Some hours earlier, in the late dusk, the sun had already disappeared, leaving the moon alone in the starry sky.
"It's time," Hinata walked out of the meeting hall, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Where is Neji?" she looked around with her Byakugan. "Here you are," she pinpointed his location through all the obstacles.
Neji, who was meditating, felt a disturbance in the air.
"Brother," Hinata called out, putting her hand on his shoulder, bypassing all his defenses.
"Huh?" He could only look confused as the scenery around him changed drastically. Now he was sitting in the middle of a road.
.
"Did you just kidnap me?" he asked, looking at her.
"How can I kidnap my brother?" she looked away with a pout.
Sighing, Neji stood up and looked around. It was a solid dirt road in the middle of large rice fields. The scent of crops was refreshing, and the moonlight enhanced the beauty of nature.
.
"It's a good place to spar," Neji took a stance, his chakra surging forth as he was ready to throw hands with her.
"Indeed," she didn't deny him, "but we are here for some work," she took out a bingo book.
"Who is it this time?" Neji moved closer to her and looked at the page she had opened.
"Chiriku the monk, with a bounty of 30,000,000 ryo, a jonin," she read out loud.
"A jonin… seriously? Even Haku can handle them easily, let alone us," disappointment flashed in his eyes, not understanding why his sister was so excited about it.
"You see, brother, we want to ste- *cough* learn his jutsu. He refers to it as the 'Gift of Gods' or the 'Welcome Approach: Thousand-Armed Murder Jutsu,'" she nodded.
"But we are already invincible," his chakra started to flare as an invisible spinning chakra dome manifested around him, two ferocious-looking lion heads on his hands with his Byakugan activated. "We have the best defense, best offense (close range), best eyes, and immunity to genjutsu. What do we need that jutsu for?" he was visibly confused.
"You are right, but not every clan member can use Rotation. It's a mid to high-range offensive and defensive jutsu, and with me and you, it can be considered a forbidden jutsu. It will be a nice addition to our arsenal," she explained the importance of the jutsu, convincing him.
"You like it, don't you?" he asked, looking into her eyes. He knew if she liked it, it was already theirs.
"Umm," she nodded.
.
Neji just smiled; it was settled. For him, if his sister liked something, he would do his best to fulfill her wishes.
"What if someone finds out that we stole the famed jutsu of the Fire Temple? It will cause a huge commotion in the whole Elemental Nations," he asked.
A chuckle escaped her lips. "You see, brother, the Third Hokage is going to die, leaving a huge power gap. We will be the remaining strongest force in the village. And remember, not everyone knows about this jutsu. We can introduce it as our clan's forbidden jutsu after a little bit of modification to it, and that is in the far future. Remember, the villagers are just mindless sheep; they will go in the direction you point them. As for the politics, you can leave it to the clan elders," her eyes were filled with wisdom as if she had everything in her palm.
.
When he heard about the dirty politics of the higher hierarchy, he felt a headache coming on. "We will do as you say."
"Hmm," she nodded and started walking towards their destination.
'I see this jutsu as a mixture of Susanoo and Hashirama's Thousand Hands Jutsu. Indeed, a 'Gift of Gods,' she thought.
'And it will be my birthday gift for that little fox. Except for me or Neji, he is the only individual who can bring out the true potential of this jutsu.'
As they walked, Neji curiously asked, "The graduation day is near. Have you thought about who will be your Jonin team leader?"
He didn't ask about the team members because it was already decided.
"Good question," she nodded, "but I don't have any idea."
"You can see the future, so why not?" he asked.
She just looked at him deadpan. 'Really, bro? Using something so big for such trivial things?'
"Maybe I just want to be surprised."
"Hmph," he just humped.
She laughed. "What about your sensei?"
"Oh, you mean his eternal chakra reinforcement," his lips curved into a smile as he raised his hand. "It's been about a year. You think I haven't picked it up by now?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Hehe, does he know about it?" she asked curiously.
"Nah, every time I spar with my teammates, I one-shot them. A simple palm near their heart, and they're out for good. There's nothing for them to observe about me. I simply use just one move, nothing special. But when they improve slightly, I just increase my speed a bit, and the outcome remains the same."
.
He remembered his training sessions with his teammates; he mostly practiced alone.
"Hehe, they must be impressed by you, aren't they? How do you feel?" she asked, jumping on his back.
