of absolute power, some minor upgrades are still nothing but futile struggles.
I know for a fact that with Hinami's guidance, Hinata had become somewhat stronger than her canon counterpart, however, without some special perks, she could only be the strongest amongst the masses.
If Hamura's chakra lying dormant within her was Awakened, that would be another case altogether, cause then, she'd have the Tenseigan, and the Tenseigan is more of a cheat than the Rinnegan.
Only that, in the long run, the Rinnegan has the ability to manipulate life and death…this was something the Tenseigan couldn't do.
And by long run, it isn't just the normal Rinnegan. No…it's the Rinne-sharingan.
The Rinnegan could resurrect the dead, but that was at the cost of the user's chakra, something which isn't possible for a wielder of the Rinne-sharingan.
One requirement of getting the Rinne-sharingan was to have chakra on par with the Ten-Tails.
That means…a massive reservoir of chakra to use at your whim.
"You know of her?" Jiraiya beside Shun asked while throwing him a glance.
"Of course, one of my acquaintances has her under her tutelage." Shun replied.
"Oh? Do I know of her?" Jiraiya asked. "From that movement technique she just used, it's obvious she didn't learn it from Konoha."
"What makes you say that?" Shun asked the man curiously.
"I mean…No Hyūga has ever used it…to my knowledge though. I haven't even heard of the Eight Trigrams Yin-yang symbol being a domain." Jiraiya said referring to the obvious employment of domain expansion Hinata was using after using the Eight Trigrams technique.
"...You do know that the Hyūga clan has an ancestral relation with the Tengoku clan…right?" Shun asked, just to be sure this knowledge hasn't disappeared from the minds of the world.
"...Eh? Wait. Eh!? For real? Damn…" Jiraiya cursed and stayed silent for a while before a look of understanding appeared on his face. "No wonder y'all have near-360-degree-vision."
Shun only looked at the man for a good while before ignoring him and turning to the screen. It is always better to not mix with people who'll reduce your mindset and thinking process…
As for Hinata, Shun could already see her running out of fuse. She was already breathing heavily under Tendo's suppression.
'But now that I think about it…this is like a mini showdown between Hinami and Ria…those two are their students…meanwhile…' Shun thought and turned his gaze to Naruto who still had two of the four chakra disruption rods in his body.
'He can't be blamed though…With that rod in his body, gathering any form of chakra would be hard, but his physical strength should be able to free him from its constraints.' Shun thought.
…
"A commendable effort." Tendo praised the Hyūga as he held her by the neck. "I must say, you're one of the few women I actually admire."
"Oh..yeah?" Hinata coughed as she tried to release his grip from her neck only to find his hands being unshakeable.
"Hm. And although commendable, you've also shown to be a nuisance. I can say with utmost confidence that should I let you live, I won't have a single peaceful day after the Jinchuriki serves his purpose." Tendo said
"You bet…But that's assuming… you can… even leave her in one…piece." Hinata said with a grin. Her pearly white eyes and bloodied mouth made her seem menacing.
"Love…a precious yet fickle thing." Tendo said, and from his free left hand, a disruption rod appeared. "The origin of all Pain…For where there's love…Pain is only a step away."
Looking over to Naruto, "You asked me why I was doing all this. Even if I told you why, I doubt it'd change anything. But what if we tried to have a discussion once more?"
"I have nothing to discuss with you. Let her go this instant." Naruto glared at the puppet.
Locking gaze with the Jinchuriki, Tendo released his grip on Hinata's neck, letting her fall to the ground.
"My goal is something, even Jiraiya-sensei failed to achieve. As I mentioned earlier…Creating peace and bringing about justice."
"Peace? Justice? Yeah, right. Don't give me that crap. My master! My Sensei! My friends! My village! After everything you've done…don't you dare talk about peace and justice!" Naruto replied with uneven breath.
Tendo observed the boy without moving an inch. "Then tell me what your goal is."
"I'm going to kill you!" Naruto replied immediately without a bit of hesitation. "And then I'll bring peace to the Shinobi world."
