Naruto: The Prince of Lust-Chapter 319

Watching her uncharacteristically focused and confident student stand opposite her biggest challenge to date, the choice between her love as a woman and her love as a mother-figure should be clear. Rationally, there shouldn’t be a debate about this, but her mind is silent. Her options are simply what needs to happen and what she wants to happen, and it makes the tortured Kurenai horribly sick to her stomach.

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Observing Neji in the center of the battleground, Hinata understands why Neji demands she forfeit, and even why he arrogantly breaks down her insecurities one by one to the credit of his irrational gospel; Destiny. The Hyūga heiress knows why Neji firmly believes people can’t change and that their future has been destined since birth. He had proclaimed that, ’a failure will always be a failure,’ but Hinata isn’t that same girl who graduated the Academy six months ago or even the girl who suddenly learned she’ll be facing her genius cousin a month ago, or even the girl, who only a few minutes ago, offered to teach Naruto some of her clan’s extreme chakra control techniques.

Momentarily imagining him calling her, ’Hinata-sensei,’ her cheeks blush and her whole body breaks out in electric goosebumps.

Naruto’s faith in her felt as if she were being blessed by the sun itself and she couldn’t even think of failing him. Feeling Naruto watching her, Hinata knows Neji is wrong, because if her jaded cousin was right, then the nine-year-old Naruto who rescued her from older bullies would’ve never thought to protect her or proclaim to one day becoming Hokage; let alone the greatest of them all. Quitting because of destiny has no sway over a man with conviction, and if it’s not Naruto’s way, then it’s not hers either.

"You’re wrong, Neji-niisan," Hinata asserts, setting her stance. "You can choose your destiny. And it’s because you don’t know this that I will stop you."

With a snide grin, Neji asks, "do you actually believe you stand any chance of defeating me?"

"Not of defeating you," she answers, shaking her head. "Of stopping you."

"Neji versus Hinata," Genma speaks, booming through the speakers. The wind and birds around them fell as silent as the crowd before Genma speaks, "begin."

’Byakugan,’ both Hyūga members mentally chant, protruding veins around their nearly white eyes as their all-sight shows their opponent’s chakra network and nothing else. The stands of spectators disappear from their view and even the proctor becomes irrelevant to them as they focus solely on proving to the other who is right.

In less than a second, they’re crossing gentle fists with light physical taps but bursting with perfectly timed chakra out of their tenketsus, aiming to damage the other’s chakra network and internal organs rather than deal external muscular damage. For no matter how much chakra an opponent has, if they can’t use their immense power, they’re as vulnerable as an academy student. Using their wrist and forearms to block or sway strike after strike away without losing their footing to the other, they seem evenly matched from a layman’s perspective, but Hinata knows better.

Her cousin is hiding his true speed. He’s toying with her, waiting until she’s confident in his timing, dropping her guard so he can surgically cut off her chakra flow. It’s a strategy she might have missed if not for Kurenai’s diligent strategy planning. Neji may have beaten her completely if they faced each other in the preliminaries. ’He may even now,’ she thought, but with time and Kurenai-sensei’s tutelage, she won’t be defeated.

Masters of their style, they each know how to attack and defend, yet Hinata is being pushed back by his fast strikes. It was difficult to maintain her footing and balance when Neji’s skill and ability was better than her in nearly every way. ’He’s faster, stronger, and a genius in taijutsu,’ she mentally analyzed. ’But he doesn’t have Kurenai-sensei.’

Kurenai knew that, in general, the Hyūga clan tends to have average chakra reserves and after testing each of her students, Hinata had above-average chakra capacity. That along with a strong understanding of the Gentle Fist, Hinata could only see one way of besting him; chakra endurance.

Neji is moving faster tapping her chakra points one at a time, but rather than let the obvious continue, Hinata takes an explosive tagged kunai from her pound and flicks it at the ground between them. The small flash of light igniting has an alert Neji leap back but the tag didn’t explode.

The moment the crowd and Neji realize it’s a feint, they all witness Hinata, her eyes closed with her index and middle finger together, parallel with the length of her dainty nose and concentrates on the technique she’s learned from her father. Like he taught her, she envisions herself within the center of balance between the forces of peace and chaos, love and hate, offense and defense, and she sees the eight trigrams symbol, and Neji within range.

It also means Hinata is within his range and he recognizes her stance. Smirking cockily, he raises his arms, inflating his lungs before thrusting his palms in front of him, setting his resolve. He spreads his stand along with eagle-spreading his arms and tilting his balance forward. Neji’s mind delighted in showing the main house how wrong they were and still are as he mentally yells, ’Hakke Rokujūyon Shō!’

Hinata felt his sliding approach, mentally calling, ’Shugohakke, Rokujyuu Yonshou!’

Unlike the offensive Hakke Rokujūyon Shō that attacks sixty-four tenketsus within the body to incapacitate an opponent, Hinata’s Eight Trigram, Sixty-four Palms is a defensive technique. She can create, strong, flexible, arcing chakra blades that project outwardly, defending her from his incoming attack from a distance.

Hyūga techniques clashed and as strong as Neji is in his offense, Hinata has just as much passion for her defense because it won’t hurt him but it will stop him. Though she still can’t get more than four cross-sectioning blades to protect her, it’s just barely enough to stop Neji’s chakra covered fingers from shutting down two tenketsus on her torso.

A sizzling flash behind Neji alerts him that there was a second explosive note wrapped underneath the dud, but whether it was also a feint or not, it was enough of a distraction for another of Hinata’s four-section cross blades close three of Neji’s tenketsus. Focused solely on stopping Neji, helping him, proving to him he can break out of his cage, Hinata manages to two consecutive cross-sections before Neji flips back, snatching the kunai she stuck in the ground and flicking it at her with enough strength to clang loudly when she deflects it.

Neji flexes his fingers and looks around his arms at the ten closed off tenketsus. It’s not enough to completely impede his attacks, but a few of his fingers won’t receive chakra... ’the embarrassment,’ his mind cruelly whispers. For someone like the meek, weak, and fragile Hinata to hinder him even this much in front of the whole village, in front of the main branch, is a disgrace he won’t ever live down. The cage bars of destiny have never felt so cold and Neji can’t remember the last time he was this angry.

Though Kurenai’s minor panic attack from observing Hinata execute their strategy perfectly has subsided, she still feels unwell at the sight of her beautiful student trying so hard. Then Neji resumed his attack and he looked furious even from where she was standing, compelling her worry for Hinata to triple.

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