Now carrying his sister on his back, he just shook his head. "Impressing weaklings doesn't amuse me."
'Huh,' she thought, 'he has become such a badass.' She was impressed.
"Calm down, bro, I get it," she lightly tapped his head. 'His intrusive thoughts are resurfacing,' she noted.
"Let's speed up," Neji said, and with a burst of chakra, he disappeared.
.
*Sometime later*
From a small hilltop, both of them looked at the temple-like structure, with large staircases leading to the main hall of the temple. Some monks were meditating, while others were in the garden.
"So this is the Fire Temple," Hinata whispered as she observed every single person in the temple. It was surrounded by forests and overflowing with nature, with mountains enclosing it on three sides and a large field to the south.
'Wouldn't it make a perfect graveyard for them?' she squinted her eyes. 'But I am not a mass murderer, hehe,' her thoughts running wild.
"How should we lure that monk out?" Neji asked.
"Maybe we should make a grand entrance with a big explosion," she commented while tossing a white mask to Neji and putting one on her face.
*Rustle*
There was a rustle in the bushes, and both of their gazes landed on a shadowy figure as it started to make itself visible. A glint of purple went off from his eyes as he fully revealed himself—a bald man with black eyes and black eyebrows, wearing a monk's outfit.
Both Neji and Hinata jumped from the small hill and landed 50 meters away from the man on the plain ground.
"Both of you, make sure nobody comes near this place," she commanded.
Two more shadowy figures appeared beside her.
"As you wish, my lady," both of them disappeared.
.
As they vanished, an intense standoff took place, their gazes becoming more intense with each passing second. The leaves started to blow even without the wind.
"What are your intentions, strangers?" Chiriku broke the silence as he looked at the strangers in the white masks.
"Teach us your jutsu and die," Hinata cleared her intentions.
Chiriku intensified his gaze, his lips starting to move. "You are not worthy."
"Fuck your worthiness."
Her head tilted slightly. 'I asked him nicely, yet he refused my generosity,' her lips started to twitch as her chakra began to leak out, physically manifesting and covering her body.
Chiriku's back started to get wet as he felt the malevolence in her chakra, despite not being a sensor ninja.
"You know," Chiriku started to speak, composing himself, "in my lifetime, I haven't seen anyone who can manifest their chakra physically and yet so dense and powerful."
His smile stretched into a grin, and with full-blown laughter, he shouted, "I WAS WAITING FOR YOU, PRINCESS OF THE HYUGA CLAN."
"The fuck," her eyebrows raised in surprise, as simultaneously her hands rising on their own as a powerful kick landed on her chakra-coated forearms.
*Boom*
With a loud bang, in a circular motion, the air exploded with a sonic boom, her feet rising from the ground as she shot backward like a rocket.
BOOM
Another loud bang happened as a spherical cave was forcefully engraved into the hill.
"Rotation," Neji whispered as the rotation hit Chiriku with full blunt force, sending him flying like a rag doll, hitting the ground.
It happened so fast that it looked like two people were shooting in opposite directions, leaving Neji standing on the battlefield.
"You okay, sis?" Neji asked as the steps echoed from the cave.
Thud!
Hinata landed beside Neji. "I am fine," she said. She had activated her rotation in a fraction of a second before hitting the hill.
There was no injury on her body, but the same couldn't be said for Chiriku—the skin on the left side of his face was peeled off by Neji's rotation.
"Your reflexes are top-notch. That kick would have split anyone else in two," he commented, applying medical ninjutsu to his face to stop the bleeding.
"But yours aren't," Neji mocked him.
"You brat…" he glared at Neji.
As Hinata looked at him, thousands of thoughts raced through her mind. 'How did he know who I am?' Nobody came to her mind.
'that really surprised me, but on the other hand, it's becoming interesting,' she nodded in her head while making sure such mistakes never happen in the future.
"You aren't the monk. Tell me who you are," she asked as nicely as possible.
Her mask shattered into pieces, revealing her frosty white eyes.
"Hehe, who knows? Maybe you know me, or you don't," he wiped a trail of blood from his mouth.
"So you have chosen death," she nodded.
Crouching down, she put her hand on the ground while her eyes remained fixed on him. "You are too young to play mind games with me, kid."
"We are jumping on him," she looked at Neji before both of them disappeared from there.