"I see…that's noble of you. That is justice indeed, however…My family, my friends, my village… they suffered the same fate as this village, by you hidden Leaf Ninjas. How is it fair to allow only you people to preach about peace and justice?"
"What are you talking about?"
"The country of Fire and Konoha had grown too big. To protect it's national interests, the Daimyo forced the clans under it to wage war against eachother and profited from it. Otherwise, the people of the country would've starved."
"However…our little nation and it's village became the battlefields for the Great Nations Wars. And each time, out nation was ravaged and laid to waste."
"After all the fighting, things stabilised for the Great Nations. And out little nation is left to suffer the pain and misery."
As Tendo narrated his own part of the story, both Naruto and Hinata on the scene had expressions of disbelief and guilt while Jiraiya who was watching had nothing but a mocking smile on his face.
Shun on the other hand thought it'd be fun to have the entire village understand why Nagato was doing what he was doing and employed a little bit of sound manipulation to make everyone awake hear Nagato talk.
"You and I seek the same thing." Tendo said. "We are trying to establish the peace that Jiraiya so desired. You and I are no different at all. We each act according to our own sense of justice. The justice I delivered on Konoha is no different from what you're trying to do to me. The pain of losing someone dear is the same. And both of us know that pain all too well."
"You have your justice, and I have mine. We are both ordinary men driven to seek vengeance under the banner of justice. However, if there's Justice in vengeance, then justice will only breed more vengeanc and trigger a cycle of hatred."
"I can feel it. The amount of hate directed at me from all over the village. Yet, they're unable to do anything about it. We are living in such a phenomenon right now. We know what the past had been and we can predict what the future will be."
"That…is history."
"And we can't help but believe it."
"The Shinobi system itself is a failed system. I don't blame you all however. Hashirama was a God in his time and so am I." Tendo said while spreading his hands.
"Hashirama was good, Madara was bad. But that's only true because history tells us so. Children who've never known peace have different values than children who've never known war."
"The one who wins will redefine the definition of right and wrong. They'll decide the future and how the past is written. Will your justice or mine prevail? Why of course. The winner is Justice."
Pain's gaze towards Naruto abruptly changed. "Therefore we can't help but believe that humansl beings are incapable of understanding eachother!"
"The Shinobi world is ruled by hatred."
…
"Sigh.". A deep sigh escaped jiraiya's lips as he heard the last part. Shun who had been beside him could tell he was going through a rollercoaster of emotions as Tendo talked.
"Food for your thoughts…?"
"I can't help but understand his point when he puts it that way." Jiraiya said as he continued watching the screen. "Months ago, I had just told Naruto that I couldn't achieve that understanding between people for half a century of my life…That perhaps…perhaps he could do it."
"Hehe. He's the child of prophecy after all." He finished with a small chuckle, whether it was one of self ridicule or one of hope, no one knew, but Shun said.
"This world was formed from hate…" the current Shinobi world, whether one would like to admit it or not, was formed on the basis of hate.
How? Well…Zetsu!
"As the saying goes, peace achieved upon the death of others…isn't true peace." Shun said.
"What do you mean?"
"If Madara had been adamant and fought Hashirama to the bitter end, perhaps we would have a different system?" Shun asked the man rhetorically.
Perhaps if Madara hadn't accepted the peace treaty after Izuna's death, perhaps…thing would be different?
"It's all retrospection, don't mind it, but if you ask me, the only way to achieve peace and eliminate hate…is to channel all these hatred towards one source, and then extinguish it."
"Doesn't that contradict what you just said about peace being built upon the lives of others?"
"It does, yet it doesn't. Anyways, you're alive, you'll come to understand soon. Your two students? They're gonna be that instrument of peace. The prophecy was true, only…Gamamaru left out some crucial points."
"Can you not call him that way?"
"Why?"
"It feels disrespectful."
"Eh? Please, if anything, he should be glad I'm even calling him his name." Shun said, he felt Jiraiya didn't feel comfortable with it so he waved his hand at him. "Soon, you'll understand."
What a joke. How could Gamamaru possibly put on airs in front of Shun? Shun was a bonafide God amongst Sages. Not to mention his main body, this fragment alone has enough strength to make Gamamaru feel terror.
Regard him respectfully? Heh, if calling him familiarly despite his dislike for the toad isn't respectful enough, Shun couldn't possibly be bothered about it.
…
"How would you confront this hatred in order to create peace?" Tendo asked his fellow disciple.
"..." Naruto remained silent in thought.
"I want to hear your answer." Tendo queried.
"..."
After giving it much thought, Naruto gritted his teeth and said. "I don't have an answer to something like that."
"I see. I formed the Akatsuki in order to stop this cycle of hatred. I can put an end to it…For that, I need the power of your Kyuubi. I'll use the power of all Tailed beast to create a Tailed Beast Weapon, many times more potent than the power that destroyed this village."
"A power, strong enough to wipe out an entire nation in an instant." Tendo finished, causing both Naruto and Hinata to look at him in anger and hatred.
"You monster…" Hinata said softly, her throat already sore from Tendo's previous grip.
"A tailed beast weapon!?"
"Hmm. The world will know True Pain. The Fear instilled by that Pain will would prevent wars. And the world will be on a road to stability and peace." Tendo replied.
"But that kind of peace… It's nothing but fake!"
"Humans are not the most intelligent of creatures. This is the only way peace can be achieved. And after several decades, that pain too will eventually fade with time."
"It'll no longer be a deterrent and humans will begin to battle once more. This time, they themselves will use the Tailed Beast Weapon on themselves and reconfirm what True Pain is."
"And then, Peace will be restored again, for a time."
"In the course of this endless cycle of hatred…Pain will give rise to momentary peace."
"That is my dream."
"But that's a fake peace…" Naruto argued.
Tendo scoffed. "You argue that my vision of peace is fake. Butnin this cursed World, there's nothing more fictional than a leave where people can truly understand one another."
"Percy Sage believer that the day would come when people will truly understand eachother. You're wrong."
"Empty Words. What can you do when you can't even back up your answer?" Tendo said. "All you're good for is giving me the power of the Kyuubi."
"Like I told you earlier…Your death will lead to peace."
…
Hinata POV.
I was wrong. I am weak.
I always had a dream.
Ever since that day Naruto helped me under the snow. I've always had a dream.
To be as strong as my father and kind like my mother.
But that dream was destroyed before it could even sprout.
As early as father heard I came in contact with Naruto, he began my training, but back then, I was simply too weak to even make my father smile.
The guard friends I had said father was strict with me because he had high hopes for me and wished me to be strong.
But that wasn't possible.
As early as back then, I could already understand that the hard fist of the Hyūga clan gentle fist wasn't for me.
Father made compulsory for me to strike as hard as possblle, but it wasn't working.
After a short talk with mother, she said I should try going with the flow instead of standing against it like the Hard Fist entailed, and since then, I became stronger.
Father noticed this and rebuked me. In his words, he sajd. "As my heir, you need to know when to hit hard and fast. Being gentle is never the way of a leader."
Thinking back, I've come to understand that he truly did want what was best for me, but as the clan head, he couldn't show any weakness, not to me, his first daughter and heir in particular.
Due to that, I learnt to go with the flow, while also knowing when to stop and take a stand.
.
.
.
In my life, I've never really cared about anything that isn't related to me, but now…listening to this man and Naruto argue about peace…I can't help but wonder.
If there was peace, there won't be any need for people to go through the pain both Naruto and I had gone through.
In a way, I agreed to this man's point, but to actually say that all Naruto is good for is dying for the sake of peace?!
"What nonsense!" I say and got up. Activating the Eight Trigrams Yin-yang Domain, I glared at the man and said. "You'll only get Naruto over my dead body!"
…
General POV.
"What nonsense! You'll only get Naruto over my dead body!"
Both Naruto and Tendo turned to look at the menacingly beautiful girl that was Hinata with different expressions,
Naruto had one of fear, anxiety and desperation while Tendo had his still neutral face.
"Hinata! Get out of here! You're no match for him. I'll take care of this." Naruto tried to reason with her.
"Be quiet! Do you think it's only you that has dreams and goals?" Hinata snapped at him. "remember what I told you all those years ago? If the moon is set to crash in on us any day from now, it'll be you I would want to spend my remaining time with."
Letting out a deep breath, her chakra surged as she said. "And compared to the moon, this man is nothing but a pebble."
"Pebble you say? What an interesting comparison." Tendo said and nodded. "In truth, in comparison to the moon, I'm nothing but a pebble, but you? You're nothing but a puff of smoke."
Raising his hand, he continued. "I've heard about this Domain Expansion of the Tengoku clan, and I've also heard it could be learnt. I've never really needed it as no one was able to last this long against me, but seeing you use this…knock off, I think…it can be used like this…"
As his last word sounded, the pressure in the area around him suddenly went up a notch as a massive amount of gravity was exerted around him.
Hinata who was already poised to attack was immediately forced to her knees, and Naruto who was already lying flat on the ground, was forced deeper into the ground.
"What an interesting phenomena. I think I'll name this…Gravity Field…"
…
"Hey! That's plagiarism!" Shun shouted at the screen, and looking at Jiraiya, he said with obvious scorn. "Look at your student! How dare he blatantly steal my name?"
"You… Something more serious is going on right now!"
"That's right! What could be more serious that this obvious theft if idea? Where's the freedom of thought? Where's the copyright agency when you need it?"
"You…" Jiraiya couldn't…he just couldn't.
…
"...Ah, I can't have you dying on me now Naruto. You on the other hand…I guess it's done like this."
The pressure around Naruto lightened, but he still felt it hard to move, meanwhile, Hinata who was already at her wits end, felt the gravity disappear, however, before she could celebrate, she felt her body float up and move towards Tendo.
"Pain!" Naruto who was struggling to set himself free to no avail shouted. "You better let her go! Your business is with me."
Shooting him a glance, Tendo merely huffed and threw the girl up into the skies.
Naruto, seeing this, let out a relieved sigh. Despite the height, "Hinata would still be able to survive…
That was his thoughts up until he saw Tendo raise his hand, and in a downward swipe, he increased the inertia acting on her body. And like a rocket launching into space, Hinata fell at speeds no human could hope to survive.
Ba-dum!*
Naruto's young heart skipped a beat seeing the crater her body formed after the dust cleared, however, seeing as there was still a little bit of movement from her side, he relaxed a little.
He was about to instruct Katsuyu to sneak over to Hinata and heal her up, but the thing Tendo did next…
BA-DUM!*
"Wha-t?" Naruto stuttered weakly seeing the crimson red blood flowing from beneath her, courtesy of the rod that Tendo just stabbed into her.
"I don't believe you're in any position to demand anything from me. Not after you've rejected my good will, time and time again." Tendo said with his usual air of superiority, unawares of the horror he had just released.
…
"Finally." Shun said with a smile as he felt something shake the system seal he had left inside Naruto. "Now you'll get to vent all your frustrations away." He muttered to himself.
Jiraiya wasn't in the mood to entertain him so he didn't pay any heed to his words. His attention was on the heartbreaking scene going on between his two students.
His eyes were red and bloodshot as he observed.
"Don't worry. Everything will be alright." Shun said in assurance, but all of that fell on deaf ears.
Shaking his head, Shun couldn't help but smile wryly.
…
Title: Hinata's Death and...
Next chapter title: ****** Rampage
****
So...we just reached...the threshold. 100 Chapters if the Volume 4. Wow. I'm almost there guys. I know this may be getting boring the more you read. It's sure to get interesting.
Don't give up on it just yet...Oh and... It's already completed in my Patreon, just check out the site. It's not even expensive 😔😔